REMOVAL OF ROSE RED

It was raining a lot outside, John thought while he laid in bed, hearing the drops rattle against the window like someone constantly tapping their fingers against it. He couldn't mistake the sound of steady footsteps though that was coming from downstairs, along with what seemed like fumbling through his fridge.

It couldn't have been anyone else. He was the only one who lives here and the door was always locked, never once giving his key to anyone. No one was in the house except for him. No one should be in the house except for him.

So, as steady as he could, he reached his hand under his pillow and pulled out a 45. Glock with a silencer screwed at the end of it. John threw off his covers and headed downstairs where the intruder was rummaging around in his home. Everything was dark, save for the glass moonlight that gleamed through the windows that remained intact, so the intruder must have picked the lock of either the back or front door. John hid in the hallway that connected the front door and back. He peeked around and saw that it was the front door that was slightly cracked open. The kitchen light was even on too, but it was the fact that the front door was opened that told him exactly who it was.

John groaned and dropped his sneaking act. He walked straight into the kitchen and didn't even bother to worry about the intruder anymore. "Mandy?" he called out and saw the leather jacket-clad back of his friend, a woman who he's close enough to consider his partner, actually. "It's the middle of the night," he complained but was not angry.

"Yeah. And?" she said, her words a bit muffled because her mouth was stuffed with a PB & J sandwich that she casually made for herself. Like she usually does. This wasn't the first time Mandy broke into his house in the middle of the night. She was so overly relaxed about it that she even uses the front door. It was how John always knew it was her and not an actual intruder or someone threatening. No robber ever uses the front door.

Mandy turned her head around and stared at him with her cheeks full of sandwich bread. She had dark golden brown hair that laid against her shoulders that curled up at the end, and brown eyes that flickered like ambers against the glow of the light. What was worrisome though was the clear bruises against her face with fresh dripping blood. She had a black eye, a scarred purple cheek, and blood running down her nose.

She looked like she went 12 rounds with a heavyweight...and won.

John eyed her wounds. "You were working?" He was about to lay his gun on the counter when he noticed hers was there too. A Smith & Wesson Revolver. This caught him off guard but he quickly snapped back to reality like a rubberband, now standing on high alert.

This was wrong. That gun was her backup. Something she would only use when backed up in a corner...in her own home.

"Mandy...is everything alright?" He saw her hands, her bloody knuckles began to shake. "Hey..." John tried to speak more calmly to her and reached his hand out to brush his fingers against her bruised cheek to get a better look. She was shaking and her eyes were red, like what they do when you've cried for a while. "What happened to you?"

Mandy's lips curled up into a smile while a laugh escaped. "Good question. Really, really good question." She brushed him away and walked over to the other side of the kitchen. "Because I'm...I'm still trying to process, you know... Gears ain't working well right now." She used one deep breath and spoke in a rapid voice as if she hasn't accepted whatever had happened. She was a little frantic and her eyes were darting all over the room except on him.

She looked like she was going to lose her mind there and then. Break down and curl up into a ball never to speak or laugh with that carefree voice that he was so used to seeing, and the more she paced around the room the louder her voice was getting.

"Because you know...shit happened and you have to accept what happens and move on. Water under the bridge. Like, like, like...I don't know! Anything!" she shouted to think of something that floats on water.

When she stopped pacing, her face morphed to this realization the crossed her eyes and made them go wide. She took a breath. A single breath and a genuine smile crept to her lips. Mandy closed her eyes and let out all her the bottled up feelings into the air when exhaling.

"I'm leaving, John." Her voice was entirely calm now. Cool and composed, fully accepting what has transpired this night.

That didn't need much explanation. Mandy didn't mean 'leave the house' she meant 'leave the Tarasov Russian Mafia'. John could see it too, whatever happened must have pushed her over the edge for good and finally decided to end it. She was done, for good and for all.

They may have only been partners on an outside perspective but this woman was his only close friend and have had his back through the worse case scenarios.

"You won't get far." John shook his head and placed his hand on her shoulder in a small attempt to stop her.

"Oh, is that so?" She mumbled under a scoffing tone. Mandy knocked his hand off her shoulder and grabbed her revolver to check the cylinder. "One bullet, huh? That's gonna be a bit hard." She shrugged and cocked it back into place. "Guess that will have to do."

John watched in silence as Mandy paced back and forth to think of a plan. "What happened?" He had to ask because this was way too sudden for him.

Mandy stopped with her pacing and looked at him. "Stuff." She spat out her words and continued on.

Should he even try? She never listened to him in the first place and it always turned out fine in the end, saved for a few scruffs. He wanted to say that she wasn't thinking straight but if that was so, he knew she was over it. He never seen her so shaken up before.

"Hey." He called to her.

"So I think I got about 3 hours in counting to leave..." Mandy paid no mind to him.

"Mandy."

"Can't really go home either to grab anything..."

"Hey, hey. Mandy." He pulled his arms out and wrapped them tightly around her. She was still shaking and was even fighting him a little but he was strong enough to hold her down. "How long have we worked together?"

Mandy ceased her struggle and melted into his warmth that made her reluctant to leave. "Can't say I remember." Her head fell against his chest.

John laughed a bit. "Same here. Long enough I guess." He ran his hand down her hair and kissed the top of her head.

Mandy's lips began to quiver and her eyes threatened to water. She coiled her arms around his neck and pulled him down to meet her height, just holding him there, nothing else, but for her, it meant a lot since this was the first time he hugged her...sadly to be the last though.

She pulled away and sniffled. "We'd be lucky if we never saw each other again...But I have always been pretty luckless." Mandy wiped her tears, tucking the revolver behind her belt.

John followed Mandy to the back door so she could get away unnoticed. "You said you had 3 hours? That's not much."

"I'm thinking about the bright side here." Mandy cocked a grin and grabbed the doorknob but stopped when John grabbed her arm to halt her.

"'Rose Red'... Never thought you would leave it all behind." said John.

"Leave it all behind?" She sputtered out her words and rolled her eyes. "Ain't nothing to 'leave behind'. All because you're good at a job doesn't mean you gain a lot from it. And don't call me by that name. I always hated that nickname. It's Mandy Rose, dammit. If you call me that again then the last thing I'll say to you is 'Baba Yaga'."

John rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked down at his hand that held the Glock. "Here." He handed it to her. "You need more than one bullet to get out of town. At least take 16 more rounds with you."

Mandy dropped the magazine to check the rounds and popped it back into place. She looked over her shoulder at him and winked. "I'll be seeing you, John Wick." She pulled opened the door fast and ran out into the doom and gloom rain, disappearing into the darkness before his eyes could adjust.

Author's Note:

And so we begin a new romance story following Mandy Rose and John Wick.

The John Wick trilogy needs more love and I guess that's what I'm here for. Let me know what you think and I hope you stick around for the ride because we got two more stories after this one.

Sorry if you see any typos. I try to go back and edit it but they always seem to pop up like bugs whenever I just casually read a chapter. Hey, at least their very minor mess ups. Nothing that bad, right?