Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.

~ Romeo and Juliet ~

Philippa dropped Ash off at the warehouse on Saturday morning under the condition that he'd do his homework before ordering in food of dubious nutritional value, playing spurious card games with his dad, sparring with his grandfather "or whatever other activity you have in mind that undermines thirteen years of careful motherly upbringing", she finished her list grumpily but smiling.

Ash knew better than testing his mother's tolerance regarding homework and as far as he had gathered his father wasn't willing to budge on that point either. So he disappeared into the room Chance had given him for his birthday – his own room, right next to his Dad's living-room, with furniture of his choice and decorated the way he wanted it. After living in temporary homes for his whole life suddenly having two rooms of his own, one at his mother's house and one here, was like a quantum leap in luxury. He still couldn't quite believe how much his life had changed in so few months.

Looking around the room his father and his friends had so carefully built, Ash wondered if he should really go through with what he was planning. What if he disappointed him? There was no telling what he would say, how he would react. They just didn't know each other long enough for any kind of at least half-way educated guess.

"Well then I guess I just have to do it and find out", Ash finally decided and closed his exercise book determinedly. His homework was finished and it was time to start with stage one of his plan.

The thought of disappointing his father put a knot in his stomach. On the other hand, this was important to him. And hadn't his grandfather only last week told him that knowing what you want makes you a man? "Getting what you want is easy", he had said. "Knowing what you want is the hard part. Once you know what you want, you can figure out how to get there and if it's important enough to you, you will find a way, no matter how difficult it looks."

Well, Ash was pretty sure he had found a way… it was a pretty crazy-ass plan, but with a little luck it could work. If he only knew that his father would back him…

Only one way to find out.

Sighing, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen area where Chance was reading the newspaper. He knew something was off the second his son walked in. There was something about the look on his face… "Homework finished?", he asked.

Ash nodded and sat down at the table, eyeing his father. Chance slightly tilted his head and smiled. "Spit it out."

"Mom said you're some kind of bodyguard."

Uh-oh, they'd just stepped onto very thin ice.

Chance nodded slowly.

"She said you've got a very unique method to protect your clients."

Chance nodded again, not sure where this was heading.

"Explain."

Harmless request, but Chance's mind was racing. He had discussed this with Philippa for hours: How much could they tell the boy without him starting to ask questions? What information would raise suspicions and what was safe?

"I know so little about you", Ash added, blue eyes looking up at him.

Chance tried to ignore the pang of guilt he felt, after all it wasn't his fault he hadn't known about Ash's existence for so long, but it didn't work. He felt sorry for his son who just wanted to know more about his father.

"I blend into the client's normal environment so that the threat doesn't know he's being protected", he reluctantly replied. "When the threat tries to attack, I step in and … hand him over to the police."

"How do you do that?"

Oh great, what should he say now? That he used guns, knives, explosives, drugs, even a grenade launcher every now and then? "Do what?", Chance asked back, stalling.

"Blending in."

Big sigh of relief. Describing how to blend in was a safe topic, it didn't require any mention of weapons or illegal substances. "Don't imitate who you want to be, be who you want to be", Chance began. "If you're pretending to be a banker, react to things like a banker would, not like you would…"

Guerrero came walking in and raised his eyebrows, overhearing Chance's explanation, but didn't say anything. Instead he opened the fridge and rummaged around till he had found Winston's egg salad. It contained way too much cholesterol for him anyway.

The telephone rang and Chance answered it. "Harry…" He didn't get any further since Harry broke out into a hectic and confusing recount of his latest mess.

"Harry, if you killed your client, I'm sure you didn't do it on purpose…", Chance finally managed to chime in.

More rambling from Harry, then Chance again: "See, there's still hope. As long as there are no bones… You know how good Guerrero is at tracking people. He'll…"

Guerrero shot Chance a warning look.

"We'll", Chance corrected himself, "come over as soon as possible." He hung up the phone and turned to his son.

"No problem", Ash said before Chance could apologize, "Go ahead, I'm good. I'll ask Ames if she's got time for a game or something." And off he went.

Guerrero noted that the boy left the kitchen a little too quickly, but Chance's summary of Harry's catastrophe of the week soon required all his attention. How in the world were they supposed to get him out of that shitstorm?

Chance had noticed, too, that Ash was a little too fast in turning to Ames for company, especially since he hadn't yet spent much time with her, but just like with Guerrero, the Harry issue soon demanded all his focus. Oh boy, he had really gotten himself into something this time.

And considering this was Harry they were talking about, this was saying something.