Spot Conlon was hard at work. But he was in his element, which basically meant he was being praised by lots and lots of people. He was creating the enigma, solidifying the reputation. But as the night wore thin, he found his mind drifting; drifting to his girl.

In spite of all the tasty ego strokes, he couldn't help but look forward to the end of the night, when he sidled down beside her in their bed. She'd look at him in admiration as he told her he'd swapped stories with kingpins, shared a cigar with the mayor, captivated a gun slinger by recounting the time he'd shot a purse out of a criminal's hand on a moving train (improving the truth a little, but he was the Spot Conlon, so he could get away with it). It was all very impressive, to be sure, but none of it seemed to matter much until he'd shared it with her.

Usually, Spot was able to maintain his focus at parties like these, but tonight, his mind was drifting more and more. He scanned the crowd for the umpteenth time. If he could just find her, he would grab her and pull her away somewhere private and…he smiled dreamily to himself.

Then he suddenly realized that the guy next to him was talking about slitting someone's throat. Yeah, the smile wasn't really appropriate. Spot Conlon stood up and graciously excused himself. His eyes searched for that green dress. Where had his girl gone to? If only he knew…

XXX

Katie was giggling like mad as she attempted to extract some weedy thing from her hair. Ugly watched her as she waded back deeper into the pond. Sure, it was a bit murky and the ducks were kind of loud but it felt so good to be floating, suspended, drunk. Kyro was watching her intently from the shore, worry furrowing on his normally undisturbed brow. Kinea was standing next to him, seeming jolly enough, but with absolutely no intention of getting into the pond. Roan was walking after the ducks with disquieting fascination.

Ugly wasn't bothered by any of this. Nothing can bother me tonight, she thought as she leaned back and let the water ascend around her ears. She let her body float, suspended in the middle of the pond. She couldn't hear anything and all she could see was the sky. She closed her eyes.

Katie shrieked. Ugly bolted up, swirling water.

"Something bit me!" Katie yelped, dashing out of the pond. Kinea laughed and Katie whacked her in the head. "C'mon, let's go, I need a change of clothes."

Kinea turned to Kyro. "Where's your place?" She asked. Kyro ignored her. She turned to Ugly, familiar with Kyro's subtle disdain for her. "Hey, where's your place?" She called.

"It's in Brooklyn," Ugly called back, undeterred from her swim by the threat of bites.

"Can we go there? Katie needs clothes." The thought struck Ugly momentarily that Brooklyn was a ways from here, and wouldn't Katie and Kinea be staying in Manhattan? But she shrugged it away; she was too serene to care tonight.

"Sure," she replied, wading toward the shore. Kyro looked relieved as she walked dripping up the shore. He immediately removed his jacket and wrapped it around her.

Katie was shivering. "Come on, let's get a carriage," Kinea hurried them along, used to taking charge. She turned and yelled out at Roan. "Hey! We're leaving, you quack!" Roan looked up from his herd of ducks. Kinea rolled her eyes, she should have just left him there.

XXX

One sopping carriage ride and a few glasses of wine later and they arrived at The Coronation. When they entered the lobby, Ugly's mind immediately went to Spot. The way they always walked in, hand-in-hand and how he always gave her a kiss in the elevator. She almost felt ashamed for a moment, watching Kate and Kinea skip and giggle. But it was a passing fancy and she soon linked arms and joined the fun.

The moment they arrived at the apartment Roan, who had been silent the entire carriage ride, clipped at a hurried pace toward his room. Kinea looked to Ugly in surprise at his rudeness and Ugly made a sign to indicate that he was shooting up. Kinea made a face. "Charming," she sneered.

Katie was eager to get out of her wet clothes. So eager in fact that she began stripping right then and there, laughing as she fumbled with her dress. She finally got it off and jumped around in her corset.

"Aren't I scandalous?" She squealed. Kyro looked annoyed. Ugly wasn't quite sure what to feel, she'd lost control of the situation a while back. So when Katie started tugging at her dress, she couldn't help but get caught up in the moment, laughing and squirming about.

So when dear Spot Conlon arrived home from his long, hard night, after being ditched by his girlfriend, he found said girl giggling away as she tumbled over some girl he'd never seen before wearing nothing but her underwear.

XXX

The look of shock on Spot's face sobered Ugly up quickly. She felt a flush burn up her cheeks and was at a complete loss for what to do. Fortunately she was rescued by Kinea.

Kinea hurried over to Spot, all gracious smiles. "It is such a pleasure to finally meet you! I have heard so much about you and was just dying to make your acquaintance," she gushed. "These poor girls slipped into the pond when we were out at Central Park, bad footing you know. I was just so worried that they'd catch something, God knows what's living in there! So I told them they absolutely most get cleaned up and not to be shy," she explained smoothly, looking at the girls in mock concern. Ugly felt a rush of gratitude, until she noticed the keen way Spot looked her up and down. "So, how did you like the party?" She asked. "Oh! I absolutely am dying for a smoke, let's talk on the balcony." She offered her hand. Ugly felt a burning in her chest. Her first impulse was to blame Kinea, but then she realized, Kinea had no idea that Spot was her boyfriend. In fact, she was probably just trying to rescue her from any more embarrassment by giving her a chance to compose herself. Spot took her hand and followed her out onto the balcony, shooting Ugly a significant look that made her burn twice as hard.

XXX

Ahh! Doesn't this just kill you! My, my, are these kids in trouble…

So, what is it about the wrong people entering at the wrong moments? Does it always seem to happen, or am I just lucky? How will Ugly cope with the embarrassment?

Oh, and wasn't that sweet of Kinea to come to her rescue like that? That girl is just a real angel! Will anyone see through her, and what will they do about it?

Why did Spot follow her out anyway? Apparently he is not above punishing and inciting jealousy, or else he was actually taken by her, which would be even worse!

And then there's Katie, with a best friend like Kinea, you know she's probably a bit wicked…

And what about Kyro, if he realizes that some girl is out to get Ugly's man will he side with her or her?

And will Roan please stop shooting up and do something about all this? Where's that old man of action?

Well, this story guarantees a lot of action anyways; just you wait and see…