This isn't goodbye
The packing was done. Everything that hadn't been packed into her bags had either been dropped off at Goodwill or left neatly piled on her bed for her roommates to do with what they pleased. Once the decision had been made to leave she wasted little time in getting her things sorted, for several reasons.
First there was no point in waiting once she'd made the decision to leave, she might just chicken out and decide to stay in Searchlight. The second, more sentimental reason was that her goodbye with Connor had almost broken her heart, and she hadn't wanted to make the pain worse for them both by lingering. Once everything was packed she wasted little time in leaving the Lighthouse, it was easier that way.
That left one final goodbye to be handled face to face.
A call to Mallory had arranged the farewell meal at the Nugget, a fitting setting as it was where they'd first met. When the werewolf entered the nearly empty diner she half expected to see Hannah's pixie-like form sashaying down the aisle, but of course she wasn't: the petite blonde had a higher calling these days than diner waitress. The few patrons and staff in the building looked at her funny for a moment, but she returned their stares and they returned to what they'd been doing.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Giles, I really appreciate this opportunity. I'll be in touch when I land at Heathrow."
Mallory hung up the phone, looked around at the living room of her trailer. Already homesick, and she hadn't even left yet. She would either sell or give away most of the furniture, then pack up her clothes. And get a carry case for the dog. She'd never been on an airplane before. She hoped she wouldn't get airsick, that would be embarrassing. The redhead closed the door carefully on her way out, then made the short walk to the diner.
Goodbyes all around, since Julie was leaving too. It made her wonder if they would be the only ones to go. When she entered the Nugget, the little bell jingled overhead, and she walked over to Julie's table to take the seat opposite from the werewolf. "Well," she said, the single word a little awkward. "Hello and goodbye in the same place. It suits us, I guess."
"Yeah..." Julie didn't want to leave Mal behind, but like Connor, where Julie was going she had to go on her own and Mal had her own life to lead at the same time. "We always did have a flair for the melodramatic."
Rhonda stomped over to where the two women sat and set glasses of water in front of them, carefully not looking at Julie as if she were afraid the werewolf was going to transform and attack her right there on the spot. Nevermind that Julie had been coming here regularly for more than two years, with a brief hiatus after Hannah's death. The brunette rolled her eyes and didn't bother looking at the menu, and placed her order anyway.
"So...you're heading off to England soon?"
"Yeah, in a couple of days." Mallory had told her friend about her own plans when Julie had mentioned she was leaving Nevada, apprehension battling it out with anticipation as she did so. "The Council guy is going to have my ticket waiting for me at the airport. There's some kind of training porgram I'll have to go through when I get there, but I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. Corbett said they need all the people they can get right now, and I've already got some experience with the whole hunting thing."
She drank some of her water, looked down at the table. "How will you know where to find Devon's....people? Somehow I can't see them taking out an ad in the paper, even now. She ordered a simple plate of fries, since she'd already eaten lunch but wanted something to occupy her hands with. Better that than to sit here fidgeting.
"I'm not sure," Julie admitted honestly. "He's Irish, and I think his pack was too, so I guess I'll start by trying to track down leads back east where there were a lot of Irish immigrants. Maybe they're on this side of the pond and maybe they aren't, but I won't know until I start looking. There can't be that many Irish werewolves."
Maybe her plan was half baked, but it was the best one she could come up with and maybe a better one would come along as things played out.
"I'm really happy for you Mal, this gig with the Council sounds like a perfect fit."
"If you need any help with anything, once I get situated, let me know. There might be some kind of information about packs in the area. If so, I could let you know." Mallory shrugged a little, settling back against the unpadded seat of the booth.
"I'll miss you," she said once she was sure no one else was in earshot. "I know that we've disagreed about...things...in the past, but I've considered you a friend for a long time. Family, almost, the way Hannah was family. It's going to take some getting used to, not seeing you every day."
The ice in her glass was already melting, and she watched the cubes get smaller before taking another drink of water. "When do you leave?"
"You're family too, part of my Searchlight family. It's the only one I've got left now I guess. I'll miss you too. Just because we occasionally disagreed about...things...didn't change how I felt." Julie felt her eyes misting up a bit and she looked out the window.
"I'll miss this place too, it was a sanctuary for me when I needed one. It's hard to leave." The weather was beautiful that day, if a bit hot. The sunset would be spectacular.
She took a sip of water and then answered her friend's question. "I'll be leaving once we're finished here, I want to get past Vegas before curfew starts. I...I...already said goodbye to Connor." She never wanted to do that sort of thing again, either. Saying goodbye sucked.
Mallory's chin quivered a little, and she was saved from that by Rhonda's re-appearance with their food. The fries were salty and a little over-cooked, but she dug into them anyway. She wondered what airplane food actually tasted like.
"I'll probably poke my head in, say goodbye too," she offered. "Connor's a good sort, I think, if a little awkward. I'm sorry you guys didn't get more time. Maybe if you find each other again, you'll get a second chance."
The redhead looked out the window at the familiar parking lot, the semi trucks where they parked near the sign, the motel where she'd stayed during her first days in Searchlight. Home. This place had become home. Her vision threatened to blur.
"I don't know how to say good-bye, Julie."
When the food arrived, Julie dug in. Partially it was to avoid talking and give herself time to recover some stability after almost bawling her eyes out, but in reality she really was hungry. Her werewolf metabolism meant she was stuffing her face far more often than before she'd been turned.
Living above a bar had been a godsend and she still sometimes wondered why Nyx and Jo had tolerated her late night raids on the refrigerator downstairs.
"I'd like it if Connor and I were able to get a second chance one day. I still care about him, but I can't stay."
When Quinn started to lose it, Julie couldn't hold back the waterworks either. "I don't either...you've been my friend since the first day I came into town, and been there for me when nobody else was." She sniffled and took a napkin to wipe her eyes. "Maybe...maybe we can just say we'll see each other later and it won't be 'good-bye'? I'll still have my phone, and there's letters. Once we're all settled maybe we can visit each other?"
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Mallory looked down at her fries, working to regain her composure. "Can't be good-bye if we see each other again, right? Sure, you'll be kind of far away, but we'll still keep in touch."
She paused for a moment, drinking some water to push the sudden lump in her throat down. "I promised myself I wasn't gonna cry, y'know? I guess since its both of us leaving it's got me all sentimental." She sniffled a little herself, then picked a napkin out of the holder on the table and dabbed at her eyes with it.
"I'm going to miss everything," she continued, her voice roughening. "How familiar everything is. Even this dump." She waved a hand around at the diner, shaking her head and offering a slightly watery smile. She put down the napkin, looked at her friend across the table.
"I expect you to take care of yourself, okay, Julie Sanchez? And your parents will come around. They love you. I love you. Don't let yourself forget it."
"I know, it's just the shock of it all I guess." Julie had her mental fingers crossed that they would come around eventually.''
"I love you too, Mallory Quinn," the words didn't seem strange to her, but she'd never in her life imagined she'd say them to a woman who wasn't a blood relative. "Every bit as much as I love my other siblings. Whatever Pack I end up staying with, you'll always be a part of it to me."
"God, come here and give me a hug." Mallory got up from the booth seat and held her arms out in Julie's direction. The werewolf would be leaving right after this, and it might be a long time before they saw each other again. If she had learned nothing from Hannah's death, she had learned that you had to say what you wanted to say when you had the chance. Before the moment was lost forever.
"Don't let me forget to give you my number before you go," she said. "I know it'll be a transatlantic call, but maybe I can get the Council to pick up the tab."
Julie obeyed and moved out to hug her friend. "We'll find a way, Mal." She told her, returning the hug tightly but being careful not to put too much strength into it. The last thing Julie wanted to do was put Mallory in the hospital with broken ribs.
After the hug the two women returned to their seats and Julie worked on finishing her food, letting herself stretch it out as they talked about nothing in particular. She didn't want to leave, but sooner or later she was going to have to.
When Mallory's plate was empty, she gave her watch a look, wondering exactly how much time she and Julie had left. It felt like not enough. As the werewolf finally finished clearing her plate, the redhead drained her glass of water, then sat there in quietly unhappy silence for a minute or two. Trying to draw it out.
"So...I guess its that time?"
She nodded as if in answer to her own question, then indicated the parking lot. "Want me to walk you out?"
Julie reluctantly checked her watch and nodded. "Yeah...I guess so, if I want to be out of Vegas before curfew starts I need to get moving soon."
She stood up and left enough money on the table to cover the bill plus a tip before walking out the door with Mallory in tow. A few steps later and they were standing in front of her truck. "It's going to be weird with you being so far away. I've been spoiled having my friends so close by."
The werewolf impulsively grabbed her friend and pulled her into another hug. "You take care of yourself Mallory Quinn, and let me know when you've arrived at Heathrow, even if its just a text message or email. I'll worry if you don't."
"I will." And now she really was close to crying, so she distracted herself by getting a piece of scrap paper and a pencil out of her pocket to scrawl down the name and address of the hotel Rupert Giles had given her. "I don't know how long I'll be staying there, but if you need me you can try and reach me there. I don't want to lose track of you."
She looked at the werewolf's truck, put her hands into her pockets for fear if she didn't she'd try to hold the brunette there when it was clear she had to go. "Mind the army patrols," she said, tilting her head towards the highway. "And I hope you find what you're looking for."
"So do I," Julie let go of her friend, and moved to get into the truck. The engine started right up and Julie put the battered old vehicle into reverse before sticking her head out the window. "Give Tuffy an extra belly rub for me, poor guy's gonna have enough problems going over to England, he'll need it."
She wouldn't cry. She would not cry. This wasn't goodbye, they just weren't going to be seeing each other for a while.
"See you around, Mal." With that, she backed out of the parking space and drove out onto the highway.
Julie didn't look back. She didn't dare.
Mallory watched the truck until it was nothing more than a speck disappearing down the highway, her hands still in her pockets. The July sun was hot and unforgiving on her shoulders and the back of her neck, and there were tears trickling down her cheeks. She waved once, just before the vehicle vanished from sight even though Julie would never be able to see it, then turned and walked back into the diner to get something to go. She had packing of her own to do.