"Looks like you got fucked good chica." Julio practically yelled across the parking lot, laughing when I stumbled over my own feet. I glared at him as I walked towards him, fully intending to punch the pot smoking idiot out. "He got you good didn't he?"

"Would you shut the fuck up you idiot?" I hissed as he started to wisely back away as I approached.

"Hey, I'm just saying." He ducked as I went to punch him, laughing like a loon.

"Well shut up about that!" My red felt as red as my hair as he ducked another punch.

"So he's not good enough to wear you out, chica?" He blocked my fist, pushing me off balance as he laughed.

"Gods be damned, I'm going to kick your ass if you keep talking about this."

"Got to catch me first." He bounced around me like a bunny making me wonder if his joint was laced with speed or something. He was quick on his feet, always out of reach or managing to block the best of my blows. I faked him out pretending I was going to swing again and when he went to block it, I kicked him in the stomach instead. "Fuck chica, thanks for not going for the nuts." He said after getting his breath back.

"You'd deserve it. How the hell you know what happened between me and Troy anyhow?" I doubted that he would have run his mouth to anyone about last night, but still people did brag and damn it I was brag worthy.

"Any man worth his salt can tell when a woman's been done right. Her whole body moves differently like it's trying to cling to the memory of what her man did to her. Or you know, woman." He shrugged. "My cousin can make straight girls walk like that for days. Always throws it in my face, you know." I elbowed him when he threw his arm around my shoulder.

"I'm walking like I always do." I huffed as I walked away.

"You keep telling yourself that!" I ignored him and focused on not paying attention to how I was walking, only to trip going up the stairs to the church. I was surprised to find Johnny in the armory doing what looked like inventory. His leg was in a brace of some kind as he sat in a wheelchair with a clipboard on his lap as he wrote stuff down.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" I asked as I leaned against the door frame.

"Fuck that. What am I going to do all day, watch the fucking soaps?"

"Take time and recover?" He gave me a disgusted look before returning to what he was doing. "Or I don't know, maybe spend some time with your girlfriend?" He turned in the chair and looked me over for a moment.

"You're one of those fancy chicks, I need some advice with Eesh."

"Fancy chicks?"

"Yeah, you like all the sparkles and shit. I got Eesh a gift and I don't think she liked it at all but it's not like she came out and said it, you know? Just did one of those girl moves, you know what I'm talking about."

"What did you get her?"

"Semi-automatic shotgun with custom stock."

"Seriously, you got her a gun?" I shook my head. "That's a gift you get yourself. Get her flowers or take her to a fancy restaurant, the kind that ends with the bill in triple digits."

"The gun's more practical. That shit is useless, flowers fucking die and what the hell is wrong with Freckle Bitch's?"

"It's fast food that's the problem."

"But it's good." He almost whined.

"That's not the point."

"What the fuck is the point then?" I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose. I didn't know if he was purposely being dense or if he was one of those guys who really didn't get the point of romance.

"Most girls like to show off. She can't exactly show off a gun." I held up my hand when he opened his mouth, surprisingly he actually let me continue. "We like pretty things that aren't always useful. One of my exes used to get me white roses every week and when we started screwing he added a red one. Now I hate roses but it was sweet and thoughtful."

"That's fucking cheesy."

"Yeah well it was sweet enough to land me on my back."

"So stupid shit that burns a hole in my pocket." I sighed again. Yeah, he was definitely one of those men. I could only pity Aisha.

"Just don't take her over to Freckle Bitch's, take her over to Lucia's over on 8th street."

"Yeah well, Freckle Bitch's doesn't have handicap access." The way he handled the chair as he rolled away made me think that it wasn't his first time being laid up. I spent the next two hours helping him organize the armory, counting supplies and learning how to clean most of the gang's guns. Troy had never got around to teaching me and surprisingly Gat was good at teaching. True he did slide in some innuendos: make sure you have the proper lube, finger that star chamber, etc. It was easy to chill with him, he was one of the few people I didn't feel the need to fill the silence with.

After getting everything squared away, he shoved a clipboard at me and told me to take it to Julius, where I found the real reason I didn't have much interaction with the boss. Julius' office was on the second floor of the church that I hadn't realize existed since I didn't think anyone would try to climb the broken steps. They wobbled as I climbed them on tiptoe, my heels in hand since I didn't trust the stairs not to break under the fine points and kill me. After nearly half an hour I managed to get up them and found Troy and him going over some paperwork. Paperwork wasn't something I ever thought would matter with a gang, after all weren't we all just a bunch of criminals?

"You got to learn to speak up playa. No reason for you to be slinking around like that." Julius waved me over when he noticed me standing there. Troy gave me a wink before turning back to the papers in front of him.

"Sorry sir, I didn't want to interrupt you." I held out the clipboard for him.

"You do all this?"

"Non, Johnny did." I squeaked as Troy's hand caressed my leg. I shot a look at him but he was focused on whatever he was looking at. The boss didn't notice either way, the desk hiding his view of it.

"I told him to stay home." He grumbled. "If that boy ever listened it would snow in hell."

"Told you he would show up." Julius sighed and shook his head.

"Thanks kid." He waved me off.

"You need help getting back down?" Troy asked.

"It's only the second floor, I should be fine." I gave him a weak smile.

"Why would she need help?" He looked over at me. "Don't tell me you came in with injuries."

"Scared of heights, had to rescue her after killing Hector." While it amused him, it didn't amuse Julius one bit who was now glaring at me.

"You didn't think to mention this when I gave you that job?"

"I knew I could do the job and I did."

"You put the gang on the line with that shit." He yelled at me. "What if you have gotten caught? The whole point of that mission was to keep our names clear of it. You could have fucked us all." He slammed his hand on the desk.

"Jules, calm down. It's over and done with." Troy said soothingly, his stroking hand the only thing keeping me calm in the face of the boss' anger. "I've taken her off rotation for any jobs that involve heights."

"This is bigger than your ego girl. You say you knew you could do it. What if you couldn't? Your actions are greater than you and you aren't thinking a damn how it affects others are you?" He stood and glared at me. "Three times now you have put yourself at risk and subsequently the gang. I deal enough with Gat's bullshit, I will not deal with yours too." I didn't know what to say, I hadn't been acting any different from anyone else and what the hell did he mean three times?

"Cut her a break, she's a fucking kid and st-"

"That doesn't seem to be stopping you." Julius cut whatever Troy was going to say off. For a moment Troy didn't react, his hand stilling on my leg before dropping off.

"Head down Angel and I'll see you tonight." He said his face was bright red as he tossed the papers he had been looking at down and stood. I hurried out of the room only catching part of what he started to say. "I'm not Dex so don't think I'll put up with shit like that…"

XXX

My whole body felt like a giant bruise, making me miss having a tub to soak in more than ever. A hot shower really didn't help with the achiness and I was hoping that a cup of hot tea would. I stood waiting for the kettle to boil as I reflected on how much Gat actually did for the gang.

He was responsible for a lot of the younger and more violent gang members, the ones that needed a firm hand when it came to making sure they weren't causing more problems than we solved. It required a lot of hard talking and the occasional beating. Since he was laid out, some of them had decided they didn't need to listen to him, which ended with them on their asses. Gat didn't even need to get up to deal with them, just managed to take them down in the chair. Some of them he just talked to and it was heartwarming how easily he could connect to people.

Then there was canonizing that he was in charge of. You had to watch people before you even let them let think of getting in the circle. Gat was good at picking out those who would do more harm than good for the gang, he could spot a psycho a mile away. Since enrollment was up ever since the fall of Los Carnales, young blood was being turned away with Gat telling them to go back to school before he got the hell out of his chair and dragged them there.

Of course since my name was attached to Troy's people no longer had a problem with me helping out with the fights and because I was the one to take out Los Carnales a lot of people wanted a piece of me. I couldn't show any weakness and take everything with a smile, more or less. He insisted that I had to let the newbies get a hit in or two once in a while to give them some confidence. He explained was why I was able to hit so many in my canonization and was why I felt like walking tenderized meaticle.

The water finally ready, I poured my tea and added cream and sugar, just like Father used to make his. Worst part of my father was when he wasn't stinking drunk, he had been good. Those far and few moments had been everything for me, just like those moments when Babette had been lucid. Those moments in between had been what I wanted for family. It was why I could never really hate any of them. I settled down with my laptop, ready to veg out to a movie when the pounding at the door came almost making me drop my tea.

"You need to learn to knock like a civilized person." I complained as I opened the door.

"Force of habit." Troy said as he walked in. He was carrying takeout from Freckle Bitch's which he tossed on the counter before taking me in his arms and kissing me. I could help but pull out of his arms when he squeezed me too tight and accidently hurt me. He looked at me and lifted my shirt to look over the bruises. "Let me guess, Gat convinced you to let people get a hit in on you once and a while?" He sighed when I nodded. "There's a reason I don't do them that often anymore."

"Yeah, I'm not listening to him anymore. I rather scare the shit out of people and be unfriendly than do this again." I bit my lip and stared at my feet for a moment. "I don't think I'm up for sex tonight, so I'll understand if you want to head out now instead of wasting your time." He was quite for a few minutes before he said anything.

"I, uh, brought dinner, didn't know if you had eaten yet."

"I ate real food. I'm a good cook." I said tentively, still waiting for him to leave.

"No shit? You'll have to cook for me sometime just don't make me eat snails." He smiled as grabbed the bag of food and plopped down on my bed. "You got any movies or anything?" He asked as he kicked off his shoes and stretched out. I joined him on the bed and set my laptop up for a movie, a Bruce Campbell flick of course.

"You should maybe not eat those that much, you're going to ruin your body." I said when he started on his second sandwich as I stole his fries.

"I'll be fine Angel." He stroked a hand through my hair. "Though I'm going to have to get a cold shower before I can get some sleep tonight." He said with a smile.

"You staying over again?"

"Unless you have a problem with it, your bed is more comfortable, plus I figure I can get breakfast in bed." I quirked a brow at him before cuddling back into him to watch the movie. A night with my two favorite men. What could be better?

Xxx

A/n: As of the end of the month I am changing my pen name to ofmanynames to match basically everything I use.