AN: Hey there beautiful people! So this chapter is shorter... Sorry about that... Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Sly and Bentley pushed their way to the front of the crowd as Josephina and Liam made their way onto the dance floor. The pair stopped in the middle of the dance-floor, face to face, inches apart. Josephina smiled softly into the man's lips as the orchestra transitioned into the Assassin's Tango. Liam smirked, it was one of Josephina's favorite songs to dance to. She had always loved to dance. Her flexiblity gave her a knack for the skill. Light steps in time with Liam's own Josephina kept up with her partner. The tango had always been a favorite of hers, sensual, sensitive, sweet, but always with a tone of aggression and possessiveness in it. This person is mine. I have claimed them. The dance offered for romance, for anger, for passion.

Her lips only a breath from his she kept in time, slow, methodical, but in time with the music. For her this wasn't about a kiss, this was about eye contact, unwavering and unyielding eye contact, and touch. It was about tensions and romance. The eyes told stories about a person. They held the emotions, welled with tears or sparkled with life, the windows to the soul. Liam and her shared a history, a long and complicated history just like all the rest of the team. This was for them, their past, their shared tensions and fears and hopes. Now his copper eyes held all of that. She glanced away for a moment, trading eye contact for touch.

Her legs ran between his before skirting back out and away, or snapped up to his waist before returning to support her. Touch wasn't wasted, rather it was savored and intimate, tracing along arms and ribs, trailing down backs as he dipped her and then pulled her back to eye level again. Possessive and yet tender, forceful and yet romantic. Josephina's heart was racing, not from the dance but from the closeness. The need to be near him, to have him pressed against her like this, warm and close and protective was stronger than she'd anticipated. She smiled at him again, ruby red lips and ice blue eyes standing out against her white fur and crimson colored dress. He pushed her into a dip again, a soft kiss leaving her lips tingling and warm. She wondered if he felt the same.

In the past they'd tried to kill each other, then they'd been partners, then lovers, then mercenaries and then nothing, now those feelings, those thoughts and hopes of happiness were being played out in her head once again. For Liam it was the same, after she'd left he'd felt broken, helpless and alone despite the people around him constantly. The six month's they'd shared in the jungles of some small and distant country had been seared into his memory. Having her close again brought back those months, and he could suddenly remember them in clear and vivid detail. The way dirt clung to her face after a rough mission, the sharp sarcasm and biting words when she had too much to drink, the way she looked in the moonlight on the bank of the river.

She looked away again and he reached out to turn her face back towards his. In appearance they were opposite in almost every way. Her features were round, his sharp, his fur dark, hers pale as moonlight, his eyes copper, her eyes icy blue. He always loved the way she contrasted so brightly against his own fur, like a reversed inkstain pure against the darkness of him. The song ended, abruptly and the crowd applauded but the couple hardly noticed. Breathless from contact they stared at each other for several moments, eyes locked as they scoured each other's eyes, both trying to remember why their relationship had gone sour.

The moment was broken as Bentley found his words. "That was incredible!" He cried in her ear, enough to make her break the eye contact. "Josie you and Sly have to teach the twins how to dance." Josephina found the turtle and the raccoon in the crowd and slipped away to join them, glancing back to see Liam walking away from the floor as well.

"You were amazing out there..." Sly said as she drew near. "That guy must have some kind of story behind him to get that amount of tension in four minutes. Who was he?"

"His name's Liam... Liam Row. He's a bounty hunter, mercenary... ex-partner... er... that is... We share a lot of history, most of it messy, all of it complicated. I haven't seen him in four years. I just... I don't know what came over me there, Liam was so important for so long and then we left on bad terms and now I-"

"It's fine. Sly gets the same way around Carmelita. Bad for his health but he can't stay away. Speaking of Carmelita, Sly you'll need to find a partner to try and impress her. She's very picky about her dance partners and we'll need to keep her distracted during the heist." Sly nodded.

"I'll see what I can come up with." The raccoon dipped out of the conversation to search for his own partner, and Josephina rubbed her temples.

"I... I need to clear my head, but I'll gladly train the twins as best I can by the time of the heist. Send them up later."

"Of course. Take all the time you need." She nodded and quietly wandered away.

The VIP room they'd managed to acquire was secluded on the third floor, away from the majority of the party. It had a small balcony and plenty of seating. Josephina sat down heavily and took a deep steadying breath. She didn't have the time for these feelings to crop back up. Her head ached, like it always did when she was stressed. The twins entered in near silence that was broken by Natalie's heels. Nate adjusted the pale blue bow-tie around his neck, looking nervous. She stood and looked over at them motioning towards the balcony of their room.

"So, Bentley want's me to teach you how to dance. We have less than a week to perfect a dance you can perform. Now all that being said, have either of you ever taken dance lessons of any kind?"

"Yeah for a wedding, and we had some classes at school..." Nat shrugged as she brushed aqua curl out of her eyes. "I was in the musical one year as an extra."

"Good, then I don't have to train you from the start. Help me move the table here, and we'll get started."

Bentley glanced at his watch with a small smile. Sly had already found and danced with the pretty tigress from the museum, never letting on who he was and gaining an open invitation for a dance with Carmelita. Murray had retreated to the gang's VIP room several hours earlier upon Josie's request for a dance partner she could use to show the twins the steps they needed to learn. In all not a bad job for one evening, and it was only just striking midnight. Some of the older guests had turned in to the guest house, but the room was still packed. Bentley had taken the past hours to observe them and, more importantly, their gracious host.

Rajan, lord of the hills, a new up and comer in tyranny and an old hand at spice production. Clocking in at the intimidating height of seven foot tall, the man struck quite the figure in the party. The only people even close to his height was another tiger Bentley recognized as El Jefe, the twin harlequin hares providing entertainment (but only if you counted their ears), and the elephant woman Miss Decibel, though he suspected that had the Panda King been present he would have been roughly the same height. Even the arrogant General Tsao, who was the same height as Sly seemed small in comparison. Rajan had been involved in several dances over the course of the evening, and was just as graceful as Sly and Josie. It was also the only time he was on fully alert to those around him. A guard had spent five full minutes trying to attract his attention while he had been dancing with a pretty opera singer from Germany.

Slipping away from the party, engrossed in thought Bentley made his way up to the VIP room they'd acquired. A view from the top of the room would give him a new perspective. Sly appeared beside him with a small smile, a drink in hand and a slight spring in his step.

"It's a tough room Bentley..." The raccoon was serious despite the outward appearance he presented.

Bentley shrugged and glanced at Sly from the corner of his eye."Yes, well, nothing is untouchable."

"Fort Knox?"

"In my sleep Sly." Bentley grinned as Sly laughed. "But seriously, it's going to take some serious coordination to make this work, and I don't have to tell you that there are a lot of people we need to keep distracted."

"We'll pull it off. Even if we have to wait until after the party."

"No, no, it won't take that long for me to come up with a plan. I just need to see everything from another angle." Sly nodded and passed his now empty drink off to a waiter as the man passed."What have you seen?"

"There's a lot of people here, but I looked up at the ceiling, there appears to be a hatch up there, so they could set up the trapeze and a number of spot lights... I think we might be able to use all those items to our advantage."

"I noticed the trapeze as well. It could be a hindrance as well as a blessing." Bentley frowned and as they made they stepped into the elevator and into the VIP room. Josephina and Murray were hard at work trying to teach the twins what they needed to know. The ferret's cold blue eyes landed on the pair as they entered and she smirked.

"Glad you could join us. Have a plan yet?"

"Working on one..."

"I think the twins are picking this dance up rather well... But it'll be a few days before they're really ready."

"Can you do it by the end of the ball?"
Josephina gave a small cocky look at the turtle and smirked. "Of course I can. They're practically naturals at this."

The twins rolled their eyes. Neither was particularly excited to be performing in front of an audience. Bentley smiled reassuringly at them and walked out onto the balcony to get a better view of the party. The party seemed split into four sections from up here, each side with a dance floor near the statue's base. As Sly had said there were spot lights on the ceiling and several he could see on balconies around the room at varying levels. The trapeze were also spread evenly around, and there was indeed a trap door just above the statue. The hatch was open, revealing a winch system above it. Bentley smirked, it was like they were doing his job for him. Security was tight, but that could be fixed with a distraction outside the palace. After that it was just a matter of dealing with the people who needed to be distracted.

"Alright team, I think I have a plan." He grinned and turned back to the full room with a devious look crossing his features.

Okie Dokie Loki! There you go! We'll move forward again tomorrow! So please leave a review, it helps keep me motivated!