Spoilers: Only if you haven't watched 7.07 "Ghost of a Second Chance" through to the end of the season.
Warning: Helena Diaz bashing. Character bashing. Ableism. Evil plots.
A/N: This idea popped into my head and wouldn't let me go until I wrote it down.
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"You remind me of somebody."
"…I remind you of someone you used to be madly in love with, but she ditched you for another guy, and you've been carrying the torch ever since, and you saw me and something clicked. Huh?"
~~~~~ John 'Scottie' Ferguson & Judy Barton, Vertigo, 1958, screenplay by A. Coppel & S. Taylor.
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Helena Diaz was still perusing her menu, when she heard a voice say, "Good afternoon!"
Looking up, she came face-to-face with a ghost.
"Shannon?!"
"No, ma'am. My name is Kim. Would you like something to drink besides water?"
She stared at the Shannon look-alike for a moment too long, trying to come to grips with the fact that the woman before her was not her deceased daughter-in-law.
Kim's expression changed to one of impatience even as she smiled. "Should I give you a few more minutes to look over the menu?"
Helena mentally shook herself out of the shock she was feeling and said, "Uh, yes. Thank you."
"No problem," Kim replied. "Back in a few."
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When Helena had left her house that morning, she'd no idea she would see someone who looked so much like Shannon as to virtually be a twin sister of that wretched woman.
About a month ago, she had made plans to meet up with her old friend Judy in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a town about half-way between where they both live. This morning, as she had been driving north towards Cloudcroft, making good time on the 54, Helena had gotten a call from Judy. Her friend had to cancel at the last moment due to her quite elderly mother, Midge, having a bad attack of vertigo, and being unable to leave her alone.
Helena had briefly considered turning around and going home, but in the end she decided to continue on to Cloudcroft. Ramon wasn't expecting her home until around dinnertime, and she thought it would be nice to have a day out. Judy had mentioned shops and had suggested the Cloudcroft Brewing Company for lunch, so she decided to go ahead with that plan.
As she drove the last leg of her trip, her thoughts drifted towards her son and grandson, which only served to increase the irritation she was already feeling due to several unsafe drivers she'd already encountered on her drive. Helena hated that she didn't get to see Christopher as often as she would like, blaming Edmundo for keeping him away from her.
She despised Edmundo's job and wholeheartedly believed that her son should have left Christopher with her and Ramon if he was going to be so irresponsible as to indulge in such a dangerous job. No single parent should have a job where they left their only child with strangers so much of the time. Christopher deserved to be with family and not abandoned by his father for a job that could permanently incapacitate or kill him. Her son had turned out to be such a selfish man, and she didn't know how that could have happened given how she had raised him.
Her only comfort was that when Edmundo finally got himself killed, that she would finally have custody of Christopher. She would finally be able to raise him right and have him learn his place in this world given his cerebral palsy. His father had him believing he could do anything he wanted, but she knew that was simply not true.
Sometimes, she wished she could convince Christopher to come and live with her and Ramon. During their all too infrequent calls, Helena usually dropped what she hoped were subtle enough hints that it was better for Christopher to live with them instead of his father.
She sighed. If only Christopher would come to his senses and come home. She prayed that someday he would.
By the time Helena arrived in Cloudcroft, she was not really in the mood to look around the town but thought doing a bit of shopping and having some lunch might help tamp down the anger and frustration she was feeling towards Edmundo. Someday he would truly learn his lesson and realize that she was the better parent for Christopher.
When she started to get hungry for lunch, she almost didn't go to the place her friend Barbara had suggested, but decided indulging in pizza wouldn't hurt her diet too much.
Being confronted by a ghost from the past in the form of her waitress, Helena couldn't help but wonder if she was being plagued by the devil. But as she ate the Greek pizza she had ordered, Helena began to think her prayers might finally had been answered.
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Before she could finish her meal, the Shannon doppelganger came up to her table with another server.
"Ma'am, I'm going off shift now, but Ferguson will be taking over for me."
Ferguson nodded a hello and smiled. "Can I get you some more iced tea?"
"That would be great," Helena replied. "Thank you."
"No problem," Ferguson said.
As they both turned to leave her table, Helena decided right then and there to go ahead with the plan she had fantasized about while she had been eating her lunch. It was probably a bit far-fetched, and a little too much like the plot of a movie, but she had to try if she wanted Christopher back where he belonged. And Kim just might be the miracle she hadn't known she needed to accomplish that until today.
"Kim?" she said. When the younger woman turned around, Helena beckoned Kim back over to her table.
"What can I do for you?" Kim asked.
Helena smiled. "After you clock out… If I give you $100 cash, would you come back and talk to me for a few minutes? I would like to talk to you about an opportunity."
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The end.
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A/N: Except for the Diazes, the names of the people mentioned in this story are based on the names of characters and actors from the movie Vertigo, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Also, apologies to the town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico (and the Cloudcroft Brewing Company) for making it the place where Helena hatches her evil scheme.
Thanks for reading!
*Please do not repost or use this or any of my other works on another site or app without my knowledge or consent. FanFiction and Archive of Our Own are the only two sites (as AZGirl on both) where my fiction should be posted. Thank you!