Ello, ello, Lightheart77 here; I hope you all liked the last chapters. Alright, we're going back to the gang and it is right before the job begins and it may be a bit short of a chapter, but it means we're ever so much closer to seeing how the job progresses. I'm not that good at putting descriptions into words, so if you could help me out on that… that would be so appreciated. I just hope you like it.

PS. Thanks so much for reading. I now have over 2000 hits! Wahoo!

Ahem, but enough of my babbling, let's get on with the story, and be sure to review.

Chapter 9: Before the Heist and the Disguises

Sun beams came down through the window and streamed across a thief's face. Her eyes began to twitch open and her fur ruffled under her sheets. Soon she sat up with a yawn and stretched, allowing herself to wake up.

At the window a shadow was cast upon her, "Morning, sleeping beauty."

"Gah!" she shouted, as Alexa fell off her bed in surprise. She looked up from the edge and saw the male raccoon that gave her such a headache. She stood up quickly and pointed to him hissing, "YOU!"

"No, last I checked, my name was Chase. By the way, nice bed head," he added.

Alexa gasped and flattened her hair in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, there's nothing to do where I am and so I'm bored. Besides, don't you have things that need to be done before tonight?" Chase asked, smiling.

"Yes, but you don't need to come!" she nearly shouted.

"Aw," he said in a mournful, yet sarcastic tone, "That's no fun."

"Alexa!" called Jamie's voice from down stairs. It nearly made both thieves jump out their skins. "We have lunch ready!"

"Lunch?" mumbled Alexa confusingly. She looked to the clock to see it was 11:30 A.M. "Crud!" she yelped jumping into her closet to change.

"Well…" muttered Chase, "That was odd."

Two minutes later, Alexa came out of her closet dressed into her thieving clothes of black jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a pair of soft sole shoes. "You have to go, now," she stated as she put her hair back into her usual ponytail.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you're not welcome here," she stated.

"Now, that's mean," Chase replied with a sad note.

"Too, bad; leave… Now," Alexa said sternly, glaring toward the source of all of her problems.

"Fine, then. I can tell when I'm not wanted," he said with a smile before falling off the side out the window.

Alexa gasped and ran over to the window sill to see… Chase relaxing on a tree branch, "Wow, so you do care," he smirked.

Alexa blushed but was able to say, "I just wanted to make sure we weren't gonna have a body in front of our safe house. It really isn't that good for hiding."

"Now that's cruel," said Chase, acting hurt.

"Maybe you'll get the hint then and leave me alone!" she nearly shouted, shutting the window behind her. "Who does he think he is!" she muttered angrily as she walked out the room and down the stairs. She began to slow down and stopped in the middle of the steps, "Why am I not as mad as I should be?" she sighed and actually smiled, "Also, why do I feel like laughing?" She shook her head trying to clear her thoughts as she went down the rest of the stairs.

She found Ken and Jamie around the table, chatting with each other, "Hey guys," she said.

"You look cheerful this morning," stated Jamie with a smile, remembering their discussion of last night.

Alexa went a little red but acted natural, replying, "There's no reason why. I just got a good night's rest."

"Well, duh," Ken added. "You slept to almost noon. Who wouldn't a good sleep after that?"

Alexa chuckled in relief, "Yeah, well… I was just so dead tired after that trip." Good, Jamie didn't tell him. Rather not get the "guy's" opinion on the matter, Alexa thought taking her seat. "So what are we eating?"

Ken pushed a plate full of sandwiches over to her, saying, "You'll never guess."

"Great," Alexa sighed, taking a bite of one. "After all of this is over, we're going into town."

"To celebrate?" questioned Jamie.

"No," Alexa swallowed her bite, looking down to her sandwich, "To get some real food to eat."

The three busted out laughing. A scene they were glad to see during this time of stress. Alexa sighed, "So, what is there to do before the job again?"

"Not much," said Jamie, bringing out the blue prints. "It's pretty simple. The plans are like your father's. So, the get in is easy. We wait at the entrance as people go through the list, which Alexa will put our names on. Of course they will be disguise names. No need to give them a way to trace us. Then, Alexa, you will make your way inside as partners with Chase and dance a while to keep up the charade of being guests. As you and Chase get use to the surroundings, Ken and I will take care of the guard's quarters with a couple bombs, sleep darts and punches. This will cause distraction for the ballroom guards. Ken and I will come in and then you wait for the signal. Next, Alexa will talk to the big boss himself to allow you two to steal the dance floor. With this, Ken and I will steal the ruby from the case. Once the dance is over, it will be a while before they notice it's missing. That should give us enough time to make a run for it without a scratch."

"Sounds good," Alexa nodded in agreement. "But, I noticed they have surveillance cameras. The other guards could use that to their advantage to find us again."

Jamie chuckled, "Glad you noticed. With these on our person," she showed a pair of earrings, "not a person will see us on camera. You see, there is a transmitter in one of the earrings, the other is a communicator. The transmissions that they give off disrupt any recording device."

"Great, but what about the guys?" asked Alexa. "I don't think the earrings would work."

"I already asked that," Ken came in, "The guys get boutonnieres for your tuxes and hidden earpieces."

"Even better," laughed Alexa, thinking of a wedding since the boutonnieres were most use for grooms. "Okay, so I'll get our 'names' on the list. It shouldn't be too hard. Like I said before, they think just because they're thieves, they don't need great security," she sighed and put her hands behind her head, "It almost seems too easy."

"Now don't say that," Ken told her in annoyance, "You're gonna jinx us."

"I doubt it," said Jamie, "I've taken in every variable, including the added member, into consideration. I have many extra plans, just in case something does go wrong."

"That's good." Alexa stood up taking a pen and paper, looking at the time of around 1:00 P.M. "Okay, I'll go now and get that list fixed. What names do you want, or will remember?"

"Hmm…" Jamie thought for a second, "That's tough. How about…Jenny Sauda?

"Oh, I'll be James Washer," Ken said, as if it were a brilliant thought.

"Gee, you guys," Alexa chuckled, "those are really interesting names."

"Oh, yeah; what's your name gonna be?" questioned Jamie.

"Umm… Lindsay… Racoo," she thought out loud.

"Yeah," Ken said sarcastically, "What a great name to have," he laughed with Jamie.

"Alright, alright, so it's not the greatest but it's original." Alexa wrote down the names and began walking to the door, "Alright, I'll be back soon, later."

"What about Chase?" Jamie called.

"I'll think of something for him, don't worry," she replied walking out the passageway.

It was a few hours later when Alexa finally came back to the safe house. Her back pack was filled with nick-knacks she was able to get a hold of by pick pocketing the guards. She was also quite satisfied that she was able to apply the Copper line's moves during that time. She walked into the passage way and saw Jamie at the computer, reading files again, "Yo, I'm back, and bearing stuff to sell on Thief Net."

"Shh!" Jamie hissed and pointed down at the side of the desk.

Alexa gave a quizzed look, and glanced down to see Ken sleeping where Jamie pointed. "Aw, he looks so cute!" she whispered.

"Yeah, he does," Jamie agreed in a sighing voice.

That's when an evil though just popped into Alexa's head that made her grin, "Kiss him then."

"What!" the vixen's voice nearly cracked.

"Go ahead. He's a sound sleeper. Just a small peck on the cheek wouldn't hurt."

"You're insane," Jamie noted.

"Oh, yeah; and you're not."

"What are you talking about?"

"Please. 'You've got to get to know him better,'" Alexa mimicked. "I just met him and he nearly killed me!"

"He did apologize," Jamie replied in a small voice.

"That's not enough!" Alexa shouted.

Ken mumbled, which shocked both vixens into covering each other mouths. But he simply turned over to his side and went back into deep sleep.

Alexa took Jamie's hand off of her mouth and said, "See. He's so out of it, he didn't even hear that!" she whispered.

Jamie removed Alexa's hand from her mouth and blushed, "Still…"

Alexa sighed, "Okay. I'll make a deal with you. If you kiss Ken, then I'll talk with… Chase. Maybe even, to be fair, I'll kiss Chase too."

"Hmm… Really?" she questioned, giving it some thought.

She won't do it. She's wanted to kiss him for the longest time, but she would never do it like this. Alexa thought, knowing her friend.

"Okay," Jamie said, "It's a deal."

"That's what I—huh?" Alexa said in surprise.

"I'll do it. You need to get over your fear of guys and I guess, it's time for me to get over the fear of me and Ken," Jamie explained.

"Whoa, so you're going to kiss Ken, so that I can practically go on a date with C-c-c-"

"Chase," Jamie finished.

"Yeah, him," Alexa agreed.

"Yes, I want you to actually give him a chance. I mean, who knows. Maybe he's the guy you've always wanted," Jamie was really trying her best to make the deal sound good.

"I doubt it," Alexa sighed, "But I guess I'll give it a chance. Maybe I misjudged him, or something. But in that case, you and Ken are going to have a chat along with this."

"I—well… what if—"

"Nah, ah; no 'what if's. I still want you to talk to him. I'll only make this deal with these conditions," Alexa explained.

"Hmm… Deal," she agreed, taking her friend's hand to shake it.

Alexa released first, "Okay, now kiss him."

"Ah, my friend," Jamie said with a smile. "You forget the number one rule about making deals: Be specific when regarding when."

Alexa had the look of shock came across her face, but she soon smiled with her friend putting a hand on her shoulder. "I taught you very well," she said in a dramatic tone and she laughed with Jamie.

Soon Ken yawned during their fit of laughter and opened his eyes to see his two friends looking to him. "Hey guys," he yawned again. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothin' much," giggled Alexa.

"Just trying to past by the time," chuckled Jamie.

"Yeah, good idea," Ken nodded. "I don't know how you're dad and god parents did all the time. So what was so funny?"

"Ah, nothin', don't worry yourself about it," Alexa chuckled. "But we still have an hour and a half…. Thirty minutes if you don't count the hour or so we'll need to get ready."

"So… What are we going to do?" asked Ken.

"Simple," replied Jamie. "We might as well get started with getting ready now. Alexa and I have a bit more work to do on our disguises, so it will take a little more time."

"Oh," said Ken. "That's fine too. I could use a shower before we go out there." He stood up and went up the stairs looking back to the two girls adding with a smile, "I'm sure you'll both look great." Then he continued to the top and into the washroom.

Alexa smiled, "You know Jamie. I think that was more toward you than me."

Jamie went red and her fur stood up on her neck from embarrassment, "Alright, listen you." She pointed at Alexa with a stern look on her face, "We have some work to do. If we're going to go all out on this then we need to get started right now. Hair, make-up, and making it fit the dress of yours…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" strained Alexa. "What do you mean all out? You know how much I despise doing hair and make-up and the whole dress thing. In fact, I want to wear an under shirt and a pair of shorts underneath that thing so that I can get out of it as soon as we hop into that van."

"Oh, no! It won't kill you wear a dress and have the extra stuff for what, an hour," Jamie protested. "Besides, the dress you have is beautiful and don't you want to impress your date tonight and branch out to him?" she asked with a smile.

Alexa's face turned red and she looked down at her feet, replying, "I… I guess… that would honor our deal, now wouldn't it?"

"Yay!" giggled Jamie, grabbing Alexa's hand and dragging her up the stairs. "This is going to be so much fun. When we're done, we're gonna have a lot of eyes staring at us, so be prepared, Alexa."

"Oh, yeah, like I haven't had enough with high school. But I still want to wear those shorts and that under shirt, please and thank you," Alexa pleaded.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, that won't be problem," she smiled. "But that means you're gonna look so awesome that Chase isn't gonna believe it."

"Oh, great," Alexa sighed.

Ken was pacing back and forth. He sighed, looking up the stairs, shouting, "Alexa, Jamie! Come on you two! We need to get goin'!"

"One sec!" shouted Jamie, "We'll be down in a minute."

Ken sighed, "Oi…" and turned to the clock. He was in his tux all ready to go. He had on the white undercoat, with black pants and dancing shoes. His jacket was a dark navy blue and he had his white boutonniere in the jacket pocket. He adjusted his collar and transmitter, when he heard some steps at the top of the stairs.

"Okay, Ken," said Jamie.

He turned around saying, "Well, fin…" but he didn't finish his sentence. He saw Jamie in her mid-night blue dress flowing down past her knees and had one strap on her right shoulder. Her straight black hair was up in curls on top of her head, with a white beret holding it up that went with the sliver-white scarf on her neck. "Wow," he was able to choke out.

"What?" questioned Jamie, getting a little red.

"N-nothing," Ken stammered. "It's just… you look beautiful."

"You think so," Jamie blushed red, coming down the stairs to meet him. "Thanks…" she replied putting a hair behind an ear. "Oh, then wait until you see Alexa," she said, snapping out of redness. "Alexa!" she shouted, nearly giving Ken a heart attack. "Come down here now!"

"Can't I just jump out the window and meet you in the van," Alexa called in a weak voice. "I rather not have to try and come down the stairs in these heels."

"You made her wear heels? Our Alexa?" asked Ken in amazement.

"After much convincing, yes," explained Jamie. "Don't you dare!" she shouted, "You're my master piece. Come down here, and show Ken how good you look."

"Fine…" Alexa groaned. The sound of footsteps coming from Alexa's room, and then there she stood at the top of the stairs.

The look of true shock came across Ken's face, to see his best friend as she was, "W-ow."

Alexa looked down at herself and asked, "Is it really that different for me?" she was wearing a black dress that had a high neck collar with no sleeves and went down to her knees. Then a gossamer blue fabric flowed down past the black. Her hair went down her back in curls, for once not in the ponytail but was put back by silver head band. And, she wore the gold heart necklace that Chase gave her, which even surprised her.

"Let's just say, I've never seen you like this and that means, neither has your dance partner," Ken stated with a smile.

Alexa turned a little pink, and went down the stairs, mumbling, "We'll see. He probably doesn't even think I'm pretty. He only wants to mess with my head, and get my family's book."

"With how you look, I don't think that will be possible. And I'm sure the other guys will flock to you much worse than those guys back at school," Ken explained.

"Joy," muttered Alexa irately, "Just go get the van ready."

He chuckled, "Kay, kay, I'm going. Just calm down." Ken walked out, leaving the two girls in the room.

Alexa sighed, rubbing her temples, "Do you think this is gonna work?"

"Totally, you'll be the life of the party," Jamie said to comfort her friend's worry.

"Well, that's what we're hoping." Though it is nerve racking, Alexa thought to herself. What do I do if Chase really does like me, and I like him? Why must cupid be so stupid and hit his arrows in different direction like this? She walked out with Jamie, nearly killing herself down the stairs, mumbling, "I hate heels!"

Well, there you have it. The job is about under way. And they are about to meet Chase at the doors of the palace. Oh how much fun that's gonna be. And again, review and give me something on this. I really want to know what you guys think.

I'd like to make special thanks to those who have actually reviewed the story: Aquafire1028, Auronius, Caitsith29, Captain Wolf, Claire Cooper, Cosmo Phantom, Dianna Cooper, DetectiveTective, Evilhumour Author, hfaraj, londoncalling797, Mata-Nui3000, RikkuMcClowFox, ShadowFox0324, Silentdeath Bringer, The Original Flamer, TheRedBandit, Twilight Being92, wolfwriter101. Thanks again for reading everybody, and I hope to see more reviews!