Hey! Alright - thanks so much for the reviews so far; i really appreciate them. It's good to hear what everyone thinks =)

And here's chapter three...a little montage of memories and then a little something-something that builds up to...something =P

Hope you like; let me know

Someone Cares
Help me come back down
From high above the clouds
I'm know I'm suffocating, but I blame this town
'Adore' by Paramore
_

"…think he's tellin' the truth?" Bodie asked, walking up behind Billy as his leader crossed the room.

"Yeah…dunno if he'd even know how t' tell a lie right now," Billy commented, flexing his hand carefully as he looked back over his shoulder at the bloodied man who was tied to a chair, panting with his beaten face dropped forward.

"…it's some good work," Bodie nodded, glancing back too.

"This shit's been buildin' for weeks an' I'm sick of it," Billy reasoned; he really had taken out all of his frustrations on this guy.

"So we doin' him then?"

"….no. We send him back to his boys t' let 'em know we don't deal on their terms," he decided, stalking back over to the man and yanking his head back by the hair. "These are my streets, you fuck. We make the rules here, ya got that?"

He nodded weakly.

"Ya can't just step into the ring with Ali cuz you think you can box…we run this shit, not you. Look at this mess ya made for yourself, just for being a dumb mother fucker," Bodie laughed at him.

"That's right. I'm the fuckin' king here…take that message back to your pussies. If me or any of my boys see any of ya on our corners again, you're dead. Ya don't know how lucky you are you're even walkin' outta here with your life. Jamie!"

Jamie came it from the hall, looking quite calm and casual about the whole ordeal.

"Sup Billy?"

"Get this fucker outta here; dump him 'cross town."

"…alive?" Jamie raised an eyebrow.

"For now…" Billy nodded, spitting in the man's face before letting go of his head to let it fall back forward again.

Jamie shrugged; he was surprised but indifferent. He grabbed the black cloth sack off the floor and shoved it down over the stranger's head roughly before untying his hands.

"Take Dogg with ya to give ya a hand"

"I hear ya," Jamie nodded, pushing their captive up from the chair to frogmarch him from the room.

"Ya think that's the end of that?"f

"I dunno…we'll see what happens; if shit don't look up we'll start takin' 'em out one-by-one - I don't care. I don't have the patience for this shit anymore, comin' up short. If we have to stay posted 24/7 to catch them when they're sellin' then we will…I dunno where these punks are comin' from…"

"We'll all keep lookin'…" Bodie assured him; he was ready to have this over, too. "This is almost over, man."

But it wasn't quite over yet. Halloween was a week in the past and at first business was back to usual, but now they were falling short on some corners again. They chalked this up to this new gang, or wanna-be-gang, deciding what to do…their decision was apparently to stay.

'We need their leader- cut off the head of the snake and hopefully it'll slither the fuck away. What'd that asshole say…Riley, who'd he say was heading up their shit? Ethan, right? Has no one got the word on this guy? None of you halfwits?'

Billy had shouted plenty more than that once he got all the guys together at the office after being short…again. Bones was getting impatient, making Billy even more impatient and upset. He did not like having guns thrust in his face, especially by someone as fucking off-it as Bones.

'If ya see anybody around who shouldn't be around - if you even think you see something' outta place - you fuckin' call me. I'm runnin' the underpass at the end of the night, but I need to go crash for a few hours or I'm rippin' the head off of the first person I see…"

Now he was headed over to Natalie's to crash, and Natalie was waiting for him, flipping through some pictures she'd printed off. Some were old from the summer, but some were newer.

She stopped on one from just a few night ago, one that made her heart melt just a little. Billy was laying on his back in her bed, and Logan was laying on his chest with his blue blankey draped over himself. Billy's large hand was on his back and head lolled drowsily to the side. Billy hadn't been too excited about the events that had lead to the picture, but chose sleep over whatever was probably more compatible to his reputation.

It had been storming out pretty bad, and Billy drove to Natalie's and let himself in the back door; he'd told her he was coming so she must've left it unlocked for him. The downstairs was dark so he dragged himself upstairs and found her laying in bed with the TV playing quietly.

She made to get up to greet him but he waved at her to stay where she was and shed his coat and then his shoes before climbing under the covers with her. He'd have taken the rest of his clothes off but he knew he couldn't say all night so he didn't care.

"You're late…."

"Don't give me shit tonight," he groaned.

"I'm not I'm just saying…is everything okay?"

He grunted and closed his eyes, rolling towards her.

"That's not an answer," she told him quietly.

His eyes peeked back open only to give her a dirty look.

"You've been askin' me that since Halloween; when everything's fuckin peachy, you'll know," he ground out through clenched teeth.

"Why do you get so mad when I just want to know that you're okay?" she shook her head, turned over back towards the TV, which meant her back was facing him.

The room was quiet for a few long minutes save for the TV show characters. Billy laid there and had made up his mind to just ignore her and take advantage of the bed to just crash. He was even beginning to drift off when a clap of thunder peeled the air and he felt her jump in the bed, then heard her exhale a shaky breath.

"Jesus," he muttered, rolling over to circle his arm tightly around her. "I don't get mad at you…I just don't come over here to talk about that shit, alright? I come here to get away from it for a while, and then when ya don't let me it's fucking frustrating."

Natalie sighed and rolled onto her back, twisting her head to kiss his cheek. They stared at each other for a while and he pretended he didn't see the fact that she'd been quietly crying before that rip of thunder.

"I'm sorry…"

"Ya fuckin' apologize for everything," he scoffed and shook his head at her.

"And you don't apologize for anything," she added quietly.

"I always make shit up to you, don't I?" he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yeah," she agreed, kissing him again softly.

"Nat-lee!" a whine came from down the hall.

"He's still here," Billy cursed, flopping onto his back.

"Julia is still picking up shifts for that same lady all week," Natalie bit her lip, smiling as she flipped the covers off of herself.

Julia had picked up some night shifts at work that week, so all week Logan had been at the house in the evenings and Julia usually wasn't there to pick him up until after he'd fallen asleep. Natalie had been going to Billy's a few times that week because her parents watched Logan, but they were gone like usual for the weekend so Natalie took the responsibility.

Billy decided that maybe it wasn't so bad; he should be getting to sleep not talking or fucking. He'd been taking the mid night rounds at the underpass while all of this shit bad been going down, so he had to make sure he'd be awake for that.

"Billy?" Logan chirped.

He opened his eyes again and rolled his head to the side to see Natalie walk in with Logan on her hip with some little blanket tucked under his arm. His eyes were wet from crying but he looked a little better now as he squirmed to get down.

"He's scared of thunder," Natalie whispered, watching Logan scramble to get up on the bed.

He crawled across the covers and right over to lay on Billy's chest. He nestled his head in comfortably and closed his eyes, oblivious to the surprise and uncertainty on Billy's face.

"Logan, no, come lay on my side if you're going to sleep in here," Natalie ushered him quickly.

"No, I want Billy. He's bigger and stronger! Noooo!" he squealed when Natalie tried to pick him off.

"If he's gonna whine, just leave him," Billy rolled his eyes, deciding it wasn't worth the fight this time if Logan was just going to make that high-pitched noise again.

Natalie's eyebrows nearly rose right off her forehead in shock. She couldn't quite believe Billy was really going to allow Logan to stay there, but he really wasn't making a move to push Logan off. He wasn't touching the kid, either, but it was nicer than Billy having nothing to do with it. Logan arranged himself comfortably, spreading out on Billy's broad chest and rested a hand on his neck, fingering his necklace sleepily. That's when Natalie quietly grabbed her digital camera and snapped a picture because she couldn't help herself.

"Tell me you didn't do what I think ya did," Billy grumbled. "Get back in bed."

She did so, slipping under the covers. She looped her legs in with Billy's, since she couldn't cuddle up to his chest quite so much as usual. She took Logan's blanket and spread it on top of him since he hadn't gotten under the covers, and he jerked violently with the next clap of thunder. He did so again, whimpering and pulling the blanket over his head.

"Quit movin' kid," Billy muttered, half asleep, resting his large hand on his little back to keep him in place.

"It's scary," Logan sniffed.

"It's just noise," Natalie whispered.

"It's big!"

"It won't hurt ya," Billy insisted when Logan fisted Billy's sleeve in his hand.

"Cuz you're here?"

"Mmhmm"

The next picture she flipped to was one of Billy sleeping from his own apartment, taken before the one with Logan.

She'd woken up early and couldn't sleep, so she'd propped herself up on her elbow to watch Billy sleep. She wasn't being creepy about it, it's just that he looked peaceful today. Some nights he frowned in his sleep, his hands sometimes fisted in his pillow or around a blanket, but then there were times when all tension was drained from his face and he looked like he didn't have a care in the world. He looked younger, his light skin slack rather than pulled to attention.

She'd smiled to herself after some time and slid stealthily off of the bed, tip-toeing to get her purse. She stepped up onto the bed and stood over him, clicking a picture carefully.

"Ugh…did you just take a picture?" he asked, cracking his eyes open to look up at her, eyes screwed up in confusion.

"…how did that even wake you up?" she pouted.

"Nah I felt you get outta bed…what're ya doin'?"

"I couldn't get back to sleep…"

"Well ya couldda woke me up," he grinned, grabbing her knees quickly so she fell down straddling his waist; she set her camera aside and it was the last thing she thought about for a while.

The only other picture of them in her stack was from Halloween, and Natalie hadn't even known it was taken until she went to print it. She suspected Paige had taken it; it was zoomed in on the pair of them when she'd been talking to Billy at the table and he'd trapped her against the table and their foreheads were touching.

She had no other pictures of him; he wasn't exactly the kind of guy to happily strike a pose for you. It was okay, though; it just made these pictures special. She knew they weren't anything he'd appreciate her passing around, especially showing the guys, but they were for her and that counted enough.

She heard him climbing up the veranda awning and got up to open the window for him.

"My dad only just went to bed," she told him, whispering to send the hint.

"That's fine; I just came to sleep. I can't stay too late," he told her once he was inside.

"I'm glad you came," she held his face to kiss him.

"Course I fuckin' came," he murmured against her lips, scooping her up to turn off the light and lay her gently in the bed before laying next to her.

She cuddled up into his chest, her arms around him to rub his back lightly. He wanted to relax at her touch but his muscles seemed to protest. He groaned slightly and pulled her closer, willing sleep to come soon. After some time Natalie knew he wasn't asleep and she coaxed him onto his stomach so she could straddle his back and slowly but surely massage his shoulders. Her hands kneaded the thick muscles and methodically worked their way down his spine. His muscles were bunched but she slowly got them to loosen up, pleased when he groaned as some of the physical tension was forced from his body.

When she felt his body slacking she leaned forward to kiss the back of his neck lightly.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but I want you to know I worry about you," she whispered, nuzzling his neck when she felt like he was about to say something. "Shh, I know you think I shouldn't…I just wanted you to know someone worries what happens to you, that someone cares."

He didn't actually have a response for that, just laid there and soaked in her declaration. The room was silent and still for a couple minutes before he turned slightly and hooked an arm back behind him to get her around the middle.

"C'mere"

He pulled her down next to him and fit her in against the curve of his body. She relaxed into him and he was able to do the same, body slacking around her for the few hours that he had until he had to go.

The next day, Natalie was constantly nagging on the back of his mind. It had been that way the past few days, as he continued to be impressed with how she'd accept him for the time he could be around. He found that the more she didn't nag for him to be around all the time, the more he wanted to be around her. He looked forward to the time when he knew she'd be out of school and he could try to be with her or have her come over.

She was something else, and there had been a few times over the last several days that he'd had to consciously push her out of his mind. He couldn't spare time to be distracted.

Today, however, it was going to pay off...

"Jamie, what the fuck?" Bodie spat, staring at the fact that Jamie's girl Abigail was clinging to her dad's hand.

"I know, bro; her moms split for a bit…ya know how she is," Jamie rolled his eyes, at a loss for what to do.

"Can't ya take her to your pops?"

"He's outta town, dawg…I was gonna call ya Billy, man, about workin' tonight…"

Jamie hadn't planned on Billy and Bodie showing up, but now they needed him and no one was around to watch his kid. He didn't trust any of his neighbors enough to watch her; hell, he didn't even trust himself sometimes.

"Get her over to my place," Billy decided, staring down at the today's newest and smallest pest. "I'll get Nat to come over and watch her; she loves kids. C'mon, start movin'…"

Jamie hesitated a moment but ultimately decided that Natalie was probably actually one of the few people he knew that would be competent with kids; plus, he'd heard Billy mention she had some kind of nephew.

Luckily Natalie was still on campus studying so she was even closer than she would've been at her house. She readily agreed to come over; she'd never met Abigail but she'd known that Jamie had a daughter and was one of the only guys in the gang that had a kid.

She knocked on the door lightly and Billy yanked open the door to reveal her with her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Thanks for hurryin'," he muttered, kissing the side of her head briefly as he quickly ushered her in.

"Oh it's okay…is there a problem?"

Billy gave her a warning look.

"I don't mean like that," she backtracked quickly. "I'm just asking because you needed a last minute babysitter, so I wondered if something happened to her"

"Nah, her mom's just a flake…even flakier than me," Jamie joked, standing up and coaxing Abigail off the couch. "And I need to help 'em last minute…"

"Aw, Jamie, she's the cutest…..hi," Natalie smiled bending down closer to her level.

Abigail was just a little thing with short brown, curly hair and bright green eyes. Her hand was above her head because she was short and she was holding Jamie's hand, and when Natalie addressed her, she turned to hide her face in his legs shyly.

"Don't do this," Jamie groaned, bending to lift her easily. "Abby, this is Natalie."

"Hi," she cooed, hiding her face in her dad's neck now.

"Sorry, it's nothin' personal"

"I know," Natalie laughed.

"Jamie, we ain't got all day," Billy managed to get out through his clenched teeth; he didn't want to get mad in front of Natalie if he could avoid it…or in front of Abby, mostly because that would annoy Natalie.

"Okay Abby, what do ya say we hang out just us girls? We can play some games? Maybe watch some cartoons? Daddy will be home soon," Natalie spoke to her as softly and cheerfully as she could.

Abby seemed to perk up slightly when she recognized some of those words as fun things she liked.

"Sounds like fun, doesn't it?" Natalie smiled. "So how about it? Wanna come play with me?"

She reached her hands out to take her but she got a little fussy.

"Abby, I gotta go," Jamie sighed.

Abigail started to whine once Natalie got her hands under her arms.

"It's okay, Jamie," Natalie assured him once she got the girl into her own arms.

She was crying and Natalie knew Jamie had to feel conflicted to go even though his obligations lied with the gang and his loyalty to the two men in the room.

"She'll stop; we're going to have fun, don't worry"

He nodded and waved to Abby.

"Be back soon, pretty girl"

"You're a life saver," Billy thanked her again when the other two trooped out, bending to kiss her quickly.

Abigail swatted his chest to get him away as she cried; she didn't want to be with him either. Billy glared down at her, not that she noticed, and flicked her tiny hand away.

"Be careful," Natalie murmured against his lips.

He just stole another kiss and turned on his heel to go. The guys all hurried down the stairs, feet thudding dully.

"Alright, Abby, what're we gonna do now, huh?"

She cried some more but Natalie just kept holding her and talking to her. She found some cartoons to leave playing on the TV and did her best to find things for them to do that would amuse her. It was hard to do in Billy's apartment which was not exactly an environment that was 2-year-old friendly. Jamie had brought her stuffed elephant along with them, though, so Abigail kept that clutched by the tail the whole time.

Abigail did get settled down, though, and they played a few little games and when evening started to roll around the only thing that was really okay for her to eat was cereal; the milk was good, though, so that made it better and more agreeable for the poor girl. Natalie felt bad that they didn't have anything to do; she should've asked Jamie if she could bring Abigail to her house where there was stuff to do. Fortunately, after eating, Abigail was already starting to get tired and was able to sit still and just curl up on the couch against Natalie under a blanket Natalie had gone in and stole from Billy's room.

When Billy and Jamie finally came back, Natalie was going through some of the reading she'd been trying to do in the library when Billy called. Abigail was fast asleep and the TV was on quietly, but was now off of the cartoons.

"She was cool?" Jamie asked, carefully working the blanket off of her to lift the sleeping girl into his arms, arranging her dead weight accordingly.

"Yeah, she only cried for a little while. We watched cartoons and played a little bit…there just wasn't a lot for her to do here"

"Alright, thanks a lot, girl"

"No problem; she's a cutie and we had fun," Natalie promised.

Jamie nodded and thanked her again, leaving after bidding Billy farewell.

"A 'cutie' huh," Billy sighed, stubbing his cigarette out.

"Don't be jealous; she's not as cute as you," Natalie winked.

Billy snorted and got into the refrigerator to grab some orange juice and drink it straight out of the carton. He watched her sink back into the couch to flip back through her text book that she had out. He stalked over to join her, slinging his arm over the back of the couch and tilting his head to slowly begin kissing her neck. He worked his way up to her ear and sucked on the skin just behind it.

"Stop pretendin' to still be reading," he hissed in her ear.

"Billy…I'm trying to finish. I didn't get it done because I was doing you a favor…" she sighed, though she tilted her head to expose her neck to him as he continued to kiss her.

"And don't you want me to repay ya for the favor?" he breathed, his breath hot on her neck.

"…maybe I want you to owe me so I can call in the favor when I need something…" she teased.

"Jamie can owe ya; it wouldda been his fuckin' ass if he couldn't come," Billy growled. "You can finish that later," he decided for her, blindly pushing her book from her hands.

She laughed and let him pull her into his lap and after a moment he stood to walk her to the bedroom. He stopped short and pushed her against the wall outside his room, pressing their bodies tightly together. He grinded against her so she'd feel him through her jeans and she moaned breathily, squeezing her legs around him in response. He pulled her away from the wall with a groan and made it to his bed, dropping her down onto the bed.

Natalie smiled, watching his muscles pull as he stripped his shirt off where he stood and threw it away. She bit her lip and playfully continued to scoot back on the bed until she fell back against the pillows while he got on the bed to crawl up her body slowly. He slipped his arms under her and lowered himself to nuzzle her stomach.

"Ya really are some kindda angel, ya know that?" he sighed. "I don't even know why ya care," he added.

His voice was muffled somewhat against her stomach but she heard him and she was taken aback, face twitching in confusion. She was about to speak but he quickly pushed himself up onto his knees and pulled her to sit up so he cold rid her of her top. He cupped her face then and kissed her deeply to stop whatever she was going to say. He didn't really want to talk about it; it just came out - he meant it, but he didn't need her prying into it.

They stayed up late, despite both being tired. Billy was in no rush to get to work that night so he kept her up but distracted from the homework she claimed to have to finish. They were playful, teasing each other, but he took her slowly and coaxed her to keep her eyes open more so they could watch each other.

It was a late night, but well worth it to Natalie even though she was tired the next day and didn't have all the reading done she'd meant to accomplish for one of her classes. That fact hardly even bothered her and her good mood lasted throughout the day. She didn't hear from Billy much during the day so she just hung out with Paige for a while after classes and then went home to actually try to be studious.

It was working well until a while after 8:00.

"Natalie Elizabeth!"

Natalie jumped when she heard her dad yell and frowned - whenever her middle name was brought into the equation it meant she was in trouble. She got up just in time for her phone to beep.

The coast clear for me to come over or not til later?

It was Billy, but she just put her phone back in her pocket to go see what her dad was worked up about; she knew Billy wouldn't show up this early until she told him it was okay. She padded down the stairs softly but neither of her parents were in the living room.

She found them in the kitchen. Her mom looked confused and her dad was standing there, too; he was fuming so much so that his face was beat red. Something was sitting on the counter next to him but she wasn't sure what it was.

"Dad…?" she frowned, unsure why she as on the receiving end of his glare.

"You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," he forced out, lips tight.

Hmmmm...what could be on the counter.

Drama to come? likely.

Hope you enjoyed - let me know.