A.N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed especially the regular reviewers, Pearl Primrose, 7.06andcounting and Americanhoney12.

Ignorance is Bliss

Lily stared in shock at Fred Daniels and then threw a look back over her shoulder at the other four guys in the room.

"Who the hell is this?" One of the men demanded. "What did I tell you about leaving downstairs unlocked, Daniels?"

Daniels tried to shrug off the comment.

"I watched everybody leave. I watched her leave. Don't worry. She's just some little nobody from community service."

Lily wished to hell that she'd skipped any thought of dinner. She knew the guy talking to Daniels. In fact, she recognised all of them. These guys were members of The Tiber Street Tigers and the leader of their gang, the one who had spoken to Daniels, was Neil Macdonald. Tall, well-built and mean looking, Macdonald wasn't somebody Daniels would want to cross. But Christ, neither did Lily.

"Look, I'll just get outta here." She said this to Macdonald, trying her best to keep a level head. "I didn't see nothing."

But even an idiot could see what was going on in here. A wallpaper pasting table had been set up in one corner. A large set of scales sat upon it along with a pile of cellophane bags and one large bag of white powder.

These guys were dealing cocaine and somehow Daniels had gotten them a key to the tower. He wasn't a Tiger himself, or at least if he was, it had only happened recently. Maybe they were just using Daniels to get in the church or maybe they were going to recruit him. Either way, Lily would feel a lot safer if Daniels wasn't in the room.

She knew who Macdonald was. She recognised his right hand man too, short but stocky Wyatt Hylton. And she even knew who the other two guys were- Dean Jones and the eldest Yale brother- Simon was it? His younger brother Luke was in Lily's math class.

They didn't recognise her though. She hadn't been seen with Ronnie since she was fourteen and realised gangs were anything but cool. In her mind being a gang member was an escape route for drop outs who were too lazy to hold down a job.

Yep. Fred Daniels would fit right in.

"You ain't going anywhere," Daniels said. He took a step forward and she took a step back and knocked into Macdonald.

"Here, careful." Macdonald took her arm and when she wrenched it free, he held up his hands and laughed. "I don't know what you're used to, darlin' but I ain't into roughing up chicks. If anyone needs roughing up, it's dozy over here."

Macdonald was smiling at her, but his eyes flicked darkly towards Daniels. Lily noticed the way Daniels averted his eyes. She decided she liked Macdonald. In fact, if she told Macdonald who her brother was, she was pretty sure they'd let her walk out of here.

"How are we gonna make any money without somewhere to stash it?" Wyatt Hylton complained. "We can't keep it here. Not now."

"We'll have to find someplace else." Dean Jones shrugged. "If we ever wanna wipe out Brumley, we need to start making some serious dough."

Lily closed her eyes. Damn Ronnie and his stupid gang warfare.

These days she had had idea who Brumly were and weren't cool with. But by the sounds of it, Macdonald finding out who she was would only give him leverage. Her last name wasn't gonna help at all.

"What we need to get rid of Brumly is less contact with simpletons like this one." Macdonald nodded in Daniels direction and despite her being glad Fred was in trouble, she felt a stirring of panic at Macdonald's rising anger. God, she was glad he didn't know who she was.

"Look." She turned her green eyes on him, hoping they appeared sultry, but not like they were promising anything. "I got no business with any of this. I don't care what you guys are up to. I'll just get in my car and pretend I was never here."

Macdonald looked at her for a few quiet moments and his gang and Daniels stayed silent while he thought. His reddish hair was tousled and his narrowly set blue eyes were full of concentration.

"You got a car here?" He asked her.

"Yeah, just out front," she said, trying to keep her voice light.

Macdonald nodded decisively.

"Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to hang around until we find a new holding place. Daniels, you go and hide her ride."

As his words sank in, Lily felt her heart and hope dashed to the wind. She wondered what her chances were of getting past Daniels, out of the door, and into her car. Impossible, she decided.

"Give him the keys, honey," Macdonald instructed.

Lily looked from Macdonald to Daniels in horror. They weren't letting her go. They were keeping her here and hiding her car. She was being held against her will.

"You ain't getting my keys," she said in a shaky voice. The bulge of her key set was obvious in the front pocket of her jeans but she was damned if she was going to let them hide the only thing that could lead to her being traced here.

Macdonald sighed.

"Just 'cause I said I ain't into roughing up girls, don't mean I won't if I have to. I'm sure Daniels would be happy to get his hands in your pockets."

Lily recoiled from an approaching Daniels and it was then that the Yale brother- she was sure it was Simon- came closer and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'd just hand 'em over if I were you, doll. I hear Daniels ain't the gentlemen us Tigers are."

Fred Daniels smiled, almost proudly, and Lily felt her heart begin to race. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt scared.

"Here, take 'em," she muttered, wrenching out the keys and throwing them with considerable force at Daniels chest. As the keys thudded off him and hit the floor, Daniels looked down at them in fury before pulling the flat of his hand back to strike her.

She winced, ready for it, but Yale was between them in seconds.

"Aint no need for that, errand boy. You go do as you're told." Yale growled.

As Daniels sloped off moodily, Lily gulped and tried hard to level her fear. She didn't do scared. Scared wasn't in her vocabulary.

"Take a seat." Macdonald opened out one of the folding chairs and patted it with his hand. "You might be here a while."

Lily felt the colour and energy drain from her face. She had been afraid he was going to say that.

888888

Soda was leaning under the bonnet of a Plymouth, trying to replace its starting motor. It was a simple task but having to lean over for so long was the problem. He'd been on painting duty all day at the church and as a result, his back was killing him.

"Soda!"

He had been listening to Steve yell for the last minute or so, but he didn't want to stop mid job and prolong it any further. He wanted this car finished as early as possible so he could go and see Lily. He finally stood up and arched his aching back in a long stretch.

There. Starting motor in. Now to test it, and take a look at the dent in the driver door…

"Didn't you hear me, Curtis?" Steve appeared at the door to the Plymouth, blocking Soda's access. He looked wound up and tense, his fists not quite clenched, but curling slightly, a sure fire sign that something was bothering him.

"Yeah, I heard you. Just give me a second to test the engine." Soda tried to side step his friend but Steve caught his shoulder roughly.

"You need to call Lily."

"What? Why?" Soda looked down at the bunched up material of his shirt in Steve's grasp. What in the world was eating him?

"Some guy just pulled up for gas in her car," Steve said.

Soda paid some attention now.

"Yeah? That's not all that strange. Could have been anyone. She has got two brothers, you know." He leaned into the Plymouth and switched the engine on. It came to life without a problem and he smiled at his own success before switching it off.

"I know both of her brothers, stupid." Now Steve had nothing to grab onto, he looked like he might kick the car instead. Like it needed any more dents in it.

Soda didn't get it. Did Steve think Lily was cheating on him? Was he gonna go all super protective like he did over the Sandy thing?

"Whoever the guy was, when I mentioned Lily, he denied ever knowing her. Said I must have the wrong car."

Okay, so that bugged Soda. Steve had never mixed up a car he'd worked on in his entire life.

"You're sure it was hers?" He asked anyway.

Steve gave him a look that read 'shut the fuck up', and Soda sighed and nodded.

"I'll give her a call," he said.

He went into the office and dialled her home number. The phone rang and rang but nobody picked up.

Now feeling worried, he returned to an impatient looking Steve with a frown on his face.

"No answer," he told him. "I guess someone's stolen the car. Why else would he say he didn't know her?"

Considering recent experiences, it did cross Soda's mind that Lily was cheating on him. He could see that Steve wanted to say it too, but Soda wasn't buying it. Lily wasn't a cheat. She was a pain in the ass, but she wasn't a cheat.

"So what did this guy look like?" Soda asked, leaning up against the Plymouth and wiping down his hands on his jeans.

Steve thought for a moment.

"He was a big guy. Tall, looked like he worked out. Black hair, stubble…"

With every word, Soda visually added to the description he had in his mind. When Steve was finished, Soda looked at him in annoyance.

"What else?"

"What else do you need? His shoe size?" Steve asked scathingly. "Want me to draw you a picture?"

Soda took a breath, his heart beginning to race as the last couple of weekends came back to him in bits and pieces.

"What color was his t-shirt?" He asked, his clammy hands sliding down the hood of the Plymouth.

Soda watched as Steve concentrated on remembering. It was all he could do not to grab him and shake him but he sat calm and unmoving as Steve seemed to find the answer to his question.

"Black with red writing. Can't remember what it said though."

Soda remembered what it said alright. It was a cheap Johnny Cash T shirt, black with red writing. Fred Daniels had been wearing one at work today.

88888

Frankie Parker was having a bad day.

It had started by waking up with a hangover. Frankie wasn't used to hang overs. In truth, he didn't much like drinking, but he and Ronnie had been out with some of the Brumly boys last night and when he'd turned down a share in the whisky they'd come up with, Ronnie had told him to drink up or put up his fists. He'd decided a hangover was less aggravation than fighting his big brother. But when he'd woken up Saturday lunchtime, he hadn't been so sure.

Ronnie slept all day while Frankie aimlessly watched television under a blanket and waited for the queasiness to pass. Lily was at community service at least, so Frankie didn't have to deal with her bullshit. He was damn sick of her treating him like a kid. Mind you, he was damn sick of everything today, his stomach was lurching without mercy.

Around six that evening, Ronnie rolled out of bed and then their Mom got up to go back on the night shift.

"Feeling rough, kid?" Ronnie threw a cushion at him as he entered and Frankie groaned.

Their mother glanced up from applying her make up in the cabinet mirror. Frankie watched as she decided whether or not to scold him for his evident hangover. She went back to her lipstick.

"Drinking's for dorks," Frankie replied.

"Naw." Ronnie kissed his mother on the cheek and then straightened up next to her to survey his own reflection. "Drinking ain't for dorks. That's why you can't handle it. But don't worry, I'll train you up, little bro."

Bess Parker gave her eldest son a disapproving look as she packed away her make up.

"I wish you wouldn't encourage them, Ronnie." She already had her make up back in her handbag and was heading for the living room door. Their Mom seemed to move at a super human speed sometimes.

"Who's encouraging?" Ronnie said. "I'm just saying if he's gonna drink, he better learn to drink like a man."

"And what about Lily?" His Mom had the front door open but stopped and turned back towards the living area. "I sure as hell don't want her drinking like a man, or getting suspended. And the people she hangs around with! Her principal told me some dirtbag mechanic had a hold of her right on school property. He had to intervene to make the boy go away."

Frankie could practically see the steam coming out of Ronnie's ears. His jaw tightened and he looked at Frankie just the once, before he looked back at their Mom.

"You two behave!" Bess called as she slammed the door shut behind herself.

Frankie looked uneasily at his brother, who hadn't moved and hadn't spoken since the reference to Sodapop Curtis.

Ronnie had only two words for Frankie.

"Start talking."

8888

Every review appreciated.