"So she moved the funeral up?" Michael asked after Nathan had filled him in on what he'd gathered from Tracy.

"Yeah. I think she's definitely going to run after the funeral."

"You have to admire her dedication though," Michael remarked, "Even with the possibility of an arrest, she's determined not to miss her son's funeral."

Nathan considered this, "What if she's up to something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Nathan shrugged. "I just have a feeling there's more to this."

"What makes you say that?"

"A hunch. Do you think we can get into that funeral? I suggest we keep a close eye on her there."

"They're probably going to let Max out for the funeral so I'll look into making sure we're on guard duty," Michael said already standing and heading for the door.

"Hold on," Nathan stopped him. "Did Chief Langdon make any move?"

"No. He hasn't left his office and all other calls I listened in on were work related."

Nathan nodded and let Michael go while he called Natasha from his desk phone but she didn't pick up so he looked up Stacey's number and tried her instead but she didn't pick up either. Getting worried, he tried Natasha again to no avail so he left her a message to call him back. Michael walked back in a few minutes later and found him staring blankly at the wall.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"I tried to call Stacey and Natasha but neither of them are picking up.

Michael was tempted to make a snide remark that Nathan was worrying about Natasha but decided against it, seeing how genuinely worried he was.

"Didn't you say Natasha has your phone?" he asked instead.

"Yeah," Nathan replied.

"You can track it then."

"I don't think she'd be very happy about that," Nathan said.

"In all fairness, it's your phone and you did try to call her and check on her but she didn't pick up. What if she's in trouble or something?" Michael reasoned.

"You have a point. Okay then," Nathan said and he called a friend to track his phone for him. He got a call back with a location a few minutes later. By the time they were done filling the paperwork to get approval to escort Max to the funeral, it was evening and he called to confirm Natasha's location again before leaving Michael in the office.

***

"Oh alcohol, you have no idea how much I missed you," Natasha sang, cradling her bottle.

"You might want to slow down your reunion or you and Mr Alcohol will be having a nasty break up tomorrow," Stacey scoffed.

"After the week I've had, you should lock me up in a room with Mr Alcohol and a hundred of his friends and let them have their way with me."

"Want to talk about it?" Stacey asked.

Natasha shook her head. "Pass. I'm drinking to forget the whole thing, not spill the beans to the entirety of the carnival."

"To forgetting things," Stacey said, raising her can of soda to Natasha before taking a huge gulp.

"What are you trying to unsuccessfully forget with a can of non-alcoholic soda?" Natasha asked rolling her eyes.

"I was planning a funeral. Those always depress me," Stacey replied, staring ahead at the big Ferris wheel in front of them.

"Oh my gosh, did someone die?" Natasha exclaimed wide-eyed.

"Uh, isn't that obvious? Who would plan a funeral for someone who isn't already dead?"

"A murderer for one," Natasha snorted.

Stacey stared at her. "How many of those have you had?" she asked pointing at the bottle in Natasha's hand.

"Not enough. Why are you planning a funeral anyway? I thought you planned weddings and unicorn themed parties for 5 year olds."

"Funerals are events too," Stacey shrugged. "And the Bandieers are my best paying customers so frankly if they asked me to plan a bathroom schedule, I'd do it. No questions asked."

Natasha choked on a mouthful of beer but once she stopped spluttering she said, "You're planning Mac's funeral?"

Stacey nodded in response.

"So much for forgetting things," Natasha sighed. As she was about to finish up her drink and get another, a group of people passed them and one of them stopped and stared at her.

"Natasha Evans!" the guy said and walked up to her, close enough that she could see the little specks of gold in his brown eyes that she once loved. "Long time, no see."

"Urgh. Like my day needs anymore ruining," Natasha said, voice filled with disgust. Stacey stepped in between them, gently pushing the guy away.

"That's close enough," Stacey said.

"Just saying hi to an old friend," the guy said, raising his hands in surrender.

"You know this guy Tasha?" Stacey asked over her shoulder.

"Yep. He's Collin Stevens. We dated for a while in high school," Natasha replied. "Too bad the voodoo spell Kelsey and I used on him didn't work," she added under her breath.

"I always knew you'd be famous," Collin said. "Although I didn't think it'd be for murder," he added, chuckling. His words drew the attention of his friends who all turned and stared at Natasha.

"If you don't shut your mouth right now..." Stacey began.

"What? She'll kill me?" Collin smirked. "I totally dodged that bullet, literally."

"Nah," Natasha said in a surprisingly cool voice. "Whenever I imagined killing you, it was always a slow, painful death. Think bloody and gruesome. A bullet would be too merciful and quick for your cheating ass."

People around them gasped at her words and Stacey turned back to face her, pushing her away from Collin. "I don't think it's wise to go around saying stuff like that especially given your situation."

"Situation, huh? Is that what we're calling it?" Natasha laughed humorlessly. "You can just say it you know. The t.v reporters already did."

She started giggling again, fumbling through the pockets of her jean until she pulled out Nathan's phone. "Funny story," she said when she finally managed to unlock the screen, struggling to keep her bottle balanced. "The same t.v reporter who declared me a murderer on national t.v has been blowing Nathan's phone up all day. I had to put the ringer on silent before I gave in to the urge to answer the phone and scream at her. Nathan probably gave her the story then pretended to be shocked when it aired for my benefit."

"I'm sure he didn't," Stacey said, coming to her friend's defense.

Natasha took another sip of beer. "Wanna bet?" she said tapping away at the screen. Realizing what she was doing, Stacey grabbed the phone and the beer from her.

"Hey!" Natasha protested.

"Friends don't let friends drunk dial t.v reporters," Stacey said, "Or drink away their common sense." She tossed the bottle into a nearby trash can and dragged Natasha away from the crowd that was starting to gather around them, past the tents and caravans, over a low fence and through a field until they reached a group of crumbling buildings. She led the way to a bench set behind the buildings amidst Natasha's protests that all the walking was starting to sober her up.

Stacey sat on the bench and pulled Natasha down next to her, placing the phone down on her other side. "Remember this place?" she asked.

"I remember you used to bring me here and tell me some ridiculous story about how this was a castle a long time ago until there was a war over some princess and the buildings got destroyed," Natasha replied.

"You believed my ridiculous story," Stacey smirked.

"I was ten. If you'd told me you turn into a unicorn at night, I would have believed you."

Stacey laughed before turning to face Natasha. "I'm worried about you."

"I'm sorry I lost it back there," Natasha apologized.

"My offer to talk still stands," Stacey said.

"Can we just sit here for now and watch the sun set like we used to?" Natasha asked.

"Sure," Stacey said, squeezing her hand lightly as she leaned back on the bench and stared up at the sky. Eventually Natasha closed her eyes and fell asleep, shifting so she could lay her head on Stacey's lap.

Stacey started drifting off half an hour later when the sound of footsteps approaching startled her so much that she jumped a little, waking Natasha.

"It's just me," Nathan said, walking over to them.

Stacey breathed a sigh of relief as Natasha sat up, stretching her arms. She rubbed her eyes and stared at Nathan in surprise.

"You called the cops? Way to ruin the fun Stacey," Natasha groaned.

"What are you doing here?" Stacey asked.

"Looking for you two," Nathan replied.

"But how did you know we were here?"

Nathan hesitated before he replied. "Both of you weren't answering my calls and I got worried so I had them trace my phone so I could find out where you are."

Natasha laughed, shaking her head. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Detective McHotpants strikes again!"

Nathan and Stacey stared at her, the latter struggling to keep a straight face until Nathan turned to look at her, brow arched.

"Yeah, I think I broke your girlfriend," Stacey laughed.

"Is she drunk?" Nathan asked.

"Not as much as she was before. I think our walk here and the nap sobered her up a little."

"The person you are talking about is right here," Natasha said, waving her hands about.

Nathan ignored her. "What the hell Stacey?"

"I just wanted to get her mind off things so I took her to the carnival so we could get a couple of drinks and play some games. I didn't know she'd drink the whole damn bar and start throwing around death threats," Stacey said getting upset by the tone he'd used.

"Death threats?" Nathan fairly yelled. "I told you to look after her not press the self-destruct button to her reputation."

"Still here," Natasha interjected but again both of them ignored her.

"I'm sorry, okay," Stacey apologized. "I honestly just wanted to distract her from everything that's been happening. I guess it was idiotic to think taking her to a public place was a good idea."

"I'm sorry I yelled," Nathan said, pacified by Stacey's calm tone.

"Can you take her back? I need to get back to my car and check my phone in case someone else besides you called," Stacey said.

"Sure," Nathan nodded. He noticed his phone and picked it up from the bench. "If you had my phone with you, why didn't you answer when I called?"

"Natasha put it on silent," Stacey replied.

"Why?"

"Kimberly Yates kept calling," Natasha piped up. "What's up with that anyway?"

"It's getting dark. I'm going to leave you to deal with that one," Stacey said.

"Are you okay to drive?" he asked.

"Yeah, I only had one beer and a bunch of sodas. Bye Tasha."

Once they were alone, Nathan sat next to her on the bench.

"So, McHotpants?" he asked, fighting a laugh.

"I'm drunk. You can't hold me accountable for anything I say," Natasha shrugged.

Nathan decided to let it go for the time being and instead asked, "Are you hungry? We can get dinner somewhere before we go back to the apartment."

"Are you the one who told Kimberly Yates about my arrest so she could tell the world I'm a murderer?" Natasha said, ignoring his question.

Nathan sighed. "Of course not and while we're on that topic, I don't know why she was calling today. I only spoke to her on the phone a couple of times and only so I could meet her and find out who leaked the story."

"Did you find out?"

He nodded. "It was the Chief."

Natasha remained quiet, processing what he'd told her. A breeze blew, rustling some leaves and nipping at Natasha's skin. Nathan noticed her shivering and stood, holding out his hand for her. She let him lead her away from the ruins, taking a path different from the one she and Stacey had taken. They got to the car and agreed on having dinner at one of the more discrete restaurants in town.

"I don't think I can move," Natasha groaned when Nathan shook her awake after they reached a restaurant down town. Most of the streetlights were out, except one and only three other cars were in the parking lot besides theirs.

"I'll just get takeaways then. Stay in the car and keep the door locked," Nathan said as he got out.

Natasha mumbled a response and twisted around in her seat, trying to get comfortable but her stomach kept churning. She hastily unlocked the door and ran out to a dumpster placed in the alley between the restaurant and another building that was completely dark. She felt a strong urge to throw up and the smell of rotting food coming from the dumpster only made it worse until she couldn't take it anymore and ran further into the alley, only getting halfway before everything spilled out. Her knees felt weak after and she sunk to the ground burying her head in her hands and regretting the one too many drinks she had.

She ignored the voices coming close to the alley, trying to will herself to stand up and go back to the car.

"I don't see why we can't go inside the restaurant," a male voice said. They were now close enough that she could hear their conversation clearly.

"Someone might recognize us in there," a female voice answered.

"No one comes to this place," the male said sounding frustrated.

"There are a couple of cars parked outside so someone's there."

"So we're back to the good old times of meeting in dark corners and shady motels." The man sounded bitter and they were getting closer like they were going into the alley towards Natasha.

"Dan get over yourself. This is what you get for just showing up to my house unannounced! We have bigger problems here. Did you find out what the police have on me?" the woman said sounding equally irritated.

The man huffed impatiently before replying. "No. I couldn't get them to talk without raising questions."

"Then we don't have a choice. We have to follow through with my plan," the woman said. At this point Natasha was trying to figure out if she would be able to make it across the parking lot to the car without landing face first on the ground. She considered calling out for help from the quarreling couple.

"I really don't think that's a good idea," the man said.

"I don't care what you think. All I want to do is save my son so are you going to help me or not?" the woman snapped.

"He's my son too Margaret and I want what's best for him and what you're proposing is definitely not it."

"I raised him.I decide what's best for him."

"That's not fair. I wanted to raise him too. I wanted us to be a family but you left me and you went back to Henry even though I begged you not to," the man countered, sounding pained.

Something about their conversation pricked at Natasha's subconscious but she didn't have the energy to probe her mind further. Finally deciding she wouldn't be able to make it on her own, she called out to them for help but the feeble sound didn't get far at all.

"Can we not do this again?" the woman said, clearly not having heard Natasha's call for help. Their voices were starting to fade, like they were walking past the alley.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever you want because I've always given you everything you ask of me. All I'm asking is for you to think about this tonight. If you haven't changed your mind by tomorrow morning then we'll go through with your plan."

"I'm not going to change my mind Dan. I need to get out of here and he is all I have left. I'm not going to leave him behind to rot in jail," the woman said.

"But you have me. You've always had me," Dan said desperately.

Natasha tried again and this time her call for help actually reached them.

"Did you hear that?" the woman asked, sounding alarmed.

"It sounded like it was coming from inside the alley," the man said. His voice sounded louder like he was walking back towards Natasha so she called out again.

"What are you doing?" the woman exclaimed. "Whoever that is will see us together!"

"I can't just leave her here. She might be hurt or dying!" the man protested. He finally reached her and crouched down. Natasha heard another set of hurried footsteps growing fainter and she assumed the lady had taken off. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked her.

Natasha felt that prickling sensation that she was missing something again but she ignored it. "I'm a little dizzy. Could you help me? My friend's car is parked nearby but I don't think I can make it there by myself."

"Sure," the man said, standing and helping her up.

Something about his voice was wreaking havoc on Natasha's brain. Her vision was blurry and coupled with the darkness, she couldn't tell if she recognized his face.

"Do you remember where your friend is parked?" he asked, helping her along as she clung to his arm.

"Near the restaurant, big black car," Natasha replied, trying to push away the hair that was stuck to her damp forehead.

He laughed. "You just described half the cars in this town."

"I'll lead the way; just make sure I don't land on my face," Natasha replied. 

They continued slowly through the darkness, with Natasha praying she wouldn't throw up again.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you," Natasha said.

"Don't worry about it," Dan said.

They were a little way away from the car now and there was a bit of light coming from the restaurant. "For what it's worth, I hope Marge realizes what she'd be losing. You seem like a good man."

Dan stopped abruptly, turning sharply to face her. "What did you hear?" he asked.

"Not a lot. I really didn't mean to eavesdrop but I was...Ow! What the hell?" Natasha screeched as he shined his phone's torchlight on her face. She lifted her free arm to shield her eyes and stumbled back away from him but didn't get very far as he was still holding her other arm.

"Natasha Evans?" he said in disbelief.

"I'm going to have to get back to you on the last name," Natasha said. "How do you know who I am?" she asked, squinting her eyes at him.

Dan didn't reply her but his grip on her arm tightened and he started to back away, dragging her with him. She struggled against him, confused by his actions but he only held on tighter and started walking faster. Amidst her struggles, Natasha tried to scream and instead threw up on him. He jumped away from her in disgust and she fell to the ground from the sudden loss of support. The lone functioning street light behind him cut through the darkness enough for Natasha to see his face a little clearly.

"Chief Langdon?" she breathed out surprised before she bent over and threw up again. She vaguely heard a voice calling her name from the direction of the car as the man before her ran off into the night.

***

Didn't see this one coming did ya? 

This one was a toughie until I decided to stop overthinking it and just let it flow.  7 -ish chapters to go!