Skyfall

Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Summary: Two years have passed, with the violence in Ireland taking a deadly, vicious front seat to anything and everything, the Mossad Director's daughter and the Ambassador's son find themselves struggling to keep their children- and themselves- from choosing sides in the fighting. But they soon discover, that sometimes the sides you pick- or don't- not only define who you are, but who you love. Set two years after Left your Heart Torn ends.

The school bell rang loud and blaring, releasing the kids of Clontarf and the surrounding towns from the confinement of the classroom. In the two years since Belgrove had been bombed by ARBI- the Army of the Republic for British Ireland- it had taken a year to rebuild all the schools in the complex and get everything they needed, and the other year or so to hire all new staff for each school. The kids had all being forced to spend their summers in the classroom, of which none of them minded, if it meant bringing back some semblance of normalcy in the chaos they lived in.

Asher slammed his locker shut, and hefted his backpack onto his shoulder, before grabbing his duffel bag and reaching for his broom... He looked around, confused. It had been right here, leaning against the locker next to his, where he'd set it to reach for his chemistry book off the top shelf of his locker, and now it was gone. He turned briefly in a circle, confused beyond reason as to how a green, white and black broom could just disa-

He stopped, feeling something hit the back of his head. Slowly, he turned around again, not noticing the person matching him move for move a foot behind him. It wasn't until he was again hit on the head that he finally turned around, finding the girl standing behind him. "Devin." He sighed, shaking his head. Devin O'Maura was Asher's neighbor, living three houses down from his parents house in Clontarf. She'd lost her father two years prior, in the early months of the 'New Troubles' as the world had nicknamed the violence in the republic, and had found Asher's father, Tim, as a surrogate father- asking him for advice and wanting his opinion, like she'd never get from her own father again.

She handed the broom back to him, but refused to let it go, and he ended up pulling her with it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling. He gently brushed her thick red braid off her shoulder, his arms moving to encircle her waist as he rested the broom against his closed locker door. Though they went to separate schools on the same campus- the all girls' schools and all boys' schools were the oldest in Clontarf, before the bombings- the girls still got out earlier than the boys, and so only then, when school got out for the day, were the girls allowed in the boys' schools without supervision. "Don't you have dance-"

"I do, I jus'... figured I'd tell ye goodbye before goin' t' class." He rolled his eyes, but leaned back against his locker. "Don't ye 'ave... practice?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I... I do." She nodded, as Asher took a deep breath.

"So... see ye later." She bit her lip, nodding silently. Their lips soon met in a soft kiss, that was broken all too quickly by the sound of whistling. A blush crept over Asher's cheeks, and he pulled away to see a couple of his friends, also with their Curling brooms and gym bags, waiting for him. He glanced at Devin, who quickly pulled away, embarrassed. "Oh, Sheket b'vakashah!" The other boys held up their hands in surrender, but were soon shoved aside as Keavy Gallagher pushed herself between them.

Already dressed in her curling uniform, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, Keavy was zipping up her green and white jacket, the orange lettering spelling out her name in cursive on the breast of the light jacket. She grinned at Asher and Devin, shooting a glare over her shoulder at the others boys. "'ey Asher." He returned her smile, even as she looked around for someone. "Where's Liron?"

"Getting Zip-" He stopped, as his baby brother and sister joined them.

Zipporah had already changed into her leotard and tights for dance; Liam and Liron were with her, talking amiably. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a bun, and she wore a pair of bright blue legwarmers, her dance bag slung over her shoulder. She held tight to Liam's hand, their fingers loosely laced together. None of the kids would admit that they were in relationships or dating- only that they were taking things slow by getting to know each other, and all had used the same boundaries Tim and Ziva had set up for them two years earlier. They were all perfectly happy with the boundaries and none of them wanted to do anything to mess it up.

"Hey Devin. Ready?" The older girl nodded.

"Aye, I'm ready. Ye ready?" Zipporah and Liam nodded, and after a moment, he pulled away, but not without a quick kiss. He too played Curling, on the same team Asher was on, and though Liam was younger than Asher, he'd been playing curling from the time he was a child- his grandfather had taught him and his siblings how to play from the time they were old enough to hold a broom, and so Liam held the position of Skip on the Curling team. The Belgrove Curling team had more than one team- for both the boys and the girls- but Liam was Skip for the main team at the school. And Asher, though he hadn't been playing long, had worked his way up to Vice Skip, which was basically the co-captain, as the two boys liked to look at it.

Both Asher and Liron shivered; it was still strange to see their baby sister holding hands with and kissing a boy, even one they were both good friends with. Zipporah glared at them, and opened her mouth to say something, when an explosion shook the school. The students left on school grounds rushed outside, in time to see a plume of black smoke rise into the horizon. The fighting and violence had gotten worse, with disappearances, murders and bombings happening almost every hour of the day. "Hey! Hey, McGee, Quinn, come here! Ye t', Gallagher." After a moment, the three joined one of the coaches of the boys' Curling team. "We've decided t' cancel practice. We think 'twould be bet'r if ye all went 'ome t'day. Esp'cially wit' tha' explosion bein' so close."