"No, not at all- hell, it's your place."

She giggles a little and plops down on the couch, kicking off the heels. Stretching her arms briefly, she looked around and then stopped moving her head to give it a chance to catch up with her.

"I'll sit here and wait for that food- I think you were right. I'm more hungry than I realized. You get a shower, don't mind me at all."

Quickly, she glanced over to the far corner of the living room where her briefcase was. "Not in the bedroom. Good." That was enough for now. With that settled, she let her mind wander in other directions. She hoped her presence wouldn't make him feel like he had to leave. She could always take the couch. It was a lot more comfortable than the bed at Peary, after all.

CT smiles and nods politely as she begins to get comfortable. He excuses himself and goes into the bedroom to grab some clothes from his dresser that he had stashed here for any kind of emergency. He grabs himself a few towels from the closet and goes into the bathroom. As he turns on the hot water his mind still all over from the men with Johnny earlier seeming a bit out of place to the cab driver and of course to Jo who he couldn't help but become more and more fond of as the time passed. As the steam from the shower hits his face he sighs slightly and gets undressed and into the shower. 

As he lets the water run over his head contemplating the events and possible outcomes of his thoughts.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG

A knock on the door of the apartment. "Must be Billy with the food" he says to himself before the thought hit him what if it's not? What if those two schmucks were up to something and came here?

CT quickly turns off the water and gets out wrapping a towel around his waist grabbing his gun from the bathroom counter and quickly moves through the living room and to the front door. He puts his finger over his mouth then looks through the peep hole seeing Billy holding two bags.

He exhales deeply in relief uncocking the pistol and opening the door. "Foods here, thank God it's you Billy. I was almost-" but CT is cut off by Billy being pushed inside into CT followed by the two guys from earlier in the night. "Son of a-" CT collides with Billy dropping his gun to the floor. He quickly moves towards it but one of the guys steps on it. "No, No, No, No...get up" one of the guys says motioning with his pistol.

Both men have guns of their own aimed at Billy and CT.

Despite the whiskey haze, Jo immediately realizes shit is going sideways when Billy and CT come careening backward through the door. Instinctively, she rolls from the couch to the floor, skittering on her back toward her briefcase; which she blocks with her body, one hand purposefully behind her as she appears to be frightened and watching with wide eyes near the wall. In reality, she was taking careful stock of the situation. She took a good guess at the height and weight of the two intruders, and estimated the distance from them to her, and from her to CT. 

One of the goons glared at her and snarled.

"You just stay right there and don't make a sound, sugar tits. One move the wrong way and I'll waste you- you got that?"

Jo nodded frantically, telling herself to breathe rapidly and keep the panicked face. CT was standing very still, as was Billy; but CT glanced down at her. Jo returned his gaze evenly, trying to communicate with her eyes that she was keeping it together. The goon kicked CT's gun away, sending it sliding across the floor toward Jo, who jumped from it as if it were a snake. Satisfied that she was probably no trouble, the two intruders began their business. 

CT carefully moves Billy behind him so he was between Billy and Jo and The Two Men. CT realized he wasn't going to get out of this without quick thinking and maybe brains on his area rug, but it wouldn't be the first time his rug had been messed up by someone's insides and probably knowing his lifestyle wouldn't be the last.

The second guy begins moving through the apartment ransacking it, one can only assume they wanted it to look like a burglary gone wrong but who knew with these two as they went Rhode Scholars by any stretch of the imagination. "Listen fella's I appreciate the food delivery but I don't think tearing up my apartment is going to get you a good tip here" CT says as he eye's the second guy. 

BOOM-

The first guy smacks CT in the face with the butt of his gun causing CT to drop down to one knee holding his face. "Wise cracks won't get you far you see Antony and I, you see we like this part of the job. We attack this part of our job with a certain exuberance." 

CT holding his jaw slightly looks up at the guy. "Exuberance? What are you the guy who invented scrabble?" CT gets hit again with the butt of the thugs gun. CT shakes his head spitting up blood from his mouth. "Ok, Ok...I get it I get it"

The thug picks up CT by his arm and pushes him to the couch followed up by Billy just the same. The other thug finishes his job tearing up the place and stands in front of Jo making sure she doesn't get any bright idea's to get involved to save CT. 

CT sits slumped on the couch breathing a bit heavy. "Hey...fuck face...you got a cigarette?" CT asked solemnly. The guy standing with them shrugs thinking he'll accommodate the request. He hands CT a single cigarette. "Got a light? Caught me with my pants down here" CT says referencing that he is literally in just a towel. The thug shakes his head amused by the quick whit of a soon to be dead man. He holds out a lighter striking it for the cigarette then punching CT in the mouth with the gun in his other hand again. "Nobody likes a wise ass" he says as CT slumps over dropping the cigarette from his mouth.

CT coughs up a little more clearing his throat of blood. As he gathers his bearings again he looks back up at the guy. CT reaches down grabbing the cigarette from the floor now blood splattered a little from his own lip. He places the cigarette between his lips again. "Can I get that light again?" CT eye's the guy. "Touch me again I'll kill ya"

The guy cracks a big smirk holding the light out again before repeating the cycle punching him with his gun yet again. Billy cringes slightly watching CT get brutalized by this asshole. CT spits up more blood then looks quickly at the second thug who's preoccupied with Jo.

CT quickly stands up hitting the thug with his palm into his nose. The man immediately goes limp falling backwards through the glass coffee table shattering it.

Behind feigned fearful eyes, Jo had kept her hand behind her back, careful not to let her shoulder move beyond making it look as if she were shrinking away from the violence before her. She would cringe or gasp every time the thug took a hit on CT, but used the movements to her advantage. She had managed to slip her hand inside her jacket that was on the floor beside the briefcase, and wriggle the M1911A from it's shoulder holster. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for an opening.

CT's palm implanting a guy's nose into his skull was exactly that. In one swift motion, Jo kicked both of her legs out and took out the knees of the guy guarding her. As he crashed to the floor, she sprang up and smashed the butt of her handgun into his temple. Lights out. 

"CT! Gun!"

She kicked his gun back across the floor to him, then turned to make sure her watcher was out cold before training her gun on the smart ass that had been on CT. Her eyes were cool and steady, as was her gun hand. She put her foot on his neck, her heel pressing firmly against his windpipe- but not enough to crush it. Yet.

"One move and they won't be able to identify your sorry ass by dental records."

Then she glanced up at CT, already starting to try and slow down her breathing.

"You ok?"

CT quickly grabs the gun Jo kicked to him aiming it to the guy now laying dead along the shattered coffee table then moves it to the guy near the kitchen Jo had subdued. CT's eyes go from the thug to Jo and back to the thug. He had now come to the stern realization that Jo wasn't just any girl, she had training. This whole time he had thought she was just a girl who's parents were in "the life" but with how she reacted to this entire scenario it smacked CT in the face maybe she was more like him then he had ever paid attention enough to realize.

Billy sits motionless on the couch as CT moves slowly to the kitchen area to check on Jo. "I'm good, you're okay I can assume huh?" he says half joking half inquisitive of what she had been keeping from him this whole time. CT looks down at the guy under her heel. "Question is...what to do with him" he talks more to himself but everyone in the room could hear him.

CT looks back at Billy who finally stands up looking down at the dead guy then moves over towards CT and Jo. CT looks back to Jo "What do you think we should do with him?" He had an idea of what she'd say but maybe this was a test. Or maybe this was just his way of letting her decide the fate of a guy who was clearly intent on killing her when they were done with CT.

There was a look of realization in CT's eyes that Jo knew she was going to have to explain- but first there were more pressing matters. She reached back into the back pocket of her pedal-pusher jeans and produced a pair of handcuffs. Without looking up, she could feel the tension in the room go up a few ticks. She rolled the guy over and cuffed his hands behind his back, then stood and looked at CT with a casual shrug.

"I'd say get the info you need then waste him."

If they were worried about her being a cop, that suggestion would assuage that fear- if not confuse them enough to keep them from shooting her first. But, just to be on the safe side, Jo moved the safety on her own weapon, turned it around, and handed it to CT. Her face was even, and her eyes as sincere as they could possibly be.

"Let's deal with him first, then I'll explain. I promise. It's not what you think."

With that, she moved to the kitchen and found a dishtowel, with which she wrapped a couple of handfuls of ice for CT's face before returning to the living room.

CT watches her his mind still turning like a hamster on a wheel. He reaches out taking the gun never taking his eyes off Jo as she then turned and walked away. CT looks down at the guy still out cold before turning and handing Jo's gun to Billy. "Watch him!" he barks at Billy before walking back to the bedroom to finally get dressed.

Once in the bedroom CT grabbed his pants and shirt and got dressed sitting on the bed he puts on socks and shoes. As he sits there thinking, racking his brain on what just happened. Had Johnny been stupid enough to set him up? Had his own family set him up? Was Jo a cop? So many questions, and damn sure not enough answers. CT sits head in hands thinking.

After a moment he exhales loudly then stands up cringing at the pain in his face but it's not the first time he's had his ass kicked.

In the kitchen Billy sits up on the counter gun trained on the unconscious guy as Jo gets the ice she had went to retrieve. Billy watches Jo keenly as he always thought she wasn't what she seemed from that first time he saw her.

"So...you some sort of karate expert?" Billy asked trying to break the silence and the tension.

Jo grinned a little. 

"Krav Maga, and Brazilian Jujutsu, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert. Took four months of nightmarish training, and got my ass kicked for the first month. Then, I started kicking back."

Once the ice pack was ready, she returned to the living room and perched on the couch to wait for CT. Billy kept his eyes between her and the guy on the ground, who was still out cold. That made Jo smirk a little. She must have gotten him pretty hard. She put the ice pack beside her and rested her elbows on her knees. 

"I'm not a cop. I can't tell you exactly what I am, but I'm not a cop and I'm not here to mess with CT. You have my word on that. In his case, I'm just a girl with a crush, and I happen to have a complicated job. That's all."

It was the best she could do for Billy. She wanted him to know his friend wasn't in danger- at least not from her. The real story would probably have to come out to CT, though. But that would require some care. 

CT looks at himself in the mirror on the dresser and contemplates everything for a moment before exiting the bedroom putting the gun in the shoulder holster now hanging loosely under his arms unfastened. CT checks on Billy who seems to be holding his own for someone who doesn't generally hold let alone use a gun. Billy motions towards Jo as CT looks back over his shoulder and then turns walking into the living room scooting the dead guys leg over a bit so he can get to the couch. He plops down next to Jo "So, that was eventful eh?" He jokingly states with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

CT looks over to Jo who he was now torn about. IF she was a cop it would end badly for one if not both of them. IF she was tasked by an outside source to hurt him he'd have to kill her. But CT was fairly sure it wasn't the second one otherwise why would she help him by giving him the gun? CT was fairly convinced she wasn't a cop at least not some local Joe Schmo. If she was a cop it was a fed and in which case CT would yet again be between a rock and a hard place but would have to make that tough call.

"You okay?" he asked as he looked her over a bit.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. Hold still and listen."

Taking the ice pack, she carefully begins to apply cool pressure to the places where his face was split open the worst. 

"I know what you're probably thinking. I'm not a cop; not a LEO. I disappeared four months ago because I got a good job offer at a time I didn't know what the hell to do with my life. They needed some skills and contacts that I have, and I thought it sounded...well...pretty damn interesting."

Jo took a deep breath and met his eyes as she began to explain. She went slowly, telling him everything as she gently tended to the wounds on his face. When she finished, she paused and looked away briefly, nervously biting her lower lip.

What I've just told you gives you every reason to kill me. And gives my bosses every reason to fire and put me away for the rest of my natural life. I promise I'm not here to screw with you. We met before this fell into my lap. I took it without thinking really hard...but it turns out that I like it a lot, and I'm pretty good at it."

"Despite the need to drink myself into a stupor" she didn't say. But she stopped there, not sure what else to say without hearing where his head was, and prepared to hear him tell her to get out. 

CT winces slightly as she places the ice pack to his face and begins to speak. He listens to her not talking or changing his emotion. He wasn't sure if what she was saying was 100% truth or if she was just covering her own ass thinking if she played on CT's emotions towards her he wouldn't blame her. 

As she finished talking he sat solemn and silent before reaching up and taking her hand and ice pack away from his face. "Anything else?" he asked quietly before looking into her eyes. After a moment of silence he stands up and walks over to the guy handcuffed and rolls him to his back. The man's eyes open slightly as CT pulls his gun from his holster under his arm and fires three shots hitting the man once in the head and twice in the chest. The man's life leaves his body as he lay motionless at CT's feet. Billy stares at CT, worried, nervous. CT looks over at Billy "Guess I'll lose that security deposit eh?" he says a little jokingly which eases Billy's mind that CT hadn't gone off the deep end with everything that was said and had happened tonight.

Billy slides off the counter and puts the gun he had been holding on the counter and leaves the apartment silently.

CT stares blankly at the man below him without sound or movement for what seemed like forever but was only a few minutes. Memories of his father rushed through his mind. What would his father think of his actions? Would he be proud? Would he allow him to continue the clearly emotional connection he had been having with Jo knowing what he now knows?

CT shakes loose the thoughts and turns walking back to the living room. He sits down mentally and physically exhausted. He takes a cigarette from the pack the dead guy in the living room had laying next to his body. Lighting the cigarette taking a long deep drag he looks over at Jo.

If this was a test of whether she would arrest him for murdering a man right in front of him, she got a bit of a chuckle out of it. Besides, her only pair of cuffs was on the dead guy. Instead, she got up from her place on the couch and walked over to CT. She perched on the arm of the seat he occupied, and slid her arms around him. It was the closest contact they'd made since meeting- and she meant for that to be now. His head was full of questions and running a thousand miles an hour. There was really only one thing she knew that could slow that down.

Leaning in, she placed a soft, lingering kiss on his lips; careful not to aggravate the place where the butt of a thug's gun had split it open. Her hand wandered up and her fingers touched his hairline. After a few moments, she pulled away just a little.

He felt her lips touch his and it was as if every thought had left for that slight moment. He hesitated at first but before he knew it he had moved his hand to her back and returned the kiss. After the momentary kiss as she pulled away a little his eyes locked into hers and he nodded slightly. He wasn't exactly sure if this was his best idea in life but he had always had a way of making things work out before and was confident this would be no different. He brushes her hair back behind her ear slightly before kissing her again, this time a little more than before.

He returned her kiss, and her entire being lit up like a Christmas tree. Jo slid from the arm and into his lap, pressing herself against him as they cemented their previously unspoken attraction with a passionate kiss. Neither gave a second thought to the expired goon on the floor; at least not for a few more minutes. Jo let her hands run over his shoulders and slide around his neck, partially lost in the moment, and partially just relieved that he hadn't turned her away.

Finally, she gave a soft sigh and whispered in his ear.

"We need to do something with these two..."

CT breaks the kiss a little and nods slightly "Yeah, probably should huh?" he smirks a little before moving her back to the arm of the couch and standing up. He assesses the damage to the table and sighs "there goes 20 bucks." He chuckles to himself as he goes to work cleaning up the mess and the bodies.

After awhile the bodies had been moved and picked up by a few guys CT had called and relocated to the unknown and CT was busy cleaning up all the physical damage the guys had done both willingly and unwillingly. He lights a cigarette and takes a long deep drag as he finishes sweeping up the glass from the coffee table in the living room. CT and Jo had talked and he had told her some of his deepest secrets involving him and his father both good and bad. He felt that if she could open up about what she was doing he should start letting her into his head a little as well, I mean it's only fair right?

CT finally finishes and sit back down closely beside Jo. "So...you're still here so I can assume none of the dark past has ran you off yet" he says as he exhales smoke from the cigarette.

"Nope. not a chance."

She had made herself scarce while the cleanup crew did their thing, and took a quick shower and changed into a pair of soft cotton pj pants and an undershirt. Now that the floor was free of glass, her bare feet were tucked up under her on the couch. When CT joined her on the couch, she relaxed against him. 

"Damn, we never did get that food." 

Jo chuckled a little, thinking of the two bags of food that had been destroyed in the fray. Yawning, she shrugged.

"There's always breakfast, right?"

It had been a long day. Longer than she could have foreseen- but all in all, not awful. She studied CT's face for a while, smiling, feeling a little amazed that things had worked out the way they had. Without a word, she stood up and took his hand.

"Let's get some sleep."

And, for the first time in longer than she could remember, Jo Santoro didn't fall asleep alone.