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"Mmm, men usually are," Alyson noted, taking a sip of her coffee and trying not to make a face at its taste. Hospital coffee was never the best, and it was hardly good.

"So are you going to go see her?" she asked, looking toward the ICU doors.

----

"It's fine," Chase said, shrugging his good shoulder. "I figured your mom would put you on restriction or something. I'm doing good though, at least, as well as can be expected with a busted arm and cracked ribs and stuff. How about you? How's your face? I mean, in the bruise. I can barely see it now. Does it feel alright? Does it still hurt?" He realized he was starting to ramble again and so he shut his mouth and waited expectantly for her answer.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Nate dipped his head in a short nod, but exhaustion of the day made him too tired to lift it back up and he hung his head as he sighed. "Yeah," he said quietly, "let's go."

Security didn't seem as tight as before when they walked through the intensive care unit's doors, he thought, since before when he came down with Mrs. Withers' they had given him a hard time about sneaking in again. But no one was standing at the ICU entrance; however, when they approached Dotty's room he saw that guards were actually standing at her door now. But it was odd how they had taken up post.

Nate frowned as he paused outside her room and looked in through the window. Peering past the blinds, he saw several people crowding around a bed, all their backs turned to him but from their dress he knew who they were. A police officer, a doctor, and a handful of nurses. The officer looked in charge of the conversation, but whatever he was saying he was careful to speak quietly so no one would overhear. The guards outside looked uneasily into the room occasionally, like dogs forced to heel even though they sense a need to protect their master.

This observation confused Nate for a moment (for weren't they supposed to be protecting Dotty?) until, very abruptly, an angered shout broke out from the soft murmurs in the room. The guards tensed, clenching their jaws against the better judgement of storming the room to tackle the shouter. It would have been harder to explain to their superior their reason for restraining an ailing teen-aged girl from verbally assaulting the people inside than staying out of the line of fire. Although it was very hard to just stand there and let the teen get away with verbal manslaughter.

"Does everyone forget to turn on their hearing aids when they come in here!" Dotty cried hoarsely, exasperatedly at the people around her. Raising her good hand, she pointed viciously at the police officer scowling at the foot of her bed. "Trying to get me to change my statement is illegal according to Monstropolis law. I could sue you and get on the Opal Wonphray show with this kind of treatment you are giving me. And you--!" She swung her finger around to the doctor, the poor man practically cowered under her hot glare. "Don't you have enough common sense to avoid a malpractice lawsuit? I do not want to be treated!"

Someone tried to speak gently to Dotty to try to calm her down, but the poor nurse didn't know that crossing Dotty was a life or death situation.

"No, I don't want ice cream! Do you take me for some kind of brat that has to be shut up with candy? Get out!"

~~~~~~

Mary Jane's hand lifted to her face, her fingertips just barely touching the spot of where an nasty bruise used to discolor her face, and her cheeks colored faintly. She was slightly embarrassed to draw any concerning attention towards herself, and with Chase getting the short end of the stick, she felt herself not worthy of his thoughtfulness.

"It's fine," she assured him, dropping her hand intentionally to reveal only a small scar was left of her share of the accident. "It hardly hurt at all."

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Alyson grinned faintly. "Well, looks like Dotty's doing a whole lot better, wouldn't you say?" She glanced over at Nate playfully before flashing her reporter's badge to the guards and stepping up to the door.

"Opal Wonphray contacted me," she said in explanation. "She wants me to see if the story has any merit. Excuse me." She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Alright everyone!" she called out in an authoritative tone. "If I'm not mistaken, harassing a minor can result in jail time. I suggest you all leave until the patient has had some time to cool down." Here she gave Dotty a look that said Shut up for a moment if you know what's good for you. The police could arrest Dotty too for disturbance of the peace if anyone complained about the noise. And if Dotty did not quiet down soon, Alyson was going to file a complaint herself.

----

"Awesome," Chase said with his signature crooked grin. "So, what's the gift for." He nodded to the wrapped package on Mary Jane's lap. His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh man! Did I forget my birthday?! Aw, man! That would be the second time this year! I'll never forgive myself this time. In fact, I just might find shaving cream in my underwear again. Hmm, where did I put that?" He tapped his chin with his good hand before his eyes widened again.

"I mean the shaving cream of course! Not my underwear. Bad, Chase! You did that on purpose didn't you?" He turned his head to the side as if speaking to a different person. "No, I didn't!" He turned his head back around. "Yes you did! Are you trying to make me look like an idiot?" He turned his head once more. "Of course not! You do that well enough on your own!" He turned his head again. "Shut up!"

He looked over at MJ sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Myself gets angry when I forget my own birthday."

"You're both idiots," Jenna called from the kitchen. "Quit fooling around and act your age will you? We have company for goodness sake."

Chase stuck his tongue out in the direction of the kitchen. "She's just jealous cuz herself stopped talking to her a long time ago," he told MJ seriously.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Yeah, apparently." Walter said, eating another cookie.

"I saw a place down by the Green Street intersection that had a now hiring sign in the window." He said, thinking that he wouldn't wish Elena on the country. She'd get so bored she'd probably start scrubbing the grease off the ceilings of country diner kind of places.

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"What kind of place?" Elena asked skeptically, not willing to take his word for anything nowadays. She crumpled up her sandwich wrapping and stood to toss it into the trashcan. That done, she came back and sat once more, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned back in the chair and waited for Walter's answer.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"A bar." Walter shrugged.

"I'd commit murder to revert back to bartending." He mused, wondering now if he should've told her about it since technically she'd be competition for the position if he applied there.

"Hey, look at this pic I took." He said, hoping to distract her with pictures of his and Cadence's son that he had taken with his cell phone.

"Corey is pulling himself up on stuff now...he can kind of sort of walk if he's holding onto things." He said, grinning as he stuck his phone in her face so she could see the picture.

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Elena was not interested in seeing a picture of Walter and Cadence's kid, but seeing as he stuck the phone right under her nose, it was hard not to. She had to admit to herself that he was a cute kid, but the picture just reminded her of how much she did not have a significant other, so it did nothing to improve her mood.

"Congratulations," she deadpanned, trying not to go cross eyed as she looked at the picture. She then pushed his hand away and got back to the part of the conversation she was interested in.

"What's the name of the bar?" she asked.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"I don't remember." Walter lied, trying to figure out how to set the picture as his wallpaper on his phone.

"Would you testify for me in court if I needed you to? Like, if I was in trouble would you come say nice things about me?" He asked, glancing up at her.

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"Sure . . . if there was anything nice to say about you," Elena said with a shrug, and then frowned slightly. "What brought that up?" she asked, wondering if he was planning on getting arrested any time soon and thinking about how much fun it would be to watch.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"A guy needs to know who his friends are." Walter shrugged, a little terrified when he started thinking about how many people would actually be on his side if he was in a court situation. He couldn't think of that many...and even the few there were would probably ruin their attempts with snide comments anyway.

"I'm done. Want to check out that place after work?" He asked hopefully, standing up and throwing his trash away.

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"Sure," Elena said with a sigh, figuring now was as good a time as any. She thought again about checking in with Thomas but again tossed the idea away immediately. Man, if she continued getting these urges to call him she could be accused of being motherly. She gagged at that thought.

She strode out of Metro and began making her way down the sidewalk toward Green Street.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Walter followed, guessing Elena had decided to go now as opposed to going after work like he'd suggested. Naturally he didn't care if they were super late coming back from lunch, and he was all for a drink at the bar before heading back.

"It's down here on the right." He said, pointing at the bar and grill sign on the sidewalk listing the day's specials there.

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Elena stepped into the bar and looked around, hoping to high heaven that it was more popular than Next Stop Hades had been. She scanned the room for the owner, hoping he or she was not as lazy as Travis and whatshisface, her last boss before Travis.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Walter went and sat at the bar, waiting patiently for someone to come take his order so he could start working on a buzz before having to go back to that horrible place of boredom.

"Hey guys." A girl said as she walked in from the backroom. "What can I get you?" She asked, leaning against the bar.

"If blue moon is really on special, I'll take that." Walter said, planting his elbows on the countertop.

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"Can I see your manager?" Elena asked, getting right to the point. She had never been one to enjoy small talk with strangers.

She stood with her arms crossed, trying not to appear anxious. Really she just wanted to fill out an application and leave so Walter would stay and she could get some peace and quiet.

P.S."Brooklyn!"