A/N: Double updates? Gasp! Surprising, especially from me, I know. But consider it a bit of an expansion on chapter one, because I can't just leave you all hanging on THAT. Who knows, I might just do two chapters a week since one chapter is like... half the length of a normal chapter for me? I'm not sharing the details.

Enjoy the sneaky upload,
D.L.D ;)

Quote of the Chapter:

"Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny."
― Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone

Chapter Two: Bus Rides (in autumn)

Bad days are never good for anyone. All round, Meliodas' bad days always reflect terribly onto everyone else, like tons of tiny dominoes knocking each other down one after the other. Whether it be an unfortunate stranger in the street who happens to nudge into him just a little bit too harshly, or Elizabeth happened to mess up the tiniest thing, the effect was like a bomb. A cataclysmic, seismic bomb.

Only Elizabeth was never at the centre of its true impact.

Frowning, the woman stares out of the bus' foggy window, watching as the city passed on by. It was mid autumn, the trees just beginning to lose their leaves and the ground slowly morphing into muddy, icy sludge. Like exhaled cigarette smoke, the sky was a pallid grey, a dirty, dingy grey, not a ray of warm sunlight in sight. Instead, wind was the main weather of the season, calling for thick coats and woolen hats and scarves, all bright and appropriate for the incoming holiday: Halloween.

Being a native to Britannia, Elizabeth was no stranger to its gelid winter freeze. Autumn was just the countdown to winter, the chance to prepare for the bitter cold before it was too late. But Meliodas, being the complete child he was, often got sick every winter - Elizabeth always tossing a few pennies down the drain to look after him. Sometimes he would get her sick too, dragging her out into the snow and burying her in powdered snow.

Last year they had laid there, side by side, breathing white flakes into the air, noses red as they laughed, their bellies aching, crushed snow melting beneath their backs. Cheekily, he had thrown a full snowball into her face, laughed when she spluttered and wiped the freezing ice from her face. Moments later they were in a full on war, putting the neighbourhood kids to shame with their war plans and battles.

In the end, Elizabeth had ended up bed bound, shivering and sneezing with a terrible winter flu. Lo and behold, followed Meliodas, caring for her, keeping her company, taking away all need for her to lift even a finger. Only when the evenings came, when he needed to leave for work, would he leave her by herself, left behind in the apartment, bundled in her blankets.

When she was sick, Elizabeth never saw any need for anyone else to visit her. With Meliodas' company, with Meliodas' care, she felt that she didn't need anything else. But that wasn't anything new. Meliodas always wanted to hog her to himself; Elizabeth always wanted to hog him for herself. They were interdependent. They coexisted.

Maybe that was why Meliodas always tried to prolong when she would leave for work.

Just as Elizabeth had predicted - just as she expected by now - Meliodas had been a hindrance this morning. A big one. Hiding her keys, trying to convince her that he wasn't feeling too well, doing just about anything to try and get her to stay home had been used. Usually, Elizabeth would humour him. Distractions were never few with Meliodas - especially on a bad day - and he always tried to persuade her into calling a sick day and just spending the day with him. But, tempting as it was, Elizabeth always relented. She couldn't afford to just call in sick whenever she pleased.

Unlike Elizabeth, Meliodas was blessed with a job based on night-shifts, late work, appealing to the nightlife and bustle of the city. It payed good, a little too good for being a bartender, but Elizabeth never questioned it. She never thought she had to when Meliodas always had so many more complex and important questions hovering around him. But, when she thought about his hours, how flexible they were, she sometimes did think to question it. To ask him.

But then, like this morning, she'd remember it was a bad day. Too many questions always jarred him on a bad day.

"Heya, Ellie!" A cheerful voice breaks over the blocked-out hubbub of the bus, a pair of matching pigtails with it. A wide grin is painted on the voice's face, but it falls short into complete surprise. "Whoa, you look like you had a nice awakening! You're practically glowing!"

"Hey Diane," Elizabeth smiles in return to her coworker, noting the increased heat to her face. Had she been blushing all this time? Or was it just Diane's loud arrival? "Do you always assume that a glowing face means I had a good morning?"

"Well, you certainly couldn't have had a bad one!" Diane counters, a smirk inching its way onto her already grinning lips. Light laughter follows it, entirely joyful and bubbly. "Say, did Meliodas do something? You only look like that when he makes you breakfast or does something thoughtful like that."

"That was one time," Elizabeth laughs, shaking her head at her coworker's attentiveness. Clearly, Diane paid a lot of attention into Elizabeth's reactions. She'd have to remember that in future.

A sly smile plays on Elizabeth's lips, "Plus, he's a rather terrible cook."

"Aren't all men?" Diane replied, her own laughter joining Elizabeth's. "King - well, he nearly burned my kitchen down last week. That was actually..." All cheeriness and bubbliness disappears from Diane's face, her lips pursing as she stews within her thoughts. Bitter thoughts it seemed.

Moments seemed to pass as the two women stood there, huddled together in the middle of the bus' swarm, their hands wrapped around the metal poles. Swaying, they knocked into each other like lifebuoys, but didn't say anything. Like lifebuoys in the sea, like cars on a train, they bumped but didn't interact. Not for a good while. Instead they allowed the moment to pass, filled with the chatter and bustle of the city's other commuters.

"Can I ask you something, Els? Just between us," Diane suddenly asks, her voice much lower than it had been moments ago. Serious and solemn, her deep amethyst eyes stare at Elizabeth, waiting for an answer.

"Of course, Diane," Elizabeth nods, losing all of the former bashfulness and blush she had just worn. Instead she is concerned, worried, her brows and lips pressed as she regards her friend. "Is everything ok? Are you and King still- "

"I decided to split up for a while," Diane interjects, quickly. As if in pain her face cringes at the memory, twisting like a wrinkled up raisin. "I didn't want to completely break up, but I just needed a break. He kept... a lot of secrets from me."

"Secrets?" Elizabeth's eyes widen, a gasp escaping her lips. Blinking, she stares at Diane. "How big?"

"He had a whole other life. Back in his home country," Diane says, her voice filled with disappointment and hurt. She stares out of the window, her hand tightening around the pole as she presses her lips into a tight, thin line. "I only found out because someone called last week and asked for a Harlequin. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about until he mentioned some sister of some kind."

"What, Elaine?" Elizabeth ponders, lowering her voice to a much more secretive tone. Cautiously, she glances at her fellow commuters - keeping an eye out for anyone they knew - before continuing. "But I thought she had cancer?"

"She did," Diane nodded, cringing as she adjusted her grasp on the pole. "He didn't lie about that. King didn't lie about anything - but he just didn't tell me the whole truth. That's just as bad as lying, you know."

Another moment of silence slips in between them. This time it is a lot more solemn, a lot more weighted and grievous, Elizabeth struggling with what she should say next. What could she say next? 'Oh, well I'm sure it will all work out' - yeah that wouldn't be a good thing to say. Nor would, 'Well maybe he had a good reason for keeping secrets'. Saying that would just make her seem completely insensitive. If anything, saying anything that could support King may just make Diane feel inevitably worse. So Elizabeth settles for an open question, something that will make Diane speak without feeling anymore horrible than she already does.

Elizabeth's hand shifts on the pole, "So are you going to stay with him?"

Diane's face scrunches a little, pulling into a frown, "I want to Els, more than anything but- "

A bell rings. Groups pile off the bus, all of them racing out the doors and heading toward the towering office buildings stacked across the street. Elizabeth watches them, wondering just how many stops she had left, before she realised something: that stop was their stop. Instant panic surges through her veins.

Grabbing her coworker's hand, Elizabeth tried to shove toward the bus' doors, "Diane, we have to- "

Right in their faces, the doors on the bus slam shut, the vehicle rolling forward down the street - all the way past the office buildings, trundling down the steep hill.

"Oh shit, that was our stop!" Diane exclaims, rather loudly, her expression frantic as she spotted the passing buildings and crossings. Vigorously, she begins to spam the bell button, a series of dings filling the vehicle. "Hey! Stop the bus!"

For the next few moments, Elizabeth watches, frozen to the spot, as Diane forced the bell button down again and again, while simultaneously pounding on the glass window of the bus. All the while, heads turn, also watching and speculating as the tall brunette cursed before pulling her hand from the bell and reached upward.

"You asked for this!" She calls, glaring in the direction of the driver as she ripped open the plastic cover and roughly pressed the emergency stop button.

Abruptly, the vehicle jerks forward, sending people in every direction flying. Children smack into the backs of seats and hard metal poles; workers slide into each other like crates packed tightly on a cargo ship, some tripping and falling onto the ground; and elderly people slip from their seats, eyes wide as they gripped onto the poles beside them with all their strength. Groans and glares were visible from all over the bus and Elizabeth could see that they were all directed at Diane. Only Diane didn't care.

Roughly, she grabbed Elizabeth by the wrist, yanking her away from the angry passengers as she leaped out of the open bus doors. Within moments they were legging it up the hill, carrying their beloved bags within one hand and their lunches in the other.

"Diane!" Elizabeth gasps, mortified as her friend pulls her further away from the bus stop. Behind them, the bus driver was ranting furiously, yelling about how pressing that button messes up the whole vehicle. Below that, she could catch the disgruntled complaints of everyone else - especially a colourful yell from the daughter of an elderly man.

Naturally, Elizabeth cringes at the sound of the daughter's rough words, punctuated with curses and threats. In direct contrast, Diane laughs, effortlessly pinching Elizabeth's bag from her shoulder as the woman stumbled beside her.

"What? I do it all the time!" Diane rolls her eyes at Elizabeth, easily dashing up the steep street. Her shoulder bag bounces on her arm, the buckle clicking every so often. "It's not like we're gonna get in trouble."

Shaking her head, Elizabeth despaired as she tried to keep pace with the more sporty Diane. There was no way that they were going to be unpunished for this; their boss was definitely not going to be happy.