Gold moved as quickly as he could while also remaining silent, and when he reached the side of the warehouse, he ducked slightly to avoid the windows. With the shotgun gripped tightly in his hands he moved slowly along until he turned the corner and the door was in sight. He approached it silently and took the knob. He gently tried to turn it, but it was locked.

He decided he was going to have to try looking for a back door, but he was stopped by a bone-chilling noise that sent his heart to racing. It was a pained, guttural scream echoing from inside the warehouse. Silver? What were they doing to him? Gold's eyes widened and he shot to his feet, no longer concerned with being heard or seen. He aimed the shotgun directly at the door lock and squeezed the trigger. The buckshot ripped through the thin wooden door and he kicked it open.

What he saw when the door opened made his stomach turn. There was Silver, hanging by his wrists, with a Rocket wielding a blowtorch standing in front of him. Two more Rockets stood to the left. A puffy, red and white burn trailed from between Silver's collarbones down to the center of his chest.

Gold's eyebrows ran together, he cocked the gun, and he pointed it at the other two Rockets, not wanting to risk hitting Silver. "Get the hell away from him! Now!"

Silver's head raised and Gold heard his weakened voice say, "Gold?"

The Rocket holding the blowtorch smirked and lowered the weapon before turning to face Gold. He didn't move away from Silver, however, and instead stood behind the redhead, snaking one of his hands around to grasp Silver's neck. His other hand still held the blowtorch, so he raised it so that the burning tip was right next to Silver's face. He pushed the button on the back and the short flame shot out of the tip, causing Silver to flinch and move his face away slightly. Gold's teeth gritted and he had to stop himself from charging forward, the other two Rockets be damned.

The Rocket holding Silver continued to smirk as he said, "Shotguns are big, scary weapons, but they're not that great for precise aiming, are they?"

Gold knew that the Rocket was just trying to push his buttons, so he forced himself to keep a cool head and answered, "No, but I don't need to shoot you. Give it about two minutes and the police will be here to do that for me."

The smirk fell from the blue-eyed Rocket's face and he glanced at his two associates. Nervous expressions painted both of their faces, so Gold knew what they were thinking. The blue-eyed Rocket lowered the blowtorch and let it fall to the floor, seemingly having realized that he'd been had. He made some kind of hand signal toward the other two, and they both turned, heading toward what was presumably the back door.

Gold kept the gun trained on them until they were out of sight. When the blue-eyed Rocket took a few steps in the same direction, however, Gold fired a shot right at his feet, causing the Rocket to leap a foot in the air. The angry Rocket glared intensely at Gold as he cocked the weapon again.

Gold kept the gun pointed at the Rocket when he said, "The key to the cuffs."

The glare remained firmly on the Rocket's face as he fished the key out of his pocket and tossed it toward Gold. It landed at Gold's feet, and Gold said, "Now you and your buddies stay the hell away from him."

The blue-eyed Rocket's smirk returned to his face and he answered, "Don't get cocky."

He then turned to Silver and sneered, "Next time, lover boy won't be there to protect you."

Since the Rocket didn't seem to be getting the picture, Gold fired another shot, this time just past the man's head. The Rocket flinched and stumbled backwards, nearly losing his footing.

Gold cocked the gun again and took several steps closer to the Rocket, "I'm not fucking around! Stay away from him or I will kill you!"

The Rocket snarled, and he looked like he was about to respond when the sound of police sirens began to echo through the air. Gold smirked and said, "Run along, now."

After throwing one more glare in Gold's direction, the Rocket took off out of the door his buddies left through while Gold placed the shotgun down. He took the key and rushed to Silver's side before hastily unlocking the cuffs holding him. With his feet still bound, Silver was unable to stand properly and nearly toppled to the floor. Gold's arms gripping him about the shoulders stopped him, however, and the dark-haired man gently lowered Silver to the floor. After fumbling to untie the rope, Gold held out a hand and helped Silver to his feet.

Once he was steady, Silver said, "What the hell were you thinking? They could have shot you."

Gold grinned and said, "That's gratitude, for you."

He almost laughed when he saw Silver's cheeks go red. The redhead turned his face away and muttered, "Thanks, Gold."

Gold, strangely, found himself blushing as well, and he also turned his head as he stammered,"Y-Yeah. No problem."

An awkward silence fell between them, and it was only broken when a low-pitched, scratchy voice said, "Gold?"

Gold turned toward the voice and found a man he knew well standing in the door of the warehouse. He head greying hair and a bushy beard as well as a gold badge attached to his black police uniform. Gold nodded at him and said, "Sheriff."

The Sheriff took a few steps inside, took one look at Silver, and asked, "What happened here, son?"

Gold was more than happy for the distraction and walked outside with the Sheriff to give his full statement. Silver, after being given a jacket by one of the rookie officers, stood by, and only spoke when asked a direct question. When they were finally done, Silver looked like he was ready to collapse from exhaustion, and Gold wasn't too far off.

He placed a hand on Silver's shoulder and said, "Come on, Silver. You're staying with us tonight."

The shock that painted Silver's face in those few seconds nearly set Gold to laughing out loud. The redhead backed away a couple of steps and said, "N-No. I can't..."

Gold wasn't going to let him walk away, however, and took him by his left bicep before dragging him along, "You can and you will, because if you don't, my mom is going to ring my neck."

It wasn't a complete lie. His mom would scold him if he didn't at least invite Silver over, but he was far more concerned with the redhead's safety. The Rockets had escaped, and there was no guarantee that the police would catch them. He wasn't about to risk leaving Silver alone, just in case they came back. And Silver, it seemed, was too drained to argue, as he followed along without further protest.

Gold knocked on the front door of his house and called out, "It's me, Mom."

His mom came to the door and opened it quickly, a look of relief painting her face. She glanced at both men, but her gaze halted on Silver. Gold watched her eyes fall to the opening of the blue jacket, where the blow-torch burn was clearly visible. She held a hand out to him and said, "Come inside, dear. We'll get that burn taken care of."

Gold grinned at his mother's relenting hospitality, and followed her and Silver inside. She ordered Gold to pull out the sofa bed before rushing off to the kitchen and digging through the medicine cabinet. Gold did as he was told, and then glanced over at Silver, who looked more uncomfortable than he'd ever seen him look. Gold couldn't help but be amused at his expense, and as he was straightening up the bed, his mother came back into the living room. In one hand, she held burn heal, in the other was a bottle of aloe vera.

She looked at Silver and motioned over to the bed as she said, "Lie down, dear. This will only take a minute."

Silver glanced, briefly, in Gold's direction, as if asking for permission. Gold nodded, and Silver hesitantly did as he was told. As Gold's mother knelt down next to the bed, she looked at Gold and said, "Gold, go upstairs and bring him one of your button-up shirts. He'll need something to wear besides this jacket."

Silver's face went red again, and he shifted in the bed, obviously becoming more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. The redhead was clearly not accustomed to anyone being so kind to him. Gold couldn't stop himself from smiling again before he headed upstairs to find a shirt. He chose a black one, and when he came back down, he found his mom dabbing bits of aloe vera on Silver's burn. As Gold approached, he saw one of Silver's eyes twitch. He was clearly in a bit of pain, but he was desperately holding back from making this fact known.

Gold's mother finished what she was doing and stood, smiling down at Silver as she said, "We keep the aloe vera in the refrigerator, Silver, so if you need to use it again, that's where you'll find it."

Silver gave a nervous nod and said, "Th-Thanks, Ms..."

She giggled lightly, "Oh dear, no. Just call me Miranda."

He nodded awkwardly. "Thanks, Miranda."

Miranda then turned and walked past Gold, running a hand over his shoulder as she went and saying, "Don't stay up all night, young man. You have an early day tomorrow."

Gold nodded. "Good night, Mom."

As his mother headed toward the stairs, Gold approached Silver and tossed him the black shirt. Silver caught it and mumbled, "Thanks."

Moving slowly, Silver sat up and slid the jacket off of his arms. He turned and draped it over the back of the couch, and in those couple of seconds, Gold's eyes ran over the muscles on his back and arms, resting on his shoulders. Had they always been so broad?

Right as Silver turned back around, Gold realized he was staring too long and averted his eyes, turning instead to grab one of the chairs from the dining room table. He dragged it over beside the sofa bed and sat down. Silver buttoned the shirt up to the burn, leaving it uncovered, which was the smart thing to do. The last thing he needed was the fabric sticking to the burn.

Once he was done, he wound his fingers together and said, "I really shouldn't be here, Gold."

Gold crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, "Well, tough. I'm not letting you stay anywhere on your own tonight. Besides, if they're dumb enough to come back, the shotgun is back under the couch. You can just shoot them."

Gold saw the bafflement appear on Silver's face before he chuckled and said, "I can't believe you, of all people, are so comfortable with the idea of shooting someone."

Gold shrugged his shoulders. "I told you there's a lot you don't know about me."

Silver's lips curled into a half smile, "Well, then why don't you educate me?"

Gold raised an eyebrow. The last thing he'd expected was for Silver to start asking him questions about his past. But, if he really wanted to know, there was no reason Gold couldn't tell him.

He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees before saying, "My dad was in the military. He started teaching me how to use guns when I was a kid. After he died, I suppose I just kept learning, more out of habit than anything."

He glanced at Silver, and in the fleeting second that their eyes met, he could see more questions behind Silver's. He said nothing, however, and Gold felt compelled to ask him, "What about you? Guns don't seem to bother you much, either."

To Gold's surprise, Silver chuckled lightly and an amused grin painted his face. Gold grinned back and asked, "What? Am I missing something?"

Silver shook his head and leaned back against a couch cushion. "It's just obvious that I've never told you who my dad is."

His dad? Gold had never even thought to inquire about Silver's family. Silver now knew about his dad AND his mom, but Gold knew nothing about Silver's parents. Hoping he didn't come off sounding too eager, he asked, "Who's your dad?"

The discomfort he had seen on Silver's face earlier returned, and he almost regretted asking the question. Silver had been the one to bring it up, however. There were a few seconds of tense silence before Silver said, "Giovanni."

Gold's eyes widened, and his heart beat just a little bit faster. He almost wanted to ask if Silver was joking, but when he saw the serious look in his grey eyes, he knew he was serious. But, just to be certain, Gold asked, "The Giovanni?"

Silver's shoulders tensed, and he nodded. The discomfort was gone from his face now. In its place was shame. He was ashamed of his own parentage, something Gold had never experienced before. Although, the fact that Silver was raised by a man like Giovanni explained a lot. No wonder Silver turned to a life of crime and cruelty. It was probably all he'd known.

This raised another question, however, so Gold asked, "Is that why those Rockets were after you? Did you dad do something to piss off Team Rocket."

Silver chuckled again, this time sarcastically. "I wish it was something that simple."

The redhead sighed and crossed his arms before pausing temporarily, as if to gather his thoughts. He kept his eyes averted when he went on, "There's this room. It's a hidden room that my dad keeps a lot of really important stuff in. Some of it is simply things that have sentimental value for him, but some of the other things aren't so harmless."

The tension in the room escalated as Silver's discomfort rose even more. This was clearly something that he didn't like talking about, but Gold was far too curious to ask him to stop now.

The redhead cleared his throat and went on, "He told me about the place when he first disbanded Team Rocket. Told me where it was, and how it get into it. No one else was supposed to know about it, but he wanted me to know, I guess as some kind of legacy bullshit or something."

The pieces were starting to fall into place, so Gold asked, "But other Rockets found out about its existence."

Silver nodded. "Now they want to find out where it is so they can have what's inside."

Well that explained what the Rockets were after. Now Gold found himself curious as to the "why" of the whole situation, so he asked, "What's in there that's so important?"

Silver shook his head. "I'm not going to say, Gold. I'm sorry. You've already been put in danger because of that place. I'm not giving the Rockets any excuse to go after you."

Silver's words sent a wave of warmth through Gold's chest. Never, in all of his days, did he imagine Silver would actively try to protect him from anything. His concern was appreciated, though, so Gold wasn't about to question him about it. There was something Gold was going to question Silver about, however.

Trying not to sound overly-concerned, Gold asked, "So if they're after you now...are you going to be okay living on your own? What if they come after you later?"

He saw red patches appear on Silver's cheeks, and the redhead turned his face. All of Silver's reactions to the kindness he was being shown were really starting to bother Gold. It was incredibly tragic that he'd presumably been shown so little kindness in his life that he was shocked or embarrassed when he received it.

Silver turned back, and the red patches were gone when he answered, "Team Rocket doesn't have the resources to do what it pleases anymore. That's why they want that room so badly. If I had to guess, tonight was a test run to see what they could get away with in a small town. They got caught, so there's no way they're gonna come after me at home. Not only is Olivine a big city, but I live right across the street from the police station. They'd be idiots to try anything there. As long as I stay close to civilization, I should be okay."

Gold didn't like the use of the words "should be," but when you have a criminal organization after you (no matter how small) "should be" is probably the best you're going to get.

Glancing over at the clock, Gold groaned when he saw the time was 4:00 a.m. He had to be up in three hours, so he stood and brought the chair back over to the dining room table before returning to the living room. He went straight to the living room closet and plucked out a blanket along with two pillows. He handed all three of the items to Silver and said, "Well, try to get some sleep, Silver. My mom will try to keep it down when she gets up, but she's unbelievably clumsy."

Silver chuckled in response and began adjusting the pillows and blanket to his liking. "Good night, Gold."

Gold nodded. "Night, Silver."