A/N: Back! Sorry for the long wait guys! I didn't mean for this to be dragged out as long as it was X) in apology I will try to get the next chapter to you all by Friday or Saturday!
Thanks so much for the great reviews and I'm glad some of you are reviewing this story it's so awesome! Oh and btw to you all who want me to check out their stories I am! Believe me I am! It's just I haven't even had the time lately to work on my own so my apologies if it's taking awhile X(
Even this I kinda rushed it I think but I hope it tides you over! Enjoy! :)
Amy breezed around the restaurant all night. It felt as if she hardly stopped even breaks were hectic with cop cars whizzing by the restaurant at all hours late into the night. The staff seemed to be very tense with the news broadcast earlier that same day and there seemed to be more accidents with food and spillages. More than once Amy had to clean the messes that littered the floor.
Sighing Amy pushed back a strand of her hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. Her eyes were scratchy, probably from lack of sleep, and her arms were hurting horrendously. Carefully she balanced an overloaded tray on the palm of her hand and navigated between the tables.
Placing the collapsible serving table down she unloaded her large tray and lightly handed over the occupants food. Smiling at her, they thanked her as she offered her own forced smile and walked away.
As she turned though, Amy did a quick double take again. It was that same man sitting at the far end of the bar. He was the one that she had thought had been Gabe from behind but upon getting closer to him she had realized her mistake and had apologized profusely to him.
Still Amy squinted at the man again. She could have sworn that she had met him before, or that it really was Gabe. Quickly she shook her head before she got her hopes up. If she did stuff like this, the fragile peace that she had worked up in the last year or so would shatter and she would be left with nothing.
'Better to just think I'm at peace then let this façade shatter again,' Amy thought to herself as she walked behind the bar.
Putting her tray down she could feel a cold prickling on the back of her neck. She knew from just experience that someone was watching her. Slowly she lifted her head and looked around. The same man sitting at the end of the bar was watching her. As soon as he saw that, she had noticed his staring he looked back down to his food and pretended to act as if nothing had happened.
Frowning Amy walked over to him. Standing in front of him, she just stared back at him. Finally, after a few minutes of her just standing there the man looked up at her. He raised his eyebrows at her and Amy had to swallow hard at the memory of Gabe doing the exact same thing to her all the time.
The man stared at her with deep blue eyes, "Yes? You know it's rude to stare."
Amy this time raised her eyebrow at him, "Oh is it? Then maybe you should take your own advice."
This time the man's mouth slightly dropped; after some time he seemed to regain his speech again, "Well I know that you have a chip on your shoulder."
Amy frowned at this and cocked her head slightly to the side, "What makes you say that?" she asked him quietly her voice quivering slightly.
The man shrugged and put down his fork and laid down his paper on the table, "Call it intuition if you will, and you don't seem to be angry with me per say."
Amy seemed to deflate slightly at this, "Your right."
The man just stared at her quietly, "Want to talk about it?"
Amy quickly looked back up at him, "You're kidding me, you're a total stranger why would I ever want to talk to you?"
The man shrugged and held up his hands in a surrender motion, Amy's eyebrows quirked again at the familiar gesture. Shrugging his shoulders, the man folded his hands in his lap and stared at her.
"You don't have to by any means; but I find that sometimes talking to complete and utter strangers is sometimes what somebody needs. Their not judged then and its somewhat liberating to talk to someone that you most likely wont ever meet again in your life," he explained to her as Amy looked down at the floor and chewed her lip.
The man watched her, "But hey you don't actually have to accept my offer! You can keep doing what you're doing but seriously that's not really working for you that well if you're flipping your lid at random customers."
Amy blushed beat red at this, 'He's right,' she thought to herself, 'If Sasha had heard me she would have been seriously disappointed in me.'
Amy nodded her head, "Ok I get off in five so just wait here ok?"
The man nodded his head, "Consider it a done deal sweet cheeks," he replied to her as he cut into his food again and continued reading his paper from where he had left off.
Amy shrugged and blushed slightly again then turned and walked away back into the kitchen. She opened the door to their break room and quickly rummaged around for her cell. Checking the time, she saw that her shift had just ended. Nodding she stuffed it back in and straightened out her ponytail again. Wishing she could change she just shrugged and walked back out.
The man was still sitting in his original place eating away at the contents on his plate. Amy walked over and pulled out a stool next to him. It was the last one at the bar and she finally took into account what he was eating.
Amy's eyes widened slightly in shock as she took in his pancakes covered in strawberry syrup; he didn't seem to mind and cut off another slice as he folded his paper back up and placed it on the table again. Swallowing the last bite of his pancake, he wiped his mouth with his napkin and turned to face her. Amy could feel her eyes stinging at just seeing the pancakes that were once on the plate but she quickly banished her feelings again and gave him her undivided attention.
"So what's up with you?" asked the man nonchalantly.
Amy shrugged her shoulders as she fiddled with her clasped hands in front of her. The man just watched her for a while silently then leaned forward and stuck out his hand. Amy glanced at it and back up to him; hesitantly she reached out and grasped it.
"The names Steve," said Steve as he gave her a wide smile.
Amy smiled back at him, and this time it was a genuine smile, which somewhat surprised her.
"Amy," she introduced herself quietly.
"That's a pretty name," Steve said kindly as he dropped his hand to rest against the bar. His body turned in her direction as his blue eyes danced and popped with life.
Amy stared at him mesmerized for some time. It was uncanny how much he resembled Gabe…Suddenly she was jerked out of her trance by a hand waving in front of her face.
"Helllllooooo?" asked Steve, "are the lights still on in there or no?"
Amy laughed and shooed him away, "Sorry what did you say?"
"Well I was just asking you what you wanted to talk about when you completely zoned out," Steve explained, "I swear I could catch flies in that mouth of yours if you could open it any wider."
Amy slapped him as Steve laughed at her, "I did not have my mouth open!"
"How would you know? You were completely out of it!"
Amy opened her mouth and gaped at him like a fish before she burst into laughter. She couldn't believe that she was actually genuinely laughing at something this man had said. The way he conducted himself and what he said reminded her so much of Gabe! Maybe she was finding something in him that she was clearly lacking for the last year…a friend.
Stopping she gazed at him again, a sad, thoughtful, expression crossing her features. Steve stared at her and cocked his head.
"What's up really girl that's the second time you've done that," Steve said conversationally, "do I remind you of someone?"
Amy sighed sadly as her own blue eyes clouded with sorrow, "You could say that I guess. See I lost a really good friend just over a year ago now."
The man sat quietly next to her and didn't look at her as she explained this; just allowing her to relieve herself of this huge burden that she had been carrying with her for what felt like since the dawn of time.
"See I met him after some rough times that I had just gone through and he really picked me up and made me laugh! He welcomed me with open arms into this new environment and accepted me for just who I was not because he thought he could change me or anything else; he just liked me as me I guess."
"I remember when he would always joke around with me. I always took him so seriously, and I think that was a mistake on my part now. I sometimes wish I could go back and change some of my reactions to certain things but I can't unfortunately and now I just have to deal with it. He always stuck up for me it never mattered what the issue was; and when I say stuck up I mean stuck up."
"I remember one time making pancakes with him, so when I saw you were eating them it just made me want to cry out of all the memories that came back. We sang and danced in that kitchen, he even flipped a pancake, and it splattered on the ceiling! That was probably the funniest morning ever."
"He had a gigantic sweet tooth and I swear it made me and my other friends nauseous to just watch him eat some of the things sometimes but hey it was all in good fun; besides our group would have never been the same without him there…"
After that, Amy had become quiet and shrunk back into herself. She couldn't believe that she had practically unveiled this much to a complete stranger! Was she really that desperate for someone to talk to all this time? Now that she looked back on it probably since she didn't really have anyone anymore.
"You talk as if he's not in your life anymore if you don't mind my saying so," Steve replied cautiously and gently.
Amy swallowed down a large lump that had lodged itself in her throat, "He's not," she just managed to croak out, "he was murdered last year by two men and I had to watch it."
Steve raised his eyebrows at her, "Wow…I don't even know what to really say to that. I mean sorry isn't no where near good enough and it won't bring him back but for what it's worth I am very sorry. You sound like you cared an awful lot about him."
Amy nodded as she rubbed her arms, "I still do to be honest. Sometimes when I'm walking through crowded areas I think for a second that I saw him and I go chasing after that person only to realize that it's not him. Sometimes I swear I can still hear his same laugh and it makes me just want to curl up somewhere dark and silent when I remember it can't be him. I can't even find the people who killed him, believe me I have and it's like they dropped off the face of the Earth. Eventually I had to stop…but I always keep an eye and an ear out."
"So you went to the cops about all this then?" asked Steve quietly.
Amy flinched, "it's complicated," she said dismissively.
Steve seemed to accept this excuse and nodded his head. The two sat in complete silence. Finally, he asked her another question.
"Do you talk to your other friends about this at all?" he asked her gently again his tone soft.
Amy couldn't help but let out a snort at this, "Are you kidding me? I don't even keep in contact anymore! They left shortly after this happened and I haven't seen them since…not even heard a peep from them."
She looked down at the bar table in deep thought as her memory's came flooding back to her of that week of her life. Because she hadn't been looking at Steve she missed the sadness en-gulph his features and his eyes become dull and lifeless as he listened to her.
Unbeknownst to Amy the man sitting next to her wasn't Steve, it was Gabe. The trickster stared at her with incredible sorrow as he listened to his old friend spill herself out to him right now; whom she thought was a total stranger. He knew when he faked his own death just a little over a year ago, it would make Amy depressed, but even he had underestimated how deep her feelings had run.
Gabe had thought that she was disgusted with him to some extent when she found out what he did for a living so to speak, but she seemed to be turning around towards the end. That had made Gabe swallow a large lump in his throat as he remembered the same memory of them making pancakes in his kitchen on the university campus. Hearing her in so much pain and all because of something that he had done to her made him want to rip himself to shreds.
The day when he had been "killed" he had not known that she had seen him and Jazz as well until after the fact. He had made Jazz swear to not tell her anything and to let her just walk away, that it was for the best; but now that Gabe looked at her he realized that what he had done quite in fact could have made it worse. Amy was nowhere near over everything that had happened, in fact it sounded as if she wasn't dealing at all with everything that had transpired.
Staring at her now Gabe could see that his old friend had changed and drastically. She looked more haggard now, her hair was lanker, and her skin was slightly paler than usual. Even her body seemed to be thinner, and not in a healthy way. What worried Gabe most was the look in her eyes as she gazed at him. They looked like two deep bottomless pits or black holes. Gabe knew all too well what a black hole was, and while he understood why God had put them in the universe, like the large recycling plant, he still called them major bitches.
"I'm sorry I have to go," said Amy quickly as she stood up suddenly, knocking the chair away from her table.
Gabe was wrenched away from his thoughts as he turned to stare at her, "Wait why the sudden rush? I thought this was going well."
Amy just shook her head at him, "Listen Steve, your nice and all really, but you remind me too much of him and I just can't look at you. Thank you for listening though and have a wonderful night."
With that, Amy turned on her heel and made a beeline for the door. She ignored the shouts back at the bar from Steve and even Mr. Yoshiro's frenzied shouts for her to not go outside by herself. Slamming out the door Amy walked quickly down the street back towards her apartment.
The streets were unnaturally quiet as she paced down them. Looking in front of her, she noticed that the lights were smashed out down her side of the street. Deciding to cross and walk on the better-lit area of the road she didn't even have a chance as a hand shot out and roughly grabbed her by her upper arm.
Amy didn't even have time to scream as she was roughly dragged down a dark alley and slammed against the building behind her. She could feel her skull let out a resonating crack at the impact and stars shown in her eyes at the force of the blow. A strong pair of arms still held her upright and pinned back against the wall.
Slowly Amy shook her head slightly as she attempted and willed her vision to clear. Enough lighting from the lamp across the street illuminated the alley so that she could see the man in front of her. Her eyes widened as she could just make out the two thugs from the restaurant the other day.
The man holding her against the wall was the louder one. He leered at her with crooked, black teeth and breathed heavily in her face. Amy almost gagged from the stench of it.
"Well would you lookie here," he leered at her, "if it isn't the two faced bitch from the restaurant the other day. You still look good enough to just eat," with that, he pinched her viciously right on her shoulder.
Amy winced at the harsh sting but otherwise did nothing about it. She glared back at him and her eyes became two identical steely flints.
"Get lost you jerk," Amy rasped out threateningly even as her head still pounded.
The first man leered at the second one behind him, his sidekick, smiled back at him.
"Didya hear that Ollie?" asked the first man as he laughed, "she's trying to threaten us?"
The two shared a laugh as the other one rubbed his nose stupidly. The first one turned back to her and glared.
"After what we did to your pretty little friend the other night girly I don't think you have any means to make threats," he hinted at snidely.
Amy's eyes widened at this, "So you two killed Daphne? But why? She didn't do anything to you!"
"Pft," shot the first one, "she was associated with you bitches, it made her just as bad."
Amy couldn't hide the disgust that marred her features as she gazed at the two of them, "Wow so you just killed her because you didn't get what you wanted so now your throwing a little temper tantrum like a five year old; how embarrassing."
The first man snarled and slammed her hard against the brick behind her. He leaned his heavy weight against her until it felt as if she was being crushed and she winced as she felt his large belly press against her frame.
"Were going to show you your place little girl, and before the night is through you'll learn your lesson about playing with the big boys," he whispered to her threateningly as she felt him start to shift against her.
Before Amy could react, she heard someone shouting her name from the opening of the alley. Amy choked on her air as her eyes found Mr. Yoshiro and her heart started to pound; not just from fear of what may happen to her but what could definitely happen to Taro.
'Please not Taro!' Amy pleaded inside her mind.
""Get away from her and leave quietly," Taro said to the two men, "we don't want a fight here or for anyone to get hurt."
"Please Taro leave!" Amy yelled out to him.
"Shut it you!" yelled the fat one as he shook her hard.
Amy felt her teeth clack together and a sharp pain issued from her mouth. Crying out slightly Amy felt the copper, metallic taste of her blood start to fill her mouth. When she had been rocked she had accidentally bitten her tongue causing it to bleed profusely.
Taro frowned at this, "Hey just let-"
"Shut the fuck up old man!" yelled the fat one, "I've had just about enough with you and your little suck up attitude. Ollie get rid of him."
Before Amy could even understand everything that was going on, Ollie shoved his hand into his back pocket and retrieved a silver revolver. Amy's eyes widened at the sleek barrel and the delicate grip of the gun. She looked at Taro and before anyone could even utter another word the gun went off shooting Taro in the stomach at point blank range.
Amy watched in stunned silence as her friend slowly fell back against the wall of the alley. He clutched at his stomach and closed his eyes as his face contorted with pain. The gun was still smoking in Ollie's hand as he blew gently on it and pocketed it again.
"Well done Ollie," complimented the fat one.
Coming to her senses Amy began screaming incoherently at Taro. She thrashed wildly in her captors embrace as she attempted to free herself. She could hear the man yelling at her over her shrieks but she never stopped. Even when he slapped her hard across the face she only hiccupped and kept sobbing and crying out.
Finally, Amy seemed to waste away everything that she had left in her and had become limp. The two men chuckled as they witnessed her give up.
"Now then the real party can start," Amy could hear the man say as she heard the zip of a zipper.
Before anything else could happen though she suddenly felt a sudden gush of wind and fell to the alley floor. Shocked Amy stared down at the floor at the numerous stains and questionable items.
Looking up slowly she noticed that the two men were no where in sight. Slowly she looked over to Taro and saw him unconscious….or was he dead? No he couldn't be! She still saw the faint rise and fall of his chest. Relief flooded Amy's heart as her gratitude welled up inside.
She hadn't noticed till then but another shadow was slightly blocking the entrance to the alley. Amy looked up and saw the silhouette of a man standing there. Squinting Amy frowned as she gazed at him. He looked incredibly a lot like Steve.
Frowning Amy cleared the last of her mind of the dizziness, and fuzziness from earlier and then her eyes really widened at what met her gaze, her mouth dropping open in astonishment. Amy could even have sworn that her heart had stopped.
Standing in the entrance of the alleyway gazing at her sadly was none other than Gabe…whom she had thought to be dead for over a year now.
A/N: So like I said I'm gonna try for Friday or Saturday, but no promises ;p I just got a new Iphone so I'm incredibly busy with that as well but thanks again guys for your patience and support!