Title: Anywhere Else It Would be Impossible When: Wednesday 7/31 Shortly after 11pm. Where: Four Seasons Hotel, a Variety store parking lot, the 96th precinct By: Larissa Field -- Perkulator (Special thanks to Partly) After ten minutes of rummaging through all of her belongings, Larissa gave up. She went into the main room of the suite where various Perks were lounging around contemplating what they were going to do with Jamie. The only time she had become lucid enough to admit she *was* Jamie, she insisted she was a Merc. As Partly said, maybe all this leaping from faction to faction had swiss-cheesed her brain. She started to look through the main room in case she might have misplaced the tin. "What in the world are you looking for, Larissa?" Kristina asked, obviously puzzled. Larissa stopped looking. "I'm trying to find the tin of hot chocolate that I brought with me, but it seems to have disappeared." Kristina smiled. "You really are addicted to that stuff, aren't you. And you can stop looking 'cause you finished it off this morning." "I couldn't have." Larissa thought a moment before she continued. I guess I must of. I'm going out to get some more. Does anybody need anything while I'm out?" Larissa asked as she grabbed the keys for the car. "Where are you going to find hot chocolate at this time of night?" Frederic asked. "There's gotta be an all-night Variety store that sells hot chocolate around somewhere," replied Larissa. "So does anyone need anything?" Several Perks shouted out various items that they wanted and after a few minutes of sorting everything out and making sure she hadn't forgotten anything, Larissa headed out. She had to make several stops in order to get what everyone wanted, but she didn't mind. Larissa liked Toronto, especially at night. And she didn't get many chances to visit the city even though she basically lived next door. In fact, one of the very few times she had been in Toronto this year was for Tracy's--for the funeral. As Larissa was loading her bags into the car, someone called her name. She spun around to see Captain Reese standing there. "Oh, hi Captain. You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. You startled me." "Sorry about that," he replied. I noticed you walking to your car and I thought I'd come and say hi. What are you doing in Toronto anyway? I thought you didn't come here often." "I don't. However a few of Tracy's friends who couldn't make it down to the funeral decided to get together so they could pay their respects. I was invited." At the mention of Tracy's name, Reese lost the smile on his face. At the same time, Larissa thought about the autopsy report and what the funeral director said. Reese's words interrupted her thoughts. "That reminds me, I 've got this picture of Tracy's back at the station that Commissioner Vetter wanted you to have. If you've got the time you could come pick it up." Larissa blinked. "I only talked to Commissioner Vetter for a second. Why would he want *me* to have something of hers?" "I guess you made a good impression on him, I dunno. But he wanted you to have it. Can you pick it up now?" "Yeah, I guess I can. I've finished all I have to do." ***** At the precinct, Reese led Larissa into his office and immediately went to get the picture out of a drawer in his desk. As Larissa walked in to the office, she noticed a small pile of items in evidence bags sitting on Reese's desk. Before Reese could get the picture, a uniform knocked on the open door and mumbled something to Reese about a problem downstairs. Reese told Larissa to have a seat while he took care of the problem and left, closing the door behind him. As Larissa sat down, one of the pieces of evidence caught her eye. She pulled a plastic-wrapped brown book out of the pile. she thought as she turned it over. And sure enough, the initials 'NK' were on the cover. Larissa quickly slipped the book into the backpack she had brought into the station. Soon after, Reese returned, went over to his desk, and retrieved the picture. He gave it to Larissa and said, "I'd like to chat, but there's sort of a crisis developing..." "Oh, that's alright. I've gotta go anyway." And with that she left with both the picture and the little brown book in tow. ***** Larissa was looking at the picture as she walked out of the precinct. And since she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she almost walked into a woman coming from the other direction. "Oh, sorry--" Larissa started as she glanced up at the slight, blond haired woman in front of her. "Tracy?!" The woman looked at Larissa and then pulled down on the picture the picture she was holding so she could get a look at it. She smiled and looked back up at Larissa. She looked as though she would say something, but then turned and walked away, very quickly, down the street. "Tracy! Wait!" Larissa called as she went after her. The woman disappeared around the corner and by the time Larissa got there, she was nowhere to be found. ***** Larissa entered the suite carrying several shopping bags containing the things she picked up while she was out. Everyone looked up at her as she came into the room but she didn't seem to notice any of them. "Larissa, are you okay?" Frederic asked as he went over towards her. "You look like you've seen a ghost." After a moment, Larissa responded. "No, not a ghost. I saw Tracy." "What??" Kristina was at Larissa's side instantly. No one was sure what to say next. Kristina and Frederic led Larissa over to the couch, the bags forgotten. "Tell us what happened," Kristina told Larissa as they sat down. Larissa took a deep breath and told all her new friends what happened. "...I tried to follow her but she turned a corner and by the time I got there she was just...gone," she finished up as she gave Partly the book and the picture. "You're sure it was Tracy?" Frederic asked even though he knew what Larissa would say. "Uh-huh. It was her. She was right in front of me, there's no way it could have been any one else." Larissa felt the shock starting to wear off. "Okay, from now on everyone should keep their eyes open for Tracy," Partly told the Perks and then added, "if it is really her. I mean how could Tracy have survived the injuries she sustained on that awful night?" "Anywhere else and I'd say it would be impossible." Kristina said. "But maybe her father carted her off somewhere to get special help. Maybe she was brought across. Maybe the bullet hit Nick first and then Tracy, giving her some of his healing powers." She looked at the Perks and shrugged. "I mean we're dealing with a whole different set of rules here aren't we?" The Perks slowly nodded, finding it hard to argue with that. A whole different set of rules. And rules that seemed to change from situation to situation. Like the continuity on a seventy's TV show.