SR2, right after Shivington starts burning. Great job there, boss.

It didn't take long to catch. One lab went after another, and by the time she saw the smoke almost all of Shivington was burning. She nearly dropped her gun when she caught the full impact of it, the older buildings and garbage fueling the flames, and only ran when the sirens began to move in.

This had been her home once. There was a cruel kind of irony in the fact that her return to it had to end like this.

Her phone shook in her hand as she punched in the numbers and she didn't wait for it to finish dialing to yell at it. "Shaundi! Shaundi, get on the damn phone!" It rang, but eventually went straight to voicemail, and V punched the steering wheel as she took a turn to avoid the cops rushing in.

The next number only took two rings to pick up. "Boss? What's going on?"

"Pierce, Shivington's going up, and I want to fix it. How?"

"Shivington's what?"

"It's burning to the fucking ground, because our fucking crew doesn't know when to pull their fucking punches when it comes to meth."

"With meth labs there's no easy way to, but I'll get extra guys out there to get the people out. Any cops there yet?"

Too many. "Yeah. Get them out here fast, hell, have them jack a fire truck to use!" Pierce had to have heard her change in tone, and she quickly corrected it. "I don't care at this rate as long as something's getting done, okay?"

"Got it."

The fires burned into the night, refusing to die down even when the firefighters took over the fight. The Saints had to move quick to avoid the sirens, but for every family that they could reach on the sidewalk, there was another that refused to leave. They weren't as receptive.

Their gang had offered protection. This wasn't it, and when V choked on the smoke along with them, she wished it hadn't led to this.

Shaundi hitched a ride back to headquarters in the middle of the night, giving her a call while doing so, and as soon as she walked through the door, V threw questions at her left and right. Pierce cut in when her voice wouldn't stop rising and the two pointed straight at the couch. This wasn't long after she'd inhaled more smoke than was healthy, so the plans -and words - coming out of her weren't exactly rational or helpful.

When the two finally refused to talk until she got at least an hour of sleep in, she knew she wasn't going to win, and tried to at least keep her eyes shut for a while. It didn't go well, even with the extra blanket that Shaundi tossed over her between naps.

When she came by the next day in the afternoon fueled by four shitty hours of sleep and caffeine, most of the old brick buildings were left standing but damaged. Everything had already begun to fall apart, so adding this was almost insult to injury. A few areas were still burning bright, and she watched from a distance as the emergency crews kept on working.

The people left behind were trying to gather up whatever they could. Blackened clothes and items were dusted off as they handed them off, and other places had people sleeping on the stairs leading up. Those were the places with no trace of purple, and she gave them a quick once-over before moving on.

She pushed her sunglasses onto her head and stared at the street signs as she slowly made her way down the sidewalks. Two more turns and she'd be on her old one. She hadn't been avoiding it on purpose before, but before yesterday it'd been far from her mind.

The first step was difficult, but the second easy. They carried her down the worn concrete, and it didn't take long for her to see her building sticking out like a sore thumb.

It'd caught some of the flames from the others, but hadn't caved in or crumbled. The fires had probably been put out early on, and as she slowly approached she wondered if she'd see anyone familiar. If Elle had made her way back there even after skipping town so long ago.

Troy had been the one to keep her informed then. No actual call from Elle or message that she was leaving, just an observation. It'd hurt, but after leaving her behind V had wondered for a long time if she'd deserved it in some way. Living together after college hadn't done either of them any favors, and putting extra distance between them after joining the Saints had been for her safety more than anything. It'd made sense at the time.

But what did she know? She'd practically lied to Elle about what she would be doing and where she was going, and that was before asking an undercover cop to keep an eye on her. The same cop that she had been all too glad to get into her bed. Had actively enjoyed having in said bed. After that it'd been safe to say that her judgment had been well and truly screwed.

And you're still talking to him now. Don't forget that, she thought, chiding herself. Still chatting him up and making eyes at him like an idiot. Fucking hell.

She wasn't being careful at all, and neither was he. Talking and sharing lighters was too normal. Joking was too normal. Too close to shit that she'd tried to bury and failed. Maybe that was why it'd been so easy to slip back into it. This thing.

"And you would think about it now," V mumbled. "Staring at your old burnt out place that he helped you move out of, while he's probably off cursing your name and drowning in bullshit and news reports. Great." It was almost the cherry on the sundae, and she tried not to laugh as she stared up at her floor.

Second floor up, third door down. Mind the creak in the floor, because that goes straight to Elle's ears.

No one was standing outside or by the door, so she walked right up to it and tried the handle. It took some effort, but it gave, and she blinked as she took in the hazy landing. Some letters were left behind in the mailboxes to the right of the stairs, and she checked out the names by each one.

Elle's wasn't there, but her curiosity had taken her this far. What was a few more steps?

The wood held firm beneath her feet, and she started her slow climb up. The wallpaper which had been a dull brown had been replaced with an equally dull burgundy – quite the feat – and the once empty halls were now covered with pictures and small paintings.

She touched the edge of one, and wiped the glass clean with her hand. Flowers stared back at her, and she raised an eyebrow before swiping the ashes off on her jeans. Another had dogs, and once she was up on her floor, she found another with fruit. It was all generic stuff you'd get from the local stores, but a hell of a lot more homey than it used to be.

The air wasn't as good up on her floor, but it saved her from the mess that had hit further up. She pulled open any windows she could reach and gulped down the fresh air that waited outside. After the first two she picked up a discarded newspaper and waved it in front of her face. It didn't help, and she took a peek at the headline on the front.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Jesus, the jail break?

Sure enough, the front page story was all about her and Carlos, and she chuckled as she zipped through the words going over their campaign to get the hell out. Rolling it up tight, she held onto it as she kept on looking around, and made a mental note to tease Carlos about it later.

The first door on her left was falling off of its hinges. Trash littered the inside of it and she moved on to the next. The tarnished numbers hadn't changed much since the day she left, and she ran her fingers over them before turning her attention towards the door. It wasn't damaged, but it was open.

"Hello?" She nudged the door open further, and didn't hear anyone call back. The same creak was there, however, and it made her hair stand on end when she put pressure on it. "Guess no one's home after all."

Shoving her hands into her pockets, she wandered inside.

The carpet had seen better days, and even back then the olive green shade had been more of an eyesore than anything else. She skirted the odd stains as she made her way into the main area, and whistled when she saw scattered fast food bags and the remains of a three-legged table. A ratty mattress laid off to the side along with a few blankets, and when she kicked the blanket aside she found scattered receipts and more newspapers.

Everything was bare-bones, and not even the old, broken couch that Elle had bummed off of her brother had made it.

After opening one of the two windows to air everything out, she went for the rooms. Elle's room was a squatter's paradise. As the largest of them all it had the most space, and V was amazed to see an old bed and sheets shoved into one of the corners. A magazine with Dane Vogel's face stared up at her, and she resisted the urge to grind her heel into it as she left.

The door to her room was jammed, and she was in the process of throwing her back into it when her phone rang. She held the cell between her head and her shoulder, and prayed the door would give. "Yo!"

"Busy?" Johnny asked. "Or working on some heavy lifting?"

"Not exactly? Shit!" The door shifted, and the phone fell as she tried to stay upright. It wasn't open, but the space was more than enough to accommodate her. "Okay, maybe more than I expected to," she replied after picking her phone back up. "It's been an interesting couple of days."

"You're still there?"

"Yeah. I wanted to see how bad it was during the day, and it's pretty fucking bad, man. Even worse up close."

"Makes sense. The place was fucking glowing, and they're saying it's still burning. Might be for a while." She sighed and she heard him shift the phone around on the other end. "Want me to come get you?"

There was no reason for him to, but maybe that was why she did. "Eh, why not? I've got an old friend of sorts to show off, so you might as well drop by."

She rattled off the address – floor and number included – and proceeded to fit herself into her old space.

That was where Johnny found her later, his voice the only sound carrying through the apartment. She'd removed the random crap that had piled up behind the door, so when he pushed it open he didn't even have a quarter of the difficulty she had with it. "V?"

She didn't even glance up from her spot on the blue and yellow couch. It was ugly enough to be seen from orbit and super comfortable to lie on. "Hey. Did you take your time driving here?"

"No, but I'm not the one taking a fucking nap." Gat walked over and kicked the old thing, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "Your friend's looking worn out."

She tried not to breathe any of it in, but sneezed into the sleeve of her leather jacket. "Bite me. It's not the damn couch. I used to live here."

"...Here?" He took a quick look around the cluttered room and raised an eyebrow. "This is it? No fucking way."

"Yes, way. Glamorous, isn't it?" She walked over to the jammed window and tried to open it again. It only served to strain her already sore muscles. "This was my little home away from home. ...Though second home might be more accurate, if we're counting the other apartment. That was some luxury living."

"I don't think we're remembering the same place." When she let go, Johnny nudged her aside to give it a shot. It took only a single try for him to get it to snap open. "After this, though, I can see how you'd think that."

"Between this and the street, I'd take it every time. After school this was what I had, and I practically kissed Elle when she offered to let me stay."

"School?"

"Yeah, uh, college."

She felt awkward, but shook it off. It was Johnny. Her college days had been stupid, but there was no reason to keep it to herself.

"I tooled around for a semester and failed out pretty spectacularly. My friend, Elle...helped. If they'd had a dual major in barhopping and clubbing I'd have passed with flying colors. Instead I got myself wasted and pushed my numbers as close to zero as possible. It was such a waste of time and money, and I knew that the minute that happened my family was going to boot my ass out, so I didn't even bother going back home."

"So you went here? Huh. Still one hell of a pick."

"Elle's boyfriend was able to rent it, so they let me dig out one of the extra rooms on their floor. God, the only reason we were ever able to get anywhere was because of me. I had to carve actual paths through the crap that kept on piling up. It was a fucking dump, but it was our dump."

Was. Her room didn't have a shred of her left in it, and hadn't for years. The surge of sentimental feelings related to it surprised her, and knew it had to show, but home was home. That stuck with you no matter how many years ticked by.

"It's still weird to be here though." She chewed on her lip and fidgeted in place, rocking back and forth on her heels. "To be able to stand in this place and just...see where everything used to be, you know?"

He gave her a single nod, and turned away. "Yeah."

"Another time, another place." Another me. "Time flies, eh?"

Johnny gave her a look, then gestured towards the door, "Let's get the fuck out of here. This place is depressing as shit, and you don't look like you want to hang around much longer either."

"Is it that obvious? Fine, but only if you drag me somewhere nice."

"You don't get to be picky when you're not buying."

Her mouth curved up. "I'm not?"

"Nah, not this time. You've helped my ass get wasted enough times. Maybe I'll help you out for once."

V almost giggled, and got rid of that urge fast. Smoke inhalation. That had to be the cause. "Damn, I think I'm feeling faint."

She held the back of her hand to her forehead, and Gat started pushing her towards the exit. "Someone's gotta keep you from tripping over shit and winding up in the damn hospital. Last time was the television, and I'm not cleaning up after your ass again. I ain't your fucking maid."

"Oh, fuck off. I wasn't that bad," she whined, slapping at him. "You could still turn it on and everything."

"No, you were worse."

"Ugh. Asshole."

He ruffled her hair, and she came to a dead stop at the top of the stairs. Halfway down he glanced up. "Yo, you coming?"

Her face was definitely red, and she missed her hat with a vengeance. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."