A/N: Well... it's Sunday. And I updated. Like I promised. School starts tomorrow. Unfortunately.

Disclaimer: Mimi's still out there, somewhere...

How she always got into these types of situations, she'd never know. One minute, Chloe was running down the sidewalk as fast as she could, trying not to cry, and the next, she's surrounded by assassins. She could've taken them all out, but one of the guys started talking. And she wanted to hear what he had to say.

With two others standing around, prepared for attack, the obvious 'leader', so to speak, circled around her. Chloe turned only enough to keep him in her line of sight. She refused to have him at her back. She couldn't see his face; it was obscured by shadows. When he stopped in front of her, however, the light from the streetlamp a few feet away revealed a very familiar face.

"Brian." Chloe spit, none too happy to run into him again.

Her only answer was a sadistic grin. He glanced behind her, as if checking that she was alone. Brian trained his eyes, eyes that now looked like two dark caves, back on her. "It actually worked."

Chloe didn't like where this was heading. "What did?"

He tilted his head in mock sympathy. "Do you actually think she liked him? Or are you that insecure in your 'relationship', though I would hardly call it that. I mean, if he really cared, wouldn't he have come after you?" He paused, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he went on. "Oh well. Better for us" – he gestured to the other two – "I suppose. I must say, when Mimi first joined in, I was a bit skeptical, but, now that this little plan of hers worked, I realize my dad was right. Calling in those favors was a brilliant idea."

Chloe narrowed her eyes, trying to keep focused on the situation and not on her thoughts of doing something to Mimi and Brian involving a high pressure hose, cat litter, a modified cheese grater and a small brown Chihuahua named 'Larry'. "Favors?"

"Yeah. She owes the Order her life. And my dad decided to call in her debt. And she's doing a very good job on her assignment, which she accepted happily. She doesn't like you, Chloe. And, before you ask, no, it's not because of that blonde kid."

"True, true." Mimi chimed, dropping down from the roof of a nearby building.

Oh, wonderful. "How did you get here so fast?" Great question, Chloe, her inner voice chided her, You have a million questions to ask, and you go with that one? Greeaat decision.

Mimi shot her a smirk. "I know a shortcut. One that Alek apparently doesn't know. That is, if he's coming." Mimi stood next to Brian, peeking at him from the corner of her eye before she opened her mouth and started speaking again. "You know, this whole thing was part of the plan."

"What plan?"

"To kill you, of course. Honestly, did you really think I was friends with him? Please. I was just pretending. Acting, if you will. I mean, what better way to get close to the leader of the San Fran pride then through an almost direct source? It was almost too easy.

"Originally, the plan was just to take out Valentina, and let that daughter of hers take over. With her running the pride, it would be easy to overtake. But then you came along. We weren't expecting the Uniter to come in this lifetime. We can't let you 'unite' humans and Mai. It's not meant to happen. So, our plans changed. Take you out first, no matter how many times we had to do it, and then go back to going after Valentina. We could have succeeded in that, if you kept 'dating' Brian. He eventually would've led you to his father and we would've gotten rid of you then.

"But, of course, you had to pick Alek, even though he wasn't exactly a choice. He would've been one at one point in time, but by then we hoped you would've been in too deep with Brian here that you wouldn't have noticed until one of you did something stupid. Then you would've chosen Brian and we would have led you to your death. But you didn't choose Brian. So we had to improvise. Meaning, that was where I came in. It's obvious you're not very… secure in anything you've done. You always have some seed of doubt. Playing that to our advantage, I kissed him, knowing you'd freak, which you shouldn't have done, since he never kissed me back, and run out. And run you did. Right into our little trap. You have… how many lives left? Eight? Hmm. Seems we all get to kill you twice. But I get the last, most painful, of them."

With that, Mimi made a gesture and the two behind Chloe moved forward. Chloe dodged the first hit, causing the man to hit his partner, knocking him down, but only for a few minutes. Chloe focused on the guy in front of her, bleeding knuckles and all, and decided that a few minutes was all she needed. The man swung again, missing her by less than an inch. As he tried to gain his momentum again, she swung back, throwing her own fist forward, connecting with the man's nose. A satisfying crunch of a breaking bone came upon impact.

He pulled out a knife, slashing at her arm, only cutting her jacket.

She stared at it, mouth open in shock. "I liked that jacket!"

She quickly kicked him in the stomach and punched him in the eye, effectively knocking him out. When she turned to face Mimi and Brian, they were gone. Chloe ran out of the alley, not wanting to be around when the other one woke up.

Pausing, she looked around, making sure no one saw the exchange. Walking now, she felt as though the energy was just not there. The adrenaline had died down, only leaving lethargy in its wake. Hearing running footsteps, she whirled around to punch whoever was there, having a gut feeling they were a threat. The person, who definitely was not a threat, easily caught her balled up fist in his hand.

"Alek!" She cried, flinging herself at him and giving him a bone-crushing hug. He was obviously surprised by the action, but hugged her back, anyway.

He was the first to pull back, moving his arms to let his hands rest on her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes. She never spoke, knowing he wanted to say something.

He sighed. "Chloe… I'm searching for the perfect words. But, I'm not really good with words. And this isn't a movie – they won't come to me at the right moment. Look… what happened with Mimi was nothing-"

"I know."

"- And I never kissed her back-"

"I know."

"I don't like her like that. She's a friend, but now I don't know if she's even that. Or was that in the first place-"

"I know."

"I came after you because you needed to know that… that I think I love you."

"I kn- Wait, what?"

He moved his hands from her shoulders to cup her face, his eyes never straying from hers. "I think I love you."

She smashed her lips onto his, noting with a strange sense of glee that they just tasted on him, no trace of Mimi's lip gloss on them. They stayed like that, lips moving in sync, until their lungs screamed for oxygen. They parted, breathing heavily.

She gave him a smile through half-lidded eyes. "I think I love you, too"

He smiled back. "I know."

A/N: Since it will be quite some time before I update again, I figured I'd be nice and end this chapter with some fluff, so... you're welcome ;)

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