Marianne no longer cared that Kyle sat next to her in the back seat of the car. It was very low on her list of thoughts and concerns at the moment. For one thing, her sister was still out there somewhere, possibly in trouble as it had been nearly half an hour since her last Instagram selfie at the gas station. Then there was the matter of Bog. Marianne could not deny her attraction and feelings towards him, but with all that had gone on that evening she'd been forced to push it to the back of her mind. Now it was bubbling up and starting to push its way forward.

She found herself staring at the side of his face as he rode shotgun. Their encounter at the gas station had been—well—tense. Not in a bad way, but she could definitely see and sense his desire for her. While she felt the same, she couldn't act on it yet. Not when Dawn was out there somewhere. And certainly not while she was still drunk and only half in control of her faculties. She felt bad for making him wait, but it couldn't be helped. It would happen eventually.

He turned to look at her and she looked away quickly, out the window at the various bars and clubs along the strip. Her heart was pounding quickly. They'd been so close earlier. The way he looked at her, spoke to her, touched her…

"Are you alright, Marianne?" she heard him ask.

Marianne nodded without looking at him. They could resolve their feelings when this was all said and done. Right now, they were quickly approaching Blue and had to focus on finding her. "I'm okay. Still worried and dizzy per usual."

"Man, that bouncer looks mean," said Sunny as he pulled in to an empty spot on the street. "I don't know how you're gonna get in there."

Marianne felt her heart sink into her stomach when she saw the line of people waiting outside Blue. It didn't look like any of them were getting in, so how the heck were they supposed to? Her eyes scanned the line frantically for Dawn, but her bubbly blonde sister was nowhere in sight.

"We've got to try," she muttered, getting out of the car and striding across the street to the club.

Bog ran up and caught her by the arm halfway there. "Marianne please, let's think this through," he said, a somewhat pleading look in his blue eyes. "I don't want you getting hurt."

She smiled and put a hand on his arm. "Bog, I appreciate your concern, but right now my sister could be in there and I have to get to her. I'll just go up to the bouncer and talk to him, explain what's going on and see if he'll let me in for like five minutes. Don't worry, I'm not gonna get hurt."

He bit his bottom lip, something Marianne found to be distractingly sexy in spite of the current situation at hand. "Just—just be careful, okay? Bouncers around here can be pretty tough."

"Good thing I'm a tough girl then." Giving him a reassuring smirk, she turned back to continue making her way across the street. Either she was still pretty drunk or just reckless, because she had no problem going straight up to the bulky, nearly seven foot tall bouncer.

The bouncer saw her approaching and held his hand up in a way that clearly meant stop. "We're not letting anyone in who's not on the list tonight," he boomed at her. "Sugar Plum is here, so it's restricted access."

"That's fine, I just need to go in for like five minutes," Marianne explained calmly.

He shook his head. "Nope. Get in line with the rest of them. You can go in when Plum leaves at ten."

"You don't understand," she went on, feeling her defensiveness slowly start to build "my sister is in there and I have to find her. Please, just let me go look and I swear I won't cause any trouble."

"No," the bouncer said firmly "you're not going in. Not until Plum leaves, now get in line."

Marianne clenched her fists at her sides. She looked to the side of the bouncer and saw there was an opening that she could maybe slip past him if she was quick enough. Fueled by anger and the need to find her sister, she went for it. However, the bouncer saw it coming and moved to block her. She ran full on into the wall of muscle and felt a searing pain in her shoulder and lip from where his arm blocked her.

"No means no, now get out of here!" growled the bouncer. He grabbed Marianne by the shirt and threw her back onto the pavement.

She hit the ground hard, and more pain shot through her body upon the impact. As she lay there groaning, she saw someone rush past her and slam the bouncer into the side of the building.

"Apologize to her, now!" they shouted.

Marianne focused her eyes on the action and saw that Bog somehow had the bouncer by the shirt and pinned to the wall. She was astounded that someone as thin as him could accomplish such a feat. He must have been either really angry, or stronger than he looked. Or both.

"Get off of me!" roared the bouncer, struggling with Bog to push him back.

While they fought, Bog turned to Marianne and yelled "Now's your chance! Go!"

She was too stunned and in pain to move at first, but when she realized what Bog was risking by taking on the bouncer for her, she scrambled to her feet. With one last worried look at the two men fighting, she darted past them and into the club.

It was much cleaner and roomier than any club she had ever been to. There was a stage with live music playing, a very large bar, and tables and chairs littering the room. To her right was another level that looked out onto the first, so Marianne headed quickly for the stairs. From a high vantage point, she would have a better shot at finding Dawn. She scooted around very well-dressed patrons, who gave her odd looks as she passed. She didn't even have to wonder why. At this point, she probably looked like a twelve year old boy who had just gotten into a scuffle with some neighbors.

On the top level, she scanned the room, looking for any sign of Dawn. There were plenty of people to sift through. Plenty of blondes too, but none of them were wearing pink. Marianne clenched the railing tightly. "Dawn, where are you?" she said quietly to herself.

Just as she was about to go back downstairs to continue the search, something bulky caught her around the stomach and she was being hefted upwards. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realize that another bouncer had found her and thrown her over his shoulder.

"Come on," he grumbled to her as she began to kick and squirm in his grasp. "You're not supposed to be in here."

Marianne continued to squirm and hit his back, trying hard to escape from him but getting nowhere. "You don't understand," she grunted as she worked "I have to find my sister!"

"Your sister isn't here, now get out," he replied as they approached the door. When they got there, he pried her off his shoulder and deposited her onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

She wanted to get up again and fight her way back in, but a sudden wave of despair overcame her. Dawn wasn't in there. She might never have been in there in the first place. This whole thing was a wild goose chase that was getting them nowhere and she was beginning to feel hopeless and defeated by their recurring failures.

"I just want my sister back," she said softly as the corners of her eyes began to fill with tears of frustration and worry.

She felt a hand on her back, and looked up to see that Bog was sitting on the ground next to her. Through her tears, she could see he was sporting a bruised cheek and a cut on his lip. He must have gotten decked in the face by the bouncer during the fight and thrown to the ground just like her.

He managed a smile that was more of a wince and said "Well, it was worth a shot."

Marianne sat up quickly and hastily brushed her tears away with the back of her hand. "Your face!" she cried, taking his head into her hands and moving it from side to side so she could see his injuries. He inhaled sharply and she released him. "Oops, sorry. Are you okay?"

"I've had worse," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, you should see yourself. Your lip is bleeding, you know."

She brought a finger to the spot on her lip where it was hurting. Sure enough, there was blood on it when she pulled it away. "It's nothing," she said quickly. "Why did you go after him like that though? There was no need for you to get hurt too."

"Because he hurt you," Bog replied simply. "I couldn't stand seeing you get hurt, so I had to do something. Plus, it distracted him long enough for you to get into the club, right?"

Marianne felt more tears coming on, but this time because she was touched at his words. He cared about her enough to defend her, even though he hadn't known her for very long. It was way more than anything Roland had ever done for her during their entire five year relationship.

She sniffled and leaned forward to rest her head onto his shoulder. "Thank you," she choked. Anything more than those two words and she was sure she would start full-on sobbing.

He put an arm around her and rested his own head against hers. "Anytime," he murmured gently into her hair.

"Uh, not to ruin the moment here guys, but we've got a problem," Sunny whispered urgently to them and pointing towards the club.

The two looked to where he was pointing and saw both bouncers glaring at them. "I'm calling the cops on you two," said the first one, who was sporting a nice sized bruise on his own face from where Bog had hit him.

"Sneaking into the club is one thing," said the other "but assaulting a worker is not okay."

"I've seen enough," another voice chimed in loudly.

Marianne looked around the bouncers and saw a short, curvy woman walking out of the club. She had waist-length silver hair, grey eyes, silver eye shadow, baby blue lipstick, and was dressed in a sparkly blue dress with a slit in the side. There were five inch high stilettos on her feet and she walked in them like they were nothing. Her facial features were very pretty and she looked like she was quite intelligent with her keen, steady gaze. She looked from Bog to Marianne and her light blue lips pulled upwards into a smile.

"Sugar Plum," someone in the crowd gasped, and the entire line fell silent.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yes yes, it's me, voila," she said quickly, waving them off with her hand as if she was sick of the recognition. "Let's get back to what's at hand here, shall we?"

"M'am, these two fought Brutus here and then the girl broke into the club," explained the bouncer who had carried Marianne out.

She put a hand over his mouth in exasperation, displaying a set of long, silver fingernails. "Yes, I know what happened, Octavian," she sighed. "I saw her barge in, I'm not blind."

"Then shouldn't we be calling the police on them?" Brutus asked slowly.

Sugar Plum laughed a hearty laugh and shook her head. Her silver hair shimmered like an ocean wave when she moved her head. She swept it over her shoulder and approached the two sitting on the ground. "Oh no," she said cheerfully, clapping her hands together in delight. "These two are definitely on my list."