After she had left the hospital the young woman managed to flag a taxi down. The driver was an older man getting on in his years, sleep plagued his features and the dark rings under his eyes were unforgivable. It seemed to be a trend with these drivers. All of them were so old, so worn, and exhausted. "Um, can you take me to tenth and Hollywood?" she asked, her voice dry and gravelly. The driver gave a slow nod and pulled away from the curb.

The city dragged by in a slow blur of neon and brick. "Are you sure you want to go here lady?" the man asked in a nasal voice. Tenth and Hollywood wasn't exactly in one of Gotham's nicest neighbourhoods. The taxi pulled up to the curb and the man turned back to look at her. "Yes, here you go." She nodded and dished out a fifty dollar bill from behind her cell phones silver case. The man took the bill he was handed and looked between it and the money meter. "Miss this is too much." He said.

Mar'i raised her hand and shook her head. "It has been a long night, I just want to make somebody feel happy for once." She gave him a sweet smile.

Her fingers pulled on the handle and opened the car door. Mar'i stepped out and closed the door behind her and she waited a moment for the taxi driver to pull away from the curb. The street she was on was dimly lit by only a few working street lights, the road lined with townhouses, and a store on the corner. Her yellow boots squeaked as she walked down the sidewalk, eyes scanning the generic townhouses.

There was a lot of trouble in Gotham. She was on the south side of the city now; Crime Alley was quite close by to where she currently was. If Leo knew she was skulking about in this area of the city he'd have her head for being so reckless. Mar'i stopped and turned to look at what felt like the millionth townhouse she had walked by in the past five minutes. The generic brown bricked thin house was dark like all of the other ones.

On a whim, she jogged up the concrete steps and raised her fist wrapping loudly on the front door. It was cold and her bare legs hardly appreciated the cold breeze blowing against them. The young woman waited for a minute until the light inside flickered on. Heavy, tired footsteps dragged against the floor until the person inside reached the front door. She could hear the clicking of the locks being opened before the door cautiously opened.

The door only opened a crack, just enough for the person inside to see who it was waking them at this early hour. "I'm either going insane or the most troublesome person in the family is standing on my doorstep, and I am not talking about Artemis." The person said now opening the door fully. Mar'i smiled at the dark-skinned female and gave her cousin a hug. It had been a long time since she had seen her cousin Oshun.

Oshun moved out of the way of the doorway and let Mar'i step inside of the house. Once the front door was closed the young woman could finally feel the heat rush back to her legs. "It has definitely been awhile." Mar'i said noting how her cousin has changed in such little time. Although she saw her when she first arrived back in Gotham that was only for an hour before the dinner party abruptly ended. Oshun crossed her arms, "It has." She said shifting between feet.

The model could see how fidgety she was being. Oshun leaned back more into the natural shadows of the house and avoided her cousin's curious gaze. "I just came back from the hospital, a friend of mine got into some trouble with some bad people." She said trying to cut through the awkward silence. It only seemed to grow further after she said that.

Oshun and her Aunt Roquette were always estranged from the family ever since her Uncle Wally came back. The details were still fuzzy and nobody really knew what happened between them but it left the family broken. Her mother was the one left to pick up the broken pieces. "Are you okay?" Mar'i asked reaching out and touching her arm in an effort to possibly coax her into speaking. The twenty-year-old uncrossed her arms and began to toy with the bottom of her cotton grey pajama shirt.

There was a sniffle that came from the shorter of the two. Mar'i was the tallest in the family beside her Uncle Conner. "I'm fine. So your friend, is it someone from England?" Oshun asked moving down the hallway and towards the nearby kitchen. Mar'i slipped off her yellow boots and slowly followed her down the small corridor. On the way to the kitchen, she peered into the dimly lit living room to see the television in the corner on.

Before she could get a better look Oshun called her name from the kitchen. The light fixture that hung from the ceiling gave the small kitchen a warm orange glow. It felt quite homey here. The place almost reminded her of her quaint little house in London. Oshun's back was to her as she looked through the refrigerator. From the back, her natural black bushy hair, afro styled was untamed like a majestic lioness. When she finally did turn to face Mar'i she left her cousin shocked.

In the darkness, it was hard to see her face but in the light, everything was much more on display. Her eyes were watery, face darkened and flushed, and her cheeks were stained with dried tears. "Water?" she asked holding out a bottle of cold water to her. Mar'i's gave flickered from her face to the bottle of water. It was this when she remembered how parched she was. All of the running and pacing earlier had really made her quite thirsty. "Thanks." She said graciously taking the bottle and opening it.

Within a minute half of the water inside of the plastic bottle had been emptied and now resided in her stomach. Oshun opened her own bottle and took a sip of the cool water inside. "I'm not upset if that's what you're thinking." She said lowering the water bottle from her lips.

"I mean I wasn't but I just assumed that you were." Mar'i looked down at the floor feeling a sudden interest to study the scuff marks and scratches on the tile beneath her feet.

"It's been nineteen years since my dad you know..." she drifted off.

Instantly Mar'i knew what she was talking about. She had no idea the anniversary of his death was today of all days. Her features softened and her eyes glossed over with sympathy. Her cousin rolled her eyes and turned away once again heading into a different room. The tallest of the latter lingered in the kitchen for a moment longer before following. She couldn't help but feel as if she were intruding on something sacred. The living room was dark save for the flood of coloured light cast against the partially closed window and back wall.

From the dim light of the television, she could see that the walls were a deep blue, reminiscent to the Arctic Ocean. Her green eyes flickered across the blue walls seeing a few pieces of artwork hung and few family photos. Most of them were of Oshun and her mother, above the television, hung Oshun's High School graduation picture. It was a typical family living room, like her parents. Her Aunt Roquette made sure to put pictures of Oshun up as much as possible.

Finally, Mar'i's gaze fell onto the actual television. It wasn't anything fancy but it was the frozen image on the screen that really grabbed her attention. The frozen image was slightly blurred from the awkward angle the scene was being filmed at. "Is that your mum's wedding?" she asked incredulously. The young woman squinted and took a step closer to see if what she was seeing was real. 

Her mother spoke about the magic which was her Aunt and deceased Uncles wedding. "It was a night of magic, like a princess bounding her soul to her beloved princes." Her mother told her. The way she made it sound was as if it came from a Disney movie. Then again from bits and pieces, she's heard of their relationship it did sound like that of a fairytale. "Yeah, I've just been watching old home movies. Mom doesn't like talking much about him so I use these for some sort of guidance." Oshun explained, wiping the dried tears from her face with the back of her hand.

They took a seat on the couch opposite the television which was situated in the corner of the room. Mar'i tapped her fingers against the water bottle trying to alleviate any tension in the air. She felt as if anything said could trigger something in her cousin. It was like walking around a field of landmines in the Ervin-Ahm household. Oshun raised the remote and pressed her finger down on one of the numerous buttons.

Sound flooded back into the room as the home movie began to play. Someone was snickering behind the camera. The wedding wasn't large by any means. It was quaint and had only the people that were most important to the bride and groom. The ceremony was being held on the beach somewhere. Mar'i watched absolutely mesmerized by how beautiful the wedding was and how young everyone was. The zoomed in video of the ceremony abruptly cut off and flashed to another video.

It was darker now, they must have moved to a building for the reception. 'Awe look at those cuties over there' someone, a male judging by the voice, cooed. This seemed like more of a jest than anything. 'Dick stop it' another voice giggled. The camera flipped to a boy and a girl, both teenagers and both with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Mar'i's jaw would've been on the floor if she were animated. "Are those, no really?" she gaped staring at the two teenagers giggling on the screen.

There was a lot she didn't know about her parents when they were younger. It was clear that the stories her family told were select stories appropriate for the situation. They also did not seem to have many home movies whereas her Aunt Roquette seemed to have dozens upon dozens. Sometimes she wished she could read her parents' life like a book. It would make understanding them less complicated. "Oh yeah." Oshun nodded with a light-hearted giggle.

Their eyes were drawn back to the television screen when they heard a clinking sound. Roquette was holding a glass and tapping it with the end of her spoon. The person filming fumbled the camera before straightening and zooming in on her. The bride was absolutely glowing and the smile on her face radiated warmth and glee. 'I just wanted to make a toast to us, all of us. You guys aren't just my friends you're my family. No matter what the world throws at us I know we'll all make it. To the future and heading to University whether it be now or a year from now.' Roquette said proceeding to hold up her glass.

"It's funny how quickly life can change." A voice said from the right of the room.

Both young women jumped, heads snapping to the side towards the intruder. Oshun fumbled with the remote and paused the film. The person, well the woman standing there was Mar'i's aunt – Oshun's mother. She was in her hospital scrubs, arms folded over her chest, dark sharp brows furrowed, and a frown pulling her lips down. "Mom know you're here?" Roquette asked nodding towards Mar'i.

She shook her head and raised an eyebrow. "I'm twenty-six why would I need her permission?" she asked aloud. The woman ignored her question and crossed the room to her daughter taking the television remote from her. "I told you not to touch these." Roquette scolded.

"Why not?" Oshun challenged, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You've never said anything about dad and this is the only way I can feel even a little closer to the man you refuse to tell me about!" she continued, now yelling.

Mar'i winced at the sudden loudness of her cousin's voice. She could see the fresh tears brimming Oshun's eyes as she clenched her jaw. The silence hit the house like a shockwave. No one said a word to anyone. Mar'i swore that she felt the world slow to a stop. It was strange seeing her cousin shout like this. Her mother looked surprised as well seeing her daughter's sudden outburst. "All I have are pictures and stories from other people. I want to know what his favourite colour was, want to know his favourite food, his favourite sport." Oshun whispered, mostly to herself.

Silence.

More silence.

A deep breath.

"For one thing his favourite sport was swimming."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I know I haven't updated in awhile and that is totally my fault! Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I promise the time between this chapter and the next update won't be as long.

Skycrystal23 ;)