Dance with the Devil

Summary: Set after series finale. As the girls head to New York City for a 2-year reunion trip, Jo Polniaczek-Bonner finds herself wrapped up in the gang she abruptly left upon being accept into Eastland and moving to Peekskill. While trying to keep her friends safe and out of harm's way, Jo is stretched to the limit -her marriage following suit- as she finds herself dancing with her inner demons.

.: IV :.

After a fifteen-minute walk at a fast pace, Jo turned down one more alleyway and came across a door at the back of a building. A light-bulb shined dimly above the door but it didn't do much to bring awareness to the area. Jo quickly checked over her shoulder, before stepping up to the door and knocking rapidly three times. She then paused, and knocked two more times.

She heard movement on the other side of the door. Jo quickly put her hands up and behind her head before turning in a circle twice. A moment later, a lock clicked, and the door swung wide open.

"JP, it's so good to see you again," Brittany said brightly. "I'm surprised you remember this place." She stuck her head out of the door and glanced around. She shivered in disgust as a rat jumped out of a trashcan and ran into the darkness. "The dump it is."

"Knock of the act, Brittany," Jo said harshly. "Are you going to let me in or what?"

Brittany's smile instantly faded. She brushed her hair away from her shoulder. Jo caught a glimpse of a YD tattooed on the side of her neck before her hair fell back into place. "Fine. We've been waiting for you." She sneered. Brittany stepped to the side to allow Jo room into the building. "Years."

"Yeah, yeah," Jo muttered. Brittany reached out to grab Jo's elbow. The minute she made contact, Jo roughly pulled her arm away, glaring harshly. Brittany raised an eyebrow in response and smirked before brushing past Jo, leading her down the dark hallway. Their footsteps echoed but was quickly drowned out by the loud voices in the room at the end of the hall.

Jo coughed as the smell of cigarette smoke wafted up into her nose. She waved her hand in front of her face as she followed Brittany through the smog. She stopped at the doorway of a large room. The wallpaper was peeling, the upholstery on the furniture was stained or hand numerous holes, and cobwebs lined the ceiling. Empty cans and bottles of alcohol littered the floor.

"Hey everyone, look who I found," Brittany loudly announced. She waved her arm to present Jo as if she were the word wall on Wheel of Fortune, Brittany playing the part of Vanna White.

Jo instantly stiffened as all the occupants of the room paused. She heard the sounds of bottles moving on the floor, and made sure not to look down to see what vermin was living among the trash. Her eyes stayed on the man seated in an arm chair, flocked on each side by beautiful girls, roughly her own age. The guy stared right back before smiling, showing his yellowing teeth, only glowing silver from a cap.

"So, the rumors are true," his gruff voice caused the hair on the back of Jo's neck to stand. He moved to put out a cigarette in a dish one of the girls held. From across the room, Jo could smell chewing tobacco and alcohol. It was what he practically bathed in, since they were young teenagers running around and shoplifting from corner stores for the hell of it. "JP decided to grace us with her presence once more."

"Nice to see you all again," Jo said sarcastically. She took a quick scan around the room. Including Brittany, only the guy, his two girls, and two other young men were in the room. The two men were standing behind the arm chair, their hands clasped in front of them. They stood tall and still, like bodyguards. Brittany collapsed on a nearby couch, rubbing her hands expectantly. "Where is everyone else? Or did they-"

"Leave?" the guy interrupted. He threw his head back and laughed loudly. One of the girls around him took a glance at Jo, raising an eyebrow. Jo rolled her eyes before raising her hand and flipping her off. "No, you were the only one," the guy said as soon as he calmed down. "Well, you and Didi."

"I thought it was Double D," Brittany called out, watching Jo carefully.

Jo took a deep breath, her hands clenched into fists. "His name's Eddie. You know that," she said gruffly."

"Yeah, I know." The guy smiled. "I just like seeing you get worked up. It does something to me." He slowly licked is lips. Jo shook her head. She looked over the shoulder and down the hallway, checking to see if that was the only exit. If there was one thing she learned while being a part of the Young Diablos, is that you always look for an alternate escape route, just in case.

"Look, I only came here to tell you to leave me friends alone." Jo took the time to stare harshly at everyone in the room. Her anger rose as Brittany scoffed and the leader of the Young Diablos barely flinched. He raised an eyebrow in response before shrugging.

"We haven't done anything," he said.

"I know you will."

"Why would we?" he asked.

Jo wanted to respond but kept her lips pulled tightly together. Saying the words out loud would mean she is admitting the one cardinal rule of the Young Diablos: don't turn your back on your family.

At the time, the Young Diablos were more her family than her own. Her father and mother fought all the time, constant threats of divorce thrown around as normal insults. Her father drifted in and out of the city, trying to find work and doing long haul trucking jobs. Her mother was forced to take care of Jo by taking on job after job after job that Jo felt like a burden in her own home. While she did everything she could to help, her mother refused to accept it, making Jo feel even worse.

She and her boyfriend at the time, Eddie, had ended up falling in with the Young Diablos through Gloria and her friend Brittany. While Jo never did get along well with Brittany, she did enjoy her time with Gloria. The two grew up a few houses down and understood everything going on in each other's lives, the struggles and dreams of wanting to get out the Bronx, even though they loved the city.

"Why would we harm anyone, Jo?" he pressed. Jo flinched at the use of her name. While with the Young Diablos, everyone aside from Eddie, called her JP. It was the easiest way to keep her regular life and her gang life separate.

"…Because I left," she finally admitted, instantly hating the way her voice shook. Jo was always one to have a tough exterior, even if she was shaking on the inside. Growing up the way she did, she always hid her real feelings until she locked herself into her room for the night and cried herself to sleep, pressing her face into her pillow so even her mother wouldn't hear her.

"No, you didn't leave," the guy said. He suddenly stuck his foot out and kicked a nearby table, causing it to fall over. It crashed loudly to the floor. Brittany's smile instantly faded. She sat up straight from her seat on the couch, her elbows resting on her knees, alert and ready to pounce. "You ran away. With your tail between your legs."

"You betrayed us all," Brittany commented, before nodding over to the guy. "You betrayed G."

G snapped his fingers. The two guys standing over him quickly moved. One pulled a cigarette and lighter out of his pockets, lit up one, and then placed it between G's fingers. The other quickly grabbed a chair and placed it in front of G in the arm chair.

G waved the two girls away. "Sit," he instructed, pointing to the chair in front of him. Jo moved from the door way before dropping into the seat. G waved his hand in the air. The two girls and the two bodyguards quickly shuffled out of the room. Brittany remained behind. She had pulled a folder out from underneath the sofa before handing it over to G.

"You knew the proper way to leave but you decided to run out into the night and never come back," G stated.

"I went to school," Jo said.

"We've heard." Brittany rolled her eyes as G opened the folder. "You've made something of your life, didn't you?"

"Graduated as valedictorian from Eastland School for Girls. Graduated as valedictorian from Langley College. Spent some time as a teacher, and even did a little work in computers out in California," he listed off.

Jo barely heard his words over the loud roaring sound in her ears. Everything she had worked so hard for, to be able to escape her past, had come flooding back. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, silently wishing she hadn't agreed to come on this trip, wishing that she hadn't argued with her husband and pushed him away. She wished she had been the Jo she took years to create instead of her old self.

"You had a job as a social worker before marrying a volunteer named Rick Bonner. The two of you moved to Los Angeles," G concluded, closing the folder with a snap. Jo slowly opened her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. She turned to glance at Brittany who, in turn, looked away and found sudden interest with a loose thread on the couch.

"How did you-"

"We have eyes and ears everywhere, even in California," G answered before taking a long drag from his cigarette. He leaned forward and blew the smoke directly into Jo's face. She held her breath, forcing herself not to couch. She willed herself not to blink as the smoke stung her eyes, causing them to glisten.

"My neighbor," Jo muttered.

"I always knew you were smart." G clapped. "You put that one together quickly." One of his eyes twitched as he took another drag. This time he forced the smog out of his nose, causing it to roll over his chest. "Does your husband-"

"Leave him out of this," Jo snapped, "and my friends, and my ma."

"We didn't want to bring them into it." G shrugged. "Now that you're back, you have a job to finish."