A knife whistled toward him but he easily dodged out of its reach. "Again! But do it right this time!"

Growling under his breath he heaved himself off the ground, dusted off his pants, and tried the routine again. He knew that he would be kept in here all night till he nailed it perfectly, so might as well get it over with.

As gently as possible I laid the tiny girl on her cot then tucked her in with one of the ragged daycare blankets. Brushing some of the blond hair away from the child's face I quietly stood up and snuck over to the table where the other teachers were already getting ready for tomorrow's projects.

"I just got River asleep, so I'll see you all tomorrow." I waved grabbing my coat and left. I felt bad leaving while the other three still worked, but I had opened this morning and was exhausted.

"Bye Lucy!"

As nice as it would be to go home and curl right up on my couch, I had a coffee appointment that I'd promised to go to. Pulling the hood up on my jacket I pushed out the door into the rainy weather. Thankfully the café was just a few blocks away. Well within walking distance. Despite the dreary weather when I arrived I saw him standing outside under the awning.

Clearly he had just got off work himself. His boots and black pants still had dirt dusting up to his knees. The only other thing he had covering himself in the cold weather was a black vest with gold trim. He was practically in uniform. When his bright green eyes spotted her he pushed off the wall he was leaning on and shook out his pink mane that was covering his eyes again.

"Hey Luce!" When he grinned he looked more like a wild kid than the twenty year old he was.

"Get inside you idiot, its cold out here." I grabbed his arm and dragged him along.

"I didn't know if this was ok to wear inside." He muttered.

Once we sat down I looked him over again. It was a little odd, but not that much. Besides, most women did not complain at his toned abs and wiry arms. I smirked at him. "Maybe if you play it right the waitress will give you a free drink."

"I knew I should have taken the time to go back and find a shirt instead."

"You're fine."

The waitress came over to take our orders. She was young, very pretty, probably a high school student, and currently very focused on her newest male customer. "What can I get for you today?"

He frowned glaring down at the menu. "Agh. You go first. I forgot what the thing was called."

The waitress glanced in my direction briefly before repeating her question, but her eyes kept traveling back to him.

Grabbing his and my menu I handed them to the waitress. "I'll just have a black coffee and he would like a raspberry mocha."

"That's the one!" He grinned. "Good thing you always remember."

The waitress hovered a moment longer than needed before exiting to the counter. I didn't even bother teasing him about her. He didn't notice women flirting with him anymore. It wasn't that he was full of himself about it; he just didn't care. The few times I had brought it up he would look at the woman for barely a second and shrug saying she seemed boring.

"So anything new?" He asked.

"A bruise. Her left cheek. And a decent bump on her head."

"What did they say?"

"That their dog ran into her."

"They have a dog?"

"No."

He frowned. "That's so stupid."

I sighed. "I know. I hate working there sometimes. I just want to take them all away somewhere safe."

"Do it."

I laughed.

"I'm serious!"

"Natsu! It's completely illegal! Kidnapping in fact."

He smirked. "We could be renegades together." He said cajolingly.

"Great. What I've always wanted."

"No dissing till you tried it."

"I'll pass."

After a moment I noticed a bandage wrapped around his upper arm.

"What happened today?" I asked quietly.

"Training." He grunted. "Messed up, she showed me the right way."

"With a knife?!"

"Shh." He made a calm down gesture. "Its ok. I didn't even feel it. It was just messy so we got it taken care of."

"Did she learn about…?"

"No of course not. I wouldn't be here if she had." He chuckled. "She still thinks its all technical and I'm just a pyromaniac."

"You are a pyromaniac." I rolled my eyes.

He shrugged with a smirk. "Well nobody's perfect."

The rest of the day past too fast. Somehow, the relaxing evening then dinner flew by. A full night of rest seemed like nothing. And I found myself back at work feeling almost as if I had never left. I sat on the floor with one of the older three year olds, Isabelle, who was doing a puzzle by herself like it was nothing. When the door opened I stood up ready to greet the parent who was dropping off their child for the day. It was the twins. And their dad.

The moment they saw me the twins collided into my legs each clinging to one. "Miss Lucy! Good morning!" They greeted like every morning.

"Morning you two!" I looked down at them and noticed something new.

River had a huge cut really close to her eye.

"Oh what happened?" I looked up at the twins' father but he just shrugged.

"Must've been rough housin' or somethin'." Then he walked off.

Stone was frowning at his sister's face. "Daddy hit River again."

River was still hugging my leg and remained quiet.

Holding back my anger I forced a smile and patted their heads. "Hey guys, want to go play puzzles with Izzy?"

"Yeah!" They ran over to their playmate and forgot the dark mood from a second ago.

When the head teacher showed up I told her what happened with the twins and what Stone had said about River being hit again.

"Alright. I'll go talk to the Director about it. I can't believe this happened again."

The next day, River didn't come to school. When I tried to ask their father he just said she was having a sick day. And even though it was against policy I asked Stone where River was.

"River got hurt for being a snitch." Stone got serious again. "Miss Lucy? What's a snitch?"

"A snitch is like a tattle-tale."

"Oh." Stone's blue eyes began to water up. "Miss Lucy? River didn't snitch. I snitch to you!"

I picked up the small boy in my arms and sat him in my lap rocking him gently. "Its ok Stone. You didn't know. Never be afraid to tell the truth. Always tell the truth."

"But! But River got hurt because of my snitch!" He sobbed.

I shook my head. This boy was too young to understand this stuff. But he somehow did.

"It's going to be ok Stone." I hugged him close.

"But he hurt her again!"

"I know honey." The pain and anger in my heart raged with every sob.

"I am going to make it better." I whispered. "I promise."

"Really?" He sniffed looking up at me.

"Yeah." I gave him a soft smile. "Its our secret ok?"

He offered her his tiny pinkie. Something I had taught him last week. "Pinkie promise."

River was back the next day, but the moment she walked in holding her brother's hand I could tell something was wrong. River didn't smile to greet me, she wasn't talking away with Stone like she usually did, and so fast sometimes it sounded like they had their own language. She just stood there. Along with the cut on her eye she had the bruise on her cheek and it now went all the up her face and into a black eye. Something inside me snapped. I looked over at the father who was already walking away.

"There is a circus in town and I have a few extra tickets, do you mind if I take these two off your hands for the night? I think they would love it."

He shrugged. "Sure whatever. Your in charge of gettin' em' home then."

"It'll save you the trip." I forced a smile.

"Sure will." Then he strolled away.

Not sure what I was doing I pulled the twins to me closely. "Hey you two, ready for some fun?"

"Yeah!" Stone cheered.

River nodded silently.

No one thought it was odd that River and Stone left with me. Many times in the past they left with me because their parents had forgotten to come pick them up. Now we were pulling into a dirt parking lot near a large red, black, and white striped tent. Holding River on my hip, I held Stone's hand, and led them to a trailer behind the main tent.

"Where are we Miss Lucy?" Stone asked in a whisper.

"Honey, just call me Lucy outside of school. Its ok. I am going to introduce you to my friend. He's going to be in the show we are going to see."

"Is he a clown?"

"Yes." I muttered. "But that's not what he does. You'll see!"

I knocked on the door.

"I'll be there before they need me!" He shouted from the door.

"Natsu!" I snapped. "Its me."

"Luce?" He opened the door. When he saw us his eyes went wide and then a huge smile grew on his face. "Kids? Twins? Oh geez. You did it. Gosh their actually really cute." His eyes narrowed in on the small girl who was hiding in my shoulder. "So this must be River."

I nudged River lightly. "Say hi River."

River looked over at him and gave a small wave.

"Well aren't you beautiful?" He grinned. "But you got a little something… I got just the stuff." He snapped his fingers. "Come on in. It's a bit messy, but – oh well you'll live."

I led Stone inside and set River down on the small space that was available on his table. Natsu opened a few cupboards before finding a jar of a milky white substance he opened it and showed it to River.

"Smell it."

She gave him a mistrusting look.

"I'll smell it." Stone volunteered.

Natsu gave a smirk and held it down so the boy could smell it. Stone frowned and sniffed carefully at the jar. After a second he broke out in a smile.

"It smells like cookies!"

"It's got vanilla in it. It used to smell so awful that my eyes would water. I've got a sensitive sniffer." He turned back to River. "But this lovely concoction heals nasties like you've got there."

Gently as if he were finger painting on rice paper he applied the cream to her cuts and bruises. Stone watched with eagle eyes as the stranger helped his sister. I looked at the jar trying to find a label of some sort.

"Where did you get this? It looks homemade."

"It is. From her. She doesn't like marks on her performers. Doesn't make her look good." He muttered.

I looked at his arm where he had days ago been bandaged tightly, there was not even a red spot to show where the cut had been. As I looked at River I saw the swelling was already going down.

"You guys like comic books? They're really cool."

He lifted River from the table and set her among a mess of blankets and comics on his bed. Stone quickly clambered over and began to go through the pictures with her. Natsu made sure the door to his trailer was closed and pulled me away from where the kids were sitting.

"So what's your game plan here?" He whispered.

"I don't have one." I admitted trying not to sound as anxious as I felt. "They just came in this morning and River looked like that and I just couldn't… I couldn't let make them go back. But I have no plan. It's completely illegal. I am probably only making things worse. But we've tried talking to the authorities and they haven't charged them for anything. Their parents are awful, but good liars when need to be."

Natsu crossed his arms frowning at the floor. "Well if you go through with it you can't go back to work. Or home. I guess you guys could stay here. None of your co-workers know me. I know the place is small… but it's pretty well hidden."

There was a slam on the door. "Five minutes Natsu!" A deep voice shouted.

He rolled his eyes. "Except from them. But they won't say anything. Most of these people don't want to be caught by the police anymore than you do."

"Thanks Natsu… maybe just for the night."

He gave a wide grin. "Alright kids! Ready to see a fire breather at work?"

Their eyes grew huge.

"How do you breathe fire?" Stone asked.

"If I told you that would ruin the show!" He mock scolded. "You guys get to your seats and be prepared to be amazed." He gave another brilliant smile before vanishing out the door.

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