Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

by Derry & The Immortal

"You just ran through a red light!" Angie yelled as Lila put more pressure on the gas pedal.

"Well, traffic lights are complicated things. Green means ‘go’, yellow means ‘go faster’ and red means three more cars can go through."

Angie rolled her eyes. Lila caught the action out of the corner of her eye. "Look, the faster we get to Ez the better."

"Well, it won’t help him if we get into a car accident and end up splattered all over the road!"

Lila took in a deep breath. She knew the kid was right, but she wasn’t about to show it. She let off the gas pedal a bit. "Look, I would be there already if it weren’t for you so don’t talk to me while I’m driving."

"If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even know where to go."

"Shut up! I don’t need a safety lecture from a self-righteous little senorita. Not like you know anything anyway."

"Oh, yeah? I know more than you think."

Lila slowed and stopped for a red light. "About what? Life? Ez? Do you know that I stayed at Ez’s place for a while after I got shot? I learned a lot about him in that span of time. More than you’ll ever know."

Silence. Absolute Silence. Lila didn’t dare take her eyes off the road in front of her, but she knew that she had hit a nerve. This was the first time that the kid had shut up. Somewhere, deep in the teen’s conscience, she knew she shouldn’t have said that.

She usually wouldn’t have brought it up and part of her wanted to apologize. But her strange sense of pride stopped her. She wouldn’t show weakness in front of Ez, so she sure wouldn’t show it in front of the little pip squeak that rode in the passenger’s seat.

Angie was lost in her own painful thoughts and emotions. The most overwhelming was a sense of betrayal. It wasn’t Lila who had betrayed her this time. She could have dealt with that. After all, she’d never really trusted Lila anyway.

This time, Ezra had deceived and betrayed her, and now her world felt like it was about to collapse. One of the foundations that she had built it on, had just been destroyed.

She was fully aware that Ezra had lied to her before. Even when they had first met, he had been pretending to be someone else. But Angie had learned that there was different types of lies.

And this wasn’t a lie he had to tell because of his job. And it wasn’t a lie to try and keep her safe. And it wasn’t one of those times when he said that he was alright, but she could tell that he wasn’t. She had dealt with all those types of lies before. She could handle them, no problem. But this one cut much more deeply.

This one made her feel like Ezra had abandoned her, rejected her, taken the one thing in the world that mattered to her and smashed it all to pieces.

Because, from that very first time when he’d been shot and she’d stood watch over him at his hospital bedside, she’d told him that she wanted to stay with him. He’d been the only person she’d had left in the entire world. She’d fought with all the other people who’d come to see her and tried to take her away, convinced that when he woke he would back her up.

But when he had come to, he’d told her that the authorities wouldn’t let him keep her. She’d threatened to run away and he’d talked her out of it. But that didn’t change the fact that she still wanted to live with him, like he was her dad or something. She wanted it more than anything in the world. But since he’d told her it wasn’t possible, she’d stayed with the Potters because it seemed like the next best thing.

Now, Lila was saying that Ezra had let her stay with him. Angie was jealous, insanely jealous. What had Lila done to deserve that? She’d said something about getting shot. Well, Angie would happily get shot too, if that would get Ezra to let her live with him!

But somehow she knew that it wouldn’t work. Maybe Ezra really did love Lila more than her after all. He’d obviously done a whole lot of stuff with her that he’d never told Angie about. Maybe all those times he’d said that he couldn’t come visit her because he was undercover, he’d actually been doing stuff with Lila instead.

Well, if that was the way it was going to be, then fine! She didn’t need him! She’d be fine on her own. Lila could have him!

"You wanna be his only friend? Fine! You can look after him!"

After the long silence, the frustrated high pitched outburst startled Lila. But she still wasn’t going to take any crap and shot back with pure venom.

"You bet I will! You can go back to the Potters and play happy families. Maybe Ez and I will drop in and have a laugh!"

"Waste of time. I won’t be there."

"What?"

"I only agreed to stay there so that Ezra would know where to find me. There won’t be any point if you’re taking him away."

Lila opened her mouth to retort, but stopped. Great, maybe she should’ve apologized. But her regret came out disguised. "Oh, smart move! Where would ya go?"

"Lots of places. I’ll find somewhere."

"Oh, yeah? Name one!"

"You think you know everything and I know nothing! You think you know everything about Ezra and everything about me! You don’t know anything! You just make it all up and then believe it!"

Lila didn’t respond. She didn’t know how to respond. What would she do? Deny it? No, let the kid think what she wants. Whatever. Lila didn’t care anymore. Not like she would ever see the kid again. Hell, her plan was to save Ez, then just drop out of sight. Yeah, just let the kid believe whatever she liked.

They travelled some distance in silence before Lila said, "The Bowling alley. We’ll ditch the car there," and she pulled into the parking lot and crookedly arranged the car in a parking space.

Angie didn’t say anything, but she obediently got out of the car. Probably more out of relief at still being alive than any kind of allegiance to the older girl.

Lila sighed. "Come on Angie. Let’s go save Ez." That earned her a nod of agreement, even if it was accompanied by a resentful glare.

The two girls snuck quietly to the back of the Griffin building staying close to the walls and staying in the shadows.

"Where do you think he is?" Lila asked quietly.

"In the basement."

"How are we supposed to get in there?"

Angie stared thoughtfully at the building. "There’s a window that goes into the basement, but it’s really small. You won’t be able to fit. I’ll have to go."

"Like hell." Angie started to object, but Lila cut her off. "No way in hell you’re going in there alone. Ez would kill me. And how would you get him out? Nope. No way."

Lila searched the side of the building looking for any means of entrance. She grimaced when she saw the drain pipe leading to an open window. She absently rubbed her back where a bruise was forming from the mishap she had earlier. "Another drain pipe," she muttered.

Angie gave her a questioning look. Lila sighed, spat on her hands and rubbed them together. "Ok. Shorty, you stay here and try not to get into trouble," she commanded the youngster while still sizing up the climb. "And don’t worry, I’ll be back."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I’m going up the drain pipe into the open window." Then added under her breath, "And this is absolutely the last time I’m saving your sorry ass, Ez."

"Oh yeah, and how are you going to get Ezra out? Hmmm?"

Lila shot a look at Angie and found that she was standing with her arms crossed and a little bit more weight on one leg than the other.

Lila shivered and it wasn’t because of the bone chilling temperatures.

Angie was giving her the "I thought I said no rollerblading with JD on the hardwood floors" look. Gosh, she even had the same posture as Ez. The kid had been taking lessons in intimidation. But no way it would work on her.

Lila smiled. "I’ll think of something." Then she started her ascent.

Angie watched in half disbelief, half admiration as Lila scurried up the drainpipe and disappeared into the window. And the thought of staying put did cross her mind as some very scary memories began to return.

This was a very bad place. This was where Mr Greel had once hit her so hard that he’d broken her arm and he’d said that he’d break her other arm if Mama didn’t do what he wanted. And he’d said that if Mama didn’t let him do something to her, he’d do it to Angie instead. Angie hadn’t really understood what he’d meant, but that cruel look in his eyes and her mother horrified expression still sometimes haunted her nightmares.

But Ezra had always helped her. She needed to help him now and the only way to do that was to disobey Lila and go inside.

Besides, she doubted that Lila would even come back for her. After all, she’d broken her earlier promise. Nope, the only option left was to climb in the basement window. Even if this was the last time she ever saw him, she couldn’t let Ezra down.

* * * * *

Ezra opened his eyes to see two or three large dark blurs looming over him.

"Awake, are we?"

Before he summoned the strength to even think up a reply, let alone speak, his side exploded in pain, courtesy of someone’s boot. His agonized gasp was cut short as his broken ribs protested. The sudden inhalation hadn’t done them any good. But then, neither had the kick he’d just received.

He felt his chin seized and realized that he’d closed his eyes again. He’d prefer to know who was doing all this so he reopened them, to find his view dominated by a face that was fuzzy, but vaguely familiar.

"Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me."

Ezra found his voice, but only just. It was quite an effort to get the whole sentence out.

"Not...entirely...but a simple...verbal...reminder...will suffice."

His interlocutor grinned evilly and the recognition came flooding in.

"O’Malley," Ezra murmured without any further prompting.

"That’s better. We’re just waiting for Mr Reardon before the final party starts."

"How?"

"Oh, you thought you’d left us all safely back in Atlanta? You should’ve known that you’d pissed off enough of your co-workers back home for some of them to give us a forwarding address. Really didn’t take all that much cash to buy it from one or two of them. You really know how to make friends, Standish."

Ezra let his eyes drift closed again. Evidently, making enemies was his specialty, but he’d keep that thought to himself. His chin was squeezed harder, but he couldn’t rouse himself, despite the pain. Then he heard a grunt of frustration and felt himself falling backwards again.

"Leave him, Peters. Mr Reardon should be here in fifteen to twenty minutes. We’ll be back then. Just keep an eye on the door."

Ezra could feel himself drifting off again. With a bit of luck, he’d be gone before Reardon arrived. He had absolutely no inclination to renew his acquaintance with the man. The pain was becoming less noticeable. Maybe he really was going this time.

Then he felt like his arms were being pulled at and opened his eyes.

Angie. Now that was odd. He’d heard that people saw their loved ones before they died, but wasn’t it supposed to be those that were already dead? Surely he should be seeing people like Teresa, rather than her daughter.

"Ezra," the hallucination whispered and there seemed to be some urgency in her voice.

He tried to answer, he really did, but all he could manage was a faint moan. Then he heard the door crash open and Angie yelped in sudden fear.

"What the...who the hell are you?"

One of the thugs had returned and made a grab for the small girl. She darted out of his grasp, but he was successful on his second attempt and she screamed Ezra’s name as the brute dragged her by the hair.

If anything could’ve roused him, this would. "Angie..." He tried to rise, but fell back as his vision went black.

But then he heard a grunt and a thud as something heavy fell to the floor in front of him. He managed to get his eyes open one more time to see Lila standing over the body of the thug, brandishing what looked like a baseball bat and directing her gaze at someone else in the room.

"I thought I told you to stay put!"

Ezra remembered saying something similar to her. It was his last thought before consciousness fled completely.

* * * * *

What a mess! God, what had they done to him? Lila looked at the baseball bat she held in her hand. She’d found it in the next room. There was already blood on it and she had the uneasy feeling that the blood was Ezra’s. Christ, he was lucky to still have any inside him! It seemed to be everywhere.

She knelt beside him. "Ez?"

There was no response, but she found a faint rapid pulse in his neck. Then she felt Angie join her by Ezra’s side, but Lila couldn’t take her eyes off his face.

"Is he...?" Angie’s voice was very soft and frightened.

Lila shook her head. They’d come this far. He wasn’t going to die on her now! But how were they going to get him out of here?

Lila stood up and properly surveyed their surroundings. Then she swore. "Shit! It won’t be long before they come looking and he’s in no shape to travel!"

Angie looked up at her. "I don’t suppose, you’ve managed to think of something?"

Lila blinked. That was a rather weird turn of phrase for a five-year-old. Ez was definitely a bad influence on this kid!

"What about you?"

Angie shrugged helplessly. "He’s bleeding a lot."

She took out a small kiddie handkerchief and rather ineffectually pushed it against the bleeding wound on his abdomen. He didn’t even flinch which really worried Lila. She quickly stripped off one of the cleaner T-shirts among her layers and handed it to Angie.

"Thanks," Angie said, as she ripped it into two pieces and tied them together around Ezra’s abdomen. "I haven’t seen him bleed this much since Mama died."

"What?"

"Before my mama was killed, she locked me and Ezra in a room so Mr Greel wouldn’t find us. Ezra had been shot and he was bleeding everywhere. He was out of it most of the time too. Just like this."

Lila stared at her. She’d never wanted to know how Ezra had met Angie, but this was like watching a car accident, horrible but you just couldn’t tear yourself away.

"And what happened to your mom?" Christ! Did she really just ask that?

Angie shuddered. She didn’t want to go back to those memories. They always made her want to cry. She remembered clinging to Ezra, in the dark, as he’d lain bloody and unconscious. And she alone had been able to hear her mother’s blood-curdling screams.

She looked up at Lila and her hostility returned. That screaming was her worst memory, the screaming and the darkness and the smell of blood. But all that was hers and hers alone. Lila would get just the facts.

"Mr Greel killed her. Then Mr Larabee and the others came and killed Mr Greel. Then they let us out and took Ezra to the hospital."

Lila shook herself out of the daze she’d fallen into. An idea was forming.

"So you barricaded yourselves in until the cavalry arrived."

Angie blinked and nodded. "Yeah, Ezra called it that too."

Lila went over to shut the door and then dragged a large locker in front of it. The latter made a loud screeching noise, as it scraped along the floor.

Angie winced. "We had to keep really quiet so that the bad guys wouldn’t find us."

Lila snorted. "I don’t think noise is our biggest problem. I mean, we’re not exactly hiding. After all, they know that Ez is down here. What we need is as much stuff as possible behind that door so they can’t get in." She put her back behind another large heavy locker, but this one was much harder to move and she cast a withering glance over at Angie. "Would you mind giving me a hand?"

Within ten minutes, they had quite a substantial barricade behind the door and another under the window which Angie had entered through.

"So," gasped Angie, still breathless from the exertion, "what about the cavalry?"

"Shit!" That was a good question. No one on their side even knew they were here. "What did Ez and your mom do?"

Angie thought about that. "Mobile phone."

Lila let out a short derisive (but she hoped not hysterical) laugh. "Forgot to bring mine. You?"

Angie shook her head helplessly, but then started looking around the room. Lila joined her. They had to find something! Then Lila thought to search the unconscious guy on the floor.

"We really ought to tie him up too", she muttered to herself, even as her hands found what they were searching for. "Here’s one, but it’s switched off."

Angie came over to look at it. Then her face lit up. "It’s Ezra’s!"

Lila looked at her. "Does that help us?"

Angie nodded vigorously. "I know the number to get in!"

Lila stared in disbelief. "He told you?"

"No, he was joking around, showing off. I asked him how he could remember it. He said it was ‘as easy as pie’. That’s a joke from ‘Mathias, the Mathemagical Elf’."

"From what?"

"It’s a book he bought me. But you see, ‘pi’ is a number that goes on and on (something to do with circles) but it starts with 3.14159 and that’s the number to get in."

"And you memorized all this?"

"Well¼yeah."

"For God’s sake, why?"

"Well, because Ezra bet me I couldn’t."

Lila shook her head and handed her the phone. "Well, go ahead and try."

Angie did and, after a short while, she let out a brief triumphant chuckle, as the phone beeped into life.

"Dial 911."

"I know!"

After a brief pause, she spoke to the operator. "Um, ambulance please...my friend, Ezra...he’s bleeding...a lot!...Oh, the Griffin Building...address?...not sure...It’s near a bowling alley. Does that help?"

Lila grabbed the phone off her and gave the operator the exact address. "Oh, and we’ll need the cops too! Lots of cops! There are some guys out to get us! All three of us! Real bad guys! And Angie’s right, Ez is bleeding real bad. Tell them to hurry!" She sighed as she hung up. She didn’t blame the operator for being just a bit sceptical, but he’d get the cops and ambulance. That was his job.

"Do you think we should call Mr Larabee?"

Lila glanced at her and from the look on the kid’s face, she wasn’t looking forward to it any more than Lila.

"Suppose we should. God, he’s gonna love this!"

Lila knew the number by heart. It was the same one on which she left messages for Ez, if she couldn’t get through to his mobile.

She tried to sound confident and business-like. "Ah Larabee, Lila here. Remember me? Yeah, well, me and Ez got a small problem. Oh, he left a message on the answering machine? We’re across the road from there. Yeah, Griffin Building. Well, his phone’s been off for a while. He’s sorta unconscious. Yeah, he doesn’t look real good, but he’s alive. Already rung an ambulance. Yeah, and the cops. Oh Buck and JD? Will they be here soon? Oh, and Angie says ‘hi’. Yeah, she’s here too. Look, I’m gonna hang up now, before you have an aneurysm."

She switched off the phone again with another loud sigh. Then there was a loud banging at the door. Lila instinctively ducked out of any possible line of fire, in case they decided to shoot their way in.

Then she went back to the guy she’d knocked unconscious and took the two guns from his holsters.

"Angie, get that rope and come over here to tie him up." Angie had instinctively gone back to Ezra, as soon as the banging started.

Lila checked the weapons, in between helping Angie maneuver the guy so they could tie him up. She watched the kid’s fingers fumble slightly. Only then, did she realize that Angie was shaking. Okay, this was scary, but they both needed to hold it together. Better try and take the kid’s mind off the situation.

"So, lived with the Potters a long time?"

Angie didn’t look up as she finished tying the knots, but her hands steadied.

"More than a year. Ever since Mama died."

"Oh, yeah." Lila tucked one of the guns into her waistband and, after briefly checking Angie’s knots, held out her hand. "Come here. We better go sit by Ez. Make sure he’s okay."

She led the kid over to Ezra and deposited her between him and herself. It seemed like the most secure position. The wounded man was frighteningly still, but he was at least breathing.

"Come on, Ez! Hang in there!"

There was another particularly violent attack on the door. Angie flinched and Lila swung around to point both weapons at it.

"It’s alright, Squirt. They’re not getting through."

"Yet."

Lila cracked a half-smile. "Been taking pessimism lessons from Ez, too?"

Angie again lapsed into silence.

She couldn’t really deny it now. Not to herself anyway. She was glad Lila was here. And even though Lila knew that things were really bad, just as much as Angie did, Lila wouldn’t give up without a fight. Even if those men did manage to break in here, she’d go down shooting. Just like Mama.

Angie looked at Lila again. Lila’s eyes were blue and her mother’s had been brown, but they had the same long dark hair. And the way she stood and the way she smirked and the way she just told people she didn’t like to go to hell - Angie remembered her mama being just like that. Mama must have been a bit older, but somehow Lila almost seemed to be the same age.

There was one big difference though. Lila seemed to like living on the streets and Mama had hated it. She’d stayed with Mr. Greel just because it meant that they’d no longer have live on the streets. Angie didn’t really remember those times. It was all so long ago. But it must have been bad if Mama had thought living with Mr Greel was better.

There was another huge noise from outside the door. A couple of shots were fired. Lila again settled herself into position and took aim at the door. Angie held her breath for a couple of moments, but then the noise died away again.

"Come on, you bastards, give it your best shot!’ Lila muttered to herself, more to break up the silence than anything else. There had been countless times in the past couple of hours when she’d fervently wished that Angie would shut up. But now she was discovering that a silent Angie was one of the most unnerving things around. Maybe she could goad the kid into talking.

"Nothing to say, brat?"

It provoked a response, but it was only half-hearted. "I wish you’d stop calling me that."

"Well, you are one."

"I’m not!" Good, more vehemence this time. "Mr Greel used to say I was, but he was wrong and so are you!"

Shit! So that had been one of Greel’s favourite insults. Lila had been acting like the guy who’d killed Angie’s mother. No wonder the kid hated her guts.

"Okay, but I’m sticking with ‘squirt’. You are short!"

"That’s because I’m not even six yet."

True. And Lila had thought that she’d seem too much crap by the time she was six. Well, she had really. It had been different, but it had been just as horrible in its own way.

But Angie had been right about something else. Without knowing a thing about her, Lila had just assumed that the kid had always led a pampered life. Okay, so she knew that she was probably an orphan. But still, Lila had thought that she’d got herself a fairytale foster family through her cutesy-pie looks and probably won Ez over in exactly the same way. Now, it was obvious that wasn’t the way things had happened. All the princess treatment (clothes, toys, books) was probably because people were trying to make up for all that had gone before. Ezra included.

Yeah, that’d be Ez. In a funny way, he seemed to think he could put the whole world to rights. That was why he always harped on about the orphanage to Lila. He wanted Lila safe and happy, like he wanted Angie safe and happy.

Exactly, like Lila wanted Ez to be safe and happy. She knew that no matter how many times she would swear up and down that it would be the last time, she wouldn’t stop trying to save Ez. And if Angie made him happy...well then, so be it.

She couldn’t help a soft chuckle. Look at the three of them now!

"Hey, Squirt. Wanna come live on the streets with me? That would really tick Ez off."

Angie looked up at her, still ready for a fight, but then all the defiance seemed to drain out of her. She shook her head sadly.

"I wouldn’t know where to go or what to do."

They both looked around as the door was attacked again and this time, their barricade actually moved under the assault. They both knew what that meant. The bad guys were coming through.

Lila looked at Angie. They ought to bury the hatchet before they go. Maybe it was fitting that the three of them go out together in one last stand.

She gave the kid what she hoped was a reassuring grin. "Don’t worry, Ange. I’ll show you all the best spots."

Angie still looked uncertain. No, actually she looked close to the edge of complete panic. Well, that was understandable in the current situation.

Suddenly deafening gunfire exploded outside the door. Lila stood and aimed both guns towards it. She knew she should keep talking. Give the kid something to hold on to.

"It’s okay, Ange!" Lila had to shout to make herself heard. "Stay with Ez! He needs you!"

Then she realized that the barricade was still holding up surprisingly well and it dawned on her. The bad guys were shooting at someone else.

She turned back to Angie and Ezra.

"Hey, guys! The cavalry’s here!"

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and some sirens could now be heard in the background.

The two girls listened for an indication of the outcome and were rewarded with the sound of a voice they both knew well.

"Looks like we got ‘em all. The girls and Ez must be around somewhere."

"Buck!" the two of them shouted in unison.

"Lila? Angie? Hang on, girls. We’re coming!"

Lila put both weapons on the floor and ran to start disassembling the barricade. Angie checked on Ezra one more time and then came to help her.

Lila grinned with relief. "You do realize that we’re now in a real shitload of trouble, don’t you?"

And Angie grinned back at her. "Oh, yeah. But we can always run away."

"Course we can. They won’t see us for the dust!"

"And you’ll show me how it’s done?"

"Absolutely!"

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Show me your other hand. I wanna see if your fingers’re crossed!"

* * * * *

Ezra awoke to two young feminine voices. He was used to hearing each singly, but he’d never before heard them in a duet as harmonious as this before. Of course, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some element of discord.

"Oh look, they’ve got ‘Mulan’!"

"Oh, c’mon! Disney? Gimme a break!"

"Mulan’s a good one! You’ve gotta admit, Mushu and the cricket are funny."

"Okay, I’ll buy Mushu, but the cricket is just your standard annoying cute."

"So you have seen it."

"Only cuz I was forced to."

"You’re weird. You think you have to hate anything that a little kid or a grown up might think is nice."

The older girl actually chuckled. "Do ya do that a lot?"

"Do what?"

"Psychoanalyse people, then throw it back in their faces. That could get ya killed, kiddo."

"I wasn’t saying you’re a psycho...or maybe I am." An element of amusement had also began to enter the younger girl’s voice. "So can we put ‘Mulan’ in?"

"Over my rotting corpse!"

"Look, who got them to let us use the video, anyway?"

"Only through a shameless overuse of the cute factor. You have no pride, girl. Hey! They’ve got ‘Good Will Hunting’."

"So?"

"Got two words for ya - Ben Affleck."

"You’re hopeless. You don’t care what the story is about, just as long as it’s got that guy in it."

"Hey, don’t knock what you don’t understand!"

"Why not? You do!"

"You just wait till your hormones kick in, kiddo!"

Ezra thought that it was about time to announce his state of awareness. He gave a theatrical groan and was rewarded when they both called his name and rushed to the side of his bed.

Without opening his eyes, he moaned, "God help me! I’ve been sent to hell with the feminine forms of Buck and JD!"

That produced a united protest.

"No way!"

"Get outta here!"

He opened his eyes. "I don’t suppose I’m entitled to an explanation?"

Angie and Lila exchanged glances. "Well, Ez," Lila began, "it’s kind of a complicated story. You see, I knew you were in trouble, but I didn’t know where to find you."

"So I told her," Angie chimed in. "And then we..."

"Excuse me. We?" Ezra gave Lila a stare of disbelief. "And you let her come along?"

If Lila could’ve disappeared right then, she would’ve. But Ezra’s expression of disappointment nailed her to the spot.

"I thought you were more responsible than that. And I specifically told you that I didn’t need your assistance."

It hurt. She tried not to show it, but the words stung. Oh, great.

She deliberately didn’t look at Angie. When they’d been trapped in the basement and it looked like they were going to die, there’d been a genuine closeness and understanding between them. But now that the danger had passed, that bond had probably evaporated too. So the kid would probably be really enjoying this. After all, Lila being in trouble with Ezra was exactly what she’d wanted from the beginning.

But Lila had underestimated the strength of what had formed between them. Angie immediately came to her rescue. "No, you’ve got it all wrong Ezra! She didn’t let me come. I just did."

"What?"

"I snuck out and followed her. But then I got into a little bit of trouble and Lila helped me."

"A little bit of trouble?" Ezra didn’t look particularly reassured. Angie had always possessed a tendency towards understatement when it came to describing any trouble she’d been involved in. And he had some vague disturbing memories about her involvement in his recent misadventures.

"Big kids, small matter. I took care of it." Lila explained, trying to calm the ever rising waters. For someone who was an undercover agent, Ez was really doing a bad job of hiding his emotions. It was plain to see that he was getting more confused and angry by the moment.

Ezra opened his mouth, but Angie quickly cut him off. "Then Lila stole a car!"

"Whoa, wait a minute. I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it. And besides you helped!"

"Yeah, but it was your idea."

"I only did it so you wouldn’t freeze and we could get to Ez faster."

"Well anyway, then Lila climbed the drain pipe into the second story and I went in through the basement window."

"Just for the record I told her to stay put, but she doesn’t listen."

Angie made a face. "Neither do you."

"I do to!"

"Do not."

"Do to!"

Ezra quickly stopped the argument with a look that would’ve frozen water. "So you take it upon yourselves to venture into an exceedingly dangerous part of town, in the middle of the night, not informing anyone of your whereabouts. Indulge in a little car theft, not to mention breaking and entering..."

"And we saved your sorry ass!"

Ezra gaped at the pair of them. The statement had come from Angie, not Lila.

"I beg your pardon!"

"I said..."

"I heard you," he said severely, "Since when did you start experimenting with that kind of vocabulary?"

"Since last night," Angie stated matter-of-factly.

Ezra turned his stern gaze towards Lila. "I suppose I have you to thank?"

Lila gave an exaggerated shrug. She was really beginning to enjoy this. "At least she’s beginning to sound like a real person. Unlike others I know...."

Ezra looked from one to the other, trying to work out exactly when the world had gone mad.

"I honestly cannot understand what has gotten into the pair of you."

Lila exchanged a grin with Angie. "Ah Ez, y’know girls just wanna have fun."

* * * * *

The End

E-mail: Derry & The Immortal