Author's Notes: Woot for finally getting over writer's block! I'd been wanting to write this scene since I started this story, and here it is. Finally. I'm not really sure about it, but it's done. Dialogue that sounds familiar isn't mine, it's Jonathan's, thanks to everyone who's commented on this already, and please review, because it makes me happy and inspires me to write.



I slept late the next morning. My slumber had been uneasy at best, with scenes from the previous evening replaying over and over in my mind. That strange look on Benny's face, the sound my shirt made as he tore it, how the office supplies fell to the floor as he shoved me onto his desk. I would awake with a gasp, a cry muted behind my lips, hot tears stinging my eyes. And then I would see Roger beside me, and curl up closer to him, feeling safe as his arms automatically went around me. Everything was all right. At least, until the next dream.

When I finally got up, the sun was all the way over to the bed, where it beat down on my face. Someone had yanked the covers off of my feet, and when I peered over there, my eyes still squinting from the bright light, I saw Roger tickling them with a feather, an impish expression on his face.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, reaching for my pillow and taking a swing in his direction. He avoided it easily, still holding the damn feather, still laughing at me.

"I thought you'd never get up," he grinned triumphantly.

"You're mean!" I whined. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to tickle a girl when she's asleep?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Then it wouldn't be rude for me to tickle her when she was awake?"

"Don't you dare," I told him. "Not before I've had my coffee."

"Oh, all right," he gave in. He handed me a Styrofoam cup from the table. "Here. I got you this while you were asleep. And doughnuts too, if you're hungry."

Damn him, how *did* he manage to look that cute? "I can't stay mad at you when you're like this!" I complained.

"Good." He handed me a chocolate covered, cream filled doughnut. "Now eat this. You're too skinny."

I crossed my arms. "And what if I say no?"

"Then I'm afraid you can't have your dessert afterwards," my boyfriend informed me, a sly grin on his face.

"Oh, all right," I pouted, taking a bite of the doughnut. "Although I have to say I'd like this cream in.other ways."

"After you eat," he restated firmly.

"You're so mean," I mumbled, my mouth full of pastry.

"I saw Mark and Maureen while I was out," Roger told me, taking a swallow of his own coffee. "They said to tell everyone that we're going to have a New Years party tonight to break back into the building."

I swallowed. "What? But." I gestured around the room. "We did that a week ago."

"Ah, but they don't know that," Roger grinned. "Do we really want to spoil the fun for them?"

"Hell no," I agreed. "Why ruin the party?"

Roger climbed onto the bed next to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "That's my girl," he whispered in my ear.

I took a few hasty bites of my doughnut and washed them down with the remainder of my coffee. "Can I have my dessert now?" I pleaded.

He pushed my hair back and began kissing my neck. His touch was soft and gentle, and so completely different from how Benny's had been a mere sixteen hours ago. I could do this. I could get through anything as long as I had this man beside me.

We met Mark at the corner of 10th Street and Avenue A at quarter till twelve that night. Roger and I brought a bottle of champagne we'd bought on our way there. Mark brought his camera. None of us had thought to bring any burglary tools.

Roger and I broke out the champagne five minutes after we got to the building. We weren't working very well, I had to admit. Roger was supposed to be trying to pick the padlock with his Swiss Army knife, but wasn't having much luck. It probably didn't help that I was whispering suggestive comments in his ear every thirty seconds or so. "How long till next year?" I asked him.

He glanced at his watch. "Three and a half minutes."

"I'm going to be a new person," I declared. "No more smack, no more bad company. I mean it. I think it's gonna be a happy new year."

Mark emerged from where he had been standing lookout. "Coast is clear." He snatched the bottle of champagne away from me. "You're supposed to be working. That's for midnight. Where are they? There isn't much time."

"Maybe they're dressing?" I suggested. "I mean, what does one wear that's apropos for a party that's also a crime?"

Roger snickered. "Now who's talking in rhyme?"

I flicked a bit of champagne at him. "Quiet, you."

What would have escalated into a champagne fight was broken up by Maureen's arrival. She was wearing a skintight cat costume, and carrying a bag of potato chips. I wasn't that surprised by her attire. Maureen, Roger had told me, loved to dress up in costume.

She held the bag out to us. "Chips anyone?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "You can take the girl out of Hicksville, but you can't take the Hicksville out of the girl."

"My riot got you on TV!" Maureen exclaimed indignantly. "I deserve a royalty."

"Be nice, you two," I lectured them. "Or no godawful champagne."

She grabbed the bottle and took a swig. "Don't mind if I do. No luck?"

Roger shook his head. "Bolted plywood, padlocked with a chain. A total dead end."

Maureen made a face. "Just like my ex-girlfriend."

Roger rolled his eyes as Maureen took out a cell phone and dialed her girlfriend's number. She wasn't more than thirty seconds into it before Joanne showed up, bringing a coil of rope with her. The two of them went off with Mark to climb up the fire escape, leaving me and Roger giggling together because they were about to attempt what we'd been doing all week.

"I think I should be laughing," Roger told me, squeezing me around the shoulders. "I'm not sure I remember how. It's been so long since I've felt like this, and to tell the truth, it's a little scary."

"I'm scared too," I confessed. "But I'm a lot less scared when you're here."

He kissed me lightly. "I think it's going to be a happy new year."

I smiled at him. "Me too."

Just then, Collins and Angel made their entrance. I hadn't seen them all week, which wasn't that surprising, considering they were a brand new couple, same as Roger and me. Angel was wearing the silvery plastic dress she'd been working on, and a blonde wig she'd bought on our last shopping excursion. And she looked happy, happier than I'd ever seen her.

Collins took off his sunglasses. "Bond. James Bond."

"And Pussy Galore, in person!" Angel chimed in, taking off the blowtorch that was slung around her shoulders.

"Pussy, you came prepared!" I exclaimed.

"I was a boy scout once," she pointed out. "And a Brownie, until some brat got scared."

I smiled at the thought of Angel as a Brownie. I'd have to ask her for the story later.

"Aha!" Collins tapped me on the shoulder. "Moneypenny, my martini!"

I held out the bottle. "Will bad champagne do?"

"That's shaken, not stirred," Roger instructed me. I'd never seen the James Bond movies, but my boyfriend had mentioned them more than once. I had a feeling he'd make me watch them all sometime soon.

Angel set to work on the padlock as I handed Collins a glass of champagne. "How much time do we have left?" he asked.

I grabbed Roger's left arm and looked at his watch. "Two minutes."

Collins looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

Roger gestured up to the fire escape. "Playing Spiderman."

A minute and a half later, the lock fell off. We flung the door open where we found Mark, Maureen, and Joanne at the bottom of the stairs, just before it struck midnight. In the distance I could hear the cheers of other New Yorkers, who were most likely celebrating in their own homes, who never had been locked out of theirs.

Oh, well. It was New Years, Roger's arm was around my shoulders, and I was feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. Let them have their parties. They didn't have Roger.

The celebration had just gotten underway when everything fell silent. I knew it was him even before I turned around. I hadn't seen him since the evening before, and I sure as hell didn't want to see him now. Instinctively, I shrank back behind Roger.

"I see that you've beaten me to the punch," Benny began. His voice was cool and even, just like it always was, but I shivered slightly.

"How'd you know we'd be here?" Roger demanded.

Benny shrugged. "I had a hunch."

"You're not mad?" Mark asked incredulously. I was just wondering the same thing. I'd have expected him to be pissed as hell, but amazingly enough, he seemed perfectly calm and unruffled.

Benny shook his head. "I'm here to end this war. It's a shame you went and destroyed the door."

Something was weird here. Turning around, after his adamant protests all week that he'd never back down was completely out of character for Benny. "Why the sudden big about-face?" I demanded.

He smiled at me. I flinched slightly. "The credit is yours. You made a good case."

"What case?" Roger cried.

This time he smiled at Roger, who was scowling back at him. "Mimi came to see me, and she had much to say."

"That's not how you put it at all yesterday!" I shouted at him.

"I couldn't stop thinking about the whole mess." Benny shook his head sadly. "Mark, you'll want to get this on film."

Mark sighed. "I guess."

Benny stood up straight and adjusted his jacket. "I regret the unlucky circumstances of the past seven days--"

"Circumstance?" Roger interrupted. "You padlocked our door!"

"And it's with great pleasure on behalf of Cyberarts that I hand you this key," Benny continued, unruffled by Roger's outburst.

Angel rolled her eyes. "Golf claps."

Mark put down his camera and checked the red light. "I had no juice in my battery."

"Reshoot!" Benny snapped.

"I see." Roger's words were dripping with sarcasm. "This is a photo opportunity."

"The benevolent God ushers the poor artists back to their flat," Maureen declared sarcastically. "Were you planning on taking down the barbed wire from the lot too?"

"Anything but that!" Roger exclaimed in mock horror. I elbowed him. The last thing I wanted was for him to make Benny mad.

Benny had slipped into the role of righteous businessman by this point. "Clearing the lot was a safety concern," he said patiently, as if speaking to a group of slow, dull children. "We break ground this month. But you can return."

"That's why you're here with people you hate!" Maureen spat. "Instead of with Muffy at Muffy's estate."

To my surprise, Benny looked almost hurt. "I'd honestly rather be with you tonight, than in Westport--"

"Spare us, old sport, the soundbite!" Roger interrupted furiously.

A wounded expression flickered across Benny's face, quickly replaced by fury. "Mimi, since your ways are so seductive, persuade him not to be so counterproductive!"

"You came on to me!" I shouted back.

"Liar!" Roger yelled. I didn't know if he was referring to Benny or to me.

"Why not tell them what you wore to my place?" Benny insisted.

"I was on my way to work!" I protested.

It was like he hadn't heard a word I said. "Black leather and lace!" He finished, glaring at me. "My desk is a mess, I think I'm still sore--"

"Cause I kicked him and I told him I wasn't his whore!" I fought back furiously.

Benny's eyes had that same hardness they'd had eighteen hours ago, when he'd thrown me onto his desk and ripped my shirt. "Does your boyfriend know who your last boyfriend was?"

I reached out to touch Roger's arm. He recoiled immediately. "I'm not her boyfriend, I don't care what she does!"

His words smacked me across the face and I fell back, subdued, no longer possessing the strength or desire to fight Benny any longer. Tears sprang to my eyes, and Angel, seeing this, put an arm around my shoulder.

"People," she scolded gently. "Is this any way to start a new year? Have compasssion, Benny just lost his cat." She gently squeezed my arm, and went to sit by Benny.

"My dog," Benny corrected her. "But I appreciate that."

She patted his shoulder. "My cat had a fall, and I went through hell."

He nodded in agreement. "It's like losing a--" He broke off with a puzzled expression on his face. "How did you know she fell?"

Angel pasted an innocent expression on her face and slipped off. Collins handed Benny a glass. "Champagne?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Benny smiled and lifted his glass. "To dogs!"

The rest of us followed suit. "No, Benny, to you!"

I took a sip of champagne. Roger still wouldn't look at me.

"Let's make a resolution," Angel proposed.

I lifted my glass. "I'll drink to that."

"Let's always stay friends," Collins added.

Joanne nodded. "Though we may have our disputes--"

"This family tree's got deep roots!" Maureen finished, putting an arm around her girlfriend's waist.

Mark was still behind his damn camera, filming the whole thing. "Friendship is thicker than blood."

Roger shrugged. "That depends."

"Depends on trust!" I shot at him. I'd hurled the words, but I was still nervous and jumpy inside, my eyes pleading for him to look my way.

"Depends on true devotion!" He shouted back. He was looking now, but not with the love and gentleness of the previous week. He was angry, and hurt that I hadn't told him about Benny. I was too, not about Benny, but because Roger couldn't forgive me for something that hadn't been my fault.

"Depends on love," Joanne pointed out, giving me a gentle shove in Roger's direction.

"Depends on not denying emotion," Mark agreed, finally putting down his camera to give Roger a nudge towards me.

Roger shrugged. "Perhaps."

We were still standing several feet away from each other, unable to get any closer. Angel took our arms and gently drew us together. "It's going to be a happy new year," she promised us.

Then she left, giving everyone else a look to follow. Roger and I were left alone outside, him staring up at the sky, me holding my coat tightly around me.

"I'm sorry!" We exclaimed together. That eased the tension a bit, and we were able to smile at each other.

Roger touched my cheek. "Coming?"

I shook my head. "In a minute." I wasn't in the mood for any celebrating tonight. Roger put a hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off. "I'm fine. Go."

He kissed me lightly and sprinted inside. I sunk down on the curb, trying not to cry and wondering how my wonderful new relationship could have gone so wrong so quickly.

Kenny materialized out of the darkness. Somehow I wasn't surprised to see him. "Well, well, well, what have we here?"

I hung my head, but took the bag of smack he offered to me. What difference did it make now?

"It's going to be a happy new year." Kenny patted my shoulder. "There, there..."