Two Days Earlier...

The next morning, there was tension in the air on a level Newt was sure could've been lethal. It was apparent that Tina still wasn't happy with what happened yesterday, but in her own mind, it was bigger than the rest of them could understand. She wasn't mad at Newt, Queenie, or even _______. She was mad at herself.

Tina was mad at the way she acted. Not just now, but for a while. She knew she wasn't the most open-hearted kind of person. She wasn't like her sister; she didn't wear her heart on her sleeve. She wasn't as brave as her sister when it came to emotional affairs. Tina bottled up everything, and always ended up showing the wrong emotion. She knew it didn't make her look good, but she couldn't help it.

She regretted telling Newt right away that ______ should be obliviated all those months ago. She was selfish, she was upset. It was about more than just Newt; it was about her sister. It was about Queenie. Why should Newt be allowed to be happy with his Muggle girlfriend and Queenie was forced to obliviate Jacob? How is that fair? Of course, that's not what she came off as. She never came off the way she wanted to.

The entire time ______ and Newt have been back in New York, Tina felt like she's been impolite, like she's been intruding. As if she was an unwanted guest at her own house. After she blew up on them yesterday, she had a sinking feeling that Newt and ______ were mad at her. That they didn't like her, that they were here out of obligation. She was unfair to them yesterday, but she didn't know how to apologize. Anything she said, it would sound forced, she knew it would.

So instead, she didn't say a word. She couldn't find the right ones to say. She decided to take a break today, she didn't want to face them so soon again and work. They all needed a day off.

As they all ate at the breakfast table, Tina cleared her throat and got the attention of the others. "I think I'm going to go to work today, hold off on investigation for a while. You were right Newt; I'm getting my information right from MACUSA. I should go see if they have anything new, maybe discuss and we can find some leads. They're working the same case as us, so we shouldn't isolate ourselves."

Newt, Queenie and ______ all exchanged glances. Queenie was the first to speak up. "You sure, Teeny? I mean, we can go out and do some more digging. It's a new day, we can-"

"I'm sure, Queenie," Tina cut her sister off. "MACUSA will probably have something we don't. By the end of the night, I promise you, I'll have something for us to work off of. We have something they don't: Newt. An actual beast expert. They must have something good, but they don't know it. We will get to the bottom of this, or Apathy Syndrome is just going to get worse."

Apathy Syndrome? Newt thought, finding the term strange. However, before he thought of it any further, ______ spoke. "If that's what you really want to do, go ahead. Just don't feel like you have to."

"It's okay guys, really. I'll be home in time for dinner," Tina assured them, standing up and grabbing her materials. "I'll be off then," she gave them a small smile before leaving the room, leaving the other three alone and having no idea to do with their free time. Queenie didn't have work today, and Newt and ______ hadn't really planned on anything yet. They had held off the plans they wanted to make to help Tina and Queenie with this case.

Trying to fill the silence, ______ turned to Queenie. "Where do you usually go when you have free time like this, Queenie?" she asked, hoping to find some ideas for the three of them to do today. ______ didn't want to just stay in the house all day, but the other things she wanted to do, she wanted to do with Newt alone. She didn't want to just ask Queenie to stay here, so she was hoping Queenie had ideas of what do to.

Queenie thought for a moment before a huge smile spread across her face. Newt felt like he recognized that smile on her, like she had that same smile when he last saw her. Happy, elated with something specific on her mind. Before Newt could put two and two together, Queenie turned to face the two of them. "Well, there's one thing, but you have to promise to keep quiet about it, okay? Tina can't know, no one can know, Just between the three of us, alright?"

Newt instantly knew, or hoped he knew, what she had in mind. "What do you have in mind?" Newt asked, hoping what she said next would confirm his suspicion.

Queenie paused, biting her lip but never letting go of her smile. "I've been seeing Jacob on my days off. I go visit him at his bakery, but Tina doesn't know and she can't know, okay?"

Newt's eyes widened. "Does Jacob remember anything?" he asked hopefully. "Or is he in the dark? Do you think he'd remember me?"

"He remembers almost everything!" Queenie told him happily. "He said that you told him once that the solution you provided only erases bad memories of magic, and a lot of his memories were good ones. He remembers you, Newt. He remembers all of us."

"That's fantastic!" ______ exclaimed, happy just from listening to all of this. She didn't know Jacob personally, but she almost felt like she did. Newt spoke about him, and Queenie was in love with him. Jacob sounded like someone amazing. Someone else who knew about Newt's case –another Muggle. She wasn't the only one, but that didn't make her upset or anything silly like that. She wanted to meet Jacob, some other Muggle to talk about everything she's seen with.

She had a strong feeling that she and Jacob would be good friends.

"Can we go see him?" ______ asked Queenie hopefully, and Newt looked hopeful too. He considered Jacob one of his only friends, and he always had a secret hope that Jacob beat the odds and remembered him. Now knowing it was true, he wanted to see him again. A reunion with an old friend.

Queenie glanced at the clock. "He should be open, we can go see him right now," she told him. She stood up quickly, as did ______ and Newt. Newt grabbed his case and Queenie led them out of the apartment, down to the streets of New York below. They walked briskly, wasting no time. Queenie wanted to visit him for the first time in a week and Newt was ready to greet a friend he thought he had lost.

After walking for what had to have been about half an hour, they ended up in front of a bakery, and Newt smiled standing in front of it. He was proud of his decision of leaving the eggshells with Jacob, Newt knew he was made for something bigger than a canning factory. He was wasting away in there, Jacob told him so. Newt was just happy Jacob lived to the potential Newt knew he had.

Walking into the bakery, ______ looked around and recognized the pastries designs right away: they were beasts. Jacob was making goods in the shape of all sorts of beasts found in Newt's case, and she couldn't help but smile about that. Newt talked about Jacob like someone would talk about their best friend, but she could always tell that Newt was down, all because he thought Jacob forgot about him. But here and now, this was proof that Jacob never did. In the midst of her thinking and looking around the shop, ______ heard a voice ring from behind her.

"Queenie? Newt?" a male voice rang out, and all three of them turned to the person who spoke their names: the person ______ assumed was Jacob. He didn't even look twice at her, she didn't expect him to, he had no idea who she was. Jacob walked right up to Newt and Queenie, but embraced Queenie and kissed her quick before looking at Newt. Even though Newt was a little more used to affection now, he hadn't gotten used to watching other peoples' PDA. He was looking away, glancing at ______ before Jacob pulled his attention back towards him. "Newt, it's good to see you. I didn't think I'd ever get the chance again."

"Funny how things work out, isn't it?" Newt asked with a smile, making brief eye-contact. ______ smiled, he was beginning to remind her of when they first met. The same awkward disposition, not wanting to make eye contact, finding other places to look. She always noticed with Newt he always looked at her lips, she picked that up after a few days but never thought anything much of it. Not until she noticed it was only the lips for her, but not anyone else. It made her feel as special as Newt always told her she was.

"Well, is there anything new with you? It's been a while since I've seen you, surely you've done something in that amazing little life of yours." Jacob smiled at him. They really did talk like old pals, like they ad known each other for forever.

Newt's eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face as he remembered one thing: Jacob and ______ have never met. She knew about him, but he had no idea she existed. "n fact, there is," Newt told him, then looked over and gestured towards ______ to come over to the rest of them.

All eyes were on ______ as she walked over towards Newt, standing next to him and smiling as he took her hand. Newt just looked towards Jacob, as if telling ______ to introduce herself. She got the hint and began to speak, "Hello, my name is ______ ______. I'm Newt's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you."

Jacob stared at her, looking from her to Newt. "A looker like you with Newt? Lucky man," Jacob smiled at her, and Queenie playfully pushed on his shoulder. He looked at the two of them, and then back at ______. "So are you a... um..."

"Witch?" ______ finished his question for him. "No, I'm not. Ordinary person here, unfortunately."

"Don't say that, being ordinary has its perks. You don't have to keep your talents hidden all the time and live in hiding."

"That's... actually very valid," ______ said, looking over at Newt. If anyone were to find out that he was actually a wizard, ______ wouldn't put it past ordinary people to put him in a lab and study him, or start some kind of war between wizards and muggles.

They stayed in the shop for hours, talking about everything, catching up on each other's lives. Getting close to when Queenie planned on leaving, Jacob and ______ stood alone, talking to themselves as Queenie and Newt were trying to assess what school was really better: Hogwarts or Ilvermorny. It was a humorous but intense debate, and Jacob and ______ didn't understand half of it. Jacob looked from the two of them to ______. "They're really passionate about this, aren't they? Is it really that important?"

"I think Newt takes a of of pride in Hogwarts," ______ said. "I don't blame him. It's a beautiful school."

"You talk about it as if you've been there," Jacob pointed out light-heartedly.

"Oh, but I have. I almost got caught by a student, then we were actually caught by a teacher. Well, the headmaster, to be exact."

Jacob just stared at her, eyes filled with fascination. "Why does that not surprise me? It seems like wherever Newt goes, adventure follows."

"I know," ______ smiled at him. "Isn't that amazing?"

"That's one way of looking at it," Jacob told her. "You two make quite the pair. I didn't mean what I said earlier, just so you know. Well, I meant what I said about you being a looker. I hope you took that as a compliment, but about Newt. He's a lucky man, you two deserve each other fully."

"Well, someone has to keep him out of trouble, or at least join him in it."

Queenie and Newt were now looking over at the two of them. "Ready to go, ______?" newt called out, grabbing her attention. "I hate to leave, but we should probably start heading back. We should get there before Tina, don't want to worry her."

"Oh, of course," ______ said, getting up from her seat. "it was nice meeting you, Jacob."

"It was nice to meet you too," he told her. "Be careful out there. You never know what to expect, travelling with that one," he gestured towards Newt.

"Don't worry," Newt told him, putting an arm around ______. "I'm keeping her safe."

Queenie and Jacob said their good-byes, and just like that, they were out of here and heading back to their place. ______ and Queenie made newt go inside his case on the way up, since men were still not technically allowed on the premises.

Walking into the apartment, Queenie's face drained of color when she saw Tina standing around the dinner table, dinner made and a slightly sad expression on her face. She turned to Queenie and ______, a surprised look on her face. "Where were you guys?" she asked.

"Tina! I didn't expect you to be home so early, so we just ran out and about for a while. Newt and ______ did come here to do more than investigate, so we spent the day around the town," Queenie told her.

"Where's Newt?"

"In here," ______ gestured to the case. She put it on the floor and gently knocked, Newt's head soon poking out, meeting Tina's eyes.

"Oh, Tina. How nice to see you," he told her with a half-smile.

She just sighed. "I made dinner while waiting for you guys. It should still be hot. Are you guys hungry?"

To be honest, they had eaten at Jacob's shop, but ______ wasn't about to tell Tina that. "Yeah, dinner sounds great," she told her with a smile. She felt slightly bad, they were all lying to Tina about where they had been. ______ didn't want to take it further and deny something Tina had prepared for all of them. She had looked upset when she came in, as if she was upset about being left out.

Newt crawled out of the case, and soon, all of them were sitting around the table and eating. Trying not to overeat, ______ ate as much as she could without feeling sick. Silence filled the air until Tina spoke. "MACUSA found a lead. They recognized a pattern and they think they know where and when the beast will attack next. I told them that I would look into it and observe the situation."

"Observe?" Newt asked, raising an eyebrow. Is that all they were really going to do right now?

"That's all they want me to do, and on paper, that's al I will do. MACUSA is willing to let one more no-maj to suffer to see if they're right, and I don't want to do that. I say we stake it out tomorrow night and catch this thing. Are you guys in?"

Newt smiled. That's the Tina he knew. The one who will do the right thing, even if it's against the company policy. Just like she did with Credence.

"I'm in," Newt told her. "Catching a Lethifold: that's a new challenge."

---

Did you miss me? I hope you did! I've gotten my files extracted and I'm ready to go. I apologize for all the typos in this chapter: new keyboard. It's a lot smaller than my last one, and it doesn't always recognize when I type because I type really fast. Well, I hope I didn't make you all wait too long! Missed you all!

- j.