Kate approached Emma, who was sitting in the waiting room alone. Barney and the others were out getting something to eat. Lee was waiting to get discharged, but Kate knew he was all right for the moment.
"You okay?" Kate asked Emma. Her sister had her hand on her belly and was staring at the wall. Kate felt a flicker of surprise. Could it be?
"It's funny how you think life is going to go," Emma said absently. "Then something happens that changes everything, and you're left wondering what the whole point of living even is."
"I should have noticed Dustin was a shady character," Kate told her. "I'm sorry."
"You should have? Kate, I was living with him," Emma scoffed. "If anyone should have noticed, it should have been me."
"Well, it's no one's fault but his," Kate offered.
"Do you know that my last words to Liam were out of anger?" Emma asked, changing the subject. Kate was taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
"He was lecturing me on my choices in men and that I should be going to college. I called him an ignorant SOB and a hypocrite since he never went to college. He had signed up for war, and he was lecturing me, so I said to him, 'wasn't that an easy out?' I called him an asshole and a jerk. Then he went to get his damn cigarettes, and he never came back." Emma's voice cracked near the end, and she put her hand over her face to hide her tears.
"Oh, Em," Kate said, putting her arm around her sister. She'd had no idea.
"I didn't go to college, Kate," Emma went on, sniffing. "And I married a bad choice of a man."
"It's never too late for college..."
"I can't now, Kate. I'm pregnant," Emma said bluntly.
"You...you're pregnant?" Kate repeated. So it was true. She hadn't imagined it.
"Yes. I'm going to be a single mother. My life is a downright train wreck," Emma cried.
"It's not," Kate argued. "You've got us."
"Who? Mum and Dad? They're still stricken with grief that they can't function properly. Grace? She's somewhere on this planet where we can't even reach her..."
"And me? What's wrong with me?" Kate asked.
"You were the last person to see Liam alive. You had the relationship with him that I always wanted. I'm jealous of you," Emma finished. "I sometimes can't even look at you without seeing him because you even look like him. And your new boyfriend, he looks a lot like Liam too. His name is even similar! That doesn't help."
"Lee does not look like Liam..."
"He does a little."
"No, he doesn't."
"I just feel alone, Kate. I'm alone."
"You are not alone, though," Kate argued. "You're doing that to yourself. We are here for you. You just have to let us in."
Emma didn't say anything else. She just sat there thinking.
"Hey," Lee said, approaching them. They both looked up at him.
"They released you?" Kate asked.
"Yea. I'm on strict bed rest until my ribs properly heal," Lee sighed. "Apparently I'm lucky to be alive."
"Okay, well, I will make sure that happens," Kate told him with a smile. Lee smirked back. He knew what she had in mind.
"I'm going to fly home," Emma said then. "Thank you both for rescuing me. I'm sorry my douchey dead husband almost got us all killed." She stood and made to leave when Kate caught a hold of her hand.
"You are not going anywhere," she said. "You are gonna need some support after what just happened."
"I do not need to impose on you..."
"You're not. I'm asking," Kate interrupted. "It's the least I can do to start showing you that I do care about you, Emma."
"All right," Emma caved, but Kate could tell she was looking for Kate to ask her to stay to start with. "Can we not tell Mum and Dad right now what's happened?"
"Deal."
...
A few days later, in the middle of the night, Kate left a sleeping Emma at her apartment and made her way over to Lee's. She dodged the cat when she crept inside. He had left the door unlocked for her. She easily found his room and slid under the covers with him.
"I thought you'd forgotten about me," he teased, putting his arms around her as she pushed herself into him.
"I didn't want Emma to think I was abandoning her," Kate explained.
"She doing okay?"
"She has a lot of ups and downs, but that's to be expected."
"I'm sure she appreciates you being there."
"I hope so," Kate sighed. "How are you doing?"
"Much better now," he answered, kissing her.
"I'm serious, Lee," she laughed.
"All right. Honestly? I've been bored out of my damn mind. I don't do bed rest," Lee complained.
"Well, it's to help you heal," Kate pointed out.
"I can do that sitting up. I can do that while working," he argued.
"No, you can't," she laughed again. He groaned in frustration.
"Another two weeks of this is going to kill me," he told her.
"It takes longer than that to heal broken ribs, especially broken ribs that got damaged again immediately after," Kate reasoned.
"Yes, but I'm allowed to at least move around in two weeks and not lie here like an idiot," Lee explained.
"Hmm. I see."
"I'm not getting any sympathy from you, am I?" he asked.
"No, sorry. You're only gonna find it in the dictionary," she teased. He closed his eyes and groaned again.
"And here I thought you loved me..."
"Oh, don't you dare," she said, faking outrage. She gave his shoulder a light shove, and he laughed. Then it turned into kissing.
"You're starting to look like me," he said as he examined all her battle scars she'd gotten in the past while.
"Is that a good thing?" she teased.
"I don't know. You tell me," he answered. She playfully fought with him for a bit instead of answering, both of them laughing. It felt so good to just be there with him without worrying about something bad happening.
...
Three days later, they were all at Tool's place, and Kate had brought Emma. She knew her sister needed to get out and start trying to have some normalcy in her life again.
"I thought you were on strict bed rest?" Barney asked when he saw Lee.
"You're not gonna tell on me, are you?" Lee countered.
"I couldn't keep him down," Kate answered. "He's too restless."
"That doesn't surprise me," Barney chuckled. Lee sat down on the couch and put himself in a semi-horizontal position.
"Happy now?" he asked.
Kate watched Emma as the others continued to jest with Lee and pick on him. She looked out of place.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I don't know anymore," Emma answered truthfully. Kate empathized. She had listened to Emma talk about Dustin for the past few days, going around in a circle beating herself up for not figuring it out sooner. Kate hoped she would stop soon. She knew it was going to destroy her after a while, and her sister deserved better than that.
"Hey," Toll said, approaching them. Kate still felt a little awkward around him, but it was getting better. She did notice that Toll seemed to have taken a shine to her sister.
"Hi," Emma said back. Was her cheeks going red? Kate peered at her sister closely. What was going on here?
"Can I get you anything?" Toll asked.
"Um, water is good," Emma answered.
"Water coming up," Toll smiled, going to get her some. Kate caught Barney watching, and she knew from his expression that he had seen it too. She thought back to Mexico and how Lee and Barney had been laughing about something while looking at Emma. Lee hadn't told her what that had been about in the end, but she was getting a pretty good idea now.
"So, that's Toll?" Emma asked, breaking Kate out of her thoughts.
"Huh? Yea," she nodded.
"How long did you date him?"
"Just a little while. Not long."
"I see."
"Do you...do you like him?" Kate asked, incredulous.
"What? No!" Emma said quickly. "I'm freshly widowed after all. Geez, Kate."
"Emma..."
"Okay, so my marriage was over months ago because I was so sure he'd been cheating, and I'm not totally convinced he wasn't," Emma sighed. "It was only a matter of time before we divorced. The baby just happened, and I didn't know what to do. I was going to just stick it out, but I wasn't happy."
"I really wish you had told me," Kate lamented.
"You were busy, and I didn't want you to tell Mum or Dad," Emma shrugged. "It is what it is."
"Here you go," Toll said, coming back and handing her a glass.
"Thanks," she smiled sweetly at him.
Kate managed to keep her mouth shut. She went over to sit with Lee, leaving Emma talking to Toll.
"Yea, about that..." Lee started when she gave him a look after catching him noticing Toll with Emma.
"Is that what you were laughing about with Barney?" she asked accusingly.
"Yea," he nodded. "Barney picked it up pretty fast."
"I don't know how to feel about it," Kate admitted.
"Because you still like Toll?" Lee asked, afraid for a moment.
"No, because it's my sister," she answered. "She usually likes the dweeby guys, you know? Guys like Dustin."
"And look where that got her," Lee pointed out. "Toll would never hurt her like that."
"I know," Kate agreed. "Toll is a wonderful guy."
"Ahem," Lee coughed.
"As are you," she said, pinching him playfully.
"It's nice to hear it is all," Lee smiled innocently.
"How do you think he's going to react when he finds out she's pregnant?" Kate asked him. Lee choked on his beer.
"She's what?" he asked, astounded.
"Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that to you?" Kate asked, imitating his innocent tone. He gave her a shove, making her laugh. Doc and Tool were up now, having a knife throwing contest. Caesar and Gunner were egging them on. Toll was showing Emma a book of some sort. Barney was just standing there and watching them all. He met Lee's eyes and gave a grin, making Lee grin back. Things were good. How long it would stay that way was anyone's guess, but it wasn't worth worrying about. Each day was a gift; the best thing to do with it was just live.
9 Months Later
"Where. Is. Toll?!" Emma panted, her voice getting higher pitched with each word.
"He's coming," Kate promised. "He'll be here."
"Emma, you have to push," the doctor was saying.
"He can't miss this," Emma was crying now.
Kate was going to kill Toll for not getting his ass there on time. After that night at Tool's, Toll and Emma had become friends and then not to long after that, they started dating. Kate knew he had a ring already, which kind of surprised her but not Lee. Toll was waiting until after the baby before proposing.
"Emma?!" Toll's voice shouted in the hallway.
"IN HERE!" Emma bellowed. The doors burst open, and Toll skidded in.
"Did I miss it?" he asked. Kate winced at the state of him. He had fresh cuts on his face. They had returned from a mission it seemed.
"Almost," Emma grunted.
"Push, darlin', push," the doctor urged.
"You got this?" Kate asked Toll. She did not want to witness the rest of it. She was feeling faint, oddly enough.
"One of you has to go," the doctor said.
"Good luck," Kate said to Toll, patting his shoulder. She made a face and wiped her hand on her pant leg as she walked out. She didn't even want to know what he was covered in. She rounded the corner to see Barney and the rest of the team sitting in the waiting room still in their work gear.
"Well, aren't you lot a sorry looking bunch," she commented, crossing her arms and grinning at them.
"You'd look like shit too if you'd just been where we were," Gunner told her. Lee went over to hug and kiss her.
"Ah, don't touch me like that," she protested.
"You love it," he countered, doing it anyway.
"We missed you," Barney said.
"Well, someone had to be here for Emma," Kate noted.
"He didn't miss it," Barney argued. "I kept my word."
"Barely," Kate commented.
"We landed on fumes," Caesar commented. "He didn't even stop for fuel."
"She doing okay?" Lee asked.
Emma's sudden, blood curdling scream echoed down the hall, making Kate wince.
"I'd like to say yes," she answered.
"I do not envy women for that," Caesar said, shuddering.
"She's wasting energy," Barney stated. "They shouldn't be letting her scream like that."
"You can't really tell my sister what to do," Kate replied. After about ten more minutes, Toll came out beaming.
"Well, she didn't kill you, so that's a good sign," Doc commented.
"We got a boy," Toll said, ignoring Doc.
Everyone went to hug and congratulate him while Kate stood having mixed feelings. She wished Liam could be there. He'd never get to be an uncle.
"He's watching," Lee said in her ear, knowing she was thinking this.
"I know," she said back. He squeezed her hand in his.
"What's his name?" Barney asked.
"Liam," Toll answered, looking at Kate, who burst into a fresh batch of tears.
"Aw, love," Lee said, pulling her into a hug.
"She wants to see you," Toll went on. Kate wiped at her eyes and pulled away from Lee, nodding. She went to Emma's room and found her sister sitting up in the bed holding her little bundle.
"Hey," she said. "You did it."
"Felt like I was getting ripped in half," Emma joked. "But yes, I did it."
"Liam?" Kate asked.
"It just seemed right," Emma answered, tearing up with Kate. "Liam Nicholas Macer."
"Nicholas?" Kate questioned. Emma blushed a little.
"Toll's real name," she explained.
"What?!"
"He prefers Nick, though."
"I can't believe he told you his real name," Kate said, feeling a bit put out.
"It took a long time, but I made it clear that I'm not going to call him Toll Road to our parents," Emma said. Kate started to laugh, and Emma did too. Baby Liam started to fuss then.
"Congratulations, sister," Kate said, giving Emma's forehead a kiss. "I'll leave you to it."
"Emmy?"
They both turned to see a woman standing in the doorway.
"Grace?!" Kate exclaimed.
"Hi," Grace smiled. She moved to hug Kate tightly before going to hug Emma and coo at the baby.
"How did you hear?" Emma asked, shocked to see their other sister.
"Mum," Grace answered simply. "They're outside waiting, by the way. There's also some sort of black ops team in the waiting room too."
"Ah," Kate said. So much for keeping Lee's job under wraps. Her mother would be asking him a million questions right now.
"You better go do damage control," Emma told her, realizing the same thing.
"I'm on it," Kate promised, leaving Grace with Emma. She found her parents sitting as far away from Barney and the team. Lee had disappeared.
"Hello, dear," Leah said, getting up to greet Kate. "Are these your...friends?"
"Yes," Kate answered.
"I see."
"We're gonna be on our way," Barney said. "Congrats again."
"Thanks," Kate smiled. She was glad Lee had been smart enough to not let her parents see him. Toll, however, came out of the bathroom in a white t-shirt but still in his combat pants. You couldn't really tell, though, unless you knew what you were looking for. He'd cleaned himself up too.
"Hi, I'm Nick," Toll said, moving to shake Oliver and Leah's hands.
"So you're Nick," Leah said, gushing. "Emma has talked a lot about you."
Kate slipped away and found Lee leaning against the wall around the corner.
"That was close," he commented. She moved in to kiss him, and he put his arms around her.
"One day," she said.
"Or never," he replied.
"That too," she laughed.
"Does the baby look like Toll?" Lee teased.
"No, but he doesn't really look like Dustin either, thank God," Kate said. "He looks like...Liam."
"Imagine that."
"Emma is working on coming to the US permanently," Kate said to him, her face tucked into the crook of his neck.
"That'll make Toll happy. The commute has been hard on him."
"My parents are sad, but they understand."
Lee didn't say anything else. He had been thinking about the whole marriage thing himself. He hadn't brought it up to Kate as he didn't know where she stood on it.
"Did you know Toll's real name is Nick?"
"What?" he laughed.
"Yea. Nicholas, to be exact."
"That is like an early Christmas gift to me," Lee said. "You have no idea."
"Don't be too hard on him."
"Spoil my fun," he joked. She looked up at him then, serious. He sobered up.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," he replied.
She smiled and kissed him gently. Lee held onto the conversation about their future for another day. He felt pretty good about it.
"Yes!" Emma's shriek came just then, making them both jump. "Oh my God, yes!"
"He asked her," Lee deduced.
"I'm so happy he found someone," Kate said.
"Me too."
"Go change," she said to him then. "So you can at least say hello to my parents."
"Yes, ma'am," he grinned. Kate watched him go, and she felt at peace for the first time in a long time. It was a good feeling, and she never wanted to lose it.
One Year Later
Kate was out of breath from running, and she knew she had to get her wound looked at. She had fought with a guy pretty hard, but she had won in the end. They were somewhere in Europe, and they were almost done their mission.
"Lee?" she said into the comms.
"I'm here," he answered.
"I'm hit," she said. A few short minutes later, Lee was right next to her.
"Where?" he asked. She showed him, lifting up her shirt. The blade hadn't gone in deep, but it was enough to leave a scar.
"Bad?" she questioned.
"Bad enough," he answered. "You really are trying to look like me." He set to work on patching it.
"No offense, but I don't want to look like you," she commented. She barely felt him working on it, that was how much adrenaline she was feeling right now.
"You hurt my feeling," he said, faking outrage. It was a joke between them that he only had one feeling, not multiple.
"You'll get over it," she promised. He laughed and finished off the bandage, pulling her shirt back down.
"Good to go?" he asked. Kate had been thinking about something for a while, and this mission was really making her think that life was short. There had been a few close calls, a few too many in her opinion.
"Will you marry me?" she asked. He stared at her, trying to process what she had just said.
"What?" he countered.
"Is that a no?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, I'm being very serious," she nodded.
"In the middle of a huge fight, you're thinking about marriage," he clarified.
"Yes," she nodded again. "So, will you or won't you?"
"Isn't it my job to ask that question?" he asked. He had been wanting to. He'd even asked Oliver first. He was just waiting for the right moment. This did not seem like it, but Kate obviously thought otherwise.
"Not necessarily, but if you feel that strongly about it, then ask me," she urged.
"Well...you kind of ruined it..."
"How did I ruin it?"
"Guys?" Barney's voice asked through the comms. "What are you doing?"
"It just doesn't feel right now since you asked first," Lee commented. He ducked a bullet, and both he and Kate fired back and took down their opponents easily.
"Forget I asked," Kate told him after.
"Kind of hard to."
"Lee!"
"Hey!" Barney shouted now. "Enough chit chat and get back to the battle at hand here!"
"I'm in the middle of something," Lee replied. Kate was looking at him expectantly.
"You were saying?" she prodded.
"I had this all planned out, you know," Lee said. "I had a speech and everything."
"You did?"
"Yea."
"Will you either say yes or do the damn proposal yourself already?!" Barney yelled.
"This is not how I planned it," Lee told her.
"I don't care," she said. "This is perfect. To me."
"Okay," Lee caved. "I don't have the ring..."
"You can give it to me later."
"LEE!" Barney bellowed.
"Kate, I love you so damn much," Lee started. "Right from day one. Nobody's ever made me feel this way like you do. Never. I will spend forever loving you, if you'll let me. Kate, will you marry me?"
"If she doesn't say yes..." Barney started.
"SHUT UP!" the others all yelled at once. They had been listening too. Lee and Kate started to laugh.
"Hell, yes, I'll marry you," she answered.
"Woohoooo!" Caesar shouted.
"About time," Toll said.
"Sally like," Doc commented.
"Coulda been more romantic in that speech, Lee," Gunner said.
"Can we get back to war now?" Barney asked.
Lee finished kissing Kate while the voices babbled on in their ears.
"Now are you good to go?" he asked her.
"Yea," she nodded, grinning. "I'm definitely good to go."
Together, they leaped back out into battle, and together, they'd make it through because that is what they did best. After all, they were a pair of Expendable hearts.
The End
Thank you to those who reviewed, followed, and favorited! A big thank you to quicksilver123 for always reviewing these past few chapters. Stay tuned for my new story: Expendables on the Edge. Also, if you haven't read them already, you might enjoy my Expendable crossovers with The Devil Wears Prada: The Devil's Assistant is Expendable and Strangers in the Hospital and my Expendable crossovers with Edge of Tomorrow: Edge of Expendable (4 story series). Until next time!
