My Love; My Life: Slipping Through My Fingers

A Crowd of Thousands

*pic of a boy & girl far apart, yet so close representing how the futuristic characters are the same way*
*In A Crowd Of Thousands: Anastasia-Broadway; first part of the chapter is based around the content of the song, only the roles are somewhat reversed.*

Setting: where we left Hyla and Agent F at the Pasadena California apartment in the year 2026...

Hyla wakes on the couch to find her partner already awake and watching her, not in a creepy or dirty way, but rather in a alert way-he's always on high alert, never had she seen him relaxed...

"Where's my uncle?" She asks him

"Who's Carl?" He asks her

"..." she glares at him

"You said it in her sleep couple a time," he tells her

"..." she just continues to glare

"Was e yer fella?" He asks her

"Is my cousin," she states reluctantly

"..." they just quietly eye each other

"And uh..." he starts awkwardly with a clearing of his throat, "who's Fernando?"

"Don't know," she replies, "or at least e ain't someone I know personally," she clarifies, "some boy I met at the Texas state fair back when I was a youngin-why?"

"Ya were askin im if e'd promise somethin or other in yer sleep," he tells her

"Oh yea," she says with a ghost of a smile at the thought of the boy she met that day

"What'd e promise?" He prays

"Why in the hell're y'all so interested in my past?" She interrogates back, "especially when ya could probably just go find it all in my file when we get back ta base."

"Cause that way ain't my style," he tells her simply

"Right," she says skeptically, "well, it don't matter no how..." she tells him as she gets up and stretches, "it was a stupid promise made by a couple of dumb youngins," she adds in as she head towards the kitchen, "eggs? Pancakes?...waffles?"

"Anythings fine," he tells her

They don't say anything more to each other as she starts mixing ingredients and he just watches her, his head starts to hurt as those memories of the girl and his time as personal bodyguard to the once madam president-now partner. The girl at the parade, the girl from the grave yard, and this woman-are they all the same person is the question at hand for him, and he wanted answers, he wanted them now...

"How-" he starts awkwardly as the voice of the girl from the parade rings in his head

"Promise me!"

"Hm?" She looks to him

"Promise"

"How Uh-" he starts again

"promise me, Fernando."

"Whatchya tryin ta ask?" Hyla asks now looking to him

"How old were ya?" He ask her, "at the fair I mean..."

"..." she stares at him in thought for a moment, "round eight-why?"

"Do you?"

"How old was that Fernando boy?" He asks her

"Do you promise?"

"..." her face grows dark and serious at this question

"Do you promise me, Fernando?" The memory of the voice echos in his head-the face of the girl starting to form