They had downgraded to a less expensive hotel about three miles from the beach. Kate hated every second of the "move" and tried to convince James to stay in the same hotel. Each time she bothered him about it though, he had to remind her that the only money that they had at the current moment was the money from pawning their wedding rings. And even that wasn't enough to last them awhile. When he told her that she groaned and turned moody.

James left her alone when she was moody and applied for jobs. Nobody contacted him though and after a couple of weeks he started getting desperate.

"I just don't know how much longer I am gonna be able to do this, Freckles," he admitted one night at dinner. They were in the hotel, eating pizza in front of the television.

"What do you mean?" she asked, setting her pizza on the paper plate and glancing over at him.

"I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to support us. I don't have a job and nobody is calling me back. I can't pretend that we are okay anymore. We might have to live in the car for a bit."

He hated saying it but he was terrified that it was true. They couldn't pay for the hotel and food anymore. They had to choose one. And James was not going to make his wife starve.

Kate stared at him, practically dumbfounded. "The car? James, we can stop eating as much," she reasoned. "I can't go without a bed."

"Freckles, we just might have to."

Kate frowned. She was silent for a moment, watching James. Then she said, "What if I came up with a plan to get the money that we need to live?"

James chuckled. "Mrs. Ford, I love you. But I don't think that you can think of a good enough plan that will allow us to have all the money that I want, and the money that you need, to live," he replied honestly.

"It's easy. We rob banks."

It was now James' turn to be silent. He stared at his wife in disbelief. He knew that she could be a bad influence. Hell, she had told him that one of the first nights they worked together. But he never dreamed that she would be suggesting that they steal from others in order to become rich.

He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity before she got him out of his trance. "James! James! Did you even hear me?" Kate asked, grabbing his arm and shaking it gently.

James shook his head and then looked at Kate. "Yeah. Yeah, I heard you, Kate," he said.

"James, what the fuck is wrong with you?" she asked, reaching to feel his cheek and forehead to see if he was hot. "You never call me Kate. What's the matter?" she asked, grabbing his hand.

James sighed and closed his eyes, not daring to see her reaction when he spoke. "I don't want to hurt people, Freckles. I don't want to rob banks and have people get hurt," he admitted.

Then he heard Kate sigh and he slowly opened his eyes. She was watching him with a sad look on her face. "Nobody will get hurt, James," she assured him.

"But you killed a man before."

Kate let go of his hand and glared at her husband. "That was during a show and that was a fucking accident. I fucking told you that, James. I thought you would know me better than that; we have been married for six months anyways and we've known each other nine months. I get that's not long at all, but you obviously trust me if you fucking married me. I thought you knew me better," she snapped, closing her eyes, tearing silently rolling down her cheeks now.

Now James felt like a total ass. He sighed and moved over to pull Kate into an embrace. He brushed the tears away with his thumb and kissed her nose gently. "I'm sorry, Freckles. I didn't mean it like that. I trust you. I love you. I don't want to hurt you. I just don't want to hurt anyone else either if we do rob banks," he explained, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head.

"We won't hurt anyone though," she said, glancing up at him. "You said it yourself a thousand times during our show; we are the best shooters in the Midwest. We can get the money without having to actually shoot anybody. And if they don't cooperate we can pretend to shoot at them but then end up being terrible shots. Doesn't that make sense? We can do this. We can make enough money to go back to Tennessee and settle down. We could start a family. Live a happy life. C'mon, James. We need the money. What do we have to lose?" Kate asked, resting her head back on his chest.

Stroking her hair, James thought about it for a few minutes. Kate didn't pester him; she knew better than to pester him after he snapped at her a thousand times when they worked together. Finally, after three minutes, James sighed. "Fine. We can rob banks. But you have to promise me that nobody gets hurt. Okay?"

Kate looked up at him and smiled even more. "I promise nobody will get hurt," she confirmed nodding her head and then kissing his cheek.

James smiled and then pulled her closer. "C'mere, you," he said, leaning down and kissing her lips passionately.

Kate kissed him back with just as much passion and held onto his tightly as James stood up and carried her to the bed.

Things were definitely about to get more interesting.