Chapter 62: Let Your Mind Go, Let Yourself Be Free

(Aretha Franklin)

She woke up early in their king-size bed. As she had for the past few weeks, she was sleeping between them, their limbs all tangled up.

Though this morning, she felt cold where Connor should be. He was standing up before the sunlight had even reached their windows. When he turned back and realised he had woken her too, he leaned in to kiss her forehead.

She could see he was anxious. She was too. Today was her father's trial. And if they were sure the man wouldn't remain her guardian after this, they feared what the judge would decide for her.

"Don't worry Connor…"

"I just hate that ye have to see him again and we can't be there," he whispered to try and not wake his brother.

She tried to soothe him back to bed: "I'll be alright, love."

"I don't think ye get it, Tin'. Last time…ye died in my arms. For the longest moment, yer heart stopped beating. And I didn't know what to do…"

"Ye did exactly what ye needed to do. Ye saved me…"

"No, I didn't. We shouldn't have… We should have left right away. We put ye in danger."

"Technically, I put yein danger, Conn'." She smiled calmingly. "But, in the end, it all worked out." When he didn't answer and his frown told her he disagreed, she added: "Maybe it was God's plan."

He thought this over for a moment.

"I'll be right back." He needed some fresh air. He couldn't sleep anyway. She may have been right, but then he needed to make peace with a God that would let that happen.

So she watched him leave, naked in their garden, knowing he just needed a few minutes of silence, to compose himself before they all got up and began to prepare. She wanted to go after him, reassure him somehow, but she also didn't want to think about all this too much. Not as long as she had time. Because, after today, who knew what their God had in store for her.

She was lying on her back, Murphy face down by her side, with a leg between hers and his hand on her chest. He was still holding onto her at night as if he was afraid she would slip away from his grasp. And she wasn't sure if that hand on her breast was there to feel her up or just feel her heartbeat.

But, despite the early hour and his peaceful breathing, his groin was pressing against her thigh and she was in a playful mood. A little distraction might help, she thought. So, she ever-so slowly began writhing against him, her warm and smooth thigh innocently grinding against his nether regions.

He groaned in his sleep and she pretended she was still deep into slumber.

"Ye think I don't know what ye're doing?" His gruff drowsy voice was muffled as his mouth was already against the skin of her collarbone.

"Shush. I'm sleeping." She giggled like a tricksy child.

"Are ye now?"

She couldn't help laughing when his tongue skimmed her bellybutton. His trailing fingers tickling her sides. His lips kissing down her ribs and stomach. She had finally put on a little healthy weight, and he loved to knead and pinch that curvier waist.

But then, he peppered featherlike kisses to her side, toward her scar, and she looked down. She'd lost most feeling in the centre of it, but, around, the pellets had left a dozen little blemishes that tingled when his fingers grazed over them.

It was an ugly scar, but it was also her favourite. It was the one that would set her free.

Though her tattooed snake had lost its head. Murphy petted the thin, inked figure as if he wanted to soothe it, before his tongue traced down its length and she shivered. As opposed to his brother, he never talked of what had happened, but never failed to let his fingers wander to those welts.

"Good thing it's still early…" Murphy brought her out of her reverie with a smirk. "…so I can take my time…"

She sighed and moaned as he went further down.

Connor came back into the house, ready to tackle the day, when he found them like this. He had to admit, it was a beautiful sight. Bathed in the morning light filtering through the leaves, her red curls in a shining crown around her face, she was lying in their bed with her eyes closed, her hand clutching the sheets in a tight fist. Her body was arching and writhing, with her head far back and her tits pointing at the ceiling. He bit his lip as he was overcome with lust.

His brother was way ahead of him, with his face buried between her legs, in what seemed to be his absolute favourite place in the world. He was kneeling at the foot of the bed, one hand slowly stroking his own dick, while the other one was laced with hers. And those intertwined fingers looked like a lifeline between them.

For a moment, Connor just watched them, with a kind of reverence. He didn't dare make a sound that would disturb them. His hardened cock was twitching in his palm, yet he just stood there.

Until his brother unexpectedly changed the pace and Aideen gasped. She turned her head toward Connor and opened her eyes. Those two bright emerald irises pleaded him as her reddened lips parted in a silent cry.

So he walked up to her, sat by her side and leaned in to kiss her passionately. The hand that was almost tearing the sheets came to clasp his hair and scratch his shoulder while he trailed his teeth down her throat. And when he lashed out on her nipples, licking and nipping harshly, she suddenly erupted in pleasure.

He cradled her in his arms, while a very cheeky Murphy got on his feet.

"Come on, we're going to be late now."

Since they weren't done installing the pipes, they still had to warm water on the stove and clean with a sponge above their empty bath. But those three idiots knew how to make that fun enough. After some childish splashing, they rapidly used their washcloths on each other.

One of them would hold her, forbidding her to move, while the other tortured her with it, tickling and stimulating every sensitive part. Then, she would take turn on rubbing soap on both their bodies, not leaving a single millimetre of flesh untouched. And it would inevitably end up with one of them in her mouth, while the other sought entrance with a feverish look.

Afterwards, when they'd collapse after the final throes, with a stupid satisfied grin stamped on their three faces, they would know life was being bountiful.

To be honest it all seemed way too good to last.

Annabelle drove them back to Dublin. The boys hiding in the back of the truck, as their presence in the city—let alone near a courthouse—wasn't advisable. Still, they wouldn't let her go alone. If anyone even thought of taking her away from them again, they'd snatch her from their evil claws, no matter what she'd said to comfort them before they'd left.

When she arrived in the hall, the appointed lawyer greeted her with a frown.

"It's going to be quick," he said, "the experts have deemed yer father irresponsible."

At first, she wanted to protest. If anything, that man was responsible foreverythingas long as she was concerned. But that's when she caught sight of the old man, at the other end of the corridor.

Damn. If he had seemed weakened before, he definitely looked broken now.

"Aideen! Let me go, ye eejit, that's my daughter! Aideen!" But the policemen made sure to drag him away.

She still heard his holler echo on the walls: "Demons tried to take her away from me! I had to protect her! She doesn't know what's good for her; she's possessed by the Devil! Let me go!"

He sounded completely insane.

Something had been unhinged for a long time, but now, he seemed to have gone off the deep end for good.

She was so shaken, the rest of the day seemed a blur. Until the judge asked to speak with her. Now, she had to tell her whole story again, and she had to convince him she was as sane as could be. No outburst, no mentioning the twins.

At the end of the day, when the judge told her she could go home, she didn't manage to move from her seat.

"I… Really?"

"Of course, Miss. I can't contest my colleagues' prior rule, but ye seem perfectly sound of mind to me, so I can reassess it."

She was free. She blinked a few times, but her mind couldn't wrap around the idea.

"What will happen to my father?"

"He was committed to the high-security ward of the Central Mental Hospital until further notice."

She figured that, if he was still rambling about demons, she shouldn't be surprised

The lawyer then asked her if she wanted to see him before he was taken away. She followed him to where her father was contained.

He was calmer now than he had been earlier. Yet became agitated again as soon as he saw her.

"I guess this is goodbye for good now, Da." She felt cold, as if no emotion could transpire in front of him.

So, he bawled out bitterly: "Everything I did was to keep ye away from them!"

"And yet," she smiled, "all you accomplished was making sure fate brought me back to them. I should be grateful to ye for that. Maybe someday I'll manage to be."

"Can't you see I only wanted to protect ye?" he wept pathetically now.

"The only person I need to be protected from is ye, Da. The day ye realise that, I'll be there to accept yer apologies. Until then, stay out of my life."

She stood up to leave. There was nothing else to say.

She could have told him she wasn't who he thought she was. That she would never have turned out like the mother who had cheated and abandoned him, despite how much she might have looked like her. That if he had taken a minute to try and get to know her, he would have had a daughter in front of him today, instead of a stranger. And also, that Connor and Murphy weren't the demons he thought they were. That they cared for her, like a family should. She could have let out all her anger about how he had truly tried to kill them, when he had fired his shotgun and maimed her. After all he had done, that was the deed that enraged her the most.

But there was no point. That man had never listened to anyone. And with these wide crazed eyes, he was certainly not going to start today.

She chuckled dryly. If there was one way she resembled him at all, it may have been in his stubbornness. Well, now she'd just have to be stubbornly happy.

When she walked out to reach the truck and catch up to Annabelle, the twins whisked her in a dark alcove of the huge stone building. She felt herself drawn and pulled to either side, as they battled to be the first to kiss her. So she ended up with lips nipping on both corners of her wide smile.

"Ye alright, love?"

She nodded gleefully.

"Do ye need anything?"

"The only thing I need, I got right here…"

The three of them smiled sheepishly at their incredibly good fortune. They felt truly blessed by God. With their fates safe in each other's hand.

"Let's go home then."

THE END

Whew! This was sooo much longer than I first intended! But no regrets on my part...

Please, before you go, and whatever time has passed since I posted it, leave a comment!

Truth is, I already have lots of ideas for a sequel. But I don't know if I'll be able to write it, as this is soo time-consuming.

Maybe a Boondock Saints / Walking Dead crossover sequel? What do you think? Would you want Aideen to meet Daryl at some point? I'd reckon those two would have some experiences to share...

Anyway, if I ever do write it, I'll post an epilogue here that will be a kind of prologue for the sequel. So, if you want to be kept in the loop, hit the 'follow' button maybe.

In any case, pretty please, hit the review button, if only to let one word there. It will be so appreciated.

Now, take care of yourselves, whatever year it is! :)