InsaneJournal

San Diego, CA, Shila, the OG boys and Jane... Closed.
Shila, Muerte and Bomb stood just outside the security screening on the way from Jane's gate to the baggage claim. Shila had been a bit upset that the hotel had made a mistake and booked them into a two-bedroom with one bed each room. She didn't let that show, however, as she waited for her client.

Jane was tired, there had been a family with screaming toddlers on the plane, and any hope of sleeping had gone right out of the window as they screamed for the entire flight almost. Jane was almost the last person off the plane, having not wanted to be part of the crush as people rushed to get out. However, she was looking for Shila as she came through security, and smiled a little when she spotted her. The smile faded though as she spotted the two men behind her, or were they waiting for someone else?

Shila stepped up with a grin for Jane. "Welcome to San Diego!" She looked over her shoulder to her two companions, Muerte first, as she introduced them to her. "Jane, this is Muerte, and this is ... heh. Not sayin'."

Bomb laughed. "Afraid the big bad airport security will get you?"

Shila shrugged. "Anyway, these two men will be our bodyguards while we're here. Let's get your bags and get to the hotel."

Jane looked up from her suddenly ridiculously short 5'4" and worried at her lower lip, "Um, a guy called death? I so hope that's not a sign of things to come?" She turned towards the baggage claim, hoping she'd be able to recognise the small suitcase that contained her new clothes, and that it hadn't gone missing. It was Jazz's suitcase after all. "Did, um, did he get the papers? Is it all going alright?"

"He got 'em. No way he can claim he di'nt," Bomb said with a laugh.

"Muerte's his street name," Shila said in explanation. "He's ... well, he was ... in a gang." Now he was semi-retired and moved on to bigger, better crimes. Shila walked alongside Jane, with the two OGs on either side of the women.

Jane walked a little closer to Shila, both guys were well over six feet, and obviously did a lot of working out. Fair enough, neither of them looked anything like John, but, she was still rather more nervous around bigger guys than perhaps she might have liked to be. The baggage claim however wasn't that far, and because she'd been so slow coming off the plane, mostly already collected. Almost immediately Jane spotted her little case, the bright blue and green ribbons tied around the handle made sure of that. She reached for the case, only to almost leap away from it as one of the men reached past her for it.

Shila winked to Jane. "I think he likes you." Bomb snickered.

"He's always had a way wit de ladies," he said of Muerte.

Muerte himself maintined a lofty silence as he carried Jane's bag in his left hand. "Bustah's got the car." He pulled out a cell phone and pressed a button. "Yeah, we're on our way out," then hung up. "He'll be ready when we get to the doors."

Jane blushed, and walked even closer to Shila, "There's another one?" She asked, feeling even more nervous if that was possible.

"There's four," Shila said in return. "One's at the hotel now, making sure no one gets into the room while we're gone. Muerte and Bom ... and this fine man here will be staying with us in the suite, the other two will only be with us while we're being driven to and from court."

"Ain't no one gonna get to you through us, lady," Muerte said gravely. "Don' matter how tough he thinks he is."

Jane blinked, several times, "Oh," was about all she could manage to start with, "Um, thank-you." She looked up at Shila, a somewhat confused look on her face. "I never expected, um, quite so much, but, I guess once I get used to them I might feel better?"

"Sure you will," Muerte answered. "We're just guys."

Shila said, "Ah, by the way. The room only has two beds - do you mind sharing? The guys will be in a separate room, but the suite only has two beds, both kings."

Jane blushed rather suddenly, her eyes widening, "Er, I um, I don't know." She worried briefly about it, and then had to push it aside as they came out of the terminal into the late evening. "I'd forgotten how warm it can be here, even in late winter."

"If it's a problem, I can ask again if they have a roll-away," Shila offered. Muerte looked on, a little crease on his forehead as he processed this. Shila had seemed to enjoy their night together ...

Jane was rather more concerned that if she had nightmares she might accidentally thump Shila or elbow her in the face or something, she hadn't slept well the night before, and it probably showed, but, she really needed to be able to sleep properly before going into court, and she didn't think she could do that if there was someone else in the bed. "Maybe I could just, um, sleep on a sofa or something? A spare mattress even on the floor?"

"That won't be necessary," Muerte said suddenly. "Bomb can sleep on the couch, and Shila can sleep with me." Shila had the grace to look embarassed first, before looking around to see if any TSA were converging on them as they walked to the waiting black SUV with all the trimmings.

Jane blinked in surprise and turned to look at Shila with one eyebrow raised. "I um, well, I don't know, but, if that's what you want? Then, well, at least I won't panic and give you a black eye overnight. The last time I um, well, never mind." She blushed a fiery scarlet, visible even in the darkness of the evening, and then as someone opened the door climbed straight into the SUV as a means of escape.

Shila climbed in with her. In the driver's seat, Bustah turned and gave the two women a gold-toothed grin. "Ello," he greeted Jane as the other two gang members got in. The car pulled smoothly into traffic.

"You thrash around?" Shila asked conversationally to mask the silence.

"Something like that." Jane ducked her head, her hair hiding her face from the other occupants of the car. "I er, just don't want to risk it you know? Just in case. It probably wouldn't look good in court for a start."

She hadn't even tried to sleep with anyone since leaving John, but one guy had decided to try it for himself and she'd woken up in the motel bedroom with him sneaking into the bed. Half asleep she'd thought John had found her and broken the guy's nose with her elbow before she realised it wasn't him. Luckily, the local police hadn't wanted to press any charges, since the guy shouldn't have been there in the first place. She'd left town first thing in the morning though, and put plenty of miles between her and there before sleeping again.

Shila laughed softly. "It wouldn't be the first time I arrived in court with a shiner, but if you're more comfortable in a bed alone, can-do." Muerte, in the seat next to her, raised his eyebrows. Now he understood, he thought, why Shila took on Jane's case, even though the little woman was white.

"Thanks, I think that would be best? I mean, really, I'd hate to hurt anyone, least of all someone who's trying to help me." Jane looked out of the window as the car pulled away from a set of lights. It felt strange to be in San Diego, so far away from the Manor and everything she was trying to build there. "What time do we have to be at the courthouse in the morning?"

"Our appointment is at nine, so I'm figuring with four of us in the room, we'll get up about six ..." Shila based her opinion on how much time she knew she took, then multiplied it by three (each of the men counted as half a woman for time needed in the bath).

"OK, well, I can be up and ready in about ten minutes, so long as I can shower or bath tonight? I want to get the stench of screaming toddlers off me." Jane raised her head, pushing her hair behind one ear, and smiled a little, "I hope to god they're not on the plane going home. I might jump."

"We can ask the airline, and at least make sure you're well away from any that are on with you. So, okay. We can delay getting up until eight then." Shila nodded and the men looked relieved. "That will still give us time to get ready and eat downstairs before we head over to the courthouse."

The SUV pulled into an underground parking garage and stopped before the elevator doors. "We're here," Bustah announced unnecessarily.

Jane barely looked at the garage, or the elevator as she climbed out of the car and stepped into it. It was sinking in that she was here, the divorce hearing was tomorrow, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be home, back in the Manor, in her tiny little apartment, with her shabby furniture and her small collection of books.... "I want my books. If he hasn't gotten rid of them, I left so many behind, they were like, my friends and I left them behind." A mountain of pain came with the words, and Jane was suddenly unsure that she could even walk into the same building, never mind the same room, and managing to look serene and confident? Miracles were what she needed for that to happen.

"We'll get them," Shila promised, "Give me a list of them if you can, and we'll be sure to include them. Even if he's sold them, we'll demand he repurchase copies and supply those."

Jane smiled a little sadly, "I'm not even sure if I remember all the ones I had, there were quite a few, some were hidden, some were old, some weren't so old." She stood in a corner, keeping out of the way, as the lift rose upwards, and worried slightly about all sorts of things. "I don't suppose there's an inventory of what is in the house?"

"We can get one, rest assured. We will get one, it's required when there's a split. How much money did he come into the marriage with?"

"I don't know, he was still at college, I'd just graduated high school," Jane frowned slightly, "I'm sure a copy of my parent's will has to be on record somewhere, he took all of that, said I should trust him to do the right things with the money. Apart from the trust fund, he couldn't get that."

"So he came into the marriage with debts. Good. Getting everything out of him will be so much easier ..." Shila smirked. It was not a nice smirk. It was a vicious, vengeful smirk. She wanted to punish him for everything every wife-abuser had ever done to any wife, anywhere, anywhen.

"Um, I don't know about debts as such, but, definitely not rich." The lift stopped at a floor, Jane didn't look to see which one, and the doors opened. Jane looked up from studying her shoes, but nobody seemed to be moving, and nobody got in the elevator.

Bomb leaned out of the elevator, looked both ways, then leaned back in and pushed the "close" button.

Shila leaned over and gave Jane a supportive one-armed hug. "We'll get you through this, Jane. I promise."

Jane had no real idea how, but she wanted to get through this, to be free of the fear, the hiding, and to be able to stay in the Manor, to have a home she could really call her own. She nodded, it was hard to trust, but Jazz had become a friend, and she hoped that others would do so as well. You had to start somewhere right? The lift moved again, rising some more.

The elevator stopped again and the bodyguards left first, looking both directions before Shila moved to bring Jane out of the elevator. They walked quickly to the hotel room door. Bomb knocked before using his key to open the door. Tre was standing there, hands loose but a .45 in his waistband. He was small and wiry, not large like the others, but there was a deadly look to his eye and his face had a nasty scar from some long-ago fight.

Jane couldn't help the yawn that escaped her as they entered the hotel suite, but it turned into a bit of a gasp as she saw the man in the room, OK, so he wasn't big, but damn was he scary, it made the other three seem almost safe and she hung back a little, forgetting to watch where her suitcase went.

"Jane, this is Tre. He'll be watching the room whenever we're not here, just to be sure your husband doesn't try anything, and doesn't send friends to try anything."

As Shila talked, the gangers exchanged a bewildering flurry of handshake activities.

Jane looked up at Shila with wide eyes, "Not while we're here? I mean, oh I don't know what I mean." She shook her head slightly, it was still ringing from the screaming kids on the plane, and she was starting to feel considerably more stressed than she might have liked. "I think I just need a shower, and some sleep. Maybe something light to nibble on? And tea, definitely need tea."

She rubbed at her temples, and then the back of her neck, "I'm just not sure I'm up for all this stressing, I know I want the divorce, but, it does seem like a lot of hard work, for everyone."

"Nah," Muerte said. "This's easy. We just show up. Ain' nothin' to it." He carried her bag to the Master Bedroom and set it on the luggage stand.

"Go ahead and start your shower. I'll order tea brought up. What do you want to eat? A BLT?" Shila was guessing that qualified as 'light' ...

"Oh, just a ham sandwich will do, maybe a little salad?" In her flight bag was a box of muffins, she'd baked them Monday but they were still good, and there were quite a few of them left, even if she had eaten some on the plane. With a tired smile Jane headed after her suitcase, "Um, which room is mine again?"

"The one Muerte just carried your bag into. It has its own bathroom," Shila said from experience. "It'll be here after you finish your shower, I'll order it now."

Tre headed out the door without a word as Shila went to the phone to place Jane's order.

Jane disappeared into the room, and soon the sounds of the shower could be heard just faintly through the closed door. Normally Jane was very fast in and out of her showers, but tonight she let the water pound onto the back of her neck and her shoulders, feeling it slowly relaxing tense muscles.