undergrounds | August Catch All

"Didn't mean to ..." he's muttering, not really wanting to get back into that night. "Just..." he's not really sure what to say, and instead just holds out the bottle of gin in her direction.

"you didn't mean to?" She demands. "Like Fagin didn't mean to put me in the hospital last year?" She didn't believe him.

She takes the gin though and removes the spell. "what do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk," it's a soft mutter. He doesn't really want ot admit it. Only kids sounded as pathetic as he did, and he'd long stopped being a kid. "I'll ... I'll go," he said, nodding. "Er, Bill says hi." It's off-hand, he said he'd say and he almost forgot.

That gets Nancy's attention like nothing else and she grabs Dodger by the front of his shirt.

"What?" she asks, pulling him in and letting the door slam. "When did you see him? what did he say? How is he?"

"The other day," he said, sounding a bit confused about it all. "Fagin sent me up, does it every few months." There was confusion in his voice now because he was fairly certain that Nancy already knew this. But from the sound of it, she had no idea anyone was visiting Bill.

She didn't know. She had only been able to see Bill a few times before it became too much for them both.

"what did he say? how is he? you- you didn't tell him nothing about Cooper, did you?!"

"Not thick, Nance," he said, giving a look. If he told Bill about Cooper he wouldn't have walked out of that place.

"could have fooled me." Nancy turns away from him and moves
to the kitchen counter. She opens the bottle of gin and takes a straight drink.

"Now spill."

"Fagin sends us every few months," he said, trying to work out why she seemed to not know this already. "Keep in nice with Bill. Told Sikes you were working; he says someone's got to be keepin' the place."

She knew, deep down. But she shoved it all away, best to forget.

She frowns. "He doesn't know I lost our old place." She and Bill had had a place in Bethnal Green. Once Eames had taken over as her primary fae protector, Fagin had made sure she lost the place.

Well, when he was getting out at least she had a nice place in Canary Warf.

"How is he?" She takes another drink. She needs to be dunk for all of this.

"He's an arse, what's new," the Dodger shrugged because frankly how else could anyone describe the mood of Bill Sikes. "He's ... important. Inside. People don't mess wiv 'im."

Nancy sighs fondly. "'course he is. wouldn't have it any other way." sounded exactly like her Bill.

She drinks as she always does when she thinks about him.

"Did he say anything else? About me?"

"Threatenin' us to do right by you." He didn't add the 'as always'. Sikes knew fine well that Nancy would go off and do her own thing, to suit herself, but it never stopped him from threatening whoever showed up to go and keep an eye out for the 'stupid girl' as he put it.

"Reckons Fagin's workin' you too hard. He don't know 'bout that, neither."

Nancy would have sent anyone that came after her straight back to Fagin.

"Shit." She swears and pulls her hair back out of her eyes with one hand. "Shit- he doesn't know about any of that. Christ, I've so much to explain to him." Another longer drink this time.

"He don't know I'm out of that life." It paid better than her current job, truthfully. But her hours were better.

"He doesn't know how anything's changed...He ain't seen me since I was young- take him a picture. next time you see him. Tell me what he says." Maybe she should go visit him... No. not with Cooper.

"Fagin won't let us. Says it's best not to worry Bill with how everythin's changing. It'll only get 'im stressed." It's not ... entirely untrue, the Dodger supposes. Depending on how you looked at the matter, that is.

"Makes sense..." He'd get more time added on to his sentence, likely.

"What else? tell me everything."

It's odd. When he couldn't talk to Nancy, the Dodger had an endless list of things he wanted to say to her. Now that she's asking him to tell her everything, it's like his mind has gone completely blank.

"... Lost weight?"

She blinks.

"He did?" Well, skinny and muscular Bill? she was going to be all over that.

"A bit," he responds with a shrug. Not much, really, but enough that you noticed it. Or maybe you only noticed because it wasn't like Sikes was around everyday now. Even a small bit of weight loss was gonna be noticeable.

"Is he eating? I'll make you something to take him, next. Something with bacon, the poor man." She wanted to see him, to curl up with him when he was a wolf and bury herself in his fur. She wanted to hold him and kiss him again. No one understood how much it hurt to be without him. The Bill shaped hole in her soul that would only be filled by him.

"He's eatin', they just don't get big portions." That's pretty much it. That and Sikes seems to be pacing a lot...

"Of course not. First thing when he's home, I'll do- make him a big meal, all his favorites. Desert, too. Give him a whole bottle of gin right in the door." She closes her eyes and sighs.

"I shouldn't be talking like this." Nancy purses her lips, turning away from Jack.

"None of us should," he says. They do though, down the den. All talk about the day Sikes get out an' how great it'll be, an' how those Night Council idiots won't know what hit 'em.

He's not sure how much of it is just people mouthing the words though.

Don't say a damn thing about the Night Council, the last thing she wants is another reason for Bill and Cooper to be at each other's throats when he gets out. She knows she's going to have to work over-time to stop that from happening, when everything happens.

It will happen. The question just is when.

"No- talking about it here." she gestures around the kitchen and takes another drink.

That causes a frown.

"Your place, ain't it?"

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