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Rube didn’t look up from the book he was reading when he first realised that Mason had joined him in their usual booth at Der Waffle Haus. It was only when Mason sniffed—quite, not attention grabbing, like when he actually wanted someone to feel sorry for him—that he glanced up.
Mason was white as a sheet, and looking down at the table.
“What happened?” Rube asked, frowning.
“She got her quota,” Mason replied, his voice little more than a whisper.
“What?” Rube asked, aghast.
Mason had to be talking about Daisy, or Roxy, right? He certainly couldn’t be talking about—
“George-girl,” Mason confirmed. “She was just… gone. It’s… I thought we would have her for longer.”
He let his head fall to the table.
“Where’s the newbie then?” Rube asked, even as his heart slowly sank into his stomach.
George—his Georgia—gone. Was this Upper-Management’s way of punishing him for falling in love with his subordinate?
Mason froze for a second, and then sat up, frowning. “There wasn’t one. I didn’t even think about it but… the ghost of her reap went off into the lights, same as normal. Which, actually, isn’t normal at all, is it?”
“Something strange is definitely going on,” Rube agreed, rubbing at his temple.
He was so close to shattering, but he couldn’t do it there. And maybe… he had the tiniest strand of hope that this wasn’t what they thought. That maybe he would actually see George again.
Roxy slid into the booth beside Rube, and a few moments later, Daisy slid into the other side, nudging Mason into the corner so that she had room to sit down.
“What’s wrong with you two?” Roxy asked, looking between them, as Kiffany bustled over with mugs and a full carafe of coffee.
“Georgie-girl,” Mason said softly, when Rube didn’t answer. “She’s gone.”
“Already? Damn, that was fast. So… where’s the newbie?” she asked, arching her eyebrow.
“There isn’t one,” Rube answered, as he began to pack his things away. “I need to go and see Penny.”
“She’s seen this before?” Roxy asked, standing up to let Rube slide out of the booth.
“I don’t know,” Rube admitted, as he stood. “But it’s worth asking her, isn’t it? She’s been around a while.”
He left without another word.
“He didn’t react this badly when Betty jumped,” Mason said, after a minute, when they’d all watched Rube climb into his truck.
Roxy glanced back at Mason, and then nodded her head slowly. “We all know that George is special to Rube though. Besides, as you said, Betty jumped. She chose it. It doesn’t sound like George did.”
“Are we sure?” Daisy asked, turning her head in Mason’s direction too.
“Jump?” Mason shook his head. “No, she didn’t. I saw the ghost to the lights, because George disappeared, and then I came here. But she was gone before the lights even showed up.”
Roxy sighed. “If Rube doesn’t find out what happened to her, he’s going to lose his fucking mind.”
…
Rube waited impatiently for Penny to arrange to go on a break, and then dragged her to the coffee shop down the street from the hospital.
“George’s gone,” he said without preamble, as soon as they were seated at a table in the corner, with their drinks.
“She got her quota?” Penny asked, her eyebrows raising slightly in surprise. “That was fast.”
“I don’t know,” Rube replied, shaking his head. “According to Mason, she disappeared when she made her reap today, but the soul went off into the lights the same as normal. I don’t know what’s going on, Pen.”
He watched as dawning realisation seeped into Penny’s expression, and was shocked when she smiled widely.
“You know what’s going on?” he asked, desperate for answers.
“I want you to tell me the truth,” she murmured softly. “How do you feel about Georgia?”
Rube frowned again, but then sighed.
“I love her,” he admitted. “More than I should.”
Her smile softened, and she patted his hand gently. “I don’t think that you have anything to worry about, Rube. Give it a few days, okay?”
“You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, incredulously.
“It’s not for me to say,” she admitted. “Just trust me, Rube. It’ll be fine.”
…
Rube sat in Der Waffle Haus, his head resting in his hands. It had been four days since George had disappeared, and he’d barely slept. He had been dreading this day since she became a Reaper, but he’d always thought that he would have much longer with her.
Ten years was a small quota by anyone’s standards.
He heard footsteps coming towards the table, and then someone slid into the booth opposite him. Expecting it to be Daisy, or Mason, he didn’t bother looking up.
It took a few moments for him to recognise that the slight scent was familiar in the best way. When he did, his head shot up, and he found himself looking at the beautiful eyes of his Georgia.
She was smiling at him, and he couldn’t stop an answering smile from appearing on his face, so wide it threatened to split his face.
“What happened?” he asked, his hands reaching across the table to hold hers.
“I met my quota, apparently,” she told him, a small shrug accompanying her words.
He tilted his head. “Then what are you doing here?”
“There’s something still holding me here,” she told him, and her eyes sparkled with happiness as she squeezed his hands. “Apparently, there is something that can beat the system.”
“Oh? Care to explain?”
She chuckled. “Love. Or, rather, the love of a soulmate, specifically.”
Rube felt like his chest was going to cave in. He loved George, but if she’d found her soulmate… how the hell could he compete with that?
“I… need more than that, Peanut.”
“There are some things in the universe that work the way that they should,” she elaborated softly. “Everyone has a soulmate, but it’s not actually very often that they find one another. Born in different countries, at different times, you know, stuff that would keep a couple apart.”
Rube nodded, his heart pounding painfully in his chest.
“Occasionally,” she continued, “soulmates will meet, and fall in love. When that happens, the entire universe will conspire to keep them together. Even death. Or, you know, undeath, as it were. Whatever.”
“So you’ll be here until your soulmate dies?”
She snorted. “He’s already dead, but the same applies. I’ll stay until he pops his last soul, and I’ll reap while I’m here. They might as well use me, if I’m here anyway, right?”
She rolled her eyes.
Rube felt a surge of hope at her words. Could it really be true? Could it—
“Looks like you’re stuck with me, huh, boss man?” she laughed, before she dropped his hands and slid out of the booth.
“I’ll be back,” she promised, before she walked over to the counter.
She was back a few minutes later with a large slice of pie, and two forks. Sliding in beside him, she handed him one of the forks. They shared the pie in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.
When she was finished, she leant into his side. He slipped his arm around her without even thinking about it. It felt so natural, like she was meant to be right there, in his arms.
“I thought that I was never going to see you again,” she whispered, and tightened his grip on her.
“So, did they give you a length of time that you’ll be around?” he asked, and she sat up, frowning at him slightly.
“I’ll be around as long as you are,” she said, in her patented ‘duh, are you really that stupid’ voice, that she usually used on Mason.
As her words sunk into his brain, Rube clutched her to his chest, kissing her tenderly. She reciprocated happily, her hand resting on his cheek.
“I wondered how long it would take you to do that,” she murmured, when their lips parted. “I love you.”
“I love you, Peanut,” he whispered, nudging her nose with his own. “More than I ever thought I could love anyone or anything.”
“We’ll be around for a while yet, boss man,” she said, smiling. “They’re impressed with your skills.”
“Did they give you a specific amount of time?” he asked.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem so urgent to depart the life that he’d been growing weary of. Not when he could have Georgia in his arms, in his life, like this.
She shook her head. “No. I was just told that we’d be around for quite a while yet, and when we go, we’ll go together.”
“Nothing sounds better,” he whispered in her ear, before he kissed her temple.
That was how the others found them; George resting against Rube with her eyes closed, and Rube reading the morning paper, his arm clutching his girl gently to his chest, pausing every now and then to press a kiss to her head.