DEREK'S POV
She's gotta do what she's gotta do
And I've gotta like it or not
She's got dreams too big for this town
And she needs to give 'em a shot
Whatever they are
"Smerek have you seen my ticket? I can't find it anywhere"
"Did you check your pockets?"
"Yes I checked my pockets" she rolled her eyes at me.
"All of them"
"Of course"
"Even your coat pockets"
"Yes I checked them" she dig in her coat pockets and came out empty to prove a point.
"The insides too"
She checked those ones too "Of course I checked my-" she pulled it out and I smirked "Ok that's embarrassing" she blushed.
I chuckled and then noticed the purple heart shaped locket she was wearing "I still can't believe you have that" she looked at me confused until I pointed at it.
She wrapped her small hand around it "Of course I still have I've almost never take it off or change the pictures" she smiled at me. She has a picture of the whole family on one side and just me and her on the other.
"Why?"
"Cause you and Casey gave it to me duh"
"Yeah when you were still a kid"
"So?"
"That was 8 years ago"
"Still missing the point"
"Why would you hang onto it?"
"Its special" she shrugged
"Special?"
"It got you and Casey closer together"
"Now that was inevitable the locket just speeded up the process"
"Exactly you finally told her how you felt after you guys gave it to me"
"Actually I kissed her than told her"
She rolled her eyes again "Whatever the point is you finally told her you loved her and now guys have a mini Venturi on the way"
I smiled "4 more months then we get to bring the little one home"
"Is it a boy or girl?"
I shrugged "We're just gonna have to find out when it's born" she raised an eyebrow "What?"
"How much?"
"How much what?"
"How much did you guys bet?"
I gave her an innocent look "What me bet on our kid? I would never…" she gave me a look "go higher than 20 bucks"
"Thought so"
"What do you think boy or girl"
"Girl definitely"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Cause her mood swings gotten as worse as mom's when she was pregnant with you"
"That doesn't mean it's a girl"
"But it doesn't mean it means its not a girl"
"Good point…so Casey thinks it's a boy?"
"Yeah she said with all the food she eats it has to be a boy"
"Another good point but then again it still could be a girl she would just have her daddy's appetite she would definitely be a Venturi"
"Duh" I sighed "So what do you want to do in your last hour here?"
"Oh don't be so dramatic I'm coming back"
"Yeah next year"
"I'm coming back for the holidays"
"Yeah but your going back there the next day"
"Well I'm in training" I looked at the ground "Derek I'm coming back I'm not leaving for good you know that right?"
"I know but…" I sighed "but after your done training they're going to put you to work while I'm freaking out that my baby sister is out there putting herself in danger constantly"
"Derek I'm not 6 years old anymore you knew I have to grow up sometime"
"I know but I'm not ready for you to grow up yet its too soon can't you wait a little longer?"
"I'm sorry but I can't pass up this opportunity"
"Smarti your only 16 there's always going to be more opportunity"
"I know but I don't want to pass this up"
"Why not? You can't possibly want to do this as a career do you?" she looked away from me "Do you?" she still refused to look at me "I can't believe you actually want to do this your whole life"
"Why can't you believe it?"
"Smarti your just a kid you shouldn't want to die so young"
"I'm not dieing stop being such a drama queen"
"What if you did while you were working"
She shrugged "I rather go out and try than to play it safe keep wondering if I would've been good at it and what it would've been like" she walked up to me and looked up so she could look me in the eyes She still so small how can I just let her go when she's still so tiny "Smerek…you always told me to take risk on anything never be left wondering what it would've been like if I didn't. Remember? You took a risk by telling Casey how you felt knowing it was a possibility she wouldn't talk to you anymore cause she didn't feel the same way you took it and look how it turned out"
"That's different and you know it"
"How is it any different?"
"Cause what I did wasn't a life and death situation"
"In a way it was"
"No it wasn't"
"It would've broken your heart if she didn't love you back"
"So I would've gotten over it" she gave me a look "Eventually"
She shook her head "No you wouldn't you wouldn't be the same if she rejected you"
"Why do you want to do this anyway? Why can't you just do something else?"
"Why is it so wrong to want to help people?"
"Nothings wrong with it but can't you be a doctor or something"
"For that I would have to go to school more…yuck" she made a face I chuckled Yep she's a Venturi alright "I want to help Smerek I want to make things better for my future nieces and nephews"
"I still not happy about this"
She nodded "I know"
There ain't no room for me in that car
Even if she asked me to tag along
I sat in the drivers seat and she got in the passengers seat "You sure you don't want me to go on the plane with you?" everyone was at the airport waiting for us they wanted to give us more alone time. Smarti insisted to go on the plane by herself.
"Smerek I'm a big girl I don't need you to hold my hand anymore"
"I know…I'm not ready to let go"
"We both knew you have to sooner or later"
FLASHBACK LAST MONTH
"Hurry up Smerek" I ran to keep up with her
I groaned "I don't see why you can't just get it tomorrow"
"Cause the school newspaper comes out tomorrow and I still need to take it home and edit duh"
"Well if its so important why didn't you remember to get it from your locker?"
"Cause I usually in my bag but since I didn't really need my bag today I put it my locker so I forgot" she shrugged
"Are we almost there yet?"
"Jeez can you be anymore impatient?"
"Probably"
"Why did you think it was necessary to come with me in the first place?"
"Cause I'm your ride" we finally stopped at her locker.
"I meant why didn't you just wait in the car?"
She pulled out her camera from her locker "And leave my baby sister by herself surrounded by a bunch of low lives horny teenage boys? I don't think so" she rolled her eyes and closed her locker.
"I've been going here for 2 years now Smerek"
"So?"
"So I think I did a good job taking care of myself I don't need a body guard"
"Only cause your always surrounding by a bunch of people during school hours"
"Its only 20 minutes since that last bell"
"So?"
"There still people here just not as much as earlier"
"That just mean someone could snatch you away without anyone noticing"
She groaned "I give up"
"You know everything would go so much faster if you did more often"
"And let Casey have all the fun giving you a hard time? I don't think so"
"She is a very bad influence on you"
"How so?"
"She turned you against me"
She snorted "Please everyone knows I was going to sooner or later"
"Nah uh"
"Did you think I was hanging out with you because I actually want to?" I looked at her confused "I was just studying you seeing what your weakness was so I can use it for later" I scoffed she raised an eyebrow at me "Did you honestly think Edwin was the one who thought of leaving that condom on your bed and get dad to talk to you so he can find it while you were in the shower?"
"You did that?"
"Its funny how easy it was to convince Edwin he needed to get back at you for embarrassing him in front of his first girlfriend" she smirked
"What did you say to dad to get him to talk to me"
"That you probably were in the shower cause you were sweating so much that girl was when she left and she was smiling so much but looked a little tired" she shrugged "Probably from all the jumping they did in his room"
"And what did he say?"
"He asked what I meant I just told him I thought you guys were jumping on the bed cause the bed was making weird noises and that I know don't know why she was smiling so much she sounded funny when she was upstairs with you"
"What did you fill the condom with? It wasn't actually-"
"Ew gross no it was just milk"
I stopped walking altogether I was completely in awe of her right now "I can't believe you came up with that" I glared at her "But I'm still getting you back for that"
"Bro that was like 6 years ago"
"I was grounded for 3 months"
"Again that was 6 years ago"
"How is it possible Ed didn't tell me about this before"
"Come on you seriously think he's going to tell anyone that he came to his 10 year old sister for help?"
"And you just let him take all the credit"
"If he told everyone than I wouldn't be the sweet innocent little Marti who would never ever do anything so mean" she shrugged "I can use that later if anyone tried to tell them otherwise they wouldn't listen cause who are they gonna believe some random kid or sweet little Marti? Plus we both know Edwin has a conscious more than us so he'll feel guilty and stupid for listening to me which got you into trouble I can use that too that and its fun to watch him squirm" she laughed.
I shook my head and couldn't help but laugh "You are an evil genius your definitely my sister"
"Normally I would agree but it doesn't mean much coming from someone so small minded" she patted my head and took off running laughing her ass off. She was already turned at the right corner.
I ran after her "Oh you little-" BANG BANG BANG I ducked down for a second but realized it was the same direction Smarti ran off to "Oh shit" I got up and ran "Smarti!" I turned around the corner and saw about 15 to 20 people most of them on the ground scared shitless didn't look like anyone was hurt. The only ones standing was a guy whose about a year or two older than Smarti a teacher with her back pressed against his chest and the gun pointed at Smarti who was standing at least 10 feet in front of them she started walking towards them.
"Smarti get away from there" I walked a couple feet towards her trying to stop her.
"Hey back off or I'm going to kill her too" the guy pulled the cock of the gun that was still pointing at Smarti.
"Whoa whoa whoa ok ok I'm backing off" I took a couple steps backwards "Look dude I'm sure whoever your mad at deserves whatever your going to do but my baby sister has nothing to do with so just let her go at least please"
"I don't want to hurt her"
"Then let her go please"
"Tell her to stop trying to stop me then I will let her go"
"Smarti" I walked a little towards her but the look he was giving me told me I better not move "Smarti come on let's go"
She ignored me and started walking towards him "Why do you want to kill her?"
"That's none of your business" he snapped at her
"Smarti-"
"Shut up Derek" I was about to say something but I was in too much shock she never called me by my name before "Why are you doing this Mac? Huh? What did she fail you? Did she held you back a year? Give you one to many detentions? Told your mommy and daddy on you? What?" she stopped when she was about a foot away from them.
"Shut up! You don't understand!"
"No I don't! So why don't you make me understand?!"
"You want to know what she did? You want to know what this bitch did?" he pointed the gun to the woman he was holding in front of him.
"Yeah that's why I asked"
"She took my little sister away from me" his voice cracked "She told the cops my pops was beating on me they took him to jail and we ended up in separated foster homes"
"Was it true? Did he ever beat you?"
He didn't say anything for about 5 minutes "He never laid a hand on her…she was the only reason I'm still alive until this bitch took her away from me now she must pay for it"
"What's your sister's name?"
"Emma…she's 7"
She smiled at him "I'm sure she's real pretty too" he nodded and tried not to smile "Does she know what your dad did to you" he looked away from her "I thought so I bet she looks up to you and you probably got little nicknames for each other too"
He looked at her confused "How-"
"You don't need to be the smartest person in the universe to be able to tell your close to your little sister just like I'm close to my big brother" she pointed my direction still not taking her eye off of him "So you want to kill the woman who saved you from your father who was supposed to take care of you and love you but instead he beat the shit out of you in front of your little sister?" he nodded "It sounds to me she did you a favor" he was about to say something but she put her hand up "Think about it if she hadn't told someone about him and he would've kept hitting you until one day he thinks its not enough to only hurt you and goes after little Emma"
"I would never let him lay a hand on her!"
"So your just gonna grab her and run away from him?"
"If that's what I have to do to keep her safe than yeah"
"Where would you go?"
"I'll find a place"
"Ok lets say you find a place how are you going to support her without a diploma?" he looked away from her again "So your just going to take her away from him and just hope for the best?"
"Shut up!" he was about to pull the trigger.
"Mac you don't want to do this"
"Why not?"
"Cause if you really wanted to then she would've been dead by now" she walked closer to them "Mac think about Emma. How would she feel when someone tells her she can't see her big brother anymore? Its going to break her heart and no one would be able to fix it again cause there's not going to be anyone else there for her. I would be hurt too if it were my brother who got sent to jail for murder I might as well jump of a roof cause if I wasn't able to see him again then there's no point be alive. I know Emma would feel the same…please don't do this to her"
A couple of minutes later he finally said "Either way I'm still going to jail"
"No you won't ok? I'm going to make sure you don't get into trouble for this my dad's a lawyer so is my stepsisters dad" she walked by him put her hand on the gun and started to lower it down "Everything's going to be alright just trust me"
He put the gun away "Would I still be able to see her"
She nodded "I'm going to make sure you guys end up together again I'm not going to rest until your alright"
END OF FLASHBACK
And she didn't she manage to get them agree to get them in the same foster home until Mac turned 18 now he's Emma's guardian. Instead of doing time for attempt murder he had to take anger management and counseling. Mac became real good friends with Smarti since that day. She also was asked to attend to a training place for the year so she could become a negotiator next year. She's going to be the youngest negotiator in history. They had to get the rents permission considering she's a minor the rents weren't exactly excited at first but nobody can say no to Smarti if you looked into her eyes. Which is why I try not to look at them to often…those eyes can make you do a lot of things you normally don't want to do.
"Hurry up Smerek I'm going to miss my flight" she whined
I looked at the time and rolled my eyes "Smarti your flight doesn't leave for another 45 minutes"
"So?"
"We should be there in 5 minutes or less"
"I want to get there early"
"Why?"
"Cause I want to get something to eat before I leave"
"Fine" after a couple of minutes we parked the car and walked inside to see everyone waiting for us.
"Its about time you two slow pokes got here" Casey came over and punched me in the shoulder.
"Ow what was that for?" I rubbed my shoulder "Jeez how is it possible you hit harder than before you got pregnant?"
"That was for making me wait so long to get something to eat"
"You know you could've just gone to the restaurant we would've meet you there"
"We still have to wait on you cause we would've been halfway done by the time you showed up and then we would've have to wait for you guys to get done eating"
I shrugged "You could've gotten deserts while you were waiting for us to be done"
"Yeah and listen to you whine how we didn't wait for you I wouldn't of heard the end of it"
"That is so not true" she looked at me disbelieve "Ok maybe it is true" I looked down.
"Come on let's go I'm starving" she grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the restaurant "Hurry up"
"Ow do you always have to dig your nails in my skin?"
She's waitin' on my blessings before she hits that
open road
Baby get ready
Get set
Don't go
"Hey Marti don't forget us when you become famous ok?" Mac threw a frie at her.
And she threw one back at him "What are you talking about? I'm just going to be a negotiator you don't become famous for that"
"Yeah but you're the youngest one in history"
"What's your point?"
"Do you really think no one's going to notice the best negotiator they have is not even old enough to get a drink?"
"I can in 3 years"
"Doesn't matter the point is everyone is going to be all over you when your done training"
"Ok I'm a little younger than them but so what? Just because I'm the youngest doesn't mean I'm the best"
"Girl who are you kidding your going to be the best and you know it"
"I don't know about that"
"Seriously if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have Emma with me right now" he smiled at her then looked down at Emma "Just a couple more bites than you can have your dessert ok?" Emma smiled big and started eating everything off her plate.
"Ok" she mumbled food was coming out of her mouth she swallowed "Sorry" he ruffled her hair.
I remember when I used to have to do that with Smarti when she was that age…why does she have to grow up? "What do you think Smerek?"
"Hmm?" I looked at her confused "What?"
She rolled her eyes "I said I don't know if I'm going to be good at this but everyone else seems to think other wise" she shook her head "What do you think?"
"Doesn't matter what I think" I looked down.
Feels like they're fallen apart
I painted this big ol' smile on my face
To hide my broken heart
If only she knew
I saw her face fell but she tried to cover it up so no one would see it which was pointless cause everyone at the table already did. They sent disapproving looks my direction when she wasn't looking. I know I should've said something else but what do you say to your baby sister who your not going to see for year knowing you can't be there to protect her
This is where I want to but I won't get in the way
Of her and her dreams
And spreadin' her wings
We got up after we were done eating and pulling out money to chip in for the bill I wish I could just tell her she can't do this. That she can't go on that plane and leave me. I wish I could just take her hand and get out of here and make sure she doesn't leave my sight for a second…but I can't they're right I have to let her go sometime I have to let her go on the plane cause for some reason this is her dream. She wants this more than anything and when have I ever been able to not to give her what she wants?
She's waitin' on my blessings before she hits that
open road
Baby get ready
Get set
Don't go
It'll be alright
She's waitin' on my blessings before she hits that
open road
Baby get ready
Get set
Please don't go
Don't go
When she was done hugging everybody she turned to me "You didn't think I was going to leave without giving you a hug did you?"
"I was starting to think so"
She rolled her eyes again but smiled at me and put her arms around me "Just saving the best for last idiot" I chuckled and put my arms around her.
"I won't see you until Thanksgiving and you call me an idiot"
"Call them like I see them bro" she pulled back so I can see the smirk on her face.
I ruffled her hair "Good" I pulled her back into the hug "I don't want to let go yet"
"You have to sometime"
"I know" she tried to pull back but I just tighten my grip "Not yet" after a couple of minutes I let her go.
"You ready to say goodbye yet"
"No I'm not"
"I don't want to let go either Smerek" she looked down "But I have to"
"I know" I sighed "As much as I don't want to I'm going to let you go even if it kills me"
"Do you think I can do it?"
"No" her face fell I smirked at her "I know you can you're a Venturi remember? We can do anything if we put our minds to it"
She jumped back into my arms again "I love you Smerek"
"I love you too Smarti"
Her shoulders starting shaking I can feel her tears going down my shirt "It doesn't matter how old I get I will always be your Smarti"
"I will always be your Smerek don't you ever forget that" she nodded "And you call me if those boys start giving you a hard time and I'll be there before you can say never mind" she giggled as she pulled away from me. She nodded and started wiping away her tears "See ya later Smarti" I don't have the heart to say goodbye to her then it would seem like I wasn't going to see her again
"See ya later Smerek" Of course she knows why I don't say goodbye with that she walks away she looks back once but looks back ahead. And I just watched her trying to keep my feet glued to the floor so I don't go after her and say I change my mind. I felt a hand on my shoulder I didn't have to turn around to know it was Casey.
"She's going to be alright Derek"
I nodded "She's going to be amazing I'm just…"
"She's scared too Der" I looked at her "But she's going to be happy that she faced her fears and followed her dreams" I put my arms around her and kissed her.
"How did I get so lucky? I don't deserve you"
"I keep saying the same thing every morning actually" she giggled when she saw my pout and kissed me "But for some reason I love you" she caressed my cheek I leaned into her soft warm touch "You're a great guy Venturi your going to be an amazing dad" she put my hand to her stomach I smiled and leaned down to kiss it.
"Let's go home" I put my arm around her waist and left with the whole family…well not the whole family. I looked back hoping to see Smarti running saying she changed her mind but she didn't I looked ahead Come back home soon Smarti
She's gotta do what she's gotta do
She's gotta do what she's gotta do
TO BE CONTINUED...