"Whatcha doing?"

"Jeez Lola! Warn a guy!" Billie yelped as he nearly fell out of his bunk. "I could have been..y'know."

"Nah," Lola grinned, "I was listening outside for a couple of minutes to check - you're normally way louder when you're 'y'know'."

Billie made an affronted noise before shuffling over in his bunk to make room for the red head. She crept in under the covers a moment later.

"Shit, your hands are freezing!" Billie squawked, batting Lola away much to her amusement.

"Sorry, I was handling ice a minute ago," she replied, "Viv got a bruise."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

Lola shrugged, "One of the guys in the showgirl tent got a bit handsy with the girls, he grabbed Marie off the stage so Viv went for him."

"Are they alright?" Billie winced.

"Yeah they're fine," Lola nodded, "Walter and Jack were there to break it all up and chuck the guys out."

"Not before teaching them a lesson I'm guessing though?" Billie asked with a grin.

"Oh yeah, they're practically scholars now," Lola winked. "Anyway, Viv managed to bash her knuckles against one of the Rube's jaws."

"Does Dean know?" Billie chewed on his lip.

"No - and we're not telling him okay Billie? He'd have a fit and probably insist him and Viv left the circus. And you know Salvatore won't let them go now - not with all this money Viv's raking in and the new act with the wolves. He was thinking about scrapping the beasts before Dean came along. Now he's got all these ridiculous ideas about gluing fake sideburns to Dean and calling him 'The Wolf-Man'."

Billie snorted as he turned to press his face against Lola's bare shoulder. "You're gonna get sequins all over my bunk again," Billie murmured, inhaling the fruity notes of the fragrance she always wore.

"Yeah well Salvatore's too much of a cheapskate to shell out for a new dress for me," Lola muttered, I keep getting the Monday Man to look out for something half decent but there's never anything workable."

Billie grinned, the 'Monday Man' was the guy whose job it was to steal clothes from the townspeople of whatever place they set up the circus – he would pinch dresses and suits down from clothes lines.

Lola had been on the lookout for a dress she could rework into something performance-suitable for ages.

"Plus Viv needs new clothes," Lola sniffed. "You saw how little her and Dean were travelling with when they got here."

"So..." Billie began.

"No Billie," Lola sighed.

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask yet!" Billie exclaimed.

"You were going to ask about my relationship with Raymond Breaux and Viv White."

"So it's a 'relationship' is it?" Billie snorted as Lola pushed him away. He rolled back on top of her, nuzzling her neck like a cat as she screeched with laughter before there was a muffled cough behind them.

Billie jerked up in the bed, turning round to come face to face with Dean, who was stood in the doorway with a slightly shell-shocked expression.

"Lorraine wants to know what you did with your leotard," Dean stated, his eyes trailing over to Lola who had just sat up beside Billie. "She says she couldn't find it after practice."

"Oh! Shoot - I think left it with the hoops," Billie groaned. "I um...I'll get it for her tomorrow."

Dean nodded, his eyes still focussed on Lola who was regarding him with a curious expression.

"Sorry to have interrupted," Dean swallowed heavily and Billie watched as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "I knocked, but I guess you didn't hear me."

"See!" Lola laughed, smacking Billie on the chest. "Told you you were loud."

Billie glared at her, "No, Dean it's my fault I..." Billie looked back up only to realise that Dean had already left. Billie groaned and flopped back on to the mattress.

"Maybe you should go ask him to help you stretch some more?" Lola bit her lip as she smirked evilly.

"You saw that?" Billie’s eyes widened.

"Oh hon, I think most of the circus saw that. I've seen less erotically charged moves in the showgirl tent," Lola snorted

Billie let out a wail, "I'm such a freak."

"Well then," Lola sighed, sitting up and swinging her legs back over the side of the bunk. "You're where you belong then aren't you?"

She paused as she went to exit the compartment, "And we wouldn't have you any other way."