Five years later.
Rose.
"Up and in!" Rose yelled at Stefan as he fought another fighter, Carlos Martinez, in the ring, pinning him down. It was only training, but she had a rule that no matter the situation, every fight was as important as the next. Whether you were fighting for practise, money or for fun. It was all the same. You fight to win and if you can't win then you're out.
"Hold him steady, don't let up!"
"Aargh!" Stefan screamed in anguish as his muscles began to cramp and then finally Dino called time.
"Well done." Rose clapped once as she stood up and stepped away from the ring, a figure catching her attention in the corner of her eye as she turned and saw none other than Vladimir Ranskahov. "Go get cleaned up. That's enough for today." The two fighters jumped out of the ring, but she stopped one of them. "Not you Martinez. You know the rules."
Carlos huffed and started his laps, knowing full well that the loser of the fight had more work to do in the form of running. Rose made her way over to where Vladimir was now leaning against the doorframe to her office.
"You know you're not supposed to be here during the day. I have a cover to keep." Rose stated, walking past him and to the desk. She put on her rectangular glasses before grabbing a pen and scribbling down the results of the fight between Carlos and Stefan as she always did before looking up to where Vladimir still stood. "Did you need something?" She asked.
"We would like to fill another two containers monthly." He finally explained through his Russian accent. One thing that Rose really liked about the Russians was that they made their own deals and negotiations. They would often send men to do dirty work, load the containers etc. but actual meetings and such one or both of them carried it out personally even if it was something as simple as this.
"Your last shipment was never completed." Rose stated, knowing full well that the Russian's were supposed to send another container full to Russia last night, but it left the docks empty.
"There was a slight problem, we'll go over it tomorrow night, but it won't happen again."
Rose took only a few seconds to think it over before nodding. "I'll have the documents ready for you to sign tomorrow night at the meeting, but no one will be signing anything until I see proof that that slight problem is no longer an issue." She agreed right before seeing Foggy walk through the front door, a big smile on his face. "Shit." Rose whispered under her breath before quickly shutting the blinds and pulling Vladimir into the room. "Stay here, don't come out and be quiet." She demanded before briskly exiting the room to greet her friend, closing the door behind her. "You look happy." She announced.
"We got the office!" He grinned.
"You did?! Congratulations!" She smiled back, giving him a hug. "Where's Matt?"
"Chatting up the real-estate agent." Foggy explained with a sigh and a pout as Rose smiled, knowing that Foggy was probably hoping to chat up the agent himself.
"Would some boxing make you feel better?"
"Ah, that would be a no, but a muffin might, so I think I'll just head over to your café instead." Foggy explained. As it turned out, Rose had one the bet with Matt after Foggy had given up on Rose's personal training after ten days. "Wanna come with?"
"Can't. I've got a bit of work to do, but we should all definitely go out and celebrate later on, so long as you don't have your hands full with clients."
"Yeah, they're just lining up outside the door, can barely keep up with them. May have to take a raincheck." Foggy joked as Rose chuckled, kissing his cheek.
"I'll come by the office as soon as I'm free to check it out."
"Ever seen a shoe box? Kind of similar to that." He stated.
"Hey, I offered to get you guys set up and you said you wanted to do it on your own, so I don't want to hear any complaining."
"Yes, ma'am." Foggy nodded with a salute.
"Get out of here." She laughed, lightly kicking his leg as he jogged out happily.
Once Rose was sure Foggy was well out the door she went back to her office where she found Vladimir standing in the exact same place she'd left him.
"Friend of yours?" He asked as she closed the door once again.
"Yes, I do actually have those." Rose shot back, making her way back to the desk then realising that Vladimir didn't appear to be going anywhere. She spun around to ask if there was anything else he needed only to discover he had silently moved right behind her, barely an inch away. "Yes?" She queried.
Vladimir's hands reached up, gently taking off her glasses before placing them back down on the table before both hands latched onto either side of her waist, effortlessly lifting her up so she was sitting on the desk. He leant in closer, trailing his lips along her jawline as she closed her eyes.
They certainly weren't a couple, far from, but they were criminals and criminals liked to have their fair amount of fun.
"I do actually have work to do, Vlad." She said softly.
"Mmm," Was his deep throaty reply, tugging at her ponytail and pulling it out.
"And so do you if you're planning extra shipments."
"I have time." He responded in Russian.
Rose smiled, placing a hand on his chest and lightly pushing back, he knew better than to fight. "I don't." She stated. "You want your shipping containers or not?" He glared, but said no more. "Hmm." Rose hummed contently, looking him up and down. "Go out the back way to avoid attention." Vladimir lightly rolled his eyes before heading to the door and opening it. "Vladimir?" Rose called and he turned his head to look back over his shoulder, but no more. "Next time you decide to drop by in broad daylight, ring ahead, please."
He grumbled something inaudible under his breath, now knowing that her rejection was punishment for coming unannounced, before leaving out the back door. It didn't take her long to draw up the new contracts for the Russians and ring her people at the docks, but after she had to stop by the café, bar and club to give them their new work timetables and pay slips before stopping by a nursery to pick up a pot plant and then heading to Foggy and Matt's new office.
"Well, well, well, look at you two." She smiled as she walked through the door to see her two best friends unpacking a couple of boxes.
"Not as fancy as all of your places, no doubt, but it'll do." Matt smiled as he walked over to her. "Do I smell flowers?" He then asked causing her to chuckle.
"Yes, I got you a plant to lighten the place up a bit, but on second thought maybe I should have gotten a computer."
"We'll manage, thank-you." Matt said, placing a kiss on her cheek as Foggy took the plant. Rose had no idea how he managed to get her cheek every time, but stopped fussing over it years ago.
"It's a rose bush." He grinned. "Creative this one." Foggy joked.
"Oh, stop, they're his favourite." Rose said back, nodding to Matt just as Foggy's phone rang.
"Hey, buddy." He said when he answered it. "She hasn't been charged yet?" He asked after a brief moment of silence, catching both Matt and Rose's attention. "Do you have a name on the suspect?" Another moment of silence. "Alright, we'll head over there now." Foggy said before hanging up. "I think we just got ourselves our first job. We've got to go to the precinct."
"Well, I should leave you boys to it. Good luck." Rose grinned, giving them each a final hug before leaving, the sun now well and truly set.
Rose tugged her long trench coat around her as she hung her head low and walked home. It wasn't a huge place, she could certainly afford bigger, but she didn't need much. It was two stories, a house shoved tightly between two buildings along the same road as the gym, the café, the bar and the club. The street was called Pearl Lane. It was tucked away in the middle of Hell's Kitchen and unless you were a local no one really knew it was there. Most people didn't even call it by it's name mostly using the nickname of King's Lane, often changed to King's Court, which derived from Rosalie's surname after her and her father had bought most of the establishments on the street and lived there themselves. Since his death, however, some people had taken to calling it Rose Lane.
On the right side of her house was an abandoned building that Rose had bought a year prior to prevent any up and coming business men from snatching it up or loud and nosy neighbours. It also provided for some good storage while on the left lived an old lady named Mrs Miller. Rose had grown up in the house and Mrs Miller had been her neighbour for her entire life, often acting like family.
On the first floor of the house was the living room, kitchen, laundry, bathroom and guest bedroom while upstairs was Rose's unsuit, study/library and another guest bedroom.
Rose ascended the stairs, heading to her room. She didn't bother turning on the lights as she threw her coat and bag down on a chair and fell back on the bed from exhaustion.