I'm back with yet another crossover with Sicario (see Expendable Hearts for my other one). I know there's not a lot of interest in my Expendable stories, but I still want to write them.
For the purpose of this story, the age difference between Lee and Kate is only four years.
I will say now that for this story, there is a trigger warning for things talked about/scenes/etc. I just don't want to have to put that on every single chapter, so you've been told now.
Happy reading!
*I'm going to try this in the Expendables fandom to see if it gets any views. I'll return it to the crossover section when it's done.
I'm a survivor...I'm not gonna give up...
She screamed his name, making him turn to see her being held onto by the brute he had failed to kill. He felt terror in his heart. He saw the dagger gleam in the sunlight. Before he could do anything, it was shoved into her back, making her scream in agony.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
He almost didn't recognize his own scream. The man yanked it back out, letting her go and taking off out of sight. He watched as in almost slow motion she fell. He was running towards her.
He was too late.
One Week Earlier
"You sure you wanna go through with this?" Barney asked. Lee gave an exasperated sigh.
"For the millionth time, yes, I want to marry Lacy."
"But why? She is not your type. And she cheated on you. Why can't you remember that?" Barney questioned.
"People can change," Lee argued.
"Lee, she's no good. Run while you still can," Barney advised.
"What did I say about stabbing you?" Lee countered aggressively, his hand moving towards his knife in his hilt.
"Yea, yea," Barney said.
Lee said nothing else as he sipped his beer. He was glad now more than ever that he had never told Barney about the only woman he'd ever love, the one woman who got away.
"I have PTSD," Toll said, coming to sit down beside them. "That's what my psychiatry report says. I just got it today. My therapist referred me to get an assessment."
"No shit," Barney snorted. "You needed a piece of paper to tell you that?"
"It makes it official," Toll argued.
"I could have officially told you a long time ago," Barney replied.
"So what's the advice? Stop work? Go on a holiday?" Lee asked.
"I am getting some books to read on it," Toll answered. "My therapist is helping with everything else."
"Ooohhhh what? WHAT?" Caesar was yelling now, pounding his chest with his fist. "Who's your daddy!"
Gunner was just shaking his head as he stared at the pool table where he had just lost for the fifth time. Tool was laughing as he observed from the bar. Doc was smirking from where he was standing playing darts.
"Hey, babe," Lacy said, coming in then and sitting down in Lee's lap at their table. Barney refrained from rolling his eyes as he looked away. Toll smirked.
"How was your day?" Lee asked her.
"Fabulous."
"Good."
"My day was fabulous too," Barney chimed in. "I got grease under my nails and went on a shopping spree for bullets."
"Ignore him. He's got a personality disorder," Lee told Lacy.
"Are we going to see a movie tonight?" she asked.
"Sure."
"Better get going if you wanna get the good make out seats," Barney commented. Lee rammed into his chair as he passed, making Barney spill his beer. Barney just laughed. Then he went back to watching his team have a good time.
...
Kate Macer was exhausted. She didn't sleep well anymore, not since the whole chain of events that went down in Mexico. She had nightmares of being strangled and nightmares of Alejandro pulling the trigger and shooting her in the head despite the fact she signed his stupid paper.
She was at work now, trying to concentrate. She still worked for the kidnap division. She wanted nothing to do with drugs or cartels or anything like that anymore. She stuck with what she knew.
Evan had reached out to her after hearing about what had happened, but she had kept that conversation short. They were divorced for a reason after all.
"You better go home," Reggie said. She looked up at him standing in her doorway of her office.
"I'm getting there."
"Kate, it's almost nine," he chuckled. "Go home."
"Fine," she agreed. He smiled and tapped her door before walking away. Reggie was a good colleague. She wished she had taken his advice, though, and left when he had said they should during Matt and Alejandro's little mission and finding out they were simply being used.
She got up from her desk and turned off her lamp. She grabbed her coat and threw it on as she left. Maybe she'd get some sleep tonight.
...
Hope was hiding in her closet when the shouting started. She was used to her mother and her boyfriend losing it on each other, but tonight seemed particularly worse than usual for some reason. She covered her ears as best as she could, but she couldn't block it out. When she heard their front door being thrown open and gunshots going off, she froze in fear. What was happening? Then she left her closet and grabbed her backpack, the one she kept packed for emergencies, and her phone and heaved open her window. She was close to the fire escape, so she made her way out her window and swung over to it, landing hard. She was breathing heavily and trying not to feel afraid. She reached into her pocket to find the name on the piece of paper she had kept on her ever since she discovered it. She had to get to them. She had to.
...
Lee and Lacy were walking down the street together when they heard the screaming and shouting. Lee tensed.
"What is that?" Lacy asked.
"Get around the corner," he ordered. "Hide."
"Lee..."
"Go!" he said loudly. She obeyed. He made his way towards the noise and found a teenage girl trying to fight off a grown man. He charged towards them.
"Hey!" he shouted. The man snapped his head to look at him, dropping the girl. She scrambled out of the way as Lee and the man collided. He was surprisingly stronger than Lee anticipated, and he took some blows to the face as he fought. In no time, he had the man down on the ground, his foot on the man's arm pit and the man's arm in his grasp. The girl was watching from the shadows.
"Who are you and why are you after her?" Lee demanded. The man whimpered in pain as Lee twisted his arm a bit more.
"She stole my wallet," the man said.
"He's lying!" the girl shouted. "He came into my apartment and killed my mom and her boyfriend! He's trying to kill me!"
Lee could see from the girl's terrorized expression that she was telling the truth.
"What do you want with her?" he asked again.
"Look out!" the girl cried, and Lee spun his head to see two more men coming at them.
"Go," he told the girl, who didn't need to be told twice. She took off down the street. Lee dislocated the man's arm because he was frustrated at not being able to finish their conversation. The man screamed, and Lee took off after the girl. He caught up to her easily enough.
"Come on," he urged. He could hear the shouting behind them. He found Lacy, who was texting. "Let's go!"
"What's going on?" Lacy asked. Lee grabbed her hand and made her come with him. "Lee!"
Lee took them down an alleyway and then down to a different street. He ducked them into a cafe and went to the very back away from the windows. He sat them with their backs to the everyone.
"Lee?" Lacy prompted. "What's going on?"
"You tell me," Lee said to the girl. "What happened?"
"I was at home, and someone came into my mom's apartment and started shooting. I ran. He caught up to me, and then you arrived. End of story," the girl answered.
"We need to call the police," Lacy started.
"No!" the girl cried, startling both Lee and Lacy. "Sorry. Just...no."
"Why not?" Lee asked.
"I recognized one of the men as my mom's friend from the police force," the girl explained.
"Okay," Lee said. "That's not good."
"What do we do?" Lacy asked.
"You go home," Lee told Lacy. "They didn't see you. I'll take care of this."
"But..."
"Go, Lace. I'll call you," Lee promised. Lacy hesitated for a moment before getting up and leaving. Lee was left looking at the girl.
"What's your name?"
"Hope," she replied. "You're Lee." She'd paid attention to Lacy calling him that. What were the odds? Could she be that lucky?
"Yea."
"As in Lee Edwards?" she questioned. Lee stared at her. It had been a very long time since he'd gone by that name. About 15 years or so in fact. She looked to be around that age, but how would she know his real name?
"I take it I'm right," she said. "Just by the look in your eyes."
"How do you know that?" he asked. She pulled out a piece of paper from her pants pocket.
"This was in my file. It was ripped in half, so I only have this piece."
Lee took it and looked at it. It indeed said "Lee Edwards." He looked up at her sharply.
"What file?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm adopted," she explained. "I got access to my file, and your name was in there."
"What are you saying?" Lee demanded. He felt like the room was starting to spin now.
"I'm saying..."
Her words got muffled suddenly. He stared.
"What?"
"You're my father," she finished.