What could she say? It was bad enough she had lost the book, but The Cat? She couldn't tell Wong The Cat was George. Rachel sighed. How did it get past her? She should have seen it before. It made her question if maybe he knew who she was.

She shook her head and looked up at the broken down restaurant, this was going to be a mess. Taking a deep breath, she made her way inside and to the office door. She paused a moment before knocking, waiting for the call to enter.

Nothing, not a single sound. Rachel pressed her lips together and knocked again. She wondered why she didn't leave, there had been no answer. It could have been a sign her luck was turning around and that Wong wasn't there.

"Enter."

She cursed under her breath and opened the door. The room seemed darker than usual, however she made no note of it. Closing the door behind her, she began her story. "I don't have..."

"Don't have what?" A low voice came from the corner of the room.

Rachel spun around, frowning at the source. "Why are you here? Did You come by yourself?"

Jill looked away from her, leaning back in a wooden chair that looked as if it could just fall apart. "Yeah, I got a call back at the apartment. I thought you'd be here. You left before I was up, how was I suppose to know you were out on a job."

"You don't know half of it! There's no reason for you to turn your nose up at me!" Rachel gave her partner a glare and was about to tell her to go home, but Wong chimed in.

"Ah, now see, this is what I like. Both my thieves in one spot." He was sitting behind his desk, resting his elbows on the surface, fingers laced together. "Let's see, what were you going to say? You don't have... That book? Is that it?"

Rachel turned away from Jill and clenched her fists. "Someone beat me to it. I got to the building, but it had already been broken into."

"A book? You left me money for lunch so you could steal a book?" Jill butted into the story. "Sure, the cake tasted good, but why didn't you tell me? What do you expect me to do? Sit around all day?"

"You've been doing nothing but that for the past week!" Rachel snapped without turning to face her friend. She took a deep breath and went back to explaining. "The... The Cat has that book now. I tired to get it from him, but the cops showed up. He got away."

Jill wanted to shout at Rachel for shouting at her, but when she began to talk about a book and the Cat, she became very confused. Rachel did a job for Wong without her? What was going on? She looked at Wong, it sounded like Rachel had failed at her job. Would Wong try to hurt her again? If he tried to, this time Jill would get him back. She frowned at the thought of Wong hurting Rachel. It was around this time when she noticed Rachel standing slightly funny, but Wong moved and took her attention away from Rachel.

Wong glared at Rachel for a long time but then much to both Rachel and Jill's surprise and gave a half pout half sigh. "And I really wanted that book too."

A vein began to form on Rachel's forehead but she kept her mouth shut. 'Why had he called Jill down here? If he tries something, ribs or not, I'm gonna kill him.'

"Damn that Cat." Wong said. He looked away from the girls and towards a corner. "He's been getting into my affairs way to many times. It is time to get rid of this Cat."

Rachel flinched at the idea. She felt a bit of relief when she realized that he did not know who the Cat really was. But that didn't mean Wong couldn't find out. She frowned.

Wong was quiet for a long time and then looked back at the girls. "Oh, you two can leave now. I have other things I need to take care of." He waved his hand to dismiss them and turned back to his seat.

Rachel looked at Jill and then grabbed her hand and walked out.

Struggling to pull free from Rachel's grip, Jill yanked her hand around. "Let go of me! I don't need you to hold my hand!"

Once outside the restaurant and a ways down the street, Rachel finally let go. "I just wanted to get out of there, okay? Stop making such a fuss."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you take me too?"

Rachel turned and started walking back toward their apartment building. "It wasn't that big of a job, I didn't need you along."

"Well, obviously you did! You messed up!" With a huff, Jill followed after her. "So it was just for a book, I could have helped."

"I told you, I didn't need help. The Cat just got in the way." Rachel frowned and kept walking. "Can we just let it go for now?"

"No! We can't just let it go!" Jill hurried to catch up to her friend so she was walking next to her. "We're a team, so we do things together, no matter how big. Now, why didn't you tell me?"

Rachel was quiet for a moment and shook her head. "I think it's time I start keeping you out of things. That way only one of us pays the price when there are mistakes."

"What do you mean by that? I'm not in any trouble." Jill looked to the ground. "I've been staying out of sight, and well, going no where near the station and..."

Rachel cut her off. "That's not what I meant. When we started all this it was different. Now, things have just gotten out of hand. Until I can figure us a way out, I think it's best for just one of us to do the dirty work."

"I don't understand. You don't want me to be your partner anymore? Is that it?"

Rachel stopped walking. The hurt in Jill's voice was almost too much for her, but she took a breath and looked at the girl. She could tell the girl was holding her tears back. She looked like she was about to pinch her lips off.

Rachel gave her a soft smile and put her hand on Jill's head. "No. I would never want that. I know it sounds like I don't want you around, but that's the thing. I'm not letting you go any more because I want you around."She put her hand on her side, trying to hold the pain from her ribs in.

Jill's brows scrunched together. "Are you in pain Rachel?"

"I am, Kid."

Jill didn't even bother to make a comment about the "kid" remark. She reached out to Rachel to let her lean on her, but Rachel only waved her hand a little.

"I'm fine... I will be... Listen..." She looked up at the night sky slowly fading to early morning, as she began to talk.

"Jill, you're like... you are my sister. I look out for you, I want what's best for you, even if it, well if it sucks. I don't want you to end up being some cheap whore for a guy like that..." She jerked her thumb towards Wong's building."And I don't want you to in up in prison for crimes you didn't want to do. You're to young for that crap. You may not like it, but by not letting you come... not letting you help..." She looked at her and smiled lightly. "I'm getting you out. Wong won't have anymore power over you if you stay this way."

Jill looked at her for a long time. Her eyes wide from the words that were spoken to her. She wanted to say some smart ass remark but found she couldn't. Her bottom lip quivered and for the first time in what seemed like such a long time, Jill began to cry. Rachel let her fall into her, letting her cry on her chest.

"I feel like such an idiot." Jill mumbled between sobs.

"Don't be..." Rachel said, letting a few tears fall themselves. After a few more moments of tears, Rachel wiped way some of hers and pushed Jill back a little. "Don't worry any more. I'll make things better." She wiped some of Jill's tears from her wet cheeks, then smiled.

"Let's get back to the room, there should be some ice cream left."

"Ummm.." Jill looked sheepishly around. "Maybe we should go buy some more..."

----------------------

It was still fairly early, however by the time everyone else was waking up with a cup of coffee, he had worked himself into a sweat. He could hear the sounds of people scooting chairs and walking around on the main floor above him, but he paid no attention to it.

Sai slammed his fist against the punching bag hanging from the ceiling rather hard. It swung back and nearly smashed into him, but he managed to stop it. It had become his daily routine. Every morning, he would go down to the station's training room and basically beat the punching bag senseless.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped back and watched it swing back and forth slightly. He reached up wiped the sweat off his forehead and ignored the sound of his stomach growling. After a few minutes he was about to give it another good whack when a voice caught his attention.

"You should eat something. It's not healthy to workout on an empty stomach." Domon leaned against the door frame and shook his head.

"I'm not hungry. Just leave me alone."

"I'd say that your stomach disagrees with you. Come on, there are doughtnuts in the break room."

Sai turned back to the punching bag and swung at it. "I don't like doughnuts."

Domon raised a brow and straightened up a bit. "Since when? I think it was you who downed a whole box one time on a bet."

"I said I'm not hungry!"

"No need to get upset. You're beginning to worry people, you know that right?"

Sai caught the punching bag as it swung back toward him once more. "Why won't you just go away? I'm not hungry. I don't want any doughtnuts." He completely ignored the comment about worrying others.

Suddenly he found himself slammed against the wall behind him.

"Listen you little punk, I'm getting tired of your attitude."

Sai's hands had tighten around Domon's, which were fisted up in his shirt. They glared at each other for a long time.

"I'm sorry about what happened with you and that girl, Jill but, you..." Domon didn't have time to finish as a fist met his jaw.

The moment he had said her name, something in Sai snapped. He was angry at her, but more at himself. He wanted to yell at her, but beat himself up for letting her go. Yes, it was her idea to not see each other. But he could have found a way around it. He had always been like that, sneaky. But... that look she gave him the last time they met, he couldn't bring himself to go against her words. He looked back down at Domon and then away.

"You don't understand at all..."He tried to hurry out but he felt a hand on his shoulder and then he was tossed across the room. Turning quickly in the air, he looked at Domon."You want to fight me! Then let's go!"

They glared once more and ran to each other. The fight had begun. Domon and Sai were lost to the world, as they blocked, struck and hit the other. They had caused a crowd and even worst of all...

"What is going on here?" The two were tossed apart.

Domon tried to calm down at once but Sai, not seeing who the puller was, swung and almost hit the man near him.

It was then he saw his father, holding his hand he was about to hit him with and looking at him with a stern glare. "You're behavior has been odd and unwanted in this department."

Sai bit his lip to keep from yelling.

"In my office."

"Yes father... er... Sir." He turned and hurried out of the room, but not before he looked at Domon who at once sighed and looked down. Sai did the same. He wish he could tell someone about all of this, but he couldn't. Unless... an idea came to him but would it work?

---

A few hours later, after a very harsh lecture from his father about the way of his behavior, Sai was sitting in the park. He was thinking about what his father had told him.

"I do not know what is wrong with you, but as your father, I am deeply concerned. Maybe I am putting to much pressure on you.."

"No father, it's..."He couldn't finish, he didn't know what to say.

Sai was so deep in his thoughts he hadn't noticed the shadow towering over him.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinking?" The deep voice spoke to him.

Sai looked up quickly and gave a half smile.

"I'm thinking more of the second." Argo said as he sat down next to him. The young lad looks so small compared to him. "So, what did you want me for?"

"I want to know... well..."

"How's she's doing?"

Sai looked at him and nodded.

Argo smiled, but barely."She's alright, for now."

"I really messed up today. I know it's my own doing, but it was because of her." Sai shook his head and slumped down. "I just cant let it go."

"Girls can do that to you. Don't worry about her though, she's staying out of trouble for the time being."

"I wish I could just, I don't know..."

Argo glanced at the boy next to him. "You should sit up some, you're short enough as it is."

Sai made a face and straightened himself up. "I'm not that short."

"You want to help her don't you?"

"You have a hard time staying on one topic huh?" Sai shook his head and glanced at the ground. "It's probably best if I just let it go. I'm sure she has."

Once again Argo shook his head. "Well, if she has then she has no reason for that hat, or the letter."

"She still has my hat?" Sai got a surprised look on his face. "And the letter?"

"Last I heard, yes. I bet you got an earful for loosing part of your uniform."

Sai smiled and looked up. "Yeah, I got a talk about being reckless and responsibility. Well, at least if she has it, I can't loose it again."

"You never answered my question. You want to help her, don't you?" Argo looked down at Sai with a rather emotionless face.

Sai sat quietly. He didn't know what to say. How could he help her? She said it herself, it was safer for him to just stay away. "I..." He paused, unsure of what to say.

"Do you want to see her again?"

"Yes!" He said without thinking. He quickly blushed when he realized his outburst. Looking up at Argo, he notice the man wasn't looking at him. Maybe to not embarrass him more, but either way Sai gave a soft sigh."I do want to see her again, but I know she doesn't want to see me."

"Are you so sure?"

Sai looked up at Argo. "Well she sure didn't want me to stay around her place..."

"But only for your safety. That sure sounds like she wants to see you again."

"What do you mean?"

Argo looked at him and smiled for once. "Well, if I remember right, we want to protect the ones we care for."

Sai looked down. "But how do I know she still cares."

"You know... I could maybe arrange something."

"Arrange something?" Sai looked up quickly at Argo."What do you mean?"

Argo looked forward and tilt his head slightly."You just leave that to me."