Vegas AU

For the past three months, Juliette has been.... how to put it nicely.... bored out of her fucking mind.

When she wasn’t learning Spanish with Bisa (consisting of the old hag pointing at things and telling her the Spanish word before demanding she name it as they passed) she was allowed to roam the building freely, but as much as Veronica seemed to love her, she couldn’t constantly be with Juliette. Usually, she was doing paperwork or attending meetings that, as she claimed, were ‘extremely boring’. Hansel liked spending time with her as well, but the siren call of the handsome guard he’d met was much more alluring to him than listening to the ways Juliette had thought up of escape. 

“Nala is nice! Why don’t we give her a try?” He suggested when they’d been eating some takeout (approved by Bisa first, of course).

“Nala?” She’d set the fork back into the food that she had no appetite for, planning on returning to it later.

“Nala is Veronica’s nickname. Her sister used to call her Nala because she couldn’t say ‘Veronica.”

“Veronica has a sister?” 

“And a brother. They’re around here somewhere.” He said this brightly. “Her brother is friends with the nice security guard!”

“His name is Dallas, Hansel.”

“I know, I know.” He was still smiling. “I haven’t forgotten.”

Juliette set the to go box onto the table, frowning. She felt as if she’d heard this all before, specifically from Nala herself. 

Flashes of bright colored lights and a glass in her hand flooded her mind.

Nala and her had been talking for hours at that point, using a helpful app that Nala said was from Bisa. When she spoke, the words easily translated.

A hand had been wrapped around Nalas waist, and Juliette could feel an arm looped around her shoulders. 

“-Alex. And Rosie’s the little one.” The app had been translating. “I’ll protect them with my life.” 

Juliette had tightened her grip and offered an apology, but Nala had shaken her head, smiling down at Juliette. “I can protect you, too.”

The flashback had ended as Hansel shook her shoulder.

“Are you having another vision?” He was asking, seeming worried.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I just remembered Veronica telling me this before.” She mumbled, taking the drink she’d been given (again- had to be approved by Bisa. The process was annoying).

“Oh, good! That means River's potion-“

“Drug. She drugged me.”

“-is working! You’ll get to know why you fell in love soon!”

“I don’t think it’s love, Hansel, all things considered.” She stirred the straw in her drink quietly now, frowning as she thought it over. 

“Well I think there might be some form of love. Besides, it could be good for you!”

“Good for me?” Juliette was a bit stunned at that. “I’m doing fine already.”

“Maybe so, but I do notice that you’re usually bored. And whenever my sister called you into work late at night, you usually came in anyway.”

“Nobody is doing anything at midnight, Hansel.”

“Now don’t be silly. I know my sister and her wife are usually busy at night- Gretel tells me to leave them alone because they’re ‘doing something’.” 

He was still smiling, and while Juliette knew he understood what sex was, she wasn’t sure he understood the hints of when someone was trying to shoo somebody else away to have sex.

“I-“

Her next sentence was cut off as a few bodyguards came into the break room, chatting and seeming to enjoy their day. For a few brief moments, Hansel looked for the nice man that he’d met, becoming disappointed when Dallas couldn’t be spotted right away.

Juliette, in the other hand, spotted Dallas grabbing something from the company-issued fridge, and he soon set his to go box in front of the two. Hansel beamed. 

“Dallas!”

“In the flesh.” He returned the smile. Not as bright, but just as happy and content.

“Do you have any news today?” Hansel pushed his to go box to the side so he could rest his elbows on the table.

Despite there being a strict rule against it, nobody bothered Hansel due to his being new, and due to Bisas’ orders to leave the man alone (her claim is that he’d keep doing it anyway, but she was just too lazy to train yet another person manners).

“Well, according to the announcements board, there’s going to be a bowling night for certain bodyguards that made the cut for it.” He shrugged, twirling the noodles he had around his box and onto his fork. “Juliette over here is of course invited, but that might be because the mafia family is basically ordered to attend.

“So who’s going?” Hansel nudged Juliette, trying to get her more excited. She refused to.

“Well, Bisa, Of course. Then Alex, Veronica and Rosie, along with River and Juliette. Guards, on the other hand, will be me, Jeremiah, Jayden, Sage and Serenity. Oh, and Adi.”

“Oh, I’m surprised about Serenity. I thought she said she was going to spend some time at home.”

“She is. She is. But there’s something else not on the announcement board.” Dallas took a quick bite of his food, glancing at the others. Due to their new status of ‘scary bosses wife, scarier bosses new son, and new sons sweetheart', they were being given a wide berth. 

“You and Juliette are going on a shopping trip with Veronica.”

“Really?” Hansel perked up. “Whatever for?”

“According to Bisa, she doesn’t like your clothes. According to Veronica, she rather likes your clothes and wants to buy you more like it. As for Juliette, however, Veronica is basically ordering a new wardrobe.”

“What’s wrong with my suit?” She frowned, finally eating the rest of her food.

“Nothing. It’s just that it matches our own a bit too much for her liking.”

“Is it always about what she likes?” Juliette felt a twinge of annoyance.

“Considering ‘why she likes’ has prevented the both of you from certain death, and has gotten myself recruited in a similar manner, I assure you, what she likes is what you aim for. Get in her good side, you get into Bisas good graces.”

“Alright, so we get into their good graces. Then what.” 

“You go outside more? That’s the biggest thing. Right now, you two are on lockdown, and you’re barely allowed to hang out with the rest of the bodyguards. If you were to get into Bisas good graces, she’d give you more to do other than ‘sit and don’t touch shit’.”

“Does that mean I’d be able to go see my sister?” Hansel finished his own food as well, neatly laying everything into the box. 

“With heavy restrictions, but yes, basically.” Dallas checked his watch and put his own trash away. 

“Your guys’s best hope for getting onto the good graces of the family is to befriend River. If you can do that, you can do basically anything.”

As he went to leave, Hansel grabbed his sleeve, catching his attention. 

“Will we be able to meet somewhere later?” 

“My shift ends in four hours. We can meet near the break room again when I clock out.”

“Okay! I’ll see you then!” 

Dallas smiled before he, along with the other bodyguards, were ushered out of the break room and back to their posts. Juliette was left with a lovestruck Hansel, thinking everything over.

As much as she wanted to leave the mafias family eye, she wasn’t sure what she’d do after. 

Would she go home? She didn’t exactly have a home.... maybe she could go back to her old job? No, that wasn’t likely either, based on the way Bisa had told her she’d handled Hansels family trying to get him back.

Hansel finally, cheerfully, told her that he was going to go find Nala, and ask for advice on something he was working on.

“What’s she going to give you advice about? How to get your kids to drug strangers?” 

“You know Nala had no clue about what River was doing. But I’m going to ask her about how to make a poem! I want it to be perfect!”

“Why not ask Bisa?” Juliette raise a brow as she tossed her box at the trash. It missed, and she muttered as she went to go pick it up.

“Bisa told me that her poems ‘aren’t to my tastes’.”

With who Bisa was dating, not surprising.

“Alright, well, don’t get hurt, I suppose. Not much I can really guard you against anymore, is there?”

“I’ll see you later, Julie!”

She could barely even tell him to keep his voice down before he was gone, leaving her alone in the break room.

She sat down for another half hour, thinking over her prospects. All things considered, only one option was a good ending, but it was difficult to get to.

She sighed, standing up as she began to aim towards the ‘don’t get killed, get their favor’ option; she had to go find River.  

River was busy when Juliette first arrived. Hunched over a motorcycle that was obviously personalized, she was welding pieces here and there and replacing parts when Juliette had stumbled upon the garage after a near hour of searching.

It seems that River kept her whereabouts private, even with the other guards.

“Uh, hi?”

Startled, River nearly dropped her welding took, cursing a storm as she managed to safely get it turned off. 

As it cooled, she turned to glare at Juliette, raising her saftey mask as she came over. 

“What do you want? Moms upstairs.”

“I don’t want to talk to your mother, I want to talk to you.”

“Ohhh, bold words from someone who’s toeing the line with my great-great-grandma. Don’t let Mom hear ya, otherwise she’ll be really upset.” River turned away and went to a desk, which she shoved things off of and set about in working for a part. 

“Why are you giving me love advice, ms. I drug strangers.”

“I only drugged you because I thought you were gonna feel a bit tipsy, so I could record you and never see you again. I didn’t think you’d actually fall in love with my mom. Only then did I hope you’d die from the drug.” She pointed this out as if it were a helpful piece of advice. “So don’t even get mad at me. We’re both in positions we don’t want to be.”

“And how are you even affected by what you did?” Juliette picked up a tool as she spoke, River smacking it out of her hand as she passed by.

“Now Mom wants me getting along with you because you’re ‘family’.” She did airquotes around family. “So now I’m not allowed to keep testing on you as I wanted to.”

“So I was just supposed to be your guinea pig?”

River didn’t bat an eye. “Yes.”

“Wow, don’t I feel loved.”

“I’m sure you and mom shared a lot of love when I lost you two in the crowd, so you can’t even complain.”

Juliette huffed, remembering the way she’d woken up. She couldn’t exactly argue with River on that front.

“So why aren’t I allowed to roam free? Why can’t I go outside?” Her tone was accusatory.

“Because Mom is afraid you’ll pull a vanishing act on her, just like James did-“ Juliette remembered Bisa telling her how she’d killed James after his abuse came to light “-just like Gregory-“ the same story, but more violent and brutal on Bisas end “-just like Life’s betrayal. You think mom wants yet another person who she loves to decide they’re just gonna vanish? That they’ll just hook up with a family member and then leave her alone wondering what she did wrong? You’re funny. You wanna leave, you can go tell her all about it.”

River shoved something into Juliette’s hands, and pushed her to the door. “I suggest you get on Moms good side, because believe me, I wanna shove you into my melting pit. You aren’t gonna raise in my ranks by talking to me.”

“How did you-“

“Bug in the break room. Bye.”

She shut the door in Juliette’s face, the final sound of a lock sliding into place before the sound of the welder started up again.

Juliette glanced down at what had been shoved into her hands. A basket, full of chocolates, notecards, a weird coupon book, and a movie?

Juliette shrugged it off, going to find Nala as the time grew later and later. 

After multiple security guards snickering at her when they saw the basket and a few women giggling as they pointed in the direction of where Nala was, Juliette arrived at a bedroom.

She hasn’t wanted to arrive here- she was hoping Nala would still be out and about- but the time was nearly 11 pm, and there was a slim chance Nala would even be awake.

Juliette knocked at the door, expecting no one to answer.

Astonishingly, Nala did in fact answer. She didn’t open the door right away, but she partially opened it and stuck her head out. Her hair was wet and her eyes were half closed, so a good guess was that Nala was taking a shower before bed. 

A mumbled and tired-sounding ‘¿Qué quieres?’ (Spoken usually aggressively by Bisa whenever Juliette showed up at her door randomly- easiest sentence Juliette learned in Spanish) was spoken before Nala noticed that it was Juliette, and that Juliette had presents!

She brightly told Juliette to come in, but to give her a moment (Hansel was where she learned the bright and cheery ‘¡Pasa!’, and the ‘Dame un momento’ from the security guards when she went to ask if she could go out. She usually got a ‘no’ as an answer).

For a good minute, Juliette stood outside, before the door opened again. Now Nala was dressed, and her hair had been combed and braided. 

‘Come in’.

Nala headed back into her room, going to her bed and sitting on the edge. Despite being exhausted, she didn’t want to be rude, apparently.

“River dijome que trajera estos” Juliette wasn’t the best at Spanish yet, but the message seemed to get across to Nala. 

A brief thank you and Nala took the basket from Juliette’s arms, smiling and humming as she set the basket on her nightstand, taking some of the chocolate and offering a portion to Juliette.

‘¿Quieres verla conmigo?’ Nala held up the movie, her smile not wavering as Juliette stood in the middle of the room. 

‘... sure, why not’.