To: Bleeding White Lily. Thanks for you're awesome support! XD

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City of Angels

--butIdoLOVEyoU--

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“There’s no regard for life

How do they sleep at night, can we make things right?

. . . Just want to make things right.”

--Good Charlotte

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. . .

: City of Angels » Chapter II » Footsteps II :

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Thanks Kissing Concrete for the fabulous job you're doing as my beta!

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At four, Angela scheduled to meet with him and Arial.

Before meeting her at the hospital, Clive stopped by a local store. He couldn’t take Arial out in his boxers and t-shirt.

He bought her some sweats, a white shirt, bra, panties, and sneakers.

David had already explained everything to Angela, so Clive felt at ease leaving Arial with Angela until the examination was over. David had already explained everything to Angela so Clive felt at ease to leave her there until the examination was over, while he ran back to the bar.

“David told me how Clive found you. How are you?”

“Good.” The bed in the room, Arial noticed, was different than the one at Clive’s house. Angela—the nurse, and Clive’s friend—had her lay back on it while she checked her over. It didn’t feel the same as the bed she slept on, but it wasn’t uncomfortable either.

“I can see you’re doing well. Is Clive taking good care of you?”

“Yes. He’s a good guy.”

“You’re right about that. He is a good guy. He might do a few things wrong, but he’s still a caring person. Did you know he and David have been best friends for seventeen years?”

“No, I didn’t know. That’s a long time, right?”

“Yes it is.”

The stethoscope, as Angela called it, felt cold against her ribcage. She found it fascinating though. Angela had let her hear her heartbeats though it.

“You’re very healthy.”

“Thank you.”

Angela smiled a bit. “So the only thing you can remember is your name. That’s a shame. There might be other people out there looking for you who are worried about your wellbeing.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I can remember my name because it’s important. If there was an important someone I should be able to remember too. Good or bad, just like I should remember what happened to me.”

“You’re actually right. But you know, sometimes, when there’s been a bad injury to the head, some parts of it are damaged. It could be temporary, but it’s enough to cause spots in which the person can’t remember.”

“Do you think I was hurt pretty badly?”

“I don’t know just yet. The x-rays will tell me in a bit. But your body seems okay, so you weren’t hurt physically.”

“And that’s good right?”

“Yep. It’s good.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was a brief pause while Angela jotted down some notes on her notepad. The hospital wouldn’t need these, but she did. She thought it best that they didn’t consult with one of the doctors. Instead, Angela pulled a few strings with the lab scientist to get some testing done on Arial, while she checked her physically.

The only reason she was doing this was because of Clive. The doctors would inquire too much and then the cops would be involved. If the cops showed up, she’d only feel guilty afterwards for not keeping quiet about Arial until they felt safe enough to expose her. Clive would end up behind bars, and David would hate her. Angela would hate herself as well. Having met Clive, she knew what a good guy he was. And like she told Arial, his way of doing things wasn’t necessarily the right way, but he had a good heart.

He was alone in this world, and from what David told her, his child hood had been rough. She didn’t feel like wounding him even more.

“Listen.” She looked up at Arial. “I need to go down to the lab and pick up your blood work. How about you go back into the changing room and put your clothing back on?”

“Sure.”

“Clive went to the bar. You’ll be ready to go as soon as you’re done and the results are in.”

“Thank you Angela.”

“No, it was my pleasure. You’re a darling. I think Clive should keep you around him longer.”

Angela left the room and Arial went back to the adjoining changing room. She put on her clothing and went back to waiting in the room. When neither she nor Clive came back for her, she decided to take Angela’s advice and went to look for Clive.

-

-

“How many more days do you want off?”

“Just one.”

“Anything happen?”

“Nothing in particular. Just felt I needed a longer rest.”

“Well it isn’t too long.”

“It’s good enough for me.” There was a pause. Clive looked down at his feet, hoping for the questions to stop.

“So everything went as successful as always last night?”

“Smoothly, though it was a mild night.”

“I noticed with the profit.”

Clive chuckled. “Tuesday nights are always slow around here.”

“It should be the same way today.”

“Should be.” Clive agreed with Luke.

He had been accurate in assuming that Luke would be in at this hour and that no one would be around. He didn’t want to bother with anyone else when he asked for an extra night off.

“You know, Carol called me today. Said you haven’t returned her call.”

“She’s grating my nerves. You should tell her to back down and let me breath or next week is her last.”

“I’ll tell her. Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long with her.”

“She’s okay. She was tolerable at the beginning. Only then.”

“Everyone says that about her.”

“When she becomes fixated on something, she doesn’t want to let go.”

“Seems as much,” Luke said offhandedly.

There was a brief pause while Luke assembled the papers he’d carefully spread out over the bar counter. “You can take the night off. If you need another one, it’s fine by me. You’re not booked for anything other than bar work until next week. It reminds me, I’ll be gone for a week by the end of the month so I’ll need you here full time. I’ll give you a week’s worth of vacation after I return.”

“More business?”

“More like personal matters.”

Even tough Luke placed his trust in Clive. However, they didn’t overstep boundaries and trade significant details of their lives. They were boss and employee. The affiliation amongst the two could be considered very close acquaintances. Luke was lenient when it came to Clive’s working for him and Clive saw no fault in that. Pay was good and the job was nothing straining.

“Is that all you needed to tell me?”

“Yes.”

“You could’ve done it by phone and not come at all.”

“I’ll remember for next time. Do you want me to keep the keys or should I leave them until I come pick them up Friday night?”

“Keep ‘em.”

“Alright.” Clive stood to leave. When he looked out the window at the back exit, he was horrified to see Arial standing there, waiting for him. He turned to see if Luke had noticed her. He had.

“Hello there beautiful. Won’t you come in?”

“It’s okay Luke. I’ll be taking her back.”

“You know her?”

“Yes.”

“Well, have her come in anyways. Is she your girlfriend, a client?”

“Neither.”

“She doesn’t work for me, so why is she here? How do you know her? Is she the reason you need a day off?”

“More or less. But,” Clive sighed and waved Arial in. She came to stand next to him. Clive lowered his voice. “I didn’t want to alarm you just yet. But I found her dropped out back.”

“You what?” Luke’s eyes widened.

“When I was closing up this morning she was there.”

“What do you mean she was there? Where did she come from? Why was she there?”

“That’s why I wanted to wait to tell you.”

Luke looked anxiously between Clive and Arial.

“She’s not a threat Luke, so don’t worry too much about it. She’s suffering from memory loss so she can’t cause much harm.”

“Are you a doctor now?”

“No, but she was there visiting one just now.”

“So you’re taking care of her?”

“Just until I find where she belongs.”

“This sounds fishy to me, for her to turn up like this behind my bar. Are you sure she’s not plotting against me and the bar?”

“Look at her Luke. If this were a ploy I would have noticed. I thought it was David playing a joke on me but it wasn’t. Besides, why would she expose herself to you if it were a ploy? Don’t you think the SWAT team would’ve stormed in here ages ago?”

Luke studied her for a minute. “Alright. I see where you are coming from.”

“You don’t have to worry about her. She’ll be staying with me for as long as it takes for her to recover or find her family. It’s still a mystery how she ended up here, but I think the bar is safe.”

Arial remained silent beside Clive. Because the man was staring at her so intently, she didn’t dare look anywhere but at her feet.

Luke lowered his gaze for a moment. “I’m sorry if I scared you—”

“Arial.” Clive supplied.

“I’m sorry if I scared you, Arial. I never meant to.”

Arial looked up at him and offered a tentative smile.

“You’re quite beautiful Arial.”

That was a compliment and she thanked him.

“Is Clive treating you alright?”

“Perfectly fine.”

“I hear he can be quite rough sometimes. If he’s not treating you well, you’re welcome here.”

Clive knew what it meant. She was welcome at the bar, to sell herself much the same way he did. Though, since she was a woman, there would be no say for her and no way to back out once she worked for Luke. If he so wanted, Luke would keep her for himself, to show her off like some sort of trophy.

Clive wanted to reach out and shield her from Luke’s lust-filled gaze.

“She’ll be fine Luke. I’m sure she won’t find anything lacking.” Decoded: At the moment she’s mine, so she’ll be perfectly fine.

“Yes, but it doesn’t hurt to offer her another place to stay.”

“She always has David and Angela to fall back on.”

“Wonderful then! And how is David?”

“Quite well. He’s been job-hopping since he gets bored of things easily. He’s doing well.”

“Send him my greetings when you see him. Tell him he’s always welcome back once he’s tired again.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him. If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be leaving now.”

“Have a good day.”

“You too Luke, have a good day.” Arial responded.

‡

Clive took a firm hold of Arial’s hand and led her out back to his car.

Once within the confines of his car, he wheeled on her. “What the hell are you doing here? Weren’t you at the hospital?”

“I finished.” Arial sounded confused at his tone.

“You were to stay there until I came to pick you up! Why are you here?”

“Angela said you should keep me around you longer so I came.”

Clive was speechless for a few seconds, his heart thudding in his chest. “She didn’t mean for you to come back to me right this second. She meant something else completely.”

“Oh. What did she mean?”

“Don’t worry about it. How did you get here?” He wasn’t angry any more. Her reasoning made a strange sort of sense.

“I walked.”

“You what?”

“I walked.”

Clive sighed, raked a hand through his hair. “I thought you had no memory.”

“I remembered how to get here.”

“But we rode home. You barely saw all the turns I made.”

“I remembered.”

“It’s just impossible.” A suspicious feeling settled over him.

“I’m telling you I remembered,” she yelled. Clive found it strange.

“Something happened, didn’t it?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Why did you yell at me just now? Are you angry because of something?”

“You don’t want to listen to me. I can’t remember what happened before but I do remember everything since this morning.”

Clive shook his head. This was all too weird for him. Why was he in such a strange scenario? Did things like this even happen to other humans? Had anyone else ever found a beautiful and brain damaged girl? He was somewhat at a lost of what to do. She probably did pay close attention and I didn’t notice.

“How did you get here from the hospital? I’ve never taken that route here.” The suspicion grew a little.

“I took a taxi home. I remember reading the street name. I then walked from there to here.” She gestured with her hands, as if he was a child. “It’s not too far.”

“A taxi?”

“Yes, I asked a lady how to get home and she said a taxi. And a taxi is a car.”

“You don’t have any money on you, how did you pay?”

“Pay?” Arial tilted her head to the side. This was the second time Clive had said ‘pay’.

“To ride a taxi, you have to pay.”

“I didn’t pay.” She shook her head. Unless thanking the man was pay. She meant to ask if that was how you paid, but Clive cut off her thoughts.

“You didn’t run off did you?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“The taxi driver didn’t ask you to do anything weird, did he?” Clive reached out for her, turned her in her seat and looked at her. Her hair was still in place, and there was nothing wrong with her clothing. She didn’t look harmed.

Again Arial tilted her head. “No. Something weird like what?”

“Are you sure nothing happened during the ride?”

“Yes. He was a nice old man.” Arial was starting to sound angry with all the interrogation. Her eyebrows furrowed and she was starting to avoid his gaze.

Clive let it go. It was probably because it was an old man that she got by without having to pay a cent. If it had been some other jerk, she would have been in trouble.

“Are you mad at me too? Is that why you yelled?”

“Yes. I’m mad that you didn’t wait at the hospital.”

“I’m sorry. I was only listening to Angela.”

Clive sighed. “It’s alright. You’re forgiven. But are you mad at me?”

“I don’t think so. I only feel—you keep asking so many questions.”

“I’m sorry I’m annoying you. It’s just you’re too careless and defenseless.”

“You’re forgiven.” Arial repeated.

Clive bit back a smirk and started the car.

“Are we going home now?”

“We’re going back to the hospital. I’m sure Angela is worried about your disappearance.”

‡

Angela had been worried sick.

“I didn’t know if she had been stolen from the hospital or not. You can’t imagine the fright it gave me to find her gone. She wasn’t on any of the other floors either.” David stood right beside Angela. In her worry, she had called for his help.

“She won’t do it again Angela. Though, to start with, it’s your fault for putting things in her head.”

“My fault? What did I do?”

“‘Clive should keep you a little longer.’”

“Oh. Oh—. But don’t you think I’m right? You should keep her around longer.” Angela winked at him. “She’s an odd one, but she compliments you perfectly.”

“Are you insulting me?” Clive eyed her curiously.

“No, of course not. It’s just that she’s gorgeous and you guys look perfect together. You haven’t noticed?”

Clive glowered at her and David chuckled. “Whatever. Find anything?”

“Her blood is clean. Her body is in perfect condition and so is her head. No traces or signs of developed amnesia.”

“Strange.” Clive glanced at Arial. She was kept occupied with the TV in the waiting room. “She doesn’t seem to be acting.”

“She hasn’t been abused either so take extra care.” Angela gave him a pointed look and he nodded his head. “She’s free to go now. If she starts feeling any pain, call me up. I’ll be doing some research to see why she can’t remember anything. Try talking to her to see if she can remember anything. If you notice strange behavior, record it. Ask her for some symptoms. It can help my research.”

“It reminds me,” David spoke up and asked Clive, “How did your search go?”

“None of the girls matched Arial. The most recent lost Arial was from a few weeks ago, but the picture didn’t fit. L.A.’s a big city, though. I’m going to give it a full forty-eight hours before doing another search.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hopefully something will turn up. Is there anything else I should be aware of?” he asked Angela.

“You might notice some change in her. It all depends. I mean, things have been happening so fast for her today. I know for you as well. So maybe after the novelty wears off, you both will find each other in awkward territory. You just give her time and patience, lots of sleep too. And, I’m not going to ask you to fuss over her every second, but keep her talking. Make sure she’s always comfortable. She might not show it right this second, but once everything is quiet around her, she’s going to start feeling out of sorts. It’s pretty hard to be living with a stranger and not know about yourself. And even though we want her to remember, make sure she’s not forcing herself. It can have negative effects.”

“I understand. And thanks, both of you, for your help. I don’t think I would be able to do anything for her if it weren’t for you guys.”

“It’s a pleasure to help, Clive; you’re always calling on David. You know, I would help take the weight off your shoulders, but you found her and she’s already fond of you. You did notice when she went out to look for you, right? Besides, I don’t want to disturb how at ease she is when she’s with you. She might not trust me like she does you, so it’ll complicate things and we don’t want to have her an emotional mess. What she needs now is stability and that’s with you right now.”

Clive nodded his head at everything Angela said. It made sense. Though, he wanted to voice that he didn’t feel at ease with this situation. The only person he ever learned to care for was himself.

“If that’s all, we’ll be leaving then. Thank you once again.” He turned to Arial. “Come on, Arial, we’re going home now.”

“I’m watching this.” She pointed at the television.

“There’s one at home that you can watch for however long you want.”

Arial quickly got up and followed Clive. She almost forgot to say goodbye to David and Arial. “Thank you both for your help. And I’m sorry to cause trouble; I’ll try to behave the next time.”

“It’s not a problem.” Angela gave her a warm smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Once Clive and Arial had walked out of sight, Angela turned to David. “I feel like something good is going to come out of this. Clive really needs it.”

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