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"Me too, then." Walter said, wondering how in the world that was anything but a we situation. He placed his hat on his head and fell in step next to her.

"What kind of sandwich are you gonn-" He stopped mid-sentence as he was interrupted by his cell phone ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out quickly and put it to his ear.

"Hey Linz. That's...not good. You were supposed to be helping." He frowned, clearly disappointed by whatever his sister had to say. He waited patiently while he listened to her excuses and accusations, heaving an exhausted sigh as his only contribution to the conversation.

"Okay, love you too." He said finally, deciding to hang up during a brief moment where Linzi seemed out of things to add to her rant.

"They have soup here?" He asked, grabbing the door to the sandwich place and yanking it open with a good deal more force than was necessary.

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"Trouble at the homestead?" Elena asked wryly as she stepped into Metro and looked up at the menu board. She had not seen Linzi or Cadence in quite some time, and she wondered what was wrong with Walter's life this time around.

Noting that there was soup, she passed it over without telling Walter about it and ordered a BLT.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Walter waited for her to order, thinking he'd just ignore her comment and order his own food instead. Then while he stood in line waiting for them to get his order of a sandwich, bowl of soup, bag of chips, and three giant white chocolate macadamia nut cookies together it occurred to him that by just letting it slide it might appear as though something were actually wrong. And while he could really care less what anyone else thought about his abilities as a husband, he really didn't want Elena to know what was up since he was sure that would end in her being very smug about the whole thing.

"Linzi is just mad because this guy she likes is madly in love with me. While understandable that he prefers me out of the two of us, it's a little troublesome to always have him messaging me and trying to ask me out. ...And it really burns Linzi up so she's mad at me for being so gosh darned adorable and lovable." He said, shrugging lightly and trying to ignore the ravenous clawing feeling in his stomach brought on by the smell of fresh baked bread.

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"Uh-huh," Elena said, paying for her meal and not believing him at all. She glanced sidelong at him. "I'm sure my cousin would love to help her out. He might still have that giant crush on her." Rolling her eyes, she found a place to sit and sat, opening her sandwich. She realized she should have at least bought a cookie or something sweet to curb her bitterness, but decided that having less food was better, since the quicker she ate the quicker she could try and get away from Walter.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"That's gross. Isn't he younger than she is? I'm not down with that at all." Walter said, shaking his head as he carried his heavy laden tray of food to the table and sat across from her.

"Besides, if anything came of it they might lose their minds and decide to do something insanely stupid like get married and that would make you and I like...related." He said, glancing up at her and wrinkling his nose at the idea.

"I think it's pretty clear that such a thing would end in utter disaster. Let's just let Linzi figure her own mess out." He suggested, tearing the plastic from around his disposable soup spoon.

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"Hmm, isn't Cadence like, ten or so years younger than you?" Elena asked rhetorically. "You'd better watch your mouth, Walter. You're starting to sound like you're speaking from experience with that marriage thing. You and Cadence have a fight?"

She tried her best not to snicker, as that might be hitting a little too far below the belt.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"It's different if the guy is older." Walter protested, waving his spoon threateningly at her before he realized what he was doing.

"I'm just saying that a marriage that would result in our being related would be disastrous." He added, though he was pretty convinced that marriage in general was designed to kill feelings between people that cared about each other a lot at some point. Religious freaks that came up with it simply wanted all happy couples to cease being happy and become miserable like the rest of the world, so they invented the institution of marriage.

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"I suppose so," Elena said with a shrug. She picked up some lettuce that had fallen onto her napkin and stuffed it back in the sandwich. "Although it's not like we don't spend an insane amount of time together anyway. I mean, I think you spend more time with me then with your real sister. Eh, you really need another job." She shook her head and continued eating.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Well you're all cats." Walter said absently, finishing off the last of his soup in record-setting time. He picked up his sandwich and bit into it, thinking how perfectly marvelous food was. Women might be entirely hopeless and all wind up to be nagging drags, but food would always be amazing. And the thought of that constant in life brought him some comfort in the face of his currently miserable situation.

"And the job market isn't exactly booming right now. Why is that so hard to understand? I think I should go back into bartending. We got paid more to do that...and it was comparably entertaining. Just gotta find a bar that needs workers...and doesn't want positive references." He mused, thinking the prospect wasn't a realistically hopeful one at the moment.

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"We could always go beg old whatshisface at Next Stop Hades to take us back," Elena suggested half-sarcastically, finding it not at all surprising that she could not remember the bloke's name.

"Maybe we should look for jobs in Dittoburg or Ditto Town," she thought aloud. "I mean, they're a lot smaller than Monstropolis, but there might be job openings." She shrugged. "Who knows, there might be a good job out there that we're missing because we're stuck in this boring city." She really was not that optimistic about it, but it made her feel better to say it.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"I don't know if I could live in rural Ditto country." Walter said, glancing up at her.

"Think about it...the economy is bad enough here, you can imagine how horrible it must be out there. And instead of an apartment you'd probably end up renting a mobil home or some tiny one bedroom brick house that old people rent out...and it's gonna smell like old people." He said, feeling nauseous just thinking about those options. He picked up a cookie and ate it before finishing his sandwich, disturbed by thinking about himself having to live outside of the city.

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Like receiving a blow to the gut, Nate had to force himself to exhale at Tyler words. Of course Dotty wasn't "okay." What was he thinking . . . ? Better yet, what did he want to believe was okay?

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he felt like he needed to rephrase what he really wanted to know. "Has she talked about what happened?" he asked.

~~~~~~

Closing the door herself, Mary Jane wandered in timidly, feeling awkward to be received in such a way. Just to be allowed unguided passage into a house was very strange for her, but from what she knew about the Sutcliffs, it wasn't because they were being rude in not showing her in properly. She realized she was going to have to get used to both sides of what was done decorously and . . . not.

Their condo was very similar to her own, albeit the only difference was in clutter and order, so she didn't have too much difficulty finding Chase. She smiled slightly as she approached the couch he lounged in, planting herself off to the side and waving unobtrusively to get his attention from the TV.

"Hi, Chase," she greeted quietly in like response to his loud wondering.

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"Well, I think we should go job hunting anyway," Elena said, brushing crumbs off her lap. "If not in Dittoburg and Ditto Town then around Monstropolis. And we should convince Travis to look for another profession. Antiques is obviously not his thing."

----

Ty's face softened slightly as he remembered that Dotty had been about to say something before they were interrupted by that hospital staff person. If only he had stayed to figure out what it was! With a sigh he shook his head.

"She gave some lame excuse that is obviously a lie. But maybe she'll tell you. She seems to like you better at least." He could help but sound bitter about that fact. "She didn't run away from you." He stepped back and turned once more for the doors.

----

Chase sat up quickly, blushing darkly and wincing at the movement. He reached over to the remote with his good arm and quickly turned down the volume.

"Hey, MJ," he said awkwardly, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Um . . . hey." He glanced down at his clothes, embarrassed that he was wearing his old PE shirt with the big hole in the side (where a white bandage could be seen wrapped around his torso), and a pair of tattered cut-off shorts.

"Jen-na!" he complained to his sister. "Why didn't you tell me it was MJ at the door?"

"Would it have mattered?" Jenna asked sarcastically from the kitchen. "You still wouldn't have been able to get dressed properly in time. And your hair would have still been a nightmare."

Chase touched his hair with a look of hurt, then stood, gesturing to the sofa he had been laying on. "Here," he said sit. Then he realized that it was covered with his soda cans, comic books, and other knick-knacks. "Oops, sorry." He quickly brushed them all to the floor and straightened the sofa cushion. "There, that's better. Sit down." He sat down on the other end carefully, doing his best not to jostle his broken arm or ribs.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

((OOC: Well, since I'm getting less and less time to post more to my little subplot, (plus I'm losing interest ) I think I'm just going to write a synopsis of where this would have gone, and be done with it. Mods, please forgive me if this goes over 600 words (though I'll try to keep it under ).))

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Zacce, Rianna, Chase and Nessie discovered the stasis pods containing the Matoran founders of Ditto Metru. Thanks to Zacce's sonic device, the pods were unsealed, and the groggy Matoran released. As the Metru soldiers escorted the Matoran back to the surface, Chase and the others lagged behind. They suddenly found themselves attacked by an invisible enemy that seemed to be targeting Nessie. The assailant revealed himself to none other than Mek Talko, now a possessed and bloodthirsty madman. He had been tracking Nessie from the beginning of the adventure, and was determined to feed on the young girl, claiming she had great potential for good that had to be nipped in the bud. A vicious battle ensued as Zacce attempted to protect the girl, but though he put up a good fight, Mek had the advantage due to his Force powers. When Zacce was struck down and injured, Rianna stepped in to defend her young friend. Instinctively, Rianna lashed out with a weak Force attack, revealing that she had managed to inherit her father's latent Force-sensitivity despite his disconnect from the Force. Though this revelation was surprising, it was nowhere near enough to thwart Mek, and Rianna was easily defeated. Chase made a feeble attempt to protect his niece, but was easily cast aside.

When all hope seemed lost, Solarflare suddenly arrived and tried to reason with Mek. But the Anzat had gone feral and was too far gone, forcing Solarflare to fight his old friend. The Autobot put up a good fight, but no match for Mek's raw, unrestrained power and was gravely injured.

By this time, Zacce had recovered consciousness, but was unable to get up and intervene as Mek closed in on Nessie. All he could do was pray to Natanel, which he did fervently, begging that the girl be delivered from the former Jedi. As Mek was about to grab Nessie's face, two men, brighter than any Light Essentia, appeared by her side, wielding flaming swords in the name of the All. Mek was driven away, and vanished into the darkness. Zacce and the others were strengthened enough to stand, and the angels disappeared. The crisis was over.

The group returned to the surface, and were graciously received by Galvan Megas and the Metruans. Zacce and Rianna departed, eager to return home to Delantare. Solarflare took Chase and Nessie back to Ditto Town, and then proceeded on to Autobot City, where he learned of the impending upgrade of the Autobots into Maximals. He agreed to the change, and when the upgrade commenced the following day, he took on a beast form of a falcon and continued his search for Mek, refusing to give up on his friend.

Warpath was one of the few Dittotopian Maximals that chose to retain his vehicle form, though he was finally able to accept the change. By his suggestion, Ditto Autobot City was renamed to Maximal City.

The fifteen Matoran, distrustful of the humans at first, soon acclimated to Ditto Metru's new culture and integrated themselves into the society, lending invaluable technical insight, and became an all around peaceful influence to the people of the island.

Chase went on to successfully publish his findings, though he was still unable to regain his job at Ditto Metru University. Nessie continued to help her uncle in his research, and the pair became renowned adventurers, making many more historical discoveries over the years. Nessie and Rianna stayed in touch, and visited one another often, especially when Rianna went on to join Sh'thaura's Jedi Academy the following year.

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Nate blinked in outright surprise; it was news to him that Dotty "liked" him . . . headline news, in fact, that he could beat someone else to the top of her like list. She sure had a weird way of showing it, but now revealed of this care, he decidedly wasn't going to be surprised of anything anymore.

He didn't stop Tyler this time, too preoccupied now with this news of Dotty to try and stop the teen again, but slowly he made his way back to Alyson. Running his hand through his hair, he looked past Alyson, stared at the ICU doors.

"I thought I knew Dotty," he spoke his thoughts aloud absentmindedly. "A troubled kid living with not the best foster parents in the world but they provided for her. I thought all she needed was someone who would listen to her, someone she could talk to. . ." He shrugged his shoulders as he sighed. "Man, was I ever clueless," he muttered quietly.

~~~~~~

Mary Jane started to protest when Chase started to clear a place for her, fearful he might rip a stitch or something, but halted herself when it seemed useless to object his determination to be civil. She sat down conscientiously as in a way not to disturb anymore of the Sutcliff's things. Glancing at them, however, her mother would haughtily debate the definition of their "things."

"How are you doing?" she asked as she placed her oddly shaped present on her lap. She tried not to appear conscious of his bandages and sling by looking squarely at his face and nothing else. That seemed easier to do after she loosened up and smiled faintly. "Sorry I couldn't come and visit sooner."