"What the hell was that?" Winona, "Nona" Flynn asked her girlfriend as she turned at the sound of breaking glass. She watched in horror as a solidly built man in jeans and a tshirt pinned another man in a suit across one of the bar's tables. Noone seemed inclined to intervene so she glanced at the bartender to see what he was going to do about the ensuing fight when she noticed him accepting a large wad of cash from a young black man who was shaking his head. It was obvious this was a pay off, and she'd be damned if she was going to sit here and do nothing.

"I can't believe he's not going to do anything" she said to her friend Jill and began to pull out her own phone. Before she could even get it out of her purse, Jill's hand stopped her

"Nona don't" she said all the time watching the brawl; at this point the suit, had some sort of stick out and was trying furiously to whack at the other man's legs.

"What do you mean don't? Do you not see that maniac's about to kill that man?" she asked, utterly confused by her friend's behavior. She looked back just in time to see an older man with curly hair and a leather jacket walk up behind the maniac that was going to end up going to jail for killing a man.

"Just don't Nona, this will all be over in a minute" she knew that Nate would never let Eliot actually kill Sterling, they had too much fun torturing him.

Sure enough within minutes, Nona watched as the curly haired man and the suit conversed for a second, and all of a sudden the suit was on his feet and they all disappeared out the back door. But not before she'd noticed that the maniac nodded at Jill in recognition.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell just happened?" she asked Jill as she turned back in her seat.

"That my friend; was Eliot Spencer as his best" Jill replied as she laughed at her friend's bewilderment.

"Do you remember a couple of years ago when dad died and we had problems proving that the nursing home was at fault for his death?"

"Yeah you said that you couldn't get anyone to take your appeal because you suspected that the CEO was paying people off and that noone wanted to go up against him. But wait, I thought that you said that the nursing home went under and that you and a bunch of other victims got huge payouts?"

Jill smiled "I did, and that was all because of that 'maniac' as you called him and the rest of his team."

"So what exactly is it that they do?" Nona asked an hour later after listening to Jill explain about Eliot and his team.

"To tell you the truth? I still don't know all the details but what I do know is that they help people when noone else will."

"So it's kind of like a Robinhood thing?"

"I guess you could say that" she laughed as she tried to picture Eliot in tights

"So that's why I saw Eliot nod at you as he left with those other men"

"Yeah ever since that incident, we've sort of stayed in touch – we bonded over darts and music."

"So what you guys are like bffs or something now?" Nona asked, coming to grips with what her friend had been telling her.

" More like a brother/sister type thing. He still watches my back, I kick his butt at darts, and everyone once in a great while we'll get together and play at a bar over in Melrose."

"Wow, there's so much I've missed in your life" Nona sighed, hating that she had missed so much and that it had taken so long for her to get together with Jill.

"Don't worry about it honey, you've been busy yourself; taking care of your mom and now taking care of a new business! Speaking of – how is the baking business?"

"So far so good; the bakery's only been open a few months, but we're already getting repeat customers." She said practically vibrating with excitement. Owning her own bakery had been her dream since she was eight and Grandma Flynn showed her how to knead Irish soda bread. It had taken her a lot longer than she would have hoped, but she finally had her own place only a couple doors down from McRory's, the bar they were currently sitting in.

"Nona that's great!" Jill said excitedly but soon she noticed that though her friend was excited, there was something she wasn't telling her.

"Thanks, I'm still nervous though; it's a completely different element when you're the boss and have to make all the hard decisions. Speaking of, I really should get going – 3am comes mighty early." She said noticing her watch said it was already going on 7.

"Oh do you have to really? I was sort of hoping that you'd be able to stick around and meet Eliot and the rest of the gang." Jill practically begged

"I'm sorry hon, much as I'd love to stick around and meet a would be killer - sorry I mean your friend" she corrected herself as she saw the stern look that Jill shot her way. "I really do have to go though; I need sleep and I have an order coming in the morning. With that, Nona wound her way through the crowd and out the door. She felt bad lying to Jill, but she had to get out of there; just then her phone rang

"Hello?"

"Miss me?" the sound of her ex fiance's voice made her stomach churn and she nearly dropped the phone

"How did you get this number Steven?" the chuckled reply sent a chill up her spine

"Oh Nona honey I told you I can find you anywhere"

"You're supposed to stay 500 feet away" came her weak response as she hastened her step and looked around; luckily she lived in the apartment above the bakery which was now only a couple of feet away.

"I'm not anywhere near you – or am I?" he loved to torture her; the mental anxiety she got from the sick games that he played got him off more than actually beating her which had happened on more than one occasion.

She hung up the phone as she finally reached her apartment. She went room by room, baseball bat in hand to make sure that he hadn't found where she lived. Then she went through and checked all the locks on the windows and doors. Satisfied that she would be ok for now she changed into her pajamas and flipped on the t.v. because there was no way she was going to get any sleep now.

It was nights like tonight that Eliot Spencer hated the fact that he couldn't sleep more than 90 minutes a night. He'd just gotten off a flight from Kiev hours earlier only to learn that once again Sterling was getting a leg up off the backs of him and his team. Sophie was still out of the country after claiming she "needed time" which he knew was code for Nate was pissing her off with all his drinking and fighting. Knowing that sleep alluded him – at least for now, he grabbed a jacket and decided to take a walk; it helped clear his head when he couldn't use his gym which at this time of night, he didn't think his neighbors would appreciate.

The night was cool, but it was getting warmer with each passing day. At least the snow was gone for the forseeable future and signs of spring were popping up everywhere; including in his seedlings of tomatos which he had growing on his kitchen window sill til he could transplant them to his rooftop garden. He was just mapping out in his head where he was going to put the new plants when he heard glass shattering. He took off down the block at a dead run and noticed two men running off in the same direction. He chased them for about another half a block when they split up and he knew he wasn't going to catch them. So he trotted back to the store front where the window had gotten broken and saw a woman standing there crying.

"It's not that bad" he said gently and stepped back when he realized he'd startled her.

Nona was so involved in crying and surveying the damage to the broken storefront that she hadn't even heard Eliot was it?; walk up so when he started to speak she'd nearly jumped out of her skin. She was already on edge ever since she'd gotten that call from Steven two nights ago. He had called her back repeatedly that night to the point where she'd shut her phone off and gone and gotten yet another number from the phone company the next day. She should have known something like this would happen; how stupid of her to open a business knowing he was still out there looking for her. She'd thought since she was off the grid for awhile so to speak taking care of her mom on the west coast he'd lose interest. Fat chance of that, she'd probably just pissed him off even more.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you" Eliot apologized

"It's ok" Nona mumbled and took a step back; this man made her nervous; especially since she'd seen him nearly beat a man to death just days earlier.

"I tried to chase down the guys that did this, but they got away. Do you have any idea why they would do THIS?" he asked as he picked up a light colored brick with the word BITCH across it in red letters.

"I know exactly why they did it and who sent them" she said as she proceeded to grab a broom and dustpan and sweep up the shattered glass.

Eliot waited for her to continue, and when she didn't he sighed

"And do you care to share who that is?"

"I don't know, do you care to share who the hell you even are?" she snapped as she paused from the task at hand.

"Sorry, the name's Eliot Spencer – hey didn't I see you sitting with Jill the other night?"

"Yes you did; Nona Flynn - Jill and I are old friends"

"Funny, she's never mentioned you"

"Well we've been out of touch, for quite awhile now" she grabbed the dustpan and began pushing shards of glass into it with the broom

"Here, let me get that" he leaned down and went to grab the dustpan from her, his fingers brushing across the back of her hand.

"No I've – " just then she looked up into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. They seemed to go on like the ocean, but she could tell that there was also something haunting them. Hurt recognized hurt, but in this moment they were merely trying to convey sympathy and understanding and that in itself made her suddenly more aware that she was only wearing pajamas after having been jolted from slumber.

"Thank you" she said breaking contact and standing to finish the job she'd started. When it was all cleaned up he helped her cover her window temporarily.

"I can come back in the morning and replace that glass for you" he said matter of factly

"No that's ok I can take care of it"

"It's no trouble"

"No you've done enough for one night and speaking of – I have to get up in 3 hours so I'll say goodnight and thank you" she said as she ushered him to the door. Eliot laughed to himself; normally women were begging him to stay yet this curly haired redhead was showing him the door. There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on; she'd been hurt - that was obvious the way she was so jumpy around him. However there was a moment of something when her warm brown eyes collided with his over the dustpan. His stomach got all knotted and he was all too aware that she slept in a tshirt and shorts.

"Well aren't you at least going to call the cops and report the vandalism?" he asked

"No I'll just replace the window and be done with it"

"But you said you know who was behind it"

"I did"

"So why?-" her raised hand cut him off before he could finish

"Eliot this is not your problem; thank you for the help but goodnight"she said shutting the door in his face.