A/N: SORRY for the update delay guys! I wrecked my car and so work has been stressful and my internet keeps going in and out so I haven't been on tumblr and idek if this will post or not but we'll see! OH and chapter after next is the big wedding and final chapter to this story. Then the last story in the trilogy will start/be up after that. Im taking name suggestions for the last story title too so don't be shy to PM me if you have an idea or leave it in a review!

"Lauren stop!" Emily protested. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Lauren just giggled splashing around in the bathtub. "Lauren, come on sit down so I can rinse your hair out!" Emily whined. It was late and she'd just gotten Lauren into the bathtub. "Dec, TURN DOWN THE TV! If I can hear it in the bathroom it's too loud!" She called. Ian was at work and it had been a long day. She'd finally mustered the courage to pack up Landen's things and she was drained, emotionally and physically. "DECLAN! DOWN NOW!" She yelled, getting aggravated. Her yells were rewarded by a loud splash and a mouthful of soapy bubbles. Sputtering she swore under her breath, glaring at Lauren.

She was lifting Lauren out of the bathtub when she heard the TV volume go up loud again. She cursed, asking God why she was being punished when the bathroom door burst open.

"What the f—" she gasped as a foot collided with her face.

Lauren let out a scream as Emily toppled over on top of her.

"Knock knock," a sarcastic male voice said tauntingly.

Emily groaned. She thrust her foot out at the strange mans knee cap. He jumped back pointing a SIG Sauer in her face.

"Uh-uh, I don't think so baby." He said snickering. "Otherwise, baby girl here gets a bullet."

Emily pulled herself up to where her body was shielding Lauren's. Lauren was screaming in her ear, Emily tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Who was this man? What did he want? Where was Declan? Declan! She thought frantically. She stood slowly the stranger was young, couldn't be more than 25. Short with spiky black hair, a tear drop tattoo on his face. He'd been in prison, then… "DECLAN!" She called frantically as she heard a crash come from down the hall. This man was not alone it seemed.

She felt confident that in hand to hand combat she could easily subdue this kid, but he had a gun and she couldn't risk him hitting Lauren in such a small area.

"What do you want? You want money? I can get it for you out of the safe in the basement." She said slowly putting her hands up in front of her. The man laughed. She was hoping he'd agree because if she could get to the safe she could get one of the many, many guns hidden in there.

"You really don't know huh? Old man didn't tell you?" he asked snidely, still aiming the gun at her and Lauren.

Emily froze. So this had to do with Ian… No, Ian had not told her anything, and she felt her adrenaline flush with anger at him. Always the antagonizer, always putting his family at risk. He just couldn't stop and she hated him for it. She'd lost a son and now, she might just lose everything. Unsubs like this, home invaders high on drugs or alcohol, armed, they didn't usually tend to leave witnesses. But she forced those thoughts out of her head trying to focus on the dire situation she was now facing.

"No, he didn't. What's this about? Did he, did he take something from you? Does he owe you money?" She asked tentatively.

The man just chuckled. "Nah, he doesn't owe me shit. But that asshole's gonna pay for what he did to my dad." He said, voice growing agitated.

"What did he do?" She asked confused. She felt certain that if Ian had killed someone he would have mentioned it. Or maybe he wouldn't, she didn't know anymore he'd been acting so strangely lately.

"He didn't mind his own goddamn business that's what! Butting into a conversation then kicking the shit out of my old man, almost killed him. You know what he did?" The kid asked, waving the gun at her. She heard a crash come from downstairs, followed by a gunshot. She let out a shaky cry. "O-ohh my god." She gasped. "D-declan?" She whispered eyes welling up with tears.

"Get on the floor bitch," the kid said. "Lay down on your back."

She nodded, doing as he said, Lauren clamored onto her still shrieking uncontrollably, bath towel falling off of her.

Emily laid down on her back grabbing onto Lauren's tiny hands. "Shhh baby its gonna be okay!" She tried to say reassuringly. The stranger put his foot on Emily's throat. She coughed, closing her eyes. She tried to plead with him not to hurt Lauren.

"Feel this? This is what your bastard husband did to my dad." He growled at her. She opened her eyes as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs slowly. She didn't make a sound, but her eyes widened. And then she heard the gunshot ring out. She quickly rolled as the kid collapsed into a heap on the floor, blood spilling out of his chest.

She grabbed Lauren pulling her close, rocking and crying. She looked up in the doorway to see a blonde haired boy standing there gun in hand. "Declan? Oh my god." She said releasing Lauren, and rushing to him. She took the gun gingerly from his hand. "D-declan I thought—what, what happened to the other guy?" She whispered.

Declan gulped. "He—he came into my room and tried to grab me, but I did some martial arts thing and we knocked over my TV and while he was down I ran downstairs to the basement. He followed me and so I jumped over the table and I broke a chair but I got down the basement and found one of the guns dad didn't have in the safe. I looked around real quick and I was gonna try and make it back to you and give it to you somehow but he had me blocked down in the basement… and he reached into his coat and… I sh—shot him." Declan said slowly.

Emily just nodded, "Okay, okay. Shh, its fine Dec, you did the right thing. He probably would have shot you. It was self-defense alright?" She said hugging him. He nodded.

"We need to call your dad." She said looking around for her phone.

"What about the cops?" Declan asked.

She froze. Any normal family could call the cops… but not theirs.

"Umm, we will hon, I just… I really need your dad here right now okay?" She stammered.

He nodded. "Can you take Lauren into her room and get her PJs on? And stay with her. She's scared and tired. I'm gonna call your dad and go downstairs to make sure all the doors and windows are locked."

He shook his head and picked up a whining Lauren and carried her down the hall. Emily sighed, putting her hands on the sink and taking a deep shuttering breath.

She looked into the mirror at her face, there was a fresh new cut on her cheekbone from the kids steel toed boots. She touched it gingerly, guessing she was lucky it was only a cut and not a broken bone.

She walked down the stairs gun in hand phone in the other.

"Emily?" Ians voice came from the other end.

"Ian you have to come home. NOW." She commanded.

"Why? Emily what's wrong?"

"IAN! NOW!" She barked, hanging up. She stalked silently through the house, she made it to the dining room where she found a broken window. Nobody had heard the glass break between Declan's loud TV, the bathtub water, and Lauren's giggling.

10 minutes later she heard Ian's car come flying in the driveway, and he came bounding through the door. "Emily? Emily!" She came out of the kitchen, gun still in hand.

"Ian. We have a problem. A big BIG problem." She said crossing he arms over her baggy orange t-shirt.

"Emily? What the bloody hell is going on?" Ian asked, concernedly at the look on her face.

"Follow me." She said turning back towards the kitchen. She opened up the basement door and led him down the stairs.

"What the bloody hell?" Ian asked.

"Do you mind telling me who the hell he is? And what the FUCK he was doing in my house?" Emily snapped.

"I've seen him around at the bar, I think he's related to the Browder boys." Ian said stepping around the body.

"Yeah, see this? There's another one just like it upstairs. And see the bullet hole? Yeah, I didn't put them there. Your son did." Emily spat, furious that Ian had provoked this situation and hadn't even bothered to tell her about any of it. And now, her oldest child was a killer. Not intentionally of course, but a killer nonetheless. Something she had never wanted for him, something she had fought to prevent since she'd met him as a little four year old boy, with a volatile, weapons dealing father. Damn her for loving them both.

"Declan?" Ian asked incredulously. He rubbed his face, "What happened Emily?"

She sighed, "I was giving Lauren a bath, Declan was in his room watching TV… it was too loud, I told him to turn it down, he did. Then a while later it went back up. That's when the guy burst into the bathroom. He kicked me in the face, knocked me over. I tried to kick his legs out from under him, but he had a gun. I—I couldn't risk him firing it and hitting Lauren. I would never have forgiven myself. I heard a gunshot from downstairs and I thought…" She paused, closing her eyes, as she remembered the pain she'd felt of the thought of losing Declan. "So I tried to find out what he wanted. He said you assaulted his father and almost killed him. He told me to lie down and he stepped on my throat, gun pointed at my face. He said that's what you did to his dad. Next thing I know… he's collapsing almost on top of me, and Declan is standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand." She said looking at Ian.

"Fucking Christ," Ian said bitterly. He threw a box of ammo across the basement in anger.

"Who are these men, Ian? And why didn't you tell me about any of it!" She cried in frustration.

"Ahh, fuck—the guy upstairs, his fathers name is Johnny, he and his son were at the bar the first day I went there, and they were harassing Izzy. Like, sexually. They were crossing a line and Matt wasn't there to protect her. So I did. I tossed his dad around a little and told him if he ever set foot in the bar again I'd kill him. It was no big deal. They never showed back up, and I honestly forgot all about it." Ian said tiredly.

"You should have told me." Emily said, jaw clenched.

"Emily, what the fuck do you want from me? It was no big deal. They never showed back up! How was I supposed to know any of this shit would happen!?" Ian yelled defensively.

"Yeah well now we have two bodies, and we can't call the cops. What do we do now?" She said, sighing. "We can't call the cops because A) we aren't who we say we are, B) we have countless amounts of unregistered and highly illegal weapons in the house, not to mention they were used by a minor." She said pointedly.

"Okay, here's what we do. Remember how we used to get rid of the bodies back in the day?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, we used to dissolve the bodies with lye." She said, her eyes widening.

"Do you remember where to get it, and how much?" Ian asked.

She nodded.

"Alright, go." He said nodding towards the stairs. "I'll get the bodies up into our bathroom. If we can get started in about an hour we'll have the bodies gone by sunrise." Ian said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

She just nodded, shivering. This wasn't the first time they'd done this, but she'd never thought she'd ever have to do it again…

"It'll be okay, Love. Declan will be alright. He's a warrior, like his father."

"That's what I'm afraid of." She whispered.

Emily sat on the bed biting her nails. Ian had been in the bathroom a long time now and it was almost sunrise. She'd procured the appropriate amounts of lye and Ian had begun the process. Declan had fallen asleep in Lauren's room after Emily had said goodnight and told him to stay with her and whatever he did, NOT to come out of Lauren's room until she said so.

She thought it was bad enough he'd killed those two men, but she couldn't bear the thought of him knowing what was happening because of it.

Finally, Ian emerged, smelling to high heaven, looking exhausted.

"Are they—is it over?" She asked, biting her lip.

"It's over Love," he said, stripping down, to his boxers, collapsing onto the bed, "it's over." He whispered.