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"I'm back," Jaz groaned as she staggered up the half-rotten stairs, ignoring Cat's frantic look as she shuffled into their temporary hideaway.

"Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?!" Worried, Zoe launched herself from the couch and moved to help the mutant into the large room they were all living in. "Gods, what did you do?!"

"I didn't dodge fast enough," Jasmine muttered, sighing in relief as she let herself sink down onto the dilapidated couch. "I'd pull the cash out of my pockets, but I'm too tired."

Angel stared at her for a long moment. "How many fights, exactly, did you get in?" When Jaz meekly rose four fingers, Angie cursed and threw her hands up into the air. "Okay, I'm with Zoe now. You're crazy! You could have been killed!"

"I wanted to make sure we had enough cash. Things have gotten a bit more... complicated."

Cat moved to kneel in front of her, hands moving rapidly. -How complicated?-

Groaning, Jaz gingerly shifted so she could prop her feet up on an overturned milk crate, leaning her head back against the wall as she closed her eyes and told them what had happened, yawning intermittently as she recounted her night. When she was finished, she cracked an eye open to assess the damage, frowning at the glares the three were giving her. "What?"

"You got bored waiting for Venom to show up, so you decided to do an extra three rounds to kill time?!" Zoe looked like she was two seconds away from having an aneurysm. "And you let the ring leaders of the fights see you?! Are you nuts?"

A wry smirk tugged at Jaz's lips. "You've never seen me bored," she quipped, chuckling at the angry looks that Zoe and Angel gave her. "On the bright side, we have more money, and Venom and I are even now."

Angel blinked. "Even?"

"Yup. Even though we did steal that money, he let me - and you Zoe - go. And he took my word when I said that we weren't part of the drug ring. I owed him for that. He could have hunted all of us down, but he didn't." Jaz shrugged. "Giving him the leaders of that fight ring makes us even in my book."

Cat rolled her eyes. -Yeah. That sounds like something you'd do.-

"I resent that."

Zoe sighed, shaking her head as she face-palmed. "Alright, so now that you're gonna have a price on your head, what are we going to do?"

"I was thinking that we should get a hotel room for a little while," Jaz told them as she straightened and started pulling money out of the pockets of her cargo pants, handing the bills to Cat so the teen could tally up the total. "I got a good haul tonight. If we're careful, we should be able to stretch it out for a long while. Besides, it's getting colder at night, and Angel's in her last trimester. We need a more secure place."

-Two thousand six-fifty-three,- Cat signed. -Add that to the one thousand four hundred and change from a few days ago, and we should be good for a very, very long time. Assuming, of course, that someone doesn't break anything else.-

A defeated whine left the mutant. "I said I was sorry!"

Rolling her eyes, Angel leaned back against the couch, grimacing as it gave her a sharp reminder that the 'couch' was more lumber and blanket than actual furniture. "A real bed would be nice, at least for a little while..."

"And you have to go see a doctor for your monthly check-up," Zoe reminded her, ignoring the glare the mother-to-be gave her as she ran her hands through her flame-coloured hair, sighing in defeat. "Alright. What about that motel near Castro Street that we stayed at a few months ago? It's west of Mission Street, not the best neighborhood, but it's fairly near one of the University Hospitals, and worst comes to worse, the BART subway is close-by."

Cat snapped her fingers to get their attention. -There's also that small motel near the Great Highway. It's in a better neighborhood, and it's half an hour away from the beach. It's not as cheap as the one near Castro, but it's cleaner.-

"Right," Jaz murmured. "That one's up in the Outer Richmond, right? It's got a Walgreens and a grocery store nearby if I remember correctly." She eyed Cat with a smile. "And you just want to go to the beach."

"One of the clinics the Hospital suggested I use isn't far from there either," Angel added thoughtfully. "It'll be a half-hour bus ride, but it's better than using the BART."

"She's got a point," Zoe murmured. "And at least if we take the one near the beach, we won't have to be on constant alert."

The mutant chuckled. "Motel near the beach it is then."

"We should pay a bit more for a room with two double beds and cable." When the other three gave her amused looks, Angel huffed and mock glared at them. "What? You people don't let me walk around a lot. If I'm gonna sit somewhere and vegetate, I might as well be comfortable and entertained."

"Scary pregnant lady wants cable," Zoe told Jaz, snickering as she ducked the smack that Angel aimed at her. "Maybe we should give her cable."

Cat giggled. -It would keep the complaining down to a minimum.-

Angel harumphed and folded her arms over her belly, turning her nose up at them. "Traitors."

Jasmine fidgeted, a muscle in her cheek twitching as she held herself in check. They had agreed that she should keep a low profile, but certain necessities demanded her attention. After all, neither Zoe or Angel could appear on whatever security cameras the motel had. Both of them, being runaways, were probably still being searched for by various parties, and she refused to let them put themselves in danger.

Thus, she and Catalina were standing at the main desk of the motel 'reception', which was really just a glorified closet that was set apart from a small room that held a tv and a dilapidated chair. The owner smelled of stale beer and really needed a shower, but since he was letting them pay with cash, she didn't complain. Not out loud, anyway.

As soon as she was handed the keys, she steered Cat out into cleaner air and rose a hand to wave at the two who were waiting nearby, gesturing for them to follow her as she headed for their room, eyeing the old faded numbers as she strode over to their door. She'd asked for a room on the ground floor, easier for Angel to walk to, and easier to escape - there was a window at the back of the room. Barred, but Jaz could take care of that easily.

Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure that the others were nearby, she slid the key into the lock and toed the door open. Immediately, her heightened senses scanned the room. Sharp hearing confirmed that the room was empty, and a few deep sniffs told her that while the room wasn't super clean, it hadn't been used for any overly debauched activities. "Alright. It's clear."

She lead the way in, knowing that Zoe would be coming in last, watching their backs. Cat and Angel came in behind her, the latter of the two immediately heading over to sit on one of the double beds. Trusting Zoe to close the door, Jaz went about checking the entire room, including the bathroom. She was glad to find that there were no signs of vermin, and that someone had done a rather impressive job of cleaning the bathroom.

"Oh, my aching feet." Groaning, Angel carefully swung her legs up onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard in mixed relief and exhaustion. It had taken them two hours to reach the motel by way of a quick trip on the BART and two buses. Even though Jaz, Zoe and Cat had been carrying the backpacks filled with their meager belongings, Angel felt like she had hiked twenty miles with fifty pounds strapped to her back. Or, perhaps, fifty pounds strapped to her stomach. It didn't help that her ankles were swollen and that the baby had been using her kidney as a sparring partner.

"Well, it's not the best," Zoe muttered as she inspected the coffee maker, the small bar fridge and the microwave. "But I think we can make due."

"It's better than most of the places we've stayed in," Jaz sighed as she rejoined them, walking over to the small table and chairs that were situated near the only window the room had. And she couldn't help but relax a bit more when she saw that said window had bars to keep would-be-burglers from getting into the room through the glass.

-We should go buy some food,- Cat signed, moving to help Jaz unpack the small amount of rations they still had. -And this time, you have to keep a low profile.-

"I know," the mutant growled. "But I don't like it."

"Aw, dontcha wanna keep me company?" Angel mock-whined as she searched through the bed stand for the control to the old TV that was situated on the dresser across from the two beds, grumbling when all she found was an old Bible.

"Oh, hush. You know that's not true."

-Besides, you need to protect Angel.- When Jaz's gaze darkened, Cat sighed and lay a hand on the woman's arm, smiling at her reassuringly, knowing that the mutant would understand the touch and gesture.

"I know you'll be alright," Jasmine said in response to the silent message that Cat had given her. "You and Zoe can take care of yourselves, but you're still Pack. I worry."

Zoe smirked, having heard Jaz's words. That the older woman compared their group to wolf packs only barely managed to scratch the surface. The mutant's unique instincts and abilities made her naturally protective of those she cared about. Zoe had always thought Jasmine to be a wolf in a human body. The woman was truly more canine than human, with instincts and motives that, sometimes, still seemed so strange to her.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Zee smiled and walked over to the mutant. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of her. We'll go, get the food, and come right back. An hour, tops."

"Any later and I'll come looking for you," Jaz warned, growling when Zoe rolled her eyes. "I mean it!"

"I know! That's what makes it so pitiful!" Chuckling at the now rather annoyed glare the mutant was giving her, Zee slung an arm across Cat's shoulders and guided her out the door. "We'll be back."

Angel waved at them as the door closed. "Buy pickles!"
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tbc