"Well Mr. Rum, we don't have any pest control positions here." A smirk crosses my face as I say that, causing Red to slightly chuckle.

"I'm kidding of course Mr. Rum, I have a pest control position... just not with bugs! I'm sure you don't have a problem with that?. I have read about your ancestors, and if you have even a fraction of their talent then we will get along great."

Kate walked through the lobby, the heels of her boots thumping on the shining floors. Mercedes_Kompressor was trailing slightly behind her. They entered the elevator and Kate waited for the doors to close before unbuttoning the top button of her white shirt and pulling out the key on the chain around her neck. Leaning forward, she turned the key and hit the button for the twelfth floor: her private floor.

Standing straight, Kate dropped the key back down her shirt and grinned at Mercedes- although she left the button undone.

The first thing that Kate and Mercedes saw when the doors opened was a huge man with his arms crossed standing on the opposite wall. The angry scowl on his face faded as he saw Kate and his hand returned to his side.

"Mercedes, Jack. Jack, Mercedes. He's my new bodyguard."

The man nodded once in Mercedes direction before returning to his duties. Kate led Mercedes down the long hallway in front of them and pushed through two large wooden doors. It opened onto a large room.

The first thing one noticed when they entered the room was the view. The walls in front of them when they walked in were dominated by huge windows that looked out at the city of Detroit. It was a breathtaking view, due in no small part to the fact that they were on the twelfth floor. Cars and people were visible milling around Downtown far below as the busy city went about its business. Off to the side, they could see the Detroit river connecting to Lake St. Clair, a wide body of water stretching into the distance. In this large open room, to the right when you walked in, there were a couple leather couches and chairs facing a fireplace on the far right wall. To the left was a small kitchen and a table with chairs. A grand piano rested in the center. 

The master bedroom, Kate's room- which included a private bathroom, was off to the left behind the kitchen. Two other bedrooms, as well as bathroom more easily accessible from the living room/kitchen, were on the right on the side with the fireplace.

Kate shrugged off her coat, tossing it on the back of one of her chairs.

"Well, this is the place. Not that I've been able to spend too much time here."

The penthouse was beautiful, but the view was incredible. Mercedes walked forward and stood in front of the windows, gazing at the view before her. City lights were starting to appear here and there as dusk settled in. In just moments, the view would look like a nighttime sky...darkness with pinpoints of light scattered around.

Shrugging out of her coat, Mercedes responds.

"That's a damn shame. I don't think I'd ever leave," she says, absorbing the view. She wasn't positive but she believes she can see the distillery from here, her own humble quarters within it.

"Well Mr. Rum, I look forward to working with you. You must excuse me however as I have a few other people to see today. But please stop in later".

Mr. Rum very respectfully leaves me to my work. I phone the front desk and ask Linda to please call KateLogan's penthouse, to see if I would be able to stop by twelfth floor.

It had been awhile since me and Ms. Logan had a conversation. I waited in my office until I received an invitation.

Private Residence: 12th Floor

Kate was about to reply to Mercedes when the phone rang. Picking it up, she heard Noto's voice.

"Noto , good to hear from you. I actually think I've got a particular matter that needs your attention later. I'll send you a message first thing tomorrow morning.... absolutely."

Hanging up the phone, Kate smiled as she caught sight of Mercedes standing in front of the windows. The quickly darkening evening caused individual lights to flash to life all over the city like fireflies. 

"I haven't been here too much. I've been too busy to enjoy it. I've been too busy for a lot of things, actually."

With a sigh, she crossed her arms.

"Want a drink? Or are you good?"

Private Residence: 12th Floor

"I'm good, thanks. Any more alcohol and I won't make it home," she says. Realizing that could be construed in multiple ways, she attempts to recover.

"I may not find my way back home in the dark. I've not been on this side of town much. It's very nice," she says, continuing to gaze out at the scenery.

"I hear talk that folks are interested in rebuilding the marketplace and theater district. Lots of money coming into the city..." she murmurs, thinking aloud.

Private Residence: 12th Floor

Kate nods, walking across the room and stacking three logs in the fireplace. Kneeling, she spreads some more easily flammable material in between them and tosses a match amdist it. Over the next few minutes, the fire will build from giving off a small wisp of smoke to steadily burning and warming the room.

Kate unbuckled her gunbelt and placed it on the ground near the chair as she slid into one of a pair of leather chairs facing the fire. She is tempted to remove her boots as well- but decides for now it's better to leave them on.

"Aye. Lots of money coming in- and I'm hoping our organizations will get their share. But I didn't ask you here to talk about business, Mercedes. I wanted to talk about us. We kind of left things... hanging. At the bar."

Kate leaned back in her chair.

"I mean, we talked about seducing a congressman- which I'm still very much up for, by the way. And maybe that's business we could talk about after this other stuff. But we'd also planned to sit down and talk about you and me, before the world went to hell."

Mercedes laughed. That was Kate...direct and to the point.

"Okay," she says, taking a seat in the chair next to Kate's. 

"I'm not sure what there is to say, though. This situation is...complicated."

Mercedes now wishes she had taken the offer of a drink. Her hands have picked up that annoying tremor again so she shoves them under her legs and stares at the fire growing in the fireplace.

Private Residence: 12th Floor

Kate leaned forward, resting her forearms on the thighs of her grey pants and nervously stretched out her fingers before clenching them, popping her knuckles. She took a deep breath, blinking, before speaking. This wasn't the type of conversation she'd often had. She decided to just be honest.

"So, I feel kind of nervous right now. Talking to you like this. I don't really get nervous much anymore... this just isn't the kind of conversation I usually have. Normally, my "relationships" are... well they're simple.

Kate leaned back, not making eye contact with Mercedes, wondering how the other woman would feel about her on the other end of this conversation. The thought disturbed her, so she pushed it down. But she was scared. So she just unloaded.

Look. Here's how it's been for me my whole life. I find someone I'm attracted to, some  I fuck their brains out, and then I move on. When I was bouncing around the country, it was easy. And Detroit's a big city. I didn't even have a home here when I started working for Gato. I'd just find some hot piece of ass and have her invite me home. Or talk my way into some hot shit's pants- and his apartment, for a night or two. It was safer at first. I figured if I didn't have an address, it'd be harder to find me and gun me down. And the variety... keeps life exciting, you know?

She sighs, looking up at Mercedes for the first time.

"But I care about you, Mercedes. That's what makes this hard for me. I've cared about people in the past, but not like this. You're beautiful, but you're also a sensitive soul. You care about people in a way that most don't- or ever will. I've never really met someone like you before.

But you know how our world is.

Even if society would let us be together, I'm not sure my job would. My body is a weapon, Mercedes. A tool. It opens doors and pulls ears just a little bit closer to me. It's an asset- and one that could be lost or diminished if if I commit myself to anyone.

... but I want to have this conversation with you, and I'm willing to hear from you. So I'm asking you two questions and I'd ask that you're entirely honest with me.

In a dream world where you got to decide how everything gets to be, what would our relationship be?

And, in our real world... what are some options for us being a part of each other's lives: what's the most you hope to realistic see? And what's the barest minimum you could live with?

She reaches out and takes Mercedes hand- and Kate doesn't react as it trembles; instead, she places her other hand on top of it, waiting for Mercedes to respond.

Mercedes squeezes Kate's hand and tries to gather her thoughts. There is was, all laid out on the table. She didn't want to have this conversation. But she owed Kate a thoughtful response.

"Dream world? You mean, like what normal people call normal lives?" she laughs at her own poor attempt at levity.

"I'd want what other people want. Romance. Love. Committment..." she trails off, knowing full well how silly this sounded. She wonders now if Kate had any idea whatsoever of just how deeply she'd fallen.

"And really, that's what I'd like in the 'real' world, too. I'm not delusional," she adds, chuckling. "There will never be picket fences, marriage, kids..." She trails off again, then inhales sharply as she looks Kate in the eyes. 

"Your heart. That's what I want. And whatever time you can spare," she says with a small smile.

Kate looks down at Mercedes' hand.

"I know this is hard to talk about. Not precisely what I want to be doing at this moment, either. But I wanted to hammer this out, because I don't want to see you get hurt."

Kate looks into the fire.

"I'll give you my heart. You... you already have it. At least a part of it. That's why I'm having this conversation. If I didn't care about your feelings, we'd be in bed, and I wouldn't be worried about hurting you.

And I'll give you all the time I can.

I just don't know if I can commit to you- not like you might want."

Kate dropped Mercedes's hand and started pacing in front of the fire. Her white buttoned shirt had become untucked. 

"It's not that I don't want to commit to you. It's that I've never broken a promise in my life, and I don't know where my road is going to lead me. I don't know if I'm going to need to flirt with someone or seduce them or fuck them to help Detroit. I don't know if I can stop flirting with everyone I meet because I've been doing it for a decade and I don't know if I can do anything else, or who the hell I am if I can't-

Her voice had been rising, frustrated, to nearly a shout- but it died and she closed her eyes for a moment. Kate walked back to Mercedes and knelt in front of her, between her legs.

"I care about you, Mercedes. I... love you. Right now, I want you. Just you. But I just don't know if I can promise you everything you want. Is what I'm offering enough?"

Mercedes places her hands on Kate's face. Her eyes are trying to tear up but she can't allow any emotional, frivolous outbursts to get in the way of what she needs to say. What Kate needs to hear, and understand.

"Kate. I'm far from traditional, and nowhere near Puritanical. I didn't ask you to forsake all others. You said it yourself, your body is a tool. I expect you'd use it to your advantage, hell, it's nearly a prerequisite in a life like ours...and even more so in a position like yours. 

"You need to do what Don Logan needs to do for her family, and for Detroit. If that means flirting with or fucking people, I get that. But your heart isn't involved, is it? Are you in love with anyone else? What I'm asking for is that piece of you that no one else gets."

A tear slips down and she quickly swipes it away. 

"Give me the woman I saw tonight, who let her guard down and let herself BE herself, if only for a few minutes at a time."

Leaning forward, she rests her forehead against Kate's. 

"You had my heart the day you walked into Dirty D's. I never believed in love at first sight. But there it is. It happened, I'm in love with you, I can't get past it," she says in a rush. Realizing how intense the conversation has gotten, she makes another attempt at levity.

"Also, let's not take fucking off the table, here. That needs to be part of the deal," she says, smirking.

Kate looks up into Mercedes' eyes, resting her cheeks against Mercedes' hands.

"There's people I like, people I see around, but there's no one else like you. I just... I never even really dated. I have no fucking idea what I'm doing here. But I promise you're special, and that if anything ever changes you'll be the first one to know."

Kate bites her lower lip as her forehead touches Mercedes'. Her voice was a whisper.

"So... we're on the same page... we're... cool?"

Goddamn it. There had to be a better way to phrase that. But her brain wasn't working.

Smiling, Mercedes tucks a loose strand of hair behind Kate's ear. In an act of rebellion, it bounces free again.

"Yes, we're cool. I should probably go home," she says.

And then, in direct opposition to what she's just said, she leans closer and gently places a kiss on Kate's lips.

Kate softly kisses Mercedes for a moment. Like a first kiss between teenagers: gentle, sweet, and quickly over. Mercedes leans back in her chair, seemingly content. Kate looks up at her for a few moments and they share a smile. Then Kate propels herself up and onto the chair with Mercedes, desperately kissing her. Kate straddles her and traces a line of kisses from her mouth to her neck.

They make their way from the chair to the rug near the fireplace, and eventually to the bedroom. They fall asleep an hour later, exhausted and content, as the lights of Detroit shine dimly through the bedroom window.

Late the next morning, Kate awakens to find a pink rose laying on the pillow next to her. Underneath the rose is a note.

I'll be at the Russian Banya this evening, if you've got the time and inclination. If not, we'll catch up to each other sooner or later, I'm sure. 

I'm hoping for sooner. In the meantime, take care of yourself, Katie.

With love,

-M

it was getting late and my feet were starting to getc tired from all of the walking around Detroit I was doing. 

I was only here for a short time but I was told of I ever stepped foot in Detroit to check out the famous paragon tower.

so why not since I'm here I should make the best of it. 

I walk up to the tower that reached the sky over looking all the details in the building.

walking through the doors and just admiring the architecture I'm of the most beautiful place I've seen in a long while.

"Hello, I would like a room please for 2 nights. maybe something with a great view?"

I smile while looking at the clerk. 

The receptionist looked up as Jezebel- walked through the doors.

"Welcome to Paragon Towers, ma'am. Let me take a look." The receptionist went over to a binder and began flipping through it before she turned and looked at some keys.

"So, we have the standard guest rooms for $45.00 a night, guest suites for $55.00, executive suites for $75.00, and presidential suites for $135.00. Room service is available in all rooms, and a complimentary thirty minute massage comes with the executive suite if you so wish, an hour for the presidential suites. The masseuse parlors are located on the sixth, and eighth floors. There is a beautiful skyline if you book one of the suites. Also, if on the right side of the hotel, you can see the Detroit river and even across into Canada."

The receptionist smiled with the most inviting, warm smile you could imagine. "We have rooms available in all price ranges. How would you like your stay?"