Every New Beginning... (Chris Evans AU)

.138.

I grab Lily, pulling her off to the side away from the group. "That can't be him," I insist. My own breathing threatens to become erratic.

"Well, it is. He looks just like his Facebook profile picture. Remember when we had to reach out to him about the kidney transplant?" she reminds me.

"I never saw his photo!" I exclaim with anger and frustration.

She doesn't understand the torment that this is putting me under. She has no idea that this is the same man that I had a conversation with in the hospital waiting room.

Lily looks at me confused. "Why are you so freaked out about this? It could all be purely coincidental."

Lily is a smart woman. She can't truly believe that Phillip just happened to stumble in to town and show up at Magnolia. Wearing a suit, I might add, on the day of Pop's funeral.

I take another step, turning my back away from the group as I see the man walk onto the porch. Everyone else acting as though they have no idea what's happening.

"I had a full blown conversation with that man," I say, pointing towards the front door before I go back to leaning over the railing.

Lily's eyes go wide as she comes closer to me. "You, what?"

I stand up straight, my hand running over my face, pausing for a moment at my beard. "In the hospital waiting room."

She doesn't believe me, and shakes her head. "That's not possible."

"The hell it is, Lily! He was there!" I quietly shriek out. "He wasn't around when it all first happened, but after you all had gone back to work, and it was just Opal and I, he was there. Most of the time if we came in the waiting room, he would be on his way out. But, that last day, Opal got called here and Pops had some tests ran." I pause, my hands going to sit at my hips. "I was in the waiting room talking to Ma on the phone, telling her about us having the wedding at the end of the month."

"Okay, and? That doesn't really open the line up for a stranger to talk to you," she says.

I roll my eyes before beginning again. "He asked if I had gotten some good news. I mentioned that our wedding was being moved up and he said how that must mean there was more to it since we were in a hospital and all. I told him that she wanted to make sure her grandfather was going to be there for it."

"Did you use her name? Opal isn't quite the traditional name. It would've tipped him off."

"I didn't. Ever. I said my name was Chris and he said his was Phillip," I explain.

She cocks her head and looks at me condescendingly. "Phillip is a common name!" I urge the reminder to her. She just shakes her head at me. "Anyways, he said he was there for his dad but only goes in when he's asleep because he didn't want him to know he was there." She gives me the look again, her lips tight. I put my hands up in defense. "I know, I know! I should've thought more in to it but then he said that his dad didn't even know he had a family."

I turn my whole body away from her, moving to the wall of the porch. I drop my head against the wall. "Damn it! He was talking about his new family." My fist pounds against the wall beside my head. "That son of a -"

"Chris," Lily stops me.

I take a deep breath, blowing it out of my nose, before pushing myself back off of the wall. "I need to find her."

My feet move without waiting for any type of response. Laura, Jameson, Scott and Ma all watch still in shock as I walk through the front door. My actions to move ahead halt quickly as I see Phillip standing in front of the check in desk.