We got another snow day! Ok, it's more of an iceday, but it's still a day off!

Alright, I don't really care for this chapter. I was stuck AGAIN and had to ask my best friend for help (which is what I did last time.)

me : i'm stuck again with my story. help
Her: blow something up
me : i can't blow something up
Her: why not?
me : 1. i already did that
me : 2. it wouldn't help
me : 3. no one is near materials to blow stuff up with
Her: 1. so?
Her: 2. it always helps
Her: 3. i bet there's something

TT_TT I'm gonna stop asking her for help...

Disclaimer: I own only my characters and my plot.

Chapter 11

"That's on backwards, Dear," Mallory giggled, gently pushing her husband out of the way, "Why don't you go get in bed? I'll put the kids to sleep."

James looked down at his son, who was squirming uncomfortably in his backwards diaper, "Oops! Sorry bud," he smiled as the little boy tried unsuccessfully to crawl away.

Mallory picked their son up and gave James a peck on the cheek, "Com'n, scoot," she laughed, pushing him out of the nursery, "I'll be there in a minute."

"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to turn around, "I can help."

She laughed again and pointed down the hallway, "I think you've been enough help already. I still have to give Heather and Carol Ann a bath; and Lord knows what you could mess up with that."

James walked slowly to their bedroom, listening to the giggles and squeals of his children splashing each other, and their mother. So young, so innocent, all of them; never had anything in the world made him as happy as his family did. He loved them so dearly.

And he was about to lose them all.

~*~*~*~*~

"Stop it!" Michael hissed, "If I see you laughing one more time I will break something on your face!" He turned away red-faced and peered through his sniper eyepiece, "If you two ladies can pay attention long enough, we can still pull this off. But you're going to have to listen to me instead of watching that god damn VIDEO!" He glared at his accomplices who quickly tucked away an iPhone and held their guns tighter.

"Alright," said the one with a cigarette, "You don't have to snap."

"Yeah," the other one piped up, "We're just havin' some fun, that's all." He shifted nervously on his feet and looked over at the smoker who was obviously the leader of the two. The smoker nodded slightly, although he seemed somewhat annoyed his toady had spoken up.

Michael pursed his lips and stood up, "I'm going in for a closer look," he growled, "Wait for my signal, and then you can destroy till your heart's content. But for now, just stay out of trouble." Without another word he disappeared down the fire escape.

The two other men waited until they could no longer hear his steps before pulling the iPhone back out. "Play the part where the boss blows up at him again," the nervous one said…nervously.

They both burst out laughing as the screen lit up with a security video of Opal Koboi blowing her top at Michael for failing to complete the task of simply talking to Jaclynn without fighting with her.

Halfway down the fire escape, Michael cursed under his breath, reminding himself to fulfill his threat of breaking their faces later.

~*~*~*~*~*~

James laid down three aces, "Touchdown!" he sang out, taking the M&Ms from in front of his wife, "You lose another round, Malley. You sure you want to keep playing?"

She stared at him blankly, "First off, it's not 'touchdown', and second, I don't quit. I'm playing until I win at least one round."

"Then I guess we'll be here all night."

"I guess we will. Deal the cards."

James smiled, night time was his favorite part of the day; it was the few precious hours he had with his wife after working all day. Tonight was Wednesday night: poker night. He pushed a pile of candy into the middle of the bed and dealt the cards, "Ready to lose again?" he asked.

"Over my dead body," Mallory growled playfully, throwing three more M&Ms on the pile. The next few minutes were tense; neither spouse said a word to the other. They liked that kind of suspense.

"So how was work today?" Mallory asked gingerly, shifting her cards around.

"Fine," James replied, "Matt's wife had another baby, and Fowl's wife is pregnant again."

Mallory looked up surprised, "Angeline? Really? Again? Have they told their kids yet?"

"Nope. Little Artemis just came home today; I have a hunch they're waiting until Christmas morning to tell them."

"That'll be nice. Be sure to tell him I said congrats when you see him next. Anything else happen?" James hesitated a bit; she knew what that meant. "You went back again, didn't you?"

He nodded slowly, "I'm sorry, but I just had to! I need to know…"

"Need to know what?" she asked harshly, throwing her cards down, "Every single gruesome detail of your brother's murder? They found the guilty man, he's in jail, what more do you want?!"

"He didn't do it!" James cried, "I don't care what the police say! It wasn't him; I know that for a fact. He's covering for the real murderer."

"How? How do you know?!" Mallory ran her hands through her long red hair, "We go through this every night: until you find any evidence it wasn't him, then it was him. Okay?" he didn't answer, "Okay?"

"Actually, he's right."

The couple turned quickly to see a man leaning on their doorframe. "Who are you?" James demanded, pulling his wife closer to him, "What are you doing here?"

The man raised a gun and smiled wickedly, "James O'Brian, brother the deceased Michal O'Brian, if you would kindly come with me please we can avoid any violence."

Mallory moved in front of James, "What do you want with him?"

"Never you mind. Now move, your husband and I have some important business to attend to."

She gave him an icy glare, "Over my dead body," she hissed.

The man shrugged, "Alright then, have it your way."

He squeezed the trigger and James let out a blood curling scream as Mallory fell lifeless onto the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You hear that?" the smoker asked putting his hand to his ear, "That's the signal; let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~

James cradles his still wife in his arms, tears streamed down his pale face, "No, Mal, don't leave me!" he cried over and over again. But it was too late. She was gone, he knew it. He'd lost the joy of his life. She was everything to him; now he was nothing, empty, alone.

The man shook his head, "Such a pity," he sighed mockingly, "Such a poor choice of words."

James pulled the nightstand drawer open and took out a hand gun, "SHUT UP!" he screamed, "SHUT THE HELL UP! WHO ARE YOU?!"

"How am I supposed to shut up and tell you who I am?" he asked annoyed, tapping his foot impatiently.

James felt everything inside him burst. He lunged at the stranger, murderous ideas flooding his brain. Anger and Loss can give people the strength they never knew they had, and he soon had the man pinned to the blood stained ground. Whether it was his blood, the man's or Mallory's, James didn't care; he was going to make sure the guy didn't have a single drop of blood left in his body when he was through with him.

"Freeze!"

James looked up into the barrel of a riffle, eyes wide. The man under him pushed him off and rolled over moaning, "About time you two showed up," he weezed, fighting for air.

"Sorry," the one with the gun said, sticking a cigarette in his mouth, "The kids kept squirming. Took us forever to hold 'em down. Finally had to knife them to death instead of gunning."

James's eyes bulged, "Y-You…you did…what?" he said hoarsely.

The man looked up at the smoker and groaned, "Oh for crying out...you weren't supposed to tell him yet! The plan was, kill the family, take him hostage, then tell him and threaten to kill the rest of his friends and family. Can you two get anything right?"

"Yeah," said a third voice from the window, "But you forgot one thing: no one moved until I gave the signal." All three strangers feel silent as Michael jumped down into the room, "Apparently, you thought you could take control. Well, I'm still boss here, got it? I said no one did anything until I said so." He leaned down and gently moved Mallory's hair away from her face, "I just wish we could have done this without violence."

"Well you could have!" James screamed, face wet with tears, "I would've come! I would've done what you asked!"

The nervous man smiled, "Well, thinks of it this way; now you have to do what we say whether you like it or not."

James looked up at him, eyes red and puffy, "Wanna bet, bast***?"

Michael took the gun from the smoker and hit James on the back of the head, pausing while he fell face first on the floor, "For your sake and Jaclynn's, I hope you do." He turned and nodded at the others, handing them a set of car keys, "Here, take him to the car then burn the house down."

The smoker grabbed the keys greedily and smiled, "With pleasure," he smirked. After they dragged James body out, he took the lighter out of his pocket, lit it, dropped it, and watched the rug catch fire.

I didn't blow anything up, but I did light something on fire!

(:O OMG I killed a lot of people in that chapter...Review!!Review!!Review!!

I'm going to write two more stories; one for Maximum Ride, and one for Artemis Fowl. If you see them, please R&R them too!