"I'm going to ask this guy one last time, politely, for Fiona's client's money back." I said as Michael pulled up in front of a house. "If he doesn't pay—"

"We shove him into a trunk at gunpoint." Michael said as he killed the engine.

"Do you have a better way to make five grand? Fiona said that the guy is a charmless sleazebag. No one's getting hurt. Perfect job." We got out and headed to the trunk and Michael opened it.

"The perfect job, Dawn—Seriously."

"We can use the cash, Michael." My Irish accent broke out, making my tongue hold out the L in his name. I cleared my throat to regain my American accent back. "We're setting up a nice little business here. We ought to do it right." My Irish came back on ought. I cleared my throat again.

"Your Irish accent coming back?"

"It's nothing. I'm just a little homesick right now. I miss Dublin. It'll go away in a couple days. Anyways, I got to buy some radios and walkie talkies."

"Why?"

"A new power of mine. I'm still trying to figure it out. What you could do is buy an air conditioner for the Charger."

"Actually, I was hoping to use my share…to get in touch with some old intelligence contacts."

"Oh—bribing people to get your old job back. Well, when you do that, you be sure to let me know how it goes."

"Why don't we compromise? I'll buy you dinner tonight. Someplace nice." He looked down at me and I could still make out the green through his tinted sunglasses. I closed one eye and scrunched up my face, pretending to be in thought even though I already knew the answer.

"Hmm…Fine." I handed him a stopwatch. "Give me exactly three minutes. If I'm not out, you come on in with a shotgun. Fiona said that there's a breaching round for the door and rock salt for the sleazebag and his friends. Wish me luck." I walked across the street and knocked on the front door. The air stank of alcohol and sounds of music and men talking came from inside. A woman answered the door and I walked in as she closed the door behind me.

"Does Ralts know you're coming?" The woman asked me.

"Oh, I want it to be a surprise." I walked into the living room and a six foot man stood up and walked over to me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ralts asked.

"I'm asking politely one last time…for Fiona's client's twenty grand."

"I told you, I ain't got it and I'm not paying." I looked past him at the pile of money on the table. Had to be at least ten grand. At least. "Tell Gallade, if he wants it, he can come here and get it himself." I glared at him.

"I'm not going back to my sister empty handed. If I can't deliver the money, then I'll deliver you. And my sister does not play well with others."

"You will, huh? You gonna carry me out yourself?"

"No, I'll have a little help." My watch beeped and I looked to the side door and expected Michael to come in but he didn't. I looked back at Ralts and chuckled nervously. I took a step back and looked out the window to see Michael talking to Paxson. You have got to be shitting me. Ralts and a group of men came at me. I struck out my hand and shocked Ralts in the stomach. I turned and backed handed another guy, burning his cheek. I shifted and jumped out of the window, glass falling over me like crystals. I ran across the street and phased as I approached Paxson and Michael. I panted, out of breath. I turned around to the angry men at the window. "Great party! I'll see you all later!" I turned to Paxson.

"I'm sure that you can explain all of this, but, frankly, I had enough of your explanations." Paxson said. "So that's why I brought you some babysitters." She pointed to the cop car behind her.

"A police tail." Michael awed sarcastically. "Lucky us." He waved at the police men inside the car.

"We can make you extracurricular activities…a lot more dangerous for you—and for your friends."

"So I answer your questions or you get us killed. Is that the idea?"

"No. You answer my questions before you get yourselves killed." Paxson turned to me. "I'm afraid you're going have to hand over your collar, Miss Spider."

"What?" I exclaimed. "On what charges?"

"For being involved in a police investigation. American shifter law says that as long as a shifter is in an investigation, she or he may not be allowed to wear his or her collar. I may not be allowed to arrest you unless your caught in an act but I can make your life hell without your collar. Hand it over, Miss Spider." I grumbled and unattached my collar and handed it to Paxson. "If you're caught wearing a collar from here until this investigation is over, you will be committing a crime therefore I will arrest you." She took it and smiled as she headed back to her car.

"Looks like we have a chaperone on our date tonight." Michael said.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

I glared at the cop car behind us.

"I distinctly recall you saying someplace nice." I growled at Michael as I turned back around to face him. "We're at the Carlito. We eat half our meals here. Have you forgotten what a date is?"

"I said that when I thought we were going to be five grand richer." Michael said.

"Would you like anything else?" The waitress asked.

"Yes." I said. "Your most expensive dessert." She walked off to fulfill my order. "So, Ralts is off to party in Cancum with Fiona's client's money."

"Look at the bright side, Dawn." Michael said. "You weren't killed." I scoffed.

"Oh, please. If a loser like Ralts can kill me, then I deserve it." Sam and Fiona appeared and sat on either side of me. "You invited them?"

"I need an invite to the Carlito now?" Sam asked.

"You lost my client's money, I deserve to come here." Fiona scoffed.

"Well, is someone's police buddy didn't show up then we would have had your client's money." I snapped.

"I'm being audited." Sam said. "Ha, ha, ha, ha. Fun, fun, fun."

"Is that courtesy of Detective Paxson?"

"Nah, it's been building up for a while."

"Where's your collar, Dawnna Dear?"

"Courtesy of Detective Paxson." I grumbled.

"Here, I have an extra one." Fiona pulled out a collar and I quickly pushed her hand under the table. I turned around to see the cops get out of the table.

"Great." I summoned my electric power and concentrated on the police radio in the car. I clenched my fists together as I thought of a message to send to the radio. We got a domestic violence over on Raukou Road. We need every unit within two miles immediately. Once the cops headed back to the car and drove away, I broke the connection and sighed as my head began to sway. I turned back around and slumped in my chair.

"What was that about?" Sam asked.

"A new power of mine. One without my collar. Drains the energy out of me quick but at least we got rid of them." The waitress came back and set a plate in front of me. I stared in disgust at the thing in front of me.

"Okay, wait a second. Is—is this a date?"

"Yes." Michael said.

"No, this is officially not a date." I growled.

"All righty." Sam said. "Can you bring us another spoon? You're not going to eat that cherry are you?" Sam laughed and took the cherry off my plate.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUU

"Michael, this Raichu creep rips off drug dealers for a living." I said as we walked past a pool. Michael's plan was to help Paxson on a case so she would back off. We were at the place where Raichu usually is. The sun burned my skin and I squinted at the sunlight's beams of light. "You sure this is the easiest way to get Paxson off your back."

"The easiest way to get her off my back is to answer her questions." Michael said. "This way doesn't involve me going to jail. You do want your collar back don't you?"

"Yes." We leaned against a bar and peered across the pool to see a man on a couch under a canopy talking to girls, making them giggle at his jokes. A guy came over to get a cup from Raichu but he shooed the guy away. As the guy turned to leave, Raichu's leg shot out, tripping the guy. "Seems lovely." Raichu laughed at the guy as he got up and scurried away. Michael and I moved to a couch and sat down. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and looked around. My phone rang and I got up and answered it, walking away from Michael. "What do you want?"

"Yeah, uh, listen, Sister, you gotta scram." Sam said. "Fi was listening to the police radio and she called me."

"Get to the damn point, Sam."

"Paxson found your car over on Dusty Drive. She's sending police right now." I heard sirens in the distant. I hung up and went back over to Michael and sat down.

"I think we found our guy." Michael said.

"Good." I said. "'Cause we gotta leave. Hear those sirens? Those are for us." The sirens were getting closer. "Sam called. Detective Paxson found my car on Dusty. She's gonna start searching the area. If Mr. Personality there sees you with Paxson—"

"It'll be almost as bad as Paxson seeing us with him. Let's go." We headed to Dusty and when we got to my bike, we found Paxson leaning against it as a police car pulled to a stop across the street. "Hey, Detective. Always a pleasure.

"I see you left your police escort back at your mother's house." Paxson said.

"Oh, I knew I forgot something." I laughed at the sarcasm. It was very rare to hear Michael be sarcastic.

"Let me be clear, Mr. Westen. Every time you ditch your escort, you dig yourself a deeper hole. I'm taking you down. It's just a matter of time."

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I walked into the loft to see Sam, Michael and Fiona by the counter. Sam and Fiona both had pens and just got done writing on Michael's left arm. I sighed.

"Mmm. Leave you three alone for a minute." I sighed. They looked at me, then at Michael's arm, looked at each other then back at me and laughed.

"We're just giving Mike his prison tats, Dawn." Sam said. "I think I might have a second career here." I walked over to the counter and sat down next to Fiona.

"Sam checked out that guy Paras—the one Raichu was smacking around." Michael said.

"Yeah. Paras Pupitar. He's pretty small time. Some counterfeit concert tickets. Some B and E. Did two years in Allendale for armed robbery. Now he's pretty much a fixture at the dog track when he's not hanging around with Raichu."

"You think this guy is going to get us into Raichu's group?" Fiona asked.

"He's the best we've got." Michael said.

"Ok, there you go." Sam said, finishing the drawing on Michael's arm. "That will do. I should charge you for those bricks. That's art, man."

"Beautiful, Sam." Michael got up and went over to his workbench. He looked out the window and groaned. "I gotta take the over the roof and down the rain gutter exit. Mind keepin' them busy for me?" Michael walked out on to the balcony and climbed up to the roof. I walked over to the window and focused in on the radio in the car.

This is Detective Paxson. I need backup over on Prinpulp Pike. I got Michael Westen in custody and need backup immediately. The sirens went up and the police car drove away.

"Nice work, Dawnna dear." Fiona said.

"Eh, what can I say?" I asked. "I only did it for the fun of it."

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Fiona and I sat on one side of the table while Sam, Michael and Paras sat on the other side. Fiona and I were totally the opposite. Sort of. She wore a fancy dance, make up and her red hair in perfect waves. I wore skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt that stopped just above my bellybutton.

"See?" Michael questioned us. "What'd I tell you? What'd I tell you about this guy, huh? He could hook us up, right? Look at this."

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "Pansear here couldn't get a table this good at Burger King." Michael glared at Sam. "Huh?"

"Hey, you just gotta know how it works." Paras said. "Uh, we should order, right? Okay? It's on me, so, uh, whatever you like—except the lobster."

"Ugh!" I said. "Lobster? They look like bugs, huh?"

"Come on, Palkia." Michael said. "Show some respect. Don't talk about bugs and stuff here." I frowned and gave him my puppy eyes.

"Pansear, just some people are not too comfortable in nice places." Paras said. "Order what you like, sweetheart." He ran his hand down my arm and Fiona kicked me in the leg, knowing that I was about to punch the guy for touching me. I clenched my fists and forced a smile.

"So, Pansear says you're the guy…to talk to in Miami about looking for work." Sam said.

"It could be, if you, uh, know how to use your head."

"We hit a few car dealers up north." Michael said. "You know? I'd act like I was taking a car for a test drive. I'd grab the keys. Nincada and Palkia would strut their stuff. You know, keep 'em busy. Big Chuck here—He'd step in if things got too rough. Then the dealerships—They got wise, so it was too hot. Now we're dyin' down here."

"See, that's your problem. You don't think big. Last month I hit a check cashing place in Boca. Walked away with three grand. Bam!"

"Three thousand bucks?" Sam questioned Paras. "Man, that's a hell of a score, huh?"

"Then, the one that got me pinched was a credit union. Basically a bank. Nearly walked away with forty large."

"Now, that's the big leagues." Michael said. "I don't mean to be out of line, but I was thinking that maybe…we could come on to one of those jobs, you know? Make some real money."

"See what happens tonight. We're gonna do a little job. See how you do."

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"I only smoke one a day ever since I got out of the joint." Paras said as he pulled out a cigarette. We headed to the cleaners. I was irritated. I knew I could do this robbery by myself, without my collar and my hands tied behind my back. I didn't see why we had to stand behind Paras. "It's called willpower. You want one?"

"Uh-uh." Sam said.

"No." Michael said. "No thanks. Where we headed?"

"Dry cleaners." Paras answered. "We're hittin' it. I got the whole score worked out like clockwork. Register's got everything from the weekend in it. Only one guy working the counter. Big Chuck over here throws a few rocks at the place. Gets the guy to come out."

"Oh, you mean like a—like a distraction?" Sam asked.

"Exactly. Right. Then Nincada runs over, spray paints the security camera by the door." Paras handed Fiona red spray paint.

"Uh, red's my favorite color, Paras." Fiona said.

"Good. That's good. Palkia will get a new car and we all meet in the back."

"I have an eye of a hawk." I smirk, trying so hard not to punch this guy's lights out.

"Excellent. Then me and Pansear run in, grab the cash and run out the back. Like clockwork."

"Wait." Michael said. "Just so I can be sure at this. She kills the camera with spray paint? Or did you want her to cut the cable on the roof?" Paras looked at the camera.

"You see?" Paras laughed. "He's learnin'. She should cut the cable on the roof."

"You're the boss, Paras." Fiona said.

"That's right. I am the boss." Paras pulled out a gun and Michael started "freaking out". Yeah, right.

"Whoa, whoa. Is—" Michael began to ask. "Is that—Are we gonna shoot somebody?"

"No, no. That's no loaded. It's just to scare the guy in case—you know. You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Show me what you got." Paras turned and headed to the cleaners and Michael rolled his eyes. Fiona climbed onto the roof and snipped the cable while Sam threw rocks at the store, smashing the windows. He hid behind a dumpster when the owner came out hollering. Paras and Michael slipped in and closed and locked the front door. I went around back and looked for a car in the parking lot. I smashed the window of s Honda civic and got in and hot wired the car. I drove to the back door of the car and Sam and Fiona got in the back. A few minutes later, Michael and Paras came out the back and got in the car too.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

"Mike, this is a dicey time to be doing this." Sam told Michael. The wind blew Fiona's and my hair everywhere. I growled in frustration. Or I guess I would have growled in frustration if I had my collar. We were standing near a pool, waiting for Paras. "You're only wanted for questioning now, but this is gonna be full fledged—"

"Don't have a choice, Sam." Michael said. "Gotta hope that Paxson's still keeping her distance from Raichu." Fiona coughed, signaling for Michael to shut up since Paras was on his way over to us.

"Nice jacket." Paras complimented Michael. "Very sharp. Real professional. How good does he look, huh, Chuck?"

"Yeah, not bad." Sam muttered. "Yeah."

"Yeah. So, listen—This, uh—this guy Raichu—he's gonna size you up for the real jobs. Mmm?"

"We'll just do watch you, Paras." Fiona said, rolling the R in his name. "We'll do what you do."

"Good. Good. You do what I do. Just don't talk too much, ok?" Fiona giggled. "We ready? Okay, let's go." Paras turned and we followed him back to a tent where Raichu was waiting for us. Men came up to us and frisked us. "They're good."

"Well, well, well." Raichu said. "How about that? Tommy's got himself a crew now."

"How about that, huh? Let me introduce you. This is Pansear and Palkia. Then, Nincada and Big Chuck. They're from up north. I told you Pansear did some time up in Allendale, like me."

"You a tough guy, Pansear?"

"Tough enough." Michael answered smoothly.

"I've been wanting to get you guys together for while." Paras said, fidgeting a lot. "We're gettin' real tight together, and, uh, I heard you were, you know, puttin' a big job together. I thought maybe we could get in on it." Raichu scratched his head and wrapped his arm around Paras, turning him around and heading to the back of the tent. They talked quietly. Man, if I had my damn collar I would be able to hear what they were saying. Raichu turned slightly around and pointed to Sam then at me. Raichu walked away from Paras and got up in Sam's face.

"Yeah, you." Raichu said. "You wearin' a wire, cop?"

"A cop?" Sam questioned him. "Yeah, right. Hey, I thought you guys already searched us. Or did he just want to get into my pants?" Samson, I growled inside my mind. Watch it. Raichu scoffed and turned to me.

"That's a pretty tan line you got around your neck. Got a collar somewhere on you? Or maybe I should frisk you again to see. What do you say, sweetheart? You need a good frisking?" I took a step towards Raichu.

"Try me." I whispered coolly. Michael's arm slipped around my shoulder and he yanked me towards him, slamming me into his side, keeping me there.

"They're not cops." Paras insisted. "They hit the dry cleaners with me last night over on seventeenth. These guys did it with me. It was like clockwork. They're real pros, man." Raichu's cold, dark, evil eyes scanned the four us for a minute.

"All right. You know what? If Paras says that you're real pros, I might have something for you. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you and me talk? Come on."

"Yeah. Pansear, I'll catch you at the track, all right?" We turned and left, leaving Paras and Raichu to talk.

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Michael went to a meeting Paras. Apparently, Paras wanted us to back out but then Michael told him that we could help bring Raichu down. Fiona and Sam leaned against the railing of the docks and I sat on the bench, letting the salty wind of the ocean tickle my cheeks. Michael and Paras stood in front of us.

"Thought we'd just go to the cops." Paras said. "You don't know Raichu like I do. He'll kill us all. I'm serious."

"So are we." Michael said. "He's outmaneuvered the cops before. No, we need to get him caught red handed. Dawn?"

"Dawn?" Paras looked questioningly at me.

"Uh, Palkia's Dawnna. Can you get us that civic…that we stole from the dry cleaners?"

"Right where I left it." I said.

"We're gonna need a time out the police response to the meth lab."

"There's a substation right near there." Sam said. "I'm on it, brother." He left.

"Fiona?"

"Fiona?" Paras gave her the same look.

"Nincada's Fiona. We're going to need a distraction just in case Raichu decides to leave the party early."

"You got it." Fiona said.

"Wait a minute." Paras said. "What do I do here?"

"You're the key to this, Paras." Michael said. "As far as Raichu knows, we're all doing this job, just like he wants. You need to find him the van he needs and you need to get us the exact location of the heist so we can do our prep work."

"Okay. I can handle that." Paras started to fidget, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet nervously.

"It's gonna be find, Paras. Just like clockwork."

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We stood in front of the civic and waited for Paras and Raichu.

"Ahh. Nothing like driving a hot car…with every cop in the city searching for you." Fiona said.

"Hopefully they're not searching too hard." Michael said. "We can't have Paxson showing up now."

"You think Paras's gonna hold up?" Sam asked.

"We'll know soon enough." A van pulled up behind the civic and Paras, Raichu and the rest of the crew got out and walked to us.

"Uh, lab's right around the corner." Raichu said. "Cooker's gonna go out for supplies in a little bit. That's gonna be our window. Me and my guys—We go in the front. Take out the alarm. You four stay outside the door like Paras told you, okay? Paras's the boss. Right, Paras?"

"Right." Paras answered.

"Yeah. All right. All you gotta do is hold off…a couple of meth heads while we take the stuff out the back. Paras's gonna drive around, pick us up, and we meet later to, uh, split the score. Let's do it. Look sharp, Paras." We turned around the corner to the building in the back of the ally. "Anything goes wrong, the dealers will be coming from there and there."

"These guys are going to be armed or what?" Michael asked.

"Aw, nothin' you can't handle, killer." The two guys from Raichu's crew walked up the door and broke the lock off. They and Raichu went inside and closed the door behind them. Michael pulled out superglue and spread it on the sides of the door. Fiona pulled out air spray bottles to harden the glue. While they were doing that, Sam and I were pushing a dumpster and positioned it in front of the door.

"Mike, I am not in love with this tactical position—not even with Fi's prep work." Sam said.

"My prep work, as you call it, could hold off an army." Fiona snapped.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'—I love explosives just as much as the next guy—"

"We just need to keep…the bad guys from killing each other until the cops get here." Michael said.

"By standing in between 'em?" I questioned him. Sam and Michael pulled out their guns while Fiona pulled out her detonator. I crouched behind the dumpster and waited for the action to begin. The alarm to the meth lab went off and an explosion went off.

"Go ahead, Dawn." I rolled my head from side to side to crack it and closed my eyes to concentrate. I linked my mind to a police car radio. The line between my mind and the radio was thin, threatening to break. I let out a puff of air as blood pounded against the wall of my skull. We got automatic weapons out in Little Dominca. A man called saying that they were on Palm and Seventeenth. I'm going in. I'm going to need backup. I exhaled sharply as I broke the connection. Michael pulled out his phone and called Raichu. "Yeah, Boss, I'm not sure about the plan. It's almost like you were trying to get us killed out here…Actually, I think it's you that screwed up. You screwed up bad." Sirens blared in the distance. "Oh—There's the cops. Gotta run…Not used being the guy in the trap, are you? What made you think you could piss off…every drug dealer and cop in town and not get any payback? Oh, wait. That's your problem. You don't think." Michael hung up. "Let's go." We stood up and dodged bullets as we whipped around a corner just as the cops came into the alleyway.

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I sat across from Michael at the table and gingerly scooped a shrimp up into my mouth.

"Fiona got rid of the C-4." I said. "She said it was a waste."

"Small price to pay for getting the cops off our backs." Michael said.

"Mmm. I guess. Now that we're clear, there's a few gigs I've lined up for us." Michael set down his fork and sighed.

"Dawn, this isn't a good time." The smile on my face turned upside down into a frown. "Paxson's backing off, but we still have no idea who's coming after me next. I still need back in." I licked the shrimp off my back teeth.

"Michael, priorities change. People change. Paras always thought that he'd be a criminal. Maybe you'll find—" Michael lifted his eyes up to mine and slowly shook his head. "You sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm free of the people who burned me. I'm clear of the cops. This is the moment I've been waiting for."

"This is the moment I've been waiting for too." That old sorrow crept back into my heart and starting tearing at it. Gnawing, chewing it up into pieces and spitting it back out. I sat back in my chair and covered my mouth with my hand as a tear slipped from my eye. I wiped at it and looked to the side.

"Dawn." I grabbed my wine and took a sip.

"Let's just enjoy dinner." Another tear slipped from my eye as I took another sip.