The Sequel. The Little Rose.

Chapter Nineteen. A Criminal Mind.

By Friday everyone was finally away from Ashley Waters. Sang sat with Xavier next to her on the floor at Victor's house and thought over the last few days. Mr Blackbourne had been most insistant she not return to school. Things had been in an uproar for a day and a half Kota had told her the night before, when she had finally arrived at Nathan's place with Silas and North.

They had managed to wipe all trace of her from the school records and Luke and he and gone in the first night and removed any possible evidence from the Principal's office, before they had all gone through the school and taken back all their surveillance cameras last night. It had taken all seven of them over four hours to remove any trace of their handiwork.

Sang thought everyone would believe she was Academy and not ask any further questions about her, and she was sure her sister would not say anything as her disinterest in her was absolute. At times she felt a little sad about that, but she knew the boys were right and she had accepted in her mind that Marie had to want help and hated her to the extent that she would cut her arm off before coming to her.

Deciding not to worry about the past Sang tried to decide whether to read the letter from her Grampa or open the box and investigate further. She knew no one would be back for several hours. They were all at an Academy meeting. Graduating. Sang had wanted to be there for them, but they had explained that it wasn't an actual ceremony that day, but a simple formality. The other may come later.

It wasn't stopping them celebrating that night though. They planned to take over the diner and crank up the jukebox. Sang giggled softly at the thought of Mr Blackbourne cutting loose as Luke called it when he was telling her the plan.

Tucking Xavier in under her chin Sang pondered a comment Silas had made the other night about collecting her books. It wasn't practical for everyone to go, so she wondered who would be able to drive all that way with her. Thinking hard she suddenly got up and wandered into the office and got busy.

A few hours later all the boys returned with lighthearted looks on their faces and bags of Chinese food. Victor and Kota promptly snagged seats on either side of Sang on the lounge.

"Hungry Sweetie?" Kota asked happily. He hadn't felt so relaxed since before they had started the job at Ashley Waters and it had all paid off. Everyone had graduated from the Academy. Every single one of them. Even with all the favours they had used adopting Sang and keeping everyone safe and well. It didn't get any better than this.

Victor exchanged smiles with him and looked down at the paper in Sang's hand. "Have you been investigating your Sunstone Chest, Princess?" he asked softly looking at her as his eyes sparked.

"Sort of Victor," Sang smiled happily. "I was just about to read the letter Grampa sent me. But I can do it after lunch," she shrugged as they grabbed a hand each and walked over to the conference table with her.

Half way through the meal Mr Blackbourne finally spoke up. "Miss Sorenson. With your permission some of the boys would like to go with you to Illinois to retrieve your books next week. We know how much they meant to you and it would be our pleasure to do this for you."

"I know you don't like others doing things for you, but this isn't a gift as such, merely a retrieval of your personal property. Would this be acceptable to you? We're not just talking about your books, but also your radio. If it's still there I think we could easily remove it. I realise not all of us can accompany you, but at least 3 or 4 should."

"Um. Are we talking a little B and E here, Mr. Blackbourne?" Sang asked thinking hard. "I'm okay if it is. Because technically that radio is attached to the house which makes it a chattel. But I would really like it back, and I can't see anyone handing it over if we knocked on the door. Or are you talking about Mr. Mullany and my books?"

"Mr Mullany is still there and active, Princess." Victor spoke hesitantly.

Sang turned and looked at him carefully. "Victor, have you been hacking into Government departments?"

"No, Princess. Not at all." Seeing Sang's raised eyebrow Victor confessed "Mr Mullany's bank account, Princess." He shrugged. "We needed to see if he was still around."

Sang laughed out loud. "Really! That's so cool. Illegal, but cool. You'll have to show me what you did."

Noticing everyone staring at her in shock, "Well it is." Sang said, looking at Kota as his eyebrows rose even higher.

Sang shrugged and looked at North. "North, can I drive your truck on the way to Illinois, please?" she asked sweetly.

North just blinked. "No Sang baby, I'm sorry, you can't. You don't have a licence." he finished, thinking he had dodged a bullet nicely, only to choke a little when Sang spoke up.

"Yes, I do." She declared. "I made one today while you guys were out."

"How?" Victor asked. "The laminator was broken."

"I know. I fixed it. Then I borrowed some of your stuff, made a licence and sorted it all out with the DMV on your laptop. Do you want to see it?" Sang announced happily as Sean put a hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter. His Pookie was certainly going to keep them on their toes. She didn't miss a trick.

"Miss Sorenson, do you realise you're displaying an alarming predilection towards suspicious behaviour today?" Mr Blackbourne murmured, looking at her with fascination.

"What do you mean?"

"He means, Pookie, that you're showing all the signs of a criminal mind. A brilliant one, but, yeah, definite criminal tendencies." Sean grinned. He loved this unexpected side of her personality.

"You're not seriously going to tell me you guys never step outside the box when you're planning your missions. Because I know better."

"Nu uh. My turn." Sang said when several of the boys went to speak. "For starters, Luke and I did a little B and E job months ago. It may have been for the right reason but it was still illegal. Not to mention the fact that Victor knew exactly how to hack a total stranger's bank account. Again, for the right reasons. In this case to help me. Thanks for that Victor. It was really very kind of you." Sang paused. "You do all realise all I had to do was pick up a phone and ring him though, right? It was a little extreme of you." Sang paused again and then smirked "impressive though."

Sang wrinkled her nose and continued. "But, if you guys think I'm a little over the top today, I don't think you need to see the second disc left in the chest. Because I may not have broken any laws on that first film, but I really did on the second one."

Realising exactly what she had just said Sang hastened to make amends. "You don't have to worry guys. No one ever found out what I did then. Just like today. There's no way to trace that anyone was even inside the DMV computer system. You won't be arrested Victor. I promise." Sang whispered earnestly.

Kota sighed to himself and shot a look at North quickly. They were both in agreement. Keep calm and play it cool.

"It's okay, Sweetie." He smiled at Sang "We get it. You want to be able to drive. That's fair enough. Why didn't you tell us first though?"

"Oh, I mentioned it to Sean and the Chief several days ago and no one totally vetoed the idea. Besides I wanted to see if I could manage it. I did too. Twice. Just for fun." Sang said innocently, causing several accusing stares to be levelled at them.

"Bet they didn't think Cupcake would remember with everything else going on." Luke muttered quietly to Gabe.

"Fuck. Even I know the only thing she forgets is what she thinks is not important. You know, shit like remembering to eat." Gabe snorted back quietly.

Mr Blackbourne just sighed quietly. It was impressive he admitted. Not only had she repaired the sabotaged laminator, but had also made herself identification and hacked a government department in the space of a few hours. He was privately tempted to let her loose with all their resources if only to see what would happen. Just for 24 hours.

He looked at Sean and realised they were on the same wavelength when he leant over and whispered in his ear before rising and starting to clear the table.

Now he thought about it Sean was right. World domination really was a possibility with their sweet Sang. Owen started to grin as he looked around at his brothers. It was as well there were nine of them because they had caught a tigress by the tail.