A/N: Hey guys! Exams are over and I'm back to give you another chapter. There's a bunch of stuff that I have to tell you, but I'm gonna put it at the bottom of this so you can get straight to reading.

As usual a huge thank you to everyone who follows and favorites, and an extra helping of thank you to those who leave reviews.

Weiss woke to find herself alone on the couch, wondering how she got there momentarily before all the memories of yesterday came back in a whirlwind of emotions and sensations that ended with her sitting with a gentle smile gracing her features. She sat up slowly and looked around, realising that she was alone in the living room. She stood up and saw a pair of pajamas sitting on the table next to some aspirin and a glass of water. She took the pills and downed the water before heading to the bathroom to don the pajama pants and oversized T-shirt and wrap herself back up in her robe.

She headed out into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast, maybe take some up to Red as a sign of thanks for yesterday. That's what friends did, right? They returned acts of kindness with their own?

She had just taken out all the appropriate pans to prepare some bacon and eggs when she heard a grunt followed by a loud chop from just outside the house. She made her way to the front door and opened it, stepping outside. She was surprised by how warm it was, though she still wrapped her robe around herself tightly to keep out the chill that came with the winter months. She heard the grunting again and walked to the edge of the porch to investigate.

Apparently, no one had told Red that it was the middle of February. She stood with an axe in one hand resting against her shoulder as she grabbed a log and placed it on a large stump in front of her. She was wearing nothing but a sports bra and shorts as she stood barefoot in the snow. The morning sun painting her surroundings with a golden-red hue.

She squared up in front of the log and raised the axe above her head. But instead of coming straight down on the chopping block, the red-haired woman started to twirl the tool around her body in some sort of dance. The blade sang as the woman seemed to dance with it. Weiss couldn't help staring as she watched every muscle in the con woman's body tense and stretch as she seemed to draw energy up from her feet, through her toned legs, across a stomach that was both flat and defined if the saliva-inducing abdominals were any indication, rippled up her back and down her arms as she brought the axe down and cleaved the log in to with one clean cut.

Woah…

Red picked up another log and placed it on her chopping block. Just before she started her intricate dance, she winked at Weiss, causing the former heiress to flush a bright red and look anywhere but at the free show the con woman was offering.

Try as she might, her eyes found their way back to the younger woman, but this time focused on the slowly growing red spot on her side. Weiss sighed, for someone who claimed to know what she was doing, Red seemed to have forgotten not to stretch and over exert herself a day after stitching herself up.

"You're bleeding," Weiss said. Red heaved the axe down on the log with a grunt, splitting the log with one swing. She gathered all the wood up in her arms before climbing up to the porch and standing in front Weiss, arms noticeably straining with effort. She smiled that roguish smile of hers that seemed to always make Weiss's chest flutter before replying.

"Don't worry, its fine. None of the stitches have come out, I just need to change my bandages."

"Can I help?" Weiss asked as they made their way back inside.

"A little help can't hurt, I guess." Replied Red as she crouched down and started piling the firewood into a neat pyramid. When she finished, they made their way to the same bathroom as before. Red took a seat on the edge of the ornate bathtub and began unwrapping the bandages around her core while Weiss took some more out of the cabinet beneath the sink.

Once she found the bandages, she turned around and froze, a bright blush adorning her face, as she caught sight of Red's, now unwrapped, abdominal muscles. She thought they were impressive before, despite being covered in view obscuring wrappings. Now, seeing them uncovered, flexing unconsciously as Red prodded her wound gently, they were temptation personified. The former heiress found herself unable to think about anything but how much she wanted to run her hands over them, she didn't even realise she had reached out to touch them until a gasp from the wounded back con woman brought her back to reality.

She shifted her gaze to the stitches in her friend's side sobering immediately at what she saw. The area around the stitches was a sickly red swollen slightly, blood and some sort of foul-smelling, clear liquid oozed slowly from between the stitches.

"Shit." Red muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"I need you to get me the disinfectant from under the sink."

Weiss nodded. She grabbed the bottle of iodine and handed it back to Red. Red poured a generous amount on a cloth before letting out a shaky breath.

"Oh, this is gonna hurt."

Weiss opened her mouth, but before the words left her lips, Red pressed the antiseptic soaked cloth into her side with enough force to make the former heiress wince.

"Fuck!" Red cried. "Goddammit! Son-of-a-whore in heat in the middle of July with a dildo made of ice! Fuck my life! That stings!"

Weiss flinched slightly at the explicit profanity as Red removed the cloth, wiping around her wound gingerly before tossing the rag in the sink.

"If you're done swearing like a sailor," Weiss said teasingly, trying to lighten the mood and forget the guilt that washed over her every time she saw how much pain the younger woman was in. "Let's get you wrapped up."

Red chuckled as Weiss reached out and started wrapping the bandages around her torso. Occasionally, Weiss's fingers would brush against Red's sculpted abs or toned back and electricity would arc up her arms to her spine, zapping her brain before settling in her stomach. More than once she could have sworn she saw Red shiver at her touch, but that only made the fire in her stomach hotter.

She finished wrapping the bandages, and looked up to find Red staring down at her. She lost herself in twin pools of mercury that looked far too deep and weathered to belong to an eighteen year-old girl.

They sat there for several minutes, or maybe it was several hours, Red seemed to be able to make time seem completely inconsequential when they were together. A loud rumble brought both women back to reality, and they stood quickly. Weiss blushed and avoided Red's face as she realised that her arms had been around her friend's waist in a manner that was definitely not platonic for several minutes.

"So," Red said, breaking the silence. "You wanna get some breakfast?"

Weiss sighed in relief, thankful they were moving passed what just happened. She didn't want her lack of self-control to ruin what was probably her first real friendship. "Breakfast sounds great."

They exited the bathroom and headed back to the simple, yet beautiful, kitchen. Red grabbed the ingredients Weiss had left out and quickly prepared some bacon and scrambled eggs. She put two plates and a pair of ceramic mugs on the counter before serving out their food. She poured coffee into the mugs and took a seat next to Weiss.

"So, I was thinking," She started.

"Uh-oh, this can't be good." Weiss deadpanned.

"Very funny." Both girls smirked before Red continued. "I'm gonna be headed into town to get some equipment so I can look at the files we stole."

"Alright, what do you want me to do?"

Red paused, and looked at Weiss before turning her attention back to her food. "I was actually gonna ask if you wanted to help me catch this guy."

"Of course I do." Weiss responded. "Why would you think I wouldn't?"

"Well, its just-I-there's really nothing to gain for you from doing this, and if you wanted out that's fine. I know some people that can get you set up at your own place and if you wanted to I could set you up-"

"Red." Weiss said calmly, cutting off the other woman's rambling. "I want to help you. You said we were friends right?"

At that moment it wasn't an international criminal with a brilliant mind and a silver tongue, but the eighteen year-old girl with a heart of gold, who was afraid of all the horrible things she had done that Weiss had come to see as her friend, and maybe even more, nodding in reply.

"Well then, someone just robbed my friend of twenty million dollars and shot her, I might not have the most experience with these things, but shouldn't that be enough reason for wanting to help you?"

She could see the tears welling in Red's eyes as she wrapped Weiss in a tight hug. "Thanks, Weiss." She muttered against the heiress' shoulder. She pulled back and swiped her hand across her eyes before standing up.

"Alright." She smirked, and Weiss saw all the insecurity leave her face as she thought up a plan of attack. Weiss thought back to how she had questioned Red's ability to lead back in Florida. She wondered how she could have ever thought that. The girl was more cunning than any of the multitude of politicians she had met, more intelligent than most of the scientists and engineers who worked for her father, and seemed to have a strategic mind that would probably outclass most military commanders. Everything about the taller woman standing in front of her in a sports bra and short shorts seemed to command respect and make people want to listen to what she had to say. "Finish that and get dressed. We have work to do."

A/N: Alright, time for the list of things I need to tell you guys. Firstly, I want to thank you guys, I just finished my first year of University, and was super stressed studying for all my exams, so I wanted to thank you for being so patient and understanding. I also wanted to thank you again for following and favouriting, one of the few things that really helped out with my stress levels would be looking at my phone after a long day of studying to see a notification from you guys.

That being said, I need to extend a personal thank you to LordOda for his kind words. I had been having a really hard day and was super stressed, but after reading your review I felt a lot better. As much as my writing is for myself, it feels really good knowing someone else appreciates my work. Also you can probably expect me to take you up on your offer in the next few months. ;)

Next, unfortunately I'm discontinuing JEWL. It sucks, but I have a lot of original ideas for this story, and would rather write as an original story than a very loose fanfiction. I apologize to anyone who liked it, but once I get some real work done on it, I'll find another site to post it to and link you guys to it.

There is a silver lining though. I am going to post a new story here. It will be a Legend of Korra fanfic with Korrasami based after the series finale. It's going to be called Book 5: Choices and I really hope you guys will read it, enjoy it, and tell me what you think.

Finally, I have a tumblr ( .com) where I will post fan art, both my own and others I find, along with links to my current stories and updates on how things are going. I'd really appreciate it if you guys followed me, as I think it would help me be closer to you and hear what you're thinking.