"TWA Flight 2313 to Chicago is now boarding."

The voice from the gate agent rang out through the gate at the Philadelphia airport. It caught Lydia a bit off guard, she had been waiting for this what seemed forever but in reality had only been at the airport over an hour now. She had been in a bit of a daydream, thinking about what her life in Chicago was going to bring. She was definitely excited to get out to Chicago, even though she had yet to step foot in the city. It must have been how it was explained to her from the letters she had received from Kaeden, he expressed how amazing the city was and all the things there were to do.

It wasn't just about having things to do but also the opportunities that came about moving to Chicago and on top of it being reunited with Kaeden. See they had arrived to the US at the same time and found themselves under the same roof in South Philly, the two quickly connected. It was an interesting relationship the pair had, very sibling like towards each other. Loved to prank each other, party together and really just get in trouble together. Once he left Philadelphia she knew she just had to follow and that's what she was doing. 

"Last Call TWA Flight 2313 to Chicago, the gate will be closing momentarily."

She was day dreaming quite again, she didn't even hear the last call but thankfully for her a fellow passenger tapped her on the shoulder as he was getting up.

"Ma'am, if you're going to Chicago you best get up now."

The man tipped his hat towards her and made his way to the gate. Lydia sprung up from her seat, pulled her ticket out of her and grabbed her suitcase. She didn't have much to her name just yet which made traveling easy. Quickly she made her way to the gate agent, handing her the ticket.

"I'm not too late, am I?"

The lady took the ticket from Lydia and gave it a look over before ripping it in half. She tucked half of it in a basket and handed the other half to Lydia.

"Nope, just in time. Hope you enjoy your flight and thank you for choosing TWA."

With a smile Lydia hurried up down the tunnel to the awaiting plane. The stewardess greeted her with a smile and ushered her to her seat. It was the only remaining seat on the plane and of course it was a middle seat in between two of the largest people on the plane. She had to squeeze her way into the seat and fight to get her seat belt on. She could barely move but it didn't matter, in a couple of hours she would be in Chicago her new home.

That's when it hit her, she never heard back from Kaeden from the last letter she had sent to him. He was supposed to pick her up and bring her back to their head quarter. She had the slightest idea where it was nor even the address. Just then she felt the jolt of the plane as it backed off the gate and after a minute of taxiing the plane was on the runway and airborne. There was no turning back now and there was no need to stress over it now. He was either gonna be there or he wasn't....

Lydia shrugged her shoulders and tried to adjust herself the best she could. She did manage to get into some sort of semi comfortable position before closing her eyes for a quick nap. A nap that was rudely awakened by the planes tires hitting the runway in Chicago. The jolt scared the hell out of her and if it wasn't for her seat belt she would have jumped out of her seat. It took her a moment to realize the plane had landed and that it wasn't them crashing.

"Oh, we're here?"

It wasn't really a question directed to anyone but she did say it out loud. The person on her left gave her an odd look before nodding his head.

"Yup, that we are. Usually it's what happens after we take off, we land in the place we were intended to go to."

Lydia looked at him and without hesitation spoke up.

"Thanks for the brilliant answer and I wasn't talking to you. So yeah, mind your own business."

The man was a bit taken back by the sass he had just gotten and didn't even know how to respond, so he said nothing. A few moments later the plane docked at the gate and everyone on board deplaned. She was about to find out whether Kaeden got her last letter or not.

Kaeden had received word from Lydia that she was coming to live with them at Good Boy Inc in Chicago by letter. The letter even included when she would be arriving so that he could go get her from the airport. He was so excited he could barely sleep that night... she was going to arrive in the morning and it felt like Christmas. He was enjoying Chicago, and everyone had been great since he arrived, but it just didn't feel quite right without her around. He set an alarm to wake up and leave for the airport at 7 am. The plane was supposed to land at 8:30 so he figured that would leave him plenty of time to wake up, get ready and get out there. 

"Crap crap crap crap!" Kaeden shouted as he woke up the next morning and saw the clock. It was already 8:03 am...

Kaeden rushed around his room like a crazy person getting ready as fast as he could. As he started to run for the door that's when it hit him: He didn't own a car...

"Damn it... how the hell am I even gonna get there..." He said to nobody

Just as he was standing there like a dummy trying to decide how to get to the airport Rubix appeared in the hallway and let out an annoyed sounding growl.

"Sorry..."  He must have woke him up with his little freakout. 

Rubix was holding a set of keys in his mouth, he dropped them by Kaeden's foot and immediately headed back to his room. 

"Oh, thanks!" Kaeden said as Rubix was walking away. 

He headed outside and found Rubix's car. It was a really nice car and looked pretty fancy. He wasn't entirely sure how a dog drove it... but that wasn't the point. Kaeden was just terrified he was going to damage the bosses car and then they wouldn't even be welcomed in when they returned.  He got in anyways and took a deep breath as he turned the key. Here goes nothing...

It was already 8:11, the plane would be landing in 19 minutes but there was no way he was gonna rush... not in this car. The airport was usually about a 20-minute drive from the HQ but Kaeden was driving so slow and careful he didn't arrive until 8:40. He parked at the airport and headed inside. 

"Ah man, I really hope the plane was late landing... better not have landed early... she's gonna kill me..." As Kaeden was jogging through the airport and talking to himself all kinds of people were giving him strange looks but he didn't really care. 

"Gate 11... gate 11... where the fuck is gate 11!?"

An elderly lady standing at the coffee stand he was jogging past cleared her throat loudly which caught his attention. He stopped and turned to face her. She was glaring at him as if she wanted clean his mouth out with a bar of soap, but she pointed over his shoulder, shook her head and turned her back to him.

"Huh?"  Kaeden turned around to where she was pointing and sure enough... 'Gate 11' was about 5 feet behind him. 

Kaeden headed over somewhat reluctantly... praying that the plane hadn't landed too long ago...

Lydia walked down the tunnel and in the airport, the excitement within her was growing more and more with every step. She sped past a couple of the slower, older passengers and pushed through a couple that was holding hands blocking the entire path. They scoffed at her and gave her a dirty look, usually she would have stopped and said something but not this time. She had one thing on her mind and one thing only, which was to see Kaeden and then explore her new city. 

The end of tunnel was just up ahead which made Lydia speed up just a bit more. She got to the end of tunnel, gate 4, expecting to see the familiarity of her person, her friend but he wasn’t there. She looked to the left then the right hoping he was just standing off to the side or something but he wasn’t there. 

“Shit! Maybe he didn’t get my last letter?” She said out loud, kind of questioning herself a bit. 

“Maybe he is just running late? Let’s not panic just yet Lydia.” Talking to herself was something she did often, it helped her think things through more properly and not always jump to conclusions. 

If he was really running late then the best thing for her to do was to just stay put, she clearly remembered putting the right time the flight was coming in and she thought she put the gate number but then again maybe she didn’t? Regardless he wasn’t there and the best thing she could do right now is wait. 

She found a seat next to the main hallways and plopped down. She was gonna give it 20-30 minutes if he wasn’t there by then he probably wasn’t gonna show up and then things would get really interesting.

Kaeden was relieved when he noticed people were still coming up the ramp into the building from the plane. They must have been late landing. He found a seat close to Where everyone was out and decided to wait there. Several minutes passed and it seemed like nobody was getting off the plane anymore... this got Kaeden a little bit concerned and confused. He was almost positive she had written gate 11 in her letter...

Kaeden got up and headed over to the man by the door who worked for the airport.

"Excuse me sir...  is that everyone from the Philadelphia flight?"

The man gave him a puzzled look for a few moments without speaking, which kind of annoyed Kaeden...

"Well?"

"That plane was not from Chicago..." The man finally answered before disappearing through the door behind him.

Kaeden was in trouble now... what gate was she at? Did they land already? He began to jog again from gate to gate looking for any hints, or maybe a sign... something. This lasted for long enough that eventually, he was out of breath and frustrated. He stopped to catch his breath and think for a moment when he saw it. The fire alarm! It wasn't a great idea but it was the best one he had... or maybe just the only one? It had been a long day already. 

Kaeden headed for the front of the building and found the closest fire alarm to the front door so that he could get out first. He had to make sure he didn't miss her coming out... if she was lost in the crowd he was going to have an entire friggin city to search... he took a deep breath and pulled the alarm. 

People immediately started to panic and sprint for the doors, Kaeden was nearly trampled getting him himself outside. Once out he found a tree across the road from the doors and climbed up onto one of the branches. He was sure he would see her from there, then it would just be a matter of getting her attention...

Lydia sat in the seat facing the main hallway just waiting and waiting some more. It wasn’t that terrible though she had plenty of elbow room unlike her seat in the plane. Plus she was able to do a bit of people watching, it was always an amazing sight some of the things you saw in a public place like this. 

She had her eyes on a younger family, they had way too many little kids and had the hardest time trying to wrangle them all. The parents looked like they were hit with a whirlwind as the father was being repeatedly kicked in the shin by his little boy. The sight was actually a bit disturbing. The lack of control they had or actually didn’t have was baffling but at the end of the day it wasn’t her problem. 

Problem... yeah that was something she had but it didn’t involve kids. Then again Kaeden did act a bit childish at times but it usually made her laugh. Like the time he woke up with a half mustache and really dark eyebrow. Lydia stopped in mid thought, that was actually her doing not his. The thought of it made her smile, he looked absolutely ridiculous.... 

just then a blaring sound echoed through the airport, it was ear piercing and immediately jolted her train of thought. People started to become frantic and yelling loudly. 

“Fire! Fire! Everyone get out. Fire!!!”

Lydia shrugged her shoulders and calmly sat up and grabbed her suitcase. She looked up and down the hallways but didn’t see any smoke, she had a feeling this was a false alarm but just to be safe she causually walked towards the exit. It was a funny sight to see, she was the only person taking her time on the way out. 

This could be a bad thing though, how would Kaeden know where she was if she wasn’t at the gate she told him? Then again there’s to reassurance that he was actually gonna be there to pick her up. She had already been waiting 20 minutes and nothing. With a sigh she made her way out of the airport into the fresh air. They were funneling people to an adjacent parking lot but Lydia wanted nothing to do with it so she stood there at the end of the sidewalk trying to figure out what to do next.

Kaeden sat there in his tree watching as people funneled out of the building. They were all in a mad hurry to get outside, but once they got there it was like they didn't know what to do next. Some followed instructions and headed over to a nearby parking lot, but a good number of them just stood there making the exit even more congested. There were hundreds of people all trying to talk over each other heading in different directions... it was a mess. 

Kaeden scanned the crowd repeatedly from above searching for Lydia, which was harder than you might think due to her height, or maybe better described as a lack of height. After a few minutes of this, he spotted her. She casually strolled out the door and walked over to a less crowded bit of sidewalk, from his tree it seemed she didn't have a care in the world.

Kaeden decided he should to try and get her attention before she vanished, he carefully stood up on one of the thicker branches and started waving both arms over his head repeatedly. 

"Lydia! Hey Lydia! Yoo whoo! LYDIA!" 

She seemed to just be starring off into the distance though, Kaeden got no response. Well not from Lydia anyway, plenty of others were glaring at him and pointing from the crowd of people... probably wondering what the hell was wrong with him and why he was in a tree. He didn't really care though. Kaeden considered climbing down and running over but getting down was going to be a lot harder than getting up was and he didn't want her to walk away while he was busy bear hugging the tree. 

He searched his pockets frantically and found a few good-sized dog treats in his pocket. They seemed like they were probably heavy enough to toss at Lydia from the tree. Kaeden wound up and heaved one of them in Lydia's direction with all he had...

A gust of wind blew right past her, which sent an immediate shiver down her body. It was cold but also refreshing, was the first time in atleast 6 hours that she had been outside. Traveling like this was a good way to be kept couped inside between the airport itself and the plane ride. She took in a deep breath letting the cool air fill her lungs before getting her bearing or at least trying to get them. 

It was a bit hard though as the street and parking lots were full of people trying to escape the so called fire in the terminals. A fire that Lydia knew wasn’t actually there, she thought it had to be some kind of test or someone pulled the alarm but it didn’t matter, there was only one thing that mattered at this moment and that was to figure out how to get to Good Boy Incorporated. 

Where to start? She thought to herself as she took a step down from the curb. A crunching sound was heard as soon as put her foot onto the ground which made her quickly take a step back onto the curb. She looked down to examine whatever it was she stepped on.

”Is that a dog bis...”

Before she could finish saying biscuit, something smacked her on top of the head. It hit her with such force that it made her drop her suitcase immediately as she reached up placing her hands on her head as if it was supposed to stop the throbbing that now existed. 

“Ouch! What the actual fuck? What the hell was that?”

She looked to her right and noticed another dog biscuit, this one broken in half right next to her. She bent over took her hands and picked up the biscuit giving it a look over. It had to have been the thing that hit her in the head, just had to be. Where did it come from though? If someone was purposely trying to hit her this was a problem, a problem she would harshly deal with. 

Lydia stood back up and gave the crowd a thorough look over, no one seemed out of place and no one seemed suspicious. That was until she noticed someone in the near distance, someone in a tree. She squinted her eyes a bit narrowing them to sharpen her vision. Is that Kaeden? The two locked eyes as Kaeden began waving frantically. 

He was a sight for sore eyes, just like that all her worries went away. Lydia smiled then picked up her suitcase, she looked away for just a moment and in that moment Kaeden vanished from the tree. The branch he was on was gone as well, that’s when she put two and two together. Without hesitation she hurried over the the tree he was just in and upon reaching it she saw it. 

Immediately she began hysterically laughing. Kaeden had fallen out of the tree right into the bushes below. He went head first into those bushes, the only thing Lydia could see was from his waist down. He was wiggling his legs trying to get out but he couldn’t, he was stuck. Her laughter got louder and deeper as tears started rolling down her cheeks. 

“Lydia? Yeah that’s you, I can tell by that laugh...”

She couldn’t stop laughing it was a sight she had never seen before and it was hilarious. 

“Lydia, seriously? Can you help me out?”

She stopped laughing long enough to answer him.

”Oh I could but this is the best thing I’ve seen in months.”

”LYDIA! Come on...” 

She took a couple seconds to admire the sight once more before reaching for his legs, she grabbed him by both ankles and gave them a tug. He only budged a slight bit. 

“If I’m gonna help you you’re gonna have to help me as well, ok?” 

She grabbed him by the ankles once more and pulled as hard as she could. 

Lydia was still laughing hysterically as she tried to pull Kaeden out of the bush. 

"Oh come on. How the hell did I get jammed in here so good?!" Kaeden asked as he tried to find something solid in the bush to push off of. 

"Umm... gravity? You see..."

Kaeden cut her off before she could finish whatever sarcastic lesson she was about to teach.

"Yeah, gravity, thanks."  Kaede said 

As Kaeden lay there in the bush wiggling with Lydia tugging on his feet it finally hit him how ridiculous he must look to all of the people outside of the bush. He started to laugh so hard that he stopped pushing. Lydia must have noticed because she stopped pulling. After a few minutes of this, she finally spoke up. 

"Alright, when I count to three, I'll pull and you push at the same time."  she instructed from somewhere behind him. 

Kaeden managed to calm down and focus again long enough to answer her.

"Alright so is this gonna be like, one, two, THREE Or one of those one, two, three, GO thingys?"

"Ah, does it matter? One, two, three, go I guess..." She responded before starting her count. 

When Kaeden heard her say go he pushed off the strongest part of the bush he could find and popped out onto the sidewalk like a cork. He just laid there on his back looking up at Lydia. He hadn't noticed how much the fall had hurt or how sore he was until just now. He really didn't want to move but he was excited none the less.

"Lydia!" Was all that came out of his mouth as he lay there on the ground. 

Kaeden lay there with a huge smile on his face for a few minutes while Lydia was catching her breath. He told her all about his morning, how he had borrowed Rubix's car to get there, and then running to gate 11... panicking and pulling the fire alarm. Climbing the tree....

"I guess you know the rest though! Your gonna love it here!" He said, still laying on the sidewalk. 

This was ridiculous, if this was any sign of what Chicago was gonna be like then she knew for sure she made the right choice. Fire alarm in the airport, Kaeden stuck in a bush and now he’s just casually laying on the ground without a care in the world. He actually looked a bit comfortable down there and in the need of some company. 

“Is it comfortable down there?” She asked. 

Before he was able to answer she turned around, sat next to him then laid down. The ground was cold but she quickly got used to it, Lydia glances over at Kaeden who was still looking straight up. Maybe he was looking at the clouds, she directed her sight towards the sky. There were plenty of clouds up there, all sorts of sizes and shapes. Suddenly she spotted one that looked like something, she couldn’t exactly put her finger on what it was right away but after a moment she figured it out. 

She took her elbow and gave Kaeden a nudge.

”Look, you see that cloud?”

She pointed into the sky directed towards the cloud above her. 

“That one right there, you see it?” 

“Uh... sure...” He responded even though he wasn’t sure which one she was pointing at. 

“Well doesn’t that one look like an elephant?”

”An elephant?”

”Yeah an elephant. Look there’s the trunk and the ears, then you have the body and the tail. Come on you can see it, right?”

She turned her head to look at him to make sure he was looking up but he wasn’t he was looking at her with a perplexed glare. 

“I don’t see an elephant, I only see a fool.”

”Well if you were looking up you’d see.... hey... did you just call me a fool?”

She sat up quickly and smacked him on the arm. 

“I’m not a fool, you ass! Are we gonna lay here all day or are you actually gonna take me where ever we are going?”

Kaeden sat up rubbing his arm where she had just punched him. 

"Well... that was uncalled for."

He reached over and messed up her hair as much as possible and then quickly got up and headed down the road before he could get punched again. When she caught up to him he was careful to stay just out of arms reach as he spoke again.

"Nice hair! So Good Boy Inc. It's in The Loop, right in the center of Chicago, your going to love it! Rubix is a good boy and a great boss. Did I already mention he let me borrow his car to come and get you?" 

Kaeden was excited again and talking pretty fast while walking backwards in front on Lydia. He was sure Lydia was going to be glad she came to Chicago. He just barely missed a few people and a few poles while walking.

"Soooo... where's the car parked?" Lydia asked 

"Oh right, almost forgot... over here!" 

Kaeden pointed to a parking lot just to Lydia's right and then ran over to Rubix's car and waited for Lydia to catch up. She took her time heading over but once she got there they jumped in the car and got on the road.

They had only been driving for maybe five minutes when Lydia leaned over and stared first at the speedometer and then at Kaeden. She leaned over a little more until she was only a few inches from his ear and cleared her throat before speaking really loud and slow. 

"Hey gramps... you wanna pick up the pace?!"

Kaeden squinted his eyes and glanced over at Lydia. 

"It's the bosses car. I don't wanna damage the thing. This is stressful!... wait... did you just call me gramps? You know your older right?"

“Older? Yeah I’m aware its only by a couple hours but I don’t act like I’m old. Gramps!!!”

Kaeden turned his head and gave Lydia a glare, the gramps comment seemed to be getting under his skin some. She knew she had to keep at it as she called him gramps a couple more times before screaming out.

”Kaeden look out for that car.”

Without looking he slammed on the brakes, which flung Lydia into the dashboard. There really wasn’t a car stopped in front of them it was more to get a reaction out of him butnit kind of backfired on her. She hit the dashboard hard enough that it knocked the wind out of her, she raised her hand to her chest and took a minute. 

Kaeden almost instantly figured out there was no car in front of them and was about to yell at Lydia until he realized she was trying to catch her breath. 

“Lydia, you ok?”

She raised her pointer finger indicating for him to give her a minute. He knew she would be ok and immediately started reaming her upside and down. 

“You realize this is Rubix car? You know what he would do if I wrecked it? You’re an ass Lydia, an ass I tell you. Oh and if you would have been wearing your seatbelt maybe the dashboard wouldn’t have kicked your ass.” 

Lydia was still trying to catch her breath and wasn’t able to properly speak just yet, she could tell though Kaeden was looking for an answer or at least something out of her. 

“Lydia? You gonna answer me? Lydia... you ok?”

She finally took in a deep breath and began speaking 

“Yeah, I’m good. That’s one hell of a dashboard, that fucker hurt.”

She mustered up a smile as a car horn blared behind them. They kind of were blocking the main road, it was all his fault but still that guy behind them was being a total jackass. He honked again holding the horn down, it infuriated Lydia and without hesitation she opened up her door. She calmly walked over to the car behind them and over to the driver of the car. 

His window was closed so Lydia gave it a knock and did the whole roll down the window symbol. He hesitated but rolled it down. 

“Excuse me sir, is there a problem?”

”Problem, yeah you’re the problem. This is a road not a damn parking lot, so why don’t you walk your pretty ass back to that car and get the hell out of the way.”

Lydia tilted her head ever so slightly.

”Excuse me?”

”Damn right excuse you now get.” 

Lyfia smiled and walked back to the driver side where Kaeden was at, his window was already down. 

“Kaeden, you have your gun handy?”

Kaeden watched as Lydia got out of the car and headed back to the honking car behind them. He couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for the angry guy honking at them. Lydia might look small and dainty but she was not someone you wanted to piss off. This guy had no idea what he was getting himself into...

He looked through the rear view mirror as she got him to roll down the window. It looked like a pretty standard conversation at first and Kaeden was a little confused as he watched. 

"Huh? I swear it looks like she is smiling at the guy now. What the fuck?"  Kaeden said to himself as Lydia turned and headed back towards him. 

“Kaeden, you have your gun handy?”  She said casually holding her hand out in front of her near the open window. 

"Um. yeah? I think so." Kaeden responded as he reached down under his seat.

He rummaged around down there for a few seconds and pulled out a shiny new handgun, checked to make sure it was loaded and handed it to Lydia. 

"Are you actually gonna shoot the guy?" 

Lydia didn't answer, she simply smiled at Kaeden and turned back towards the other man's car. Kaeden left the engine running just in case and adjusted the rearview mirror to get a better view of the car behind him. 

With nothing but a smile Lydia took the gun from Kaeden and turned back towards the man in the car behind them. Usually she was one of the nicer people you would meet but the moment you piss her off you best watch out. Now her initial thought was not to use his gun to actually shoot the guy but more put the fear of god in him. 

She took the gun and tucked it in her waistband on her back side, pulling her shirt over it to conceal it. Casually she made her way back to the car where the man was still blaring on his horn, he was ushering all sorts of hand gestures towards her and even flipped her off as she made her way back. 

It made her smirk, she raised her hand to her mouth kissed it and acted to blow it towards him. The gesture infuriated the man even more, he pressed his horn as hard as he could. It had zero effect on the sound but she could tell he was angry, she knew he was gonna get out of his car and get all in her face but he was going to be in for a rude surprise.

Just as expected when she was within a couple feet of his car he threw his door opened and stepped out. He stomped his way over to Lydia, getting within inches of her. 

“Did you not fucking hear me? I said get the hell out of the way, you must be stupid.”

Lydia smiled and just laughed without saying anything, the man got even more mad as he bumped his chest into her sending her backwards a couple of steps. That was it, enough was enough. She reached behind her, pulled out the gun and aimed it directly at him. The look on his face was priceless, you could practically see him soil himself. The man put his hand in front of him and took a couple steps backwards.

”Uh... I’m... I’m sorry...” 

“Oh, now you’re sorry? You see that’s not how this works. You don’t get to be a complete asshole and then suddenly when you can’t be all big and tough you cry like a little bitch.” 

“I, uh... I’m an ass I know but... you’re stopped in the middle of the road.”

”So?” 

The man put his hands down and took a step closer to her.

”You know what, I bet you that thing isn’t even loaded. So fuck you, bitch.”

Before he was able to say another word Lyida aimed the gun down and pulled the trigger. *BANG* The bullet caught the man directly in the knee cap. Instantly he dropped to the ground in agonizing pain.

”You’re fucking crazy, why the hell would you do that? You bitch!”

Lydia walked up next to the guy and took a seat in the road next to him. 

“Well you see, I am crazy. You were rude and chest bumped me, not cool. So let me tell you what’s gonna happen now, you’re going to get yourself to the side of the road and hobble your way home. I’m going to get up, get in your car and drive away.” 

The man still in pain mustered up some words.

”That’s my car, why would you take it..” That’s when it hit him, she planned on stealing his car. 

“You are crazy, you’re not taking my car.”

”Well it’s either your car or your life, you choose.” 

The man thought for a moment then leaned in towards Lydia. Without saying anything he spit in her direction, hitting her on the side of the face. She wiped it off with her left hand then pushed herself off the ground. She aimed the gun back at the man and fired a couple rounds into him, killing him instantly. The sound to gun echoed through the streets as screams from civilians began. 

Lydia turned her head towards Kaeden then back at the man on the ground. Probably wasn’t the best choice to have done but it was too late now. She tucked the gun back into her waistband and hurried back to the car Kaeden was driving.

Kaeden watched as Lydia fired an unnecessary amount of bullets into the corpse behind him. He figured she was gonna stop after the knee shot, and she probably would have if the idiot hadn't spit in her face. He couldn't really blame her actually as he replayed what had just happened in his head. Who the hell spits in someone's face? Someone with a gun pointed at them none the less...

As Lydia got back into the car she looked over to Kaeden as if she was waiting for a reaction.

"Well, that happened..." Was all the came out of his mouth as he started to speed away from the scene of the crime.

There was no more driving like an old man now, that wasn't exactly an option at this point. 

"What? He spit right on my face!" Lydia said with a disgusted shutter as if she was re-living it. 

"Yes, yes he did. I suppose he had it coming. Still... we really need to hide Rubix's car." Kaeden said with a shrug. He really hoped nobody had recorded the plate number. There was a few people around that saw the whole thing and the police would be there any minute. The last thing they needed was getting arrested before they even got to the HQ, or even worse Rubix getting arrested next time he used the car. Almost as if on cue Kaeden heard police sirens in the distance.

"Well shit..." He said looking around trying to see if he could see the lights anywhere in the distance. They were at least far enough await be out of site, that was a relief. 

Lydia leaned over and stared at the speedometer for a few minutes before laughing.

"I would have killed someone ages ago if I knew that was all it took to get you to drive proper..." She said

She still didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about the police or any of this situation really, but it was all Kaeden could focus on at the moment. He took a sharp and sudden left turn into an alley, sending Lydia flying back over to her side of the car and flat against the passenger door. It was actually pretty funny and Kaeden had to try and hold in his laughter so that he could focus on the driving.

Kaeden parked the car in front of a garage door at the end of the alley and jumped out of the car without saying a word. He took a key out of his pocket and took off the padlock before swinging the door open and getting back in the car. Once the car was parked in the garage and the door was locked back up Lydia finally spoke.

"So... sketchy little alley garage. Please tell me thats nor out new home you spoke so highly of?!" 

"Ha no no, there are a bunch of places like this around The Loop, you know, for situations like this. The HQ is still a few miles away. Looks like we are walking!"

“You think walking is a good idea? I mean how far away are we, cause I have my suitcase in the back. I can’t see carrying that thing if we have to walk a long way still.” 

Kaeden stopped for a moment to try and calculate the distance, he himself still was fairly new to the city but had a general idea. 

“Uhm... a couple miles I think. It’s. It a terrible walk and if you want I’ll carry your suitcase.” 

She really just wanted to leave her suitcase behind, other then a bunch of cloths there wasn’t much else in there. Well there was one thing that was quite important. 

“Can we just leave it with the car, come back later when we have to get the car again? I’d rather be carrying as little as possible just in case we have to run or something.” 

“Sure.” Kaeden said with a shrug. 

“There’s just one thing I need to get out of it before we go.”

Lydia turned around and reached into the backseat, she unlatched the suitcase and opened it up. Kaeden was in the front glaring through the rear view mirror, he was a bit interested to see what she was fishing for. She pushed aside a couple of shirts and a pair of pants until she found it. It was her gun, wasn’t anything special about it but it worked and that’s all that really mattered. She latched up the suitcase and pushed herself back into the front seat. She used her gun which was in her right hand to push herself up, using the drivers seat as a push off point.

Kaeden leaned back into the drivers side door when he realized the gun was right next to him. 

“Whoa!!! Watch it with that thing.”

Lydia got situated back into her seat before responding. 

“Really? You’re really worried about me with this thing, I’m a trained professional.”

She started waving the gun in the air as she was speaking when sudden her finger slipped and grazed the trigger. The gun fired off a round straight through the roof just above Kaedens head. The pair went silent and just stared at each other until Lydia tucked the gun away. 

“Uh...” 

“Professional? Are you trying to kill me?” 

“It was an accident, ok? I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry?”

”Yeah I’m sorry.”

Kaeden glanced up and the now hole in the roof and looked back down and Lydia just shaking his head. He took in a deep breath then exhaled. 

“You realize this is Rubix car? It’s bad enough we have to hide it in a safe garage cause you went and killed someone but now you shoot a hole through his roof. Not to mention almost killing me. You’re like a damn whirlwind, fuck.” 

Lydia sat there silent, letting Kaeden vent before slowly letting a smile creep into her face. She still didn’t say anything but just smiled. 

“Why are you smiling?”

”I just like smiling and come on, you’re happy I’m here I know it.”

He stared at her with an evil glance without saying anything.

”Right????”

Kaeden glanced up at the bullet hole once more before answering.

"Yes, I am happy you are here... just try not to shoot me in the head okay?"  Kaeden responded with a chuckle.

A few inches to the left and it would have been funny, but now that the gun was put away it was a little bit amusing. 

"Deal!" Lydia said as they got out of the now parked and hidden car and began their walk.

"You know what, I probably wouldn't have handed over my gun so easily earlier if I had realized how great of a shot you were! Come on this way I think. " Kaeden said as they got to the sidewalk and he turned right. 

"The HQ should be this way..." 

"Should be? Tell me you know where you're going?" Lydia asked as she sped up to catch up to Kaeden. 

"Hey, I found the garage, didn't I? I have only lived here a few days longer than you have!"

They continued down that same sidewalk for a while. Every few minutes Lydia would get bored and take her gun back out, spinning it around casually on her finger as she walked. The fourth time this happened Kaeden stopped walking and leaned away from Lydia before speaking. 

"Sweet Jesus Lydia would you please stop doing that!"

"Oh come on, I told you I am trained professional!" She said as she continued to fiddle with the gun. 

Kaeden didn't respond to that comment again, he just glared at Lydia until she reluctantly tucked her gun back into the waist of her pants. 

"Well, you're no fun..." She said as she put the gun away.

"No fun!? I can totally be fun! I just don't want to 'accidentally' get shot! Here follow me!" Kaeden said sounding offended as he hailed a cab over.

The two of them jumped into the taxi and Kaeden whispered to the driver where to take them so that Lydia couldn't hear. 

"So, where are we going? Thought you were gonna show me the HQ?" Lydia asked as the cab pulled back out into traffic. 

"Um, it's a surprise. Don't worry it'll be fun! The HQ can wait it's not going anywhere!"  Kaeden answered. 

The cab did a sharp u-turn and sped off in the opposite direction of the way they had been walking. Lydia kept trying to guess where they were headed but Kaeden wouldn't say a word. Not fun she says... he was gonna show her fun! 

The cab took a sharp u-turn sending Lydia flying onto Kaeden as both were seated in the backseat of the cab, she uprighted herself and buckled herself into her seat. She looked out the window then back over to Kaeden.

”So... where are we going?”

Kaeden turned his head towards her and just smiled.

”Oh come on, just tell me.” 

“Nope! You’ll see when we get there.”

Lydia ran her hand through her hair while trying to think. 

“Are you taking me back to airport or something? You trying to ship me back to Philadelphia?”

He smiled still and did nothing but shake his head, this made Lydia think even harder as she began spewing out locations hoping one of them was right. 

“How about the park? Or the lake? You know the lake would be a terrible idea, it isn’t really lake weather. Perhaps you’re taking me sky diving?” The thought of that sent a shiver down her spine. “Please no sky diving, there’s no need to jump out of a perfect good plane, ok?” 

Kaeden sat there still silent but with a smile on his face, he was overly enjoying this guessing game. He knew it was bothering her to most extreme. 

“Seriously Kaeden, just tell me?”

He smiled and shook his head. 

“Whatever! At least say something.” 

He opened his mouth.

”Something!” 

“Wow! Really? You’re such an ass.”

 Lydia folded her arms together and sighed. She adjusted her body pointing herself away from Kaeden so she could look out her own window. She stared aimlessly at the passing building and the bustling city streets. After a few moments of looking out the window Lydia turned her head to the right to see what Kaeden was doing. He was still looking at her with a stupid look on his face. 

“What?”

”Oh nothing, I’m just loving how this is bothering you.”

”It’s not bothering me.”

”Yeah, ok. Keep telling yourself that.”

He leaned over towards Lydia and gave her a friendly poke on the side, Lydia tried to ignore it but he poked her again, then again. 

“Stop it!”

She smacked his hand the next time he reached over. Before either of them could say anything else the cab slowed to a halt, the cab driver turned around towards the pair. 

“Here we are, just as you asked sir. That will be $1.50”

Kaeden reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple dollars handing it to the cab driver, then looked back over to Lydia. 

“Come on, let’s go.”

Kaeden got out of the cab and waited for Lydia to get out before closing the door behind her. They were at Wrigley Field on the North Side of Chicago... home of the Chicago Cubs! 

"Come on we gotta go buy tickets! The game is starting soon! The Yankees are here today, I have always wanted to watch Babe Ruth!" 

Kaeden couldn't tell if Lydia was excited or not, truthfully he had never actually talked about baseball with her before... but who didn't like baseball? Kaeden headed over to the ticket booth only to discover the game was already sold out. 

"Well damn, this is gonna make things more difficult. Let's head over towards the parking lot, someone is bound to be selling their tickets." Kaeden said as he turned and headed towards the parking lot. 

As they approached the parking lot they heard someone yelling about tickets almost immediately. 

"Two tickets, front row by the third base line!" The man was yelling as he waved the tickets over his head.

Kaeden approached the man and asked politely how much he wanted for the tickets. The man looked at the pair of them and smirked a little before responding. They must have looked like tourists or suckers or something...

"$100 each." 

The man selling the tickets said with a grin while holding out his hand for money. This was when Lydia got involved, she seemed to be offended by the man's attitude and once again had her gun out. She pointed it straight up towards the man's head before talking.

"How about we give you $10 for each ticket and I don't shoot you?" She said.

The man froze when he saw the gun in her hand. After a few moments of standing there looking terrified he practically threw the tickets at her before turning and running away as fast as he could. 

"We could have just paid the guy..."  Kaeden said as he picked up the tickets from the ground by Lydia's feet.

"$100 dollars each? Yeah, I bet you would have if I wasn't here!" She said as she took one of the two tickets out of his hand. 

"I would not have! I just would have negotiated a little longer!" Said Kaeden as they turned and headed towards the gate. 

"Well, I negotiated for us! Your welcome!" Lydia responded.

The two of them headed over, through the gates and into the concourse of Wrigley Field. They found a little stand selling baseball gloves and bought a couple of them just in case a foul ball came their way. With two gloves and a few drinks in hand, they finally headed out towards the field and found their seats just on time for the first pitch.

"I just realized I never actually asked... do you like baseball? I told you this would be fun but I guess that's assuming you don't hate baseball... at least we have booze?" Kaeden asked as they sat down. 

Lydia had never been to a baseball game, in fact she really didn’t know much of the sport. She didn’t want to tell Kaeden that she didn’t know much so she smiled, shook her head and took one of the drinks out of his hand. It was only beer but hey it was booze, if she had to sit at this game for however long it was at least she’d be able to get drunk. 

She brought the rim of the glass to her lips and took a big gulp. 

“Ahhhh, now I’m not much of a beer drinker but this stuff is good.”

She brought the glass back up to her lips and took another big gulp, then another. Before she put it back down she had already drank most all of it. That’s when she finally remembered the question Kaeden had asked her. 

“Ah, baseball. Yeah sure I guess I like it. It’s whomever gets the most touchdowns, right?” 

Kaeden slowly turned his head towards her expecting to see her laughing at what she had just said but she wasn’t, in fact she was dead serious. 

“What did you just say?”

”Team with the most touchdowns win, yeah?” 

Kaeden places his head into his hand and spoke up.

”touchdowns are football, baseball is runs or homeruns. Have you never watched a baseball game?” 

Lydia smiled and picked up her beer finishing it off before answering him. 

“Well, no but I’ve overheard some people talking about it once or twice. That guy throws the ball and the other guy tried and hits it with that stick thingy.”

”It’s called a bat, maybe I should have thought this through a bit better huh?” 

Lydia reached over Kaeden plucking his drink from his seat cup holder. She brought it up to her mouth and took a sip. 

“Nah, this is perfect. Booze, baseball and more booze. Speaking of which I think we need more. This next round is on me, ok?” 

Kaeden nodded and watched as Lydia finished off his beer, she then proceeded to get up scoot through the roof of seats and make her way up the stairs to the concession area. The line wasn’t that long only took a matter of minutes for it to be her turn. 

“What can I get you?”

”Give me four beers, one of those pretzels and uh some cracker jacks.” 

“That will be $2”

Lydia reached into her pocket but it was empty, she felt for her other pocket but it was empty as well. She had definitely left her wallet in the suitcase in Rubix car. 

“Dammit! What the actual fuck...”

The woman behind the counter just stood there with her arms crossed looking at Lydia before speaking up.

”No money, no beer and food. Time for you to get out of the way ma’am.” 

Lydia took a step to the left and directed to the lady she’d be right back. Now she could have gone back down to Kaeden and took cash from him but she told him she was gonna pay. She’d juat have to swipe someone wallet but who’s? Lydia looked around right to left for a little bit u til she found the right person. Slowly in the midst of the crowd she snuck up behind the man and acted as if she tripped and fell into him. He turned around in time to see Lydia on the floor behind him, it was all part of the deception and it worked every time. Though this time was a bit different as the man bent down to help her up so did about three others that were next to the guy. One of the men quickly stowed in between the two, he instantly had that bodyguard feel to him. 

“Sir, you ok?”

”Yeah I’m fine, this young lady just seemed to trip into me. It’s no big deal.”

He looked passed his guard and at Lydia.

”You ok young lady?”

Lydia smiled and nodded then turned around to walk away, she had managed to grab his wallet and was hoping he wouldn’t realize so getting out of there quickly was the best option. While walking away Lydia took the wallet out and started to go through it. It was lined with hundred and had an ID “William Hale Thompson” it was no one she knew but apparently he was important. With a shrug she made her way back to the concession stand and paid for the order. She took everything and juggled it back towards where their seats were. 

“What took you so long?” 

“Well you see my money is still in Rubix car in my suitcase.”

Kaeden took one of the drinks from the drink holder.

”So where did you get... oh never mind...”

”Yeah someone dropped their wallet and I picked it up. By the way you ever heard of a William Thompson?”

”Thompson... hmm Thompson... WAIT... Mayor Thompson???”

”Mayor? Oh shit...” 

" Kaeden nearly spit up the mouth full of beer he was in the process of swallowing when he finally clued into the name. He had heard it on the radio a hundred times already since he had arrived in Chicago. William Thompson, Mayor William Thompson...  he sighed as he turned back towards Lydia.

"Well, that could be an issue. You think anyone might have seen you 'find it'?" He asked

"Umm, I don't think so... well maybe... they didn't see me find it, but they definitely saw me..." Lydia answered while looking up towards the sky.

"Just so we are on the same page here, you found it in his pocket right?" Kaeden asked trying to look serious and not smile, although he already knew the answer.

"Um, yeah maybe." 

Just as Lydia was answering a foul ball came flying off the bat of one of the Cubs players and straight for Lydia's head. Luckily for her Kaeden was wearing the glove he had bought and reached over catching right by her ear. Lydia was furious when she saw what happened and jumped up to her feet screaming down to the players on the field. 

"What's the big idea you idiot! I may not know much about your damn stickball game but I know you're supposed to hit the ball that way!" Lydia yelled while waving both her arms furiously towards the outfield. 

Kaeken pulled Lydia back down to her seat.

"Shhh would ya? He didn't mean to, not like he was aiming for you!" He said as he grabbed the mayors wallet out of her hand and opened it up to have a look.

Lydia seemed to calm down a little bit and went back to her drinking. She was definitely rooting for the Yankee's now though and couldn't believe that guy had tried to hit her with a ball despite Kaeden trying to explain what a foul ball is and how it just happens.

After looking through the wallet Kaeden handed it back to Lydia. 

"There is a lot of cash in there. We should probably ditch the wallet somewhere though, I am sure someone will find it and get it back to him... the only way it will cause problems is if you're actually caught with it in your hands..." He said.

"Well yeah I guess so, but I am keeping the money!" She said as she took the money out and tucked it into her pocket. 

"Well of course... just next time one of us goes to get drinks we'll toss it on the ground for someone to find." Said Kaeden as he finished his first beer. 

Lydia put the wallet and $5 on Kaeden's knee...

"Perfect, I need more... all done! Your turn!" Lydia said as she smiled and held up her two empty glasses, she seemed quite pleased with how this was going. 

Kaeden tucked the wallet and money in his pocket, finished his beer and then got up between innings to go ditch the wallet and get more drinks. As he approached the counter to get the beer he figured he would just drop it on the floor casually. However, he hadn't made it more than two steps away from the wallet when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir, you dropped your wallet." Said an elderly man as he handed Kaeden the wallet back and walked away.

Dammit, that didn't work. Damn people being nice and honest and shit... Kaeden thought to himself. Oh well, he would just drop it again on his way back to the seats. Kaeden paid for four more beers and headed back towards the seats trying to balance the wallet and the four drinks. Halfway down the steps he let the wallet slip out of his hand, perfect that was done. He got back to the seats and handed the drinks to Lydia before sitting back down.

"There we go! Four drinks and no more wallet!" He said feeling a little bit proud. 

Before Lydia could respond though Kaeden felt another tap on his shoulder and turned around. 

"Excuse me, sir, you dropped your wallet on the way back down to your seat." Said the lady in the seat behind him as she handed him the wallet over his shoulder. 

"Oh... thanks..." Kaden took the wallet and tossed it back on Lydia's lap.

"Guess you better hold onto MY wallet... seems I keep losing it..."