Prologue

Her sides were hurting from how hard she'd been laughing. She was rocked back, nearly falling off the bench that they'd taken from their newly-found van, boots in the air and tears barely escaping her eyes that were squeezed tightly closed as she shook, finally laughing hard enough that even sound couldn't escape her. She could hear Vogel still giggling with her and could nearly hear Cross grinning like a madman - it was his joke that had sent her into hysterics, after all, and he'd be damned proud of that accomplishment - and Amanda desperately tried to calm herself. Deep breaths. In and then out. Again and again. Do not look at them until control was regained or they'd send her back into the fit.

Finally, Amanda managed to regain control and she loosed her final deep breath. "Okay. I'm going to officially log it back there never to ask any of you that question again," she managed and her dark eyes opened, sweeping the male members of the Rowdy Three around their campfire. They had settled for the night with plenty of alcohol to go around. Even the boys were buzzed - a difficult task, she knew - and had agreed to fill in their newest member to a variety of stories and inside jokes that she didn't know yet by way of a game of Questions and Answers. So far it had been a lot of fun. She had found out that Gripps had once managed to surf on top of the van for nearly ten miles, that Vogel was no longer allowed in some small town in Texas, and that Cross had quite literally run circles around the cops that had tried to break up a Rowdy Three bash in New Mexico.

The stories were flowing as easily as the booze and the boys and Amanda raised another shot and drank as she let out a loud half cry, half howl that had Martin chuckling. She turned her attention to him, her grin only widening as she thought of the way that the Rowdies leader zeroed in on people and how uncomfortable it left them. He had no problem with her gaze, so it seemed, though her giggling, drunk self might have had something to do with that. "Okay, Martin. Your turn."

He lifted his dark eyebrows in question, leaned up against his bent knees, elbows resting there and blue eyes now focused in on her. "You ain't asked a question," he pointed out around the cigarette hanging from his mouth. "What do you wanna know?"

Amanda thought for a moment, her dark eyes flickering to each of the others. "How'd you meet the others? I haven't heard that one yet."

A hush fell over four of the Rowdy Three and Martin shifted, pulling the stub of a cigarette from his lips and flicking it to the ground. He didn't look amused. He looked irritated, and even though it took Amanda a moment she realized it was the question that had done it. She squirmed on her perch for a moment, wondering if she should should retract the question.

"Met while we were all being held by Blackwing the first time," he huffed after a moment and stood, never making eye contact with her, and sauntered away from the group without another word.

The remaining Rowdy members sat in silence for a long moment after he left, Amanda feeling like an ass. She'd known that. Of course she'd known that. She had just… it had seemed like a good question at the time, like it would have a funny story attached to it. There was nothing funny about Blackwing. The memory of their second trip there still haunted her. Searching for them had been terrifying enough, but the joy of finding them had been tainted by realizing just what they had been through. They had been starved and tortured, caged and forced to submit. She could still recall the terror - something that she had never thought she would see - in Martin's eyes as the they had raced down the dark hallway together, a man at the other end causing him to freeze when he'd called his name. Martin had slipped between their would-be attacker and Amanda, the deep growl that had escaped him almost feral. They'd gotten away, but she couldn't shake the fear that had rolled off of him in waves. All he'd told her at the time was that the man was called Priest and that Martin would let him hurt her.

"He's not mad at you," Gripps said softly.

"Just at Blackwing," Cross added. "Only good thing that came outa that shit was us."

"Martin hates talking about it," Vogel told her, his voice much quieter than she was used to as he took a seat next to her and wrapped his arms around her in a big hug. All of a sudden Gripps and Cross were joining him and Amanda found herself enveloped in an almost-complete Rowdy Three hug.

She smiled, holding onto them and leaning in. She could feel them pulling at her anxiety just a little, leading her quietly back to that warm and fuzzy state she'd been in before she had stuck her foot in her mouth. A soft sigh escaped her and they finally loosened their hold, but none of them moved too far.

It was everything she could do to move from the close cocoon of safety that they had formed around her, but Martin hadn't come back and she wanted to make sure he knew she didn't expect more when he did. They made her feel safe and she'd be damned if she returned that with any less.

Martin was perched on an old, fallen tree a ways away from their camp. He tilted his head a little at her approach, but Amanda paused, waiting for a sign she wasn't intruding.

"You gonna stand there all night?" he groused and she took it, joining him on his log. He offered her a cigarette he had already started in on and she took it, breathing it in.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Bringing it up. It was stupid."

He grunted and she handed the cigarette back. "You're allowed to ask questions, you know."

"Yeah, but-"

"You good to be here a while?" She shot him a questioning look and he pulled a flask out of his vest to pass that over as well. "It's a long story."

"You don't have to-"

"I know, but you're one of us. We don't keep things from each other."

They had a full pack of cigarettes and some crazy strong booze that he'd had on him. She nodded slowly, settling in to get comfortable for a story that she thought might be anything but that.

Notes: Here we go. I have no idea how often this will be updated, but the idea grabbed hold and won't let go. I have a bunch on my writing plate right now, but some plot bunnies just won't be nudged away :P