Chapter 5: Faded Memories

It was a cool, dark, and starry night and Alex was enjoying it, a lot. She had decided to slip out of the house when Marge's sisters had came over to visit. Those two, for some reason, had always made Alex feel really uncomfortable. She remembered when Lisa told her about how she both sympathized and tolerated her Aunt Selma, while her aunt Patty, she just regarded. Telling Alex all about her and her brother's experiences from their encounters/visits with them. Alex was a little mortified when hearing some of those tales.

Walking along Evergreen Terrace's road, she paused as the crosswalk sign had turned to a red hand. She looked around and tilted her head back and inhaled deeply. She felt like she needed to do this more often. After quitting smoking so many years ago, Alex has always enjoyed doing these things at night. Springfield's air was more clean and crisper than Los Angeles, well, at least to her it was. She was just about to cross the street when she caught a familiar glimpse of a man walking down the opposite road and sitting down in a bus stop bench. She recognized him.

Milhouse Van Houten.

At first she wanted to keep going in the direction she was in, but she decided to go and catch up for old time sakes. After all, she survived her reencounter with Nelson Muntz, this was a step lower than that.

Walking over she noticed Milhouse was looking really anxious, and frequently looking at his watch.

"Hi, Milhouse." Alex greeted.

Milhouse looked up, startled, and then got his composer back and looked at her curiously.

"Uh, hi. Who are you?"

Alex smiled, Nelson had a head injury and he could still identify her. Milhouse was always slow on the ball.

"It's Alex. Alex Whitney. You remember. The one you used to call "Fashion Queen"."

Milhouse's eyes widened as he came to realize who was standing before him. He then gloomily looked down at the ground.

"Sorry I did that. I must've been a real jerk back then, huh?" Alex shrugged, "Well, you and every other kid at that school."

Milhouse nodded, he then looked at his watch and muttered something.

Alex sat down next to him on the bench, "So, what's happened to Milhouse, over these years?"

Milhouse sighed, "Well, I'm working at the Nuclear Plant. Plus, me and my wife are having a baby."

Now it was Alex's turn to be surprised.

Milhouse told her of everything that Bart did, in his ways of saying thank you to Milhouse for helping him post-Gina.

Alex looked away and shook her head.

She looked back when Milhouse looked at his watch and then yelled, "WHERE'S THAT DAMN BUS!?"

She put a hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Milhouse took a deep breath and said slowly, "…Bart…Bart's in trouble."

Alex was going to inquire of what kind of trouble he was in, but then seeing the look on Milhouse's face and remembering what Lisa told her, the first day she spent at the Simpson's House in such a long time; she fully understood what Milhouse meant.

"Milhouse, you should call his family."

Milhouse glared at her; "He called me. Told me not to call them. Saying he wanted to see a friend. See someone he can trust. The first time this happened, his Mom said if it'd ever happen again, she would have him sent to a hospital. I can't let that happen to him Alex. Lisa would tell her Mom."

The bus finally came and Milhouse mumbled a quick "good bye".

Alex thought for a moment, then jumped on the bus with him.

"I'll go with you." She said as she sat next to him.

Chapter 5: Faded Memories

In Bart's apartment, which was usually warm and sort of cheery, was now bleak, cold, and dark. A ceiling light swung in the throes of the apartment's air conditioning. Shadows loom in every corner, the building across the street; it's light giving little voice to the dark room.

Bart lay huddled in a corner of the room. Lying on the floor with a bottle of Jose Cuervo resting between thighs, the only other thing in his lap was the answering machine. Bart's half-inebriated gaze looked from it to the door and back to it.

Thoughts were racing through his liquor-soaked mind.

Those bitches are out to get me, but I've got the drop on them…heh, yes I do…" There was a knock at his door and Bart stood rigid. "Uh, Bart?" Even though drunk, Bart knew the voice. "Milhouse…get…get in here…man." Bart feebly replied. The door creaked open and in stepped Milhouse who paused, then turned behind him and nodded. Bart cocked an eyebrow, as wondering what his best friend was doing. Then in stepped Alex. Bart stood up so fast that he almost fell over. "What's she doing here, Milhouse?" Bart growled. Milhouse looked worried. Alex sighed, "Bart, why do you do this to yourself? You're going to give your sister a heart attack by doing these things to yourself." Bart took a swig of his bottle and pointed at Milhouse. "Some friend you are, I tell you and ONLY you to come. What do you do? Bring my sister's best friend. She's going to rat me out to my mother and then I'll be in the crazy house tonight. God Dammit, Milhouse! Why do you have to be so friggin' stupid, huh? I'm hoping for Samantha's sake you don't pass it along to your bab-" Bart never got the last word out as Alex slapped him rigorously across the face. Bart looked back with tears in his eyes, rubbing the side of his face, "What the hell?" She hit him again. "Owww! Quit it quit it quit it!" He yelled as she lay some more on him. She then went to the kitchen and turned on the lights in there. Bart shielded his eyes as she got a pitcher and quickly filled it with water. When it was full she got back into the living room and poured it on Bart's head.

Looking around the room, she sighed and turned back to Bart.

"Bart, is there a gun, here?"

Bart, still rubbing his face, shook his head, "No, no gun. Now get out, the both of you!"

Alex gave one last, hard, final slap. Bart fell back a little and groaned loud.

"You need to quit being an ass right now and sober up, Bart." She said, "First off, Milhouse didn't invite me, I made him bring me here." Bart looked at her with blood-shot eyes, "Why?"

Alex turned away as she spoke, "I have my reasons."

Alex and Milhouse cleaned the apartment and also dispose of the alcohol within the house Bart sat in a chair rubbing his head, the quickness of alcohol-poisoning getting to him. Alex told him to take a shower just as the sun was rising. She called his work to let them know he wasn't feeling well and that he wouldn't be in for today.

A few hours later, Milhouse said he was going to work and asked Alex if she was ok looking after him.

"I'll be fine." She said, "I'll call you if anything happens, ok?"

Milhouse nodded, yawned, and then said good bye to Bart, and then slipped out the door.

Alex made some coffee for her and for Bart and the two sat at his table, Bart still rubbing his head.

Alex took a sip of her coffee and then went into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

"I'm sorry."

Alex turned, surprised, seeing as how Bart hadn't said anything for the past five hours.

"I'm sorry to both of you." He said.

Alex smiled. "You're right. You and Alcohol don't mix very well, huh?"

Bart nodded.

Alex brought them some steaming oatmeal and then sat down across from Bart.

"Bart, why did you do this to yourself?"

Bart sighed as he stirred his meal to make it cool, "I got a call from Gina last night."

Alex's eyes widened. "I thought she was in jail."

Bart nodded, "She was, she got released for work. She left a message that she was planning on seeing me today."

Alex now understood why Bart acted the way he did, but she couldn't help but feel that there was more to this.

"Was that it?" She asked.

Bart shook his head and sighed, "No. Before I got that message, Jessica was here, waiting for me."

Bart got up from the table and went into the kitchen and popped open a bottle of aspirin and got some OJ from the fridge. After guzzling it down, he continued.

"I managed to breakaway from one unhealthy person in my life, and then fall into a person who is even worse. Now, the first person is making their way back to me." He sighed. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do about this."

Alex shrugged and took another sip of her coffee and then daintily wiped her mouth, "Well, you could just tell Jessica to "Get Bent" as you've told other girls when you were dating Gina, and Gina, you can tell her that you're not ready to see her yet."

Bart gave a quiet laugh, "You make it sound so easy."

Alex gave Bart a grin; "You make it sound so hard. Believe me, it's not."

Bart sat back at the table and the two started eating the oatmeal.

When they were finished, Bart looked at Alex and smiled.

Alex, again, blushed a little. "Bart, quit looking at me like that."

Bart shrugged, "Can't help it. I'm amazed by who and what you are."

Alex turned away and said morosely, "You don't mean that."

She then got up and got her jacket and walked to the door and turned to Bart, "Call me if you need to talk or if you feel you want to escape to this negative place, again. I'm here to help."

Bart watched as she left thinking to himself:

What does she mean by "You don't mean that"?

Lisa was waiting at the kitchen table when Alex walked through the door.

"Where've you been! I was getting worried, when I went to your room and found it empty. Is everything ok?"

Alex nodded, "Just went out for a late walk and it went longer than it should have." She lied.

Soon the girls watched as Homer was about to leave the house when Marge stopped him. Homer was wearing nothing but his tighty-white-ies.

"But Marge, its casual Friday, at the plant."

While Marge was explaining Homer of the details of the phrase, Maggie came into the kitchen and sat down with the three of them.

"Oh, God. May we never have to see their slideshows ever again." Said Maggie, shuddering. Maggie still seemed to be in the aftermath of witnessing her aunts' photos of their various trips with their lovers.

"There are still times when I'm amazed that he can tolerate living with her. That and having us to refer to him as "Uncle Van Horn".

Selma, who's married half of the male population in the Springfield phone book, finally caught a break when she went onto an online dating site and met up with a man who was sensitive whom she talked with day and night. That man was Melvin Van Horn, Krusty the Clown's sidekick. A year and a half and they were married, had two children, and now were expecting their third. Alex had always thought it funny that she has now married two of Krusty's sidekicks.

The three spent the entire day aloof around the house, basically not doing anything. Cartoon Network was showing some syndicated showings of Itchy and Scratchy, which the three watched for four hours until getting bored by the second season's worth. At four in the afternoon, Alex had to go to see her Loan advisor to see about getting that down payment to get that building she wanted. It made her tired thinking about it.

Looking at her watch she decided she needed to go and her and Lisa left.

Bart took a nap after Alex had left and was feeling remotely better. He then looked at his calendar and quickly remembered that he was supposed to meet Laura Powers for coffee at five.

Getting into a cab he was there within minutes. Laura was already inside, her daughter Gloria sitting right next to her doodling on some placemat.

"Hey, Laura." He greeted.

"Hey, Bart." She returned.

Bart sat down across from them and ordered a decaf.

"Looks like some one had a interesting night."

Bart realized he failed to make his hair look presentable.

"Yeah. So, let's talk about your case."

The two of them spent half an hour discussing about the legal grounds and the strong points Laura had and what her ex-husband had in the matter of Gloria.

"Is there anything I should know that maybe brought up that we can quickly counter?" Bart asked as he finished his second cup.

Laura sighed, "Well, for awhile I was on anti-depressants. My father got killed in a hit and run and it was with me for a long time until I sought help."

Bart nodded. "Anything else?"

Laura shook her head, "Nope. None that I can think of."

Bart nodded. The two then spent the rest of the time talking about the movies they had watched and other frivolous things.

Bart soon left them and had taken a cab back to his place.

He turned on his Palm-Pilot and wrote down some quick notes on the day and then called and ordered pizza. After placing the order, he stared at the phone in his hands.

Should I call her? He asked himself. Through the sit-down with Laura, he had constantly thought about calling Alex. Why, he didn't know. He did want to thank her, again, for helping him for that embarrassing moment, but then, what she had said before she had left, rang in his ears. That was troubling him the most. He still, for the life of him, couldn't

Understand what she had meant by "You don't mean that". Looking back, had he ever gave her any reason that what he said wasn't true? That anything he said was just for the sake of spilling out some words? Bart really didn't have the answers to this.

Still staring at the phone, he closed his eyes and sighed. As uncomfortable as it might be, he did know who would have the answer to this.

Bart then dialed on his phone. There was a pause as it rang and then it was answered.

"Hey, Lis. Can we talk?"

Maggie heaved a sigh as the day was drawing to a close. After rescuing some dumb kid who had ran, then slipped, into the deep end of the pool, she was happy that her workday was ending. She, and another lifeguard named Ryan, blew their whistles and announced that the pool was closing. In a matter of minutes everyone was out. Maggie drew in the buoys that separated the lap areas and was just about to get ready to skim the check the chlorine levels when she was tapped on the shoulder.

Turning around, she was met by a grinning face. The person who had this smile was tall, black haired, which was featured with purple highlighted streaks, athletic, and was wearing a casual blue jeans and low cut white shirt.

"Hey, Maggs'." The woman said, still smiling.

Maggie, warmly, embraced her.

"Gina! Oh, my god, what're you doing here?"

Letting go of the hug, Gina and her went over to a nearby sitting area.

Gina sighed, "Well, I'm out of jail on work-release. I'm working as an assistant Mystery Shopper with my foster Mom over at the Heavenly Hills Mall, and have been seeing a shrink consistently."

Maggie nodded, still smiling. Gina and her have been good friends, ever since she had got adopted and had been dating her brother. In some cases they were like sisters. Gina, at one time, told her, that if Bart had ever popped "the question" to her, Maggie would be her Maid Of Honor.

Gina looked around, "Looks like you're still kicking ass at being the lifeguard around here, how've your dance classes been going?"

Maggie shrugged, "That blonde, wobbly-kneed, bitch, is still lead; but, I've been doing ok, regardless."

Gina nodded, closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and said slowly, "So…how's your family, doing?"

"Good." Maggie replied.

"Is your Sister still in Washington?"

Maggie shook her head, "Nope. She's come back home, to stay a few weeks."

"Oh." Gina said, surprised. She then looked away.

"How about Bart?"

Maggie knew this was her reason for seeing her, but why go to her first, she didn't know.

"He's…He's ok." She stumbled.

Gina smiled and patted Maggie's hand.

"Tell me, what's happened."

Maggie told her everything there was to tell about Jessica Lovejoy.

When she had finished, Gina looked sad and distant.

"I'm sorry, Maggie. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be a better girlfriend to Bart. Now I'm sorry that because of my hurting him again it has led to this woman wrecking his life, more so."

Maggie shrugged, "You're getting better though, right? Perhaps, you can kick this little whore out of his life and the two of you can try to get back together again."

Gina looked down and sighed, herself. "I don't know, Maggs. I could help try to steer your brother away from Jessica, but as far as the both of us getting back together, I don't know. I've hurt him, Maggie. Really bad. I'm not sure he would even let me see him, let alone date him again."

Maggie looked down, thinking intently. "Well, it's worth a try at least, right? As long as Jessica stays out of his life, he may see the light along the way."

Gina smiled and hugged Maggie, "We'll see. So tell me, how've you and Gerald been?"

Maggie told Gina that it would be nice if the two of them visited Bart in his office. She was reluctant, at first, but then agreed that if Bart saw her with another member of his family he would be in a better position to talk, rather than dismiss quickly.

Taking a cab they arrived to Bart's building within a few minutes. Gina told Maggie along the way about how her therapy has been going and how her doctor was saying her progress has been going quite well.

Taking the elevator, the two had just reached Bart's floor when they heard someone yelling.

About three doors down from Bart's office, Skylar Farris was, in turn yelling at the person in his office.

"I've told you a thousand times, I don't know where he is!"

"Liar! Your secretary told me that he called your office letting YOU know that he wasn't coming in to work today." Said the other person.

Maggie quickly identified the voice. She leaned over to Gina.

"That's Jessica Lovejoy."

Gina was getting irritated by how this woman was treating Skylar. Skylar had always been nice to her and he used to go on double dates with her and Bart and his girlfriend Tammy.

Walking close to the room, the two got a glimpse of Jessica grabbing Skylar's tie and bringing his face close to hers.

"Listen, you jerk! I know you're hiding him or hiding the knowledge on where he can be reached. I do not like to be played a fool and…Maggie!"

Her attention came to the doorway where the two girls had been standing.

Jessica, quickly, brushed her hair back and acted as if what happened before was nothing more than a faux pas (An embarrassing mistake).

"Maggie, do you know where your brother is?" Jessica was trying her best to be non-chalant.

Maggie crossed her arms in contempt, "No, Jessica, I can't say that I have."

Jessica turned her head away in disappointment. She then turned to the woman standing next to Maggie.

"Who are you?"

Gina, at first, glared at her, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm Gina."

Jessica took a step back and then bared her teeth.

"So, this is "Gina"." She then walked forward and shoved Gina, "Make sure you take this down, Bart and you are no more. He's mine. Back off." Jessica then strode past her and left.

Maggie looked at Gina, who was staring in the direction that Jessica had gone.

"What a bitch." Said Gina.

Maggie turned her attention back to Skylar.

"Have you seen my brother?"

Skylar shook his head, "A woman called around seven in the morning saying Bart wasn't coming to work today, said he was feeling ill."

Maggie thought long and hard, but still couldn't come up with an answer on who it was.

Bart sat right across from his sister in the Krusty Burger restaurant. Lisa agreed to meet with him and establish peace between the two of them here. The two had spent thirty minutes agreeing what should have been said and what needed to be said during the past days. They took a break from talking as their orders came to their table.

While Bart munched down on his fries, Lisa dined on Krusty's Brutos salad with Cesar dressing. Bart was half way done with his meal when Lisa spoke.

"Bart, I want to thank you for doing this. I'm sorry I overreacted the way I did. After all, I was there the first time Jessica did this to you."

Bart grinned, "My little Sister, always there for me. You don't need to apologize, Lis. We've always had each other's backs and we've always screwed up a number of times. It's cool."

Lisa smiled and then returned to her salad.

When they were finished Bart sighed in satisfaction and then put his hand on Lisa's.

"Lisa, I have a weird question to ask you."

Lisa straightened as she set her fork down. "What is it?"

Bart looked away and then told Lisa about what had happened the other night and how Alex and Milhouse came to his rescue. He then finished up to the point where he told Alex that she was "Amazing".

"Then she replied, very gloomily, "You don't mean that". What does she mean by that?"

Lisa sighed and looked out the window.

"Bart…Do you remember that time when you threw that concert at the High School, and Gina got angry with you for drinking?"

Bart looked down at the table, thinking. He then looked up and nodded.

Lisa looked into her brother's eyes; "Do you remember what you told Alex when the concert ended?"

Bart shook his head.

"Well, you lied to her about not being drunk and then told her that you were getting bored with Gina and wanted to be with someone like her, then…" She looked away.

Bart tightened his hold on her hand.

"Then what?"

She looked back at him with a sad expression. "You kissed her."

Bart took his hand off and stared at his sister. "I what?"

"She then called out to you saying that she really liked you and saw you walking away with Gina." Lisa ended.

Bart leaned his head onto his hand, every thought scrambling for that lost memory, still coming up empty.

"You don't remember, do you?" Lisa said.

Bart shook his head.

Lisa sighed, "Well, you did drink a lot that night."

Bart wearily shook his head, "I can't believe it."

Lisa grabbed her brother's hand and patted it.

"Bart, why are you worrying about this so much, Alex isn't scarred for life."

Bart looked into his sister's eyes.

"Lis…I think…I think I'm falling for Alex."

The Author (A/N)

A/N: We'll all the pieces are on the board, now. I'm still in the mix about how they're going to play out. Big thanks to those who commented on these chapters and those who didn't, well, it's not too late to say what's awful or good about this.