AN: Just a reminder that this chapter happens in the exact same day as the previous one. There is mention of drug abuse in this chapter as well as sibling abuse so keep that in mind. So yeah. Onto Seamus's debut chapter!
(Also there is a hint on why Evangeline hates Sawyer and Cornelia in this chapter, if any of you want to hazard a guess, head on over to the review section or PM me).
Milky Way, Earth System Alliance Space, Local Cluster, Sol System, Earth, England, Oxford, Sawyer's Flat
October 14, 2174—Earth Standard (Meanwhile)
To say Seamus was nervous would've been an understatement. It has been almost seven years since he last spoke with Marian—the drug-induced midnight calls before the raid notwithstanding—and almost four years since he has spoken to Evangeline. The calls all stopped after Evangeline confessed to him that Marian was indeed alive and well, and that she refused her little sister a home after their homeland was decimated by the batarians.
That was the main reason that Seamus went to receive help for his red sand addiction. His baby sister was homeless and—legally—an orphan, and his other sister was being her usual ill-tempered self, and denied Marian a roof over her head.
Four years later, Seamus was clean, had a psychology degree under his belt, and a job waiting for him; he was extremely proud of his great achievement that he called Evangeline—while he was still dressed in his graduation gown—and asked her for Marian's whereabouts. He just about shat his pants once she told him that Marian Sawyer-Cavaliere—or as she was going by these days, Sawyer Cavaliere—was not only working for the up-and-coming multimillion credits company, Ariake Technologies, but was the founder and CEO.
His great achievement didn't seem so great compared to what his little sister was able to do, but he was a good brother, and instead of being spiteful—as he could've sworn Evangeline sounded like—he was happy for Marian, and he wanted to see her as soon as he could.
But now, as he stood in front of her apartment door, he was nervous and just a little skeptical. He knew that Evangeline and Marian couldn't stand to be in the same room together, let alone hosting a Thanksgiving party together. Either these two matured enough to put aside over two decades of rivalry behind them, or they went completely bonkers. His money was on the latter.
He swiped his hand over the holographic interface, quickly so he wouldn't chicken out, and he heard the low jingle through the door. He only waited for less than a minute before the door opened.
He was expecting either Marian or Evangeline to open the door—seeing as they invited him—but when a short redhead opened it instead, Seamus was confused.
"Uh," he stumbled, and jerked his thumb behind him, "I think I got the wrong apartment. Sorry to bother you."
"Seamus?" the redhead tilted her head to the side.
"Uh, yeah," he straightened, "Is this Marian's apartment?"
The corner of her lip quirked, "Yes. Sawyer inside," she stepped aside for the hulking man to enter, "Name's Leo Shepard. Don't look like her."
Seamus blinked at the odd woman, "Uh, I'm sorry?"
Leo only smiled, "Sawyer. Don't look like her."
"Uh, yeah," Seamus laughed, nervously, "She takes after mom. Actually, everyone takes after mom but Cornelia and me."
Unlike the majority of Alessandra Cavaliere's children, Seamus had a lighter skin tone, and brown eyes. He was also of larger build. "Thick-boned," his father would joke, in which Evangeline would reply with, "Thickheaded, too," and then proceed to smack her only brother's head with the closest object she could find. Usually, but not limited to, a heavy pillow. If Seamus had to be honest with himself, he would say he was the carbon copy of Garrett Sawyer.
Seamus saw Evangeline, or Marian; it was difficult to tell them apart when they were younger, and as they got older they looked more and more alike. There were times when people mistook Evangeline and Marian for twins instead of Marian and Cornelia. Most people even assumed Cornelia was adopted, because she looked nothing like Alessandra or Garrett, Evangeline used to call her the "Black duckling in the family." Now that he thought about it that was usually the cause of most of Marian and Evangeline's arguments, which ironically, Cornelia would stop.
"I'm afraid to guess," Seamus said, cautiously, remembering the bruises that he used to get when he mistook the two. The bruises—despite being long gone—still hurt him every once in a while.
"Don't worry," she said, and by the voice alone, he knew it was Evangeline. She always had that sinister undertone to her voice, it used to terrify him, but he'd never tell her that, "After you see her, you won't have to guess ever again."
He frowned, "What do you mean?"
Evangeline grinned, "You'll see. Come on."
He followed her into the living room, partially aware of the tiny redhead shadowing him. He wiped his palms on his trousers in a vain attempt to quell the clamminess. He turned the corner, and froze.
There were two women in the living room standing in front of each other. The one facing the door—and Seamus—had shoulder-length black hair, slender, and with skin that was darker than Evangeline's. He could tell that this woman wasn't his little sister, he didn't have to look at her facial features to tell; all he needed was the height. The woman was wearing heels, and she was still shorter than her counterpart—who was only a few inches shorter than Seamus himself—Marian, at the age of sixteen, was taller than her. His guess was proven true when a pair of brown eyes, instead of grey, found his. The woman jerked her chin at his general direction, and smiled at the woman in front of her.
The woman turned, and Seamus was brought close to tears. That was definitely Marian looking back at him, he would recognize those kind grey eyes anywhere. He could see now what Evangeline had meant, Marian's once youthful face was now home to two hideous scars, and Seamus couldn't help but wince in sympathy pain, and her once dark messy mane was now white but equally as messy.
"Marni," he croaked, and held out his arms. It only took his younger sister two seconds before she was safely nestled in her older brother's arms, just as she did countless times when they were younger, "Thank God you're all right."
"Like there was any doubt," he barely heard Marian whisper in his ear, she pulled him at arms length, and two pairs of teary eyes met, "[You. You are an idiot.]"
He smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry."
They hugged again, and Shepard slinked to Samantha's side, and the brunette leaned in, stage-whispering behind her hand, "Sawyer's name is Marni?"
Shepard's face was graced with a giant grin, "Nope. Marian."
"Oh she is so not living this down," Samantha smiled, gleefully.
"Yup."
"I can hear the two of you," Sawyer said, laughing through her tears, and pulling away from her brother to smile at the sheepish two, "Careful how you mock me, Traynor."
Samantha clearly heard the sexual undertone to Sawyer's voice, and mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key. She was so not risking that. Seamus smiled at the exchange and held out a hand for Samantha.
"Hey, I'm Seamus Sawyer-Cavaliere," he started, "And since I'm the closest thing to a father the lil'Peanut's got, I gotta play the part. Long story short, don't hurt her."
Samantha shook his hand, and introduced herself before smiling mischievously at Sawyer, "and lil'Peanut? Oh God, I love your family."
"[That makes one of us,]" Sawyer replied, glaring at her brother, "The hell, Seamus?"
He grinned, cheekily, "Hey, just be glad I didn't tell her how you got the nickname."
Marian narrowed her eyes, "[Don't you dare.]"
He held out his hands in mock-surrender, "Don't worry, I won't," he turned his head to his other sister, "Do you still have the picture?"
Marian turned to her sister so quickly that she almost gave herself whiplash, "Oh no. Ev, please don't."
Evangeline just smiled, and pulled out her omni-tool, and a picture came up in projector-mode, "Oops."
Samantha was debating between laughing or cooing, but she eventually decided on a combination of the two, and Sawyer blushed bright red, "That's enough," she said when Shepard—of all people—started laughing as well, "[You guys are evil.]"
The picture was of—what Samantha assumed—a three-year-old Sawyer sitting on the kitchen floor with another three-year-old green-eyed and light brunette girl standing behind her. Sawyer was looking at the camera with the most adorable glare/pout she has ever seen on a toddler who had the top of their head in a jar of peanut butter, placed there—based on the hands on the jar, and the grin on her face—by the other girl. The best part of it all was that the peanut butter was seeping down her hair and face, and Samantha could've sworn she saw a teeny-weeny wittle tongue sticking out to catch the wayward treat.
Evangeline chuckled, "Someone has to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend."
"There's a fine line between embarrassing me and humiliating me," Sawyer shot back, still blushing quite horribly.
"Aww, come on, Marni," Samantha cooed, hugging one of Sawyer's arms, "I think it's adorable."
"Of course you would," she gestured widely with her free arm at the projected photo, "[It's not your hair.]"
"Sawyer cute," Shepard stated, grinning widely, "What happened?"
"Oh ha, ha," Sawyer glared at her best friend, "Funny, very funny."
"I think that's the only time Cornelia was even remotely evil," Seamus mused a nostalgic smile on his face.
Sawyer scoffed, "You weren't around during our grad year. She's an evil mastermind. Managed to [orchestrate] the grad prank all on her own."
It was Evangeline's turn to scoff while Seamus said, "Yeah, like you didn't help."
"How couldn't I when she gave me that kicked-puppy look?" she said to her brother, "It was a miracle she didn't get expelled for rigging all those water fountains to spew, though."
"Let me rephrase that," Seamus smiled knowingly, "It's like you didn't want to help. We all knew you two were more alike that what met the eye."
Samantha frowned and turned to Sawyer, "Cornelia's your sister?"
"Twin, actually," Sawyer smiled, softly, "Fraternal."
"Sounds like she is quite the troublemaker," Samantha noted.
"Was," Evangeline automatically corrected, "She was a troublemaker."
A somber air filled the room, and Samantha knew that Cornelia didn't just get help for her troublemaking ways. She swallowed, "She's um," she stopped, not sure how to continue.
"Dead," Seamus said softly, watching his—currently—youngest sister carefully, "During the raid, she um…"
Sawyer sighed, "A pole was sticking out of her chest. She was still alive when I got there," she plastered a very fake and very forced smile, that even Evangeline grew worried, "Well, enough of the grave news," she chuckled to herself, "Grave, geddit?" no one laughed, and she continued, walking to the dining room, "[Well, come on,] turkey's not gonna gobble itself."
No one moved to follow, and eventually Samantha took a step in her direction, muttering, "I'm going to go check—"
Three hands shot out to stop her, and she looked at the occupants of the room, confused and mildly impressed by their coordination. Seamus spoke up:
"It's best to just give her some time alone to cool off, first."
"Besides," Evangeline continued, "She used to do this a lot before the Raid. She'd make some weird comment or another and go sulk in a corner with Cornelia whenever she was upset. The doctors blamed her L-2 Bio-Amp for her erratic behavior back in '69, add to that with everything she's been through in the past four years and our baby sister is borderline [psychotic.]"
"Evangeline," Seamus scolded, glaring at her.
"Bio-Amp?" Samantha frowned, confused, "Wait, she's a biotic?"
"She," Seamus started slowly, "She didn't tell you?"
Samantha shook her head.
"Can you blame her for not telling," Evangeline scoffed, "Especially after what happened with her and Carmichael?"
"Guess not," he said.
"Carmichael?" Shepard tilted her head, "Rory Carmichael?"
"How do you know her?" Evangeline asked.
"Don't," Shepard replied, "Was mentioned once before. Didn't ask more."
Technically speaking, Shepard wasn't lying—it always left a bad taste in her mouth whenever she did, so she avoided lying whenever she could—she just neglected to mention that Sawyer used it as an alias earlier this year. She was already miffed at Shepard for telling the Hackett siblings and Calleigh about her choice of profession, and she didn't want to push it by telling her brother, sister, and girlfriend.
"She was just a friend of Marian's back in Mindoir," Seamus explained, taking his time to form his sentences while not letting anything slip, especially if Marni hasn't told Samantha about her ex yet, "Their friendship took a turn to the worse when Mar's biotics started showing."
Evangeline rolled her eyes at her brother's cover, but didn't call him out on it.
"They stopped being friends because Sawyer was a biotic?" Samantha asked, baffled at how someone would do that to the kindest person she knew.
"I'm, uh," Seamus cleared his throat, "It's a lot more complicated than that."
Samantha started for the dining room, but Evangeline covered her path, "Did you just ignore everything we've said?" Samantha tried to go around, but Evangeline grabbed her elbow to stop her, "Marian just needs time on her own to figure things out. What she doesn't need is you coming in there and suffocating her."
"I think her loneliness is what's going to suffocate her," Samantha glared at the elder sister, "Not me. How could you just stand there and not want to comfort her? Sawyer has been through hell her entire life, even before the Raid. Her friend leaves her because she's a biotic, and add that to the fact that she has an older sister like you. God, I have honestly never been gladder to be an only child since I met you," she jerked her elbow from Evangeline's weakened grip, and seethed, "And now the only friend she had is dead. Sawyer doesn't need time alone, she's had enough to last a lifetime."
She angrily pushed past the flabbergasted siblings only to be stopped by Leo.
"Look, you seem like a nice person," Samantha started, but stopped when Leo covered her mouth with her hand.
"Doesn't like talking about it," Shepard said, hoping that her explanation would be enough warning for Samantha of what Sawyer was capable of, "Mindoir changed her. More prone to violence. Just…be careful. Yell if hurt you. Okay?"
Samantha slowly nodded and Shepard removed her hand. They stared at each other awkwardly before Shepard remembered something she heard from the television, "Go get 'em, partner."
Samantha, despite her shock, smiled softly at Shepard, "Thank you."
She took a deep breath before walking through the door to the dining room, half expecting Sawyer to be throwing things in rage, but was shocked speechless when she saw Sawyer setting the table. Guarded grey eyes looked up, and her head tilted to the side a bit.
"[The others aren't coming?]" Sawyer questioned, placing the last plate in her hand in front of a seat, "Turkey's almost done."
Samantha pursed her lips, "Sawyer…"
She held her hand up to silence Samantha, and said, "I was going to tell you about Cornelia and Talitha, Sam. I really was, I just didn't know how to bring something like this up," she took a deep breath and roughly rubbed at her unscarred eye, "I'm sorry you had to find out from dumb and dumbest," Samantha smiled softly, and crossed the distance to Sawyer, wrapping her arms around her waist. Sawyer hesitantly returned the gesture, "[You're…not mad at me?]"
"To be quite honest," Samantha hummed into Sawyer's chest, "I'm mad at a Sawyer-Cavaliere," she looked up at glassy grey eyes, "Just not my Sawyer Cavaliere."
Sawyer chuckled, softly, and buried her face in Samantha's lavender scented hair, "You're adorable, you know that?" she purred.
"I do recall you calling me 'sei adorabile' the day we met," Samantha grinned, biting her bottom lip.
"By gods," Sawyer laughed, "Your accent could use some work."
Samantha pulled back slightly, "I thought you liked my accent?"
"It's beautiful when you're speaking in English," a playful grimace formed on Sawyer's face, "But absolutely horrid," she horribly imitated Samantha's English accent, "[while speaking Italian.]"
Samantha swatted Sawyer's shoulder, laughing, "Shut up. I do not sound like that," she paused, "Do I?"
"No," Sawyer smiled warmly, "You don't," she kissed the top of Samantha's head, "Will's not here yet?" The head under her chin shook.
They stayed holding each other like that for a couple of minutes before the blaring of the timer forced them to reluctantly separate.
"Turkey's done," Sawyer said, "Better go take it out before I burn it again."
Samantha bit her lip, "Don't let your sister get to you. She's not worth it."
"She's family, Sam," Sawyer replied, but didn't walk away as she said she would.
"I know," Samantha said, lacing her fingers with Sawyer's organic ones, "It's just that she doesn't seem to care that she's hurting you."
Sawyer smiled, "She's always been like that, ever since I was in diapers. I don't expect her to change, but mom and dad would want us to get along, [especially now.]"
"Relationships need both parties to actively work on it, not just one."
Sawyer grinned, "Come on, Sam. She's my sister, not some evil mastermind."
"I wouldn't put it past her, actually," Samantha sighed, "Just, promise me you'd be careful. Please?"
Sawyer opened her mouth to reply but stopped once her omni-tool started beeping. She sent Samantha an apologetic smile, "[I'm sorry, I have to take this.]"
"I'll go save your turkey," Samantha smiled back before heading for the door.
"[Thanks], Sam," she turned her attention to the omni-tool, "Yeah, Keiji, what is it?"
As soon as Samantha got the turkey out she stepped out of the dining room, and was ambushed by four people, instead of the expected three. Samantha blinked and smiled at the newcomer.
"Hey, Will. Happy Thanksgiving."
"Hey," Will replied, less than enthusiastically, "Is she alright?"
Samantha nodded, "Yup, she actually sent me to tell you that dinner's ready."
Three out of the four let out a sigh of relief before they followed Samantha to the other room.
"He's dead?"
Everyone froze as they heard sobbing on the other line. "Yes."
Will covered her mouth with both hands and closed her eyes, Samantha held her breath, and Seamus looked over to Evangeline only to find her trying to cover a smile behind her hand. Shepard spoke up, "Sawyer?"
Sawyer looked up, shocked beyond belief, "Keiji's dead."
The woman on the other line sobbed louder, while Will choked on hers. Shepard lowered her head. "How?" Sawyer asked, hoarsely.
"Slaughtered," the woman forced out.
"Shit," Sawyer brushed back her hair, "All right, listen carefully, Kasumi. I need you to do something for me. I need you to stay where you are, we're coming to you. Can you do that, Kasumi?"
There was a small silence before Kasumi replied, "Yes."
"Good, we'll be there tomorrow morning the latest. Just hang tight, Kasumi, and if anything happens call me right away, all right?"
"…Okay."
Sawyer hanged up before squeezing past her family members to get to her bedroom. Samantha, Shepard and Will followed. Evangeline and Seamus stayed.
"Evangeline," Seamus started cautiously, knowing full well that his sister would run like a cornered mouse, "Do you know what happened?"
"Apparently someone she knows has just been murdered. Such a shame."