CNC/Tangerine/Apple Pie/Watermelon/Wildberry Smoothie
Author: Casey and Marina
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe, Post NIEE
Challenges: Cookies n’ Cream 18 (slip), Tangerine 10 (faking it) [Marina]; Apple Pie 6 (backyard), Watermelon 10 (where did I put that?), Wildberry 1 (another fine mess) [Casey]
Toppings & Extras: Caramel, Smoothie, Brownie
Word Count: 6,672
Rating: PG
Summary: Avalon sees a familiar face in the market.
Notes: Follows straight on from this. For the Smoothie part of the Olympics and Casey's last Watermelon.
Avalon strode out of the open-air market feeling very pleased with herself. She had found everything her mother and Anne had told her to get for less than she had expected to, due to running into a couple of salespeople who had recognized her and taken a little off the price because she'd lingered to talk to them. Normally, she was selective about who she spoke to, but for some reason she found it easy to make conversation over sales transactions. She turned, waved to the woman she had just spoken with, and set off for home.
Just then, someone bumped into her shoulder. "Oh, sorry, miss," a strangely familiar voice said.
She grabbed the handle of her basket with her free hand for extra support, looking up solely out of reflex. "That's okay, sir. No harm..." She trailed off, abruptly recognizing one of the men from the emergency vase heist from the previous week. What had his buddy called him? Arnie? "No harm done," she finished hurriedly, producing her nicest smile.
The man's eyes narrowed. "Hey, wait a minute, aren't you that kid from the other night?"
She blinked, affecting innocence. "Pardon me?"
"You're the kid from the other night! The love bird," he said, stepping towards her.
Instinctively, she backed away. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't know what you're talking about." She felt her cheeks heat a bit at being called a "love bird" again and hoped she could play it off as mild distress rather than embarrassment at the memory. She and Ben hadn't talked about it at all since.
"Bullshit, kid, I remember you! It was definitely you."
Now definitely alarmed, she hastened her retreat. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I don't know you. Excuse me." She turned before he could get another word in and walked briskly in the exact opposite direction of the inn.
"Hey! Hey, stop that kid!" the man yelled after her, trying to shove through the crowd.
Avalon glanced back at him incredulously, but kept going. What did he think he was going to accomplish by doing that? She knew enough people in the area, and particularly in the market, that they would take her side if she so much as got slightly misty-eyed. All the same, she did not want to stick around and test her luck, so she hurried into the next alley.
Not surprisingly, she soon left him in the dust.
She waited two more blocks before taking a chance and relaxing for a moment. "What was that?" she wondered, under her breath. The cloak should have hid her identity; it was the whole reason they wore dark cloaks. Maybe some of her hair had been peeking out at the time? She hadn't been paying attention. But that by itself...
All of a sudden, it hit her, and she covered her mouth. He had recognized her voice. "Figures," she muttered. "The one time Benny and I had to talk..." She shook her head and glanced around. The women would be wondering where she had gone by that time. Stepping into an intersection, she looked carefully around before hurrying off, the long way, toward home.
Ben was at their usual table in the corner when she finally made it home. He was the only one present.
Avalon was so relieved to see him that she ran right over, barely stopping long enough to set her basket down before hugging him.
She plainly caught him off guard, but he returned it. "Um, what's up, Loni? You okay?"
"Oh, Benny." She straightened, pushing her hair out of her face. "One of the guys from the other night bumped into me at the market and recognized my voice."
His eyes went wide. "What? What the heck are the chances of that?"
"I don't know, but it happened. I had to go the long way home."
"Crap, what do we do now?"
"I don't know." All her composure disappeared as the reality of what had happened sank in. It was possible that they had been completely compromised by the incident. She dropped into the seat across from him and buried her face in her hands. "I don't know, I don't know."
Ben put a hand on her shoulder, biting his lip. "We'd better talk to Tanner."
She nodded without looking up.
"I'll go see if he's not busy." He glanced at her basket. "And drop off the market good with Mom."
"Thanks, Benny," she said.
"No problem." He scooped up the basket and disappeared towards the back.
A few minutes later, he reappeared with Tanner. Avalon lifted her face up and tried to look brave. Tanner wasn't fooled. "C'mere, munchkin," he said quietly. She got up and moved toward them so that he could hug her. "There now, it's all right. We'll talk it through and figure something out."
"How bad d'you think it is?" Ben asked, bouncing from foot to foot.
"Can't say. Loni? Why don't you tell me what happened in detail." Tanner gently nudged both of them to sit back down at the table.
Avalon related the entire incident as best she remembered it. "I think I did an okay acting job," she said.
"Probably the best you could have considering you had to think fast," said Tanner, thoughtfully.
Ben had plopped in one of the other chairs, but shifted impatiently. "And?"
"And...I'm not sure if it'll make a difference. She was at the market. He could probably have asked anyone there who she was."
"So they'll know how to find me," said Avalon.
"And we're in trouble."
Tanner looked at Ben. "You may want to ask Simon what he knows about the group that was after that vase."
"He's coming over for dinner."
"Good. The sooner the better."
"It should only be an hour or two."
"Okay." Tanner got up from the table. "No use panicking before then, I think. I'm going to get back to the stables. Stay inside until your friend comes."
"Okay, Tanner," Avalon said quietly.
"Emma went out with Ree, will they be okay?" Ben asked nervously.
"Probably for this evening, at least. The more immediate targets would be you two."
He slumped back in his chair, frowning.
Avalon felt bad, seeing it, but she wasn't sure what she could say or do to make things better. There probably wasn't anything, short of talking to Simon and hoping for the best. It was unlikely they could have done anything to prevent it, either, short of giving up on the heist, and they never would have done that.
*
Simon arrived before Emma and Ree, bouncing through the door. "Hey, kids!"
Avalon looked up and tried to smile. "Hey, Si."
"You look a little troubled," he said, flopping between her and Ben.
"That's because I'm a lot troubled," she said, attempting nonchalance anyway. Without waiting for him to reply, she told him the story.
Simon frowned. "That's not good. What do we do now?"
"What do you know about that group?" she asked.
"I try not to ask about that stuff, because I don't want to draw suspicions, but a little bit, I guess. They're apparently a fairly small group, but they've pulled off a couple high class heists. Yours is the first that's supposedly gone wrong and KIN's on their tail now."
She glanced at Ben. "Okay, so KIN's on them. That's something."
"Yeah, I heard Jackson say so himself, but...it might not be quick. They don't have much to go on. Just the note I always leave with the item."
"Who...who would know more about what they do?"
"Um, Jackson, probably. Or one of the other KIN people. Sunny might. Depends on how much she's been talking to her dad and Jack. But Sunny would also want to know why you're asking."
She pursed her lips, unsure if she was willing to fully disclose the reason. Emma had been right about the fact that she and Ben were both very bad liars--it was because they rarely had cause to try.
Ben had stayed silent until then but he now piped up. "We can't tell her. She's great and I know she's your cousin but she's the freakin' crown princess or whatever. She'd have to tell your dad."
Avalon silently nodded her agreement.
Simon looked between them and nodded, unable to deny the fact his cousin had loyalties he didn’t really have to worry about. “What does Tanner think?"
"He wanted us to ask you what you knew, first," said Avalon.
"I know they're not a group you want going against you."
"Really reassuring, Si."
"What? I'll help if I can, but it's true!"
She rolled her eyes and propped her chin on her fists.
"So what are you going to do?" he asked, looking between his two friends.
Ben shrugged slightly and also looked at Avalon.
"I don't know," she said, avoiding their eyes. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep up a calm facade.
"Does Ems know?" Simon asked Ben.
"No, not yet. She's been gone with Ree all afternoon. We expect them back any time."
"They better be back soon if we're going to have dinner on time," said Avalon.
"They should be. Mom said they'd be gone a while. She's doin' dinner," Ben said.
She nodded and lowered her eyes to the table again.
A couple of silent, awkward minutes later, her mother and Emma walked through the door. Avalon automatically straightened. Normally, her mother was the only person she felt remotely comfortable falling apart in front of, but Ree had no idea about any of their operations--she hoped--and couldn't help, this time. It was better not to show it.
"Where is Tanner?" Simon muttered, flashing his most winning 'I'm part of the royal family' smile at her mom and Emma.
Ree smiled. "Hello, Simon. Glad you could make it. Everything go okay at the market, Loni?"
"Course it did," said Avalon, grinning brightly for her benefit.
"Glad to hear it. I'd better get in there and help." She smoothed down Emma's windblown hair. "I'll take your basket, Ems."
"All right," Emma said, offering her basket and then bounding over to the others. "Hi, Simon!"
Ben and Simon watched Ree disappear into the kitchen and then Simon turned back to the others. "Well?"
"Someone else tell, this time, I've already said it three times." Avalon looked down at the table again.
Ben quickly outlined what had happened.
Emma slung into her seat. "Crap."
"Where is Tanner?" Simon asked again.
"Stables," said Avalon.
"We gotta do something," Emma said quietly.
"Tanner thinks they don't know about you yet." Avalon shrugged. "And they know I was with someone when we ran into them, but maybe they don't know it's Ben."
"If they trace us to here, they're gonna figure out it was Ben."
"Yeah, if he figured out your voice, he'll be able to figure out mine."
"Then just don't talk ever again, obviously," she said, rolling her eyes a bit.
"You get my point, Loni," Ben said, making a face back.
"Yes, but it's my job to fight logic with sarcasm."
"That's true enough," Simon said, amused.
"I don't think there's much we can do, unless we figured out a way to get KIN to bring them down."
"Which we can't do directly unless we're ready to tell them everything," said Avalon, frowning. Thinking of the mothers, who had no idea and who could possibly be in danger because of this, she thought it might almost be worth it.
"Maybe Tanner could somehow?"
"We could ask him, I suppose."
"Or you could, Simon?"
"I...maybe?"
"Is that the only thing we can do?" she asked.
"Unless we had a way of getting them ourselves," Emma said, swinging her legs.
"We'd need to know more about them for that," said Avalon.
"And in any case, it's too risky for the three of you to go looking," a voice sounded, from over her left shoulder. She turned to see that Tanner had materialized in time to hear the last few phrases. "I don't want you to do that under any circumstances, am I clear?"
"Why not?"
"Clear," Ben said, speaking at the same time as his sister.
Tanner pinned Emma with a stern look. "I mean it, Em. You're already too young to be doing this. You don't need to make it worse."
"How can it be worse?"
"You'd be borrowing unnecessary trouble, going and looking for them. I can guarantee they'll be more than equipped for anything you could do to them directly."
"All right. Then what can we do?" she asked.
Tanner glanced at Simon. "Don't try to run any more jobs for now, I think."
"How's that gonna help if they come after us?" Ben said.
"At the very least, you won't be trawling around the back alleys of Oakbridge. If they caught you there, we'd never know."
He sighed. "Fine, but how long?"
"Until KIN can take care of them."
"That could be ages."
"KIN'll figure it out," Simon said, trying to sound reassuring.
"Any way you could step that up a bit, Simon?" asked Tanner.
"Um, maybe, if Jackson was around, but I'm not sure what I can say."
Avalon frowned at the table, but said nothing.
Tanner looked between them. "Do your best. In any case, don't panic and stay close to home, got it?"
"Yeah, well, I always have an escort everywhere, I think I'll be okay," Simon said with a slight face.
"You do. I'm more worried about them."
"Okay, Tanner, we get it," Avalon burst out, glaring up at him. Deserved or not, her fault or not, she was suddenly sick of his concern. "We're not going to go off and do anything stupid, all right?"
He frowned at her. "Loni, relax."
She let out a frustrated growl and stood up from the table. "I'm going to my room. Let me know when dinner's ready." Before anyone could stop her, she ran off.
A minute later, someone knocked on the door. "Loni?" It was, unsurprisingly, Ben.
"Go away, Benny," she muttered.
"Loni," he said, “can I come in?"
She shut her eyes, took a breath, and reached for the doorknob. There wasn't much she could refuse when it came to Ben.
As she opened it, he stepped inside. "Hey."
"Hey," she said quietly, not looking at him.
"It could have just as easily been me."
"But it wasn't."
"Doesn't mean it's your fault."
She folded her arms. "I know there wasn't anything we could've done. I just...I feel like there should have been."
"I wish we could have. And there's gotta be something we can do."
She nodded, but had no other response for that.
"And who knows, maybe he's too stupid to track us down."
She let out a short laugh. "I'm not banking on it, Benny."
"Me neither," he admitted and let out a breath. "Just...it's okay to be upset."
"Being upset isn't going to fix it," she said flatly.
"No, but right now, nothing is. There's no harm in it."
Looking at the ground, she shrugged. She wasn't going to help anything, being like this, and Ben was not doing much to help her get over it.
He didn't say anything for a minute and then, "Okay, buck up, Loni. It's not the end of the world and some solution will present itself. It always seems to. We deal with it as it comes."
She nodded. "Is everyone still downstairs?"
"As far as I know. I think it's probably about dinner time."
"Okay, let's go then."
He pushed open the door and held it open for her. She walked past him and down the stairs without looking up. She could feel his eyes on her as he followed, probably filled with a combination of concern and exasperation, which was so like him. She chose not to acknowledge it.
When they arrived downstairs, Simon and Emma were still at the table, but Tanner was absent. "Where did Tanner go?" asked Avalon.
"Mom asked him to help her with something in the kitchen," Emma said.
Avalon nodded and glanced at Ben.
"Is dinner almost done?"
"Yeah, they were really just waiting for you two," Simon said, waving a hand absently at the filling common room.
"Okay."
"I'll go tell 'em," Ben said and trotted off to the kitchen.
During dinner, Simon and Emma got into a heated debate about something that had happened at school earlier in the week, and when they had finished eating, the argument still wasn't over. Avalon collected their plates and rolled her eyes for Ben's benefit. Ben smiled faintly. She turned away and reached for Tanner's plate. "I'll take yours, too."
He handed it to her with a smile. "All right. When you're done cleaning up, come talk to me, okay? Before it gets dark." He glanced around to make sure the women weren't listening, then added, "And not by yourself."
Avalon nodded and hurried into the kitchen with the stack.
Anne glanced at her as she came in. "You feeling okay, Loni? You look a little pale."
She smiled brightly to deflect the concern. "I'm fine. Here's everyone's plates. Uh, also, I think Simon and Emma are going to be at it for a while."
Anne snorted. "I have no doubt. Simon's the only one outside the family who has that ability with Em." She eyed Avalon, though. "You'd let us know if you weren't feeling well, right?"
"Of course."
At that, Ree looked up from the stove, and her eyes narrowed. "Loni--"
"I'm fine, I promise," said Avalon, holding up her hands. "And Tanner asked me to help him with something, so I'm going to go do that." She turned quickly and ran out of the kitchen.
Ben glanced up at her as she reappeared, gaze pleading with her to save him from his sister and their friend.
"I need to go talk to Tanner," she said. "Come with?"
"Absolutely," he said, hopping up and coming over to join her.
"Great." She flashed him a quick smile and headed for the back door.
He trailed her out. "What does Tanner want?"
"He just said he wanted to talk to me before dark and not to come alone." She opened the back door and stepped out into the alley.
"Okay," he said easily and stepped out after her.
She smiled. "Thanks."
Ben blinked. "What for?" he asked, waving to Tanner as the older man stepped out of the stables, brushing his hands off.
"Coming along. Though I guess it wasn't hard to convince you to ditch the other two."
Tanner lifted his hand to flag them down. "Hey, kids."
"Anything to get away from the two of them and one of their fights. And Emma says we’re bad."
She smirked at him and turned to Tanner. "What is it?"
"Are you all right?" he asked. "You yelled, back there, and you never yell."
Avalon shrugged. "I just didn't want to keep harping on the same stuff."
He put his hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. Look, between Simon and me, I'm sure we'll figure something out. I've still got some of my old connections."
She caught the flash of curiosity in Ben's eyes at the mention of his old connections. Her friend was always trying to figure out where exactly Tanner had fallen when it came to legal versus illegal. Avalon felt her own curiosity but sometimes wondered if she really wanted to know.
"Okay, Tanner," she said, looking between them.
Tanner smiled a bit and kissed the top of her head. "That's my girl. All right, you two, get inside before the sun goes down."
"All right," Ben said and started to turn back towards the house before freezing as he faced the alleyway. A second later, he took a step back towards Avalon and Tanner.
"That's her," a new, but far too familiar voice said from the alley.
She caught her breath, turning quickly to see the man from earlier leading two more toward them.
"Tanner," Ben muttered uncertainly, stepping back even with Avalon.
"Well, well, well, and I would suppose the boy's likely our other little friend," one of the two said, stepping fully into the stable lamplight and folding his arm as he regarded the two youngsters, ignoring Tanner completely, although Avalon's 'friend' from earlier kept an eye on the one-armed man.
Tanner stepped calmly in front of them. "Can I help you?"
The man looked him over. "I want to know where the vase is."
"The vase?" Tanner repeated politely.
The man waved one hand. "Even if you don't know what I'm talking about, those two do, so how about you move aside and let us chat?"
"I don't think so."
He frowned. "If you don't, Arnie and Mack will make you. Your choice."
"Tanner," Avalon began.
"Quiet, Loni." He didn't even turn around. "Sir, I highly suggest you turn around, and leave these kids alone."
Ben reached for Avalon's hand.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, friend. I need that vase and your little pals are the only ones who seem to know where it is."
"I said," Tanner said, very slowly and deliberately, "turn around, and leave these kids alone."
For a moment, the man said nothing, appraising the trio. "Arnie, Mack."
"With pleasure, boss," Arnie said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. Mack followed suit, with a predatory grin.
Avalon gripped Ben's hand tightly. "Tanner--"
"It's all right." Tanner's voice sounded eerily calm. He reached slowly for the knife on his belt. Arnie had already pulled his, twirling it easily, coming in on Tanner's right side.
Ben tugged Avalon back a step further towards the stable.
"Run, kids," the stable hand said, barely audible.
Ben looked at the three men and then tightened his grip on Avalon's hand and started pulling her towards the stable. Both kids knew there was a gate out to the back road on the side.
"Tan--"
"Loni, get out of here," Tanner snapped, pulling the knife.
Avalon swallowed and let Ben drag her back without further protest. Ben let go of her long enough to fiddle with the lock and pop it open. "Go!" She hurried through the door and looked back to make sure he was following her. He took two steps, froze for a split second and then yelled her name even as he darted forward. A thick hand descended on Avalon's shoulder a second later and two large arms snagged Ben around the middle at the same time.
She gasped and looked behind her, seeing the other man they had run into during the heist. He smiled down at her, not kindly or humorously as before. "It's terribly rude of you to run out on visitors," he said, "but do you know what's worse? Lying."
"Let go of me--"
"I don't think so. Unless you'd like us to take this inside to your mothers."
She swallowed.
"I thought not." He nodded to the man holding Ben. "Back out front."
That man set Ben down but kept a tight grip on his upper arm, steering him back through the gate into the yard. Avalon went with them, without having to be prodded too hard. Outside, Arnie and Mack had already subdued Tanner.
"Oh good, we didn't lose anyone," the leader said with a wide smile that didn't reach his eyes. He stepped around where Arnie and Mack had Tanner held securely until he stood just in front of the kids. "Where's the vase?"
"We don't know," said Avalon, barely audible.
The man grabbed Ben and pulled him over, twisting his arm up nastily behind his back. Ben winced, going pale, obviously biting back a whimper. "You took it. That means you have it. So where is it?"
"We don’t have it anymore," she said quickly. "We gave it to KIN, anonymously."
"You did what?" the man sputtered, obviously caught off guard. "Who the hell does that?"
"Apparently these kids," a brand new voice spoke up. "Busy night at the stable, eh, Mol?"
"Seems so," a female voice answered.
Avalon looked up toward the newcomers, startled.
"Hello, Tanner, long time no see," the new man said.
Avalon glanced at Tanner, who shot the man a bloody grin. "Not long enough, and your timing is shoddy as usual."
"It took Si a few minutes to get himself back up to the castle. You'll survive."
"Who the hell are you?" the leader demanded.
"Your recognition skills are shit, Harlen," the man said, stepping into the light.
"Jackson Darcy," the leader growled.
Avalon blinked. Will Darcy's son had come all the way down to help them?
"Yes, well, if you can get a move on, I'm sure my employers would be much obliged," said Tanner, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Give me a bit of a break, Tanner. We're still outnumbered. Have you met Molly before?" he asked cheerfully.
"Back off, Darcy," the leader said.
"Can't. I've got the vase you want, remember?"
"Heard the name, never seen the face." Tanner bobbed his head, semi-courteously, in the woman's direction. "And good evening to you, Miss Rees."
"Nice to meet you too," she said, flashing a smile.
"You're outnumbered, let's just finish this," Harlen said.
"You might have a bit of a hard time considering all your people are busy," Jackson said, absently twirling his knife.
Avalon glanced around at the group.
"But we're not. Fancy that," Molly said, moving towards the two men holding Tanner.
Mack glared at her, twisting Tanner's arm up behind him a bit further. "I wouldn't, lady."
"Hey, now, let's not be hasty," Molly said easily.
"Let's talk, Harlen," Jackson said. "I've got the vase. Leave these three alone."
"I'd do as the man says," Tanner added, grunting a little when Mack pulled up his arm again.
"You didn't steal it out from under us."
"No, that was a group of preteens. How does that make you feel?" he asked, moving another step towards them, tossing his knife and drawing attention. Molly subtly shifted closer to Mack, Tanner and Arnie.
Avalon finally found her voice. "Hey, Benny and I are teenagers, thanks."
"My apologies, Miss Johnson," Jackson said with a slight bow. "Mr. Dailey."
"Apology accepted, sir," Ben said.
"Now, Harlen, you won't get the vase picking on these three."
Molly struck just then, jamming her knife into Mack's thigh and rolling off to hit Arnie as well. Ben reacted a second later, slamming his heel into his man's foot and planting his elbow as hard as he could into his gut. Without thinking, Avalon drove her heel up toward the groin of the man standing behind her.
Jackson took two steps forward when Harlen's head swiveled and grabbed him around the throat, pressing his knife into the man's side. "Tell your men to back off, Harlen," he said.
"Back off," Harlen managed.
Tanner stepped away from Arnie and Mack, calmly picked up his knife, and turned to face them. "Loni, Ben, go inside," he said calmly.
"But--"
"Go, damn it." His voice had lost all its friendliness. "Right now."
"I second Tanner," Jackson said calmly. "You might be teenagers, but it's time to let us have an adult chat."
Avalon looked at Ben. For a moment, he looked like he might argue but then he just offered Avalon his hand. "C'mon. Simon and Emma'll be worried."
"Okay." She took it tightly and carefully began to thread through the group, back to the house. As they went, she glanced back at Tanner, but he paid them no more attention, keeping his eyes fixed on the two goons. He didn't look kind anymore. His eyes were dangerous.
"Well, Harlen," she heard Jackson start, "I knew you were a bastard but I do believe you've reached a new low tonight, my friend."
That was all they got before she and Ben reached the door.
He pushed it shut behind them and took a deep breath. "You okay?" he asked, subdued.
"Yeah, fine," she muttered.
In a very un-Ben-like move, he merely nodded and headed for the common room, still gripping her hand. She had absolutely no problem with that. His hand was the only thing keeping her anchored to the present. They came upon Emma and Simon before they made it as far as the common room. Emma spotted them first and threw herself forward, hugging them both. Simon hung back, but his eyes were wide and worried, the usual cockiness having fled at some point.
"We're okay, Em," Avalon made herself say. "They got there in time, promise."
She nodded shakily, ducking her head to try and hide the fact she was wiping away tears.
"I got lucky," Simon said. "I ran into them halfway between here and the castle. They were going to do a sweep of the city."
Avalon smiled crookedly and put an arm around Emma. "I was wondering how they got there so fast."
"How'd you know, anyway?"
"Emma won, so I was coming out to share my sulk with you. It was just dumb luck that I didn't yell as soon as I opened the door and spotted the guys between you and me. I figured it had to be them so I went for help."
"Brilliant deduction, Si." She smirked. "And I had no doubt Emma was going to win that one."
He made a face at her. "Thanks a lot, Loni."
"She has a point," Ben said.
"I always win," Emma said, voice a little more even.
Avalon smiled innocently. "I speak only the truth." She couldn't help wondering what was going on out back. It felt weird to keep joking as usual when the danger was so close.
Simon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her because his gaze shifted past them. "Where's Tanner? Or Jack and Molly?"
"Still outside," she said. "They told us to come in."
"Oh."
"Mom and Ree didn't notice a thing except that Simon and I seemed jumpy so they exiled us," Emma said. "Not sure if that's a good thing or not."
Avalon blinked. "Okay, usually I give them credit for being a little less spacey than that."
"They're really busy. The place is full," Simon said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you get questions later."
She glanced around them to see that the common room had, in fact, filled up for the dinner hour. Exhaling, she nodded. "Tanner's going to tell them, I think."
"Don't see how he could explain the bruises and cuts without telling them," Ben said quietly.
She nodded without replying.
"Are they going to make us stop?" Emma asked and then looked between the two. "Should we stop?"
Avalon only shrugged. Jackson hadn't said anything, but who knew what would happen now that they'd been caught. Ben shrugged too. Emma bit her lip.
"Guess we just need to wait," Simon said.
"Guess so," Avalon muttered.
"Should I stay or not?"
"Think they'd want you to."
He nodded silently. They stood there in silence for a very long time. Avalon jumped when the back door finally creaked open and Tanner came barreling in, still bloody, and went into the wash room without speaking to the children.
Emma's eyes went wide. "What happened to him?"
"He tried to fight two of them and they overpowered him," said Avalon.
A moment later, Molly and Jackson came in. "Hey, kids," Jackson said with a slight smile. "I think we need to talk to you and your mothers."
Avalon looked over her shoulder into the common room. Things were still busy, but appeared to be calming down.
"Let's wait for Tanner, though," Molly said, wiping her hands on a handkerchief.
Avalon could see some red smears. "What did they do, after we left?" she couldn't help asking.
"We sent them packing," Jackson said. "You don't need to worry about them anymore."
She doubted it, but nodded anyway.
A couple of minutes later, Tanner emerged from the washroom mostly blood-free. "Shall we?" he said, looking completely composed once more.
"Lead the way."
He nodded and moved toward the kids. "Well," he said, in a low voice, "let's face the music."
Avalon nodded and turned toward the common room. Ben stuck to her heels while Simon and Emma followed them. Molly and Jackson brought up the rear. Ree looked up from collecting plates as they came in and frowned, eyes darting between the kids, Tanner, and the KIN agents in confusion. "Ah, hello," she ventured.
"Hello, Ms. Johnson," Jackson said with a smile. "Can we borrow you and Ms. Dailey for a few moments?"
"Certainly," she said. "I'll be right back." She took the plates into the kitchen, reemerging a few tense moments later with Anne.
"Any place we can talk privately?"
"We...don't use the front parlor in the evening."
"Then I'd suggest we adjourn there," Jackson said politely.
Ree looked at Anne. "Well, all right."
Once they got there, Avalon took a seat next to Ben on the exact opposite side of the room from their mothers. Although she would not have admitted it aloud, she was worried about what would happen.
Simon settled on Avalon's other side and Emma slipped in beside Ben.
"What's going on?" Anne asked, looking between the two KIN agents before her gaze settled on Tanner.
The man smiled thinly. "The kids and I have something to confess." He went on to explain, with few yet clear details, what they had been helping Simon do for quite some time.
Anne stared at him. "Why in the name of the gods did you think this was a good idea?"
"We trusted you, Tanner," Ree said quietly.
"I apologize," he said. "We should not have gone behind your back--"
Avalon flinched. "Mama, it's not his fault. We asked him to teach us his tricks but he didn't know what we were doing until way after we started."
Ben nodded. "It's our fault, really. We wanted this and thought we could help."
"I must interject," Jackson said. "If the number of goods that Simon has apparently dropped off for us all came from your three children, it's an impressive number and high quality goods."
"And we've never been caught before," Avalon added, before either of the two women could say anything in reply. "We only were this time because they changed the day of their theft so we had to get in first."
"It's never happened before," Ben agreed.
"Even if I were okay with you, Ben...dragging your sister into it?"
"She's the best of all of us," said Avalon. "And she threatened to tell."
"That is a horrendous reason!"
She winced again. "I know, Anne, and we're so sorry." Ducking her head, she glanced at her mother through the curtain of hair that fell around her face.
Ree was shaking her head. She looked very, very pale. "Loni, you can't do this to me," she said quietly. "You could have been killed tonight, you realize? And after your father--" She cut herself off. "I knew you were reckless and stubborn but I didn't think you would ever try--"
"I'm sorry," Avalon whispered, feeling about to cry.
"Ms. Johnson, Ms. Dailey, your children have been trained by the very best. Nothing personal, but I don't want to lose their skills."
"They're thirteen!" Ree exploded. "Emma's even younger than that!"
"They've also got a gift and they've got Tanner watching out for them."
"Which was not enough this time. My daughter is all I have, Mr. Darcy."
"I understand that and, of course, it is ultimately your decision, but they've already started to make a difference. I can't count the number of arrests we've made off their tips."
Ree looked away without replying and covered her mouth with a hand.
"If this were to continue," he continued softly, "we would be keeping an eye on them as well, beyond just Tanner, so that, should this sort of situation arise, it would not get as far as it did tonight."
"No offense meant, Mr. Darcy, because I have the highest respect for the work you do, but you're not perfect."
"None taken and I would agree with you. But neither is the world, Ms. Johnson."
Anne watched all this silent, face tight in concern.
Ben again reached for Avalon's hand under the table. She gripped it back tightly.
Ree shook her head and dropped her face in her hands. "I can't...I can't be reconciled to this right now. I just can't."
"I understand, Ms. Johnson. All I ask is that you think it over. Come along, Simon, it's time you got home before your parents start to worry."
She didn't reply.
Tanner stood and offered Simon a hand. "Jackson says we have you to thank for the speedy help."
He took it, ducking his head. "It was nothing," he murmured, glancing at his friends.
"Bye, Si," Avalon said quietly.
"Bye," he said. "Thanks for dinner," he added, directing it at their mothers.
"You're welcome, dear," Anne said automatically.
Ree nodded her agreement.
He waved, cast one more look at the trio and then trailed Molly and Jackson out of the room.
Only then did Tanner turn to the two women. "I am very sorry," was all he said.
Anne nodded, even as she rubbed her face. "I understand, Tanner," she said quietly before turning to face the kids. "It's past your bed time. Off with you," she told them wearily.
Avalon shot a glance at her mother. Ree didn't look up.
"Okay, Mom," Ben muttered after a second, reluctantly letting go of Avalon's hand and standing.
She followed suit without saying anything. Emma followed them out, head hanging. Avalon felt sick just thinking about the whole thing. She loved what they did and desperately wanted to keep doing it, but if her mother ended up saying no, she would have to stop. There was no question in her mind about that. She knew she could probably continue unnoticed if she tried hard enough, but it would never be worth it.
Ben pulled the door shut behind them. "I can't imagine life without it anymore," he said.
"I've never seen Mama that upset," Avalon replied.
"Mom too, even if she didn't show it as much. With Dad gone, like your dad..." he said and bit his lip.
"I never wanted to scare them so bad. Didn't think we'd ever get caught."
"You an' me both," Ben muttered.
She folded her arms and looked at the ground.
Emma said nothing, which was unusual for her even in this sort of situation.
"Guess we probably should go to bed."
"Guess so." Avalon doubted she could sleep, but there was nothing else to do.
Ben sighed. "There's nothing that's going to convince them, is there?"
"I don't know, Benny," she whispered, still not looking up.
Emma suddenly kicked the wall. "This is stupid," she said loudly and then turned to stomp off towards the stable and then paused, glared at nothing in particular.
Avalon frowned at her. "Emma, there's nothing we can do."
"Doesn't make it any less stupid," she said, not making eye contact.
"It doesn't matter." Avalon turned away and sat down on her bed.
"Should," she muttered, crossing her arms and glaring at the door.
"Being angry's not going to help, Em."
"Can't hurt either," his sister shot back.
"Look, just go to bed. They're just going to get angry if we try to talk to them tonight."
"Fine. Night, Ben."
"Night," Ben said quietly, turning for the door.
"Night," Avalon said. She waited for the latch to click shut behind him and then flopped backward onto her bed, covering her face with her hands. Emma curled up on hers, back to Avalon. When she saw it, Avalon felt stung, but she knew she couldn't fix anything right then and it was best not to try. Instead, she rolled over to face the opposite wall, shut her eyes, and tried not to cry.
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe, Post NIEE
Challenges: Cookies n’ Cream 18 (slip), Tangerine 10 (faking it) [Marina]; Apple Pie 6 (backyard), Watermelon 10 (where did I put that?), Wildberry 1 (another fine mess) [Casey]
Toppings & Extras: Caramel, Smoothie, Brownie
Word Count: 6,672
Rating: PG
Summary: Avalon sees a familiar face in the market.
Notes: Follows straight on from this. For the Smoothie part of the Olympics and Casey's last Watermelon.
Avalon strode out of the open-air market feeling very pleased with herself. She had found everything her mother and Anne had told her to get for less than she had expected to, due to running into a couple of salespeople who had recognized her and taken a little off the price because she'd lingered to talk to them. Normally, she was selective about who she spoke to, but for some reason she found it easy to make conversation over sales transactions. She turned, waved to the woman she had just spoken with, and set off for home.
Just then, someone bumped into her shoulder. "Oh, sorry, miss," a strangely familiar voice said.
She grabbed the handle of her basket with her free hand for extra support, looking up solely out of reflex. "That's okay, sir. No harm..." She trailed off, abruptly recognizing one of the men from the emergency vase heist from the previous week. What had his buddy called him? Arnie? "No harm done," she finished hurriedly, producing her nicest smile.
The man's eyes narrowed. "Hey, wait a minute, aren't you that kid from the other night?"
She blinked, affecting innocence. "Pardon me?"
"You're the kid from the other night! The love bird," he said, stepping towards her.
Instinctively, she backed away. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't know what you're talking about." She felt her cheeks heat a bit at being called a "love bird" again and hoped she could play it off as mild distress rather than embarrassment at the memory. She and Ben hadn't talked about it at all since.
"Bullshit, kid, I remember you! It was definitely you."
Now definitely alarmed, she hastened her retreat. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I don't know you. Excuse me." She turned before he could get another word in and walked briskly in the exact opposite direction of the inn.
"Hey! Hey, stop that kid!" the man yelled after her, trying to shove through the crowd.
Avalon glanced back at him incredulously, but kept going. What did he think he was going to accomplish by doing that? She knew enough people in the area, and particularly in the market, that they would take her side if she so much as got slightly misty-eyed. All the same, she did not want to stick around and test her luck, so she hurried into the next alley.
Not surprisingly, she soon left him in the dust.
She waited two more blocks before taking a chance and relaxing for a moment. "What was that?" she wondered, under her breath. The cloak should have hid her identity; it was the whole reason they wore dark cloaks. Maybe some of her hair had been peeking out at the time? She hadn't been paying attention. But that by itself...
All of a sudden, it hit her, and she covered her mouth. He had recognized her voice. "Figures," she muttered. "The one time Benny and I had to talk..." She shook her head and glanced around. The women would be wondering where she had gone by that time. Stepping into an intersection, she looked carefully around before hurrying off, the long way, toward home.
Ben was at their usual table in the corner when she finally made it home. He was the only one present.
Avalon was so relieved to see him that she ran right over, barely stopping long enough to set her basket down before hugging him.
She plainly caught him off guard, but he returned it. "Um, what's up, Loni? You okay?"
"Oh, Benny." She straightened, pushing her hair out of her face. "One of the guys from the other night bumped into me at the market and recognized my voice."
His eyes went wide. "What? What the heck are the chances of that?"
"I don't know, but it happened. I had to go the long way home."
"Crap, what do we do now?"
"I don't know." All her composure disappeared as the reality of what had happened sank in. It was possible that they had been completely compromised by the incident. She dropped into the seat across from him and buried her face in her hands. "I don't know, I don't know."
Ben put a hand on her shoulder, biting his lip. "We'd better talk to Tanner."
She nodded without looking up.
"I'll go see if he's not busy." He glanced at her basket. "And drop off the market good with Mom."
"Thanks, Benny," she said.
"No problem." He scooped up the basket and disappeared towards the back.
A few minutes later, he reappeared with Tanner. Avalon lifted her face up and tried to look brave. Tanner wasn't fooled. "C'mere, munchkin," he said quietly. She got up and moved toward them so that he could hug her. "There now, it's all right. We'll talk it through and figure something out."
"How bad d'you think it is?" Ben asked, bouncing from foot to foot.
"Can't say. Loni? Why don't you tell me what happened in detail." Tanner gently nudged both of them to sit back down at the table.
Avalon related the entire incident as best she remembered it. "I think I did an okay acting job," she said.
"Probably the best you could have considering you had to think fast," said Tanner, thoughtfully.
Ben had plopped in one of the other chairs, but shifted impatiently. "And?"
"And...I'm not sure if it'll make a difference. She was at the market. He could probably have asked anyone there who she was."
"So they'll know how to find me," said Avalon.
"And we're in trouble."
Tanner looked at Ben. "You may want to ask Simon what he knows about the group that was after that vase."
"He's coming over for dinner."
"Good. The sooner the better."
"It should only be an hour or two."
"Okay." Tanner got up from the table. "No use panicking before then, I think. I'm going to get back to the stables. Stay inside until your friend comes."
"Okay, Tanner," Avalon said quietly.
"Emma went out with Ree, will they be okay?" Ben asked nervously.
"Probably for this evening, at least. The more immediate targets would be you two."
He slumped back in his chair, frowning.
Avalon felt bad, seeing it, but she wasn't sure what she could say or do to make things better. There probably wasn't anything, short of talking to Simon and hoping for the best. It was unlikely they could have done anything to prevent it, either, short of giving up on the heist, and they never would have done that.
*
Simon arrived before Emma and Ree, bouncing through the door. "Hey, kids!"
Avalon looked up and tried to smile. "Hey, Si."
"You look a little troubled," he said, flopping between her and Ben.
"That's because I'm a lot troubled," she said, attempting nonchalance anyway. Without waiting for him to reply, she told him the story.
Simon frowned. "That's not good. What do we do now?"
"What do you know about that group?" she asked.
"I try not to ask about that stuff, because I don't want to draw suspicions, but a little bit, I guess. They're apparently a fairly small group, but they've pulled off a couple high class heists. Yours is the first that's supposedly gone wrong and KIN's on their tail now."
She glanced at Ben. "Okay, so KIN's on them. That's something."
"Yeah, I heard Jackson say so himself, but...it might not be quick. They don't have much to go on. Just the note I always leave with the item."
"Who...who would know more about what they do?"
"Um, Jackson, probably. Or one of the other KIN people. Sunny might. Depends on how much she's been talking to her dad and Jack. But Sunny would also want to know why you're asking."
She pursed her lips, unsure if she was willing to fully disclose the reason. Emma had been right about the fact that she and Ben were both very bad liars--it was because they rarely had cause to try.
Ben had stayed silent until then but he now piped up. "We can't tell her. She's great and I know she's your cousin but she's the freakin' crown princess or whatever. She'd have to tell your dad."
Avalon silently nodded her agreement.
Simon looked between them and nodded, unable to deny the fact his cousin had loyalties he didn’t really have to worry about. “What does Tanner think?"
"He wanted us to ask you what you knew, first," said Avalon.
"I know they're not a group you want going against you."
"Really reassuring, Si."
"What? I'll help if I can, but it's true!"
She rolled her eyes and propped her chin on her fists.
"So what are you going to do?" he asked, looking between his two friends.
Ben shrugged slightly and also looked at Avalon.
"I don't know," she said, avoiding their eyes. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep up a calm facade.
"Does Ems know?" Simon asked Ben.
"No, not yet. She's been gone with Ree all afternoon. We expect them back any time."
"They better be back soon if we're going to have dinner on time," said Avalon.
"They should be. Mom said they'd be gone a while. She's doin' dinner," Ben said.
She nodded and lowered her eyes to the table again.
A couple of silent, awkward minutes later, her mother and Emma walked through the door. Avalon automatically straightened. Normally, her mother was the only person she felt remotely comfortable falling apart in front of, but Ree had no idea about any of their operations--she hoped--and couldn't help, this time. It was better not to show it.
"Where is Tanner?" Simon muttered, flashing his most winning 'I'm part of the royal family' smile at her mom and Emma.
Ree smiled. "Hello, Simon. Glad you could make it. Everything go okay at the market, Loni?"
"Course it did," said Avalon, grinning brightly for her benefit.
"Glad to hear it. I'd better get in there and help." She smoothed down Emma's windblown hair. "I'll take your basket, Ems."
"All right," Emma said, offering her basket and then bounding over to the others. "Hi, Simon!"
Ben and Simon watched Ree disappear into the kitchen and then Simon turned back to the others. "Well?"
"Someone else tell, this time, I've already said it three times." Avalon looked down at the table again.
Ben quickly outlined what had happened.
Emma slung into her seat. "Crap."
"Where is Tanner?" Simon asked again.
"Stables," said Avalon.
"We gotta do something," Emma said quietly.
"Tanner thinks they don't know about you yet." Avalon shrugged. "And they know I was with someone when we ran into them, but maybe they don't know it's Ben."
"If they trace us to here, they're gonna figure out it was Ben."
"Yeah, if he figured out your voice, he'll be able to figure out mine."
"Then just don't talk ever again, obviously," she said, rolling her eyes a bit.
"You get my point, Loni," Ben said, making a face back.
"Yes, but it's my job to fight logic with sarcasm."
"That's true enough," Simon said, amused.
"I don't think there's much we can do, unless we figured out a way to get KIN to bring them down."
"Which we can't do directly unless we're ready to tell them everything," said Avalon, frowning. Thinking of the mothers, who had no idea and who could possibly be in danger because of this, she thought it might almost be worth it.
"Maybe Tanner could somehow?"
"We could ask him, I suppose."
"Or you could, Simon?"
"I...maybe?"
"Is that the only thing we can do?" she asked.
"Unless we had a way of getting them ourselves," Emma said, swinging her legs.
"We'd need to know more about them for that," said Avalon.
"And in any case, it's too risky for the three of you to go looking," a voice sounded, from over her left shoulder. She turned to see that Tanner had materialized in time to hear the last few phrases. "I don't want you to do that under any circumstances, am I clear?"
"Why not?"
"Clear," Ben said, speaking at the same time as his sister.
Tanner pinned Emma with a stern look. "I mean it, Em. You're already too young to be doing this. You don't need to make it worse."
"How can it be worse?"
"You'd be borrowing unnecessary trouble, going and looking for them. I can guarantee they'll be more than equipped for anything you could do to them directly."
"All right. Then what can we do?" she asked.
Tanner glanced at Simon. "Don't try to run any more jobs for now, I think."
"How's that gonna help if they come after us?" Ben said.
"At the very least, you won't be trawling around the back alleys of Oakbridge. If they caught you there, we'd never know."
He sighed. "Fine, but how long?"
"Until KIN can take care of them."
"That could be ages."
"KIN'll figure it out," Simon said, trying to sound reassuring.
"Any way you could step that up a bit, Simon?" asked Tanner.
"Um, maybe, if Jackson was around, but I'm not sure what I can say."
Avalon frowned at the table, but said nothing.
Tanner looked between them. "Do your best. In any case, don't panic and stay close to home, got it?"
"Yeah, well, I always have an escort everywhere, I think I'll be okay," Simon said with a slight face.
"You do. I'm more worried about them."
"Okay, Tanner, we get it," Avalon burst out, glaring up at him. Deserved or not, her fault or not, she was suddenly sick of his concern. "We're not going to go off and do anything stupid, all right?"
He frowned at her. "Loni, relax."
She let out a frustrated growl and stood up from the table. "I'm going to my room. Let me know when dinner's ready." Before anyone could stop her, she ran off.
A minute later, someone knocked on the door. "Loni?" It was, unsurprisingly, Ben.
"Go away, Benny," she muttered.
"Loni," he said, “can I come in?"
She shut her eyes, took a breath, and reached for the doorknob. There wasn't much she could refuse when it came to Ben.
As she opened it, he stepped inside. "Hey."
"Hey," she said quietly, not looking at him.
"It could have just as easily been me."
"But it wasn't."
"Doesn't mean it's your fault."
She folded her arms. "I know there wasn't anything we could've done. I just...I feel like there should have been."
"I wish we could have. And there's gotta be something we can do."
She nodded, but had no other response for that.
"And who knows, maybe he's too stupid to track us down."
She let out a short laugh. "I'm not banking on it, Benny."
"Me neither," he admitted and let out a breath. "Just...it's okay to be upset."
"Being upset isn't going to fix it," she said flatly.
"No, but right now, nothing is. There's no harm in it."
Looking at the ground, she shrugged. She wasn't going to help anything, being like this, and Ben was not doing much to help her get over it.
He didn't say anything for a minute and then, "Okay, buck up, Loni. It's not the end of the world and some solution will present itself. It always seems to. We deal with it as it comes."
She nodded. "Is everyone still downstairs?"
"As far as I know. I think it's probably about dinner time."
"Okay, let's go then."
He pushed open the door and held it open for her. She walked past him and down the stairs without looking up. She could feel his eyes on her as he followed, probably filled with a combination of concern and exasperation, which was so like him. She chose not to acknowledge it.
When they arrived downstairs, Simon and Emma were still at the table, but Tanner was absent. "Where did Tanner go?" asked Avalon.
"Mom asked him to help her with something in the kitchen," Emma said.
Avalon nodded and glanced at Ben.
"Is dinner almost done?"
"Yeah, they were really just waiting for you two," Simon said, waving a hand absently at the filling common room.
"Okay."
"I'll go tell 'em," Ben said and trotted off to the kitchen.
During dinner, Simon and Emma got into a heated debate about something that had happened at school earlier in the week, and when they had finished eating, the argument still wasn't over. Avalon collected their plates and rolled her eyes for Ben's benefit. Ben smiled faintly. She turned away and reached for Tanner's plate. "I'll take yours, too."
He handed it to her with a smile. "All right. When you're done cleaning up, come talk to me, okay? Before it gets dark." He glanced around to make sure the women weren't listening, then added, "And not by yourself."
Avalon nodded and hurried into the kitchen with the stack.
Anne glanced at her as she came in. "You feeling okay, Loni? You look a little pale."
She smiled brightly to deflect the concern. "I'm fine. Here's everyone's plates. Uh, also, I think Simon and Emma are going to be at it for a while."
Anne snorted. "I have no doubt. Simon's the only one outside the family who has that ability with Em." She eyed Avalon, though. "You'd let us know if you weren't feeling well, right?"
"Of course."
At that, Ree looked up from the stove, and her eyes narrowed. "Loni--"
"I'm fine, I promise," said Avalon, holding up her hands. "And Tanner asked me to help him with something, so I'm going to go do that." She turned quickly and ran out of the kitchen.
Ben glanced up at her as she reappeared, gaze pleading with her to save him from his sister and their friend.
"I need to go talk to Tanner," she said. "Come with?"
"Absolutely," he said, hopping up and coming over to join her.
"Great." She flashed him a quick smile and headed for the back door.
He trailed her out. "What does Tanner want?"
"He just said he wanted to talk to me before dark and not to come alone." She opened the back door and stepped out into the alley.
"Okay," he said easily and stepped out after her.
She smiled. "Thanks."
Ben blinked. "What for?" he asked, waving to Tanner as the older man stepped out of the stables, brushing his hands off.
"Coming along. Though I guess it wasn't hard to convince you to ditch the other two."
Tanner lifted his hand to flag them down. "Hey, kids."
"Anything to get away from the two of them and one of their fights. And Emma says we’re bad."
She smirked at him and turned to Tanner. "What is it?"
"Are you all right?" he asked. "You yelled, back there, and you never yell."
Avalon shrugged. "I just didn't want to keep harping on the same stuff."
He put his hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. Look, between Simon and me, I'm sure we'll figure something out. I've still got some of my old connections."
She caught the flash of curiosity in Ben's eyes at the mention of his old connections. Her friend was always trying to figure out where exactly Tanner had fallen when it came to legal versus illegal. Avalon felt her own curiosity but sometimes wondered if she really wanted to know.
"Okay, Tanner," she said, looking between them.
Tanner smiled a bit and kissed the top of her head. "That's my girl. All right, you two, get inside before the sun goes down."
"All right," Ben said and started to turn back towards the house before freezing as he faced the alleyway. A second later, he took a step back towards Avalon and Tanner.
"That's her," a new, but far too familiar voice said from the alley.
She caught her breath, turning quickly to see the man from earlier leading two more toward them.
"Tanner," Ben muttered uncertainly, stepping back even with Avalon.
"Well, well, well, and I would suppose the boy's likely our other little friend," one of the two said, stepping fully into the stable lamplight and folding his arm as he regarded the two youngsters, ignoring Tanner completely, although Avalon's 'friend' from earlier kept an eye on the one-armed man.
Tanner stepped calmly in front of them. "Can I help you?"
The man looked him over. "I want to know where the vase is."
"The vase?" Tanner repeated politely.
The man waved one hand. "Even if you don't know what I'm talking about, those two do, so how about you move aside and let us chat?"
"I don't think so."
He frowned. "If you don't, Arnie and Mack will make you. Your choice."
"Tanner," Avalon began.
"Quiet, Loni." He didn't even turn around. "Sir, I highly suggest you turn around, and leave these kids alone."
Ben reached for Avalon's hand.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, friend. I need that vase and your little pals are the only ones who seem to know where it is."
"I said," Tanner said, very slowly and deliberately, "turn around, and leave these kids alone."
For a moment, the man said nothing, appraising the trio. "Arnie, Mack."
"With pleasure, boss," Arnie said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. Mack followed suit, with a predatory grin.
Avalon gripped Ben's hand tightly. "Tanner--"
"It's all right." Tanner's voice sounded eerily calm. He reached slowly for the knife on his belt. Arnie had already pulled his, twirling it easily, coming in on Tanner's right side.
Ben tugged Avalon back a step further towards the stable.
"Run, kids," the stable hand said, barely audible.
Ben looked at the three men and then tightened his grip on Avalon's hand and started pulling her towards the stable. Both kids knew there was a gate out to the back road on the side.
"Tan--"
"Loni, get out of here," Tanner snapped, pulling the knife.
Avalon swallowed and let Ben drag her back without further protest. Ben let go of her long enough to fiddle with the lock and pop it open. "Go!" She hurried through the door and looked back to make sure he was following her. He took two steps, froze for a split second and then yelled her name even as he darted forward. A thick hand descended on Avalon's shoulder a second later and two large arms snagged Ben around the middle at the same time.
She gasped and looked behind her, seeing the other man they had run into during the heist. He smiled down at her, not kindly or humorously as before. "It's terribly rude of you to run out on visitors," he said, "but do you know what's worse? Lying."
"Let go of me--"
"I don't think so. Unless you'd like us to take this inside to your mothers."
She swallowed.
"I thought not." He nodded to the man holding Ben. "Back out front."
That man set Ben down but kept a tight grip on his upper arm, steering him back through the gate into the yard. Avalon went with them, without having to be prodded too hard. Outside, Arnie and Mack had already subdued Tanner.
"Oh good, we didn't lose anyone," the leader said with a wide smile that didn't reach his eyes. He stepped around where Arnie and Mack had Tanner held securely until he stood just in front of the kids. "Where's the vase?"
"We don't know," said Avalon, barely audible.
The man grabbed Ben and pulled him over, twisting his arm up nastily behind his back. Ben winced, going pale, obviously biting back a whimper. "You took it. That means you have it. So where is it?"
"We don’t have it anymore," she said quickly. "We gave it to KIN, anonymously."
"You did what?" the man sputtered, obviously caught off guard. "Who the hell does that?"
"Apparently these kids," a brand new voice spoke up. "Busy night at the stable, eh, Mol?"
"Seems so," a female voice answered.
Avalon looked up toward the newcomers, startled.
"Hello, Tanner, long time no see," the new man said.
Avalon glanced at Tanner, who shot the man a bloody grin. "Not long enough, and your timing is shoddy as usual."
"It took Si a few minutes to get himself back up to the castle. You'll survive."
"Who the hell are you?" the leader demanded.
"Your recognition skills are shit, Harlen," the man said, stepping into the light.
"Jackson Darcy," the leader growled.
Avalon blinked. Will Darcy's son had come all the way down to help them?
"Yes, well, if you can get a move on, I'm sure my employers would be much obliged," said Tanner, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Give me a bit of a break, Tanner. We're still outnumbered. Have you met Molly before?" he asked cheerfully.
"Back off, Darcy," the leader said.
"Can't. I've got the vase you want, remember?"
"Heard the name, never seen the face." Tanner bobbed his head, semi-courteously, in the woman's direction. "And good evening to you, Miss Rees."
"Nice to meet you too," she said, flashing a smile.
"You're outnumbered, let's just finish this," Harlen said.
"You might have a bit of a hard time considering all your people are busy," Jackson said, absently twirling his knife.
Avalon glanced around at the group.
"But we're not. Fancy that," Molly said, moving towards the two men holding Tanner.
Mack glared at her, twisting Tanner's arm up behind him a bit further. "I wouldn't, lady."
"Hey, now, let's not be hasty," Molly said easily.
"Let's talk, Harlen," Jackson said. "I've got the vase. Leave these three alone."
"I'd do as the man says," Tanner added, grunting a little when Mack pulled up his arm again.
"You didn't steal it out from under us."
"No, that was a group of preteens. How does that make you feel?" he asked, moving another step towards them, tossing his knife and drawing attention. Molly subtly shifted closer to Mack, Tanner and Arnie.
Avalon finally found her voice. "Hey, Benny and I are teenagers, thanks."
"My apologies, Miss Johnson," Jackson said with a slight bow. "Mr. Dailey."
"Apology accepted, sir," Ben said.
"Now, Harlen, you won't get the vase picking on these three."
Molly struck just then, jamming her knife into Mack's thigh and rolling off to hit Arnie as well. Ben reacted a second later, slamming his heel into his man's foot and planting his elbow as hard as he could into his gut. Without thinking, Avalon drove her heel up toward the groin of the man standing behind her.
Jackson took two steps forward when Harlen's head swiveled and grabbed him around the throat, pressing his knife into the man's side. "Tell your men to back off, Harlen," he said.
"Back off," Harlen managed.
Tanner stepped away from Arnie and Mack, calmly picked up his knife, and turned to face them. "Loni, Ben, go inside," he said calmly.
"But--"
"Go, damn it." His voice had lost all its friendliness. "Right now."
"I second Tanner," Jackson said calmly. "You might be teenagers, but it's time to let us have an adult chat."
Avalon looked at Ben. For a moment, he looked like he might argue but then he just offered Avalon his hand. "C'mon. Simon and Emma'll be worried."
"Okay." She took it tightly and carefully began to thread through the group, back to the house. As they went, she glanced back at Tanner, but he paid them no more attention, keeping his eyes fixed on the two goons. He didn't look kind anymore. His eyes were dangerous.
"Well, Harlen," she heard Jackson start, "I knew you were a bastard but I do believe you've reached a new low tonight, my friend."
That was all they got before she and Ben reached the door.
He pushed it shut behind them and took a deep breath. "You okay?" he asked, subdued.
"Yeah, fine," she muttered.
In a very un-Ben-like move, he merely nodded and headed for the common room, still gripping her hand. She had absolutely no problem with that. His hand was the only thing keeping her anchored to the present. They came upon Emma and Simon before they made it as far as the common room. Emma spotted them first and threw herself forward, hugging them both. Simon hung back, but his eyes were wide and worried, the usual cockiness having fled at some point.
"We're okay, Em," Avalon made herself say. "They got there in time, promise."
She nodded shakily, ducking her head to try and hide the fact she was wiping away tears.
"I got lucky," Simon said. "I ran into them halfway between here and the castle. They were going to do a sweep of the city."
Avalon smiled crookedly and put an arm around Emma. "I was wondering how they got there so fast."
"How'd you know, anyway?"
"Emma won, so I was coming out to share my sulk with you. It was just dumb luck that I didn't yell as soon as I opened the door and spotted the guys between you and me. I figured it had to be them so I went for help."
"Brilliant deduction, Si." She smirked. "And I had no doubt Emma was going to win that one."
He made a face at her. "Thanks a lot, Loni."
"She has a point," Ben said.
"I always win," Emma said, voice a little more even.
Avalon smiled innocently. "I speak only the truth." She couldn't help wondering what was going on out back. It felt weird to keep joking as usual when the danger was so close.
Simon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her because his gaze shifted past them. "Where's Tanner? Or Jack and Molly?"
"Still outside," she said. "They told us to come in."
"Oh."
"Mom and Ree didn't notice a thing except that Simon and I seemed jumpy so they exiled us," Emma said. "Not sure if that's a good thing or not."
Avalon blinked. "Okay, usually I give them credit for being a little less spacey than that."
"They're really busy. The place is full," Simon said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you get questions later."
She glanced around them to see that the common room had, in fact, filled up for the dinner hour. Exhaling, she nodded. "Tanner's going to tell them, I think."
"Don't see how he could explain the bruises and cuts without telling them," Ben said quietly.
She nodded without replying.
"Are they going to make us stop?" Emma asked and then looked between the two. "Should we stop?"
Avalon only shrugged. Jackson hadn't said anything, but who knew what would happen now that they'd been caught. Ben shrugged too. Emma bit her lip.
"Guess we just need to wait," Simon said.
"Guess so," Avalon muttered.
"Should I stay or not?"
"Think they'd want you to."
He nodded silently. They stood there in silence for a very long time. Avalon jumped when the back door finally creaked open and Tanner came barreling in, still bloody, and went into the wash room without speaking to the children.
Emma's eyes went wide. "What happened to him?"
"He tried to fight two of them and they overpowered him," said Avalon.
A moment later, Molly and Jackson came in. "Hey, kids," Jackson said with a slight smile. "I think we need to talk to you and your mothers."
Avalon looked over her shoulder into the common room. Things were still busy, but appeared to be calming down.
"Let's wait for Tanner, though," Molly said, wiping her hands on a handkerchief.
Avalon could see some red smears. "What did they do, after we left?" she couldn't help asking.
"We sent them packing," Jackson said. "You don't need to worry about them anymore."
She doubted it, but nodded anyway.
A couple of minutes later, Tanner emerged from the washroom mostly blood-free. "Shall we?" he said, looking completely composed once more.
"Lead the way."
He nodded and moved toward the kids. "Well," he said, in a low voice, "let's face the music."
Avalon nodded and turned toward the common room. Ben stuck to her heels while Simon and Emma followed them. Molly and Jackson brought up the rear. Ree looked up from collecting plates as they came in and frowned, eyes darting between the kids, Tanner, and the KIN agents in confusion. "Ah, hello," she ventured.
"Hello, Ms. Johnson," Jackson said with a smile. "Can we borrow you and Ms. Dailey for a few moments?"
"Certainly," she said. "I'll be right back." She took the plates into the kitchen, reemerging a few tense moments later with Anne.
"Any place we can talk privately?"
"We...don't use the front parlor in the evening."
"Then I'd suggest we adjourn there," Jackson said politely.
Ree looked at Anne. "Well, all right."
Once they got there, Avalon took a seat next to Ben on the exact opposite side of the room from their mothers. Although she would not have admitted it aloud, she was worried about what would happen.
Simon settled on Avalon's other side and Emma slipped in beside Ben.
"What's going on?" Anne asked, looking between the two KIN agents before her gaze settled on Tanner.
The man smiled thinly. "The kids and I have something to confess." He went on to explain, with few yet clear details, what they had been helping Simon do for quite some time.
Anne stared at him. "Why in the name of the gods did you think this was a good idea?"
"We trusted you, Tanner," Ree said quietly.
"I apologize," he said. "We should not have gone behind your back--"
Avalon flinched. "Mama, it's not his fault. We asked him to teach us his tricks but he didn't know what we were doing until way after we started."
Ben nodded. "It's our fault, really. We wanted this and thought we could help."
"I must interject," Jackson said. "If the number of goods that Simon has apparently dropped off for us all came from your three children, it's an impressive number and high quality goods."
"And we've never been caught before," Avalon added, before either of the two women could say anything in reply. "We only were this time because they changed the day of their theft so we had to get in first."
"It's never happened before," Ben agreed.
"Even if I were okay with you, Ben...dragging your sister into it?"
"She's the best of all of us," said Avalon. "And she threatened to tell."
"That is a horrendous reason!"
She winced again. "I know, Anne, and we're so sorry." Ducking her head, she glanced at her mother through the curtain of hair that fell around her face.
Ree was shaking her head. She looked very, very pale. "Loni, you can't do this to me," she said quietly. "You could have been killed tonight, you realize? And after your father--" She cut herself off. "I knew you were reckless and stubborn but I didn't think you would ever try--"
"I'm sorry," Avalon whispered, feeling about to cry.
"Ms. Johnson, Ms. Dailey, your children have been trained by the very best. Nothing personal, but I don't want to lose their skills."
"They're thirteen!" Ree exploded. "Emma's even younger than that!"
"They've also got a gift and they've got Tanner watching out for them."
"Which was not enough this time. My daughter is all I have, Mr. Darcy."
"I understand that and, of course, it is ultimately your decision, but they've already started to make a difference. I can't count the number of arrests we've made off their tips."
Ree looked away without replying and covered her mouth with a hand.
"If this were to continue," he continued softly, "we would be keeping an eye on them as well, beyond just Tanner, so that, should this sort of situation arise, it would not get as far as it did tonight."
"No offense meant, Mr. Darcy, because I have the highest respect for the work you do, but you're not perfect."
"None taken and I would agree with you. But neither is the world, Ms. Johnson."
Anne watched all this silent, face tight in concern.
Ben again reached for Avalon's hand under the table. She gripped it back tightly.
Ree shook her head and dropped her face in her hands. "I can't...I can't be reconciled to this right now. I just can't."
"I understand, Ms. Johnson. All I ask is that you think it over. Come along, Simon, it's time you got home before your parents start to worry."
She didn't reply.
Tanner stood and offered Simon a hand. "Jackson says we have you to thank for the speedy help."
He took it, ducking his head. "It was nothing," he murmured, glancing at his friends.
"Bye, Si," Avalon said quietly.
"Bye," he said. "Thanks for dinner," he added, directing it at their mothers.
"You're welcome, dear," Anne said automatically.
Ree nodded her agreement.
He waved, cast one more look at the trio and then trailed Molly and Jackson out of the room.
Only then did Tanner turn to the two women. "I am very sorry," was all he said.
Anne nodded, even as she rubbed her face. "I understand, Tanner," she said quietly before turning to face the kids. "It's past your bed time. Off with you," she told them wearily.
Avalon shot a glance at her mother. Ree didn't look up.
"Okay, Mom," Ben muttered after a second, reluctantly letting go of Avalon's hand and standing.
She followed suit without saying anything. Emma followed them out, head hanging. Avalon felt sick just thinking about the whole thing. She loved what they did and desperately wanted to keep doing it, but if her mother ended up saying no, she would have to stop. There was no question in her mind about that. She knew she could probably continue unnoticed if she tried hard enough, but it would never be worth it.
Ben pulled the door shut behind them. "I can't imagine life without it anymore," he said.
"I've never seen Mama that upset," Avalon replied.
"Mom too, even if she didn't show it as much. With Dad gone, like your dad..." he said and bit his lip.
"I never wanted to scare them so bad. Didn't think we'd ever get caught."
"You an' me both," Ben muttered.
She folded her arms and looked at the ground.
Emma said nothing, which was unusual for her even in this sort of situation.
"Guess we probably should go to bed."
"Guess so." Avalon doubted she could sleep, but there was nothing else to do.
Ben sighed. "There's nothing that's going to convince them, is there?"
"I don't know, Benny," she whispered, still not looking up.
Emma suddenly kicked the wall. "This is stupid," she said loudly and then turned to stomp off towards the stable and then paused, glared at nothing in particular.
Avalon frowned at her. "Emma, there's nothing we can do."
"Doesn't make it any less stupid," she said, not making eye contact.
"It doesn't matter." Avalon turned away and sat down on her bed.
"Should," she muttered, crossing her arms and glaring at the door.
"Being angry's not going to help, Em."
"Can't hurt either," his sister shot back.
"Look, just go to bed. They're just going to get angry if we try to talk to them tonight."
"Fine. Night, Ben."
"Night," Ben said quietly, turning for the door.
"Night," Avalon said. She waited for the latch to click shut behind him and then flopped backward onto her bed, covering her face with her hands. Emma curled up on hers, back to Avalon. When she saw it, Avalon felt stung, but she knew she couldn't fix anything right then and it was best not to try. Instead, she rolled over to face the opposite wall, shut her eyes, and tried not to cry.