Chapter 2:

"Come on Lark," Rayven pouted.

Lark rolled his eyes, "Rayven…" he muttered.

"Hold my hands." She flirted.

"Rayven please…" blushing.

Wren walked in and watched the two, "What's going on?" he asked.

"He won't hold my hands in public." She argued.

Wren looked amused.

"I…" Lark began blushing; "It's just not me Ray." he told her quietly, "all guys feel like that."

She looked at him furiously, "Listen to me very carefully, you sexist…" she began, her eyes flashing wildly.

Wren intervened, "Okay, okay! That's enough." trying to break up the fight before it started. "Calm down."

"It's just not me, Ray! I'm not that romantic."

She turned around; "Fine." was the answer as she walked out of the room.

"Jesus!" he swore, "What's wrong with her and her stupid mood swings."

Wren sighed, "It's…" he began, "It's a woman thing." He muttered.

"Damn right." Lark replied walking out.

The next morning

Crawford was sitting up as he sighed, he was trying to breath regularly, but the wound was affecting him more than he had anticipated. He was sweating and shaking at the same time.

"Crawford." came a startled voice, Fay rushed to his side, "What's wrong?" she asked obviously worried.

"Just trying to get to get my breath back." was Crawford's reply.

Fay stood looking at him with a worried look in her eyes wondering if she should say anything else.

"Get that worried look out of your eyes. I'm fine, just a little banged up. If you keep looking at me that way, I'll have to resort to some serious tactics…and by the way, where are all of your boyfriends? "Crawford asked.

"Very funny, I wondered if you had a sense of humor." was the smart reply of Fay. "Yohji, Aya, and Ken are in the shop. Omi is in school."

We need to leave tonight to meet up with the others at the meeting place. So you need to be ready to leave by 6:00." Crawford told Fay.

"Why should I go back with you? I can stay here with the guys." was the answer from Fay

"Look, until I'm told otherwise, you're to keep your cute little butt with us." Crawford said.

"But..." she began.

"I'm sorry, but no." he told her firmly, "And don't argue with me."

She sighed; she knew she should feel threatened, but somehow she didn't object, being with" Cute little butt, huh?" came the laughing retort. "So you think it's cute, boy you just don't know people do you? Here I thought you were this cool as a cucumber man, but you are really a tiger." Fay smirked at Crawford made her safe.

Crawford couldn't think of a quick retort fast enough, and Fay went laughing out of the room. I'm going to get her back for that little stunt, believe you me. thought

Crawford.

Later that night at the meeting place

Crawford and Fay met the others at the meeting place, which happened to be a very fancy penthouse on the other side of Tokyo.

"How are all of you?" Crawford asked Schuldig.

"Just cuts and bruises, that's all." came the reply.

Crawford called all of them to the living room. "OK, let's get the debriefing done, and then we can just relax for the rest of the evening."

"Alright, here is what we know for certain, last night we were attacked while trying to leave the apartment building. Has anyone figured out what the hell was going on?" Crawford asked the room.

"Well, what I came up with was, Takatori had us under surveillance since before he brought Fay to us. I found bugs placed in our apartment as well as in our cars." Nagi responded.

"What the hell? In our cars as well as the apartment, OK Crawfie, I know you will let us get that jackass now, right?" came the angry response from Schuldig.

"No, we are not going after Reji Takatori right this moment. But what we will do is now plan our revenge. Farfarello for you it means you get to play with Takatori."

"Anything I want?" Farfarello asked.

"Anything you want." Crawford smirked at Farfarello.

"Everyone get a good nights' sleep and starting tomorrow, we start Operation Takatori."

"Fay, would you like to go out tonight?" Nagi asked Fay.

"Are you kidding? When we tried it last night, we had the shit kicked out us." was Fay's reply.

"Well we thought we would go out for awhile to unwind, then come back and get a good nights' sleep." Nagi told her. "Crawford, are you coming with us?"

"No, Nagi, I will stay here and keep Fay company. Don't stay out to late, or you won't be any good tomorrow. Go have a good time." Crawford answered.

So as the rest of the guys left, Crawford and Fay settled down on the couch. "Do you want something to drink, a night cap, Fay?"

"Yes, a glass of wine would be nice." Fay replied.

As they enjoyed their drinks, they looked at each other. God, she is beautiful and sexy. I would love to take her to bed and make passionate love to her all night. thought Crawford, then he stopped. What's this? I haven't thought like that for a long time, shaking his head..

Fay looked at him closely and leaned closer, "Sleepy." She muttered as she put her head on his shoulders, Damn, he is one fantastic looking man. Tall, dark, and sexy. Wonder if he is as hot in bed as he looks. thought Fay.

He put an arm around her and kissed her cheeks lightly.

She sat up a bit straight and kissed his lips lightly.

Crawford leaned over and kissed Fay back. "Am I getting the right thoughts from you? Will you go to bed with me tonight, no strings, and no promises?" He told her quietly, "I am not someone you would want to get involved with."

Fay looked at Crawford, "Yes, no strings, and no promises." She said softly kissing him back. Only hot sweaty monkey sex."

They got up and turned off the lights, then walked down the hallway to Crawford's bedroom.

"Gone?" Ken swallowed, "They're…." He sat down.

"Ken…" Omi began.

He banged his fist on the wall and walked out.

"What's wrong with Kenny?" Aya said softly.

"It's obvious." Sakura chuckled as she licked an ice cream cone, "He is in loooooooooooove." She said with a small grin on her face.

Yohji stopped, "Love?" he asked, "Ken?"

"Idiot," Ran muttered clipping the thorns of the roses.

Ken sat in his room wondering how Fay could go with a low life like Crawford.

God, doesn't she realize he could get her killed? Does she even give a damn, or is she only thinking of how attractive he is, and how good in bed he is?

Now think about this people, guys are not the only ones who think like this, only women are more subtle about it.

There was a knock on the door and Omi's voice was heard. "Ken, please open the door, I need to talk to you."

"Is there a mission? Someone die?" asked Ken.

"No, I just want to talk to you." replied Omi.

"About what? If it's about Fay and Crawford, I don't want to hear about it." Ken answered.

"Alright, if you want to talk later, you will know where I will be." was the answer back.

Crawford's bedroom—late in the morning

Crawford looked down at Fay; last night was just what they had said, no strings, no promises, just wild, hot monkey sex.

That brought a smile to Crawford's face, but he hid it as Fay woke up.

"Good morning" came the husky morning voice of Fay's, "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning" answered Crawford. "Yes very well when I finally got to sleep." he teased her lightly "Someone kept me awake demanding all kinds of things."

"Really?" answered Fay, "I thought I gave as well as I received last night, my mistake."

Crawford looked down at her before getting out of bed and heading for the shower. Fay looked at him, wanting to follow, but knowing what had been said last night still remained in effect this morning.

"I have to meet with the guys this morning, but feel free to stay in bed and rest more or get up and take a shower." Crawford told Fay as he was getting dressed.

"I enjoyed myself last night, you make a wonderful lover," he told her; he knew he was going to regret this, but he had to do it. If anyone got involved with him, that person would be in danger, they all knew it. "Fay?" he began.

"Yes." She said absently.

"I have to go." he told her quietly, "You might not see me again."And with that he walked out the door

Fay sighed looking down asthe tears flowed down her cheeks.

She laid back on his bed trying to enhale his scent and the warm feeling she had felt the previous night.

"What are you doing up this early morning, Omi?" Ran asked.

"Research." He mumbled.

He looked curious, "Of?"

He chewed on a pencil as he typed into the computer, "This Lark fellow." He spoke, "I want to know more about him, his activities, among other things."

"Oh." He muttered, then sighed leaving him alone.

"I especially want to know what his involvement was with you guys." Omi spoke in a whisper once Ran was gone.

Yohji and Ken were scouting some areas for any information they could find in the city. "Who would've thought it would come to this?" Yohji muttered looking through his binoculars.

Ken sighed, "Yeah." He muttered, "Fate is weird."

Yohji smirked as he lit a cigarette, "Any news?"

"Not really." Ken said as he sat a rock.

"Stake outs can be so boring." Ken said while complaining.

Yohji nodded in silence.

"Do you think he is Tokyo?" asked Ken.

"I guess so, but who knows with him." replied Yohji.

"You know that outside of Aya, Wren was the quietest one of us all, which is why he and Aya got along so well, like you and I get along."

The two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Wren's house

"Wren, I'm leaving now, I will see you Sunday afternoon." yelled Robin.

"Wait one minute, if you think you are going to yell at me, then march out the door, you better think again. Where is my hug and kiss goodbye?' asked Wren.

Robin ran and threw herself in Wren's arms and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

"Have a good time, Robin Bobbin, and I will see you Sunday afternoon." Wren told the young girl.

All of a sudden, Robin got a serious look on her face and asked him, "Do you promise? You won't go away like everyone else did, will you?"

"Oh, Robin sweetie" Wren answered the girl, "Have you been having those nightmares again? Why didn't you come to me? You know that I would have driven them away for you."

"I'm supposed to be a big girl now" Robin said, "I shouldn't run to you all the time, that is what the teacher says."

"I'm telling you, whenever you have any problem even if you are 95, come to me, I will fix it for you." Wren smiled at Robin and winked at her. "Now wipe your eyes, and go have a good time. I love you."

"Love you, too" Robin smiled back at Wren. "See you Sunday."

Wren watched as Robin ran to her friends' car, and thought to himself it was time to visit Robin's teachers again

Later that day

"You're looking depressed, my dear." Persia spoke over his desk as he studied Fay.

"I'm fine." she said absently looking outside the tall building of the Takatori family.

She had gone home after her night with Crawford, and she was depressed, so she had come straight to her father so she could keep busy and keep her mind off him.

She shook her head and looked at his concerned face, "Do you have anything for me to do?" she asked softly.

He walked towards her and took her hand in his, "Go home." he told her.

She looked down, "I can't." she admitted, "I need to keep my mind busy."

Picking up a file absently, "Why aren't you involving me in your work? What do you do, father? Why is there all this secrecy?"

"It's better you not know," he said, "It's better for everyone."

"Stop saying that.'

"Fay…"

"You just don't trust me." was heard from Fay as she walked out angrily.

Persia sighed guiltily.

Wren walked absently across the streets sighing, he had had a long talk with Robin's teacher about not filling her head with so much crap having to do with the teacher's views of parenthood.

It was his job was to protect her, not the teacher's. He had almost lost his cool, but managed to control it in time.

He walked along when he noticed a commotion by a flower shop, he was curious and spotted a young girl walking by, "Excuse me, Miss?"

She looked at him with beautiful dark eyes. "Yes?" she answered, while thinking to herself, He is beautiful, one of the best looking men that I have seen.

"What's going on?" he asked sheepishly. Interesting, she's attractive, yet looks young, but has a sense of maturity to her.

She giggled lightly, "This is normal, apparently there are four really cute guys working there including my brother." She joked, "And the school girls mingle here like crazy."

He smiled wryly, "Oh, I see."

She nodded, "Want me to show you the shop? I work there too." She offered, "My name is Aya."

He nodded Aya? Could it be? He thought as he introduced himself, "And Im Wren." offering his hands to hers.

She shook it and escorted him to the flower shop.

Yohji, Ken, and Ran all froze as they saw Wren walk in.

All the girls squealed in delight.

"Another sexy person." said one of the girls.

And the noise and chatter kept going on.

Wren watched in amazement and then his eyes focused on three of the members.

Omi noticed tension in the group.

Aya looked concerned, "Guys…" she began.

"Hey man!" Yohji said walking towards Wren, "Long time no see, Wren."

"Wren?" Omi whispered softly, this is the man! This is the one I replaced? He thought.

Ken and Ran all went up to Wren and were all looking at him, as well as each other and trying to speak, now that the shock had worn off.

"Let's go downstairs and talk." Ran ordered.

Wren smiled lazily, "Just like old times."

Back at Wren's home

"See, this is not so bad." Rayven said giggling as she held Larks hand while they walked by the street.

He groaned lightly while trying to maintain his cool.

"Stop it, Lark! I'm not a disease!" she said angrily.

Lark just rolled his eyes, he let go of her hand for a minute and looked around, "That's nice."

Looking at a window display of knives, he walked towards it, but just as he did, he bumped hard into someone.

"Hey…" came a feminine voice as they both collided onto the floor.

"Lark?" Rayven said surprised.

Lark groaned lightly as something landed on him, he looked up to see a beautiful face look down at him concerned, "Are you alright?" she asked softly.

Lark was dumbfounded, "I…."

Rayven pushed the girl away, "Lark baby! Are you alright?" she asked hugging him.

He sat up, "I'm fine." He said.

The girl stood up and walked away.

"Wait…" he began as she kept on walking.

"What's wrong, Lark?" Rayven asked concerned.

He frowned, "That girl looked really sad, Ray." he said softly.

Her concerned eyes moved to where the girl had gone.

"I'm sorry." Fay said softly, sitting at a coffee shop with Lark and Rayven, "I…I wasn't looking." She admitted.

Rayven looked at Fay and realized that she was a very beautiful look, not that she was worried, but she so innocent looking and yet so strong at the same time, "You looked upset."

She looked down, "I…" she began, "I'm sorry, I was upset." she said softly, "I'm fine now, thanks."

Lark watched Rayven and sighed, they had one of their silent exchange looks.

Fay watched them and envied them, it was obvious the two were so in love, can I ever have that kind of time with Crawford, she thought sadly.

"Hello!" Rayven said waving her hands in front of Fay's face, "You drifted off."

Fay looked at her, "I apologize."

Lark looked at her, the girl was beautiful, but it was obvious that she was very lonely, "Do…do you want to hang out with us?" he asked Fay.

She looked up surprised, "What?" she asked quietly.

"You know as friends, you look like a fun person." He explained.

Fay smiled wryly, "It's obvious I don't have any friends, right?"

Lark blushed, "Oh no! I don't mean…"

Rayven rolled her eyes, time to rescue Lark again, "No honey, we like you for you." She spoke, "Plus, we'll introduce you to Wren, he's a fun guy we all look up to." She said, "In fact, come have dinner at our place."

Fay smiled, "I'd like that." she said sincerely.

Schuldig looked through the binoculars, "Won't be clear for a while." he spoke.

Crawford nodded, "Call in Nagi and inform him of what's happening."

Schuldig called Nagi, "The fan patrol in the shop won't be clear for awhile, so Crawford and I will be here longer than we expected. I fixed dinner for you and left it in the refrigerator, just in case this happened."

"Okay, any idea how late you will be tonight?" Nagi asked.

"What's wrong, Nagikins can't sleep without me there beside you?" was the answer heard from Schuldig.

"One of these days, Schu, I am going to send you through a wall and collapse it on you." Nagi replied.

"Got to go now and peep in on the fan patrol, see you later." Schuldig said.

Downstairs at the flower shop

"Okay, how much did you pay those girls to scream and giggle at you guys?" Wren asked laughing.

"Very funny" Ran growled, "They are a nuisance every day, taking up space our regular, paying customers need."

"I personally think they come to drool over Omi" Ken said.

"Keenn" shouted Omi as he pouted at the sable haired ex-soccer player, "Quit saying that, you know how it embarrasses me."

"Yeah, and that's why we do it, Omiitichi." laughed Yohji.

Wren looked at his old friends and thought how really nothing much had changed.

Yohji still thought he was a ladies man, Ran still tried to act cool, as if he didn't care about anyone, and Ken still had the jock attitude with the little boy grin.

He also looked over at Omi and wondered how anyone so young and innocent looking got in this profession.

"You guys look good, how life has been treating you?" asked Wren.

Yohji crossed his arms, "The same I guess, we've been very busy."

"I see." was all that Wren said.

"Well…….." Ken began, but sighed covering his ears as they could hear girls screaming from upstairs.

"This is pathetic." Yohji muttered.

Wren rubbed his jaw, "Why don't you guys come back with me?"

They all looked surprised.

Wren sighed, "What?" he muttered.

They all muttered 'nothing'.

Wren's house

"What are you making?" Fay asked Rayven as she cooked, "You look like you're cooking for an army."

Rayven giggled, "I am, when Wren called and said he was bringing his friends for dinner."

"Oh," she said softly, "Can I help?" she asked sincerely.

Rayven shook her head and pushed her out of the kitchen, "No! No! No!" she said, "Keep Lark company."

"But…" Fay stammered standing outside in the hallway all alone.

Lark sighed, "Threw you out, didn't she?" he asked coming out of nowhere.

She looked surprised, "I don't seem to be much of help." She said quietly.

Lark walked towards her, "You need to smile more often." he told her, "You look really depressed."

"Oh no!" she said softly, "I'm not like that…it's just…" she began, "I…." sitting down, "I'm in love with someone who I can't get involved with."

"What a bummer for you." Lark replied "Are you going to try and change his mind or leave things status quo?"

Fay thought about how to answer Lark. The smart thing to do would be to leave things status quo, but her heart cried out for her to try and change Crawford's mind.

Lark and Fay heard the front door open and looked up to see Wren and the Weiss guys walk in.