Rebekah drives the van down a small, narrow path leading to behind the abandoned warehouse where they plan their heists. None of them actually live here accept Dexter, they just like to come here to hang out. But on occasion after a well pulled off heist, if they all get too drunk, they end up staying the night here. And with Dexter recently converting the top floor of offices into bedrooms, there is plenty of room for everyone.
She parks the car and they all hop out of the van. Dexter, Jackson and Hayley grab the duffel bags which are filled to the top with money. Dexter smiles as he looks down at the bag he is carrying. He has just made more money by robbing a bank than most people do in a year of working hard.
Oliver runs ahead to catch up with Rebekah, the balaclavas in his hand. Hayley trails behind them. Usually she would be up front with Rebekah and Dexter, buzzing about their latest hit and excited about the money she was going to spend on her next shopping spree. But not today. She doesn't know why, but seeing the manager of the bank lay dead on the floor did something to her. It has made her feel something that she can't seem to describe.
Hayley has seen Dexter kill countless times. She has seen him kill people with his bare fists. She has seen Rebekah and Jackson kill people, of course, Jackson was a bit more hesitant than Rebekah to kill, but he still did it. And Oliver, well, he seems to be taking more after Dexter than he is his cousin. But for some reason, this time felt different. Maybe it feels different because no one has had to die on their heists for quite a long time. Or maybe it feels different because the manager did not have to die at all.
She enters the warehouse with the others, walking through the double, metal doors at the same time as Dexter. She expects him to say something to her, but he does not. He walks ahead of her again once they have passed through the doors, catching up to Jackson and walking beside him.
Oliver hits the button for the elevator to come down to them and they all wait patiently, in silence. Hayley looks around the old, rusty room that was probably once a storage room of some kind. There is a door leading to another smaller room over by the stairs, they could take the stairs but they never do. There's a pile of broken sewing machines in the corner by the door, a neat line of working sewing machines on the wooden table on the left side of the room.
The elevator arrives and everyone climbs on. It is a bit stuffy with five of them being in the small space along with the three big bags, but no one complains. They are use to this by now. They always use the elevator because they are all too lazy to use the stairs to climb up to the third floor.
The elevator stops and the doors open, Dexter is the first one off, excited to get his share of the money. Jackson and Oliver follow him, Oliver saying something to his cousin about what he is going to spend his share of the money on. Rebekah walks beside Hayley, she can sense something is wrong with her friend.
"You're being awfully quiet, what's up?" Rebekah asks.
"Nothing. Just tired I think" Hayley replies, looking down.
She doesn't want to talk about her feelings because she honestly has no idea what she is feeling. She can't find the right words to express how she is feeling right now, so she will let it slide.
The boys speed walk down the long corridor to what they call the home room. It is the biggest room on this floor and it is right at the other end of the corridor. The girls do not pick up their pace to join them, they continue their stroll down the corridor.
"I think we need a girls night out" Rebekah says, pushing her hands into her jacket pockets.
Hayley smiles.
"We haven't been out for ages, I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms" Rebekah says and Hayley laughs.
"Okay, we'll go out" Hayley agrees.
Rebekah smiles.
"Brilliant! We'll get our share of the money, go home and get dressed and hit the town" she says, excited.
"Tonight? But I don't have anything to wear" Hayley says and the blonde rolls her eyes.
"You always say that and then you come out looking like a goddess. Trust me, Hayley, you will find something, you always do. And anyways, it's only four, the shops don't shut until either, we have plenty of time to get new dresses." Hayley nods, her friend is right.
"Let's do that then" Hayley says. "We'll go shopping and get some new stuff for tonight."
Rebekah makes a strange high pitched sound, it sounds a bit like she is squealing.
"I can't bloody wait!" She says and opens the door to the home room.
Hayley walks through the door and immediately sees Jackson tipping his bag upside down over the large wooden table in the middle of the room. The money pours out of the bag and Dexter and Oliver smile, Oliver rubbing his hands together. Hayley and Rebekah walk past the door leading to the kitchen on their right and join the boys at the table.
Jackson drops his duffel bag on the floor once it is empty and then Dexter picks up his bag. He does the same as what Jackson just did and they all watch as the money flows from the bag onto the table. This time they definitely got a big hit. There is probably over $100,000 sat on the table right now, and Hayley hasn't even tipped her bag out yet.
Dexter finishes emptying his bag and they all turn to Hayley. She lifts her bag up and tips it upside down, and the money falls out. She watches as the dollar bills fall onto the table, joining their collection. Once all of the money is out of her bag, she drops the bag on the floor and looks at Dexter. Their job is done. Now, it is down to Dexter to count it and split it into shares.
Hayley walks over to the corner couch that is in the right corner of the room, with the coffee table and the 52' inch TV in front of it. She plops herself down right in the corner and snuggles in. Jackson slowly makes his way over to her, hands in the pockets of his black heist pants.
He walks around the TV, around the coffee table and then sits down right next to her. He sits back into the couch, unzips his jacket and folds his arms across his chest. His thigh is touching hers and Hayley can feel how warm he is. It's comforting and even though she will probably never feel the same way about him as he does her, she likes it.
Jackson leans closer to Hayley, closer to her ear and says, "I'm glad the money couching isn't down to Oliver, or else we would have nothing."
Hayley smiles.
"You're right about that one" she says.
They stay silent for a few minutes, watching Dexter count the money into five piles. Rebekah is stood next to him on her phone, probably texting one of her potential boyfriends about hitting the clubs tonight. Oliver is stood on the other side of Dexter, watching him count out the money closely.
"What are you doing tonight then?" Jackson asks.
"Me and Rebekah are going out" she replies.
"Anywhere nice?" He asks, curiously.
"We're going on a girls night out. We'll probably end up at our usual club and then back at mine" Hayley tells him.
Jackson looks down at his hands on his lap.
"Will you be too hung over to get a coffee tomorrow?" He asks, seemingly nervous.
Hayley smiles.
"I hope not" she says. "I'll text you tomorrow and let you know."
Jackson looks at her and smiles. She knows he has only invited her for a coffee tomorrow so he can ask all about her night out and ask whether she met any boys, but he is her friend and she likes spending time with him. Even if he does mostly just invites her out so he can try to slip himself past the friend zone.
He has managed to slip past the friend zone once before at a party. They were both drunk and they had been dancing and talking and laughing together all night. They weren't even meant to be at the party, they were meant to be there to check out the guy's safe for their next heist. But they ended up staying awhile. Soon enough, Hayley was ready to leave, it was half three in the morning and she could barely walk she was that drunk. She needed her bed. Jackson begged her to stay, he even stood in front of the door at one point and tried to prevent her from leaving, but eventually he let her go.
Hayley arrived home and curled up on her couch. She clicked the DVD button on her TV remote and Bridget Jones' Diary came on, one of her all time favourites. She planned to watch Bridget Jones and then get into bed, but just twenty minutes into the film there was a knock at the door. Hayley was going to ignore it, but then there was a second knock. She got up and answered the door to see a very drunk Jackson swaying in her doorway. She was going to invite him in and phone him a taxi, or let him sleep on the couch, but before she could speak he threw himself at her.
Jackson's lips collided with hers in what was a very sloppy and strange, drunken kiss. Her drunken mind told her to go for it, but she knew that would be the worst thing she could ever do. She would never lead Jackson on because he was her friend and she would never purposely hurt her friend. So, she pushed him away. He looked like he was hurt from just that alone, so she pulled him in for a hug.
Hayley told him he was drunk and he wasn't thinking about what he was doing. He told her he knew exactly what he was doing because he had wanted to do it all of his life. She already knew that. She had figured he had a crush on her when she got a mystery Valentines Day card back in high school. The writing was identical to Jackson's, but she never told him she knew it was him who sent it. She didn't want to embarrasses him. But this time it was different, he was saying everything he felt to her instead of in a card.
Hayley simply lead him to the couch, pressed play on the remote and left him to watch Bridget Jones. She got a blanket from her room and came back to find him fast asleep. She smiled and covered him with the blanket before taking herself to bed. Since then, Hayley has never given Jackson the chance to get close enough to kiss her again. It sounds unfair, but she is doing this for him.
Meanwhile on the other side of New York, Elijah walks out of his office with Freya Voelkel. She may be the oldest on his team, but she is definitely one of the best. He hired her right after he hired Klaus and he was over the moon when he saw just how good she was. He had been told that if he wanted a computer genius that she was what he was looking for, but he had never seen her in action. He had seen Klaus in action when he hired him and he knew what skills Klaus had, with Freya he knew nothing. But she soon impressed him on the first operation together.
After a good few hours of going over every bit of CCTV they have so far from the bank together, they still have nothing. Elijah hadn't expected to find anything anyway. If he has learnt one thing during his years leading Storm, it is that nothing is ever as easy as it seems. And the thought of them leaving behind any clues on the CCTV footage was just far too easy.
Elijah opens the door for Freya and she mutters a 'thank you' as she passes him.
"Got anything special planned for tonight, sir?" Freya asks, trying to take his mind off the case.
"No, unfortunately not. What about you?" Elijah returns the question.
Freya smiles. "Me and Keelin are going to the cinemas."
Elijah has only met Keelin once, but he likes her. Elijah likes to protect his team, whether it be from an old enemy in the field, or something in their personal lives. He can see how much Keelin loves Freya by the way he has seen her look at her, therefore Keelin is a good person in his eyes.
"That sounds nice" Elijah comments.
"We've been together for three years tomorrow. I can't believe it" Freya says as they start to descend the stairs leading to the main exit.
"Yes, it does seem like only yesterday that you came into the office, dying to tell us all of your filthy shenanigans the night before" Elijah jokes and Freya laughs.
"I did only plan for her to be a one night stand, but things changed" Freya says, smiling.
Elijah smiles too.
"I'm surprised you found someone who will put up with all of the working away we do and all of the overtime" Elijah says.
"As am I. I never planned to settle down because I knew what being part of Storm meant, but I'm glad I found Keelin" Freya admits. "Do you think you will ever settle down?"
Elijah sighs and opens the main door for Freya and they walk into the underground parking lot.
He isn't sure how to answer her. He has always imagined that by his age he would be married, possibly have a child, or have one on the way. But here he is at thirty-one with none of that. He has the occasional date whenever he has time, but recently he hasn't found it in him to put in the effort.
He will find someone when the time is right.
"Hopefully. If I ever have the time" he replies finally.
"I hope you find someone, you're a real catch when you aren't ordering us about" Freya jokes.
Elijah chuckles and stops next to his car. Freya continues walking to her car, it is parked three spaces away from Elijah.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Elijah" Freya calls to him.
"Have a good night, Freya" He calls back.
Elijah unlocks his Audi and climbs into the drivers seat. He pulls his black tie slack around his neck and opens the top button of his shirt. It has been another rough day and tomorrow won't be any better from what The Company told him today. The Company being the association he works for. Tomorrow he will have to sit through two hour long meetings, one with the leader of The Company himself, Vincent Griffin, and then one with one of the less elite teams hired by The Company.
Then he will no doubt have to go through all of the evidence with Marcel even though they won't find anything. No matter how hard they look, Elijah knows they won't find anything. And there is still one last set of CCTV footage that needs to be reviewed tomorrow as well. Tomorrow will be another hard day, but as always he will get through it.
Elijah starts the car engine as Freya drives past him towards the exit in her two door BMW M3. Suddenly, his dashboard lights up and Marcel's name flashes on the dashboard. Elijah debates on whether he should answer the call or not, but considering it could be something important towards the case, he answers.
"Gerard?" Elijah answers.
"Hey, sir. So, just phoning to let you know we sent all the evidence in so we can go through it tomorrow" Marcel says.
"Thank you, that's good to know" Elijah says, driving towards the exit.
"And also me and Klaus are going out tonight, we wanted to know if you're in" Marcel says.
Elijah rolls his eyes, it's typical that they would want to go out drinking on a weekday.
"As you both know, I can not afford to be out drinking on a weekday" Elijah says.
"Come on, Elijah, just one beer" Marcel says.
Elijah stops at the parking lot door and waits for it to open for him. It soon does and he drives straight out, making a right into the road.
"Have fun tonight" Elijah says, about to end the call.
"We were going to go out and discuss the case" Marcel quickly says. "We think we know what bank they might hit next, that's if they stay in town, which we think they will."
Elijah sighs. He has been won over.
"Where should I meet you?" Elijah asks, hearing Marcel and Klaus high five on the other side of the phone.
"Ceilo, we're going to have to get there soon though. Once that place is packed it takes ages to get in" Marcel says.
"Don't worry about it, I'll phone ahead and get us into the VIP lounge" Elijah says.
"The perks of the job ayy" Marcel says, Elijah can tell he is smiling.
"Indeed, Marcel. Also the perks of saving the club owner's life" he says.
Marcel laughs down the phone.
"I'll go and let you sort it out then. See you soon, boss" Marcel says and hangs up.
Elijah sighs and pulls his phone out of his pocket as he stops at a red light. He pulls up the number for Ceilo's owner and clicks call. The ringing sound echos through the car and he knows that this is a mistake. He knows what Marcel and Klaus are like, especially when they are together. They will drink the bar dry, whether they have work tomorrow or not.
Elijah knows he should let them go and just ask about their prediction on where the gang will next hit tomorrow, but he wants to know right now. He wants to be closer to catching the gang and if that means going out and having a few drinks with his team mates, then that is what he will do.