Lost and Found

Chapter Forty-Seven

Nick's POV

I called Eve just before I had called Wu. I wanted to make sure she was at the Spice Shop alone. She was.

I pulled my car up to the curb and sat inside for a while as I tried to figure out how I would break the news to her. I still didn't have a plan after a while, and Wu and Hank hadn't shown up yet. I decided to play it by ear and climbed out of my car, holding the bottle that Gabriel had given me.

The lights were still on in the shop, but the sign was flipped to "Closed." I knocked on the door and waited as Eve looked through the window and then opened the door for me.

I walked inside and saw boxes of jars sitting on the counter. She must have been unloading a new shipment. There was also a pile of empty boxes sitting in the corner. It looked like she had already gotten a lot put away.

"You've been busy," I commented.

"Yeah, it's been one of those days," she said, starting to unload more boxes. As she looked away, I set the bottle I was holding on a shelf by the door. "These came in earlier, but I didn't have time to put them away until now."

"Why don't you let me help?" I offered. I didn't know where everything went, but I could still help with the ones I was most familiar with. Plus, Eve looked tired, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to help out a little as I continued procrastinating telling her what I needed to tell her.

"That would be great," she said, gesturing to a box on the counter across the room. "All of those jars go on the shelf behind them."

"Alright," I said. I walked over to the box and started pulling out labeled jars, recognizing some of the ingredients.

"Where does-?" I was about to ask Eve where one of the jars should go when I looked up and realized she was staring at me. "What?"

"How are you doing?" she asked me apprehensively.

"Um, it's been a lot. Why?" I told her. I was thrown off guard by Eve's desire to talk about feelings. Trubel meant a lot to both of us, though, so it shouldn't have surprised me so much that Eve was wondering how I was handling everything.

I started wondering how Eve was doing, since she was one of few that was still under the impression that Trubel was dead. She didn't quite look like herself, but she did say it had been a long day... I was hoping that she wouldn't be too angry at me for not telling her about Trubel sooner. I wanted to tell her now, but it was probably better to wait until Hank and Wu got here.

Eve set the jar she was holding onto the counter next to her and walked closer to me. "We haven't really talked about everything..." she said uncomfortably.

I laughed nervously. "Well-" I paused, not sure what to say as an excuse.

She interrupted me before I could make up something. "Nick, I know it's hard for you, and it's hard for me, too, but you can't just ignore what happened."

"I'm not ignoring anything," I said defensively. This whole time, I had been trying to get to the bottom of what was really going on with Trubel. People like the Captain and almost everyone else were the ones ignoring the strangeness of Trubel's actions. Of course, Eve didn't know about any of that, but she still hit a nerve. Hopefully, she would be on my side once I explained everything...

Eve shot me a skeptical look. "Then, what are you doing here, Nick?" she asked me gently. "Shouldn't you be working, or at home?"

Again, I didn't know how to respond. Luckily, I was saved by the bell; Two cars pulled up in front of the Spice Shop.

"Hank and Wu are here," I announced, deflecting Eve's question.

"You didn't tell me they were coming," Eve said, getting suspicious.