Addy entered, biting her lip and searching around for Josh. She spotted Will and forced a smile as she approached him,

"Hey Will. Is Josh about?"

"He's upstairs." Nat answered. "Probably sleeping before he has to work."

"Thanks... You think he'd mind if I went up?" she asked, already heading towards the stairs.

"No, I don't think he'll mind at all." Nat informed her, smiling.

"Thanks again." she nodded and climbed the stairs.

((his room's in the attic, Roguie! you might wanna head there...XD))

((Ack! Been away too long. Thanks Scotty!))

It wasn't too long after Addy came in that Jonathon walked into the bar. He looked over, saw Will, and walked right up to him. "Have you seen either of the girls?" he asked.

Will nodded. "Yeah, Addy's upstairs with Josh."

"Thank you," Jonathon answered, heading towards the stairs.

Nat swallowed, "Um, Will....who was that?"

Will looked at her. "A regular customer. He's Addy's uncle, I think."

"What's his name?"

"Jonathan," Will answered. They really didn't use last names much around the speakeasy.

She frowned..."What about his last name?" she asked quietly.

Will shook his head. "Not much call for last names around here," he answered, looking over at her. "Why?"

"He just looks really familiar. And not in a good way."

"Hmm...Johnny's a really nice guy," Will said.

Totally true...Jonathon is the nicest of all the Holden men.

Nat just nodded and then frowned when she saw Cass racing down the stairs.

"Nat, we can't stay here!" he coughed as he tried to catch his breath, "We have to get out of here fast!"

"What? Cass, what's going on?"

"It's them, they're the ones sponsoring this place, we can't stay."

Nat suddenly went very white and she gripped the bar for support. "No....they can't be....we can't leave...."

Will looked at them. "Whoa, wait, what's going on?" he asked, slightly confused.

Cass looked at Will, "This place that you and your brother are running....where do you think you get all of the supplies from without being noticed by the cops?"

"Y-You have a ...gang backing you." Nat added in a whisper. "The same one that my brother and I have been trying to hide from ever since Father died."

"We have a good bootlegger," Will said. "Not every joint in this city is headed by a gang."

Cass shook his head, "Yours isn't one of those." He turned to Nat, "We have to go now. We need to leave this town and never come back."

Nat stared at him and set her jaw defiantly. "No. I'm not going anywhere. All you're ever going to do is hide."

"Nat...."

But she was on a roll...and she didn't care if people were staring, no one could hear what was being said except Will. "Did you ever think about maybe talking to them and working something out instead of running away?"

"How do you know that?" Will asked. "Just because you thought you saw somebody you believe to be in a gang? That means nothing."

"I told you that you guys would be safe here and that we would find a way to make everything right, and I'm serious about that."

"I did see somebody who's a mafia boss, Will." Cass whispered harshly, "Jonathon Holden. His niece is Addy. He came by looking for her."

Nat folded her arms across her chest. "Cassian, until you can figure out some way to get us out of this without running away or doing anything stupid, I'm staying here."

Cass sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Nat, you don't understand."

"I understand far more than you'd like me to," she retorted.

"That doesn't mean that we're being backed by the mob. And Jonathon is one of the nicest customers we have," Will replied, slightly astounded.

Jonathon walked down the stairs and headed over to the bar.

"Can I get you a drink?" Will asked.

Jonathon shook his head. "No thank you. I just wanted to give you this," he said, holding out an envelope. "You've earned it."

Will looked at him. "But...what...?"

"Just don't ask Will. There's enough going on already." Then Jonathon turned and left the speakeasy.

Nat managed a smile at Jonathon and then glared at Cass after Jonathon left. "Well?"

Cass stared at her and then looked at the door and then looked back at her. He heaved a sigh. He could never win against his sister. "Fine. I'll come up with something."

"It might be best to just go and talk to them." Nat offered.

"Do you think that's smart?"

She shrugged, "I can't think of anything else."

Will looked at the two of them. "All right, finish this some other time. Cass, go back upstairs. You're sick. Nat and I need to work," he said gently.

He was still clutching the envelope in his hand, though he hadn't looked inside.

Cass sighed and nodded, "I need a strong drink, but I doubt it'd help longterm."

Nat pushed him in the direction of the stairs. "Go on."

Cass went up the stairs and into his room, locking his door and collapsing on the bed.

Nat turned to Will, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry about all this and I'm sorry Cass is so...harsh. He's just...been through alot."

((I'm off to bed now. Night y'all!))

Will watched him leave then looked at Nat. "I understand. It's just a little upsetting that he would actually acuse us of working...with a gang."

He didn't even look at what was in the envelope Jonathon had given him; he merely shoved it in his pocket and returned to serving drinks to his customers.

Nat just nodded, knowing that anything she might say would probably just make it worse. She sighed and went back to serving people.

Will sighed. He really had no idea what to say to Nat, especially now. It was obvious that Cass's words had affected him; to be accused of something like that, of working with a gang...how could he think that? They got a lot of customers from all different walks of life, from someone who only had enough money for a near-beer to the rather wealthy ones who might have gotten their money from doing something completely illegal. It didn't matter who they were or why they were at the bar; they were all customers to Will. As long as they paid for their drinks he really didn't care about their pasts.

Some he had gotten to know over the years but that wasn't all of them.

Did Cass think that because they were such a popular juice joint that they had to have someone backing them? He hadn't been there in the beginning...when they had struggled to make ends meet. It had taken a while before they gained a good clientele...and even now, Will saw some days where they turned out to be really slow. It wasn't like they were completely rolling in cash.

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