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Baby hung out in the back alley of the club, puffing on a cigarette. She was alone, but the door was open, the hustle and bustle of the kitchen not far. She sat on a crate, enjoying the sounds of the night. She could hear the cooks yelling to one another, waitresses screaming at them over the din of the kitchen.

For Baby, being alone, removed was like Heaven on Earth. She closed her eyes and took a long drag, sending smoke rings out into the smoggy night air. Long lashes rests on her rouged cheeks, her shiny red lipstick leaving marks on the end of the cigarette held between her fingers. Little jewels surrounded her eyes and as she stood on wobbly legs the rest of her outfit fell right into place. A simple dress, dyed a beautiful blue ended just above her knees, nylons underneath. They didn't seem to have a single run in them - perhaps brand new.

It wasn't uncommon for the girls here to collect gifts of jewellery, dresses and other finery. It would seem, by the lack of baubles Baby Doll was new.

It was a good time to be alive. Sometimes.

It was good to be dead sometimes, just ask Jack Vindici. He was in his apartment, washing the blood off of himself in the shower and whistling a jaunty dance tune to himself. His suit from earlier today lay crumpled on the floor, staining the floor tiles red with their semi-fresh bloodstains; the new suit lay on his bed, pressed and expensive. He had just walked away from an ambush in the Tenderloin district, although he couldn't exactly say he had escaped with his life.

It was a Friday evening, and that meant that he was going to find a liquor bottle to crawl into until tomorrow morning arrived. The Regalia was an obvious choice, but tonight, Jack was feeling a little adventurous. He'd just taken a hail of bullets and managed to escape, and there would be nobody at the Regalia who would be interested in hearing about that. Jack hated to admit it, but his favorite spot to get drunk at attracted the upper-crust types whom he always tried to avoid. No, he needed somewhere which would cater to his need to continue the adrenaline burst from earlier.

So, half an hour later, he found himself strolling along the sidewalk of some nameless alleyway, smoking a Wilton and wondering what he would do with himself tonight. Then, off in the distance, he spotted someone smoking. Perhaps he had found someone who would care to hear about his brush with death today.

Baby popped a mint between her lips, pulling a mirror out of god only knows where. She frowned into it, sucking hard on the strong candy as she fixed up her lip stick and tried to smooth away another wild curl that had popped loose from her bun. She swore softly, looking up to catch a stranger coming towards her.

She froze. It wasn't uncommon for unsavory things to happen in alley ways, but damned if she could move, her fear freezing feet, flight and form.

She opened her mouth, and instead of a cry for help, other words tumbled out, "Whatcha doin' back here?"

Jack smirked, his replacement for a friendly grin.

"Relax, sister; I ain't here to mug ya or nothin'. I'm just bumming around, looking for a drink is all."

He heard the commotion echoing out into the alleyway from the club; it sounded like exactly the kind of place he liked: loud, violent, and drunken. He finished off the Wilton and let it fall to the ground before killing it with his shoe. He noticed the way the woman was dressed and snickered.

"Wassa matter, your date stand you up or somethin'? If yous want, I'll buy ya a drink inside. A. Drink. Don't go thinkin' I'm a bank here or nothin', ok?"

Baby rolled her eyes, "I don't get drinks from customers." She frowned. No, that wasn't really right, now was it. Baby had never gotten anything from a customer. She hadn't been there long. Three nights now. No, four.

She pointed at the door, "If you're lookin' to get in, the door's that way." She stepped into the kitchen, lifting her head and walked through to the main floor after punching in her time card. She stepped out, a tray being slid into her hands and orders barked at her by another girl. She nodded and walked with grace to the table, handing out the drinks as she did so.

Her eyes did linger around the room, waiting to see if Jack was really coming in.

Jack sidled in through the front door, ignoring the crowd and the hostess and picking a table out for himself. Another waitress approached him, but he waved her off.

"Go chase yourself, baby. I'm waiting for someone else."

"Jerk at table seven is yours Baby Doll," the girl sneered at Baby, clearly not in the mood to play nice with the red-head. Baby sighed and straightened up, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She she saw who it was, her heart dropped down.

She shouldn't have been so rude to him. She walked over, nearly being bowled over by another girl. How many of them were there?

One. Two. Three. Four. Four other girls, Ah-ha-ha. That was both bad news and good news for Baby - fewer tables meant less chance to get a trinket, but it also meant fewer people to deal with. She stepped up to his table, "What can I getcha love?"

Jack didn't much care for food, although he would force himself to eat if only to try and deceive himself into thinking he was still human. He grabbed a menu off of a nearby table and flipped open to a random page.

"Give me the... you know what? Forget the food, just bring me coffee for a starter and the list of booze yous guys serve here."

Baby frowned, "Like, the list of each kind? Like brands and stuff?" Was she just making herself sound stupidier? She turned the menu over, "Because this is our list of drinks and things." She smiled brightly, wishing she could slink away.

She only took his job because no where else would take her. She was too daft to really be able to do dictation and she certainly wasn't maid material. She swallowed her pride, "Iffin' you need me to, I can go see if I can find a list."

Jack cackled when the woman turned the menu over. He didn't mind being made a fool of in public, because he usually did it himself anyway. He gave the list a quick glance and his mind automatically gave each listing a comment as he scanned the menu: too sour, good but expensive, won't get you drunk fast enough, &c. After reading through the first time, Jack knew that he had come to the right place. He handed the menu back with a smirk.

"No need, I'll take a bottle of the vermouth and a cup of joe, black."

He thought that the woman had been a little flustered when she turned the menu over; maybe she thought he was here to rob the place or something like that. He probably had more money in his wallet than this place had on the till, so robbery seemed like a waste of time when he could be getting drunk.

She nodded, more curls coming loose from her bun. She took off, fast as a shot as she went to fill his order. She came back with both the bottle and the coffee, sliding a second cup on the table as she made her rounds and returned. It was only about ten minutes later that she came back, but she looked a little pinker than before.

"You're still doing alright?" She gave him a winning smile, most of her hair loose by now.

Jack placed the bottle of vermouth down on the table, its contents half-drained already. The coffee was still untouched, both cups, and it looked like he was saving it for later. Jack lit up a Wilton, apparently still sober, and nodded nonchalantly.

"Everything's jake, sister. Hey, you got a name or am I gonna have to keep calling you nicknames? I'm Jack."

Baby gave him a weak smile, "I'm Baby Doll. Nice to meet you, Jack." She looked around, seeing the room was fairly quiet, she slide into a seat beside him. She wasn't sure why, but she just needed a sit, and no one would bat an eye, "So, Jack, what brings you here?" She gave him a better, more confident smile as she did so. It was easier when he wasn't askin' questions. She didn't mind questions so much, but one's like her name were always a problem to explain.

Jack took a long drag on the Wilton and gave Baby Doll a look, but didn't respond immediately. He flicked some ashes onto the floor and looked around to see how many people were inside the room.

"I'm here to get drunk, Baby Doll, pure and simple. Every Friday night, I crawl into a bottle of vermouth and then I sleep there until Saturday morning comes. The coffee is to keep me sober enough to talk to you. So, you probably get this all the time, but why do you work here?"

Baby knit her brow, but didn't question, "Uh, I work here because I can't find any other work. dumb as a dingbat is a good term for me. Or so they say." She folded her hands in her lap, "Honestly, I don't know where else to go. I've been passed around for a long time. This cousin or that aunt takin' care of me. I don't even know if the last people I lived with were real family, or just a slow erosion of tossin' me around. People don't like me, sometimes. Say I'm an idiot. That I'm just like my mother and father - but what would I know?"

Jack listened to the woman speak and was surprisingly well behaved. He didn't crack wise, he didn't smirk, and he waited for a little bit after she was done before he responded. Obviously, there had been something said that was a sensitive subject for him.

"I know how it is growin' up without parents to look after ya. It's better that you're workin' here that out in the street, rolling with some two-bit gang or else ending up in some lay that'll get you iced. The fact that you're here and not in some street gutter somewhere tells me that, at the very least, yous got determination."

He paused and took a sip of the coffee. It was still hot, and it was strong, two things which he liked about his coffee.

Baby laughed, "Yeah, but I think the other girls wanna run me out. There's ten of us, and I'm the small fish in this tank. Not everybody gunna welcome a new girl when we're crowded already." She heard someone call her name and she popped up, "I'll come back."

She dodged across the room, missing other girls as she did so, managing to keep her balance as an older man spoke to her. She looked like she was not enjoying the conversation. When it ended, she helped all of her tables, sitting at a different one for a spot before coming over with coffee.

"Need more, or just fine they way you are?"

While Baby Doll was off waiting on the old man, Jack took another swig or two from the bottle and polished off the coffee. He was starting to feel a good buzz coming on; for most people, the amount of liquor that Jack had already consumed would have them knocked out on the floor. His reanimate nature caused him to get drunk a lot slower, which was at once a good thing and a bad thing; he would have to pay more and wait longer before he was passed out on the floor, but if the booze was good then he would be able to taste it for a longer time before his senses just sort of congealed. At this point, Baby Doll had returned.

"I'll take some more, yeah. It's funny, I don't usually wait this long to get drunk, but I like talkin with yas."

She gave a short laugh, "I'm not that interesting. I don't even have a Christian name." She poured him more coffee, "Want another bottle?" She flashes him and easy smile. Being pretty was fairly effortless for her and she slid in beside him, closer, "Tell me, Jack, tell me some of your story."

Jack snickered. Not at anything Baby Doll had said or done, mind you, but because it always worked out like this; he'd go somewhere to forget about the past, and yet somehow he always ended up dwelling on it anyway. Still, he was fine with talking about his past; he didn't have nearly the length of stories to tell as some people did.

"Nix on the bottle, Baby. If you've got a little while, I'll tell yas all about me."