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Vivien Salazar shows up after years of thought to be dead, a showdown happens and in desperation on her way out, she takes @j-carvalhoe, so @diegojaimechavez, @secondhvnd and Darcy/Gen goes to rescue her. All bunch of shit happens and the truth comes out.

Nothing. Since that night that Rita told Darcy and Diego everything would be alright, he'd received nothing from Darcy, other than the most base, distant politeness whenever he came over to the Grub. Occasionally, when the diner was quiet, he would quickly give Darcy some update on Ellis, and the progress that Rita had made with taking Tyler down for good. She listened attentively, clearly interested in the news, and sometimes he even asked questions about it, but it never went much further than that. Once the relevant information was shared, she'd move on, back to serving or doing management duties for the diner.

It was frustrating, because Diego wanted something from her, anything even if it was just her to show up at his apartment one night to yell at him. But he realized, after a couple days, why she wouldn't dare do that again. Because the last time she did...there was Rita. With her lipstick on his skin, everything so clear that it was stupid for Diego to even hope that Darcy hadn't really noticed.

Oh, yeah. She'd noticed. But was she refusing to engage with him because of how mad he'd gotten when she'd run off to LA to meet Tyler? Or was she mad at him about Rita? Or was it some other reason that he couldn't even fathom? Benjamin was alright - but of course being reminded about her brother's safety and the fact that she couldn't be with him, that had to take a toll on her. A miserable reminder than she wasn't in control of her life, not in the least.

He had control over her life. He did, Tyler did, Rita did - everyone but her. Okay, well. No wonder she was pissed off at him.

So Diego made up his mind, one night when it was very quiet, to try and implore Darcy to talk to him, whether she wanted to or not. The moment she passed by his table, he reached out, and actually caught her wrist. Not hard, she could pull away of she wanted. But the skin-to-skin contact, he hoped, would be enough to make her stop. It was certainly enough to make his heart stop, for a beat or two.

"Darcy, can I come upstairs tonight? After you close up. I'll come up from the back," he asked, that same pleading look in his expression like he had that last night in his own apartment. "We have to talk. Actually talk."

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At first, Darcy would describe the new status quo as going back to normal, back to how things were before anything happened between Diego and her. But she quickly realized it wasn't like anything they've experienced before. Even in the beginning they talked more - maybe it was arguing and fighting and not agreeing with each other, but it was still some kind of communication that wasn't the biggest bullshit politeness that she's done in a very long time. And it was its own kind of hell, even if Darcy knew this is what she needed to do to get through the times when she saw Diego, when the two of them talked.

As for Diego, he kept things as professional as it could get. He never talked about anything deeper than what he wanted for his order, and only ever talked her about something else when he whispered updates to her about Rita's progress of getting rid of Tyler. There was nothing else coming from his end, and it only reaffirmed Darcy in Diego moving on. If it could even be called moving on when there was nothing ever serious between them and probably required not too much effort on his part to find other companions.

And that was okay. She could do this. This was for the best. And then before she knew it, he would be gone and she could breathe and maybe have a handler who could be like Johnathan was - quiet and barely even noticeable.

When Diego grabbed her hand one night, it came like a bucket of ice-cold water and made Darcy stop dead in her tracks. He hasn't touched her in... fuck, in what felt like forever, and she both wanted to yank her arm out of his hold and get away from him as far and fast as possible, while also wanted to freeze time and stay in that moment for as long as she could without making it weird, without letting too many things show.

After the first moment of shock, she snapped her hand out of his fingers and reached up to rub her wrist with her other hand. It didn't hurt, he wasn't squeezing her wrist to make sure she couldn't get out, but her skin was still burning from the touch itself and she had to do something with her hands.

And just something she could focus on in general, and wouldn't have to look at Diego, cause oh boy, the words coming out of his mouth... fuck they were confusing and unexpected and both wanted and unwanted at the same time. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment - he wanted to come upstairs, he wanted to be alone with her, he wanted something from her. Apparently the past couple of days of forcefully trying to get over him didn't do much yet. But then it hit her that this was just another professional meeting. He had something to tell her that couldn't be said in 25 words or less through whispers in the Grub. And this time, he was smarter and suggested her place to avoid another incident like what happened with Rita.

It made sense.

And then her brain started wondering what this talk could possibly be about, and suddenly dread ran through her entirely. Because other than something horrible, potentially fatal happening, what else could he possibly want to inform her about?

Her face dropped and she finally looked at Diego, really looked at him instead of just looking at his jacket behind her hands. "Fuck, what happened? Is B--" she quickly looked around to make sure there was nobody near, nobody listening. "Is my brother okay?" she asked, her voice in a whisper. "And my parents? Are they okay? What happened?"

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"Everyone is okay," Diego said, feeling a wash of guilt at the look of panic and fear in Darcy's big dark eyes. Her whisper sounded like it trembled slightly, betraying just how taut Darcy was. Like a strung bow, ready to snap. He suddenly felt like a lovesick fool. Here she was, hyper-focused so hard on the safety of her family, and with good reason. After the stunt that Tyler Ellis played her in LA, it was no wonder she was so tense and stressed. He wished he could've helped her out and reassured her, or at least he wished he could be there for her - but now that he tried to broach the idea, it felt trite insignificant. Inconsequential, considering all the shit Darcy had to deal with these days.

Granted, a stern voice whispered in the back of his mind, that was partially her fault for running off half-cocked to LA.

But he shook the thought away. It was petty and bitter, and Diego liked to believe he could be more professional than that. What was done was done and there was no changing it now, no matter how much he wished she had told him first, how much it annoyed him that Tyler managed to dismantle their trust with what seemed like a snap of his fingers. If he had to blame anyone, he blamed Ellis.

"I just - I wanted to see you, To talk," he stated awkwardly, almost apologetically. Like he was suggesting something silly and impossible, like a trip to Disneyland. He wanted to look at her, but Diego was positive he'd just see disdain and disgust in her face, and he'd rather not. She probably thought he was just horny or weak, or a combination of both. So he glared down at the table instead. "We haven't spoken in a while."

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The relief flooded through Darcy’s hard and fast and her body lost all the tension that hit her only moments ago. Everyone was okay, nothing was wrong, this wasn't the next chapter in "How to avoid the next disaster as soon and fast as possible". Which was good, cause she wasn't sure if she could handle one more disaster so close to one another. She already felt like she was breaking into millions of pieces and things were too much, she didn't need more on her place.

Diego spoke again, to explain himself and butterflies, those damn butterflies, suddenly woke up in her stomach cause he just wanted to see her. He seemed shy, so careful, the way he said it and the way he couldn't seem to be able to look at her, and this has been what she wanted ever since things went downhill. This, him to show that he cared instead of making it clear that they were wrong or that he was already happily moving on and...

And since this is what she wanted, of course her brain had to go and interpret it. Because suddenly her brain remembered the way he kept saying how wrong what they were doing was, Rita's fingers hastily wiping the lipstick off of his skin or how both of them tried to make sure Darcy understood just how close they were to each other and how much they trusted each other. After all of that, what could he possibly want with her? Did he have a free night and figured he'd try to pass the time and avoid boredom with hanging out with her? Or did things go south and figured he'd try to have some fun with her again?

Suddenly the way he couldn't seem to look at her looked more like an awkward try to see if she would be up for things rather than shyness and him genuinely just missing her and wanting to spend some time with her.

"And what would you like to talk about?" she asked in a quiet, but sharp voice. "The weather? Some recipes? How things go at the grocery store? All of those things we can talk about here, too. So what could you possibly want to talk about with me that requires you to come over tonight?"

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For a moment it seemed like Darcy was on the brink of relenting. There was some change in her that Diego perhaps didn't actually know, but could just feel. A change in the electric energy that seemed to surround her like a shield these past few days, becoming less crackly and more soft.

But when that barrier snapped back into place again, Diego sighed internally. He should have known. He was a thinker as well, so he knew what happened: she started to overthink. Something instinctive happened, and it was shut down by that brain of hers, the one that was wounded and scared and traumatized. And, he wondered, maybe even betrayed.

He loved her, after all. Diego knew this now, and almost accepted it because it all just made so much sense why he acted so crazy around her. But did she - could she - love him back? Not that he thought Darcy Palmer couldn't love, except...maybe she couldn't. Who was 'Darcy Palmer' to love, after all? It was meaningless. The last person in her body who loved someone, was Genevieve Soto. And look how that turned out.

He had felt guilty about Rita, or at least what Darcy saw of him and Rita when he'd invited her to his apartment. Love or not, it was in bad form, considering despite their fighting, he and Darcy had a thing going. (It was so much deeper than just 'a thing', but Diego didn't know what else to call it). Darcy didn't have to feel a sting from that because of love. Maybe she just felt foolish, commonplace. Diego had never lied about his sleeping around, but once he and Darcy started their thing, he'd stopped. Completely. He never told her that, she never asked.

He needed to get this all sorted, but his own overthinking led him to wonder if he wanted to talk and sort it out with her for his own selfish reasons, or for any benefit to her. After all, this polite, stiff arrangement they had now was ideal, wasn't it? Between a person in witness protection, and their handler, this was how it should be: they were distant, he was still attentive to her safety and protection. What they'd been doing before was dangerous, doomed, potentially devastating.

Was it really wise to drag it all out of the dark? For the both of them?

When Darcy finally replied though, all Diego could do was growl lowly and stare up at her from under his furrowed eyebrows. "Do you want to talk or not?" he asked pointedly, cutting through her snide questions. "Tell me what you want tonight, and I'll do it."

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Diego, annoyed and grumbling. That was normal. Whether it was actual annoyance like in the beginning of his time here, or more for show after they started sleeping together, it was normal, something Darcy was used to, something she could handle. Something she was happy to welcome. It really felt like old times for a moment, and she relished that. A tiny bit of normality, but she'd take what she could get.

She didn't know what kind of reply to give to him, though. Cause she wanted him to come over. She wanted him to come over desperately. She missed spending time with him, even if it just meant hanging out on the couch and watching the first thing they could find on Netflix or laughing at something the townsfolk did, or just chatting about their days. She missed his company. But she also didn't want to be the leftover, the person he settled for when there was nobody else, and she certainly didn't want to be the woman he would hit up when nobody else better was around to have some fun with.

For a moment she considered just telling him that. Putting it all out on the table and admitting at least some of what she was feeling, just enough to get her point across. But that idea was quickly pushed aside at the possibility, the very high possibility of rejection. She knew herself enough to know that it would be too much in that moment.

But she didn't want to straight-up deny him and tell him not to come over either. (Even though she knew that was probably the best and smartest decision she could have made. She wanted to get over him fully, that meant not letting him come over, even if it was just purely to talk.)

"Training," the word slipped out of her lips before she could fully wrap her head around the idea even. But she already said it, and she wasn't backing down. And it could even work. They wouldn't have to talk if it got awkward, they could just focus on exercising. "I want to train. Can you come over for that? Sometime in the middle of the night like we used to do."

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When Darcy finally spoke, it was like she was throwing Diego a lifeline. Training. Of course. It was an excellent suggestion, a perfect suggestion really. Diego was aching for something physical - and since sex was definitely off the table, building up a sweat through some fight moves seemed ideal.

Particularly because it seemed the both needed to let off a little bit of steam right now.

"Alright," Diego said, trying not to smile. He kept his composure, hopefully as well as Darcy seemed to be keeping hers. He couldn't read anything in her large, intense eyes other than commitment to her suggestion. At least there didn't seem to be any regret over an impulsive suggestion. "I'll come by in the morning, before you usually go on your run. Four am? We can...train for an hour."

It occurred to him then that they probably wouldn't get any talking done when they met up again. But that was fine. If he could just see Darcy alone again, away from the bored or curious eyes of the townsfolk. If they could just start something again together and alone, that could lead to something else, and something else. If this training went well, then maybe Darcy would be amenable to a second and third time. And eventually, hopefully, they'd start to loosen up just enough to talk.

It wasn't as if Diego even knew what he wanted to say to Darcy, so. Her suggestion brought more relief within him, and he stood up, putting some money on the table for his meal. "I'll see you later," he said neutrally, checking the time. He doubted he'd get any rest tonight; instead, he'd probably be up trying to figure out what, if anything, he wanted to say to Darcy once they were alone.

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ghost from the past - vivien shows up

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Three-thirty am arrived and Diego got himself up, taking a shower and brushing his teeth as if this was a regular morning waking up. It was in a way, once upon a time. Those months when he and Darcy used to train in his apartment. Had that just been a ruse of denial for him? An excuse to be close to her and touch her, even if he consciously didn't realize (or perhaps refused to acknowledge) his feelings for her?

He'd spent much of the night either dreaming about Darcy, or thinking about her. When he fell in love with her (he came to the conclusion that there was no 'one' time. It was a slow, gradual thing that happened cumulatively) and wondering what she felt as well. He knew it had to be something. Darcy wasn't the type of gal who did the whole 'friends with benefits' thing.

And in truth, Diego didn't even feel like Darcy was his 'friend'. They were close, they were intimate, they'd developed a very strong bond with each other, despite the arguments and difference in opinions. They were something special and unique and 'friend' didn't really cover it. In truth though, Diego also knew that he wasn't really the type to have 'friends' either, overall.

Despite his inner turmoil, he was looking forward to seeing Darcy tonight, Whatever my come of it, at least it would be something. He knew he could be something of a masochist, and he was prepared for Darcy's anger and vitriol and quite possibly her yelling. Very possible, if her temper flared. He'd deal with it, because at least they'd be talking.

He headed to her place at 4am sharp, jogging across the road like he was just going for a very early morning run, but the ruse wasn't necessary. The streets were quiet, no one was around. He did pause when he noted a car parked on the curb by the diner, that he didn't recognize. It was normal to see various cars during the day, when shops were open and people were about. But this one? He figured perhaps someone living nearby had a friend from out-of-town perhaps.

He gave one last lookaround and jogged up the stairs. Darcy knew he was coming, and he knew of all people, she was unlikely to be asleep. More like wired, which seemed to be Darcy's current state of being. Diego couldn't blame her. One thing after the next happened in such quick succession, only for it to all be suddenly over, everything actually okay. Diego understood that sometimes things did just happen that way - not everything had to be a huge ceremony of agonizing activity and action. Sometimes, things just worked out, like with Benji. What was important - as he'd been trained - was keeping a level head and not flying off into a panic. But he didn't blame Darcy for her fears. She'd been living with them, murky and lurking, for four years.

The door was open when he tested it, so Diego gave it a gentle tap of his knuckles to give Darcy a head's up (he honestly just imagined she was there in her living room, in her t-shirt and shorts, hair in a high ponytail, pacing back and forth waiting for him) and then pushed the door open, closing it behind him.

"Darce," he called out, reaching to the light switch to turn it on. Of course she'd be pacing in the dark. Because, Darcy. He winced though, when he accidentally called her the petname she'd told him not to use. Something seemed off though - call it instinct, but Diego paused, frowning and looking around. His hand hovered over his gun, holstered under his arm.

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Gen lost all sense of time the moment she kissed Vivien. It was like she was transported back in time and all she could focus on was the woman with her, and it seemed like Vivien felt the same. They didn't talk, but they didn't have to, their bodies did the talking for them, and once they were done, the two of them were lying in her bed, both of them trying to catch their breaths, Gen trying to wrap her head around everything that just happened.

There was a sense un unease inside of her, but she ignored it.

Vivien excused herself and she was left lying on her back, quietly waiting for Vivien to get back from the bathroom. This was when she heard the knock on the door. Normally she might have missed it, but now it felt like the small sound practically pierced through the silence of the apartment, and suddenly she remembered that she had plans.

Out of all nights when Diego planned to come over for training, it had to be this one. So fucking typical.

Surprisingly, though, the first thought was that Diego would see that she slept with somebody, and only then did it hit her that it was Vivien she slept with and that Diego moved on, he wasn't going to give two fucks about the sex part, the Vivien part, however, was going to... well, the very least it's going to freak him the fuck out and will send him into protecting mode. And the worst, he would get her out of the apartment and in less than a few hours, she would already be in a random car, taking her to a new location and to a new life where Vivien and the rest of the people wouldn't be able to follow her, and probably without Diego this time, too.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she kept chanting as she jumped out of the bed and rushed to her closet, taking out the first shirt she could grab (which, without realizing it, was ironically a shirt she stole from Diego one night while they were still sleeping together cause it felt more comfortable for sneaking back into her apartment than what she was in originally) and some panties.

She figured she could... well, she could at least get Diego to come back later and then talk to him about it when it wasn't the middle of the night and he wasn't about to walk in on a similar situation she walked into not so long ago. She could figure out how to tell him this other than him finding it out for himself. She needed to buy herself some time, first, though, and that started with making sure Diego didn't come inside.

The plan fell apart in 0.4 seconds, however, when she barely slipped into the shirt she grabbed and she could hear the door open and then Diego calling out for her - for Darce, no less, and she wanted to curse, yell, groan, kick or hit something, anything. Vivien must have heard it, too, and even if she didn't, she'd be getting out of the bathroom any minute now, and the moment the door opens, Diego would be able to see her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Why did she have to be so stupid? Why didn't she have to just act and not think? Why did she have to open that fucking door to Vivien? What was she thinking when she fucking jumped her? She should have used her brain. Fuck, she really should have used her brain.

"One moment, Diego!" she called out as she was already heading out to the living room. Maybe if she got there fast enough, she could prevent Vivien from coming out and things wouldn't go completely downhill. "It's not-- it's not the best moment for me right now," she rambled as she was heading both towards him and towards the door of the bathroom so she could stand in front of it and make sure Vivien could hear her and get the message that she wasn't supposed to come outside.

She noticed the way Diego's hand hovered over his gun, the gun that was always with him even when there was no danger whatsoever, and the gun that she teased him so much about, and she didn't like the stupid gun in general, but now it sent even more panic through her. And despite all the stress and anxiety and panic she felt in that moment, despite the darkness, even barely being able to see him, her heart was beating fast just at the sight of him. (She filed it away as the anxiety of the situation.)

"Is there any way you could come ba--"

But she couldn't finish the sentence because apparently Vivien either didn't hear them, or didn't give a fuck about somebody seeing her (and why would she, how could she possibly know that Diego was a US Marshall and knew exactly who she was, or that he had a gun on him in that moment). The door to her bathroom opened, and out walked Vivien and she couldn't do anything in that moment just freeze and watch with dread.

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Something was going on. When Diego heard Darcy call back to him he relaxed, figuring at first that perhaps she actually did manage to fall asleep. And now she was rushing to get her workout clothes on. He felt a little bad, waking her up - god knew Darcy needed all the sleep she could get.

But then when she stammered, saying it wasn't the best moment for her right now, Diego's hackles raised back up again immediately. They had planned this after all. And over the past months, Diego had come to appreciate Darcy's adherence to punctuality and being ready, particularly when it was a training session. In all the times he'd trained her, she'd never been late, not once. In truth, when he'd come up, he had expected that she'd already be up, doing stretches and giving Diego her best grimace as well.

'It's not the best moment' for her right now? A statement like that could only mean one thing to a US Marshal - Darcy was not alone. He remained in the kitchen, finally seeing her coming out of the bedroom but pausing awkwardly at the door of the bathroom, like someone was placing her there. Strategically putting her between Diego and whoever else was there.

At least, he told himself, Darcy was giving him all the signals that she was being held against her will. He flicked on the kitchen light, trying to be casual but he just wanted to see Darcy's face better, gauge how dangerous the situation was. How much Darcy's life was at peril. He could see her gaze flicking to his gun holster; he hadn't drawn it yet, because he didn't want to give away too much until he knew the stakes.

"Come back?" he said, in disbelief. "You're the one who invited me to come over tonight. It's four am, Darcy and you're-" But he didn't need to say any more, because the bathroom door opened (he wasn't expecting that) and a woman emerged behind Darcy.

And Diego recognized that woman, from the countless photos he'd studied, in Darcy's file. Yet he wasn't sure he knew if he could believe it.

Still, a stranger in Darcy's house was more than enough reason to warrant him pulling out his gun, and aiming it towards the woman - this...Vivien lookalike. "Stop where you are," he barked. "Get down on the floor, now! Hands behind your head. Darcy - " Or was she Genevieve at this moment? Jesus, that woman looked exactly like Vivien. A sister perhaps? A cousin? - "Darcy, get out of the way, move!"

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Technically speaking, Gen knew that this was coming the moment she heard the bathroom door open and Vivien stepping out of it, but still it felt like she was watching Diego in slow motion as he reached for his gun and aiming it towards Vivien, what felt like towards her considering Vivien being mostly behind her at this point. Her heart was beating fast, too fucking fast out of her chest and her hands snapped up in front of her, trying to reach for Diego (as if she was close enough for that), to maybe reason with him, calm him down, get him to drop that gun or at least point it somewhere else, anywhere.

"Pl-- please, Diego, don-- don't," she said, her voice hoarse and low, happy to have even been able to get the words out. She hasn't felt good about the damn gun whenever he brought it over, but she understood why he had to do that and she made him put it away almost immediately, and that way she could deal with it. Now the gun being pointed, it just made her stomach churn, the memories of walking into Vivien's apartment and watching her get shot and then getting shot herself only moments after flashing in front of her eyes. As if she wasn't panicking enough, the fear rose to even higher levels inside of her.

From the corner of her eyes she could see Vivien putting her hands up. "Genny, why is there a guy with a gun in your apartment?" she asked careful, but she didn't get on the ground like Diego told her to.

"Cause he's a US Marshall and up until about 30 seconds ago he thought you were fucking dead! And now he thinks you're here to kill me and he's trying to protect me. But she's not," she added, the last words directed at Diego, pleading in her eyes. "She's not here to hurt me, she's not here to kill me, I swear, okay? Please, Diego, I swear nobody is here to hurt anyone-- Well, okay, that might not be true right now given the gun and how you're looking at her, but nobody is here to hurt me. Please believe me."

"Yeah, buddy, believe her and put the gun away before you get hurt."

Gen let out a groan. "Maybe threatening him when he's holding a gun at you and you're unarmed isn't the best idea, you know," she pointed out, her annoyance coming out. Especially when it was deserved, too, she almost added, but decided against it. This was really not the situation when she should be getting into the nitty-gritty of everything that happened.

The weird thing was, it felt as if Vivien was shifting, slowly moving behind her, away from the bathroom. Not much, just small steps each time, but she could sense it. Gen figured it must be to make sure she was situated right behind her so Diego wouldn't even think about shooting at her. What other reason could there be for her? Trying to get to a window to jump out of? What good that even be - she might not break any bones, but Diego would probably not think twice about shooting.

"What's your plan anyway, buddy? Take me in alive or just shoot me here and now?" Vivien was stalling, Gen wasn't an idiot, but at the same time, she couldn't help but notice how different Vivien sounded from the woman she once knew. Or thought she knew. Fuck. She would have liked to believe that what she was hearing was Vivien hardening because of everything that happened, but she couldn't be that naive, she couldn't ignore the fact that even before she got shot, she was part of the crime syndicate.

She was finally, after all these years, seeing the side of Vivien she never got to, and she had no idea how the fuck she felt about any of this.

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Vivien certainly had an advantage here, as Diego did falter slightly. He was distracted by what Darcy - what Gen was saying, and putting the pieces together for a puzzle he'd gotten all wrong. His instincts had been right in that something strange was going on - but his instincts had also been completely off about what.

No marshal training and no amount of experience, after all, had trained him to anticipate the dead gang boss girlfriend of his protection witness-slash-complicated-lover, showing up in the middle of the night and buck naked, with her and Gen having a conversation in front of him and then Gen begging him to understand and lower his gun.

"What the fuck is going on," Diego said angrily in response to...everything. Some coplike part of him reminded him to keep his eyes on Vivien, but she was completely naked. She was completely naked and Gen was wearing one of his shirts, and he could recognize the wildness of her hair, the shiny swell of her lips. And a mark, gentle and pink, forming on her neck. He should be coming forward to grab Vivien; after all, she was unarmed because she was completely naked (oh, and her hair was wild too, her body still slick with the telltale signs of sex, there was no denying it) but all Diego could focus on was Darcy.

"What the fuck is going on??" he said again. By the time Vivien spoke again, Diego realized his mistake - she had found her way back into the bedroom while he'd been staring - confused and hurt and horrified - at Gen. The bedroom was still dark and Diego surged forward, expecting Darcy to move immediately to give him access. But she seemed slow, in shock.

"Dar - Gen," Diego lowered his gun then, just enough to nudge her to one side. "I - " he didn't know what he was supposed to say here. He had a job to do? And that job took priority over everything else, including himself.

Diego tore his gaze away from Gen once more. He could smell the perfume now - a scent that didn't belong to Darcy, but now stained her skin. And underneath, that heady musk of sex that would've made his mouth water, if his throat wasn't so dry. Moving past her, he raised his gun again, entering the dark bedroom. His eyes searched for any sign of movement; he knew this bedroom well after all, and he was counting on that.

"Vivien, I'm telling you one more time - " Diego demanded, as he reached towards the light switch on the wall. "Get the fuck down on the ground, no--!"

The word was whipped out of his mouth, as gun metal connected with the side of his face. Diego, fortunately, did not have a trigger-finger. His gun did not discharge despite the strength of Vivien's suckerpunch with a gun of her own. Of course - Diego should have known she was carrying too. And there was a part of Diego that pointed out that Gen let Vivien keep her gun in the bedroom. It was a silly, childish, petty part of his brain, that was quickly dispelled as the pain shot through his jaw. He staggered back, and he could have recouped but Vivien was faster. Using the butt of her gun she brought it down on the back of his head, sending Diego to his knees.

From there, she was able to disarm him. Diego gave a bark of protest, reaching up to keep a hold of his weapon, but Vivien shoved him back with his hip, then hopped backwards to join Darcy. With two guns now pointed at Diego. It all happened so quickly, in the space of a few seconds even if it seemed like minutes.

Vivien tossed her hair, giving Diego a disdainful look. There was a smile on her mouth though. "So he's the US Marshal, huh. To protect you. From me...?" she kept one gun trained on Diego, looking over at Darcy. "Stupid FBI should know they don't need to protect you from me. Here, take this," Vivien offered Darcy her own small pistol. She didn't know Darcy's fear of guns, why would she? It had bloomed after Vivien had 'died'. "Pack what you can and let's get out of here, now. I'll keep an eye on this Marshal. Why was he coming over at 4am anyway? He's dressed like he's on his way to the gym..."

She looked down at herself, giving a careless laugh. "Speaking of dressed, I suppose I should put something on, huh."

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It was such a strange feeling. Everything felt like it was happening extremely fast and Gen was trying to catch up, trying to hold on and somehow stop the disaster that was already happening, while at the same time it was like she was watching it all from an outside perspective, kind of like a showdown in some kind of movie. Crime, maybe? Or some kind of thriller. And during all of it she was trying to figure out how she could prevent Vivien from getting shot and her having to watch her bleed out again (or, well, apparently not again, cause Vivien never truly bled out, it was still so hard to wrap her head around it) and how she could explain all of this to Diego without that damn gun being involved that would get the anger and the... was it hurt she saw there? Or is that something she wanted to see, so she was projecting it into his expression? EIther way, weirdly all she wanted to do was to explain everything to Diego, to make him understand that she realized that she fucked up and she didn't mean it, not really.

How could she when Vivien was a fucking criminal and part of the reason her sister was dead. Or was she? Suddenly the thought of Olivia possibly being alive struck her and she couldn't see or hear anything for a moment, just her sister's face in her mind, stronger than it's been in years at this point. She thought Vivien was dead, too, what if she was told Olivia was dead but she isn't really? What if the FBI wanted to make sure nobody even tried looking for Olivia, so they told even her family that she died while she was also placed into witness protection just like the rest of the Soto family?

It was Diego who brought her out of her own thoughts when suddenly he was standing on front of her, looking at her, his dark brown eyes practically piercing into her. She was about to open her mouth and say... sorry, mostly. She didn't really know what he wanted, but she just wanted to apologize to him, which was insane cause they weren't together and it's not like she took off with Vivien, she just slept with her. Fuck. It was still really fucking bad and she just wanted to apologize.

But she didn't get the chance because he pushed past her and then she could barely register what was happening and Diego's grunts came form her bedroom and she let out a loud curse, completely getting out of her daze as she was trying to rush over to Diego and Vivien and hopefully stop whatever was happening.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." She didn't even have the chance to stop anything, by the time she got there, Diego was on the ground without his gun and Vivien was had two in her hands (how did she even have two guns?), looking all smug and her heart was beating even faster now. "Fuck, what the fuck are you doing?" she snapped at Vivien, though she wasn't sure if the other two people could tell who it was even directed to. "Put that fucking gun down before it accidentally fires and Diego gets hurt." Suddenly flashes of Diego lying close to death on her living room flood flashed in front of her eyes and fuck, she could not handle Diego in the hospital because of her again. She could not handle Diego in the hospital or hurt in any way in general.

Not that Vivien heard any of what Gen was saying, instead she thought offering her one of the gun was a good idea and fuck, Gen really wanted to throw up. Or hit something. Or cry. Maybe all three. "Get that shit away from me," she snapped. Maybe if she could think straight, she would have at least tried taking the gun just to get it for Diego, so Diego wouldn't be so defenseless, but she wanted to get away from the guns.

And then Vivien started talking about packing and first came the shock because... packing? Getting away from Sunnymead? Going away with Vivien? How could Vivien ever think she'd do that? How did she think she could ever get into a mindset where she would consider such an offer.

"No, I'm not packing, and stop pointing the gun at Diego, for fuck's sake."

Vivien let out a sigh as if she was being difficult. "Fine, I'll pack then, just keep the gun pointed at him so he doesn't get any funny ideas."

"No. No, no, no, no, no. Fuck no!" Gen couldn't help but snap at Vivien, finally actually moving closer to Vivien to stand between her and Diego. She hated the gun, her entire body was screaming against it, but she couldn't let Diego get hurt, not again. "Did you even hear what I said? Stop pointing that shit at him, for fuck's sake. And I'm not going with you."

Now she was standing between Diego and Vivien and she really hoped Diego could figure something out while he was shielded because Vivien still held two guns and while she was sure she didn't intend to hurt her, she wasn't sure if the woman would change her mind once it fully hit her that she wasn't going to just blindly run away with her. And it seemed to be finally hitting her, because for the first time it looked like Vivien was taken aback.

"What do you mean you're not coming with me? Of course you are, don't play games with me."

"No, I'm not I'm not playing games and I'm not fucking going with you. Did you really think I would? You fucking-- you fucking ruined my life and my family's life! You lied to me for years! For years, Vivien!"

Vivien was staring at her for what felt like forever before she pushed her aside and backhanded Diego with the back of the gun again. Gen let out a small shriek, "STOP, what are you doing?!" while Vivien seemed to barely hear her. "You and your FBI buddies talked in her ear until you turned her against me, huh? Happy now?"

_______________________

The voices around him were muted, slightly garbled as Diego tried to come to his senses, fight through the dull pain and slight nausea so he could jump into action. Darcy - Gen - was in deep trouble here....or so he kept trying to tell himself. After realizing what had happened (or what he thought happened, but perhaps he was just a dirty old man who's mind immediately went to sexual assumptions. Maybe the women were actually doing something else together? Did it really matter? The point was, they were doing something together. Whether it was sex or baking a cake, it still meant that Gen was interacting cooperatively and in tandem with Vivien.

Had this been going on under his nose for a while? Just like with LA, had Diego become too soft and indulgent, loosened the rules because he thought he could trust Darcy - and she somehow finangled some situation with Vivien?

But he was thinking too far ahead, his mind was swimming all over the place, fractured and weighted like cement. He listened, using their voices to focus himself. Gen seemed half-mad, unable to articulate much other than mewling objections to whatever Vivien was saying, having spurts of angry lashing out, and then finally being able to say something justified. For a moment Diego wondered what sort of hold Vivien had on Gen, in their relationship. When Gen thought it was a healthy, happy relationship. Because right now, it just seemed like Vivien was at the wheel of their car, and Gen was stuffed in the back trunk. Vivien called the shots, expected Gen to do what she wanted, and Gen's protests fell on completely deaf ears.

He tried to get up - he thought he was being subtle about it too - but apparently not as Vivien whipped around and connected the butt of her gun to Diego's face. He felt the blood burst in his mouth as he fell back again, but for some reason that smack managed to bring some sort of adrenaline-fueled clarity to his brain.

"What the hell do you want. How did you find her," Diego growled, voice thick and gravelly.

Vivien scoffed, tossing her hair as she looked over at Gen. "That other idiot US Marshal, Ellis. He didn't know he was being tracked, and funny enough, my people were tracking him for something completely different. But then you showed up in LA one night to meet him, baby," Vivien smiled at Gen. "It was like you wanted me to find you, some kind of fate. My guy followed you back to this shithole town, and...." She shook her head. "God, after all these years of looking, I've finally found you. I have to say they hid you well, I'll give them that. But Gen, you were never going to testify against my gang, were you? Even if you told the FBI that you would....you were probably just scared, you poor baby." Vivien smiled at Gen, and if she wasn't still holding two guns she would've reached up to caress Gen's face. "And now you know I'm a alive, so I know you definitely won't say anything now. Besides,"

Vivien turned to look at Diego. "It's not like she knows anything anyway. She's my girl, and I want her back. And we're leaving. And Gen, don't worry about your family. Once you're with me, I'll just tell my guys to stop looking for your family, they'll be fine. You're the one I wanted, not them." She looked annoyed though that Gen seemed rooted to the ground, so she moved instead, keeping one weapon trained on Diego as she got herself into her clothes. "Gen, if you won't help me with him, then help me with my clothes? We gotta get out of here. Don't worry, I'll take care of him when you're out. I'm going to keep you safe now."

_______________________

Her heart jumped up into her throat when she heard that the reason Vivien was now standing in her apartment was because Darcy was reckless enough to go meet Tyler when he sent her that picture. It was her fault. All of this was her freaking fault. If just once she didn't act immediately, none of this now would be happening...

And Vivien just kept talking. She was finally here, she finally found Gen, and now she could get it all out of her. Darcy figured Diego was trying to keep her talking to stall on time, not that he really needed to prompt her too much - it was like words were flying out of the woman and fuck, with every word, it felt even more and more overwhelming (which really, she couldn't understand how it was even possible at this point, but while in some regards she felt like her head was clearing out and she could finally think straight, on the other hand, she felt like she was more and more underwater with every passing second.

And Vivien still kept going, calling Sunnymead a shitshow (Darcy felt incredibly offended on this part, this place was her home, how dare she talk about the town like this?), talking about how Gen would never testify to the FBI as if she wanted to reassure herself (oh hell she was going to testify, not that they could do much with her testimony, but she would gladly testify), how she was Vivien's girl (funny how just before that she said she didn't know shit and somehow Vivien still found it believable to call Gen her girl), and then had the audacity to drag her family into it too (though, technically they got dragged into it right from the beginning). It was so much, too much, she didn't even know what to say, what to do. Which thing should she pinpoint and deny first. She felt like every addition detail Vivien mentioned would deserve its own objection, its own fucking fight, but was it even wise at this point to pick a fight with Vivien? She couldn't not stare at those damn guns still, and it seemed more and more like Vivien wasn't at all the woman she thought she was and Gen wasn't sure what she was capable of, what she was willing to do to get her way.

And then Vivien mentioned taking care of Diego and really, Darcy should have known. She should have known that was the plan cause from Vivien's standpoint, that would be the logical course of action. But still, it shocked her even more, took her completely by surprise and momentarily made her forget everything else Vivien said.

"No! What the fu-- NO! You're not gonna fucking take care of Diego," she said with such vehemence and strength behind her voice that felt like she hasn't had ever since Vivien knocked on her door.

Vivien let out an exasperated sigh. "Babe, of course I have to take care of him. What did you expect? We can't let him run to the US Marshalls and the FBI the moment we get out of this hellhole. I could tie him up and it could win us some time - I doubt he'd be resourceful enough to even be able to get out of the binds, he doesn't seem like the fastest thinking," she said looking down at Diego for a moment and Darcy almost corrected her, almost spoke up, but the last second thought otherwise cause Vivien underestimating Diego might be the best chance they had. "But even those odds I am not happy with. If he dies, we win a couple of days. By the time they find him and realize what happened, we'll be gone and nobody will find us."

Vivien really didn't hear anything she was saying and Darcy felt less and less certain there was even any kind of out of this situation. "Fuck, okay, let's get a few things clear. One, stop calling me babe, I'm not your babe or baby or anything. Ever again. Two, I'm not fucking going with you. I have a life here, yes, here in this shithole of a town, as you put it. I have a business, I have people I care about, I have a routine and I have--" Fuck, she almost actually said she had Diego. Both not true, and probably the worst thing she could have said in this situation. "I have things I don't want to just get away from, okay? And even if this was the worst place ever, I'd still not want to go with you. And three, don't you fucking dare hurt Diego, you hear me?"

"Why are you being so difficult about this, Genny? We were so happy together and we will be again!"

"We were so happy cause we were living a fucking lie!" Gen couldn't help snapping at Vivien at this point, not being able to hold it inside anymore. "Do you think for a second that we would have had the relationship that we had if I had any sort of knowledge about everything you were hiding from me? Did you ever even wanted to tell me about it? Or were you planning on keeping me in the dark for the rest of our lives?"

Vivien shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "No, I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd freak out. But if you just come with me, you'll see that it's not as big of a deal as you think."

"So what's your plan exactly? I go with you and turn into a criminal? Or I'm just kept on the side again like before, except now I'd be in hiding and couldn't even live a life? Is that your big plan?"

"We'd be together, that's my plan. The rest we can figure out together."

"But can't you understand, I don't want to fucking figure it out together. I don't want to do anything together with you. Fuck, Vivien! Because of you, Olivia is dead! Do you get that? Unless somehow miraculously she survived to and I was lied about her death too, she is dead because of fucking you! And you just expect me to play nicey nice with you?"

"You did, not so long ago." Well, Gen didn't have anything to say to that. But there was a shift in Vivien. She looked at Gen with careful consideration, those two fucking guns still in her hands, twirling the one that wasn't still pointing towards Diego in her fingers as if it wasn't a small death machine. "You know," she started, her voice sharper now, "I really thought we could do this the easy way. Here's what's going to happy. You are coming with me, Genny, whether you like it or not. You can come willingly, or I will drag you, your choice, but it's happening. And as for that poor fellow who had the misfortune to come over while I was here, he is dying tonight. You'll understand everything later, you'll see that it had to be like this."

Darcy swallowed hard and glanced over at Diego and fuck, his face looked bad. She knew that most of this was just superficial stuff and he was okay, nothing too serious happened yet, but even just looking at the blood seeping out of his mouth or the swelling where Vivien probably hit him first, it was hard. She didn't want to see him like this, and she definitely didn't want to see him in even worse state. She wanted to talk to him, ask him if he was okay, see what he was thinking so that they could somehow get out of this. Or at least she could make sure Diego was walking out of this apartment alive and not carried out in a bodybag.

Fuck, she needed to make sure Diego survived this.

"Okay," she said quietly. "Okay, I'll go. I'll go with you and I will keep my mouth shut and we can... we can see how things will go. You know, once things get a bit better. But with one condition. Diego lives. You're not hurting him, you're not sending anyone after him. He gets out of this unscattered."

_______________________

Gen was right - Diego had wanted to stall Vivien by getting her to talk, but later he'd admit to himself that he was stalling, because there was a small, twisted part of him that believed Gen would go along with Vivien, and do whatever Vivien said. Maybe not because she actually even wanted to but just because she still seemed in such complete shock, and people in shock tended to be easy to direct and herd, under authority.

Granted he should have remembered that Gen-in-shock never got passive. If anything, she got more angry, more stubborn, more vehement.

And she did exactly that, finally exploding at Vivien as the two women diverged into a full-blown argument. It seemed like G.en didn't know where to start first, with everything she wanted to say to Vivien. And the other woman took it all in stride, giving Gen empty reassurances that only made Gen angrier. Diego huffed slightly in a brief moment of grim amusement. Didn't Vivien know that reassuring Gen Soto of anything only made her more enraged? But then, did Vivien ever know Gen at this level of angry? Before this all went down, before Gen found Vivien shot and then got shot herself, perhaps Gen had no reason to get this angry. Maybe the Gen that Vivien knew was not the Gen screaming at her now.

But regardless, their arguing gave Diego enough time to finally get himself together. He stared at Vivien, who'd managed to get some clothes on now and had both guns in her hands again. That was fine. His safety was still on, and he hoped she hadn't changed that. Her gun, he couldn't be sure of. Ultimately, she had to be disarmed of both. And most importantly, Diego had to make sure that Gen didn't get hurt in any way.

Vivien was completely distracted by Gen now; and so the moment that Gen agreed to go with Vivien, Diego took his chance. He pushed himself up and charged, hoping to god he was as fast as he thought he was. He did manage to smack his own weapon out of Vivien's hand, and he grabbed her other wrist, twisting it up and slamming her against one of the walls with his own bodyweight.

"Let go, let go before I--" He moved back just enough with the intent to shove her face front against the wall, twist her arm back enough to make her drop the gun - but moving back also gave her an advantage too. With a scream, she kneed him hard in the groin, and that definitely made Diego fall back, but he still kept a tight grip on her wrist. Vivien tried to wriggle away, but it was clear she only could, if she dropped her gun.

With another scream she did, then shoved Diego away and raced out of the bedroom, towards the kitchen. "Gen!" she called out, trying to grab at Gen along the way, but met with resistance and with the US Marshal recovering enough to give her chase, Vivien knew she had to get out of there now. "Goddammit, Gen!! I came back for you! All these fucking years, I just wanted to find you!"

Diego managed to find his own weapon, and with a glance at Gen, he whispered. "Stay here," and he followed Vivien into the kitchen. But when he got there, the back door was open, and Vivien was gone. Diego rushed to the steps, but he couldn't see her. The car! Parked out on the street, that had to be Vivien's. It looked expensive enough. He rushed back inside to the windows, but the car was already gone.

"Dammit!" Diego pounded the windowsill in frustration, but that sudden action was enough to send shooting pain all through his body, and he stumbled back, falling heavily onto the couch. "Dar...Gen," he panted, dizzy and exhausted. "She's...she's gone. I need to make...a phone...call."

_______________________

Suddenly there was so many things happening at once. She should have, but she didn't anticipate Diego charging forwards, and Darcy let out a small cry of surprise as she jumped back, watching both in horror as the two of them wrestled, terrified either of the guns would go off and leave Diego hurt and bleeding out once again, and in awe at how efficiently Diego managed to disarm Vivien.

Vivien did get away in the process, though, and somehow still either being delusional, or hoping that the shock of the situation would make Gen move without even thinking, she reached for her hand and tried to drag her along, but she tore her arm out of her hold while she punched towards Vivien with her free arm. She was aiming towards Vivien's face, but only managed to hit the woman's shoulders as she was moving swiftly, "I never asked for you to come find me."

And then Diego was rushing past her, telling her to stay in the apartment and maybe in another situation she would have liked to think she ignored that, went after Vivien and actually helped Diego in catching her, but in that moment she couldn't even imagine going anywhere that would get her closer to Vivien. She never wanted to see that woman again if she could help it.

So for a few moments, she just stood there, shaken and frozen, and then without even realizing what she was doing, she moved towards the bathroom and threw up the content of her entire stomach (not that there was too much in it, really, she was pretty sure she skipped dinner the previous night).

She wasn't sure how much time passed, though it couldn't have been too much, because when she heard movement and Diego's voice from the other room, she was still leaning over the toilet, trying to catch her breath, trying to get her own shit together. And if she was being honest, she wished Diego could have stayed away longer, or she could just shut the bathroom door and not interact with Diego because she fucked up real bad this time and she wasn't sure what would happen next. Not Diego forgiving her and the two of them working things out, that was for sure. What was she supposed to even do or say now? She wanted to apologize but no apology felt like it would be enough, nothing really felt like it could be enough.

And then she heard a thud coming somewhere from the living room and her heart stopped for a moment. Diego didn't seem that badly hurt, but could she have missed something? She didn't see everything that Vivien did to him and her brain immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario. When she rushed out of the bathroom, though, she found Diego sitting exhausted and probably hurt on the couch, but conscious, definitely conscious.

"Fuck, are you-- are you okay?" she asked, even though it was probably pointless, she could see that Diego was definitely not okay. Neither of them were, really, but she didn't really care about herself in the moment. "Stay here, don't move." As if he was just gonna spring up and just run off...

She rushed over to the kitchen and hoped that she'd find something in her freezer that could help with the swelling - she did cook for them a couple of weeks ago, there had to be some leftover frozen vegetables in there. And thankfully half a bag of frozen peas was sitting in her freezer. She leet a sudden, long sigh of relief. At least she could do that. She was practically useless since the moment Diego showed up (since Vivien showed up, really), but at least she could hold a half a bag of frozen peas on the man's face she was in love with to help the swelling. Good stuff, definitely good stuff.

She quickly grabbed a dish cloth from one of the drawers, watered it and headed back to Diego.

She sat down next to him and after inspecting his face for a few moments, she placed the bag gently against his face. "Hold this there, it's gonna help," she told him and started carefully cleaning up the blood on his face. "Where else did she get you?"

And that was the moment it really hit her. The man she was in love with. She loved Diego. She loved him and she fucked it up and... well, she was pretty sure even without this fuck up she wouldn't have had a chance, not after Rita and Diego making sure she knew he moved on. Fuck. Fuck, she loved him. And it didn't matter one bit.

She felt a new kinds of daze hitting her and she had to bit the inside of her lip to get herself out of it, to make herself focus. He didn't care. He wouldn't care. He was just doing his job and now that job included calling in about Vivien showing up. And her best case scenario was being able to convince him not do to that and at least be able to stay here without him once his probation ended instead of being relocated to a whole new life and still not have him in her life. Fuck.

"Look, I know you-- fuck, I know I can't ask you this, okay? I know that. But... I wasn't lying when I said that this is my home and I don't want to go anywhere." She was speaking quietly, carefully, while focusing on his wounds instead of his face. "If you make the call, I'm going to be out of here in the matter of hours. And I-- I can't start over. Not again. Please."

_______________________

"I've never heard you cuss more in all the time I've known you, woman," Diego mumbled, not really sure how he was able to find any sort of amusement out of this situation, but maybe that was just what his mind did. It was habitual of the office he worked in, to find grim, often dark humour in their line of work. It helped alleviate tension and stress...and god did Darcy look stressed. God did he feel that same stress himself.

Everything was sideways. Everything.

"Thanks..." he said, taking the frozen peas. Experimentally and hesitantly, he slowly placed the peas on his groin, but that was almost too sensitive even to handle the cold. He winced and returned the pack to his face, as Darcy cleaned up some of the blood. "She got me real good here," he said, pointing at his crotch. "No offense when I say this, but lesbians always know exactly how to kick a man in the nuts. Guess when they got no use for it, they might as well learn how to defeat it, huh."

He was making jokes, but with Darcy so close to him, all he wanted to do was kiss her. But he didn't, because all he could smell off of her was that perfume that wasn't her's, and that musk of sex. Also the acrid scent of bile. The poor thing probably threw up at some point while he tried to pursue Vivien.

"She's alive," he croaked. And then carefully, trying not to put any anger or judgement into his voice, he asked, "How long have you known she's alive?"

And when Darcy asked him not to make any calls, he sighed, almost knowing she was going to plead him not to. "Darcy, you really should understand by now. I think you do understand, and yet there's some part of you that still want to be in denial." He took a breath, and then spoke outloud what he was sure Darcy already knew. Maybe she had to hear it outloud as well. "Vivien knows where you are. And she might claim she wants to take you away, but she might also want to kill you on her own terms, in her own time. She's alive, godammit. This changes everything..." He frowned, and growled something about whether the FBI knew this all along, and just kept that information from the US Marshal office. Damn feebs.

"If you stay here, then you're putting the people here in danger. All of these townsfolk have now becom moving targets, caught in a crossfire. And I can't protect you on my own, not against a crime syndicate that wants you, dead or alive. I'm afraid the cat's outta the bag, sweetheart. When Vivien showed up here alive and when you..." Diego looked down Darcy's body, down the shirt - his shirt, in fact - that was open enough at the collar for him to catch a glimpse of her nakedness underneath, and he pressed his mouth together, amending his words. "...when you let her in, it was game over. Your protection is paramount, but the protection of the innocent civilians who live here is a risk no one can take. I need to inform my boss."

Little did Diego know that the little sleepy town was already being affected by Vivien's vengeful ways, one floor below them.

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To most of the employees, opening the diner was always the worst hours to work because of how early Darcy liked The Grub to be open. Normally by 6am they were already open for a slow business for those who might want to grab coffee or a full breakfast before their own early shifts at work, or even for tourists who were driving through. Juliana didn’t mind it though, she appreciated being given and trusted with the responsibility to take care of things before the day started.

It had been way too early for Phoenix’s alarm to go off so she didn’t even bother trying to wake him up. She slipped out of bed to get ready while half asleep, giving him a kiss on the head before heading out, deciding that she would probably just make herself some coffee when she arrived at the diner to wake herself up.

Everything felt the same as always, nothing about the drive to work could have possibly notified her of anything different going on. The only odd thing she noticed was the really nice and expensive car that drove by as she was unlocking the front door to the diner. Nobody around here drove anything that nice but it was just something she shrugged off as she went inside, turned on the lights and slowly began her set up.

_______________________

The night didn’t go as Vivien planned one bit. Most people would have called her delusional, while Bex would have called her hopeful just to soften the blow a bit. But she still thought things would go differently, she still thought Genevieve would come with her. They were happy together and she spent her time looking for her all this time, that had to mean something, right? Apparently not, and now she was riding out of this shithole of a town shaking from anger and disappointment and pain.

She couldn’t spend her time licking her wounds, though, despite how much she wanted to do that. Genevieve out there was still a problem. Now even more so than ever. - Her people always looked at Genny as a problem, but Vivien was so sure, she looked at Gen as somebody she lost and not a problem she had to deal with. That had to change now.

She needed to figure out how to get Genevieve out of the clutches of that US Marshall, who now must be not even moving an inch from Genevieve, not to mention soon the FBI would be coming in, too. Both to move Genny and try to catch her. She had to move quickly.

And then it hit her. That woman. The one she saw Genevieve working with in her diner. The one whom she must be sleeping with. That woman was the key to get Gen.

She was around the town border when she hit the brake and turned around. It was a risk to go back to the diner, but she assumed the Marshall and Genevieve would be recuperating and she could try to see if the woman has an early shift.

Which she was, to Vivien’s luck, she could see the woman moving around the diner through the windows. She left the car in the side street so she was still close but her car wouldn’t be visible from Genevieve’s windows and she headed into the diner with a smile on her face. “Hello? Anyone here?”

_______________________

Being all alone in the diner was a weird sensation almost like being at a park on a rainy day or a grocery store late at night. In a way it felt like being in a completely different dimension from when the place was open and filled with people. It was weirder when, as she began making herself some coffee, she realized that Darcy hadn’t come down yet. Usually Darcy was around, or came down not too long after Juliana arrived to help with the set up and make things go a little faster.

Juliana didn’t question it, Darcy worked hard and deserved some extra rest. Though her absence did make Juliana’s mind wander, made her question if Darcy was resting or if there might have been something else going on. Not that she would open up if she questioned her. It was happening a lot more lately and sure, she could be rather nosey, but it sort of made Juliana pick up on the trend that she didn’t actually recall Darcy ever really opening up or sharing personal stuff about herself the way Juliana would open up to her. She had been questioning since Christmas if this relationship they was strictly business and this wasn’t the friendly/sisterly relationship she thought it was for the past four years.

She continued her work and decided that when Darcy finally came down she’d talk to her about it, just rip the bandaid off even if it would hurt to find out Darcy didn’t think of them the same way Juliana did. The concern she felt had dissipated for a moment at the sound of the bell at the entrance ringing. Assuming it was Jose coming in for his shift there was a split second of relief until she heard an unfamiliar voice call out. She felt embarrassed, leaving the door unlocked for just anyone to walk in, they didn’t even have their cook in yet!

Popping out from the back room, Juliana gave the woman an apologetic smile as she walked over to her. “Hi! Good morning, I’m sorry we’re actually not quite open yet. Our cook should be here shortly but I can get you a coffee if you’re willing to wait a bit.”

_______________________

“Yeah, of course! Come, have a seat.” Juliana replied, nodding her head as she gave the woman a pleasant smile and gestured over towards the counter where there were some stools for her to sit on. Juliana hoped that she was making the proper decision, it didn’t seem fair to simply kick out a customer just because there was still a little bit of cleaning to do. It was mostly just wiping down tables and placing down cutlery after all, so it wasn’t too big a deal to have her sit at the counter drinking her coffee. Juliana could easily have a chat with her to keep her occupied until Jose showed up as well so she stuck by her decision and walked with the customer over to the counters.

As the woman apologized, Juliana simply waved it off and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind at all, at least now I’ve got some company!” she grinned, a sweet and precious grin as though she had just made a new friend, having absolutely no idea who this woman was and what she was capable of.

She planned on asking about Napa Valley, never having been there herself, but with the mention of the bathroom Juliana decided she would wait until after she came back to discuss the topic with her. “Oh yeah, the bathroom is just right over there-“ she began, turning around to point out the door only to feel herself being grabbed the moment her back was turned. Her eyes widened in fear and shock, muffled sounds of distress that couldn’t quite be loud enough to alert anyone of anything with the womans hand pressed hard against her mouth.

Her father had taught her some form of self defence but god knows she was out of practice. When would she have ever needed to use self defence here in Sunnymead? She attempted to grab onto the woman’s arm that was secured around her neck, trying to pull herself free but to no avail. Her whimpering became more frantic and only louder by a fraction for a few moments but quickly, she could feel herself losing consciousness from the hold Vivien had on her. All together the flailing stopped, her body gave up on the struggle and went limp in Vivien’s arms, just hearing the whispering before blacking out.

_______________________

The woman struggled, she tried, but Vivien wasn’t surprised that she couldn’t break out of her hold. She knew exactly how to do this without a weak woman like this one could get out of it, plus surprise was on Vivien’s side as well, so she went down easily.

The moment when she went limp in Vivien’s arms, Vivien quickly patted her down to make sure she had her phone on her (she needed some way to communicate with Genevieve once she got the girl to a save and secure location) and then she dragged the body out of the diner, not even caring long enough to close the door behind herself, and deposited her in her trunk. She did not want her to try anything in case she woke up during the drive to Evanstead.

The phone started ringing not long after, and she breathed a sigh of relief that nobody was on the streets and she could move quickly and that she avoided any other employee in the process too. She figured another waitress or maybe a cook showed up for their shift, found the door empty and nobody inside and alerted Genevieve upstairs and that is why the damn phone was ringing several times after each other.

She made the drive to the other town quickly and pulled into the empty warehouse Bex and her agreed to meet, with the woman already waiting by the door.

“No Genevieve?” she asked tentatively.

“Change of plans,” Vivien grunted as she got out of the car.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t need your fake apologies, Bex, I know you just want to say ‘I told you so’.”

“That, too, sure, but I really am sorry it didn’t go as planned.”

“Sure,” Vivien said, voice irritated as she opened the trunk. She knew she sounded like she didn’t appreciate Bex or even believed her, but she was glad it was her friend who was here to help her with all of this and not anyone else. “Now come help me get the girl out of here. We need to tie her up and make sure Genny knows we have her precious little girl.”

_______________________

Darcy let out a small scoff. "I think of there's ever a time when every other word of mine is cursing, it's this one. But I can stop if it's bothering you. I just-- yeah, I can stop."

She winced when he pointed towards his crotch - she couldn't even imagine what kind of pain he was in right now, and that was a place where she didn't even know what could help. "Do you want some pain killers? Would that help?" she asked, ignoring everything else he said because really, getting into that kind of discussion... this was not the time. Not the time at all.

Instead she quietly said, "I'm sorry. I'm really really really sorry. For all of this. If I didn't... if I didn't go to LA, none of this would have happened." He would be okay, he wouldn't be hurt, and he wouldn't have to deal with all of this shitshow. This was definitely not what he signed up for, even if it was sort of a mandatory thing for him. If he would have just gotten his probation somewhere else, he really wouldn't have had to deal with any shit that went down in the last ten months or so.

"I'm not-- I'm not really sure when she showed up. I was kind of out of it," she admitted, not that it was making anything better on her part, but she still wanted Diego to knew. She knew it didn't make a difference, but still. "But maybe a few hours before you showed up. I-- I thought it was just a nightmare, it didn't feel real. It still doesn't feel fucking real, to be honest. That she's-- how did she even survive?" After a moment she added even quieter, barely above whisper now, "Do you think there's any sort of chance that if she's alive, Olivia might be alive too?"

She knew Diego was speaking the truth, of course she did. She knew it would be idiotic of her to even try to stay in Sunnymead, but still she had to try. She had to try to convince Diego because the possibility of a relocation, of having to start all over again terrified her more than almost anything else. She had no idea how her brother did it, how he managed to push through and not go completely crazy. She already felt like Darcy and Genevieve were trying to take her apart in her head, she couldn't even imagine adding one more person in there. Not to mention the fact that she loved the people here, she had connections, friends, people she cared about. And leaving meant leaving all of them behind without so much as a goodbye. Nobody would ever know where she went, they'd just think she abandoned everything and snuck out the middle of the night.

But when Diego brought up the exact people she didn't want to say goodbye to, pointed out that she would not only danger herself but everyone in town, too, all of her arguments fell apart. She would have been willing to put herself in danger for the possibility of a life in Sunnymead, but she would have had to be the most heartless and selfish person on the entire world to say "fuck them" about an entire town of people.

She almost dropped her head onto his shoulder to seek just the tiniest bit of comfort from him, but thankfully the last minute she caught herself and dropped her head onto the back of the couch instead. Just because he was being calm and nice, it didn't mean she could do that. She honestly didn't even feel like she deserved the niceness. She wished he would be yelling at her, trying to lecture or chastize her. She would deserve all of it and so much more.

"So what now? I just-- I start packing and we leave in an hour or something? No goodbyes, no closure, nothing? Nobody will ever know or understand what happened? That's what happened in New York, so I'm guessing this is how it will happen now, too, right?" She couldn't really imagine how she could just disappear during the day when people are out and about, but she was sure everyone at the FBI would be more than happy to make that happen.

"What happens to-- what happens to everyone who works for me? Are they just going to lose their jobs? I mean, Jose has three kids, he needs the money. And Flo started taking extra shifts so she could take her grandkids to Disneyland over the summer. And Juliana... fuck, Juliana is downstairs opening the Grub right now and nobody is even going to tell her or any of them that the shop is closed."

She pulled back, looking at him carefully. "What does this mean for you?" She was almost too afraid to ask, but she had to know. "Are you-- are you coming with me or is this it? I get somebody else?"

_______________________

"Pain killers will help, yeah," he said, and then added, "With some whiskey if you have any." He had no doubt that she did. He stayed there quietly, phone balanced on his knee as she got his advil and cleaned up his face. It felt good, soothing. Even if it was such a small bit of pleasure in such a rough time, Diego did try to take the time to enjoy it. Everything seemed to be coming to an end, and Diego was determined to take whatever minute pleasure he could get from being close with Darcy as he could get.

But when Darcy apologized, he looked up at her, his stare grim and flat. "You know what's funny about you, Genevieve Soto. Is that when I got this assignment, and hell - even from Johnathan himself - everything in the notes and your file stated that you had demonstrated that you were the ideal witness in the protection program. That you just completely jumped straight into the life of Darcy Palmer, started up a goddamn diner of all things, and fit right into the town. No one suspected a thing about you here. Johnathan said he barely had to do much at all. You were supposed to be a cake-walk. I was on probation, but Al wanted to give me an easy job of it." Diego blinked, although it hurt even to do that, as the bruises started to bloom.

"Hunh. Easy. Not for Diego Chavez, oh no. The moment I took over, it was like I opened up some sort of pandora's box for your life and upended it completely. And now suddenly Vivien is fucking alive and she found you?? I don't...even know what to think anymore."

He looked at her from under his brow though, sympathy in his eyes when he said, "No. Olivia is dead. I know you weren't able to attend her funeral, but I saw her autopsy report. Vivien didn't have one, but she did. I'm sorry, Gen."

When Gen started with her barrage of questions, he shook his head. "I don't know the answers to any of that. This is out of my hands now, when I make the call then the FBI will take over and handle things from there. You'll probably be relocated, yeah. But before that you might be taken to a holding facility while the FBI sets up a new location for you to settle. Then a new handler will be assigned to you from the US Mashal office in whatever state you'll be in."

He gave another shrug about the people who worked at the Grub. "I believe the FBI will confiscate the paperwork and possibly the building and property will be foreclosed to the government, and resold eventually. But until them it'll just be caught in red tape and closed indefinitely until it gets viable once more to be resold as a commercial property. I believe it's easier to turnaround commercial property than residential because you don't technically own the building..." But Diego knew she wasn't really interested in the ins and outs of real estate. Frankly, neither was he. Dully, he said, "People lose their jobs all the time. That's just life."

There was a moment of silence between them, and Diego wasn't too lost in his own thoughts to hear something odd. He frowned, and looked at Darcy. "I know you keep a clean establishment, so don't get insulted, but. D'you hear that? Is that a mouse in your wall or floorboards or something? Or is that a noise your hedgehog makes?"

_______________________

Gen nodded and went to get an advil and pour a big glass of whiskey for Diego, and she took several big gulps of the alcohol straight from the bottle herself. She desperately wanted a cigarette as well, but she could smoke one later. Now she just wanted to finish cleaning Diego up and not think about the fact that this is probably the last time they would be this close together.

She brought the painkiller and the alcohol back to Diego and went back to finishing cleaning him up. When he started talking, she looked down, finding it hard to really look at him. She couldn't really explain it. She couldn't pinpoint what happened that made everything turn to shit so often and so many times since Diego showed up, but she felt guilty beyond anything for that, and for endangering him so many times. "You know, you make it sound like it's your fault. Like you brought all of this on yourself and me and that's just-- I really hope you don't actually think that, because none of this was your fault. *None.*"

She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Can't really explain what happened, either, aside from me making a shitton of horrible and reckless decisions, but I really am sorry. For bringing all of it onto you and making your year such a terrible and horrible ordeal. But hey, if it's worth anything, after all of it you still kept me safe, so if that doesn't make you pass your probation with flying colors, nothing will, right?" she added, trying to make her tone lighter, trying to make at least something positive out of everything.

She knew his answer was coming, and it's not like she didn't live her past few years knowing that her sister was dead, but at the same time hearing her smallest bit of hope getting crushed brought up the original surge of grief she felt when she was told what happened to Olivia. It wasn't fair. Vivien survived and Olivia who has done nothing wrong didn't make it. It wasn't fucking fair. Gen leaned forward and buried her face into her palms for a moment to gather herself before she looked back up at Diego and nodded. "Yeah, figured you'd say that. I just-- you know, had to check."

New location, new identity, completely new handler. Not that Diego would have stayed much longer in Sunnymead, but the fact that they'd be departing after all of this... Though she wasn't sure it would have been much easier to know she'd never be able to see him again if it would have been in a more peaceful environtment. The only reason it would have been easier was because then at least she could spend her time with people she cared about. Now she'd have to deal with relocation, too, and knowing that she fucked over all of her employees and lost them their jobs. In that moment she decided that even though she couldn't do much, she'd at least try to do something for everyone who worked at the Grub. Try to convince the FBI to either keep the place going - it could work without her at this point, after all, and it was making a nice profit that the FBI could take for itself, or to let one of the employees be the new owner of the place. It would be the least she could do for them, really.

She was too lost in her own thoughts and she didn't quite catch what kind of noise Diego was talking about, but she looked around and listened - Vex was quietly running in her spinning toy from the sound of it, but that was a constant sound, so it couldn't have been what Diego heard. "We don't have mouses, and before you ask, we don't have rats either, and I doubt it was Vex. Juliana is supposed to be downstairs opening the place and Jose is supposed to be arriving soon, so maybe it's either of them. But we could head down, see what it is. Even if this place will shut down, I still don't want any animals in here while it's still running." And at least while they were focusing on finding the possible rats or mouses, that phonecall was getting postponed and she could put her energy into something other that everything that happened and everything that was awaiting her. She'd had enough time to dwell on everything later anyway.

She quickly and sheepishly went and put on some yoga pants and then the two of them headed downstairs. She didn't even care that Juliana might get ideas, none of it meant anything anymore. She'd probably be out of here by the end of the day, so who cared if they were seen coming down from her apartment together (at least that would give the town some gossip about her disappearance and maybe they'd think they ran away together, turn it into some ridiculous story like they always did.)

To her surprise, though, nobody was downstairs. She checked the time and no, it's wasn't too early, Juliana was already supposed to be here at this point. "This is weird, where is she?" she pondered. The thing is, it didn't look like Juliana didn't show up. It looked like she got through half of the pre-opening routine with the chairs down from the tables and maybe two tables having salt and pepper and the menus already on them, but nothing else, and then decided to leave. And fucking leave the front door open. Well, make a coffee first and then leave.

"What the hell is going on here?" she asked, a surge of bad feeling rising inside of her but she pushed it down. She was just seeing nightmares everywhere because of what happened not so long ago, not everything is connected to gang lords and people coming back from the dead. "She's probably in the bathroom, I'll check on her to make sure she's okay, can you check the back to make sure it's not any animals? Maybe something really did come in."

But Juliana was not in the bathrooms and when she went to check the kitchens, nobody was there either and the panic inside of her started to rise again.

She fished her phone out and dialed Juliana, but even though she kept whispering "Pick up, pick up, pick up, please pick up," nothing happened, and the call automatically ended after a while. She sent a worried look towards Diego who came back in the meantime and called again and again. "Why is she not picking up?" she groaned. "You don't think... this couldn't have been... right?" she asked, hoping that somehow Diego for sure could reassure her that Vivien couldn't have had anything to do with this.

"I'm going to call Phoenix, he will probably be able to reach her," she said, more to reassure herself than anything. "Phoenix, hey, listen, is Juliana around? Or, I don't know, can you call her? See if she's okay? She's supposed to be here opening but she's not and she's not picking up the phone and... it's probably nothing, but it's kind of weird and just want to make sure she's okay, you know?"

_______________________

"Well, I..." Diego wasn't going to acknowledge that whole issue of who was to blame. He knew what Al would say: no one was to blame, but the crime syndicate who put everyone in this situation. But Diego realized that if he blamed himself, then the only way Darcy knew how to try and help him, was to blame herself even more. As if that would help; it didn't. But she didn't have an Al telling her that no one was to blame for this, but Vivien.

Well, Gen did have Diego. He made a mental note to say this to her, when he got the chance.

In the meantime, he dithered between letting Gen (Darcy? He might as well start calling her Gen now. Darcy Palmer was officially dead at this point) go down to check the diner herself while he made the phone call, or accompanying her. She seemed to think this was a task they both had to do together. And Diego couldn't even blame her - she was probably still jittery after what just happened, and she had every right to be. No, it was better to hold off on the call just yet, so he could stick to his direct assignment: keeping Gen Soto safe. Besides, Diego had a strange feeling about Vivien, that she wasn't intending to flee the country anytime soon, not without Gen. So long as the FBI knew that she was alive all this time, then they could get on the manhunt to catch her.

So he slowly eased himself up and fetched his gun from Gen's bedroom, slipping his phone in one back pocket and holding the gun in his hand. He gave Gen a look: 'don't argue with me on this' was what the look said, about his firearm.

When they went downstairs though, the diner was empty. Diego checked where Gen asked him, and returned to the main room shaking his head. "No one," he said, noticing the telltale signs as well, that someone had just been here.

As Darcy tried to make phone calls, Diego holstered his weapon and went outside, squinting at the tire marks on the dusty street. Someone seemed to have drove up recently, then pulled a U and drove headed out of town, southwards. Recently enough that the breeze had yet to disturb the dust marks on the street. He headed back inside, as Gen said she was going to call Phoenix.

"Shit..." he pulled his own phone out as well, heartbeat accelerating. Still, he didn't make any call just yet, not until him and Gen heard back from Phoenix. "Ask him if he has Juliana's phone tracked." Maybe that was a creepy thing to assume that a boyfriend might have for his girlfriend, but Diego figured those two were so tight, they probably both used the phone tracking app for each other, just to be cute or whatever kids thought was romantic these days.

_______________________

Phoenix slept with the ringer on his phone turned up for a few reasons, namely his family and Juliana. Had there been an emergency with his siblings or parents, he wanted to be there in a flash. His family meant more to him than anything else in this world. The ringer breaking through his dream — a strange one featuring a lot of snakes combined with him drowning — made Phoenix want to throw it across the room, regardless of any reasons he kept it on in the first place. Maybe he should go back to sleep. Whoever it was would have called back if they needed to.

Of course, a picture of Darcy popped up on the screen. He groaned. What did she need this early? He squinted at the clock on the bedside table. If she needed him for something, she could have asked Juliana! It wasn’t like she didn’t know everything about Phoenix’s life. In a lot of ways, she knew things better than he did. He groaned as he tapped the screen to answer the call.

“‘lo?” he mumbled. Phoenix’s voice was gruff from sleep. He blinked a couple of times as Darcy spoke. She seemed to be rambling on about something and... maybe she was concerned about something. Her words continued on and he furrowed his brows. Maybe he was too tired for this but her words weren’t making any sense to him. He sat up, running a through his messy hair. He yawned. “Um, she’s at work? She woke me up to kiss me goodbye like she does every morning then we discussed that I’m coming over to the diner around 10 for her lunch before I have to be in at work at noon.”

It was their usual schedule. If he had time to visit her at work, he would. There was also a good chance that she’d show up for his lunch break in Evanstead as well. Rubbing the back of his neck, he let her words sink in. Juliana had left for work, but it was starting to sound like she hadn’t made it.

With anxiety rising in his chest, Phoenix was already out of bed and starting to pull on the clothes that he’d worn the day before. “I’m coming down to the diner,” he said without asking if she’d be alright with that. “Is her car there? Did you check if her car’s there? I — fuck. I should call into work. It’s probably nothing but... what if she got hurt on her way in?” he asked, voice unsure. If it turned out to be nothing, great. If it didn’t, he’d need to be home with her. It seemed like the best course of action.

He didn’t, however, consider her vanishing off of the face of the Earth because that didn’t make sense whatsoever. Where would she have gone?

_______________________

Phoenix sounded hazy and disoriented at the beginning of the call and Gen was almost certain she just woke him up. Normally she would have felt guilty, but if her fear was right... no, better safe than sorry. But even though she was hoping Phoenix would be the one who would calm her down and reassure her that yes, she had to run home for something and everything was okay, Phoenix just told her something she already knew. That Juliana left for work.

His idea about Juliana's car was a good one and Darcy was already heading to the back where she could check in the window if Juliana's car was parked there - which it was and she let out a silent curse. She figured it might not be the best idea to let Phoenix know that it was here and that she couldn't see anyone near the car either, he was already telling her he wanted to come down to the diner.

"No, no, don't come here, it's probably-- you know, it's probably nothing, I must be just overreacting," she tried even though she knew it wouldn't work. She freaked out Phoenix and in a few minutes he would be walking into the diner asking his own questions. "He wants to come here," she mouthed to Diego as an explanation before continuing. "Seriously, Phoenix, I'm sure she just run over to the grocery store and left her phone on silence or something."

"One moment," she said and quickly muted the phone on her end. "How am I supposed to ask him if they have trackers on their phones, he's already worried, if something's up... he's going to want to get involved." She didn't really expect a reply from Diego, though. And she knew he was right, if there was a tracker on Juliana's phone, it could help them immensely - either to ease their minds or to help find her.

"Okay, looks, this is going to... well, this is going to sound like a really paranoid question," she said to Phoenix after unmuting herself, "but is there any way you can track Juliana's phone from your phone?"

_______________________

"This is true," Diego replied slowly, sitting on one of the stools. Even with painkillers, the beatdown that Vivien had given him was catching up to him. He shouldn't have downed all that whiskey in one go, either. He went to the coffee mug, sniffing it first before drinking some. "But you should ask anyway. If you want me to ask, I will. My cover's blown here, Gen. I might as well come clean with the kid, give him something to add to his conspiracy theory binder when I'm gone."

As he finished the coffee, Gen did ask, and all Diego could do was wait for the answer. Although he was beginning to already suspect he knew it, given the look on Gen's face when she'd gone to see if Juliana's car was parked out back, and it was. Jesus, if something happened to that poor girl...

_______________________

Her telling him that he didn’t need to come over wasn’t a good enough way to stop him. Once an idea had gotten into his head, nobody would be able to change his mind. Shoving bare feet into his tennis shoes, he balanced his phone between his shoulder and his ear. “Fuck that. If it’s nothing, I can yell at her about the fact I got woken up like... three and half hours before I planned to.” It was meant as a joke but Phoenix’s voice had proven itself to be nowhere close to achieving said tone. He grabbed his keys from where he’d thrown them and climbed into his car to start it up.

He began the drive over, unsure of what she could be doing. Maybe she was checking the back of the diner for Juliana, though he kind of hoped that she had already done that. How fucked up would it be to discover that Juliana had been getting something from the freezer and Darcy hadn’t thought to check back there? The woman was smarter than that! (Though, for a brief moment, Phoenix found himself wishing that she wasn’t. It might even be a bit funny for all of this to blow over.)

The drive to the diner was a short one, short enough that it simply took him the time that Darcy was doing whatever she’d stepped away to do to pull up out front. “What? I mean, yeah, of course I do,” he said as he parked right behind her. He shut the door and stopped to look at her car for a moment. It looked, totally normal. He hung up the phone without another word when he saw the doors wide open.

“Please tell me this is a normal step in opening the diner,” he said as he walked in.

_______________________

"It's not exactly your cover I'm worried about right now, more... what if he gets involved and something happens to him?" she whispers the second half of her sentence, terrified to even think it. Saying out loud felt like making it even more real. Not that not speaking it would make it any less real. "Fuck. What if something... If something happens to Juliana..."

They didn't really have a lot of time to discuss the possibilities for disaster, however, because Phoenix walked in soon. The curse and blessing of the small town as well. When Darcy heard the car stop outside, she tried to gather herself to not show the full extent of her panic the moment Phoenix walked in. He was already freaking out and even though it felt practically impossible, Darcy still hoped more than anything that this would be just a ridiculous misunderstanding and Juliana would walk in any second and not understand the panic they are all experiencing.

"Nope, nothing is normal about this morning," she shook her head. She wondered for a moment how Diego and Darcy must have looked the moment Phoenix walked in - Diego with bruises and a black eye already forming on his face while still feeling the pain of Vivien's other hit, while Darcy standing there in one of Diego's shirts and a yoga pants, looking like she just walked downstair in her pajamas or something. Not that it mattered, not that any of it aside from where Juliana was mattered.

At least Phoenix said he had a tracker on his phone for Juliana's cell, so that was good, that would be helpful. "Can you check that tracker thing on your phone? See where she is currently?"

_______________________

Diego glanced at Phoenix, who seemed fine if very worried. And seeing Darcy's own look of utter worry, the blood drained from her face, likely wasn't helping. Darcy was right after all - it was unfortunate that Phoenix showed up at the diner, Diego didn't expect that...only maybe he should. This was a small town and Phoenix was Phoenix.

Regardless, Diego went to the doors and closed and locked them all. He put flipped the closed sign and pulled down all the blinds as well. No way was anyone else randomly meandering in here hoping for a shortstack and coffee or something.

"If you could do what she says with no questions yet, Phoenix," Diego requested his tone stern and authoritative. "We'll answer what we can, once we locate where Juliana is. She hasn't been answering Darcy's calls this morning." But maybe the girl just ran out to help a dog that got hit on the street, and had to rush it to the 24-her vet in Evanstead with the driver. Or maybe Old Mrs Fiegel fell down on her daily walk and Juliana had to help her home. Or maybe a thousand of good samaritan emergencies that might've prompted Juliana to leave so quickly, without her car and unable to take calls just yet.

He couldn't jump to any conclusions. He wasn't going to make a call of his own just yet, not about the wrong thing, anyway.

Except then, Darcy's phone started to ring.

Diego half-limped over, and he exhaled sharply. The call was coming from Juliana's phone. He looked at Darcy. "Answer it."

_______________________

The voice that came from behind her made her jump, gasping softly now that she knew she wasn’t alone. Juliana didn’t dare turn around to get a look at them, out of sight out of mind, right? That probably didn’t apply to her right now. Besides, her mind was racing so quickly from the fear, repeating the words oh my god over and over again there was no way she could focus on anything or anyone right now even if she wanted to.

She squeezed her eyes shut and the sound of the high heels against the ground didn’t really make her want to open them. Juliana just wanted to be in the dark, stay quiet and just hope that this was some kind of terrible nightmare that she would just wake up from. Taking a few deep breaths she thought about how nice it would have been if she just opened her eyes right now to see Phoenix and Eugene and Percy in bed next to her. Instead, the moment she opened them, the woman from the diner was right in front of her, a grin on her face that looked so much more sinister now.

Juliana’s whole body was trembling, her heart was racing, breathing shaky, and her doe eyes were open wide with terror. It took her a minute to understand what the woman was saying to her, it all felt like too much to process right now. “Please I don’t…I don’t know anyone named Gen, I don’t know what you want, I–” she cut herself off, her voice getting caught in her throat, barely even realizing she just ignored the woman’s question in order to plead even though there was no way it would have any effect.

She looked down at the floor, shaking her head and sniffling. “No, I don’t! I promise I haven’t done anything, I don’t owe anyone anything…please I-I don’t know what you want or-or who you’re looking for but it’s not me!” There was no way someone could be out to get her like this. Juliana was a kind person! She helped others, she didn’t get involved with shady activities, she was an upstanding person and whatever they think she did to take her hostage had to be some kind of mistake.

_______________________

Vivien asked one quiestion that she actually wanted the answer to, the rest was really just to watch the girl in front of her squirm, and she managed to not reply to that single one, instead babbling about how good of a person she was and how she hasn’t done anything and so on. It was fun, obviously, the confusion and the panic was exciting to watch, but she needed information first and only then did she want to have a little fun while they waited for Genevieve to arrive.

“Alright, listen. You don’t know who I am, so I’m going to let your first mistake slide,” she said, walking closer and leaning down so she could properly look the girl in the eye, her expression hard and threatening. “Here are the rules - I ask the questions and you answer them. No whining, no running your mouth in circles about nothing, just answer the question. Even if it’s something so simple as asking for your name. Again, I let this one slide, but the next time you don’t answer a question of mine, it’s going to be painful for you.”

Vivien could see Bex from behind the girl with an amused smile on her face. Of course she was enjoying the show. She was always enjoying this game, whenever they had to go through it. “And be happy while you’re dealing with me. If I lose my patience or get too annoyed with your answers, I might just hand you over to my friend behind you, and you won’t have a worse day in your life then.”

She stepped back now, her tone turning back to casual and light. “And if you answer my questions, you might even get some answers form us, too. How’s that sounds? Because, little girl, you do know Gen. She just goes by a different name now. So let’s try again - what’s your name again?”

She reached over to the table they set up and picked up the girl’s phone from it. “You got one of the most annoying ring tones, did you know that? Anyway, tell me your lock code and make things easier for us.”

_______________________

Juliana let the woman speak (as if there was anything else she could do without getting hurt in the process). It gave her some time to breathe and compose herself as best she could in a situation like this. All she wanted right now was her dad to bust in and save the day. Someone must have seen them and reported it to the police, right? God, she really hope that somebody saw her.

She nodded her head a little to show that she understood what was being said to her and the consequences if she didn’t comply. She still had no idea who this woman thought this Gen person was and how Juliana knew hew but her main priority right now was cooperating and staying alive. “Juliana…” she answered softly, too scared to make eye contact but looking just behind her at eye level so that she didn’t look like she was being disrespectful by averting her gaze.

Seeing her phone in the woman’s hands, Juliana instinctively squirmed as though she were going to feel around in her pockets to prove that was hers. She wasn’t able to do much while tied up but it was pretty easy to tell that was hers since she didn’t expect this woman to have a pink glittery phone case. “It’s…zero five one zero.” she answered, feeling sick to her stomach with the connotation of the number reminding her of Phoenix. Juliana wanted to start crying just thinking about him. He had no idea that she wasn’t going to be at work to spend time with him before his shift, or had that time already passed? All she could do right now was pray that someone had realized by now that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be.

_______________________

“Juliana, Juliana, Juliana…” Vivien murmured Juliana’s name like she was testing it out, like Juliana was nothing more than an incidental occurrence. She was only a means to an end, after all. She used the passcode on the phone and it unlocked.

“Thank god, it looks like she’s got a brain after all!” Vivien exclaimed sardonically towards Bex, who just blinked impassively a she watched. "Thank you, sweetheart, I - who’s this?“ She turned the phone towards Juliana angrily then, which displayed one of the most cutest photos of Juliana, arms around Phoenix, smooching him. There was no mistaking Phoenix for a brother or friend, not with the affection in his own expression. "Who the fuck–?” Vivien looked at the photo again, and then sighed and closed her eyes. "Goddammit. You’re not with Gen, are you. FUCK.“

Vivien kicked at Juliana’s chair, not caring if her heel connected against Juliana’s shin (it did).

"Listen, she still matters to Gen,” Bex’ voice reasoned from behind Juliana. "Make the call.“

"Now you’re even more useless to me, you realize that?” Vivien chastised Juliana as if Juliana was at fault for not being romantically involved with Gen. She searched for Gen’s number in her contacts, calling out to Bex. "What’s the name she’s using now?“

"Darcy.”

“Oh there it is…” She gave Juliana a look of disgust. As Juliana’s phone started to ring, Vivien came closed and oh-so idly gripped Juliana’s shoulder. She had a strong grip and seemed to know exactly where to hold onto to start digging her fingers under the collarbone and into Juliana’s deltoid from behind, making Juliana’s shoulder ache.

“She better pick up…” she grumbled, and then suddenly looked over at Bex again. "Fuck. When that US Marshal busted in on us, Gen put on a man’s shirt. A man’s shirt.“

_______________________

Her eyes stayed glued to her kidnapper, watching her every move. It wasn’t like she would be able to preemptively detect her next move but maybe she could at least figure out what she might want. She could feel her heart drop in her chest at the question, and the sudden flash of her phone background of her and Phoenix. "That’s…that’s uh-” she sputtered out unable to say anything from worry that something would happen to him if she did.

The woman’s cursing had interrupted her moment of babbling as she seemed to realize their connection but what Juliana didn’t understand was why she thought she was involved with someone else. Clearly she hadn’t been in town long enough to see her and her boyfriend together or else she wouldn’t have made this mistake. The heel to her shin was unexpected and she grunted in pain before trying once more to plead her case. “This is just a big mistake! I’m not with anyone called Gen, you have the wrong person!” She proclaimed as if that were enough to make these people decide to simply let her go.

They still seemed positive that Juliana was someone they could use so again Juliana watched her phone being used and when the question of what name is she using again? was answered, Juliana could have sworn she was hearing things. “Wait, Darcy?!” She couldn’t help exclaiming, turning her head to try and look at the woman behind her as if this were some kind of joke. She was here because of Darcy? That didn’t make any sense! “What could you possibly want with Darcy?” She asked, not even knowing where the courage to speak up was coming from. She was scared but she wanted answers. If this was some kind of trade off, she couldn’t possibly kill her, she needed her alive or she’d be even more useless than she apparently already was. At least that’s what movies and tv shows taught her.

The feeling of this womans fingers digging into her skin made her wince, squeezing her eyes shut to try and withstand the pain. This woman obviously sounded jealous, first thinking Juliana was with Darcy and now commenting on her wearing some man’s shirt? All this just because she wanted Darcy? “This is crazy…” Juliana whined, shaking her head as she too waited to see if Darcy would pick up the phone. She had to have been looking for by now there was no way she wouldn’t answer to at the very least ask why she didn’t show up for her shift.

_______________________

His eyes darted between Darcy and Diego. The tension in the air was palpable. He wanted to be able to tear it down from the atmosphere around then. Instead, Phoenix had to simply deal with it. It felt like torture. It was as if he’d forgotten to track her phone. His own phone was still held firmly in his hand.

“Right... her location...” He opened the app, impatiently shifting on his feet as he waited for it to load. Suddenly, his phone felt like it was moving as slowly as it possibly could. He considered tossing it across the room. It wouldn’t be able to help them at all.

He was squinting at his phone, trying to figure out where this address was. It was unfamiliar.

Before he could mention that, Darcy’s phone went off. He waited for her to answer, looking over to Diego. “Who the fuck punched you? You’re allowed to fight but I’m not? Not cool, bro.” The usual playfulness in his voice wasn’t there, but it seemed like the right thing to do - pretend like nothing was happening so he didn’t break down. Over the years, he liked to think he had gotten good at it.

_______________________

"Thanks," Darcy gave a small, appreciating smile to Phoenix and hoped the location would load fast and would reveal a location two streets away. Maybe three.

But before it happened, her phone started to ring and Darcy flinched in surprise from the sound. It was Juliana calling and she both desperately wanted to answer the phone and painfully wanted to ignore it at the same time.

She still hoped it was just a huge misunderstanding, but she also couldn't ignore the possibility that on the other end of the call it could be Vivien. She considered stepping away and taking the call alone, but she was pretty sure Phoenix wouldn't have been having any of it and they'd have to explain a couple of things either way, so she remained where she was, giving Diego a look before she picked up a phone.

"Juliana? Are you okay?"

"Try again," came the very familiar, very wrong voice from the other side of the call and Gen cursed silently and tightened her grip on her phone. She shook her head and mouthed "Vivien" at Diego before she spoke.

"Why do you have this phone?"

"Oh, come on, honey, you're not that slow. Are you alone?"

"Yes," she said without thinking about it. Whatever this game was that Vivien was trying to play now, it had to be intended just for her, and she would lose all the small leverage she could get if she'd be like 'oh no other people are totally here and going to want to murder you the moment I tell them what you're doing'. "Diego left not so long ago to make some calls to his higher up. What have you done to Juliana? I swear, Vivien, if you hurt her..."

"She's okay, for now. Little bit confused and frightened, maybe a tad bit of pain, but for now she's in one piece."

"What kind of sick joke is this for you? I didn't go with you so now you're going to... what? What are you going to do with her?"

"It's all up to you. Here's what's going to happen. You're going to get in a car and drive here. I'll text you the location once the call is over. You're going to come alone and completely alone. When you arrive, we're going to head out like we were supposed to before you rudely decided against it. Once we have several hours of head start, we'll make a pit stop and call somebody to let them know where this pathetic creature is. And nobody has to get hurt. If you don't show up within and hour, I'm going to kill her. If you show up with the FBI and your Marshall buddy, I'm going to kill her. Slowly and painfully, and then I'll head back to town and take somebody else and we'll repeat the process until you do show up. And let me make things incredibly clear - if you don't show up because the FBI takes you away, I am going to kill everyone in that town. I'm not going to accept that as an excuse. Do we understand each other?"

Darcy swallowed hard, staying quiet for a moment before she hoarsely said, "Y-- yes."

"Good. See you in a bit." And the call ended.

Darcy just stared at her phone for what felt like forever. She wanted to break the phone if nothing else, but that would get them nowhere aside from no communication with Vivien from that point on, which they might need, so she just ended up sitting down onto one of the stools by the counter. Or more like falling onto it.

"She wants me there in an hour. Alone," she said to Diego eventually, trying to get the main thing through without saying too much. This would already be too much to Phoenix, she didn't want the first thing he heard was how Vivien threatened to kill the entire town just to get to her. And just on cue, her phone pinged with her alert for a text. She quickly checked and it was Vivien sending over the location where she was supposed to go. Without saying a word she just turned it over to show it to Diego.

_______________________

Fortunately, Diego was close by to Darcy enough and Darcy had her phone volume on high enough that he could pretty clearly hear what Vivien told her. He was about to rub his face in distress, but his eye and jaw were still spongy-feeling from when he'd gotten pistol-whipped, twice. This wasn't the first tine he'd tried to function with a potential concussion, but that didn't mean Diego liked it or was used to it. Everything still slightly spun and had little stars bursting from the corners of his eyes.

"Phoenix, show me your..." Once Vivien hung up, Diego pulled Phoenix over and looked at the kid's phone, the little pin indicating where Juliana's phone was. He nodded. "Thank god for technology. Vivien made the call where she claims to be keeping Juliana, and it doesn't look like the phone's moving anywhere. It's a warehouse in the industrial park by the lakeside."

He glanced at Phoenix grimly, and said, "The difference is, you think fighting is fun, son. Now lemme...shit." He looked at his own phone finally, only to realize the screen was cracked so badly, that the phone wouldn't even turn on. "Fuck me...." Diego went around the counter to use the diner phone, calling 911 and identifying himself as US Marshal Diego Chavez, issuing his badge number and then asking to be connected with the specific US Marshal Office to speak to Director Al Karga.

He gave Darcy a look, and held up a finger to allay and protests from her. "No one is going to get Juliana killed, Darcy. No one wants her dead. You understand me? You really have to trust me here. Please."

Once he was connected, he spoke at length with Al, first the shock of Vivien being alive, then everything else. He checked the time, cussed, then asked Al what needed to be done. After more back and forth, Diego finally hung up.

"FBI won't reach Evanstead for another 60 minutes, and we're already ten minutes into Vivien's hour," he said, checking his watch again. "Darcy, get changed, and I'll get changed too. Do it, you can't go like this..." He was glad his face was already mottled in bruises, because realizing Darcy was wearing his shirt suddenly made Diego flushed. "We'll meet back here in five minutes. It takes forty minutes to get to Evanstead from here. Darcy, you take Juliana's car."

He looked at Phoenix and sighed. "And you. You'd find a way to get to Juliana even if I ordered you not to go, right? Even if I begged you?" Diego looked hopefully at Phoenix, then shook his head. "Never mind. God help me, don't let this get back to my boss, but I'm going to let you come with me. If - and I really mean ONLY if - you do exactly has I ask and don't do anything reckless. Which I know, 'reckless' is your middle name, but this isn't having fun at my expense, Phoenix. This woman is a killer, and she might kill Juliana. And I'm sorry kid - but in this hostage situation, you do not know better than me. Do you understand? I can explain more to you on the way, if you agree to listen to me and only me."

_______________________

Diego knew perfectly that she would freak out the moment he started calling all of this in, Darcy didn't even have a chance to react, he was already holding up his hand, reassuring her that Juliana would be fine. Asking her to trust him. She ran her fingers through her mess of a hair, but nodded and quietly said, "Okay, I trust you."

When Phoenix asked what the fuck was all of this, Darcy's heart was slowly breaking. She couldn't imagine how it must have been like for him in that moment, only hearing snipets of their conversations and not understanding a thing from it, only that shit was really, really, *really* bad. And she both wanted to explain it all and was terrified to do so at the same time. The one thing, the only good thing about relocation would have been that she wouldn't have had to have this conversation. She would have felt extremely shitty leaving without any warning or explanation, but she was also terrified of seeing the disappointment and the hurt and the disdain in his eyes over everything. "I know, I know, this is... just give us a few moments, okay? Let Diego finish the call and then we'll explain things. But he-- he's really good at his job, okay? He's not going to let anything to happen to Juliana, I swear."

Technically it wasn't fully up to Diego, it was up to Vivien, but Gen trusted Diego and his capabilities. He'd have something up his sleeve to get Juliana out of this. And worst case scenario, she could just... go with Gen. That was an option too.

While Diego was on the phone, Darcy sent out a few texts to everyone who had a shift that day to take a day off because the Grub would be closed today, and then she was hovering, walking up and down, trying not to pay attention to Diego's side of the conversation instead of thinking about the worst case scenarios and what must have Vivien been doing to Juliana in that moment.

She nodded to everything Diego told her once the call ended and even though she wished Phoenix wouldn't be coming along, Diego had a point - Phoenix would have tried getting to Juliana either way, this way at least the chances of him getting hurt was smaller.

"Go, chance, do your thing, I'll explain things to him before you get back," she told Diego. Phoenix insisted on an explanation before anything could happen, and she didn't want to waste time. It was easier like this.

She didn't realize how she would suddenly feel her own body parts when Diego left and it was just Phoenix and her in the diner, or that suddenly she'd feel like her throat has never been drier or that she just wanted to run off and that this has been a bad idea after all.

She felt like she was in a haze as she slid into the booth across Phoenix, her heart beating out of her chest. She never expected to have to actually tell about this, about all the lies to anyone, to Phoenix. "Okay, so, this is... fuck, this is harder than I thought it would be. I'm not... my name isn't Darcy Palmer. It's Genevieve Soto. Over seven years ago I met this woman called Vivien Salazar. We--- we got together pretty quickly and things were going great. About five years ago, before I came here, I accidentally walked in on Vivien getting shot and what I thought was her bleeding out and dying. I got shot myself." Her hand hovered over one of the scars on her side without even realizing it. She was also not looking at Phoenix while she was talking. She didn't want to see the disappointment and the pain in his eyes and on his face when he realized just how much she lied to him over the years.

"As it turned out, she was the head of some kind of huge crime syndicate, I was just never aware of it." Her voice was quiet, shaking a bit while she played with the bottom of Diego's shirt under the table just to do something with her hands and so maybe they wouldn't be shaking so hard. "My family and I were placed into witness protection - the FBI spread us out, I have no idea where my family is, but I was sent here and given a new identity, and things were... mostly going okay. Diego is a US Marshall placed here to keep an eye on me and protect me if needed. And then last night Vivien showed up out of the blue and... well, a lot of shit happened," most of which she wasn't really proud of, but there was no need to make things even worse by actually saying them out loud, "but the long story short is that she wanted me to go with her and I said no. So now apparently she thinks that by taking Juliana, she can convince me to go with her. And as you could hear, she wants me there in less than an hour." She didn't add that otherwise Vivien threatened to kill Juliana, but she was certain Phoenix put the picture together.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." She paused for a moment, finally looking up at Phoenix. "I never meant to drag her or you into any of this."

_______________________

Diego didn't want to leave Darcy and Phoenix alone, but he knew he had to get better equipped and they were very short on time. "Be quick," Diego instructed Darcy. "And don't forget to change as well." He was halfway out the door before he added a belated, "Please." on his way out.

Once in his apartment, Diego didn't waste time. He changed, got his badge and two other weapons, as well as a spare phone that he'd been holding onto solely because he was a paranoid person. He texted Al on it, to let his boss know that Diego could now be reachable on the old phone.

When he got back to the diner, he glanced at the two, and nodded his chin. "C'mon, we have to get there before the hour's up."

_______________________

It was strange to be sitting at his regular table without Juliana around. When she wasn’t working at the diner, she would be in there with them. Suddenly, it was hitting him just how much time they spent together. What was he supposed to do if something happened to her? No. His mind wouldn’t - couldn’t - go there. His fingers idly traced one of the ducks in diner uniforms that Dany had drawn on the table which hadn’t been cleaned up yet. Sharpie. He wonder if Darcy would make him clean it up, if any of it mattered.

As if he were in search of some sense of normalcy, Phoenix turned to glare at Diego. "Don't tell us what to do," he said softly. The usual argumentative tone of his voice when he was talking with the older man wasn't present. He couldn't bring himself to do it, instead coming out almost shaky.

Looking up to watch Darcy as she began to talk, he thought maybe he had heard her wrong. Then, his mind went to the most logical place - she had changed her name. He understood it. Hell, his mom hadn't been born Skylar Mae. His parents had even offered to change his first name when he was adopted if he wanted to. (After 17 years, he couldn't think of a name which would suit him more. Plus, he was used to it.)

He couldn't turn away from her story. A part of him thought that she was joking with him, but there was nothing on her face to illustrate that this was a tasteless prank. It had... to be true, didn't it? He held up his hand for her to stop speaking so that he would be able to interject his though. "Wait, someone fucking shot you? Where is he?" he asked, feeling defensive of the woman despite the fact that Darcy had come here under completely different circumstances than he had thought that she had.

Until she got to the last bit. Witness protection? Running away on her own was one thing. At least the rest of what she said could have been true. This... this meant that there was a lot more to her life than he would have thought. “So.. you were attacked than you came here. And, you know, we were close. You knew I wouldn’t hurt you, but you kept lying...” He already had trust issues and, while there were much more intense things to worry about, he couldn’t help the betrayal which was coursing throughout him.

The comment about Diego didn’t throw him quite as much off guard. Finally tearing his eyes from Darcy - Gen? - because he didn’t think that he could look at her. “Fucking knew it,” he mumbled as he fixated on the duck again. He couldn’t celebrate that fact though. Maybe when they got Juliana back. They... No. He was a liar too, wasn’t he?

“It’s your fuckin’ fault that Juliana is gone?” he asked, voice harsh. Looking back up, he narrowed his eyes. “Fine. You know what? Fine. We’re gonna do this and we’re getting my girl back, and then you never speak to us again. You don’t - you can’t even look at us! Promise you’ll stay away.” He slammed hi palm hard against the table. “Promise me, Genevieve!”

_______________________

The weird thing was, at the beginning Phoenix's reaction was a lot better than Darcy anticipated. She knew Phoenix and she knew he had problems with trust, for good reason, and even without it, it would be hard for anyone to swallow that somebody you're so close to has lied to you from the very first moment you've met, so adding Phoenix's problems with truth... she expected a lot worse. Phoenix even got offended was seemed like he was ready to fight the guy who shot Vivien and her all those years ago.

"I-- I'm not sure, but it's okay, it was a long time ago," she tried to reassure him while the hope that this could go better rose inside of her. Maybe she spent all this time worrying for nothing. Maybe Phoenix would be understanding and...

You knew I wouldn’t hurt you, but you kept lying...

A few sentences, and it was like a bucket of ice water was poured all over her once again. For a moment she really thought he would be okay with all of this. She should have known better not to get her hopes up. Of course he would see the lying and be hurt by it. She spent years and years pretending to be somebody else completely, nobody could ever forgive something like this.

Part of her wanted to tell him that she had no choice, that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone, that she had to keep her true identity a secret, but did she really? Sure, there were rules, but she had a choice the entire time. She could have told him the bare minimum, he was right, he would have never hurt her. But after a point, lying was easier. It fed her guilt, but the guilt was still better than facing the truth in front of the people she cared about, yet spent so much time lying to.

She ducked her head again, looking at her fingers while she bit the inside of her lips not to start crying in front of Phoenix. He was telling her how after all of this she needed not speaking to them ever again, and he had no idea just how right he was, but still, leaving like this would be different. Not knowing his reaction at least would have left a small what if window open in her mind where she could imagine that if the situation was any different, maybe they could speak. Instead now she knew that even if she could stay, there was no repairing any of this.

"Yeah, sure," she muttered, barely above whisper, still fighting her tears. "You don't have to worry about talking to me. Vivien found me, which means in a couple of hours I'll be leaving the town anyway and will be relocated to a new place. So you won't even have to see me around town."

This was the moment Diego walked back in and Darcy practically jumped up from her seat. "Yeah, sure, just... gimme a second, I didn't have a chance to change yet." And she rushed upstairs, not looking at Diego either in hopes that he wouldn't see and recognize the pain on her expression.

She spent exactly one minute leaning against her front door, crying, before she wiped her tears away and forced herself to stop crying. Juliana was more important than her tears. She quickly washed her face to make things less obvious, changed and and headed back downstairs.

"Okay, so I'm going in Juliana's car, you guys go together. Any other details to the plan, Diego? Please tell us that you have some brilliant plan already in your head."

_______________________

"I don't know about brilliant..." Diego said, and it was difficult not to see that Darcy's face was flushed, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. He'd seen her crying enough times to know what it looked like. Diego shot a look at Phoenix, but none of this mattered at this moment. Diego figured Darcy probably just revealed the truth, and Phoenix sported attitude at her for it, a typical response. But all that mattered now, was making sure that Juliana got out of this alive, that Vivien Salazar was arrested, and that Gen Soto was free once more (to a certain extent...Diego knew she could never be truly free again).

"You drive ahead and we'll follow. Park at the warehouse and keep your phone on. I hope it's charged..." He gave them both his own new phone number, making sure they got it right. He made sure that Darcy put his contact name as something innocuous, like 'Grub'. So just in case anything happened, Vivien wouldn't see any texts coming from the phone coming in from a US Marshal. "Stay in the car and I'll drive around to check the warehouse out. Once I text you to go inside, do it. I'll follow - and I'll be careful."

He looked at the two of them. "I have no interest in getting Juliana harmed." To Diego this was obvious, but he figured it was a good idea to reiterate that as much as possible, as many times as he could. "We know Vivien doesn't intend to kill you, but I know she is dangerous and she is a killer. So we do what is most sensible: we wait for the FBI to arrive. Darcy - Gen - I know this is putting...so much on your shoulders, but I need you to stall her. As much as you can. You buying time is all we have going for us."

He looked at Phoenix. "This is something too big for the Sunnymead Sheriff to handle, he simply doesn't have the resources. If he gets pissed off that's fine, he can file a civil lawsuit against the US Marshal Office and the FBI - after we get his daughter safely back to him."

Checking his gun, Diego, nodded at Phoenix. "And you stay put in the car, when we get there. I'm bringing you along, but like hell I'm putting you in the middle of anything where you can get hurt. If you're harmed, it's no different from Juliana getting harmed. Do not do anything brash or stupid and hurt yourself because you think you think hurting yourself will save Juliana. It won't. You getting hurt will only make things worse."

Motioning for Phoenix to head outside to Diego's car, Diego first paused in front of Darcy, hands on her shoulders as he asked quietly. "Are you okay? Can you do this? You're going to do this, Gen, and it's going to be okay, alright? I won't let her take you away. The kids aren't going to get hurt. This isn't your fault."

_______________________

When Diego came back down, Phoenix didn't bother looking at him. Was his name even Diego? Like Darcy, it was likely that it could have been a pseudonym. He didn't know anything. Fuck, he hated being so clueless. It was why he dove so deep into things. This made him overly nervous.

The plan wasn't something which made sense to him. It sounded like it was straight out of a movie. He wasn't an expert though. Maybe those filmmakers did their research. Truthfully, he didn't even know what a US marshal did. To him, it meant that he was close to right when he said that Diego seemed like an overly glorified security guard... switch the word with cop and he was right. His teeth dug into his lower lip enough that he new that it would draw blood. The nerves he was feeling were so different than any of the other times that he was filled with anxiety. Hell, he was more scared than when he first entered into juvenile hall years back and he hadn't thought that possible.

A killer. They'd gotten Juliana kidnapped by a literal murderer. Though he'd heard it before, hearing it again made him feel like throwing up. He glanced around, looking for a trash can he could vomit into just in case.

His eyes darted to Diego at the comment about Vincent. Fuck. Fuck. Phoenix shook his head. "Are you fucking kidding me? We're not going to call Vincent? He's her dad and - and he's good at his job. What about you, Diego? You failed Juliana and you failed whoever the hell she is over there!" he said as he pointed towards Darcy also known as Genevieve and any of the other names that she went by which hadn't been revealed to him. "Vincent might not have dealt with kidnapping, but at least he keeps Juliana safe! You don't keep anyone safe! You brought all of this bullshit to Sunnymead! Things were totally fine before you guys got here. The only problem here was me!”

Phoenix shook his head, turning to stare at Diego like he had grown an extra head. He didn’t think that the agent would be that stupid. Of course Phoenix was going to get involved He wasn’t going to stay out of the way. At all. “You can either work your plan around me heading in there or we’ll wing it. I’m coming and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Arrest... can you arrest me? What the fuck can you do with your job?”

Leaning against the door, he watched Darcy and Diego interact. This was ridiculous to him, how they still continued to whisper to each other. More secrets, no doubt. He couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away. He checked his phone for a moment, as if he was looking for there to be a message from Juliana as there usually was. He knew better; he swore he did.

“Can you two stop flirting and help me go and get my girlfriend? Because I have a car. I have my own car and I have her location! I can go on my own. And you both know that I will!”

_______________________

Gen listened to Diego's plan with worry, her mind already going a mile a minute about how she could actually pull this off, how she could stall Vivien long enough for the FBI to arrive. She will want to leave right away exactly for the same reasons - not to get found. One wrong step from her and it could result in Juliana getting hurt and that was the last thing she wanted. She still nodded, though, once Diego was done. "Okay, alright."

When Phoenix interjected, she winced. She understood where he was coming from, she really did, but she also didn't like him blaming all of it on Diego. It was her fault, more so than even Phoenix could realize, not Diego's. "Phoenix, please, it wasn't his fault, okay? He didn't bring... he's just doing his job, it was me who brought all of this here, so please don't take it out on him. Just-- it's gonna be okay, alright?We're going to get her back and it'll be fine." Maybe she was saying that last part both to convince herself and not just Phoenix. But Vivien wouldn't be that dumb to do any permanent hard. She had to know that if anything happened to Juliana, she wouldn't even consider going along with her. (She still didn't want to, but she also knew in the back of her mind that it was a possibility. If she couldn't stall long enough, she'd have to go along with Vivien to make sure Juliana was safe and as far away from her woman as possible.)

She couldn't help a small smile when Phoenix insisted that he would be coming along and not staying in the car and then jump into questions about what kind of stuff was Diego allowed to do. If the situation was any different, she probably would have laughed at the entire situation and would have wanted to watch Phoenix bombarding Diego with all different questions. Instead she just said to Phoenix, "Please just be careful, okay? Vivien-- she's not fucking around."

She didn't expect the touch on her shoulder and the gentleness of his voice, and she wished just for a moment she could lean against him and take some solace from it. But while he was being nice, she knew it was to make sure she was keeping it together. He saw her lose it before, hell he saw just how useless she was not so long ago when Vivien was upstairs with the two of them, he was just trying to make sure she got herself together enough to not screw things up. And even though it was just work, she still appreciated that he took the time to do it.

She gave a small nod and looked up at him with tired eyes. She didn't agree that it wasn't her fault, but that wasn't important in the moment either. "Yeah, I'll be... I'll be good, I can do this. I have to do this, we don't really have a choice. I can't let Juliana get hurt."

Phoenix's voice came from the door and she motioned for Diego towards him. "Go, because he really will just leave without us. Please keep him save. Both of them."

They headed out after that, Diego and Phoenix towards Diego's car, and Darcy headed for Juliana's car, only to realize the car was locked when she wanted to get inside of it. Which, of course it was locked, she wasn't sure why she thought it wouldn't be, but for a moment it made her panic rise once again - how was she supposed to get to the warehouse if she couldn't even get into Juliana's car?

She looked around as if the solution was somewhere around her, as if Juliana dropped the car keys somewhere near just so she could find them and use them now. It wasn't there, obviously. But her eyes did land on a bigger rock and she found herself picking it up and hurling it at the window at the driver's seat, shattering the window and making it possible for Gen to get inside the car. Now came the next problem, actually starting the car. And this was the moment when it hit her that Juliana probably had her keys somewhere in the back room of the diner in her bag and she just smashed the car window completely pointlessly.

She rushed back inside and found the keys in no time and a minute later she was already driving out of Sunnymead, not caring about the speed limit, just wanting to get there as fast as possible.

_______________________

With Gen reassuring him that she would be able to do this, all Diego could do was believe that she was right. She had to believe she'd do this after all. It wasn't just her life on the line - not that it had ever been before. After Olivia's death, Diego knew Gen was more than completely aware that she was to blame if anyone else innocent got hurt. Diego couldn't imagine what Gen would do, if Juliana was harmed by the woman who'd murdered her sister. Go catatonic or worse, probably.

So yeah. He trusted that Gen would do everything she could, to keep Juliana safe.

Not that they weren't already to blame for Juliana being in trouble in the first place. As Diego got in the car (opening it so that Phoenix could jump in the passenger seat), all he could hear was Phoenix' own words in his head: Things were totally fine before you guys got here.

He watched as Darcy pulled out in Juliana's car, and quickly followed. Phone in its holder, Diego glanced at the occasional texts that came through from his boss, keeping track of the updates from his office and the FBI. He stayed silent for about five minutes, before glancing over at Phoenix, to gauge the kid. Currently, Phoenix looked like he was perched on the edge of his seat; or if the seat was pulled out from under him, his muscles were being held with such a tense tightness, that he wouldn't fall over. Everything about the younger man was taut.

"You're right," he finally said. "Sunnymead didn't deserve...everything that's happened, since Darc - since Gen was relocated into this town." And Phoenix didn't even know the half of all the shit that went down. Between the bounty hunter that had shot Diego, and the crooked US Marshal that tried to blackmail her with her brother, Diego himself considered his handling of Gen this past year to be a total bust.

"But you can't blame her. She didn't choose Sunnymead. Her living here - her entire life here - was fabricated by federal agents to hide her. She told you, right? That she's in witness protection. And after today, she'll be forced to leave here once again, and instructed once more to blend and fit into some new no-name town in some middle state." Like that would be so easy to do - both the first time Gen had to do it, or the second time. "She hasn't been allowed to make a single choice in her life for four years. Not just for her safety but the safety of her surviving family, who were also being hunted down by Vivien Salazar's syndicate."

He looked at Phoenix. "She's been traumatized and she's lost people she's loved, and she's just trying to do what's right, and what she's been told to do by the Federal Bureau. She's terrified of losing anyone else, and it's been hammered into her head that spilling the truth puts innocents in danger. So catch her a break, hm?"

As for himself, well. If Phoenix wanted to rail against him for the past year of cover-up and lying to protect Gen, and theoretically to protect the civilians of Sunnymead. And although Salazar showing up was not something anyone could've predicted, somehow Diego considered himself at fault for that. Therefore absorbing Phoenix's vitriol would be welcome. So he said, "And yes - of course I could arrest you, if I needed to. I'd just really rather you didn't give me a reason to."

_______________________

Climbing into the car, Phoenix could feel his anxiety amplifying. This wasn't something that he wouldn't have expected to happen in his wildest dreams. He and Juliana were supposed to continue on with their relationship as it went until he could afford an engagement ring, but now there was the very real possibility of him losing her. It had nothing to do with a mistake he had made. These were outside factors that none of them should have to deal with. Well, Diego had signed up for this and Darcy-slash-Genevieve-slash-the woman who owned the diner had caused this situation more than anyone else had.

He and Juliana didn't deserve this. The worst thing that they'd done in the situation had been to work at the diner, to care about someone. He glanced down at the tattoo on his outer forearm. He scratched at it idly, wishing that he could take it off. The permanence of tattoos had never been lost on him. He had thought the relationship he’d had with Genevieve was clearly more important than she had felt that it was. The hurt that he was feeling could only be overruled by his worry for Juliana.

Because he was zoning out, he about jumped out of his skin when Diego began to speak. He pulled his knees to his chest - likely unsafe when he was riding in the car - he shook his head. The dirty bottoms of his shoes might scuff up Diego’s nice seats. Good. He deserved it. If that was the only thing that Phoenix would be able to make Diego feel even a fraction of what he was feeling, then he could take it.

“I’m glad she’s fucking leaving!” he said harshly. Maybe there would be a point at which he would regret his words, but it wasn’t in sight for him. “She could have told me. She - I told her things that so few people know about me. I would never have hurt her. I would have died for her. Do you know that that’s like? To care about someone so much and have that ripped away from you?” he asked. Of course Diego didn’t. In fact, he had his doubts that the man cared about anyone other than the woman who he had been tasked with protecting. Diego probably could have gotten into a lot of trouble with how intimate the relationship that they had was, but Phoenix couldn’t bring himself to care about that. He wanted to get this over with and for things to go back to normal... for whatever sense of normalcy they were able to get back.

Phoenix glared at Diego. “Right because she’s the only one who has trauma! I don’t - I don’t have shit! Everything that I went through as a kid that fucked up my ability to trust people and gave me trust issues doesn’t count because I don’t get your dick wet.”

Going into the building wasn’t against the law. Maybe it was trespassing but Diego would have to take Genevieve in as well. He knew that much wasn’t going to happen. If he got himself into a dangerous situation, it was his right. He wasn’t a child. He was a grown man who didn’t have to answer to anyone, even a US Marshal.

“I get it. I fucking get it. You’re an overblown cop with a hero complex. Hooray. I’m a guy who cares a lot about certain people. Even G-Genevieve! I can’t turn it off! I care about her, but I want you to know damn sure that I would throw anyone under the bus if it meant keeping Juliana safe. That doesn’t stop at me. I wanna make that clear,” he said, eyes boring into Diego. He didn’t want there to be any confusion that he was going to get involved, to do anything to keep out of it. He couldn’t help it. He’d do whatever he felt necessary.

_______________________

"She could not have told you," Diego reiterated patiently. "Even if she ended up marrying, having kids in Sunnymead - she wouldn't have been able to tell them, either. Do you understand? What she unintentionally ended up in, it's bigger than she is. And the reason she was relocated was to keep her past and her real self completely secret. Even from the people she loved. That's the only way the program can work...and even then it doesn't always work." Diego murmured to himself. Phoenix wouldn't know the statistics of success rate for the witness protection program, of course. It was extremely bleak. The irony was that Genevive's survival in Sunnymead had been a success story as far as the FBI was concerned. Four years she'd kept herself safe, she'd become Darcy Palmer.

Then, of course, Diego got assigned to her. He exhaled, hands gripping the wheel a bit tighter as he stared at Juliana's car driving ahead of them. Juliana, that poor girl.

He said nothing when Phoenix, naturally, believed that he was the only one who understood hurt and caring about people. Let the kid think whatever he wanted, it didn't really matter in the end. Diego didn't need to prove his own heart and feelings to an angry, worried, fretful guy who shouldn't be going through this high-stakes and terrifying situation.

"Right - so if you understand trauma, then exercise some compassion and empathy for others who also have it, Phoenix," Diego replied grimly. He spared a glance at Phoenix. "Gen couldn't tell you her own trauma, but she could express her own empathy towards your trauma. That was genuine. A person can't fake compassion like that, especially when that person's been through trauma of their own, hm? So if you understand what it's like, that...terrible pain inside you, maybe one day you'll get that Gen's been dragged through shit too, and it wasn't her fault."

Another glance. "And for what it's worth, everything you went through as a kid - it is terrible and traumatic. And it's unfair, and you didn't deserve any of it. You and Juliana don't deserve any of this. Trust issues is one thing, but this is something different. I know you've faced a lot of monsters, Phoenix, but this isn't a monster you're prepared to face. Please, let this overblown cop with a hero complex make sure you and Juliana don't get killed. " Diego truly was worried that, like a child, Phoenix would eschew any warning, bust into the warehouse and get shot right in front of Juliana's eyes trying to be his own sort of hero.

"No one doubts the lengths you'd go through to help the people you love. I know you'd die for them. I believe that. But I'd rather you didn't die, and I'd rather if Juliana didn't have to see you die for her. I signed up for this kind of shit, you didn't. You and Juliana are completely innocent. Gen's an innocent too. It's my duty to make sure the innocent are protected."

Holding up a hand, before Phoenix could go circling back, Diego added, "Which I've completely failed to do, and this is all my fault. Fine - yes. We both agree on something. But let me make it right. I've been in gunfights before, I've faced people like Salazar before and gotten hostages out safely. I've made mistakes, but I also know what I'm doing. And I'm not letting anyone get killed here."

_______________________

Logically, it made sense that she hadn’t told him a single thing about her past. But Phoenix refused to accept it. He had spilled his heart out to her on multiple occasions. Even simply telling him that she couldn’t tell him would have been better than him being shoved into this situation completely blind. There hadn’t been any sort of warning. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so angry. Instead, he simply had the unshakable feeling that had lost a friend and was extremely close to losing his girlfriend as well. It wasn’t a feeling he’d wish on anyone.

“I understand, but she needed to fucking understand that - when she realized that I needed the honesty - she should have cut it off then. She knew it was going to hurt me! That’s what I’m mad about. She could have stopped it, but she didn’t!” Phoenix would have been understandably upset, but it wouldn’t have been anywhere close to what he was feeling now. Or she could have kept herself from getting close to anyone like she did with me and Juliana!” It wasn’t fair, he knew, to insist that Darcy kept from being friends with anyone. It also wasn’t fair that her friendship had gotten them in this situation.

His fists were balled at his sides and he shook his head. “I get that she’s been through some awful shit. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but especially not her. She didn’t deserve any of this... but Gen knew it was a possibility that they would find her. You guys told her that, right?” He didn’t know anything about witness protection, save the things that he had seen from movies. Though, it made more sense that they would tell her rather than keep it from her. “So why did she get us tangled up in this? I hope that she’s more careful in the next town she’s in... and that whatever federal agent they stick her with is more competent than you are.”

He paused to even out his breathing. Phoenix was to close to crying. He wasn’t about to do that in front of Diego. He had more pride than that. “If anything happens to her, then her blood is on your hands. And so is mine because I refuse to live without her. Remember that.”

_______________________

As if Diego didn't know that. As if he needed to be told by this kid, that every person who got hurt on whatever case Diego was working on, didn't hang in his conscience and haunt him. As if he was just living his life so completely free of stress and agony, happy to just let people die. He grunted, shaking his head because he'd heard all of this before, countless times in countless ways. From people he cared about deeply, from people he respected, and from strangers. But it was always the same: you're responsible, you fucked it up, this is your fault. And they were right, and Diego never argued back. He took on the blame, accepted it, and kept trying to make things right.

"I know," he said quietly. Diego paused for a moment, and then returned to the topic of Darcy.

"She didn't know it was going to hurt you. Hindsight is 20/20, Phoenix. She's a caring person with a huge heart, who had nothing. Her entire life, stripped from her. What would you have rather she did? Remained depressed and unengaged with anyone? The FBI instructed her to keep her secret close, but also to blend in. She couldn't remain a cold unfeeling nothing in this town. No one should be expected to reduce themselves to a shadow and survive like that, especially after what Gen had been through. It would have killed her. It would have killed her," Diego reiterated.

"She reached out because she was desperate and sad and lonely. She didn't show up in this town with a sound mind and a strong emotional or mental state. She falls apart literally every single fucking night and she can't even tell anyone, she can't reach out for help, she can't lean on anyone for support. You don't understand, even if you claim to . And that's fine, Phoenix - no one expects you to understand, and this is a fucked-up way to learn now. All I'm saying is, when this is over - when Juliana is safe - to think about what I said about her."

_______________________

“I - I - I don’t know!” Phoenix shouted. It wasn’t fair to ask him that. He loved Darcy. She was his sister. Then there was Gen who he didn’t know at all. They were the same person but that was difficult to reconcile. Maybe it would be easier in any other situation. This one was too goddamn wild. He shook his head. “Part of caring about people is keeping them safe. I do whatever I can to do that for people I care about. If it meant not talking to anyone I wouldn’t!”

It would have been self destructive and he was extremely so. It didn’t mean that Darcy ought to have done it. “She could have said she was introverted. She could have rejected mine and Juliana’s friendship. The fact that she was more than willing, that she gave me a tattoo, to be in our lives in the capacity that she was, was incredibly selfish!” He couldn’t think of a situation in which she could justify it.

With the anger coursing through him and no proper way to reconcile it, Phoenix stomped his foot against the dashboard roughly. It hurt his knee, but he didn’t care much about it. He’d likely be walking with a limp later. He would deal with that later.

“I’m not thinking about it when this over. I’m not thinking about her or you or any of this bullshit. I’m repressing it! I know how to repress shit! I’m fucking great at it!”

_______________________

It was so easy for Phoenix to judge Darcy, saying he'd do the 'right' thing, whatever he considered was the right thing. But Diego wasn't angry at the kid for saying 'if she'd just did this' and 'she shouldn't have done that' because Phoenix was sitting here right now, on his way to Evanstead where his poor innocent girlfriend was currently being held hostage by a killer. So really, in Diego's opinion, Phoenix could run his mouth and say whatever he damn well wanted to about how everyone was wrong and did everything wrong, except him. Because in this moment, he was technically correct.

Everyone else was wrong, and Phoenix was right. Ironically, would likely be one of the few times in his life this would ever be the case, probably.

So Diego just said, "Okay. Okay, alright." His tone was quiet - not placating, but just not intending to devolve into argument. Ever since Phoenix butted into his world in Sunnymead, Diego never had much interest in arguing with the kid. The power imbalance just made it wrong, and weird. Phoenix could poke and prod and jab all he wanted and people would say 'yeah that's just Phoenix'. He was young enough to get away with it, but Diego was old enough to know better.

When Phoenix stomped, Diego didn't react (this wasn't his car). If Phoenix wanted to punch the dashboard until his knuckles bled and the plastic cracked, Diego understood that self-destructive urge. That need to put his fear and frustration somewhere.

"Repress it then," Diego agreed, easily repressing as well. He inhaled slowly, as they got to the industrial park, towards the warehouse. "That's a good idea. We have more important things to deal with." He called Darcy then, waiting for her to pick up.

"Drive and park in the front, by the big bay door," he instructed Darcy. He lagged behind, his sharp eyes scanning the area. "I'll drive around first. Don't get out until I tell you to, alright?"

_______________________

The rest of the ride was spent staring out the window. He didn’t want to speak to Diego anymore. The man refused to acknowledge that Phoenix didn’t understand how he was supposed to forgive her. It was difficult to justify anything that she’d done. She was a victim, but he didn’t understand how he was going to forgive her. It would have been difficult for him to do it regardless, but after being put in this situation? There was no way.

They would be pulling up to the warehouse soon and he got more restless as they crept closer to the building. His fingers dug into the palms of his hands. This was absolutely terrifying. A part of him thought perhaps Diego was right about him not needing to go into the building. It wasn’t going to change his mind though. He would refuse to believe Juliana was safe until he laid eyes on her, held her in his arms.

He halfway listened to the conversation when Diego spoke to Darcy. He couldn’t pay enough attention to it. It was impossible to focus; he hadn’t remembered to take his ADHD medication this morning since he’d been in such a rush and the anxiety wasn’t helping him in the least bit.

“Can’t you drive any faster?” Phoenix asked harshly. The sooner Darcy went in there, the sooner they’d give up Juliana.

_______________________

Darcy spent at least half of the drive to Evanstead cursing. Loudly and aggressively, partly at Vivien, but mostly at herself. She also worried herself shitless about Juliana, her mind playing all the different, horrible scenarios about how Juliana could get hurt, and how Phoenix could get involved and also get hurt (with some nice addition of Phoenix's word echoing in the background of those imagines), while trying to figure out just how she could stall Vivien. She figured she'd have to lie and pretend that she realized that she made a mistake when she didn't go with Vivien, but she'd somehow have to do it in a way that doesn't scream that she's only doing it to make VIvien happy, while also making sure that it buys her enough time for the FBI and everyone else to arrive instead of Vivien hearing what she said and immediately ushering her to a car and driving the two of them off into her imaginary sunset.

Felt like she knew what she should do in theory, but had no idea how to actually pull it off.

And the drive didn't feel long enough to figure it out at all. On one hand, it felt like she could never go fast enough, that every single minute was like an hour, while also feeling like the time flew by and she didn't manage to really put herself back together, she didn't manage to come up with a good strategy, she didn't manage to truly convince herself that she could do it and her shaking didn't stop either. It felt like the only thing she did was drive, and that didn't feel at all enough.

She was almost at the warehouse when her phone rang and she was relieved to see that Diego was calling her. "Not getting out until you tell me to, sounds doable, okay," she said and did exactly as he told her. She wanted to look around just to see if she could spot him, but she also didn't want to see suspicious. "Okay, I parked, I'm looking at the door, what now? Where are you guys anyway?"

She almost told Diego that she felt terrified just looking at the huge bay door, but she could tell that Diego put her on on speaker phone and she didn't want to freak Phoenix out more, and it didn't feel fair to be this afraid when Juliana was somewhere inside with Vivien and who knows what that woman did to Juliana, what kind of sick tortures she had to endure.

Fuck, she really hoped Juliana was okay.

She only noticed the movement when the door was already open and she saw somebody who was definitely not Vivien coming out of the building. "Shit, fuck," she cursed, scrambling to put her phone on speaker phone and making it disappear in her lap so the woman, who seemed familiar - was it one of Vivien's friends she met? was everyone in Vivien's life she met involved in some capacity in the gang or was this just a coincidence? -, wouldn't notice the phone in her hand and realize that she was not here alone. "There's somebody else here and she is coming towards me."

_______________________

The little girl really just couldn’t keep her mouth shut and kept babbling on about how they got the wrong person, and Vivien was getting more and more annoyed with the little girl. At least she wasn’t sleeping with Genevieve, that was a plus, apparently she didn’t get her point across enough about how she wasn’t allowed to talk unless she was told to and she backhanded her on the face without even thinking about it. “Do you really think we make mistakes? That when I take somebody, I don’t know precicely who I’m taking? We’re not amatures, so keep your mouth shut. I’m running out of my patience.” Technically she made a tiny bit of mistake, but she was still important to Genevieve, that was obvious.

When the light turned on for the girl about Genevieve, there was even more confusion on her face and Vivien felt a sick sense of satisfaction. She wished things would have gone down differently, of course, but that wasn’t a reason why she couldn’t possibly enjoy what life - or in this case Gen -, threw at her.

When she started moving around, trying to get a better look at Bex as if she would actually give her more answers than Vivien was willing, Vivien just watched as Bex stepped closer and yanked the little girl by her hair to keep facing ahead. “Stop moving already. And stop asking questions that aren’t your concern for the moment.”

Only half of her attention was on what was happening, however, because she started focusing on her phone and whether or not Genevieve would pick up. Which she did, and despite what happened, despite Gen repeatedly telling her that she didn’t want to be with her, just hearing her voice woke up the butterflies in her stomach. For a long time she tried denying that she was trying to find her because she missed her, but that was a whole lot of bullshit, and she didn’t want to lose her all over again. Even if Gen apparently found some guy while they were apart or even if she had to use a bit more force in her methods to get them to start again.

Which she did - mapping out exactly what she expected Gen to do and what the consequences of her not showing up or breaking the rules would mean, looking directly in the eyes of Juliana for the last of it to make sure the annoyance knew just what was awaiting her. “If you don’t show up within and hour, I’m going to kill her. If you show up with the FBI and your Marshall buddy, I’m going to kill her. Slowly and painfully, and then I’ll head back to town and take somebody else and we’ll repeat the process until you do show up. And let me make things incredibly clear - if you don’t show up because the FBI takes you away, I am going to kill everyone in that town. I’m not going to accept that as an excuse. Do we understand each other?”

Gen’s only reply was a yes, and Vivien hung up soon with a satisfied grin on her face. “I think you’ve heard everything, right? No need to explain what’s happening here. Instead for the fun part - I’m pretty sure she’ll be showing up. We’re all hoping she’ll be showing up here, but we have to prepare for the worst, so how about we play a game and it will tell us just how you will have to die if our mutual friend isn’t here in an hour, hmm?”

_______________________

The hand across her face was swift and a lot more painful than Juliana anticipated. It didn’t help that she had a few rings on her fingers which just added to the pain and cut into her skin just enough that she could feel the blood gently well up in the wound before slowly trickling down her cheek. Speaking up probably wasn’t the best idea but being so in the dark about why she was here was stressful. Was she going to die for no reason? Because this woman thought that Juliana was with someone that she clearly had an interest in.

Juliana tried not to make any noise when feeling the tight grip on her hair. She was getting on their nerves and t clearly wasn’t a good thing to try pushing her luck. She pursed her lips together and watched the woman on the phone, keeping eye contact with her as (to her surprise) it sounded as though she had actually gotten ahold of Darcy. So this wasn’t some mistake or some sick joke, Darcy really wasn’t who she said she was and now she had this crazy woman that was completely obsessed with her and out to get her.

She tried her best to look unaffected by the threats she was making even though her heart was beating rapidly and she was terrified. If Darcy…or Gen as she was apparently known as didn’t show up then Juliana was in trouble and not just her, everyone in this town. Phoenix, her dad, Diego and everyone else she loved and cared about. But she would show up wouldn’t she? Juliana thought she knew Darcy but who was this Gen person underneath? Would she leave Juliana to die simply because she didn’t want to be with this person? “What do you mean by game?” she asked cautiously, having a good feeling this wasn’t going to be a very fun game for her.

_______________________

“Don’t worry sweetheart, it’s a fun game. Like a drinking game - you ever play drinking games with your little friends? That boy on your phone, maybe?” To add humiliation to her spite, Vivien casually opened Juliaan’s phone again, going straight to her text messages. “….Phoenix is his name?” She laughed. “Like the mythological bird. How cute and hopeful of his parents. Juliana and Phoenix.”

She went as far as to actually read out some of the texts between Juliana and Phoenix outloud, to which Bex yawned loudly and protested, "Stop, it’s boring, you’re boring me.“

Vivien nodded. "Right? So pedestrian. Let’s get back to my game.” She fetched another weapon from Bex’ car - a revolver this time, and one bullet, which she made a show of loading it into the barrel, so Juliana could see her do it. "This game’s called Russian roulette. It’s a bit of a stereotype, I’ll admit. Something you probably saw in bad cop shows about bad people.“ She clicked the barrel in place, and spun it. "But since you’re a living small-town stereotype yourself, I figure you’d be into this shit. My friend! Gimme one way for teendream Phoenix to find sweetheart Juliana dead.”

“Um…hanged? These rafters look pretty secure.”

The barrel stopped, and Vivien pointed the gun at Juliana. "You wanna be hanged? Or shot? ANSWER ME, BITCH! NOW!!!“

_______________________

The little weakling didn’t last long until her entire face turned was taken over by fear and the tears started. She was practically shaking in her entire body, saying how she didn’t want to die - exactly the kind of reaction Vivien was expecting, and she caught Bex snickering in amusement from behind the girl. It hit her in that moment just how long ago the two of them have done this. They usually leave the dirty work to much lower level members and it was nice to finally get something done themselves. Together.

"Wrong answer, honey,” Vivien said, suddenly her voice turning sweet dripping with fakeness before she pulled the trigger. There was only a quiet click and Vivien let out a laugh. “Looks like you got lucky this time. Let’s see if you can get lucky the second time.”

She opened the gun again and made a show of spinning the barrel - that didn’t contain any bullets. She put the show on just for Juliana, and now the girl too preoccupied with terror that there was no way she’d even think to check if there really was a bullet in the gun. (She still made sure to hold the gun in a way that she couldn’t see if she did try, though.)

She put the gun back together and this time stepped closer to Juliana, forcefully grabbed her hair and pulled her entire head back, putting the tip of the gun right under the girl’s chin. “Let’s try again. Hanged or shot! And I want A FUCKING ANSWER THIS TIME, not just your stupid little whining!”

_______________________

She braced herself, holding her breath while her nails dug into the skin of her palm as she clenched her hand into a fist. When all she heard was a click with no follow through Juliana exhaled in relief even though that feeling would be very short lived. She didn’t want to open her eyes again, all she wanted to do was keep them shut and not face the grim reality of where she was or what was happening. The sound of the barrel spinning and the slight laughter all seemed to echo loudly in the room, reminding her that there was no escaping it even if she wanted to.

This was absolute torture but of course, that was the point. These two were getting a kick out of watching her squirm and cry, it was a funny little show for them to watch the poor small town girl go through her first ever horrific event and there was nothing Juliana could do but simply give them what they wanted. Her entire mind was in panic mode at this point, she was given the slight hope of staying alive if Darcy showed up but now she wasn’t even guaranteed survival if this game continued.

The muzzle of the gun under her chin was an even worse feeling than having it simply be pointed at her. Her heart was racing and the shouting didn’t help at all. “It doesn’t fucking matter does it!” She ended up shouting back. “You’re either gonna kill me now or later so just take your pick of how!” Her eyes still shut tight as she braced herself for the next shot. It didn’t matter what she chose, it wasn’t going to change anything for the better, set her free, they would simply just have more fun torturing her.

_______________________

The woman behind Juliana gave a low whistle at Juliana’s shouted response. Vivien huffed and said, “I know right? Smarter than she looks. Maybe she’s going places after all…” Both women laughed at that, and Vivien roughly shoved the gun against the side of Juliana’s head, and squeezed the trigger. Click Nothing happened, other than Vivien laughing even louder as she pulled the gun away.

“Is this your father?” she asked suddenly, pointing Juliana’s phone at her, to show a photo from the Winter Holiday Festival last year. Juliana, posing with her dad, and he was in his Sheriff winter coat and smiling benignly at the camera. "You look like him. He’s the sheriff of your stupid little town, huh. No wonder you put on all sorts of airs and graces. Think you’re better than the rest of those idiots you live with….“ Vivien didn’t really know why she was saying all this, but as she scrolled through the happy photos of what was clearly just Juliana living her life - with Phoenix and his family, with her father, with pets, and with her co-workers at the diner during special events - it all just enraged Vivien more and more. Especially the photos from American Grub events that showed Gen and Juliana, both of them looking exhilarated and happy together.

Gen looked so beautiful, Vivien couldn’t notice the stress creasing her eyes, or the tightness of her smiles. All she saw was Gen, looking happy and content in this ridiculous life in this stupid little town with these stupid little people.

"Does Gen like you?” she asked quietly.

“Boss…” Bex warned, knowing Vivien was sliding into a bout of moroseness.

But Vivien waved Bex’ warning aside, and spun the barrel of the gun again, pointing it at Juliana’s chest. "Answer me! Does she care about you? You and your little boyfriend? Is she…happy in your shit town?“

_______________________

Another sigh of relief at the sound of the empty barrel clicked right by her ear. Juliana didn’t know how many times she’d get lucky. At least now she had a moment to breathe, opening her eyes when she was asked about her dad. She smiled fondly yet sadly at the picture, her dad not being one to take many photos but he still allowed her to snap this shot of them. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to her dad if she was gone but that was where her mind was going.

Vivien’s words weren’t registering as she thought about how she was the last person her dad had left. Her moving in with Phoenix was already tough for him but this would absolutely destroy him. It couldn’t have been too long since she last spoke to him, a couple days ago maybe…she told him she loved him like she always did which was good at least.

Her accusation was what made Juliana snap out of her own thoughts. “What? No! Of course not!” She protested, truly offended that it was even suggested she thought of herself in a superior way. She considered herself to be a good person, yeah but there were definitely a lot of people in town who were better than her in a lot of different things. Her skill was waitressing, that was about it.

Juliana (figuratively) sat at the edge of her seat watching her scroll through her camera roll, tilting her head to the side as she took notice of the look on the other womans face. She had easily noticed her jealousy and how crazy she was but maybe there were real feelings deep down in there. The gun being pointed at her again just returned the stress and made it difficult for Juliana to find the words she was looking for.

“I-I don’t know! Maybe!” she stuttered, shrugging her shoulders, trying to look Vivien in the eyes rather than at the gun she had on her. “I thought Darcy did–I thought she was happy but I don’t know anything about Gen…if she actually likes us or hates us. She’s been lying to me for four years I can’t tell how she feels!”

_______________________

"Of course you can’t see through the facade, what was I even expecting asking you such complex question…” Vivien snorted with a roll of her eyes. Why did she even think she could ask anything of substance or anything she could actually use.

“You know, unlike you, I do know Gen,” she couldn’t help pointing out, now casually holding the gun at Juliana’s head. “I know that those clothes she wear? Probably something she was forced into to keep her new persona and her true self seperate. Probably some FBI bullshit to help her get into character or something. I know that she must be going crazy in this small town, especially after the lives we had before. She traveled all over the world, did she tell you that? Probably not. What lie did she give you? That she ran away from home? That she needed a new start? Whatever it was, it was all fake. Don’t even know how she ended up with a diner, somebody like her should be out there using her talents, not stuck in a hellhole like that place.”

There was a weird flick of emotion on Bex’s face, but it was so short, Vivien couldn’t decipher it and she was too in the moment to think about it too much. If something was wrong, Bex would let her know, and if it was anything else, it could wait. SHe probably just had a good idea for another part of their business anyway.

“You know what’s interesting, though? Nobody, not even the strongest, most amazing person like Gen, can pretendto be somebody completely different for years and years without telling at least one person the truth, whether it be conscious or not. Since you clearly don’t have a clue about anything, there must be somebody else in that small shithole of yours who knows all about her actual life. So maybe I did take the wrong girl after all? She definitely doesn’t seem to care about you too much, she didn’t even confide in you after all.” Vivien believed about 50% of what she was saying in that moment, but that wasn’t the point. The point was getting into this little bitch’s head, making sure her face fell even more and more with every passing second.

“Does she even care enough about you to show up? Or will she just leave you to me to take care of?”

_______________________

Everything being said easily painted a different picture of Darcy than Juliana had already formed after knowing her for four years. This wasn’t a real person that she knew though. This person that she worked for, bonded with, considered to be such a close friend that she was practically family…she was completely fabricated. The real person behind Darcy sounded like the opposite of what she was showing off to everyone in town.

Juliana sat there with a frown on her face, looking disappointed as the realization that everything she knew was a lie. Even the story about how Darcy ended up here, not a single thing about her was true and she felt so betrayed. In that moment, she didn’t even seem to care about the gun that was pointed at her head, all she could focus on was the hurt and the embarrassment for being so stupid and trusting.

The mention of having someone to talk to made her think for a moment. Who could possibly be someone she confided in? If it wasn’t her or Phoenix, who else was she close enough to that she would let them know she was living a lie? Now it felt like it could be anyone. Jose, maybe Flo, hell it could even be Diego or Carl for all she knew! But the thing that stung was that it wasn’t her, but she should have known that already because even as Darcy she kept secrets from her, why would she tell her anything about Gen?

“No idea…” she responded softly, shaking her head at how sad the truth sounded to her. “Like you said, you know her, I don’t.” That statement put an idea in head as soon as she said it however, reminding her of the phone call that was made on her phone, between the death threats. “But if you know her so well why did you need me to get her to go with you?” she asked slowly, the question being mostly for curiosities sake rather than intending to rile her up. “When you called her you said the plan was to leave together, why did she refuse if you guys are so close?”

_______________________

That question definitely set Vivien off. She vaguely heard Bex behind her slowly say “Boss…” but Bex was drowned out by white noise that filled Vivien’s head. Four years. Four years without Genny, and before that their time together had transformed Vivien so entirely, it was mind-blowing. It was an experience this stupid little girl could never understand. Their love was something this girl with her boyfriend would never know - not how difficult it was, how hard Vivien fought for it, how she’d overcome so much just to be with Gen, to fall in love with her by accident when she hadn’t even intended to, and the pain and agony that had caused her. The trouble it brought her with her Uncle, the Salazar boss who ran most of East Europe. The risk she’d taken, to be with Gen. The memory of Gen’s younger sister, pleading for her life before Vivien shot her dead.

Vivien sneered coldly, and then shot the revolver rapidly, one shot after another, not even bothering to spin the barrel for effect. She just shot over and over at Juliana’s head, but no bullet came. Silence for a long time, followed eventually by Vivien’s cold, ugly laugh. There was nothing humourous in that laugh.

“You remind me of her,” Vivien said, opening the revolver up. She turned it, showing Juliana the empty barrel. She’d never loaded a bullet in there, hand had only made Juliana think she had, out of a cruel trick. But now, she produced the bullet that she’d pretended to load, and she let Juliana watch her load it now. "You remind me of Genny’s little sister. Pretty thing, just like Gen. She was put in witness protection too, before I found her and shot her brains out.“

Vivien slowly walked backwards, aiming the revolver at Juliana once more. Her hand was steady again, no more trembling. "A shame I could never find and kill her stupid little brother. But Gen was close to you, yeah she was. I guess you’re just as good a substitute.”

_______________________

It didn’t take long for Juliana to feel like she had made a huge mistake. The regret she felt was instant as it felt as though her heart just sunk. Why would she think that pointing out this womans contradictions would result in anything positive? The tone of the woman behind her sounded somewhat concerned and if the one who was involved in the kidnapping was worried, then the one who had been kidnapped better say her prayers.

Juliana almost screamed when Vivien began to rapidly pull the trigger. She inhaled sharply once all she heard was a series of clicks, one right after the other and her voice got stuck in her throat. Her eyes opened wide at the realization of what had just happened. There hadn’t been a single bullet in that gun she was being tortured with. She exhaled now, a big sigh of relief that had washed over her for only a fraction of a second.

The gun now being loaded in front of her eyes made it clear to her that she was going to die here. God, this was going to be the last thing she would ever see wasn’t it? Not her boyfriend or her dogs or even her parents, but a crazy woman she never even learned the name of, pointing a loaded gun at her for running her mouth.

Once again (and for what she assumed was the final time) she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for luck to run out. The sounds of cars driving by could be heard in the distance and it made Juliana wonder if her hour was already up or if this woman was just sick of her and didn’t care anymore about the deal she had made with Darc–Gen.

_______________________

Juliana was the luckiest bitch on the entire planet in that moment, Vivien thought when she heard the sound of a car engine coming closer and then stopping somewhere outside of the warehouse they were in. Her eyes flickered over to Bex, her hands still raised, not moving even an inch from holding the gun at Juliana’s head.

Bex looked at the watch on her arm and then gave a shrug. “Your lady seems to be on time. Arrived at the last minute, but she’s on time. If it really is her,” she added skeptically.

“Saved by Gen it seems, hmm?” Vivien said and finally lowered the gun, but didn’t put it away. They didn’t know for sure if it really was Genevieve outside, or if she truly came alone, and she wasn’t willing to take chances. She wasn’t going to die or get caught because she was dumb enough to leave her gun somewhere due to her trust in Gen. “But don’t get too happy, you’re not out of the woods yet. If she brought anyone with her, we’re going to be coming back to you soon.”

Vivien started making her ways towards the door, but Bex moved faster, intercepting her and stopping her in her movement. “Viv, no,” she said, her voice lowered so that Juliana couldn’t hear them, even if they were a bit further away from the girl at this point. “You know you can’t go out there. If there’s anyone aside from her outside…”

“She’s not dumb enough to do that,” Vivien found herself saying even though after what happened in Gen’s apartment, she wasn’t so sure anymore,

“You put too much faith in her.”

“Maybe, but one could argue that you never put any faith in her to begin with.”

“I feel like this entire situation is retrospectively proving all my distrust, but it doesn’t matter now, we can talk about that later. Just let me go out there first. I’ll check out what’s going on, see if she’s alone or brought someone and then we can go from there.” Bex paused for a moment before added, “I don’t want to see you shot again, Viv. You scared the shit out of me then, I don’t want to see that happen again.”

The two of them looked at each other, not taking their eyes off of the other for a few moments before Vivien nodded. “Fine. Go, do your thing. But you have to follow the "don’t get shot” rule too, it’s not just there for me.“

Bex let out a small chuckle, "sure, boss,” before she turned around and headed outside, leaving Vivien and Juliana alone for the timebeing.

_______________________

Diego ignored Phoenix' demand, letting Darcy drive on ahead as he then turned and diverted down a smaller road, taking the perimeter of the old warehouse. It looked like a lot of buildings here were closed, unleased, or abandoned. The American economy at its best, in these small towns in the middle of nowhere. Diego scanned the lay of the land - he spotted two cars - one was the sports car that belonged to Vivien, the other a black sedan rental.

"We're here," Diego reassured Darcy. "We're just looking around. This warehouse is pretty big, but no signs of break-in. Must be one of the places the syndicate owed. Alright Darce, once you're ready..." He glanced at his watch. "Just get out and head inside. Sooner rather than--"

But he was cut off by Darcy cussing and Diego slowed to a stop. It looked like a good place to park anyway, he saw a fire escape around the back of the warehouse. "Just one person? Don't hang up on me, put your phone in your pocket and if she wants you to follow her, then follow her. Just don't hang up, alright?"

He pocketed the car keys and took his own phone, giving Phoenix a look before he exited the car. He knew Phoenix wouldn't stay put, the kid had said as much, multiple times.

"Follow me, stay with me at all times." Diego kept his voice low, so it wouldn't be picked up on Darcy's phone. "We don't know how many people are in there. If you're spotted, you're dead, or Juliana's dead. So stick close, alright? Come on."

_______________________

Craning his neck to try and look around to see something, Phoenix listened to the call. If he could just see Juliana then fuck the plan. Being reckless was in Phoenix's blood and a stern look from Diego wasn't going to stop him. So Diego worked for the federal government. He could be crowned king of the world and Phoenix wouldn't listen to him. And, really, that didn't have much to do with the situation at all. He had never listened to Diego. It was the dynamic of the friendship (though, he wouldn’t have used that word to describe it). It was a bridge that he would be glad to burn.

He was half-listening, only paying attention in case anything happened rather than the sort of conversation which reminded him of an episode of Criminal Minds. A part of him wanted to tell Darcy to hurry up this time, but she was speaking softly enough that he knew better than that. The tone of her voice changed up and she cursed which caused him to scramble into a better position to jump out of the car. His hand was on the door handle. One could commend Phoenix for the best display of self control that he’d exhibited in his life. The handle felt cool, the metal chilling his sweaty palms. He almost wondered if it would slide off.

“What are you - what is she doing?” he asked as he undid his seat belt. It clattered against the side of the car which was in a fantastic action giving that Diego seemed to not want to make a lot of noise.

He climbed out of the car and met Diego’s eyes before rolling his own. The man knew exactly how to play him. Phoenix wouldn’t care if he was the only person who would get hurt. He’d let himself get hurt if it meant protecting Juliana... and maybe Darcy still. He didn’t have the same feeling about Diego, figuring the older man had some sort of bulletproof vest. Everyone else was going in completely unprotected. It was his own choice, he knew.

Blinking a couple of times, he leaned to whisper in Diego’s ear. “I’m not fucking around. If you need someone to throw to the wolves so you can get the girls out, I’m willing.” Juliana was his life. There was nothing if he couldn’t have her. The same outcome would occur for him if he lost her or if he defended her. For her, the risk was more than worth it. He didn’t know Gen, but he couldn’t help remembering Darcy - who’d taken a chance on him and given him a job when most others in the town wouldn’t dare, talked him through a few breakdowns, been one of his biggest cheerleaders and a member of the little family he’d built. “Promise me you won’t forget.”

_______________________

"Phone in the pocket, okay, I can do that. Please be careful, both of you," Darcy added before she quickly slipped the phone into her back pocket and got out of the car. By that time the woman got closer, she recognized her as one of Vivien's closest friends. Well, to her, who knew what their relationship actually was now that she thought of it. Maybe she was some kind of bodyguard and that is why she hung around Vivien so often. And why she got some weird, dagger glaring stares from her sometimes... Suddenly there were so many red flags that she could think of that she missed and ignored over the years while Vivien and her were together.

"Long time no see, Genevieve," Bex said - was that her real name? was it fake? why did she never question the fact that she never got a last name from her? - in a cold, vary tone.

"Yeah... I guess you could say that." Stall, Gen, stall as much as you could. "What are you doing here? I thought..."

"You thought Vivien was dumb enough to come here all alone and you wouldn't have to deal with anyone else? You could just take care of her all by yourself and then go back to that little shithole of a town?" Apparently the dislike stuck around even through the years.

"No, I didn't think I'd come here and take care of her all on my own, what are you even... do I really look like I came here to kill her? Do I look like a murderer?" she asked, opening her hands in a defensive motion. "Do I look like a murderer to you?"

"You look like shit."

"No argument there."

One, two, three moment of awkward silence.

"Did you come alone?"

Gen gave Bex an 'are you kidding me?' look before she pointed back towards Juliana's car. "If it's not obvious that I am here alone, you can check the car. Nobody knows I'm here, I'm not an idiot." Bex muttered something under her breath that Darcy couldn't understand. "Is Vivien around? Do I get to see her or am I only allowed to talk to you?" It was killing her, not to ask about Juliana, but she figured it wouldn't be the best idea to start with that.

"She's inside waiting for you. Her and your little friend, too," Bex added and after a few more pointed looks both at the car and at her, she motioned towards the entrance to the warehouse. "You walk ahead of me, slowly. No sudden movements, or your little friend won't survive until noon." Okay, so Juliana was alive, she was still alive. That was good, that was good, though Darcy didn't dare let out a sigh of relief. She just nodded and did as she was told, her heart beating out of her chest, her hands shaking. She could do it. She needed to do it. There was no other option.

In the meantime, Vivien was tapping her fingers on the gun, anxiously waiting for Bex to return, hopefully with Genevieve and a satisfied smile on her face that suggested that everything went down as it should have and Gen didn't do anything stupid or reckless like bring that idiot US Marshall along with her. "This is the deciding moment, you know," she told Juliana absent mindedly. "Whether you die or possibly live is all dependent on whether my friend walks back in with Genevieve and we can all leave without any kind of trouble. What do you think? Did she stick to the rules or did she not care about you enough to do so?"

_______________________

She had been so scared that the sound of the car driving by didn't even register as Darcy-Not Darcy's arrival. There was no way she was this lucky it was an incredible feeling even though she still wasn't in the clear yet. Tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling as if thanking a higher power for keeping her alive for this long.

Now that the gun was no longer pointed at her head and the two women were quietly speaking to one another, Juliana felt like she finally had time to breathe. She didn't want to make any sudden movements, simply look around where she was being held, get a good look at both of the women's faces. If they set her free and all went on the run maybe she could out them to the police, get a hunt going for them to put them behind bars and they would no longer be a threat. It was the only idea she could think of but it scared her to think that they could always come back and try to finish the job.

The other woman left and all Juliana could bring herself to do was look at the door with pleading eyes. The time ticked by so slowly as she waited, just hoping for the moment this woman would get what she wanted and Juliana could go free. Her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand as her anticipation started rising as every second felt like hours when suddenly she was being addressed. She whipped her head to look at Vivien taunted her, glaring at her for these rhetorical questions she could never have the answers to.

What was going through this Gen persons mind? Did she have some sort of plan to save Juliana or did she simply change her mind about wanting to leave? Maybe she wanted to go all along and this was all part of some elaborate scheme. Her reasoning didn't make sense but did it have to? She was tied up in an abandoned warehouse who knows where and has had a gun pointed at her head more times than she'd like!

"I think she can't wait to get out of here with you." Juliana told her blandly, of course not truly knowing what Genevieve wanted but if she was here, she would be leaving and be out of their lives regardless.

_______________________

Vivien blinked at Juliana, as if for a beat or two she believed Juliana's words. The truth was, Vivien wanted to believe Juliana's words. The idea of Gen actually arriving so that they could finally live their life together, was everything Vivien wanted at this particular moment.

But then she heard footsteps, and turned to see Bex not hiding the aggravated look on her face. And Gen behind her looking...utterly disheveled and close to a nervous breakdown. At least, that was what Vivien convinced herself she saw, trying to reclaim that belief that she knew Gen better than anyone else. Seeing Gen again both thrilled Vivien and broke her heart at the same time...and she took all that frustration and confusion, and distilled it into blame and hatred of Juliana. She needed to hurt something, in order to feel something again.

"Hello gorgeous," Vivien said, pointedly reminding Genevieve that only last night, they'd held each other in their arms, as Vivien whispered 'gorgeous' over and over against Gen's wanting lips.

A toss of her hair, and she looked back at Juliana. "Time to see if you're right," she said to the girl, before reaching out for Gen to take her hand. Bex silently moved back, stationed behind Juliana once more, watching warily.

"She's alone," Bex figured she'd tell Vivien. "But maybe I should just case the back and make sure--"

"Of course she came alone," Vivien smiled, eyes only for Gen has she cut Bex off. "She's not stupid. Hello Gen. I'm glad you came. I'm...sorry I made all of this mess, I thought that this girl here was..." Vivien laughed as if they were just having a conversation over morning coffee. "Well, I guess I had a little misplaced jealousy, baby. But it's fine now. You're here and we can get out of this shit place once and for all."

With Phoenix whispering death wishes in Diego's ear, the older man tried to stay calm. For the kid's sake, if nothing else. He looked Phoenix in the eyes and even went as far as to briefly grip Phoenix' forearm with his free hand (his other hand held his gun). "I know you are, Phoenix. I know," he said quietly. Now, on top of making sure to keep Juliana alive, and Darcy safe, now Diego realized that he couldn't depend on Phoenix to keep himself safe. The kid was eager to rush out and get himself killed at even the slightest provocation, and said just as much.

Which meant now, Diego would have to split his attention three-ways because he had to look after Phoenix as well. It wasn't ideal but...none of this was ideal, and Diego had brought this all on himself.

At least the painkillers were kicking in.

"Follow me," he said, tucking close against Phoenix, making sure they walked so tightly together that they'd occasionally bump elbows or shoulders. It would be almost friendly and companionable, if the stakes weren't so insanely high. They got up the fire escape and Diego breathed a sigh of relief that the door lock was broken. He opened it just enough to slip in, keeping it open for Phoenix and corralling the kid against him as he eased the door back shut.

They were on the office catwalk, 15 ft above the warehouse floor, looking down at the scene before them. It was a good vantage point - because there was Juliana, tied to a chair. There was Vivien Salazar's assistant. And there was Vivien, and Darcy. Diego brushed his fingers against Phoenix' arm again, motioning to crouch low and keep an eye out. He hung up his phone then, because they could hear the conversation from up here.

Diego checked the messages from his boss, coming in on his phone. Darcy just had to stall long enough. Just long enough...Diego held up his hand at Phoenix, splaying his five fingers. He mouthed the words, "Wait...five minutes." The please was in his eyes.

Not wanting Phoenix to kick up a fuss and blow their cover, he whispered closer to Phoenix, "You know this: you getting yourself killed will hurt Juliana far more than anything that's happened so far. Remember that."

_______________________

Phoenix followed Diego like a duckling would follow its mother. There was a tension hanging in the air, weighing him down. He could hardly breathe. It was a struggle to even do. He had never been afraid of heights, so the extra burst of fear caught him off guard. It was likely because the situation. The only way that he would be able to experience any relief would be for all of this to be over. For now, he would have simply deal with it.

He turned his head to try better listening to the conversation going on below them. She had thought that Juliana... no. It should have been Diego in this situation then. The knowledge didn’t make the situation better, made it perhaps worse, but that was beside the point.

Five minutes. He could do five minutes, though he wasn’t going to do it for the older man. He wanted to make that clear. “Not for you. Her. For Juliana,” he reminded the older man before grabbing his wrist so that he couldn’t immediately go down. “Five minutes. But if anything goes wrong, I’m not waiting. If she... if either of them are in any danger that you’re not immediately on top of, I will be down there and I will be taking care of it.”

_______________________

Walking into the warehouse Darcy's eyes were immediately scanning the place, desperately looking for Juliana. She wasn't too hard to spot, thankfully they didn't hide her away somewhere, and just seeing Juliana's body moving in a breathing motion calmed her down a lot. Vivien at least kept herself to the promise of not doing anything fatal to her. Yet. They weren't out of the woods yet, but this was a good sign. As she got ven closer, she only tried sneaking small glances at Juliana because she didn't want Vivien to think all she cared about was Juliana - it was a hard sell, especially after all the things she yelled at her in her apartment, but she had to at least try. But from those small glances she could see that Juliana physically seemed okay. Red, puffy eyes, some pink to her cheek, her hair a bit ruffled, but no blood, no visible bruises, and she breathes a small sigh of relief. The mental trauma was still there, it wouldn't go away, but at least physically Juliana seemed to be doing okay.

On the other hand, Vivien seemed... fuck, she looked exactly like she remembered her, but somehow the moment she spoke to remind her what happened between them not so long ago, the moment she reached her hand out for her to touch, she looked so incredibly ugly to Darcy. She wanted to throw up again, to push her hand away, to scream and yell at her, to scratch her eyes out, but she knew anything that wouldn't please Vivien in that moment would result in Juliana getting hurt, and she could not take that chance.

So without saying a word, she reached out and took Vivien's hand and let the woman pull her closer while she shut Bex down who wanted to check if other people were around. Apparently Vivien was so blinded when it came to her even after everything that she trusted her, without question. Which was huge luck on their part, but also something she could use maybe.

"Of course I came, Viv," she said, trying to make her voice sound as soft as she possibly could and hoping there wasn't any shake to it. She was trying to wreck her brain how to bring up Juliana, how she could ask about her, but she didn't have to think too much because Vivien brought her up herself. She gave Vivien a surprised look - where did she even get the idea of Juliana and her? - and then let out a small chuckle. "No, Viv, you have nothing to worry about. Juliana and I never..." she looked over at Juliana, wanting to mouth some reassuring words to her but noticing Bex behind her watching the two of them with wary eyes and quickly deciding against it. "She's just one of my employees I get along with. Nothing else. And she seem... okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, we just had a little fun with the girl, nothing too serious don't you worry," Vivien said, waving the question away as if it was pointless to even ask. "You did find somebody, though, didn't you? A man, from the shirt you put on."

Darcy wondered what Vivien would have done to Diego if she knew it was his shirt, even if they weren't together anymore. If their night back in her apartment would have ended differently. "Oh, that? That was nothing, I just bought a couple of those for whenever I'm in the apartment. They're comfortable." She really, really hoped she was selling this well. She could hear Bex give a scoff, but a small smile curled onto Vivien's lips. "You don't need to be jealous, I never..." Here comes nothing. She ducked her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and forcing her face to look embarrassed and flushed. "Look, I know it doesn't seem like it from everything that went down, but I was kind of in shock, okay? I can't remember half of what happened, everything went down so fast, and there were those guns... ever since you and I got shot, I get all freaked out and weird whenever guns are around me and I do stupid things. I'm really sorry, okay? I realized I made a mistake the moment you left. I even tried going after you but he-- he wouldn't let me. I'm sorry."

_______________________

Had it not been for the fact that this woman had knocked her out, kidnapped her, tortured her, and threatened to kill her and her entire town, Juliana probably would have thought seeing the way these two interacted was pretty cute. Unfortunately, this was the completely wrong circumstance for her to feel all warm and fuzzy when it came to romance and instead she just felt anxious.

Staring at…Genevieve, there was disappointment in Juliana’s eyes rather than relief to see her. As they talked about her and the two of them made eye contact, she couldn’t help but look down at her feet instead, not wanting to accept that any of this was true. She hated looking at her, even listening to her and no longer seeing Darcy, but now a complete stranger in her place. It all felt wrong. The person she thought she knew these past four years was suddenly gone and replaced by this imposter who put her into danger.

What was worse was how it sounded as though this could have all been avoided. It sounded like she wanted to run away with this psycho, and yet Juliana still had to suffer through this pain? It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fucking fair. She started squirming around in her seat from the frustration, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get herself free nor was she attempting to, she just need some kind of outlet to release the anger she was feeling.

Rather than interrupt the love birds little moment with each other, Juliana turned her head to look over at the one standing by her. “You guys got the one you want, can you please let me go now?” she pleaded softly, hoping that maybe this newfound happiness of finally getting to be with Genevieve again meant they would be a little more merciful now.

_______________________

Diego gave Phoenix a brief if incredulous look like 'of course' (but maybe more aligned with 'a-duh') when Phoenix said he'd cooperate for Juliana. That much was patently established. Diego wondered how many times Phoenix would feel he needed to remind Diego of a truth that was obvious many months ago, and applied to pretty much 99% of Phoenix' life? Who did the kid think he kept trying to convince?

Regardless, Diego was glad Phoenix conceded to the five minutes. It also gave Diego time to look around, and realize that Vivien hadn't called anyone else in. This was just her, and her associate. Despite all the havoc that Salazar had created internationally since her faked death, Diego began to realize that when it came to Genevieve Soto, it was a private matter. No other guards, no one else. And Vivien even cut her associate off, which was a relief because if the other woman cased the warehouse she would have found him and Phoenix.

The idea of Phoenix guaranteeing he'd 'take care of it' only translated to one thing to Diego: that Phoenix would run down there to create some diversion, get himself shot, and that would be that. Diego looked at his phone again, hoping that the five minutes Al promised him would deliver. Because seeing Phoenix bleeding out on the floor and being happy about it would be the stuff of nightmares.

Vivien was caught up in Gen, everything Gen as the other woman talked, convincing her of truths that Bex considered lies. But it would be hard to convince Vivien of that, especially now, while Gen and Vivien were talking together, holding each other's hands. Bex was feeling restless, but she stayed put, her attention honing in on Vivien and only Vivien.

Then Juliana spoke up, and took Vivien's attention. She looked annoyed, but realized, after Gen's explanation, that killing Juliana would probably not help the situation. At least...her killing Juliana wouldn't But if she just took Gen out of here, then Bex would happily do the honours, Vivien was sure of it. All she needed to do was ease Gen into reassurance that the girl would be fine.

"I suppose we'll let her go now...do you think she'll say anything about us?" Vivien asked Gen, and Bex tried hard not to roll her eyes. "Her father is the Police Chief after all. It's in her nature to rat people out, I'm assuming and I don't want--"

"Boss - BOSS!" Bex said, cutting Vivien off as she took a step closer. Her eyes were wide, and she held her gun up. "Boss, there's a laser - a red fucking dot on your forehead. Gen fucking lied!! She brought the fucking cops!"

"Now's our cue. Stay close to be and behind me!" Diego hissed at Phoenix, but stood up then (relief and adrenaline coursing through him as he aimed his gun at Bex. "This is the US Marshal talking, drop your weapon now - drop it NOW!" Diego yelled, coming down the stairs and hustling forward towards the trio. "On the ground, lady - " He barked at Bex, just as the warehouse doors burst open as well, and more cops ran inside.

Diego figured Phoenix would beeline straight for Juliana - which was fine, Diego wouldn't stop the kid. He had to take care of Vivien's associate, but Vivien couldn't seem to believe it was over. That Gen had betrayed her, like this. By pretense and lies.

Not wanting Vivien to get shot, as the cops burst in, Bex carefully lowered her own weapon to the ground as the US Marshall knocked her to the floor. But not Vivien. With a scream of frustration, Vivien aimed her own revolver at Gen - the revolver that only had one bullet - and tried to shoot the woman she loved more than anything. Click - Click - Click

_______________________

He was able to keep quiet. This was a situation in which Phoenix was actually afraid. It wasn’t for himself, but it was because it would put Juliana in danger. He nodded, tucked close to Diego until he heard the loud bang of the doors being broken open. He saw the crush of officers closing in and focusing on Vivien and whoever she was working with.

Ducking away from Diego, he ran down the steps. This might be a risk, but he thought that it could be worth it. The recklessness was back quite easily. He ran up to Juliana, taking her face in her hands.

“Juliana. Hey, hey. Are you okay? Are you... did they do anything to you?” Likely, he could have tried to untie her, but maybe it was safer to stay in one place. That and he was fumbling with the ropes that were holding her to the chair. “I’m... here. I’m here.”

He let out a soft breath, trying to keep her from looking at any of the strange things that were happening around them. “When this... after this, we’ll call your dad! Okay? Diego didn’t want me to call him so I don’t know if we can tell him everything, but we can tell him something. These fancy cops are going to tell us what to do and I’ll actually listen to them.”

_______________________

Suddenly everything seemed to be happening all at once. One moment Juliana was pleading to be let go and all Gen wanted to do was jump there, untie her and run along with her, the next there was a red dot in the middle of Vivien's forehead. She didn't even have time to move so Bex wouldn't notice, however, because the woman was already yelling to Vivien about it and then Diego voice came somewhere from above and it was just a mess.

Such a mess for a moment she didn't even know what to do, which gave Vivien just enough time to raise her hand that had the gun in it, aim it at her and fire - and Darcy was prepared for the familiar shot of pain, hitting the ground and everything going black, but instead of the deafening sound of a bullet getting fired, there was just the small click of the gun that didn't have a bullet in it. Vivien was shooting her with a gun that didn't have bullets in it.

With memories swirling around in her head she moved, not caring anymore that Vivien kept shooting - really, what was she thinking, a bullet would suddenly materialize in there? -, and she punched Vivien in the solar plexus. It wasn't the best punch, she could have hit harder and in a better angle, but it did the trick just enough that Vivien bent down to catch her breath from the hit and Darcy immediately moved to Juliana. Phoenix was already there, trying to calm Juliana down, so Darcy moved behind her and started untying the ropes as fast as possible while also trying to make sure that she doesn't hurt Juliana even more. "It's okay, it's gonna be okay, you're gonna be out of here in no time, I promise."

Vivien wasn't giving up that easily, though, and after a few seconds she forced herself to ignore the pain and stand up properly, just in time when one of the cops arrived to her to arrest her. Instead of doing as she was told, though, she backhanded the guy with the gun in her hand, and in the shock of the hit wrestled the gun out of the guy's hand and in just a few moments she was already using the guy as a shield, gun pointed under his chin, a maniac grin on her face. "Anyone takes one step closer to me and he's dead. Now, kindly let my associate go and let us leave here and nobody has to get harmed."

_______________________

When the woman behind her started shouting followed by the sudden crashing sound of the doors being forced open, Juliana screamed and ducked her head as far as she could with her limited mobility. There was an influx of noise that was just too overwhelming for her to process. She heard the word cops and then a familiar voice say US Marshal and now all she had to hope was that she didn't suddenly get caught in the crossfires while stuck where she was.

Her eyes widened in shock the moment she saw Phoenix standing there in front of her, cradling her face in his hands. She blinked a few times as though she believed she was seeing things. Once he started talking she knew she wasn't imagining it and knowing he was actually there basically opened up the flood gates as the tears started to build up. "Phoenix, you're here...I'm so happy to see you. What are you–how did you...? Are you ok?" Despite the fact that she was the one tied up, with a cut and a possible bruise forming on her face, she still checked to see if there was anything wrong with him.

There was still a lot of movement and a lot of shouting going on around them. As much as Juliana wanted to stay there and escape reality for a moment just by looking at Phoenix, she was scared about what easy targets they were. "Wait, Diego? Diego is part of this?" She asked, knowing that wasn't his main point but it was the one that caught her attention. Had it not, she probably would have given a soft (still somewhat nervous) chuckle at the idea of Phoenix actually listening to cops for once, but instead she started trying to turn her head to try and actually see Diego. Her brain had now registered it had been his familiar voice and she didn't know what to do with this information.

That was when Not Darcy rushed over to her suddenly and started untying her. Was there some kind of ulterior motive here or was she really just trying to help? Juliana kept second guessing everything about this person now that she knew the truth. She turned back to look at Phoenix with pleading eyes, really hoping that what was being said was true and they could get out of here. As soon as she felt the rope around her body loosen and she could finally move her arms, she immediately wrapped them around Phoenix, burying her face into his neck.

Juliana felt safer already even if the environment around them still wasn't very safe. All of a sudden things seemed to have quieted down and Vivien's voice was the only thing echoing in the room. She looked up to see her with one of the cops as a human shield and since Juliana wasn't one of the people with any power to try and stop her, she held on tighter to Phoenix and watched the reactions of the cops as well as "Genevieve" to see how this would get handled.

_______________________

Things were racing at a high clip, but this sort of high-action organized chaos was the sort of thing Diego was trained for, and didn't freak out over. He managed to get handcuffs on Bex when he pushed her to the floor, and out of the corner of his eye he knew Phoenix was with Juliana, and Gen had run over to get Juliana untied. He thought he'd heard shots fired...or attempted to be fired anyway, and he just managed to haul Bex to her feet again when there was another yelp. Not from the trio of civilians huddled together, but from one of the cops.

Diego looked up and cursed under his breath, when he saw that one of the Evanstead policemen (used as a last-minute resort back-up by the FBI, Diego assumed, since they had no time to call in the SWAT) thought he could get cocky. And it landed the young buck now as Vivien Salazar's hostage as she still tried to make demands.

With a glance over at the Gen, Juliana, and Phoenix, Diego gave a little chin-toss towards two other cops, who scurried over to the civilians to shield them. Diego didn't let go of Bex, but walked her slowly towards Vivien, as Vivien walked backwards, towards the open bay doors.

"It's over, Salazar. You got a choice here - you can get taken in by the FBI and you can get held up in court with your legion of lawyers that you no doubt have on speed dial. Or you can shoot this cop here in front of millions of witnesses, and proceed straight to federal with that speedy trial that's promised to you. "

"Vivien," Bex tried to warn, but it sounded more like she was pleading with Vivien to make the choice. She wasn't. In truth, she was warning Vivien to stop walking backwards,stop taking the US Marshal's bait as she walked right into the barrel of the Sunnymead Chief of Police's gun.

Diego had seen Vincent arrive, thanks to Al - and Vincent seemed to have caught what was happening right when Vivien took the young cop hostage. Diego and Vincent's eyes met -briefly, just once - and a silent communication was exchanged, which led Diego to distract Vivien while gently ootching Vivien back until her shoulderblades suddenly met Vincent's gun. He muttered something to Vivien - so quiet and just for her, that no one else heard it. But then with a sigh of final defeat, Vivien chuckled bitterly under her breath. She dropped the cops gun, and smiled humourlessly at Bex, as she was roughly manhandled and handcuffed by the embarrassed Evanstead cop.

"Maybe you were right," she said to Bex, as Vincent efficiently cuffed her, and handed her (pretty roughly) to one of the FBI agents.

"Yeah. Maybe," Bex replied wryly, as Diego handed her off to the other FBI agent. Diego gave Vincent a curt nod, and the Chief of Police jogged over to his daughter.

Diego followed behind, and reached out for his own main priority - Darcy. Or...well, Gen. "Hey," he said to her gently. "It's over."

_______________________

At Juliana’s questioning, Phoenix nodded. “Yeah, he... yeah.” The whole story was too much of a mess and there were too many things going on around them for him to explain any of it right now.

Mirroring her actions, he squeezed Juliana. “I love you. I love you to fucking much,” he mumbled. He kissed her cheek then looked over at Darcy. A part of him thought that he should thank her for untying Juliana but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Everything happened so fast. And thank god nobody died. There was an attempt on Vivien’s end to shoot Diego, but - however little he wanted to admit to it - thankfully, nothing had happened. The cuffs were on Vivien and whoever it was that had been working with her.

He didn’t want to let go of Juliana, but Vincent came over and he knew that he had to. He moved off to the side, watching Darcy and Diego. He stepped over slightly and cleared his throat. “Uh, thanks. You know, for everything.”

_______________________

It was such a relief to see Juliana slip out of the ropes and surge forward to embrace Phoenix. She automatically reached forwards to rub Juliana's back, but stopped herself the last moment before she would have actually touched Juliana. She lingered there for a moment, remembering everything Phoenix told her, how Juliana dropped her gaze when she looked at her previously and how Juliana must have been just as confused and angry as Phoeniy was at them, and then dropped her hand and took a couple of steps back instead.

She didn't want to impose her presence on them when they probably didn't want to do anything with her. Phoenix made it clear that he didn't want to talk to her or even see her once Juliana was saved and well... Juliana was saved and okay. Well, as okay as she possibly could be. Darcy imagined there would be some trauma she'd have to process and deal with after this. But at least was alive, that is what counted in that moment.

She gave a weak, tired smile to Diego when he appeared at her side. "Is it? It weirdly doesn't feel like it. It just... well, it just feels like a really, extremely long, extremely shitty day."

She looked over to where Vivien and Bex were at this point led away in cuffs, and she watched them for a few moments before she asked. "What's gonna happen to them now?" What's gonna happen to me now? she wanted to ask, but she just couldn't bring herself to voice it. Because there was a whole syndicate out there, she would still be relocated, or did this mean she was okay, free to do whatever she wanted? What would she even want to do if she could? She couldn't really make decisions about her life in such a long time, even the thought felt completely foreign to her.

Phoenix wandered over and Gen took a quick glance towards Juliana to see her now embraced by her father. She shook her head at Phoenix's words. "It was nothing, it was the least we-- the least I could do. I know you probably don't care to hear it, but I really am sorry for bringing you into all of this. I never meant to hurt Juliana or you or anyone."

_______________________

She knew she was the one bombarding Phoenix with half finished questions but right now the answers weren't what was important to her. All Juliana wanted was to tightly hold onto Phoenix and never let go even if it made her wince in pain a little because he was really the only person she was sure of in this situation. "I love you too. I was so scared I wouldn't see you again..." She told him, the words muffled against his skin.

Watching everything go down, Juliana was trying her best to process it all. It was a moment before she was able to stop holding her breath, exhale and feel relaxed. Maybe she didn't fully trust this crazy woman (who she now finally learned the name of) would actually go quietly, but her worried gaze as they put both women in handcuffs was suddenly blocked at the sight of her father making his way over to her.

Phoenix's arms were no longer wrapped around her now so she could have a few moments with her dad. Before she let go of him she placed both hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. "You were so brave, I love you so much." She said quietly before pulling him in for a quick kiss. When she pulled away she paused for a beat before letting her hands slip from his face so she could reunite with her dad.

Vincent pulled her into a hug almost instantly, his arms around her shoulders and his hand placed on the back of her head as if trying to hold her as close to him as he possibly could. She hugged him tightly with her face pressed against his chest, feeling the way his body trembled as he held her and the way his heart was beating faster. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the top of her head feeling relieved to have his baby girl in his arms. "Thank god you're safe." He muttered into her hair while she held onto him tighter as she started crying again into his uniform shirt. "Shh, you're okay sweetheart, it's okay, I got you."

Juliana managed to pull herself together after gently sobbing into her fathers chest, sniffling as she took a step back to look up at him. She paused for a moment before asking how he knew they were here and what was going on before he explained the call he got. The mention of this phone call from the US Marshal reminded her that there was still the unanswered question of Darcy and Diego. She turned her head over to look at them as well as Phoenix who was standing pretty close to them. "Phoenix..." she called over to him, reaching out her hand, gesturing for him to come closer to her as she gave Diego and Darcy a wary look, making sure they could read the distrust on her face.

_______________________

"I don't know," Diego said honestly to Darcy's reply. "But we - I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I suppose when I said 'it's over' I just meant, er, today." He looked slightly abashed, thinking perhaps he'd injected some sort of hope and relief into Gen. She could feel some hope and relief that no one was dead and Juliana was okay, but other than that... "This part is over. But there's still a lot more that has to be done. That much I do know."

He didn't want to go into specifics. Partly because it wasn't his decision to make - the Salazar case belonged to the FBI, and the US Marshal's office would confer with them to see how to proceed. And partly because he was thinking the same thing Gen was: he didn't want to tell her what was going to happen to her now. Because all Diego could envision, was the worst case scenario.

He was distracted when Phoenix suddenly popped up in his periphery (how did he always do that?) and thanked Gen. Diego looked down, as Gen replied to the boy, glancing over at Juliana and her father. It was so gratifying to see the girl alive. Shaken, traumatized, beaten up, but still alive. The ambulance arrived then as well, one paramedic heading over to Juliana to check her for injuries, the other approaching Gen.

Diego cleared his throat. "You did well, Phoenix. Looks like they're going to take Juliana to the hospital," he prompted, figuring the kid would want to go with her. If Phoenix was allowed; Diego didn't know what Vincent thought of Phoenix at this point. He figured Vincent was pissed off at Diego - for a myriad of reasons, like allowing Phoenix to come here at all. Diego knew Vincent would be right to be concerned about Diego bringing a civilian into this dangerous situation. But Vincent also probably knew Phoenix Mae, and what the kid was like about his daughter.

When it seemed like Juliana had the same idea as she beckoned Phoenix back, Diego turned to look at Gen. "You and I are gonna have to go in for questioning," Diego informed her, as the paramedic checked her over. He said 'you and I' because it was true. At this point Diego would be interviewed by the FBI as well, and suddenly Diego was worried about the story he and Gen would have to tell them. Because if there was one thing he inherently suspected, it was that Gen shouldn't tell the FBI agents - the people who set all of this up to protect her from Vivien Salazar - that the first thing Gen did when she saw Vivien was sleep with the woman.

The feebs would only conclude one thing there, and that would set a very bad precedent for Gen. And as much as the sleeping-together part was accurate, Diego didn't want her to dig her own grave for the FBI. To beat that metaphor some more, she'd done enough digging, and Diego had helped her dig as well, with the people Gen loved in Sunnymead. The least Gen could do at this point was practice a little bit of self-preservation, and Diego believed he was the only person who had her back, and could keep her from spiraling into a breakdown.

_______________________

Phoenix shifted on his feet, knowing that his listening to Diego had helped while also knowing that he’d never do it again. His interactions with Diego would come to a halt after this. He assumed that the man would be leaving Sunnymead. His job would be done here. Whether it was successful or not was up to interpretation. Phoenix would say no, but he didn’t have a say in this. It was up to those who actually had experience in these situations and didn’t retain a bias over any of this.

When Juliana softly called out with him, Phoenix nodded. “Just a sec, babe. I got a few more things to say to Diego,” he replied. He turned back to the older man. “Yeah, I’m gonna go with her to the hospital. Don’t worry about it.”

Then he made what probably was a poor decision and took a swing for Diego. It connected with the side of his face. It was a hard swing, leaving his knuckles a bit sore.

Moments later, he was pulled away. He jerked a little in the hold until he heard Vincent’s harsh voice in his ear.

“You do not punch federal agents. I may be able to get you out of trouble back home, but I cannot do anything if the feds decide to do anything. Do you understand that?” he asked, releasing Phoenix who simply walked over to Juliana.

“Sorry, chief,” he said softly. “But he fucking deserved it. Don’t act like you didn’t want to do it.” He turned to look at Diego before looking back to Vincent. “He got your daughter wrapped up in this shit. He and Genevieve.” It wasn’t the time to dump all of these things on Vincent. He would, later. The man deserved all of the gory details. He didn’t plan for there to be any secrets... about this at least.

Phoenix sighed. “I’m going with her. You do... I don’t know. Cop shit. I’ll tell you when we know anything if we know anything before you finding up.” The older man gave his shoulder a squeeze and Phoenix walked over to Juliana.

He immediately took her hand. “Don’t be mad at me for that,” he mumbled. He had gotten quite good at not getting into fights. His temper was something that he still had to work on. Phoenix shot a look back to the couple before looking at Juliana. “I can’t punch Genevieve, but ...” he trailed off and shrugged.

Running his fingers through her hair, messier than it had ever been, Phoenix let out a soft sigh. “Everything’s gonna be okay. I already made them promise not to come near us. And - and Diego will probably be reassigned somewhere and she’ll have to leave town too... we won’t have to deal with this. I’m positive.”

_______________________

Questioning. They had go in for questioning. Totally and absolutely understandable next step after everything that happened, but suddenly Darcy remembered all the endless hours she spent in interrogation rooms and it happened when she didn't have any sort of information about Vivien or took part in anything bad, not intentionally anyway. Not that she knew too much more now, except for sure that Bex was part of all of it, but she did sleep with Vivien after she showed up and she wasn't sure... how exactly that would go about for the FBI and what wrong conclusions they would take from it.

Since Juliana called Phoenix over, she wanted to pull Diego aside to possibly talk about it (as awkward as that conversation would go), when Phoenix suddenly, out of nowhere (for her at least for sure, did this have a lead up that she missed? did something happen in the car while they were driving there?), landed a hard punch on Diego's face. She jumped back from the shock of it and the next moment Phoenix was already pulled away by Vincent.

"What the fuck, Phoenix?!" seh exclaimed, instinctively stepping between Phoenix and Diego even though with Vincent pulling Phoenix back, it was clear there would be no more punches thrown around. "Diego didn't do anything, he was just doing his job. If you want to blame somebody and go around punching them, do it to me, I'm the one who fucked up, who brought Vivien in town and I'm the one to blame, okay, not him!" She definitely would have deserved that punch more than Diego did, that's for sure.

She watched Phoenix as he went over to Juliana and her eyes locked with Vincent for a few moments before the sheriff turned around, grumbled something and headed towards Juliana, too. Gen turned around then to inspect Diego's face and the new addition to his already colorful bruises. "Are you okay? It seemed like a hard punch from where I was standing."

A paramedic passed by then and she quickly stopped them and asked if they could bring Diego some ice, which they did. "Here, ice it. Again. You became quite the punching bag today," she noted quietly. "Are you sure... don't you think you should go to the hospital, too? Get checked out, just to make sure you don't have a concussion or something."

_______________________

Normally, the sight of Phoenix swinging his fist at someone would cause her to run to his side to stop it, but she felt disconnected and rather unfazed. She jumped a little from surprise but it ended up having to be her dad who went to stop him as opposed to her. Juliana watched the commotion from a safe distance just trying to keep her breathing steady, barely paying attention whenever the paramedic asked her questions. All she seemed to be focused on was Genevieve jumping to Diego’s rescue.

Had this been completely different circumstances, this closeness between “Darcy” and Diego would have made her giddy, made her feel excited to know that she was right and there was something between them that they couldn’t deny now. But instead, that was the last thing on her mind, now all she cared about was how Genevieve was confirming that what happened to Juliana was her fault.

When Phoenix came over to her, the paramedic looking after her went over to check on Diego. Vincent looked a bit defeated as he made his decision on whether he should come along to the hospital as well or not but knew that Juliana would be in good hands with both Phoenix and the paramedics. He gave Juliana one last hug and kiss, telling her to make sure he got called if anything happened and that he would be right over before he stepped out of the warehouse.

Juliana held Phoenix’s hand in both of hers, looking a lot calmer than she normally did when she’d seen him lose his cool like that, and brought his hand up to her lips to gently kiss his knuckles. “It’s okay…” she told him quietly, “this one time I’ll say the person you hit deserved it.” Even if the other two didn’t seem to think so, she couldn’t deny some sort of consequence was in order. She didn’t fully understand what he meant about being reassigned but she understood that they were leaving town, and she looked over at the two of them, her eyes narrowed as she replied, “Good.”

The paramedic glanced over and upon noticing Juliana staring, he looked between the four of them as he suggested that all of them come down to the hospital together just so they could make sure that the two who had the most injuries didn’t have anything more serious going on. Juliana started shaking her head immediately, feeling her chest tighten a little. “No…no, no I’m not going anywhere with them, I don’t even know who the fuck you people are!” she raised her voice during the last part, now addressing Genevieve and Diego.

“I still don’t even know what the hell is going on! Nobody has told me a god damn thing! I’ve been sitting here completely in the dark, tied up for I don’t even know how long, with a crazy woman pointing a fucking gun to my head because you got her hopes up and then rejected her!” She was livid right now, feeling all of her anger bubbling to the surface, tears in her eyes once more but this time from rage rather than from happiness or sadness. “These feelings I’ve been having, feeling like we’ve been drifting apart make perfect sense now. You’ve been lying to us for four fucking years! We’ve told you some really personal and important stuff and you never opened up about anything, you told us nothing. I looked up to Darcy and now I find out everything I thought I knew about her isn’t even real!”

“And you!” She turned her head to look at Diego because he wasn’t off the hook either. “Is Diego even your real name? What about all those stories, things you’ve told me about your family, your nieces, was that all fake too? Cause I don’t know what to fucking believe anymore with you people!” For all she knew their entire life stories that they shared were fabricated. “You probably don’t even care! You’re just doing your job and we’re just a couple of idiot kids who kept bugging you and getting in the way.”

Juliana took a deep breath and rubbed any excess tears from her face, her voice lowered now but still harsh. “I know I trust easily, and I let you both into my life because that’s who I am but neither of you are even who you said you were and…I could have died because of you. Both of you.” she paused for a moment, looking between them and shaking her head. “I hate you and I can’t wait until you’re out of this town and out of our lives for good.”

_______________________

It wasn't that Diego was expecting the punch from Phoenix, but more that when the kid prepared his swing, Diego knew what was coming. He didn't bother to dodge, taking it in the jaw and falling a step back as the pain sunburst across his face. It exacerbated the lacerations and bruises on the other side of his face that were inflicted by Vivien, and Diego just internalized all of it, straightening himself just in time to reach out to Darcy - Gen - as she chided Phoenix. She didn't have to, of course. Everything Phoenix was doing now was a reaction of frustration and fear, and so entirely justified.

"It's fine," Diego said to Vincent, knowing the man was just trying to make it sound as if Diego was a power-hungry cop, eager to throw Phoenix in jail. Diego wasn't. Everything was contextual, and a punch thrown in this situation was, in Diego's opinion, reasonable.

"It's alright," he said again, his voice softer to Darcy as he tried to coax her back. He didn't glare at Phoenix, because he wasn't angry. He was mostly just tired, but knew there was still a lot more to be done.

He wanted to remove Gen from the situation as quickly as possible, give the civilians a chance to get to the hospital while the FBI took Vivien and her associate into custody. It looked like they were finishing up talking to Al and the Evanstead Chief of Police, which meant that Diego would then be able to escort Gen to the nearest US Marshal office. He wasn't going to let her sit in some Evanstead copshop. He wanted her somewhere quiet, without all the ruckus and shouting. A slim, brief moment to decompress before she was pulled back into the system to be interviewed (and hopefully not interrogated). He needed a moment to just talk to her as well, about what happened with Vivien.

Diego didn't want to lie to the authorities, but he also didn't want Gen to be in more trouble than she already was. This was going to be tricky; unfortunately the painkillers were defunct after Phoenix' punch (not as bad as being pistol-whipped by Vivien, but still a reminder that his face wasn't as young as it used to be). When the paramedic pressed a cold pack against his face, Diego winced, suddenly embarrassed by what he considered unnecessary assistance. There were people here suffering far deeper than he was; and their needs, as always, mattered more than his. He removed it and handed it back.

He vaguely registered Juliana yelling then, an outburst that was, again, entirely reasonable considering what she'd just been through. None of this was fair or right, not to her or Phoenix, but in Diego's opinion not to Gen either. As Juliana lambasted Gen, Diego watched Gen, knowing she'd just take it all on completely and then quietly destroy herself with her guilt. It made him angry, but not at Juliana. Juliana wasn't to blame either. She and Phoenix were just innocent children who did nothing wrong.

He was angry because it was all so massively fucked up. But at least everyone's alive, Diego reassured himself quietly. Then he sighed at how depressing it that his standard for relief at this point was as low as 'no one died'. As much as it hall hurt, Diego couldn't afford to feel much else.

"Okay," Diego accepted Juliana's wrath, addressing both Juliana and Phoenix (because he was sure she spoke for Phoenix as well). "I know it's irrelevant now, but my name is Diego Chavez, and what I told you about my family is true. Thisshould never have happened to you, and I apologize for all of it, Juliana. I'm sorry, Gen," he said to her as well.

Because as much as everything had collapsed around Gen's head - the fact that Vivien was actually alive, the near-death experience - he also knew how much Juliana's friendship meant to Gen. Only a few hours ago, she was begging to remain in Sunnymead, in the only life she'd known for four years, with the only people she'd been allowed to love for four years.

Now that was all being taken away, again. And even worse, it left a legacy of hatred and resentment in the people Gen had to be torn away from. He always believed that Gen worried about how much her brother hated her for ruining his life as well. Now, hearing the hatred spouting from Juliana's mouth, he knew that Gen would be doubly devastated - for ruining so many people's lives, and being unable to comfort them or change things or make it better.

"We have to go," he said to her.

_______________________

Diego was just doing his job? It was ridiculous to Phoenix, that she thought that saying he was doing his job was something was a proper excuse. If he had been doing it right, none of this would have happened. The ignorance which had fallen over them - and the other town members - since Darcy and Diego arrived could have remained. Everything could have been left with its false sense of normalcy. A part of him thought it was better. She might be living a lie, but things were good then. She seemed happy and he and Juliana both were happy.

“I don’t want to hear it, Genevieve. I told Diego the same basic thing, but just because he gets you off doesn’t mean he’s worth a damn.”

He knew it wasn’t going to happen again. He also didn’t have it in him to be glad got a get out of jail free card. Then, she started yelling at the couple.

He watched the scene unfold in front of him, eyes darting back and forth as if he was watching a tennis match. Of course, Juliana seemed to be doing all of the talking. He continued to hold onto her hand, tightening his grasp on it as she spoke. It was true. She could have died. There were plenty of parallels between this and the conversations that he’d had with Darcy in the diner along with the one he’d had in the car with Diego.

He had no idea if Diego was being honest about the fact that most of what he’d said wasn’t a lie. As if he were willing to trust anything the older man said at this point. It was all to cover his own ass. If Phoenix cared more, he was pretty sure he could say some less than admirable things about Diego to get him into some sort of trouble with his boss, but he wanted out of here. He’d cut them off like he would a dying limb.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Phoenix mumbled, no actual venom behind his voice. He didn’t think that it would do any good. He just let her get her rage out. She had far more right to anger than he did.

_______________________

If Gen was being honest, she did not at all expect Juliana blowing up like this. It was entirely reasonable and understandable, but she still didn't expect any of it. Everything was deserved and Juliana was right, and Gen took it all quietly, her eyes never leaving Juliana's angry face because some part of her felt like she didn't deserve to look down, to look away and feel just a tiny bit better about everything, to make this a bit easier.

Some people stopped to stare while others were quietly continuing doing their job, trying to attempt to give them their privacy, but Gen only saw Juliana. Her last words probably hurt the most even if she already knew, everything else Juliana was shouting was proof of that, but still to hear this from her own mouth, just like Phoenix making her promise never to talk to him again, cut deep and painful. And to think this was going to be her last memory of both of them. All the good times they had together and this is what both of them would remember her - the woman who lied her way into their lives and then fucked them up real good before she left, only to leave havoc and pain and trauma in her footsteps.

Could she ever not hurt the people she cared about? First her family torn apart, her sister dead, now Juliana kidnapped and both of them hurting and feeling betrayed. Maybe she really should just stay away from people and not make connections. That might be better for everyone around her.

Diego was probably lucky to get away from her and getting another assignment too. He might have not cared for her as much as she did for him, but it probably would have only been time before she hurt him, too. Well, technically she already did, several times.

She watched Diego while he talked and when he turned to her to apologize too, she couldn't help the bitter chuckle that left her as she shook her head. "Don't apologize to me, Diego, I don't deserve it. Why would I even need an apology for?" Not that she really expected a reply.

"I'm sorry, I really am," she said to Juliana as she turned back to her. "I know it doesn't matter now, I know you don't care, but I didn't want to lie and I didn't like any of it. Our friendship - everything was genuine about that. Not my past or my name, but the emotions and the sentiment behind it was. And I truly didn't want any of this for you and I wish it could have been prevented."

She nodded at Phoenix's dismissal and Diego saying that they needed to go and started making her way out of the warehouse, hoping she could at least get a few moments to herself where she could let some of the tears she was forcing back all this time, only to realize halfway out that she still had Juliana's car keys in her pocket. She could have technically just found Vincent and gave it to him, but as she turned around, Juliana was still there with Phoenix, and even thoug she couldn't explain why, she found herself going back to her once again. Maybe she just liked torturing herself.

"I just came to give you this and then I'll be out of your hair for good, I swear," she said when she saw the two of them noticing her approach, handing the car keys to Juliana. "This is probably the smallest cherry on top of all of it, but I broke the window on the driver's side. I was-- I was panicking and I forgot that you probably had your keys in your bag in the back. I am sorry, I will pay for it. Just-- I don't know, I don't know what's going to happen to me from here, to be quiet honest, but if you send the bill to the US Marshall's office, I'm sure they will get it to me and I can pay it back to you." Diego would probably make sure it would get to her, if nobody else. At least she hoped he would do that at least for her after their paths seperated. "I am really sorry again. Both for the window and everything else."

_______________________

It was nice having Phoenix there holding her hand as she went on her rant and let out everything she was feeling. It was a means of support that she needed right now more than ever. She hated that this was going on, she hated that people she respected and trusted were suddenly strangers standing in front of her. There was no way of telling if Diego was being truthful and Juliana turned her head to look over at Phoenix as if to gauge his reaction as well. She wanted answers and yet, she had no reason to believe anything they said now.

“No, it shouldn’t have. You people knew she was here! How long was she here for nobody to think about detaining her?” she asked, looking between the both of them pausing only for a moment before continuing. “From what I heard it was long enough for her to suggest her and Genevieve run away together and it was long enough for her to recognize me and get some fucked up idea in her mind that we were hooking up! You knew she was looking for you and you knew she found you and I still had to sit here with a gun to my face as she asked me if I’d rather be shot or hung when you didn’t show up!”

She squeezed Phoenix’s hand a little tighter, feeling sick having to say that out loud and having to think about what would have happened if they didn’t just narrowly make it. “At least we agree on something.” she commented coldly as Genevieve said that she didn’t deserve an apology. This was her fault, you don’t apologize for being hurt to the person who hurt you. At this point the damage had been done and Juliana didn’t want to hear Genevieve’s apology or excuses she simply wanted her and Diego gone. “Well, whether it was genuine or not you were starting to become a pretty shitty friend by the end of it so it doesn’t even really matter.” she explained, looking down at the floor for a moment and turning back to Phoenix as he told them to leave. She nodded her head to show she agreed and she was done with them.

“I didn’t hurt your hand by squeezing it too hard did I?” she asked Phoenix softly, keeping her gaze pointed downwards on their hands as her fingertips played against his. Juliana only looked up as Genevieve walked over again with her car keys in her hand. She took them and sighed at the mention of her car window being broken, wrapping her arms around Phoenix just so she didn’t start losing her cool again. As much as she would love to send her the bill for the damages she caused, it was a lot more than just a broken window. She was sure she could get a deal, someone in town who owes her dad a favour, hell she’d figure out a way to fix it herself if it meant she didn’t have to try and get in contact with the woman ever again. “Whatever. I don’t care, just go.”

_______________________

Juliana and Phoenix were caught in this circle of demanding answers, then accusing the answers of being lies anyway so it didn't matter, then telling them to fuck off. They had questions, but no trust. Diego could see that now wasn't the right time to discuss anything anyway, not while everyone was still so keyed up. Whatever was said right now, it would only engender further animosity. Everyone's feelings were so raw that the only emotion that could be expressed was anger. That wasn't productive and really just more damaging to everyone involved.

"Any questions you have that're in my power to answer, I'll answer," Diego told Juliana, when she wanted to know how long Vivien had been in Sunnymead. Clearly the girl thought Vivien had been squatting there for days or perhaps weeks, not less than 12 hours. But Juliana could believe what she wanted, because no answer would be sufficient. Not at this moment anyway. Not that Diego sought forgiveness or even understanding, he just wanted to give them an explanation. If that was what they wanted.

"After you get back home and things are a bit more settled, if you still want answers, then I can provide them," Diego told them. "Gen isn't allowed to talk about any of this, because she can still be held liable and arrested for trying to explain anything." He glanced, somewhat nervously, at the FBI agent who was now eyeing them suspiciously. Before the FBI agent came over to take Darcy away, Diego motioned for Darcy - Gen, dammit - to follow him towards his own car.

"Let's go. We'll get back to Sunnymead in due time..." Diego told Gen. Truth was, even he wasn't sure what would happen at this point. The US Marshal office was mandated to follow the orders of the FBI on this particular case, since it was a federal case and not state. So all Diego could do was make some hopeful promise to Gen, before getting her to (relative) quiet.

_______________________

“Wait. They knew she was here?” Phoenix asked Juliana. Nobody had told him that, that they were well aware of the situation. He thought that she had simply shown up to grab Juliana. He felt himself getting angry again, but he held back for Juliana.

He tore his eyes away from her to look over at Diego. “Goddamn. I thought I might be overreacting but you really do suck at your job! Just let her fucking go! How - how do you lose your job? Because fuck, it seems like you’re making a lot of mistakes but there are no real repercussions because no one died!” Yes, shouting after telling them to simply leave was counterproductive, but he felt like he was receiving new information.

Turning back to Juliana, Phoenix shook his head. “Are you kidding? I’m tough!” It had hurt a little. It was the hand he’d used to punch Diego, likely a bad choice on his part. There was no changing it now. It didn’t hurt that badly.

Oh yeah. Phoenix had forgotten about the window being broken. He rolled his eyes and leaned in to whisper in Juliana’s ear. “You know what though? She didn’t even ask me to hotwire the car like Raven taught me. She broke the window then got your keys. It was totally unnecessary.”

_______________________

Darcy was ready to open her mouth again and defend Diego, try ti specify things to maybe lessen Phoenix's anger, but thought against it the last second. There was no lessening the anger, she couldn't explain or reason the pain or the anger away and she didn't have a right to even wantto. Plus, anything she and Diego said before seemed to make things worse and that was the last thing she wanted. To make things even worse than they already were.

She didn't say anything, just nodded to Juliana's reply and quietly and kind of awkwardly said, "Sure. Really am sorry, for all of it. --Bye." She sheepishly turned around and nodded to Diego and the two of them headed outside to head to the US Marshall's offices for probably what should be endless hours of questioning.

As they stepped outside the building Gen looked back one more time only to see Juliana finally pushed into the ambulance, Phoenix followibg suit., never letting Juliana's hand go in the process and the car rolling out of the building, taking their lives in two completely different directions.

FINISH.

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