"This is a surprise." Luke said as he walked down the long corridor with a smile. 

Nadia turn, her lips just barely curved as she watched him approaching her. She was still in her scrubs, and her hair was pulled back away from her face revealing dark circles under her eyes. 

"You look like shit." He said, kissing her cheek. Her only reaction was to lightly elbow him in the side with a grunt. 

"And somehow you look amazing." She said, noting what a great mood he seemed to be in as he led her back towards the kitchen. 

"I was just having something to eat, join me?" He said, pulling her along. Nadia tried not to frown. She hated dropping by unannounced but Grace hadn't stopped texting her all day. 

"No. Sorry, I didn't mean to get you while you were eating... I'm actually not hungry." She said, as he took a seat at the kitchen counter and signaled for her to sit beside him. 

"You never are, that's why you look like that." He said, going to back to his food. Nadia frowned as she moved around, looking for a cup.

"What's wrong with how I look?" She asked as she poured out some water. 

"Where should I start?" he said with a smile. "It would be faster just to help you fix it."

"I don't need your help fixing anything." She said, looking up when he just seemed to be laughing. 

Nadia was caught off guard. It was true that she and Luke had been pretty close growing up. She'd spent a lot of time in this house, running around after him and Marco, they two pulling every type of prank they could on her.  She had several great summers in this house, but it had been a long time since then, they were grown now and Luke had lost that spark he'd had as a mischievous child.

She could still remember the exact day that everything changed. Luke was never the same. To say their friendship was strained was to say the least. It had been years since she saw him in such a good mood- she could count on her hand how many times she'd seen him smile, much less laugh. 

"What's so funny?" She finally mustered the courage to ask him. 

"Nothing, you just reminded me of someone." He said. "Someone equally irritating."

"Hey!" She said with a frown, "Rude."

But he just laughed, picking up his plate and moving around towards the sink.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'm only joking." He said as he cleaned up- another thing that struck Nadia as strange. While Luke had always been a very neat and meticulous person, things like this... domestic work, had never been something he did. 

"I'm glad you're in a good mood." She said, "Any special reason?"

Luke leaned back against the counter, thinking it over slowly. On the one hand, this was his only cousin, his childhood friend- family- he knew he could trust her with pretty much anything. Right now, he could use some advice from a woman he could trust, especially one that like his own little Echo, liked to keep to herself. 

On the other hand, he wasn't an idiot. Nadia was also Grace's best friend and he wouldn't doubt that the pretty blonde might try to bully his cousin, who was too nice for her own good, into getting information on him. 

"Yes." He said with a grin, "But tell me, what do I owe this honor to?" 

Nadia sighed. She knew it, she knew Luke wouldn't be so dumb as to not realize that something was up. She had no idea how Grace was going to pull this off. 

"Actually, my parent's anniversary party. I just came by to see if you were coming." She said with the same grin. Grace had been the one to suggest it as a good excuse but Nadia had already considered it. 

"Of course, but you could have called." He said, raising his brow playfully. Nadia was dumbfounded and... thrilled. She hadn't seen Luke like this in years. Was it this mystery girl? If it was, then she felt sorry for Grace.

"I came by on a whim. I haven't seen you in a while. If you're so fond of calling, you should try it once in a while." She said, making him laugh. 

"Alright, alright. I get it. Lay the guilt on thick- I suppose Aunt Danny sent you?" Luke asked and Nadia relaxed. 

"She's not the only that knows how to throw a guilt trip but I'll tell you what, make sure you're at the party and I'll leave the guilt to the master." Nadia replied. 

"I will." He said confidently. 

"Great, I gotta go. I'm exhausted... oh and... Luke?" She said as she moved towards the door. 

"Yeah?" He asked. 

"It wouldn't be terrible if you gave Marco the night off... brought a real date." She said, immediately feeling guilty. Grace wasn't going to like it if he brought a date but... Nadia couldn't help it. It had been so long since Luke had seemed that happy.

---

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Echo said, glancing at the clock on the nightstand and rolling over. She pulled her pillow over her head and lay face down. "Go away, Maru!"

"Oh no! It's 8 AM, you have time to shower and have breakfast before the protest." Maru said, hopping on the bed and bouncing around.

"You're crazy. I said that I wasn't going." Echo said, turning over and sitting up. "What part of that sounded like wake me up early on Saturday?"

"Yes, you said that but I figured you owe me one for covering for you so much." Maru said, "and not to mention the pup sitting."

"Another day... I need to catch up on sleep." Echo said, turning over again and pulling the covers over herself, "Do you realize how hung over I was all day yesterday?"

"I don't know why you would have had so much to drink." Maru said, "But the hangover was yesterday and today... new day. See you downstairs in 20."

Maru jumped off the bed and picked up the puppy who was already crying and scratching to get out of the basket.

"Good morning, baby." She said sweetly, planting a kiss on him before setting him down on the bed with Echo. A few seconds later, he was hopping all over Echo, tugging at the blanket and making it impossible for her to sleep.

"You... I bet you like her better too, don't you?" Echo said accusingly as she lifted up the cover to let the puppy in. "Traitor."

With a sigh, she sat up and stretched her arms, the puppy jumping onto her lap and barking. She looked down to him and smiled. It was honestly a great way to wake up. She picked him up and kissed him multiple times before putting him down on the floor.

"Okay, fine." She said looking at the puppy as he tried to jump on the bed over and over. "I'll get up."

She stood and walked over to her phone, disconnecting it from the charger. No new messages and she shook her head with a smile. She wasn't sure what she expected to find. Sure, he'd called last night but they were only on the phone for a few minutes. She couldn't think he would suddenly be calling and texting all the time.

"Come on, Echo. Get it together." She said to herself. She walked to the window and looked out. She couldn't imagine herself out in the crowd, just the thought of it made her feel... nervous. There would be a lot of people and it didn't matter how much better she'd been doing lately, this was too much. She would just have to go downstairs and tell Maru and Lena that she couldn't do it.

With a mental nod, she grabbed her things while rehearsing what she would say to get out of it. She went over it again and again, so many times that it was practically ingrained in her mind. Even as she went down the stairs for breakfast, she repeated the words to herself.

"Shhhh...shhh... here she comes, here she comes."

Echo entered the breakfast room and found Maru and Lena sitting with a giant smile on their pretty faces, grinning as if they had a big secret. She looked around, knowing her parents would have had their breakfast by now and aware that Romy and Vera would likely be outside or on an errand.

"What are you two whispering about?" Echo asked as she neared the table, taking her usual seat.

"You..." Lena said, leaning forward and resting her face in her hands. "Got another delivery."

Echo raised her brow.

"Another... don't tell me more flowers?" Echo said, standing again. "Oh my god, what did mom and dad say?"

She felt the panic rising up in her throat again. Why would Luke do this? She told him not to, he knew it would everyone ask questions.

"No, no more flowers." Maru said with a grin, glancing at a box in the center of the table. "Just the one box and Lena signed for it."

Echo's eyes went over to Lena who smiled.

"And I didn't tell anyone." Lena said. Echo was quiet as she moved around the table to pick up the box.

"You're welcome." Lena said as she Echo walked away with it.

It was a plain box, cardboard with a white label and her name: Ms. Echo Reid.

"Fine Jewelers." She said softly to herself as she moved to the counters in the kitchen. She opened up one of the drawers and pulled out a small knife.

"I wonder who could have sent it." Lena said to Maru who just continued to smile as they watched Echo opening the box from across the room, pulling out piles of tissue as she did so. Then, she stopped and her eyes widened.

"What? What is it?" Maru asked excitedly, standing and running to her side. "Oh wow..."

Echo's hands were shaking as she opened the box and stared down at the earrings. They were the same beautiful diamond studs she'd seen in the shop the day before.

"They're gorgeous." Maru said with a smile.

"What is it?" Lena asked curiously.

"Check out these earrings, they're amazing." Maru said.

"Oh my... try them on." Lena said, moving to get a closer look. Echo sighed and turned, catching her reflection in the nearby mirror. she slowly pinned the studs in place and then stood admiring them. She brought a hand to her ear lobes, remembering how Luke had admired them.

"Look at her, smiling from ear to ear." Maru said. Lena nodded. She'd never seen Echo so smitten. It was obvious that whoever had sent the present had caused something to change in Echo... something that would probably never change back. Then, with a sudden buoyancy that was quite unlike her Echo turned.

"You guys ready to go?"

Maru and Lena stared at each other. They fully expected Echo to turn around and tell them she was staying in bed. In fact, they were prepared to let her off the hook, after all, they knew that crowds made her nervous. So where had this newfound energy come from? Could it be that something as small as a pair of diamond earrings could bring someone that much confidence?

---

Echo had questioned the decision to make the protest on Day street, not so much because it wasn't appropriate but more so because on a Saturday traffic was particularly bad in that area. There would be plenty of attention on the girls marching and maybe even a little rioting. But realistically it did make sense. Day Street had several large businesses on either side of it and at the very end of it was the University.

When they arrived at the Student Union, there was already crowds of young girls congregated and getting organized. Echo was nervous, but she knew it was an important cause. The University had a bad habit of dealing with assault internally, without involving the police. 

They were actually representatives for their own committee and had been pushing for birth control on campus, better security and more awareness regarding date rape. Now, as Echo looked around, she could see that this was a bigger event than she thought. Without really thinking about it, she brought her fingers to her left ear lobe and touched the studs gently...

It was almost like he was here and the thought gave her a certain amount of courage.

"Come on." Lena said, handing Echo the end of a sign. "We're just going to march down the street and end it at the big park, right in front of the police station."

Echo sighed and nodded, taking the sign and holding it up. Here goes nothing...