Sorry, I forgot the warnings, labels etc. before. Here they are now.

Title: Don't Panic!
Author: Flatcoatbo
Fandom/Characters: AWZ - Marian Ozturk, Hitchhiker's Guide
Word Count: Around 600 (the exact count is on my computer at home)
Warnings: None except that you'll get a glimpse into my strange mind
Rating: G
Summary: Celine has left Essen and Marian thinks something is fishy.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone. Please don't sue me.
A/N: I have no idea where this came from. It mugged me during the night and made me write it. My apologies to Douglas Adams. Also, I think I may have pissed off the punctuation fairy because there are about a million commas, probably all in the wrong places, so be warned. That said, enjoy!


Don’t Panic!

Marian heaves a sigh as he leaves the police station for the third time that week, irritation pricking him like scratchy fabric on sun burnt skin. The police are still refusing to investigate because, as they rightly say, a grown woman can pick up and leave whenever she wants. All of her personal effects are gone (except for that silly-looking pair of shoes with the dolphins that Detective Koch seems certain was left on purpose, “in a sudden fit of good taste”) and there were no signs of a disturbance in the flat.

So why, Marian asks himself, is he so sure that something out of the ordinary has happened to Celine?

Back at Number 7, he goes over what he knows so far and, while he can’t quite put his finger on it, he’s sure something isn’t quite as it should be.

Celine never said outright that she was planning on leaving Essen, only mentioned in passing once or twice that a change of scenery might be nice. But that’s a far cry from packing up all her belongings and skipping town one night without so much as a note of farewell, much less a proper good-bye in person . And no one has heard from Celine since.

As far as Marian can tell, Zoe is as much in the dark as everyone else regarding her mother’s whereabouts, although she doesn’t appear worried. Of course, that could be because all Zoe is thinking about right now is Florian and how to get into his pants. Richard won’t even discuss Celine, primarily because it would require him to pull his head out of his ass and think about someone other than himself and his family for a change. Simone, of course, has been doing little jigs whenever she thinks no one is watching so she isn’t about to ask any questions. The rest of the Steinkamps, even Jenny, seem completely unfazed by the mysteriousness of Celine’s departure.

Why does no one else seem to care about Celine? The rest of the world, Marian thinks, appears quite content to accept the official story of Celine’s departure.

That’s not completely true, though, Marian admits, when he’s honest with himself. Deniz, he knows, shares his concern, but Deniz is too wrapped up with Roman… and Roman’s brother… and Roman’s father … and Roman’s skaters… and Roman’s ex… etc. to spare much thought for Celine.

It’s strange, though, muses Marian, that on the day she left Celine had a long conversation with an unusual foreigner. Some odd looking, odd sounding, English bloke with the name of a car had blown in that afternoon, carrying a towel no less, and had ordered, in very bad German, two glasses of beer. He had then proceeded to huddle in the corner with Celine for more than an hour before leaving just as suddenly as he had appeared. (Marian had caught a reference to someone or something called “zaphod beeblebrox” once during their conversation but nothing that made any sense.) Celine had said that the man was an old acquaintance and left it at that, completely ignoring the man’s strange behavior of sucking his towel. That evening was the last time Marian saw Celine.

As the last patrons begin to leave Marian sighs once again, turning off the radio off in the middle of a report on missing dolphins, and begins closing up for the night. Tomorrow, he decides, he’ll go to the library and look up “beeblebrox” and Ford Anglia (or was it Prefect?) Taking one last look around, he switches out the lights, locks up and heads for home.

**************************************************

Lying unnoticed and unread behind the cash register, pushed out of sight during one of Deniz’s whirlwind cleanups, is a note addressed to Marian, in Celine’s handwriting. It’s not much of a farewell letter, just eight simple yet enigmatic words: “so long, and thanks for all the fish.”