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Dan adjusts Juniper on her hip, the little girl resting her head on her shoulder. The daycare worker gives her a quick overview of how Juniper’s day was (“we had a bit of a rough morning, but we turned it around!” “She's the calmest here!” “we even went outside today!”) as Dan slips the girls shoes on.
Her phone rings and she pulls it out of her pocket. “Sorry, sorry. Hello?”
“Dan,” Andrew's voice echoed out. Shock flooded her. After Neil, Andrew had refused to talk unless necessary. For him to reach out was un-thought of. “Matt won’t answer the phone.”
“He's at work. Why are you calling?”
“I’ve booked you both a flight to South Carolina. It's about Neil.” Dan heard faint tapping. “You need to come down here. Currently, we cannot leave. You understand?”
Dan is silent for a moment, stunned. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”
“Come down here and find out. I’ll send you the details. Take off that stupid necklace and leave it there.”
Her hand automatically closes around the small necklace that contained some of Neil’s ashes. Juniper lifts her head, concerned, and Dan gives her daughter a quick smile as reassurance.
What the fuck?
Andrew doesn’t talk to people anymore. Dan knows this.
So why did he call her? It was the most she had heard him say to anyone at once since Neil died. Andrew didn’t like the upperclassmen before Neil died, and after he didn’t even act like they existed.
And now, four years later, Andrew has actively seeked out Dan. He found her phone number and called her, not to mention the fact that he also found Matts and called him as well. Andrew booked them both tickets to South Carolina.
But, of course, one thing makes Dan believe it a little easier.
“It's about Neil.”
That would be the only reason Andrew seeked her and Matt out, wouldn’t it? And Andrew called Matt first. Matt, who roomed with Neil the entire time he was at Palmetto and became his best friend. Andrew called Dan only because Matt was busy.
Then, there was the fact that Andrew mentioned a ‘we’. Andrew did not interact with people properly anymore. Dan knew that Robin had acted as though she was his friend, but Andrew never even acted as if she was more than a fly on the wall.
But who else could be ‘we’? No one else was as determined as Renee and as stupid (or smart, perhaps) as Robin.
It could be Kevin, but why wouldn’t Andrew just say that it was Kevin? Andrew did still resent Kevin for not telling Andrew the truth about Neil before, but that wasn’t enough for Andrew to hate Kevin.
Juniper rattles off stories about her day in the backseat while Dan thinks.
Matt is quiet when he gets home.
“Andrew left a voice message?” Dan asks after giving Matt a kiss.
Matt nods. “The plane’s booked for this weekend.”
Dan sighs. “I don’t understand. None of this makes sense in the slightest! He blocks everyone from his life, and then all the sudden he just calls us? Like this is normal? And why us? Did he call Renee too? Allison?” Dan groans.
“Maybe because it's Neil?” Matt shrugs. “I’ve been trying to make sense of it all day.”
She shakes her head, resting against her husband. “Are we going?”
“...I don’t want to see what Andrew would do if we didn’t.”
— — —
Nicky does not know why Andrew has practically moved out. Robin won’t answer him.
He has hated almost every second of life at Palmetto after Neil died. He tries to stay around Andrew, give him support, but he doesn’t get anything back for it.
Nicky kept Andrew alive after Neil died. He skipped classes to feed Andrew, give him water, walked extra just to collect work for Andrew to do while sitting in bed.
And for this, Nicky was ignored.
“Nicky, that’s just how he is now,” Renee had told him. “It's difficult, but you have to accept it.”
But it wasn’t okay, because Aaron and Andrew were back to square one. Nicky called Erik every week and cried. Most had noticed Nicky’s slow decline from ‘happy!’ to just defeat.
Robin grins at Nicky as she shakes him awake. “Nicky, guess who’s here?”
“Mmm, the devil?”
“The upperclassmen.”
Nicky practically shoots out of bed. “What?” he yelps. “Here? Right now?”
“Yes, now hurry! They’re waiting in the parking lot!”
Robin leads Nicky out to where Dan, Matt, Alison, and Renee stand in the parking lot. Nicky cries as he talks to them. It's been so long since he’s felt actually loved and embraced by someone other than Bee, Abby, or Erik.
Kevin and Aaron arrive last, both annoyed. Aaron doesn’t care much to talk to them, but Kevin talks to Dan about her coaching Exy.
As they pull up to Abby’s, they’re all hesitant to go inside. After all, Andrew is there, and he is a certified mood-killer in Nicky’s humble opinion.
But Robin simply marches in, making the rest of them gingerly walk in behind her.
Andrew is nowhere to be seen, but Abby is making pasta for lunch. They all let out the breath they were holding and started to chat with Abby about life when Robin interrupted.
“Where is Andrew?”
Abby sighs. “He’s sleeping. I decided to let him be.”
Robin groans. “I told him to sleep last night!”
“Robin. You know how he's been recently.”
“Yeah, better than he has in years! The insomnia isn’t new, Abby. I deal with it every night. I room with him,” Robin's voice raises, “In case you forgot.”
Nicky knows that that is true. Andrew has always struggled with insomnia, but recently he’s been taking sleep meds when he needs to (like before games). If he knew this was happening, why didn’t he take them?
“I’m waking him up. I don’t care.”
The kitchen is silent for a moment before Abby sighs. “Don’t get too loud and overwhelm them, okay?”
Nicky stares at her, confused. What does ‘them’ mean?
Dan seems to be thinking similarly. “Okay, who is this person? Andrew mentioned them before. Who is this? What does Neil have to do with them?”
“What the fuck!” Allison yells. They all turn to see—
Neil. Neil, with scars on his arms and cheeks, with the same bright orange hair and blue eyes that are supposed to be ashes. He wears what are definitely Andrews clothes, and his eyes look wet with unshed tears.
“So,” Neil says, “I didn’t die.”
He is thrown into a group hug within seconds.
Nicky can barely see Neil through his tears, but he makes sure to get his hands properly on Neil so he knows he’s not dreaming. As soon as his flesh touches flesh, he starts to sob.
Most everyone else reacts the same. Renee doesn’t have as many tears as everyone else. Allison’s tears are angry and glad, Dan’s are confused but relieved, and Nicky sees his own emotions reflected in Matt.
After a while of this, Abby grabs them tissues and forces them to give Neil back to Andrew. As soon as Andrew has Neil back, he clutches Neil's arm tightly. Neil doesn’t mind at all.
And so, Neil explains the horrifying experience that was his life, how he was kept prisoner by the FBI off in California. Neil kept how he escaped to himself, only mentioning how Robin knew he was alive.
Nicky pulls Neil into another hug after that.
— — —
[a week prior.]
Wymack does not expect to see Andrew ruffling through his cupboards when he wakes up.
As soon as Andrew sees that Wymack is awake, he tosses him a bottle of whisky. “You’ll need it,” is all he says before disappearing outside.
Wymack stands in his kitchen for a moment before setting the bottle down carefully. What the fuck did Andrew mean by ‘you’ll need it’? That sounded menacingly, and maybe even illegal.
Andrew kicks the door open five minutes later, shoving someone inside.
Wymack clutches the table as those eyes meet his.
Fucking Neil Josten.
“Neil.” Wymack wonders if he’s dreaming. He’s had enough dreams that Neil comes back, but he doubts it because Neil has blond hair, and Wymack has never imagined him with blond hair in the four years that Niel has been dead.
Wymack takes a step forward only to hug Neil. He holds back his tears the best he can—after all, Wymack is probably too old to cry in front of someone this much younger than him.
“You promised me that you’d tell me the truth after finals. You’re late.”