I held Jade as she cried in my lap. I didn't know how much time had passed and I didn't care. I remembered the first time that I had killed someone. I spent all night crying into my sister's arms. I wasn't going to leave her alone with this. Jade gave a hacking wheeze and sniffled. She pulled her head up and didn't look at me. Just turned to shuffle off of the bridge. I watched as she slowly made her way to her room and slam the door to her room shut.

Andre came up to the bridge a little bit later. "How is she?" He asked softly. "Crappy. How else would she be?" I snapped and immediately regretted it. "Sorry." I whispered. "If" I started to say but Andre cut me off. "Oh don't start! We tried our best but we knew this was going to happen. The only way that we could've avoided this was to be accountants."

I looked out the window. "Still, we could have" I started to say and again Andre cut me off. "We're couriers. It was going to happen." He said softly. I didn't really have a counter argument. We're small time. Easy pickings and a job like this, we all knew it was going to happen. I really hoped that it wouldn't, but it was a red dream.

"I think I'll fly the old girl for a bit." Andre said suddenly. "Old girl? Since when do you call her that?" I asked, not quite sure if I should be insulted over my best friend calling our home old. Andre gave a slightly defensive shrug. "What? She is old." I growled at him and pushed past him. "Just take us to Hong Kong."

"Aye Aye captain!"

I rolled my eyes and walked to Jade's room. Everyone's rooms were only a short distance away from the bridge I was in front of Jade's door. I took a deep breath and knocked. No response. It could be any number of things. She's probably asleep. Yea. That's it. I turned to walk away before turning right back around and pushed the door open. I climbed down slowly, only stopping when I heard the shower running.

Okay. Okay. I'll ask her if she wants me to stay and then come back and check on her later. I dropped to the floor and took a breath. "Just checking up on you. You okay? I can come back later if you like." I said, keeping my gaze towards the latter. What? Unlike others I respect their privacy. Jade didn't say anything. I asked again, louder this time and she still didn't say anything. I groaned and turned around. This better not be awkward.

I gasped when I saw Jade curled up in a ball underneath the shower spray. The only thing that she had off were her boots. I blinked away the tears that were forming and took off my boots. I stepped through the steam and gently picked her up. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her face into the crook of my neck. I reached up to turn the water from scalding to just hot and didn't move after that.

I don't know how long we sat like that, but eventually Jade stirred and turned off the shower. She sniffled and looked away as she rubbed her eyes. She started to say something and then stopped. When she opened her mouth I interrupted her. "It's fine. I did the same thing. Kind of. Andre drank himself into the void and Cat was a crying wreck for about a week."

I stood up and shook the extra water off of myself and wrung out my hair. "It's like I told you. This should bother you. The day it doesn't let me know."

Jade's back was still towards me when she quietly said "The day that I woke up...You were going to shoot me, weren't you?"

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Yea. Yea I was. You had just hit Andre with a wrench and beat up Cat. After you fainted, I didn't know what you would do. Better safe than sorry." I rubbed the back of my head and then said "For what it's worth, I'm really glad that I didn't have to shoot you."

I think she might have smiled. She wasn't looking at me, but her tense shoulders relaxed maybe a few centimeters or so. I took that as a positive sign and started to leave her room. I had just put my foot on the bottom rung of the ladder when she said "I'm glad you didn't shoot me."

I smiled. "Get changed and sleep. I'll be back later to check up on you."

"I don't need a nanny."

I rolled my eyes. "That's nice. I'll still be by in a bit to check on you." I climbed out of her room when a thought occurred to me. "You better not lock your door!" I shouted down. The response I got was a detailed suggestion of what I could do to a cactus.

Totally and unnecessarily rude.

I was of course still soaked when I got to my room, and had to spend a couple minutes peeling my wet clothes off of me before I could towel off and get dressed in an oversized shirt and shorts. Wrapping my hair up in the towel, I pulled out the books and began to go over the numbers for this job.

The books aren't actual paper-books, but documents and spreadsheets that I made to keep track of everything. I just call them the books because it sounds cool. It's not the most inaccurate name anyways. I tapped the intercom and waited for Cat's usual cheerful voice sing out.

"What's the bill Kitkat?" I asked, ready to type away.

"Not bad cap! Mostly cosmetic." Cat answered cheerfully. She then went into more detail and I typed out the damages and what else needed to be fixed. Great news really, in that everything would be under budget and we could even afford some upgrades! I think things were starting to go well for us.

My stomach rumbled and I left my room in a better mood then I thought I would ever be in. The intercom squealed for a second and then a trip star called Luna Shade started to play. I smiled as I entered the kitchen to see Cat dancing around, her red-velvet hair flying as she danced to the beat. I tossed some chicken and rice into the heater to cook and then joined her. It took a couple tries, but we fell into a matching rhythm and sang along to the music.

Kiss me stranger

Just kiss me

I'm here for a good time

Not a long time

So just kiss me

Kiss me everywhere

(kiss me)

Don't need to know your name

Just wanna see your game

Night's young

So very young

So gimme that kiss

(kiss me)

The song continued for a couple more verses as Cat and I danced around the kitchen, singing along. Personally I thought that we sung so much better then Luna Shade but whatever. Laughing as the song ended, I grabbed my plate out of the heater and fell against the couch, wincing when I burnt my hand on the chicken and rice. Cat flopped down next to me and laughed. "I missed doing that. We need more dance parties!"

"Yea you're right. How about a night out in Hong Kong when we get back?" I asked. This impromptu dance session had reminded me that we were due for some kind of a break. I mean, we're young and we don't need to be working all of the time. A night off is just what the doctor ordered.

Cat squeaked in happiness and tackled me with a massive hug and it's only through my awesome skills that I hadn't dropped my food on the ground. Cat let go of me and bounced out of the room saying something about new outfits and unmatching with the others.

I didn't ask on the account of wanting to finish eating and even the greatest hunter-agents in the Alliance wouldn't be able to follow her thought process. I gladly focused on my dinner and enjoyed how quiet it was. Don't get me wrong, I love my little family and how loud they could be but sometimes it was nice to enjoy when things were actually quiet.

I finished my food and tossed the plate into the sink for Cat to do later. What? Getting a job done doesn't mean that she can skip out on her punishment. I commed Andre and told him that I would take over after a nap. He cheerfully said that was fine and then mentioned something about "go get that Jade."

I wasn't really sure where he was going with that so I ignored it. Speaking off, I had better go check on Ms. Cranky. I frowned. I really shouldn't be thinking of her like that, but even when needing help she could be really cranky. Actually this could be my chance to get her back for barging in on me earlier! I grinned. This'll take her mind off of things.

I skipped to Jade's room and shoved the door open and stared into a blackened room. Normally when we turned out the lights in our rooms, it didn't get pitch black dark as there's usually a small emergency light or something similar to help us find our way. Within a day or so Jade had somehow wrecked it and then found a way to make her room darker. I don't know how she did it and I wasn't really going to ask.

I climbed down into the dark room and dry swallowed a nervous gulp. Maybe this wasn't the best idea that I've had. Moving slowly with one hand in front of me I walked through the room. I really hoped that I didn't trip over anything ...evil.

I breathed a sigh of relief and ran my hands over the blankets until I found Jade. "Hey, just checking up on ya." I whispered. No response. I wasn't going to leave until I made sure that she was actually asleep and not curled up all depressed. Trina had made that mistake with me once and I wasn't about to do the same thing. My hand floated above the sheets until I finally found Jade's hand and I took it into mine.

"Jade?" I whispered.

Nothing. I heard the slight breathing and guessed that she was asleep. I'll let her sleep. I started to let go when her hand snapped closed and I had to grimace from the strength. She's a lot stronger than she looks. "No, stay. Please Beck." I heard a whimper. When I pulled my hand again her grip somehow tightened and pulled me back towards the bed.

I guess Beck was a family member or something. I grabbed my phone and set my alarm so that I could let Andre get some rest. Lifting up the blankets I climbed in and lay down. "I'm here. Go to sleep." I held her hand and her death grip released just a bit. Her breathing evened and she was soon completely asleep. I followed shortly after.

A loud beeping woke me up and I groaned. "Turn that damn thing off." Someone snapped. "Yeah Yeah." I groaned into the pillow and I swatted the phone, shutting it up. Before I could fall asleep again I whoofed as the air exploded out of me when a foot connected with my stomach and launched me out of the bed.

Tangled up in blankets, I held my stomach and groaned as I rolled on the floor. "Vega what the fuck?!" Jade roared. "Seriously?" I snapped. "You fucking asked me to stay!" I yelled. I pulled the blankets off of my face and looked up into the dark room to a glaring and confused Jade. "No I didn't." She snapped.

"You did." I fired back. "You also called me Beck. Didn't think it was right to leave you." Jade didn't say anything and I half way wished that I could actually see in the dark because I really wanted to know what was going on when I mentioned that name. Who was Beck? Finally she whispered "I didn't ask you to stay."

I picked myself up from off of the floor and groaned. "You did. Kind of sorry that I did stay." I muttered. "Yea well you damn well better be. I didn't ask for your help and I don't need a fucking nanny." Jade said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll keep that in mind the next time you're upset." I turned on my heel and climbed out of her room. Not before hitting the lights and leaving her outraged shout at the sudden brightness.

Such a gank! Sometimes I wondered why I bothered! Such a freaking gank! I stomped into my room and changed to a sleeveless shirt and some pants. I skipped the shoes and stormed up to the bridge. "So, bad morning?" Andre said by way of greeting.

I didn't intend to start ranting like a madwoman, but I did and then Andre started laughing and that started me off more. I ranted about horrible ways of being woken up and Jade and Jade and Jade and Andre being a jerk for laughing non stop. I finally calmed down and fell into the pilot's chair with a huff. "Feel better?" He asked. "A bit. Thanks. Go get some sleep." I checked over the flight path.

"We'll be in Hong Kong in about seven hours. We'll grab the money and fix up Nostromo before we get another job. We finally have enough."

"I think things are looking well for us." Andre said as he got up to leave.

"I think so too." I said.

Andre rolled his shoulders as he walked out and called out over his shoulder. "A few more jobs and we'll be golden! What's the worst that could happen?"

I groaned. "Seriously? Did you have to ask that?"

I thought we were due for some Jori. Please leave those reviews.