CJ sadly shook his head, but then looked up with a strangely positive look on his face. "But it's been coming on very gradually," he said. He wasn't sure whether he should sound amused or just plain freaking somber, because to depress his best friend further would've meant a lot of hurt to him. Besides, he was connected to him now. He couldn't help the automatic empathic connection that he felt toward this guy he regarded almost as a brother. CJ went for something neutral. Hopefully that'd fit. "I'd really hoped that she'd remember you. I mean, you know. She's always got that freaky ability to remember things. Even the tiniest, most unimportant details. I've tried scanning her, you know I have. There's absolutely nothing... Save for what she gathers, what she remembers about you. She remembers that first peck you gave her on the cheek. She tells me she remembers that that's what made her like you at first." He was so young. I couldn't... He was so sweet. He was... CJ played back in his head for Sam to hear. "She's lost for words, you know. She still doesn't remember much, especially about her own feelings toward you. She knows she likes you, and she's really confused. And... And it's... It's... Look, man, I really am sorry. I know how much you still love her."

Dana laughed at her success at making a new friend. She let out a squeal of delight and smiled at her new playmate as she tugged gently on her hair. Luna was starting to grow on her, definitely. This girl ay have been a challenge to get to know, but it was all worth the while.

"

"She knows she likes you. She remembers the time when she started to all the way back in high school. She'll learn to remember, but the thing is... I'm sorry to bring this up, but the boy she fell in love with then, the Sam we all knew, is almost gone now. You kept him locked inside you. I can understand that it's her doing too. You know how she is." Without much thought, and almost instinctively, he reached for the packet of cigarettes in his breast pocket, but with his sister's sentiments about his habit he took his hand away from the inside before he could even pull out one stick. It was almost impossible to resist the craving, no matter how intense the love-hate situation he had between the sticks was. He couldn't stop the unconscious need to reach, light and take that first puff. In light of this, he began to understand the way Sam felt about his sister. Sammy wanted her, but now he saw that he definitely needed her; he was never the same after what had happened between the three of them. It was all because she hid that willing, loving part of her.

"You're not ready to let her go," CJ said. "And I know you see no point in going. But this is... This is letting go. It's unbearable to see the woman that you love get married to another man... And if that Abby we knew was still in there somewhere, she'd die a little inside if she saw Luna." CJ expected this meeting to be amusing. Now, it was just getting plain depressing. Desperate to change the topic, he tried to smile to make that tiny transition. "Hmm... I'm sure... I'm sure Kate would want to meet you."

"Uncle Sammy, I made a friend!" Dana exclaimed excitedly. She set off trying to babble in her own childlike gibberish, trying to explain the story of some dream of hers to her new friend.

"Yes, Sam, I believe you can," CJ replied honestly. "I know you can. You're stronger than this; I've seen you much stronger. I'm surprised; a woman can bring you down. Your own best friend. But you gotta rise above that misfortune. She's... She wants to push through with this. She loved you too much but... You know that day when she forced you out? She told me that that time with you was one of the best moments of her life but it was one that she eventually came to regret. Because it was the day that she had lost hope in ever getting you back, even for the short time she had with you. That the old you would never come back. She really believed that she couldn't dedicate most of her life to you when she had a daughter and the father of her child to attend to. She was really steadfast with that statement."

"She's a coward. She was afraid to make the first move. You were the bad boy after all, even from the start, and she'd always been in one corner wondering how it would've been if you and her had gotten together. Like those teenage fantasies everyone had when they were, well, teenagers."

"Try talking to Abby. She... She might come back," CJ stated. Dana stared down at her feet, her socks being toyed with by little Luna. "H-hey!" Dana exclaimed.

"Just talk to her some time before the wedding. She's been extremely worried lately, and she feels strange that she should be worried about you."

CJ intended to remain silent to torment Sam. He had plans for the man who was sitting right across him, but whether they were good or bad was one thing he was entirely unsure of. The anger he felt over his responsibility for Abby's present state was still there, and his indifference to whatever Sam felt right now was starting to bother him. This wasn't what he was supposed to be feeling around Sam. The feeling of hatred toward his own best friend was alien to him. He could never bring himself to hate anyone that much. He mustered himself up, with enough courage, to finally utter two words. Obscure words, but words nonetheless. "Soon enough."

CJ had arranged a meeting for the two. Abby had agreed, on the grounds that CJ accompany her and remind her who he was again and, leaving her child in the custody of Aunt Kitty, who had a very, very empty schedule for the week. Her dress sense had become more careless nowadays. She was still that girl who looked like she'd just stepped out of the bathroom, having that clean look about her, her hair slightly tousled after brushing and blow-drying it simultaneously. Her red hair was swept to one side, wanting to tame the mess but finding herself unwilling to go through the tedious task of fishtail braiding it. She wore a nice, loose beige sundress under a business-like blazer and some neon sneakers. She wasn't too sure what she was going to do about what she was wearing and honestly, she didn't care at all. She was too much in a hurry with everything that she'd just drowned under the work that kept piling at her feet as she took every step to that place in the park where the three of them would make hearty conversation and laugh about the day's trivialities before they walked off to their own separate lives, and separate homes.

"I don't know if we should be doing this," she nervously said, fidgeting with the gold button on her blazer. Her pace was starting to turn into a hesitant shuffle, her feet sliding across the floor as if to signify that she didn't want to push through this. Yes, she wanted to see this... Sam, again. Something inside her, something foreign and strange to her, told her in such an irresistible voice that she shouldn't be doing this at all. Her instincts forced her to stop just a block away, and she left CJ walking a few paces ahead until he noticed that his sister was lagging behind. "It's going to be fine, he's not going to bite you at all."
"I haven't known him more than a few days, CJ." She stopped a while when she saw that look on his face. "Alright, I've known him all my life. You happy?"
"You honestly don't believe me. Yeah, it seems like that," CJ replied, walking up to his sister and taking her hand. "Come on, he won't be there forever. You both have got to talk. Besides, wouldn't you want to know why he ran away when you were at the hospital?"
"I think that's the kind of question that could be answered by a 'It's better if I didn't know'."

The two had reached their destination after about nine minutes of trying to coerce the girl to come with him. And lo and behold, there he was, sitting on a maroon bench on fresh-cut grass. "Go. He's been expecting you."

Very slowly, she made her way to him. Each step was uneasy. It was filled with uneasy.

She saw his handsome face again once she'd been caught in his line of vision. That same troubled, hurt face. That same pathetic defeat that surrounded him. Those same thoughts that filled his head, the 'what ifs' or the 'why me's or the 'how could she's.

She just couldn't do this. But she had to try.

"Hello." That was her big start, her big moment. A brief 'hello' was how she planned to start it all. Wasn't that how most things went? With a simple hello? Even nonverbal expression could convey a hello. A glance. A dishonest smile. A meaningful gesture. Anything. A hello. "Mind if I took a spot next to you... Sam, right?"

She stared off into the distance, watching the people pass by and hearing the sounds of the city muffled, only replaced by the sound of what she felt like the woods. The smell, and the taste of it.

"I... I'm not sure if I... I quite remember who you are. CJ, and Aunt Kitty and Uncle Lucas. They've all been trying to tell me about you. How they describe you as, or once were. I'm trying to understand it all. I am. I just don't understand why I can't get you figured out yet. I don't know who you are, or what you want from me, or why you want to talk, but if you want... Want to talk, I'm here to listen."