Another special thanks to all of my reviewers, shout out to HelzLckyAngl for your constructive criticism; it's greatly appreciated!

The boys cradled Chrysanthemum in their arms, one on each side. They all lay crammed together on Murphy's mattress; Connor's sat empty, only a few feet away from the other. The trio had made their way back to the twins' flat earlier that evening; they hadn't wanted to put Rocco out any further. He'd already helped them out plenty by letting them bring a bloodied stranger into his home. Or at least, they had thought she was a stranger.

She reveled in the comfort of their lean bodies cocooning her own. She was starting to think she'd never feel peace again in her life, but here it was, breathing in sequence on either side of her. They had long since fallen asleep, but she herself had felt unable to. She chalked it up to all the time she'd spent napping on the boat ride, and the time she spent passed out in Rocco's apartment. That and she couldn't stop smiling. All the time she had spent lost she'd been thinking that fate had fallen short and was leading her astray. Little did she know fate had her reunion with the boys in the cards the whole time; she'd just been unable to see that far ahead. And she'd gotten mugged by a freaking bum. I'm such an idiot to have let that happened. She had let her guilt interfere with the drive to protect herself, and let a filthy street urchin get the best of her. She vowed from then on to be more savvy; quicker on her feet. That was the only way she was going to be able to keep up with this place. It was so set apart from her home; and yet, Ireland wasn't really her home anymore. This was her home. Right here, nestled between Connor and Murphy. Wherever the three of them were together would be home from now on.

Chrys used her pointer and index finger to trace the hard lines of Connor's sleeping face, admiring the way the moonlight from the window made his features look softer. He stirred slightly, and awoke, then frowned when he opened his eyes. Chrys furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?" She whispered. He shook his head and gingerly touched the bruises on her face. "I jus' can't believe I let this happen to you." She grabbed his hand away from her face and brought it to her mouth. "You did what you thought was right. I know that now." The expression on his face was still pained. "There'r so many questions I have; I mean, who did this to you? It couldn't have been-". She cut him off by pressing her lips against his. "Later." She whispered. He wasn't going to argue. Not when she was pressing herself up against him like that. "Connor," She whispered. "Aye, love?"

"Kiss me." She breathed.

He didn't hesitate. For the life of him he couldn't fathom why it had taken him so many years to do this. He caressed her every curve as they explored each other's lips. Chrys winced as his hand brushed against a sore spot and let out a pained moan. "I'm sorry." Connor said. Chrys was startled when she felt movement behind her. Murphy was awake. To her surprise, it didn't take him long to get the gist of what had roused him; it took him even less time to catch up. His mouth picked up where his brother's had left off, and he went a step further by sliding his hands beneath her shirt and caressing her flushed skin. Connor followed his brother's lead and grabbed her shirt, pulling it over her head. Both brothers paused what they were doing to take in all of the damage to her body. Purple-green bruises littered her skin, darkening significantly where it was stretched thinnest over her bones.

The brothers kissed every last injury upon her, as if apologizing for each one and promising to help it heal. She arched her back to meet their caresses. There was a hunger for them that she'd never experienced before; and she needed to explore it. She positioned herself on top of Connor and trailed kisses from his mouth and down his jaw until she reached the crook of his neck. She sucked and nibbled on the sensitive flesh she found there, and Connor moaned gruffly. Murphy pulled Chrys in his direction, urging her to give him his turn. She loved the need for her in his expression; and she did not leave him wanting. Instead of going for his neck, she left a trail of bite-marks along his pronounced collarbone. What had been one of the worst days of her life was quickly developing into one of the best she'd had. She gave them both a loving kiss on their lips and settled back in between them. It was a little more crowded, now that she had gotten them all bothered and hot; but they didn't push her any further. They knew she'd had a trying couple of days and wanted her to get as much good rest as she could. "Oiche mhaith." She murmured, burying her head into Murphy's neck, and pulling Connor close to her. "Good nigh' love." They answered.

When the boys woke up, Chrys had already managed to figure out where everything in the kitchen was and have coffee ready for them in mugs on the table. It was as if she'd never missed a beat. "Mornin' beautiful." Murphy cooed, and pecked her on the lips. "As if." She shot back, pausing to yawn. "I look like I' been mauled er somethin'." Connor placed a kiss on her mouth followed by another to her wounded temple. "You said it. I think my eyes are actually stingin' from lookin' at yeh fer too long!" She swatted at him as he and Murphy shared a laugh over their coffee at her expense. Chrys busied herself by looking through their cupboards and in the fridge for food. Besides some more coffee grounds, all she found was a pack of Ramen, a six-pack that was empty except for one half-empty can, and a bottle of mustard. She turned to the boys and crossed her arms. "Really? That's it?" They shrugged and nodded, as if the fact that they had little more than condiments and booze wasn't something worth questioning. "What do you eat?" Connor finished his coffee and burped. "We don't really eat all that often."

"Righ'. When we're not workin' we're either at Rocco's or McGinty's. We usually eat somewhere in between." Murphy said. "Oh." An uneven silence had crept into the room. She knew she would eventually need to explain herself. She just wasn't sure she was ready for that to be right now; now that everything had fallen back into its rightful place. For the most part, anyway. She wrung her hands nervously. "So I guess you two are probably wonderin' why I'm here…" She trailed off.

"Does it happen to be an arsehole by the name of Lile Cagney?" Connor asked, crossing his arms over his bare chest. Chrys was taken aback. "How…how the fuck did you know about Lile?" She couldn't fathom how they could've found out. Unless…

"Were you two keeping tabs on me?" She yelled, trying not to be peeved with them; she knew they meant well. Had they been talking to old friends behind her back all this time without actually contacting her, herself? "O'course." Murphy quipped. "Did yeh really just expect us to leave yeh be all that time without knowing what you were up teh?" Connor shot his twin a look. "That's not what it was like, 'Mum. We called down every once in a while to make sure you were alrigh'." She nodded. "I see. How much do you know about what happened?" They shrugged. "Not much." said Connor. "Ole' Wilson called us up abou' a month ago and said you'd fallen in wit' de wrong guy."

"Yeah." Murphy added. "And that you were being a real dick about it when he told you that Lile was trouble." She almost laughed. Almost. Hearing Wilson's name made guilt rise into her throat like bile. She didn't even know if he or her friends had made it out of The Anvil alive that night. "Can't we just go back to making out and not talk about this?"

The boys looked at each other, seemingly considering their options. "There'll be plenty of time fer that later." Connor decided. "Right now we need to know what happened. I mean, fer Christ's sake Chrys, look at yeh! You can't just run away and let him get away with doing that!" Connor said, his voice level rising to almost a yell by the end of the sentence. "He didn't." She said, her voice coming out as quiet as Connor's had been loud. She lowered her eyes to the grimy tile floor. Maybe if she focused on it for long enough, the conversation would just mute itself, and she would no longer have to deal with it. "We're not stupid, Chrys!" Murphy yelled. "We know he was the one who did most of that to yeh! I don't know why yer tryin to protect-". She cut the fair-skinned twin off mid-sentence. "I didn't say he didn't do this to me. He did. When I said 'he didn't', I meant that he didn't get away." The room fell silent again as the boys put two and two together. "Oh fuck." Murphy exhaled, sinking back down into his chair.

The reason she'd come away from Ireland became blindingly clear as she filled in the gaps from their two year absence. She told them everything, beginning with her debilitating despair for the first few months all the way to the end.

"He uprooted my entire life. He took away my family; and he threatened you. So, I killed him." The last few words came out as a whisper. Murphy took her in his arms. "You did the right thing, Chrys. You shouldn't feel guilty about it." Connor picked up a chair and threw it to the other side of the room. It splintered into several pieces as it crashed against the wall. "This is all our fucking fault!" Chrys moved away from Murphy's embrace and took Connor's face in her hands. "It doesn't matter now. None of it does. It's over, he's buried, and no one will find him. Even if they do, no one will fucking care." He took her hands in his own and nodded. "All that matters is that we're here, together. And now that I have you both back I'm not going to let anything spoil it."

The trio made a pact not to talk about those two years anymore, unless they absolutely had to. There was no point in dwelling upon what had happened; doing that would only give Lile power over them. They erased him from their lives and their memories. It would be like he never even existed.

The boys kissed Chrysanthemum goodbye before going off to work at the meat-packing plant. They left her in Rocco's care, at his apartment, where at least she would be comfortable and have someone to keep an eye on her while they were gone.

"Pick up some groceries on the way home, will yeh?" She called after them as they left. "If I'm goin'te be livin' here, then this mustard and beer shyte's gotta go!"