Thank you to everyone who read/favorited/followed this story. I really appreciate the support. You guys make me feel validated.

And a big thank you to Carolina Nadia, Guest, dustdancingintheflickerlight, Lady Shagging Godiva, mafm, PurchasedByFools, Mindlesswill, Noxen, Alternate Mind, TheGoodTheBadTheGoodAgain, and I'll Send Postcards for reviewing.

It's been forever! Gah! Sorry, but I've gotten distracted by work and other stories, but I just saw the last ever episode of Misfits and I knew I had to write something! So here you go. I hope that it's okay—it's been so long since I wrote for this I'm a bit worried it'll come out 'off'. Oh well!

Disclaimer: I don't own Misfits, but wouldn't it be cool if I did. Any familiar dialogue/elements are taken from the show.

Chapter 50 – Broken Plans

The power of persuasion. Izzy had heard about it a fuckload of times over her short stint on the planet earth. Mostly she heard about it from those bloody school counselors and social workers telling her exactly how to make herself more 'accommodating' to all those other people—the teachers and foster parents. Mostly she thought it was bullshit. Mostly she thought it was something she didn't want to be a part of. To her the proverbial 'power of persuasion' was pretty much limited to sleazy bankers trying to close shady deals and slutty girls scamming free drinks an nightclubs. Izzy never had that sort of capability—she was way to blunt and obnoxious to have that fabled power.

It was a bit ironic then that that was the exact power she ended up with.

Getting though the Office of Social Services was absurdly easy. Impossibly easy. Though she supposed that was the whole point. All she had to do was look someone in the eyes, ask them to do something, and they would do it. Simple as that. Turns out the 'power of persuasion' didn't even require any actual persuading. She just woke up early, strode into that impossibly bland looking office building, flash a smile, and that was that.

If Izzy was being honest, this new power made her feel dirty. Nobody should have that kind of power. If she went into a bank and asked for all the money in the vault, they would give it to her. If she asked for a nap in Buckingham Palace, they would lead her to an empty room and provide turn-down service. If she asked someone to jump off a building, they would do it. The whole thing made her feel morally, emotionally, and even physically sick. But that was the thing about 'whatever it takes'. You don't let something as inconsequential as your conscience get in the way of it. And getting Allan back definitely fell under the purview of 'whatever it takes'.

Well there was one thing that made it all easier. Henry Cartwright—the bloke that had final say over all the cases—was a total dick. Before she left the office she 'asked' him to pour a cup of hot coffee in his lap. She only felt a little bit bad about that. Oh, who was she kidding? She didn't feel bad at all.

"Make that bloke take off his trousers and dance around the bar."

"No."

"Make that other bloke impersonate an orangutan."

"No."

"Make that bird take her top off."

"No."

"Make that bird take her top off."

"No."

"Aw, come on," Nathan whined loudly as they came up to the door of the pub. He pushed it open a bit more violently than necessary before striding through, a pouting frown pulling at the corner of his lips and falling into a moody silence. He had been pestering her ever since he had miraculously appeared outside of the social services building wearing that same old Santa suit, and she had properly explained how her new power worked. With each 'no' his frown grew a little bit more pronounced. Izzy hid a smile behind her hand and repressed a loud snort as they continued down the street. The quiet would end in three…two….

"Alright," Nathan spluttered finally, grabbing hold of her shoulder and forcing her to halt. "Alright, so what you're tellin' me is that you can make people do whatever you want 'em do, and nobody's gettin' naked?!"

Izzy finally released that snort that was forcing its way out of her nose and nodded curtly. "It would seem that way, yes."

"Well, why not?" Nathan spluttered in disbelief. "It's like Barry says! We've got a—a what's it called? An obligation to use our powers for shit. Now that you're the last one who's got one, you've gotta use it."

"According to Simon we've got to use our powers for the greater good or whatever," Izzy replied, raising her eyebrows at him pointedly. "Somehow I don't think that involves you watching a live action version of all your favorite pornos."

Nathan let out a loud, theatrical scoff and leaned his arm against the surface of the bar, twisting around to look her fully in the face. "And how would you know that? I'll have you know that birds takin' their tops off is always in service of this so called 'greater good' that you an' Barry are always talkin' about. It brightens up the day, it boosts morale, it—"

"You make a compelling point," Izzy chirped. "But the answer is still no. And you know you're surprisingly uncreative with what you'd get people to do. No sneaking into concerts, no scamming money—you just want everybody to get naked."

He flashed her a cheeky smile and draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her in close to him. "None of the uglies or fatties, but other than that what can I say, love?" he murmured, pressing a kiss into her temple. "I've got a good handle on my priorities."

"That was beautiful," she snorted. "You should go knit that on a pillow."

"You could get someone else to knit it on a pillow. Just use some of that Darren Brown mojo you've got goin' for you."

Izzy rolled her eyes heavily, and grabbed hold of his chin, yanking it around and planting a quick kiss on his lips before releasing it again. "Come on," she murmured, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her to where the rest of their little group, except Kelly, was gathered at the end of the bar.

"Well how about Alisha, then?" he barreled on, gesturing at the girl behind the counter. "How about we get her to show her tits? That way we'd be keepin' it in the family as they say."

Izzy stopped short and pursed her lips, staring up at the ceiling in consideration. "Okay."

Nathan came to a halt as well, almost tripping over his feet. His head snapped around suddenly and he gaped at her in disbelief. "Really?"

"No."

A loud groan erupted from a mouth, like a child who had been denied their favorite toy. "Tease."

"Pervert."

Nathan sulked for another half a second before looking back at her with wide eyes, as if he had just realized something. "Do ya think your new power works on animals? You could get a whole circus-type thing started. I tell ya, I went to this one thing with my mum when I was a kid—this tiger pranced around on its back legs like it was a fuckin' ballerina."

"Huh," Izzy murmured to herself, her eyebrows pulling together in and expression of concentration. "I don't know, but we're definitely finding out. I guess we'll borrow the terrier from that old bint next door who keeps stealing our papers and see what happens."

Nathan pumped his fist in the air to signify victory and Izzy hid another smirk behind her hand, turning back to the rest at the end of the bar. For the most part it looked like a celebration. Curtis had stopped even pretending to give two fucks about his job and had cleared out the bar entirely. When it wasn't filled with puking idiots, leering guys, and girls making 'fuck me' eyes, it almost didn't look like a total shithole. It was one big private party. And they did have a lot of things to celebrate. Alisha had gotten rid of her bullshit power. They had all made a fuckload of money—20,000 pounds a piece, not that she would tell Nathan that. Curtis and Nikki were fucking off and going travelling in some obscure country with cities whose names she couldn't pronounce. And in two weeks, Allan would be back with her filling up that empty room in her and Nathan's flat. If you took a step back and looked at the whole scenario, things were good.

But there was one thing that seemed to put a damper on the whole event. Simon's face. Outwardly he seemed pretty calm, but she knew him well enough to detect the discomfort behind his eyes. Out of all of them, including her, he had been the one the most convinced that they got their powers for a reason—to accomplish something with them. The fact that he let his go seemed absolutely ridiculous to her. Or maybe she was projecting her own insecurities on him. Without her power, she felt naked, like an exposed nerve.

As she and Nathan approached, bickering as they usually did, everyone else's heads popped up like a bloody family of meercats, twisting around to face them, a an oppressive silence fell over them. All of their eyes seemed to grow in size, like they turned into one of those anime characters whose eyes take up like half of their face, and they were shining with sympathy. Nathan and Izzy came to an abrupt stop and shot each other a questioning glance before returning those uncomfortable stares. "What?" Izzy demanded, folding her arms across her chest. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Looking at you like what?" Simon muttered evasively, still staring at her with those gigantic puppy dog eyes.

Izzy's frown deepened and she narrowed her eyes at them. "Like you're going to hug me. I haven't got cancer or something have I? And I warn you if you do try and hug me, I will physically injure you in some way."

Alisha was the first to respond. She put down her beer and pushed back her chair, the legs scraping impossibly loudly against the floor, and getting to her feet. "Did it work?" she asked in an entreating tone, again still wearing Disney princess cryface. "Did it work? Did you get him back?"

"Wha—how did you know about that?" Izzy demanded, scanning all their faces. "I wanted to keep that to myself in case nothing came from it."

Immediately all of the eyes shifted from her face to the one standing right next to her. Izzy planted her hands on her hips and looked over at Nathan, her eyebrows raised expectantly. "Ah, yes," Nathan said, bobbing his head with a guilty expression. "I may or may not have rung Barry and spilled my guts about the whole—" he lifted his hands to make air quotes "—the whole 'master plan' with this new power bullshit. Allegedly."

"How the hell could you have called them?" she demanded. "You don't even have a fucking mobile." A mischievous grin formed on his face and he reached into that impossibly huge pocket of his and pulled out the phone. Izzy rolled her eyes heavily and snatched it from him before turning back to the others. "Yeah," she said with a nod. "Yeah, I got him back."

A look of excited relief washed across of Simon's and Alisha's faces. Hell, even Curtis and Nikki managed to look excited for her. Not that they wouldn't be, but honestly the three of them really weren't all that close. Izzy offered up a small smile, but before she could even get that much out, something collided with her, knocking all of the air out of her lungs and causing her to stumble back a few steps. She was being hugged. By Alisha. She didn't hug people, and as far as she could tell neither did Alisha. Not recently anyway. This was weird. This was very, very weird.

"Um, Alisha," she whispered. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm congratulatin' you," she snapped. "Now hug me back or I'll kick that tiny arse of yours."

Izzy sighed heavily and wrapped her arms around the other girl, squeezing her slightly. Then as soon as Alisha released her, Simon stepped in her place. It turned into a freaking assembly line of hugs, one after another after another. When it was Curtis's turn she leaned across the bar and they ended up with one of those awkward ones where you just slap each other on the back a bit before rapidly letting go. And then with Nikki it wasn't so much a hug as a pat on the shoulder—something which Izzy was grateful for. Things were getting a little too chummy around there. Plus she was about 80% sure that Nikki was not a fan of hers. Maybe it was because she had seen Curtis's arse that time.

"That's right, mates!" Nathan exclaimed as the uncomfortable parade of hugging went on. "In two weeks wee little Allan will be joinin' us an' Ginger an' I will officially be responsible adults. No more drinkin' an' shenanigans an' passin' out in the streets. We are now grown-ups!"

He was met by a wall of blank stares. "Are you serious?" Simon asked, eyeing him skeptically.

"No," Nathan scoffed loudly. "Ginger'll take care of all the grown-up shit. I'll stick to the fun stuff. I'll be like the cool uncle. We'll kick the ball around, do all the bondin' stuff while she makes him do his homework."

"Yeah, well be sure to take off the suit before you start kickin' around that ball," Curtis sneered, gesturing up and down at the Santa costume. "Otherwise the cops'll pick you up for bein' a pedophile."

Nathan slammed his hand down hard against the surface of the bar before climbing in one of the stools. "I'll drink to that!"

"You'll drink to anything," Izzy snorted, occupying the seat next to him and unbuttoning the top few buttons on the impossibly high-necked blouse she had worn to the offices.

"Well, that is true," he admitted, "but this day calls for a celebration. Allan's back, Barry is even less of a virgin, yous lot—" he gestured at Curtis and Nikki "—you'll be doin' whatever the hell you're gonna be doin'. Today is a good day to get fuckin' hammered. If one or more of us doesn't puke in the toilets, we're not doin' it right."

And so they drank. A lot. Curtis grabbed six shot glasses, a bottle of tequila—the expensive stuff they hid in the back—and a crapload of limes. After about twenty minutes, Izzy lost track of how many shots she had had. All she knew was that she was beginning to get that lovely warm buzz, Nathan was getting even more talkative if that was even possible, and her teeth were beginning to ache from the number of limes she had bit into. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to have another. "Uno mas!" she shouted, slamming her hand down on the counter. Curtis rolled his eyes heavily but poured another round. Almost in unison the lot of them licked their hand, salted it, and grabbed a lime.

"Chin! Chin!" Nathan proclaimed loudly. "Here's to life!" One. Two. Three. Lick. Pour. Bite. As soon as Nathan chucked his lime wedge back on the counter and let out a satisfied sigh before facing down Curtis. "So now that you're goin' travellin' you're all cool about handin' out free drinks."

"Well it makes sense, doesn't it?" Izzy piled on, smiling as that familiar scowl formed on Curtis's face. "You don't care about getting fired when you're about to quit. Though I've got to say, I wouldn't expect a good reference. When a Thai hooker steals all your money, Curtis, you should probably start looking for a job somewhere else."

"I'm so lookin' forward to not havin' to listen to your shit," he grumbled, pointing at the two of them with his middle finger.

"Awwwwww," Izzy drawled out, elbowing Nathan in the side. "He's going to miss us."

Curtis opened his mouth to make what was probably yet another angry and unimaginative retort, but before he got the chance, they all heard the door squeaking on its hinges and turned to face in that direction. And what they saw left them all speechless. Even Nathan, which was saying a lot. Blown out hair with fancy highlights, fur coat, tight little black dress, designer handbag, sunglasses, and heels—it looked like one of those posh people from those reality programs suddenly decided they had a strong desire to get mugged and took a stroll down the Estate. Only whoever decided to do the mugging was a complete fucking idiot, because even in those fancy clothes, Kelly could still kick their arse. The girl shut the door behind her and turned around to face them directly. Suddenly the perfect portrait of Kelly was marred by a harsh scowl.

"Wot?" she demanded, wrinkling her nose at them.

"You look amazing," Alisha said, probably sounding a little bit more shocked than she should have.

Kelly scanned the bar, looking at the lot of them like they had suddenly all grown second heads, or as if really loud carnival music had started playing. "Do ya fink so?"

There was a loud chorus of nods and 'yeses' none of which were in the slightest bit sarcastic. Nathan even threw in a 'well classy' before taking another thoroughly unclassy swig of his beer.

"Seriously, Kelly, you look absolutely bonkers fantastic," Izzy assured her, looking the other girl up and down. "I half expected there to be a tiny dog in your purse and a paparazzi outside the window with a cracked camera lens and broken nose."

A very smug smile appeared on Kelly's face and she leaned forwards on the bar, probably getting something deceptively sticky on the sleeves of that fur coat. "The woman in da shop fought I woz shopliftin'. Got me wiv da cash out, mate. I fought she woz gonna be propa sick. Ya should've see 'er."

"Did her face go so green it didn't match her outfit?" Izzy murmured through a smile, taking a long swig of the beer that had been placed in front of her.

"Yeah," Kelly smirked widely. "It clashed somefin' 'orrible. Ya should've seen 'er."

The lot of them grinned at each other for a moment before Nikki shot Curtis a sly smile. "Set me up," she said, placing her shot glass down in front of him before heading off in the direction of the loo. Seizing the opportunity, Izzy plopped her shot glass down in front of him as well. "Me too!" she said, flashing him a wide grin. Curtis let out a small snort and rolled his eyes, but still reached for that fancy bottle of tequila, filling both of the glasses to the brim. Izzy blew him a theatrical kiss, making him roll his eyes yet again, but today it didn't seem as exasperated or frustrated as it usually did. Apparently fleeing the country suited the bloke.

"So where are you going first?" Simon asked, nodding his head in Curtis's direction. Wrinkling his nose slightly, Curtis glanced in Izzy's direction before answering. "Thailand," he admitted, making her chuckle under her breath. "We fly out to Bangkok. We're gonna hit the beaches."

"You think you might have a go on one of those, uh, Thai lady-boys?" Nathan asked, leering slightly.

"Of course he will," Izzy said with a snort. "He is going to Bang-cock after all."

"Hey, nice one!" Nathan grinned, lifting a hand for a high-five, which he promptly received.

Curtis sneered slightly, glancing between the two of them. "Yeah," he drawled out, nodding his head sarcastically and looking between the two of them. "I see that happening."

"Hey!" Nathan protested, looking at him seriously. "You may not know until it's too late. I didn't have a clue, man."

All of the sudden all heads snapped in his direction and Izzy choked on the mouthful of beer that she was in the process of swallowing, spraying it all over the bar and making Curtis jump back out of the line of fire. "Excuse me?" she coughed out, ignoring the death-glare Curtis was shooting in her direction. "Do you care to elaborate?"

"Have you been to Thailand?" Simon inquired, turning to Nathan with a severely off-put expression covering his face. Nathan just gave off a casual snort and leaned an arm on the bar, surveying them all, beer in hand and shame totally absent. Though that was typically the case with him. "No. I met this little fella at a party on the Estate."

Alisha's face contorted into an expression Izzy hadn't thought possible for someone as pretty as her. "What?" she demanded, disgust written all over her face. "And you went wiv him?"

Nathan jerked his head to the side noncommittally and stared off into the distance. "Wellllllllll….let's just say I didn't not go with him."

Izzy let out a derisive snort and shook her head before raising her shot glass in a toast. "Here's to the double negative." She brought her lips to the bottle and downed it before grabbing the shot that that had just been poured for her, downing that as well enjoying the burning warmth as the liquor ran down her throat. She had better get really fucking drunk really fucking soon. Slamming the glass down on the surface of the bar. "Ladies and gentlemen!" she announced, smacking him hard in the chest. "This is the man-boy with whom I have decided to share my life."

"Yeah, well I warned you about that ages ago," Alisha muttered, that wince still etched into the lines of her face.

"Hey, I was very drunk!" Nathan spluttered in protest. "And he had his cock and balls taped into his arsecrack so from where I was kneelin' it looked like a bald little pussy!" And then, because theatrics were never to be sacrificed he lifted his hands and formed a triangle with his thumbs and index fingers, peeking at them through it.

Izzy winced heavily and shook her head. "Great. Now I'm Eskimo sisters with somebody's gran and a small Thai boy. That's just fan-fucking-tastic." She shifted in her seat and looked across the bar at Curtis with her eyebrows raised. She opened her mouth to ask for yet another drink but before she could he shook his head at her, cutting her off.

"Way ahead of you," he said, grabbing the bottle of tequila and pouring her another shot. Taking the glass in her hand, she raised it in his direction and shot him a wink. "Good man," she said with a smile.

Curtis just rolled his eyes and tossed that cleaning rag over his shoulder before returning to his raiding of the liquor. When he stood up and turned back to face across the bar, his gaze focused on something over her shoulder. Frowning slightly, Izzy twisted around and followed his gaze. What she ended up looking at was a squirly, unshaven bloke in a dingy coat who either looked like he was detoxing from something or like he really needed to pee. "Can I get you somefin'?" Curtis asked in a tone that probably wasn't going to win him employee of the month.

The bloke stared at them with wide, slightly deranged eyes before he pulled his hand out of his jacket, pointing his gun at them. Instinctively, they all let out a gasp and jerked backwards in their seats. "Empty the till and the safe!" he shouted, waving the gun around.

The initial shock the gun inspired in Izzy immediately abated slightly. It was like a single violent twitch followed by a relative calm. She had stopped being wholly terrified by things like guns and knives a long, long time ago. The number of times she had been shot at and attacked—hell it had almost become routine. She could stare down the barrel of a gun and not give a shit if it shot water, tequila, or bullets. It wasn't like it would hit her either way. And then she realized. She had traded in her power.

It was like a hand had shot forwards and grabbed her throat, and was beginning to slowly squeeze the life out of her. It was the first time in five months that she could actually, properly die. She had had plenty of things to be terrified about, but being shot hadn't been one of them—her time with the video game guy had been enough to show her that. And it wasn't just her she had to worry about. She wasn't the only one who hadn't sacrificed their safety. Her hand clutching at the surface of the bar like she was holding onto reality itself, she glanced over at Nathan, but he still had that same invincible smirk written into his face.

"Yeah, good one, mate," Nathan scoffed, nodding at the guy.

Immediately the bloke swung his arm and fired. Izzy was vaguely aware of a loud bang and the shattering of liquor bottles as he fired, immediately followed by her own confused cries which sunk into everybody else's. She stumbled backwards off her stool sending clattering to the ground, her eyes not leaving the cold piece of metal in the guy's hand. An arm circled around her waist, yanking her back even further. The feeling of a thick coat and a familiar heartbeat pounding she knew it was Nathan. Still taking heaving, fear-filled breaths, she reached up and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Wot the fock are ya doin'?!" Kelly shrieked, holding her hands in the air.

"Just—just give us the money!" the guy shouted, still waving his gun around frantically. "Do it!"

"All right!" Curtis shouted, spinning around and grappling with the drawer of the rusted till. The things was rusted over and jammed, leaving him yanking at the metal until it popped open. He filled his fists with money and held it out to the guy, stretching his arms as far out as he could to keep his distance. The guy took several steps forward and grabbed the money, immediately backing away as he filled his pockets.

"And the safe!" he reminded, waving his gun in the direction of the back room.

"They don't trust me with the keys to the safe!" Curtis replied, his voice still steeped in panic.

"That's because you're always givin' people free drinks!" Nathans voice echoed next to ear.

Izzy's eyes darted back and forth across the bar looking for something—anything—that could help her. The stray beer bottles, an overturned chair—it took a few moments for her to realize that none of those things would be helpful in the face of a gun. But she did notice Simon slowly creeping towards him. She gritted her teeth and screamed internally for him to stop fucking moving. It was like he still thought he could still turn invisible. Fuck. He was trying to play superhero, only this time the stakes were higher than a few bruises. He had gotten within two meters of the guy when the gun swung around and was directed directly between his eyes.

"Back off!" he shouted, jabbing the gun in Simon's face. "Move!"

Shit. The whole situation was falling apart at the seams. And as Izzy looked at the guy in front of her, she got the nagging feeling that, even though he had the gun, he was just as scared as they were. And though some might find that idea comforting, it just freaked her out even more. When people got scared, they got jumpy and when they got jumpy they made mistakes. And you do not want somebody with a gun making a mistake.

Then something occurred to Izzy. She might not be able to deflect bullets anymore, but she still had a power. A little eye contact and a few words—that's all that was needed. She pressed her lips together in a small 'o' and pushed the air out of her lungs, trying to still her nerves and keep it together. Her eyes locked onto those of the bloke, already sketching out her words in her head, but his eyes continued to dart around, not holding anything long enough for her to get a full sentence out.

"Give us your money!" he screeched. "Give us your cash!"

Izzy immediately darted to her purse where it had fallen on the floor and grabbed her wallet. He grabbed Simon's and Alisha's wallets out of their hands, followed by Kelly. Izzy took several careful steps forward, holding her hand out. "You don't have to do this, you know?" she murmured in a low voice, willing him to look at her. "Just take the money and leave."

His eyes flickered to hers for half a second, but it wasn't long enough. He snatched her wallet and stepped away from her. Fuck. She didn't things get any fucking worse until the gun pointed at Nathan. "Where's yours?" the guy demanded.

"I—I haven't got any!" Nathan stammered, opening his coat as an offer of proof. "I never have any! Ask anyone!"

"It's true," Izzy added, still trying to get him to look at her. "He needs to ask me when he wants a packet of crisps or some gum. I gave you everything we have."

"Hand it over!"

"Just give him the money!" Alisha pleaded.

"No!" Nathan shouted, shaking his head. "That's for Izzy and wee little Allan!"

"Do ya think I'm jokin'?" the guy growled, becoming more erratic by the second.

"Nathan, we can get more money," Izzy whispered, tugging on the sleeve of his ridiculous Santa coat. "Seriously, it's not worth anybody's life."

Then something changed in Nathan's face. The fear there disappeared and it was replaced with angry resolve. "Actually," he hissed, "I really couldn't give a fuck." He pulled his sleeve out of Izzy's hand and took a step forward.

"Nathan!" she called out after him. "Nathan, don't!"

"Back off!" the guy his confusion mounting with Nathan's apparently crazy behavior.

"Go ahead," Nathan goaded. "Shoot me! I'm immortal!"

"No you're not!" Simon screamed.

A look of realization Nathan's face. He dropped out of range a second before the gun went off for a second time.

What happened next was a bit of an out of body experience. The gunfire, the screams—they all sounded like distant echoes. All Izzy knew was that she was still standing. It wasn't until she saw Nathan staring at her with an expression of abject horror that she realized anything was wrong. She followed his line of vision until her eyes fixed on her right arm. She saw the blood first, the searing pain came after that. It was like her body was on delay, not registering the fact that she had been shot until she saw it herself. And once she did, it hurt like a son of a bitch. But it wasn't dangerous. There was a groove about half a centimeter deep carved out of her upper right arm, staining that crisp, white blouse a bright, bright red as the wound seeped blood and trickled down her arm.

"Jesus, you're bleedin'!" Nathan cried, rushing forwards. "Shit, shit, shit—Are you okay? Son of a—please say you're okay!"

"I'm fine," she groaned through teeth in pain as the two of then inspected the wound, and wincing. "It's just a graze, I'm fine. Don't go getting your knickers in a twist."

Nathan sighed heavily and lurched forwards, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a tight hug. She was about to respond in kind, but a noise even more harrowing than the gunshot echoed through the pub.

"Nikki?!"

From than moment forwards everything felt like it was going in slow motion. Izzy spun around and it felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut, knocking all of the air out of her. How could she have forgotten about Nikki? The girl had only been out of the room for three minutes, and in those three minutes her entire existence might as well have been wiped from Izzy's memory. And now she was on the floor, red liquid spilling out of her chest like a fire hydrant had exploded.

It was like everything was suspended. Izzy could here her own heartbeat blasting in her ears. It sounded like those obscenely huge drums people only ever bring out at parades. And people were running towards Nikki while she stood still, only as fast as it was that they were actually running, they seemed to be moving centimeter by centimeter. And then everything caught up—one giant blur of activity until she saw events as they were actually happening. Curtis was on the floor, cradling Nikki's head and begging her to keep her eyes open, Kelly was screaming for an ambulance, and Simon and Alisha were standing a few meters off, unsure of what to do.

"Nathan, get the phone out of my bag and call a fucking ambulance," she shouted. She collapsed on her knees in front of Nikki and put her hand over the wound, pressing down hard. "You're going to be okay," she murmured to the girl, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking. "You're going to be just fine. Thailand's going to be amazing."

Izzy wasn't even sure Nikki could hear a word she was saying. Her eyes roved around*d, looking for something familiar to focus on. Soon enough they found their way to Curtis, who was softly chanting the word 'no' under his breath. As much pressure as Izzy could put on Nikki's chest, it didn't stem the flow of blood. It bubbled up underneath her palms like a pipe had burst in the street, coating her hands in red. When that trickle of blood began streaming from her mouth Izzy knew it was over, but she still didn't mover her hands. She could feel the girl's chest rising and falling, but it began to slow. And then it stopped. Izzy kept her hands in place, but then she didn't even feel a heartbeat anymore.

Finally, when she was sure it wouldn't do any more good, she lifted her hands. As soon as she did, Curtis's eyes snapped to hers, staring at her accusingly. "What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted. "Don't stop! She needs the fucking ambulance!"

Staring at him with wide, apologetic eyes, she shook her head at him. "Curtis, I'm—"

"Get out of the fucking way!"

Curtis shoved her aside and took her place, holding his hands over the wound. Izzy pushed herself back, away from Nikki as Curtis collapsed in front of the girl. Her bloody palms left red streaks across the floor as she moved. She looked up at Nathan. He was standing there with her phone in his hand. His eyes looked like a question to her—asking what he was supposed to do next. But she didn't fucking know. Nobody did. And they were just left there to look at the carnage, watching as Curtis took Nikki into his arms and rocked her back and forth, begging her to wake up.

It took eleven minutes for the ambulance to show up. When the police arrived they separated each of them into the different booths for questioning. The blood was still on her hands until one of the guys in uniform handed her a dirty bar rag to wipe them off. Paper and pens were handed out for them to draw what the appearance of the shooter. But as her pen moved across the paper she could still feel the dried blood caked under her fingernails.

While the questions were flying at her, Izzy's eyes continuously slid to what was happening in the background. It was like it was a time lapse. First there were people laying out the cones around Nikki—the body. The next time she looked they were taking photographs. Then they took out that big, plastic bag. The sound of the zipper being closed up stabbed at her ears and made her shudder violently. She hadn't heard that sound in a long, long time, but it never got any better.

When the cops finally left, Nathan slid into the seat opposite her. She couldn't look him in the eye quite yet, instead obsessively picking at the blood underneath her nails, trying to get it all out. Nathan took one of those crappy bar napkins and dipped it in the glass of water one of the cops had brought over for her and grabbed hold of her hand. He wiped the blood away slowly, until her hands were clean again.

"Never do that again," she muttered, glaring at him. It wasn't an angry glare, but a determined one. One where she was forcing him to pay attention. "I swear to God, Nathan, if you ever stand up and tell someone to shoot you I'll—"

"Kill me?!" he mumbled under his breath, the sarcasm in his voice devoid of any of its usual cheekiness or joy. He just pressed his lips together in a thin like and laced their fingers together. "Honestly, Ginger, I think that would kind of defeat the purpose, don't you?" His eyes travelled down her arm to the bandage that was wrapped around her arm. He let out an almost shaky breath and settled back in his seat, letting his thumb brush against the palm of her hand. "And anyways, I'm not the one who got shot."

"It's just a flesh wound," she said with a shrug, wincing as the skin around the graze pulled apart. "I can't watch you die again. It was shit enough all those times I had to do it before and that was when I knew you'd be coming back."

"I know," he said earnestly. "No more fuckin' up—honest. Well I mean of course I'll still fuck up, but not in life an' death scenarios where there's a bloke with a gun. I'll shut my mouth and use Barry as a human shield. You're stuck with me for a long, long time."

Izzy bit her lip and nodded. "Good."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. But then he stood up and leaned over the table. Circling a hand around the back of her neck her pulled her forwards and pressed his lips into hers. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was lingering. It was like they were trying to remind each other that they were both still there, that they were both okay. Because they both needed reassuring.

When Nathan sat back down, his eyes strayed towards Curtis. His head was resting against the table and was staring at the point on the ground where Nikki had died. "What are we gonna do about him?"

Izzy twisted around in her seat and stared at Curtis, sympathy welling up inside. "We're going to find a way to fix it."

Please review! Next chapter we're going to be visiting Seth again.