((again, i own nothing except my own characters c: ))

Olive woke up the next morning in a hotel room. She groaned and pushed back some of her hair, looking around and seeing Liam pull a shirt over his head. Her eyes still wanted to close, to avoid what sort of trouble she was in. She didn't want to think about Division tracking her down to perform tests on her and make her participate in an army. She closed her eyes once more.

Liam nudged her awake. "Come on, dearie. I just called my old friend and he said he'd meet with us in about an hour," he said, and tugged her out of bed and onto her behind.

Olive rose and rubbed her eyes, smearing her makeup and making her look a bit like a raccoon. "You're a jerk," was all she said, but she wasn't serious, of course. She stumbled into the shower.

About thirty minutes later she emerged, her hair still wet, but she was far more awake than before. "Alright, come on. Let's go haggle with a Shadow. I mean, you know how incredibly generous they are…" Olive grumbled, Moving the card key to the hotel and she stuck it into her purse.

"This one's different. Or at least, he was," he said, and shut the door behind them, smiling down at her. "Buck up, come on. It could be a lot worse…Division could have caught us by now, but we're still in the clear. As long as we keep moving, right?" he said, and put an arm around her, shaking her shoulder happily.

"Right," Olive said softly.

They walked down into the lobby and found the taxi Liam had called earlier. "I'm sorry for being so…moody, Liam. I just can't get what my dad said out of my head. He made it clear he wanted me to stay away from Division. I mean, he toted me around for years, made sure I was safe, and then I end up in this position anyway. Sorta seems mean, I guess."

"It's not like you wanted this to happen," Liam mumbled in response, but never said that it wasn't her fault. It was her fault they were in this situation, he wasn't going to lie, but he didn't blame her. There just wasn't any room for that.

The taxi ride there was very silent and awkward for the two of them. They both replayed their parents' warnings in their heads about what Division was all about, what to do, what not to do…they both came to the conclusion that this was the best thing they could do, for right now. Division didn't take too kindly to rogue psychics killing their agents, even if technically all they did was protect themselves, and they were probably on their tail as the taxi drove.

"Thanks," Olive said with a small smile to the taxi driver, and she handed him the fare. Being a Mover made it quite easy to pick-pocket, she decided, and his Shifting abilities made turning the ones into twenties was priceless.

They exited and made their way to an apartment complex looking more seedy than even the ones they'd lived in. "It's a bit dodgy, but…" Liam mumbled, and he pushed the buzzer. "Hey. It's Liam Smith," he said through the intercom.

"Ooh! Hey! Come on up!" said the speaker, and Olive opened the door when they were buzzed.

The two walked in, seeing all sorts of characters walking around the mail boxes, glaring at these two wide-eyed people. "I guess…the fifth floor?" Olive asked, and she opened the elevator, stepping in. Three people followed after them, standing behind them.

As was custom, nobody said anything on the way up and they stared straight ahead. A man behind Liam was breathing extraordinarily loud and smelled a little like rotten cabbage, but still, no one looked at anyone. Olive did smile to herself, though, as she stared forward, imagining the different ways this man could've possible begun to smell this bad. Old underwear came to mind, followed by bathing in cabbage. The elevator finally stopped and the smelly man pushed both Liam and Olive aside to run out of the elevator.

When the two finally managed to come up to the correct floor, Olive glanced over at Liam. "I thought, living in New York, I'd seen it all…" she mumbled, and the two exchanged a small smirk at the thought of the smelly man.

They reached the apartment, and Liam looked both ways before changing the number on the door from a thirty-five to a thirty-four. When Olive gave him a face, he shrugged. "It's in case someone decides to knock or something, and interrupt us. Or, y'know, Division." The two nodded, and Olive knocked on the door.

The man who answered grinned down at them. "Well, hello," he said. He was a pale man, who was short and despite his young age was already balding. His belly hung over a pair of cargo shorts, and on his shirt was a picture of Batman and Robin. "Liam…hey, how're you doing? Come on in."

He ushered the two in, Liam all-smiles and Olive with a dainty, polite smile. She wasn't here to make a friend. The apartment matched the rest of the building, with water stains spread on every wall. The carpet was probably a product of the mid-seventies, along with the television and the furniture. It smelled stale, which was oddly enough a welcome smell ever since the cabbage man run-in.

"It's great to see you, Paulie. I've been doing just fine. How about you?"

"Ooh, pretty good. Finally got my own bachelor's pad—"

"How much do you charge for a Shadow?" Olive asked, right off the bat. She took out her wallet. "We don't have much, but we're willing to owe you."

"Well that depends," Paulie continued, in a slow southern drawl that reminded Olive how tired she was. "What are you hidin' from that you have to come to one of the weaker Shadows in this part of the US?" he asked, sizing her up curiously.

Liam decided to take this. "We've had a run-in with Division. We won't be here very long, we just need a day or two before we can decide what to do next," he said, and he smiled coolly down to Paulie. "We came here because we knew you would help us out. I mean, you know what it's like to be a sticky situation, don't you?"

"Well, I've been in a few situations, but still. I have a very high rate. If yall don't have much…"

"I know of a few situations you've been in. A love letter rings a bell," he said, and he frowned. "Does it ring a bell with you?"

Paulie frowned up at Liam. "I suppose it does, yes. My first day deposit will be $100…and I charge $10 an hour after that," he said, nodding very seriously.

"That's outrageous!"

"No," Liam said shakily. "We'll accept it," he said, and quickly shook hands with Paulie, as if that made it more official. "We'll…have to sleep here, won't we?" he asked, and he sighed, looking around. "That's fine, I suppose. Thank you, Paulie. We appreciate it more than you know," he said, smoothly, trying to soothe the temper radiating from poor Olive.

"There's a few blankets in the closet, but only one bedroom. Someone's going to have to be the gentleman and take the floor," Paulie said, which was perhaps a slight towards Liam.

"We'll make do. Won't we, Olly?" Liam looked over to Olive, and he smiled to her, nodding. "We will."

----

Liam and Olive both ended up sleeping on the floor, because they decided they both belonged there. She laid her head on his chest and sighed a little. "Hey," she began, and she looked up to him. "What did you mean by 'love letter'?"

Liam smirked. "When I was a little younger, he called me and asked me to break into his own home to change a love letter that he was writing to his mistress. He left it on his dresser. Stupid man…well, I managed to Shift it, but someone had called the police. They arrested me, and he didn't even come to bail me out. He did drop charges, though, so…" he sighed, and after Olive's giggle, they went back to silence. For a bit.

"We're going to have to fight them. We can't run around from Shadow to Shadow with no money…we're going to have to bite them back, somehow, and we have to make it count," Olive said over Paulie's snores.

He nodded. "You're right. But how do we fight them? How do two people fight against this…huge, monster?" he asked, as if she might know the answer.

"I dunno. I guess you just…do. Get it from the inside out, somehow," she said, softly. She looked up to him. "Y'think we could get our mom and dad back? If they're…y'know."

"Of course they are," he said automatically. "And yeah, I think we could try. Should try. I told my mum I'd come and get her at some point, when the time felt right," Liam mumbled. He went back to the place when he saw her last. He had no idea she would be taken away when she went to the grocery store, but she never came back. Liam hated that he wandered the streets, unsure of what could've happened to his mother. He grimaced when he remembered what Hook had told him.

"I told Nick the same thing," Olive said, and she chuckled. "We'll give it a shot, then."