The Time Traveler's Odyssey

Plans and a Stalker

After Emma agreed to stay overnight, they planned on what to do for the remainder of the day, as it was still only noon when the sleepover was declared. They had gone back downstairs to the kitchen and were waiting for the pot of coffee Lucy set up to finish brewing while sitting at the island bar looking through the newspaper.

Emma had spaced out for second, bored from looking at all the doom and gloom written in black ink on the over-sized paper when Lucy lightly nudged her shoulder to gain her attention. With a jolt, Emma jumped up in surprise and turned wide-eyed to her.

"Hmm?" she hummed in question as Lucy looked at her with excited eyes.

"Would you like to go and see a concert? There's this excellent French Canadian artist who is performing at a small venue downtown." Just talking about the possibility of going to see this musician live seemed to light up Lucy's whole figure with anticipation, and Emma hadn't even agreed yet. Even if she didn't want to see the performer, she had no choice but to go now, because she couldn't bear to see Lucy disappointed.

Emma smiled warmly at her friend, her eyes crinkling slightly around the edges, and nodded in the affirmative. "I would love to! I haven't been to a concert since..." She paused, catching herself mid slip-up. "Well since forever!" Lucy laughed at her comment, and the two turned to the paper and looked where Lucy pointed. Emma frowned slightly at the familiar name of the artist. She knew she had heard of their music somewhere before, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Coeur de Pirate. Say, do they have any popular songs? I think I've heard of them before, but I'm not entirely sure." She bit her lip in thought, and peered at Lucy with a curious gaze, who was staring at the lower region of her face.

Lucy blinked at Emma, acting as if she were caught doing something she shouldn't, and nodded her head vigorously. "Yes. Have you heard 'Commes des Enfants'?" It's on a lot of commercials and it was pretty popular a year or two ago." When Lucy saw the blank look on the detectives face, she whipped out her smartphone and started tapping furiously on it. "Here, let me look it up for you. I bet you've heard it on the radio and would recognize it instantly."

Soon there was a video playing of this girl playing the piano and singing a sweet melody in French-a tune that Emma immediately recognized. "Oh! Yes, I knew I heard of her somewhere before...I think she was on the news because she was expecting..." At that instant, Emma knew she screwed up. It was only a month or so before she traveled back to this year that the announcement had been made on some random gossip news show she had watched in her spare time when nothing else was on. Fuck! I have to watch what I'm saying.

Lucy's eyes doubled in size. "Oh my god, how did I not know?! I mean I thought was keeping pretty good tabs on her and the other favorite artists I have...I wonder how I missed that." She had a puzzled expression on her face, and Emma knew she had to fix the situation. Now.

She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Err...I think it was just a bunch of fluff...I'm pretty sure I was watching TMZ, and they almost never have the facts." Emma laughed nervously and watched Lucy's face to see if she fell for the lame excuse.

Her response was disappointment. "Oh," the redhead said, looking at the photo of Coeur de Pirate singing by the piano on the pictured stage. "I wish she were. I love learning that people are bringing new life into the world. It's just so enlightening, and makes me look forward to the day I can have a few of my own." She looked at Emma sadly, as if her eyes told another story, but she didn't continue.

Reassuringly, Emma gently traced a few small circles on her friends back with a sympathetic expression before changing the topic. "So," she started, twisting in her chair so she was fully facing Lucy's feminine figure, "should I be on the lookout for this guy who has been stalking you?" In full seriousness, she considered going back to her apartment to grab her handgun just in case, but wanted to see if it was worth it in Lucy's opinion. I still might bring it anyways. I don't like the thought of not being armed when I'm hanging out with someone who is soon to be six feet under.