"Holding hands?" Barney asked. "That all?"

"What else do you want? Me to walk right in on-"

"Alright, alright," Barney groaned, waving Tool off and shaking his head. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I've never seen Christmas so sentimental is all," Tool said, reaching for a pencil while he opened his sketchbook. "Maybe there's something there."

"This isn't exactly the time to be arranging dates," Barney said half-heartedly.

Tool shrugged. "Never really is a good time, brother."

Barney rolled his eyes and turned away. Tool liked the drama of life, the show of it all. Barney had a flair for the dramatic, as shown with his flashy jewelry and skull everything. Tool was different, though. He was a whole lot on the outside and a whole lot more on the inside. Maybe it was all those years of killing people that did it to him- messed him up a little, made his pessimist and optimist and his optimist a pessimist.

Lee was coming down with Everly then. She was wearing his clothes, which were way too baggy on her, and her hair was half-dried from her shower. She had bags under her eyes still, but Barney figured she looked a whole lot better than she had yesterday. Lee did, too, but he already knew that.

"Everything good?" Barney asked.

"Going to get some things," Lee said, tucking his fingers into his pockets. "Hear anything from Caesar?"

Barney glanced over at Everly and then loosened his posture. He didn't want to scare her or be insensitive to her situation. He really wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do in this sort of situation in the first place.

"It's been pretty quiet," he said. Lee furrowed his brows. He wasn't used to Barney being so… careful. "You said you always see him in a hoodie?"

"Yeah," Everly said, hugging herself and sinking into her hips. "Yeah, that's the only way I noticed him. But…"

"But?" Barney asked.

She looked up at Lee and sucked in her cheek. He sighed.

"She doesn't know what he looks like, so he could be around without the hoodie," Lee said.

"Right," Barney said, looking between them both.

"We'll be back," Lee said, turning to guide Everly to the door. "Wanna take the bike?"

Everly raised her brows and looked up at him. Of course he'd be taking his bike. She didn't think she'd ever really seen him in a car. Barney was also surprised because he knew Lee could've just taken his truck.

"Sure," she said eventually. Lee nodded and handed her a helmet. She looked down at it, uncertain, before she tugged it on over her head and waited for Lee to give his approval. He couldn't help the chuckle that formed on his lips at the sight of her. She looked like she might topple over. He reached for her chin and did the straps up for her. Barney glanced back at Tool who just perked a brow and smirked.

"See you in a bit, Barn," Lee said, waving as he pulled open the door.

Barney waved back. He didn't have any doubt that Everly would be safe if her and Lee got close. Hell, he'd hate to be the guy that caught that kind of fury. But he was worried for his friend, too. He had a bad feeling about it all, and when he looked back at Tool, Barney knew that he understood.

Lee wouldn't come out the same after another heartbreak.

—-

Lee knew Caesar was in the car across from her apartment as they pulled up. He didn't make a show of it, though. Just a subtle nod as he slowed the bike to a stop near the sidewalk, almost undetectable to anyone that wasn't used to working so closely with Lee. He helped Everly off and rested her helmet beside his on the bike. She shook out her hair, which was frizzing out in a funny way that Lee thought he might've liked.

"How much time do you need?" He asked as they made their way to the door.

"Not long. Do you think I could get out of my lease because of this?" She asked absently while she fiddled with the lock.

"This seems like a nice place," he said.

"It was," she said, pushing open the door and making her way towards her apartment. "And then it wasn't."

Lee realized he understood that better than he first thought. He didn't say anything else as she let them into her apartment. It was darkened from the closed blinds, and the first thing he noticed was the empty knife block sticking out like a sore thumb in her kitchen just to his right. He could picture her huddled up and trembling with a knife in hand and he didn't like the image.

She hurried off to her bedroom and grabbed the first bag she could find. She tossed some comfortable clothes in because she figured she wouldn't be going anywhere fancy. She could hear Lee shuffling around in her living room and was grateful he had gone with her. She was grateful to all of them for helping her when she couldn't even admit to her fear.

She let her mind wander to other things for the first time. She thought about her uncle and what he might have been up to. She knew Henry was probably busy with something like he always was. He'd been a good friend to her, a good cousin. She considered him a brother but wouldn't fully admit to it, especially because he would probably tease her relentlessly about it. Then she thought about her mom. She felt bad that she was stuck in Florida by herself, but not bad enough to go stay with her or check her out of the place. The guilt of that weighed on her everyday, like if maybe she was a better daughter her mother would be better, too. Rational thought hardly mattered when it came to things like addiction and family. All there really was to it was hurt, loss, grief, anger, and so many things that Everly had spent too much time feeling.

She finished packing her bag and met Lee in the living room. He was looking at a few pictures she had mounted near the TV, featuring her as a child with her mom and uncle and cousin. Even though her family wasn't perfect, it was the only sense of stability she had ever known. She figured that expecting things to explode at any second was about as stable as she would ever get.

"I was a cute kid, huh?" She joked, crossing her arms over her stomach like she always did. Lee let out a gentle laugh.

"Sure, I guess."

"What about you?" She asked. "I didn't notice any pictures in your room."

Lee shrugged. "It's not my permanent residence."

"Makes sense," she said, looking towards the image. She was small in it, her hair in pigtails and cheeks puffy and pink. Her mom looked like a different person entirely back then. She was beautiful, sun kissed, and glowing. That was how Everly chose to remember her, instead of the broken woman she was now. That's what that woman in the picture would have wanted, or so she told herself.

Lee was thinking about what Henry had told him on the phone. He was looking at the image of her mother, and then at the way Everly smiled up at him, and it tore at his heart that she didn't know there was something wrong. He grappled with telling her for a few minutes, but after a while she looked away from him and moved towards her windows. He watched her.

"Caesar's good at this, right?" She asked, pulling back the curtain and peering outside. The light danced across her eyes, just a slit from the curtains.

"Yeah," Lee said. "If he sees anything strange, we'll know about it."

"And the others?" She asked, turning to him. She looked worried again. "They're good, too?"

"We all are," he said. "We'll figure this out."

She nodded and looked down, letting the curtain fall across the window behind her. The slit of light that had brightened up her face disappeared and she was cast in shadow again. He could tell her mind was churning and he wished that he could give her some sort reassurance that they were as good as they said. He didn't want to scare her away by pulling out a knife. He had some pictures buried away of him from his SAS days, but all of those were at the house he had shared with Lacy, and he didn't want to deal with her yet.

"I appreciate it," Everly said. "I should just check my mail, and then we can go."

"Alright," he said. He trailed behind her while she checked that everything was turned off and locked up.

She closed the door to her apartment behind them and twisted the key in the lock. She didn't put much faith in locks anymore. She turned to the wall of mailboxes and scanned for her apartment number before reaching in. Lee slouched as he waited, his hands in his pockets while his eyes wandered.

She thumbed through the envelopes after pulling them out. She got to one that was addressed by hand with no return address- actually, it didn't have anything on it but her name. She froze, blinking down at the paper in her hand, before she gasped and dropped all of the mail like it had burned her. She clasped her hands over mouth and tried to breathe, but panic was setting back in and she just wanted to run.

Lee turned to her, concerned.

"What?" He asked, putting a hand on her back. "What happened?"

She shook her head and looked down at the envelope, tears beading in her eyes. He saw her name scribbled on it and knelt to gather everything in his hand. He flipped the letter over and looked back at her.

"He was here," she said, gasping for air. "He was in here- that- he was here-"

Lee let her fall into his chest. He could tell she was afraid. He knew the letter could've been dropped off before anybody was keeping watch, but he was still irritated that nobody had caught it.

"Do you want me to open it?" He asked.

She shuddered against him and nodded. She knew it might help figure out who he was, and that was what mattered. Lee would do it and she wouldn't have to see it.

He let her settle against his chest and wrapped his arms around her to rip open the envelope. He pulled out the paper inside, which was just looseleaf paper folded a few times. It was handwritten, scribbled in chicken scratch. Lee felt his eyes go dark as he read it. He wanted to get it to Barney as fast as he could. Everly was calming down slightly, so he tucked the paper into his coat pocket and pulled away.

"Let's get back," he said, handing her the rest of her mail.

"Is it bad?" She asked.

"Don't worry. You don't need to worry about it," he said, guiding her to the door.

She had a feeling that meant it had been bad. She didn't want to spend too much time thinking about it, so she let him take her hand and pull her back to the bike. She strapped the helmet on by herself this time, sniffing and rubbing the tears from her face. She was so tired of crying and being afraid. She just wanted things to be normal, or as normal as they could possibly be, considering how everything was before. She would work her shifts at the bar, call her mom once a month to check in, and spend her free time lounging around or exploring the city without fearing for her life.

She climbed onto the back of Lee's bike and settled her arms around his waist. She pressed her head against his back and he started the bike, sighing against her.

He just wanted to keep her safe. It felt like the least he could do for her, even though he didn't fully understand why.

Caesar nodded as they road off.

—-

Lee parked the bike just outside of Tool's. Everly climbed off and tugged at the helmet, brushing her hair down. She drew in a deep breath and decided to be brave. She was safe at Tool's. She had to believe that. There wasn't even any reason to think the man knew where she was.

"Come on," Lee said, taking her hand and helping her to the door. He pulled out the torn envelope and gritted his teeth.

He pushed open the door and was greeted by the stale scent of cigars and booze and dust.

"Barney, I got something you're gonna wanna see-" he started, but he stopped when Barney stood and looked over at him. He felt his throat constrict suddenly, and he let Everly's hand fall from his. He could sense her eyes on him, though. They were like lasers burning into his skin. Those weren't the eyes he was focused on, though.

He tightened his grip on the envelope and clenched his jaw. Barney looked between Lee and his guest, and then to Everly, whose eyes were pink and puffy from crying again. Tool was in the corner smirking to himself.

Lee cleared his throat and straightened himself up.

"Lacy," he said. She stood and glanced behind him at Everly and then back at him.

"Hi, Lee."