A/N: This story's sort of my explanation for the kid at the end of Dallas Issue five. The updates are going to be kind of infrequent; I've lost just about all forms of internet access soon. Sorry 'bout that.

July 18, 1961

Xuan ran her pen over the account books one more time, checking to make sure that there were no mistakes. She paused slightly and took a deep drag from her cigarette. She let the ashes fall into a conveniently located plate before continuing. Her grandmother saw her doing this and shook her head.

"You shouldn't be doing those," she said, "It's too early in the morning. You should've been in bed hours ago."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Seung said told me to have these finished by eight," she replied, "I'll be done soon. You can go back to bed."

Her grandmother sat down next to her.

"You shouldn't have to do everything he tells you to," she said.

Putting her pen down she looked her grandmother in the eyes.

"Hoa," Xuan said tiredly as she took inhaled her cigarette, "You know we do."

"Xuan," Hoa replied softly.

"We both know there's nowhere else to go," Xuan sighed, "And knowing Seung he'll throw us out of here if we don't do what he wants. Right now, as odd as it may seem, I'd rather be here then out there."

Reluctantly Hoa nodded. Over the past few months their lives had gone through upheaval after upheaval. First Xuan's father had died. Soon afterwards they had lost their home in the country and what little they had there. So they'd had to go live with relatives. The closest one was Seung, Xuan's older cousin who lived in Saigon. Things had only gotten worse once they'd arrived.

The change was dramatic. Not only were they in the city instead of the country, but Seung was used to a very different order then they were. She had grown up in a non-traditional household. Her father had been American, though you wouldn't know by looking at Xuan. The whole place had had a very informal atmosphere. She'd been allowed to call her grandmother by her first name for example.

Seung had obviously grown up differently and disliked it when she addressed him by his first name. Truth told he disliked just about everything she did. This had led to her being hit for the first time in her life. Bile rose in her throat when she thought about it. She still had a few of the bruises under her sleeves. Luckily Hoa's were healing.

Sometimes she wished that he could just give them money and tell them to go away. That would've been fine for her. However, it appeared that he enjoyed having two slaves around.

"We do need to get out of here soon," Hoa sighed, "You deserve better. I only wish that I had the money…"

A low chuckle started in Xuan's throat. Hoa stared at her.

"Why do you think I'm okay with doing the account books?" Xuan smiled.

Frowning Hoa looked over Xuan's shoulder. Her lips moved slightly as she read the figures. Pulling back she smiled.

"You have to be quite good with numbers to get it this bad," she said, "But I never thought that you would resort to crime."

"Scamming money off of Seung isn't a crime," Xuan said as she got up to stretch, "His stock isn't exactly what we'd call legit, now is it?"

Hoa looked at her sharply before jerking her head in the direction of the door.

"Let the bastard hear if he wants," she said vaguely, "He's a damned smuggler, him and his brother. If he won't give us the money to help us get out of here then I'll get it myself."

Looking intently at the accounting books Hoa asked;

"How long have you been doing this?"

"A couple of weeks," sighed Xuan as she took another drag, "We won't be able to get away with doing this all the time though, and not with large amounts. If only Seung's business was doing a bit better…."

"We can wait," Hoa said, "He may own several junkyards but that's all they're full of. Junk. Now if he would-"

Whatever Hoa was going to say was cut off by a loud racket outside the building. Xuan looked at Hoa questioningly. All Hoa could do was shrug. The noise increased and Xuan put out her cigarette before moving curiously towards the door.

"You shouldn't do that," cautioned Hoa.

"I just want to look," she said as she opened it.

Sighing in frustration Hoa walk up behind her granddaughter. The two of them peered down the landing to see Seung arguing with an obviously American customer. Cautiously she leaned over the rail further to try to catch more of the conversation.

"-only said I wanted four sheets," the man said irritably, "I didn't say I wanted the world or anything."

"Well you no can have it!" Seung insisted in broken English.

Seung had never even tried to learn the language, or make use of anyone who could. This frustrated her, seeing as how it was the only foreign language she could actually speak. She did do it pretty well too if she did say so herself.

"I'm offering to pay you in cash you know," the man said, "Understand?"

Both Hoa and Xuan winced. Normally that offer wouldn't manage to make Seung madder. It might've even soothed his temper. Each word, however, was drawn out very slowly as if the man was talking to a child. He disliked anyone insinuating anything about his intelligence, even if it was true.

If this customer had been talking to him for any length of time then he should've noticed that. Perhaps he just had a penchant for pissing people off. Xuan suppressed a giggle as Seung turned a deep shade of puce. When he started shouting again she frowned.

"He's loosing a perfectly good deal," she said as she pulled her long black braid, a nervous habit of hers, "It's painful to watch."

"He's been refusing to sell to ," Hoa said.

"That's stupid," Xuan frowned, "No wonder his business isn't so good."

"He thinks it's a moral issue."

"Moral issue my ass. He's just being a moron like usual."

The shouts from downstairs became louder and several incredibly creative insults were spouted from the pale man. After mentally filing a few of these away for future reference she grinned interestingly at the unfolding scene. She was almost disappointed when it ended without a fight. Peering over the rail Xuan saw that the man had turned his back on Seung and was now walking out.

Something clicked in her mind. This man needed scrap metal, and she needed money. It was really quite obvious what needed to be done. A new grin came to her face. She went back into the house to go out the back staircase.

"What are you doing?" Hoa said, slightly panicked.

"Getting us out of here," she said, "When opportunity knocks you open the door."

"What opportunity?"

"What Seung doesn't know can't hurt him," Xuan replied.

Before Hoa could say another word Xuan was hurrying down the steps. Xuan took them two at a time and hit the street running when she got down. She needed to find the man before he left the neighborhood. That wouldn't be a particularly easy feat in the darkness. By the time the sun rose though, he would most likely have gone.

All this and more went through her head as she raced through the street. She could see him now. Trying to look like she hadn't just run all the way there she took a few gulps of air before tapping him on the shoulder.

"I think you didn't finish a business transaction," she said in English.

He turned around and glared at her. This was the first time she had actually seen him this close. He had this creepy white skin and very dark circles under his eyes. For a brief moment she wondered if he was some sort of ghost. There was certainly something that struck her about him as…odd. Swallowing she scolded herself for stupid thoughts.

"Oh rea-lly?" he said, "Seemed about as final as a lollipop if you ask me."

She frowned. Had she heard him right?

"What's final about a lollipop?" she asked.

"As if you didn't know," he snorted.

The thought that the man was completely insane crossed her mind. None the less she shook it off before saying;

"You see, you only think that because you did business with the wrong person. My cousin can be kind of a-"

"Jackass?" finished the man.

"I was going to say moron," she said, "But jackass works fine too. See, you seem to be in need of metal, and Seung owns half the scrap yards around here. Those are the only ones with decent prices. Otherwise you're paying an arm and a leg. To cut a long story short you're not going to get any unless you do some under the table stuff."

Instead of looking secretive and suspicious like she'd expected him too he suddenly looked rather pleased.

"Good," he said, "'cause I really hate all this legitimate business deal shit."

Xuan felt taken back. Was this man some sort of criminal? The thought of running back to her grandmother was becoming appealing. Then the thought of getting away from her bastard of a cousin shoved the others out.

"Well then," she said, trying to force some confidence into her voice, "Just give me your address, I deliver it, and you give me the money when I get there. Simple."

"Not that simple," he said as he started waving his unbroken arm around in wild gestures, "I don't want anyone knowing that I'm getting this. So can we go all Da Vinci Code with this and make it just a touch more secret then that?"

"Da Vinci Code?" she frowned.

"Oops," he said, "I mean keep it quiet."

Once more Xuan shrugged off some of the warning signals her brain was sending.

"Obviously we want to keep it quiet," she said, "But you don't want anyone at all to know you're getting it?"

"It might raise…questions," he said, "And not what two plus two equals kind of questions either."

About scrap metal?

"So what do you suggest?" she inquired, placing her hands on her hips, "Because if you want a ton of secrecy about this then that's going to cost extra dong you know."

At his irritated look she added;

"It'll still be less then what the other scrap yards will be charging foreigners. No offense, but it'll be kind of hard to hide that, you being paler then paper and all. I mean, you're practically glowing right now."

She saw him grin.

"I have been known to light city blocks," he said, "But talking about this here might not be smart. I'll just give you my address so we can work out the details there."

"Fine by me," she said, again trying to sound like she did this all the time.

The man cocked his head at her. She had the oddest feeling that she was being sized up. Then he took out a pen and a pad of paper, scribbling something.

"You do read English, right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Here you go," he said as he handed it to her.

He then held up the palm of his hand. For a minute Xuan thought that he was waving even though she couldn't fathom why. Then she squinted her eyes and saw that the word 'Goodbye' was tattooed on his palm. He closed his hand before turning around and walking away. Xuan stared, trying to figure out just what the hell was up with him. Giving up after a few minutes she looked down at the rather messily scrawled note;

Spooky's, western avenue, 97 street. Back door. Tomorrow at 2300. Ask for Klaus Hargreeves.