“Alfred just because Egil gave you a key to my apartment doesn't mean you can use it whenever you want,” Nova said as she walked into the living room where they were waiting for her. 

“And just because you’re in a mafia doesn't mean you can just run off like that. Where were you!?” Alfred yelled at her. He sounded frantic, panicked, and relieved all at once. 

“It’s not important.” Nova huffed as she crossed her arms. 

“Of course it's important! I'm supposed to be watching you! What would I have done if something happened to you and I had no idea where you were at? Egil would kill me, like full-on slaughter me. You know all of this Nova and yet you're running off in the middle of the night, leaving no explanation.” he said the panic in his voice seemed to be dwindling now.  

“Alfred calm down. I'm fine I just went out to see a friend.” Nova said, trying to reassure him that everything was alright. Nova looked to Rigby for help. 

“Don’t you look at me! I tried to help you by distracting him but I can only go so many rounds.” Rigby huffed as he glared at her. Alfred somehow looked angrier than before. 

“Who was this friend?” Alfred asked his voice full of anger. 

“That’s not important Alfred.” Nova sighed as she ran her hands through her hair. 

“Where did you get the watch then? When you won't tell me anything I can only assume things. So did you get this from some secret boyfriend or did you just feel like you needed a rush so you stole it from somebody?” Alfred asked her. 

“I didn’t steal it! I may be a good pickpocket but I'm not a thief.” Nova scoffed as she crossed her arms. 

“Ha! Nova that is the definition of a pickpocket! A thief!” Alfred yelled at her. 

“I didn’t steal it,” Nova said as he let out a frustrated sigh. 

“Then please help me understand where you got this from! That’s all I'm asking from you!” Alfred huffed. 

“I got it from a friend.” Nova sighed as he glared at her. 

“Alright, who is this friend? Are they a boyfriend or girlfriend? Or an acquaintance?” Alfred said his voice was dripping with anger and frustration. 

“My friend is not an acquaintance.” Nova glared at him. 

“Oh. My. GOSH! This is not that hard Nova! Why can’t you just answer my fucking questions?” Alfred shouted at her. 

“Why do you have to ask so many questions?” Nova reprimanded him as she pushed him past his breaking point. 

“Freaking, fucking, shit!” Alfred shouted as he turned and punched the wall, his fist plunging right through it.  Nova and Rigby stared at him in shocked silence.

 “I leave for two weeks and come back to you two having a sissy fit. Hey Rigby, it’s nice to see you again.” Egil breaking the silence as they all realized he was leaning against the doorway. 

“Hey, Egil,” Rigby whispered as he turned back around and helped Alfred pull his fist out of the wall. 

“Now may I ask why you two are fighting like five-year-olds?” Egil asked as he pushed himself off the door frame and walked into the living room. 

“Alfred’s overreacting,” Nova said, rolling her eyes. 

“Why you little..” Alfred growled as Rigby placed a hand on his chest trying to calm him down a little. 

“How long have you been here?” Rigby asked Egil as Alfred sighed trying to calm down. 

“Since ‘Don’t you look at me! I tried to help you by distracting him but I can only go so many rounds.” Egil chuckled as Rigby’s face turned bright red. 

“Now Nova, let me guess Leon’s watch?” Egil said, returning his focus back to her. 

“Yeah, I was with Opal tonight,” Nova said as she shrugged her shoulders. 

“Why was that so fucking hard to do!?” Alfred shouted at her as Rigby grabbed onto his arm. 

“Alright everyone calm down. I've had just about enough of you two acting like your five.” Egil sighed, rubbing his temple. 

“Rigby, make sure Alfred gets a ten-minute timeout for punching a hole in the wall. You two need to be heading back to your apartment for the night anyway.” Egil said as Rigby nodded his head and grabbed Alfred’s hand. 

“Time out? What is this kindergarten?” Alfred chuckled angrily as Rigby started to lead him out of the living room. 

“Some days I wonder,” Egil whispered under his breath. 

“And what about her?” Alfred shouted pointing at Nova.

 “I'll deal with her, now get.” Egil sighed as he pointed towards the front door. Nova stuck her tongue out at Alfred as Rigby led him out of the apartment. 

“Was that necessary?” Egil huffed as he collapsed onto the couch. 

“No, I guess not,” Nova mumbled as she plopped down next to him on the couch. 

“You guess not? Nova Charlotte Valadez, you made him punch a hole in the wall! You definitely went too far, and yes he did overreact but you didn’t have to escalate things as much as you did.” Egil scolded her as he gestured to the hole in the wall. 

“I bet if we get the right picture frame we could put up a picture of something punching the wall then when you remove the picture there’s the hole,” Nova said panning her arms out trying to visualize the way it would look. 

“Heh yeah, that... Young lady! What have we said about trying to distract me and get me off-topic.” Egil scolded her as he realized what she was trying to do. 

“How about you just tell me the events of today and I’ll decide your punishment later.” Egil sighed as he rubbed his temples. 

“Well Peterson's dead, missed his last 4 payments and his last three late fees. Then we went to Luigi’s, Chadwick got drunk and almost fought with Marcus, Alfred got hit on-again, Chadwick tried to flirt with other girls. Soren’s dead and Valentina Dietrich is the new leader. Chris left and Ed covered his car in scented candle wax, I’m gonna have to ask him where he found so many candles….” Nova started explaining skipping quickly over Soren’s death. 

“Woah slow down, back up, Soren’s dead and Val killed him?” Egil asked, stopping her from talking.

 “Yeah but Val?” Nova asked, questioning the nickname. 

“I used to work for her husband Gino Santoro before Soren killed him, I guess she decided to go back to her last name after he died. I knew her very well, but when I knew her I never would imagine she would be able to kill anyone. I guess the death of a loved one does change everyone in different ways.” Egil explained to her. 

“I wonder how the rest of her family’s doing? She has two boys, huh her oldest would be around your age by now.” Egil said staring off into space. 

“My age! She doesn't look older than 23!” Nova said as Egil chuckled. “She’s about 25 if I remember correctly and He’s adopted.” Egil chuckled. 

“Alright well we're going to have a busy day tomorrow and I'm exhausted. Try and get some sleep.” Egil said as he stood up from the couch and stretched. “By the way, you're grounded,” Egil said, glancing at her, his eyes full of laughter. 

“Grounded? What?” Nova sputtered as he laughed at her. 

“Yes, it means you're not allowed to leave the base without my permission.” Egil smiled as he patted the top of her head. “Now get some sleep we got a busy day tomorrow,” Egil smirked as he walked out of her apartment. 

Nova sighed as she stood up from the couch, her mind was running wild there was no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight. Nova walked back to her room and opened her window and crawled out onto the fire escape. Nova slowly climbed up to the roof and looked out at the city spread out. She could just barely hear the traffic among the distant streets, but she could also hear the crickets chirping and the cicadas buzzing around her. It was like a secret symphony all for her, Nova sat on the ledge of the roof and let her legs dangle over the edge as she stared at the city. Now and then she would wonder what it would be like to live a normal life, go to school, have friends, fall in love, get married, and have kids. She had always wondered about it, oddly enough it was all strange and foreign to her. The stranger part was that even though she had always wondered about having a normal life, she didn’t long for one, not even a little. Nova brought one of her legs back over the ledge and laid down as she stared at the night sky. Oddly enough if she could wish for any other life, even with all she had been through, she wouldn’t wish for anything else.