GW Robichaux

[posted with Carley's permission]

It had been a long day for GW, but a productive and satisfying one.

The band had decided to record an album of original material, and today had been thier first day in the studio. Instead of signing with a major label, which given their style of music wasn't all that likely, they were staying independent and working to promote their music through word of mouth and the internet. More and more bands were doing that these days, so they were hopeful.

It would take several more days of studio time to have enough quality material to fill the album, days that would be spread over weeks due to their live performances. But still, it was a good first step.

He took the steps leading up to Meredith's apartment two at a time, looking forward to spending some quality time with his girlfriend and telling her about his day. There was also the matter of Elian to discuss, and GW still wasn't sure exactly how to bring it up without getting into a fight.

For now he'd just play it by ear and hope that the right time would present itself. There was always the hope that a miracle had occurred and either Meredith had changed her mind or Elian's memories had returned on their own, but GW wasn't counting on it.

Nimble fingers worked a soft cloth in small circles, running it over the convex glass surface of a flawless zoom lens. Meredith sat in the silence of her apartment at her kitchen table, photography equipment sprawled out on the table before her.

A lazy afternoon with nothing else to do gave the brunette plenty of time to clean and organize her gear. Having so much of it made the task rather daunting, but it had to eventually be done. Grey cards, a spot meter, camera bodies both film and digital, rolls of film and various other items lay scattered around her.

It kept her mind busy. There was far too much going through it, and with her hands busy and concentration fixed, it left little time for her to think about whatever else was resting on the forefront of her subconscious. However, she wasn't able to completely tune it out; She'd still end up thinking about Elian and how good it was to see him again, to talk to him, and to see the look on Lorne's face when the demon saw him again too.

That had been the good part. The bad part had been his complete and total reluctance to jump back into his old life. She could understand that he was scared of the new life he ended up in. Sure, demons and evil things certainly never left a good taste in anyone's mouth, but what was the point in trying to hide from it?

Her hands stopped moving when she heard the footsteps on her front porch. She wasn't expecting anyone this afternoon, so curiously, she looked towards the door to see if the particular individual would knock on her door.



The particular individual knocked cheerfully on her door, whistling a tune that he'd been practicing all day and couldn't get out of his head.

GW just wanted to spend time with his girlfriend. If she wanted to go out he'd be more than happy to take her out. If she wanted to stay in, well, he wouldn't complain about that either. They hadn't had much time to talk lately, aside from a quick telephone call here or there.

"Mere?" He called out, "Guess who?"

Meredith's heart sunk only momentarily when she heard the voice. She'd hoped it was Elian coming to his senses, but she supposed it was a shot in hell. Then again, the voice belonging to her boyfriend was at least a welcome distraction, and the brunette smiled and set the lens in her hand down carefully before she stood.

The door was opened and Meredith smiled. "Hey, wasn't expecting you," she greeted the Cajun as she opened the door for him, and stepped aside so he could enter. "I was just cleaning my gear. How are you?"

She hadn't seen him in awhile. It probably wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't like she was avoiding him. Luckily, GW seemed to be understanding enough to realize Meredith's life wasn't exactly normal.

"Thought I'd surprise you chere," GW told his girlfriend, leaning in for a kiss as he walked in. "I'm doin' just fine, been a long day though. We were in the studio all day workin' on material. You hungry? I thought we could get something to eat."

Meredith put her hands on her hips, and blew a gust of breath upwards from her lips to blow her hair out of her face. She looked back at her cluttered table. "Yeah, I think I could take a break from this. I'm kinda hungry anyways," she told her boyfriend with a sigh, and then walked over to her table and began to gather up the bits and pieces.

"Album's coming along good?" she asked him idly as she placed lenses carefully back in the bag, gathered up whatever was lying on the table, "I can't wait to hear what you guys have down so far."

The table was eventually cleared and Meredith looked over at GW and smiled. "I have a big job tomorrow," she told him as she wandered across the room and kicked at a pile of shoes until the ones she wanted to wear flopped upright. She jammed a toe into the left one and rocked her ankle around to wedge it inside, "Guy's paying me pretty good to follow his daughter around for awhile. Should be easy money." Right shoe was put on and the brunette rocked back and forth on her heels a few times to make sure her footwear was on properly.

"So where did you wanna go?"

"Album's comin' along great so far," GW assured his girlfriend as she cleaned off the table and put her camera equipment back where it belonged, "and you'll be one o' the first to hear the material outside the band, promise."

"What's the guy havin' you follow his daughter for? Doesn't like who she's hangin' out with or somethin'?" he picked up her jacket and held it out for her to slip her arms through the sleeves.

"I was thinkin' maybe Italian, sound good to you?"

Left arm slid into place and the right followed, and Meredith pulled her jacket on over her shoulders before she turned to look at her boyfriend and shrugged. "Something stupid," she answered, "He thinks one of his golfing buddies is after her. The girl's sixteen for Christ's sakes. Talk about gross, huh?"

She grabbed her keys and her purse off the small table beside the entrance, and opened the front door for GW. "Italian sounds great," she answered him before shooing him out of her apartment, "Should we go to that little place down on Decatur?" The door was closed and locked tight.

GW nodded as he stepped out the door, "You'd be surprised at some of the things you see down in Louisiana . The minimum age for marriage is thirteen down there, with the parents permission. Probably a holdover from colonial times and never updated."

He tucked her arm in his as they walked toward his truck, "Balduci's? Sounds fine to me, they have great lasagna down there."

The pair descended the stairs of Meredith's apartment and their arms seperated as they made their way towards GW's vehicle to get inside. "What are you doing on St. Patrick's Day?" the brunette asked her boyfriend as they got buckled in, shutting the door behind her. "Russell's planning some form of crazy leprechaun effigy and Lorne's doing this thing with green beer at the club. I'm going to see if I can convince him to dye his hair green. I'm totally going, I think it'll be a riot. You should come too."

"The band is playin' at the Orleans, the casino's havin' a 'Cajun St. Patrick's' party, but I'll make a point to swing by afterwards." GW started the truck and backed out. "With the money they offered, we really couldn't say no." GW explained as they pulled out of the parking lot and he put the truck on the road to the restaurant. "I'd love t' see Lorne with green hair."

Meredith shrugged, "I doubt he'd do it," she lamented, "You know what he's like. Although after the whole Superman incident, I don't think the man has any dignity left."

She snickered at that thought as the truck pulled out into the road and the pair made their way out of Meredith's neighborhood. The brunette leaned back into her car seat and ran her hands over the knees of her jeans. A long pause followed and she brushed hair out of her face. "Y'know, I'm really glad to hear your band is becoming so successful," she told her boyfriend, then turned to him and offered a smile, "Kinda makes me proud to be dating such a hot commodity."

GW just grinned at her. He'd been surprised at the response the band had received since they started up here in the Vegas, but it seemed that he and the band were in the right place at the right time with the right sound. Apparently there was a hunger out there for a more 'authentic' sound, which the Cajun Devildogs had in spades. "I don't know how hot I am, but I'm definitely dating the hottest PI in Vegas."

He still wanted to talk about Elian, but right now he just wanted to enjoy her company. Maybe he'd bring the subject up later.

"Really?" Meredith asked him jokingly with a grin, "Does she know about me?"

Her smile remained momentarily, and then she curiously watched him. She could tell there was something on his mind. It didn't take a psychic to figure out he was processing something, but more than likely, if it wasn't something about his band, it was something about her. Or her situation. Or even their relationship.

Call it women's intuition.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him, though bluntly, half wondering if she maybe should have left it for later.

Damn. GW wasn't going to lie to her but he didn't want to fight either, and he was worried that it would be exactly that if he brought the subject of Elian up.

His grin faded and he glanced over at her before returning his attention to the road. "I ran into Elian the other day, at that little bar a few blocks from my place. He was halfway plastered and working on getting the rest of the way there, poor guy. He's terrified that you and Lorne are going to try and restore his memories without his consent."

GW glanced over at his girlfriend once again as they came to a stoplight. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

"You ran into Elian."

It was a statement more than it was a question. With a sigh, Meredith turned her head to look out the window beside her, palm running over the side of her face as her eyes rolled. "Christ."

She could feel her mood turn southward. Kinda had the feeling that asking GW what was going on would open up a whole other can of worms. Suffice it to say for the karma wielder, the topic of Elian would be inevitable. However, she didn't quite expect that her boyfriend had been coercing with her former friend behind her back.

"You know," she started, her voice sounding sharp with a bit of an edge, "Maybe we really shouldn't talk about this, after all. Forget I even asked, alright?"

Easier said than done, because as much as the topic was going to annoy the hell out of the brunette, and as much as she said to forget it, she clearly wasn't about ready to drop it.

"It's clear he's confused," she went on, "And as much as he's going to tell me or Lorne or you or whoever that he doesn't want his memories back, the bottom line is, he's living in a fantasy world. As much as he wants to go around believing that demons and monsters don't exist, there is nothing anyone can say or do that will change that fact. He can't go on pretending to be ignorant for the rest of his life. This world is what it is."

"That's right, ran into him," GW responded evenly, feeling the fight coming but helpless to stop it. Some things a person had to take a stand about, and this was one of them. "I walked into the bar and there he was, downing shots of whisky like they were water and looking about as miserable as a person could get. He looked like he could use a friend so I sat down and had a few beers with him, talked to him like a regular guy instead of some amnesiac higher being."

"He seemed pretty coherent to me, Mere, there wasn't any pretending that demons and monsters don't exist. What you and Lorne told him was a pretty big shock and he's going to need time to adjust to that. You've had six months without any contact at all, why not try to ease back into it? Just because he doesn't want to go back to the GreenRoom doesn't mean you can't be friends outside of that."

The Cajun continued to drive toward Balduci's, trying to put things into words that would defuse the nascent fight. "I'd like to see him get his memory back too, Mere, but don't go kidding yourself that that will make everything back to the way it was."

"You don't even know that, GW," Meredith countered, "No one even knows why Elian lost his memory to begin with, or how. And until we can figure out why his mind got wiped, no, there isn't much we can do. But that doesn't mean we're not going to at least try and find a way."

She swallowed hard and her back molars ground together slightly. Lips were pursed and she could feel the amount of tension in the truck cab.

"Look, Lorne and I realize there are risks involved. Don't think we're going to just blindly start slamming down magic spells on him and hope one of them works, though. We're not that stupid, but the both of us know that dealing with higher powers is tough shit, and there're a lot of things involved that probably neither one of us are even capable of dealing with. But don't think for one second I am going to give up on him. Because I wont."

"Don't even know what?" GW countered defensively, not sure what Meredith was getting at. "No one's askin' you t' give up on him, Mere. Just don't force him to do something before he's ready. I'm not tryin' to start a fight, chere, I'm just worried about all of you. I like Elian and I don't want to see him get hurt, and I care about you a damn sight more than I do about him. There's always the law of unintended consequences to worry about."

Meredith's words had relieved his worries somewhat. It didn't sound like the duo were going to go off half cocked in a desperate attempt to restore Elian's memories without a careful planning. Hopefully they'd see the sense in waiting until the former bartender decided he wanted his memories restored.

"You do know that restoring his memories may not get you the result you want, don't you? He may still decide he doesn't want to go back to his old life."

Meredith sighed and rolled her eyes, turning her head back out the truck window. She wondered how long it would take them to get to the restaurant so she could get out of this truck. She felt uncomfortable now, not wanting to even discuss the topic. She knew in her heart that she couldn’t easily be swayed by GW’s argument. Clearly, the man didn’t know Elian as well as either her and Lorne did. She couldn’t just not try and get him back.

"We don’t even know that yet," the brunette stated again, as though it was her only defense. She felt it was true however, that no one really knew what would happen to Elian if he got his memories back.

"Both Lorne and I have to trust in our hearts that the Elian we know and love is in there somewhere. He loved us, GW. And given what he’s done for Lorne and how I know he feels about him, I think... no, I know Elian would want to be where he belongs. Not this Elian. The real Elian."

"Where he belongs?" GW's tone was somewhat incredulous and he spared a glance in her direction before returning his attention to the road. The sign for Balduci's appeared off in the distance, and he was glad that the drive would soon be over. "You make it sound like Elian is your and Lorne's personal property, Mere." He knew that wasn't how she meant it, but he got the distinct impression that they were talking past each other now, she simply wasn't listening to what he was trying to say. All he could hope was that she'd remember his warning before trying anything half-assed to bring Elian's memories back.

If his time in the Corps overall and Afghanistan in particular had taught him anything, it was that stressful and traumatic experiences could change people. GW couldn't imagine anything more traumatic than being killed, and then brought back to life and having your memory erased.

"How dare you."

It came out as a whisper, but within the space of the truck, it was more than likely clearly audible. Brown eyes narrowed and the brunette looked over at her boyfriend, an expression laced with visible annoyance. "How dare you say that?"

Her voice began to waver in volume, rising with each intoned syllable. "Who do you think you are, anyways? You barely even knew the man. And you don’t even know him now. What, you have a couple of beers with him and you suddenly think you’re the authority on all things Elian?"


It was obvious the brunette was getting more and more agitated. "I always knew you had a bit of a messiah complex, GW," she accused, folding her arms across her chest, "What with the way you acted back in the summer when I did what I had to do, like you wouldn’t have done the same thing."

Eyes narrowed more. "What would you do, GW, if Helene came back to life?" she asked him rather pointedly, "But she didn’t want a damn thing to do with you because she didn’t remember you? If you knew you had the chance to bring back her memories, you can’t sit there for a second and tell me you wouldn’t at least try."

"Goddamnit Mere!" GW snarled, his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as he wasn't sure he trusted himself not to do something he'd regret later. Meredith dragging Helene into this was a cheap shot and he didn't appreciate it. "That isn't what I'm saying and you fucking know it! Did I say I knew Elian well? No! Did I say I didn't want you to restore his memories, again no! All I'm saying is give the guy time. I may not know him, but I know a thing or two about traumatic experiences and the best thing you can do is give them space."

"The guy's been living out there for six months not knowing a thing about the supernatural, then you swoop in and stick Lorne in his face and tell him he was a bartender to fucking demons, vampires, and every kind of supernatural being under the sun and stars. Not only that, but 'oh by the way you're a higher being who was killed and resurrected, and that's why your memory was erased.' You really expected him to welcome you back with open arms?!"

He turned into the parking lot, not uttering another word until he had the truck parked and the ignition turned off. Once that was done he turned to face Meredith directly. "And as for 'what you had to do' back in the summer," he began heatedly, "you didn't have to do anything but turn the fucker into the cops, the FBI if you didn't trust the locals because of Bowman. Because you had to fucking take matters into your own hands, Bowman got away with murder."

"And don't you ever bring Helene into an argument with me again."

Brown eyes burned. They burned hard, like onyx. Nostrils flared, and teeth ground.

Meredith was literally appalled. She didn’t expect GW to bite back. Especially not that hard. It caused her breath to catch in her throat. It caused the muscles in her jaw to tighten. And worst of all, it caused the familiar stirring of her supernatural gift.

Inside her mind, she felt tethers tighten. Reaching out towards GW, the brunette began to grab hold and then resist. He didn’t have much to fuel her, if anything at all. And he was her boyfriend. She could lash out at him, and she could hurt him. But as angry as she was, she knew she would regret it later.

She began to quiver, tried to grab ahold of herself. She sat in silence, breathing heavy through her teeth, forcing herself to calm down. Instead of grabbing onto his karma, she grabbed onto the door latch.

"I think this conversation is over," the brunette breathed through a clenched jaw. The truck door was forced open and Meredith threw herself down onto the pavement, sneakered feet landing in a puddle that splashed up onto her jeans. She gave one disapproving and hurt look at the Cajun before she slammed the door shut.

She couldn’t have dinner with him now. She was far too angry.

It wasn’t about who was right or who was wrong, anymore. It was about Meredith feeling cornered. She was maybe a little too sensitive, and totally unable to accept other people’s criticism. Maybe it was because she was impulsive, irrational, and incredibly argumentative. And maybe she just had to blow off some steam. Either way, she’d backed herself up into a wall with no defining argument. And it still wasn’t enough for her to back down.

But there was no way Meredith would offer an apology. At least, not right now.

With a turn, she began to walk back across the parking lot towards the street. There was only one place she wanted to be right now, and it was anywhere but here.

GW still fumed in the truck, having lost his appetite due to the argument. He'd noted Meredith's departure, but it took him a minute to realize she wasn't going toward the restaurant. Part of him wanted to just let her walk home on her own, but his own sense of honor and decency wouldn't allow him to simply go off and leave her behind. Merde.

He rolled down the window and stuck his head out. "Mere, c'mon back and I'll drive you home." GW worked hard to keep his tone neutral and not argumentative, he was still upset with her but wanted to do the right thing.

The voice was heard and Meredith kept walking. Like hell she’d stop and turn around now.

Without looking back, her purse was pushed up her shoulder, and her feet hit the pavement with the force and speed of a woman who knew exactly where she was headed. Except of course, Meredith clearly didn’t.

Perhaps a little overdramatic, perhaps completely unnecessary.

But it just went to show, that Meredith Underhill was the most stubborn woman alive.

There was nothing anyone could do to change that. She’d be damned if anyone ever tried.

"Merde, merde, merde..." GW banged his head gently against the steering wheel as he muttered the expletives under his breath. "God save me from stubborn women!"

Fine, she didn't want to be around him, she could be around her best bud Lorne. GW took out his cell phone, selected Lorne's number, and hit send. There was no way in Hell he was going to just abandon his girlfriend to walk home by herself, even if he was still seriously upset with her.