I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter. Well, here goes: I dont own anything, I just love the characters. Hope you don't mind.

2. Only fools and horses

"You know, it really wasn't like you to make a mistake with the contract. I'm beginning to think that maybe you were distracted." Stacie said, innocently taking a sip of her water.

Ash looked away, looking uncomfortable. "I don't know what you mean."

"And you never really did say exactly what happened that night. How exactly they convinced you to sign." She felt jealous. She and Ash had been good friends for longer than she could remember, he used to work with her dad in the old days. She told hersalf that she was just concerned for her friend and didn't like him keeping things from her. Or from the rest of the gang. That must be it. "Did you have to work very, very hard" she said, finally turning her head and looking at him.

"Look, can we just concentrate on the matter in 'and?" he asked, turning redder by the second. He was ashamed of what he did that night. But who could blame him. It wasn't like he got any that often. It was torture, being so close to someone you want so much and not being able to do anything about it. But he used to do cons with her father and he watched her grow up. He was old enough to be her father. Still, he couldn't help himself. He'd fallen deeply for his friend. His colleague. His Stacie.

"Oh, struck a nerve, did I?" she asked and smirked, despite the conflicting feelings that were wizzing around inside her head.

"No ... no. I just think we should go watch the race, that's all." he looked back at her, trying his best to give her a stern glance so that she'd stop bombarding him with questions and not-so-well-concealed implications.

"Three Socks Morgan." she commented, shaking her head amusedly. She'd been told the story of how he got his nickname all through her childhood, but it wasn't until she was in her late teens that she understood it. And she'd never found out if it was just a myth or if it was in fact for real. She'd always wondered.

He winced and glanced over at her concentrating on the water in the plactic cup she held in her right hand. Of course, she noticed his look. She began to smile and so did he. He'd never been more proud of his nic than the moment she called him by it. He grinned mischievously and let her wonder. She hit him playfully on his forearm.

Suddenly, he spotted Suki and Petra, the mark's girls, a bit furter away. He gave them a tiny wave, just to see how she would react. She just continued smiling. He couldn't see her throat dry up or the sudden pounding at her temple.

***

Danny had decided to call a couple of the girls he'd interviewed and put them down gently by taking them all out for a drink together. He stood at a bar, in the middle of a crowd of eight women and was having the time of his life. Albert had taken his share of the winnings and gone to a casino. And he'd taken Billy with him, to teach him a few short cons. Ash had gone to visit June at the nursing home.

Stacie was the only one left at the hotel. She had put on some soft music and drawn a bath. But after half an hour her skin was starting to get wrinkly and she decided to get out of the water. She dried herself off and put on track bottoms and a comfortable top. Then she went out on the roof terrasse and stretched her long limbs for a while.

She could hear the door open and close downstairs, but didn't know who it was. She didn't think it would be Danny, he wouldn't have been able to get away from the air heads that fast. And Albert was probably sitting by the black jack table. She assumed it would be either Ash getting back or Billy having forgotten something at home.

Ash walked up the stairs a moment later and put a stop to her queries. "I'm back." he stated.

"How was she?" Stacie asked softly while continuing to bend over at the railing to stretch her legs.

"You know." he said wearily. "Every day is different." He did his best not to look straighly at her slender bent over form. Sometimes the urge to make her his was almost overwhelming. He looked away and walked over to the edge of the terrasse.

She placed both her feet firmly on the ground and turned to face him. "You just have to ask. Any of us. You know that, don't you." she told him quietly. She wasn't used to seing this melancholic side of him. She wanted him to be his boyish, winking, magical self.

He nodded soberly. "So what do you think of the new boy?" he asked to change the topic.

"He's got potential. He seems bright and he's enthusiastic." she stated. "What do you think?"

"He's a welcome addition and I think he'll prove to be an asset. We've just got to teach him a bit and he'll be fine. He seems eager to please." Ash answered.

He threw an arm around her shoulders as they both gazed out at the London landscape. They stood still for a minute without saying anything, just enjoying the view and each others silent company.

"So, what are you going to do with your winnings?" he asked her after a while.

"I think a bit will go towards my dream beach house. And as for the rest, I don't know yet. You?"

"I don't know either. I've been thinking of treating myself to a holiday at some point. But that's as far as I've got - thinking about it." he revealed.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked. The response came as a surprise to her and she looked astonished. She saw him in a whole new light, and it suited him.

"I was thinking of going up north for a week by the coast somewhere. Just me, the sea and a couple of seagulls. Walking by the coast, eating fish and chips and living without a computer or mobile phone for a week."

"I had you down as more of a city guy." she said laughingly. "I had no idea you were pining to roam the wilderness of the countryside."

"You thought I had ladies in every port and couldn't go a day without my laptop, did you?" he asked playfully. "Nah, I'm an old romantic, me." He sighed inwardly. Being a grifter was urban work and it was the work that made you hard. You couldn't do it if you were a softie. So he had built up this guard that very few were able to see past. But he had just given her a peak at what he was really like. He wanted her to know that he was more than Ash, the man who could get anything.

She laughed. "Oh, yeah? Do you think Paul's girls would agree?" she asked him. The jealous pang hit her stomach again, but she forced it away. He wasn't interested anyway. And she shouldn't be thinking about things like that if she wanted to go on working with him. And that she did.

He grinned knowingly at her and said "That's for me to know ..."

"Only fools and horses, eh?" she said, swatting his arm playfully.

"Something like that." he said hugging her closer to his side as he looked out over the skyscrapers that were blocking the horizon. "Something like that, yes."