1. Honey, there is no right way

Her life.

A/N And here it is, the fourth instalment of the series. I hope you'll like it. :)

The sheets tangled around her legs as she stirred. She drowsily lifted her eyelids open and a groan escaped her lips as the sharp sunlight hit her irises. Nori buried her head in the pillow, feeling the last tendrils of slumber hang around her drowsy mind. She was almost lulled back to sleep when a weight suddenly sprawled over her midsection and Nori's head snapped up, her body propelling itself upwards and throwing off the arm while her eyes locked on the sleeping man who was lying by her side and she exhaled loudly, feeling the harbingers of a pounding headache throb between her temples.

She rubbed her eyes, scowling at the after-taste of cheap liquor and nicotine in her parched mouth and sparing a glance at the tattooed back of the man before she began rummaging through the sheets of the unfamiliar bed, looking for her undergarments. She dressed herself as hastily as her growing hangover permitted, careful not to leave behind anything she might miss - like that neat golden chain the bloke was wearing around his neck - thin and not worth much, but Nori had never been picky on her spoils.

She grinned, leaning over him and liberating the chain in a swift motion that wouldn't have disturbed the lightest of sleeps. The man didn't even stir and Nori's grin deepened as she carefully tucked her prize within her bra and let herself out of the house.

The door clicked closed behind her and she took out her package of cigarettes. She stopped a moment outside the small terrace house, lighting the cigarette and dragging a deep smoke before she stepped on the street, strolling towards her home with a slightly wobbly gait and an aching need to put some coffee into her system.

There was barely any traffic on that Sunday morning and Nori passed rows upon rows of houses, all bathed in the early summer sunlight that had broken out of the usually dreary greyness of the Belfast sky. She kept smoking as she walked, feeling the pounding in her head grow with every step. By the time Nori had reached her apartment door her headache had grown into something so monstrous she wasted no time, striding towards the bathroom cabinet and swallowing an aspirin without bothering to fetch herself a glass of water. As the pill grated its way down her throat she moved towards the kitchen, musing on how a glass of water would do her good. But her hands automatically busied themselves with the kettle.

Nori turned the appliance on and by the time she had poured the coffee in the filter the water had begun boiling and she reverently poured it over the coffee, inhaling a lungful of the bitter aroma. Mahal, she loved coffee. She leaned on the kitchen counter while she waited, closing her eyes with a groan and wishing she could be still asleep.

Mornings had always been Nori's least favourite part of the day - how her older brother had managed to smile at crack of dawn had always been one of the deepest mysteries of life for Nori - but hungover mornings were disgusting.

Not that she regretted the night before. Ricky, Jimmy and her had been celebrating, downing shot after shot and grinning smugly at how splendidly they had pulled their last job. Splendidly, indeed. Nori had to admit it had been a masterpiece. There hadn't been a single hitch. They had been in, they had got the goods, they had been out. No trace, no alarm, no accidents. Nothing. They had been out of Derry before one could say knife. And even the payment had been delivered without any problems. All in all it had amounted to a small miracle and in Nori's line of work, miracles were few enough and much too far in between to hope for a repeat any time soon. So she had thanked to powers above for that small mercy in the only way she knew how – by getting as sloshed as she could and finding something good enough to shag. Not that she remembered much of the latter, but the way her body pleasantly ached told her she had definitely enjoyed herself.

The coffee was done and she poured herself a mug of coffee, dropping inside a generous amount of sugar before she leaned back against the counter. Nori was tempted to down it all, but she had enough sense of self-preservation left not to scorch her throat in her haste. So she stirred it, wondering whether she could stomach any food. But just the thought of it made her queasy.

Breakfast would have to wait, she resolved. And she would need a shower first, at any rate. And then some rest. Mahal knew it had been long enough since she had returned from a job without any collateral damage to fix in the aftermath. She was going to enjoy it. And if she got bored, well, there were plenty of fish out there in the sea with whom she could go and enjoy herself.

Nori wasn't too picky after all.

The music blared from the loudspeakers, fiddles mixing with a croaking voice which sung indiscernible lyrics that drowned in the loud chatter of the patrons. It was a busy Friday night and the pub was packed with people in various stages of inebriation, standing around with their drinks or sitting at the crowded tables. Nori was leaning with her elbow on the counter, her head thrown back as she cackled at the rowdy joke Ricky had told her, his wide grin exposing his crooked teeth.

They were drinking their second round of lager and killing time while they waited for the man Jimmy had arranged them to meet. He had told Nori and Ricky the guy had a business proposition and they had agreed to hear him out. Not that they were desperate for money – their last job had paid well enough – but after a week of sleeping, drinking and shagging, Nori had found herself wrapped up in her thoughts way too much and it had soured her good mood.

She needed to be in motion. To do something. To feel that adrenaline-induced giddiness that took over her whenever she rearranged the wires of the security systems before they would break into wherever they were paid to do so - she wasn't picky, warehouses, offices, various facilities, even the odd cottage every now and them. Any kind of burglary did it for her. As long as she could sneak in and out unseen she had no preferences. And Jimmy was resourceful, he had good connections, so Ricky and her, along with the occasional associate did most of their work outside Belfast, which was exactly the way Nori liked it.

The farthest from home, the better.

Nori had always lived by that motto, making sure not to steal in Thorin's Halls if it could be helped – well, rather, not stealing anything big enough that its absence would be noticed. And admittedly, Nori had done so for Dori's and Ori's sake, and their reputation, but even in this day and age it was a good philosophy as far as burgling ethics went.

She took a sip of her beer when suddenly Ricky's back straightened, interrupting her musings and she followed the mousy-haired man's gaze, looking over her shoulder until her eyes locked on a large man, roughly a foot taller than her, with bulging muscular arms that threatened to tear the seams of his cheap shirt. He was making his way towards them with the cocky look of someone who felt like they owned the place. Their man, indeed.

He swaggered towards them and she observed him for a moment more, until his beady eyes locked on hers, trailing over Nori in a way that made her curiosity abruptly morph into a sneer of annoyance – but which she tried to contain for the sake of business.

"You're Jimmy's men." he said once he stopped near the side of the counter where they were sitting and Ricky grinned.

"In the flesh." he replied cockily, then gesturing towards her "Although Maggie here is a bit more of the feminine variety."

"Not that it makes her a lady, mind you." he added, and normally Nori would have chuckled at Ricky's teasing tone, but the tall man's lips pulled in a feral grin while his eyes travelled to her cleavage and all humour was lost to her.

He motioned for the bartender and ordered them a round of whiskey, casually leaning his hand on the back of Nori's bar-stool. She felt her shoulders roll in an instinctive urge to lash out, but she kept herself in check. For the time being.

She liked the bloke lesser by the minute.

"So," Ricky's voice snapped her from her dark musings "What kind of job are we talking about."

Two hours later Ricky was barely standing upright and had a brunette shoving her tongue down his throat in a display of groping and sucking sounds that made Nori gaze in morbid fascination before she shook her head, throwing her long red braid over her shoulder and downing the rest of her drink. It was time to go home. Let Ricky enjoy himself the one time he got lucky. Although, she mused, the woman must have been well in her cups, because Ricky wasn't a looker on his best days and after all he had drunk even his sense of humour – Ricky's only redeeming quality – had reduced itself to unintelligible slurring.

Rolling her eyes Nori grabbed her handbag and began making her way out of the bar. All in all it hadn't gone badly. The man – Ken, he had introduced himself – had offered them a job easy enough for the pair of them. It didn't pay badly either, so Ricky and her had readily agreed, and Nori would have called it a successful business meeting if it hadn't been for the utterly infuriating way that bearlike git had behaved.

Nori knew she was attractive – it was a fact she had enjoyed in both her lives, with little to no restraint. There had never been a shortage of men and women to have a good time with. But on her own terms. The leering gaze of that man had set the hairs up on the back of Nori's neck - it had reminded her of orcs, bloodthirsty and more than willing to ravish. It had made her feel a particular blend of helplessness that made her want to kick him in the groin and sneer victoriously.

She pulled the pub door's open and stepped out into the warm summer night, feeling a light buzz from all the liquor she had downed. Her lips curved somewhere between a smirk and a smile as she began walking away from the pub and the less than pleasant thoughts which had twirled in her mind. She veered into a side alley, walking in the general direction of her home. Nori was rummaging through her handbag for her package of cigarettes when she heard a set of heavy footsteps echo in the empty street. She stopped in her tracks, trying to be natural about it while she freed her left hand from the handbag. The steps were closer now and Nori turned her head slightly, glancing towards them.

The orange light of the street-lamp illuminated the shaven head of the man who had hired her and Ricky's services. He was a few feet away from her, but the pointed gaze in her direction told her she would not be slipping away under the pretence of not having seen him.

"Fancy meeting you here." he told her with a fake spontaneity "Maggie, right?"

"Indeed." she drawled tersely, eyeing him coldly and not liking a single bit the way he was looking at her.

"Goin' home early?" he asked, stepping closer and Nori had to fight the instinct to flee. Or fight. Well, anything but standing there and letting him come closer with that confident gait that wobbled just enough to tell her he was not sober. Splendid, she thought bitterly

"It's not early." she replied "But yes, I'm on my way."

And she made to turn and stride away, but he said

"Want some company?"

His eyes had once again found the way to her cleavage and Nori lost all pretence coldly replying.

"It's not going to happen mate." and she made to brush past him.

Put her steps were halted by the sudden grip of the man's fingers as they closed around Nori's biceps

"Don't play difficult." he snarled, pulling her towards him "You know you want it."

"No, I don't." she spat back.

And then she kicked him in the shin while at the same time she landed a punch on his throat. He wheezed, losing his balance and falling down on the pavement. His fingers were still on her upper arm and she tumbled down with him, while she pulled at his fingers, trying to set herself free from his vice-like grip, but they would not budge. His grip was unrelenting even as he clawed for breath.

Her heartbeats resounded loudly within her ears and Nori spared no thought as she kicked off with her boot, catching him in the stomach. His eyes blazed in sudden fury, dragging her closer with force. Nori felt the tarmac grate the bare skin of her forearms and she cursed loudly while she tried to get away from him.

"Leave me!" she cried "You son of a..."

He slapped her and his breaths came in a mixture of huffs and choking noises as he pinned her down with both his hands. Nori spat at him, wriggling to set herself free, pulling her knees as close as she could while his fingers dug in the muscle of her arms. Suddenly she kicked off with all the strength she possessed, kneeing him in the groin.

"You bitch!" he yelled in pain, rolling off her.

A second later Nori's switchblade was in her hand and she breathed heavily, jumping to her feet and grabbing her handbag in the process. He was still doubled over in pain and she sidestepped him, stopping only to viciously kick him on the mouth, before she strode away.

Nori cursed loudly, the disinfectant burning on the scratched skin of her forearms as she washed away the blood and grime. She was still fuming, the leftover adrenaline coursing through her body and making her twitchy. She could scarcely believe the events which had unfolded less than an hour before. There was no way in the bloody world Nori was going to work for that...

She hissed, the gauze touching a patch of skin where the tarmac had scratched deeper into her skin. Nori would have to call Ricky in the morning and tell him the job was off. If he hadn't been drunk out of his wits, Nori would have done so immediately – Ricky and her had been working together since she had dropped school at the age of sixteen to get back to doing what Nori had always been good at and Ricky was the closest thing she had to a friend, even if she trusted him only so much. They were both thieves after all.

She heaved a sigh. These were the moments she missed most achingly her brothers. Dori would have fussed, bandaging her arms and Ori would have looked at her wide-eyed, fidgeting with his hands in worry. And she would have pretended she didn't like it when Dori mothered Nori - the way it had always been.

Nori threw the gauze in the sink, scowling at it and strode out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. She opened the middle cupboard, taking out a half-drunk bottle of gin and uncorking it before she took a large gulp from the bottle. It burned its trail down her gullet the same way the disinfectant had done with her skin and Nori felt her tension ease a bit.

She hated when things like that happened. She bloody hated it. It wasn't the first time someone had not taken no for an answer – and her mind supplied her with the memory of the time she had ended up knifing the bloke who had tried to force himself on her with his own switchblade. She still carried the blade. A reminder. And a handy weapon, at that.

Nori knew it was a risk that came with the job, what with the ilk of people she surrounded herself with, but it didn't stop her from feeling anger bubble deep within her, along with a deeper and more hidden trembling within her limbs which she tried to pretend was not there.

She took another gulp of the cheap gin and sat at the kitchen table, lighting a cigarette and taking a greedy drag of smoke. She hated it. All of it.

And yet she loved her life. She loved the freedom, the lack of restraint, the feeling of being alive, the rapid beating of her heart when she walked on the edge between danger and safety, between owning the world and being dragged on the filthy tarmac of a back alley because a prick could not understand that whatever he had inside his jeans was not a Mahal-blessed gift for her that she could not live without.

Her fingers clutched around the cigarette as she held it above the ashtray. It quivered along with her whole arm. Nori cursed loudly, trying to rein her body in, drinking down the rest of the gin and putting put the cigarette after taking a long drag of smoke, but she kept trembling and she lifted her feet on the kitchen chair, hugging her knees.

Mahal how she hated it.

Her stomach woke her up. She scrambled out of bed with her eyes half-closed and ran to the bathroom, barely having the time to collapse in front of the toilet before she retched. She pressed one of her palms on the wall tiles while she tried to keep her hair away with the other. She breathed through her nose, while her empty stomach heaved once again, but nothing but bile rose up.

Nori's head was lightly pounding and she tiredly cursed herself for drinking half a bottle of gin, while she tried to drag herself to her feet. She opened the tap, washing her mouth and went to scrub her teeth viciously. But the taste of the toothpaste made her stomach lurch once again and she spat it out, trying to smother the urge to dry-heave. She rinsed her mouth with water and looked at the ghoulish reflection of her face in the mirror.

She looked as tired and horrible as she felt, her ginger hair tangled in rat's nest atop her head and deep dark circles under her eyes, stark in contrast with her bloodless visage. And the faint violet outlines of a bruise on her right cheek. The memories from the night before rose to the forefront of her mind and she inhaled sharply, sneering before she bent down to wash her face with cold water. It helped little with her appearance but it sharpened her senses slightly and she decided she had no strength to deal with her abused looks right now – not that she could do much about the bruise that was blossoming on her cheek.

With a light growl she exited the bathroom and hobbled to the kitchen. As she crossed the doorway she cast a glance to the clock. And promptly stopped in her tracks. Six in the morning?She was up at six in the morning?What in Mahal's blazing forges was wrong with her? She felt her eyes widen in bewilderment. She never rose before eight, nine, sometimes even noon - after all her work was best done under the cover of darkness, so it had practically been a lifetime since Nori had risen early in the morning.

She shook her head.

She needed coffee. She could not deal with any of that – hangovers, bruises, waking up at crack of dawn and telling Ricky about the disastrous turn the night had taken. And the fear, the pocket of fear that still lingered at the bottom of her protesting stomach.

No, she thought with a scowl, she could not deal with any so early in the state she was.

She needed coffee.

Chapter title taken from "Someone New" by Hozier.