Alright guys. First, I wanna apologize for not getting this up sooner. I know some of you have been waiting for this chapter and I didn't really do my part. I was gone the whole weekend and forgot to mention that in my last author's note. So many ideas, so little time. Hopefully once the summer starts I can shoot for two chapters in a week. Anyway, we have some Nine/Lucy fluff here. It's not the way you expect though. This will also be the last chapter where everything is easygoing. Next chapter the Garde will be given an awakening that the war is still going on. Anyway, happy reading!

Chapter 21

Life is boring. Wake up. Train. Eat. Sleep. Rinse and repeat. It's the ol' grind every day. The only entertaining things around here are the nightclubs. It's easy to get in when you have a fake ID and you're my height. Drink the night away, stare at racks, hit the dance floor. What else could you need?

"Dumbass! You didn't even cock it!" I yell. Sam mumbles something and fiddles with his gun. He gets it right and starts shooting again. I sigh. Of all people, how did I get picked for this job? Humans are hopeless. I've been stuck on this job for about two months now, trying to teach them how to shoot. I still have Sarah, Ella, and that stupid Mog left for the afternoon.

"You know, maybe we could learn more if you didn't just scream at us all the time," Sarah says sarcastically as she walks in.

"I don't need your damn opinion," I snap. I'm in a bad mood by my standards. Sam usually just accepts what I say. Not Sarah. John's girlfriend has to speak her mind every chance she gets.

"See? This is exactly what I'm talking about," Sarah continues. Sam finishes and the results show up on my screen. 62 percent. I just tell him that and let him go, not having any more energy to yell.

"Shut up and get your gun," I bark. Sarah rolls her eyes and grabs a SCAR-H from the rack. My eyes light up and I jump over there. "Whoa whoa whoa," I say, putting a hand on the gun. "This one's too dangerous. Here, try this one." I take a Glock 17 pistol and hand it to her.

"I've already used this one in practice 20 times," Sarah complains.

"Sucks for you," I reply. Sarah sighs and steps up to the range. The real reason I didn't want her using it was because the SCAR-H is my personal favorite. It's deadly, fast, and rips through anything. I only got one of those, and I'm the only one that's gonna use it.

For the next hour, I watch as Sarah misses. And again. And again. And yet again. It's almost as painful to watch as One Direction.

"Maybe if you looked at the target instead of the gun, you'd be able to hit better," I suggest.

"Do you talk like this to Lucy too?" Sarah fires back. That gets me. Technically, Lucy and I are still dating, but I rarely spend time with her anymore. Nightclubs are so much more fun. Now I kinda wish I was single. Not that I'm gonna tell her that.

Two hours later, my pain is over and so is dinner. I go into my room and get ready to leave. I'm changing my clothes when Lucy walks in.

"Hey babe," I greet.

"Hey," Lucy answers. "Are we gonna do something tonight?"

"Um, probably not," I say sheepishly. Lucy frowns and looks disappointed. "Look, I know you want to, but I'm busy again tonight."

"Meeting those 'friends' of yours?" Lucy asks sarcastically.

"Um, yeah," I say and laugh nervously.

"Nine, you can't keep leaving me like this," Lucy says sadly. My heart wrenches.

"I promise this will be the last time," I say quickly.

"That's what you said last time too," Lucy says softly.

"I know what I said, but this time it'll be different," I amend. "Just tonight, ok? Then I promise we can spend all the time in the world doing whatever you want."

With that, I give her a quick kiss and leave. I check the time. It's 7:37. Plenty of time. That's good because it's Saturday night. I call over a taxi.

"Where to?" The driver asks.

"Temple Bar and Lounge, San Jose," I reply. The driver nods and starts driving. I could just run there, but there are tons of people on the streets at night. The taxi goes slower than I do, but because I have to weave around people, taking a car is faster.

I pay the taxi driver and walk out. I can already hear the music coming from inside the club. I get up to the door but a guard stops me.

"Where's your ID, kid?" he asks. I flash my fake ID. It says I'm 22. The guard recognizes it and grins. "Stan! Welcome to the party!" he grins and slaps me on the back. I laugh and walk in.

I'm not just a regular here. I'm practically king. The ladies love me and I get whatever drinks I want. I go by Stanley Worthington. People thought I was a geek at first, but then they got to know me. I go over to the bar and grab some drinks first.

"Stan, my bro!" The bartender comes over and gives me a high five. I laugh and sit down on one of the stools.

"You know what to do, Ron," I tell him. Ron nods.

"So what will it be this time?" he asks.

"The usual," I answer. "Get me the Barbados."

"I'm on it," Ron calls and goes to work making my drink. I watch some sports on the TV while I'm waiting. The dance floor isn't in full swing yet, so I figure I might as well loosen up before then. A blonde sits down at the stool next to me. She's wearing a low-cut shirt and short shorts. I grin inwardly. Time to go to work.

"Hey," I greet. She looks up and smiles.

"Hey," she says back. "Aren't you…"

"Stan Worthington," I finish and extend a hand. "Nice to meet you. And you are?" The blonde giggles.

"Rachel," she says, still giggling.

"Nice," I say. "So what brings you here?"

"Just Saturday night," she responds. "Wanna have a little fun."

"Girls just wanna have fun," I quote. "How old are you?"

Rachel leans in and whispers. "I'm actually 19, but I got some friends to make me a fake ID that says I'm 21."

"You're a bad girl." I grin. "But don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

"Can I trust you?" she asks slyly. I wink.

"Absolutely," I say. "But I need a favor." Just then, Ron comes with my drink and I thank him. I take a sip and continue. Rachel leans in closer.

"What kind of favor?" she whispers. I smile. Now we're rolling.

"Are you single?" I ask. She looks around and then turns to me.

"My boyfriend doesn't have to know," she whispers, winking.

"That's okay," I reply. "So how about a little dance?"

"Oh, of course." Rachel puts a hand on my cheek and looks into my eyes. I grin.

"Meet me on the dance floor at 10." Rachel nods and leaves. I finish my drink and tell Ron to get me another. This is the life. I swig a couple more drinks. Some other regulars come over and we drink and watch the game together. I check the time. It's 9:15. People are already dancing. I'll finish the game and then head over to the dance.

Ten o'clock comes and I see Rachel waiting for me along the side. I wink at her and motion for her to come.

"I knew you'd come," I tell her.

"Anything to be with the infamous Stan Worthington," Rachel says and kisses me. It's a bit surprising. I break free and gesture to the DJ.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the DJ announces. "Stan Worthington is IN THE HOUSE!"

I hear cheers and roars from the crowd. Everyone stops what they're doing and listens.

"I see you got another one of them ladies, Stan," the DJ jokes. I grin and laugh. "Your choice of music again. What do you want?"

"Give me a sexy beat," I say quickly and turn to Rachel. "Ready to dance?" I wink. Rachel blushes and nods. I take her hand and step onto the stage.

Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna comes on. This is my favorite song. I dance to it with all girls. Then I go to their house and we have some fun. I look into her eyes and quickly spin around. She laughs and the hair falls in her face. I get a seductive look in my eyes while the music plays.

I wanna take you away

Let's escape into the music, DJ let it play

I just can't refuse it

Like the way you do this

Keep on rocking to it

Please don't stop the, please don't stop the music

We dance for an hour. The crowd cheers around us and I kiss her a couple times. I tell the DJ to play Run This Town by Jay-Z and S&M also by Rihanna, among others. When we finish it's 11:20. I have a couple more drinks. My vision starts to blur. I'm about to get in the car of Rachel outside the bar.

"Ready to have some more fun?" Rachel says seductively.

"Hehehe…sure," I reply giddily. I'm not sure what happens next. I hear a crash on the roof. I'm drunk so I don't know what it is. Rachel screams and I see the door get torn off.

"Santa's here!" I yell. I get pulled out of the car and into the eyes of…someone. She looks familiar. "Are you one of Santa's elves?" I exclaim. She slaps me and I see a little better. It's Lucy. Oh shit.

"Hey," I say casually, still giddy. Lucy brings me to Patricia, who has a stern look on her face. I get in their car and we drive home in silence. When we get home, Lucy explodes.

"How could you do this to me?" she yells, sobbing. Patricia comforts her. "Why, Nine? WHY?"

"Y, y, y," I sing. "X, y, z!" Patricia drags me out and dunks me into the ocean. I surface splashing and gasping for breath.

"He's obviously drunk," Patricia mutters. "We've been tracking what you're doing, Nine."

"Whar?" I say stupidly. Patricia sighs.

"We hacked into the camera feed of the bar," Patricia explains. "We saw what you've been doing the past few weeks. And we saw you get in that car with that girl just a while ago."

"Bastard!" Lucy screams, and keeps crying. For the first time, it actually registers with me. I feel a stab of guilt and look down.

Patricia tells me to go to my room. I oblige. I flop down on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I'm still drowsy from drinking. What have I done? Did I seriously forget about Lucy? She's my fucking girlfriend. I sigh and turn on my side.

I close my eyes, but I can't sleep. 20 minutes later I hear the door open. I assume it's Lucy. She sighs and goes into the shower. I hear the water being turned on and roll around to look at the door. Then I hear a voice.

"I knew you were trouble when you walked in

It's a shame on me now

Flew me to places I've never been

Till you put me down, oh"

Lucy's singing. I didn't really think about the meaning I Knew You Were Trouble until now. It's ironic because it's a perfect song for our situation. A single tear trickles down my eye and I go to sleep.

The next morning I can't wake up. I have a hangover from last night. Lucy slaps me and I wake up.

"What was that for?" I groan.

"Get up," Lucy says coldly. "It's time for our run." I try standing but crash. Lucy snorts and walks out of the room. After about 15 minutes I recover and I can stand. I get down to the beach. As soon as I arrive the rest of the Garde stare at me. The news is probably out. Patricia starts our run and I'm dead last. My legs feel like heavy lead.

The Garde snicker when I finish last. Even Ella and Adamus finish before me. Patricia shakes her head and dismisses us. I try to get my limbs back, and they're finally starting to feel normal again by breakfast. Then my Legacy training starts and it's a completely different story. My telekinesis is sluggish, my staff doesn't extend, and I get soaked by the drones. Apparently hangovers affect Legacies too.

I fail my training. If anything can move, it gets the best of me. Luckily Patricia doesn't observe our training, but I hear the other Garde snicker when I fall off the wall or the spiky ball almost takes my head off. I can't even change the color now!

I don't even yell at people during shooting. I just sit there with a hand on my face. I let them do whatever they want. I shoot a couple myself and they're all off. Sarah calls me a hypocrite and I tell her to shut up.

We have dinner and I poke at my food. I'm not really in a good mood. The table's a lot quieter than usual. The other Garde talk quietly and eat.

"This table's way too quiet," Malcolm announces, breaking the silence. "Anyone wanna tell me why?"

"Maybe because Mr. Hotshot's not talking," Six says, looking at me.

"Yeah, heard you're not sailing smooth," John snickers. I growl.

"Guys, leave him alone," Marina says. I glance over at Lucy. She sees me and fixes me with an icy stare. I shuffle awkwardly and start eating.

After dinner I go up to the rec floor. Patricia banned me from going out for a month, so I'm stuck here. I play some arcade games with Eight and shoot some hoops. I hear a high-pitched scream coming from the girls. They're giggling. Naturally I want a piece of that.

It's Sarah, Six, and Marina. They quiet down once they see me come.

"What is it, Nine?" Six snaps. I hold my arms up.

"Just checkin' out what you guys were laughing about," I say innocently.

"Aren't you in a relationship?" Sarah asks, and they all crack up. I'm not fazed.

"Can I join your little game?" I press.

"Sure, as long as Lucy doesn't mind," Marina says. I think. Will Lucy care? I look over at her. She's playing air hockey with Ella. Her back is turned to me. I guess that's a no.

"So what are we playing here, ladies?" I ask.

"Deal or No Deal," Six replies.

"I'm good at this, babe," I wink.

"Nine, stop being a womanizer," Six snaps. "Besides, don't you know I'm taken?"

"By that nerd?" I snort. "You'd be a lot better off with me," I whisper. Six pushes me away.

"Shut up and play," Six grumbles. She presses some buttons on the machine and the cases of 1, 3, and 8 tickets are eliminated.

"That's pretty good, babe," I remark. "But I bet I can do better."

"Can you stop it with the 'babe'?" Sarah complains. "You sound like a creep."

"Whatever," I grumble and stab some buttons. I end up eliminating the 50 and the 75.

"Nice going," Six says sarcastically. We finish the game with 37 tickets.

"Play again?" I question. Six sighs and nods.

"I have nothing else to do," she mutters. We play again.

"Babe, don't pick that case," I say, reaching out a hand.

"Get your hand off me," Six says and slaps it away. I grab it again.

"Oh no you don't," I whisper. "I'm not gonna be refused."

"You. Are. A. Fucking. Creep," Six says, with each of the words gaining in volume. She pulls my arm and twists it behind my back. I grunt in pain.

"Ow. Take it easy. I was just kidding," I say.

"Hey, Lucy!" Six calls. She turns her head. Damn it. "You wanna get your boyfriend out of here? He's being a creep."

"He's not my boyfriend anymore," Lucy says coldly. She comes over and kicks me in the balls. I let out a yell of pain. She stares at me, and then walks away. Six lets me go and I fall to the floor. My face is buried in the carpet and I think about what I've just done.

It's been two weeks since Patricia found out about what I did at the club. I spend my time alone training. I rarely talk to anyone unless they talk to me first. I redouble my efforts. Training is the only thing that keeps my mind off Lucy breaking up with me. The dinner table settles into a quiet calm without me talking. I could care less. After dinner I shoot 100 free throws and then go to sleep. Lucy moved in with Patricia after our breakup. I'm trying to work up the nerve to apologize. I want to get back together with Lucy. I really do.

I've learned not to take anything for granted. I took Lucy for granted and now look at my situation. Right now I'm looking across the shooting range in deep thought as Sarah fires.

"Hey." I hear a voice. It takes me a moment to realize its Sarah's. "Can I have my scores?"

"Oh, um, sure," I say, breaking out of my train of thought. I read them off to her and give her a few absentminded pointers. She starts shooting again and I go back into thought. I unconsciously slam my fist down on the board and Sarah turns and looks at me. I realize what I've done and tell her it has nothing to do with her.

The slam on the table meant now. I'm going to apologize now and try to get back with Lucy. Tonight. No more waiting. I can't hold this off any longer. Lucy's still giving me the cold shoulder, but it's not as bad as before. I'm going to apologize and make up for my mistakes.

After dinner, I pull Lucy aside.

"Hey, can you meet me on the roof at 9?" I ask. Lucy raises her eyebrows.

"What for?" she asks.

"Um, I need to tell you something important. Can you just come?" Lucy hesitates, then nods. I thank her and head up to the gym. I shoot my 100 free throws. 55 of them go in. I'm improving. I don't play basketball, but I can naturally pick it up quickly.

I take the elevator up to the seventh floor. Then I find the stairs that go to the rooftop. No one comes here very often. I step onto the roof. The breeze is cool and I see city lights all around. I see the waves lap against the coast. I sit down and wait for Lucy.

Lucy comes five minutes after nine.

"No trouble getting up here?" I ask as she sits down next to me. Our legs hang over the ground.

"No," she responds. "Alright, let's hear it. It's about us. So what do you wanna say?"

I take a deep breath. "Well, I just wanna apologize for being an asshole the last few weeks," I begin. "I know I was being inconsiderate. It's my fault."

"I wanna tell you something," I continue. "Something I haven't ever told anyone before. Back when we were all living alone and on the run, I met a girl in Chicago. Her name was Maddy. My Cepan wanted me to get out and meet new people. We were living in a penthouse. I fell in love with her. We called each other and met at the rock climbing wall each day."

"Things started to get suspicious. I took her for a ride and Mogs showed up. I panicked and crashed the car. Maddy got mad but wanted to forgive me. She told me to meet her at her house and I got captured by Mogs. That's when they told me she was working with them in exchange for her parents. Looking back, I can't blame her."

"The Mogs lied. Add that to the list of why they're assholes. They let Maddy meet her parents, then killed them all off with a piken. They imprisoned me for a year. That's why I'm such an asshole now. I hated the world. I wanted to burn all of Mogadore down."

"That's interesting," Lucy states. "But what does it have to do with me?"

"Ever since John rescued me I've had this shell grown around me," I explain. "The tough, badass exterior was kind of protection against my hurt. The time in prison changed me. But after what happened two weeks ago, I think you broke my shell. The real me emerged again. The guy who ran through Chicago, trained, and didn't hate anyone. That's why I think you helped me, Lucy."

"So…do you wanna get back together?" Lucy asks.

"I was getting to that," I answer and smile. "Lucy, I promise I'll never treat you like this again. And you can trust me this time. I love you and I won't let anything happen to you."

"So no more partying with random girls?" Lucy asks.

"No more partying," I agree. "Well, just not with girls," I wink. Lucy rolls her eyes.

"You better not," she mutters. "I might just have to kick your ass again."

"I'm not scared." I smile and give her a kiss. She returns it. We take a look at the full moon outside for a moment. Then, we head back inside. For the rest of the night, I have the feeling I really can fly.

Next chapter will be from John's viewpoint. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a math test to cram for the rest of the night. Kinda disappointed in the lack of reviews for the last chapter. Just because I forgot to remind you doesn't mean you don't leave one...it only takes two minutes...so don't forget to review!