Nash woke up when she heard Tony, what exactly he was doing at the time, she didn't know, but she intended to find out. She opened her eyes and sat up in bed, and she saw Tony over on the other bed, swaying from side to side, muttering something to himself with a bottle in his hands, and it seemed that he didn't even notice her.

"Tony," she said, "are you allright?"

Tony turned and looked at her, and she could tell he was way past drunk, maybe even high. Who was she kidding? His current condition could be described as higher than a kite.

"Fine, jus' fine, an' you?" Tony's words were slurred, "how' you?"

Nash slowly nodded, "I'm fine…I'm feeling better actually."

"Good, now how 'bout we have a little drink?" Tony asked.

Nash eyed the bottle, it was wine, and wine she was no novice to, so she figured it would be allright.

"Okay, but not too much, it doesn't mix with me too well," Nash told him.

Tony picked up a champagne flute from the nightstand and poured it full and handed it to Nash, then he poured another two and kept them to himself.

"Are you normally a two fisted drinker, Montana?" she asked.

"Sometimes," Tony replied as he downed the first one.

Nash also took into account the empty scotch bottle on the floor beside the bed. "How many drinks have you had?"

"More 'n a couple," Tony responded, "come on, loosen up…relax…enjoy you'self kid, these are the best years of your life."

"These are the last years of my life," Nash replied.

"An' they' going to be the best," Tony said as he poured another glass, "I see to that personally…drink up."

After Nash had had 3 glasses, and Tony had too many for either to keep count of, they both found themselves sprawled out on opposite ends of the bed, looking up at the ceiling fan and laughing.

"That was good, Tony," Nash said, "that was very good."

"Yeah…dis is the life," Tony added, "we' have everything we want…you, you going to get a mansion, and your own peoples…and me, I got a wife…a' angel for a sister, an' soon there might be a little bebe on the way."

"That would be nice," came the tired reply from Nash.

Tony looked over and saw she'd turned over so she wasn't facing him, she looked to be asleep but he wasn't sure. If he'd been sober, he probably would've known better, but he touched her on the shoulder and she jerked up and was shaking and mumbling something incoherent.

"Nash?"

"Don't do it, Tony…don't touch me!"

"I'm sorry, I thought…"

"Don't touch me!"

Tony might have been intoxicated, but he wasn't an idiot, he knew that there was a reason why Lorraine didn't want him touching her. It was because someone had tried to (and either succeeded or failed) in doing so before.

"Nash…who did this to you?" Tony asked.

"What?"

"Who hurt you?" Tony asked, "Tell me that…who, who touched you?"

"Nobody…no one."

"They tried, they always try…what did they do to you?" he demanded to know.

"Nobody did anything, just don't touch me," she was begging with him, almost crying.

"Allright…I won't…'is allright, Nash…you're safe here with me…you know that, don't you?"

Nash nodded, but Tony wasn't sure she believed him.

"Anyone who thinks they can mess with you," Tony said, "they're taking me on first."

"I believe you, Tony," she told him.

"Good."

"Tony?"

"Huh?"

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" If Tony hadn't been crocked he probably wouldn't have been so willing.

"Will you tell me something?" she asked, "no holds barred, nothing hidden?"

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"How did Frank die? Really? You were working for him when it happened, what happened to him?"

Tony sighed, he knew that there was no simple or shot way to answer that question, so he drew in a long breath. "That's a long story…in the beginning, we 'no work for Frank directly, we worked for Omar."

"Omar who?" Nash asked.

"Omar Suarez…you see, back when Manny an' me were scrubbing grease pans, he got us working for Omar. He use' to tell me 'a little coke money never hurt nobody', so we got into 'dat business, working for Omar…we do' something for him, he took it to Frank, the real boss. But after Angel, I take it directly to Frank myself, he like' me, Elvie on the other hand wasn't so hot about it. Anyway, we work for Frank a little while…no problem, then we go speak to his associate Alejandro Sosa, and Omar, he say he'll do all the talking. But Omar couldn't talk business worth shit, so I do the business with Sosa, and Omar, he get piss' off real quick. As it turned out, Omar…he use to be a nark for the police…so Sosa hung him, and when I got back, Frank was worse than Omar was. That son of a bitch sent 'dis cop Mel Bernstein after me…blackmail, blackmail about Emilio Rebenga, and the people at the motel…and then Frank try' to have me bumped off."

"How?"

"He sent two guys to the Babylon Club where I was…they tore up the place with their guns, they hit many people, me included, but I got out, and I got both Frank and Mel in his office. So now I' taking over."

"Who was Emilio Rebenga?" Nash asked.

"What?"

"You said Emilio Rebenga, and some people in a motel, what do they have to do with anything?" Nash asked.

Tony was too drunk and too upset to stop himself, he found himself pouring out the story of how he and Manny and Angel were able to get their green cards and get out of Freedom town, and from there they were dishwashers until Manny could get them the job with Omar. And it was there at the motel that he lost his good friend Angel to Hector the toad and his associates, all for two keys of yeyo. By that time he was either two drunk, or didn't even notice when he told her all about Angel, how much he'd looked up to Tony and how good of friends they were, like brothers, and how out of all of them, Angel was the only one who would've been content with being a dishwasher. All this said, Tony felt even worse for his death, and finally he broke down crying, and laid himself in a fetal ball.

Nash crawled over to him and held him and cradled his body and gently rocked with him in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Tony…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she said.

"You couldn't have known," Tony said over his sobbing, "I loved that man, I miss him…I…I've never said anything to anyone, but you. You…I know I can trust."

Nash couldn't think of anything to say to that and instead said nothing, she just held Tony and rocked him until he fell to sleep, she joined him shortly after that.

Tony rolled over and woke up and found himself still in the hotel room. How much time had passed? For that matter, when had he gone to sleep? He looked at the clock which read 12:47 A.M., but still he couldn't tell how long he'd been asleep. It was then that he heard something which disturbed him, he looked over and saw Nash on her bed lying on her side facing away from him, and she was shaking and crying. Immediately Tony swung his feet to the floor and jumped on the bed beside her and he turned her over and was worried that she didn't protest, especially after the way she exploded at him earlier for touching her.

Her eyes were a bright red, and she had dry trails where previous tears had dried and new ones running down her cheeks. The first thought that came to Tony's mind was that if someone had hurt her, he was going to kill them. Instead of just jumping to that conclusion, her gathered her in his arms and leaned against the headboard with her leaning against him and he gently rocked her.

"Nash…Nash…" he said, though he wasn't sure she was hearing him, "what happen'? Are you allright?"

Nash slowly nodded.

"Then w'as wrong?" Tony asked.

Nash pushed herself away from Tony and laid down at the foot of the bed, "You were right, Tony."

"About what?" he asked.

"About some guy trying to…they did try to have their way with me, I didn't let them, but that almost cost me my life."

"Who?" Tony asked, he knew it, he knew it, he was going to kill somebody.

"Omar," Nash answered as she wiped her eyes, "he tried a couple of times but…after I told him if he didn't stop, he'd end up like a Mafia victim, then he quit coming around…and then that's when Mel Bernstein came."

Tony felt his stomach turn and his heart jump in his throat, he was sure before she was through explaining, that he was going to be sick.

"Of course, he was a cop, so there wasn't much that I could do…in fact, after hearing you explain Omar, I'm not sure that he didn't tell Mel about me…"

"Where did this happen?" Tony asked.

"At the casino," she said, "they have rooms you can check into for the night there, so they thought…that was before I started really passing myself off as a guy…but they figured that since I was already working there, I'd have no problem with a jump in the sack, and they told me it would be very beneficial for my salary. But I wouldn't…I wouldn't let them. I told Mel that he could just kill me since I'd sooner die than let him touch me. He turned me down, saying that we'd both enjoy fucking more."

Tony could feel his own eyes welling up with tears, he wished for a minute that the bastards were still alive so he could make them suffer more.

"You…you've done so much for me, Tony…I appreciate it all very much, but I don't know how I'm going to repay you for it all."

"Don't worry about it," Tony said, "it's allright."

"You have no idea how relieved I am to know that they're not going to come back," Nash said.

It was then that Tony realized that she was crying out of joy, relief, the familiar feeling that she had her life back in order, rather than it being swept out from under her. Tony couldn't understand it, nothing made sense about the whole thing, how was it that the miserable sons of bitches he had the misfortune of knowing, could find their way to a kid who wasn't even wrapped up in this business? He couldn't answer himself on that, and he couldn't find any rime or reason for everything that had happened, but he was glad it had. At least he knew that they were dead and they couldn't come after anyone anymore. Tony was at a loss of what else to do, so he just kept his mouth shut and rocked Nash until they both fell asleep.

By 7 the next morning, Tony's car pulled up to the curb of Nash's home and she jumped out of the car and was heading up to the front door when Tony got out and followed behind her.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"I' going to make sure there' no misunderstanding with your mother," he replied.

They got up to the porch and Nash opened the front door and called in, "Mom, I'm home!"

Mrs. Owens came around looking pretty much the same as yesterday, only instead of a dress fit for rags, she was wearing a purple and white tie dye dress.

"Now 'dis is much better, what did I tell you?" Tony asked.

"It's good to see you again, Mr. Cagney," she said, "how are you feeling today, Nash?"

"I'm allright," Nash replied.

"Is your foot better today?"

"My foot?"

Tony forgot to tell Nash what he'd told her mother, so he jumped in to the rescue, "She was so tired last night that she went to sleep as soon as we got to the room, and she never even moved…she doesn't remember much of last night too well."

Nash wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew that there was nothing wrong with her foot last night, so Tony must've told her a story to cover up what had really happened, so she decided to go along with it.

"Well thank you for taking such good care of her, Mr. Cagney," Mrs. Owens said.

"Oh please ma'am, the pleasure was all mine," Tony told her, "I'll see you 'round work, Nash."

She nodded, "Allright, see you later."

In time the house had been bought, all the paperwork went directly to Tony, he had good plumbing and central air and heating put in, and he continued to slip Nash money every month to pay for the bills and everything in between. However, it was near a month before he saw her again, and it wasn't under pleasant circumstances.

Elvira was known from time to time to get awful headaches, and when she did, Tony soon found out it was best if he wasn't around. Well one night she was taken by one again, and while she stayed in her room popping painkillers like popcorn and cussing out the entire staff of the house and throwing things whenever someone entered the room, Tony decided to get out for the night…at least for a few hours until she went to sleep.

Nash told Tony she'd quit working at the Golden Crown, but he wanted to see for himself, beyond shadow of a doubt that she wasn't lying. From what she'd told him before, the Golden Crown was a dangerous place to be, and it certainly wasn't any place for her to be when perverts like Omar and Mel could come crawling in by the dozen. He went in and briefly went around to every single table and asked if she was there, no she wasn't and nobody knew if she would be. Apparently all the employees were new, so Tony tried to find the manager and ask, and when he did, he told Tony what he'd hoped to hear all night long, that Nash hadn't been seen there in over a month. She quitted the job a long while back and hadn't been back since.

As he was leaving the casino, Tony realized that he hadn't seen Nash's house since he bought it, and he was wondering just how she'd had it fixed up since moving in. One thing was for sure, she had to have been living large off the money he was slipping her, and he wanted to see for himself that she was enjoying it. As he headed out to the parking lot, he was about to get in his car when he heard something low, it sounded distant but he knew it wasn't coming from too far away. With all the traffic and the drunks and the noises coming from the casino, it was a wonder Tony could hear it as low as it was, but he did, he heard someone nearby, moaning, it sounded like they were in excruciating pain but didn't have the strength to scream.

Tony headed to the alley behind the casino and found his answer, there was a person lying against the fence beside the garbage cans. While Tony couldn't make out anything about this person he knew that he found the source of the moaning. As stupid a move as it could've been, Tony approached the person hoping to be of service, as he got closer, he was able to make out from the dim lighting from a street light, the figure's features, and his blood turned cold. Nash was all but curled up into a fetal ball holding herself and her wounds, trying not to scream, but keeping that in her seemed to be making it harder for her to stay conscious, she looked like she was about to black out at any time.

Instantly, Tony got right next to her and he pulled her up, careful not to squeeze any of the bruises or cuts on her wrists. He placed his hands on her ribs since they didn't seem to be damaged and he spoke to her as gently as he could being as mad as he was, and he asked her who did it. She didn't answer, she closed her eyes and shook her head and made other groaning and whimpering noises. Tony could've slapped himself for it, she was crying now and he had a feeling he had something to do with it. She wouldn't answer, but it didn't matter right now, right now she needed help, and he knew it. He took her over to his car and he took off his jacket and slipped it on her to collect most of the blood and he laid her down in the backseat and he got them out of there. His first thought was to get her to a hospital but then he realized he couldn't, they would be asking too many questions, maybe even bring in the police.

No, he wouldn't get the police involved in this, no, he knew just what he'd do, he'd call in the same guy who stitched him up the night Frank Lopez tried to have him bumped off, a medical student recommended by Nick the Pig. Then another thought came to mind, Nash had told him before no one else was to know who she was, she told him not to mention her to anybody. Now Tony was a man with no education, but he was smart nevertheless, he came up with an idea quickly, and one he was sure would work. He'd take her to the house, and he wouldn't say who she was, he wouldn't have any idea who this child was. They'd never met, he just happened to find her…or rather, him…yes, Tony would continue her masquerade, so long as they didn't try to undress her, it would work. It would work, it had to work, fortunately Manny didn't even remember what she looked like, so if he were there, only Tony would know the truth.

"Hold on, kid," he told her, "we' almost there."

Tony pulled into the garage and he picked Nash up and carried her over to the house and barely got in the front door when Nick and Ernie saw the sight, and Tony was bombarded with questions. Ignoring the questions in general, he decided to give them just one answer.

"I found 'dis kid in an alley behin' the Golden Crown…somebody fucking beat the shit out of him…Nick, can you get the guy up here who did me?"

"Sure, Tony, sure," and with that, Nick ran off to the nearest phone to call him.

Tony removed his jacket from her and laid her out on the couch, she'd fallen asleep when they got away from the casino and she hadn't woken up since. He placed his hands gently on the less battered parts of her face and tried to get her attention to wake her up. "Hey kid, can you hear me? Kid…"

"Tony, he's not waking up," Ernie told him, careful not to set Tony off, Tony could have an explosive temper when he was upset.

"I know," Tony replied.

Manny was there on a visit tonight and when he heard all the ruckus he came to the living room to see what was going on. Tony was right, he didn't remember her.

"Who's the kid?" he asked.

Tony shook his head, "I don't know…I jus' found him somewhere…somebody…they beat the shit out of him."

"I can see that," Manny said, "any idea why?"

Tony shook his head again, "Nick's calling for someone."

"A doctor?" Manny asked.

"No' exactly."

Nick returned to the living room with the news that the guy would be there in about half an hour.

"Now what?" Tony asked.

"There's nothing to do in the meantime but wait, man," Manny told him.

Nothing to do but wait…that would be the hardest part to it.

The man got there sooner than expected, he asked the usual questions as he looked her over, who was he, what happened to him, where had he been found, did he have any ID. All of the questions Tony answered that he didn't know, except that he found him in a dark alley somewhere.

"He must've done something," Ernie said.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Nobody beats the hell out of someone else for no reason," Ernie told him.

"That's bullshit and you know it! No bastard needs a reason to do something like this. There is no reason, but if I find him, he's a dead man."

The medical student did everything he could, he treated the bruises, bandaged up the cuts, gave Tony a bottle of painkillers for the kid and he was to take two of them every four hours. Tony also asked for a bottle of smelling salts, the guy said it wasn't necessary, but Tony insisted, and after getting them, he paid the guy and Manny showed him out. After that, Tony basically drove everyone out of the room to be alone with the kid, he told them he didn't want the kid waking up and seeing all of them and thinking the Mafia had him. After he'd gotten rid of them, he took the bottle of smelling salts and released the potent odor only an inch within her nose, and it did the trick.

She opened her eyes and looked straight up at Tony, and it looked like she was going to pass out again, but she didn't. "Tony?"

"What happen', kid?" Tony asked her.

Nash shook her head, "nothing."

It was late and Tony was tired and after what he'd seen he was in no mood for arguing, however he was also too exhausted to yell either. "Come on, kid, I know something happened, now just tell me who he is and I'll take care o' him."

Nash looked around and realized the setting was unfamiliar. "Where are we?"

"My home."

"Is anyone here?" she asked.

"Ernie and Nick and Manny, but I sent them away, and Elvie…she's upstairs with a headache, she don't know abou' you, and the servants saw you come in…but nobody knows you, and nobody's here now…now tell me wha' happened."

Nash tried to sit up and with Tony's help she was able to, she tried to look him in the eyes as she told him. "This guy…I don't know him, he came after me, apparently he's seen me around…he thinks I'm a guy…and he notices that I don't go towards the women, so you know what he's thinking about me."

Tony nodded, "homosexual." He was asked if he was one when he first got to America.

"And this guy won't even ask questions, he just goes in for the kill…after he beat me to a pulp, I thought if I showed him I wasn't a guy…then I figured it'd be better if he just beat me to death taking me for a guy. If he knew I was a girl he probably would've raped me, just like Omar and Mel tried to…only he would've succeeded…so I didn't do anything, and he left me, probably to bleed to death."

"Except you're no' that seriously hurt," Tony told her.

"You had a doctor do this?" she asked.

"No' quite…he hasn't finished medical school yet," Tony told her, "but he's allright, he sewed me up just fine after Frank."

Nash looked at him through half-closed eyes, he could tell all she wanted to do right now was sleep, he knew that because even to him, her eyelids looked like they weighed a hundred pounds each.

Tony got some extra bedding out of the closet and he stuck a pillow behind her head and threw a couple of blankets over her and told her he'd take her back home in the morning.

"I almost forgot," Tony said. He went into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water, "he said to take two painkillers every four hours."

He gave her the water and the pills and immediately after taking them she fell asleep. Even in sleep she managed to get out a low but audible, "Thank you," to Tony, and to him, that was all the pay back he needed for everything he'd done for her. It would be about seven hours before morning, and when morning came he'd get her out of there. In the meantime, he wasn't going anywhere so he parked himself in a chair right by the couch, and stayed up the night watching her.