Murphy's Law

[Jesimae Lawson]

Her heart was pounding and she was literally rubbing her hands raw. She had been gnawing at her lip for over an hour or at least it steemed that long because it was now numb. She smelled the cigarette that Taro was smoking as he sat across from her in the kitchen, staring at her with slit eyes, mouth dropped slightly showing her his bottom teeth. He was either thinking of how to respond, thinking of where he could dump her body, or thinking how he could get this marriage anulled. The news she had for him wasn't very good, then again nothing about this situation was going to be very pleasing to the ears.

It was something she had come to know as the Lawson Curse. Much like Murphy's Law (Anything that can go wrong, will) she had dubbed it 'Lawson's Law'. She grabbed the pack that hadn't been laying idle for very long, the ashtray was practically overflowing with cigarette butts and they had even ran out of lighter fluid. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it up, inhaling and blowing out quickly as she felt it was necessary to express her thoughts for Taro was still in shock and unable to speak.

"I could just go myself." She looked at the pack and played with the packaging then glanced up at him, referring to the only way she figured on how to allude officials and a death penalty sentence. "If I stay I will be arrested, crucified on trial, then I'll be dead within a month. I have to leave." Jesimae wasn't keen on the idea, matter of fact she'd rather die than leave Taro behind on Coruscant but she didn't want him to get hurt or arrested with her. She wanted him safe and sound and away from trouble. Sadly, he had married it.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro had been sitting, quietly listening to his wife, his eyes slitted just slightly. She had let the words pour from her so quickly that he hadn't had much time to process them all. He had smoked exactly fifteen cigarettes in a little more than one hour period--his throat was screaming for mercy--and Jesimae had at least matched him if not exceeded.

This was interesting news. There were people after Jesimae. His wife. The woman he loved and trusted above all others. They were crawling all over each other trying to get to her. Bounty hunters were on the loose, officials were even calling out the hounds to go after her. Seemed like every government wanted Jesimae dead and were willing to basically do anything for it.

Taro did not feel surprised. Well, he did, but not in the way that he wondered why people were after her. He was surprised that Jesimae hadn't told him this before--but she had clarified that she hadn't really known. She had been a bounty hunter herself, killing more people than Taro cared to think about, he knew that someone had probably been after her at one poing or another.

Taro reclined back in his seat slightly, taking the news much better than he could have been--considering his temper was not something he liked to talk about. He watched Jesimae pace and say that she could go alone. Taro almost laughed at this, but didn't.

"No, Jes. If you go, I go," he said with finality, his tone one that meant he didn't mean for her to argue with him. "We can get you out of here in a day if we play our cards right. If this is what you want to do."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae laughed at him and stopped and stared at him, dropping her hand that held the cigarette and sighed. "Yeah, this is exactly what I want." Sarcasm was her way out of actually crawling into a ball and crying hysterically. She had been a tough girl back in those good days of merciless random killings, anger somehow fueling her need to kill people. It sickened her now to think of all the lives she had ruined, ended, and complicated. She had Taro now and thinking of someone hunting him down for a pretty penny...it made her want to throw herself off a bridge.

"God," She said lowly in a whisper. "Why the hell did I do this?" She wasn't asking anyone as he rubbed her sweaty forehead staring at the ground trying to piece together how many people she had killed, the faces still evident in her mind as if she had just killed them the day before. Her past was creeping up on her, well creeping was an understatement! It was more or less flying at her at top speed and not slowing down. She puffed on the cigarette and looked over at Taro who was in a relaxed position. How the hell was he staying so calm?

"You don't have to come. I mean I think I've ruined enough lives in a few years I don't want to have to ruin yours. Taro.." She walked to the table and pulled out the chair she had been sitting in and getting out of often. She looked at him with all seriousness.

"If we go, I don't know if we'd e able to keep in contact with anyone. If these people, hunters and officials, so much as know we are talking to our family they'll do horrible things to them! Bounty hunters especially! We are cold hearted people! We don't care about others, all we want is money." She groaned and rubbed her head again.

"I can't believe I was like that." She sighed out and looked at him. "I don't want you to do that to your brothers." Jesimae was definitely in a pickle and it seemed that she was dragging everyone down with her.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro sighed, setting his jaw and crushing out the cherry on his cigarette. He stood straight, walking around the table to face her. He looked down at her for a long moment, considering his options and his words before speaking.

"Why was anybody the way they were?" he asked, but it was rhetorical. He turned away, putting his hands in his pockets and shaking his head. He leaned his hip against the counter and looked back over at Jesimae. "I'm coming with you, Jesimae. My brothers are big boys, they can take care of themselves," Taro informed her he matter-of-factly. "Remember, Haruko himself was a bounty hunter. I am sure he could hold his own against them. And Jiro can take many more people than it looks like he can. They won't die without us, or without being in contact with us," Taro said.

"As I said before, I can have us out on the Angry Lady in one day and headed for open space, anywhere away from here."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae watched him as she chewed the inside of her cheek, trying her best to find some goodness in all of this mess, but all she saw was how horrible this all was. Everyhing was just a recipe for disaster. She shook her head and felt the burn in her eyes to cry, but she wasn't really in the mood to feel hormonal or womanly, this was her time to get back in touch with her bitchy side like she had lived bac in the days before she had met Taro. She sniffed and looked at him.

"It's not that I don't think they can't fend for themselves, I just don't want them to have to do that." She was feeling her head ache with a dire need to explode into horrendous pain. She was good under stress, but this was just something she had never expected and she didn't have time to actually get into a mindset of how to be tough. She frowned and smoked her cigarette and shook her head.

"It's up to you. I know a place where we can go. It's a drifter colony where travellers can go or....people on the run." She flicked her ashes in the ashtray and leaned back and stared at him feeling as if she were being interrogated by the local law enforcement. "It isn't too far from Coruscant, any good ship can get there in a day or two."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded. He backed away from her and nodded to the door. He went to the door of the kitchen and leaned on the doorframe.

"I'm going to call a few people up. Get a few things taken care of," he said with a nod. "You do whatever you have to to get ready," he glanced at his watch, then tapped it. "We leave here at five sharp," he said, giving himself a time window to work with because Taro wasn't any good without one. He turned and moved out of the kitchen his head burning as badly as his throat now was. He had all of Jesimae's words reeling around in his head and he couldn't set them all straight. All he knew was that she was in danger and that a funny feeling of desperate protectiveness was clenching his chest harder than ever before.

Taro had known for a long time that Jesimae had been a bounty hunter. Even though Taro had never exactly agreed with the profession, he knew that she hadn't done any jobs since they had met and it was good enough for him. The only details that he didn't know, were the types of people she killed. Were they people that wouldn't be missed? Grudge jobs, passion jobs, those sorts of things. Or had they been people who had mattered? Government officials, negotiators, the kinds of men that alot of people hated and a few had the balls to put a bounty on. From the details Jesimae had given him he was choosing that she had mostly been assigned the latter as a common man being murdered was no big deal any longer. But when a government official bit the dust, everyone knew, and everyone cared one way or the other.

Taro shut the door to his bedroom, grabbing his com to call some people, get his Naboo account opened so he could get into it while they were on the move. He didn't dare use his Coruscant account, not while he was sure there were people watching it and would know that he and Jesimae had bailed. He wanted to call his mechanic, get his ship checked before they got there. He wanted it in top shape before they boarded, or else The Lawson Rule was going to get some more exercise. Taro had a lot of things to close, start, and finish before he could haul himself and Jesimae off this planet and hurl them both towards the stars, towards this colony that Jesimae talked about.

He wanted to do it as quickly as possible, because the sooner they were off of Coruscant the safer they would be.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae slumped further into the chair and gave herself two seconds to cry and then get ready to go into hiding, as she was accustomed to back in the pre-Taro days. Pre-life days was more like it. She shed approximately two tears, she counted, wiped them away pulled her hair into a tight pony tail and headed out of the kitchen and figured she, too, could call a few people.

She found her link on the table and she picked it up and sat on the couch, frowning as smoke got into her eyes. She pulled it to her mouth when a man answered in a very deep and raspy voice. She grinned, it being so long since she had dealt with her old friend who had given her fake identity cards amongst other things. This man was the man who helped her with aliases and helped her find spots that were safe to hide out.

"It's been a long time, Jackson." She said with a smile. The man laughed on the other line and agreed, calling her by her last named, which she was quick to correct.

"Married, that is interesting. He is either really stupid or really desperate to have married you." Jesimae laughed knowing that most people figured she was more dangerous as a date than as a bounty hunter. Luckily, Taro wasn't either. He was in love and by him going with her on this trip just showed her so. She'd have the rest of her life making this one up to him...if they made it.

"I need that colony location, I have a few phantoms on my tail and I need to hide out for a while. Also I need a nice room there. Nice as possible would be good. Put us under the name-"

"Us, Jes? You aren't dragging your husband into it are you?"

"After three years you are still trying to preach to me? Just get me a reservation and I'll mail you cash later." She bit her lower lip as the man agreed. This was going to be very interesting. In all the ways she could try to find good out of this new problem Jesimae was taking the approach as thinking this was a second honeymoon, a very long honeymoon. She smiled at that thought, it didn't seem so dismal. She hung up the connection and jabbed the cigarette out in an ashtray that was in front of her, the apartment never having a room without one. She smiled and tried to keep that mindset.

"Second honeymoon!" She said to herself. Hopefully she'd trick her mind into believing it.

[Taro Lawson]

"Mn, hello?"

The voice was high and slimy sounding, and if Taro hadn't known the man who owned it for most of his life, he wouldn't have trusted him as far as he could throw him. As it was however, the man was the very man who looked after all of Taro's accounts. He was the least spiteful man Taro knew. Also the oldest. Taro had never asked his age, but was continuing under the assumption that he was at least two hundred forty.

"Hi, Younou," Taro said dismally. The man on the other end coughed politely and then Taro heard him shift hands.

"Taro, my boy, what can I do for you?" he asked. Taro brought his cigarette to his mouth--holy hell, his throat was killing him--and drew in a deep breath, sighing it out before answering.

"I need my Coruscant account sealed, not closed, and my Naboo acount opened. The wife and I are taking a little trip," Taro said. The man, Taro had always only known him as York Younou, or simply just Younou, coughed again, and Taro heard him typing some things into his computer.

"A trip, Taro? You sound awfully unsettled for it to be a trip with the missus," Younou commented vaguely. Taro nodded.

"Yeah, well, we've been a little stressed lately," Taro said with a shrug. "I need you to do something else for me. Draw out three thousand credits from all off my accounts--excluding Coruscant--and send it to my address here. I'm leaving some mad money for my brothers should they feel the need to use it." Taro listened as the man typed again.

"Alright, Taro, my boy," Younou drawled. "Naboo account will be up and running in about four hours...Coruscant account is being sealed as we speak and three thousand credits is on its way. Should arrive by tomorrow morning. That is all, then?"

"Yeah thanks..." Taro heard the man hang up and he clicked off his com, not really wanting to call anyone else, but knowing he had to. He dialed his mechanic's number and prayed he was there.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae sat in the living room for the longest time just starting at the com. It ws against her ways of bountying to get in contact with family, but she was half wondering if she should at least call Asher and Orange and tell them that she and Taro were going away for a while, knowing that neither of them had contact with the other Lawson's after certain incidents. Jesimae bit her lower lip and frowned. She was surprised that she had actually gotten out of the bed since Haru went AWOL. She was still confused as to why he did it and as to where he was and why none of the other brothers could get in contact with him. It was like he just upped and disappeared.

She looked over her shoulder and decided that Orange would just have to suffer without knowing. Asher, on the other hand, was Jesimae's good friend and she figured if anyone could keep a good secret it would be her, but...she figured she could do it later after thinking on the matter more. Then there was Mei-li. She was dying to call her, of all people. She of all her friends had the right to know, but she just couldn't. They'd have to disappear as well. She frowned and stood up and headed towards the bedroom where Taro had secluded himself. She was wanting to tell him not to tell his brothers where they were going if he felt the need to say something, but she wanted them to know. It was a hard choice that he was going to have to make.

Jesimae knocked on the door and waited patiently for a reply not wanting to interrupt a phone call he didn't want her to hear or if he just wanted to be alone to sit and think of everything.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro hung up the com when his mechanic didn't answer. He looked up at the door and tossed the com on the bed. He made his way over and grabbed the door knob, pulling the door open and looking up to see Jesimae standing there. He gave her a reassuring smile and stood aside to let her in.

"Called my money guy, we're good to go in that department," Taro informed her just to have something to say. He shook his head shutting his door and going to his bed. "Couldn't get a hold of my mechanic. I am going on faith that the Lady is up and ready. He was supposed to be taking care of her," Taro said. He sat down on his bed and rubbed some hair from his face. He shook his head again, then looked at Jesimae.

"Will you be ready by five?"

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae sighed out that sounding too early for her, but she knew that it had to be done and she could sleep on the ship later if she was dead tired. She knew that she'll be so paranoid tomorrow that she knew sleep was not going to be happening for her until all was blown over. She walked over to the bed and laid down on her stomach letting out a sigh of distress, seeing Taro's back and reaching out to play with a string from his shirt.

"Sure." She said in response. How depressing this was getting, but there was no other alternative unless she wanted to end up six feet under. "You going to tell everyone?" She asked biting her lower lip trying to just stay upbeat about this whole thing ,if that was humanly possible.

"If you do, you can't tell them why and where. In case someone decides to talk to them about it they'll be able to tell them the truth, you know."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro nodded in understanding, feeling the light touch of her fiddling with something on his shirt. He glanced back at her, then turned, laying down on his own stomach, reaching out a hand and brushing some hair away from her face.

"All they are going to know is that we are going away for awhile, husband, wife time," he assured her. "I've left them some money just in case something bad happens anyway. Jiro's a smart kid," Taro said with a nod. Then he sighed and leaned foward, giving Jesimae a kiss on the forehead. "It'll be alright. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you," he said, more because it seemed the right thing to say than that he knew what to say. He shook his head, dropping his hand. He knew that was an impossible promise to make, but he wanted to make it, because he wanted to believe that it was true.

Taro, in reality, didn't know how any of this could end up. He wanted to believe that it would end better, that all would eventually pass and that he and Jes could finally--finally--live in peace together. But Taro had never been more unsure of anything else in his life.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled at him. Any doubts she was having previous to this she could gladly say they were gone because Taro chased them away. He had a good way of doing that, whether or not he knew it.

"I've done this before...more than I care to remember." She stated as she touched his face out of good measure and because she loved touching him. "We stay gone for a while, all is well, and we can come back and live the rest of our lives together in peace." She smiled trying to reassure the both of them, but it not really working for her.

"We'll be fine." She said with a frown. "I love you." She said feeling it was appropriate. She sighed and scooted over to him and put her hands around his waist and kissed him and tightly squeezed him, putting her head in the cranny under his chin.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers, taking a deep breath and letting it out, the air hurting his sore throat. He looked at the wall opposite Jesimae's back. He couldn't help but wonder if they really would be okay. He would do his best to protect her, but he didn't know how much good he would be against a fleet of money hungry bounty hunters.

He sighed again, and shook his head chewing his lip. He leaned back and looked at Jesimae.

"Don't worry about it right now, dearheart," he said, smiling reassuringly. "Go get ready. Push the time back to six. Make sure you get whatever you need for a long trip, I don't know how long we will be gone," he said. "Gamble for longer than shorter."

[Jesimae Lawson]

She looked at him and made a face and a groan at the time. She sighed and nodded reluctantly and gave him a kiss and moved out of the comfort of his arms and headed towards the closet to search out clothes that would last her a month. She looked over her shoulder and sighed.

"Pack what you need, babe." She said seriously. "If we need to flee the place then we'll not have to worry about anything being left behind." She felt like the worlds worst criminal and it was true. She wondered if Taro knew how many people she killed? Who she killed? She bit her lower lip and was wanting to just tell him how bad the situation was.

Before they met she had been on hiatus and it had been three weeks since her return when she met up with Jiro. The credits on her head were large and she knew that it had only grown since then. She figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Taro?" She said grabbing a shirt from the hanger to turn and look at him on the bed. "Do you know why I have the officials after me?"

[Taro Lawson]

Taro heard her question as he dug around through his drawers, looking for a specific something. He paused in his search and glanced to the side before resuming his movement and nodding a little.

"I know you were a bounty hunter," he said. "And I know you killed people. Someone must not have liked it, or else there wouldn't be such a price on your head," he said, gathering up some clothes from the drawer and dropping it into the large blue duffel at his feet. He glanced at Jesimae as he crouched down to arrange them the way he wanted them in the duffel. He paused again before standing to dig some more in his drawers.

"But I'm afraid I don't know specifics, Jes..." Taro said.

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae nodded and glanced back at the closet and grabbed a few shirts and pants, tossing them lazily into the duffel bag she had become acustomed to recently. She smiled remembering their honeymoon and how she shouldn't have even brought clothes. Her face grew red and hoped to God they'd be able to have a little adult fun on this "vacation". She sighed and shrugged her shoulder.

"Well....I don't know if you want to know, but I think you have a right." She bent down and pushed a few things around in a more orderly way and looked over at him, pasuing in her task. "Damn." She said when she couldn't bring herself to tell him what a merciless freak she was back before they met. It was actually embarassing and she feared he'd think differently of her.

"200 people..." She said looking down for a moment. "Were within the Government." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "God, I am sorry that I did it, really. But that is why I have officials after me."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro paused, not showing the stun on his face. Two hundred people? His Jesimae? He knew that bounty hunters killed many, and maybe two hundred was not alot in thier world, but knowing that his wife, the woman he married had murdered two hundred people. It was a little unsettling. But Taro had always believed in letting the past stay that way.

"Thank you, Jesimae," he said, looking over at her, genuinely glad that she had told him. Better late than never. "It was your job, Jesimae, you did it, you enjoyed it, and now you don't," Taro said, nodding. "The past has come back to haunt you, and I am gonna face it with you," he finished, turning back around to drop a pair of jeans into his bag. He looked up at Jesimae and nodded. "I understand it."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae sighed out.

"God I have been wanting to tell you that for so long but I was scared you'd hate me or think less of me." She knew that it was stupid but she still couldn't be sure. Now though, she knew for sure he wouldn' t hate her or love her any less. She had killed more than two hundred, for she just gave him the estimate on killing government opertators. She figured that was a tale for another time.

"I'm glad you are comign with me. God I am just glad you are still married to me!" She laughed lightly as she folded a shirt and stuck it into her bag, turning and crawling on her hands and knees over to the dresser Taro was at to kiss him and reach into a drawer and grab some fresh underwear.

"I am trying to look at this at a positive angle. I'm saying this is a second honeymoon...but as different people." She said looking at him forgetting herself. "Oh yeah, once we get there...behind closed doors you are Taro, but to everyone else you have to be someone else."

[Taro Lawson]

Taro looked at her and nodded, shoving a few more things into his bag and thinking a moment.

"Alright, I can handle that," he said, folding up another pair of jeans and some exercise pants. God, he felt like everything was coming down around them both. First Jin, then Haruko leaving, then him coming back, and now this. At this rate, they weren't ever going to get a little while to breathe and be a happily married couple. But Taro knew that he and his family had been cursed with a horrid streak of bad luck. Drama followed he and his brothers like a little lost puppy. It never seemed to have anyone else to bother.

In marrying Taro, Jesimae had not only also married Jiro and Haruko, and most likely thier respective women, she had married drama in its worst form. And in doing so, the Lawsons had brought bad luck on her. That was why her past had come up now, as soon as they were married. The drama couldn't seem to dig anything else up about the Lawson boys, so now it was picking on the only Lawson girl.