The whole twenty four hour flight to Sydney, Danny, Ash and Stacie barely spoke to each other at all.

It seemed impossible that the great Mickey Bricks had actually landed himself in jail. Mickey, the one that everybody looked up to, the one that made grifting seem so impossibly effortless it was almost laughable. For three years, his whole crew had hopes pinned on him, they had complete faith in him. It was almost embarrassing to think that their leader was now behind bars in a foreign country, failing after supposedly performing one of the biggest cons in history.

As soon as Danny had hung up, he'd gone to find Ash and Stacie to tell them. The three of them had run back to their apartment to pack bags, and then driven straight to Heathrow Airport, unable to contact Albert yet again. All thoughts of the art gallery con were postponed. It sort of went without saying that Mickey came first. Danny couldn't help but wonder if it would have been the same way if it was him that ended up in prison.

Ash was the only one that didn't sleep at all on the plane. It was five thirty, English time, and Danny and Stacie had been asleep for a few hours now, missing the air hostess when she came round with three trays of food. Ash hadn't wanted to eat. He wasn't really a breakfast type of person, especially when he was on a plane to Australia to get one of his friends out of prison.

Not that that had ever happened before.

"What d'you thinks happening to Albie?"

The voice next to Ash made him just slightly. He'd thought that Stacie was asleep, but general common sense told him otherwise. Her hair was sticking up slightly in odd places, her head resting on the tacky airplane pillow. She looked like she had been asleep.

"No idea," Ash replied. To be honest, he hadn't given that much attention to Albert's whereabouts. The first time it had happened, he'd thought it was weird for Albert to go missing for an entire night. This time, he'd been thinking more about Mickey than Albert.

"I'm worried about him. Just going missing like this… it isn't like him. And he won't answer our calls. What if something's happened?"

"I'm sure he'll be alright," Ash smiled. "Albert's a big boy, he look after himself."

"Yeah, well, we all thought that about Mickey," she muttered in response.

They both sat in silence, lost in thought.

"When he's out of jail… do you think he'll stay with us?" Stacie asked.

Ash didn't reply straight away. Sometimes, he felt as if he was the only one who realised how Stacie felt about Mickey, especially since Mickey had left. Ash had known for a long time, though it sort of seemed as if he was the only one, and that was including Mickey. He wanted desperately to be able to tell her that yes, Mickey would stay with them but he knew he couldn't.

But then again, would he? It sort of went without saying that Mickey wouldn't be selling the Sydney Opera House anymore, and he'd always been going to come back to England after that.

Ash thought about the idea of Mickey coming home, having Mickey as their leader again. It wasn't that Danny wasn't a good leader, Danny was brilliant. But when Mickey was their leader it had always felt safe, everybody always knew that when they came out of it, everything would be alright. With Danny, it was riskier. With Danny, Ash never felt so sure.

"I don't know, Stace," he replied, honestly.

"I used to think he'd come back as soon as he was done in Australia. But now… well, he's been over there three months. But what if he's joined Albert's friends' crew permanently?"

"No," Ash said simply. "Mickey wouldn't do that."

Stacie paused for a while. "Yeah, you're right."

They both sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

She looked worried; her eyes were clouded with trouble. Stacie opened her mouth to speak then bit her lip.

"Doesn't matter."

Ash was about to push her but decided against it. It could wait.

"I'm going to sleep now, ok?"

"Alright," he smiled. "Night, Stace."

"Night."

It could wait. It could wait, for now.

***

Thanks for reading! =]

Only a short update, I know, but I pinky promise the next one will be longer. Please review.

Miss Muffin