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Allison sighs tiredly, her green irises closing slowly as she drops her head, a lock of dark hair falling to shield her face from the nonexistent crowd as a tear slides down her cheek. She reaches a shaking hand forward and traces the name on the gravestone. The name belonging to someone she thought would always be there, and in truth, wasn't really expecting to go quite so soon.

"Why'd you leave?" She asks suddenly, her throat working as she tries to hold back a sob. She sucks in a shaky breath, another tear slipping from her grasp. "You were supposed to be here." She squeezes her eyes shut as she exhales, a long, heavy sigh that clouds in the cold night air before her. "I thought...I thought you were going to be the one to comfort me when I broke up for the first time. I thought...you left a lot of questions behind you." She snaps her head up, glaring at the tombstone, "You promised me!" She chokes out angrily, wiping a tear away. "You said you'd never leave me. I trusted you!" She drops her head again, clenching her jaw.

She licks her lips slightly as she holds back her next angry remarks and finally, after long, cold nights of sitting here when she couldn't sleep, she breaks down, burying her head in her arms, her choked sobs echoing in the dark, empty graveyard. She raises red tinged eyes to the lettering on the stone.

"I miss you, Mama." She whispers, the words fading into the near black of the night. Her head snaps up as she hears the creak of the gate and she freezes, sniffing back the rest of her tears.

Steve couldn't sleep this chill night because he was thinking too much. It was the anniversary of his cousin's death in Afghanistan. Jake was several years older than Steve, but he didn't mind playing with the little kids when we were all younger. Steve remembered when he came over to the house to visit wearing his U.S. Army uniform. He was so proud!

It was the last time Steve saw him. He went away to basic and he didn't come back before he shipped out to Afghanistan. His MO was explosive dispersal, so he was the one who disarmed the mines and IEDs. He only had a week to go before shipping home, and he ws given guard picket while others went in to do the disarm work. It was a hot dusty day in Urzagan and it seemed routine. But when one of his comrades stepped back slightly, he tripped a mine blowing his leg off. It was wired up to other charges and Jake died. They say his body was buried in this grave, but Steve suspected that most of him was still scattered across Afghanistan.

When he got to the cemetary, he thought he could hear someone talking in the still air. He walked slowly, not wanting to disturb someone who he could now tell was obviously grieving. When the old iron gate let out a chirp when he moved it, he froze as he was sure he heard a quick breath. "I'm sorrt to disturb you." Steve said into the darkness,. He stil couldn't see anybody. Maybe he was just thinking it. His hand played with a small plastic soldier in his pocket. It was one that had gotten lost from the set he and Jake used to play with. The set was long gone now to the thrift store, but this soldier was found and he wanted to stand guard over Specialist Jake Harrison. He stepped in and let the gate close with a clang.

She holds still, almost not daring to breathe. But then she hears his voice, and she relaxes. She didn't know the guy, so she was obviously still cautious, but at least it wasn't some creeper in the graveyard. If he was, he wouldn't have apologized.

She stands slowly, turning in the direction the voice had come from, her eyes skimming the gravestones around her mother's. The name Harrison catches her attention, but she snaps her gaze away from it so she can look for the stranger in the cemetery with her.

She fumbles with her phone, turning on the flashlight and sweeping it around. "It's okay." She answers, her voice hoarse with tears. Finally, she finds him and her eyes travel up the length of his body, stopping on his face and she sucks in a breath.

Steve shielded his eyes trying to save his night vision when the light came up to his face. He walked up to stand near the woman as he turned on his own phone light and shone it on the headstone of Jacob F Harrison. It was adorned in intricate carvings and a flag. He was only twenty one when he died this day a few years ago.

He set his hand on the top of the cold granite, then stepepd back. "I didn't think anyone would be here. I probably interrupted your grieving?" he asked as he kileld his phone light and looked over at her. "I didn't mean to startle you or anything. Just had to come see my cousin."

Allison smiles softly, "I...don't mind. I needed the relief." She looks down, blinking away her remaining tears before looking back up at him. Despite her emotions, she can't help but to crack a joke, tiny as it might be, "I thought I was the only one crazy enough to come to a cemetery this late at night?" Then she checks her phone, seeing it was after one in the morning, "Or rather, this early in the morning."

Her hair is blown from her face by a harsh wind and she shivers, "I should've known it would be cold." She looks at him, debating whether or not to ask for his name.

Steve looked up to the starry sky and nodded. "I been coming in here at night for a decade. Not regularly, but when the mood hits." He looked at the side of the woman's face as her hair blew about it. Steve stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat as the gust spins leaves around them.

"Winter is coming as they say in that show. You warm enough?" He paused. It was stupid of him saying such things to a total stranger, let alone one in a cemetary with him in the early hours of the morning. "Um, I'm Steve... Steve Harrison." He pointed at the grave stone next to the one she had stood by. "That is where my cousin Jacob sleeps."

He looked over at the woman who he could tell in the dim light had been mourning. "Who is it that you lost?"

(Oof. Sorry. Internet cut out for a...long time.)

Allison doesn't answer for a minute, crouching down to stare at her mother's gravestone. "My mother." A sad smile crosses her face as she stands again, facing...Steve. Then she processes his first question and she blushes, "Warm enough? No. I'm never warm enough. There's always something to damper my spirits." She chuckles, turning to look at the gate, and then: "But it is cold out here, and I don't have a jacket."

She turns her attention back to him, "And I'm Allison. Allison Jackson." She holds out her hand, to shake his. "It's nice to meet you, despite the circumstances."

Steve took her hand and gave it a light shake. She was cold! "Yeah, but no matter. Good to meet you to Allison. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother." He took the toy soldier out of his pocket before taking off the jacket he wore. He draped it around Allison's shoulders. "Here, use this. I have this wool sweater on so I'm good."

He did look her over in what little light from the nearby streetlights that was reaching them. He then knelt down and reached out and set the toy soldier on an edge of the headstone by the base. He stepped back and gave a salute before turning back to Allison. "I guess we never managed to cross paths here on our late night walks. Do you live nearby?"

She hesitates for a moment before sticking her arms through the sleeves of the jacket, gratitude evident on her face. "Thank you." She murmurs, her eyes curious at his movement. She looks at the toy soldier and then at the gravestone, and her eyes clear of the confusion. Now it was obvious why he gave the salute.

Allison takes a deep breath, her white dress, which she just remembered she was wearing, was now soiled with the dirt she'd been kneeling in. She frowns, but looks up at Steve. "Yes, I do. It's basically a...five minute walk in..." She pivots on her heel, pointing up the street, "That direction." She turns back to him, "Do you? Live nearby, that is."

(OOC- Sorry for the short post. I’m on my phone at work)


He looked in the direction she pointed and looked back at her. “Ah, I live a bit further away, out of town a mile or so up in the hills. I drove in and parked at the Denny’s down that way a couple blocks.” His coat was rather large on her, and he saw her white dress ripple around her legs when the breeze came up, again spinning leaves around them. He looked to her eyes and asked,

“Do you want to get out of this cold? I’ll buy you a hot chocolate or something at that Denny’s if you like.” He looked at the gravestone she was by. He still felt bad interfering with her time with her mother.

(Don't worry about it, it's still pretty long.)

"I'd love to get out of the cold." She wraps her arms around her midsection, as if trying to ward off the cold, smiling as she catches a hint of his scent. It may or may not have warmed her up, just a bit.

She follows his gaze to her mother's tomb and kneeling once more, presses her fingers to her lips and then touches the stone, rising and letting her fingers trail off of it. "That hot chocolate sounds like a pretty good deal compared to staying out here in the cold." Her eyes start to sparkle, ever so slightly, with the faintest tinges of happiness. "My mother wouldn't want me grieving too long anyway."

Steve gave her mother’s gravestone a look and a nod before he glanced over at Jacob’s gravestone. He could almost hear him laugh at the fact Steve came to see him and he met a girl. “We can walk over there. It will help warm us up. I can give you a ride home afterwards too if you want.”

They walked to the iron gate and Steve opened it. That same grating squeak that had alerted Allison of his presence was heard in the quiet night, He held it open for Allison to walk through and he closed it behind him. Steve found himself a bit eager to see Allison in the light, and they would be walking under a streetlight shortly. “So, do you go to Oakwood High?” he asked, looking to the side of her face as the light brew brighter with each step.

Allison blushes a bit, "Um, no." The blush fades from her face as they near the streetlight, and she looks at the ground, "I'm actually new to this town. I...moved here after my mother's death. The house I'm currently living in used to belong to her side of the family and she wrote it out to me in her will." She stuffs her hands into the pockets of the jacket. "So, I guess now it's technically mine."

She looks at him, her sea-green eyes showing a hint of her usually reserved nature, "Though I do think I start going there tomorrow." In all honesty, she wasn't sure if she was ready to return to the whole "school" scene. She wouldn't know anybody there. And that made her nervous.

(. Now I'm at Oakwood. I had to find a way to slip myself in, so I hope you don't mind the way I did it.)

“Wow, that’s a lot to deal with.” He said as they walked along. “Well, welcome to Redwood City. I’ve been here all my life.” They walked a little further before he said reassuringly, “And you will know someone at school. You will know me.”

They stopped to wait for the walk signal, and he looked over at Allison. She had a pretty face, and her hair looked quite black in the streetlight. “We are almost there.” He pointed across the street to the Denny’s as the signal changed.

They started to cross the street when Steve pointed out the puddle on the other side. "Its starting to ice up. It is cold tonight." It was only summer a week ago, so this cold snap was quite early.

Allison looks at the Denny's and a smile crosses her face, one that lights up her eyes, her entire face. "Would you believe me..." She turns to look at him again, secretly admiring his chiseled features as she does so, "If I told you I've never been to a Denny's before?"

In order to warm herself up even more, she begins to hum softly. It was a nervous habit, one that had been present ever since she was little. She looks at the puddle of water, noticing what Steve had been talking about when he said it was beginning to "ice up." She stops humming long enough to ask a question. "Does it do that every winter?"

Steve tapped the ice with his toe. "Yes, but usually not long. It is odd that it is so early this year though." He looked over to Allison as they walked across the parking lot. "Denny's isn't really a place to want to go to, but they serve a purpose at 1:30AM."

He pulled the door open for Allison and followed her in. The warmth of the near empty restaurant was the first thing they noticed. Steve was used to the area's weather, but he still was chilled. He looked around and saw a booth by the front window and he pointed over to it. He looked at Allison now that they were in proper light, and he could see her hair was really dark and she had quite a pretty face.

Not that any of that mattered. Steve found Allison nice and comforting to talk to. The old waitress came by with menus and Steve looked up and said, "Two large hot chocolates please." She nodded and smiled at the two kids out late on a school night before walking away. Steve looked across the table to Allison, finding her more attractive with every glance. She was still bundled in his large coat and he said

"You may want to invest in some warm clothes for those two weeks of hard winter we get here. Usually it just rains or is reasonably pleasant through the winter. Where did you live before moving here?"

Allison snorts, "Oh, trust me. I have clothes for the cold." She looks down, blinking her eyes rapidly to ward off the tears, "But I..." She sniffs slightly, "I was at a party, which is why I'm wearing this...insufferable dress." She fingers the hem of the dress, before looking up at him, "Long story short, I got upset, ran out and sort of...stumbled into the cemetery."

She wipes away the tear that had escaped her control, "I'm originally from New York, that's where I was born, but we moved to England when I was around 4 years old." She smiles, a longing look in her eyes, "We moved back here when we found out Ma was sick. She wanted to be in her hometown."

She looks up as the waitress returns with their drinks. She quietly thanks the woman and blows on the drink, a shiver making it's way through her body as the delicious heat from just holding the cup made it's presence known.

"I thought I could hear an English accent there." Steve said. He was curious about Allison and hoped he didn't come across as too nosey. "And I'm sure your dress is just fine. What upset you at the party"

He slid his mug of hot chocolate over and breathed in the rich scent before returning his eyes to Allison. He loved the look and color of her hair and eyes! He reached a hand out across the table and took one Allison's hands in his. Giving it a gentle squeeze of comfort, Steve had no clue what it would be like to lose a parent. And Allison was here all alone.

A soft smile tilts her lips upward and she lifts her eyes to his, turning her hand so her fingers intertwine with his. She squeezes back, unsure of why she was doing so. "Thank you." She takes a sip, and sets the mug down, her eyes still locked on his. She blushes as she realizes she was about to get lost in his eyes and she drops hers down a bit...which meant she was now staring at his mouth. She blushes even more and lifts her eyes back to his, biting her bottom lip gently to hold in her laughter.

She regains control and her blush fades, though a slight pink tint still remains. "I don't know. I guess it was just...too soon for me to go out. I didn't...see, my friend told me there would be no alcohol, but he lied and um...things got out of hand. I had to literally run..." She trails off, swallowing slightly, before whispering, "Some guys these days don't know how to respect a woman."