It had been maybe over a week, maybe more but Paloma had lost track of time, stewing over what had happened at the party, and wondering if what she did was even right. For months, even over a year she had been telling people she'd shoot Mordecai the moment she was even close with him, and yet the times she was around him with her gun in hand, she never did. Yet at that party, she shouldn't have even let him kiss her even if it was by accident. Just thinking about it made her heart flutter and it almost made her want to scream. Well she did a few times, and that resulted in startling Ilioise while she was babysitting her and poor Horatio as she was coming into the speakeasy.

Pull yourself together Paloma, the women of the Alvarez family do not let themselves fall apart over trivial things like this! She tells herself as she is vigorously mopping the floor of the speakeasy one evening. Grandma had to pull herself up by the bootstraps and keep her head held high when her family kicked her out with only the clothes on her back and a baby in her belly, mama had to stay strong for the sake of her children when papa passed. I shouldn't be letting this get to me! Stupid Mordecai, stupid Mordecai! How dare he!

She lets out another frustrated scream, startling some of the band who were up on the stage practicing. Ugh! Why did he have to do that! Why did he have to hold her while they kissed, making her feel all these confusing emotions and -

"Hey Pal-" Paloma whips around, swinging her mop and smacking whoever approached her from behind in the face and knocked them to the floor. "EUUGH MY FACE!"

"Roark!" She exclaims when she sees her friend on the other end of her mop, trying to get it out of his face. "What have I told you and your cousin about sneaking up behind me!"

"You always said to never do that when you have a gun or knife in hand, never anything about a smelly old mop!" Rocky retorts, finally batting the mop away and wrinkles his nose in disgust. "Eww, now I need to wash my mouth out with syrup."

"You're like the fourth person I've attacked who thought approaching me from behind was a great idea." Paloma grumbles as she sticks her mop back into the bucket.

"Oh? Who were the other three unlucky gents or ladies?"

"Viktor and that was when I was on edge after a big fight, made the mistake of touching me while I held a crowbar and probably would have taken out his good eye if he didn't stop me in time. My brother, he got thrown onto his back and I almost smashed his head in with a poop shovel if our mama wasn't there to stop it. And then that big guy from Marigold, I hit him hard enough with Tarzan to make his nose bleed."

"Big guy from Marigold...doesn't ring a bell."

"The guy driving the car from the other night?"

Rocky furrows his brows in thought before his face lights up and he snaps his fingers. "Oh that guy! And the same one from the ice cream parlor who had you dragging us out of there before we could finish our treat! Why did Leo call him your boyfriend anyways, you're not dating anyone. Unless-"

"Oh please don't remind me, I don't know why he says that." Paloma groans. "He likes him because he reminds him of...our dad."

Rocky's face drops. "Oh...yeah I forgot about that...I guess your dad looked similar to the guy?"

"Well he was pretty big, like maybe around the same height as Viktor, pretty beefy too and he used to be a professional boxer. Of course after a bad injury he got from a match forced him to retire when I was young, so he was more of a former professional." She explains, her hand going to the gem on her necklace to fiddle with it. "He had dark fur with just a single white marking and eyes like mine, a lot of us took after him in appearance. Well except for Imelda, she took after mama and came out with green eyes. He was a good man, and he was the one who did most of the child raising while mama was doing farm work because his old boxing injury wouldn't let him do any heavy work."

"He sounds like a pretty solid guy." Rocky comments.

"Yeah...he was." Paloma says with a nod. "Anyways, what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh! Weeeeell, it turns out old captain Khoe is more useful than we thought!" Rocky says giving her a toothy grin. "Decided to pass by his usual route to say hi and see how he was holding up without us or the pig farmers."

"The same guy who sold us what may as well have been sludge from the bottom of the Mississippi?" Paloma asks, raising a brow.

"Well yeah, but he gave me some very helpful information on another buyer we could get and I could use your expertise in looking into buying from them."

"How so?"

"Well...for one, the guy miiiight be from where you are from."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Mark Alonzo? Sounds...well, not American, like your name?"

Paloma looks at him funny. "Okay, but is there another reason you want me to come along?"

"Well aside from a potential language barrier we may have with this new buyer, some extra muscle?" Rocky admits with a sheepish smile. "Freckle isn't gonna be available for this, and I promised Miss M I'd find us a new buyer before the end of the month so we wouldn't always have to do deals with the Arbogasts after...what's happened recently.

I wouldn't be surprised if Asa at this point is plotting our downfall right now. Paloma thinks before nodding. "Fine, I'll go with you."

"Aces!" Rocky cheers.

"But let me do the talking, if I need you to do something batshit crazy, I'll tell you."

Rocky grins and playfully salutes her. "Yes ma'am! I'll go grab the car keys, this'll be a fun venture tonight!"

-----

Driving out to the middle of nowhere in search of this Alonzo guy wasn't what Paloma expected to be doing tonight, but it was better than stewing in her thoughts about that other night and scared everyone again with another scream. Rocky kept her occupied, chattering away (most of the time to himself), so she didn't have to fall back on those thoughts.

"So, where did the guy say this guy was anyways?" Paloma asks as the car suddenly pulls over to stop near a tree. "Wait what are you-"

"Right there! See the boat?" Rocky asks as he jumps out of the car and points down to the river below. Paloma climbs out to stand next to him and peer down the small hill to see a boat floating down there. "There shall be, and hopefully with no problems, our ticket to more customers! I heard liquor from Mexico is pretty good, have you tried it?"

"Roark, I don't drink."

"Oh, forgot that. Well neither do I, what an irony, right? Now let's head down and ask the captain for a sale."

Once her guns were retrieved from the car and were checked to make sure there were bullets in them, the unlikely duo climbed down to the riverbank as quietly as they could. Nearby were two men dressed in very shabby clothes talking to a man who was just looking at them in annoyance.

"Señores, I'm sorry, but I cannot do that. I've told you before that I must have more clients and not be exclusive to just one." The unamused man says. "I don't care what your boss says, I won't be doing business exclusively with him and drop the rest of my clients!"

"Why is it always low class rubes we gotta deal with for cheaper liquor?" Rocky mutters.

"Would you prefer a fancy high class gangster like my ex?" Paloma hisses as they get close. "Let me handle this, last time you dealt with country bumpkins we almost lost the speakeasy and half the staff."

"Okay fair, but those were pig farmers who had it out for me and I've had to deal with them far too many times before I set their establishment on fire. Did I ever mention that they had their own brewery and still insisted on getting stuff from Kehoe?"

"I believe you have, but you best shut your mouth for now. Gentlemen? What seems to be the problem here?"

The three men turned to look at them, one was a lot older than them with very patchy brown and white fur that looked like it needed a good scrubbing, the other was a more younger looking man with all white fur, he couldn't be much older than Calvin and Ivy or even Maria. The two thugs were glaring at them until the younger one's face fell and he tenses.

"Great, cops." The older man mutters as his hand goes to the gun attached to his belt, but stops now that Paloma's revolver is pointed at his snout.

"Sorry, but I'm much worse than a policeman. Now, step aside and allow us to talk to señior Alonzo, Kehoe recommended him to us and we'd like to make a business deal with him."

"The fuck does a woman have any business here?" The older man growls and eyes Rocky. "What, the rest of your gang too chicken and needed to resort to broads for your dirty work?"

"I'm not even allowed to talk right now on the account that my smart mouth has gotten me in too much trouble." Rocky says, holding his hands up in defense and points at Paloma. "But my dear pal here would be thrilled to divulge why she's even here in the first place! The stage is yours now Paloma!"

"W-wait, did you say Paloma, like...Alvarez?" The younger man asks nervously.

"Unless you know any other Hispanic women by the same name running around St Louis with an old revolver, then yes." Paloma responds, cocking her head a bit with a frown and looks at the older man. "Got a problem with that?"

"Obviously I do." The older man sneers before his companion grabs his arm.

"No! You don't wanna mess with her!" The younger man hisses. "Haven't you heard of Atlas May's Devil Dove?!"

"You mean the Slavic man?"

"No! He had three top gangsters, one of them a woman with eyes that blazed like hellfire and a terrifying scream that made you feel like the devil himself screamed! That's the Devil Dove!"

"Dios mio, when did people start associating me with the devil?" Paloma mutters as she lowers her gun slightly. "Listen, we don't want any trouble, we're just here to see if we could get some imported fluids from the buyer and we have the money for it."

"You got a lot of nerve coming here then, this here is Hobb's territory and the only one that Alonzo guy is gonna sell to is our gang." The older man sneers. "So go home and do something useful."

"Chip! Don't piss her off!" The younger man hisses. "You don't wanna mess with her!"

"What's a dame like her gonna do, shoot me?"

"Rude." Rocky mutters. "So...whatcha gonna do? If they won't let us get our spirits, we have a few options. But you're the more...experienced one here."

Paloma let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine. Chip was it? I have two options and you get to pick one that suits you best. First option, you cut it out with the macho act and step aside to let me and my friend talk to the supplier. Second option, I shoot you in the head and we do our business. Sound good?"

"Pick the first option, it ain't worth fighting with her!"

"Shut the fuck up Timothy! Should have brought Dan along instead of you!"

Paloma frowns and quickly shoots at the ground near their feet, the three men jumping back in alarm.

"Crazy bitch!" The older man screams. "You trying to kill me?!"

"No, just trying to get you to quit running that mouth of yours, have you ever considered brushing your teeth after chewing tobacco?" The triggerwoman retorts.

"I ought to beat that pretty face of yours into a pulp!"

Paloma smirks as she removes her guns, dumping them into Rocky's arms, removes her coat and rolled the sleeve of her right arm up before she removes her bandana to cover her knuckles. Once that was done, she starts to wind her arm back, walking towards the older man. "Fine, I need to get something out of my system anyways. Let me fix that ugly mug of yours."

---

"Well, we got a buyer, that's good, right?" Rocky says as the two are now cruising down the road, at least two crates of good Mexican whiskey in the trunk for samples. "And for a discount too!"

Turned out getting into a fist fight with the member of some gang they never heard of actually reaped benefits. For one, the Alonzo guy was more than happy to do business with them, and thanked them for getting rid of a bunch of booze hoggers.

"Guess there's no point in going to Defiance once in a while." Paloma says as she looks out the window. "Wonder how my brother is doing, it's been almost two months."

"I'm sure he's doing fine, but do you wanna visit him? It's not that late, we'd most likely find him still awake."

Tempting...oh fine, a visit wouldn't hurt, right? While she wouldn't admit it, Paloma missed her twin, despite him being almost as annoying as Rocky on some occasions. She hadn't seen him in almost four years, hardly spent much time with him when he came to St Louis and spent a good chunk of the summer at the Arbogast farm. They couldn't risk calling in case their phone calls were being monitored, nor could they send mail for the same reason. To her, it felt like a good portion of something was missing in her when he wasn't around, a feeling she had to get used to when she left home.

After some time, an old familiar farm came into view, two figures out on the porch. One of course was Gabriel, who was munching away at something with a book in hand, the other was that lad Michael, who was also reading.

"¡Hermanita! ¡Qué alegría a verte!" Paloma's brother greets as she exits the car and he gets up from his seat after bookmarking his book. "¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo están los peques?"

"English, Gabriel, Abelard told you to practice!" Michael calls from his seat, not even bothering to get up.

"Aw leave him very, he might forget how to talk that way if I'm not around." Paloma laughs as she ruffles her twin's black and white curls. "How's your English?"

"Better." Gabriel responds with a grin. "I fix barn roofs!"

"Good! Have you been staying out of trouble?"

"More like he's been finding it." Michael snorted as he snapped his book shut and walks to the steps of the porch. "What brings you here?"

"Just stopping by for a visit, hey the old barn seems to be looking better!" Rocky says and points at the barn several yards away. "Did the car sized hole get fixed?"

"¡Sí! And painted!" Gabriel says proudly. "I did it all on my own, no problems!"

"You almost fell off it when a strong rainstorm hit!" Michael exclaims. "You're lucky we had a bunch of bushes near it, otherwise you would have cracked your head worse than the grinning idiot!"

"Aw come on, my head wound isn't so bad!" Rocky says, lifting some of his hair covering the healing scar. "Looking better than ever! And I'm still right as rain!"

"Sure, sure you are."

Gabriel laughs before his smile falters. "Hey, something wrong Paloma? You don't look so well."

"Oh yeah, Pal has been looking stressed for the...past month." Rocky admits. "It's probably because of the run in we had with Marigold a few weeks ago."

Had she been looking stressed? She hadn't been feeling that way since that run in, but she certainly started feeling that since she kissed Mordecai and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Paloma screams, startling the three men.

"Oh yeah and she started doing that a few days ago." Rocky mutters as he rubs his ears. "Like a banshee, she nearly scares the souls out of everyone around her!"

"Hey, you okay?" Gabriel whispers to Paloma in spanish. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing happened, I'm just feeling a bit of pent up frustration." She whispers back.

"Hmm...oh!" Gabriel snaps his fingers and raises his voice. "Well I got something fun for you! I know a place where you could get rid of frustration!"

"Oh?"

"Aw no, don't tell her about that!" Michael groans. "You got your butt kicked last time we went and I'm still having a hard time convincing Abelard that black eye you got was from getting hit with a rake handle!"

"Ooh this sounds fun!" Rocky says with a grin. "Do tell us!"

"It's a sorta secret fight club." Gabriel whispers. "Sometimes you get money for fighting."

"Sounds interesting." Paloma comments. "So...how do we get in?"

"I drive you. Come on!"

The four of them piled into the car, Gabriel behind the wheel as he drove them off the property and down several winding roads until they came to an abandoned looking house with several people hanging around it. Many surrounded the car, glaring at the passengers inside.

"Fucking hell, the reverend's brother and that weirdo are back." One of the people outside the car growls, a tall looking man with black fur and dressed in a somewhat fancy suit.

"We don't want any problems Hobb, we're just here for a good time like everyone else." Michael says, edging away from his window.

"Hobb...hey Pal, ain't that the guy those bozos from earlier said they worked for?" Rocky asks in a low voice. "Chip and...uh...what's his name..."

"Sounds like it." Paloma whispers back as the back door opens and someone reaches in to yank her out by the front of her shirt. "Hey! Keep your hands off me!"

"Hands off my sister!" Gabriel snarls, kicking his door open to strike the man holding his sister in the face.

"Gabriel! We talked about this!" Michael yells as he and Rocky are yanked out of the car.

Now freed, Paloma yanks her revolver out of its holster and quickly aims it at the man Michael called Hobbs. "Call your thugs off or I'll shoot every one of you!" She snarls. "Now!"

"Who the fuck you think you are threatening me missy?" Hobbs sneers. "Can you even shoo-"

BANG

"You want to test me again?" Paloma challenges. "Go ahead, see how well that went for the last few thugs I killed over the years. Otherwise, let my brother and our friends go. Now!"

Before the man could even respond, Paloma catches sight of something silver before he tenses, a curved blade pressed to his throat.

"You might want to do as the lady asks, otherwise your pitiful speakeasy will suffer the wrath of the Devil Dove." A somewhat familiar voice purrs before Paloma catches sight of a familiar face.

"Oh! You're the...Marigold from the car." She says when she sees who it is.

"Indeed, Kuura Havu at your service." The blonde says with a giggle and pressed her blade closer to Hobb's neck. "So Hobbs, are you gonna give her any trouble? Or do you and your men want to have their blood spilled by us women?"

"Stand down, now!" Hobbs growls as the three men are released. "Now let me go!"

"It's up to her, you disrespected someone quite important." Kuura says with a smirk and looks to Paloma. "Your call."

"Let him go, I think he's soiled himself enough after I shot a bit too close to his ear." Paloma says as Rocky, Michael and Gabriel rush over to huddle behind her. Kuura gives her a disappointed look before shrugging and letting the older man go, allowing him to scramble away back towards the house.

"You're just as fun as Mordecai." The shorter woman sighs. "And he sucks the fun out of everything."

"I'd appreciate it if you don't compare me to my ex." Paloma says with a small frown. "So...what brings you to Defiance?"

"You're also a long way from the city." Kuura points out. "I'm just here to support my brother and watch the fights going on in that shack of a house. You?"

"My brother asked me to come out here, said I could blow some steam off here."

A small smirk came to the blonde's lips. "Well, he's not wrong, I could think of a few ways we both could."

"What, you want me to beat the snot out of you?" Paloma asks with a small frown. "Minus your knives being involved."

Kuura lets out a snort. "Man, no wonder Nico likes you, funky humor!"

"Heathen." Michael mutters and ducks behind Gabriel when Paloma turns to glare at him.

"Uh...perhaps we should go since we caused some problems?" Rocky asks. "And it totally wasn't my fault this time!"

"Well I don't think anyone is gonna deny you entry, they don't do that here." Kuura says with a shrug. "They'll let anyone in as long as they aren't cops. Plus I think they should be honored that the Devil Dove herself showed up and didn't burn the place down."

"Why the fuck do people keep calling me that!" Paloma groans. "I'm catholic!"

"Maybe if you didn't do that unholy scream of yours when attacking, you wouldn't be called that." Michael says, shaking his head. "Even my own brother thinks that nickname is too appropriate, and it probably came about because you terrified everyone and Atlas tended to refer to you as his "deadly dove". At least that's what Bobby told me."

"Wait, is that where that nickname came from?! And he never told me?!"

"Seems so."

"Hey so....are we going in or not?" Rocky asks.

"Might as well." Paloma mutters as she follows Kuura to the house, ignoring the glares and frightened stares of the people outside.

The inside of the house was at least better looking than the outside, barren save for a few couches, crumbling brick walls and several men and women mingling around with bottles of booze in hand.

"This doesn't look like a fight club." Paloma comments, kicking at a piece of plaster on the floor away from her. "Looks more like a raggedy speakeasy."

"Well it's both." Kuura says with a wave of her hand. "Right now no one wants to fight because the only fighter has everyone spooked, unless you wanna challenge him. I'd advise against it but-"

"Well one of these days I'm gonna have to fight that weirdo I keep running into in public, might as well brush up on my boxing." Paloma says with a shrug and looks around. "Aye, anyone know where the referee is? Or whoever is in charge of these fights?"

The whole room goes silent as the patrons stare at her in horror and some start to whisper a bit too loudly to each other.

"Is she crazy?" "Perhaps so, but who isn't if they want to take on the Finnish Goliath." "Poor girl..."

"Maybe he'll back down when he sees its a woman fighting him." "Hope not, he's more fun when he's in a rage."

"Uh, Kuura?" Paloma says, turning to the shorter woman, who was busy using her blades to play with the underside of her nails. "Are you sure there's no other fighters?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, there isn't." Kuura responds nonchalantly. "So, still up for that fight? Or are you more interested in what I have in mind?"

"Heathen!" Michael mutters loudly again from behind Gabriel.

"Shut up before I shut you up." Paloma snaps before turning back to Kuura. "I'll take the fight. I hardly know you so your idea of fun to blow off steam may not be the same as mine."

"Disappointing. Well, best of luck, from what I managed to get Mordecai to tell me,

whoever is against you should be worried." The shorter woman chuckles. "I'll be watching."

"What a weird woman." Rocky comments as Kuura walks off. "You sure she's a Marigold?"

"Very sure." Paloma responds, looking around the room.

"Huh, guess Asa likes collecting oddballs for the gang. So! Where do we sign you up for a fight?"

"You looking to fight the Giant?" A old man asks and Paloma nods. "Great, he's right over there."

Over in a corner with a cigarette in his mouth was a very tall man, one that looked a lot taller than Viktor and more muscled with dark orange fur and hair that was pulled back in a bun, glaring at everyone in the room.

"Oh...big guy." Gabriel mutters. "So that's why he's called the Finnish Goliath."

"Shit..." Paloma mutters. "I think this was a mistake."

"You're the one who can take on guys bigger than her, right?"

"Those men were drunk and had no fighting experience, this one looks like he eats and shits bricks and could probably kill me!"

"Yeah he does." Michael whispers. "Well, I'll pray for you, may God have mercy on your poor soul."

"Oh shut up, I'm doing this fight before I lose my nerve." Paloma scoffs as she cracks her knuckles. "May papi's lessons serve me well."

"Go....uh...Devil Dove!" Gabriel and Rocky yell as she strides forward to meet her opponent in the middle of the ring.

Up close her opponent certainly looked a lot taller now that they were face to face, like maybe an inch or three taller than Viktor and maybe a bit more beefier than Nico, scowling at everyone before it vanished when he spotted her in front of him.

"Alright lady and gent, you know the rules, how we fight, are you ready?" The old man from earlier asks.

"I no fight woman." The tall man growls as he removes his cigarette and drops it to the floor to grind under the heel of his boot. Huh, he had an accent quite similar to Kuura's.

"What, scared?" Paloma asks in a taunting tone.

"No. You, too small and...weak."

Oh, that made her feel pissed. Sure she had been called weak and frail before by other gangsters, at least until she knocked some teeth loose from their heads, but something about the way this man said it really irked her. Paloma's ears flattened against her head and her tail flicked in annoyance as the man turned to walk away, ignoring the boos and laughter he was getting from the audience.

"Oh so you are scared! So full of chicken shit are you?" She yells after him. "And here I thought I was gonna get a real opponent tonight! ¡Pero no, todo lo que obtuve fue un cobarde!"

The man's ears flattened and he turned to glare at her. "The fuck you call me?"

"You heard me."

Well now she's done it. The man is storming back towards her, his eyes blazing with fury. He's now standing in front of her, his face inches from hers. "You got death wish or somethin'?"

"Nah, I just need to blow off some steam." Paloma responds as she removes her bandana from around her neck and quickly wraps it around her right hand, covering her knuckles. And without warning, she struck first.

The man reels back from the punch she swung at his face, blinking at her in surprise as the spectators around them cheered and screamed. His eyes narrowed before he shifted into a fighting stance and took a swing at her, getting Paloma right in the shoulder. Okay that definitely hurt, but she grits her teeth and takes another swing that misses her opponent and swings again only to miss once more.

"¡Hermana! Get him with the old fake out trick!" Paloma hears Gabriel yell over the noise. "Like papa taught us!"

"Fake out trick, alright let's do it! ¡Aye cabrón! ¡Mírame!"

Her opponent lets out a low growl as she flung a quick punch, but never struck him. He then steps closer and Paloma grins. Bait taken. Now that she was closer, she was able to strike him right in the nose, causing him to stumble back from the force.

"Aw falling for such a simple trick, how stupid are you?" Paloma taunts. "Even my little brother knows not to fall for that! And he's five!"

The man let's out a loud snarl as he lunges forward, grabbing her by the shirt and struck her hard in the snout. Paloma falls over with a loud grunt, clutching at her injured nose. When she pulls her hand away, she's hardly surprised to find some blood.

"Been a good while since someone made me bleed like that." She says as she gets to her feet, swiping at whatever was dripping down her nose. "Seems like I found someone who hits as hard as Viktor."

Before she could even get back in a fighting stance, her opponent lunges, forcing her to dodge and his fist collides with the wall behind her. Paloma hears a loud crack and twists her head to see if he had broken his fist, only to see the man yank his hand out of the wall and shake it, muttering under his breath.

"Well I'm certainly fucked." Paloma mutters as some of the spectators laugh.

"Come on! Finish her! Finish him!" The crowd yells.

Shit, do I want to keep fighting? Paloma wonders as they get back in position. That guy may have made me bleed from my nose and make my shoulder feel sore, but he punched a wall just now! Was he holding back earlier? Maybe-

"This stupid, fight over." The man announced before turning away, rubbing at his injured hand.

"Aw come on! I bet money on this!" Someone yells as the rest of the crowd starts yelling and booing.

"Hey! You can't just walk out of a fight like this!" Paloma yells as she runs after him. "Why are you suddenly quitting?"

She almost bumps right into the man's back as he turns to shoot her a glare. "I fight, you die. No fight." He responds, rubbing at his injured hand. Paloma frowns before unwrapping the bandana around her hand to wrap it around his. "What..."

"That looks painful, you better disinfect it and see a doctor about it." She says as she drops his hand. "You owe me a rematch, bring that back when you accept it."

"You good?" Rocky asks as he and the other three rush over to her. "Oh your nose..."

"I'm good." Paloma responds, wiping at her snout. "Does it look broken?"

"I don't think so." Gabriel says, grabbing her face to examine her nose. "Yeah not broke. You don't have a snout like papi...so you good."

"Ahem." The four turn to see the old man from earlier with a fistful of dollar bills in hand and held them out to Paloma. "Here, for your troubles. Sorry he walked out on that fight, he doesn't always do that. Come back any time, Hobbs may be running this place as a speakeasy, the fight club is my thing."

"Oh....thanks I guess?" Paloma says as she accepts the cash, her eyes widening when she sees how much she's now holding. "Wait that's-"

"And he's gone." Michael comments. "So...what are you gonna do with that?"

"Uh...I guess put it in my savings? Been saving everything I got from Atlas so I could move out of Viktor's home, and that was before my grandfather died. Still looking to get one, I just haven't found the right house yet and Viktor is practically living with Elizia so he might end up moving out and move his half of the place to my name. Or I can give some of this to Mitzi for booze..."

"Or donate it to the church."

"I don't think reverend Harold would be happy to see over one hundred dollars in the baskets and someone snitches it was me who put it in."

"Meh, your cash, you do what you want." Rocky says with a shrug. "But giving some to Miss M would be nice, or you could use it to get you a nice dress to wear for bartending!"

"I'm not wearing a skimpy flapper dress to serve drinks, Rocky." Paloma says with a frown before she folds the bills to shove them into her pant's pocket. "Let's go before I feel the urge to punch someone."

----

"No...no this isn't right, it makes no sense!" Mordecai mutters as he yanks a scrap of paper off the wall and throws it in the small garbage can next to his desk that was already overflowing with crumbled papers.

So far every idea he had felt like a dead end for this investigation, which was already irritating him. Well it irritated him almost as much as something else that had been on his mind for the past few days that had been eating at him.

His mind often kept drifting back to that night with Paloma, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget those few moments with her in that room. How soft her lips felt against his when she returned the kiss, how the smell of her perfume tickled his nose, the way she desperately clung to him, and that look in her eyes before she realized what they had done. At the time, he never really paid attention to what she was wearing, but looking back on it he definitely saw that she was once again wearing that necklace he gifted her all those years ago. This took him by surprise, especially since weeks ago when they first saw each other again after a year she wasn't wearing it at the lunch date. When did she start wearing it again? Before the party? Some time long after their first meeting? Did this mean she still loved him? Part of him doubted that, but there was another part of him that desperately wanted it to be true, that deep down she still loved him just like he still loved her.

You're trying to figure out what all these people you've been tasked with killing having anything to do with Atlas, yet here you are getting worked over an accidental kiss. He thinks in annoyance as he dropped back into his chair.

As he is removing his glasses to rub at the spot between his eyes, he hears a window slam shut, followed by the sound of the front door opening and shutting. Great, they were back, and too early for his liking. With an annoyed sigh, Mordecai gets up from his desk and exits his office. Downstairs he could hear Kuura talking with someone, sounding like she was in an argument with them.

"...and that was very rude of you Kalle! You never drop out of fights like this!" The blonde snaps as Mordecai is descending the stairs to find his second latest roommate glaring at the shorter woman. "And what's all the bullshit about not fighting girls, you fight and smack me around all the time, even when we were kids! Such a rude brother!"

"You sister, she not sister." Kuura's brother retorts as he prods her forehead. "And you deserve smack sometimes."

"Enough fighting, it's late." Mordecai interrupts before his eyes fall on something pink wrapped around the larger man's knuckles. "First aid kit is in the bathroom, clean up after yourself Kalle. And Kuura, wash your dishes, remember our agreement?"

"Sure mom." Kuura says, rolling her eyes before her brother smacked the back of her head. "HEY!"

"Be nice." Kalle hisses. "Not rude."

Instead of retorting back in English, Kuura proceeds to say something to him in Finnish, resulting in the two starting arguing in their language as they walk towards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms and bathroom.

"Hold on, what is that wrapped around your hand?" Modecai says loudly to interrupt them.

"Bandana." Kalle responds. "From..."

"A cute girl we met at a fight club!" Kuura interrupts with a grin. "She got him twice in the face and challenged him to a rematch!"

"Yes." Kalle confirms. "Really weird woman."

The bandana looked awfully familiar to Mordecai, but he wasn't sure why. He only knew one person who'd wear such a color, but she'd never go to any of those weird fighting clubs where people would try to beat the stuffing out of each other all for a handful of cash. Unless...no, he shouldn't say anything.

"Go wash up, it's late." The triggerman says with a tired sigh. "And that means up staying up reading."

"Is that directed at us or at you?" Kuura teases.

"To bed miss Havu. Actually, go wash your dishes, then bed."

Kuura rolls her eyes but does as she is told, Kalle meanwhile hurrying up the stairs to go treat his wounds. Mordecai just shakes his head, walking towards the bookcase he had in his living room and ran his fingers along the spines of some of the books before settling on one. Of all the books he expected Paloma to leave behind, he didn't expect one of those romance novels he often found her reading. So often he used to scoff at her reading such boring sounding works of fiction, telling her she should be reading something a bit more challenging. Yet here he was pulling one of those out of the bookshelf that still held many of the books she had bought or that he had gifted her over time. Pride and Prejudice was the name of it, he couldn't remember if she ever tried reading it to him or talked about it's contents, all he could remember was that it was a romance novel with two characters getting over some sort of bias to be together, at least that's what he could remember. It was one of the many in the bookcase that had a worn spine, those he knew were her favorites to reread over and over even when she had a bunch of new ones to finish.

I wonder if you are fretting over that incident as much as I have. Mordecai thinks as he touched the worn spine of the book before putting it back. Or not. Perhaps next time we meet under more peaceful circumstances not involving our jobs I could ask.