(Thread coming from here)

Luckily the man finally stumbled into a building. Emily followed, staying back a little so he wouldn’t notice her. She wasn’t very impressed with the place. It could use a cleaning. She hoped his apartment was in better shape. He stepped up to a door and pulled out a key. Oh how he struggled to find the lock, but he finally put it in. Good man. Step...step…fall. Emily was too slow to reach him before he hit the ground.

Emily dragged the unconscious man to his bed. To get to his wounds, she ripped the rest off his shirt off. There were no bullet holes, but feeling around she could tell something was broken. There was going to be some bruising. But by the look of his body, he already had a few. She wondered where it had all come from. Emily looked around for some ace bandages. After she found them, she lifted him up and wrapped the bandages around his torso. There wasn’t much else to do.

She looked at the alarm clock and saw it was 3am. What was she going to do while he slept? Emily looked around the room. There was going to be some cleaning done. The place was full of empty bottles and cans. Then a shower. Then she would make a real, southern breakfast for the marine. She wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to eat with his hangover and broken ribs, but it was the thought that counts.

The woman looked at the sleeping man. He was quite attractive for a closed off drunkard. She wondered what he was dreaming about, or if he would remember anything that happened that night. Emily hoped he wouldn’t. She wondered how she would explain her presence in his home when he awoke.

She cleaned the studio apartment as quietly as she could. Clothes covered the floor, dresser, and any other piece of furniture in the apartment. Emily wished she could smell. She had no idea if the clothes were clean or not. Well, anything unfolded was going to be considered unclean. She had seen a washer and dryer at the front of the building. Good thing she had many quarters. Then she bagged up the bottles and cans and threw them out. The sink had hair around it. The shower had gross things growing from the walls. She took care of that too.

Her next step was to go grocery shopping. She looked at the clock around and saw it was 7am. Oh how time flies when you’re cleaning a stranger’s apartment. She walked to a place nearby and grabbed food supplies. While she was at it, she grabbed some curtains, sponges, a toilet brush, and some bathroom supplies. Everyone needs a soft place to put their feet when they get out of the shower and sit on the toilet. She bought two matching towels and a hand towel.

When she got back to the apartment she put all the food in the fridge, put the curtains up, and placed the new items in the bathroom. It all matched a beautiful blue. She even found a candle at the store that smelled like rain. The man was going to love this, whatever his name was. She folded the rest of his clothes and cleaned herself up. She put out a clean shirt and pants next to his bed.

Breakfast time. How does grits, hash-browns, bacon, sausage, pancakes, eggs-over-easy, coffee and orange juice sound?

Joe dragged the last bit out of his bottle as he stopped in front of the door to his apartment building and dropped the now empty glass container on the curb. Joe leaned against the front door with all of his weight and the door swung open with relative ease causing him to stumble past the threshold before he could regain his composure. Walking towards the stairs he gripped onto the handrail and pulled himself up the stairs towards his floor. As he walked up to his door he reached in his pocket and pulled, with great difficulty, the key ring with two keys on it. Lifting the keys up to his face he racked back and forth on his heels as he looked at the keys trying to determine which the correct one was. Closing one eye to get a clearer view he brought a key up close to his eye before making an approving grunt, man it felt good to close his eyes, Joe thought as he tried to find the key hole his other eye slowly closing as he pushed the key into the lock and turned. As Joe pushed the door open his other eye closed completely, oh this is nice Joe thought one last time for the night as he drifted into unconsciousness.


Joe looked down the smoke filled street a car lay burning down the road, something wasn’t right though as Joe looked around he saw his men crouched down behind a row of cars lined up to form a barricade guns trained down the street into the smoke. Scanning upwards questions again filled his mind, where was he? The buildings were much too tall for Iraq or Afghanistan as Joe continued his scan his location clicked as he saw a sign for Central Park, they were in New York. Joe’s attention was drawn down the street towards the smoke as the sound of something being dragged and moaning echoing down the otherwise eerily quiet city street. Crouching down behind cover next to his men Joe leveled his rifle down the street and looking through his scope waited to see what was approaching them.

A single man appeared through the smoke he appeared to be severely wounded as he dragged his leg behind himself as he walked it apparently broken and blood covering his mouth and neck. Standing up Joe motioned for the man to come towards him. In response the wounded man raised his arms up and continued his slow shuffle towards Joe and the rest of his team. Using hand signals he motioned for one of his Junior Marines to leave cover and take the man. With instant obedience to his orders the Marine stood and exited cover scanning the area with his rifle as he approached. As he came close to the wounded man he slung his rifle behind himself and gripped the man’s arm putting it over his shoulder. Taking the weight off of the man’s damaged leg the young Marine began to make his way back to cover. Joe kept his eyes on the two while the rest of his unit scanned for other threats in the area. Joe focused on the man’s face, there was something strange about him in the way he stared at the Marine carrying him and suddenly he lurched forward against the Marine and sank his teeth into the exposed skin at the back of the Marines neck.


Joe inhaled sharply as his eyes shot open and the dream faded out of his memory thanks to the alcohol he had consumed. Groaning he raised a hand up to his eyes to rub the sleep from them and again inhaled sharply as pain erupted in his chest. Looking down he saw bandages wrapped around his bare chest and his pants and boots still covering his legs and feet. Dropping his head into his pillow Joe slowly raised his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes trying to recall the events of the night. As he breathed in trying to wake himself confusion began to cover his face, where was he now, the smell wasn’t right the mix of cleaning solutions and food cooking was something that never occurred in his tiny studio apartment and scanning around he tried to see if he recognized any of his surroundings. It was certainly clean so it couldn’t be his place though it was similar in style, had he accidentally busted into a neighbor’s apartment? Joe asked himself as he continued to look around his vision stopping on a slim brunette cooking at the stove.

Something tickled at Joe’s memories from last night, he remembered something about an attractive brunette though what was escaping him and from the look of himself Joe didn’t think he had sex last night. Shifting Joe slowly sat up in bed and twisted letting his feet land on the floor. Well there was no way she hadn’t seen him so she obviously wanted him here so Joe assumed the food was cooking for him. Standing up Joe looked the woman up and down again before speaking. “Morning.” Joe said his voice deep and gravelly as morning worked its way out of his system. Touching a hand to his wrappings Joe winced slightly though trying his best to not let it show on his face. “Rough night? I’m sorry if this is offensive but I don’t really remember all that much from last night so if you could fill me in I’d appreciate it. Did we?” Joe asked hesitantly as he motioned back and forth between the brunette and himself.

The bacon crackled nicely in the pan. Emily knew it must smell heavenly. She had always loved bacon growing up. She added onions and tomatoes to the hash-browns and stirred the grits one more time. She hoped he was hungry. The woman hadn’t made too much food, just enough to satisfy a muscular marine and then some.

She was humming softly to herself as she heard some commotion in the bed. Emily wondered if he had finally gotten up. The sound of, “Morning,” came from the bed. There was something about a groggy man’s voice that brought the best out of Emily. It was extremely masculine sounding. It was gruff and dirty, the way a real man should be. Don’t get her wrong, she didn’t fancy the man. Emily believed that once her heart had stopped beating, she lost the privilege of love and desire. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t smile gaily and speak in her best southern charm. “Well good morning sleeping beauty. I’m glad you finally got up, I was afraid you were gonna sleep the day away.”

She turned and got a good look at the man. Oh he didn’t look too swell. She had forgotten to remove his boots. Emily kicked herself mentally for her infraction. How could she have forgotten something as important as removing his shoes? She guessed she had been too occupied with the bandages, but that was no excuse. Her thoughts were interrupted be a question. “Rough night? I’m sorry if this is offensive, but I don’t really remember all that much from last night. So if you could fill me in, I’d appreciate it. Did we?”

Did we what? Did Emily watch the man kill someone for her? Did she feel like a monster as he stared at her with confusion and disgust? Did they hold each other like no one had held Emily in over one-hundred years? Yes. But she didn’t think that is what the groggy man was talking about

Emily was extremely relieved that he didn’t remember what happened last night. If at all possible, he never would. “You don’t remember nothing? Well isn’t that unfortunate. I guess reintroductions are in order.” This was a lie. Neither of them knew each other’s names. “My name is Emily. I took the liberty of picking up a few things around the apartment. You must be so busy to keep things in such disarray. Are you hungry, ‘cause I made you a little something? I already ate, so this is all for you. Oh! I seem to have forgotten the biscuits! How can you have a proper breakfast without biscuits? If you want, you can go ahead and take a shower while I go out for some. I’ll tell you all about last night once we get a little food in you.”

“You don’t remember nothing? Well isn’t that unfortunate. I guess reintroductions are in order. My name is Emily. I took the liberty of picking up a few things around the apartment. You must be so busy to keep things in such disarray. Are you hungry, ‘cause I made you a little something? I already ate, so this is all for you. Oh! I seem to have forgotten the biscuits! How can you have a proper breakfast without biscuits? If you want, you can go ahead and take a shower while I go out for some. I’ll tell you all about last night once we get a little food in you.”


The woman spoke at a hundred miles an hour Joe had trouble keeping up in his hung over state. Joe raised a hand to his face and tried to rub some of the sleep from his eyes as he tried to process everything the woman, Emily, had said. “Well Emily, my name is Joe and you didn’t have to clean up. If I’d of known I’d have company last night I’d have cleaned. I appreciate it though.” Joe scanned the apartment again it looked drastically different from how he had left it and Joe wondered slightly if he really was in his own place. “I can’t remember the last time someone’s cooked for me but I don’t need biscuits its fine this is more than enough food for me. Why don’t I eat now before it gets cold don’t want this to go to waste.”

Joe had worked with some southern boys over the years and from the stories he had heard getting between a southern woman and her stove was a bad idea so Joe resolved himself to assisting and stepping next to the woman he pulled open the cabinet and pulled out the never before used plate and set it down on the counter. Joe grabbed several other things necessary for eating breakfast and after pouring himself coffee Joe set the cup on the small two person table sitting against the wall and went over to the fridge. Joe pulled out a small bottle of whiskey and the small container of milk out and poured some of both into his cup before setting the containers back into the refrigerator and taking his seat at the table.

“I can’t remember the last time someones cooked for me. this was really nice of you, thanks.” Joe said as he looked at the brunette this was the first time in a long time Joe had even really talked to anyone his time back in New York had just been mayhem it was nice to have a little normality restored. Joe looked away quickly as he noticed he may be making the woman feel uncomfortable with his sudden confession and took a long sip of his coffee the familiar burning of the alcohol warming his bones up.

Emily inched slightly away when Joe entered the kitchenette. She wasn’t going to let him close enough to smell her. She knew the aroma of bacon and other breakfast foods would mask her slight stink, but she didn’t want to take any chances. The woman watched as the marine put whisky in his milk. How strange. That didn’t sound tasty at all. “I can’t remember the last time someone’s cooked for me. This was really nice of you, thanks.”

Emily blushed, well she tried to. Blood hadn’t rushed to her cheeks in a long time. “Oh it was no trouble at all. It was my pleasure actually. It has been so long since I have been able to cook a good meal for someone who could appreciate it. I’ve lived in the Bayou of Louisiana for several years now and the only ones to feed out there are wild hogs, gators, and the occasional cat.”

She sat down across from the man and hoped he enjoyed her cooking. The dust danced in the light beams coming from the window. She had cleaned the window sill and glass. If she could, she would sit here all day. “We met last night at a bar. You were very pleasant. Some men came in. They had guns. The short story is: you took care of them. There was some damage at the bar, so I wouldn’t go back. They may make you pay for the broken pool table and chairs.”

Emily felt it was necessary to sugar coat the actual story. There was no need to tell Joe he had killed a man or any of the other dark details. “You were shot at, but your crystals kept the bullets from penetrating your abdomen. That’s why you have bandages. We decided to leave together and you brought me here. While I was bandaging you up, I spoke to you about teaching me how to fight. I am new to the area and New York is more hostile than anywhere I have been before. I saw how you handled those men and was very impressed. What is your training?”

She leaned her head in a little closer. “You fell asleep before I got an answer from you. I promised you five-hundred dollars a week to train me at least four days a week. We would meet in a place of your choice. If there was a gym you wanted to work in, I will pay for the membership for both of us. I don’t want self defense training or anything weak. I want what you have. Your speed, where to hit, who to attack first, everything. What do you say?”

Joe brought his spiked coffee up to his lips again and drank from the warm liquid as the girl sat across from him. Looking at the food laid in front of him Joe’s mouth instantly began to water as he picked up his fork and began to dig in instantly listening to the Emily while he ate. “Oh it was no trouble at all. It was my pleasure actually. It has been so long since I have been able to cook a good meal for someone who could appreciate it. I’ve lived in the Bayou of Louisiana for several years now and the only ones to feed out there are wild hogs, gators, and the occasional cat.” Louisiana, Joe knew a few guys while he was in the Corps from Louisiana it certainly explained her accent but there was something else about her that Joe couldn’t quite put his finger on that seemed off about the woman and very familiar in the same way. As she sat across from him Joe quickly scanned the apartment as he shoveled food in his mouth, another old habit that would take time to lose from the Corps, he was amazed how clean his apartment was it still didn’t feel like he was in his own place.

“We met last night at a bar. You were very pleasant. Some men came in. They had guns. The short story is: you took care of them. There was some damage at the bar, so I wouldn’t go back. They may make you pay for the broken pool table and chairs. You were shot at, but your crystals kept the bullets from penetrating your abdomen. That’s why you have bandages. We decided to leave together and you brought me here.” Joe was very pleasant that certainly didn’t sound like him when he gets drunk especially considering how his mood was going into the night. As Emily continued he slowed and stopped eating a piece of egg hung from the fork midway between his slightly parted mouth and the plate. Something tickled in Joe’s mind as she spoke raising up the hint of familiarity.

“While I was bandaging you up, I spoke to you about teaching me how to fight. I am new to the area and New York is more hostile than anywhere I have been before. I saw how you handled those men and was very impressed. What is your training? You fell asleep before I got an answer from you. I promised you five-hundred dollars a week to train me at least four days a week. We would meet in a place of your choice. If there was a gym you wanted to work in, I will pay for the membership for both of us. I don’t want self defense training or anything weak. I want what you have. Your speed, where to hit, who to attack first, everything. What do you say?” Joe put the fork back down to the plate as she asked him what kind of training he had and when she propositioned him to teach her how to fight Joe’s eyes hardened as he stared at her. He didn’t like the idea of fighting a woman but the money she was offering him was almost to much to give up especially considering the state of his ribs right now he wouldn’t be able to get back in the ring for a while.

“Just buy a gun or something, it takes years of dedication and practice to hone your skills to a point where I am. Not to mention I have better things to do then walk you by the hand through everything. You couldn’t even handle having me as a training partner to begin with.” Joe couldn’t afford the time to take on a training partner if she was going to be weak and give up, so while Joe would feel bad about it later this test of her will was necessary. Shoving the plate away with anger Joe stood and began to make his way towards the bathroom forming a small crystal blade cutting the bandages off as he walked. Stopping at the door way he stood bare chested his chest shades of purple, yellow, and red from multiple bruises.

“Better yet just move back to the Bayou with your gators, New York isn’t a place for a nice girl like yourself to be. I’m goin to shower and then I’m goin to the gym, I don’t expect you to be here when I get out.” Joe was very clear in his wording he wanted her to know what his plans were if she was truly determined she would be to stubborn to let the opportunity go by. Walking into he bathroom he saw how clean it all was and felt bad for how he was testing the woman but turning on the shower he felt the need for it. Letting the shower warm up Joe walked back out into the bedroom area and quickly pulled out a few hooded sweatshirts and several pairs of sweatpants and basketball shorts in case the girl stayed she might need something to wear to the gym, her current attire maybe not the best for training. Walking back to the bathroom Joe quickly finished stripping and made his way into the steaming water.

Emily sat there in disbelief. A dark rage slowly grew in the pit of her stomach. How could he? Didn’t his mother teach him any manners? There were untouched pieces of bacon and other food pieces on the table. He hadn’t even touched the grits. She slowly stood up and cleared the table. She did the dishes quickly and put the left-overs away in the fridge. They wouldn’t be as good heated up. They’re never as good when you have to heat them up. How couldn’t he have even tried the grits? Just one fork-full?

She focused her attention on Joe. He had escaped into the bathroom. She could hear the shower going. If she was any less of a lady, she would storm in there and give him a piece of her mind. Emily imagined herself forcing the rest of the food down his throat. But is a passing thought, she would never really do such a thing. The bandages lay strewn across the floor. The southern woman picked them up and threw them in the garbage. Could he not even throw these away?

She noticed the clothes on the bed. It then occurred to her what he had said. Her focus had been completely on the unfinished breakfast. What had he said again? He was going to go to the gym. Well then, so was Emily. The sweatpants would fit around her waist, but they were way too long. The gym shorts were too short. Though they reached below her knees, she was uncomfortable wearing them. Her best bet was to wear the sweatpants and roll them up. The hooded sweatshirts were way too big for her. She decided on a t-shirt. Emily was glad she had done his laundry.

She would follow him wherever he went. Emily is not the type of person to take no for an answer.