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"Seriously?" The girl asked, glaring at Elena under the false impression that she wanted to report a complaint about something already. It had been a day for a**l customers that were ready for to complain about any and everything.

"Never mind, she'll take a blue moon too." Walter said, wondering why Elena had to be so rude. The girl sighed and went to fill the order, feeling her continued attempts at being nice despite horrible customers had fallen entirely flat.

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Elena was surprised for once. "What did I say?" she mused aloud, wondering if Walter was planning on paying since he had ordered for her, or if he had ordered for her to ensure that she would be the one having to pay. Either way she supposed she had better sit down at least.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"You were snappy and abrupt." Walter said, grinning a little as Elena seemed to be content to stay for now.

"I could work here." He mused quietly, nodding at his surroundings. He was pretty sure anything would be better than the insane monotony that he'd suffered through the last year.

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"And by work do you mean actually work?" Elena asked with a slight smirk. She glanced around the place and thought it actually did not look that bad.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Dotty had to strain her neck in order to see who else had the gall to join her party. Why did everyone had to be so tall! When the doctor moved to the side she groaned with the purpose of being heard when she saw who was being obnoxiously nosey. She fell back into her pillows iritatedly.

The cop looked scrupulously at the reporter. "Ma'am, this an investigation," he told her curtly as if that should be enough of an explanation for her to back off. "You don't have authorization to be in here while I am trying--" here he shot a dark look at Dotty "--to get a statement."

Dotty rolled her eyes. "Phffft, you wouldn't know what a statement was even if I hit it over your head. . . "

"Enough of that!" the cop snapped. "Another word like that and you'll be recovering behind bars."

Dotty met his glare with a look daring him to try, but he turned away and addressed the reporter again: "Please leave, both of you, before I don't ask nicely anymore."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane looked partly confused when Chase started arguing with himself, but towards the end when it suddenly dawned on her what he was doing she had to bite her bottom lip to keep her from laughing.

"Um, this was just a kind of get well present," she clarified, picking the present up and holding it out for him to take. She laughed as she indicated to the messy wrapping. "John Luke wrapped it himself."

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"You know if there was a real need for me I'd step up to the plate. I'm always here when I'm needed." Walter said, feeling that strange kinship to Elena that always baffled him. He supposed it was because they'd been at each other's throats for so long, or something. Still, he couldn't stand the thought of her thinking he was entirely worthless as a human, that was just a bit harsh.

"It's just the boredom that gets to me." He said, suddenly very anxious to have a beer in his hand.

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"I suppose so," Elena grumbled, unable to keep from giving him that much at least. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the counter, wishing the girl would hurry up and come back so she could try to ask for the manager again, and hopefully get a better response this time.

----

"Well maybe you should come back later," Alyson said coolly, not intimidated by either Dotty or the policeman. "It's obvious you're not going to get anything out of her today. Not while she's in this state. And if she hasn't been accused of any crime, then I don't see the point in interrogating her like this." She glanced sidelong at Dotty.

"Is she being accused of a crime?"

----

"Oh wow, cool, thanks!" Chase said, grabbing the present and tearing into the wrappings.

Jenna came into the room with a cup of water that she held out to Mary Jane. "That's very sweet of you," she said, smiling slightly. "But you really did not need to."

"Yes, she did," Chase said quickly, looking up to wink at MJ before pulling aside the last of the wrapping paper to reveal . . .

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Hey guys, sorry about the wait." The waitress said, setting their drinks down as she re-appeared.

"You guys want anything to eat today?" She asked, tucking a strand of her short hair behind her ear.

"Nah, I think I'm good." Walter said, briefly meditating on the huge amount of food he'd managed to devour at the sandwich place.

"You guys hiring?" He asked after taking a sip of his beer.

"You have open availability?" The girl asked in return, stepping back to look at Walter and Elena. Walter suddenly felt like he was being sized up by a short waitress with either a very precise beer belly or a baby on the way...either way he felt confident that he was worthy of a job in a small-time bar and didn't deserve to be openly judged by the waitstaff.

"Yes?" He said, trying to sound miffed and failing entirely.

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Elena nodded. "That is why I asked for your manager," she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. "I wanted to ask about an application."

She took the drink in front of her and sipped some, hoping again that Walter was paying.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Oh, well, sorry about that." The girl said, sitting on a stool by them. She breathed a tired sigh and rested her arm on the counter. Walter took a slow drink from his glass, staring at the girl over the rim of it. He glanced at Elena and wondered if she was thinking what he was beginning to suspect.

"I'm Brandy... The bar manager isn't in today, but I'm a part-time assistant manager." She said, extending her hand in their direction. Walter set his glass down to shake her hand briefly.

"Walter." He said, wondering if her name being Brandy was something she'd decided on when she got a job at a bar. If that was the case, he thought that was possibly one of the stupidest things he'd ever heard.

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Elena watched the girl warily, wondering why she was still working if she was pregnant enough to have to rest like that.

"Elena," she said, shaking Brandy's hand in turn. She mentally snorted at the name, thinking it was rather unfortunate she had taken a job at a bar. In any case she seemed to be a lot more accommodating than either Travis or whatshisface.

"Do you get a lot of traffic in here?" she asked, not wanting to get another job where nothing happened.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Yeah, surprisingly the recession hasn't really seemed to affect us here yet. I guess if anything things have even picked up a little, lot of depressed people when stuff goes down." Brandy said, nodding thoughtfully.

"We have open availability." Walter offered, beginning to really hope they could get a job there. Or at least that he could, even if Elena couldn't.

"What kind of experience you got?" Brandy asked, grateful for this excuse to take a break.

"We both worked in a bar for a long time. Then things got so slow...we're working in an antique store now...but it's kind of going out of business." Walter said, wondering if that made them look bad.

"We have references." He offered quickly, hoping their old boss would give them good references even though they hadn't parted on the greatest of terms maybe.

"Cool. Well, we've actually been looking for some reliable help lately. The manager is getting married in a month and I'm kind of tied up with some stuff too." Brandy said, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah, that's pretty exciting." Walter said, glancing at her stomach with a slight grin.

"I've got a son." He said, whipping out his cell phone and sticking it in her face to show her his recently added wallpaper.

"Oh, he's cute... He doesn't really look like you though." Brandy said, glancing at Elena with a smirk.

"He doesn't?" Walter asked worriedly, wondering if she was trying to irk him or if he was being overly sensitive.

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Elena tried not to snort when Brandy said "reliable" and she really, really, really hoped that she did not think the child was Walter and hers.

"We're not together," she said suddenly, just in case. "In case you were wondering . . ." she tried hard not to sound like she knew that was a really stupid thing to just blurt out like that.

"His wife's name is Cadence," Elena went on quickly, trying to save face. "Nice girl. Don't think she needs a job though. My cousin on the other hand . . . you think if I got him in here you could interview him too?"

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Oh, yeah that'd be cool." Brandy said with a flustered smile. She hadn't meant that she thought the baby was Elena's, and Elena's scattered means of denial caught her off guard.

"He doesn't have experience at a bar..." Walter protested, hating Elena a little for adding yet more competition to the pot.

"That's okay...everybody's got to start somewhere." Brandy said, sliding off the stool and picking up Walter's empty glass.

"Besides, that means we can pay him less anyway." She added with a teasing grin as she turned and walked back to the kitchen.

"You think we're getting a job here?" Walter asked, turning to Elena with a perplexed frown.

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"I don't know," Elena said to Walter as she dug her phone out. She dialed Thomas's number and waited for him to pick up. And waited. And waited. And waited.

When he finally did, Elena's bad mood was back. "Why didn't you pick up the phone? . . . Don't get smart with me, just get your butt down here to the bar on Green Street. . . . Because smart mouth, you have a job interview. . . . I don't care if you're in the middle of creating a 'masterpiece,' you need to stop mooching off of me. I've got barely enough for myself as it is! . . . Okay, good."

She hung up abruptly and growled something unpleasant under her breath as she downed her drink in one big gulp.

P.S."Brooklyn!"