Lost and Found

[pinkroses]

Ichabod pushed his sunglasses up onto the top of his head as he stepped into the apartment building, after glancing left and right to check that there was no one following him. He hadn’t seen Liam again since first meeting him, but he didn’t want to do anything to risk the vampire, which was why he was here. He had to let the vampire know he was alright, and this was the only way he could see to do it subtly.

He quickly pulled the bright pink iPod out of his pocket to glance again at the address on the back of it, checking he had the right place as he began to climb the stairs. He’d seen her with Kerr, he was sure of it…and they had looked close. She’d gone with him so surely she would know a way to get a message to him, or she could pass it on. And he could give her back her iPod anyway, which she had handily dropped in Ichabod’s line of sight and had her address scrawled across the back. He couldn’t believe his luck, apart from the whole her hug tackling the vampire Ichabod wanted to be curled up happily with and Kerr not setting her straight about everything. The human had no idea who this woman was, but Kerr was obviously very familiar with her, God, was there anyone the Irishman ran into who didn’t fall for him?

He was wearing a pair of tatty old jeans and a faded black t-shirt (he’d left his coat at home while he was enjoying the sunshine that came with daylight). His skin was paler than usual, although he had almost recovered from Lazarus’ attack, but a month or so of living only during the night had taken it’s toll on his complexion. His brown hair was messy and a few bits stuck up, showing that he hadn’t had a hair cut for quite some time and he was wearing his contacts as he had a spare case and liquid at home, but no spare glasses.

Once he reached the right flat number Ichabod hesitated for a moment before lifting his hand and knocking on the door, hoping she would be home. He’d come during the day so that if Liam had followed him, he would know this woman, Mandy, was not a vampire and wouldn’t come after her. There was no way he could know what Ichabod was thinking (hopefully) so he wouldn’t switch his plan to following her. Besides, Ichabod wasn’t even sure if he was following him at all, or if the warning had just been that, a warning and nothing more.

[Mandy]

Mandy jumped with a start; the distinct sound of knocking, jarring her awake from her impromptu resting place across the kitchen table.
 
She blinked sleepily, taking a moment to pull herself together.

The clerk had been up all night, sketching out plans for her latest artistic venture – a painting featuring she and Kerr, done entirely in acrylics and laid out on canvas (which of course, she had stretched herself). After the vampire left, she felt instantly inspired to begin work on the project and wasted little time plotting the entire venture out. By 5am that following morning, Mandy had not only done the preliminary conceptual drafts, but prepped the canvas, sketched the plan onto said canvas, and had begun the tedious process of mixing her paints… which was right about the time she`d passed out directly in her work.

She groaned to find a lovely stripe of crimson, plastered along the underside of her forearm (nearly from wrist to elbow) and flecks of white and black, peppered all across her gray tee and white shorts. What the female wasn`t aware of however, was the rather comical line of yellow smeared in plain view across the surface of her left cheek. Ignorance was bliss.

Rubbing at her weary eyes, she climbed out from behind her dinning table and shuffled toward the door. A quick glance toward the clock on her stove revealed the hour - 9:10am. Who on Earth would come calling so early on a Saturday morning? Early being a very subjective perspective indeed.  “Coming!” She called or rather - yawned, swiping a final time at her eyes before arriving at the door. Better not be a Jehovah`s Witness. Imagine Mandy`s surprise to find someone entirely unexpected standing on the other side.

Popping the bolt, she slowly turned the knob and pushed the door ajar, staggered to find a rather disheveled looking young man, staring back. He didn`t appear to be a sales person and certainly not a Jehovah`s Witness. What could he possibly want?

“Oh… hello,” she began, still battling fatigue, “Can I help you with anything?”

[pinkroses]

It took her so long to arrive at the door that by the time he finally heard the bolt sliding across Ichabod had almost drifted off into a daydream. He blinked in surprise as she opened the door (although he had knocked on the door so his surprise was uncalled for) but the shock was more by the suddenly rush of emotions he got when he saw her. He was angry that she had greeted Kerr so familiarly last night and that Kerr had responded, but with that came jealousy as well. Jealousy that she had been treated so well when Kerr had pushed Ichabod aside. She had gone off with him to do God knows what and Ichabod had spent the last few nights worrying about the trouble he might have caused Kerr, who obviously had just been glad to get rid of him since he’d decided to go out to Risk.

But he also had the urge to smile and laugh when he saw the paint smeared across her face, which he quickly squashed down into the pit of his stomach. He’d obviously disturbed her, but he needed to talk.

“Um, yeah, are you Mandy? Mandy Lynn?” he asked, although he already knew it was her, she was the young woman he’d seen the night before, there was no doubt about it.

[Mandy]

Mandy narrowed her gaze as the young man addressed her, trying to recall his face from somewhere in the back of her mind.

How did he know her name? Had they met before? At the emergency room, perhaps? She registered many people through the ER, so it was not entirely impossible. But if that were truly the case… then what was he doing here? Well… ask him then! Stop standing there like a deer caught in headlights!

“Um, yeah, are you Mandy? Mandy Lynn?”

“I am,” she answered, eyes searching his face as her hand absentmindedly strayed to \'fix\' her pink hair, “F – forgive me, but… do I know you?”

[pinkroses]

“Uh, no,” Ichabod said, lifting his own hand in response to her and running it through his hair, before he quickly reached into his pocket and pulling out her iPod.

“I found this this the other night, I‘m fairly sure it‘s yours, but, um, I need t’ talk t’ you too… inside?” he asked, his tone lifting hopefully at the end, hoping she wouldn’t just grab the iPod and slam the door in his face. “It’s about… a mutual friend,” he added, but he really didn’t want to say who standing out here. And mentioning the smears of paint on her face could wait until he was inside too. If she was going to slam the door in his face he wanted her to get that embarrassment later.

[Mandy]

“My iPod!” Mandy gasped, and without warning - disappeared behind the door.

Within seconds, she reappeared - rummaging through the breast pocket of a jean jacket as though believing she would find the device still in place. Naturally, it was nowhere to be found. Instead, her finger poked through a narrow rip along the bottom of the pocket – eyes growing wide with obvious surprise. “H… how did this happen?” she stammered and look back at the young man with renewed respect.

In a day and age where old ladies were mugged for whatever small change they might have in their purses, it was refreshing to encounter someone so unbelievably honest. Most in his position would have kept the expensive \'toy\' for themselves. It was this unsual brand of honesty, which won the stranger Mandy`s trust (perhaps a little too quickly) and in the end, prompted her to invite him in.

The fact that he made mention of a \'mutual friend\' probably didn`t hurt his case much either.

“Thank-you so much for returning it. I didn`t even know it was gone!” she praised and stepped aside to give him access, “Please, come in.” Proper introductions could come after they were no longer standing out in the hall.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod frowned as Mandy disappeared, but took a step forwards when she left the door open and letting the iPod drop back to his side he lifted his other hand to gently touch the door, ready to catch it if she tried to slam it shut. He cocked an eyebrow slightly when she suddenly stood back to let him in without further question, really she was lucky it was him coming here, not someone with a plan to rob, rape or do worse to her.

He stepped into the apartment, glancing around at his surroundings, but not moving in much further after shutting the door behind him so he couldn‘t see what she had been painting yet. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t look broken, but I haven’t tried it,” he said absentmindedly, holding out the music machine. He glanced back at the door, locking it out of habit, not thinking about what she might think about it.

“Look, um, you know Kerr, right?” he asked after a moment, folding his arms across his chest with a small frown on his face as he watched her. He didn’t know how much she knew (hell, he didn’t know she existed, she may know nothing about him) and so didn\'t want to tell her too much, just what was needed to get the message to him.

[Mandy]

She froze at the mention of Kerr`s name, her iPod instantly forgotten (still nestled in the stranger`s outstretched hand). Of all the things he could have said, that was the absolute last thing the clerk would have expected. Her mind filled with a volley of concerns, first and foremost centering around who this man was and how he knew Kerr.

Taking a step back, Mandy hugged her arms about her waist and locked eyes with her nameless visitor - frightened to seek the answers she wanted, though compelled to do so all the same. “Who are you? How do you know Kerr?”

[pinkroses]

His hand stayed stretched out as his dark eyes fixed on her and with his other hand he pulled the sunglasses from his head and slipped them into his pocket. His lips parted for a moment before he licked them and shut them again, a nervous habit when he couldn’t think of what to say.

“I’m Ichabod, I… kind of…well, I just know him, alright? But I can’t…” He half turned away with a scowl on his face. If she didn’t know about him Ichabod didn’t want to give away any secrets Kerr might be keeping from this young woman. He waited a moment before lowering his hand and placing the iPod on a table near her front door.

“I need you to tell him something for me,” he said, glancing up at her once more, trying hard to resist the temptation to ask how she knew Kerr, or to explore further into her flat.

[Mandy]

Ichabod? Now there was a name one didn`t hear every day.

She was disappointed. Disappointed by his lack of information (information about his relationship with Kerr), but strangely, she found herself renewed by the latter. He had a message he wanted her to convey? To Kerr? That meant they weren`t on speaking terms… could this be the friend her vampiric love-interest had been looking for last night?

Interesting.

Curiosities piqued, Mandy let impulse pave the way (her better judgment once again brushed ineffectually aside) and motioned toward her living room with her eyes, “Please, forgive my manners… any friend of Kerr`s, is a friend of mine.” And she meant it, feeling truly disgusted by her lack of hospitality to him thus far. That wasn`t her way, even if Ichabod`s unexpected visitation had caught her slightly off guard. “Why don`t you come in and have a seat. Then we can chat properly.”

[pinkroses]

"Ok," he replied after a moment, following the direction she had gestured in and giving her a small smile as he lifted a hand and touched his own cheek, "You, uh, you\'ve got some paint, here," he said, before continuing on into the living room, although the idea of a lengthy chat with her didn\'t sound like a whole lot of fun.

He paused when he spotted the painting on the table, frowning slightly when he saw that it was obviously Kerr and Mandy together. It was a beautiful peice of work, but that didn\'t stop Ichabod from wanting to tear it up and tell her to butt out of their lives. But that wouldn\'t help right now, so he quickly turned away from the table and sat down on the sofa, right at the edge of the cushion, not looking at all comfortable.

"You saw him last night, didn\'t you?" he said after a moment, linking his fingers together and resting his elbows across his knees. "Do you think you\'ll see him again soon?" he added. If he hadn\'t spotted Liam again in the next few days he was planning on going back to Kerr soon, so if Mandy wasn\'t going to see him again tonight, or the next night, then this might all be a bit pointless.

[Mandy]

"Paint?" Mandy repeated, a blank stare descending her otherwise dirt free countenance.

It was easy to see that she was absorbing his words - eyes drifting down to her hands as if to consider the various colors of acrylic and primer found on them. She knew about this mess but, surely it had avoided her face! After all, that would be... well, it would be embarrassing! The real crux of the issue was not so much the simple presence of the wayward paint, but how it would have arrived on her features to begin with.

Falling asleep in ones \'hobby\' was not exactly the most flattering light to cast when making a new acquaintance.

Lost for words, the pink-haired mortal turned on her heals and snatched up a chrome toaster from the counter directly behind her - holding it like a mirror before her face. To her supreme mortification, she quickly found that what Ichabod had said, was true. As if he had reason to lie about it. Her animated features fell - ears turning as red as the crimson stain on her forearm.

"Ehh?" She gasped, wiping fiercely at the canary yellow stripe (smeared diagonally her cheek), "M... must have been rubbing my eyes." It was a lame excuse, accentuated further by the nervous laugh to follow. Nothing like making a complete ass of ones self before a virtual stranger, and all before 10in the morning. He probably thought she was a total child now. Maybe distraction would take away from the humiliation?

Replacing the toaster, Mandy cleared her throat and hurried into the kitchenette - courteously removing two glasses from one of the cupboards. To his credit, Ichabod resigned to settle himself down atop the tan sofa in the living area, rather than stand and watch the female fumble. His discretion was certainly appreciated. She filled both glasses with water (chilled by the fridge) before joining him - choosing to sit neatly at his side rather than on another piece of furniture.

The glass intended for Ichabod, was set (with no obligation) atop the coffee table near his knees.

"You saw him last night, didn\'t you? Do you think you\'ll see him again soon?"

His questions were sudden, but then again, everything about this visit had been (including her curiosity regarding Ichabod`s relevance in their \'mutual friends\' life).

"I ran into him while on a walk," Mandy confessed, gazing down into her water, "He was standing outside Risk... though I`m not sure if he happened to be coming or going at the time." She swirled the liquid in her hands, contemplating the second half of Ichabod`s inquiry. The clerk wished that she could tell him a resounding \'yes\', that she would in fact see Kerr again very soon, but it wouldn`t have been the truth. And Mandy was nothing, if not honest (sometimes, blatantly so).

"I don`t know when I`ll see him again," She admitted, a redeeming thought suddenly coming to mind, "I have his cell number though! We could call him, if you like. He wouldn`t answer of course, but maybe we could leave a message?"

She hesitated, reminded of her previous uncertainty concerning the issue. Why did Ichabod need her to forward along whatever information he had for the vampire? Why wouldn`t he just tell Kerr himself? Did he not have a way to reach him? If that was the case, maybe she should just offer his number? Surely, Kerr wouldn`t mind if Mandy presented it to a common friend?

"Or... would you prefer I just gave you his cell number and you could call him yourself?"

[pinkroses]

Ichabod watched her with a small smile as she examined her reflection in a toaster, not the usual kind of mirror girls used as far as he knew. He gave a quiet murmur of thanks as she put down the glass of water, then picked it up, holding the cold glass in his hands but not sipping the water yet. He just wanted to get this out of the way so that he didn’t have to worry about it any more. He perked up visibly when Mandy mentioned a cell phone number and nodded slightly. He’d never got Kerr’s phone number, he’d never thought he would need it. The first time was just supposed to just be a one time thing and he hadn’t really left the flat after he had been dropped there.

“Yeah, could I have his number?” he said quickly, patting his jeans pocket to check his mobile was there. And if he called here then it wasn’t likely that anyone, apart from Mandy, would overhear. He gave a quiet laugh then lifted his hand and ran it through his hair, “God, this is so ridiculous, it’s just kinda hard to explain,” he said, although it sounded like Mandy did know what Kerr was by the way she said she knew Kerr couldn’t pick up the phone know.

[Mandy]

She set down her glass and climbed to her knees on the sofa – leaning over the back to seize her cordless from it`s cradle. Kerr was on speed dial; both his cellular and his old home phone (which, it would appear, could be deleted at any given time. She had no intentions of calling Sawyl). A strange little smirk, played at the mortals lips as she contemplated this fact and flopped back down at Ichabod`s left side - unable to squelch a momentary flicker of reluctance at giving him the number.

Get over it... she thought bitterly, Kerr can associate with whom ever he wants. You`re nothing more than second best. And be grateful you`re even that...

"Here," Mandy said with a forced smile, (attempting to rise above the ugly sentiments swelling in her heart) and pushed one of the buttons on the phone. As a result, Kerr`s number appeared (accompanied by a small \'beep\') across it`s display. She handed Ichabod the handset and hugged her bare knees to her chest, intending to observe him from her comfortable perch.

It didn`t matter what she wanted to ask him, or how badly it hurt to share the man she loved...even if Ichabod said they were only friends (which, Mandy seriously doubted). She simply refused to come across looking like a woman scorned and in the process, run the risk of pushing Kerr away. She`d take it...

Take it and be thankful for it.

"Is... is everything okay, Ichabod?" the clerk asked after a moment, referring to the message he desired to send Kerr.

[pinkroses]

He twisted in his seat to watch her clamouring around in her seat to grab the phone and accepted it, wondering what had caused the small smile to flicker across her lips for a very brief moment, but then pushing aside that thought. He really didn’t care about Mandy, she was just a means to an end right now. He needed to let Kerr know why he wasn’t coming home and going to her had been the only way to do that.

“Thanks,” he murmured, pulling his phone from his pocket and typing in Kerr’s number, saving it, but not yet pressing call. The teen glanced up at Mandy at her question and carefully put her handset down on the sofa next to him, his thumb still hovering over the call button on his own phone.

“Yeah, well, no, not really. Not at all. It’s… you know what Kerr is, right?” he said with hesitation. Although he thought she did, he didn’t want to say something that might cause her to panic.