Not Until We Are Lost

The Duchess was a pretty okay place to work. The crowd was pretty steady from about noon onward. The only ones who came in before that were the hardcore drunks. They usually sat by themselves and didn't bother anybody. They always paid their tab. They always left before the lunch crowd trickled in.

The bar served minimal food. Cold sandwiches and some hors d'oeuvre for those who felt the need. The lunch and early afternoon crowd tended to be more along the lines of the business folk. People taking meetings not in their offices, or taking clients out to soften them up for something. They weren't generally rowdy, and tipped well. They liked to show off, and part of that showing off was to know the bartender, so they were especially generous to Johnny. Or at least in front of the clients. Sometimes he saw them and they were alone, and they forgot his name or didn't leave much.

It was the night crowd that was truly diverse. It was a mixture of everything. Business men, those there with friends, the heavy drinkers. But as the night wore on, it filtered down to the rough ones. The bad drinkers, the fighters, the ones who wouldn't respect Mary or the other girls just on the basis of their gender. These were the ones Johnny really watched carefully.

He'd even taken to packing one of his guns at the small of his back, just to be sure. He knew that Mary carried hers, and that made him feel better. He just constantly found himself hoping the ones that groped never went for that leg.

Who knows what kind of commotion there would be if that was discovered.

At first it had been difficult to be accepting of the kinds of tips that they got. A couple of pennies here and there, a nickel sometimes, occasionally even a dime, quarters were rare, mostly coming from the businessmen looking to impress. But he and Mary eventually realized what time they were stuck in and the kinds of things that could be bought for a penny, so they stopped being so annoyed by it. Johnny found himself feeling like a rich man on the occasions that a fifty cent piece found its way to him, and astonished when he saw a full dollar left on the bar.

Johnny turned all his tips over to Mary at the end of the night, so that she could go buy what they needed to get. She fought with him that he could do his own damned shopping, right up until he reminded her of the times and how absurd it would look for him to be wandering around a grocery store. She also went clothes shopping for him, though she wasn't allowed in the men's suit stores. That he had to do himself.

She picked up sheets and towels and other items that were needed around the small apartment, food, and what medical supplies she could just to have them around. She got him what clothes she could, while he got the rest.

Harry liked them both. He would stay and chat with the pair for a while as they opened the bar, and kept saying that they all needed to get together and have dinner one night. He even gave Johnny the go ahead to look out for another bartender. Not giving him the power to hire, just the power to choose. It was a little scary how easily Johnny and Mary slid into the life.

He was starting a new day, Harry had just left, when he glanced up at the opening door, trying to see who was coming in right now.

"We're not quite open yet. You can sit at a table and wait if you'd like, just know that if you try anything stupid, I've got full permission to kick your ass." He said it a bit offhandedly. He wasn't even looking up anymore.