Chapter 4

Two days later:

Hayate was driving her car along a low density city street with its rough direction pointed at Nanoha's apartment. It had been two days since their little dinner date and she had had no luck dredging the finer points out of Nanoha. It had crossed her mind that Nanoha didn't know the finer points herself and that was probably the right answer. Does thinking about it this much make me petty...or maybe the word for it is gossipy...nosey urgh! In any event, it was odd to see Nanoha so worked up about something.

Hayate tapped her hand against the wheel waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Nanoha's apartment building was the next turn and hopefully, Nanoha would be home; she needed a binder she had loaned her friend a few days prior and contained the handout she needed...at least she hoped it did. She didn't exactly cherish the thought of making up the handout that night or trying to avoid the morning rush for the photocopier.

The light finally turned green and Hayate drove the 50 yards and turned into the Cranagan Apartments parking lot and took the first empty space. Hayate got out of her car, quickly glanced around to make sure Nanoha wasn't outside somewhere, the jogged to the building door. She pressed the call button next to the glass doors and held it down.

No answer.

She held it down again, longer this time, and waited.

"Hello Mrs. Hayate." A young man held the door open for Hayate. "I don't think Mrs. Takamachi is here. I saw her leave about twenty minutes ago."

"Shoot. I hope she hasn't left." Hayate raced up the stairs, stopping for a second to watch the young man walk to his car. He looked familiar and she had obviously taught him at some point but she couldn't place him.

There was a brown envelope taped to Nanoha's door and Hayate rushed over and snatched it up. The Post-it note attached read "Hayate, I bet you need this." Hayate sighed in relief and hugged the envelope to her. She might even have a time for a drink tonight.

Hayate merrily skipped down to the lobby. Nanoha was usually pretty thoughtful...except for remembering to leaver her phone on...or replying to messages-which had actually happened twice now in the last few days.

"Excuse me." Came a soft voice from the picnic table to the left of the door.

Hayate spun around to find a young women with long blonde hair slowly walking towards her.

"Uhm...yes?"

"Do you know Nanoha...um...Nanoha? Do you know when she'll be back?"

Hayate smiled. This must be our stray kitten. "Yes I do but unfortunately I don't know when she'll be home."

The blonde's shoulders faltered.

"I'm sure she's just gone to the grocery store or something so she should be back soon."

"Okay." She turned to go back to her seat on the picnic table.

Hayate walked back to her car. Nanoha could be out with Yuuno having dinner...if she even comes back tonight. She could end up staying at Yuuno's. She looked up at the late afternoon sun. "It's sweltering..." Turning her head she could see that the girl was sitting on the corner of the picnic table in the only shade the roof above her afforded.

Hayate walked back to the woman. "Hi again. Nanoha won't be back for while so how would you like to go to dinner with me?"

The woman remained frozen in place, her face turned in Hayate's direction.

"Oh I'm not trying to pick you up it's just..."

She frowned and her hands clenched together.

"I heard about what happened and I'm sure she'd take you if she were here."

"Okay." She pushed herself up from her perch. "I'm Fate Testarossa."

Should I use an alias? She watched Fate walk up to her smiling timidly. What am I thinking! why would I? "I'm Hayate Yagami." And now she probably thinks I did use one because I paused like an idiot.

There was a small diner down the street from Nanoha's apartment building that Hayate often went to for lunch and the pair found themselves there after a short drive. They took a booth by the tinted window both grateful for the air conditioning.

"So you are a social worker? Do you work near here?"

"Yes. I work in the..." She paused. "On the other side of town. I don't remember the building's name."

"That would be a painful commute from here. I have to do it from the opposite direction everyday."

Fate looked as though she was about to say something and thought the better of it and instead turned to look out the window. Hayate shuffled uncomfortably on the worn padding of her seat.

Haha...this feels like a bad date already. She watched Fate stare blankly at the rush hour traffic going pass and fiddle fiddle idly with the keys in her hand. There was no mistaking she was good looking with her shapely body and pretty face and she seemed pleasant enough. It wasn't hard to tell why Nanoha became attached to her. Hayate snickered to herself. No big mystery here.

I wonder if she really is a social worker?

Fate smoothed her hair with her hand and sighed.

Now closer, Fate's long mane of hair didn't look as shiny, and in fact, looked rather unkempt. Fate turned away from the window and jumped upon finding Hayate closely watching her, her face exploding in a cascade of red. She drew her fingers through her hair and reached for something that wasn't there.

Fate was glistening with sweat. She wore a dark purple long sleeved sweater, despite the heat outside, and it was damp with her sweat. There was an off colour stain on her right sleeve and another close to her collar bone.

"How long were you waiting for Nanoha?"

"I'm..I'm not sure. I don't know when I got there." She glanced at the clock on the diner wall and her eyes widened slightly. "I-I was there a while."

I bet you were.

"How are things working out since the fire?"

Fate's lips drew to a thin line. "Not good. Everything is so hard to do when it is difficult to get around the city and trying to do things during lunch and after work. Worse of all was figuring out what I need to do."

"That sounds like a pain."

"It really is. I can't get access to my bank account because I have no debit card or any way to identify myself and I don't have any identification because I don't have money to get another one and I don't have supplementary identification to get identification."

"Can you get your boss to vouch for you? A teacher I work with loss their wallet and the principal signed a form to vouch for him so he could get his birth certificate and then get the other things he'd lost."

"I wish I had spoken to you sooner." Fate's eyes sparkled with laughter. "It took me a while before I figured out I'd need by birth certificate first and work from there. I need someone to verify I'm the person I say I am and they need to have known me for a while and they can't be just anyone so I thought I'd use my boss but he's...on vacation and I haven't been able to reach him. So, I called my old college professor but I had to leave voice mail because I couldn't reach him either." Fate fiddled with her keys.

"It must be Murphy's law."

"Yes, everything about this week has been...I did finally find someone to fill it out for me and they said they'd give it to me tomorrow...which mean I'll probably won't have my debit card until Monday."

"Your bank might be open on the weekend, or at least, open until 5:00." Hayate patted the other woman's hand bringing a shy smile to her face. "It'll work out."

I think you're too convincing to be anyone but a cutie down on her luck...unless you play this card with everyone...hmm.

"My bank next to...near here...is..um...open until 8:00 tonight so I was hoping she'd signed it today." Fate returned to staring out the window with her chin resting on her hands. Her brow was scrunched and she was clearly thinking hard about something.

I probably have $80 on me. That would probably last her the weekend, or at least, until she has her banking straightened up. Unless this is a ploy for money...it certainly isn't the way I'd go about trying to get money from strangers.

A young man wearing an apron and black shirt and pants approached them, his notebook and pen at the ready. "What will you be having today ladies?"

Hehe. I forgot to even touch the menu. "I'll have the chicken fajitas...and...I'm kinda hungry so I'll get...the caesar salad with an orange juice for my drink."

Fate scanned the menu, her eyes stopping momentarily on different entries and then up at Hayate, her cheeks awash in blush.

"Don't worry about the price. You can get whatever you like." Unless it's the salmon. $22 for a sandwich! Yikes.

Fate glanced down the page up her menu one last time and finally closed it. "I'll have the soup and salad...and water for my drink."

Aww. She's a good girl. That's pretty much the cheapest meal you can get here.

The young man immediately turned and shouted some weird combination of words and letters to the cook. "We're not busy today so your food will be along shortly." With that he disappeared into the kitchen.

I guess Nanoha's going to be happy to know her kitten is as sweet as she thought she was...a little test couldn't hurt though I suppose.

"I went to an in-service two weeks ago and they said that the homeless rate is usually much higher than people think." What a great segwey! I couldn't make it more awkward if I tried. I should at least ask a question she could answer! "I..ah...didn't think this city's would be so high."

"I'm glad they give you things like that to read. It's good to know what happening in the community." Fate perked up and smiled. "Many people think about homeless people as only those they see begging for change on the street or curled up in an alleyway but there are many others that are homeless but you wouldn't know it because they are moving from couch to couch every night and.." Fate noticed Hayate watching her intently "I..I'm sorry for talking your ear off."

"Hahaha! I asked the question. It's not your fault you know the answer. Haha."

The waiter came again placed their food in front of them and was off again, the diner having become slightly more busy in the mean time.

Fate placed a napkin in her lap and picked up her spoon. "In a nutshell, different groups measure homelessness differently so their numbers could be very different. Maybe the article you read had a broader definition of homelessness so their numbers were high."

"I see." Hayate took a sip of her drink and just watched Fate. She was clearly very hungry from the way she attacked her soup. "Do you need help with anything?" Hayate took a taste of her soup. It was salty but good. She couldn't help but take several more mouthfuls.

Fate looked at her with titled head and a questioning look on her face. "No."

Hayate sighed this time. "Come on now. You were waiting for Nanoha a while in the scorching sun and you look...you look like a mess."

Fate's lip trembled and her face exploded once more with blush. She shakily took a bite of her salad and a sip of her drink.

"Do you have somewhere to stay tonight."

Fate continued eating, her eyes flittering across the advertisements across the street. "N-no," she said softly her bangs hanging over her eyes. "I was hoping Nanoha would let me stay with her another night."

"You're welcome to stay with me...if Nanoha doesn't turn up...or I could drop you off where ever you'd like to go."

"I'd like that."

"I'm glad. Hehe. It's been a long time since I've had company. I'll have to warn you there could be half a dozen people in my apartment if my family is there but they won't be there all night...and I have a spare room with a bed so you'll be comfortable.

"Do I really look like a mess?"

Hayate scrunched her eyes closed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Nice word choice Hayate. "No...of course not! Your hair is a little tangled that's all."

"Oh, I showered at work this morning but I didn't have a brush...and I had to use soap from the dispenser to wash with...someone must have accidentally left a bottle of shampoo there and I used that for my hair." Fate's face took on its deepest shade of red.

"I've been to college...I've done worse for way less reasonable excuses than all my worldly possessions being burned in a fire. Nanoha loves to bring those moments up...I think that is half the reason I'm so hard on her.

Fate was still hanging her head but Hayate could see a tiny smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"If you're finished we can get out of here. I think I'm going to get a doggie bag for my fajitas."

"Sure. I'm finished."