Leo grabbed up the work bag and stuffed the worn practice shoes inside. "What a practice, eh? I think Madame is noticing the hours of extra work we're putting in on that pas de deux, though. Not a single complaint out of her today." He noticed Anna coming out of another practice room. "Late night for you, too, huh? If it weren't so far I'd suggest we soak our feet in the hot springs." He smiled from Katarina to Anna and back again as he swung the bag to his shoulder.

"Pfft. I thin' it was killin' her ta nah say somethin'. A leas' she recognized hard work, righ'?" She stretched her body vertically before putting her bag over her shoulder. A wrap around skirt and jacket were all that were added to her ensemble before she putting her things in her bag. It was late, and she was anxious to get home. Covering her mouth from a yawn, she looked past Leo and to the vastly dim and dark hallway. "Evenin' Anna." She looked towards the direction of the theatre, but asked Anna, "Ya headin' ou' too?"

"Yeah," Anna gave a tired smile that did nothing to banish away the circles from beneath her dark eyes. "I can only grand jete so many times before I will puke or my legs snap off." Anna paused looking to join them in the walk out of the theatre.

Leo started the long walk down the hall, but there was another light on in a room glowing into the hallway. "I guess we three weren't the only ones taking in some extra practice." He nodded to the partially open doorway some distance, still.

When they started getting closer to the ajar door, she heard muffled voices and frowned, "Tha's th' Count's office." She had been there so many times that it was easily distinguishable despite the same door front. The closer and closer they got, the voices raised in volume. Katarina's concern grew when she heard the Count's distinct voice, with odd tones of hysteria, "You can't even consider that!"

Leo slowed his steps and looked to the ladies nearby. If it had been home, if these were words from one of his family, he would have turned around and walked the other way, pretending not to hear. Instead, he just paused and looked to those who had been here longer. "That doesn't sound good."

"Nah." While Anna seemed to shy away to the walls and had every intention of ignoring, Katarina strained to try and hear the other voice. It was more quiet and soft. Silently, she crept closer to the door until she head the ending of a sentence, ".. mean it like that."
When Katarina recognized Alik's voice, she looked over to Leo and Anna and whispered, "I thin'.. yanno, I'll stay, bu' I thin' ya'll should head ou'." She didn't want to expose her knowledge of the Count's and Alik's secret relationship.

Leo was not keen on that idea at all. Too many bodies in the family history had come up out of lopsided conversations, and what he was hearing certainly sounded like one. He shook his head. "I'll stay with you. Anna, go on and we'll see you tomorrow." The smile he gave was meant to be reassuring.

The girl looked a little confused and frightened, and when the Count's next explosion of, "Don't give me that!' was followed by the sound of crashing glass, she bolted out of the hallway and didn't look back.

Katarina looked at Leo, and held up a finger. She mouthed "wait" and placed that finger against her lips. Quietly, she sneaked closer to the door until she was close enough to let herself in. Their conversation continued, and now both dancers could hear the entire conversation.
"You're not well, Chris. I don't even know who you are anymore." Alik's voice was still attempting to be calm, but Katarina could hear the emotion behind it. "You never would have an outburst like this."

"Look," the Count tried to calm himself down, "I'm the same guy!" He laughed in a way that made her skin crawl, "I need you." The sound of crunching glass was easily heard during the pause of conversation.

She thought that now was a good time, and carefully reached over to knock on the already opened door, "Everythin' all righ' 'n there?"

Leo was right at Katarina's back. His hands tight around the straps of the bag. He no longer carried any weapons, but in case of emergency a bag full of dance gear would do. A look to the floor and all around, the broken glass the white rimming Alik's lips as he tried to keep calm in what obviously was an escalating situation. He did not speak, but just kept getting the same feeling he had when Aunt Thera was going to pop someone.

"Go away."Alik looked over and tried to glare harshly at Katarina, but the Count crunched on the glass again and jerked the door all the way open to reveal Leo as well.

"No no, come in, come in." The Count grabbed her arm none too gently and ignored Leo. Katarina tried to resist, but then she was next to Alik and the Count let her go. "Katarina, explain to Alik that he cannot leave the troupe." There was a cold steel in his voice that made her stomach knot.

"Ah nah, I dun get inta lover's spat." She didn't like the Count remaining so close to her, and she moved her bag in front of her defensively.

Leo stepped in as well, keeping near the Count; no more than two steps away. "Long day and a late night. Whatever disagreement is going on, maybe best to wait until morning. Get some rest."

Katarina tried to take a step towards Leo, and reached out to grab Alik's hand, "Leo's righ'. Let's all head home an' jist.. thin' 'bout it, yeah?"

The Count glared at Leo, but instead turned around and took slow, determined steps back to his desk, "Katarina, I can't say that I'm surprised that you know. How long?"

"Does it matta? It dun mean anythin' ta me. Alik..."

Alik twitched his hand away from her reach, "I'm serious this time, Christophe. It's over. Over with you, and your habits, and this place. I'm going home. My home." The distinction in his voice was clear.

The Count gave a great sigh as he stepped behind his desk, "I was afraid you were going to say that." He calmly opened a drawer from his desk open and pointed a small, compact blaster right at Alik's chest.

This was far too homelike than Leo wanted. "Sir, that won't solve anything. Whatever it is got you going for that gun won't be gone when you fire it. It'll be waiting. If Alik can't leave, no sense in sending him off early." Leo was not stupid enough to step in the line of fire, but he did take just enough steps to get him within range of the Count.

Katarina dragged her feet across her walkway and up the stairs of her porch. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the cab waiting, and could feel Leo's concerned gaze through the dark windows. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she took a deep breath to calm her jitters and to mentally prepare for retelling the tale. Turning her nanites on, she finally let herself in and closed the door behind her, and lingered against the door, "Locke?"

"Upstairs!" Locke called out. Two people had little need for three bathrooms in a house, so Locke had converted the smaller upstairs one into a screenprinting set-up. Dressed down for the potentially messy work in an already ink and paint spattered white t-shirt and ripped up jeans, he was putting the finishing touches on a silkscreened blue t-shirt with one of his new fashion concept's logos on the chest: a snowflake with a skull in the center of the pattern.

Adjusting the bag over her shoulder, her footsteps were methodic as she walked up the stairs and promptly dumped her bag in her old bedroom with the rest of her dancing attire. She was still in her dancing wear for the day with the addition of a wrap around skirt and jacket. Nothing was removed as she slowly wandered around before she finally found him. It was late, she was tired, and her brain felt numb to the core. "Sorry 'm late." She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the threshold of the door, "Th' Count was arrested."

Locke ducked his head out, looking somewhat surprised at the news. "Arrested? For what?" Surprise now turned to slight confusion, and Locke stepped out of the converted bathroom, wearing yellow wrist-length cleaning gloves that were also splotched with ink. "How does a big, rich, and important bloke like him get arrested here? What in the worlds did he do?"

"Well, accordin' ta Alik, he's been embezzlin' fra th' troupe. More importantly though, when the Watch finally showed up, he had a blaster pointed a' Alik, Leo, an' myself. A freakin' blaster!"

"Damn," Locke said quietly, shaking his head. He pulled off the ink-stained gloves with twin snaps, set them down on the sink, and walked over to give her a hug, whispering in her ear. "Terribly sorry about my mucky appearance, but the ink's dry. I'm just glad that you are all right."

It wasn't until Locke had his arms around her that she realized how much she needed his support. She sighed in relief and held onto him tightly, "It was awful. Leo, Anna an' I were stayin' late, and when we were leavin' we could hear th' Count an' Alik arguing. Anna lef' and 'n Leo an' I tried ta intervene, 'cause it sounded bad, righ'?" She rested her forehead against his shoulder and continued with her eyes closed, "Then th' Count said all calmly-as-you-please tha' he needed me ta convince Alik tha' he couldn' leave th' troupe an' all. I guess Alik was tryin' ta end thin's wit' him, yeah? An' when Alik jist said no, an' tha' it was over, he reached into his desk and jist pulls ou' a blaster like it's a pen."

Locke let the story unfold, massaging her shoulder and upper back in an attempt to comfort her. "Anna summoned the guard, I'm assuming?"

She nodded feebly, "Yeah, I'm guessin' so. He had th' blaster a' Alik an' said somethin' 'bout Alik nah leavin' 'cause he needed 'im fer all these thin's. An' when Leo mentions tha' killin' ain' gonna help when he needs tha' same person ta do somethin'.. he then moved the blaster 'round ta Leo, an' then ta me, sayin' somethin' 'bout how nah joinin' the Royal Academy an' gettin' the mods ruined thin's fer him... I dunno wha' tha' means. Then th' Watch came. An' 'n Alik talked 'bout th' Count stealin' and owin' money ta th' wrong people, an' 'bout how th' Count has lots'a o' influence. He then.. " her body tensed, "he then said tha' he was tryin' ta help me stay ou' of th' Count's grasp, which is why he kissed me all those years ago and said tha' he gave me these influencial drugs ta convince me ta get th' mods." She felt the tears start to come and tried to sniffle them away, "An' I know 'xactly when he's talkin' 'bout, 'cause I hav' these pockets of memories tha' jist go blank."

Locke's grip tightened, as his whole body stiffened upon hearing what Alik had done. "That arsehole. Please tell me they arrested him as well." Realizing how tense he was, Locke let go of Katarina and took a step back, against the wall near the bathroom door. It had been a long time since he had looked this angry: the nearly omnipresent grin gone and replaced with a frown, his usually warm eyes now sharper and colder.

"Dunno." She folded her arms across her chest again tightly, "I gave him a wallop, an' then they took 'im inta th' Count's office fer questionin'. Then Leo brough' me home."

"Good." That brought something a smile back to Locke's face, albeit a vicious one. "Glad you took care of that, because the guard probably would not be happy if I were to have done the same." Not to mention what it might do to his probation status. He put a hand up to his forehead, then began to rub his temples with his fingers, sighing. "So nobody was hurt in the office, the guard arrested the Count and questioned Alik, Leo drove you home, and Bob's your uncle...so what happens to the Ballet now? He was giving quite a chunk of change to them, was he not?"

"Yeah, so... I dunno." She needed something to do with her hands, so she began to undo the braided bun, and then slowly undo the long braid, "My guess? It'll be outta commission fer a bi', till we kin sor' some thin's ou'. I'd imagine Madame is jist gettin' th' call righ' 'bout now. She'd be 'n command now, I 'pose.

"Not...the sort of publicity you want for your organization, to be sure." He took a deep, relaxing breath, loosened up his posture again, and once she had undone the braid, came forward to hug her again, more tenderly than before. "I am sorry that you had to go through all that, and I hope that things will still work out with the Ballet in the long term."

She hadn't really thought about it much, but as he mentioned it, she worried. "It makes a worl' o' difference, knowin' tha' yer here for me, yeah?" She started to relax in the embrace, "May be a li'l tigh' if we take a real hit though, yeah?" She sighed deeply with what that meant, "I'll make some calls tomorrow. See if I could sub 'n anywhere er somethin'."

"Certainly. If I cannot get my store off the ground soon, I may head on over to Highlife Haberdashery, hat in hand, and ask Gerard if he has any work for me." The ordeal that Locke had been going through in recent months with trying to find funding for a new store was left unspoken about. "We'll make it through, regardless. Merely a pothole on the road to happiness, savvy?"

"Yeah." She suddenly felt the desire to laugh, and withheld. Her more negative thoughts were kept to herself, "This road we're on - ar' we almos' there?" She leaned back to give him a small smile

?Well, I suppose that depends on whether you think there is a finish line or a stopping point to it. I would be more inclined to say that there will almost certainly be more twists and turns and sharp stops to make along the way. But..." Locke mirrored her own smile, pitching his voice down to a half-whisper. "We're both pretty ace drivers, savvy?" Locke flashed a classic, dimpled grin, complete with a wink.

Now she could help but giggle as his features finally matched the ones she always kept forefront in her mind, "Righ'. How could I forget?"

He leaned in for a quick kiss, pulling back to giggle as well. "We'll get there when we get there. For now, I think you could use some rest and relaxation. Perhaps a massage, for starters?"

She offered him a more coy, half-smile, "Yeah, I thin' tha's good ta start wit'."

Locke finally ended the embrace, stepping back as he stretched out his arms with his fingers locked together, than his back. "Right-o, then. On with the appetizer!"