Lila dropped the Marks into Cooper's hands and smiled. "Say, it's getting kind of late...how long do you think fixing her up will take?" she asked.

@ladyanglaise

@Framing A Moose
"Oh, just a few minutes. I just need to reattach the tube that leads from the coolant tank to the engine, and then refill the coolant tank and make sure there are no leaks." she said, picking up her toolbox and popping the hood to get to work.

@Fubsy Max just shook his head and said "She is still as stubborn as ever." He then grabbed the bag and put it with his other money. He then went to his bedroom and got ready to sleep.

Lila smiled. "Okay, you do that. I'll just be hanging out inside the carriage." she said, to which Alice responded with a clanking sound. Lila only blushed and entered in the passengers' section of the carriage.

@ladyanglaise

@Framing A Moose
Cooper popped the hood and took a small wrench from her toolbox. Using the wrench, she carefully reconnected and tightened the pipe to make sure it would't come undone again. She leaned around the hood and looked at Lila, grinning, "One down, one to go." she said.
She put the wrench away and got out a small container of coolant. It wasn't enough to fill the tank, not even close, but it was enough to get the carriage a couple miles so that Lila could get somewhere that could fill it completely. She poured the coolant into the tank and recapped it, tossing the container back into the toolbox and closing the hood. "Try starting it up." Cooper said as she picked up her toolbox and moved to the sidewalk.

Sleep was the last thing on Marcella's mind that night. Her head buzzed from the day's events, and the Italian found herself pacing across the floor. A thousand questions buzzed in her mind. About the sickness. About her friends. About this unknown threat. None of them were answered. Sighing, Marcella paused and glanced towards the door. Two possibilities were apparent in her mind. Lay down and get some sleep, or solve one of the many curiosities racing in her mind. Hesitating for a second, Marcella made up her mind and silently slipped out.

Lila jumped out of the carriage and made her way to the front. She pulled the ringed lever and the machine began working properly. A giant grin spread across her face. "You did it Cooper!" she exclaimed.

@ladyanglaise

Max was about to lay down in bed, but when he sat down on the bed he looked at his leg. He then began to remember the conversation that he had with Mr. Black. He remembered Mr. Black saying "your grandfather left you a clue." Max then thought for a second and said "it couldn't be." He then got up and started heading to his work desk in the shop from his home in the back.

@Framing A Moose
Cooper smiled, partly out of relief that that had been the only problem. "You'll have to refill the coolant tank soon, but you should be good for a day or two." she said. Cooper walked over to the side of the car, dropping the toolbox beside her. She crossed her arms and leaned forward into the window. "I'm gonna head home, it's been a long day. Are you staying in the village tonight, Lila?"

Lila gave a nervous chuckle and cratched the back of her head. "Heh heh...yeah...I sort of assumed this would take longer." she said, biting her lip. She pointed up to one of the rooms in the building Alice was parked outside of. "Right up there, actually."

@ladyanglaise

@Framing A Moose
Cooper looked up to where Lila was pointing. She knew the owners of the place; descended from Metalhearts and made managers by the machine at their graduation. That happened fairly often to people, and those managers came back and ran businesses in the village almost without exception. Nobody outside the village had much respect for low-ranking business people who came from Metalheart families.
The rooms in question were among the nicest in the city, so she'd been told. They were plain but very well maintained, characteristic of anything remotely nice in the village. Cooper looked back at Lila. "It's amazing what a few marks can buy around here, huh?" she joked lightly. "See you tomorrow? I'm working early and I'll be done by noon."

Lila smiled and gave a thumbs up to Cooper. "Sounds like a plan!" and with that, sneakily gave Alice a peck on its side and walked into the building, making her way up to the room.

@ladyanglaise

@Framing A Moose
Cooper waxed goodbye to her friend as she picked up her toolbox and turned to walk away. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Lila kiss the car, but she wasn't sure. She decided that she definitely didn't see that as she walked down the road toward her apartment.

Marcella tensed as she heard a door opening, alarms ringing in her head. She carefully maneuvered to the source, pausing as she saw Max slip into the shop door. Suspicious mingled with the lingering sense of curiosity, and the doctor slipped beside the door and peeked in.

Max walked over to his desk and pulled out a box. He opened up the box which revealed a puzzle box. He picked it up and looked at it and said "my mom wasn't able to solve this how am I going to" He then began to move pieces around on the puzzle box.

@Dmessenger
Cooper felt enlivened and bleary, physically exhausted from a long day but flying high after reuniting with two of her best friends. As she walked down Main Street, she saw that the lights were still on in the shop. What was Max doing still open? As she drew closer, she realized that the shop was closed, but Max was still at his desk and his lights were on. She couldn't tell what he was doing from the storefront window - she assumed he was fixing something - so she decided to have some fun. Mirthful, she knocked on the window to get Max's attention and made faces at him through the glass. She figured it would either bother him and she would tease him about being so serious later, or he would think it was funny. It was a win-win, really.

Max was focusing on the puzzle box when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the window. He looked up to see Cooper making faces. He just shook his head and pointed at his closed sigh, He couldn't help but smirk from Cooper's antics.

@Dmessenger
Cooper laughed it off and headed up to her apartment, happy to have a wonderful stick-in-the-mud as a friend. She knew he got a kick out of that, even if he was too serious-minded to indulge her further.

Max woke up early and went back to his desk and continued to work on the puzzle box. He still was having trouble figuring it out. "what was the key to this old man" He muttered to himself.

@Dmessenger@Fubsy
Cooper woke up to the sound of hacking. It was pained, hoarse, and voiceless. She felt her heart choking her to death as she got up to see what was going on in the living room, which was also her parents's room. She was shocked to find her father, Joseph Newman, coughing up blood as he lay on the mattress on the floor. He was pallid and sweaty, shaking uncontrollably.
Panicked, Cooper darted into the washroom and soaked a hand towel in cold water, and returned to her father. She knelt down beside him and put the cold, wet towel to his forehead in a desperate attempt to give him some relief. He raised his hand to hers, holding the towel down to his head. Trembling with worry, she stood up and immediately left the apartment, not remembering to change out of her sleepwear or even put on shoes. She practically slammed into the locked door to Maxwell's shop, having tried to push it open without stopping, resulting in an audible thud. She backed up a step and started banging on the door. She wasn't 100% sure that Marcella had stayed with him, but she knew that Maxwell would at least know where she'd went from the shop.