Mike and Nikki were looking over menus at a nearby restaurant. Nikki decided on the salmon with broccoli on the side, waiting for Mike, who ordered linguine with chicken. Once the waiter had collected the menus Nikki considered trying to start a conversation, but it was confusing--she knew Mike, but had to pretend not to, and while turning into a woman had made being feminine feel a bit familiar, she didn't want to give Mike the wrong idea.
But at one point the conversation took a wrong turn. Mike asked a simple question: "So what do you do when you're not out saving men's lives?"
Nikki tried to remember just what Megan was doing three years ago, just before they met. "I'm working as a clerk in..." Then she stopped. This could be a disaster. If Mike's life had really been saved, he would soon meet Megan for real and find out that she didn't remember this incident. "Mike, you know how you feel when you're stuck in a bad situation and anything you say will get you deeper in?"
"Surely you're not calling me a bad situation, even if our lives were in danger."
"No..." said Nikki. "It's not that, Mike. It's hard to explain. I'll give you a choice. First of all, we can go to your hotel room and I'll give you the whole story and we're going to waste the next twelve hours, and I don't mean by having fun together." That would mean demonstrating the medallion. "Second, you can get confused when I explain as much as I can but I keep dodging your questions."
"Do I get to find out what it is?" replied Mike. "Can you at least tell me why it's hard to explain? Or what the whole twelve hours thing is?"
"It's already had a magic shop and a Mafia hit. I'm at my limit of things anyone would believe. What do you say, Mike?" She tried her best to make sure she sounded serious and added, "But remember, I mean it."
