Previously:
"You don't deserve to die sitting up, like a man. You deserve to die bleeding to death on the floor, like the Rat that you are." Her voice was cold venom as she pushed Harlo Franko onto the cold floor, and stood there, watching him die, and Rosto came up behind her and put his arm around her shoulders, and watched with her.

That night, Beka didn't sleep well. She kept seeing Franko fall down on the ground, kept hearing her cold as ice voice, kept seeing the eyes that had stared up at her, at first, then down again when they didn't see the mercy they expected in a Dog.

Eventually, she gave up trying. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and padded down the stairs to the fire, which were just embers now. Pounce followed her downstairs, his black tail a flag waving behind him when he jumped up on Beka's her lap. It surprised her. Pounce never showed affection. He was a Constellation, not a lap cat, as he had told her many, many times.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, he told her briskly. You did what was right and just under Rogue's Justice, and no one thinks any less of you for it. To the contrary, actually, seeing as I saw quite a number of admiring looks coming your way towards the end.

"I didn't even know you were there," Beka said, astonished. Pounce had disappeared a few hours before the Judging, and she hadn't known he was gone.

Of course I was, silly girl, Pounce said, rubbing his head against her knee. Why would I miss watching your Rosto kick some cove's bum for you?

Beka blushed, glad that Pounce couldn't see it in the firelight. And aren't cats colorblind, anyway? "He isn't my Rosto, Pounce!" She hissed at him.

"Well, isn't that good to know?" An amused voice said from behind her.

"Oh!" A startled gasp escaped from her lips, and she turned around to see Rosto the Piper coming down the stairs with a slight grin on his face. "Rosto, I-you-you scared me!" She told him, shaking herself a little to get over the shock of seeing him without a shirt. He does have a nice chest, she couldn't stop herself from thinking. "What are you doing down here?" She winced internally at how that sounded.

"Sorry, but I heard you, and I wanted to know if you were okay…it looks like you are, so I'll just head up again."

For some reason, Beka felt a pang when he said he would leave. "No, that's okay," she told him. "I just, I couldn't sleep."

He nodded sympathetically. "Yeah…me either." Rosto came and sat next to her, both of them staring into the fire.

After a long pause, Rosto finally spoke again. "So, are you okay, Beka?" He asked her, eyeing her out of the corner of his eye.

"I-Yeah," she said. "Or, I guess I will be."

He smiled at her. "Yeah," he said, "I guess you will."

There was another silence, but it wasn't awkward or tangible, or anything like that. It was just there. Beka hadn't really known that Rosto could be silent, could be still. He always seemed to be in motion, even when he was still. Now, though, now he wasn't moving, was just staring into the fire, seemingly reflecting on something.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again. He did this twice more, before Beka got tired of it. "Just spit it out, Rosto," she told him. "I'm a big girl. I can take it."

He laughed lowly, and the sound sent tingles up her spine. "I know you are," he told her seriously, "but sometimes I wonder if I can take it."

She frowned. "I don't understand what you mean," Beka admitted to him. "But whatever it is, how about you just get to the point, you looby?"

Rolling his eyes, Rosto got to the point. "I was wondering exactly how far this favor of yours goes, Beka."

Her eyes widened. Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been that. She got over her surprise quickly, however, because with Rosto she was learning that you really could not predict him. "However far you want it to go, Rosto." She told him gently but firmly. "What you did for me was something huge, that you didn't need to do, and I will do whatever you deem fit to pay you back."

He was still watching her. "So, if I asked you to quit the Dogs and join my Court as my Lady, you would do so?"

She blanched, her face whitening, before steeling herself, and nodding. "I would. I am a Cooper, and Cooper's do not break their word. However…I do not think I would be happy, in your court."

"But as my Lady?" Rosto asked shrewdly.

"Well," she said shyly, looking up at him through her lashes. "I suppose that I would just have to wait and see."

"I see." He said dryly. "Well, in that case, what I want from the favor owed, is for you to do whatever it takes to be true to yourself. Goodnight, Beka." He started walking away, when he heard her call him.

"Rosto?" She called.

"Yes, Beka?" He asked her, his back still to her.

"Had you not agreed…" her voice trailed off, and he remembered asking her what she would do if he had not agreed to the Rogue's Justice. "Had you not said yes, I would have killed him myself. I thank you, Rosto, for saving me from what I would have done."

With that, she swept past him, turning only once when she was at the head of the stairs, and looking down at where he stood, frozen, with a twinkle in her eye. "Oh, and, Rosto? Your case is not so hopeless as it may seem. Goodnight, Rosto." And she turned and went the rest of the way up the stairs. He could do nothing more than gape.

A/N: Well, that is the end, unless I am SERIOUSLY inspired to write anymore. Don't get your hopes up, though. I wrote it all in one day! I am truly proud of myself. This installment was shorter than the others, but it didn't need to be long. :D I hope they all flowed and fit together, and if not, please let me know why they didn't. I recently received a very rude review from someone who did not leave a signature, and I hope that, should you feel the need to tell me that my ending was awful and that you could do it better, you leave your name so that I can get back to you.
Feedback is always appreciated. :D
xoxo Jayme