I posted this previously under a different pen, but I lost all inspiration for writing for about a year. I've decided not to post stories until I know where they're going and can at least outline if not completely write them before I begin posting. I still kinda like this, but I don't know if I'll continue it unless I can figure out what direction it's taking me. any suggestions welcome!

Alecia was livid, but her face didn't betray any of it. She was sitting in a lawyer's office and listening to him tell her all of her options with regard to the windfall of money she had just gotten as a result of the recent death of her entire family. His impassivity sickened her, and he somehow felt it necessary to tell her everything as if she were three years old. He spoke of investment and entrepreneurship when all she wanted was to ignore it all, go to college, and pretend like everything was normal. He finished his speech and looked at her.

"Does that sound reasonable?" he asked

"I think I'll get other opinions before making any big decisions," she said mechanically, realizing that she had stopped paying attention long before, "but thank you for your time."

"No problem. Feel free to call if you have any other questions. And good luck at MIT. I hear you'll need it." He said with a chuckle. She feigned a smile but wanted to smack the self-confident grin off of his face. He wouldn't be so cocky when he found out the pretty penny she'd paid for this visit wouldn't be coming his way again. She stood and was amused by the man's slight balk at her tall stature and unyielding posture. After a firm handshake she was certain that this man knew he'd made a mistake in talking down to her.

As soon as she'd left his office the smile dropped from her face and she made a beeline for the elevator. She didn't even see the two men standing directly between her and the elevators until one put a hand out and held her up short. As surprised as she was she still did not show emotion.

"please let go of me," she said coolly, looking at the arm halfway encircling her waist.

"Why you going towards-" he started

"I said, let go of me." She interrupted more forcefully.

"Look, he doesn't-" he stopped as he suddenly found the arm that had been restraining her forced behind his back and felt himself pushed forward. He stumbled a couple of steps before regaining his balance and looking back at the woman. She had simply walked away from him and his charge, gone to the elevator, and was waiting to go down.

"I've gotta go. Talk to you later. zai jian" the other man said, finishing a long phone call in Chinese and looking at him with amusement in his eyes "so Pang, you into getting your butt handed to you by women?" the young asian asked his body guard.

"yeah. Quiet you." Pang said, rubbing his shoulder. "shouldn't you be going in for your meeting anyway?" he asked, gesturing to the lawyer who was now standing in the doorway to his office. The man just smirked and walked in. When Pang looked back the girl was gone.

Alecia made it down the elevator, through the lobby and all the way to her hotel before she broke down. As it was, it wasn't that big of a break-down. She simply laid on her bed and took a few deep breaths. Not even a tear escaped from her eyes. Her world was crumbling and after three deep breaths she was back at work, typing away on her laptop. The world would not defeat her. The world could not defeat her.

It was months later as Conner and Murphy were indulging at Doc's bar again when news filtered over that there was a new crime syndicate in Boston quietly taking advantage of the ground they'd won from the Russians and Yakavetta. Enter the Chinese.

Alecia had begun school at MIT, toiling her way through Calculus III and Introductory Particle Physics as her true attention lay elsewhere: who was responsible for the deaths of her family members. Everywhere she turned she reached the same conclusion. It was a professional hit, but whoever had organized it was keeping extremely quiet. Until now. Three weeks before Thanksgiving she finally got a break. The Chinese had finally slipped up.

They'd had a hard time pin-pointing them up until this point. Those Asians were sneaky little bastards, but now they had them. The MacManus twins loaded their guns and checked the rope, saying a small prayer for their Da who had passed away just under a year ago. It was time for action.

As she entered the warehouse through an upper window Alecia's senses immediately heightened and she snuck back into the shadows. She'd been training herself for this for half a year now. This was her opportunity. She wasn't going to miss it. For a short moment nerves began to creep up on her, but upon hearing a scuffle begin outside she knew this was the moment to move.

As the attention of those gathered below her changed from each other to their guns and the door she took her aim and fired four bullets into the group before she was spotted. As the attack began to rain on her position she flew from her crouched stance onto the tops of the crates below, continuing to fire.

She fluidly transitioned into a roll taking cover behind one of the larger boxes, immediately spotting the two men left standing of the group of eight that had been there before. She stood, quickly firing two rounds into the man further from her position and crouching again. Hearing Chinese expletives pour from the mouth of the final man as he found that he was out of ammunition she smiled, moving herself even closer to him before coming out of her cover and crescent kicking him in the head.

That was the scene that greeted the brothers as they entered the warehouse, guns raised, ready for another fight. "Wha--?" Murphy said seeing all the bodies, but Conner nudged him.

"um, Murph…" he motioned with his head. "Who the fuck is she?"

Alecia stared at the two men who had just burst into the room, guns blazing, trying to decide if they were friend or foe. Meanwhile the two Irishmen took in the statuesque blonde in front of them too shocked to do much more than gape. Without warning the brothers' guns came up simultaneously and Alecia dove for cover. She sprinted to her escape without looking back, without ever seeing the weapon-laden Chinese man the brothers had just saved her from.

It had been an odd mission to say the least. Over the next few weeks the brothers continued to puzzle over the woman who had virtually completed the job for them and Alecia laid low, doing her school work, and generally staying unsuspicious. For the first time since beginning she was unsure of the situation, unsure of her part in it, and unsure of herself. Of course, this couldn't go on forever.

The tension culminated one night. A night when Alecia had finally had it, and decided to get away. She didn't even know what she was getting away from until she found herself sitting in a little bar in an irish neighborhood nursing a beer she wasn't carded for and pondering what she had gotten herself into. She had been so positive she knew exactly what she was getting herself into, but here she was three weeks after striking the first blow for her late family questioning all that she had worked for since their death. That was how Murphy came upon her, quite by accident.

"What's a gal like you doin 'ere?" he asked as he took the seat next to her at the bar. She turned to him with a half-bemused smile on her face and a single eyebrow raised. His eyes widened momentarily with recognition, but if she was still sober enough to notice she said nothing. He knew this woman, she had been the subject of every other conversation between him and his brother for three weeks now. A moment ago picking her up was a joke, a way to pass time, now it was anything but a game. He needed to know the answers to all the questions running in his head about her: who was she, why was she at the warehouse that day, what drove a woman like her to do what she had? And he was going to get answers. Tonight.

A less than pain free Alecia was rather lucky that night to have met Murphy MacMannus she reflected the next morning through the haze of pre-coffee hang over. Groaning loudly at the hippos stampeding through her head she sat up she gleaned what she could from the circumstance. She was fully clothed, resting in a bed, and after taking a cursory inventory found that none of her personal affects were missing from her person. This begged an important question: what exactly happened last night?

Murphy kicked his sleeping brother as he walked by with a shot in his hand. Connor simply muttered some vulgar response into his pillow and attempted to continue sleeping, but woke to meet the floor as his brother dumped him off of the couch where he was resting.

"She's awake," Murphy hissed at the still unmoving form on the floor. At this Connor was on his feet at an amazingly fast rate.

"Well then, to the interrogation, shall we?" he asked, a bit too gleefully.

"We shall"

Alecia was considering her options for escape when Murphy and another man she vaguely recognized came into the room.

"Mornin' sunshine" the other man greeted. She answered with a half-hearted grunt.

"For your head," Murphy told her with a small laugh, handing her the shot of whiskey. Warily she looked at both of them attempting in vain to remember the happenings of the previous night. To delay conversation further she resorted to her other option. She threw back the shot nearly choking on its potency and receiving a smack on the back as she coughed while both men had a chuckle at her expense. She was beginning not to like them.

"So how much do you remember of last night, love?" The other man asked her when he had stopped laughing. She hesitated before answering, but decided the truth was her best bet.

"Not much after my second shot with Murphy here," she thought again, after her fourth…or was it fifth? beer Murphy had sat with her and challenged her to do shots with him. She was had had just enough alcohol to agree.

Ahh, the shots. Murphy took over from there and explained that they had done quite a few for a girl like the one with them now who obviously did not drink that often, and she'd been drinking before he got to her. At some point Connor had joined them with the shots, but he would be rather surprised if she remembered his brother at this point. Unfortunately, Murphy had not gauged this that well, and instead of getting the information that he had hoped to gather from this woman he had ended up with a very drunk, rather ill, and completely useless mess. Of course, that part he did not share with her; yet. So here she was in his bed, and now he would get his answers.

"So on to the real questions now," Connor broke in

"Like, what have you got against the Chinese?" Murphy finished for his brother. For the first time that morning she looked almost ready to vomit.

"The—who?" She stalled

"You know; dark hair, slanty eyes, funny accents, the Chinese?" Connor explained.

"I, um… I've got class," she attempted to bolt for the door, but the brothers were blocking her from it.

"Not until we understand a bit more about who you are, and why you don't like the Chinese." Murphy told her

"Aye. We want answers." Connor reiterated,

"Now."

A/N: so yeah.. do you think I should continue?