Just randomly inspired on-shots in timeline order :) Might think about flashback chapters, we'll see.
It's three in the morning when Kenna wakes up to the sound of smashing downstairs. She checks Bash who's still asleep and frowns, getting out of bed to check on the kids.
She checks in on Perrine first, the baby fast asleep in her cot as the nightlight still shuffles the shapes of stars around on the ceiling. She closes the door quietly behind her and heads to Adrien's room.
He's all over his bed, the duvet half on, half off as he snores. His mouth is wide open and Kenna smiles a little before closing the door behind her. Then finally, she heads to Pascal's room. He too is fast asleep when she opens his door and he's tucked in neatly, unlike his little brother.
The second smash jolts him awake and Kenna looks behind her with eyes wide.
"Mum?" Pascal croaks out, shielding his eyes from the landing light they always have turned on just in case.
"Go back to sleep, baby and stay in your room," Kenna says softly, not looking at him as she leaves and closes the door behind her.
She heads back to her bedroom where Bash is awake and confused.
"Were you downstairs?" He asks, getting out of their bed.
Kenna stops him. "Someone's downstairs," she whispers fearfully. "I thought it was one of the boys, but it isn't-"
"I've got this," Bash cuts her off, pulling her so she sits on the bed and he's standing up now.
"Bash-"
"Stay here," he tells her gently before thinking otherwise. "Lock the doors."
Kenna heads to their dresser and grabs the set of keys for the bedrooms. It's a trust thing in their home, no locked doors policy so they keep the keys. This time, she follows Bash out of their bedroom, her husband equipped with one of the bedside table lamps and his phone.
As he takes his first step downstairs, she goes by and quietly but surely locks each of their children's bedroom doors before going back to the master bedroom and locking the door behind her.
She grabs her phone and presses it against her chest with one hand as she rests her ear on the door. She shakily dials for Francis and curses when he doesn't answer. She tries Mary instead.
As Bash reaches the final step, he checks the foyer and formal living room. Swallowing hard, he heads into the dining room and finds it empty. Taking a deep breath in and releasing it, he moves onto the kitchen/family room area. He isn't frightened, he's dealt with worse, having almost been mugged at times back in France on the street in broad daylight.
But the idea of someone in his home where his children sleep unsettles him. In France, they had security systems and security guards all over the place. In England, they only have the system and he wonders how this person didn't trigger it.
When he steps into the kitchen, he finds the curtains blowing around and backdoors wide open, glass everywhere on the floor. He moves further, his steps silent and controlled from his days photographing and enjoying the beauty of wildlife as a boy.
He places the lamp down when he sees a blackened figure rummaging through the dresser by the fireplace where some items of expense are. Mostly gifts they've received that they don't have a need for or do not match the furnishings of the house.
Bash collects a knife from the block and rounds the counter island to stand behind the man.
"If you value your life, you'll put everything you've taken down, and leave now," he says to the masked man.
The man raises his hands and lets go of his duffel bag, slowly turning to face Bash who keeps the knife trained on him.
Bash uses his other hand to dial '999' without even looking, his eyes fixed on the man who broke into his home. He answers the caller and she tells him that the police are on their way.
"You said you'll let me leave," the man says quietly.
"Have to be a good neighbour and make sure you don't do this again," Bash replies.
The man moves a step to the side and Bash gives him a warning look as he follows the man's movements with the knife.
"I wouldn't leave if I were you," he says, his heart beating loudly in his ears but he won't show the man anything.
But the man makes a run for it, snatching an iPad from the table and running through the opened doors. Bash curses and follows after, tackling the man onto the grass as they both roll down the hilly area of the garden, near the gates to the rest of their lands.
Bash grunts when he kicks him in the chest and he retaliates by tightening his grip on him, pressing the man's frame into the ground with a hand to the man's cheek. Bash thanks his father for forcing him to keep at Rugby during his secondary school years.
He notices that the knife is out of his grip and he moves to retrieve it again. The burglar gets there first, swiping Bash's defensive arm before Bash grips that hand and squeezes his fingers, causing the knife to drop.
But the burglar retrieves it from his chest and takes a jab at Bash's own before Bash knocks it out of his hand and uses his knee to press down against the man's windpipe.
He could feel the warmth of blood soaking his nightshirt and he curses but then sighs in relief when it's only a superficial wound and not deep at all. But the scar's long and Bash has had a lifetime of scars. What's another to the list?
"Stop... resisting!" He tells the man who struggles under Bash's pinning.
Bash feels his strength start to leave him, the adrenaline starting to fade but he keeps the man down on the ground. No one was going to invade his home as he, his wife and children slept. No one was going to take away their security and haven from their home.
"Bash!"
Bash is relieved when he hears Francis's voice and soon the blonde is helping him pin the man down. He sends his brother a grateful smile before he watches his brother's blue eyes widen at the sight of blood.
"I'm fine," he says breathlessly. "Not deep at all."
"Kenna called. She said she heard movement outside and saw you outside-"
"The police are coming," Bash quickly says. "They said they were ten minutes out, I don't know."
Now overcome with two people, the man gives up struggling and starts hurling abuse at them, citing they've ruined his life.
Bash rolls his eyes and resists the urge to punch the man but instead says, "Says the man who broke into someone else's home."
It's another six minutes of abuse when the police finally arrive and cart the man off into custody. Bash and Francis answer their questions with Kenna before one officer suggests that he should go to the hospital.
Bash obviously protests against it but Francis says, "I'll take him there myself."
"You shouldn't have confronted him," the police officer states, putting his notebook away.
"What if he came upstairs and hurt one of my kids or my wife?" Bash asks him. "It was better that he stay confined downstairs, away from them."
The officer nods approvingly, but his eyes still show slight discontent at Bash's bravery. "You ought to get your security system upgraded or use another company. I've been told that it was easy to deactivate."
"We'll get that checked out. Thanks," Kenna replies, running her hands through her hair as she turns and finds Pascal and Adrien standing by the entrance of the kitchen. "Chéris, what are you doing downstairs?"
She goes up to them, kneeling to check them. Not that she needs to as their doors were locked and the situation was dissolved downstairs, but it calms her worries and she presses kisses onto their heads.
"Maman, there's too much noise, we can't sleep," Adrien whines. "Why are the police here?"
Bash comes over, lifting Adrien into his arms and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "A bad man wanted to steal our things but they stopped him." He's relieved that he's changed into a clean shirt, handing the bloodied and ripped one in for evidence. But his hands are stained with blood and Adrien's eyes widen. "It's nothing. I put my hands in the red paint in the garage because silly Papa tripped over it."
Pascal isn't stupid but asks, "Why were you painting this late, Papa?"
His parents chuckle, refusing to answer as they send meek smiles to the officer who winks at the boys in reply.
"Come on, time to follow Uncle Francis back to his. You can bunk up with John and James," Bash tells them, handing Adrien over to Francis. "Bonsoir mes chéris."
Adrien grins at the thought of spending the night with his cousins. He snuggles into Francis's chest. "Bonne nuit, Papa."
His mother giggles and she leads Pascal upstairs, her hands on his shoulders. "Come and carry your sister for me, lovely," she says, pressing a quick kiss on top of his head as they head upstairs.
...
By late morning, the doors are replaced with stronger and better ones and the security system is changed, up and running once again. Bash sighs heavily once he sees the workers out and he turns to Kenna who nurses a glass of red wine.
"It's too early, babe," he says, taking a sip from it anyway as he winces.
"After the morning we've had?" She asks, rubbing her face. "Babe, go to the hospital. You're in obvious discomfort."
He sighs. "I might have broken a rib - he kneed me hard."
Kenna gives him an incredulous look. "Well, I'll drive you there right now-"
"After all of that?" He asks, pointing at her wine glass. "I'd probably get more than a broken rib." He downs the rest of her wine and watches her refill it for herself. "I'm fine, honestly. Just a little winded-"
"With two fucking cuts," Kenna cuts him off. "I know I said that your scars turned me on, but that didn't mean you should get one every chance you get!"
He laughs, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Okay, I'll go to the hospital now and not get seen until this night. We do love an efficient waiting time."
"Either way, I want you to be better," Kenna tells him, kissing him as her eyes water. "Last night was scary. Shit, Bash. You could have got yourself killed."
"It was either me or the kids or you," he tells her. "I couldn't just let him get away with it."
Kenna rolls her eyes. "Things are just that. Things. They may hold meaning but that doesn't mean we should make our kids fatherless over them!"
"I didn't care about the stuff," Bash replies. "I cared about protecting you and our children. I cared about justice. He could have the things, they're nothing to me but I wasn't going to let him think that our home was free rein. That he could come and go as he pleased as if it was a free store. He was in our home and he had to pay for that."
Kenna nods, moving so she can kiss him hard. "Don't ever do that again to me, okay?"
Bash nods. "Okay," he says. "I'm sorry."
She lets out a sob. "At least it's a Saturday, otherwise the kids would be screaming to not go to school."
Bash chuckles. "Hmm, yeah."
"I love you."
Bash kisses her softly. "I love you too, Kenna," he replies.