The vodka bottle I was holding nearly slipped out of my hand again as Cha Cha gasped in his glee for about the fifth time. But this time I turned.

"What in the world are you doing to that child?" I asked in a fake scold. Sasha looked up from his cards -all of them red – and gave me a grin. His lips were painted red, too.

"He turn card red!" Cha Cha chirped in delight, "they black! He magic!:

"They're underneath," I smiled, poured the vodka into several shot glasses and setting these on Cha Cha's tray which was piled with drink orders.

"That's 'cards' with an 'S'," Sasha beamed, looking Cha Cha straight in the eyes. "When there's more than one object, we put an 'S' at the end. It's like how you do it in Spanish."

"Oh!" Cha Cha gasped again.

"You know Spanish, Sasha?" I was surprised. I placed the last two shots on the tray and gave Cha Cha his drink order list back. He beamed at us and left still smiling with his tray.

"Some. I like languages."

"He was speaking French with me earlier. I could not believe my ears. He still has that Russian accent, no matter what language, though," Genesis said, appearing at Sasha's shoulder with a drink order list in his hand.

"Your French is terrible," Sasha smiled at him like an old friend.

"That's because it's Cajun French, you brat. We're not all from Paris. Watch your mouth. Aren't you supposed to be working?" Genesis laughed.

"I am working. I'm entertaining everybody with my magical powers." Sasha started to fancily shuffle his deck of cards by holding them up and flicking them into either hand over and over. A couple heads at the bar lifted to watch lazily.

I took the drink list and looked it over. There were some difficult drinks here. "Actually, I could use some help behind the bar if you don't mind," I said, setting out to make a Jack and Ginger.

"Alright, sure."

"Since you're getting a ginger ale for that drink, can you get me one? I'm thirsty," Genesis sighed, fanning himself with his hand and leaning against the bar. The customer next to him eyed him then went back to his drink. I could tell why Genesis was so thirsty. He was wearing about twenty pounds of costume at least, his skirt out to here with layer upon layer of tulle ruffles like wavelets to the floor. I thought he looked like a Southern debutante or something.

"Sure thing," I said, exiting the bar to go to the kitchen. Unlike our colas, we didn't store ginger ales up front in the icebox. Instead, we had a fridge in the kitchen for rarer ordered sodas. There just wasn't enough room. As I made my way down the hall, the sounds of the band wafted quieter and quieter.

As I leaned over into fridge, a strange sound caught my ear. Something off with the band. I slowly stood up straight and looked towards the doorway into the hall, trying to figure out what I was hearing. It was a smooth, pleasant sound. Familiar, but I could not... I drifted to the doorway and when I got there the sound hit me full force.

"I've got crazy eyes for you, oh you know you know I do, because you know I love you oh so true, I've got those crazy eyes for you~"

My eyes went wide as the serving trays up front. Forgetting everything, I wandered up the hallway and just at the edge I was able to see what was happening. No way.

My heart melted out of my chest as I beheld the most wonderful sight. Frankie was on stage at the microphone with the band behind him with his hand to his own heart, singing "Crazy Eyes for You" by Bobby Hamilton like he were Bobby Hamilton himself. His own eyes wandered around and found me, planted on me and he smiled wide. It dawned on me in an instant that he was doing this for me.

"That crazy boy. What the heck is he doing?" I heard Genesis say near me around the corner at the bar.

"I don't know," Sasha said back, but I could detect an unsureness in his voice. No doubt he was thinking about everything that had happened recently. Eddie's threats. Hearing Sasha's voice, my enchantment flurried away like a violent snow gust, and were replaced by my fears. Even staring at Frankie's face, I could not help but think of a similar face. His brother's murderous face. Feel the steel against my head, the full metal jackets inside just on the edge of embedding into the side of my-

"But I love you every second, I love you every hour hour hour of the day~" he sang on, and my feelings for him resurged in my heart despite, mixing with the sick feeling of the metal against my skull.

I loved him, too. Every hour of the day, every second. But my head.

My fists clenched. I put them behind my back. My love showed on my face, my unsureness in my fists. My worry, all over my hands. I listened to his love song, his voice, his intent. No doubt Ganya had told him everything that had happened. I had seen it on his face last night when he left. But now, here he was on stage. He as defiant, telling me he loved me in front of everybody no matter what.

My fists clenched so much my false nails were digging into my palms painfully.

I'd show him I loved him, too. That I'd be with him no matter what. At the bar, Luciano was sitting there drinking regular Coca Cola with lime twists. He appeared nervous, but he was reading his newspaper so people left him alone.

We'd spoken on the phone long into the night. I'd told him what I knew about the surgeries, what Sylvia had told me. He'd assured me his surgical training spanned far and wide, but he'd look into his books.

The plan was for tonight Luciano would go home with me, to my apartment. He didn't think he could get approval to conduct the surgeries in a hospital or even his medical building, but he assured me it would be fine. He'd done surgeries in the homes of his patients before, patients too scared to go to a hospital or an office. They'd been more minor surgeries like mole removal or something, but he didn't see a problem with this.

"You will recover at home. I'll have Liddy come to change your dressing, help you with things."

"Who's Liddy?

"My nurse in training."

"In training? What do you mean?"

"She's in nursing school, an intern. But she's very good. Top of her class."

"Why can't I have a real nurse?"

"She's good. Don't worry."

This part had been askew to me, but he was a surgical doctor. He'd done thousands of different kinds of surgeries, did them nearly every day. Didn't he know what was best? I'd decided to shut up and just let him do his thing, because otherwise what choice did I have to get the surgeries?

And now with Frankie on stage, crooning to me and only me, my resolve tightened. Set into place. Seeing his sweet face, loving me, despite everything that had happened. I wanted to be with him. With the surgeries, I could be with him. Tonight, we'd finally start in motion what we'd been planning since last year. No more waiting. We'd get married, we'd move to Hawaii with my new papers. Nobody would ever know about who we'd been, what body I'd had. We'd have the new life we dreamed about. We'd be safe. So I wasn't about to open my mouth and question the doctor who would give it to us.

Frankie was finishing up his song, singing the refrain over and over. He extended his hand out to me and I extended mine out to him. As my fingers spread and my palm was revealed to me, I saw I'd drawn blood. Two marks on my hand, aligned with my middle and ring finger. And on that ring finger were the sparkling diamond and sapphires of the engagement ring Frankie had shown me his devotion with. Now I would be showing my own devotion, securing our future.

When his song was over, he made a beeline for me. Dodging tables and stumbling over himself like a clumsy puppy, he collided with me, wrapping his arms around me.

"You heard me!" he laughed into my ear, kissing it and getting to the little spot behind it that I loved so much.

"Mmm," I purred, the only thing I could do with his lips there.

"I need you."

"I need you, too. I missed you."

"I missed you so much."

Before I knew it my back had collided with the bathroom door and still wrapped around me I heard him flip the lock in place and he was kissing down my neck and I was absolutely melted.

"What are we doing? I'm supposed to be working," I heard myself say in nonsense as he undid the halter tie of my dress with ease. Double knot, not triple.

"That's okay."

"Mmm, baby." My though went between his legs and he pressed into me even more, kissing my jaw line now.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you. Your friend said I shouldn't go near you, but I can't-" He let out a long audible breath, stopping his words, as I pressed harder with my thigh.

"Stop talking. It doesn't matter," I whispered into his ear.

And he obeyed.