Topic: Trace Elements

Dhorgood · Date: 2015-06-27 07:16 EST

Song playing on headphones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjn6FKU6I1E

That brackish air greeted him and he met it without distaste. The Dockyards sprawled around him and all the old, familiar smells from that of the wind-warped brine, the steel of the ships and the smell beneath that which struck him as rotten and wild and ancient. He smiled against the brisk air tightly as his fingers worked the buttons of his sleeves, cufflinks winking in the starkness of a smoke-grey midday sun - and began rolling them up each arm. He took his time, doing each with blunt, short nails, as if it were a job requiring meticulous attention, and when done, he bent down and looked at the concrete before him. He smiled as he stared at it. A shake of the head, he curled a fist and began madly working its side at the dirt that obscured what he knew to be hidden, his lips thinned and determined until the initials bore by sticks in once-wet cement glared back at him. BJ. AJ. Always.

Under the fedora, faded brown, always worn and the only article of clothing that showed its age, headphones were blaring. It was a means of focusing entirely on the train of thought that had brought him down here at all, after the mental walk-around in the filing cabinets for hours and hours and hours on end had depleted his ability to be innovative and connect the dots. No shouts from men unloading the ship, no irksome gulls screaming around his head, no interruption at all. Just his senses and the music.

The documents he had pulled might as well have been blank, for all the information they yielded. Andy Jacob hadn't been arrested in five years and his brother Brentan hadn't appeared on any article whatsoever. By all accounts, all written ones anyway, the Jacob brothers were operating in the one environment without deviation. There had been no unusual behaviour from either of them, no mention of related history, or prior offences. Brentan was now a manager, and Andy had no known affiliation to any of the networks he had once been a figurehead for. It bothered him, that the papers he drew were stark white. One after the other. No reports from departments. No tickets, no fines, no jay walking or double parking, no gambling or involvement to raise nary an eyebrow. Andy was unloading and loading the containers. He had been watched by an Eye for eighteen months after the Orpheum fire, and after appearing to have cleaned up, the surveillance was weaned away until there no record on him to state anything other than a check-in required for all former criminals four years after the crime in their whereabouts. His community service had all but obliterated his rap sheet. Heil had taken this walk down here to pull something else from the world. He had found loose threads before. Andy was a rat - clever, cunning but not always careful.

The initials in the ground held his eye. He couldn't imagine the men being boys that were friendly with one another signing their names forever in the ground. Most of their adult lives had revolved around these yards, the context of one another close at hand seemingly out of a shared job, and for Andy, he had been loading and unloading casually at obscene hours for the rate since he was seventeen. At some point, the brothers, now so diametrically opposed, had been close. And they stamped their names into the ground. A branding, a reminder, and something now forgotten. It never was a detail he understood, from his prodding and poking into their pasts. He wondered if it was more a vague family pride. Jacob Forever. Their father had run the South-Quarter for some years until he became too physically incompetent to do so. Brentan despised his brother and been a direct informant, via Madi Rye, for a few years. A year out from the Fire, Brentan had been making warnings. Andy was working a way in with the West crowd, via dodgy young Michael, who had wounded up wearing a rope for a necklace in a hotel room when someone had decided he had helped enough. Andy had run back to town at the prospect of that happening to him. And, presumably, according to reports, attempted some semblance of a normal life.

Heil didn't believe it. Any of it. He had seen Andy in the window when Andy tried to chase Madison, that rag-doll version of her, to her death. He was right in then, the Orpheum was active, and then bang. Fire. Nothing? Since when did he and his give up like that? It didn't wash. When he stood again, the last notes of the song buzzing in his ears, he grit his teeth and swept his eyes across the water line and the vessel sitting over to his right. It did smell rotten. That smell, that was how every turned paper had been. Every line he caught and pulled. He stood in the brackish air and tried to enjoy it, it was, at least, a break from the labyrinth under the Watch and all the filing cabinets that had given no fruit. He lowered his head and looked down at the initials again, like a man determined to divine something from the inscription. A paper tumbling over it. The thread he sought would be with Brentan. It was a clear thought, a feeling to follow. He felt overwhelmingly certain of it. It would be a risk. But start with the brother... perhaps Brentan did mean more to Andy than Heil had ever guessed and it was the only way in. The only way in, for now. With a final look around, hands in the pockets of his trousers, and his head racing, he turned and made his way back up the hill that dived from the eastern most point of West End and towards the docks. All he could think, on repeat, were the same five words. The same five words he had promised himself, Madison, some time ago. He hit - skip - back - play - on his cell. The song started up again.

"I'm coming to get you."

Dhorgood · Date: 2015-06-28 06:48 EST

Three years ago.

A level down, Heil was confusion wearing a green jacket. Too much had taken place too soon, though what had he expected, for the fire to wait for him? What he had not expected was the advent of numerous guards, which to his sheer trickery, had led them on a wild goose chase - he had worked backwards through the building, starting at its centre and heading for the roof before heading down again, then there had been the crying children he could only watch run, the dark featured man and the girl down the hall who seemed as unlikely in this building as he. But now, what he had done did not matter so much as the consequence. What he had seen, what he hadn't been able to fix... the flames were stealthy, they came on red feet and he couldn't stand there and try and fathom these things. So Heil ran, too.

The next floor up, Andy fought with the waif, forcing her against the sunset colored glass. That single moment of comprehension shared had only angered him more. "You are coming, get out that window."

The roof had begun to cave in, the blown window resembling torture, all shark-toothed and raw. Madison's palms bled as she was pressed against the ledge but she no longer struggled, her voice distant, softest, it fell like rain. "Save yourself, this is meant for you", and something in that stopped him. Maybe it was the faint echo of her clear-water drawl, the summer and cotton that was the girl he had caught.... he let her turn around for a moment, dumbstruck, and realised all so much far too late. "Madison."

The girl used his moment of weakness to weave around, shove him towards the mouth of glass, and dived away. It was a propelling explosion, black on black, it blanched the blue out of the sky and sizzled it charcoal and ash.

Heil in his dash heard that name, the one that conjured things, it was too profound to be something to ignore that name, her name .. Madison - the detective stopped just as the floor above gave way. The walls around him trembling. He didn't have time to fathom these things. Others were in the building and they would die while he ran out. He knew the exits. He had paved the consequence and now walked it. Through low clouds of destruction out he ran.

Andy Jacob swung against the hollers and screams of the crowd that had gathered below, his grizzled face taut as he struggled against his makeshift trapeze, an arm wrapped around piping, the rest of him scrambling in a naked grip against the brickface. The Watch were providing a net should he fall, he was three stories up now and the floor above was tumbling. He clambered down on threads of anxiety. Officials and nurse staff moved straight for him. There was nothing left of the fourth floor. Not anymore.

Dhorgood · Date: 2015-06-28 21:16 EST

"18.15. Another day in paradise..."

Heil spun in the squeaky, high-backed chair he had commandeered from the old office of his former manager, about the only chair worth sitting in even if it was noisy. He stared at the ceiling drably and paused, he wanted quite badly to start laughing, though it was beyond him why. Perhaps because it felt to him sometimes that he was a knick in a record, doomed to keep skipping on the same spot. He never did understand why it was the Jacob Brothers had managed to be such a thorn, and to always crop up. How it was that a greasy lunatic had somehow networked that well that he had been considerably lucrative when he was active as well as protected. It had the air of a silly game to it now, and if ever a large case came upon his in tray, he would lift a brow ever half-expecting Andy's name on the file. He was tempting fate doing so but he felt expectant for the bastard's influence and the fact he did believe he was stuck in time.

While he had come to love Madison Rye for her friendship and team work during her early days in town, and her efforts which he could not look past, he sometimes wondered if it was her presence that signed him to that fate. It was preposterous he knew, but then, it was Rhy'Din indeed. And things had a way of evolving that he anticipated would always be somewhere on the insane scale - and it was why he wanted to laugh. Here he was again. The environment determined his involvement - whether it be Madi's history or the fact that his jurisdiction was West End South, and the Docks. And it was that Andy operated there. He tried to reason with himself. Coincidence... it wasn't that. It was business, it was random selection, there was no symmetry apart from him believing it so, with the remaining emotions he felt for the brothers evident after the fire. That damn fire!

"Another day in paradise.... and nothing has come up yet. Checked the rosters with help of a bird named Thelma down at the office and Andy hasn't missed a shift in the last two and half years." That didn't leave a lot of room for masterminding. He was working two shifts, most days. The Eye who had been assigned to Andy hadn't turned up anything odd in the man's route to and from work for the time he was watching, the only break in his routine was the occasional trip to Midnight Star to get his johnson sucked. His blood tests had been clean. It was troubling.

There was always something illegal being trafficked. Such was the nature of the shipping industry - there were a 101 ways to hide something. The spate of drug related incidences had spiked, but he couldn't draw any lines to his favorite fox. Yet it seemed that it had steadily grown since 2012, of which was the beginning of Andy's return to the game. It was such a long shot, he wondered if he really was kidding himself. But his gut was telling him to listen to it. He smelled smoke. There was fire somewhere out there. Was it Madison who had taught him that - to pay attention to the stomach. While a logical, rational woman, she had always hit home the importance of being instinctual. It hadn't kept her out of horror, but it had kept her alive nonetheless.

"Thelma said there's a fellow might do well chatting with. Been around a while. Crispin Ashwood. I will make a visit in the next few days to enquire. Bob is coming down on me on this one. He's sick of my Jacob obsession and said I need a line in the next fortnight. Can't tell him that I know with my stomach that there is an involvement. I can't tell him that I can smell smoke. That I know that the same thing is going to happen again and again. That I know I'm going to end up at paying a visit to Rye and getting a rundown on everything that ever happened between the Orpheum, her, Andy, Brentan. If anything, she's going to be able to jog my memory, connect some dots. She'll do it. She'll always have one foot in this world. Even if I have to hang off it to get an answer. I'll visit her too. But, first, the Ashwood guy. A f*cking non-human I am told. Another monster or angel or gargoyle.. everyone is a f*cking fantasy novel in this goddamn city."

He quit rambling, thumbed the button to -off- and sat forward. He stared at the table. "F*cking merry go 'round. Can't get off this thing." He pulled on his hat and walked to the window. Looked out it to the sprawl of the city and the distant sea. "F*cking around and around and around I go."

Madison Rye · Date: 2015-07-01 05:16 EST

The previous afternoon, after a long day at the bar adding finishing touches to the common area walls and bar area, Madison had made a point of suggesting that that night she would spend in Cadentia. It was true, she was in need of spare clothes, to fix a load of laundry and the house given a once over. Even if it was being sold, it was still a refuge, strange-old wooden fortress, and it needed to be tended to. Tag, Penny and her had gone for an ice cream at the market before a hug was given each and a peck to Penny's freckled-dusted cheek. While the girl lifted a hand and drifted fingers amongst the chimes and coloured glass sun-catchers of a stall, their rainbow reflections moving across her smiling face, he and her had taken a linger standing close with twined fingers, just breathing. Noses drawn against one another's, and finally, a kiss, which like all of them, was rich with newness, and an after-feeling, somewhere between an opiate and the dizziness after a fast-whirling ride. There was hunger, for the absence to be of one another that night, but it was spoken only in the meeting of eyes. As she walked off to fetch her newly purchased, second-hand bicycle for the ride home, she felt the occasion of guilt in her body.

One, she didn?t want to be apart when he and Penny were getting used to her within the house and the nightly routine, the often lively conversations and dinner. And she, for so long, had known only the sound of the wind.

Two, she didn?t like that she had agreed with Heil to do what he asked and omitted the fact from conversation when explaining her run into him. A single question couldn?t hurt, and it was a favour for an old friend, one who hadn?t ever turned away and had always extended his assistance. Still, she hadn?t enlightened Tag with detail, other than a passing mention that Heil had stopped by the bar before he had gotten there midday one afternoon, to see how it was going and wish his best.

Three, she had promised herself that there would be no more of this.

Heil had been frank about matters, and that he was doing some looking into. Following a sensation that he couldn't stem except to explore - like a ruptured artery and it would bleed him dry otherwise. Madison had warned him ? that there was no looking into the Jacobs? and walking back out, not so simply. And, should she agree to make an enquiry, that that would be the far end of her interaction with his work. There would be no roaming West End at odd hours trying to turn a hunch into a reality. Those days for her were over, and it was a point on which she was stubborn. Heil had looked at her pleadingly, and on the agreement that it was only that one favour, she agreed. Clyde, the person in mind for such a request, was ... well... he was Clyde, and though an oddity to be sure, an oddity with a far-reaching network and insinuated well enough within the environment from which elements were beginning to become something.... still only an impression, but something.

And whom was Clyde, precisely?

Some years back, they had made an acquaintance over cigarettes on the porch at an inane hour. Both on the back of weird times and hours kept only for the view they afforded. He was an eccentric young man, was Clyde Morris. They had formed a deal of sorts, to be eyes and ears as their work, though opposite sides of the game, touched at the same places. It was casual and rarely did any information come from it to lead to a break through, but Madi had kept him in mind, because the docks were his market, and there was no telling where one connection might go.

Madi had sent the text to him as soon as she had gotten back to Redemption and put on the first load of laundry. It had taken her a short while to work out how to compose, let alone send a message, but his number still sat in her notebook, and it wasn?t until that moment, six or so years later, that she had utilized it. The paper was scrunched and the pencil had mostly faded, but she could just make it out. The first text had to be clarified, as she had signed off as M. Sitting forward on the chesterfield, arms wrapped around knees, staring at the thing on the coffee table, she had waited and waited for his text to confirm, and when finally it chirped and buzzed, she leapt out to fetch it as though she had been burned, to flick the cover and behold the message.

?Yo Madi-girl. Yah, I?ll be there. Docks at 730.?

Bringing the phone to her throat in thought, she pressed the cover to her chin to shut it and pondered on what she was doing. There was a sigh. There was the hope that this was as far as it would go. Clyde could be trusted, but that had been the Clyde she knew. Was it a mistake to try and get a name off him, or to even ask for his ears, when it was all so at odds with everything else she was setting up in her life. It was just a quick meeting, it was easy, then she?d go. Tag wouldn?t have to know that she?d set a foot in the game for half an hour max, and she could feel like something had been made right between her and Heil.

When she reached the docks that very next morning at 7 15, she gave a quick prairie-scan of a look around, kicked the stand, rested the bike against a lamp and walked over to sit down on the bench nearest. Peeling, pale green paint that splintered at the edges. There was a wind coming off the sea that threw her hair in ribbons across her features and it smelled to her like stale salt, rusted steel and unease.

Guilt was still gnawing, and her gaze squinted at the distance.

Madison Rye · Date: 2015-07-02 22:57 EST

The message came from a number unknown, but the sender later clarified; the name always brought something to his belly, like a molten sword in his guts that burned not furiously, but rather willfully, for she was many things, but wilful most certain of all. A triplicate of orange planes stretched out from the dawnings star. The first reddened the sea, the second the docks, the third the sky. Skirting up in fit denim and a simple, black pocket-T, that phone balanced in his palm. He grinned a jagged grin. "Long time, gunslinger."

She had felt his approach but remained staring at the sea, hands bunched in the pockets of the just-too-big army jacket. She was smiling, though. Eyes eventually turned with a cheek and a peer at him through her hair. "Long time." Madison's phone was hidden about her person somewhere. She still didn't really know how to operate the damn thing. That Clyde had even received the message at all was nothing short of a miracle. "Long time indeed." The corner of her mouth quirked, as if to comment further but there was a deciding against it. She drew to her feet and took a step towards him, and kind of just stood there, unsure whether to extend a hand or go for an embrace. They were very different people now. How would that translate?

It was an impasse shared between them both for sure, but her hesitated step was judgement for Clyde, who wouldn't stand for monochromatic awkwardness of any sort. He threw his right arm over the girl's shoulder, looped her neck for a brief embrace. His smile was full. Yep. "But I ain't one for pondering, mostly because my brains start to steam when I do." He was not one for delays. "So what the f***'s been up, Madi? Anythin' new or exciting?"

Her frame shuddered with laughter as he sliced right through the bullsh*t. Her hands rose to land on his shoulders, and she moved with the embrace. A step back, pale hands adjusted the jacket around her, and found the deeps of her pockets again. One curling about the hot little coin inside. A dark brow rose as she glanced around. It was a summoning of words. "Yeah, kinda sorta. Always is, huh?" A tight little smile. "You been keepin' well, Morris?" Giving him an upward nod that ask he spill his beans. Weight shifted from one foot to the other. Without her gun, her bravado, and her hair all tumbled down and wind-wild, she seemed.... smaller. Rightly unlike the Madison he last saw. There is a sense in her of change. A peacefulness that sits in her eyes where once stormclouds brewed. From the small distance between them, she tries to read into him what she can.

The dark ruffian hoisted the razor brow over his left eye when she queried, as if the question was rhetorical; the smile that slice up his cheeks forbade the existence of bad days. A quick spin tuned him against the railing; his back pushed in, his arms crossed, and his eyes flicked away towards the blocky uniform of houses and shops on the dockrow. "Sh*t, I ain't never had a bad day in my life, Madi-girl." One of those murky yellows eyes slipped her way; his cheek was minced-up by the intense grin cutting into it. "Been doin' alright for myself, I guess. Runnin', gunnin', killin', thrillin'. Ain't nothin' new for an old boy of the block."

Watching him, she found she was laughing again. Clyde was always theatrical in his way, and having been absent of it for a number of years, it was something to see again. There came a tilt of the head as shoulders hunched and she chewed on her lip. "You look a lot ... uh.. happier? That the right tune? It's good to set eyes on you. You always were findin' trouble." Relief threaded her words. It was genuine . Madison inhaled the briny air, it might scrub what concerned her from her mind and from her mouth. She didn't want to think about, nor even speak aloud, what Heil had brought to the Penny Moon's front desk. The look on her face was slowly changing as she watched him. "I don't have a lot of time... but I did .. I did need to be seein' you for a reason." There was a grit of teeth as she moved towards him and stopped a few breaths away. Daybreak eyes were on his and holding. "I need you to do me a favour." There was guilt in her features. For having to beckon him out for more than a meet n greet. But he had to know, had to, that a text from Rye out of the blue was... on account of bigger fish. There had been a wonder on the ruffian from time to time, but following up on it had seemed out of place with the nature of their mutual interests.

Madi's jovial reception was a quick-dose narcotic. Soon Clyde was laughing as well, in that hissy little way with his head spinning right-to-left. And being of opposite poles, it was only now, with her concerns cleansed that his would foam and toil. Turned to face her, his eyes tawny scythes, he flicked his chin up. "Women", he complained sardonically, and with that shaking head "Ain't never satisfied with a, "hey, how the f**k ya' doing, man?' Nope, always needing something." He squashed the act with a slippery smirk and again plucked his chin. "I'm kiddin'. Whatcha' need?"

The hunch of her shoulders brought higher. She began looking around them again; it was her conscience, it was the location. A habit from an old life that had seeped into the corners of her nature as she stood before him in this shadowy haven. Another stolen breath, and she brought her eyes back to his. She smiled for his smile. "I'm sorry... I'd love a drink sometime? This.. .. why I'm here..didn't know whom else to start with... I don't really wanna be involved in it. I can't be, but... if you can just..." She exhaled again and lifted a hand to her forehead like it pained her to even be standing there. "Just... uh.." Her lower lip pushed out a little. "Can you be my ears? Down this way. Remember the name Jacob? Andy Jacob?" Goddamn, she really didn't want to be even saying that name. It was calling down the devil.

No prevailing emotion overtook him. Slowly, perhaps even serenely given his brashness, Clyde turned away and plucked out the box of cigarettes that was stuffed in breast pocket of his shirt. He snatched one out, bit down on the filter and lit it with a cheap orange plastic lighter. A smoke was taken in private, despite company. Full bolts of steam fired out of nose. And after a moment, eyes on her now: "Tell ya' what", I'll trade ya my ears for your tits. Always wanted a pair; nothing crazy, just wanna stand in front of the mirror and jump around for an hour or two. Do you womens do that? You should." A thoughtful nod.

Again, the sarcasm diminished, but not before a self-indulgent chortle. His expression hardened. "Can't say I know any Jacobs, Madi. But I'm sure I could. What's up with this guy? He gunnin' for ya? Current lover? Old lover? Owe you ten crowns?"

Her eyes all but hang out of her head at his words. Fingers running down her face to fall, arms crossing over her chest. "Clyde." Dry as a creek-bed midsummer. That brow was arching higher.

"Jacobs.... Andy and Brentan work here, at the docks. Both have a history with the hard stuff. Andy rings no bell with you? At all? And hell no, is he a lover - of past, present, future." Madison looked physically stricken at the mere thought of such a prospect...

"You still pushing?"

Suddenly Clyde was the one whose balance was tested. Both eyes widened considerably when Madison questioned his past business endeavors. Past endeavors that were yet to be truly 'past'. "Well, guess I wasn't keepin it close to the vest",he chastised himself. For a moment, and with that pin smoldering under his lip, Clyde interrogated his memory. "I really never dealt with any big fish", he admitted with a wry look sporting bloated cheeks. "My sh*t began when I decided to knock-off a dealer that used to sell me a thing-or-two, nothin' hard, don't judge me, just a few pills to take the edge off. Not like he was a good dude at all, kinda' an idiot that I decided was too dumb to keep on keepin' on. I didn't wanna put iron in his brain, but things went wrong. Anyway, I just wanted his cash but got a payload of pills instead. Ended up in the market, but.. Andy Jacob. . . I feel like I should know it."

"You shouldn't and if you don't already, then forgot this happened. I ain't goin' into it." She drew teeth across her upper lip and hands went to her hair, holding the mass of it back from her face. Blue eyes were at sea, adrift. "I don't want to put you on the board if you're not even on it. Thought last I knew you were..." eyes to his again, past the smoke that trailed into the air as the cigarette glowered, "a little more involved. I presumed wrong."

She stepped away and turned on the heel of a scuffed boot. Hands roved back through the sleep and forest of those dark locks. She blew out. Tension swarmed throughout her. "Just forget the name." Madi could get that way at times - it was something she was working on. It was an urgent need for her to get away from a situation. Where she could be alone, could be still, and breathe.

A bassy chuckle ricocheted around his tobacco-blackened throat. Clyde threw his arms over the dockrail and let his gaze trickle over the lacy crests of silver swell that glimmered on the face fiery sea. "Sorry I ain't the hardcore, drug-pushing nutcase you always hoped I was, Madi-girl." He didn't take his eyes off the stirring magma sea, but his grin was easily read. "And how can I just do that? It's like when someone starts off a sentence with, 'no offence', then proceeds to say the most offensive goddamn thing imaginable. Just saying,?forget it' makes me want to remember it more. And obviously somethin's botherin' ya, elsewise you wouldn've said anything. So? Where's the beef?"

Her nose wrinkled as she fought against a laugh, pulling the bicycle away from the lamp it rested upon, and swung the toe of her shoe to nudge the stand up. She walked the bike over to where he stood with his sea-bound eyes and cigarette smoke and just grinned, shaking her head. "I only took you for a nutcase, nothing else." Eyes closed, that grin just got a whole lot bigger.

"Look, if you can just.... just keep those savvy ears of yours against the beat? If you see, anything, in your... line of... leisure? You tell me. Text me, or leave a note at the Penny Moon in West End."

"Tch. You could at least buy a boy dinner before showering him in affection, Gunner."

Cheek turned a little, and she looked at him from the corner of her eye, before down to the wheel of the bike, the way the spokes were beginning to make shadows on the broken concrete. "No gunnin' for me anymore."

That seemed to be the most severe admittal thus far. Without them revolvers she did seem considerably more demure, but Clyde didn't see it as a detriment, rather a turned phase. Snapping his cigarette away, he pushed himself off the railing, smoke flooding his broken lips like the exhaust of an old, muscly v8. He nodded. "Alright. I'll do it without pesterin' ya for anymore information. Ain't promising nothin', but I'll do what I can."

"Please.... no word of it, to anyone."

"Swear it. I ain't as dumb as I look. But I am, strangely, as handsome as I look."

That corner of the eye look returned, though sharper. Madi stepped over to give him a light punch in the arm and a rub of her knuckles to the side of his head. A chuckle. "You're a piece of work."

A smirk. "Just a bit. Like to keep things light; brings the light away from my crushing depression. Which is a joke of course, I'm f*****n' jolly. All. Day. But besides all this bad business, what's new? Anything? Ring on that finger yet?"

"Thank you." Leg over the bike, fingers curled around the handles. She smiled to him warmly. "You're a piece of work alright.... but a loyal friend." A pause at his question. She looked at him, open-eyed and a tilt of the head as he continued. "Me? Married? Maybe one day.... if he doesn't run off screamin' by then." A twinkle in her eye. "Sellin' up my old house, though. Gonna be movin' in with him... can you believe it?"

"You want me to answer honestly?" A clever little wag of his eyesbrows and a smirk later, he said, his head again shaking, "I don't. Not callin' you a liar, but hearing that you're settling down in one place for a time is hard to believe."

She gave him a look. It was a knowing of why he said it, and her knowing why it just wasn't true any longer. All the decisions she was making were solidifying that feeling inside her. She was different, now. "I think.... it is not so much about... place. As much as a person." She let the words go, and thought about the way it was to say them and for those words to really be her own. "He's home, Clyde."

Clyde offered a winning smile before turning back to the churning fire of the big ocean. "That should make sense to most people, but I ain't had no success. Maybe the problem is that it's hard to love someone as much as I love myself. Maybe I should just marry myself? Live in a cardboard box under a bridge down by the river. It's financially sound and I could be with my one-and-only."

"Just haven't met her yet."

Watching him as she sat back on the bike. The wind sending her hair in all directions.

"Oh, I have," Clyde corrected with a swift, knowing nod. Again he twisted so that his back was pressed into the railing. With his elbows suspended over the banister, he nodded as a second stage of confirmation. "Problem is I'm incapable of figuring it all out. Love and all that I mean. It's like that crazy Japanese lettering, all dangerous looking; sharp and confusing. Love is supposed to be instantaneous they say. I think it's the opposite and I might be too impatient to ride it out."

Eyes squinted at him in the glare coming off the water and the morning sky. "Takes time for some of us, Clyde. Heck, I have known Tag for five years." Something to reassure. "That said, it shouldn't feel dangerous or confronting. You should feel..." She sought the words, a hand to her heart, fingers curling against her tee. "Like you're home. It's the only way I can explain it. Those first, soft, early feelings when you were a kid... that feeling of home? It's what love should be known as. Familiar and not. Safe and electric." She paused, with a grin. "I'm borin' you ain't I?"

Eyes thin, Clyde let the woman's words flow over him. They were indeed soothing, meaningful and very much on target. And yet the anamoly was true. "Home for me is a backalley nap in the shade with a handful of hot bullet shells biting into my back. In that regard, I may be broken. And no, you ain't borin' me, Madi. I've just been up for like nineteen hours. If I fall asleep on the docks, don't let anyone steal my cigarettes, please."

"If I still had my horse, I'd give you a ride." Morris on horseback would be a picture to write home about.

"No guns; no horse? You're a brand new thing, huh? But I suppose as long as you've still got that wit and a good stomach for alcohol we can remain friends." A shuttersnap wink.

"You take care. Maybe... just shoot me a text anyway, okay? Let me know you're alright. We will get that drink, too. Still got a taste for whiskey." A wink in turn, knee rolled forward, and she maneuvered the bike into a crescent, and then pushed off, for the road. "Eyes high, ears low, Morris." A parting look over a shoulder. A smirk. Knees pumping, she took off into the building day.

Madison Rye · Date: 2016-04-27 07:49 EST

Tag had insisted Madison take a long, hot, relaxing bath that night which she took him up on without argument. She lay soaking, a hand over the edge dangling a fifth of whiskey, trying to let the tangles and barbs of recent weeks drift away. There was only the sounds of her breaths and the water lapping against the edge of the tab, the muted sounds of her family beyond the door - Tag having a tea towel mock-fight with Penny and then the cry from the bassinet. The sound made her shoot bolt upright every time, a wince crossing her face, when she would hear the sound of Tag's feet across the floor and the immediate silence that followed as he took the babe in his arms. There was guilt, in having a "break", when he worked, took care of the children, managed Charlie's along with Fin the further along she got and had slaved over the addition to the house. It had been a hectic, huge period for them both and he deserved time out as much as she. But, that night, he demanded she take hers. "Go", with a smile as he led her by the shoulders to the bedroom. He leaned over her to run the tap and encircled her waist with an arm, pulling her back against him. "I'll join you later."

"Oh... I can't."

"You... can't?" He raised a brow at her looking her face over for some sign of why that would not be a possibility, as she turned to fully face him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, hands clasping the back of his neck. She breathed in and with that breath, him. The smells of dinner, of cut grass, of salt and dust. A smile crossed her features and then with apology it faded.

"I've got to drop by Heil's, to thank him for the other day. Got him a small gift. I promised."

Tag sighed and shifted a little, his arms loosening their grip around her. "If you must.. but.. I will be up when you return. The offer stands."

He played at serious with those eyes and smiled, though it really was more a grin. His intimation not lost on her as she laughed huskily and drew in to take a kiss more passionate than he expected. It was a moment that lost its sense of time until Penny yelled out, stubbing her toe on the side of her bed. Tag's eyes remained closed as he leaned back, only opening after he sighed. "Duty... it calls."

"Thanks baby..."

He nodded. "Enjoy it... you need it. We need it..too." Dark eyes pointedly glancing at the bath. It had been a while since they had really connected, with their schedules, a new baby, renovations and house sales. The mere thought of them in the tub sent a tickle up the backs of her legs and one that curled in her stomach with a hot-poker of a stab. One that then faded, cooled.. at the thought that he might fall asleep early. She hoped he would be awake when she got home.

After her soak, she threw on a tee, an old vest she'd dug up from the bottom of one of the chests to come from Sara Road via Eli, and a pair of loose, faded jeans. Boots last, flat heeled and creaky. She kissed each of her own on the way out, damp hair hanging in heavy tendrils. Whenever she was like that, Penny would call her a mermaid, and insist on running her hands through the length of it. "I want long hair too.. just like that." She'd describe, paying attention to her disheveled hair in the way that Tag always had - slipping ribbons of it through their fingers. Their shared interest in it made her laugh. She lingered at the bassinet, fingertips rubbing soft circles into the child's chest as it gurgled quietly. "Wish I didn't have to go.....", she exhaled, her shoulders drooping. "I'll try not to be long, babe." Tag rose from the couch to stand beside her. She got to her feet and looked at him, her eyes meeting his deeply for what had felt too long. He smiled, like he saw what she had and twined fingers with her. A tea towel, from his battle with Penny the Perilous, still draped one shoulder. It occurred to her that she loved him best like that -- at home, in his element as a Father. How provocative she found it to see him being hands on with their life, building it new, mending what needed it, attending to Penny, to the child, to her. "I love you."

"I love you too", he responded, before looking at the door. "Go.. sooner you leave, quicker you're home. And I want that bath." He smiled but it was all in the sable of his eyes. It made her smirk. Then, she was out the door. He watched her from the window, a hand on the tea towel. He felt .... distant, apart, from some aspects of her life still, he realised. From the Glenn character and the West, even though he had visited Lofton and felt he knew it, there was still so much to know. What had transpired with the lawyers, this Foley stranger... She was still a woman who had a life, or a part of their life, that had not met his entirely. He wondered if that would always be so. If it would process or remain a negative glimpsed only in certain lights. The dark man watched until he could not make her out in the night beyond any more. And as always, he hoped she would return safely to him, with her mysteries intact.

Dhorgood · Date: 2016-04-27 08:22 EST

Office of Heil Franz Dhorgood
Block Twenty, Unit 154, West End

"A... heist? With the Watch presence lifted, isn't that a little risky? And why the fuck are you telling me?"

Andy laughed maniacally, which was just how he laughed. He sat forward on the chair and ashed out his smoke haphazardly, all machismo and mania. "Look, I like you. Always thought you was an okay guy, know what I mean? I ain't ever had issues with you. The bitch, yes. So, I'm happy to jive with you man. And we can help each other."

Heil made a steeple with his fingers on his lap and sat forward, regarding the man before him seriously. "Which is why I am telling you, you need to tell Foley that ... heists... in Rhy'Din? Not a likely story. It's... reckless. The Watch will be on that like lightning. I'm telling you, Andy. And..." he broke his hands apart and raised them, rubbing at his jaw, "please... don't refer to my good friend as "the bitch"... she's not, and it's offensive."

Andy almost threw him, miming doing so and vigorously shaking his head. "Fine, fine. But she's more trouble than she's worth. Heard all about her goin' apeshit at the sell the other day. Why do you keep straight with that woman?"

"We are here to discuss Foley... so I can help you. Not my relationship wit Rye. Told you, she's off the table here."

"Well.. can't be so, Goody-boy. I'm telling you that Foley has some interest in ya missus. She's ripe for the pickin'."

"What.... do you mean by that pray tell?" Heil seemed alarmed but tried to hide it, working the look from his face as he sat back in the chair, leaning to one side to reclaim the glass of mezcal from the floor. He took a sip and watched the joker king rave on.

"... and so, what I think, is that he's gonna be basin' some kind of... operation out of the house he bought from her.. that's what I think, and what I think is usually on the money, bro." He tapped the side of his head, lifting his brows, like Heil should be impressed.

Heil shrugged. "Sounds like to me he's only real interest in her is ensuring he gets the house... whatever his intentions for the purchase of it are. And, as happens, Glenn Douglas is a happy byproduct of that sale. Like calls to like, Andy. I don't think there's anything to read into and I have been convincing Miss Rye to do the same."

"Ain't you learned nothin', Detective?"

Andy leaned in, his voice lowering. "Ain't nothin', nothin' in this crooked fuckin' city is a goddamn "happy byproduct", making inverted comma's, with his fingers, then clicking them and shaking his head. "Nothin'. I think he's got purposes for her. He can milk Douglas.. maybe, I don't know. I don't know the guy, only saw him the other day for a little. But what I do think is that Foley gonna work that shit."

"Work that shit, huh?" Heil echoed sarcastically. "Can't you ever just say what you mean instead of this street code bullsh*t slang?"

Andy cackled and got up, began pacing around the room.

"Look... Imma going to ..to look into this. All's I know is something is gonna be operatin' outta that house he's bought off of the bi--, Rye, and that he's got these small time ideas ... robberies and the like. This Friday in fact, I'm meant to be the chauffeur."

Heil exhaled and was the one shaking his head at the talk. He took another sip and watched Andy pace around his office.

"I don't know you or her gots to worry about anything. Maybe he wants to stir the pots a little, or piss her off, but I don't see why. He's got what he wants, he's got that house. Now.. about the shit you like, I brought some.."

"I'm good... I've still got some of what you dropped in last time. Look just... text me if anything comes up. And, I'll keep the Watch off your back, specifically, for the time being. I'd appreciate it if you pay close attention to anything pertaining to Madison, however ..implausible or erroneous it seems."

Andy shot around, nodding, working a cigarette out of the stained pocket of his tee shirt, a lighter plucked from his jeans.. "I'll do what I can... can trust me... I'm a good rat."

The detective got to his feet to bid the man adieu. He watched him intently for a long, long moment. Then smiled, suddenly. But it was absent of mirth. It was the feeling of trust being pushed. "I know you are."

Andy smiled like the devil. "Night Goody-boy. Say hi to Madison for me."

Heil walked over to crank the roll-away door and let the mole out. "Anything you hear, anything at all. Text my disposable..."

Andy gave him a peace sign, an upward nod and took off up the alley.

Madison Rye · Date: 2016-04-28 06:18 EST

The office of Heil Franz Dhorgood... two hours later.

Madison didn't knock this time. Instead, she cranked the door herself until it gave her enough space to duck underneath and waltz on in. She looked the small room over. Empty. But the smell of Gucci Envy was drifting in the air which meant that the detective had a date. She grinned and walked over to the desk he kept downstairs - once where he actually worked before transferring his workspace upstairs, and now housing a few eight balls, a scratched up lap top and a few empty bottles of beer. The bottle of Laphroiag was placed down on the table. Turning around, she noticed the mostly empty glass by one of the beaten wooden chairs. She bent down to inspect the glass, lifted it to her nose for a whiff and was met by an odour that made her eyes widen. It was then, she heard him.

He was leaning on the staircase looking at her, his shirt buttoned but no tie (yet), pants and no belt and socks and no shoes. His hair curled at the nape of his neck with moisture. The smell of his cologne and soap had followed after him. "Hey Madi... how long you been here for?" His tie pulled around his throat as he took the last few stairs.

"Didn't hear me? That door isn't exactly quiet."

He shook his head. "Was in the bathroom. I don't bother locking it if I'm home.. figure if anyone wants to break in they're not gonna get away with much."

Madison shrugged with a nod and took the chair that had been Andy's earlier, swivelling it around to straddle it. She looked down at the second empty glass. "...Andy?"

Heil bent to scoop up the rest of the mezcal before deciding against it and placing it on his table, when he noticed the whiskey. A fat pink ribbon was wrapped around it. "Yeah.. Andy. Uh... what's this?"

He turned to face her with a querying look. "Nice ribbon."

"Nothing much. Just wanted to thank you for helping out with the sale. All the fuss... I know you've had other things going on."

Heil looked again at the bottle, wondering why she had pursued her questioning about Andy, then smiled and placed it down. It was only a matter of time. "That would have cost you a few pennies. Lucky you sold up, huh." He winked and walked around to sit himself down behind the table, doing up the tie, before reading for a belt coiled in a drawer.

"I mean it. And... suppose it's an apology, too. For the way things .... fell the other day. I... I just..."

"You were surprised. You've been stressed... new baby, selling a house... I get it. It's okay. I'm just glad it's over and done with and nothing... took to fire afterwards. All was pretty calm by the time we got to the street."

"Only because you pushed me into a coach."

Heil chuckled and nodded. "Had to. I was worried I'd be paying your bail if I didn't."

That had her laughing too. They sat shaking their heads and watching one another across the room.

'"... So, you gonna try and catch up with Glenn, after that all? Hate to bring it up, Madi.. but... It wor--"

"No...."

"No?

"You look surprised."

"Well.. I am."

"I was going to... then I decided against it. Not worth it. It's what he wants. He wants me to seek him out so we can fight again or have another... another conversation that goes nowhere."

"But.. you two were previously meeting up?"

"Yes... but that was a couple months ago. I've got a family, Heil. I can't keep runnin' off at night to have chats with my ex-lover. Tag wouldn't be comfortable knowin' that has been the case. Even if.... it's old blood, old business. It ain't okay."

The detective watched her still. "You really not gonna go seek him out?"

"Really."

"Apart from the family..." he searched her face, leaning forward against the table, a hand taking up a pen and drumming it against its edge. "No other reason?"

"Last time I saw him, he went off on the tangent he was takin' last time... when he kept disappearin' on account of ... whomever..I don't even really know and his old jail buddy, Morgan, kept tryin' to deter me from seeing him."

"Threatening to hurt you if you followed?"

"Along those lines."

"Would he... really? Or is he just.. baiting you? He likes trouble."

"I don't know, Heil. Who would know? I thought he was long gone. I thought he'd be a memory. Then he walks back into my life and says he loves me and in the same conversation that he's gonna kill me."

"He said.. he said that? Why now?"

Madison shrugged and looked down, draping her arms over the chair's back and shifting forward. "I have no idea... maybe because... it doesn't really matter. Because he may love me but he knows now.. because I've got a baby, it can't happen. So whatever he feels... love or hate.. in the context of... us havin' a relationship... it doesn't really matter."

"That's convoluted."

"It's Glenn."

"And do you love him?"

"Yeah. I do. I loved him a lot and I always will.... but that love is a different shape now. One day it may even cease to be."

"How does Tag feel about all this?"

"I keep him out of it. He knows... who Glenn was. But knows also who Glenn isn't."

"Do you know where he went, after the tower collapsed?"

There was a shake of her head. "Another piece to the puzzle."

Heil twitched a little and looked down. "Whatever you decide to do... from here, I think Glenn is more dangerous to you than Patrick."

"So... what are your thoughts on him?"

"My thoughts don't matter. What matters is that Andy is in cahoots with him and that even so... I still think your old buddy is more of a threat to you and this life you're building than Foley, his henchmen and Andy. Whatever is going on there it isn't something we haven't seen, Madison. Andy is ... something of an ... uneasy ally. Hence what you came upon that night..."

She looked apologetic at that, from her response last time, storming off. "I figured you'd taken a new tactic."

He smiled, appreciating her acknowledgment. "Indeed, Madison. But.. look, I've got my eyes, Andy's eyes, on that. Whatever the case, I would pay closer attention to Glenn, then I would the others."

"You trying to spook me?"

"He's threatened to hurt you."

"He says that.... he says it and if he was going to he would have by now. But killing me? What does that get him? What kind of justice does that serve even his wild and far-fetched ideas of redemption. He's a dead man, who can't even find his death and he knows mine won't get him any closer."

"It begs the question of why he would be threatening that. Even if it is empty. Madison, the man is mad."

"Because I know him."

"Do you?"

Madison seemed frustrated as she sat back, worked a hand around to the back of her neck and looked up. "I do... I damn well do, Heil. And I have some handle on his belief system. What he thinks of the world and how it operates. What he means, for killing me, he's already done. Leaving me alone, more times than I can count, when he knew... he knew I was in love with him."

"Ah, Madi... I'm sorry.."

She sighed and dropped her hand. "Don't resent the man.... I used to. I used to resent that I loved him when I knew he would go. And that I hadn't even known what to do with that feelin', when I had been a woman apart for so long. And then... one day... it didn't matter anymore. You know?"

Heil nodded. "Just remember.... spite can incite even a reasonable man to take drastic action. Don't count the stars yet."

"If he does anything, it wouldn't be to hurt me. Not physically."

"Exactly....."

"On a happier note.... how is Tag? How's Penny? Baby Ame?"

"Perfect."

"I got to come visit that kid. Man, the stories I'll get to tell him."

"Don't you dare."

Madison got to her feet and dragged the chair across the room to tuck it in front of his table. Heil stood as she did and pulled on the suit jacket that was thrown across his chair back. Then, he moved around his desk, placing down his pen, to embrace her. They stood like that for a while.

"Thanks... for everything. I'll be alright. You got a date?"

Heil nodded, finally releasing her, though the shadow of concern still filtered through his smile. "Yeah, I do. She seems great. Names Temple. Hell of a lady."

"Better be. You deserve nothin' less."

They smiled at one another. "Enjoy that stuff... it put a dent in my budget." She teased.

He grinned and watched as she walked over to duck back out onto the street. "Come over again.... I'll save it just for you."

"How about you save it for Temple."

"That's an idea."

She waved and stepped out into the evening. He watched the place where she had been then looked back to the whiskey bottle on the table. He picked it up, turned it around in his grip then nodded to himself and walked over to head out into the evening. There was a nagging in his heart. He rolled the shutter and locked up. He looked back up the street, where Madison was still in sight, drifting into the dark of night.

"Be careful, Rye." It was a whisper. It was a prayer. Then he exhaled and relaxed himself, heading off towards the market, whistling as he went.

Dhorgood · Date: 2016-04-29 00:08 EST

Seaside Sam's

In a booth he had often shared with Madison Rye, Heil sat nursing a cognac he had hardly touched and an uneasy mind. Andy had texted me earlier to inform him that Foley was moving ahead with a planned robbery, that night. He gave Heil a time and that the location was "sumwhr in WXD" - so, some bar or tavern in West End... that really narrowed things down.

It was early enough that he didn't feel the need to start wandering around just yet. There would be nothing to supplant at this point, except the range of his thoughts which went unfettered in all directions. He sat making a list of all known bars and taverns in the area and reduced the list down to five which he was certain would yield more to Foley's fancies. Somewhere high end, he anticipated. Somewhere that would flush his back account for all that new wallpaper at the house.

He went to text Andy several times but refrained. Andy usually gave his Thursday to Foley for everything and anything. Thursdays were a night for crime... before Friday and the official end of the work week, Thursdays were usually a little more quiet, but people had their guards down knowing the weekend was near. He had heard it before on other cases throughout the years and when Andy insisted it was going down that night he half expected it. That, or a Sunday made sense.

He went to text Temple, to thank her for a great night and suggest another date, but he refrained. He didn't know why other than he felt the next few days, or weeks, would be full up. He didn't want to disappoint her, he wanted to keep things.... light. Careful. Free of obligation. He liked her, he saw exactly what a catch she was, but he felt inclined to wait things out. Sometimes he wondered if it was because of Madison he felt that way. She had been the most important woman in his life for going on seven years now and he wasn't even sure how that had happened. Why he had avoided dating and kept himself to himself. And to her. As if he might get too complacent if he fell in love. He might relent and lose his touch. He didn't want to get his head full with anything else. Anyone else. At the thought, he felt heat rush over his cheeks and took a hit of the cognac. What the fuckery. What....

He sat forward and shook his head placing the glass down. Maybe it was time, maybe Temple was the time, he step back a little bit from the game. He had a grip on Andy now, Madison was going to be okay... Madison, Madison, Madison. How could he not have realised it?

He looked to his phone and sighed, digging a nail into the side switch to turn it off. It would be hours before anything came alive. For now, he was done waiting and making lists. He stood up, closed his note book against his chest and slipped it into his coat and he made his way out, pulling his fedora on as he went. He had to clear his mind. He had to get her off of it.

Madison Rye · Date: 2016-05-03 08:04 EST

As soon as she set foot inside Seaside Sam's, she knew something was wrong.

Heil was pinstripes and consternation, as usual. But he had his back to the room and had chosen one of the front room tables, unlike their regular spot out back. It wasn't much to go on but it seemed to say that the man was short on time and this wasn't going to be one of their lengthier, more relaxed conversations. She drew up to the table and settled her hands on its top, fingers dragging over a cork coaster, fidgeting with the edges.

"Hi."

He turned, surprised he hadn't felt her presence or caught the scent of her which was unmistakeable - wisps of smoke and the smell hay gave when it's been in the sun. And something else, something warmer, darker that he couldn't ever put his finger on. They greeted each other with a firm embrace.

"So...", she gave a shrug and threw a denim-clad leg over a stool, hopping it underneath the table with the aid of her foot. The coasters abandoned. She bundled up her fists and placed them beneath her chin, waiting, watching, with all of her attention. "Has something else cropped up? Anymore on the bar ro--"

"No... it's not why I'm here. I'll get to that, if you like. But I'd prefer to... make it known why I called you. To meet. Face to face."

Madison made an uncertain smile and lifted a brow. "Alright, Heil." Nodding, to encourage him. He had stopped her train of thought and speech in its tracks. He appeared diffident. Uptight. Vexed. "I'm listenin'".

"I can't ..." he cleared his throat, shifting forward so he could lower his voice and look directly at her, from beneath his brows, his head tilted down just so. "I can't do .. this... us... our business.. I can't continue."

Her eyes widened. She inhaled and nodded slowly. "..Okay. I understand"

He made a face. Rolled his eyes.

"Oh, good, glad you do. Look.. I'm gonna tidy up the loose ends on the case, I've gotten this far with Jacob, then I'm out."

"Out." She echoed. Nodding again.

"Out. Bam. Gone. No more."

She unclenched a fist and laid the palm flat on the surface of the marred, stained surface of the table. Her eyes left his to shift aside, thoughtful, before she gave him her full attention once again. People passed by loudly and once they were far enough away she continued.

"I said, okay. I understand, completely. You need to live a different life. You've had enough of the cases... or the lack of them. Or the lack of success you and I have had, at times. I can't blame you." Earnest, her eyes still slightly wide from his admittance. The palm flat on the table pressed forward, reaching her arm, to take his hand. But he flinched away and shook his head.

"This is why." He pointed at her hand, almost violently. His eyes were angry. She couldn't recall him ever looking at her like that. It made her lean back in her chair.

"This? What? Being friends?"

"Because.. everything, everything I have done for nigh on seven f*cking years, has been for you. With you. And let's not even start with that truckload of wild, nutty sh*t you never exactly explained to me.. you know... with the theatre exploding, you disappearing on and off for ages, some younger girl who looked just like you."

He paused, to gather himself.

"I haven't had a life, or a girlfriend, because I.. keep telling myself it'll make me soft, distracted. But really, I think, it's because after all this time, all we've experienced... I guess maybe, I was stupid enough to think ... at the back of my head", he jerked a thumb towards his temple, his eyes flashing, "that maybe we had something. That we ... we were more than friends. I don't know, Madi. I don't f*king know. It dawned on me... because I wasn't exactly over the moon about this gorgeous, blonde, vivacious, uncomplicated woman... who is into me. Madi. Into me. Doesn't mind the hours I work, the line of work... she likes me. A lot. And you know all I am thinking? Not about taking that bottle of whiskey you gave me to our date. But asking you over to enjoy it with me.

I can't...."

Madison sat stunned. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sniffed back the burning in her eyes. There was a velocity, a force, a heavy rifle of a bolt cutting across the table at her. She could feel the discomfort in her chest. That thickness at the back of her throat. Lowering her hand she could only shake her head. "You... you definitely... can't." She agreed, on hardly a breath.

He sat back then. With the motion, all the weight of his words with him and he let out a huge breath, knuckles rubbing at the back of his head. He even laughed, at the incredulity of what he was thinking, what he was saying.. to Madison Rye, of all people. Madison.

"I... I am sorry that you feel that way, Heil. That... this isn't something that can be absorbed over time and worked through. Even.. attempting to do that." She set her eyes on him. There, right there, she was like the Madison he had first met. More stiff, more wild-seeming, more angry at the world. While she had grown, changed, adapted, the fierce shine was still there. There was a ferocity in her eyes he hadn't seen in any other woman's and it was gleaming. She was blood red and steel bright, moody grey. He didn't like looking at her when she was looking at him like that. She hadn't looked at him like that before. Not once.

"I wasn't ever to suspect what you'e just dumped on this table. And I sure as hell... don't think I deserve to have your anger thrown at me, because you can't be professional.

I appreciate every thing you did, all your assistance, every sacrifice, your time, your dedication. But I came to depend on you because you were there. You were to be depended upon, and me, likewise, for you. And about the Orpheum? All you had to do was ask me. I would have told me. And not promisin' that it would make every sense in the world to you, but I would have tried. But don't sit here, arrogantly, and tell me you're angry because of choices you made. I never made you hang around. I never once guilted you. After Michael ran off, and after his death, I learned my lesson about makin' someone do what I think is right. To hell with good intentions, you can't lead someone else to their life." She lowered her voice. "And I never led you anywhere you weren't willin' to talk."

She ground her teeth. Her breaths deepened. "I ... just... just finish off the damn case. Feed through via text whatever you grab." With wet eyes, she pushed off of the table to storm away, only to pause, and walk straight back. She marched straight up to his side. "You know... coming here today, I was excited about hearing of any new progress. And of telling one of my closest, dearest friends, that I'm gonna get married. Hear me?" Her eyes bored into his as she leant in closer. "I don't have that many I consider close to me, that I've been burstin' to tell this to. My family won't give a damn. And now, I can't even .. I can't even experience the joy of telling you, the first person, my friend, my news."

Her arms hung loose and limp at her sides as she backed off. Tears streaking her face. Heil sighed and went to stand, to move towards her. "Madi... I'm so sorry... that news is--"

She was back to her storm across the room, waving him off without looking back.. and out the door.

He watched her go and realised that things between them wouldn't be the same again. And ultimately, that he had lost her.