A/N: A series of unfortunate events have left me grounded. Grr…so I may just spit the rest out. Hopefully I won't release my latent anger on my characters. Grrr again, for effect.

XXX

Moments after they had had sex, Katie started crying; but not in the sweet, girly, emotional way. She was sobbing violently; her whole body quaked with fierce tremors. There was an awkward moment where Roan was unsure what to do. This had definitely never happened before. His first impulse was to slap her. Instead, he just sat their looking at her in confusion.

She kept right on sobbing, occasionally gasping for breath. This really wasn't Roan's element. Despite his recent sensitivity, he wasn't exactly the "pat on the back", "it's all right" type. So after a few minutes, he got up and left.

He exited the makeshift bedroom and entered the kitchen, where Finn was putting chicken on the counter. She looked at Roan in a somewhat amused way, like she was holding back a smile. Roan took a seat at the counter, for lack of anything else to do. Katie could be heard crying on behind the curtain.

"Does she do that a lot?" Roan asked.

"No," Finn answered, cracking a grin and turning back to the kitchen so she could laugh a little to herself.

"Fucking ridiculous," Roan said, cutting off a piece of chicken and putting it on a plate.

Just then Kyro entered the room. He shot an annoyed look toward the crying sounds of Katie and then looked at Finn for enlightenment.

Finn nodded toward Roan as an explanation. Kyro sat down next to Roan and they looked at one another for a moment before busting up laughing; partially because some girl was in hysterics after fucking Roan and partially because they were together again. After their laughter had died down, they dove into the chicken like children. "Do you two know each other?" Finn asked.

"Not really," Roan replied. "We just fucked once, and he's still choked up about it."

XXX

Ugly Sendim spent all of the next morning in bed with Spot Conlon. It was, of course, fantastic. And then they dressed together, walked down the street together, robbed fifty dollars off a mugger together. Life was perfect. And then they saw Kinea.

"Ugly, dear, how are you?" Kinea asked, sweetly.

"Fantastic," Ugly replied truthfully and Spot wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm so lucky to have run into you! I'm actually on my way to see Joe Applegate, and I was hoping you could come, Spot, to talk about you know," Kinea said. Ugly shot Spot a suspicious look. What exactly was you know?

"She's coming too," Spot said firmly, tightening his grip on Ugly.

"Of course," Kinea said smoothly. "I've been telling Joe we ought to get her in on it for ever so long." Kinea smiled sincerely at Ugly. "Come along then," she said, linking Ugly's arm on the opposite side and leading the couple down the street.

XXX

Katie had cried herself to sleep while Kyro and Roan had spent the night smoking and drinking like old times. Finn had stayed up with them for a while, but eventually fell asleep too.

The next morning, Roan was unsure what to do around Katie. He certainly didn't want to set her off crying again. Unfortunately, he also wasn't the most sensitive guy in the world. So, over a breakfast cooked by Finn, he asked Katie conversationally, "So what the fuck was that crying shit anyway?"

Katie looked at Finn and Kyro, slightly pinking with embarrassment. "Don't worry about it," she said under her breath as she played with her eggs.

"Well, it was pretty fucking weird, I think," Roan said. Katie looked at Roan. He seemed different somehow, more alive. Fucking men, you had sex with them and they turned into cocky fucking bastards.

Katie was hung over and tired and had nothing more to say than, "Fuck off."

"Why the fuck were you crying?" Roan said. Katie was starting to lose her grip on things. She had tendency to do that.

"Because the last time I had sex was with my dead husband, you bastard," she said, her voice going a bit jagged.

"I hope he was still alive when you had it," Roan said to his eggs. Kyro sniggered helplessly. Katie picked up her plate and chucked it at Roan's head. Roan looked at her in surprise and she lunged at him around the table and knocked him to the floor. He fought back and after much kicking and hitting and yelling, "You fucking bastard!"; she was underneath him and they abruptly began making out in animalistic fashion.

"Are you going to cry about this sweetheart?" Roan asked, between ferocious kisses.

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you," Katie replied, kissing him back.

XXX

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Joe Applegate said amidst swirls of cigar smoke. "I've heard so much about you. You're famous in these parts, best female assassin in New York," he praised.

"I don't really do that anymore," Ugly replied, looking at her shoes. She had expected Applegate to look different, more sophisticated. He looked to her like a sweaty ham.

"Good for you," Applegate said, but he didn't seem to mean it. "So, has Conlon told you anything about the job?" he asked. Spot shook his head. They were in a red velvet sitting room in one of Applegate's private apartments. There were four large black dogs lying scattered on the floor. Spot couldn't stop looking at them. Having once been a paper boy, he had a fairly negative view on canines. "Good boy," Applegate praised Spot for his secrecy. Ugly, on the other hand, was somewhat annoyed by it. She'd thought they told one another everything. Although it did make sense to use discretion with plans involving one of the most notorious criminals in New York. "I can't tell you much yet. Basically it's a heist. It involves a train and some merchandise that will be arriving shortly. Thanks to certain sources," he glanced at Kinea appraisingly, "only we know about it." Ugly listened attentively. She had every intention of succeeding in whatever job it was that Spot had kept secret from her; from her and not from Kinea. She would help to complete it and show the both of them, and Applegate too. "Details about your specific jobs are being worked out now. But I will say this, the merchandise on that train is worth a small fortune. It won't be an easy job to do. But if you complete it, you will never have need of another dime as long as you live."

XXX

"Your friends are in trouble."

"What?" Roan turned to Katie. They were sitting and smoking on the fire escape of Finn's apartment, where they'd holed up for the past week or so in bohemian rhapsody.

Katie looked at him, seriously and said in slow, careful pacing, "your friends are in trouble."

"Who, Kyro?" Roan asked, taking another drag on his cigarette.

"No, Conlon and Ugly," Katie said.

Roan shrugged. "I don't really give a shit about them at the moment," he said, staring out at the horizon, which, this being New York, consisted of the blank brick walls of numberless tenements.

"Well that's terribly sweet of you," Katie said, standing up.

"What can I say? I'm a sweet guy," Roan joked. Katie narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance and climbed back into the apartment through the window.

XXX

"You're mad at me."

"No, I'm not," Ugly replied. She and Spot were sitting on the couch in the living room of their apartment. They'd just arrived home from a routine job. They'd stopped by an old friend to make sure he was keeping himself in line. Unfortunately, he wasn't, so they confiscated the weapons and left him shaking in his boots.

Spot moved closer to her on the couch, staring at her with his all-seeing eyes. "You don't think I can tell when you're mad at me?" he asked.

"I'm not mad," Ugly replied, gazing around the apartment to avoid his eyes. "I'm just in a bad mood, that's all."

"Why are you in a bad mood?"

She tossed her shoulders in irritation. "I don't know, I'm just annoyed."

"Why are you annoyed?" Spot asked, purposely trying to be annoying. He just wanted her to get whatever had been bothering her for the past week out. Although he had his suspicions as to what it was.

"I just am tired of you watching over me every Goddamn second!" Ugly burst out. She hadn't intended for it to come out like that. But that was usually how it worked with her. The words always came out warped by her temper. Fortunately, Spot knew this, so he didn't take offense.

Instead, he decided to be nice and direct her toward what he knew was the point of her little outburst. "And what is it you would do if I wasn't "watching over" you?" he asked. He was pulling at a loose thread on the couch, his eyes hidden by his grey newsboy cap.

Spot knew the answer and Ugly knew he knew the answer, so she figured she may as well just fucking say it. "I just want to know where they are, if they're all right," she said, referring to Roan and Kyro. "They're still my friends, no matter what they may say."

Spot tried not to show his annoyance with this. He may be overly-confident most of the time, but he was also a jealous guy and he hated that the same guys that he felt slightly threatened by, were also the ones that had a strange hold on his girlfriend. "Listen, babe, I haven't heard a word about them, from anyone. You know we've asked. I really think they must have just left town," he said calmly.

"No, they wouldn't leave New York. I know they're here," she replied defiantly.

"So what? You want me to send you off to look for them? So he can slit your throat for real this time? Look, Ugly, I know you think they're your friends but…" Spot tried not to let his temper get the best of them. Bad experience mixed with envy had made him not a big fan of Roan and Kyro. He was tempted to tell her that they didn't give a shit about her, that they were dangerous self-serving criminals, who were just as likely to kill her as to kiss her. But looking at her face, which was so full of hope and relentless faith in the good of people, he just couldn't. "You have to let me look with you, okay? You just have to," he conceded.

Ugly consented, although she had every intention of sneaking away at the first possible chance.

XXX

"I'm going to go insane here!" Roan exclaimed to Kyro, who was eating toast. He had just sat down next to him at the counter of their recent lodgings. Kyro considered this an amusing threat, as most people would agree that he'd already crossed that line long ago. "She's not talking to me, you never talk and you managed to find yourself a girl who talks nearly less. This is fucking ridiculous!" Kyro's lips turned up in a smile as he mocked Roan with continued silence. Finn was working downstairs at the bar and Katie sitting in an armchair in the corner, focusing fiercely on reading a book. "I'm going to become a monk. Do you hear that Katie?" he yelled at her. She flinched slightly but continued reading. "So, you can just read your little fucking book forever and ever because monks don't speak or eat or fuck. And I'll probably ascend to heaven in about five minutes, so you'll just have to save my friends alone." Roan finished. Kate had been ignoring him since her confession of trouble for Spot and Ugly in the future. Roan liked the attention of being ignored.

Kyro looked up from his toast. "Save who?" He asked.

"Fucking miracle," Roan said, through the cigarette he had just placed between his lips and was now lighting. He was referring to the fact that Kyro had just opened his mouth, and sound had come out. "And all because I decided to become a monk, you see that Katie?" Roan continued. But Katie wasn't paying attention to him. She was looking at Kyro, who was looking at her for answers.

"Conlon and Ugly," Katie told him. Kyro's brow furrowed with worry.

"Save her from what?" Kyro asked.

Katie took a deep breath. She looked scared, like maybe she wasn't ready to change sides. "It's sort of difficult to explain."

XXX

Dun dun dun DUN! Things are really starting to get rolling now! I will probably sew this all up soon, thanks to my lovely grounding.

So, hmm…Spot and Ugly…sitting ducks? They are too wrapped up in each other to even consider what's happening around them. Also, both of them have a tendency to be sweet and trusting.

Roan and Katie seem to have gotten a bit more peppy, but can she convince him to help "save" his "friends" if need be, especially seeing as (hint, hint) he may be the only one who can?

What does Katie know? How is she involved? What's the deal?

Will Kyro's latent affection for Ugly cause him to come to her aid, despite his new girl?

Will Spot and Ugly get a clue?

Will Kinea please stop speaking in that affected and befuddling tone? It's seriously annoying. I'd like to see her true colors come out.

Will Ugly run off looking for her old pals? Will Spot let her? Should he? Will she find them? Or something else?

So many questions…so little time…yikes!