NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: THE BEGINNING

"WHAT the fuck happened last night?"

The two exchanged a look before they both glanced over the edge of the bed easily locating their missing articles of clothing, he let out a sigh his mouth slightly open as he looked to meet Margos piercing gaze, he let his eyes roam the apartment quickly seeing the bottle of vodka and the two glasses they'd ditched the evening prior.

"I'm gonna go on a limb and say we got wasted." he groaned reaching his hand up to rub at his temples, "fucking hell." he leaned back into the pillows closing his eyes against the bright light that streamed in from the window.

He rolled over onto his stomach pressing his head into the pillows, Margo pulled back on his shoulder, "stop hiding, you're too old to be so shy."

He offered her a pained smile before sitting up again, turning away from the window he scooted away from her glancing under the covers to realize he was only in his underwear; just like her.

"Did we...?"

He nodded his head running a hand through his hair, "I think we did." he mumbled, Margo let out a sigh glancing towards the apartment door, anywhere that didn't involve Mitch seemed like the best place to look, he hesitantly slipped out of bed collecting his joggers from the floor, she avoided looking at him as he pulled the pants over his legs his boxers quickly disappearing.

"I've got to get to work, we can talk about it later if you want." he suggested, she absently nodded her head leaning into her hand as he grabbed a set of clothes from his dresser before heading for the bathroom to change, "Mitch." he paused in his actions turning to look at her, "hmm?"

"I don't think you need to go into the bathroom to change." his face relaxed at her implications as he set his clothes on the edge of the bed, Margo rubbed her eyes slipping out of bed as he pulled on his pants. She made her way into the kitchen fumbling through the cabinets in search of the things she needed to make coffee, Mitch came up from behind her reaching over her shoulder to the cabinet to the left of her, he plucked it from the cupboard holding it out to her with a neutral expression.

She offered a small smile quietly thanking him as he moved to put his shoes on, she grabbed a mug from beside the sink bringing it over to the coffee pot as she waited for it to finish brewing the dark brown liquid she was yearning to drink.

Mitch pushed himself out of the chair he'd been sitting in his shoes perfectly laced and double knotted, he had his hand on the doorknob in seconds the door cracking open with a small twist of the metal, he paused glancing into the kitchen, "Margo." she cast him a look over her shoulder pouring the piping hot liquid into her mug, "we are gonna talk about this when I get back, right?" she softly nodded her head looking away from him.

He nodded to himself locking the door behind him as he exited the apartment, Margo glanced in the direction of the door as she opened the cabinet Mitch had placed the sugar in after his latest grocery trip. She removed a small spoon from the dish drainer drying it on her shirt before she dipped it in the sugar to scoop out some of the white substance for her bland drink.

She felt out of place among the apartment and its contents, as if she was the bright object that stood out from the darkness of the rest, it made her feel as if she was an outsider slowly being pushed out day after day.

Then she thought about Syracuse and she remembered the sense of belonging she'd experienced since she'd started, she'd made friends with one girl, her name being Hinley, she was an odd thing, straight red hair that seemed to fade at the ends- the red being entirely natural- with oval glasses resting on the bridge of her nose along with her freckles. She always carried a pen behind her ear and a notebook perched under her arm waiting for something worth writing about to happen.

She was only nineteen- far younger in comparison to Margo- but she seemed so comfortable at the much larger campus than the high school she'd attended. She'd talked to the redheaded girl a few times, one of which they'd discussed their majors, the one thing they seemed to have in common was their interest in stars.

While Margo majored in Aerospace Engineering, Hinley was majoring in Astronomy.

Mitch had remained the same- more or less- during his studies at the University. He'd kept to himself ignoring the people- students and teachers alike- that he wasn't required to interact with, he felt out of place at University, as if he was a ghost watching from somewhere outside of his body.

He would enter a classroom at odd sometimes, simply feeling as if there was something there that would relieve the pressure building up in his chest each time he stepped on campus, it didn't relieve the pressure.

The school reminded him of Katrina and attending with her, it felt as if though the same thing were going to happen to him and Margo, she would end up dead somehow and the cycle would continue on and so forth until he was just a hollow shell of the person he'd been years ago before his parents died.

Stirring her coffee, Margo waited a few minutes before she cautiously took a sip, relief washing over her when she felt the lukewarm substance clash against her tongue, she set the cup down on the table heading over to the small couch to grab her laptop from where it was charging, she carried it- tucked beneath her arm- to the table laying it beside her cup before plopping down in the closest chair.

She lifted her mug to her lips to take another sip before she opened the laptop to scroll through her email, checking to see if she had any work missing or in need of completion she leaned back in her chair when she realized she had nothing to work on. For a moment, just the briefest of moments in her mind, she thought about calling Stan.

About asking if they were working on any cases, or if they needed any assistance from her, she erased the thought from her head like the nonsense that it was regretting the man even crossing her mind- more so the reason he had- she closed her computer glancing to the phone, one thing she was curious about was Josi and Josh.

She hadn't seen them after the mission and had assumed they were both just lost recruits Stan wanted to try and forget about like Victor. Letting out a sigh she thought on it for a few more moments before standing up and walking to where the home phone sat, she picked it up wrapping her hand around it to get a feel for the device.

She'd only ever used a home phone twice, both being in Stan's residence. The number still imprinted in her head like a photograph being held in front of her eyes, she dialed the number gently pressing the phone to her ear as she listened to the ringing that had begun, it only took a ring and a half for someone to pick up.

"What?" the voice snapped, it was Stan.

She bit back on her lip already regretting the decision she'd made to call him in the first place, "It's me, Lee." his breathing stilled as she spoke having not heard her voice in months, the fact that she existed at all seemed like a fever dream, something he'd imagined.

"Why did you call?" his voice was cut as if he didn't want to try and do something that would make her want to hang up, he just wanted to try and go back to simpler times, when she'd been under his training and supervised eye, when he'd at least been able to keep the monster he was creating away from the world.

"I wanted to ask about Merdock and Calebs." she answered glancing out the living room window as she listened to him breathing through the receiver, "what about them?"

She rolled her eyes, this was the one part of Stan she hated, it was obvious what she wanted, which was to know if they were alive or dead, was it that difficult for him to grasp?

"I wanted to know if you knew how to contact them, Hurley." she knew the use of his last name instead of the regular use of "Stan"- his first name- would sting, and she was right, it did.

"Nope, Eric probably does, you have his number." without allowing her to reply, he hung up the sound of the dial tone clicking being all the confirmation she needed. Later, when she'd cooled down from the anger that had settled in her from her previous call with Stan, she called Eric to ask if he knew how to contact either of them.

Happy to help her out, he offered both of their phone numbers and emails hanging up moments later once he realized he'd helped her as much as he could. She waited around some more, working up the courage to call Josi, it wasn't until five-thirty that she made the call knawing on her index fingernail as she listened to the sound of ringing.

She picked up on the third ring her voice hoarse and giving off the impression that she had either just woken up or was getting ready t go to sleep. "Who is this?'' she asked her words soft and quiet, Margo waited for a few moments removing her finger from her mouth and closing her eyes for a half-second to gather up her words.

"It's me Josi, Margo." the girl on the other end didn't say anything for a few seconds before she chuckled, "I didn't think I'd hear from you anytime soon, or ever, for that matter." she let out a sigh happy that the girl wasn't angry at her, "I just recently moved, and I was home so I figured now was better than never." Josi nodded to herself.

It seemed like the last time they'd seen each other was ages ago, it felt nice to hear the other girl's voice after so long.

"So, how are things going with Josh?" she smiled glancing into the kitchen, he was rushing around from the stove the oven, and somehow the fridge trying his best to make dinner without destroying it for once, "things are doing good, I'm trying my best to teach him how to cook, he's slowly getting there." she turned to face him watching as his cheeks flushed a deep red when he realized she was watching him.

She gave him an encouraging thumbs up the boy smiling back at her as he quickly returned to the stove to stir a pot of sauce.

She sniffed the air, it smelt of burnt bread, Josh having failed to pick up on this, continued with his stirring completely oblivious to what was going on, "do you think I could call you back soon? Josh is destroying the kitchen and frankly, I don't need the place going up in flames." Margo chuckled from the other end glancing to the door as the sound of keys rattling became evident.

"Yeah, that's fine."

She paused as Mitch pushed open the door and stepped in with his bag in hand, "tell him Mitch and I say hi." Josi smiled from the other end, "will do." and with that, she was gone, a small echo left in Margo's mind as she set the phone back onto the charging dock, he set his bag down twisting his keys in his hand, "who was that?"

She watched as he kicked off his shoes carefully scooting them out of the way, "that was Josi." he looked up from the floor at the mention of her name giving a small nod, "she with Josh?" she nodded her head crossing her arms over her chest. Mitch reached his hand up to the back of his head giving it a small scratch, "I'm guessing you're still waiting to talk."

She gave a soft nod of her head keeping him in her fixed gaze, he let out a sigh running his hand through his hair, gesturing to the couch, they both sat down neither bothering to speak or make eye contact for several awkward moments.

Margo was the first one to speak propping her head up against her hand- which was leaned against the couch- "all we did was fuck." she paused watching as he nodded, "it's not like we promised each other anything, we were both drunk and celebrating." Mitch didn't nod this time, "I liked it, feeling someone else's body pressed into mine." Margo let her hands fall into her lap biting back on her lip to avoid saying something she would more than likely regret.

"Not during sex, I mean, in the middle of the night, I liked the warmth, the feeling of your chest rising with mine, in sync." she looked down at her hands unsure of how to respond, "Mitch I-"

He shook his head, "I'm not saying we have to be a couple or get with one another, I'm just saying-"

She cut him off leaning across the couch to press a kiss to his lips, resting his hands at the back of her head he pulled her in closer relishing in the feeling of her lips against his, it wasn't until a few seconds later that she would pull back- just slightly- and watch as a smile broke across his lips.

NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: THE BEGINNING