All Good Things

Chapter One

"Don't worry about it. You've still got two more attempts, and I believe in you. So just take a couple of deep breaths, calm those nerves, and go again when you're ready." Ray Mond stood behind her red-headed friend, giving her a pep talk as she comfortingly rubbed her back. Ramee stood a few feet back expressing the same sentiment, albeit in his own, more joking way.

"You've got this, April!" Randy yelled from the front where he was tending to the hostage. April half-turned to give the two small, grateful smiles before crouching down to give the laptop hack another try. Wordlessly, Ray and Ramee stepped out of the small room together so as to not stress her out further with their hovering.

This was the first bank that either of the girls had done in months, and they both wanted to be able to successfully complete their respective jobs. Even though the boys had repeated multiple times that there was no pressure on either of them when they had invited the two onto the heist, the pressure was there nonetheless. The girls needed this small win. After the disastrous events that had occurred over the past months, every accomplishment, big or small, felt like a big deal.

A few minutes passed and Ray held her breath as she waited.

Suddenly, April let out a relieved sigh just as Ray's phone buzzed silently in her back pocket; without needing to check, Ray knew that it was a notification from the bank-busting app. Ramee swept April into a proud, congratulatory hug and placed a quick kiss on her forehead when she grinned up at him.

Ray looked away from them awkwardly, not quite yet used to the two being back together and affectionate with each other. It wasn't much, but she still sort of felt as if she was intruding on their moment.

"Good shit, April! I knew you had it," she quietly complimented the redhead, smiling at her. Then, she walked towards the front of the bank, finding Randy Bullet singing endearingly off-key with the hostage he was holding up in the lobby. Not wanting to interrupt his fun, she stood off to the side for a few moments, just watching them. But eventually, the anxiety building up in her stomach proved too much to bear.

Randy paused his impromptu concert as soon as he heard her speak, turning his head to meet her gaze. "She did it on her second attempt."

"Yeah, I felt the notification come through," Randy said. Although her tone gave nothing away, Randy could sense the nervous energy emanating from his protege. Her eyes flickered to the doors in front of them, avoiding his gaze as it swept over what little he could see of her face. "Hey, look at me," he said softly, angling his body more towards her while still making sure to keep his gun aimed at the hostage in case the cops showed up. Her eyes slowly met his again. "Don't stress yourself out, okay? You can do this. And if you do mess up- which I highly doubt you will- we have backup sticks of thermite." Her posture relaxed a bit the more he talked. Leaning into her, close enough that he could whisper in her ear, he told her, "I believe in you, Raymundo."

Retreating from her, he could see what appeared to be a blush creeping just over the top of her bandana mask. Without saying anything back, Randy watched as Ray Mond spun on her heel and disappeared into the back once more. Amused, he chuckled to himself.

Red and blue lights drew his attention back to the task at hand. Well, there goes our plan of just simply dipping after grabbing the cash, Randy thought to himself as four more police cruisers followed close behind the first- one of which, upon closer inspection, he identified as Trooper AJ Hunter.

Ray tried to shake off the embarrassing fluttery feeling Randy's words had incited, her face burning hot beneath her mask. April, donning her Barney mask this time, hugged Ray and told her similar words of encouragement before leaving to join Randy in the negotiations. Ramee lingered behind, waiting to either take over for Ray if she couldn't hack the next door or to help her grab all the cash inside.