Vishous woke up with a violent jerk and inhaled the air rashly through his gritted teeth. A scene so familiar from his nightmarish nights, when he didn´t know where he was or if anything around him was real. And now it counted twice as much because he was in his Penthaus. And while his eyes adjusted to the low light in the room, he heard someone´s clothes rustling nearby.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. How long was he sleeping?

Slowly getting himself to sit he spotted Lethre occupying the other corner of the couch. Even after few seconds his expression was nothing-saying.
"Good or bad?" he asked working out with his hoarse voice.
The man´s face cleared a bit and he smiled uncertainly. "Good, I think…. I… can remember her." Sure, he was running low on words to describe his inner state. That was understandable. Still he seemed happy enough to V to call this experiment a success.

His eyes darted towards the bed. Chosen. She was still there caught in deep slumber just as him a moment ago. A very unpleasant feeling formed inside his guts.
"How long?"
Lethre looked miserable and guilty as hell when he answered.
"Three hours. I am sorry, Vishous. This is my fault."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How was he going to explain this? Butch wasn´t going to let this go easily. He had to think. Fast. And something really brilliant.
"I tried to wake you up," Lethre keep explaining, "everything went well. Tahra said she will rest and would like to have some privacy, but of course I waited for you."
"You can leave now, if you want, go process everything. I need to form a plan first." Vishous didn´t want to put more pressure on the man, better if he just cleaned his own mess alone.
"Is there anything I can do? Perhaps talk to him?"
"What would you say? No, no, it´s okey," V nodded for himself, "I will find a way." If he won´t kill me first.

Lethre left.

He understood that there was no possibility how they could explain the situation to Butch and protect a secret and their promise at the same time. It wasn´t only about a deal anymore. Tahra had made them both swore in old language.
Damn it.
V hid his face in his hands. Could he suffocate like this?

His eyes wandered back to his bed.
It was not polite to leave the woman there, but she made herself clear. She didn´t want or need them and would maybe feel uncomfortable knowing that they didn´t respect her wish. He had two keys from the penthouse. He let the spare one on the night-table with a glass of water and a note.
- Not a lot of people knew about the location of the place. It was safe – he assured himself while walking towards the exit. The only other keys were owned by Butch.

Yes. Butch.
Vishous opened the doors. And froze.

"Cop," he breathed out with pure horror. No, this couldn´t be possibly happening. Butch stood in the doorway, confusion and irritation written all over his face.
"What the hell V, I was worried sick, what were you…" And then he took it in, his surroundings, the sleeping woman behind V´s back, her robe, his messed up appearance – Vishous could see it all, every though which crossed cop´s mind, each connection he made heading for a possible explanation, for a catastrophe. He´s never felt so helpless in his entire existence like he felt in those few long seconds. He knew exactly, when Butch´s assumption came to life.
"No…" he started to shook his head. V´s heart broke in several places when he saw hurt written all over his face. His despair. His denial. There was no way he could ever forget that sight. "That can´t be…"
Vishous grabbed his arm. "Butch, listen to me. This is not what it looks like. Please." And suddenly he felt like those assholes in Rhage movies, trying to explain something and failing because the person simply wouldn´t hear them out.
"No," he whispered again, trying to loose V´s grip. "How could you? How… Fuck. Let me go."
"No, Butch, please, let me explain."
"Let go."
"Cop," V almost yelled.
"Let. Me. Go."

Fuck. There were tears in his man´s eyes and so much pain... That pure emotion alone made V release his fingers from cop´s almost feverish skin, although his brain screamed not to do it. And then like this Butch was gone. V stayed on the spot, unable to think straight or do anything in that moment. He was so stupid…

He left the Commodore, but couldn´t make himself aim anywhere else than to the mansion. He needed to see him, to make him understand. He was prepared on the worse, yelling and screaming, and breaking things and maybe some punches, which he would completely deserved. But he didn´t expect not to find Butch home. Not in the house, not in the Pit. He was just gone and fucking alone. V wanted to seriously hurt himself for the situation he put them in.
"I swear to god, if anything happens to him…" he was aware that he used Butch´s way of cursing, yeah… not helping.
Rhage kept pacing around the room. "Nothing will happen, he might be angry, but he´s not stupid, V. You had a fight, a misunderstanding, whatever it was about, just let him work it out and when he´ll return, you will talk like adults." If that was so simple. Rhage didn´t know him like V did. They were the same. And on cop´s place, he would run straight into some trouble.
"Just please, go find him, bring him home. I hurt him, Hollywood. Really bad. He won´t talk to me."
Rhage gave him a nasty look. "Ok, sure. But what the hell, V?"

He waited. And while he waited he felt like throwing up several times, because time was passing quickly and when Mary came looking worried, they were waiting together, counting the minutes before sunrise.
"Your phone, V, is ringing." Finally.
He picked it up, meeting Mary´s concerned eyes.
"We are in garage, I´m taking him to Manello. He´s okey. Well, quiet okey. He took like 4 or 5 lessers by himself, don´t know how many he inhaled. Come to take that out of him. He´s not in any state to fight you."

Mary heard it all and let him leave without any questions asked. He was down in less than 5 seconds, running like a madman. The voice in his head kept yelling at him. This is your fault. You could have him killed because you don´t think. And it was all true. He sent Rhage. Fuck. He should have gone himself and drag his ass home whether he liked it or not.

"Vishous, he´s in here." Manello pointed him towards the room from which they heard Rhage cursing a moment later.
"Don´t be stupid, Butch. Let him do his thing, you look like shit."
V stopped at the doorway, trying not to say something he would regret. Butch looked bad. Far worse than any time he´d healed him. But somehow he still managed to fight Rhage and gave V a stubborn look when he approached the bed.
"Get the fuck away from me," he started to yell trying to get up and failing. Manello exchanged a word or two with Rhage and injected something to Butch´s neck while Hollywood held him down. V wanted to kill them all for touching what was his. But he mentally restrained himself before he could make the situation worse.

Cop calmed down soon after even if against his will.
"We´ll give you some privacy."
V nodded. He wasn´t about to sit next to Butch, no, that would probably provoke him, but he still needed to touch him.
"I´ll get it out, you can punch me after that."
Cop´s lips were pressed into thin line, he was looking at him with anger. Anger, not hatred. V bent down and pressed his hand on cop´s arm. Butch closed his eyes, but didn´t pulled away.
"How… could you? I… damn… I gave you… everything… everything I had… Why?" Whatever Manello had injected him with, it was making him sleepy and uncoherent and obviously deaf to whatever V replied back. He was out before healing was over.
"I am sorry." Vishous moved his hand under the blanket, bending one last time to place a small kiss on his forehead. "I´m such an idiot."

Two days passed and they were still not talking. Vishous tried, tried so damn hard, but cop always found a way how to disappear from the room or not to be in the room in the first place. At least he wasn´t shutting himself out completely, just shutting Vishous out and that was acceptable for some time, but not forever. Others started to notice. Not that he cared, but their confused looks just made him feel more edgy. Right now he was thinking the best idea would may be just tie him up and explain really quickly before he starts shouting.

He could try it at the moment, but they would probably crash the car.

Butch was doing what could be called a violent-driving. Not the right time to make any unexpected movements or unwanted speeches. V picked up his phone instead and dialed a number.
"We are on the way. Hold on. Five more minutes," he said after he heard a ragged breathing on the other side.
"Okey. Just hurry. John is… he´s in pain. It´s far worse than our transitions."
"Do what you can to calm him down. We´re there in… a minute," he added as Butch forced the car to go even faster.

The kid was in bad place in bad time but around the best friends. He was safe. They will keep him safe. And he will finally go through his transition. V was happy for him, although he didn´t envy him in slightest.

Butch parked the car right in front of the place where the kids were treating John on the ground. The breaks cried in the night and drew their attention.

"Thank you so much for coming," Qhuinn spoke up first, moving away from the lying body. Damn it, the boy was shielding his friend like a true warrior.
"What happened? You said it was only John."
Only now V noticed that Qhuinn and Blay weren´t on the ground with John just because of the companionship. The redhead boy had clearly his shoulder dislocated and Qhuinn was fucking bleeding from his leg.
"Yeah, well…" Qhuinn started, trying to mend the words together, "sorry, I may or may not have a concussion. I forgot."
"You forgot you´re bleeding? That´s a little strong even for a concussion," Butch said and it was really nice to hear his voice even when he wasn´t talking to V.
"How many you fought?" He kneeled down to take a proper look at John. The boy wasn´t going to speak to them or get up on his own. But he had still some time before the worst part.

"Phury is here," V announced, when he saw another car stopping near. "He and Z can take John and Qhuinn and I fix Blaylock´s shoulder first and drive him to Manello. There is not enough space in one car."
Butch looked at him and V tried not to do something stupid. It was not the right time. The cop didn´t reply, just nodded.
They fetched John in the car and they returned for Qhuinn, who was still arguing about Blay to go first.
"Look, boy," Z stated firmly, "there is no discussion, you are bleeding you go first."
"Yeah, Qhuinn, stop making trouble," Blay lectured him with a small painful smile. They exchanged a quite long look before Qhuinn placed his hand on the back of the other boy´s neck. "You´re going to be fine."
"I know."
"John too."
Blay stayed silent.
"I will be fine." That was obviously what he wanted to hear. "Go, you really hit your head pretty hard."
Qhuinn laughed and accepted help from Z who at the end half carried him in the car. Butch followed them without a word.

While putting Blay´s shoulder back in its place, V interrogated the boy about what happened. They did a great job with protecting John, he was proud, so would be cop. Immobilizing his shoulder was an easy task, returning back to the mansion – not so much. Vishous realized he was prolonging the whole process more than was necessary. On the other hand, Blay was impatient. He didn´t say a thing, but it was obvious.
"He´s not going to die from that, you know."
"Hm?" Blay looked away from V´s hands working up to his face, "oh, yes, of course, everyone has to go through this and John is strong."
"I wasn´t talking about John."

His expression didn´t change, but his body tensed instantly. The boy was good in pretending, although not perfect.
"It´s okey. He will understand eventually."
"I don´t think so." Damn. That reminded him so bad about how it was between Butch and him in the beginning. He had fallen for you already – he wanted to say, but it wasn´t his place to do that.
"I´ll bet with you."
The boy´s face lit up a little.
"I will buy you a beer if I´m wrong."
"And if not?" Blay smirked. "If you are right?"
"I´ll owe you a weapon, anything you want."
Blay looked stunned. He clearly wasn´t expecting to be offered something so precious. "That´s a really good motivation."
"I know." So you better won´t stop fighting.

They both jumped into the second car. V accompanied Blay to Qhuinn and left the two of them in Manello hands. The guy was in a great mood, which was odd. They all knew there were some problems between him and Payne, while she demanded for him to clear her for active duty, a thing he could not do with a clear conscience. His sister was a warrior and it was killing her to stay at home and do nothing. All brothers understood very well. But it didn´t change a fact she wasn´t ready to go back in the streets.

Vishous returned to the pit. He was tired and wanted nothing more than a shower and bed. But when he walked in and found Butch sitting there on the couch, his gaze stuck to the door like he was waiting for him, all of those petty needs were instantly forgotten.
"How is John?
"Good."
Cop didn´t continue, so he gave V a few seconds to think about what he should do. Run and fight another time? Do it now and risk that cop is still angry enough to kick his ass and not listen at all?

Butch pressed his lips into a thin line. No, V had to speak whether cop wanted to hear it or not.
"I know what happened," Butch made the first move and V shut his mouth with a surprise.
"How?"
"Lethre persuaded chosen to tell me. Only me, of course."

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Why hadn´t he thought about it? Still measuring Butch´s mood, it didn´t seem like anything has changed at all. He still looked pissed as hell.
"I understand it maybe was a hard decision to make, but you still decided to do it without me."
V stayed quiet, and after a while he nodded.
"I know."
They didn´t move away with their eyes, but didn´t talk either.
"This has to stop, V." Butch was serious, very serious and for the first time Vishous really started to freak out that Butch might leave him for good.
"I can´t function like this. I need to trust you that you will engage me in the important things," cop continued, "I have to trust you that you are telling me everything always and I will do the same for you." Butch sighed and suddenly he looked very tired.
"I know that it´s stupid from me to ask you for this. You were alone for so long and you didn´t have to spill your guts in front of anyone. But I need this agreement between us. Otherwise…"

V didn´t let him finish. He had no interest into listening what could happen otherwise… He wasn´t planning to let that possibility come out of the shadows.
"I agree."
Butch´s eyebrows went up and an uncertain half smile appeared on his lips.
"You do? So easily?"
"Yes," V said without thinking. "I want you. I can do anything to make you happy, to stay."

Butch laughed hard and sharp. "I´m not leaving you, Vishous, oh my god, you are such an unsecure sonofabitch."
And that somehow made V chuckle as well. "You know me."

Cop´s face hardened a little, but not in a bad way.
"I do know you, V. And that is why I think it can be a problem. You see, the thing is…" while talking, he stood up, making one step towards Vishous possibly unaware of the reaction his movement caused within V´s chest, "I know that sometimes you think that certain things about you and your decisions can hurt me or trouble me or whatever. That maybe doesn´t count for this time, but it counts for multiple situations in the past. And I don´t really know how to stop you treating me like I can´t take it. Because hell, I can take anything you tell me, V. And I mean, anything."
V didn´t reply, because another "I know" would probably not be appreciated. But still, he knew, he knew all of that and he was ready to work on their relationship. Because that was what couples do, right?
"I think I´m not even making sense, but hopefully you get it?"

V nodded with a smile. He saw a doubt in cop´s eyes and a fear and all of the other things he wanted to wipe away. He slowly reached to him, but stopped himself in time. He wanted to give Butch a chance to turn him down. He didn´t.

So V connected their lips very gently, enjoying the relaxed puff of the air coming out of Butch´s mouth like he wanted nothing more than just to end in this position whole time while they were talking. His hands showed into V´s hair, playing with the curls. And V´s arm slid around Butch´s waist.

The funny thing was that in that moment and in that embrace with Butch, V actually felt safe. And that was a ridiculous thought. Because he didn´t even knew he wanted to feel that way until now. Selfish as he was, he wasn´t sure, if he could really let Butch go, even if cop wanted to.

"No sex for you," Butch murmured in the short pauses between the kisses and V involuntarily pulled away. "You deserve punishment. You broke my heart." And despite he knew Butch was only mocking him, V imagined again cop´s face back in the Commodore. He will never forgive himself for that misunderstanding.
"If that is so, I better stop right now." He let his hand slide down cop´s cheek and jaw, but didn´t lean in for more kisses. And Butch took this moment for stepping away and turning back towards his room, sending a mischievous smile V´s way when he noticed he wasn´t following him.

"Why are you standing there?"
And now V was taken aback. Wasn´t he supposed to stay?
But cop´s grin only widened as he recognized V´s confusion. He turned his front to the direction of V´s puzzled expression.

"I said no sex for you, I don´t remember mentioning no sex for me."

OOO

The night in the Caldwell streets proceeded to its final hours and Mr. K waited impatiently in the small empty storage building on the corner of two doubtful neighborhoods. Everyone who could have seen him would said that he was nervous and that was the truth.

When Omega finally arrived, his hands started to shake but he put them behind his back so they wouldn´t bother him.

"Is everything ready?" The voice surprised him. It always did.
"Yes."
"When do you plan to attack?"
"Tomorrow."

Mr. K watched Omega come closer. He outstretched his hand.
"The power I am giving you can be used only once. Use it wisely. You know which one we want."
And he just nodded, sucking in whatever ancient magic Omega offered him.

"I won´t fail you," he said, feeling the power spreading in his veins.
"You better won´t.