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"Oh my God, it's you"

He was just as shocked to hear her speak like she recognized him. He wanted to blame everything on his jetlag, blame it on the scotch he had in his private jet as he flew all the way to New York.

"Y-yeah"

He said almost out of breath, sure her straight caramel hair was now shorter and curly; sure her ascent sounded way off than before, a bit funny even. Was it Australian or German? Seeing her infront of him was like watching one of those silly horror movies where the dead man wakes up in slow motion and talks.

On his way to New York he kept on recalling Kimberly's words, he had flown all the way here on a hunch not that he believed his sister or anything. He wanted to put an end to Kim's madness,only it wasn't madness. Mikaella was actually alive, breathing. What about the churned body from the accident?

Blood tests were carried out, DNA samples from the body matched those of Seth's proving it was Mick's body. Unless the results themselves were falsified or the accident wasn't an accident at all or what if the woman standing infront infront of him wasn't her but her look alike. Was that even a thing?

All these questions ran through his mind. He hadn't expected this at all. He had expected to ring the doorbell and a woman probably in her fifties going by the name of Ruby Grayson coincidentally, would open the door yell at him for knocking on the wrong door and he would gladly be on his merry way back home. Except Mikaella Sandoval Cervantes happened to open the door for him.

But why Ruby? Why choose the name, Ruby Grayson? The whole thing was insane, absolutely nothing made sense.

"I-i'm sorry. I must have mixed up the addresses" he spoke loosening the tie on his neck and by the time she uttered her next words which were...

'My friend would like to meet you, she's a big fan'

...Kevin had already scampered down the hallway, clicking the button in the lift and dashing inside before she could catch up to him.

"I-I don't understand. She died! I saw her body. She's alive?"

"Are you alright, young man?"

Kevin turned to the side watching a horrified old lady stare back at him in confusion. Ofcourse talking to himself, clasping his chest as if he were suddenly having a heart attack not to mention sweating like crazy sent the wrong message to the woman; that he was some sort of madman or one of those psychos who lose their minds in elevators and attack the people standing next to them.

"I'm fine",Kevin puffed.

However the seventy something old woman kept staring at him, waiting for the elevator to sing and she would gladly get off at any floor to escape the crazed man who looked like he had just committed a murder.

"You don't get it. It was her, at first I thought Kim was bluffing but why would she visit me after so long? She had just been from an event in New York then at seven a.m she's in LA?"

"Meaning she took the earliest flight home"

"Exactly, she couldn't have done that for a mere prank. So, I followed up on the guest list, everyone she had invited and the name Ruby Grayson popped up"

"Coincidence?"

"That's what I thought too, except it wasn't a coincidence. Kim sees Mikaella and a Ruby Grayson happens to be in the party too? It was her, man!" Kevin grunted taking another shot of vodka while he paced around in his hotel room.

Donovan his bestfriend slash his bodyguard slash his driver when Albert was on leave, stared at Kevin not knowing what to say. He was always on Kevin's side ever since Kevin got him out of jail. The two of them met back in prison, a couple of bullied dudes barely strong enough to stand up to the delinquents in prison. They bonded over their failures and shortcomings.

Donovan Buchanan was convicted for killing a policeman as the newspapers claimed but the truth of the matter was that the said policeman was hid dad. His abusive dad who nearly strangled his mother to dead. What the newspaper failed to mention was that his actions were purely in sf defense, that it was only a kid trying to prevent his father from killing his mother.

The penalty for his actions was a couple of twenty five years in the slammer but with the arrival of Kevin Cervantes, his fate changed. He was now a free man with a good job,a good salary having had stayed in prison for five years to be exact.

"And you are sure it was not the alcohol messing with your head? You had a couple of shots before you went to the hotel, man. Or maybe it was grief? We all grieve in different ways, I used to see my mom everywhere"

"I saw what I saw. It's already been eight years, Don. We've grieved enough and no, it is not the alcohol. The alcohol is actually helping me not to be insane"

"Okay and what's the plan? Are you going to tell your brother or what?"

"Roman? No way, he's never going to believe me let alone listen to what I have to say"

"I'm no specialist when it comes to the dead coming back to life but I bet he'll want to know his supposed dead wife is alive and in New York"

"You make it seem easy when it actually isn't. We haven't spoken for eight years. I mean what will I tell him? That his wife is back from the dead or that his dead wife has a doppelganger who happens to be in New York and I miraculously found her? If an going to figure out all this shit, I'll need help"

He said drinking the last of the vodka in his glass as Donovan gazed at him with a smug smile,

"You are going to look for Ms Tombs, aren't you?"

"Only because I need her help,"he clarified.

"Her help with what exactly? Last I checked, Elizabeth Tombs wasn't a detective. Oh-oh I get it, you want her to be your support when you confront the shit about to unfold. You try to deny it but the way I see it, you my guy want Elizabeth in your life,"Donovan said and Kevin dismissed his allegations looking outside his window gazing at the view of the suburban city.

It was all about Mikaella, he needed to focus on Mikaella not on Elizabeth. He didn't need her in the sense that Donovan suggested. He needed her because she had wits, had the ability to see what others couldn't and maybe just a little bit- had the ability to make things better with her annoying questions and out of line jokes. Liz made his life not shitty, she made him not feel like less of a human being.

Except if he needed her help, he needed to find her and do the one thing he had stopped doing over the course of years... apologize. Apologize for lashing out on her and acting like more of a dick than he really was.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Two days after, he was in New York having had rehearsed lines to apologize to Liz with Donovan's help.

"Good luck, you'll need it", Donovan said after parking the car outside Macdonald's. With a sigh, he got out of the car pushing the doors in. Lunch rush was at it's peak which meant the place was more chaotic. He looked around, his eyes resting on each and every waitress in there.

"Gid, there's like a dozen of them",he complained.

"Mare, here. What can I get you? There's a table just down there",one of the waitresses pointed to an empty seat next to a loud family celebrating their kid's birthday.

"No, thanks. Is Elizabeth around?"

"You mean Liz? Lunch break, she's out the back"

"Thanks"

Kevin said making his way through the cashier's counter, through the kitchen after bribing the chef to let him through to the back. Once he opened the door, a familiar redhead came to sight, seated on top of a wooden crate munching on a baloney sandwich.

"I'm not sure I would call two pieces of bread and a baloney in between as an ideal lunch",Kevin spoke and Liz didn't bother to raise her head to look at him.

"Unlike you, your Lordship. I don't have a star chef to cook for me and pack my lunch"

"Fair enough",he said watching her stand, dust her pink waitress dress before attempting to move past him.

"Liz, we need to talk",he immediately clutched her arm.

"My lunch break is over, we have nothing to talk about. I've kept my distance, haven't I? What do you want from me now?"

"I was mad and a dick and for that I apologize"

"Apologize? Apologize for what? It's true I was hovering around you because unlike everyone who cast you aside, I saw a good man. A man who was punishing himself for a mistake. We all make mistakes, Kevin. You are not the first one to make them-"

He cut her off staring into her eyes,

"You are right"

"What? What's going on exactly? You never apologize, quite frankly I'm still wondering how it is you are here. I thought you said this place was filthy"

His opinion hadn't changed. She worked in the filthiest place he knew.

"I need your help...in investigating someone"

"Who?" Liz asked.

"Funny you should ask. My dead sister in law"