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GEMINI ENTERED THE Old Style cafe (the place where Taury worked) and walked over to the counter. Her best friend stood there with a letter in her hand. Taury's eyes widened at what she was reading before looking up to the customers waiting to be served.
She shakily refilled a man's coffee cup, overflowing it slightly. He started complaining to her but Taury didn't listen, this made Gemini realise something was definitely wrong.
She tapped her friend on the shoulder bringing her out of her thoughts so she could look at her. Tears filled in Taury's eyes and Gemini immediately pulled her into the back of the cafe and outside to the smoking area.
Surprisingly, no-one was back there as Taury started to cry. A gut wrenching sob left her mouth causing Gemini's heart to shatter for the girl as she pulled her into a hug allowing Taury to soak her shirt with her tears.
Taury pulled away as Gemini wiped her cheeks. Taury sunk down the wall they were next to, Gemini following.
"What was that letter you were reading?" She signed as Taury tried wiping away the tears that continued to fall. She sighed pulling out the letter sent to her by the U.S military.
Gemini read it quickly.
'Miss Easton,
We regret to inform you that your brother, Sergeant Theo Easton, went missing in action three days ago.
We have no information telling us of his whereabouts all we know is that he is in the enemy lines.
We are sorry we are not able to give you more information at the point in time but we will send a letter if and when we can enclosing his whereabouts.
We are sorry about your brother,
U.S military.'
Gemini could feel her heart stop reading the letter about Theo. Her hand covered her mouth in shock. A few tears ran down her face as she held the letter.
Theo Easton was one of Gemini's best friends and Taury's older brother who joined the army two years ago. The one thing that worried both Gemini and Taury about Theo leaving was that he wouldn't come back.
Gemini shook her head in disbelief, 'This can't be real, he was fine when we spoke to him before we came home. How could this happen?' She asked herself, she couldn't believe that her good friend was missing or maybe even dead.
"Gem?" Taury tapped her bringing her out of her thoughts.
Gemini hugged Taury again as they both cried, "What if they never find him? What if he's dead and he doesn't come back? He's all I have left." Taury worried sobbing into Gemini's shoulder.
Gemini held Taury at arms length before signing, "He'll be fine. He knows how to get out of situations. The soldiers will find him and he'll be alive and safe and fine. Don't worry, I know that's a stupid thing to say, but trust me when I say he will survive and he will be fine really soon." She soothed as Taury nodded taking a deep breath.
"Yeah, yeah okay. I trust you. I'm just scared." Gemini kissed her 'sister's' head and sighed,
"I know you are. So am I but we need to be hopeful." She explained, "Now, get back in there and make me a hot chocolate." She ordered pointing to the door making Taury laugh as she nodded, helping Gemini up.
She sat at the table her computer on the table beside her with her computer connected by a wire to it. Taury placed the mug of hot chocolate on the table and placed a bowl of water at her feet for Dixon.
"Did you just come here for the free wifi?" Taury asked Gemini. She shook her head,
"No, I wanted to transfer the photos from my camera and I wanted to see you and show you the pictures I got of you. I just happen to connect to the wifi." She explained causing her friend to snort in amusement.
"From when we were away?" Gemini nodded, "Show me."
Gemini scrolled through the many photos she had transferred before clicking on one of Taury from Thailand.
The title of it was: 'Someone's Happy To Be In Thailand'
Taury looked extremely impressed by her best friends photography skills, "I knew you were sneaky and amazing at photography, but I didn't think you were THIS good." She pointed out.
Gemini shrugged, "I look for when people don't notice my camera and haven't forced a smile on their face and it actually looks real." She explained as Taury jokingly glared,
"Show off." She signed making Gemini laugh,
"Dick."
"Asshole."
"Let's stop before this gets out of hand."
"Agreed." Taury replied walking away to serve another customer.
Gemini smiled as she continued downloading the photos onto her laptop.
|/\|/\|/\|
After many hours spent with Taury: walking around New York, going out for dinner and sitting in a park and talking, Gemini walked into The Raven to unsurprisingly see Tony, but what surprised her was to see Clint and his family there too.
"Aunt Gem!" Lila, Clint's only daughter yelled running to her for a hug. "I missed you."
They were both soon joined by Cooper who hugged her tight.
"I missed you both too." She signed as Clint walked over.
"Hey Gem. Sorry to ambush you like this..." She held her hand up to stop him,
"Don't be ridiculous, its great to see you." She hugged her friend, "How's being a father of three?"
Clint sighed dramatically, "Fun but difficult. Mostly fun though." Gemini smiled walking towards the bar.
She swatted Tony's hand away from the whiskey bottle, "Ow!" He yelled turning to her with a glare, "Why though?"
"You're not allowed to." She explained before handing him the bottle, "But I am." He smiled pouring another drink.
She was soon hugged by Laura and handed a now three year old Nathaniel, "Hi Gem. How was your trip?" She asked as Nathaniel played with Gemini's curly hair,
"Good." She replied as Nathaniel pulled a little too hard and she winced. She looked down at the boy with a stern look and he let go.
"Like Clint said, sorry for the ambush." She tried apologising just making Gemini shake her head,
"Stop it, it's fine." She replied as Nathaniel was placed down, "Who let you in? Joe or Nate?" She asked.
"Me." Joe spoke up opening the door from the back of the bar. She nodded in understanding before sitting herself down.
Joe sat down on the other side of the bar on a stool, "Where's Nate?" Gemini asked.
"Your sister called, needed to vent about things." Gemini scoffed pouring out a glass of whiskey.
"So Gem." Clint started sitting beside the girl, "I hear that you went away for eight weeks using somebody's money." He assumed causing Gemini's head to swivel in Tony's direction.
"In my defence, he gave me the credit with the money in it and enabled it for me. Can't scold me for that." Clint frowned upset he didn't get to tell the girl off.
"Dang it."
|/\|/\|/\|
After many hours of many different conversations, Tony, Clint, Laura and the kids left leaving Joe and Gemini in the bar alone,
"Are you in the shop tomorrow?" Joe's accent was heard as Gemini looked up from her notebook.
"No, I restart next week. Why?" She questioned as he shrugged,
"I was just asking." He replied. "So, how's life in the apartment alone?"
"Quiet, surreal, peaceful. All the things it wasn't when you were there. That's never happening again." She warned in advance making the young man laugh,
"I thought you enjoyed the noise."
"Not at two in the morning!" Joe held up his hands in surrender apologising quickly.
He checked his watch and groaned, "I should get going, I've got that meeting about Becky tomorrow." He spoke referring to the social worker meeting about custody of his daughter.
"Yeah, I'm leaving now anyway. Good luck with the whole custody issue." Gemini replied as Joe smiled hugging her,
"Thanks, see you later." He replied walking in the opposite direction to her.
Gemini hummed a small tune on the way home, passing the drunk people, the night owls and the odd person out for their midnight jog. One jogger in particular caught her eye due to the fact that he had bright white hair.
She didn't question the man's hair however and continued her journey home, still humming the same tune.
|/\|/\|/\|
Gemini sighed locking the door and plonking herself on the pullout couch. She wanted sleep in her bed but was too lazy to stand up, 'I don't want to move, I'm not going to move... Guess I'm sleeping on the couch.' She thought lying down flat with a fluffy blanket over her body.
She lay her bag beside the couch as her eyes glanced around the room. She knew she couldn't fall asleep yet but she was still trying to.
He thoughts were racing through her mind like race cars and a track, but they all headed back to the same thing: the letter about Theo.
She felt terrible for Taury, he was the only family she had left and didn't have anyone else. Taury couldn't live in a world without her big brother, her rock, her safe-place, her home.
Gemini couldn't imagine the amount of worry in her mind after receiving that letter. Gemini didn't know what she would do if she ever received a letter like that about either of her siblings, she never wanted to think about that.
Like every night since she came home, Gemini went to sleep with one thought.
Please let Theo be safe.
-----♔-----
Little back story on Theo and Joe.
Theo is Taury's older brother who joined the army two years and is very close with the Braddock's.
He's the only family Taury has left.
Joe was raised in England and moved to New York four years ago and started working in The Raven immediately.
He met a girl and had a daughter, Rebecca (Becky), but they broke up and have been fighting over custody since.
Joe is good friends with the Braddock's and have known each other for years (he was a penpal to Nate when he was young). They back him with the whole custody crisis.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter
Here's a little filler on some things in Joe and Theo/Taury's life
Next chapter out soon
Kayla Lou xxx