Author's Disclaimer: I don't anything belonging to Burst Angel. They belong to studio Gonzo and all the people with the money! :P
Author's Note: I like Maria usually, but in my a/u side, I'm finding I like and dislike her more and more. Love her in the series; here I've kinda turned her into my own Helena Peabody (ala season 2 of The L Word lol). ~~~ indicates a memory. Dedicated to my wifey, legal or not that's what I'm calling her.
"Working the Grind"
Chapter ten "Facing the Truth"
Meg slowly walked into the lobby of the apartment building, her boots clipping a slow and steady pace. She was moving so slowly the clocks of her boot heels almost sounded like the steady beats of a clock's pendulum. Tok…..tok…TOK…. TOK….
Meg stared at the up and down button for the elevator as if she didn't know what it signified. Finally, her thumb jabbed the up button. She listened to the cogs of the lift groaning down to floor level. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to go into the studio she shared with Jo…Jo's apartment. Not hers. Meg bit her lip, feeling tears prick her eyes. What Maria had said was very new and a little disturbing….
~~~Maria had spoken in low tones and Meg felt her heart sinking every moment. "Jo and I go a long way back. I knew her the first day Sei scraped her up off the street for Bai Lan. I trained her myself."
"Trained her? I don't… Jo said she met Sei at a conference in Tokyo," Meg stammered. Her heart hammered a quick beat, and she felt faint. "What's Bai Lan?"
"I'm sure you've heard of their activities in the newspapers. It is a very old….syndicate, Meg." Maria smiled and shook her head. "And as for Sei, she met Jo in Chicago when she adopted her. She used to live at a Catholic orphanage."
Meg's eyes widened. Jo and Sei were legally related? "I didn't…why wouldn't she?..."
Maria smiled widely, her teeth very long. In Meg's confused angst-ridden mind, she was startled, but didn't note the predatory gleam in those pearly whites. "Because she didn't want you to know. Jo knows Sei more than casually. And she was her best gun. I know because I was there. We shared….a lot of things."
"Things? What do you…" Meg blurted. The implications for intimate knowledge was a lance to the chest. Maria stroked her red hair. Meg shivered.
"Jo is more dangerous than you think. She can't suppress her violent nature for very long. I'm sorry to tell you, Meg, but sooner or later she would have lashed out at you. I couldn't…."
"I have to go home. I have to see Jo!" Meg exclaimed. She shied from Maria's fingers on her cheek and pushed from the table, the liquid in the glasses sloshing. Maria watched her impassively jump to her feet.
"Just be careful, Meg. That's all that I want," she said. Meg cast her a confused look, jerked her purse string over her shoulder and was running for the restaurant door. Out on the street, she jerked left then right and beat a hasty beat toward the nearest subway station. She had to get home and figure all this out…sure Jo was mad Maria wanted to spend more time with her, it just couldn't be true what Maria had said!
On the clanking subway train to the stop nearest their apartment, Meg faltered, her heart sinking and her mind descending to a dark place. What if what Maria said was true? Jo knew her already, hurt people in a gang….a gang! It was unfathomable to think of but again….. Jo's eyes were always sharp to anyone else that walked opposite them, and they lived in a major city. She could remember Jo staring down men and women who even glanced in their way; her red eyes were intense. A fraction of her gaze could make a burly biker blush and look away. She was that frightening sometimes…. ~~~
Now Meg stopped outside Jo's door and stopped. She almost couldn't see, and her hand reached out and scraped the wood of the front door. Sighing, her vision almost receding, Meg took her key out and unlocked the door.
It was pitch dark inside. Only the light above the oven hood was on. Meg looked around as the door closed shut behind her. She couldn't remember pushing it closed. Stepping up from the entryway, Meg heard a soft 'shink shink' noise. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom and she saw a bare foot behind the sofa. Meg advanced slowly, her boots making hard clips on the tiled floor. When she cleared the wide end of the sofa, she saw Jo sitting on the floor, her legs spread. A box of cleaning tools lay between her knees, and in her hands….was a gleaming hand gun. Meg wasn't gun-savvy to recognize a desert eagle when she saw one but it looked big and it looked mean.
Jo's red eyes were startled; she looked comfortable cleaning a big-ass hand gun, but her expression said 'You weren't supposed to see this!' For what seemed an eternity the two stared at each other. Finally Jo's lips curved to a low smile.
"You're still wearing your boots," she said. Meg looked down on instinct and noted the dirt she had tracked in from outside. She flushed, then angrily retorted back the first thing on her mind.
"Maria told me you were in a gang….is that true?" she screamed. Jo jerked back, her eyes no longer glazed. She looked to be waking up. And she didn't like what she was hearing.
"Meg…." She said. Meg kicked the iron box away; it banged her right knee as it flew off and took orbit across the tiles. "Meg!"
"So what's that gun for?" Meg snapped. She paused and kept a foot's distance between them. Jo slowly laid the first desert eagle on the tiles. The tribal design on it gleamed. She rose to her bare feet and stood opposite Meg; her feet were bare and she wore loose black shorts and a white tank top. Her tattoo gleamed in the dim lighting. Jo gestured with one hand; the other desert eagle was extended toward Meg as if in offering.
"I don't….I…" Jo was at a loss for words in more ways than one. Her red eyes were wide, her silver hair fell over her brow and her long fingers held out her prized weapon. It was almost like she was offering Meg her protection, or handing her weapon over permanently. It was obvious she was probably not expecting Meg to catch her like this. And she had no idea what to do. "It's….. I…"
"Don't give me that," Meg retorted. She grabbed the pommel of the extended weapon and tossed it. Jo winced; it hit the sofa cushions and clattered on the tiles. Meg shouldn't have done that. It wasn't loaded at the time, but still!... Jo reached for Meg as she paced back and forth. "So you were in a gang…..what the hell is Bai Lan and why haven't I heard of it?"
Jo's eyes blinked. "It was just….my job…..yes it was crime-related… but…"
"We'll get back to that," Meg interrupted. Jo's mouth hung open. She watched helplessly as Meg ran a hand through her long hair and swept her mane from her shoulders. Her boots clipped hard and Jo stared down at the dirty footwear; dirt and random bits of debris from outside littered the tiles. She opened her mouth to speak but Meg ran right over her. "Were you with Maria?"
Jo's mouth actually hung open a few inches as she stared at Meg. Her red eyes were envisioning Maria lying motionless in a street, in a plane crash, dismembered limb from limb. "I, uh…."
"Shut up!" Meg's palm cracked against Jo's face suddenly. Jo was blinking rapidly to keep pace with the lights that resounded throughout her brain and the heat that flooded her cheek. Jo stumbled back as the pain whammed her a second or two later. "Just tell me!"
"I was… I…. YES!" Jo hopped away from an advancing Meg and got over the top of the sofa as she made for her again. "I was but I don't even like her!"
It really was the truth, Maria had been a weapons teacher and a time or two fuck, but that was the extent of their camaraderie. Jo could remember Maria laughing at her the first time she held a gun.
"What have you been doing your whole life, girl?" she'd barked. Jo had glared at her under her silver bangs and tossed her hair.
"Waiting to get out," she'd growled.
Right now that memory hit smoke as Jo flipped on her back over the back of the sofa again when Meg ran around to the front to meet her. "So you did sleep with her! When were you gonna tell me? SHE had to!"
Furious tears pricked Meg's eyes and half-blinded her as she tore after Jo. Jo, for her part, deflected Meg the best she could without hurting her. But she had to try and keep Meg's fists away from her and avoid getting hurt herself!
"I'm sorry, Meg…. I thought you wouldn't need to know!" Jo caught Meg's fists when she struck out at her again. She kissed the top of Meg's head but Meg howled, flailing her neck. Her red hair whipped Jo in the face. "I didn't know she was going to try and make you her friend!"
"Are you still in with them? Is Sei one of them too?" Meg asked. Her blue eyes burned into Jo's orbs. The kind older woman smiled in her memory seated next to her in her luxury car. The warmth and sincerity she had seen in the Chinese woman's eyes and smile couldn't be faked. To imagine she was a criminal of some kind!... It seemed unfathomable. Jo wrestled with Meg's wrists and they went over the top of the sofa again. "Ow, get off me, Jo!"
Jo grunted as they wrestled for supremacy on top of the cushions and then fell onto the tiles. HARD. And it hurt like hell. Meg's hip hit the coffee table on the way down, pushing it out of its usual setting. Jo's quilt got tangled around one of her legs and she grunted as Meg fought back. "Sei is my friend…. And she would never hurt you, Meg. You have to believe me on that!"
Meg got both of her arms pinned up above her head and she grimaced when she realized she didn't have much room to move. "Get off me! I'm warning you, Jo!"
Jo didn't answer. She wanted to lean down and gently kiss Meg's pain away, but the fury in her girlfriend's eyes told her that might not be a good idea. Meg was like to bite her lips off at this moment! So Jo just leaned down, resting her silver head on Meg's breasts. She felt Meg stiffen and go silent for a moment, and Jo relished the brief second of sanity. She might not get to feel those glorious orbs for a long while!
She was right, too. When Jo lifted her head, Meg's eyes were filled with tears. She gestured with her wrists and Jo slowly let her hands go. Meg wasn't trying to hit her so she climbed off and hunkered down beside the red head. Meg sat up, rubbing her sore hip and scrubbed her eyes with a wrist. Jo's wrists hung between her knees and she stared at her. Meg glared and knelt up.
"You're staying out here tonight. Don't even try and get into our bed," she said lowly. Jo blinked at her like a worried dog.
"Huh?" she said smartly. Meg stalked off to the screened in area that housed the low bed they shared. Jo made to follow her but Meg pushed against Jo's sternum and held her back.
"No! You're on the couch. Til I….figure this out," she muttered. If there was a door, she would have slammed it. Jo stared as she tore a sheet off the bed and slung it over the partition opening of the screens leading to the bed. She sighed as she heard Meg sniffling.
Jo wanted the night to be over so she could put her life back in order. She felt like someone picked up her world on a board and tilted it to the side. She sat on the couch, staring at her desert eagle on the tiles. She stared up at the blank tv screen, but didn't dare turn it on. "Drill Killer" was inside the dvd player and if she didn't want to piss Meg off any more with the shrill screams of some bitch getting skewered with a power tool.
Well, maybe on a low volume… When Jo turned the power button on the dvd player, the maniacal killer filled the screen. Unfortunately, the volume was already up loud and a blistering scream filled the studio. Jo leapt for the remote but not before Meg screamed abuse.
"TURN THAT DOWN!"
Jo grimaced and hit the mute button.
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The next day, Jo put on her cadet uniform mechanically. Meg had already left the studio and she didn't know where she'd gone. She was sure she could ask Kyohei; or get it out of him physically. He really was kind of a wimp. Jo sighed. It really wasn't his fault that all this was happening. Maybe he could keep Meg company and calm her down or something….
The day of learning at the police class couldn't go by fast enough. Jo was ready to kick some ass and if some stupid men in her class didn't watch their mouths, they were going not HAVE any mouths anymore; or lips for grinning. Jo fixed her deadly stare at Arnold Schwartzejaw as he flirted with one of the straight girls. Her pencil looped round circles in the margin of her notebook that look remarkably like Meg's curves. Jo sighed.
Meg hadn't answered any of her texts all day. Whenever the teacher turned her back, Jo eased her phone out and fired off text after text. Her phone was on silent, not even on vibrate, so she would have still known if Meg had answered. She watched the screen like a hawk. Sighing, she covered the phone with her notebook.
"Traffic violation is a 10-46…. Dead carcass in the road is a 10-56…" the teacher scrawled on the dry erase board. Jo blinked at 'dead carcass' and wrote 'road kill' in her notebook.
'Frickin' wish Maria were road kill…' she thought.
Jo looked up barely when the teacher tossed a book right in front of her hand. She wished she had that good aim. It was close but nowhere near hitting her digits. "Carpenter! What did I just say?"
"Road kill," Jo muttered. The teacher sniffed.
"You are in serious trouble if you think you're going to pass your finals with rubbish like that!" she sneered. Jo wanted to laugh. Did she really just say 'rubbish?'
She eased her phone back out from under the notebook and scanned her inbox. Nothing yet. Nothing at all.
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Meg looked around the dingy office, blinking at the dust motes dancing in the fluorescent lights. Leo's office was a real mess. Yeah he was a guy and yeah this was to be expected….but really, didn't the force have a janitor that cleaned up readily? She wiped her sleeve against the desk and got a layer of grey dust on the blue fabric of her sweater. Meg made room to make a facial expression and grimaced. She patted the dust off and watched it fly off into the breeze the overhead fan made. Give her a break.
Leo opened the door and came in with two paper cups of coffee. He bumped the door closed with his hip. "How you holding up, girl?" he asked.
Meg forced a smile and accepted one of the paper cups. "Okay, I guess. Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Cause you invaded my office today. You're brave for coming in with Jo so close. Considerin' yer both at odds right now," Leo sat on the edge of his desk and straightened his tie. "So Maria told you."
Meg stiffened and her fingers tightened on the paper cup. "Leo, I gotta know…is it true? Was Jo in….Bai Lan?"
Bai Lan was an ancient syndicate from the time of emperors but the term was still brand new to the redhead. Leo's brown eyes softened and he pushed his glasses up onto his nose. "Meg, you should know that Jo would never hurt you. She's a pistol, that's true, primed and ready. But I've never seen that look in her eyes ever since the time I met her."
Meg smiled when Leo chucked her chin with a large finger. "Thanks, Leo….but still, you think she'd tell me. She and Maria were playing like they had never met a day in their life but they were both lying to me."
Leo's eyes darkened and he sipped his coffee. Black and cold. Yech. "Just talk to her, Meg. Don't do anything rash. And be careful around Maria. She's still in pretty deep."
Meg shivered and sipped her cold coffee. Now that Maria had outed herself, she wasn't so sure she wanted to see her…at least not right now.
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"Jo. To what do I owe the honor?" Sei asked. She was half clad in a black silk robe that lay open against her stomach. Her awesomely huge breasts half showed through the folds. Jo didn't even look twice as she glowered at the Bai Lan head dragon. She ignored the little old lady polishing Sei's nails and leaned down toward the beautiful woman.
"Your girl's gone too far. Did you tell Maria to sabotage my life?" Jo growled. Sei smiled serenely and waved her free hand. Clear polish decorated her long nails. The small old woman bowed and backed away. Sei stood up and her robe fell open against her flat stomach. Any letch or true appreciator of the female form would have gotten a free show as Sei's robe opened completely. It wasn't that Sei was trying to seduce Jo again; she was just too comfortable around her. She needn't have worried though. Jo didn't even look once.
"Jo, you know that I only want the best for you. It's not like I can control everything Maria thinks of. You know this," she stated slowly. Jo's fists clenched. Sei reached up with smooth pale hands and cupped the girl's cheeks. Jo calmed slightly without meaning to or wanting to. She turned her cheek away and pushed Sei's hands away.
"You have to control her. She is under contract with you!" Jo protested. Then a silver head peeped into the room and fire burned in Jo's eyes. Maria turned her head and looked genuinely surprised for one second.
"YOU!"
Sei's eyes flashed with worry as Jo all but flew at Maria. She had barely enough time to see the slow grin that spread across Maria's lips when Jo crashed into her. "Jo, stop!"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE?" Jo bellowed. Hard smacks echoed across the room as she and Maria leapt around and traded blows. Sei rushed forward, robe parting like the Red Sea. The little old lady clutched her side when she made to get between the blows.
"Maria, Jo, stop!"
"No, Miss Sei, you no get between that!"
Jo had a stranglehold on Maria, both fists clenched around that slender white throat. Maria didn't seem unfazed as Jo's fists went up and down, trying to close over her hyoid bone and close her trachea. Maria arched her leg up and around artfully under Jo and managed to whap her in the back of the head. It would have been an awesome move to see were this an action movie. In real life, it was impossible to fathom that it was physically possible. Sei's mouth opened seeing it and Jo went down like a bag of bricks. Maria flowed like water on top of her and the struggle went in her favor. Jo's eyes flared as Maria punched her again and again. Blood exploded from her split lip but Jo refused to give ground. The two women just would not let up and Sei was at odds what to do. A simple round of applause wouldn't help this time. The two were in the middle of a blood frenzy and simple words from an authority figure wouldn't do.
"Jo! Maria! Stop it!" she called again. Her manicurist clung to her robe, trying to hold her back. It wasn't that the little old lady was that strong, but Sei decided to listen to the desperate small hands fisting the silk of her black robe. She obviously had lived a very long life with sensible survival instincts.
"Miss Sei, no, you stay with me," she kept saying, her eyes wide behind coke-bottle-thick glasses. The two silver-haired women slammed against each other and Jo kicked Maria off. She kicked off the ground, albeit a bit slowly and raised her fists.
A line of blood dripped from Maria's lip as well. She flicked a red tongue around the blood and smiled. "Missed it too much, didn't you, Jo?"
Jo shook her clenched fists. Blood muddied two of the knuckles. "Shut up! You just stay out of my life, Maria!"
"I want you back with us, Jo. You know all of Sei's money can't keep you away. It's more than the money isn't it?" Maria swung her braid over her shoulder and trailed the blood that leaked down to her chin. "You know, that hurt."
Jo wheezed, her brain seeing red. Spots of light danced in her vision, she was that pissed off. She shook her fist. "And it's gonna hurt even more, Maria!"
Sei reached forward, dragging the little old lady with her. Her manicured nails clasped Jo's coat gently. "Jo, don't you think that's enough? You don't need to stay in Bai Lan. I told you that…"
"But she won't get the same satisfaction from battle when she has to restrain herself. A cop with a loose hand….you'll be ostracized," Maria taunted. Jo growled.
"Stop it, Maria!" Sei snapped finally. Maria clasped one hand over her fist and bowed low in acquiescence.
"She can't deny her true self much longer. I just don't want to see that innocent girl caught up in the middle. Remember what happened to your cop friend," Maria said lowly, her red eyes flashing.
~~Leo on the ground clutching a bloodied knee flashed through Jo's mind. She had knelt, clasping one pale hand over the bullet-hole in his trouser leg and clenched to hold the blood in place.
"Jo! AHH!" Leo had screamed. Jo touched his face, red eyes serious.
"It's going to be okay, Leo. I'm gonna get you outta here," she'd promised. ~~~
And she had. But the very analogy that Meg could be thrown into Leo's place, pushing past memory to future hurt, made Jo's stomach hurt. And suddenly, her fists dropped. Sei clutched her shoulders from behind, clear polished fingernails digging into the fabric of her red coat.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Jo muttered, her vision going black. The little old lady fluttered from her to Sei, unclear of what to do. Finally, she tugged at the ends of Jo's yellow scarf. Jo blinked through receding light into worried black eyes.
"You no fight Miss Maria. Miss Sei worried," she said, reaching for Jo's hand. Jo blinked as she worried at the blood decorating her knuckles. She tugged her hand away, flailing at the upswing.
"I'm not gonna fight right now…." She muttered. Sei hugged Jo's shoulders from behind.
"Jo, it's going to be okay. I trust you'll know how to fall into your new self," Sei murmured assuringly. The soothing decibels eased Jo's red-cornered mind, but her red eyes still flashed up to Maria's serious gaze.
"You have to stay away from Meg, though. You're not allowed near her," Jo growled. Maria shook her head.
"I'm trying to help that poor girl. And you. When you fail, I'll be there, to pick up the pieces. And if you fail and Meg gets hurt, you know she won't trust you again," Maria smirked.
Jo shook her head and stalked out of the large sitting room, Sei following her closely; both were flagged by the tottering old Chinese woman. Some of the Bai Lan guards were standing at loose stances in the hallway outside, but all snapped to attention when Sei came out. Several pairs of eyes noted her naked breasts, and male cheeks reddened but they all looked straight away. One could almost admire their restraint after noting the situation.
One could also note that the Chinese men in black suits all but flinched back from Jo as she stalked past. They knew her and what she could do after all. Sei let her fingers trail over the edges of Jo's scarf as she stalked off.
She knew the stance of her warrior; she needed to be alone. What more, she needed her calming hand. Jo was going for Meg. Sei had to let her go.
Sei put her arm around her worker and the little old lady tied the ends of her robe together, fussing all the while.
Maria walked up behind her mistress and leaned against the door jamb. "I don't believe she's truly changed, Sei. A bad ending will come of this."
Sei turned, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "You don't know Jo as well as you think. She'll be okay. I believe that."
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"I got it, babe. Sei, I promise, I'm going to check on the class tomorrow. Yeah, I'm finishing up at the station. Are we meeting for dinner?...oh," Leo muttered. "I hope your grandfather's doing better. It's okay, baby, I understand."
The bearded detective pushed his paperwork into a neat pile. He was trying to finish up and get out of the station and it was almost 7 pm. The cadet classes had already left for the day some time ago and he was trying to make himself part of that category. Damn paper work…. As he wrapped up with Sei, Leo pocketed his cell phone and stacked the offending paperwork into a folder. He'd have to take some of it back to his apartment.
Backing up toward his coat, Leo reached backward to grasp the sleeves and slide it on, but a rap on his office door altered his concentration. Cursing, Leo dropped both coat and his folder. He stooped to retrieve his reports.
"Yeah, who is it?" he called.
Takane peeped inside the door and smiled an errant smile. "How's it going, Leo?"
Leo grinned and dropped his folder back onto the desk. "You're still here so late? Shit, girl, you got more guts than anyone here."
Takane stopped smiling and closed the door. "Leo, we've gotta talk. I know where Carpenter came from. I'm surprised you'd let sentimentality come into our line of work."
Leo fairly gaped at his fellow detective then scrubbed the back of his neck with his wrist. "Quit showing off your deduction skills, Takane. You got me. I know Jo from before. What do you want?"
Takane trailed a hand down the front of his desk, studious. She bit her lip. "I don't want anything, Leo. Well, other than Daddy ta quit bitchin' at us sometimes." She and Leo grinned.
"Still, I'm not looking fer a bribe. I just want yeu to know I'm on yer side."
Leo placed a hand over his heart. "Thanks, Takane."
"Fer what?"
"For not adding onto my pile of work," Leo hefted his folder of paperwork and shook it at her. Takane smiled ruefully.
"Don't ya know we detectives hafta stick together?"
Leo grinned and hugged his friend.
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"You can't keep avoiding Jo forever," Kyohei said. Meg occupied a lone table in his section at his bar and Kyohei had kept brushing away men who wanted to sit down with her. Meg wasn't in the mood, and she wasn't even trying to scare off potential hopefuls. So Kyohei bothered them 'til they got the hint.
Meg stared glumly into her glass of beer and ran a hand through her red hair. She was studying the ingrain of the wooden table top and didn't notice the obligatory college schmuck standing beyond her elbow. He was a little overweight in a lineman football kind of way and his hair was buzzed short. He grinned and made to tap her shoulder but Kyohei caught his eye and shook his head. He made a brushing gesture with one pale hand and the college boy frowned. He made to cuss out the waiter but Meg flailed with her hand and the young man had to jump back. He spilled half his beer onto his shoes and griped loudly.
"AHHH for fuck's sake!..." He glared at Meg who shrugged at Kyohei, finally noticing someone else outside her bubble of misery.
"What's wrong with him?" she wanted to know. Kyohei grinned ruefully as the boy flipped off Meg and sauntered back to the bar.
"Come on, Meg, you gotta talk to her. We've all had a rough past," Kyohei said, plopping himself in the seat beside his friend. Meg poked his arm and Kyohei smiled. "You have to understand Jo's had a different upbringing than you have. You have to forgive her."
Meg rubbed her eyes and nodded. "I know, Kyo…it's just that, she could have told me."
Kyohei nudged Meg's arm. "If you were Jo…would you want to tell you?"
"Well…no. I guess I wouldn't know how to," Meg mumbled. She took a long swig of beer and belched. The college boy from earlier stared at her from the bar. Kyohei laughed.
"Can't you find it in you to forgive her? It's not like she lied to you. She just didn't tell you. Did I ever tell you about when the frat boys dressed me in lingerie and taped me to the campus mascot?"
Meg chuckled despite herself. Kyohei smiled softly, noting that he'd stopped her tears. "You're sweet, Kyo. I guess I can go home tonight."
"Well, good. Did you think you were going to take my bed and I'd have to take the floor?" Kyohei took a sip of Meg's beer. Meg swatted his arm but wiped the tears from her eyes.
"You dork! You know the girls' supposed to get the bed," she rescued her glass from her friend.
Kyohei stood up and picked up his tray. "Just let Jo apologize and make HER take the floor," he suggested.
"Kyohei! Get over here right now!" his bartender griped. Kyohei sighed, feeling his heart plummet.
"I'll be right back. You're going to be okay, Meg?"
"Think I might," Meg said. She pulled her cell phone out of her coat pocket and scanned the texts. All from Jo, at least twenty from her morning exodus today. She pocketed the phone and finished her beer. After a quick goodbye, she left the raucous bar and fully sidestepped prying male eyes.
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Jo walked slowly around her studio, her red eyes sallow pits of tired flame. When the door opened with a click of metal (being too far gone to hear the key in the lock), Jo didn't notice. Meg had time to shrug her boots off and toss down her shoulder bag before Jo registered her surroundings. Noting surprise in her eyes for maybe the first time ever, Meg moved forward, hands out held to soothe Jo's sudden jerk away from her.
Jo's red eyes softened and her heart dared skip a happy beat. But her readying smile died down when Meg held her palm up, stopping Jo from moving to embrace her.
"Not yet, Jo. We've gotta talk about some things first," Meg said. Jo bit her lip to keep from twisting her hands uncharacteristically.
"Uhm…okay," she muttered. The two plopped on stools at the island and Jo watched her girlfriend with wide eyes like a curious baby bird.
"So….you were in a gang," Meg began without preamble. Jo nodded.
"Bai Lan," she murmured. She cast a look over at the redhead. Meg played with fruit in a bowl on the counter and rolled an apple around on the tiled surface.
"…..And you were with Maria," she said dryly. Jo gulped, seeing any future where she could freely touch Meg go right out the window. Meg did not look pleased.
"Yeah. I was…. A time or two," she said carefully in her little Jo way. Meg watched her under the fall of her red mane. "Did she…"
Meg laughed harshly. "No, I did not see her today, if that's what you're afraid of. I really don't know what to think about her right now."
Jo felt her heart gladden but she dare not call in a victory dance just yet. "…So, are we gonna be okay?"
"I don't know what okay is right now, Jo. I got you, but I don't know what's gonna happen to us," Meg confided. "Where are your guns?" She rolled the apple toward Jo on the counter and the silver-haired girl caught it with a quick movement. She clenched the apple and dropped it.
"I locked them away. I promise. Are you hungry, Meg?" Jo asked simply. She hadn't been able to think of food all day and had barely remembered to drink any water. Her mouth had a dull wall-papery feel to it that wasn't improving anytime soon. Meg shook her head, a small smile coming to her lips. It was so like Jo that she couldn't stop the smile that pulled at her.
"No, I couldn't eat all day, Jo."
"That's not good, Meg," Jo muttered. She felt inexplicably worried all of a sudden. Meg was a bottomless pit after all. Meg moved to the bed area and removed her sweater. Jo watched her with more than a little growing interest and made to follow.
Meg put a hand against Jo's sternum and pushed back. "You're still on the couch, Jo. ….And maybe you should order us a pizza."
Jo turned toward her cell and then watched Meg's silhouette as she undressed and slid under the silk covers. She might be able to win favor back in with an extra pineapple and green pepper.
End for now
End Notes: At least only a month in between updating :P That's a first for me lately. Hope you enjoyed! Like it, didn't like it, let me know!
Sincerely, penpaninu 8/10/12