Light from the window shone across Roberta's face. She scrunched her eyes a couple of times before she started to open them. For a moment she didn't know where she was, and old instincts started to ramp up, until she saw his face. Ethan lay there, simply looking up at the ceiling. His wasn't a face of contentment, but rather, like he feared what he might hear next.

"How did you sleep," the words were a little distant, and she couldn't figure out why.

Then it occurred to her that she was naked, and laying on his chest.

The night before replayed in her mind. She almost didn't believe it, but it was hard to deny. She also didn't want to leave, in case it meant that she never had that night again.

"I slept well. I, don't know what came over me," she replied to the question.

He never looked down, "So I guess, you are about to get up and walk out the door."

She probably should. She hadn't seen the Young Master in two days now, or was it three? He was probably worried to death about her, not to mention Fabiola. They were still young enough that they looked to her for guidance and some security in their decisions.

"Not right now. I think, I would like to lay here a while longer," the two children would have to get along without her someday, so was it really bad to be selfish for just a while longer.

This finally made him look from the ceiling down to her, "You're, not?"

"No, I rather like the mattress that I have found here," she said as she made herself more comfortable.

"That's, not the typical way things have worked for me in the last few years. Usually in the morning, the woman realizes the terrible mistake she just made, or she wants to get on to the next John she had lined up. Why the hell are you different," it wasn't a question asked in malice, and she could tell.

"I'm not a prostitute, nor am I unhappy with the decision. I rather enjoyed it. It has, been a long time since I found myself sharing a bed with a man. I think I could have done worse," she closed her eyes again as she just enjoyed the contact.

They just laid there for a while. There was really a thousand reasons they should have gotten out of the bed, and left the room. Neither was really willing to though. There wasn't any real reason that they weren't willing to, they just weren't.

"I don't get you," he finally said after a while.

"I don't understand what you mean."

He worked his way around so that he could look at her in the face, "I just tried to kill you with my bare hands just a few hours ago. I left you half naked and barely conscious in the middle of a group of soldiers. Yet, you just spent the night bouncing on my dick like it was the only thing you ever wanted to do in your life. We just spent a few days trying to stay alive, all so you could go back to Diego's kid and just go back to being a maid. It doesn't make a bit of fucking sense, that you aren't just banging my brains out, and just walking away once you had your fun. I've been a mercenary for a long time, and things don't change very often in this life."

She didn't say anything. He had a point, she really didn't have a reason to just stay there. It was fun, and a little exhausting with the workout her long unused womanly parts got from him, but why was he different from the random guerrillas and strangers from her past?

Then she remembered, "I had a thing for you, since the day of that ambush. I barely ever thought about you, but the memory of a gangly guy with long brown hair that covered his face, and an old shotgun that took off when he knew that there wasn't any winning has always been in the back of my mind. I started thinking of that boy again when I found that picture of Manuel and the others that he taught. I'm glad that he got to grow up for me to find."

"So your past as a terrorist has given you a really bad taste in men. I guess that shouldn't surprise me. Guess it won't matter in a few days or weeks. You go home to Venezuela, and I will still be here. Just the way things work," he still sounded distant.

She took in the smell from the sweat that had dried on his body from their activities the night before. He smelled like old oil, burnt powder, and sea salt. It was, a very unique smell, no doubt imparted by the unique life that he had lived to that point. It suited him in her mind.

"It sounds, like mercenaries always lead a lonely life," she said, not sure what else to say.

"I guess we do. Aside from Adira, I never had a relationship that didn't last longer than I paid for. Spent a few nights with a spook once, then she ran off with my gun, and left me stranded in a Turkish hostel. I try not to think about if I can help it. It would be just my luck that what got me was a bad mood in a firefight," Ethan turned his attention back to the ceiling.

She started tracing a scar on his ribs as she thought about what he had just said. It was a lonely life. In a way, just as lonely as hers had been. Of course they both had people around them, but just having people around you didn't mean you weren't lonely. Not having someone that was there for you, and you alone was its own form of being lonely.

She hadn't ever felt like that in the past years that she had been a maid for the Lovelace family. She had become somewhat jaded from the life she had lived, and never really thought about having a lover. Had she even had sex in the entire time that she had worked for them? She had always been so dedicated to Garcia, that she wasn't even sure if she had ever taken care of that herself in that regard in years.

"You could always leave, come with us when we leave," she said.

"Could you bring yourself to stay here when they leave," he asked in return.

She shifted slightly as she realized what he meant. This was his place now, and he wasn't willing to leave it for his own reasons, and his own beliefs. She as well wasn't willing to stay here when the Young Master and Fabiola returned home. At the same time though, she really didn't want to leave him.

"It's a shame that, we couldn't have lived different lives from what we have," she looked up at his face.

He looked down again, "Isn't that a bit of a tired line? You don't even know who I am. I'm not the same kid that I was over a decade ago. I don't know how many lives I've taken. I became a monster, from heartache and hatred. I'm not the kind of man that deserves any form of happiness, and I don't think I could ever given anyone happiness now. The sex might have been some of the best I have ever had, but, I don't know how I would give anyone anymore than that."

"You don't have a good opinion of yourself, do you?"

He worked his jaw for a second, "I've learned to face the truth. Even if I did go back with you, how long until you realized that I am not what you want? So you had a crush on someone you saw for maybe two or three minutes in the early eighties, so what? We never spoke a word to each other that day, and if I had gotten a good chance, I would have killed you with glee because I thought that you had killed the only person in my life, that had made me feel like I was more than a waste of food and oxygen. Robe..."

"Rosarita. If you want me to call you Caleb, I want you to call me Rosarita," she put her finger over his mouth.

"I would have thought that you wanted the Bloodhound to be forgotten."

"Who cares about the Bloodhound, isn't right to call a mujer by her proper name?"

"Can they be two separate people?"

Roberta took a deep breath, "Right now, I am just a woman. I am not a killer. I am not a maid. You are simply a man, who needs to understand who he is in the moment."

For the first time since she had woken up, Ethan finally smiled, "Maybe so. It does make me look stupid to be arguing with a smoking hot, naked woman that is curled up on me. If I had never realized who you were, I might not be as conflicted about this as I am. Thinking back on it now, I should have recognized how you operated was so close to how I did. The same habits that Manuel instilled in me."

She chuckled, "He wasn't an easy teacher. He didn't suffer us not trying. I don't know how many times I was popped over the head with the heel of his hand."

"Oh, boy, do I remember that. It was a really good incentive to do things right. He always seemed to know just where to hit you to really make you take notice. I don't think it ever left any permanent damage, but I don't really know how I would be able to tell," the memories of the same treatment made a spot on the back of his head pulse lightly.

"I don't know that he could ever go two minutes without making a lewd joke when he was in a good mood," Roberta remembered the old man's sense of humor.

"In the time I knew him, he claimed he was born in half a dozen different whorehouses. That his mother was the cheapest street walker in Tijuana. That he was raised by the highest class bordello in Juarez. He always had some story about him having a whore raise him. I guess it shouldn't have ever been a surprise. I found it hilarious when I was a kid. You know, I still have some of his stuff besides his sidearm. I may need to see about getting it shipped here so that I can go through it, I just, wasn't able to before," Ethan took a deep breath, thinking about the items that had been stored by one of the cartels that he still had a good relationship with.

"You know, I may show up here from time to time. If after all this is taken care of, and the negotiations can be completed, the Young Master will have to make an appearance on occasion," she hoped that things would work out so that would be true.

Ethan didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms around her. It was strange, but she felt, safe. She couldn't remember the last time that she actually felt safe. There wasn't a time in her life after she had run away to join with F.A.R.C. in her delusions of what she would be fighting for.

"I, don't want to leave, but we probably should," she said sadly, still enjoying her position.

Ethan nodded, "I, really don't want to either."

Roberta pulled herself up to straddle his hips, "Then, why not one more time, in case we never see each other again?"

A smile cracked Ethan's face, "That, is the best idea I have heard in a while."

Revy was leaned against the wall of the hallway outside Ethan's room. She really wished that she understood Spanish, but the noises that came after the words led no question as to what was happening. She couldn't help but smile a little, despite not really wanting to think of the man that was essentially her brother banging the scariest bitch she had ever met.

She pushed herself up off the wall and started walking up to the office. She, despite the exact woman, was happy for him. She wasn't the greatest at the whole emotion thing, much like Ethan, but she really thought that he deserved something to give him just a little bit of happiness. Though it did scare her with how eager Roberta had been to have another ride. That woman was terrifying no matter what she did.

Even if she couldn't understand what the words were, she could tell the basic intent. The problem was, intent meant very little. She didn't know what his plans were. She didn't know if he was going to leave, or she might stay. It wouldn't bother her that much if Roberta stayed, but, she didn't know how she would deal with it if Ethan left.

Two years ago, she wouldn't have cared. It would have meant that she got a larger share on their jobs. It was almost alien how much she had changed in such a short time period. Honestly, her having any emotions other than murderous glee, and murderous anger, was a massive change. Not to mention having any consideration for anyone.

There wasn't anyone in the office once she got there. Balalaika had needed Rock for some reason, though what he could really do during a fucking invasion when he couldn't even reach his office at Hotel Moscow's place was a question. Where Dutch had gotten off to was a mystery, which wasn't anything new. Benny had flipped out given the whole Ethan trying to kill Roberta thing, and the last he had said he was finding Jane, and laying low until everything blew over. Heidi, just showed up, you really didn't go looking for her.

She was, alone.

That was weird. She hadn't realized, but she was never really alone all that often. Bed didn't count, or getting a shower. Before Ethan, Rock had always been there, and then it was often the three of them once they had gotten to know him. After Rock shot the man, and the Lagoon's engines were done, it was always her and Ethan. She didn't like it.

Isolation was such a sweet thing as a kid, as it meant that nobody could hurt her. She was safe when she was alone. The quiet made her less nervous, less aloof and paranoid. Now though, it just made her feel like something was missing in everything. Like, she was less when it was just her.

She laid done on one the couches, and tossed her cutlasses on the table. Looking at the guns, something just didn't seem right. Granted one of them was fairly new, given the loss against that jumbo samurai. Praiyachat was a true master, and had recreated his handiwork expertly, even if it took fucking forever. They meant a lot to her, except, they just didn't now.

Was she, starting to hate what she was?

Maybe it was something that was inevitable with time. She was a woman after all, and most wanted something more than wild sex and partying all night. But she was Revy Two Hand, not just some woman. There were entire criminal enterprises that quaked at her name, whether the legends that had come to surround her were true or not. She didn't get that, it wasn't for women like her.

She felt a tear run down her cheek. She turned to face the back of the couch, so that no one could see. Which didn't matter since there wasn't anyone there. Revy didn't cry, but, did she even want to be Revy anymore? Was this the life she wanted now? What was the other option though?

She barely noticed the footsteps, but once they entered the room she looked up. Roberta was standing there with a slightly shocked look on her face, and wearing a shirt that was big enough it would have covered more if it wasn't for her expansive chest.

"Senorita Revy, I uh...," she started, not sure what to say.

Revy just turned back to the back of the couch, "Look, I'm not his mother, so I can't tell him who he can, or he can't fuck. I had to pass his room coming up here, and I heard you two talking. I don't know what the fuck you were saying, this is going to suck to say... Thank You."

"Que," Roberta tilted her head.

"For making him happy. I imagine that he was actually smiling. I've never gotten to see it. He grins, he smirks, but he never truly smiles. I'm, glad you gave him a reason too," was the reply.

"Lo único que quería era algo de beber. (All I wanted was something drink.) I'm, not very good with things like this. I, uh... De nada. I..." she wasn't sure what to say.

"Am showing your pussy off with that shirt. Ethan is built big, but so are your tits. There isn't anyone else her right now, so don't worry about it. I have one, so it isn't any big secret what they look like to me," Revy didn't want to turn her head to look at Roberta, not because of what the other woman was showing, but because she could still feel stray tears on her face, and didn't want her to see them.

"Oh, gracias, I should have, put on mis bragas before I came up here. I, meant what I said the last time we met together.I am, sorry for nearly takin your life the last time I was here.," she tried to stretch the hem of the shirt a little further down out of embarassment.

Revy didn't look up, "I meant what I said. I don't care. You didn't kill me, so it doesn't matter. Living here, is living on borrowed time anyways. At some point, the time to settle up is going to come, and I'm going to get railed up the ass like anyone else here will. That's how it is. No seconds chances, even if you wanted one."

A small memory popped up in Revy's mind. The first night that her and Heidi had engaged in their shared ritual of naked rooftop stargazing. Heidi had asked her what flower she wanted on her grave, and she had said daffodils. Apparently those were the flower of second chance, so, maybe that was the one thing that she really wanted.

"Then why stay here," Roberta sat down on the other couch across from her.

Revy finally sat up, "Where would I go? This world doesn't want people like us, we scare normal people. We represent the greatest fear of the world's governments. Congratulations on you for managing to find an out, the rest of us didn't get that chance."

"Have you ever looked for one," the question caught Revy off guard.

She tried to say something, but there wasn't anything that she could say. She hadn't looked. Until that moment, it had never occurred to her that she had to look for one. Things like that didn't just come to you, you had to fight for them.

"I haven't. I have to ask you something, important."

Roberta nodded, "Uh, si. Go ahead."

Rev took a deep breath, "Did he decide to go with you?"

"I, would have liked him to. Why, do you care so much? Are you, in love with him,"a worried look came over the woman's face.

"No," Revy said, "I love him, but as family. Even if it isn't by birth, he is my brother. He is the one person that will match the way I act, and then make fun of me savagely when I do something stupid, and I do the same to him. He is protective of me, and really doesn't need it from me, even though I still watch his back. I like being around him, but I don't want to get as much of him as you just did."

"I see, that, makes me feel a little better. This is only the second time we have ever just talked, isn't it," the woman said, somewhat wanting to change the subject.

"I guess it fucking is. I have another question that is really bothering me knowing Ethan. How the fuck are you walking," Revy wanted to know for sure.

Roberta smiled weakly, "Very carefully."