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To begin with, Walter laughed in Samantha's face at the absurdity of her question. And after that was over and done with he reflected for a moment and replied.

"I'm not sure...lemme go check."

And walked to the back.

"Can I get a water?" Aveda asked, turning to Elena with a very grim expression.

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Samantha blinked, startled by Walter's reaction to her question. She bit her lip slightly as he said he would check and walked to the back. With a sigh she glanced over as a young girl asked the other bar tender for some water.

Elena nodded. "Sure," she said, pulling down a glass and filling it with water. She handed it to Aveda, wondering why the girl was so serious. It was a little unnerving.

Samantha narrowed her eyes slightly at the man seated a couple seats over, then her eyes widened as she recognized him. She hesitated for only a moment before walking over and tapping on the man's shoulder, wondering if there was a chance she could be mistaken.

"Excuse me," she said softly.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Aveda turned around to see before Sydney had time to react, wondering why Sydney was so suddenly popular.

"Yeah?" Sydney asked, turning to look at her. He stared blankly at her, wondering if Elena had put something weird in his drink.

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Samantha saw Aveda staring at her and gave the girl a small smile. "Hello," she said. "I'm Samantha. I'm an old friend of . . ." she looked back over at Sydney hesitantly. "Sydney's . . ."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Heh, small world," she observed, wondering where the heck Walter had run off to.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Yeah." Sydney said, mistakenly thinking that Samantha was introducing herself to him like he wasn't Sydney.

"How're you?" He asked, hoping she'd note the resemblance at some point.

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"I'm doing well. Just in town for a writer's conference. . . . How are you?" Samantha asked. "How is . . . Kira?" She hoped she got the girl's name right. It had been so long since she had seen the two of them . . . it was hard to remember sometimes.

"Can I get you anything?" Elena asked the girl.

Samantha shook her head. "Oh no, I'm just waiting for that guy to come back." She gestured absently to where Walter had disappeared, still watching Sydney curiously.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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Sydney was suddenly distracted from the awkward situation by a vision of his ex-girlfriend as a mass murderer that killed her victims by writing their name in a notebook that was dropped by a death god...and then he realized that a simple name mix-up was really not that big of a deal.

"She's okay." He said slowly, trying to come back to a place of reality...never really a strong point for him.

"They aren't together anymore." Aveda said firmly, looking definite on that point.

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Samantha kept her face carefully impassive, unsure whether or not she should be glad or sad about this news.

"And who are you?" she asked Aveda with a kind smile. "A cousin or some such relative?"

Elena wondered who said "some such" anymore, besides old fogies and poets.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"I'm his girlfriend." Aveda said with confidence.

"No you're not. She's not." Sydney said quickly, pretty sure that'd be a criminal offense if anyone believed her. He decided he needed to actually wake up and deal with the situation that he was beginning to feel like a minority in.

"She's a friend. Just a normal friend." He explained, looking at Elena and Samantha.

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"Oh, okay," Samantha said, looking a little confused.

"Suuuure, whatever you say," Elena said with a knowing smirk.

"It's nice to meet you," Samantha added, trying to save the situation from being any more awkward.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"That would be illegal." Sydney said, hoping Elena realized that just because he was a crazy that spent every night in a bar it didn't mean he would do anything so insanely horrible.

Aveda shook her head, wondering why men had to be so false.

"You in town for long?" Sydney asked Samantha, trying to change the subject.

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"Only a week or so," Samantha said, debating within whether or not to sit down. "The conference is two days long, but I wanted to spend some time with relatives while I was here. I haven't seen them in a while. . . ."

Elena stifled a snicker at Sydney and glanced into the back. "I'm gonna go see what's taking him so long," she said to whoever happened to listen before heading into the back and calling out to Walter.

"What's taking so long?!"

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"Oh, yeah. How're they?" Sydney asked, kinda wishing Samantha would sit down so he could stop feeling like he should stand up.

"Huh?" Walter asked, looking over from where he was talking to his identical twin.

"Heyyy." Lynn said with an irritating smirk.

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Samantha decided she had better sit down before she started shifting weight like she was uncomfortable or nervous. She took the bar stool that was next to Sydney and sat down slowly, trying not to feel out of place in the bar.

"They're doing well, thanks," Samantha said with a smile. "How's London and your dad?"

Elena just stared for a very long moment. "Oh--" she cursed loudly. "You work here???"

Thomas looked up at the sound of his cousin's voice, grimaced, and then turned his music higher before continuing his washing of the dishes.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

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"They're good." Sydney shrugged, trying to think of something to add to that but failing as the subject fell flat.

"You like the work still?" He asked, grasping at anything he could think to say.

"Yeah, how do you think Walter knew about the openings?" Lynn snickered. Walter wished his brother would drop dead just then.