Coming back to consciousness with a start, Natalia grabbed the hand that had been hitting her across the face,stood, and twisted it behind its owner's back.

"Jesus Nat! Let go of me!"

She immediately released, panting, "God, Matt. Why the hell were you hitting me?" She glanced around the room and saw she was still in the doctor's office. She was struck by how dirty it was. "And how did you know where I was?"

Matt pushed the hair out of his face, sat himself in the chair that she had just vacated, and started to explain, "You were late. Which wasn't surprising," Natalia rolled her eyes as Matt gave her his trademark grin, "but, we are in a new place, so after ten minutes I went to look for you. I turned onto the first street, and the first thing I see is a pretty girl in a brown dress running with a bloody prostitute in her arms, screaming in Polish."

"And you automatically assume it's me?" Did he say I'm pretty?

He gave her a sarcastic look, and continued. "I ran after you, but you disappeared into a building long before I caught up with you. I knocked on the door, but that was taking too long, so I found an open window and came in-"

Natalia interrupted. "Breaking and entering? We haven't been here a whole day and you've already broken the law."

"Will you let me finish? Anyways, I came in and saw you passed out on the very chair my ass is now in, and the prostitute on the table all bandaged up. No doctor in sight."

Turning quickly, she saw the reason she was here. She walked to the prostitute's side and examined her injuries. They didn't look as bad as she first thought, but it was still horrific. It looked as if she wouldn't have any permanent damage, however. She felt Matt come next to her. Still gazing at the girl, she said, "That doesn't explain why you were hitting me."

"I got tired of waiting for you to wake up." She turned and saw that he too was gazing at the girl. His green eyes looked sad.

"How long did you wait?" I must have been out longer than I-

"About five minutes," he said quietly.

In spite of the circumstances, she laughed. "I didn't know you were so impa-" Natalia stopped short as the girl's eyes started to open.

"Matt, out. Now"

"Why?"

"This girl was almost beaten to death by a man. Do you think she wants to see another man when she first wakes up? Get out!"

He tripped over the chair in his hurry to leave. Turning back to the girl, she saw that her eyes were open and shrewd.

"Your man?" she asked in a heavy Cockney accent.

"No, no. Just a friend," Natalia said, grabbing the chair and sitting in it so they would be at the same eye level."

"I don' think so. I kno' when a man wants a woman. I make a livin' on it."

Natalia smiled sadly. Getting straight to the point, she questioned, "Do you know who did this to you? Because-"

"Just a john. He couldn' get it up, an' I guess he thought I was the problem," she interrupted shortly.

Trying to keep the anger out of her voice, she switched tracks. "What's your name?"

"Sally. An' you?"

"Natalia." Natalia the pollock and Sally the prostitute. Has a nice ring to it.

"I thought you were foreign. Russia?"

"Poland."

"I was close. How'd ya end up here?"

Natalia sighed and said, "That's a long story, and you need to sleep."

"I'll be fine." She looked around for the first time. "Where am I?"

"The doctor."

She sighed. "I don' know how much you think prostitues make, but I can' bloody afford this." Uncertainly, she swung herself around and tried to stand. Natalia forced her back down, saying,

"I don't think so. You're staying." Sally was too weak to argue. She closed her eyes. Talking was tiring.

Natalia could see that Sally was about to pass out. She reached inside her dress, and pulled out her remaining money.

"Sally. Stay awake for one more minute."

With an obvious effort, she forced her eyes open. Natalia grabbed her hand and forced the money in it. Sally looked down and her eyes widened.

"There's gotta be a 'undred pounds in 'ere!" she said weakly. She looked up, and words seemed to fail her. "Why?"

"Because everybody needs help sometimes," Natalia said simply..

Sally nodded, and fell back asleep.