"A? Are you awake, A?" Jane whispered, slipping through the crack of the grandiose door to A's bedroom at the Heritage Hotel. There was no response. A had drawn the window curtains so that the early morning light wouldn't filter in, leaving the room in near total darkness, save for a small lamp near the bed. It illuminated a small portion of the bed, including A's body, through the lavender drapes. A breathed uneasily, and the state of her covers suggested severe physical unrest as well.

Jane slipped around to the opposite side of the half-canopy bed, moving like a ghost behind lavender curtains. Wearing nothing but one of her plain black shirts over plain undergarments, she still felt less exposed than A looked at that moment. It sent a few pangs of guilt through Jane, but she was certain she wouldn't wake A if A was asleep, and she took comfort in the fact that she knew A well enough to be certain. She parted a drape and slipped atop the bed carefully, slowly settling herself on her back with her head and shoulders lifted by a pile of pillows.

"A." She said quietly, listening close. She was rewarded with an equally quiet mumble.

Jane wasn't sure why she was doing this. She only knew that it had felt overwhelmingly oppressive in her enormous bed, alone with her thoughts. She wanted to talk, but A was obviously going to be asleep. It was confusing for Jane. She didn't know what she was doing. especially around A. She just did what felt natural because, well, it felt natural, and it felt good to be doing something that felt natural. She'd thought of A and her sleep talking, and... well, it seemed natural to sneak into her friend's room while she slept, crawl into bed with her, and whisper. Maybe it was only natural for someone as unnatural as her.

"...Jane..?" A mumbled. A rush of warmth spread through Jane's chest. A was thinking of her.

"A." Jane said. "Hi."

"...sleep..." A began to stir, but Jane reached out and touched A's shoulder gently, and A stilled once again. It was so easy to just reach out and press her fingers into A. For a brief moment, Jane wondered what it would be like without her gloves. Pressing her thumbprint into A's shoulder. She imagined it leaving a mark- her mark- and the thought made her toes curl. Unfamiliar feelings.

"Shhh." Jane lowered her voice. Like she did in Natchitoches, Jane let her hand squeeze A's shoulder. A relaxed. What was she here for? To... talk? Is that what she wanted?

Where do I begin? What am I supposed to say?

"I'm sorry." Jane said, her voice like a distant thunder. Almost inaudible, but still resonating. "For..." She sighed, voice caught. "Everything. " Words tumbled out slow but steady, and Jane watched herself, a bystander to a crack in a dam.

"You.. um. Amsterdam. Hans. All of this. My fault." Proper sentences were discarded in favor of a stream of thought. "Could have done this all alone. Couldn't have- should have- didn't want to leave you behind." Jane took a shaky breath. "Dragged you into this ...mess... control. Not a child. Stop babbling." A deep sigh. "I should have just stayed back and written in my journal as I've always done... but I wanted to be near you. It feels easy to be near you. Did you notice? When we were spinning and holding each other. I think... I think I drew you closer. Didn't look away. What does that mean? What does this mean? Why do you make everything so complicated for me?" Jane complained.

A was breathing easily now, a tiny smile on her face. Was Jane's mere presence comforting to A? There were just too many questions that Jane didn't know the answers to.

Jane's thoughts shifted. "I'm going to take something from here, you know." She said, matter-of-factly, like she imagined A would say it. "This place, it's... it's going to be a memory, isn't it? I'm going to need something to remember it by." She gave A's sleeping posture a sad grin. "Just a little theft."

"...dirty girl..." A mumbled, yawning.

What is she dreaming of this time? A con?

"You're not a dirty girl." Jane reassured her, her voice like cleansing raindrops. "You're.. very clean. The real you." Still a virgin. She was dirtier than her, Jane thought bitterly.

"...must not be flirting right..." A adjusted, her back flat and her head sinking into a pillow.

She mentioned Amsterdam was one of her first big jobs with Han. He must have taught her everything she knows.. well, not everything. Hans knows nothing of A's natural charm, and- and her natural allure.

Jane's face flushed so hard that she pressed her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to cool them down. The lamp providing the only light in the room began to flicker.

"...easy, Jane, you're going to explode my night light." A muttered.

The light surged, then popped.

She's awake?!

"And there it goes.." A sighed. "It's okay, still proud of you."

"You- A- how long have you been awake?"

"I was only sort of asleep when you slid into my bed." A responded quietly.

"You.. you heard everything?"

"...most of were very quiet. If I had actually been asleep I don't think you would have woken me." A smiled a crooked grin. "You're quite considerate for a bed-sneak."

"I-I-I'm sorry, I can-" The distant ceiling light began to pulse.

"Jane." A reached out and took Jane's gloved hand, resting her hand atop. The light stopped pulsating immediately. A rustled around for something and tapped a button- her little phone lit up, its small glowing ambiance enough for the two to see each other. "It's okay. kind of weird, but I'm okay with it."

"Like me?"

"Like you. It's okay to be nervous. We're not in Kansas anymore."

"You mean Louisiana- oh, The Wizard of Oz. Um."

Make a reference.

"This isn't Emerald City, though." Jane said.

"Far from it." A responded. "Lots of dancing, though. A few munchkins. Plenty of locked doors and men behind curtains." A sighed. "And the wizard is a sick son of a..." She mumbled the rest of her expletive.

There was silence for a few minutes. It felt uncomfortable at first, but as A said nothing, and nothing happened, the silence became more and more comfortable. Jane almost felt like she could fall asleep here.

"I, um... I should get back to my own bed." Jane said, stirring.

"Aw, you don't hafta..." A mumbled. "But yeah, go ahead."

Jane began to shift herself off the bed, but A's hand suddenly turned firm on Jane's, stopping her. "Wait. You don't have to be sorry for anything. Okay? We're cool."

"... I'm sorry I implied you were a.. back in St. John's. Before I knew you were a.." Jane let the sentence drift.

A let out a wry chuckle. "You really do care, don't you?" She mumbled, more to herself than Jane.

"Apathy is the worst sin." Jane responded. "And, around you, I can't... not." She wrung her hands and tried to find something else to look at in the dark, but couldn't. So she looked at A, who was leaning up with an expression that Jane couldn't read, but it was soft, like pillows and holding hands and bed time conversations.

"Jane, it's okay. We're cool. Okay? We're cool. Come here." A pulled Jane down to her face. Jane obliged, and was rewarded with the sensation of a puckered muscle pressing lightly to her cheek. The ceiling light did not even flicker.

"Bed-time kiss." A explained. "Go sleep."

Jane laid there for a moment, considering, considering, and then decided she was too tired to consider anything else tonight. At least her nighttime trip fulfilled its purpose- she could finally drift off to sleep without thoughts keeping her awake. They were all gone now, cast out into the darkness, where A and Jane weren't.

"..Good night, A." Jane said, her voice hardly audible.

"Good night, Jane. Have a good night's snaaaaaaaaugh..."

Though Amsterdam loomed ahead, the two thieves stole a few hours of undisturbed rest from the morning.