A/N: Hello. I felt the need to write. I happens. And as I had just watched ASD, I thought to myself, "Why not write about that?" So, you know, I did. Let me know what you think. It will probably be pretty short, maybe only two chapters.

/

"Fuck!" Murphy slammed his fist against the wooden door of McGinty's pub. It was cold and it was dark and he, Connor, and Romeo had been knocking for 5 minutes to no avail.

"Old man's probably asleep," Connor said, leaning against the doorframe as he lit his cigarette.

Romeo stared at him in panic. "How can you just sit there acting so calm? We need some place to lie low which means we need to get off the streets pronto, man."

Connor puffed on his cigarette and sighed heavily. "Don't worry, Rom, we know a place."

Murphy, having given up on pounding on the door, laid his forehead against the glass window and groaned. "No, not tonight."

"Gotta face it some time, mate." Connor clapped his brother on the shoulder.

Romeo looked between the two men, confused.

Murphy looked up at him angrily, "No! You know I can't. She'll fuckin' kill me." Murphy forcefully punched the brick wall of the pub. He pulled back his fist in pain, muttering, "fuck" under his breath. Connor couldn't help but smile.

"Hold on a minute," Romeo cut in, "You two are telling me that we just killed a shit load of Chinese gangsters and we have a place to go and hide out but we can't go there because of some broad."

Murphy narrowed his eyes at the Mexican. He started to move toward him, anger in his eyes, but his brother caught his arm. He pulled him closer to him and said calmly, "You know it's time."

Murphy looked up at his brother with a sadness that took Romeo aback. He quickly shut up. He looked down for a moment, tightening his jaw. "I know." With that, Murphy pushed past Romeo and headed off down the street. Connor gave Romeo an apologetic look and followed his brother into the night, followed by a very confused Mexican.

/

The three men stood at yet another doorway. This time, instead of trying to break it down with his fists, Murphy was trying his hardest to look at anything but the door. From the hallway, he could hear the muted tones of soft singing.

Connor looked over his shoulder at his brother. "Ready?" He took a moment and nodded.

Connor sighed heavily and lifted his hand to knock on the door. After a few moments, the singing stopped and light footsteps could be heard coming toward the door. Instinctually, Murphy moved so that his back was against the wall, out of sight from the doorway.

The heavy wooden door opened to reveal a slight girl. Her hair was a mess and she had a smear of paint across her cheek. Her brown eyes went wide in disbelief. She blindly pulled off her headphones and hung them around he neck.

A long moment passed. Connor started to get nervous by her lack of reaction.

Finally, she spoke. "C-Connor?"

"Hey, Sadie."

Tears began to well in the young woman's eyes. A small smile lifted the corners of her lips and she pulled him down into a hug. Connor felt relieved and held her tightly.

She pulled away from his embrace, wiped her eyes, pulled back her fist, and swiftly punched Connor in the arm with all the force she could muster.

"Fuck! Sadie!" Connor grabbed his arm in pain. Maybe she was still angry.

"You fucker," she yelled at him, "you and your no good brother leave for, what, eight years and now you just decide to show up at my doorstep with…with…who is this?"

"Romeo, ma'am." Romeo stuck out his hand to shake hers. Connor almost laughed at the man's clearly nervous state.

She gave him a confused look and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. Now what the fuck are you two doing here?"

"Actually," Murphy pushed away from the wall to reveal himself to her, "three."

The young woman's eyes narrowed to mere slits. Her jaw was clenched in anger and her eyes burned with a heat and fury that nearly brought him to his knees. He had faced gangsters and murderers without breaking a sweat, but facing Sadie again after all these years made him more nervous than he had ever been in his life.

"You." She seethed in anger. Her nostrils flared as she let out a deep breath. "You motherfucker, how dare you even show your face here?"

"Sadie, I—" Murphy started.

"Don't! Fuck you, Murphy!" She turned to Connor and Romeo, "Fuck you, too! And fuck you, I don't even know you!"

Romeo looked slightly hurt. "Hey, man…"

Connor cut him off, "Look Sade, can we come in, please? Just give us 5 minutes. After that you can kick us out just let us speak our peace."

Sadie crossed her arms over her chest and started down the men. She sighed, "fine," and moved to let them in.

The three men silently entered her apartment and close the door behind them. Murphy nervously shuffled his feet and chewed on the skin of his thumb.

The apartment was small, but homey with soft lights and old photographs and hand-painted canvases adorning every wall. Murphy's heart instantly ached. It was just as he remembered it.

Thankfully, Connor did the talking. "Look, Sadie, we need a place to crash. Just for the night. We know you don't want us here but we desperately need your help."

"Go to Doc, then."

"We tried. Can't find him."

"Why should I help you? After all these years you have the audacity to show up at my doorstep in the middle of the night looking for a place to stay? I don't care what's going on, I just don't want you here."

Connor sighed. "Sade, a priest was killed. And they tried to make it look like we did it. Two shots in the back of the head, pennies in the eyes and everythin'." He moved to lightly place his hands on her shoulders. "Please. You know we wouldn't be asking if we didn't really need your help."

Connor could feel some of the tension leave her. She looked up at him, the anger in her eyes softened a bit. "A priest?"

"Yeah."

Sadie brought her hands to her face and breathed in and out slowly. She looked back up at him and nodded ever so slightly. "Fine. But not here. Adam's away for the week and leant me his keys, you can stay at his place."

She moved to the kitchen counter and lifted a keychain. She threw it to Connor, who just barely caught it. "Across the hall, two doors to the right. I want you out by morning." She crossed her arms across her chest again and leaned against the counter.

Connor sighed in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much, love." He went over to pull Sadie into a hug. He could feel her stiffen awkwardly, trying not to reciprocate. He turned his head slightly to whisper in her ear, "Please give him a chance to explain. You know he still loves you." Connor pulled back, lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb, and left the apartment, pulling Romeo after him.

Murphy felt glued to his spot. All of a sudden the patterns in the wood of her floor were the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

Sadie heavily sighed and pulled open one of the kitchen cupboards with more force than was necessary. She pulled out a bottle of whiskey, unscrewed the top, and drank directly from the bottle.

Murphy nervously stuffed his shaking hands into his pockets and looked around the apartment. He looked over to the easel she had obviously just left.

The silence was suffocating. It felt like he was drowning. He had so much to say, but where do you start after eight years?

He watched as Sadie turned to grab a glass from the cupboard and fill it with more whiskey. He walked over to the easel and looked at the canvas. "So you still paint, eh?" He lightly touched the surface of the canvas, inadvertently smudging the paint. He sheepishly looked back over at her intense glare and wiped the paint off on his jeans.

"Eight fucking years, Murphy." Her voice was eerily calm. "You leave without a trace, leave me to deal with the fact that you were one of the Saints and that you didn't tell me, and now you just think you can walk back into my house and fuck up my paintings."

Murphy felt ashamed. He looked down at his feet again. "I'm so sorry," he muttered.

Sadie laughed with malice and downed the glass of alcohol in her hand. "You're sorry? Jesus, Murph, is that all you have to say for yourself?" She poured herself another glass. "Well, for the past eight years I've been thinking the same thing. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever met you."

That hit him right in the chest. He watched as she drank from her glass and wince at the burn of the alcohol. She went to pour more, but he made his way across the small kitchen in two large strides and pulled the bottle from her grasp. Angrily he set the bottle on the counter next to her.

Murphy spun away from her, gathering his thoughts. He turned back, her expression unreadable, and slowly made his way toward her. He placed both hands on the counter next to where she was leaning, bracing his weight against the tiles.

"Damnit, Sadie, you know I had no choice. I couldn't tell you, you'd be in too much danger. Back in Ireland I thought about you, about us."

He turned to face her, "But I would never regret meeting you."

Sadie brought her hand up to massage the muscles of her forehead. "Murphy…"

He stopped her, "No, give me a chance to talk." She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "I wanted to tell you. I wanted to take you with me, but I couldn't. Conn and I were wanted men. I couldn't get you involved in that."

Angrily, she replied, "But I was involved."

He sighed. "I know. I thought I was protectin' ya." He took a step closer to her. When he saw that she made no attempt to push him away, he lightly set his hands on either side of her on the counter, closing her in to him. She tried her hardest to avoid his stare.

"Darlin', everything I said to you that night was true. I don't take any of it back. I love ye, and I always will."

He willed her to meet his eyes. Defeated, he hung his head and took a step back. He nervously scratched the back of his neck and softly started, "I'm sorry, I can leave…"

Sadie's small fingers lightly lifted to grab the lapels of his coat, effectively stopping his train of thought. Finally she met his gaze and he could see her eyes welling up with tears. His heart felt as if it were being pulled from his chest. It physically pained him to see her in such a state all because of him. Murphy looked down at the young woman before him, a woman who he had no doubt could beat his ass or control his actions at her will, and saw a vulnerability in her he had never seen before. It broke his heart, stirring up feelings of deep self-hatred.

She opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it again. Instead, she lightly pulled him toward her by his lapels and lifted herself onto the tips of her toes. For a second, she lingered there, her lips centimeters away from his. She flicked her eyes back up to his and closed the space between them, firmly pressing her lips to his.