Background: This scene takes place after PJ has rescued a child from the lake at the local park. The mayor has been wanting to give her an award for her heroic efforts, and she doesn’t want the attention because, of course, she slips back in time whenever she panics…and this is just one more thing to be anxious about.

Kickstarter Bonus Scene (from Ethan’s POV)

I hope I’m not overdressed. PJ didn’t want to do this thing to begin with, but Mrs. Ellis insisted that it’s not wise to stiff people in power when they want to acknowledge your good deeds. Or something like that. Those definitely weren’t her exact words, but that was the gist. The mayor wants to thank PJ in person for saving the girl at the lake and you just don’t say no to that.

I step onto the front porch, adjust my collar and ring the doorbell. PJ swings the door open almost before my finger leaves the ringer.

“Hi,” she says, a little breathless in that familiar way she can sometimes get.

PJ has been acting a little weird lately and I’m getting worried she’s putting too much stress on herself. She’s always taken school (and running) seriously, but since she picked up the job at the library, I feel like I’ve hardly seen her. I mean, that’s not all her fault. I have a job, too, but it blows that our work schedules are pretty much exactly opposite. Spending time together has become difficult. I’m almost looking forward to cleaning up all the junk at Halfpenny Creek again over Thanksgiving break. At least then I’ll get to spend a full day with PJ.

“Hey,” I answer as I step inside and brush a kiss on her lips. “You look amazing.”

I’m not just being nice. PJ is wearing a simple black dress that makes her look a bit like an old-time movie star. If I knew any of their names, I might compare her to one, but old movies are not my forte.

“Hello, Ethan!” Mrs. Ellis calls from the kitchen island, where she’s partially visible from the front hall.

“Hi, Mrs. Ellis,” I call back.

“I’m just finishing an email. Give me two minutes, kids.”

PJ holds up a thin chain with a dangling charm featuring two pines within a silver circle. “Could you help me put this on?” she asks, turning her back to me and pulling her dark hair aside. “I’ve been struggling with it forever.”

“Of course.”

I take the necklace and open the clasp, staring at a small birthmark just behind her right ear. I love when she wears her hair in a pony tail and I can see it. Is my fascination with her birthmark a fetish? Is that weird? I clear my throat and focus on the necklace.

“Okay,” I say. “I think I’ve got it.” The clasp secured, she lets her hair down again, hiding her neck and my favorite birthmark once more.

I said she looks amazing, but PJ doesn’t just look amazing. She smells amazing, too. I should have brought her flowers. Dammit. Why didn’t I think to bring her something? This is a special day for her and she’s being recognized for doing something incredible. How could I have come empty handed?

“That necklace is really cool,” I say, just to say something.

She clasps the charm between a thumb and finger and looks down at it with a smile before tilting her head to look up at me. “Thanks. It was a birthday gift from my mom. The trees are me and Mom.”

“Standing tall against the world,” I say. A small pang of jealousy twists my insides. I’m not sure if it’s because I want those trees to represent me and PJ or whether it’s because I wish I had that kind of relationship with either of my parents. I really should call Dad again. Tomorrow. I’ll call tomorrow.

“Exactly, me and Mom against the world,” she says with a solemn nod.

“Alright, let’s get a move on.” Mrs. Ellis practically swishes into the front hall, grabbing her purse and keys off the small table just to the right of the door. “My heroic Pigeon can’t be late for a meeting with the mayor!”

I raise my eyebrows in question, but PJ groans as we file out the door.

“Mom, no!” she scolds.

“Pigeon?” I dare to ask.

Mrs. Ellis issues me a wicked grin as she locks the front door behind us. She bumps me lightly with an elbow and mock whispers at me conspiratorially. “Come on. I’ll tell you all about it in the car.”

“Mom!”

****

City Hall isn’t overly large, but it’s still an intimidating building full of dark, polished marble floors and walls. We had to go through metal detectors to get in the front door and I think that might have freaked PJ out a bit. She looks pale. I’m a little worried she might pass out. She’s doing that tapping thing with her fingers again.

“You okay, Supergirl?” I ask. I called her that once before, just after she rescued Kayleigh Owens, so it seems almost fitting to repeat the words now.

She nods at me, but doesn’t speak, so I take one of her hands in mine and give it a squeeze. I know how much PJ doesn’t want to do this, but I also know how much she wants to please her mom.

When we get to Mayor Stanton’s office, his assistant, whose name is Anthony Capora according to the name plate at his desk, welcomes us warmly and calls the mayor through the phone intercom.

“He should be out shortly. He’s just finishing a phone conference. In the meantime, can I get you anything? Water, coffee, tea? Anything for our local high school hero!” he says with a smile that has definitely seen whitening strips. “Seriously, I’m a big fan.”

“Water would be fine, thank you, Mr. Capora,” Mrs. Ellis replies as PJ’s grip tightens around my hand.

“Oh, Anthony, please! Mr. Capora is my dad.” He chuckles at his own joke. “Okay, give me just a minute and I’ll have refreshments for everyone. Have a seat.” Anthony practically dances to the mini-fridge behind his desk, entirely too excited about water as far as I can tell.

As instructed, we sit in the brown leather chairs in the reception area. PJ releases my hand and I place my palm on my knee. I’m suddenly feeling paranoid that my palms must have been disgustingly sweaty.

Anthony returns not only with three bottles of water, but a tray full of expensive-looking cookies, the kind that are half-dipped in chocolate and look a little like lace. Okay, now I can get down with his level of excitement. Cookies are more exciting than water for sure.

He places the waters and the cookies on the round coffee table in front of us. I grab a water for PJ, twist off the top, and hand it to her. Since Mrs. Ellis has already claimed her own water, I grab one for myself next.

“Local news is sending someone, but they’re running behind,” Anthony says.

“The news?” PJ asks, her voice anything but steady. “But they already ran a story online.”

I always knew PJ didn’t like attention, but I hadn’t realized she was so nervous about today until just now. She looks like a ghost.

“Television,” Anthony clarifies. At PJ’s wide-eyed terror, he says, “Oh, don’t worry. If they don’t make it by the time Mayor Stanton is ready for you, they’ll just have to run B roll. I’m not holding up the mayor’s whole day for this. And something tells me you could do without a camera in your face.”

“We’re on a strict timeline, too,” PJ’s mom says, already going to bat for PJ. I’m glad she can sense PJ’s unease, that I’m not the only one. “I have an appointment in an hour that I couldn’t reschedule. I hope that’s okay.” I have no idea if Mrs. Ellis is telling the truth or if she’s just making up an excuse, but maybe this is what PJ meant about those two pine trees on her necklace representing the two of them.

“Oh, no problem! We’ll just—”

The door to the inner office opens then and a white-haired man old enough to be my grandfather (maybe my great-grandfather, actually) steps out with a welcoming smile on his wrinkled face. “So this is Penelope Ellis!” He comes forward with both hands extended to shake PJ’s hand, then Mrs. Ellis’s. “So sorry for the delay! So very sorry.”

He shakes my hand last. “Jerome Stanton, good to meet you.”

“Ethan,” I answer, then belatedly add, “Morrow,” as though the mayor will remember me after I leave this room. I’m here for moral support. I have nothing to do with the heroic activities from that day.

“Please,” he says as he turns back to PJ and her mom. “Join me in my office. I want to hear the whole story from start to finish. I read the article, of course, and the Owens family has already been in touch with me, but nothing beats hearing it firsthand from the hero.”

Anthony picks up the tray of cookies to bring it into the office, but Mayor Stanton takes it from him. “You had the bakery deliver! This is why I keep you around, Anthony. Well, that and the fact that I’d never remember my schedule without you.” He turns to me and gives a wink. “Lifesaver, this one. In fact, Anthony, why don’t you join us? I think we’re going to have to rely on you for a photo since I don’t see any sign of the news crew. God, I hope they’re not covering a murder.”

When we’re seated on the leather sofas in the mayor’s office, Mayor Stanton asks PJ to recount everything that happened that day. She’s shaking like a leaf next to me, but she relays the story to him anyway. I wish I’d known she would be so nervous. I want to hug her. Instead I take her hand again and give it a squeeze. 

The mayor puts a hand to his jaw as he listens intently. “So you just saw Kayleigh? From all the way across the park?”

PJ gives a hesitant shrug. “She was a hot pink blur. It was hard to miss that helmet.”

“Astonishing! I mean, it seems like a lot of other people missed it.”

“It was just my vantage point, I’m sure,” PJ says.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, young lady. What you did was phenomenal. Truly an act of heroism. I am exceptionally grateful we have young people like you in our beloved and vibrant community. You’re leadership material.”

“Oh no, sir. I don’t think—” PJ starts.

The mayor holds a hand up. “Don’t be shy about it. You were in the right place at the right time, I’m sure. But you also didn’t hesitate to act when things went wrong, and we need more of that.”

I think back to the day it all happened and I’m infinitely glad PJ spotted the little girl when she did. I can’t fight the image of what could have been. A tiny body pulled from the lake. A little girl receiving CPR on the muddy path beside the water. Ambulance sirens screaming in the distance. I can’t help but vividly imagine the scene in my mind’s eye. I shudder. Yeah. It could have been awful.

“I hope you’ll consider applying for the youth leadership program offered by the community foundation,” Mayor Stanton says.

PJ looks weary. “I’ll think about it,” she says.

There’s no way she’ll think about it. But knowing how tight she and Mariana are, I bet she passes the info to Mariana instead.

“Alright, well, now seems a good time to present you with the award we called you down here to receive. I don’t think the news is going to show, I have another meeting in a half hour, and I don’t want to keep you from prior engagements.”

Anthony’s phone buzzes just then. “Ah, news crew. I guess there was a bad accident on the highway.”

The mayor furrows his brow. “Were they in the accident or covering it?”

“Looks like they’re just stuck in the traffic from it. It’s about two miles straight down the turnpike. Jackknifed tractor trailer.”

“That’s terrible!” Mrs. Ellis says.

“Hope everyone is okay,” the mayor mutters at the same time.

“Alright, where would you like the photo, Anthony?” he asks.

“How about in front of the fireplace? That makes for a nice backdrop.”

I study the fireplace. It is a nice backdrop. I wonder if it’s gas or one of those heaters that just looks like a fireplace. Without a fire going, I can’t actually tell.

“Perfect.” The mayor stands and beckons PJ over to the fireplace while he pulls a crystal award shaped like a large teardrop from his desk drawer. I can’t read it from here, but it’s engraved with PJ’s name.

PJ taps the fingers on her hand as she waits for the mayor to join her by the fireplace. When he does, he adds a few more words of praise and encourages her once again to apply for the youth leadership program. Then he and PJ pose, the award in their shared grasp. Anthony snaps a few photos with his phone.

“Okay,” he says. “I think we’re good.”

Mayor Stanton shakes PJ’s hand again and thanks us for coming. Before I stand to join PJ, I covertly swipe three cookies, wrap them in a napkin, and stick them in my coat pocket. I had my fill, but PJ didn’t touch them. Something tells me she might want them later, when the nervousness from the experience has worn off.

Back in the hall, PJ heaves a giant sigh, letting out a breath like she’s forgotten to breathe the entire time we were inside the office. Mrs. Ellis gives PJ’s shoulder a squeeze as I take her hand once more.

“Nicely done, Pidge. I know you didn’t want to, but I’m glad you did,” Mrs. Ellis says. She lowers her voice a little before adding, “I’m hoping all this pays off when you start applying for college scholarships, kid.”

“Mom!” The small laugh PJ gives is enough to break her from her nerves.

Good. She’s okay.

“Come on, kids. To the car. Stat.” She glances at her phone. “I’ve got five minutes left on the parking meter.”