This chapter takes place before the fifth episode of the first season. Also, this story won't really go in chronological order, so the chapter titles are important cause it'll give an idea of where I am in the timeline; and I'll also leave a note saying what episode I'm in specifically. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy.


Lottie May found her brother in a bar; found, not stumbled upon, cause she'd been looking for him specifically. It was cleaner than any backwater tavern found in Harlan, but it still held that Eastern Kentucky charm of being a run down piece of shit with filmy glasses and sleazy hillbillies.

He stuck out like a sore thumb wearin a cowboy hat and tie amidst the muscle shirts tattoos and greasy hair. He was put together, clean, handsome, and she smiled at seein she'd found her man.

Raylan's head turned when she slid onto the barstool next to him, his chest rose as he breathed in the sweet smell of her shampoo, and his eyes trailed down the length of her body finding the parts of her he liked most before he turned back to his glass listening to her order her drink of choice; Wild Turkey. Men were simple creatures, their attention easily caught by the movement of a pretty woman and it was easily kept by a pretty woman who could drink; especially this man.

"To survivin' another day," Lottie said clinking their glasses together and downing half her bourbon without so much as a wince.

And with that simple interaction, saying she knew he was there and she was up for conversation, had him taking a drink himself before he turned to her. She didn't quell his charm, which he gave effortlessly in a grin or the raising of his brows or his smooth voice, rather she encouraged it. For the time being Raylan was under the impression he didn't know her, he'd wear the mask of a brother soon as he found out and she wanted to know what kind of man he was with a stranger.

Maybe not a complete stranger. The longer he stared at her pretty face seein her dark eyes that squinted when she smiled, her high cheekbones and her strong jaw, the way she swung her hips cause she'd caught his attention the moment she came through the door – there was something about her that struck the deepest sense of familiarity in him. Seein her then in the half lit bar making both of them look tanner than they really were, flirtin with her, it was like déjà vu. "We haven't met before?" he asked taking a drink.

She'd been wondering if he'd remember any part of her, if he'd see parts of himself in her; it wasn't enough to turn him off, they did have different mothers. If anything he was more interested and she just leaned against the bar half grinning as she looked at his handsome face. "I think I'd remember the hat," she answered not entirely truthfully. Last time she'd seen him, and she barely remembered that, he hadn't been in the habit of wearing a cowboy hat, and that'd been so long ago neither could claim to know the other. It was a half truth, her favorite kind.

And she gave a few more. Working at a family business, in Kentucky that almost always meant criminal activity and she neither mentioned that it wasn't her family nor that it was in fact illegal doings. "I work sales and marketing. Met with potential buyers today," she told him, steering his mind towards a business more along the lines of a store rather than drugs.

He hadn't liked the sound of a family business, knowing full well what kind of business went on in Harlan – he'd been raised on it. But she didn't look the part, she stuck out almost as much as he did; dark jeans a tight black shirt, heels, her makeup done light. And he was finding she was exactly what he needed to take his mind off Ava. "How'd that go?" he asked moving onto his fourth glass of whiskey.

She pushed the hair off her shoulder to show him the bruise on her jaw, the sight of which had his hand tightening around his glass. "Not so well," she admitted, getting the reaction she wanted out of him. "Though I must confess the two men are worse off." His brows rose at her coy face, feedin right into her hand. "The one that hit me's gotta broken hand, and I think I broke the other's nose." It was exactly what he wanted to hear, a girl who could drink and take care of herself; a girl who was smilin at him interested in more. "You gonna arrest me?" she asked biting her lip as she looked up through her lashes at him, playin him for a fool.

He smiled at her charming face and took another drink feelin' it burn his already warm chest. "If they press charges," he told her, gaze falling to the young man sittin at a table behind them with his sights set on the woman at Raylan's side. She didn't seem to notice a few men had looked her way, but this one had kept his eyes on her back and it had Raylan's hand itchin to reach for his gun.

She had in fact noticed, at least she'd noticed the direction of Raylan's gaze; his view of women left something to be desired, she might've been smaller than him but she didn't need protecting, and cause of her breasts he assumed she did. "And what would you do after you got me in handcuffs?" she asked seein exactly what she wanted in the return of his gaze and the bobbing of his adam's apple as he swallowed, further wrapping him around her finger.

"You sure know how to work a man up," he said taking note of the gleam in her dark eyes that had him comparin her grin to that of a fox. Cause he was seein then she'd sat beside him with a purpose, and he was struck again by the feeling he knew her.

She downed the rest of her glass, signaling to the bartender she didn't want another, all without taking her eyes off Raylan. "And turn 'em down," she said watching his brows crease in confusion and disappointment. "I gotta long drive, should probably call it a night." She made a show of getting her purse and fishing out her wallet, knowing what he'd do before he decided it himself.

"I got it," he told her allowing himself to place his hand over hers to still their moving before he grabbed the wallet out of back pocket and threw a few bills on the counter as he stood. Staring down at her with her neck craned to look up at him she looked even younger, not even twenty, and then she slid out of her chair brushing against him and she looked older again. Something in him was telling him softly it was a good thing she'd ended it, and that he would've regretted the hell out of taking her back to his room like he'd originally thought. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

She followed him out of the warm stale smelling bar and into the cool night, walking slowly with him at her side. She matched him stride for stride, almost smiling at their similar swanky gait. "Thanks for the drinks," she said when they reached her silver Grand Cherokee, thinking surely he'd get it then.

"I had a car just like this," he said leaning a hip against the side. "An older model, different color, but the same make." It'd been the car he'd driven out of Harlan twenty years earlier, he was almost surprised to find she was the owner of one, another thing to add to the list sayin he did in fact know her. And she stood barely an inch in front of him with a knowing smile curled on her mouth as she stared up at him, lookin like she was waiting patiently for him to understand. "Who are you?"

Her smile grew at his confusion knowing that answer was in the back of his mind. And she stepped closer pressing a kiss to his cheek, narrowly missin his mouth and feelin his own lips purse against her chin. She could feel his breath on her face from how close they were when she moved to look at him, seeing his eyes fall to her mouth. "It was good seein you Ray," she told him softly before turning her back on him to climb into her car. Whatever pleasantness had been on his face was gone when her headlights shone on his face, replaced instead with wondering and concern as an answer gave way in his mind.

Come next morning as he sat at his desk waiting for his computer to load he was hopin for two things; the first being that he hadn't been thinking of his sister in terms of takin her home the night before, and the second was that she didn't have a criminal record. He was wrong on both accounts.