Chapter 55 Reconciliation


Undisclosed location, several months ago…before the Shield disbandment

"He is a child!" Seth retorted. "You can't-"

"He can go to either home," Hunter said. "He can be just as happy with us."

The Architect gritted his teeth. There was no backing out now. He knew how much Sierra and Roman wanted the toddler. Seth also knew it had to him to disband the Shield, not Dean. Roman, Sierra and Raquel are all the family Dean has ever had.

Seth will be making a huge sacrifice for his brothers by turning his back on them. And they'll never know. They can't know. Trying to shut down his emotions and freeze his heart, Seth signed the papers.

Watching from the darkness of the forest, Hanovi smirked. No big brothers. No help. No protection. No love. I will crush your spirit, Seth.

~oOo~

Priya nodded. "It's okay, Stephanie." She said gently.

"No, it isn't."

Michael entered; Priya looked up in surprised as Stephanie shrunk behind her in fear.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Michael," Stephanie stammered tearfully.

"Michael, please stop." Priya walked towards her husband. "She's your family. Your younger sister-in-law. Don't hurt her like this."

But Michael looked at Stephanie as if she was no one, to him or his family. He walked passed Priya and pulled out his gun.

"Michael!" Priya exclaimed.

"Right, family." Michael said, putting out his arm to prevent Priya from getting to Stephanie and risk getting shot. "We loved you and cared for you; even when your own father disowned you, my father accepted you. I cared for you, like my own sister; I made sure Hunter cherished you! Why did you do this to my family?!"

"Michael, I am so sorry…" Stephanie cried.

"I know why. But I am not weak. It's actually insulting for anyone to believe I'd deserve someone like you. Did you seriously think you could ever replace my Priya? You saw Priya and I happy. Why couldn't you just let us be?" Michael asked."But that is what's wrong with women like you. So selfish; it's all about what you want, right?"

"Stephanie!"

Hunter rushed into the room. He wasn't totally surprised that his brother had Stephanie at gunpoint. Hunter stood in front of his wife and spread his arms, shielding her her.

"Michael, please," he begged. "My wife…, she's really sorry for everything."

Michael gritted his teeth. "Move, Hunter. You know I can put this bullet through you to get to her."

Hunter swallowed. Unfortunately, Michael had precision targeting: he would aim his powerful HelmsleyCorp manufactured gun at a non-vital point on Hunter's body, but the bullet would definitely hit Stephanie. And then with Hunter out of the way, it gave Michael room to go in for the kill.

Hunter turned to his sister-in-law. "Priya, please, do something!"

"Don't talk to her, Hunter!" Michael thundered. "Not when you're defending-"

Michael had to stop, completely surprised. Priya had cupped his face and planted her lips against his passionately.

This completely shocked Hunter and Stephanie; Michael and Priya were never this publicly affectionate like they were.

Priya looked up at her husband. "Honey," she said softly, "You know what a difficult life Stephanie had, all the things done to her. Her father arranging her kidnapping and forced marriage to name a few things; it was new to Stephanie when she married into a loving family; she understands now."

Michael looked away; he didn't want to hear this. But at least he lowered his weapon; if only for Priya.

"And, if it wasn't for Stephanie," Priya continued gently, "we wouldn't have been able to save Seth and Kelista; because Hanovi thought he could still trust her, he told her where Kels was. Stephanie informed Hunter and that's how Ashok was able to locate and rescue her."

Hunter read his brother's expression and knew it was safe. He took Stephanie into his arms to comfort her.

Stephanie accepted his hug. She still felt uneasy and heart sore, until she felt a stronger but still gentle arm around her. Looking up she saw Michael, with his other arm around his brother, smiling at her.

Priya watched with tears in her eyes as Michael, as hard as it was for him, forgave and accepted his brother and sister-in-law. She was stunned when Stephanie suddenly ran to her and hugged her tightly, thankful for all her love.

"Is Kelista alright?" Stephanie asked Michael as she left go of Priya.

"Everyone's fine," he replied.

Stephanie watched as Michael took Priya in his arms and kissed her lovingly. It was true; Michael was an amazing man, the upstanding strength of his character, intelligence, his positive attitude, the authoritative air about him…but all this was to serve and protect the members of his family, and she was happy to be one of them. Stephanie went back into Hunter's arms. She loved her husband.

With that taken care of, Michael turned his attention to the Helmsley Mansion infirmary.

"Priya, love, let's go," he said.

As they left, Michael's phone rang. It was Levi, with the information Ashok had on Hanovi's computer chip.

~oOo~

Ashok had uploaded the computer chip to Levi's server that contained the names of the traitors that were responsible for providing Hanovi with HelmsleyCorp intel and activities. When Levi was looking for Priya, they alerted Hanovi to Levi's presence in the forest, and set off the company's EMP to cut communication between Levi and HelmsleyCorp, and Michael. By the time Michael and Priya arrived at the Helmsley Mansion, Rizer and his mercenaries had identified high ranking traitors and started bringing order to HelmsleyCorp.

"You did it, love," Priya said smiling.

Michael pulled her closer to him. "We did it," he amended softly, kissing her.

Someone cleared their throat nervously behind them.

"Mr. Helmsley, sir." a mercenary began, "Miss Kelista was asking for you…I thought I should inform you as soon as possible…"

Michael sighed. "Of course,"

But his wife had already started walking towards the medical wing. At the entrance they spotted their daughter and future son-in-law.

"Kels, I'm fine, angel," Seth tried to assure her, but it wasn't hard to miss that he enjoyed the attention and her holding him.

In the attempt to stab Seth, Hanovi ended up stabbing himself. The Architect felt fine (adrenaline hadn't worn off yet), but his fiancée insisted that he get checked out.

Michael cleared his throat, wondering if Seth would have the same reaction he had when the mercenary interrupted he and Priya kissing.

The Architect initially did, but when he saw Michael and Priya, he smiled and Kelista hugged her parents.

"How is General Ahanu and Alison?" Michael asked, as they walked toward Alison's 'ward' at the infirmary.

"Ali's fine; poison was drawn out. General Ahani, thankfully no major organs were damaged." Kelista replied. "He needs plenty of rest but he should be fine."

Michael turned to Seth. "And Hanovi?"

"He's here at the infirmary," Seth said. "Injured and in chains."

Michael nodded. "Good. But we still need to be vigilant around him."

They had reached Alison's makeshift room; where she had a lot of visitors already. Aside from Alison's father, Levi, there was Roman, Sierra, Dean and surprisingly, Dean's mother. Dean was standing close as possible to Alison, but not so much for her father to raise an eyebrow.

"My, am I popular today." Alison joked when she saw her new visitors. "Want some autographs?"

Kelista chuckled at her best friend as Michael approached Levi with a grateful hug.

Priya turned to Sierra. "Oh, congratulations,"

Sierra was confused, but Alison smiled at her.

"Did you think God forgot about you?" she said. "God's timing is perfect."

"What do you mean?" Sierra asked slowly, because she had a pretty good idea. It seemed so surreal… and how could she tell her husband, only to break his heart when they lose another?

Sierra loved Sarah, Raquel and Koda dearly, and treasured each of them. In the long months of seeing to Sarah's emotional needs, teaching Koda English and Samoan, and helping Raquel adjust to her new siblings, Sierra had forgotten her pain of never have been able to carry a baby to term. But last night something changed. She was worried about Roman, but somehow she had felt calm. Is this not what God promised her?

"Roman," Sierra said, "Can I talk to you outside?"

Alison smiled. She didn't know any other couple that could deserve this blessing better. Sierra was pregnant; in eight months, Sierra would have carried and delivered a healthy, 3kg baby boy, with no complications.

~oOo~

"So where's Austin?" Dean asked Alison.

Alison's life was threatened, shouldn't Austin care enough to be here?

"Isn't he your boyfriend?" The Helmsley Princess threw in casually.

Alison looked at Kelista in dismay. She knew what her friend was up to.

Alison loved Dean. He did not care about colour, culture or where a person came from. Trust was important. Dean was Dean no matter what. And when she first met him, he was one of the very few people that did not worship God and did not expect God to just solve their problems or do things for them (in fact, he never blamed anyone for his problems or what life did to him). In his own weird way, Dean actually revered God somewhat.

"What? Oh, no. Austin and I aren't actually a couple." Alison finally replied. "I mean, I know it sounded promising, but then…"

Levi sat back in his comfortable chair pretending to be asleep. How long was he waiting for this to happen, he had no idea. Austin Mansell was a good kid, no doubt. But he was too much in love with religion than with Jesus, which Alison had been weary of. Even though Dean did not know the stories in the Bible or the Ten Commandments by heart, he did have a relationship with Christ, and tried to live his life by grace and not by rules and regulations for the sake of it.

"But you allowed Austin to kiss you!" Dean thundered.

Levi's eyes flew open at the Lunatic's tone, but then he knew he had nothing to worry about.

"Not like you haven't stolen a kiss from me!" Alison shot back.

"I-I'm sorry that I forced my intentions on you-wait...you didn't want to kiss him?" Dean asked hopefully.

"I ...- oh, for heaven's sake it doesn't matter, I turned so he kissed my cheek instead!" Alison sighed.

"Oh," Dean said. "Okay. Good."

"Are you judging me, Dean?" Alison narrowed her eyes. "You pick on my purity and you thought I kissed him...was that all you did? How dare you judge me!"

"That's not what I meant!" Dean sighed in frustration."Its just…I can't stand another guy touching you, okay?!"

Alison blinked in surprise. "Oh..."

Roman and Sierra entered, their eyes shining with happiness. They were about to share their news with everyone, when Dean surprised everybody; and Levi couldn't pretend to be asleep any more.

Dean gently framed Alison's face in his hands. "Marry me," he whispered huskily.

Alison's heart started pounding as stared at him. Her cheeks flamed when her heart monitor started going off, but a smiling Kelista subsequently switched it off.

Dean stepped back as he reached into his jacket pocket. "Oh, I saw a ring the other day at the jewelers…now where did I put it?"

The Lunatic Fringe frantically searched his pockets before looking at Roman; who sighed unhappily. Dean had the ring with him during the combat with Hanovi, and it was probably lying on a bed of leaves or flowers in the forest.

"Sierra?" Roman asked hopefully; his wife did have many rings.

"Sorry, love," she replied, showing him her fingers, which only comprised of her wedding rings.

"I have…" Dean's mother, Rivonia, stepped away from the corner and slipped off a pure gold ring from her finger. On it sat a shiny eighteen carat blue sapphire stone.

"It was my grandmother's; she gave it to me when I was a little girl. I thought I lost it; but just as well. I would have sold it for..."

Dean smiled at his mother before turning to Levi, who was on his feet.

"Mr. uh, Captain, I mean Palmer," Dean said.

Roman fell into a fit of silent laughter. This was his typical brother.

"Can I marry Alison?!" Dean bust out before he lost his courage.

Levi extended his arm as a go ahead as he smiled. Alison was grateful she wasn't so fair like Kelista; her cheeks were positively flaming. She was so embarrassed, no guy drew a reaction from her like this before, and that silly heart monitor made things worse.

Dean got down on one knee, holding up his great-grandmother's ring. "So…will you marry me, Alison?"

Alison finally found her voice. "Dean…um…what?" she squeaked.

"I can't lose you again, sweetheart," he admitted softly. "I love you so much,"

Realizing that this was really happening; her dreams were coming true, Alison's eyes was filled with tears and she nodded. "I love you too, Dean. Yes,"

Dean got up and slipped the sapphire onto Alison's ring finger to cheers and applause from their friends and family, but the Lunatic Fringe tenderly cupped his new fiancée face and kissed her.

Roman and Seth whistled as Levi cleared his throat hurriedly, making Alison pull away, but Dean still held onto her. The noise attracted Ashok and Rizer, but laughed when they saw that everything was alright. They were still weary of Hanovi.

The couple was congratulated and hugged by everyone…except Dean's mother. She stood at the far corner, unnoticed by anyone… except her future daughter-in-law. Alison approached her.

This time, Alison didn't see a bitter surly woman like the one she meet at Dean's grandpa's house. Instead, she saw a sad and lonely little girl desperate for love; from her childhood, through teenage years and then settling for any attention, like Dean's unfaithful father, which only made it worse.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ambrose." Alison said softly.

Rivonia couldn't quite look her in eye. "You-you're welcome. I'm sure you two will be very happy together."

Alison smiled at her, wondering if she would push things to far if she hugged Rivonia.

"I'm sorry, Alison, I heard about your mother, how she died in childbirth." Rivonia said. "I know what you expect. But I couldn't even be a mother to my own child…I don't even know how to treat people properly…"

Alison reached out and put her arms around Rivonia. "I love you anyway,"

Like a child, Rivonia accepted the love and comfort, it wasn't unlike what she received from Dean before he ran away from home.

~oOo~

Hanovi's eyes opened. Thinking fast, he immediately grabbed the doctor and the sedation injection before holding the terrified practitioner around the throat with his powerful warrior legs.

"Uncuff me before I kill you,"

~oOo~

Roman put his hand on Dean's shoulder. "Congrats, bro."

The Lunatic Fringe however, couldn't take his eyes off his future bride comforting his mother.

"I really hate to do this now, but we have a situation at hand. And we can always celebrate afterwards…with Seth," Roman said.

Dean's head whipped around to face Roman. "What?"

"You heard what Hanovi said; what he forced Hunter and Seth to do." Roman explained. "You know what Seth did for Sierra and I. And for you."

"He shouldn't have! He should have told me!" Dean whispered hotly, but then his expression altered. "Roman!"

Hanovi was standing by the doorway, a stolen gun in hand.

There was a lot of commotion and screams. Rizer's instincts kicked in and he covered Kelista. Hanovi aimed his gun, catching Seth in the chest with three silver bullets.

Rizer turned and aimed his gun, so did Ashok, Michael and Levi. Four bullets hit Hanovi; each in his heart.

Michael and Rizer rushed over to Seth but Ashok didn't need orders this time. He went over to the villain and emptied his pistol, making sure that Hanovi will never hurt anyone again.

"Seth!" Kelista cried as she rushed over to him.

Dean was already there; dejectedly he picked up Seth's head and cradled his little brother.

Michael watched, helpless. That bullet was right on target. Over Seth's heart. But then… even if Seth was wearing a dark coloured shirt, surely blood would have soaked through…

Seth jerked and coughed, startling Dean. Michael tore opened Seth's shirt to reveal a black bullet-proof vest, with the three bullets lodged in.

Rizer laughed with joy and relief. "Kid's smart; he was going to face off with Hanovi; yeah he gets it from you, Michael.

Seth was immediately seen to as Roman and Dean watched on.

"Be strong, little brother," Roman said, gently squeezing the Architect's arm. "You should have told us about the adoption papers and Hanovi threatening you."

Seth stared at them in surprise as Dean spoke up.

"I'm still going to kick ya butt for that!" The Lunatic Fringe said grumpily. "What's wrong with you, Seth! Wanted to win secret-keeper of the year or something?!"

Seth couldn't help and laughed along with Roman. He was so glad to have his brothers back.

~oOo~

Michael ordered that Hanovi's body be taken to his mother; she should have the chance to bury her son, whatever he turned out to be. Michael had also asked the Reigns a favour. As comfort for the late chief's wife, who now lost both her husband and son, little Koda was brought to the village so that he could meet and form a bond with his grandmother.

Koda's grandmother would find a new joy after the murder of her husband and the tragedy of her son, Hanovi. In fact, Raquel and Sarah became her darling princesses too. Roman and Sierra had already decided to relocate to Davenport, Iowa. They were closer to the village making it easier for their son to learn and take instruction from the culture and lifestyle of his people. And Koda's reign was one of legend for generations to come. He would give more of himself to his people; his devotion for his village would surpass even that of his grandfather's. He was a chief worth waiting for.

~oOo~

Sunroom, Helmsley Mansion

Sierra, Alison and Kelista, together with the newly reformed Shield left the infirmary when Alison and Seth no longer required medical care. Dean carried a bashful Alison all the way to the sunroom, which now had a beautiful glow as dawn was approaching.

"I think we have to throw a party, we have so much to celebrate," Sierra said. "Dean and Alison are engaged. The Shield brothers reconciled, Seth and Kels' upcoming wedding, there's no threat to our families anymore and…" her eyes shined.

"And our baby," Roman smiled, gently placing his hand on her abdomen.

"So let's go now," Seth said. No one really looked tired, with the adrenaline of the nights events.

"No!" Dean and Kelista protested at the same time.

"You got shot, Seth," Kelista complained.

"I had the vest on…"

"And you're still recovering, Alison." Dean told his new fiancée. "You shouldn't exert yourself."

Alison couldn't protest; she felt cherished by his caring words and the way he looked at her.

"Why don't we play 30 Seconds?" Kelista suggested. "Seth has the app on his phone."

Sierra was about decline, but Roman hurriedly reminded her that Priya offered to look after the children.

"Alright, then how about we girls vs. The newly reformed Shield?" Sierra suggested with a laugh.

"You can call yourselves Shield Queens," Dean said kissing Alison.

"I like Warrior Princesses, like the Facebook page, God's Warrior Princess," Kelista said.

Queens, princesses, whatever their names, the royalties were one of the very few teams that beat the Shield.

When they had finished a second round of the game (this time, the couples teamed up and unfortunately for the unmarried ones, Roman and Sierra won without much effort, as they knew one another so well and could anticipate what their spouse was trying to say), Seth and Kelista had an 'important' announcement.

Seth held Kelista close by side. "I think it's finally time to address those rumors, angel."

Kelista's eyes twinkled. "What rumors?"

Alison laughed. "Oh, several months ago when the WWE assumed that you and Seth are married and were going to have a baby?"

"Yup," Seth smirked, "We know who started those rumors, don't we Kels?"

The Helmsley Princess looked around at their friends smiling. If it wasn't for those rumors, would Seth and her have spent all that time together, unraveling all those mysteries and finally really be getting married in a couple of weeks?

"We sure do." Kelista replied happily.

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Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited and reviewed! One final chapter left to wrap up this Happily Ever After! :D :D :D