Gavin Bryne was getting married. That was the news that had spread like wildfire just days after the big fight Madeline had brought herself here to the city of brotherly love to attend. She was still in Philadelphia, her flight back to New York not leaving until the morning. When she heard the news, her first instinct was to find another way out of Philly as fast as possible, but she wasn’t sure what good that would do her. Her second thought had been to head out and find her way back into some unhealthy habits that she had, for the most part, given up. That was what Madeline was best at, running from emotions, from situations that made her uncomfortable or unhappy. Running from life. 

However, she had made enough progress recently to know that neither of those options was ideal. So what she did instead was go to her favorite place on the pier, a small abandoned section that was usually empty at night. She carried with her a bottle of Tennessee whiskey and a bundle of emotions she needed to sort through.

In the past few weeks, Madeline had done a lot of soul-searching. It had been mainly successful; she had found a balance between her two sides and was slowly discovering herself for who she really was, but something about this announcement had shaken her to the core and driven her back towards the chaos she'd been crawling from.

When Madeline had met Gavin, she had found someone with much the same approach to life as she had – have the most fun possible and let the rest sort itself out. Hell, the first night they’d met they had robbed a jewelry store together. Being free and wild was something they had in common, something they could relate over. The idea of commitment just wasn’t for them. Or so she had thought.

Then he came to tell her about his relationship, that he was going to try it and see how things went. And now, in what seemed a very short time, he was marrying this woman. A small part of her wanted to seek him out, to convince him it was a mistake. How could he give up his life of adventure and freedom to get tied down and settled in one place? That wasn't the Gavin she had known, but in reality, she was starting to realize she hadn't really known Gavin at all. 

What she did know was that having that conversation with him would, in itself, be a mistake on so many levels. So instead of making a rash decision, she sought solace on the pier, where she'd drink her troubles away alone. 

But it seemed that being alone was not in the cards that night for when she arrived at her favorite spot; there was already someone present. It was a beautiful night with not a cloud in the sky; the stars were shining just as brightly as possible that night. She’d been sipping at the whiskey bottle during her walk, so she was already slightly intoxicated. She didn’t recognize him when she first approached, but when she got closer and realized who it was, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Maybe the universe was trying to send Madeline a message. 

Alexander was exhausted, physically and mentally. He'd spent the better part of the last 14 hours in the studio and in his office taking care of the final touches before the release of Emergence. His producer Billy Rivera had found him hidden behind a stack of documents and eventually kicked him out of the office, telling him to go home and take a break. Despite his brash persona, Alexander was growing fond of the man's presence as a sort of fatherly figure in his life. The thought of a father reminded him of his own that had come seeking after him at the orphanage and the way Alexander had still not decided whether to meet the man one way or another. 

Not quite ready to end his day, Alexander meandered over to a spot he had come to frequent ever since Madeline had brought him here in the past. He sat at the edge of the pier, his feet dangling off the edge and his hands lay behind him, supporting his leaning frame. His eyes flitted between the turbulent waters beneath him and the stoic stars above seemingly unaffected by what went on below. It made him wonder if he would ever reach a point where the troubles all around him would be unable to affect him on a personal level. Would he have the option to be carefree someday?

His ears caught the sound of footsteps behind him and he wondered who it could be. This place was usually isolated at this hour. Sighing to himself he resigned himself to acting like a good celebrity and sign an autograph or engage in a conversation with what seemed like a particularly persistent fan to have tracked him down so far. That was when he heard the laugh that had become associated with some of the more memorable occurrences of his recent past.

"I didn't know you were in town." He said without looking back as he slid to his right to offer her some room beside him. "Come on then, make yourself at home." He added with a welcoming tone, still not turning around.

“I came to see the fight and stayed to take care of some business.” Madeline plopped down next to him, not the most graceful given her slightly intoxicated state. Dangling her feet over the edge, she looked out over the waters. The raging waters that night seemed to match her mood, and the sound of the waves crashing against themselves brought a smile to her face. She didn’t think she would ever grow tired of the water.

“I see you’ve taken a liking to my favorite spot.” Taking a swing from the bottle she carried, she offered it to him. “Whiskey?”

She wasn't sure what Alex would pick up on when he looked at her. There was no spark in her green eyes tonight; there was only a hardness reminiscent of the night she had seen him at the after party. She was wearing one of her usual dresses, a dark navy colored one, and her hair was pulled back into a bun. She wasn't a mess, not the way she was before, but she wasn't herself tonight either. 

As she positioned herself beside him in a most indelicate manner, Alexander smelled the Whiskey on her breath before he turned to see her. She was drunk, and not in a celebratory mood. She seemed to have gotten drunk to find an escape from something. Perhaps her sudden arrival there signified the same.

When she offered him the alcohol, he chuckled as he assumed she was being playful yet again. But when he finally turned to see her vacant green gaze, he saw that she was deadly serious and he simply shook his head politely. She appeared to be well dressed as if she had come back from a formal gathering, but though her appearance was far from shabby, her demeanour suggested something was wrong.

Turning his eyes back to the sea he responded calmly. "I don't drink. The bartender who doesn't partake. But you already knew that." Pausing to glance at her with a sombre smile he brushed her palm with his thumb inquisitively as he asked  "Any chance you tell me what's eating up at you or are we going to sit here silently stargazing?"

"It seemed rude not to offer." Madeline took another swing from her bottle as she thought about his question. The natural choice was to sit silently and stargaze. To enjoy his company and drink the night away. But a part of her knew that he wouldn't settle for that; she could already tell from the look on his face that he was disappointed to see her like this, or at least that's how it came across. Placing the bottle down next to her, she pulled her feet up to rest on the edge of the pier, hugging her knees and resting her chin on them. 

She didn't know how to phrase what was wrong, maybe because she wasn't sure herself. It was everything and nothing; it was the idea of Gavin getting married and being lost to her forever and yet it had nothing to do with Gavin at all. It was the confusion of life, love, relationships, the knowledge that life never worked out the way you planned. Drinking made her forget, it numbed the constant run of thoughts that on some days overwhelmed her. 

So the silence lingered as she tried to find words to explain the unexplainable. Finally, she said the only words she could think of, although she knew they explained everything and nothing.  "Gavin Bryne is getting married." 

With a sigh, she turned her head to look at him, knowing she owed him more than that. "Gavin and I we had a..." A what? It wasn't a relationship, but it was more than a fling, to her at least. What was it? "A friendship of sorts. It ended when he committed to his now fiance, but the news was still startling."

He sat patiently, waiting for her to overcome her reluctance to accept the facts that had brought her here as being real while not wanting to rush her to the realization. As she rested her chin on her knees, hugging them tightly with her arms, he saw memories flash by in her eyes as she struggled to define the cause of her stress and figure out the series of events that had transpired for things to be the way they were, along with possible alternatives she could have adopted along the way in hopes of a different outcome.

When she finally broke the never-ending silence he sighed. Gavin Byrne. The mysterious stranger he had heard so many tales of before had resurfaced again. He wondered just what it was about this man that made his actions permeate through all known associates of Alexander. When she mentioned his upcoming marriage and hinted at her past with him Alexander felt somewhat guilty.

"I know." He replied, returning her stare.  "I have been asked to perform at his wedding by his fiance." Her eyes seemed to grow cold at her mention and he turned his face back to the sea. Brushing his hand through his hair. "I wasn't aware of your past and it was a business opportunity too good to let pass." Pausing to formulate his words carefully he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and it a comforting squeeze before continuing.  "Do you intend to resume your ... friendship? Give things with Gavin another go? You don't have much time left before the wedding if you want to go down that road."

Though somewhat jealous, his envy was overshadowed by his concern for her well being. He had seen her at her lowest in New York and he would not want to see her fall down that hole again.

When he put his arm around her, she leaned into him, unexpectedly grateful for his presence. He told her about being asked to sing at Gavin's wedding, and a part of her was angry at the thought, but she knew that the anger was irrational. Alex had a voice that rivaled some of the greatest she'd ever heard; anyone would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to have him sing at their wedding. Besides, she wasn't blind to the immense business opportunity it presented. 

He asked her if she planned to continue things with Gavin and there was no hesitation in her response. "No. That door is closed." Her hand sought out his, the one not around her shoulder, intertwining her fingers with his. "Gavin came to me not too long ago, in New York. He came to ask me if we could be friends, just friends. I told him no. He's a good man, truly, but I need the separation from him. He understood although I don't think he was happy with the response." 

Maybe it was selfish of her to have turned him away as she had; Gavin had only ever been kind to her. But sometimes being selfish was necessary to protect yourself, to allow yourself time to heal. Her thumb rubbed the back of his hand as she spoke. "It's not so much about Gavin himself, at least not all of it. Gavin and I, we were kindred spirits. Wild, free, unattached. That's what I thought I wanted in my life."

Looking out over the water, her eyes traveled up to the stars. "I was married once before. I was young and foolish, and he was rich and perfect. Until he wasn't. By the time I saw who he truly was, it was too late." Madeline squeezed her eyes shut as if it would block out the memories of the harm Vernon had done to her. "I swore at that point that I would never be that foolish again. I swore off relationships and commitments and the idea of happily ever after. And it worked, for a long time, and then suddenly it didn't anymore. Gavin made me start to question my stance on things, that maybe relationships didn't have to be all bad. And then he left. On a good day I can recognize that maybe that was his purpose in my life; to open me up to the idea of that life once again. But on a bad day, I don't know up from down or left from right." There was so much more to the story, of course. Her actual identity, Sadie, her father. But Madeline was too drunk to be able to tell the full story accurately, nor did she want to throw everything on him at once.

She and Alex had not talked about what they were doing or what they were looking for with one another, but she knew she owed it to him to tell him what was going on in her rattled head. She'd largely forgotten about the bottle of whiskey next to her, her gaze returning to Alex as a soft smile graced her lips. "I'm all sorts of screwed up Alex. Although you probably figured that out when you first met me." 

He smiled as she leaned into him, pleased with himself for being able to offer her some simple measure of comfort. With their fingers intertwined, Alexander listened intently as she spoke of seeking closure with respect to Gavin and all the reignited possibilities he had come to represent in her life.

Her thumb caressed the back of his palm as his other hand rubbed her shoulder encouraging her to continue while she spoke of her past, something she hardly ever did. The mention of a marriage surprised him and the image of a domesticated Madeline brought the ghost of a smile to his face. But despite his amusement, he could feel the pain in her voice as she spoke of swearing off the idea of a happily ever after, one that resonated with him considering all the ups and down he had gone through.

He could tell she wanted to tell him more but was reluctant, perhaps unready to open wounds long ignored or perhaps unwilling to trust him just explicitly so soon after Gavin's rejection. He didn't blame her, he wouldn't trust a womanizing stranger like himself either, even without having gone through the things she must have. He wouldn't be surprised if she never saw him as anything more than that if his past liaisons were anything to go by.

Kissing the top of her head, he pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Moving the heretofore untouched bottle of whiskey to a side, he drew her in closer into his embrace as the two of them gazed at the midnight sky. "Not the first time no. The first time I met you, I was lost in a sea of paranoia worried for my life, in an unfamiliar city, newly exposed to the seedy underbelly of the criminal world, helplessly searching for any means of self-preservation."  He reminisced and the thought elicited a dry chuckle from his throat.

"If it weren't for your comforting presence and your willingness to take pity on a stranger foolishly trying to pick a gun, I may never have escaped that sea and my life may very well have turned out quite differently." Pausing to pull the camel out from behind his ear, he placed it in his mouth. Feeling the familiar burn at the back of his throat and the smoke cascading out of his nose, he continued  "New York and the Godfather's celebration though, was the first time I got a chance to be close to you and peer behind the facade. Whatever I saw intrigued me enough to not push you away or pursue you immediately like I normally would have."

Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, he flicked ash into the waters below him as he added sombrely. "Opening night at Broadway though, that was when I realized you were lost. But the intrigue and perhaps a sense of solidarity for a fellow cynic got to me. I could not just let you sit alone drinking yourself out of a life yet to be lived."

He took a quick drag and turned to peer into her eyes once again as he spoke softly. "Perhaps people like you and me are not destined to have a happily ever after. We are destined to a life of pain, rejection and betrayal. A never-ending melancholic tale of unexplored possibilities and broken dreams. I don't know. But I can say, the company of someone who understands us and sticks around regardless of who we are, for whatever fleeting moment, sure as shit beats the solitude of oblivion."

Madeline smiled as he revisited each of their meetings until to that fateful night on Broadway. She'd almost forgotten about their first encounter, in a gun shop in Detroit. She'd never known what that experience had meant for him and hearing him put it to words made her realize that in life you can never really know what effect you're having on another person in the smallest of moments. And then there was the celebration they had planned for Jemaine; she had gotten Alex to help her and of course to provide the entertainment for the evening. 

It amazed her to realize that they had so many run-ins over time without really seeing each other. As she sat there curled up in his arms, a part of her wondered if they were missed opportunities. But another part of her knew that had she pursued anything with him back then, it would have been her typical sort of fun and done. More and more lately she was beginning to believe that everything in life seemed to happen for a reason. 

His last statement gave her pause. "Maybe our happily ever after doesn't look like everyone else's. Maybe we don't have to settle for a life of pain and rejection and betrayal." She lay her head on his shoulder, burying her face in his neck. As she grew to know Alex more, she began to see that they had more in common than she had realized. They were lost souls just trying to find their way, and something kept drawing them together time and time again. Raising her face to his, she brushed her lips against his gently, her voice soft as she spoke again. "Maybe we can control our own destiny." She kissed him again, this time with more urgency.

Turning her body towards him, she kissed him again and again. Madeline didn't know what the future had in store for her. She didn't know if she'd eventually give in to the darkness that called to her or if she'd end up like Gavin, settling down for marriage and a typical life. What she did know was that she was incredibly grateful that she and Alex kept finding one another. For tonight, they would enjoy the stars that shined in the dark night sky, together in each's other company. Whatever came next, Madeline had a feeling she'd keep finding Alex every step of the way.