Hi Guys!

So, I'm really sorry about the last story. Honestly. I dont like giving things up when I know people are reading but it didn't have the flow I needed, I wasn't driven to writing it.

But this one, well, this is another story. I love the idea of this one. It's different, that's for sure. But I think the idea's brilliant, even if I do say so myself. Just give it a chance.

Now, it's longer than normal, about double the length of the others. It may not stay like that, I just needed to introduce things.

I have to ignore all the other stories, pretend they haven't happened. So, Sky and Zed, Yves and Phee, Xav and Crystal, and Trace and Diamond. They are all together. But ignore Will and Kate, Victor and Marian and Uriel and Sarah.

Hope you like it.

"You're a lucky bugger, you know that right?" A sullen looking man said to another man on the other side of the room.

This man smiled, "I do James. Now wipe that look off your face, I'll keep in touch."

James laughed bitterly. "I'm serious. You got life, pretty much."

His friend turned and picked up a worn jacket from the iron bedstead by the wall. "30 years."

James shrugged. "That is life. And it's been, what, three years? That's mad. If my dad had a ton of cash, he still wouldn't do what your's did for you."

The jacket slid up the thin but strong arms of his friend. "The Kelly's won't be stumped just because they got sent to prison."

"Sean, your sister assaulted a prison officer, that put paid to any of her chances of getting out. And your dad's dead."

Sean nodded sharply and started putting on a blue tie that he picked up from the bedside table. "But there's a difference. Maria was stupid, she was proud and impulsive. She deserves what she got. And dad," He paused and looked into a plastic mirror to straighten the tie. "Well, he was just fat. Cardiac arrest was knocking at his door."

James got up and handed Sean a threadbare satchel. "You're not really one to talk about fat Sean. When you came in I thought you'd get stuck in the door."

Sean ran a hand through his wiry black hair. "But it's different now. I mean, look at me."

The pair surveyed Sean's lean physique and smiled nostalgically. "Keep it like that hey?" James held out the bag to his dapper looking friend. "I haven't spent the last three years straitening you out for nothing."

Sean slung the bag over his shoulder and smiled at his friend. "I know James. Seriously, I know. I'm working on it. I'm going to change my last name. I can't be Sean Kelly any more. I'll choose something else like Danes. Then I'm going to find out when my parole's happening, and work from there. I'll get what work I can and keep away from any of my dad's friends. New life."

James clapped him on the shoulder. "Make it work. It's the only one you're gonna have. God, three years paid from thirty. You sneaky, lucky, lucky bugger."

Sean smiled at him, his best friend. The guy who'd turned him around, made him better. "I'll keep in touch."

There was a clang behind them of the prison bars being pulled back. The men turned to see Roy, a prison guard, standing by the gate.

"Time to go Kelly. You're out of here."

Sean turned to James, who was getting a little teary, despite his huge burly persona. "I'll see you when you're out. Maybe I'll come and visit."

James nodded and pulled his best friend into a hug. "I won't be out for a while. Still got ten years on the clock. Not everyone gets a second chance." He backed away and stared hard at Sean. "Use it, don't mess up again."

Sean smiled and nodded. "I promise. I'll make you proud."

Roy cleared his throat loudly behind them. "Come on, anyone would think you want to stay."

Sean grinned at James and stepped back. "Don't go getting into any fights while I'm not there to keep an eye on you."

James stepped forward when Roy pulled the gate across, separating him from Sean in the lonely prison cell. He wrapped his arms through the bars, leaning against them to shout down the corridor. "Make it work Sean Danes!"

Sean waved over his shoulder as Roy led him away with a hard grip on his elbow.

Many prisoners whistled and called out from their cells at him, some waving him away, others cursing the luck.

As the prison door opened Sean took a deep breathe of clean, fresh air and saw birds wheeling in the sky, mothers hurrying past with prams and a hundred things on their minds, cars whizzing past on their way to something. He could feel the energy and emotion in everything. Roy was tired, bored of looking after criminals but happy that one had cleaned up.

He patted Sean's shoulder awkwardly. "Off you go then Kelly, don't go getting into no trouble now that you're out."

Sean smiled at him, the relief of being free showing on his face. "I won't Roy, I'll make sure of that."

Roy nodded and stepped back, closing the door softly behind him.

There was silence as Sean turned and surveyed the scene before him.

He took a step.

Then another.

And another.

He was free, free of everything. His dad was dead, his sister festering in a self-inflicted solitary cell. He had the world on his doorstep. With a little cash slipped to a judge he was out.

James' words rang in his ears. Don't mess up Sean, this is your second chance.

Sean breathed deeply again and smiled. He'd turn it around. He'd clean up, get a job, find somewhere to live, maybe find his soulfinder. The world was his for the taking.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his satchel and looked at it. His parole dates were labelled clearly with a place next to it. He had to stay in Las Vegas, for at least a year. His next parole was in a week. One whole week, all his.

He tucked the paper away in his bag and squared his shoulders, ready to walk into the world.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few miles away, in the suburbs of Las Vegas, it was growing dark. A cat streaked across the pavement of a cul-de-sac full of little houses with lace curtains and fireplaces.

A family were sitting down to dinner in the house at the end. A chubby middle aged man pulled out a chair for his wife and she smiled suspiciously at him. "Michael, what's going on? You never make dinner. And you got that dress for Karen, what's the occasion?"

The girl they called Karen came into the room wearing the said dress. The red skirt flirted around her knees and buttoned up to her collar bones with pearl buttons. The colour went well with her chestnut hair and Labrador eyes. She had lipstick that matched the dress and she twirled as she entered the room, happiness and laughter making her glow. "Dad, it's beautiful, thank you so much! I can't wait to show Patty and Meg. Honestly, I love it." She kissed Michael on the cheek and sat down opposite her mother.

A young man came into the room, the light shining off hair that matched his sister's. "Some one's bubbly." He pulled out his chair and sat, patting his mother's had and winking at Karen. "New dress?"

Karen beamed at him. "Indeed, and how are you today brother mine?"

The man shrugged. "Not bad, you?"

Michael sat and cleared his throat. "Tom, good day?"

Before he could answer his mother tutted. "Tom, your father is spoiling Karen and me and we want to know why." She smiled at her daughter. "First the dress, then making dinner. And I know for a fact he's sprinkled rose petals on our bed."

Her husband went a rosy shade of red while his son hooted with laughter.

"Dad, a true Casanova, didn't know you still had it in you." Tom raised his water glass to his cherry red father.

"Shush Tom," Karen threw her napkin at him. "I think it's romantic, well done Dad." She nodded approvingly and smiled conspiratorially at her mother. "In for a long night then Mum?"

Her mother raised her chin. "I fail to see how it's any business of yours." She said haughtily, trying to hide the smile. "But it's all very suspicious and I demand an explanation Michael."

Michael put his fork down, swallowing a large chunk of pasta. "Well, I had a message a couple of days ago at work."

His family waited in anticipation. "And?" Karen was bobbing about in her chair, ignoring her dinner and acting lively for her twenty four years.

Michael smiled. "Some one's invested in us." He said simply.

There was a cheer from his son and his daughter and wife clapped and squealed. "Finally!"

He laughed, relief showing plainly on his face. "And it means we won't have to worry anymore. I promise."

He reached out and took his wife's hand. "I mean it Jude."

There was a tender, loving look shared between the couple and their daughter watched. "I know you do." Jude said warmly.

"Must have been a lot Dad." Tom started eating again, spearing a piece of pasta with his fork. "You were nearly at rock bottom."

His father looked at his plate awkwardly. "It was a lot, maybe too much. But I know that I can pay it back eventually. They've given me a forward of a year on the loan, and it's a done deal from there."

Karen threw all worry out the window as she raised her glass, the red wine matching her dress. "Congratulations Dad, you did it. I always knew you would."

Her father leant forward and kissed her cheek. "My little cheerleader."

They all drank. The happiness was high in the room, making the atmosphere light and warm.

That was until they heard a crash at the door.

Michael and Tom jumped up and looked through the door warily. "Hello?" Tom called, frowning and reaching out to the door handle.

His father grabbed his arm and held it back. "No Tom, don't."

Tom looked confused. His wife and Karen moved around the table and frowned at him. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Michael was visibly shaking and there were beads of sweat around his hairline. "It's too soon." He whispered to himself. "They promised me a year."

There was another crash behind the door and footsteps were heard in the hall.

"They're in the house!" His wife wrapped an arm around her daughter and looked around panicky. "Michael, what's going on?"

Michael looked over at his wife. Karen was still clutching her napkin, fear was in her eyes and she had folded herself into her mother's body.

Tom squared his shoulders and reached for the door. "Dad," He said quietly. "I won't let them hurt Mum, or Karen. Whoever they are, they need to go."

Michael wiped at his brow. "No, you can't stop them." He turned to his wife. "Go, take Karen and go. Now, leave as fast as you can by the back door and don't come back. I mean it."

"What?" Karen stepped out of her mother's arms, fear turning to anger and confusion. "Dad, who are they? Why do we need to go?"

The footsteps came closer to the door.

"Please just go! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Just please go!" Her father was crying, "You have such a powerful gift, it can help so many people. But you won't be able to if they find you."

Karen frowned. "What does my healing have to do with anything?"

Her father lurched forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Go."

"No!" She said, overly loud. The footsteps stopped outside the door.

Tom swore and gripped the handle. He picked up a vase from the side table and looked over his shoulder. "Get down."

Jude took Karen's hand and pulled her to the other side of the room. Michael was sobbing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He shook.

Tom yanked open the door and immediately stumbled back. He stood still by the table, swaying slightly with a look of shock on his face. His raised hand slackened and the vase dropped to the floor, shattering. Like a puppet, he collapsed to his knees and fell forward, a red hole in the back of his skull, blood pouring out.

Karen screamed.

The room was filled with a cacophony of shooting and yells. Men in black suits swarmed in with guns pointed at anything.

Jude was screaming as she clutched her daughter to her, still staring at her son's lifeless body. Karen watched in horror, speechless, not even able to cry out as the men grabbed her father from where he'd collapsed into the corner.

"You made a fool of us Bolton! We don't get humiliated lightly." A huge man spat into Michael's face as he cried and cowered.

"We had a deal." He sobbed. "A year, you said a year."

The man laughed, a bitter sound ricocheting around Karen's mind, filling her with images of a broken childhood and obsessions of paying the world back. "There was a change of plan. And Bolton, you're overdue."

"No." Michael went pale, his life blood falling to his shoes. "No please. You've already taken my son. Not my wife and girl too."

Jude let out a whimper from where they were crouched under the table and a pair of booted feet turned and walked towards them.

Karen's mind was drowned with feelings and images of various mental states of the men in the room, they had a range of different problems, all of them mental. There was a kleptomaniac, a secret transvestite and a couple of psychopaths. This was not a safe array of people.

The table was ripped away from above their heads, soiling food on the floor and shattering the glasses. Two hands grabbed her arms and started dragging her towards the door.

She started to scream, kicking as hard as she could and clawing at the man's hands. The hem of her scarlet dress snagged on the shards of Tom's vase and tumbled over his lifeless shoulders.

Jude was grabbed and dragged after her daughter. "Michael!" She screamed. "Michael!"

"I'm sorry! I'll find you, I'll get you out!" He yelled after her as the man threw him to the floor and pointed a gun at his forehead.

The last thing Karen saw as she was thrown into a cold van outside, was a flash through the curtains and the echoing sound of a gunshot. She had time to scream, "Dad!" before she was clubbed over the head with the butt of a man's pistol, and the world went dark.

What do you think?

I hope you like it, I'm really excited about writing it.

Please tell me your first impressions, it would help so much.

Also, at the start of every chapter I will do a recommendation of a fanfic, preferably in the Finding Sky section but I may stray. If you want me to recommend your story, send me a PM with your name and story title and I'll give it a read.

Thanks!

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