Chapter Twelve - Part Two

“I mean, you did go away with him to New York didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did.” I said, examining a little black dress for a dark blue cardigan, and a thin brown belt at the waist for measure. “And I helped him bring the amulet back too. Sort of.”

The dress and sweater were decided on, and elegant black flats were the last items to leave their home from the closet. I draped them across the bed, selected a comb and began to run it through my wet hair. With breakfast still on the to-do list, I wouldn’t have time to blow dry or straighten, so my hair would simply have to dry curly. My only problem lay in detangling it before it could.

“Think of all you’re going out of your way to do for him, Mimi. Shouldn’t he return the favor?”

Ethan watched for several moments as I combed wet hair in busy silence, considering.

“Hmm, I dunno… Tidus seems pretty protective of Claudia and her family. And to be honest, I don’t think he would let me get close enough to her to ask those questions. Especially if that would mean doing harm to her own kind.”

“Right.” Ethan said, with some of that old, familiar tightness that I had come to associate with any mentioning of Tidus. “Boundaries and all that – I get it. He’s protective of her and you’re protective of him… But that’s a lot of respect for a Vampire…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I replied, slowing down on the combing.

“Come on, Mimi, think about it. They drink blood. Not only is that a weird, nasty choice of diet but their track record with anything with a pulse hasn’t exactly been flattering either. Tell me you can ignore that and I swear I won’t believe it.”

I sighed.

“You sound like Addy.”

“Good. For once, that doesn’t completely disturb me. At least I know she’s trying to look out for you when I’m not around.”

“Well, from what I’ve learned from Lucas, our kind has done just as much damage to the world as the Vampires. We aren’t any better, Ethan. No matter how you try to spin it.”

“Naomi, Tidus has you blinded. Don’t you get it? It’s so obvious –”

“You know, I’m starting to get really tired of hearing that question. So I think I’ll pass on the criticism for now, thanks.” I snapped, slapping the comb back on the dresser. “I suppose it might be worth it to you, Ethan, to live stranded beneath that tiny, parochial, rock of yours. But I find that naiveté requires me to live with a lot of space – so feel free to leave.”

Quickly, I scooped up my outfit and underwear, piling them messily into my arms as I retreated to the bathroom. I could take my time in their as much as I pleased, hiding, but I couldn’t escape the sorrowful look that had been in his eyes. He sincerely wanted to help, and yet, for some reason, I was only pushing him away further and he just couldn’t understand it. And though I owed him the truth, I just couldn’t give it to him.

“Still here, Ethan?” I said several moments later, after emerging from the bathroom. “Because I don’t think I’ll be needing that ride from you after all –”

My fingers were still on the knob when I walked in on Ethan sitting on my bed, reading my father’s autopsy report. It was such a blatant intrusion of my personal space and property, that the rage I should have felt was momentarily delayed. Instead, in its place was a rather dull blankness covering any other potential feelings – which was probably for the best, or he might’ve been killed by my bare hands otherwise.

But as it turns out, the emptiness was only brief, and swiftly replaced by a burning, boundless fury. Indignantly, I strode my way over to him and yanked the folder from his hands before giving him a hard shove.

“What the hell do you think you’re you doing? This was private –”

“I’m sorry.” he said, while anything but. “It was just lying in the nightstand. I didn’t realize –”

“I don’t care! I want you to leave! Now! Just go!”

“But, Naomi, it’s missing pages –”

“– the audacity? Because honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone as rude or intrusive as you. Ethan, you are such an asshole – wait. What did you just say?”

“It’s missing pages.” he repeated calmly.

With another glare, I quickly rifled through the pages. And sure enough, I discovered that a small but significant chunk of them were missing. Four, to be exact.

“I... I don’t know how I missed this…” I said slowly, sinking down on the bed next to Ethan and flipping through the pages again, just to be absolutely sure. But the results were the same. According to the tiny numbers at the top right of every page corner, four pages that should have been there, weren’t. The report had been incomplete this entire time and I had never once noticed.

“It’s like I said.” Ethan replied, smugly. “You aren’t as clever as I am, remember?”

“Oh shut up.” I replied, and smacked him with the folder. “This doesn’t redeem you.”

Even though it really did.

“Yeah, but it still counts for a little bit, right?” his tone was playful, coy, but I had other thoughts on mind my mind.

“This wasn’t an accident.” I declared, standing. “Somebody left out those pages on purpose.”

“What? That’s crazy. Why would anybody do that?” Ethan asked. “And why do you have that by the way? That’s so… morbid –”

“None of your business.” I retorted, pulling out the drawer of my nightstand and depositing the folder with a decisive thud. “You know, you really ought to learn some manners Ethan. Invasiveness can be very unattractive.”

“No, uh-uh. Don’t do that – don’t deflect.” he said, with a smile full of his own duplicity. “I know you, Mimi. You do that when you’re hiding stuff.”

I pursed my lips and looked away, but I knew that it was too late.

“You think something bad happened to your father, don’t you? I mean, besides him dying. You think it was foul play. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Ethan stood now too, but I blocked his path from retrieving the folder. Shaking my head, I put my arms against his chest, holding him at arm’s length.

“Ethan, if you open your mouth about this – at all – to anyone…”

“I won’t say anything if you let me come with you to the morgue.” he said simply.

“For what?” I said with exasperation, finally able to drop my hands.

“To get the rest of the autopsy report.” Ethan replied. “If somebody really did take the time to make sure that no one else saw the other pages, then that means they were probably worth hiding, right?”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “But I think I can handle it alone, thanks.”

“Ok,” he said with a shrug, raising his hands and backing off. “Suit yourself. But I’m sure Charles could probably handle it too. Well, if he were to find about