#bergen_county

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Adam is up! He showers, and DRESSES! He even eats a little in the kitchen during daylight hours.

His mother smiles and says "Good to see you again"

Even Lily smiles a LITTLE to see him

"Hey." Quietly. He has a shoebox under one arm as he scoops up cereal. "Gonna run some errands."

"Okay. Is ito kay if I ask you to pick up some milk from King's COnvience?"

"Uhhh..... yeah. I mean, if you need it. I could hit the grocery store?"

"Well if you want to get it from there instead, wear a mask, please. Do you have a clean one?"

"Yeah." He finishes slurping up the food. "Ok. Back later."

"Good to see you up and around son" She says "And thank you. I'll pay you back the price of the milk"

"Sure." And he heads out to his car, hopping in to drive over..... to the apartments.

He hears .. sounds on the grounds? Laughter from the otherside of the building

He sits in the car for a moment, chewing his lip. Then he grabs the box and gets out, heading up to the door.

Mr Dyer sees him and lets him in "Adam, how are you?"

"Hey Mr. Dyer. I'm ok."

"Come on in, I know You're trust worthy. Hey we got the pool up, isnt' that great?" As Adam enters into the apartment building "And new painting jobs by Sparrow"

Much in-progress - grand skies and distant hills and graceful trees which hide teasing glimpses of mythological creatures.

Dyer says "Isn't it amazing?"

"I keep hearing about Sparrow; hope I get to meet her one day."

"I got an errand to run. Excuse me?"

"Oh of course " He gets out the way

Adam nods and offers a half-hearted smile before heading up to Piper's apartment.

And as he heads towards the door, walking down the hallway from the stairwell on the other side of the building is... Piper! Hair mussed a bit to one side like she slept on it a bit, and phone out as she gives the Lyft a good rating... looking at her phone as she approaches her door and digging in her pocket for keys, she doesn't notice him at first.

A soft sigh, and he clears his throat.

"Jus a sec..." Eyes flick up, back to her phone - and then up again! "Oh! Adam..." She looks at her door. "I'm sorry - were you waiting? I didn't see...." A glance at her phone, wondering if she missed a text. "I had an emergency trip over to Fenix. I'm just getting back."

"Ok. Won't keep you." He offers the box. "Found a couple things, thought you might want them back."

"You're not keeping me from anything... other than sitting down. Come in for a minute?" She unlocks the door and pushes it open, offering for him to step inside.

"Uh. Ok." He steps in, staying near the entry.

She steps past him and looks about ready to drop her bag to the floor - then realizes that all she's carrying is her guitar, which deserves better, and at least moves over to slide it onto a chair. "I... I wanted to call you. And check in... but I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk to me. And then things got crazy over there... ...how are you?"

A shrug. He sets the box down on a handy counter. "You know. Ok."

"I don't know." She says, softly. "That's why I asked. Adam... I..." She trails off. "Come sit with me for a few minutes? If you have to go... I mean, that's okay. But... I don't like how we left things. How -I- left things."

Adam shuffles a little. "Yeah, I got to thinking about it and.... you know, there were some things that I wanted to say too. But, uh, I wrote it down. So I could.... think it through."

Piper moves inside and sits on the edge of the bed, moving her guitar to the floor, and leaving a space for Adam to take the chair. "Come sit down? Do you want to tell me now, or... rather I read it?"

He pokes the box with a fingers. "S'in here. I didn't .... I dunno. Read it, I guess."

She stands, and moves back over. A hand reaches for his arm, then pauses, and she pulls back. "Adam... I'm sorry about how... how I spoke to you. I didn't mean to yell. Or to tell you to... basically to shove off like that. I was in a bad place.. but that's no excuse for being... for acting like that. It's always tempting to blame stuff on goat passions.. but I know that doesn't excuse my words. Please don't be angry?"

He looks down, shakes his head in the negative. "Not angry."

"Sometimes folk get... well, they judge us. Thinking that satyrs don't care, because we tend to bounce back quickly from things. Hurt feelings, insults, even heartache. But I want you to know - no matter what it may look like - I -do- care. Even if I was the one who said... that you should go. That doesn't mean I didn't care for you. I still do.. and I miss you... I just... really did... and do... need to..." She trails off.

"I'm sorry, is what I'm trying to say. I never wanted to hurt you."

He nods. "You said."

Another one of those uncomfortable silences. "I guess... then... thank you, for bringing that by... I didn't realize I'd left anything over. I'm, uh. Sorry. To make you make the trip, that is. Though you're always welcome here, at the apartments... the Super won't forget your patrolling and all..."

"Nah, it's cool. My job."

She waits a moment, watching him - seeing if he will meet her gaze.

He glances around, taking in the place, her decorations.... snatches a look at her, as if it would burn.

Her expression, worried, and caring, and trying to push down the hurt that she doesn't deserve to feel.

Adam does look hurt, but also wistful and sad.

He looks away. "Ok. Uh. I'll see you around."

"Promise?" She asks, her voice wistful. And she winces, "That's not fair of me to ask. I just mean... I don't want you to avoid places if I'm there... we're already on lockdown, and I know Zane wants to tell you about his latest works, you're his best friend... and he worries, you know."

"Yeah, he stopped by."

"Just.... Mmph." He pokes the box again. "I don't want it to be weird like it was with Dagmar so.... yeah. Ok."

"I just... I don't really know how to do this."

"I don't either..." Piper responds softly. "...is Nab doing okay? She's not with you?"

A shrug. "She left."