Aqua shook like a leaf as she stood outside of the cafe. Her palms were slick with sweat. Her heart had to have been racing so loudly that even passerbys could hear it. It wasn't too late. She could always leave. She hadn't seen Jack. Nor had Jack seen her. She hadn't even told Elsa or Ven about her decision. They would have tried to talk her out of it, but now that she was there, she was wondering if that wasn't such a bad thing. But what if he came after her, tried to find where she lived, or went after Ven and Elsa?

As she turned to leave, she froze, finding herself facing Jack. He looked about as surprised as she was. She was caught like a deer in the headlights, unable to avoid the oncoming car. But then he smiled. It was so bright and so serene that Aqua believed it was genuine for all of two seconds. After all, he was using her for dates. But the same could be said about her. She was only using him for the 'no protection fee' deal.

"I wasn't sure you'd actually show up."

"I didn't… I wasn't..." she fumbled for an excuse, a reason for being there.

A flicker of something flashed across Jack's face. Before she could decipher what it was, the look was gone. His smile seemed a little forced at this point. She closed her eyes. This was playing with fire. She was going to get burned. Jack could kill her for the smallest of slights. For some reason, whenever she was around him, she couldn't seem to keep that mind to mouth filter in order. She just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. One of these days, she was going to offend the wrong person.

"Well, since you're here, let's get something to eat."

He opened the door to the cafe for her. At least he hadn't grabbed her. Then she would have had no choice. She realized he was waiting for her to enter, as if giving her one last chance to run away. Steeling her resolve, she held her head high and marched through the doors like she was going to war. Only she couldn't treat this like battle. She would have to socialize with him. Play nice until he lost interest.

When Jack gave his name to the wait staff, they were immediately taken back to a private sitting area. Aqua kept her head down on the way there, lest anyone see her. Jack reached the table first. He pulled the chair out for her. She refused to meet his eyes or even the eyes of the staff as she took her seat. Humiliation boiled in her stomach. Would she even be able to eat? The staff must already think she was scum for even being there with Jack.

Jack waved a dismissive hand once the menus were laid down on the table. The waiter left them and Jack finally took his seat across from her. He looked like the literal devil incarnate. She was going to burn for even agreeing to be there with him. Aqua picked up her menu to avoid the look Jack was giving her. Something dark and unwanted. The words before her blurred and jumbled in her head.

"Still treating me like the bad guy?" Jack asked.

The look had darkened into something purely evil and a shiver ran down her spine. The eyes of someone who had seen death and it no longer phased him. She couldn't imagine ever growing to be numb to everything around her. All the more reason not to fall for Jack's sweet words and smooth charms. He was, after all, proving he didn't have patience to earn her trust. She would sooner end up dead than kiss his boots.

"Aren't you?" she asked.

"You see… in my line of work, if someone needs help, we help them."

She had to bite back a scoff and a lippy remark. Jack's idea of help left bodies in the street and got children involved in a life of crime. She had been in the emergency medical ward. She had to pick bullets out of people and hold the hand of the dying when they had done all they could to make that person's passing more comfortable. She had been the one to stitch up a wound on someone one day only to see their name in the papers again as a murder victim. She was the one cleaning up the messes the gangs left behind. The broken people. The wounded families that would never be the same. If anyone helped, it was her.

"And if someone needs hurting, we hurt them."

She went rigid in her seat. Was this a threat? Was he going to hurt her for not reciprocating his intentions toward her? She wouldn't dare call them feelings because that would mean someone like Jack could feel. It was better to think of him as someone incapable of that. After all, she had only survived this long by only trusting a few people. Namely Elsa and Ven. Without them, she would have been on the streets selling herself. Women weren't allowed to live alone. It was 'improper' so Ven was the 'man' of the house, even though he was sick more often than not and Elsa and Aqua were technically the breadwinners of the home.

"And you said you had no choice but to help me," Jack said.

They had this argument before. It was an old hat by now. She had to save him or his friends would kill her. At the hospital Manny had shown himself to demand that she personally tend to Jack. Yet even after all of that, she still couldn't get rid of him. Because of the deal. No more protection fees, as long as she dated him. She wasn't exactly putting her best foot forward on that front.

"I'm a nurse. I took the Nightingale Pledge." she said. "I take it very seriously."

"'I shall abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.'" Jack recited to her.

Her eyes went wide. He knew the oath? It wasn't that hard to find out. Ask any nurse and she would be able to tell you. But Jack had gone out of his way to learn it just so he could toss it against her and tease her with it. Not many people would have gone out of their way to do something so… trivial. Most men she met thought it was cute how she worked for a living. 15 munni a month wasn't a bad living if she had been alone. But she had Ven and Elsa to worry about. And rent was 22 munni. They also had to eat and pay protection fees. Not to mention Ven's medicines.

"So you're a straight laced doll, aren't ya?" he teased.

"We can't all do what we want," she said.

She meant to spit it at him with venom and all the hatred her heart could muster but she felt tired. She folded the menu, no longer willing to put up the appearance of even trying to read the menu. Aqua met Jack's gaze, trying not to let it show how uncomfortable she was. Yes, she was humiliated. She was frustrated. She was tired. She was scared. But she wasn't about to give Jack the benefit of letting him know that.

"If you could do anything you want, what would you do?" he asked, seriously. "In all honesty."

"Anything?"

That gave her pause. She had spent so long only doing whatever it took to get by that she wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. Her dreams were shared with others. The few that she could trust. She didn't know or trust Jack enough to let him be one of those. Trusting people was hard. Even Ven and Elsa. If they died, then she was left alone to pick up the pieces. And survival in this town was not guaranteed.

"I want… to leave this town," she confessed.

"That's it?"

Aqua thought it over before nodding. It was the truth, but she had planned this future with Elsa and Ven in mind. They wanted to buy their own house as far from the city as they could get. Somewhere in the mountains or somewhere with a lot of land. Ven needed somewhere without the pollution of the city. She and Elsa wanted away from the violence and corruption. But land was expensive. As much as 70 munni an acre.

"I want to start over somewhere far away from here."

"You hate this city that much?" he asked.

She found herself looking away guiltily. Once, when she was younger, she used to treasure the city and all of the things in it. She adored the people, the town, the community. But bit by bit, gangs moved in. The cute little shop around the corner was gone because the owner was killed for not paying protection. The playground wasn't maintained and became unsafe for children to play on. She lost her parents because they couldn't pay protection for themselves, but had enough to spare their little girl. Childhood was stripped away from every child far too early. It was a sad but true fact.

She couldn't see the light in this town anymore. The only thing that seemed to bring her any hope was starting over. Getting far away from there. She had lost so much to the gangs already. The hope guiding her out felt more like a noose every day. One day it would tighten and it would all be over. However, it would not be for lack of fighting. She wasn't about to roll over and let this happen. She was going to give this city as much as a fight as it gave her before it claimed her.

"I didn't always," she confessed. "I used to love this town but…"

"The gangs?"

She nodded quietly, afraid of saying more. She didn't like sharing with Jack, however, she supposed that her apprehension of the gangs was a bit obvious. She had agreed to his proposition out of fear. And because it provided a benefit to her. She could use the money from protection to save funds to leave this town once and for all. But with Ven's rising medical expenses… Sometimes she wasn't sure she would ever have enough to leave.

"I am sorry," Jack said, truly meaning it.

Only Aqua didn't want to hear it. If he was truly sorry, he wouldn't be doing what he was doing. He wouldn't kill people. He wouldn't leave his life of crime, not because she batted her eyes and asked nicely. Until she stopped seeing people come in with 'Moon marks' as the media called them, she wouldn't trust a word that came out of Jack's mouth. He could spout all the pretty apologies he wanted, but his word meant very little to her. Not when she was there against her will. Granted, even if he hadn't offered her the deal, she wouldn't have chosen to go off with him.

A stranger.

Not in these times. She valued her life far too much. Women had gone missing in this town for less. Only to end up dead in the streets or worse. She was not about to resort to any of that. She wasn't about to put her trust into Jack. Not now, not ever. If his enemies found out she was near him, that was it. Her life was over. She would be just another missing person's report on a police officer's desk in a sea of missing person's reports.

"And maybe someday, I'll believe you."

"That's not a no." Jack said.

Aqua grimaced. Because he was right. She wasn't saying no outright like she should. Jack seemed pleased with that.