Sophia tightened her pigtails. "So how long does it take for my mom to resort to the sure-fire way?"

"Oh, it'll only take until halfway through this scene. But she doesn't have to for long, so don't worry." Roxie drew some boats and a rough outline of a cartoony dock. "There. The lovely ladies hang out in the docks."

Before Sophia could even ask, she added, "And yes, that's a euphemism."

1823, The Docks in Montreuil-sur-Mer

Isabella wandered out to the seediest part of town. The black market was easy to sell to and buy from around here, and while it scared her, she knew that she had to sell some of her possessions in order to keep her and her daughter alive.

As she passed by the docks, she saw three drunken sailors leaving their ships, with name tags clearly labeled Carl, Irving, and Albert.

"I smell women, smell 'em in the air. Think I'll drop my anchor in that harbor over there," the sailor named Carl said, pointing over at the lovely ladies for sale.

"Lovely ladies, smell 'em through the smoke. Seven days at sea can make you hungry for a poke," agreed the sailor called Irving.

The sailor named Albert elbowed his companions. "Even stokers need a little stoke!"

Isabella looked over at what they intended to buy, and hoped that she wouldn't soon be forced to join their numbers.

The girls sat on barrels, advertising themselves and each other, wearing very little clothing so as to inform the customer exactly what he was buying.

"Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready for the call
Standing up or lying down
Or any way at all
Bargain prices up against the wall!"

As Isabella stared at the lovely ladies, an old woman came up to her, with a malicious glint in her eye.

"What pretty hair! What pretty locks you've got there. What luck you've got. It's worth a centime, my dear..." The old woman grabbed a chunk of it. "I'll take the lot!"

Frightened, Isabella cried out. "Don't touch me! Leave me alone!"

"Let's make a price. I'll give you all of ten francs. Just think of that..." the old woman said, still clinging to her.

"It pays a debt..." said Isabella thoughtfully.

"Just think of that!" the old woman repeated, beckoning to her.

Though Isabella hadn't been intending to sell her hair, she knew that ten francs was more money than she could hope to make from anything else she had. "What can I do? It pays a debt. Ten francs may save my poor Sophia!"

As the old woman took Isabella into an alleyway to cut her hair, she could hear the sailors comparing their lovely ladies.

"Lovely lady
Fastest on the street
Wasn't there three minutes
She was back upon her feet
Lovely ladies
Whatcha waiting for?
Doesn't take a lot of savvy
Just to be a whore
Come on lady
What's a lady for?"

She reemerged, with newly shorn hair, and tried begging other passers-by to take something she owned, while still watching the lovely ladies from afar. She could tell that the lovely ladies had noticed her, for their pimp was now looking towards her as well.

"Give me the dirt, who's that bit over there?" she heard him ask.

"A bit of skirt. She's the one sold her hair," a black-haired lovely lady told the pimp.

"She's got a kid, sends her all that she can," said a brunette lovely lady, who looked sort of like Adyson.

"I might have known, there is always some man," the pimp replied knowingly. He came over to Isabella and pulled her towards the ladies for sale. "Lovely lady, come along and join us! Lovely lady!"

But Isabella resisted, turning away in shame. She couldn't yet resign herself to this fate.

One of the lovely ladies, the first one whom Isabella had seen speaking to the pimp, came over to her, laying a kind hand on her shoulder. "Come on, dearie, why all the fuss? You're no grander than the rest of us. Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap. Join your sisters..."

"Make money in your sleep!" cried the other one who had spoken to the pimp, the girl who looked like Adyson. What a cruel irony that was.

A sailor walked by and beckoned to Isabella. She decided, right then and there, that it no longer mattered that she save her dignity. All that mattered now was that she saved her daughter.

Isabella stepped towards him and smiled.

"That's right dearie, let him have the lot," the black-haired lady encouraged.

"That's right dearie, show him what you've got!" the Adyson look-alike added.

After a few encounters, Isabella was firmly in the ranks of the lovely ladies, and getting quite a bit of business since she was still very beautiful, even in the ragged, tired state she was currently in. She didn't care anymore. The only thing she could focus on was earning enough for Sophia.

The other ladies were in situations that were just as precarious, if not more so. The lovely ladies were bound together in a sort of sisterhood, Isabella realized, and they had welcomed her in. They were all there to fight the same fight in this world, and so what if this was their profession? Life had driven them to it. They each had the same underlying thoughts as they tried to earn the lust of one more customer.

"Old men, young men, take 'em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every kind of scum
Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land
See them with their trousers off they're never quite as grand
All it takes is money in your hand!"

It was a sad way of living, even worse than that of the beggars around the factories. Each one of them still longed for a glimmer of true love and compassion, from somebody who could help them out.

"Lovely ladies
Going for a song
Got a lot of callers
But they never stay for long..."

Isabella called out to a tall man passing by, wearing a Captain's uniform. He might pay more than the average sailor...

"Come on, Captain,you can wear your shoes
Don't it make a change
To have a girl who can't refuse?"

As she went off into another dark corner to do her work, she thought about how far she had fallen into this twisted abyss. But she suffered it gladly for her daughter.

"Easy money
Lying on a bed
Just as well they never see
The hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!"

After giving the pimp his share of the pay, Isabella returned to her post on her barrel of salt underneath a lamppost, and sat in wait for the next customer. An older, cunning-looking gentleman made his way towards her with a walking stick in his hand. She recognized this man...his name was Django, and he was well-known in the town for being a drunkard and beating his wife.

"Here's something new. I think I'll give it a try."

Isabella groaned inwardly. He was coming right for her. She didn't exactly want to be beaten tonight, seeing as she was already feeling rather ill from general overwork.

"Come closer, you! I like to see what I buy," Django said, sidling up to her and grabbing onto her wrist."The usual price, for just one slice of your pie..."

Isabella struggled to free herself from his grasp. "I don't want you. No, no, m'sieur, let me go!"

Django simply grabbed her other wrist. "Is this a trick? I won't pay more!"

"No, not at all," Isabella yelped in fright.

"You've got some nerve, you little whore, you've got some gall!" Django said, beginning to twist her arm.

With no other way to free herself, Isabella resorted to biting his hand. He immediately let her go, and she fell back onto her barrel.

"I'll kill you, you bastard, try any of that!" Isabella cried savagely, trying desperately to protect herself before Django started to beat her with his walking stick. "Even a whore who has gone to the bad won't be had by a rat!"

He landed one blow on her back, knocking the air out of her and sending her sprawling to the ground, but soon the police arrived, and the docks turned into chaos.

Who were the officers on duty? None other than Inspector Candace Javert, and those same two constables from that fateful night long ago, who had mysteriously been transferred from Toulon. Isabella saw the police officers go straight to Django. Of course they would. Even a wife-beater was better than a lovely lady, in the eyes of the keepers of the law. Candace struck fear into the hearts of every townsperson, especially the colorful folk that populated this area, and tonight she was no different.

"Tell me quickly, what's the story
Who saw what and why and where?
Let him give a full description
Let him answer to Candace!
In this nest of whores and vipers
Let one speak who saw it all
Who laid hands on this good man here?
What's the substance of this brawl?"

Django leaned heavily on his walking stick, putting on an obvious show for the police.

"Candace, would you believe it, I was crossing from the park, when this prostitute attacked me..." He looked accusingly over at Isabella, then pointed sadly to the tiny bite mark she had left. "You can see she left her mark!"

Before Isabella could figure out what was happening, the constables had dragged her out into the open and put her on her knees in front of the Inspector. She saw Candace nod and shake Django's hand.

"She will answer for her actions
When you make a full report
You may rest assured, M'sieur,
That she will answer to the court."

But she had worked so hard just to earn the little she had! Jail would mean no money at all, and without money, who knew what would happen to Sophia?

"There's a child who sorely needs me! Please, M'sieur, she's but that high," Isabella pleaded, clasping her hands at Candace's feet. "Holy God, is there no mercy? If I go to jail she'll die!"

Candace looked down at her, and Isabella felt how she looked: the scum of the street. Isabella knew she would get no better than Candace's next response, no matter who the police officer was. They didn't care about a poor little child, dying of who-knew-what.

"I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let's have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears

'Honest work, just reward,
That's the way to please the Lord.' "

The constables began to tie her hands behind her back, when suddenly, the Mayor burst into the scene. Isabella had no idea why he was here, nor what he intended to do, but she knew that he was certainly a kinder man than Django, and therefore could probably be trusted in this situation.

"A moment of your time, Candace, I do believe this woman's tale," he said, putting a hand on the Inspector's shoulder.

Had heaven opened above her? He meant to save her! There was hope after all!

"But, M'sieur Mayor..." Candace protested, looking confused.

"You've done your duty, let her be. She needs a doctor, not a jail!" the Mayor continued.

Candace shook her head. "But, M'sieur Mayor!"

"Can this be?" Isabella cried, once again on her knees.

"Where will she end - this child without a friend?" he said, looking her in the eyes.

Even though she was absolutely exhausted, Isabella could see that he recognized her. Hopefully he remembered that she had once been his employee.

He knelt down to her level, and took her hand. With his answer, Isabella knew that he remembered exactly who she was, but didn't want to admit it. "I've seen your face before. Show me some way to help you. How have you come to grief in a place such as this?"

Isabella was nearly in tears. "M'sieur, don't mock me now, I pray. It's hard enough, I've lost my pride. You let your foreman send me away! Yes, you were there, and turned aside..."

She took his other hand and squeezed both of them, trying to convince him of her innocence. "I never did no wrong!"

"Is it true, what I've done?" she heard him mutter.

"My daughter's close to dying..." Isabella begged.

The Mayor looked up to the sky. "To an innocent soul?"

Isabella looked up at the sky with him. "If there's a God above..."

"Had I only known then..." he said, returning his gaze to her.

Isabella looked him straight in the eye, pleading with him to help her somehow. "He'd let me die instead."

The Mayor stood, and told the constables something Isabella could not hear. She was barely staying conscious...it had been a rather trying day.

What he said to Inspector Candace, though, Isabella heard.

"In His name, my task has just begun. I will see it done!" he cried, as the constables picked her up gently and started to carry her back into the better part of town.

"But M'sieur Mayor!" she heard Candace say again.

"I will see it done!" the Mayor said, apparently ignoring her.

"But M'sieur Mayor!" Candace exclaimed, trying to capture the Mayor's attention

"I will see it done!" the Mayor cried, and then everyone knew that the subject was closed.

Isabella knew that she and Sophia would be safe now. The last thing she heard before she fell asleep in the constable's arms were voices in the distance.

"Look out! It's a runaway cart!"

oOoOoOo

"Well, I need a bathroom break," Roxie said unceremoniously, getting up from the table and stretching.

"But what about the runaway cart?" Sophia pleaded as her cousin wandered off.

Roxie laughed. "Hold your horses, I'll be right back."

"Does it kill anyone?" Sophia asked. "I know there's a lot of dying in this show...so..." Sophia trailed off, looking back down at the beginnings of the book.

"More spoilers! Geez, Sophia, patience is a virtue!"

Sophia read over the section with Django again. "I think we've officially ruined any innocence and goodness our parents' friends may have had. And when I say parents' friends I mean my boyfriend's dad, Roxie. Why'd we make him...Bamatabois?" she asked, struggling with the long French name.

Roxie sighed from the bathroom. "It was convenient, okay? Sorry, I now realize how awkward that is..."

"You got that right."


A/N: This chapter was really hard for me to write. And I mean really hard. Especially since it's from only Isabella's POV, as opposed to what I did with At the End of the Day, which was more over-arching. Keeping the lovely ladies within the boundaries of the "T" rating was also a challenge for me...good thing there's a wealth of euphemisms.

An explanation for the sailors being Carl, Irving, and Albert, the three nerdiest guys on Phineas and Ferb: MTI sends a resource recording along with the scripts for their shows, which is basically a CD that MTI records of some random assortment of college students who need voiceover experience singing the show. (I don't say that in a mean way at all, in fact I intend to join their numbers before too long.) So anyway, the guys who play the sailors have an uncanny vocal resemblance to our three nerdy friends. Carl's is the most similar...it's scary how much the kid sounds like Carl.

Also, the pimp sounds like he's 12. XD