Some people say I'm heartless;

“You wouldn’t want this.” Sadie all at once felt defensive over her small trinkets of jewelry. While she wouldn’t pretend to love every last one of them, she had no desire to see other girls wear them. After a moment, she realized how shallow that actually was, but it was hard to push past that. “You can borrow the dress though.” 

Gigi took in the way she pulled away at the comment, and gave a simple. “Okay.” If anyone could understand the desire to not want to see your friends in your things, it was her. The second her parents died, the vultures started to circle like the evil stepsisters tearing apart Cinderella’s dress. The first time she’d seen one of her ex acquaintances with a handbag of hers, she’d had a fit. 

“That can’t be all you’ll pay me for it.” Sadie frowned deeply as she began to pace back and forth. She had never worried for much of anything since she had lived with Monique, her aunt had always provided, but given everything that had happened recently, Sadie believed now was the best time to start looking out for herself. 

“Depends on what your selling.” Gigi wrapped an arm around the younger’s neck, as she looked between her and whomever she was talking too. She couldn’t be sure what she’d walked in on, but if there was even a chance of what she thought it was. She wasn’t about to let Sadie barter the price. One thing remained constant from her time on the streets to her time at the Lagoon. Georgia fucking Housten never sold herself for less. “If it’s that spring dress you had on last week I want it.”

“So nothing you need me to take care of?” His tone implied he was joking but his words were framed with the promise of a threat. It was well known throughout the Lagoon that if you upset the girls then you dealt with his Rogers not long after. For Gigi, he made sure to see to it personally. 

Her smile couldn’t stop itself from growing at the joke, and the gesture behind it. She knew how serious things like that were to him, seen how he could react when people stepped out of line over the years. James didn’t do empty threats, now everyone in Neverland knew it too. “If I had you go after every man who was generous but was ultimately underwhelming, you’d never have time for a drink.” 

“Bad date?” Hook quipped, settling into the seat beside her. He didn’t need to specify his drink order at the Lagoon, frequency meaning he could just wave a hand and the bartender knew his regular. Whiskey, neat, from the highest shelf and lacking the little pink umbrella her drink was being decorated with. 

“It can’t compare to the company I have now.” Gigi greeted sending a welcoming smile his way. The words holding the same genuine warmth they always did. She accepted her drink without shame, sweet and fruity might not have been the most mature of choices but she liked taste enough not to care. Plus, the umbrella always ended up being a cute accessory sitting behind her ear. “But it was alright.”

“Drinking alone?“ Hayden asked curiously, it was a strange sight to behold. Gigi was one of the most popular mermaids in Neverland, where ever she went a trail of gawking men seemed to follow, even when she wasn’t on the clock at The Lagoon. “Is nobody here worth your time tonight?“ He smiled at her, pulling up a stool at the bar and ordering himself a drink— something strong and something that definitely wasn’t fruity.

“If the seat was full, where would you have sat?” Gigi simpered, the smooth turnaround coming complete with a small shrug. Gigi was fine drinking alone even if she didn’t prefer it. It was lonely at the top, something she told herself over and over to make the distance between when she was around people and when she wasn’t seem shorter. 

“I’m not a target.” Emmett prided himself on his intelligence, and the smart next move would not be coming after the rest of the Blackwells. Felicity was perhaps the only one remaining who exerted some importance, but not enough. Dante was the emotional blow to George, the fact that it had devastated the rest of them didn’t factor much. 

“I came back to our loft.” It was a small gesture, the only kind he could give, to extend the small bit of trust that was still left in him. He and Gigi had always played a similar game with people to keep them at arm’s length and it generally did not involve trust, but perhaps it was time. 

Gigi thought back to Hallie’s words about how they were suppose to stay close to home until things died down. But the second he mentions the loft, she wants to go. It’s not smart, considering everything that wa going on. But she wants to be there for him, it’s not a feeling she comes across too often. “If you need anything, I’m here. I know it’s the most cliche thing to say to someone in this situation but it’s true.”

“No, I’m not.” Emmett wouldn’t say where they were, but it was probably obvious enough where the safest place for them would be at the moment. 

“Are you safe?” Her vague question kept inline with his vague answer. Considering the the questioned he’d asked before she understood why this was better for everyone. 

“Thank you.” Emmett didn’t know what else to say, honestly. This had never been a situation he prepared himself for. His father stood like an indestructible monument while Emmett had assumed that he would die like a slowly burning candle while the rest stood firm. 

“I just need to ensure Renee and my mother will be alright. The loss has hit them hard.” 

“I can imagine,” Gigi remembered all the photos in his hallway. and stopped herself from picturing them without the patriarch. “Are you with them now? Should I...” The question drops off before she has a chance to find out where it was going. 

“The irony is, the first person to tell me to suck it up would have been him.” Emmett took a seat on the ground if only to stop himself from continuing to pace back and forth. “Then he dies playing dad to the group he wished Renee and I had more in common with.” 

“If you need someone to fill in, I’m available for most sucking up needs.” She tries to joke lightly, only to sigh and set herself down on her couch. She’s got no love for the Lost Boys, but she does have some idea what it’s like to be the unfavourite. “I’m sorry that you're going through this.” 

“Why? You didn’t kill him.” Emmett exhaled a deep breath as he paced the hallway. He had stayed strong for his mother and sister but talking about Dante threw his emotions into confusion of how he was supposed to react when the man he had equal parts resented and loved was killed. 

“I know how much it sucks losing a parent you have mixed feelings about.” She had told her mother she hated her, and meant it. Pretty sure the feeling as at least a little mutual as well. But she was still her mother. And then she died, and wasn’t everyone suppose become perfect in death? Or so the eulogy’s say. 

Emmett picked up after the second ring, staring at the empty hallways of the apartment his family had vacated to be safe in the penthouse. His eyes soon found a picture of Dante, arm around a man who he had never asked about. Now he assumed it was the man who he shared the place of his death with. 

“Did you know this was going to happen?” His voice was dull, no accusation, simply a question from a man who saw no reason why a lie would need to continue between them. 

“No,” Gigi answered honestly, not bothering doesn’t patronize him with “if I had I would ofs”. There was nothing she could have done to prevent the death of any Lost Boy, and at the end of the day that’s what Dante was in the eyes of the Rogers. “I’m sorry.”

Gigi sat in her room at the grotto, door locked and do not disturb sign hanging from the nob. Not that it really stopped anyone before but she’d hoped everyone would be too busy to care about what she was doing. It wasn’t going to be hard, she was just going to call, it was going to go to voicemail and it would be done. There no way his phone was on, or that he’d pick it up with everything going on. So she dials the number, and goes over what she was about to say one more time. 

Hallie frowned at Gigi’s question, unsure if she was really meant to answer. “When a tragedy happens, you want to hear from people who are close to you. It seems like you two are close.” 

“I’ll call.” She decided, glancing down toward her bag wondering what the hell she was going to say. Gigi glanced back at Hallie. “Thanks.” 

“Well, not to step out of bounds, but you might want to give him a call.” Hallie didn’t know what the Blackwell boy was to Gigi, but she could tell in her expression that there was something that went beyond how Gigi treated clients. 

“Would you want to hear from me after your father just died?” It was a vulnerable question, she’d left herself open for attack. The mermaids would be the first to tell you exactly everything wrong with Gigi. They had witnessed every rough edge and cutting remark. Not exactly the prime source of comfort or compassion. 

“One or two Lost Boys were injured.” Hallie hadn’t gotten the chance to verify the facts yet, but from the sounds of things it had been Dante who sustained the worst of things. 

“His son is the one who drops by occasionally, isn’t he? I’m sorry, Gigi, did you know him well?” 

“Yeah,” She doesn’t try to dodge the fact he was here, there was no point in it. But it’s the next question that has her pausing again. He’s my...Now was definitely not the time to be trying to figure it out, let alone explain it to anyone else. “I know him.” Knew him? 

“Dante Blackwell was killed in an explosion.” Hallie raised her eyebrows at Gigi, surprised she wasn’t tuned into this piece of information. “We’re meant to stay close to home until the aggravation dies down.” 

It was the moment Georgia knew she had a heart, if only because she could feel it slither from her casam of a chest into the pit of her something and ball up like a python. She knew nothing good would come from seeing them on this side of the border. She knew something could come of it, but not this. Her expression dropped to a full stop, frozen in a state of pause.