~I wish I could be there now~

The next morning, everyone called down to breakfast at ten. Pretty much everyone except Zayn had slept in; he never slept in much anyway. Louis helped Harry down the stairs, even though he was trying to be self-sufficient. Niall was carrying Fin, who was enamored with her brown-haired uncle.

Winston had an elaborate meal prepared for them. Niall was taking more than his fair share; Harry's stomach was wrecked by the pain meds, so that balanced out. He just had a banana and one baby carrot at his boyfriend's insistence.

The rest of them ate and talked softly; Palmer had crutches for the time being, and everything was calm until Simon came in. "It's good to see everyone together." He smiled.

"Is this a debriefing or something? I want to go back to bed." Hailee sighed.

"As much as I want to start planning for the job, I'll give you today to rest. Although I do have some plans for the day."

"No." Liam sighed. "I have plans. Like sleeping."

"Shut it, Liam." Niall said, listening to Simon intently. Louis had explained everything to him last night, since Louis didn't want to disrupt Harry's deep sleep, and Niall was too excited to be free to sleep.

"What is it?" Luke asked, crossing his arms. Zayn sat on the opposite side of the table from him - alone and not at the same time.

"Since many of you are wanted criminals, everyone needs to lay low for a while." Simon said, taking a plate. He started making himself some fresh toast. "So around noon, some stylists are going to be here with some fresh hair dye to change your appearance."

"YES!" Niall screamed. He loved hair dye. But most of the others had never had their hair dyed before. Harry's eyes widened, while his friend did a little Irish jig around the room.

---

A couple hours later, there were four or five hair stylists attacking everyone with scissors and hair dye. Zayn was arguing with Simon, who was reading a magazine. "I refuse to dye my hair."

"It'll give you a fresh start."

"I got the least exposure out of everyone here." Zayn said, a hand on his hip.

"Fine. It's your choice." Simon said, since nothing he said could change Zayn's mind.

Harry had gone first, since he wanted to just get it over with. Louis was scared to see him, and the two of them held their hands over their eyes until Niall said "Go!"

Louis screamed; Harry screamed too. Harry's hair was red. He looked like a natural redhead. Louis' hair on the other hand was purple. "Oh my god." Liam said, looking at Harry. Louis' choice was very him, but Harry's was drastic. He looked very un-Harry like.

"Niall, wow." Liam said, looking up for a second from where his change was occurring. "Are you sure electric orange was the right choice?"

"Are you sure jet black was the right choice?" Niall threw back, swirling his homemade iced coffee around since no one had gone out to Starbucks. It wasn't good, but he didn't have a choice.

The girls got normal colors with Perrie going dark brown and Hailee going blonde. Perrie fretted over Luke's blonde hair, and Harry and Palmer talked about their red hair together, since the shade was pretty similar.

Once all of them had finished, and the stylists went away, and Winston was making dinner, Simon was hovering on the edge of the living room as they all talked. It was clear that there was some tense air, however. Both Louis and Zayn were avoiding Luke. Zayn was avoiding Liam too, for the time being. 

"What are those?" Louis asked, knowing exactly what they were. He had worked with Simon a long time.

"Job folders." Simon finally went around the room, passing them out according to who they were designated for.

"You said we'd start tomorrow." Luke sighed, sitting with Palmer.

"I have to get back to New York. But I listed everything pretty well. You should be able to take it from here." Simon was silent.

Niall went up and hugged him. "Thank you Simon." He seemed very uncomfortable with the physical contact.

"Start tomorrow." He said, and then faded back into his office.

They all threw their files to the side. Today was today. Tomorrow was tomorrow.