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Ava was completely disoriented when she finally woke up.

Her headache didn't help either.

She sat up slowly, in a bed that wasn't her own, taking in the room around her. It was clearly a hotel if the cheap nylon bed covers were any indication. Only Ava didn't remember ever checking into a hotel. In fact, she was a little hazy about a lot of things when she tried to think about last night's events.

Pulling the covers away from her she swung her feet over the side of the bed, relieved she was only slightly wobbly on her feet. She needed coffee, stat.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Ava sucked in a sharp breath, "Patrick!"

He gave her a crooked smile, running a hand through his damp hair. It was odd seeing him without a hat.

What was even stranger was the fact that she stood there awkwardly, not knowing where she was, in clothes she put on last night, not remembering why he was even here, and her main concern was that Patrick wasn't wearing a hat.

Nice, Ava. Nice.

What was the world coming to?

"So," He said slowly, pulling a bright blue toothbrush from a brown paper bag, the only thing sitting on the counter. "How are you feeling?"

"Um, okay, I guess... What are you doing here?" She frowned, sitting back down on the bed she had just vacated. Her head spun momentarily at the movement, but it quickly passed, letting her get back to her jumbled thoughts. The last thing she remembered was going down to Warner's party and talking to some girl... It was as if bits and pieces of tape kept playing through her head, only they weren't necessarily in the order they should be. Her timeline was all off.

His eyes darted to the ceiling, as if he was trying to think of the best way to broach this subject. "You really don't remember much from last night, do you?"

Ava gave him a sad smile. "I think that's obvious."

He groaned softly, dropping the toothbrush back in the bag. Patrick moved closer, taking a seat beside her on the bed. "I just showed up on your doorstep last night, only you weren't there, you were at some guy's party down below. So when you do finally come around, you've already consumed a good deal of alcohol. I, being the gentleman that I am, helped you inside and tried to put you to bed, only you were too busy trying to seduce me-"

"Noooo-" Ava's eyes widened and she felt the heat of a blush beginning to tint her cheeks.

"Oh yes." Patrick chuckled. "You were all over me."

"I wouldn't..." She countered as more images began to flash through her mind; Patrick holding her in the hallway, carrying her to her bedroom, her practically attacking him on her bed. Ava shot him an embarrassed look. "Oh my god, I would."

He laughed. "Yeah you would. Only you weren't too successful."

She frowned, "Right... an alarm went off or something... a fire alarm!"

He nodded.

"That's why I smell like smoke." She sniffed her shoulder, wincing at the pungent aroma. She needed a shower... badly. Alcohol, body odor, and fires never mix well. "Then what happened? Is my apartment still there?"

"Oh yeah." He reassured her quickly. "Your main problem is probably just the water damage. It was the apartment below yours with the fire, and the firemen got there quickly enough to put that out before it got the chance to spread."

It all came rushing back to her now- standing outside in the cold, bundled in a blanket found in one of the fire trucks, drunken college students puking in the grass, Warner trying his best to talk to the cops but he was really too trashed to say anything coherent. Ava leaned her head against Patrick's shoulder. He had whisked her away to the closest hotel without any more unnecessary drama.

Her knight in shining armor... or a trucker hat, but that was really just a technicality.

"So," She said... not very familiar with this type of situation, but then again, who /was/? It wasn't like this was an every day occurrence; being stranded in a hotel with an incredibly hot lead singer while your life was constantly being jeopardized. Society should really prepare people for this sort of thing.

"So," He mimicked her oh so clever response.

"What do we do now?"

"Well," he started, his eyes narrowing, "you'll probably want to take a shower-"

She laughed. "Oh, I smell that bad, huh?"

He seemed almost hesitant to answer, how cute. "Maybe just a little like smoke..."

"Right. Smoke." Ava knew he was just being polite as she wondered what she would do about something clean to wear.

"I'm not really sure what we're going to do about clothes for you." Patrick said, voicing her concerns aloud as he gestured to the brown bag on the counter. "But I got us a few of the necessary items, but the gift shop didn't have anything that I thought you could wear."

"Oh, thanks." Ava said, pulling away from him, not wanting to spread her stinkyness- since he, you know... wasn't smelly. She peered carefully into the bag, a little afraid of what a boy would pick out and deem 'necessary items'; toothbrush, toothpaste, Tylenol, deodorant... the normal stuff. He was quite possibly her savior if the Tylenol was any clue.

"How did you get clean clothes? Did your bags survive the sprinklers?" Ava asked, glancing over at him.

"Oh, um, no, I left my bags at your apartment. I just had the extra in the rental."

"You keep an extra set of clothes in your rental car? Wow, Patrick, you really come prepared."

His cheeks flushed pink. "Yeah, that's me..."

Ava rolled her eyes. Who really did stuff like that? She barely remembered to keep any extra clothes in her normal, self-owned vehicle, let alone the one she was renting. Of course, an exploding car can convince a girl to never keep anything of any value in it- ever.

"You're really together, aren't you, Patrick?" She asked softly, leaning her shoulder against the doorframe leading to the small bathroom for support. She would have to skip the shower and go for the sit-down bath so she wouldn't be so wobbly. Ava didn't want to give Patrick another opportunity to play the hero and have to rescue her... especially when she was naked; that could only lead to other things.

He stood, taking his hat from the bedside table and placing it on top of his head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Your life... you're really... I don't know; organized."

His eyes sparkled and his mouth tugged to one side as if he was trying to hold back his smile. "How did you figure that?"

She shrugged. "You keep an extra set of clothes in your rental car."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Sure it does." Ava crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you want to know what I keep in my car? Nothing. No tool kit, no jumper cables, no extra clothing."

"Want to know my secret?" He asked, standing in front of her, leaning much like Ava was against the wall.

"There's a secret to this?"

"Of course. There's a secret to everything, didn't you know?"

She shrugged again, wondering where he was going with this. Ava had never been particularly good at planning for the worst-case scenario- when the millennium hit, the only thing in her cabinet was peanut butter and baking soda. If all of society had gone under, she would have landed at the very bottom. She didn't know how to be any other way; his little secret probably wouldn't change that.

"I don't usually keep extra clothes in my car." He let his fingers trail down her arm from her shoulder to her elbow, making little goose bumps appear where his hand had traveled. "I changed before I went up to see you, and left what I wore on the plane in the car." He motioned to his shirt and pants. "I wore this on the plane."

Ava grinned slightly as his words registered in her brain. "So what do you keep in your car?"

"Well, currently, I travel by bus. Basically, that means I have almost everything I could possibly ever need."

Ava shook her head, again amazed at their differences. She could never imagine living on a bus, constantly traveling from place to place. It would drive her crazy. She had a tendency to rely on all that is routine; yet Wendy and Patrick had done a good job of messing all that up. Her life could only be considered somewhat sporadic now.

She pushed herself away from the wall and moved further into the bathroom. "Right, well I guess I'll take that shower now."

Patrick's eyes glistened with something Ava couldn't quite place. "You do that."

Ava felt her pulse quicken. Giving him a sharp nod she pushed the door shut between them. As soon as she heard that metallic click she let out a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding. Patrick was looking all too sexy again, and if she wasn't careful she'd end up doing something stupid.








*







Ava checked her appearance in the brightly lit mirror of the girl's bathroom for what felt like the millionth time. Finally, she was out of those smelly party clothes from the night before- even if it took a trip to the local mall to remedy that problem. Since her apartment was still off-limits while the building manager was doing mandatory inspections of all the rooms, she had to resort to such extreme measures as bringing Patrick into such a highly-populated place. Luckily, no one except for a speechless teen in the parking lot had recognized him and Ava hoped to keep it that way by getting him in and out of here as quickly as possible.

Ava smoothed her hands over her newly purchased top one last time and headed for the door. Patrick was casually leaned against the concrete wall; one hand holding his cell to his ear and the other in his pocket. He looked completely normal; an every-day kind of guy, but he still didn't necessarily blend in.

"Okay, Chelsea." He was saying into the phone with a sigh. "Tell Pete I called."

The person on the other side said something in response as Ava approached. Patrick glanced over at her, his eyes lingering along her body as he grunted another 'okay' into the phone before snapping it shut and stuffing it into his pocket.

"You look lovely." He said, taking her hand in his with a little smile; leading her out of the Rest-Area and through the adjoining food court.

"Thank you." She mumbled, complying with his movements. Her eyes darted nervously around, surveying for any person who looked like they had recognized FOB's lead singer- she was preparing to run in the opposite direction.

"Do you need anything else while we're here?" He asked as they passed shop after shop.

Ava weighed her shopping bags in her hand. Patrick insisted she buy more than one outfit incase it took the building manager longer than normal to inspect the rooms. She had everything she could possibly ever need.

"Nope. I think I'm good."

He nodded, "Do you care if we stop for a second in here?"

Ava glanced over at the Boarders he was referring to. Was he absolutely crazy? They sold CDs in there; he would most definitely be recognized by someone. "Um, I guess." She mumbled, hesitating before following him inside.

He walked deliberately to the rock section, surveying through a mound of artists beginning with the letter L. Ava watched the brightly colored cases appear and disappear in rapid succession as he flicked through them.

"Here we go." Patrick pulled a solid black case from the mix and handed it to her. His smile was contagious as she glanced down at what she new held in her hands. Lucid Eyes was printed in tiny, scrawl-like letters in the bottom right corner, but that was all that defined the CD. It meant nothing to her, she had never heard of the band.

"What is this?" She asked, dropping her shopping bags to turn the CD over in her hands to look at the back. Instead of finding any helpful information, it was solid black as well.

Who did that on a CD case?

"They toured with us for a bit. Pete was in on their signing." He shrugged. "You know, their bass player is a Lemmings. The two of you aren't related are you?"

Ava shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Oliver?" Ava shook her head 'no' as Patrick took back the case as she handed it to him. He placed it back in the mix of alphabetically ordered CDs. "Well, anyway, they had some trouble with getting their album out on its release date. I was just curious if it made it in time."

"Aren't you going to buy it?" Ava grabbed her bags off the floor and Patrick quickly took them out of her grasp, arranging them in his left hand.

"Nah." He gave her a sheepish look. "I already have it."

Ava laughed, taking his free hand in her own, intertwining their fingers. "Of course you do. How could I be so stupid?"

"I don't know, Miss Lemmings." He teased. "You should know by now that I pretty much have an 'in' in the music industry."

Ava giggled, "An 'in' he says." She pinched him lightly on the arm. "I'd probably guess it goes a little deeper than that."

Patrick shrugged, "Maybe. It's a secret."

"Well then," Ava pulled her body up against his so she could whisper in his ear, "I think we need to get you out of here before others start to realize what an important person you are... I want you all to myself."

His eyes widened and a grin played at his lips. "I'd say that idea has merit."

He started walking in the direction of the exit as Ava's heart beat wildly in her chest. She really didn't know what would happen when she got him alone, but it was an exciting thought none the less.

They were almost in the clear, about twenty feet from the door when it finally happened...

"Hey, aren't you..."

Patrick froze, a frustrated groan passing through his lips. He shot Ava an apologetic glance as he turned to face the man who had spoken. Ava quietly took a step behind him, aware that Patrick would never turn away a fan. What was odd, though, was that this guy was at least thirty something- clearly he knew Patrick from his son or daughter (well, most likely his daughter).

"Uh, yeah," He started hesitantly, but the man just frowned at him.

"What?"

Patrick looked just as confused as the man. "I'm, Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy."

"Uh, sure kid." He said, looking at Patrick like he was crazy before turning to Ava. "Aren't you Ava Lemmings?" He held up the bright yellow book he was holding. He held it out to her, her picture staring back at her from the inside cover. "You wrote this, didn't you?"

"Uh," Ava stared at the book she had seen over a hundred times during the printing process. "Yeah, that's mine."

He smiled, calling over his shoulder to a couple guys he was shopping with. "Hey, it's her!" He turned back to Ava, holding his hand out to shake. "I'm Ben Hunter. I'm a huge fan."

Ava didn't really know how to respond. She had never been recognized before, and it was a feeling that completely threw her off. Here she was in a store with the famous Patrick Stump and she was the one drawing the attention. It was a strange world...

The two other men approached, each introducing themselves but Ava quickly forgot their names. One was speaking as she snapped back to reality. "You know, without this book, we probably never would have figured out the Rizzoli case."

Ava frowned. "What are you talking about?"

One of the no names spoke up. "We were part of the team on the Rizzoli case you based your book on."

"Yeah, we had been at a complete loss as to putting some of the clues together when one of the secretaries had been reading your book and told us to think about the sail boat angle. And it all fit! After that, we went out and bought the book- which pretty much gave us a starting map as to how the crimes Jeremy Rizzoli were committed."

"How did you do it?" Ben asked.

Ava thought back to that day. In all honesty she wasn't aware her book had helped catch the Rizzoli guy. She had just read about the murders in the paper and put together how /she /thought they could have occurred according to the clues. In the end she changed all the names and added a little love story into the mix and the publishers bought the idea.

"Um," Ava started. "I guess I just have a wild imagination."

Ben grinned, hitting his friend with the back of his hand. "You hear that? A wild imagination... and imagination like a serial killer!" He and his friends laughed as the idea horrified Ava.

No name number two held out an identical yellow book. "Do you care to sign it?"

Ava felt her cheeks burn from embarrassment. "Sure, no problem..." She glanced around for a pen, looking over at Patrick in the process. He had the strangest expression on his face; half in aw, half confused. Slowly, he pulled a Sharpie from his pocket and handed it to her.

Of course he had something to write with.

"Sorry." She mumbled in his direction as she turned back to the men.

"Make it out to Mike." One of the no names said excitedly.

"You know," Ben said holding his copy of her book out for her to sign, "you're pretty famous in the circles we travel in."

"And what kind of circle would that be?"

He laughed. "Detective circles, of course. Or at least those that specialize in mob activity." He cocked his head to the side. "You'd make a pretty good detective, Miss Lemmings."

If anything, she felt her cheeks flush even more. "Thank you, I guess."

Mike leaned closer. "Don't you ever wonder if the Rizzoli family will ever try to retaliate for helping the feds on the case?"

Then it clicked. She found the reason someone wanted her dead... and most likely the people who were doing it.




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Okay, sorry it took so long for an update. If it wasn't for all yyour wonderful positive reviews and encouragement, I don't think I would be half as far along in the story as I am now. I honestly can't tell you how much your kind words mean to me! I AM sorry that these last few chapters have been a little rough, and I am so glad you have all stuck with me so long! You need to know that you all are amazing!!!

Anyway, Lucid Eyes is from hips-n-hearts86's story /Falter/. Ava and Oliver ended up with the same last name, so I felt that it was necessary to mention him. Thanks Rindi!

Please tell me what you think! I also love hearing the theories! Did anyone figure it out this far? There have been a number of clues... ;)

PS, had anyone else had trouble with Ficwad? I think I've uploaded this chapter about a hundred times without any success...