Sarah kept telling herself it was just a few days, but she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for putting Mrs. S out like that. Nonetheless the next few days were spent packing everything Kira would need for a weekend. Looking at the full suitcase and including Kira's school backpack this is going to seem like overkill for one night, Sarah shrugged her shoulders throwing another pair of pants in with the rest.

Felix had rolled his eyes when Sarah had told him the plan. It was ridiculous, Sarah even knew that. Felix hadn't needed to vocalize it to get that message across. "Just call me if you need anything, Fee. I'll be around."

"Yea and when Vic gets you thrown in jail I'm sure you'll be the one calling me?"

"Just. If you need to get a hold of me, just—do it Fee alright?"

Felix slammed his fist down on the table top, "Sarah! I'll know where you are! I won't have any problem! What happens when you don't show up Friday morning?"

"Easy, Kira goes to school, no worries."

"And after school? Mrs. S is going to be banging down my door."

Throwing her hands into the air, Sarah hesitated and finally rested them back on her head, "Fee, what can I do? This whole this is so screwed up. Just avoid her for a few days, yeah?"

Leaning against the countertop Felix subsided, "A few days, then you get your ass back here." He smiled and walked over to Sarah, "Just remember if it's between you and Vic, you throw him to the dogs before you let yourself get pinched."

"Yeah, yeah." Sarah embraced her foster brother and it would be the last time for nearly a year.

Sarah and Vic sat on Flight 354 to Columbia, South Carolina. Vic was preoccupied with a little bottle of gin that he got from one of the flight attendants. He was attempting to make a martini using an olive taken from an inflight salad. After a few moments Vic turned to Sarah and smiled. His teeth glistened contrasting his skin tone as the alcohol swished back and forth in the cheap plastic cup designated for soda. The week old olive was skewered floating densely at the bottom. Sarah stared blankly for a moment, then took the cup out of Vic's hands and drank the entire martini like a shot.

"Hey!" Vic mocked a face of hurt, sticking out his lower lip.

"What are you five? Make me another one!"

Vic bowed his head gently flipping his hand at her palm side up, "Yes ma'am."

Sarah smiled and leaned her head back against the headrest. She could feel the cool scorch of gin creeping down the back of her throat. Waiting for the alcohol to enter her bloodstream, Sarah couldn't help but think back to Kira.

"Sorry, Kira wanted a few outfits for the night and packed an extra bag." Luckily Kira was out of earshot so she wouldn't contradict the story. Sarah smiled apologetically as Mrs. S held the same expression on her face as Kira had earlier, a mix of confusion and suspicion. After moment Mrs. S's face relaxed and shrugged.

"So you'll be back tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Bold faced lie. Sarah walked past Mrs. S, towards Kira giving her a reason to hide her face, "Might be a bit later than last time."

"About when then?"

Sarah let out a breath of air through the gaps in her teeth, it sounded more exasperated than annoyed, "I probably won't be back before school, could you send her?"

"Sure. Will you be picking her up?"

There was a pause, a stoppage in time. Sarah leaned down and kissed Kira on the top of her head as she was coloring a picture of a giraffe on a prairie. "I'll call you when I'm back. If I don't call I won't be able to." Another pause.

"Then I'll be picking her up too I guess." Mrs. S crossed her arms. Lips curling down into a frown and it was Sarah's cue to leave.

Sarah kneeled down next to Kira coloring at the table, "Bye monkey."

"Bye Mommy. See you tomorrow."

Sarah froze, without another word she got up and walked out the front door. She could feel Mrs. S's presence behind her as she reached the porch. Turning around, "Siobhan? I'll be back as early as I can."

Mrs. S tiled her head to the side slowly squinted her eyes and then let it go.

And that was that. Now Sarah was sitting thousands of feet above sea level next to the one man that got her into this mess, but also one of the only people who cared enough to dig her out. She guessed that Vic had been growing on her from the start. From the night she lit the gasoline too quickly and he had to save her from being burned alive.

The first twenty four hours of Myrtle Beach went smoothly. Touching down at four in the afternoon, Vic and Sarah were initiated in time to start slinging the dope by nightfall. By three in the morning Vic and Sarah had sold a few ounces between them. Once they returned the profit and remaining cocaine, Pouchy's supplier gave them a nod and indicated where to meet to pick up Friday night's product. Sarah and Vic headed back to the apartment Pouchy had leased for his sellers and Sarah was asleep before she hit the pillow.

Morning came and sliver of light cut into the room as the heavy drapes swung slowly from side to side. Blinking back the light Sarah flipped over and found Vic under the covers next to her. Vic had actually taken the time to get under the covers as Sarah found herself fully dressed lying on top of the cheap polyester comforter.

Swinging her legs down Sarah patted her thigh looking for her phone. It wasn't there. Launching to her feet, Sarah hit every pocket on her jeans quickly shooting her eyes around to every surface of the room. Then she remembered the vibrations the phone had given off in the middle of the night. She had woken up momentarily, thrown it on the ground and went back to sleep.

Kneeling down, the phone had made a perfectly executed bounce to land safely tucked away in the farthest corner under the bed. Shite. Stretching out and grabbing the phone, Sarah read the front of the screen. 2 missed calls. 2 new voicemails.

Sitting down the edge of the bed, Sarah looked at the clock. It was 12:30. She knew exactly who these voicemails were from.

"Sarah, I sent Kira off to school like you asked. Give me a call to confirm you're picking her up. Thanks." A twinge of guilt shot through her stomach. Mrs. S actually said thanks. There was a level of trust the two of them had and Sarah was taking advantage of that, it was attempted arson on any bridge they created over the past few weeks.

The second message was Felix, "It's Felix. Mrs. S just called. She seemed perturbed in her usual sense. Don't screw this up, I told her I didn't know anything."

Good 'ole Felix. Coming through in a pinch. He bitched about having to do this sure, but he would always have Sarah's back and Sarah hoped it was obvious that the reverse was also true.

Throwing the phone on the night table Sarah flung her head back down on the bed. Vic flinched, rotated slightly and then went back to sleep. Seeing the phone out the corner of her eye, Sarah wondered if she would have to leave her phone in the apartment that night. Don't want excess calls to disturb the cliental.

Sarah did end up taking her phone along, but she had to shut it off after an hour or so. By dinner time, Mrs. S had called twice more and Felix rang once. Sending the first two to voicemail, Sarah elected to pick up the third.

"Fee, what's up? Kinda busy."

"Whats up? Sarah Mrs. S is losing her mind. What do you want me to say to her?"

Sarah pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead slowly working it down deep into her left brow, "Well I guess she's going to be freaking out for a few days. Just keep her calm."

"And how would you expect me to do that?"

"Shite Fee can you just figure it out. You don't know where I am, I'm sure she'll be back soon, See! It's not that compli-." Sarah heard a distinct click on the other end of the line. Sarah rolled her eyes, pocketed the phone and continued looking for customers.

"You know I have to tell you two, you've sold more dope in two days that most people did all last week."

Pouchy's thug didn't look like your standard dope slinger. He wore a suit every night and collected the cash by sliding it gently into a gold wallet clip. He was a few inches taller than Sarah and with no visible tattoos assimilated nicely into the crowds surrounding all the clubs and restaurants.

Vic smiled at the compliment handing the thug the remaining crumpled twenty dollar bills rattling around in his pocket. Sarah didn't know what to say so she repeated the same thing she said the night before, "Thanks, see ya tomorrow night."

Grabbing Vic by the arm Sarah dragged him away. After a few feet she heard the thug yell back at them, "We'll have to upgrade you two tomorrow, see how that goes."

Joy. Sarah ignored the comment and went back to the apartment with Vic. It was Saturday at 2 am. She was just over 18 hours late to pick up Kira and she wasn't going back to Toronto for at least another 24 hours. The calculations added to her guilty conscience as they walked home and the five new voice mails only compiled onto that guilt.

"Sarah is would be nice to hear from you. Kira's fine—"

Next.

"Kira is wondering where you are—"

Next.

"Where the hell are you Sarah. You're her mother." It wasn't angry . . . yet. Just exasperated.

Next.

"Mommy. Mrs. S said I could use the phone to call you. When are you coming back?" Sarah's ear was glued to the phone. Every fiber in her body was telling her to delete the message and continue onto the last, but she couldn't, "Today Mrs. S and I went to the zoo in the afternoon and I drew a picture of us. You weren't there so I just added you. I love you Mommy."

Vic stumbled out of the bathroom as Sarah felt a tear wet on the side of her cheek. Quickly wiping it away, Sarah tossed the phone onto the night stand completely forgetting about the fifth and final message.

Kicking off his shoes, Vic fell onto the bed allowing his body to bounce, "So that was pretty cool."

Regaining her composure, Sarah could feel the impression his body made weighing down the bed. Coughing, making sure her voice didn't crack she responded, "What was cool, Vic?"

"That guy telling us we're good. Never thought I would be good at slinging dope in a foreign country."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "It's not Nigeria, Vic. It's the East Coast."

Dropping his playful tone, "I know that. Just—" He cut himself off and let silence hang in the air.

"Just what?"

Feeling the impressions shift slightly on the bed, Sarah felt Vic sitting up, "Just—just we make a good team, that's all." Sarah felt a hand rest on her shoulder and run slowly down the length of her back. The chill of his touch caused her back to arc towards him. Spinning around on the bed, Sarah tore her eyes away from her guilt charged phone. Vic let his hand flow lightly over her shoulders, pushing his hand flush to the side of her neck as it followed the line of Sarah's jaw to the tip of her chin. "We're good together, you and me."

Dropping his hand down to the bed, Vic smiled. Sarah couldn't help but return the expression.

Vic shrugged, "And tomorrow you'll be on a plane back to Toronto and Kira can have her mom back."

The words had barely reverberated in the back of Sarah's skull before she found herself on top of Vic running her hands through the folds of his clothes. Moving to his face she could feel the stubble on her cheek as she kissed him deeply.

It was the simple phrasing that had struck home. This entire time Sarah wondered who Vic was doing all of this for. Did Vic do it for Sarah or for himself trying to get something out of it? But it wasn't either of those. This was so Kira can have her mom back. It was simple, easy and this whole time this low life career criminal working for a guy named Pouchy found himself doing everything for Sarah's daughter. He didn't love that little girl true, but he loved Sarah and everything Sarah loved was a part of that.

Sarah didn't have any trouble finding her way under the covers that night as Vic's naked body was pressed tightly against hers. Sarah fell asleep with three distinct thoughts. One, Vic lying next to her. Two, Saturday night was her last night in South Carolina. And three, how Mrs. S was going to kill her when she got back Sunday night.