Ok, this took a while to go up, and I apologize. I was on holiday and I got back later then expected. So enjoy this, and review like all good little readers do.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kevin stretched out his legs gingerly, and leaned up against the back board of his hospital bed. The room was quiet enough for him to fall back asleep, but he never did. Just as he was drifting off, Oliver popped into the room with a large toothy grin spread across his face. Kevin sighed and narrowed his eyes.

"What." He grumbled, not really wanting an answer. Oliver just smiled and sat down besides the bed. Kevin glared over at him for a moment, catching Oliver's eyes and making the Frenchmen squirm slightly.

"Um..." While Oliver took his time composing what he was going to say, Kevin noticed Enrique waiting outside the door with a strange look on his face, like he was excited and at the same time worried. Oliver coughed into the back of his hand and stood up slightly, only to sit back down and sigh.

"Alright then, I confess. What I had to tell you wasn't of grave importance." Kevin rolled his eyes. Out in the hallway, through the glass that made up one of the four walls in the room, Tyson and Max had also gathered eagerly. "Oh for God sakes, Oliver, spit it out." He said irritably. Oliver smiled and nodded happily.

"The woman who shot you is dead." Oliver braced himself, as if he was waiting for Kevin to jump for joy.

"La-dee-skippen-da." The French millionaire sank back into his chair slightly, with confusion and disappointment on his face. "But... Do you not want to..."

"No. How did they find out she was dead?" Kevin was tired, and didn't want to put up with anyone at the moment. Unfortunately, Tyson, Max and Enrique all poured into the room at that moment.

"They said they found her body in a field somewhere outside of town." Tyson stated mysteriously, wriggling his fingers before Kevin's face. The neko-jin smacked his hands away.

"So what, she was pushed from the helicopter?" Kevin asked. Max, who out of the four seemed to be the least conceded, shoved Tyson aside and nodded. "How did you know she was in a helicopter?"

"Kai's been in here too." The Bladebreakers all raised their eyebrows, but Kevin insisted it was true.

"Whatever." Tyson stated bluntly. "So anyways, Kai shot her and they figure that she was working for someone because if she was in charge, the FBI agent said someone would have kept her body instead of dumping it."

Max turned to face the world champion. "Not true, she could have also been in an alliance with someone. Or her stooges could have wanted the money themselves. It was eighty million after all." As the two bladers bickered and argued, Oliver managed to slip something into Kevin's hand before leaving room. The neko-jin looked down at it and smiled.

Two tickets to a future Panic at the disco concert. So Lee hadn't meant it as a code? Or maybe it was a stupid waste of time and Lee figured he'd make it up by actually getting him the tickets. Kevin sighed.

"Shame you can't use those until you can at least walk." Mariah's interruption made Tyson and Max pause for a moment before being shooed out of the room and continuing on with their disagreement.

"Shame..." Kevin mumbled in reply. From the corner of the room, Enrique stepped towards the female in the room and cleared his throat before giving Mariah his best playboy smile.

"Forget it." She said absently, waving for the Italian to leave. Enrique sighed, his shoulders slumping with defeat, but he left.

"Kevin..." Mariah started once he was gone. "I know your tired, but they need to collect our finger prints for the investigation and-"

Kevin cut her off by raising up his left hand and showing Mariah the smudged ink on his finger pads.

"Oh." The older teen sighed and smiled, before plucking one of the tickets out of her best friend's hand. "But I'm still going with you to this. I mean, it's free, right?" She asked, giving Kevin a joking look.

"Five bucks says Kai bought them." Mariah paused a moment before taking Kevin's outstretched hand in her own, shaking it once and sealing the bet. "Fine, monkey. But Lee has money of his own you know."

"Not as much as me." The two turned to find Kai leaning against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Mariah sighed and knowingly slapped a five dollar bill into Kevin's hand, who smiled down at it. Mariah stood and turned to face the Russian, who kept his position in the doorway, to prevent anyone else from coming in. "So are they charging you with murder or what?" Mariah asked curiously, putting her hands on her hips. Kai just laughed.

"Like I said, I'm too rich. And anyways, my lawyers are top class. I've already played the card about how she shot Rei and Kevin, and how that gave federal enforcement the right to shoot her. I was merely defending myself." Kai said all of this with a bored tone, not really wanting to have to explain it again.

"But you chased after her." Kevin said from behind Mariah, bringing himself into the conversation. Kai gave a half smile and narrowed his eyes slightly. "But they don't know that."

Mariah shook her head. "Whatever. It could have been manslaughter anyways, so I'm sure your lawyers will work that to their advantage if it comes to that."

"Why would anyone try pinning a murder on Kai? That lady was insane." Kevin mused, glancing towards his heart rate monitor out of boredom.

"Exactly." Kai said, his smile fading. "There are plenty of people that want to shoot me down. Saying that she was mentally unstable could buy her a pardon in court, and it would get me in trouble." Mariah coughed into the back of her hand awkwardly as Kai's phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it with slight distaste.

"Tala?... Yes... That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... He's right here... Yeah, whatever just get your ass out here." Kai flipped the phone closed and turned back to Kevin. "Guess who's coming to visit you?"

"Guess who'd rather go ice fishing in Alaska?" Kevin replied bitterly and sarcastically, glaring towards the Russian, who simply shrugged and left the room. Once he was gone, Kevin turned towards Mariah.

"Does he really have to do that?" He asked irritably. Kai seemed to want nothing more then to continue on with saving the day, but as far as Kevin was concerned there was no more saving necessary. Mariah smiled and ruffled Kevin's hair before turning to leave.

"It's a millionaire thing."

-x-x-x-

"Hospital bill and lawyer cost, plus extra cash for my own revenge."

"What? If I knew I could get money off of a hospital bill, I would have gotten shot."

"It's not really something to take pride in. I can't even eat stable foods yet."

"Well... Maybe I would just twist my ankle." Tyson pulled his chopsticks apart and hungrily looked down at the food before him. It only took a second for him to have half of the dish shoved into his mouth.

"Mmm, I don't know why people say hospital food is so gross!" Tyson said between bites. Rei sighed and shook his head. Always the typical Tyson.

"I don't know, you guys." Kenny started bashfully. "The BBA is in enough trouble, who make it worse by suing them? Their the reason we're all famous anyways."

"Not stopping me." The three turned around to find Lee and Kai standing next to each other, both looking exhausted. Rei smiled and sighed. "Not me. Kai?"

"I'm suing for as much as I can without getting the judge on my arse." The Russian stated bluntly, lowering himself into a seat besides Kenny slowly. There was a long pause in which the only thing heard was Tyson's teeth chomping and his lips smacking, until Kai smacked him upside the head and told him to chew with his mouth closed. The world champion complied bitterly and finished his meal in silence.

"I heard Tala's coming out." Rei mused, breaking the tension in the air. Kai narrowed his eyes.

"From who?"

"Mariah."

"Great." Kai leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes irritably. Kenny smiled knowingly.

"Why don't you want to see Tala? I thought you two were like brothers."

"You mean God made two of them?" Lee asked blandly, looking over at Kai with a slight hint of distaste. Kai ignored the comment and turned to face Kenny.

"We got in a spat about stocks. He wanted to invest in Nike, and I said Macintosh." Tyson sighed, setting his chopsticks down on the table. "It's always stocks. You and that stupid company..."

"That 'stupid company' made me a millionaire, and we had a little extra cash to invest. That's it." Kai stated matter-of-factly, obviously agitated by Tyson's stupidity. The world champion rolled his eyes. "If you had extra cash, you could have spent it on something, like some more face paint."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "You don't know the first thing about money, do you?" Tyson ignored the question and started in with ancient jokes about Kai's face paint. Rei and Lee tuned him out and kept up the conversation. "Why is Tala coming out?" Lee asked, leaning in on the table. Rei laid his hand across his stomach and leaned back lazily. Things sure moved slowly in the hospital.

"Because this isn't over, and I need his help."

-x-x-x-

"Watermelon."

"Will Ferrell."

"Garden hose."

"Trident gum."

Enrique and Oliver shot back and forth, the Frenchmen saying a random object and the Italian saying the first thing that popped into his head.

"Where do you get Trident out of a garden hose?"

"Well, I dated this girl once who-"

"Spare me another breakup tale, please." Oliver lifted his hands before his face and sighed. The two looked around the lobby of the hospital with bored expressions on their faces. It stayed this way for a while, until Enrique spotted a nurse that sparked his interest. The Italian stood and moved towards her slowly, as if trying not to scare her away. Oliver was left on the sofa with no one to talk to for the next fifteen minutes.

As he was about to leave, he felt the cousins beside him shift. Assuming it was his teammate, Oliver started talking without looking up from his blade.

"Did she slap you?" The comment was followed by a startled pause.

"... Did she?" It wasn't Enrique's voice, but it sounded somewhat like...

"Max! Oh, I apologize... I thought you were... Uh..." The American sighed and smiled weakly. "No big deal, it's ok."

So the two sat there, slowly and awkwardly working into a conversation that eventually became an enjoyable debate. Both found similarities between each other, including music, movies, and other topics of interest. By the time it was six in the evening, the American and the Frenchmen felt very friendly towards each other.

Finally, Max stood and stretched. "I suppose it's time to meet the others." Oliver stood up as well and straightened his shirt. "Yup..."

As the two started down the hallway, Max had the fleeting thought that he would like to sit next to Oliver at the meeting, but dismissed it. He didn't want to come on to clingy to someone he had just met.

Of course, Oliver had the same thought.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Ok, that chapter is kinda boring. But I needed some character development, and that means this chapter was necessary.

Tala; Great. You just had to drag me into this.

xChewy; Of course I did. But don't worry, I like you. So you won't look like an idiot unless the plot calls for it.

Tala; Oh. Goody.

Kevin; Seriously, ice fishing? That's the best you could come up with?

xChewy; Oooh, Tala's not the only one showing up in the next chapter! You're all about to hate me.

Tala + Kevin; :gulp: