Title: Merely Players (IV): Drusilla Devonshire. (Golgotha, Part 1).
Featuring: Desade
Date: Four days before ReV 241
Location: New Mexico and New York (vs. Roxy Phoenix)

A long line of orange-yellow light snuck across the small bedroom, just barely creeping onto the double bed pushed up against the wall. To call it a "bed" was probably too charitable â€" it was just box spring and mattress stacked together with no metal frame. The sheets were piled over two slight forms curled in on each other like two spoons in a drawer.

The larger spoon was a long, slender woman with a head full of curly, rust-red ringlets, her arm draped over another woman, smaller and somehow fiercer, protecting the tall woman's forearm like a mother bear shielding her cub. Not two hours ago, these two women were at odds, screaming over... well, over another woman entirely, and we'll get to her in a moment. Not two hours ago, there was shouting and cursing and accusation, all of which ended when the small woman tried to retreat but only managed to close the bedroom door on her lover's forearm.

Their names were Alexandra Pierce and Amy Campbell, and they were among the most tumultuous, chaotic, and controversial couples in the world. It wasn't that Alex and Amy were oil and water â€" they mixed, but the combination of the two was a volatile thing, just as dangerous to each other as they were to the outside world.

But that was just about two hours ago, two hours for them to cool down. Two hours that ended with the redheads intertwined on the lumpy, uncomfortable bed. This was usually when they'd drift off into a quiet haze of emotion and a fitful sleep until one extricated from the other for space and because together they'd become a terrible furnace.

Not tonight, however. Tonight, consumed by toxic thoughts and knotted stomachs, they simply laid there, allowing the muted conversation on the other side of the door to distract them.

"Are you awake?" Amy whispered, running her thumb against the burgeoning bruise on the other woman's forearm.

"Of course I am." Alex's words softly ruffled the hair that had escaped Campbell's messy ponytail. "You can't sleep either?"

Amy grunted. "They're making too much noise," she said.

"You want me to tell them to go?"

"No. Well, kind of, but I don't want you to get up. And I really don't want you to tell Shaw to 'go get a room' when my fâ€"when Malcolm is the guy she's talking to."

Alex didn't say anything for a long breath. "How come you do that?"

"Do what?'

"You always start to call him your father and stop yourself, like you can't quite wrap your throat around the word. I know you've been estranged..." Amy's snort only drew a small smile from Pierce's lips, which she pressed to the back of Campbell's neck before continuing. "But you still try. Like you're sure this time you'll be able to get it out."

Alex felt Amy tense against her, but the little redhead still laid her head back against Pierce's arm. "Quinn grew up knowing her mother and father weren't her biological parents," she said. "And maybe that helped her accept you. She's done so well, really grown into it. I'm not there yet. I can't... I don't want to imagine how much knowing what I know would hurt my real dad â€" the man who raised me. The one you met in Canada. My dad hit me when I fucked up, and he feels terrible about it to this day. He didn't disown me when I was a teenager. He walked me down the aisle..."

Alex flinched, but Amy continued. "He's been there. He loves me, and I love him. Even knowing what I know, I love him so much more than... so much more than Malcolm. I know now who I should technically give the title to, but it doesn't fit the man outside the door here. Dad earned it. My technical father, this guy who's been watching from the sidelines and never even told my mom what he knew... no. It feels like cheating."

Campbell's sigh was a drawn out thing as she tried to find words. "But I still try because I..." She shook her head and rolled over, eyes still bloodshot from tears. "Y'know, I think we've done enough deep talking for one day."

Alex offered a small smile when Campbell traced a finger along her brow, down her jaw and to her chin. Amy held Pierce's eyes the whole time, smiling a sad smile herself when she changed topics. "I love you so much. I don't really say that often, do I? And I can't apologize enough for the accident with the door and..." She leaned in, brushing lips against the point of Alexandra's chin. "And I guess I should start pretty soon, because that bruise is gonna last a while. I hope you know it wasn't... I mean, I wasn't being aggressive with you intentionallyâ€""

When Pierce's eyes grew distant, it was clear she was thinking back to the incident, maybe even the events earlier in the day. Amy drew her back with a peck on the lips. "I'm sorry. I'm talking too much."

"No, it's fine. Really." Alex's fingers curled along the other woman's jaw. "Just ignore them and try to get some rest, okay? My arm will be fine, I promise. I've been through worse."

"Don't even tell me." Campbell folded her hands on Alex's shoulder, resting her chin atop it. "All that stuff does is make me worry."

"You shouldn't. I'll always come home."

"Not to someone who freaks the fuck out like I did." Amy sighed. "And you need to rest, to get your mind off of... off of everything, really. The world, the little fuck-up you keep coming home to..." When an idea struck, Campbell came off of the other woman's shoulder, gently pushing it over. "Y'know what? I think I might be able to help clear your head and start that apology."

"Amy, you don't have to apolâ€"" Alex relented, scooting so she was lying flat. One brow lifted. "What're youâ€""

Campbell's thumbs slipped under the hem of Pierce's tanktop, skimming over her abdomen muscles. "Just lie back and..." A trail of gentle kisses followed the line of Alex's ribs. Amy's hands drew gooseflesh out of the other woman. "Y'know, just lie back."

"B-but your faâ€"Kathiâ€"we're not alone."

"So what?" The smaller woman slid one hand down to Pierce's hip, the other gripping behind Alex's back, forcing her to arch her back up. "Let them hear."

A sigh caught in the back of Desade's throat, her breath hitching. Pierce leaned forward, her fingers along Amy's back. Campbell moaned, but pressed her palm flat against Alex's sternum. "I said lie back," the Canadian said with mock sternness.

Alexandra complied. "Oka-aaay." A surprised, whole-body shudder claimed her. "Mmm..." She took her lower lip between her teeth. "God, you make me crazy."

"No need for crazy," Amy mumbled into the smooth line of Pierce's abdominal muscles. "Just relax, focus on you." She took a moment to smile up, though she wasn't sure Alex's eyes were opened enough to see it. "Because I will be."

Campbell pushed down on Alex's knee, forcing her legs apart, and the taller redhead screwed her palm to her lips to try to keep quiet against a wave of pleasure.

She wasn't ready for the pain, though. "Amyâ€"ah, dammit!" Her fingers were wound in the other woman's hair, and she jerked the other redhead away. "You bit me?"

"Gah! Al!" Amy reached up to where Alex had her by the hair. She cringed. "Sorry. I... got a little carried away." In truth, she'd heard Kathryn Shaw's laughter bubble in from the other room from whatever conversation Shaw was having with Amy's father. The anger that sound heated in her was what had led to the unintentional bite.

Still, she kissed Pierce and smiled. There was still mumbling in the other room if she listened closely, but the offending laughter had died down and so she was able to let her temper fall with it. "Jeez, now I've got two injuries to make up for, don't I?" One hand pressed to the spot she'd bitten, then drifted to fumble with the button on the dress pants Alex hadn't changed out of. "And you're still so cruel to those ungodly legs, suffocating them like this."

"My legs are not..." She wriggled to assist the other woman in stripping off her pants. "For anyone else but you."

"Good answer," Amy said, smirking as she kissed the side of Alex's left knee. "You're becoming a quite the smooth-tongued lothario."

Alex's laugh was soft and rich. "You really shouldn't give me a straight line like that."

"I think you want to shut up now," Campbell murmured, her breath up the inside of Pierce's thigh. "Because I can beâ€""

The second burst of laughter from the other room was louder, nearly a cackle, and this time, the bite was enough that it'd probably leave a welt. "Amy!" Alex hissed, her eyes opening wide. They were like tiny gray saucers, dilated from the pleasure. "What's gotten into you?"

Amy's eyes darted to the door first, then she rocked forward on hands and knees, resting her chin just under Pierce's collarbone. "Sorry, I just... I keep losing my head. You... it's gonna be kinda distracting whenever I see you dressed up in pants now, knowing you could be wearing some lacy... this... underneath..."

She smirked and planted a little kiss on the Spider's throat. Quietly, she was hoping Alex didn't realize what had really distracted her, and she started down her body again, peppering little apologies in the form of kisses back along Pierce's stomach. "I'm sorry. Won't happen again, promise. I'll just get back to what I was doiâ€""

"Amy." It pained Alex to say the word. Her eyes slid to the door, tongue wetting her lips. "I don't think we shouldâ€""

"You didn't!" Kathryn's cackle came again. "You little shit!" The words were light-hearted, teasing, and loud enough that she had to know that they were awake.

Campbell growled at the back of her throat, her fingers digging into Pierce's backside. Alex laid a hand on Amy's shoulder, not quite pushing away. "We shouldn'tâ€"" She sighed, sharply. "We should deal with this... with this first... or else..."

Amy shook her head. "I've got a half-naked Alex," she said. "I'm taking care of this first."

Pierce whined in the back of her throat. "And if you hurt me worse because you're going to twitch every time you hear her, then you'll neverâ€"never forgive yourself." She grabbed the other woman by the shirtfront, pulling her up and away from that particular region and into a sloppy tongue bath of a kiss. "There's nothing I want more than to shake the walls tonight, but... can we get rid of the Greek chorus first, maybe?"

Amy's pout was a terrible and pathetic thing as she rolled off to the side of Pierce. "I guess this means you need pants again."

"I guess so." Alex rolled up after her, grabbing the smaller woman and pushing her against the wall. She inhaled the other woman's scent. "I've never hated them more than I do right now," she murmured.

Campbell rolled them over, putting Pierce's back to the thin wall. The motion rammed them into the nightstand. "We don't have to go," Amy assured her, cupping her close. "We can justâ€""

"No! No way!" Shaw was laughing again, and there was another laugh in a rich baritone that came with it. "And you never told me?"

"Or maybe not." Campbell touched her forehead to the wall. "Pants."

---

"And then he said to me... he said, 'I don't think we can do that without the battery'." Malcolm Girard's grin creased his lips as he leaned back in the wobbly chair, tapping out the end of a cigar. "'But sir,' I said. 'The battery is dead, andâ€"'"

Malcolm broke off as the door to the bedroom creaked open, and he looked up. Tellingly, it was Girard's chair that faced the bedroom. The brunette across from him had her back to them. Kathryn Shaw leaned forward, elbows to knees. "Are they done already? I would have thought that it'd be at least another hour."

"Kathryn," Malcolm said. His smile was quiet, and the single word was enough to quiet Shaw, who pivoted in her chair. "We disturbed you, didn't we? I didn't realize the noise." Girard stood when the two redheads entered the room, and nodded to Alex. "And assumed you'd already fallen asleep. My apologies. The bed is comfortable, though? It's the only luxury I bothered with, and I haven't used it myseâ€""

"It's true," Kathryn added. "The first time I was here, he insisted on bending me over the table."

"Kathryn."

Shaw widened her eyes innocently, curling one long leg over the armrest of her chair. "So when are you going to make up your mind?"

"I already have made up my mind, you rancid câ€"" Amy began.

"I wasn't talking to you." Kathi clucked her tongue. "Or even about you. The sun doesn't rise or set by whether you two are muff-diving together." She lifted hazel eyes to Pierce. "So which is it? Am I in custody or out of custody? You went through a lot of trouble to put me there, and I'd like to know if I'm expected to go back."

Alex chuckled. "Well, we're getting right into it, aren't we?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about it. I know what you did."

"I didn't do anything." Pierce flicked her eyes to Campbell at her side, who had a death grip on her hand. "Well, I've done a lot of things. But not what you're thinking. I didn't frame you for Arthur's death."

Shaw lifted a hand, waving it through the air. "I don't really care, you know. Arthur was a bastard. If you hadn't had him killed, I would have done it myself. I just..."

"Perhaps I could offer everyone a beverage?" Malcolm lifted his eyebrows. "Let's keep tempers under control."

"Shaw could use something," Amy said. "If you believe what she says, it's been weeks since she's had her usual semen protein shake. I imagine she's thirsty."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "It's like you don't even know me."

Girard turned his attention to his daughter. "Kathryn is going to help us, Amy. She's going to help me and she's going to help Alex. She's going to help us be done with this. With Bronze. Forever. Isn't that worth it?"

"Right. Completely trustworthy." Amy growled from where she stood, just behind Pierce. "What reason does she have to do it, outside of getting close enough to drive the knife back in?"

Shaw curled up to her feet. Even without her heels, she was taller than Campbell and taller than Pierce. "It's what I do. I have betrayed every single person that has ever trusted me, and it's-it's Bronze's turn."

"Why?" The little redhead demanded it. "Why is it Bronze's turn? Who decided? Why would you think we'd evenâ€"I can't believe we're even thinking about this. If she's betrayed everyone who's ever trusted her, that means that it'll be our turn next."

"It may." Alex said. "But I'll take that chance. Because it'll be over. Foreverâ€"or as close to it as this world gets." She wrapped an arm around Amy's waist, pressing her lips to the top of the other woman's head. "And we'll be rid of this."

Kathryn rolled her eyes, folding her arms. "At least until Jared or fucking Darcy or some other well-hung guy lets her back intoâ€""

It was a fist that cut the sentence off, delivered quicker than any of them expected. But it wasn't Campbell that buried it in the brunette's midsection, but Pierce. "Mind your tongue," Alex ordered. "I don't give a fuck why you're doing this, because you're useful to me â€" to us. But if you do not watch what you say, you won't have to worry about Amy hurting you, because I promise you that you won't feel a thing."

Malcolm raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and looked aside briefly. Even with his affection for Kathryn, that quick correction drew a bit of a smirk. Maybe that was because he knew it amused his daughter so much. The corner of his eye caught Amy stepping to Pierce's back, lips just behind her ear. She whispered something he couldn't make out, then pressed a wide smile against the taller woman's neck, biting her bottom lip and finally looking down to where Shaw slumped, shocked.

"That clear anything up?" Amy snickered, fingers intertwining with Alexandra's. "You've got no clue how good it feels to be worth so much more than you."

"Fine." Kathryn stood, straightening the lines of her top. "I'll dial it back."

"And?" Alex's brow lifted, a jagged peak above one eye.

"Andâ€"uh, you can't..." Shaw couldn't meet that impassive gaze. "Fine, whatever. And I'm sorry I said it, Amy, okay? Now can we do this? I still smell like jail."

"Thanks, Kathryn. You have no idea how much that means to me." Campbell snorted, and raised her hands at a little glance from Alex. "Okay, okay. You want me to stay out here, or should Iâ€""

"Stay." Malcolm wasn't sure if there was any liquor left in that room, but he didn't want her alone with it.

Girard and Pierce shared a look; the latter's brow came up again. There weren't words, but there didn't need to be, and Alex's gaze shifted to Shaw. "Do you have it?"

"You... really want Golgotha?" Kathryn's brows came up, still leaning back on the armrest of the chair. "I mean, if you make this play, Bronze will come back strong, and you don't have any idea what that means."

"The only way to make your enemy misstep is to make him step at all." Alex said it like she was quoting something. "If we just nibble around the edges, Bronze can pick us off at his leisure. So yeah, I'm sure. I want Golgotha. You told Malcolm you knew where it was. Do you or don't you?"

Shaw looked down and away. "It's not that easy."

"Here we go." Amy rolled her eyes, half-turning away. "You guys seriously didn't think she was just going to tell you, did you? I mean, I'm not a super sneaky spy or whatever, but even I knew she was lying."

"I'm not lying, youâ€"" A sharp look from Pierce cut Kathi off in mid-sentence. "You wonderful, loving... person, you. I'm not lying. I'm not. But it's not as easy as going to a place and stealing something. Golgotha isn't a place, it'sâ€""

"I'm pretty sure it is a place," Campbell said. "That's... a really shitty translation of the site of the crucifixion. But I doubt we're going all the way to Jerusalem."

Shaw combed her hands through her hair. "I really do smell like jail," she said off-handedly. "You wouldn't think that happened when I've basically been sleeping in an office." She sighed again, shaking her head. "We're not going to Jerusalem, no."

"Golgotha is the name of the archive for the entire Order," Malcolm said. "Names, places, people, locations, artifacts, records... it's the Holy Grail. If someone like Randall got a hold of it, it would mean the end of everything."

"Jerusalem would be more interesting." Amy sighed. "Tell me again why we're toying with this? We either get it or don't, and either way it'll end up with someone who'll use it to fuck things up for somebody."

"Not if that someone is me," Alexandra said quietly.

"And then you become more valuable to everyone who already wants to torture information out of you. Great idea." Campbell's eyes rolled. "Unless you're planning on destroying it, this idea reeks of bad for us."

Pierce turned to the smaller woman. "Good thing that's exactly what I mean to do. Use the archive to force Bronze out of hiding and end this on my terms. Then the list gets destroyed, and the Order of St. Julian can't hurt anyone else ever again."

"Really?" Amy's brows came up. It wasn't that she doubted Alex, simply that she never thought Pierce would be free of the weight of her past. "You're... serious about this."

"Completely. I told you I'd be rid of this, and if I have to bring down the building to keep the rest of the world safe, then that's what I'll do. They're never going to hurt anyone again. Not me, not you, not anyone."

"And what stops Shaw or that lovely man I met earlier from fucking all of us over here?"

"Nothing." Malcolm throwing in on Amy's side wasn't exactly comforting. "I've been trying to tell her that. Golgotha is like a nuclear bomb. None of us were ever going to use it, but if it's already out in the open... then it's fair game."

Campbell blew out a sigh. "I really don't think I like this plan."

"I don't know that I do, either." Alex smiled, shaking her head slightly. "But it's the only chance I think we have. I told you this would be over, Amy, and one way or another, I will make sure that it is."

"We." Amy lifted her chin, meeting the other woman's eyes. "We will make sure that it's over."

Malcolm shook his head. "No. I want you to stay here. Golgotha is bound to be protectedâ€""

"You don't know the half of it," Shaw said.

"You don't get a say, Kathryn." It was the loudest his voice had been, much more father than agent. "You're here because you told me you'd only show us the way if we got you out. We are not going to put my daughter in the line ofâ€""

"Oh hey, everyone's speaking for me again. This is always the fun point in the conversation." Campbell snipped. "You're all idiots if you think I'm not getting involved in this. Not to be a bitch, but I don't trust... well, anyone involved, really. On top of it â€" and this sounds pathetic, but it's truth â€" I don't really have anything left for people to fuck around with. Nobody's gonna bother my cat. I... there's not a lot for me outside of this room."

"Alexandra, you cannotâ€""

Pierce raised a hand. "Enough, Mal. Enough. She's made her choice, okay? She's made her choice, and besides, I was never going to do this without her, and you know that, so stop objecting just because it makes you seem like a better parent."

Malcolm Girard was different than his daughter in a number of ways, but his propensity for seething was certainly high on the list. He simply threw himself into the chair. His eyes focused anywhere else but on the two redheads.

Which meant all eyes in the room focused on Kathryn Shaw, who folded her arms loosely, one eyebrow lifted just so. "Okay. The first thing you need to know is that Golgotha isn't a thing or a place. It's a person and it's a thing."

"How can it be both?" A fire lit in Alex's eyes.

Kathryn ignored both the look and the question. "The second thing you need to know," she continued. "Is that our little ragtag band of heroes don't stand a chance of getting them unless you have a hell of a plan or an army in your back pocket."

"Have I mentioned that I hate this plan?" Amy sighed anew.

"You'll hate it more tomorrow." The bile was gone from Shaw's voice. "This is one you're going to have to see to believe. We'll need to be on an AM flight to New York."

Amy sighed into Alex's shoulder. "We just came from New York," she whined. "This would have been a whole lot easier if you people planned things better."

Pierce couldn't help herself; she laughed, a sudden puff of air that drew smiles from all of them. "I'll make the arrangements," Alex said.

"Great." Kathi beamed at them. "And I will find a place to take the longest, hottest shower in recorded history to get this stench out of my hair."

"It just so happens," Malcolm began. "That I have a room at the hotel nearbâ€""

"Of course you do." Amy rolled her eyes.

"It's why the bed you are in tonight is so perfect," Girard's eyes snapped to his daughter. "I've never actually slept here. This place is a distraction; I stay just down the street. Unless you two would like Kathryn to stay here, with yâ€""

"No!" Campbell said quickly.
"Absolutely not," Pierce said at about the same time.

Girard nodded, stood. "Then Kathryn and I will be off."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of you two sharing a bedroom," Amy said.

"Well, I'm not sure you get a vote." Malcolm picked up his blazer, shrugging the thing on. "But if it makes you feel any better, I have no plans to have intercourse tonight."

The little redhead shuddered. "And that officially makes two of us."

"And here I was going to see if we could stop for lube." The brunette picked up her bag. "If you two are quite done with the father-daughter chat, I have an entire supply of travel-sized shampoo bottles to use up."

"Why don't youâ€"" Campbell stopped her question, catching herself before she was accidentally nice.

Shaw still answered the question on the way to the door. "The little ones are better." Malcolm held the door open, offering the two women a sharp nod. Kathi continued as they left. "Are you sure about the lube thing? Or perhaps you could give me, like, ten minutes at one of the local bars..."

The door shut quietly, leaving Alex and Amy in the room together. Amy shook her head, turning back towards Alex. "You'd better not be smiling at her," she growled.

"I'm smiling at you."

"Because I didn't kill her, or because I let her leave with my father just so you and I could have a moment alone?"

"A little bit of both." Alex brushed her hand down Campbell's forearm. She didn't mention that Amy finally managed to say the f-word, simply wrapped her up in a hug. "You... are sort of amazing, you know that?"

Campbell rested her cheek against Pierce's shoulder. "You're a little biased."

They rocked back and forth gently, as if they were dancing to a tune only they heard. "Al?" Amy said finally. She didn't lift her head, and the words came out kind of muffled.

"Hmm?"

"You really mean it? That this will be over?"

"I hope so, sweetheart." Alex smoothed her hand over Amy's hair. "I really do."

---

New York City at dusk is something special.

There's something to be said for the purple and orange glow of the sun setting over the skyline, of the sound of traffic as the largest city in the world shifted its attention from high-rise office buildings to sporting events and dance clubs. Horns honked. Chatter increased. The bustle and hum of city life becoming nightlife was a sight to be seen.

Seated on outside of the Michelangelo Delicatessen & Café just off Broadway, Kathryn Shaw lifted her coffee cup, blowing across the surface of the liquid. "Don't you just love this city?" she asked.

"Hm?" Malcolm Girard looked up from his portfolio, his pen pausing over the paper. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing." She smiled, setting the cup down again. "You're adorable with all of your notes and diagrams, you know. Really, you could just write three words on the page. 'It's Fucking Impossible.'"

"You saw Alexandra â€" you saw Desade â€" become a human being and you're still willing to sit here and say that 'impossible' exists?" Malcolm chuckled. "We'll make this possible, because there are no alternatives."

The brunette leaned back, draping her arm over the backrest of her side of the booth. "Maybe. Lexi might be a miracle worker, but you can't go in there at night without dealing with top of the line security. I counted four independently wired cameras in the lobby alone, the elevators are on a kill switch from a secured overwatch room. Three guards on rotation. Motion sensors. And that's not even mentioning the security around the office upstairs."

Girard flicked back three pages. "Six cameras," he corrected. "And you don't go at night."

"During the day? There are a hundred people who work on that floor, and you expect to fast-talk your way up there? 'Hi, we're here to see the special secret database no one is supposed to know is in Fleming's office?'"

"We'll come up with something." Girard went back to work, his small, efficient print spilling quickly across the page. "She's the best we've ever had, and you know it."

Shaw pulled down her sunglasses, favoring one of the passing businessmen with a long look and a tiny smile. "With all due respect, Mal, I think she's lost inside your daughter again, and Amy doesn't have the stomach for it. She thinks she does, butâ€""

"Stop it."

"What?" She blinked away from the smartly dressed man, lifting an eyebrow. "It's not like you wanted her in the business or you would have trained her yourself. I don't get why you're offended that she's proven to be sort of... well, terrible at this."

"Trust me when I say that every day you grow older, the closer you come to realizing the value of what they have," he said. "Something the likes of you and I won't find in this life. Desade is the last person I would have wished for my daughter, but they've come together and we don't have the luxury of a choice in the matter. Amy is as integral to Alexandra's function as the Order ever was. While I understand that's a terrifying idea, I'd rather not see harm come to either of you, so could you make an effort to at least tolerate the girl?"

Again her hands wrapped around the cup, again she looked up through her lashes at the only man she'd probably ever call a friend. "In my defense, she usually starts it," she said.

"I don't doubt it," Malcolm chuckled. "But can you really blame her? You've been sleeping with her father and have made every effort to foil her life's great love. And I hesitate to ask, but with all the venom between you, I sometimes wonder if you haven't..."

She nearly spat out her tea. "No. No, not even... no. That's... just no, okay?"

"I had to ask." He set his pen down, leaning back slightly. "I had to ask, and I had to ask you because my daughter would never forgive me if I asked her."

"I almost wish you would. I think her head might literally explode at the thought of it."

Girard snorted, rubbing his eyes with thumb and forefinger. "It is going to be difficult."

"It had damn well better be. If this thing was easy to steal, wouldn't someone have already tried?"

"We can't be sure that anyone hasn't. Judging by the banking information, their security are paid enough to kill," he sighed. "This can only go perfectly or very poorly for all involved. I can't see a middle ground."

Malcolm raised a brow, turning to raise a hand at the two women coming up the street.

Amy Campbell and Alexandra Pierce approached the low fence that separated the outside seating area from the sidewalk, and â€" as was usual â€" Campbell was talking. "No, I'm serious," she said.

"I'm sure you are."

"You could totally pull it off." Campbell clambered over the fence with far more dexterity than one might credit her with it. "I mean, you've worn worse things, right? Like that dress in San Francisco, the spangly one?" She gave a mock shudder. "That was awful."

Alex used the gate, stepping in with a sigh. "It was supposed to be awful."

"Well, it totally succeeded." Amy stopped at the table, resting her palm on it. "Move," she said.

"Him or me?" Kathi asked.

"Him." Campbell dredged up a little smirk â€" she'd call this "trying to be nice". "Because there's absolutely no way I'm sitting on the same side of the bench you did."

Shaw shook her head slightly â€" more out of shock than derision. "What, do you think I have cooties or something?"

"That's... not really the word I'd use." The shorter woman leaned into Pierce when she arrived. "C'mon! It'd totally get me in the right... the right mood."

Malcolm chuckled, slipping up to his feet. "Do I even want to know what you're talking about?"

Amy slipped into the booth, scooting down to the end. "Oh shit, a jukebox."

"She wants to get a catsuit for the break-in," Alex said dryly.

Shaw stifled a laugh. "For her or for you?"

"For her, obviously. It'd keep her stealthy. It's not like you want to be seen, right?" Amy straightened in the booth, digging into her pocket. "It's what you guys wear in the time in the movies, right?"

"Oh, sweetieâ€"" Shaw reached across the table as Amy plunked down a quarter. "You do know real life isn't like it is in action movies, right?

"Yeah, so you don't get to touch me." Amy said. "It never occurred to you that I might just like the idea, did it? I don't think Entrapment was real life, but it doesn't mean I'd mind seeing Alex in Catherine Zeta-Jones' wardroâ€"y'know, this is probably a bad time to plead my case. You two look strangely pleasant and stressed at the same time."

Malcolm held his tongue, flipping back in his notepad. "This... this is like Fort Knox."

"Fort Knox really isn't that hard to get into if you meet the right guy," Kathi said off-handedly, peering about. "Sort of empty, though. Have you seen the waitress? I need another cup of tea."

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere," Girard said. "I'm not sure how to get in undetected."

Alex nodded, folding her hands on the table. "The guards seem a little too alert. Almost on edge."

"Tell them about..." The little redhead dropped a pair of quarters into the machine, pressing a button. Sublime's "Santeria" echoed softly in response. "Tell them about the homeless guy."

"It's New York City, Amy." Shaw's nose wrinkled. "Those types of guys are everywhere."

"On the bench outside the building," Alex began. "There was aâ€""

"A homeless guy who wasn't homeless." Campbell finished for her. "Probably like a fucking human camera for them or some shit. He smiled at me â€" perfect teeth. The rest of his getup was like he'd been out of money for months â€" why wouldn't that shit be yellow?"

Pierce tossed a small, playful frown to the side. "I was getting there."

Amy's head bobbed with the beat of the song. "I know. You don't tell it well." She grinned, craning her neck around the café. "Where's the waitress? I really want some French fries."

"If you don't mind," Kathryn said. "We're trying to figure out how to do this."

"I don't know why you're wasting your time." Campbell leaned back in the booth. "Here's what's going to happen. You're gonna suggest you, I dunno, have your monthly blow-bang with the security guards, while Malcolm goes over the minutiae of his notes and pretends the rest of us aren't here. Then Al is going to tell you what she's thinking and we're all going to drop open our mouths, because it'll be brilliant. So can we just skip to that part?"

Shaw planted her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand. "Well, when you put it that way, why don't we?" She turned her attention to Pierce â€" they all did. "Wow us, O Brilliant One."

Alex steepled her fingers, index and thumb touching. She leaned forward, tapping her fingers together. "Okay, so... what do we know? We can't go in at night because they'll be geared up. We can't go in during the day because there are a hundred employees in there, any one of whom could blow the whole thing. It's a fortress, andâ€"and there has to be a way."

"Well, then, come on." Shaw was snide, eyebrow arching. "Tell us what it is. Because if there is something, I haven'tâ€""

"Why don't you bring them out?" Amy asked, turning again. "Seriously. They could at least bring some water andâ€""

Malcolm's eyes lifted from his pad. "What did you say?"

"Bring him, her, it... them. Bring 'em out," Amy said simply. "I read way too much as a kid. A lot of famous leaders had fairly small armies. If the city that caught their eye had too much in the way of defenses, the classic move was to draw them out. Create a ruckus, look as easily defeated as you would be if you tried getting inside. Make them think we're coming in â€" they'll laugh and puff up and step out like it's nothing to crush us under their shoes." She shrugged and leaned closer to Pierce. "It's worked in history. It works in war, even works in conversation â€" how do you think I ended up with her?"

"I knew there was a reason," Shaw said.

"Oh, shut up," Alex said quietly. Her eyes met Girard's across the table. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Malcolm tapped the eraser of his pencil against the pad. "Tangier?"

"It could work."

"It could." Girard's brain was working ahead like a master chessman. "Give them a reason to leave andâ€""

"We had a seventeen men in Tangier," Alex pointed out. "We have three now."

"Uh, four?" Amy shouldered the other woman, even though she wasn't following what they were saying. "I am not going to be wait-in-the-car girl."

Shaw 's eyes bounced from one to the other, her chin still in her hand. "This must be how you feel all the time," she murmured.

"I'm sorry, what?" Amy glanced around for the waitress again. "Goddamnit," she muttered. "What the hell kind of serviceâ€""

"Clueless," Kathi finished. "Oh, God. Is this what it's like to be you?"

"Passer pour un idiot aux yeux d'un imbécile est une volupté de fin gourmet."
Campbell smiled sweetly â€" falsely â€" at Shaw when she raised a brow. "Georges Courteline said that to be seen as an idiot in the eyes of an imbecile is a pleasure worthy of a fine gourmet."

Alex only bothered with their banter when the girl beside her switched languages. She squeezed Amy's hand. "Be nice," she murmured, shifting her attention to Malcolm. "All right, so we have four people against maybe a dozen trained operatives and an office full of innocent people who don't have any idea what they're actually sitting on."

"That about sums it up." When her hand dropped to back to the table, Shaw was actually grinning. "Sounds like old times, doesn't it?"

For including her in the count, Campbell leaned in and whispered something in Alexandra's ear, including what looked to be a little nibble at the lobe. Malcolm rolled his eyes. "It would," he said. "But I seem to recall subtlety being a larger factor back then. Between Kathi's cleavage and the... affection... at the table, we are a tad obvious. Or did no one consider that before they put on their push-up bras and decided that women cuddling in public would put us under the radar?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "It's New York; it's not like this is rare."

"This isn't Sex and the City," Malcolm grumbled. "We're down the street from the target at rush hour."

"Fine, you're right." Alex touched a hand to Campbell's knee. "We should adjourn somewhere."

"Actually..." He raised a hand, beckoning over the waitress none of them had seen yet. "There's something I've been meaning to say."

Amy rolled her eyes. "If this is the 'no sex before a mission' speech, I think you can save that one."

Girard's chuckle was more of a growled, resigned sound. "Ah, no," he said. "I was just thinking that when Alex pointed out there were three â€" four â€" of us..." He tipped his head towards his daughter. "She wasn't aware of all the facts."

"Sorry about that..." The waitress arrived at the table finally, tapping her hand against the end of the table. "Can I get you guys anything?"

"No," Amy snapped. "We were justâ€"" She turned her head to the side, and her eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up.

The waitress was a brunette, but that wasn't her natural hair color. She had green eyes and cherubic features that that little Cheshire smirk warped into something else entirely. Even in waitress' garb, she was clearly svelte, with a lot of lean muscle hardened from her job. She nodded to the others at the table, polite but barely able to control her amusement.

"Am I late for the meeting?" Drusilla Devonshire asked. "I'm sorry. I was a little... a little tâ€""

By the time the sentence was finished, Campbell surprised even herself. Each place setting at the table had come with a knife and fork wrapped in a napkin. The knife wasn't a particularly sharp or expensive thing, but she wasn't thinking particularly straight when she grabbed it and tried to lunge over Alex, flailing toward Devonshire's throat.

"Amy!" Pierce reacted first. Amy had lunged with her primary arm â€" the left one â€" which put that arm closer to the other woman. Alex leaned out of the way of the strike, twisting to bring her arm down across Campbell's forearm. She forced the smaller woman's arm down with some effort, but with no lingering damage.

Campbell's father â€" Drusilla's partner with the Center for Espionage Research and Investigation â€" moved a fraction of a second later, rising from his side of the booth to yank Devonshire out of the way with far less gentility than Pierce had used on Amy. "Control yourselves!" he hissed. "This cannot happen here!"

In the long run, Amy's actions weren't unjustified, and not just from the fact that Dru was Alexandra Pierce's ex-girlfriend. On two previous occasions, Devonshire had been the one with the knife and Campbell the one on the defensive. The first attack came after Amy and Alex's first kiss in a fit of jealousy that had led to the couple's first night together.

So to say the two women's relationship was "rocky" was something of an understatement, and while Alex and Drusilla had come to terms based on mutual enemies, the same could not be said for Campbell.

"Amy," Alex repeated, trying to keep her voice soothing. "Amy, let go of the knife. Please, baby... just breathe."

The knife clattered onto the table, but Amy just sneered and drew away from Pierce. "I'm out," she growled. "This is seriously what happens? It's bad enough you want to work with Kathryn â€" at least she knows about this shit â€" but let's just bring her along for the ride, too? What, we can trust her because it's the same enemy, right? Or because she just loves Alex so very much that she only wants her to be happy?"

"Amy, calm down." Malcolm said. "At the very least, lower your voice. Drusilla is part of the contract with Randall, and weâ€""

"No. I don't want to hear how useful she is, how she's willing to get dirty, or how she's experienced," Amy hissed. "Raise your hand if you've only fucked one of the people in this room. What, just me?"

Pierce twisted in the booth, her eyes wide and pleading. "Aim, waitâ€"it's... it's not like that! It's notâ€""

"Move, Al."

"Amy, please. It's notâ€""

"Move. I'm leaving. I promise not to hurt the employee of the month on the way out," she pushed forward. "Let me go."

"Just let her go." Shaw snickered.

"Shut up." Alex and Malcolm spoke at once, snapping their heads to Kathryn momentarily.

Campbell was insistent. "Move, Alexandra."

Pierce closed her eyes, slipping up out of the booth, her hands raised. "All right," she said. "All right. Just... don'tâ€"just... just be careful. I'm sorry aboutâ€""

Amy made a straight line for the door, but not before a parting shot that made even Kathryn Shaw cringe. "You met Ryan." Campbell looked at her father. "The cop I went on a couple of dates with? If one of his exes tried to off me even once, y'think he'd invite her to his unit? I shouldn't have kept my legs shut. Would've had a nice marriage, good life..."

Alex didn't say anything â€" she just slumped back down into the booth, her fingers knotted in her hair and her head down. To their credit, neither Devonshire nor Shaw said anything â€" no mocking words, no witty comebacks.

That left Malcolm to shout after his daughter. "Amy, you don'tâ€"" He blew a sigh out of his nose. "Kathleen, get back here!"

The only response Amy gave him was the slamming of the gate. Girard turned smartly on the heels of his four hundred dollar loafers. "Go," he said.

"I need to do this," Alex responded quietly. "She'll understand when it's over. I need this to be over."

"We can handle preparations," Malcolm said. He touched a comforting hand to the woman's shoulder. "Go after my daughter now."

Drusilla watched impassively and Kathryn drew out a belabored sigh when Pierce slid to her feet. "Thank you," she said, and she'd claim there wasn't a tear in her eye. "Thank you, Malcolm."

And Alex ran after, but Amy was nowhere to be found. Not until quite a while later.

---

Quite a while later (three hours, twenty-three minutes by Drusilla Devonshire's watch).

"Yeah, foodservice is awful," Devonshire was saying as she climbed out of a used Toyota four-door in the parking lot of the cleverly named Airport Motel. She peered this way and that to make sure no one was watching. "But I have an audition on Friday, and I'm totally going to kill it." Her voice was infected with just the tiniest of accents, stained like a New Yorker who was trying to lose it.

She nodded distractedly, hitting the button that auto-locked the doors. "Look, I'm real sorry you don't feel so well, Suzie, but I'm just glad that I was able to help out." She shrugged her bag over her shoulder. "Listen, if I'm going to open, I should go, so..." She paused, nodded. "Great. I'll see you Friday â€" but only if I blow the audition."

Devonshire tightened the collar of her coat to better conceal her waitress uniform. Upstairs, the blinds were drawn, her most significant customers of the evening locked away planning. Dru's ears pricked up, though â€" she felt eyes on her as she padded across the lot. No other doors were open, no windows unveiled, no one lingering by their car.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling...

The disguised woman drew up short, listening to the scrape of shoe leather on pavement. "I know you're out there," she said, and the quaver in her voice was almost certainly for show. "I want you to know that I'm armed."

"You always are." The voice came from around a corner. "Always armed, always ready to torch my life..."

Drusilla turned, and her overcoat coming open to reveal she was, indeed, carrying. It wasn't a big gun, just a tiny .22-millimeter thing that could be concealed in her palm. "Amy!" Drusilla called. "They've been looking all over for you."

The gun didn't come up, but Campbell still raised her hands. "I'm not here to hit you."

"We should go up. Alexandra willâ€""

"Yeah, I think we need to talk first."

Devonshire nodded, gesturing to a small vending area. "Fine, but can we... I don't want people to see me."

"I don't want to see you, either." Amy said. "In my life. Near anybody I know. That's why I'm here. We stay out here."

"Fine." Dru hid her hand in her coat. "Can we at least... not shout across the parking lot like a pair of gunslingers?"

Campbell came forward without hesitation, forcing herself to quell any aggression in her stride as she went. "What will it take?"

"I'm sorry?" Drusilla's brows came up, her arms folded. "In case you missed it, I'm here helping you. For a year now, you've wanted her out of this crazy world, and the only way that's ever going to happen is if we burn it all to the ground around us."

"I've come to terms with fighting off your world," Amy said. "I want to know what it takes to get rid of you. You're a pathological liar, psychotic, a killer... you couldn't even keep it in your pants when you were 'with' her. The idea that you'd suddenly be helpful now... it doesn't mesh. I know you were hoping you'd worm your way back in â€" these are the nicer things I have to say about you, by the way â€" but it's clearly not happening, so... what'll it take? Have you got a price?"

Devonshire was taller than Campbell (most people were), and she seemed taller when she looked down her nose at the other woman. "Are you... trying to bribe me to disappear?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," she answered. "Violence short of killing you doesn't seem to work. She'd never forgive herself if I killed you. Thinks it'd be her fault I went down a bad road. She thinks I'd regret it, even."

Drusilla started to chuckle, but Amy continued frankly. "I wouldn't. But you need to be gone. I can't... I'm sure you're happy to hear I lose sleep over you. Not because I think she's ever falling back into your arms or any of that shit, but because I don't trust you. I know what you'll do if you get the chance, and... look, I've only got a few thousand on me, but I'll pay a fucking salary if I need to. You can't take that? Go and work for whatever little cell in whatever shit you're into, getting paid on the side by me just to leave us alone. It's a perfect scenario, you don't have to do anything but just... not be here."

"Ordinarily, I'd take you up on that." Devonshire glanced off to the side, falling silent as a tired-looking woman walked past, dragging her wheeled suitcase behind her. "It'd tickle me something fierce to watch the great Amy Campbell pay me for something I'd probably do anyway. But... I can't."

"Look, I'm sure I'll get hired somewhere soon enough, even if it's just some crappy indie in a bingo hall," Campbell said. "I'll pay you thirty percent of whatever they give me."

The other woman straightened, shaking her head. "Look, Amy..."

"Forty."

"I can'tâ€""

"Fifty." Amy's voice tightened. "I need her, dammit, and I need you gone in order to be sure she'll be safe. How much will it take? I can... I can sell some shit. My car, maybe."

Devonshire straightened, reaching out a hand. "Stop it, Amy." She sighed. "I'm already leavingâ€"but not until this is over. You may think I'm crazy or a pathological liar or whatever, but this place, the Order, it meant something to me. When I was a kid â€" look, my father abandoned me because he couldn't live outside this world. My mother slit her fucking wrists when he left. I didn't have anything, Amy. Nothing."

Campbell rolled her eyes, but this time, it was Drusilla that pressed on before she could be interrupted. "Yeah, boohoo, right? We all had a tough life. But these the Order found me. They gave me something to fight for. Something to be. Bronze took that away from me â€" and, I might add, he tried to have me killed while he did it. So I'll see this through, dammit. I'm not going to screw over Kathi or Alexandra or... or even you. You want this over? I'm in."

"You tried to kill me. Twice." Amy said, "And I see it in your eyes every time you see me near her. When this is over, nothing will stop you from ruining everyone. If you have to work on this, do it in a way that's not near her. No meetings, no having to see your fucking face... I'd pay anything. I'd do anything. Just stay away. Nobody needs you."

The other woman's chuckle was quiet, low. "People have told me that for years, you know? All those fucking old biddies at the orphanage..." She shook her head, blinking something out of her eyes. "I used to hate you, you know? I know you think I still do, but... I don't."

"You said that right before you stabbed me for the second time, so you'll have to forgive me for being a skeptic." Campbell sighed. "Please, just... name anything. I'll do it. I don't want to have to... to make Alex think she's forced me down a dark path."

"Sad part is I want to say yes. I wish I could disappear and be sure that it'd be done." She looked down and then up. "But I can't. I can't leave this alone. I want yâ€"well, I want her to be happy, and then I'll go. There's a great big, wide world out there that a girl like me can get lost in. But I'm not going anywhere until this is over, and she's never going to tell me to." She threw in a haughty little sniff. "So please, stop embarrassing yourself and let's go inside."

"I'm sorry, what? She's not going to tell you to?" Amy took quick steps forward, and didn't even notice Drusilla reach in her pocket â€" just in case â€" as she went nose to nose with her. "Why is that, exactly? And I'm never taking 'Stop embarrassing yourself' as advice from someone who fucked her own father."

Devonshire's eyes widened in anger. Even with as many bright red buttons as the demurely named Little Troublemaker has, a few were still nuclear level. Her father was at the top of that list. "Amy..." she began, her voice low. "I'm trying to be civilized here. We're on the same side. We both want the same thing. But don't you dare think you can use what my father did as leverage. Not all of us were lucky enough to have dear old Daddy come back for them, okay?"

"What your father did?" Amy laughed. "You're the victim now? From what I know â€" and this could very well be straight from Alex â€" you were the one fucking him for leverage. See what I mean about pathologiâ€""

"Shut your filthy fucking mouth." Her lip curled. "He deserved everything I put him through. He deserves every foul, horrible feeling in his stomach I left him with. He deserved all of it. And until I pulled the rug out from under him, he loved every single moment of it. He felt like a real man, not the dried-up old wreck he is. If I had it to do all over again, I'd make it hurt more."

Campbell golf-clapped. "Wow. And you really think you're the kind of person Alex will ever really want? Like she didn't get you to dress up as me alreâ€""

"Oh, c'mon, if I airbrushed on some tattoos and worked on a drug habit, you don't think Malcolm would go for a roll in the sack with yâ€""

The little redhead cuffing her cut off Drusilla. "Watch your mouth. Nobody â€" nobody â€" in my life is a demented little shit like you. That's why I'd rather just kill you than pay your sorry ass off."

With blood welling at the corner of her lips, that Cheshire grin the other woman flashed when she straightened was even more psychotic than usual. "You won't." She was whispering now, soft and sibilant. "All that would prove is that everyone is demented like me. And one day, when your daddy fails you â€" when you're disappointed the way I was â€" know I'll be there to see it. Mismatched eyes wide, nose piercing in, choking on Daddy's big, thickâ€""

The blur of violent movement was expected. What happened next wasn't.

* * *

Eight minutes earlier, upstairs in room number two-two-seven, Malcolm Girard was also on the phone. "No, I haven't seen her either," he said quietly, flicking the curtain aside to glance down at the parking lot. "Drusilla's shift was over ten minutes ago, and she says she hadn't seen her either."

Somewhere at the other end of the line, Alexandra Pierce slammed the heel of her hand into her steering wheel. "Dammit," she hissed. "I went past that art school she talks about, but... I'd need a lot more time to find someone who knew her."

"Time is something we don't have, Alex." Girard let the curtain fall closed. "Dru secured the morning shift tomorrow, and if Amy isn't here, one of us will have to pull double duty."

"I know." Alex sighed. "I just... I wish you would've told me you'd already seeded Drusilla. I shouldn't have sprung that on her."

"You wish I would have told you? Alexandra, do I need to remind you that this wouldn't be a problem if you would make a damn decisiâ€"oh, no."

Pierce had turned the key in the ignition before Malcolm could expound. "What's happening?" she asked.

"Drusilla is here."

Alex pulled out into the street, kicking the car into gear. "And?"

"And I think there's someone else watching out in the lotâ€"someone small enough to be my daughter." He let the blinds fall closed again. "You should probably get here."

"Already on the way." Her words were cut with a sigh. "We're supposed to be good at this, Malcolm."

"We are the best at this," Girard spoke as he jogged through the hotel hall. "But fixing your relationships has never been in our job description." He sighed. "What's your timeline? I'd best not be left alone to this."

A horn blared as Alex cut off a family in a sedan. "What about Kathryn?" she asked. The pause that followed was no more than the time it took her to inhale. "Okay, bad idea."

Girard jammed two fingers against the down button on the elevator, but he sighed irritably and dashed past, taking the stairs. "Perhaps the worst," he said. "But she's smoothing the way for tomorrow."

"Goddammit, move!" Pierce cursed. "I wish this didn't have to be tomorrow."

"And I wish I was ten years younger." His loafer had barely hit the bottom floor when he broke into a run. "How long?"

"Two minutes, maybe three. Dammit, if she hurts Amy..."

"If she hurts Amy, what? You give her a stern talking-to and continue keeping her on the team because we need her skill set?"

He cringed after he said it, but Malcolm didn't think to apologize right away. "Damnit!" he continued. "I need to round half the goddamn block to get back there. Take the right alley at the western lights and we'll arrive about the same time."

"Roger that." She slipped into the military lingo without even thinking about it. "And Mal? If Amy is in danger, put Drusilla down."

"You didn't have to tell me that."

"No, but I wanted you to know I'm okay with it."

Girard reached behind him, pulling his pistol free. He held it low and against the wall in the hopes that no one would see it."

It was around this time that Alexandra Pierce nearly bottomed out her rental, hopping a curb.

It was around this time that Drusilla Devonshire was making some rather crass comments to Amy Campbell.

It was around this time that they all heard the sound.

* * *

A .22 pistol doesn't have a thunderous report like other guns. There was no boom or bang or crack, just a pair of full-bodied pops no louder than a cork on a bottle of fine champagne. The sound echoed off the wall and the low-hanging ceiling.

The first shot missed completely, scoring the concrete as the bullet was shredded into bits. The second dug through muscle in a red line, missing the pelvis bone by just a fraction of an inch. The woman swallowed a scream, her leg buckling beneath her. Unbalanced, she toppled to the side, grabbing a pillar to keep from falling. Her momentum described a lazy arc, and she ended up in a half-crouch, her back up against the wall.

Her assailant staggered back, brows up, mouth moving wordlessly. Smoke leaked from the barrel of the gun, but she ignored it, jamming the weapon into her pocket. She was pale, her complexion pallid and throat dry.

Around the bend, Malcolm Girard swore under his breath, a twinge in his knee as he picked up the pace, trying to run fasterâ€"run harder. Down in the street, Alexandra Pierce jammed her foot nearly to the floorboard. The rental car bottomed out again as she jumped the curb, skidding to the side. The door opened before the engine was off, Alexandra coming up to her feet already at a dead run.

Amy Campbell swallowed hard. Her mouth tasted like paste, and the pistol was warm against her thigh. She looked down at Drusilla, brows up. Part of her wanted to apologize, but she couldn't. Part of her â€" the good part, the part she never listened to â€" wanted to help her, wanted to say something. Drusilla's eyes were wide, her hand pressed to her hip. Red seeped between her fingers.

"I, uh..." What do you say to the woman you shot? The woman you hate and punched and who drew a gun on you? The woman who you wrestled with, just like they do in the movies, only in the movies, it doesn't make you feel so damned helpless â€" and scared? What do you say?

Amy said nothing, stepping backwards towards the motel. She braced one hand against the wall, and if she'd had anything in her stomach, she would have vomited it onto the sidewalk.

And that was before her father came around the corner. Malcolm's sidearm was at his waist, and his brows shot up. "Amy?" he called, fighting a losing war to keep the urgency out of his voice.

Her eyes widened again, and she looked hurriedly back over her shoulder. She couldn't face it, so she turned and she ran.

"Amy!" Her father shouted at her back. "Amy, dammit, it's okay, you're just inâ€"" He was going to say "shock," but he stopped himself, only because Amy'd already turned the corner. He bent to check on Drusilla, his phone in his hand again. Somewhere in a Manhattan nightclub, Kathryn Shaw got a text message, and some poor sap was probably pissed when she left.

Amy turned that corner and she nearly bowled Alexandra Pierce over. "Amy?" Alex asked. Pierce reacted first, taking hold of the other woman in a tight embrace, Campbell's arms pinned to her side. "Amy, stop. Just... it's okay."

Amy struggled, and hard, but the adrenaline wasn't enough to overtake the dizzy feeling that left her legs wobbling. "â€"The fuck off of me!" She growled and flailed weakly, seemingly not even realizing who held her. "She... nobody should help her. She pulled... she tried... this isn't how I wanted to do it..."

"I'm not worried about her," Alex said. "I'm worried about you. So breathe with me here."

"Butâ€""

"Just breathe with me."

"I need to get out of here."

"Then we'll go." Pierce gestured back to her car. "But I'm going with you."

"N-no..." Suddenly, the little redhead had turned around, wrenching out of Alex's grip. "I've gotta finish it. It was an accident but... but I should... gotta make sure she can't do it again..." She forced her eyes shut. "No guns, though. No guns. Just... I'll find a rock and..."

"No." The taller woman grabbed Campbell by the elbow. "You're not going to finish anything, baby. Forget her." She kept her voice soft, low. "You're in shock and I need you to come with me and sit down, okay?"

"I can't..." Amy whimpered. "They'll... someone will come after me. Someone has to come. You can't just shoot someone in New York City and get away..."

Pierce's hand touched Campbell's cheek. "You can. You can and you will. No one's going to know."

"They have to know. Someone saw something. Heard something."

"No one is going to know," Alex repeated. "Look at me, okay? Just look at me."

Campbell was too weak from nerves to fight any more. She leaned hard against Pierce, arms around the woman's neck, face buried in her shoulder. "I'll know, and I can't forgive myself for what I'm thinking right now. I... I hope I did it."

"I know you do."

"She just..." The little redhead shook in Alex's arms, the adrenaline comedown weakening her, even as they walked back to the steps. "I can't explain what happened."

"You don't have to," Pierce whispered, settling with the smaller woman onto the second stair. "This is me we're talking about. I know. Even if sometimes I don't want to remember, I know what you're going through."

"I think I'm calmer. I know that nobody would miss her, aside from..." Amy sighed. "From you."

"I'd get over it." Alex's smile is a bare, little thing. "It's just... I told you it would be over, you know? That I'd move on. And I can't move on untilâ€"until it's over. And she's useful for helping it be over. I'd leave her to swing in the wind tomorrow, but I want to wake up next to you and know that it's done. That there's no more Order business taking me away, no more Dru and Kathiâ€"I just want it done, and then I'll let it be done."

"She's useful at what cost? If she's... if she's still with us, she'll try to kill me for what'd be officially the fourth time now." Campbell growled. "You've kept her at the cost of me."

Pierce dipped her chin, the hair falling in front of her eyes. "I know," she said. "I just... for so long, I've weighed ends and means, and part of me says one justifies the other. But... those scales will never balance, and I can't make them when I keep putting my thumb on it."

She lifted her head, staring off into whatever private hell she sees when she gets that faraway look in her eye. "You're right, of course." She snorted a chuckle, bitter as the desert wind. "Generally are, actually. If she's even alâ€"" Alex swallowed, unable to finish the thought, but whether for Amy's sake or hers, she'd never be able to say. "I should go tell your dad to send her home. Send her packing, and we'll make do without her. But... what if we fail? What if I let her go and you get hurt orâ€"or worse, you're put in the position where you have to do something you'll never forgive yourself for?"

Amy shook her head. "And if she turned and killed me? If I'd given her the chance to pull the trigger tonight? What then? In another year, you'd forget about it, decide you're better off letting Desade play anyway. You'd be fun, careless, happyâ€"fuck, I need a drink..." Again, she shook her head, squeezing eyes shut. "Just... just take me somewhere I can lay down. I can knock myself out and... I need something."

"Yeah." Pierce sounded exhausted as she stood, extending both hands down to the other woman. "Yeah, we should go up and get some rest. I can talk to your dad, make sure... make sure you didn't do anything you'll regret. We'll figure out something. Together."

"I love you." A whimper was all Amy could manage. She still felt like throwing up, passing out, or even curling up into a ball. "And I... I hate that I want it to be real. I don't regret it, even if it was an accident, I..." She swallowed. "Please, just take me somewhere else."

"I can do that." Alex's voice was quiet, raw. She huddled Campbell close as they shuffled upstairs. "I've got a room up here. It's far enough away from everything that... that we won't be bothered. It's just a bed in a room, though."

Campbell dredged up a smile. "Will you be there?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

The little redhead nestled close as they ascended the steps. "Then it sounds like heaven."
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