Sorry for the wait! [I feel like a jackass, trust me!] Here's the newest installment! I hope you enjoy it. FUN FACT: While writing the ending-ish I had "Son of a Preacher Man" on repeat... sexiest song ever... well, kinda. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! LET ME KNOW IF THIS ONE WAS CRAP or IF IT WAS DECENT! :)

26: Celebration Guns

"I have to admit," I hopped off from the top step of the restaurant happy I hadn't overindulged at dinner, "I didn't think you'd actually find a suit."

Connor rolled his eyes over at me, "Glad you think so highly of me." I rolled my eyes right back at his retort and linked my arm through his. We only got to the end of the block before he broke our peaceful silence, "What you told Murphy, about why you left Ireland, care to explain it to me?"

My stomach fell fast, and I thought for a moment the lobster I'd ordered was going to make a reappearance. I swiftly coughed out an answer, "What do ya need me to explain?"

"For starters," he turned his face slightly to look at me, "What exactly did you do for them?"

"I s'pose I did lots of things." He smirked over at me, clearly not accepting what I'd said. "Fine," I sighed," I made a few bombs, shot a few people, toed the company line as they say. I'm not happy about it." The quiet returned, and for another twenty paces I mentally flipped over all of my misdeeds. The things I did for people who ended up not caring a lick about me and mine; it made me sick just thinking about it. I looked back over to Connor, who hadn't yet fled my side. My life here had been simple. My time with the twins had been far more rewarding than the years spent in my musty apartment back home. Sure, I missed fighting, I missed the rush of it all, but I don't think I could ever go back to that now that I knew a life like this existed for me. "That's not who I am anymore. That's not even who I want to be."

"What I can't understand is why you ever got involved in something like that, Christina."

I heard the tenderness in his voice, the honesty, and I knew I owed him some of my own, "My Da." I looked down at the ground just in time to give a loose rock a kick. "He wanted Peter, my older brother, to join up. Peter wasn't like that. He was an intellectual. Only'd ever been in one fight that I knew about, and he didn't win that one."

"That doesn't explain why you got into it."

"Da wasn't too happy with me as I was growing up. I'll be honest, I was a fucking delinquent," there was laughter in my voice, "Always in trouble. I think he- he wished I was another son. Never asked, but I knew he'd wished I wasn't a girl. So when Peter went to college, I saw joining as my opportunity to make Da proud, make him love me. I think he did in the end…" I trailed off.

I stole a quick glance over to him, he was looking at the ground just like me, "So it was all about pleasing your parents?"

"No," I shook my head, "Ma never liked the idea. I knew she thought it was wrong, she'd never say that though. She wanted me to be safe at home, find someone so I could have a family of my own."

"If they hadn't-" he quickly back stepped his words, "If that all never happened, think you'd still be working for 'em?"

"If my family wasn't all dead?" I couldn't hide the annoyance to my voice. Did he think not saying the words somehow made that loss less painful? Did he think it would spare me the guilt? It didn't. It just felt like being coddled; I hate being fucking coddled. I hate when people think I can't handle something. I can handle anything. Haven't I fucking proved that? I glanced back over to him, nicely dressed because I'd asked him to, looking as good as I'd ever seen him, and I couldn't stay mad. He was just trying to be good to me. That would take some getting used to, but with how the boys have spoiled me so far, maybe being cared for wouldn't be so weird soon. "I don't know, but I'm glad I got out," I continued, lightening my tone, "I am glad to be here, have met you and everything, but I just wish my family could've made it out, too."

"I'm sorry that happened to ya," his arm found its way to my waist and he pulled me closer.

My voice had nothing close to its normal impishness, "Did that clear things up for you?"

"Aye."

As we walked, I tried my best to push all the thoughts of my past from me. The time would come when I'd have to pay for my misdeeds; there would be no escaping that. All I could do now was enjoy the life I'd made here, and maybe eventually I could find a way to make things closer to right. Repent. As we turned onto my block, I perked up, "Enough with all this heavy talk." I turned, walking backwards now, his hand in mine, "We've got far more fun things to do tonight."

His eyebrow rose, "Do we now?"

"I'm all healed up," I motioned to my face and did a quick turn, "Not a bruise in sight." Then I leaned over to him, kissing his neck for a moment before whispering in his ear, "We should change that?" I couldn't stop myself from returning to his neck.

"Christ," he pulled me away slightly, "Let's at least get inside first."

My most mischievous grin appeared on my face just before I went back in for more, "Where's your sense of adventure?" He pulled me off again. "Alright fine," I sighed, hopping up the steps, unlocking the door to my building and pushing my way inside, "Just mind the steps."

He followed in silence as I made my way to my floor and entered my modest apartment. I set the keys on the dresser before turning around to see him sizing up the place, "Murph wasn't lying when he said you redecorated."

"I even have a safe now," I smiled as I pointed to the corner of the room where the metal case stood, "For my 'fat stacks of cash.'"

"To be honest I thought you'd move after winning all that money," he sat down on my bed and took off his shoes.

"I don't know if I'd say won," my eyes darted from him to the safe and back again, "I earned every penny. And as for the apartment," I shrugged, "Rent's cheap, bar adjacent. Guess I just don't see the point in moving just yet, better to save up for now."

"And I'm the one with no sense of adventure?" he scoffed, "Should at least buy a flashy new car or something."

"I'm an illegal," I kicked off my shoes, "Don't really have that option, now do I? What with the whole, no driver's license thing." He seemed to understand. "Now enough with the talking," I leaned onto the bed and started crawling over to him. Once his lips were on mine that was it. I didn't want it to stop. I wanted more. Lips weren't enough, not nearly enough. I reached back, clumsily attempting to unzip my dress.

After mere seconds of blindly clawing at my back, his hands were there. "Here," he breathed between bouts of kissing before unzipping the stubborn thing for me.

"Thanks," I smiled as I sat back to remove my clothes. I couldn't get the fabric off of my skin quickly enough, it seemed. I wasn't even nervous, like I'd thought I would be. Instead, I was just happy. Happy with the way his eyes brushed over me, the eagerness.

There was this minor smile on his face now, but it was nothing compared to the way those eyes looked at me. "You're a sight to see."

I reached over and pulled off his shirt, "Is that a good thing?"

"Aye," his eyes locked with mine as soon as the shirt was out of the picture. His pants joined the pile almost instantaneously.

I didn't waste time, not tonight. This was a sprint, or maybe a relay? Whatever it was, all I could think is that I needed to be kissing those lips. There was a hint of dinner wine on them that did something to me; there was no getting enough.

As I sat on top of him, steadily moving my hips to whatever internal drumbeat we both seemed to share, I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. This country, this town, this apartment, this lap with those arms gripping my hips. This was where I was meant to end up.

I continued at the steady pace with occasional inconsistencies that would cause either of us to let out soft moans, until finally my pace quickened. I could see the light at the end of that tunnel, and I was barreling towards it as fast as I could. His hold on me tightened just as my nails began to drag their way down his back, our lips still moving together as the pleasured groans escaped.

I sat for a while, still wanting to taste his lips through heated breaths and the pounding of our hearts. Then I rolled around to lie down on my bed, he joined me, our skin electric where it grazed each other.

Once my breathing had slowed back down to a more normal, manageable rate, I reached my arm out to my nightstand and grabbed the pack of cigarettes that was waiting for me there. I flipped it open, pulling two out, "Cigarette?"

He nodded as I handed him one. I lit the end of mine, doing the same for his seconds later, "So, did ya mean what you said the other night?"

I took a long drag before responding, "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that."

"When ya said you loved us?"

I ignored his joking tone, shrugging my shoulders slightly, "It's been pretty fucking obvious, so don't act like it's some sort of surprise." I took another puff before reclining back down onto the bed beside him, "I'm still perfectly happy even though neither of you might feel the same."

From the corner of my eye I could see his eyebrows scrunch up, "I didn't say that."

I playfully glared at him for a moment, getting lost in my thoughts briefly before pulling myself back into focus. "The long silence," I laughed, rolling over to flick ashes into the tray, "Don't have to be a genius to figure that one out."

"Well, I can only speak for myself." He scooted up so he was sitting, "As for him, who knows. He might not."

"So you do?" I looked up at him hopefully, but his arm was already pulling me closer. So this is what love felt like? Wonderful yet terrifying. I sighed, abandoning the rest of my cigarette in the ashtray, "No one besides my own blood's ever, ya know, loved me before," I wrapped around him, letting out a relaxed sigh, "It's nice."

Once he'd snuffed out the remainder of his cigarette he slid back down and let me rest my head on his chest, "Goin' to church with us in the mornin'?"

I glanced up at him, "I'd like to, if it's alright."

"Course."