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What the hell did I get myself into? She weaved her way through the tables taking yet another order. She had been working for a total of three hours and had her a** pinched four times and had gotten so many stares she really didn't want to count. Her final thought? Men are disgusting pigs.

She delivered the tankards to the two in the corner who were so far gone she didn't think they even knew who they were anymore. Then she noticed someone new had walked in. He sat alone at his table and waited for her to come to him. The first thing she noticed about him was his size. A big and bulky man dressed in a huge overcoat that looked brown. On closer observation she saw it was actually a dull gray but the amount of dirt on it concealed the actual color. She walked up and nodded. "Afternoon. What can I get you?"

"I just want a beer." He looked at her and she held the tray over her chest.

"Coming right up." She moved back past the table and felt herself grabbed around the waist. The next thing she knew she was sitting in some man's lap. The smell of alcohol was emanating from him and she could tell he was long past his limit. She looked at him for a moment and then moved to get off his lap. "Can I help you with something sir?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Sure ya can honey. You can help me and I'll help you." He kept his arm locked around her waist preventing her from moving. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins. He placed them in her palm and moved his hands up licking his lips.

Niah felt her skin crawl. She jerked and fell from his lap to the floor then stood up and brushed herself off. This was not good. She forgot the coins were in her hand and stood up hurrying off.

"That b***h stole my money!" He got up and came after her his words slurring adn his steps a bit unsteady. "Come back here!" He finally caught up wiht her and grabbed the back of her dress yanking her back to him. "Now you give me what I paid for." He grabbed her hair and kissed her.

Niah counted to three in her mind and then brought her knee up. Realization dawned and she became very pissed. When the man fell to his knees in pain she took the coins he had given her and shoved them into his mouth. "My job is to bring you what you ordered. I am not here for you to touch and paw as is your want. You will not touch me and I will allow you to remain male for a few more hours. Understand?" she said softly.

The drunk looked at her through glazed eyes and nodded. He tried to stand but couldn't.

Dobbs saw the commotion and headed over towards her. He helped the man stand and shooting a glare at Niah asked "Is there a problem here?"

The drunk whimpered and pointed at Niah. "She hurt me and wouldn't bring me nothing to drink. Then she stole my money." he whined. The coins fell out of his mouth when he talked and clattered to the floor.

Dobbs shot Niah a glance and raised his voice, "We're closing! Get out!" He picked up the man's coins and wiped them off hten handed them to him. Then he picked him up by his collar and forcibly kicked his a** out. He waited for the rest of the patrons to clear among a bunch of grumbling.

Niah was pissed. This was not going like she had planned. She watched everyone leave and thanked Ra she only had to do this for one more day, maybe two. She turned to leave as well and was stopped by a vicious yank to her hair.

"Listen up and listen real good. I don't know what ye've been taught and I don't much care. But in my tavern ye give the men what they want. If they want a piece of yer a** ye give it to em. Got it?"

She cried out and brought her own hand up pressing on the pressure point in his hand. She jerked away when his hand involuntarily opened and glared at him. "Now you listen to me. I am not a whore. That's not my job. I'll serve these pigs alcohol but I am not going to let them doing anything more than that. Is that understood? You have whores. Let them do their job and I'll do mine."

Dobbs watched the girl and wondered again if she had family. She was too valuable for him to fire but he wouldn't tolerate her talking to him like that. He backhanded her across the face and sent her sprawling. "Ye don't have to be a whore. But if one of my men is buying 'imself alcohol ye damn well better let 'im touch any part of ye that he wants. And remember ye work for me. And ye've got a little debt to pay off missy so ye best watch yer mouth. I don't much like back talk round here and I'll slug anyone who does."

Niah put her hand up to her cheek adn watched him in disgust. She nodded and picked herself up. "I have no place to stay."

Dobbs laughed. "Ye gotta clean up missy. And ye can stay here while ye work for me. We'll call it even." He was lying but she didn't know that. Oh it was perfect. He found a way to keep her right where he wanted her. And she didn't even have a clue. He nodded to the disasterous room. "Git it clean. I'm going to count my money and then I'm goin' to bed. Ye can have a room on the third floor.

Niah turned wearily and looked at hte mess. When she looked back at Dobbs he was gone. Dammit she cursed. "Might as well get started." It looked like the others had packed up and left as well. She was stuck cleaning by herself. She picked up a rag and began stacking glasses. If she was lucky she'd finish by time they opened the next day.

Home. It was a four letter word to her at this moment. But she missed it so damn much. She wondered what everyone was doing currently and her thoughts drifted to Tyler. Ra she hoped he would understand. Bastet would take care of him. She felt an overwhelming sadness overtake her and blinked back tears. Then she cursed as she stepped in god knew what on the floor. "Dammit to Ra!" She picked up a glass and flung it against the wall. "Make me clean all by myself...I'll show you. The less glasses there are, the less I have to wash." Satisfied with her logic she stacked cups and carried them to the kitchen. She yawned once and wondered again why she didn't just go home. Aura was probably cursing her right now. And she had a feeling no one understood why she left. She thought about tossing the rag down and heading right back up the hill and walking in like she had just gone for a walk. Maybe her note hadn't been found yet. Then no one would ever know. She braced herself against a table and sighed. "I can't do that. I owe a debt and I'm going to pay it. Then I'll...." She shook her head. She honestly didn't know what she'd do. Adn that hurt most of all.

Cymarron spent his time watching Tyler sleep. without Nailah, he could smell the fear on the boy. the thought came to mind of killing him. a swipe of his claws and Tyler would not feel afriad anymore. but his collar was marked with symbols of protection, and it was his selfmade purpose to protect the Pack. he growled in his frustration lightly. Nailah needed to be back. not when she felt like being back, but now. her kit needed her. But his appearance woudl be...unsettling for most. so he left Tyler to his sleep, and dug around, until he found what was spare bedsheets, but worked as a cloak for him. soft too. first one he came across was the false elf.

"Cymarron is going to the village to get the item to repair the instrument."

True enough, he'd promised to do that..and held up the severed wires as proof to know what he was looking for. as soon as he got away form the manor, his nose went to the air, caught her scent, and made a beeline for it. getting to the village was easy. after eating to residents, he knew the layout of the surrounding area pretty well. so upon going to the village, the piano wire was forgotten, as he moved to where the mingled scents led him, a tavern of some sort. the door was locked, but well...he didn't care. there was a kit's welfare to worry about, a packmate. so he slammed his weight agasint the door, hard. and if that didn't break it open, it woudl certainly get someone's attention.

Nelphean smiled at the silly cat, he knew exactly what he was thinking... He had tried to go after Nailah, but his mind was so worried about other things that he ran around, slaying monsters...

He stood guard over the door, and wondered if he sould see if Aurahkah was awake or not, to tell her that her house pet went after her friend. He took a deep breath, and sighed, he didn't want wake her should she be sleeping.

Nailah felt his lust and sighed. That's the same emotion she had felt the entire day. She shook her head. All men were the same. "Cymarron stop thinking like that!" she hissed. She would have blushed but she had been stared at way too much that day. She kept putting up chairs and then looked at him for a moment. "I knew this would happen even though I said to let me do this by myself. I'm sorry Aura isn't feeling well. But there's nothing I can do to help her. And Tyler is well taken care of." She felt a twinge of regret for leaving the little boy but he was better off where he was. She crossed her arms over her chest and said "Rags...I suppose that's what you could call these. As you can see I'm working. This" she gestured to her appearance. "Happens to be my uniform."

Nailah pulled two chairs down and dropped into one then gestured for Cym to sit if he wanted to. She sighed wearily and closed her eyes thankful for the rest. Her legs were killing her. "Look Cymarron you don't understand. I'm sorry Tyler is upset right now but he's better off. Would you rather him be here?" she waved her hand to show the dirty bar. She ran a hand through her hair. "I can't leave. I have a debt to pay. And it's better off this way." She said it with conviction but she wasn't sure. Cymarron was telling her exactly what her worst fears were. Bastet was missing too....which meant that Tyler had no one. Her heart ached for the poor little boy. She loved him so much that she coudln't bear to cause him pain. She closed her eyes and dropped her head in her hands. "You just don't understand..." she whispered brokenly. "I can't go back."

She sighed. "I don't want to hurt Tyler and right now I have so much going on that I'm afraid he'll feel like he's done something wrong. And I couldn't bear to lose him...." That was what it came down to. She had lost Alex and not been smart enough to realize the truth. She was tired of losing people she cared about and couldn't stand to lose someone else she was attached to. "Tyler is better off with his mother. He'll adapt. Why don't you look after him? He likes you." She could tell he was a bit upset by her situation. "Cymarron I owe him money. Money I can't pay. And because of that I have to work it off. He's actually been...very nice to me. He has given me shelter and he didn't kill me as is his right."