"Lovino, that's all the way on the other side of town." _____ said into the phone as she made some tea for herself. She held the cup and stirred the tea with her hands and held the phone between her shoulder and ear, "Why such short notice anyway?"

  She could here Lovino's snappish sigh on the other end, "I just…" He frustratingly pushed the phone against his forehead for a moment before putting it back against his ear, "Just be here as soon as you can, please." He was telling, not asking.

  _____ sighed, putting her cup down on the counter to hold the phone properly, "I don't even have time to drink my tea?"

  "This isn't a joke _____!" Lovino snapped angrily through the phone, causing _____ to twitch. His angry tone frightened her.

  "Okay. I'll leave now." She sounded more than a little hurt.

  "Good…" He felt the need to apologize. Not necessarily because he didn't have a reason to be mad…Just, he didn't like dealing with girls when they were moody, "And mi dispace."

  ____ rolled her eyes and smiled, "Don't know what that means Lovi."
He sighed again then blinked, registering what she just called him, "It means I'm sorry."

  "Oh. Don't worry about it."

  "I won't. I'll talk to you soon, bella."

  "Alright." _____ put her tea in the fridge for later with the disappointed thought, 'It's never as good when you heat it up later…'

  "Oh, and, _____?"

  "Hm?"

  "Don't. Ever. Call me Lovi. Again."

  Lovino could practically hear the smirk in her voice, "Does, Lovi not like it?"
He scowled, "Good bye, _____." and he hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.


  _____ hung up the phone, shaking her head with a smile. She walked out of her apartment, making sure it was locked and got in her car, departing for the bar across town where she got her latest, most awesome job.

  After he hung up the phone, feeling a bit annoyed, Lovino went to Feliciano. He was currently standing in front of a clearly beaten Izaya, trying to get more answers out of the informative…without much luck, "I'm going to meet with her." He threw a fierce glare at Izaya, "Take watch of dipshit here."

  "Ve!~" Feli saluted in a rather childish way. Funny how he could be so innocent while beating a man, "I'll do my best, Frattelo!~"

  Lovino nodded at his strange younger brother and left the building.

  ((le time skip))

  After what seemed like hours, (Even though it was only like 1), Lovino looked up from the ground and stood up from the wall as _____ pulled up in her royal blue 1974 Camaro.

  "Nice car." He said flatly as she got out. He scanned the car with his eyes with a blank look even though he was truly impressed. Lovino had a thing for cars but never had the time, or money, to start collecting them.

  _____ smiled warmly, as the door closed with a satisfying thud, "Thank you.~ I bought it a few years ago with money I had saved up since I was 16.~"

  Lovino smiled a bit, admiring the gleam the paint had on contact with the sun's light.
  
  "Impressive."

  His eyes drifted over to _____. She looked so…sexy, standing next to her just as beautiful car…'what are you thinking! You have to focus on her safety, not her body bastard!!' He cleared his throat a bit and hoped to god his cheeks showed no sign of his thoughts.

  _____ smiled obliviously, "So, why did I have to put my tea on hold and drive my ass out here for?"

  "Come inside." As Lovino walked _____ inside the bar, he took a cautious look around.

  Lucky for Lovi, there was nobody inside the bar, save for the usual lingerer at the counter he thought nothing of. _____ and Lovino sat at a table and _____ rested her head in her hands, with her elbows on the table. She looked so damn cu-'STOP IT DAMMIT VARGAS!'

  "So? We're inside. What's up?"

  Lovino looked at her not sadly but, it almost looked like he felt sorry for something,
"You're not safe anymore, _____."

  _____ lifted her chin out of her hands and crossed her arms over the able, "What do you mean?"

  Lovino looked at the table, feeling stupid, "I….I let your name slip while talking on the phone with you before."

  "So?"

  "So, I was standing in front of one of Yao's men that we have captive for interrogation." He looked up at her with his eyes but his head remained down.

  _____ blinked, not exactly feeling afraid just yet, "Well, if you have him captive, why does it matter?"

  Lovi sighed sharply and looked down again, then lifted his head and eyes back at her, "It matters because people have escaped us before _____. When he found out your name he taunted me with it and I made the stupid mistake of getting angry and almost killing him."
_____ listened, wondering how this put her in danger. Lovino leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, "Now he knows that you are important and you'll be the first one they go after, should he escape."

  Now _____ understood. If they knew her name the mafia could find out where she lived, where she used to work, and who she was affiliated with. This not only put her in danger, but any of her friends as well.

  "I get it…" She looked at the table, feeling frightened, not for herself entirely, but for Kleins as well, "So, what am I supposed to do?" she asked, not looking up from the table. She honestly expected for Lovino to make her leave the Mafia before things got bad, but she had a feeling it wouldn't matter if she did.

  "You need to move from your apartment." Lovino said like it wouldn't be any trouble. "You can live me and my brother for the time being."

  _____ blinked. Live with Lovino? She barely knew him let alone Feliciano! "Lovi I can't move in with you. I barley know you."

  "We don't have any other options Bella. You don't have enough money to get another place and It won't be permanent."

  She laughed a bit but not because she was amused, "Lovino, I'm saying no. I can stay with one of my friends okay?"

  Lovino looked at her sternly. She returned the same look and he could tell that arguing would get them nowhere. But he tried anyway, "That might end up putting your friend in danger as well."

  Now it was _____'s turn to sigh. He was right. Staying with Kleins would be a bad idea.
But staying with Lovi? Really?

  After a few minutes of silence Lovino leaned forward, crossing his arms across the table,

  "_____."

  His voice made her flinch a bit and she looked up at him.

  "I'm only trying to keep you safe. It was stupid of me to even give you the option of joining."

  She didn't know why, but that statement kind of ticked _____ off. Did he not think she was capable of handling herself? She raised an eyebrow and looked sternly, if not angrily at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

  The look on _____'s caught Lovino off guard. What did he say? "What's what supposed to mean? I put you in danger and I'm trying to fix it."

  "I'm not weak Lovino." _____ stood up. She said this more to reassure herself than to state a point to Lovino, "I'll find somewhere else to stay."

  _____ headed for the door and Lovino blinked. What the hell just happened? Why the hell was she pissy with him? He stood up and followed her to the door and outside. "_____!"
She stopped and looked back at him but didn't say a word.

  "I'm sorry for whatever it was I said to piss you off. Now would you at least think about it?"

  That was about the worst apology _____ had ever heard. Men. But she did agree to think about it. She said good bye to Lovino and got in her Camaro and drove back home.

  When she got home it was already dark and the night air had a sharp chill. _____ jogged to her apartment and ran inside her small home to get warm. She stopped at the door as she turned the handle and the door opened.

  "Didn't I lock this door before I left?" She asked to no one in particular.
When she walked inside, she noticed something was off. She shut the door behind her and made sure to lock it, then headed to her room and to her desk.

  She sat down on her cheap desk chair and opened her laptop. It was closed like she left it,(obviously, sense she had to open it) But…It was on. _____ knew for a fact she shut it down last night before bed.

  What the hell was going on here? First the door, and now her computer. When she looked around, she saw that the door to her closet was slightly ajar and a few of her draws were slightly open and one shut that was half open when she left.
_____'s eyes went wide when she realized what happened, 'Someone was in my house!'

  Just as the thought crossed her mind, ______ heard a loud thud in the living room. Quickly she ran to her night stand and grabbed the pistol Feliciano had let her have earlier. She made sure it was loaded and the safety was off and headed for the living room silently.

  She peered around the corner of the hallway and saw someone heading for the door, "Hey!"
  
  _____ aimed her gun at him and the man froze, looking in her direction. The man was wearing dark clothing and looked Asian. _____ couldn't make out any exact details about him due to the lights being off on her living room. "What the fuck are you doing in my house!?"

  The man stood there for a moment the smiled a bit (At least _____ thought he did from what she could see). "Zishi zai zuo wo de gongzuo." He took a step closer to her and _____ cocked the gun, causing the man to stop.

  "Get out now or I will shoot you!"

  "Zhen de ma? Ni de gebo dou zai dou… Wo gan dadu, she shi ni de di yi ci, shenzhi mazhe qiang."

  "English mother fucker! Do you speak it!?"

  The man chuckled and took another step closer. _____ felt panicked and she fired the gun, hitting the wall just above the guy's head. She didn't expect the recoil and stumbled back a bit but quickly regained her stance.

  The man wasted no time un-locking and running out the door.

  _____ dropped the gun, shaking violently and she ran and shut the door, once again locking it. She stumbled back and had to balance herself with the arm of the couch. Tears were stinging her eyes and threatening to spill out. 'Don't cry. You're not weak dammit! Just call Lovino.'

  _____ gladly followed her own advice and dialed Lovino's number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lovino's side~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

  Lovino watched _____ pull out of the bar's parking lot and drive away. He watched her and her beautiful car fade into the distance and took note of the setting sun and the dropping temperature.

  He sighed, hoping _____ would take up his offer and headed back to Feli and dipshi-he means Izaya…Nah, he meant dipshit.

  As soon as Lovino walked inside he was met by a frantic Feli, "Frattelo! Yao's informative got out and escaped!"

  Lovino blinked then suddenly got angry at Feli and terrified for _____ at the same time.

  "What!?!"

  "He had a knife that we didn't know about! He cut himself out of the chair then knocked me out and took my gun!"

  "Dammit!" Lovino pulled at his hair and closed his eyes tight.

  "Tony tried to stop him but he got shot in the shoulder." Feli sounded so damn guilty. Not that he shouldn't. That idiot was supposed to watch the guy!

  Lovino's eyes grew wide and looked at Feliciano. "Tony…Is he alright?"

  "Si he is fine now."

  Lovino relaxed a little then started panicking again. When he pulled his phone out to call _____ it rang and showed her number on the caller I.D. "_____! Please tell me you're okay!"

  "I-I'm fine…T-there was a guy in my house…I got him out." Her voice was shaking and Lovino could tell she was trying her hardest not to cry, "I-I'll come live with you okay?"