Unexpected Encounter

What A Pleasant Surprise!

Words in BOLD in between "quotation marks" represent thoughts of characters.
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Alex was woken up by Eva's sweet little voice. Looking around, she found that James wasn't there. She couldn't hear him anywhere in the apartment, so he must have been out.

"Hey Evie, *yawn* do you need anything, sweetie?"

Alex couldn't really communicate with Eva, she hardly spoke English, But she was a smart girl. Eva made an eating gesture, immediately sending Alex the message that she was hungry. It was quite adorable to see.

"Aww, is little Eva hungry?"

Eva nodded and waited in expectance for Alex to get off her bed and prepare breakfast.

"Umm, there's no food in the fridge right now. Will you be a good girl, and wait here while I go to the grocery store?"

Eva just stared at Alex. It wasn't clear whether or not Eva understood her, but judging by how Eva frowned and hugged Alex making whining noises, Alex noticed she didn't want to be left alone.

"I'll be very quick ok? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Uh.. eh.. pe.. purr? Promise?"

"I promise, sweetheart."

Alex tied her hair and changed from her work clothes to something casual. She had a bad hunch again. It made Alex want to stay in the apartment but there was a hungry little angel in it. And so, Alex cleared her mind, took what she needed and head out, phone in hand, keys on one of the hoops of her jeans and money in her butt pocket. She thought to herself,

"Here goes, Lexie. There's nothing to worry about. Dom's attacker probably doesn't know you. You'll be safe, big girl. I know it..."

As she walked in the store's direction, Alex couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her, she even jumped at the feel of her phone vibrating. Stopping to shake off the sudden burst of energy she got, Alex answered her phone. It was an unfamiliar voice.

"Good mornin'. Is this miss Torres?"

"Umm... Yes? That's me."

"Oh good! Haha, we can drop the formality bull then. Y'don't mind that, right?"

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"Officer Francis Esposito, I'm a friend of James's."

"You wouldn't happen to be the officer who was with James when I got attacked by my crazy ex that afternoon would you?"

"That's me, chica!"

"Oh, great! I kinda prefer if we talked like normal people."

"Hahaha, I can see why my boy likes you."

"Haha, I guess. Uh... Why'd  you call me?"

"Yeah, someone filed a report about a dead body secured to a tree, bloody an' all."

"Are you talking about... Did she have armor on her?"

"Yup, that's the one, but 'ere's the thing, the body?"

"Uhuh?"

"It was reported missing from the morgue. I know it was James that did his thing to get'er there. It seems like there's someone new out there, meaning you're in danger. Please don't panic, that's the last thing we need right now, yeah?"

Alex took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, she knew there was a lunatic out for revenge, she just didn't know who.

"I'm fine. I know I'm kinda... Yeah, in danger."

"Yeah... Also, you wouldn't happen to know a Crissy Macer would you? She's been sent to the hospital a few hours ago."

"C-Crissy? Is she ok?"

"Yeah, kinda... Well, alive at least. Listen, where you at right now?"

"I'm outside, I have to get some food for a friend."

"Get back home immediately, 'aight? Immediately! Make do with what food you have in the house, it ain't safe for you to be outside at the moment. I'm gonna have a unit patrol your part of the neighborhood."

"I understand. Thank you, Francis."

Alex didn't want Eva to starve so she went to the store anyway, getting there with no trouble whatsoever. No one followed her, no one tried to kill her, it was just her.

"Let's see... What should I get-"

Right there, inside the store, in the canned food section, during the first few seconds into that aisle, the most unexpected encounter happened.

"Ohhhh!!! My goodness, sweetie, look!! It's our baby girl! Oh this is fantastic, Michael look!"

"What is it, Darlene?"

"Look, look, look!! It's our baby girl, Alexandra! Come over here, sweetie!!"

Alex didn't have a choice, they had already seen her. She went over to the end of the aisle, and greeted them. Seeing her parents there was quite horrific! It occurred to Alex that she would rather have been being chased by a psycho with an axe than casually bumping into her parents at a random store.

"H-Hey! *nervous laughter* W-What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh we just wanted to surprise you dear! Your father and I have thought about it and... We've decide to move to London to be closer to you."

"But Manchester's great ahaha... Why would you wanna leave? Ahaha.. And uh... Did you leave Rebecca alone back there?"

"Your sister's busy with work, sport. She's probably got everything under control, you should learn from her."

And so it started, Alex's father with the favoritism. Sometimes she just wanted to punch him in the face! But Alex's mother saved her the trouble, and slapped him on the arm.

"Michael! Don't say that, she's survived this long on her own in London. You should be proud-"

"It's fine mom, he's probably right."

Alex could see it in their eyes that they didn't wanna be there. Her mother pretending to be goody goody and all. In fact, what was really going on, was that Rebecca, Alex's older sister, left the house to move in with her fiancé. Nobody could blame her for doing it. Alex's mother was a parasite that lived off her own family, and now that Rebecca left the house, she came to live off Alex in London to avoid work.

"Oh sweetie, you don't-"

Alex's phone rang giving her a few more precious seconds that she didn't have to interact with her parents. They gave her the "ok" to answer the phone and walked back a little to give her room to talk.

"Hello? James?"

"Where are you right now?"

"Ugh... Don't ask."

"I'm serious."

"I'm having a family reunion in the grocery store down the block."

"Uh... What?"

"My parents are here."

"What!?!"