Chapter 3
"You know that was a dick move." Chim said when he found Evan on the roof. Evan looked over his shoulder at the man and raised an eyebrow. "She is my fiance, and that was a dick move." Chim said to him.
"Did either Eddie or Clay tell you this was a bad idea?" Evan asked as he turned to look at the man properly. "Because if you want to pick a fight, you probably should pick one you could win." Evan said to him Chim glared at him. "I face terrorists for breakfasts, short ass middle age Asian firefighters just so you know are not that scary." Evan said to him.
"You should apologise to her." Chim said to him making Evan laugh at him.
"I'm not going to apologise for exposing families lies and secrets." Evan said to him then breezed past him a hand on his shoulder was a step to far. Evan grabbed the hand squeezed and twisted as he turned around he heard the gasping pain. "You are nothing more than her latest beaus, you want to school me on my behaviour marry her, don't beat her to a pulp for a few years and then we'll talk." Evan said drawing the man near him. "Ever lay a hand on me again I'll break it." Evan said spittle flying as he stalked back into the fire house. Hen breezed past him as he came through the door to find her friend craddling his hand in obvious pain.
"Chim what did he do?" Hen asked.
"He reminded me that I am interfering." Chim said as she took her friends hand he winced. "I'm pretty sure he didn't break anything, I made the mistake of grabbing his shoulder. He was already pretty pissed off before I tried something like that and all he did was squeeze it." Chim said to her she glared at him.
"You want to pick a fight with a special forces operative?" Hen asked.
"I just wanted him to apologise for hurting Maddie, Hen." Chim said to him.
"How does that work with you and Albert?" Hen asked Chim chuckled. "Don't get between siblings, especially when both of them could kill you." Hen said to him as she guided him back through the door and into the waiting arms of Maddie.
"That was very sweet, stupid but sweet." Maddie said to him. "We'll sort this out between us." Maddie said to him.
"Where did they go?" Hen asked.
"I do believe that the two of them have gone to get drunk." Bobby said to her, her eyebrows hit her non exsistant hairline. "Neither were keen to stay and Evan was determined to get drunk on his first night off base." Bobby said to them.
"Is that a good idea?" Athena asked.
"Its what guys like that do every time they make home base." Eddie said to her. "How's the hand?" Eddie asked.
"Hurts like a son of a bitch." Chim said to him.
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Maddie was surprised to find her brother and Clay on her doorstep the next morning looking far brighter than either probably should given they'd been out drinking the night before. "Hey Mad's can we come in?" Evan asked her she nodded opening the door wide for the two men. Clay kept a close eye on his boyfriend until they were seated. "I wanted to apologise for what happened yesterday!" Evan said to her.
"Well that would be a start." Chim growled as he came out of the bedroom.
"Given how well that went yesterday you want to pick another fight with him?" Maddie asked.
"You're taking his side?" Chim asked.
"I'm her baby brother, what do you think she's likely to do?" Evan asked him Maddie glared at him he shrugged and Clay nudged him Evan looked over at the blond and took his hand saying nothing in the way of apology for his mood. "What you think that because you were stupid enough to confront me on my own that, suddenly she's going to be on your side. I bruised your ego and hand. I could have broken it." Evan said to him Maddie glared at him.
"You are not helping Evan!" Maddie said to him.
"I wasn't aiming to." Evan said to her she growled at him. "I didn't come to apologise to your boyfriend Maddie, I don't owe him one." Evan said to her.
"Oh now you are channelling our parents." Maddie said to him.
"Okay lets take a breath." Clay said to the siblings Evan looked at him for a moment before looking back at his sister.
"Now you know why I joined the seals." Evan said to her.
"You know about Daniel how?" Maddie asked.
"They told me." Evan said to her. "You think that they are going to tell me kindly, no of course not. They wanted to know why I didn't include him in my disclosure forms." Evan said to her. "Genuinely looked apologetic when they realised that I had no idea what the hell they were talking about." Evan said to her.
"I'm so sorry you found out like that." Maddie said to him.
"Yeah when I shouldn't be that surprised by this." Evan said to him. "I knew my parents hated me Maddie, I had no idea that my sister didn't think enough of me to at least tell me the truth." Evan said to her she gaped at him.
"Evan it wasn't like that." Maddie said to him.
"Oh really, I haven't spoken to them in years Maddie, you've had unfettered access to me. So why the need not to tell me what was in my past. I was the donour that wasn't able to save your brother. I was a means to an end and whether you like it or not for the last twenty seven years that's how you and they have treated me. I wasn't worth telling the truth, because I wasn't able to save him. Its a great way to say I love you isn't it, to find out that your the unwanted reminder of something you wanted." Evan said to her.
"It wasn't like that." Maddie begged him to believe her in the way she said it. Tears in her eyes as she heard what was on her brothers mind.
"Really because that's what it looks like." Evan said to her.
"I didn't want to hurt them Evan." Maddie said to him.
"So of course letting the armed service tell me the truth, absolved you off breaking that word." Evan said to her.
"No." Maddie said Evan got to his feet.
"See you round Maddie." Evan said to her Clay got to his feet as did Chim. "You didn't have the nerve to tell me in person so I found out another way. It was wonderful to know that I was nothing more than an after thought." Evan said as he headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Chim asked.
"Home to the family I choose to be with." Evan said to him Chim then made the mistake of grabbing his arm for the second time in twenty four hours and that was how he ended up with a broken nose and two black eyes. Evan was out the door without another word to his sister or an apology to Chim. The door slammed shut behind him leaving Clay to help Chim back to his feet.
"He won't say it but I will, that's the second time you've done that and I'm sorry its ended badly." Clay said to Chim.
"He broke my nose." Chim said to him.
"He did warn you." Maddie said as she grabbed some tissues and handed them to Chim. "Will he calm down?" Maddie asked.
"He just needs time, you know what he is like Maddie." Clay said to her she nodded. "This hurt him and I know you didn't mean to but you hurt him far more than he is ever going to admit to." Clay said to her she smiled. "We look after our own so you know we won't let him wallow in his own pit of self pity." Clay said to her she nodded. "He came to apologise to you both, Chim being a smart mouth put a stop to that." Clay said.
"You should go before he does something stupid." Maddie said to him.
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"You should press charges." Athena said to him.
"No, if I do that and it destroys his career he will never forgive me." Chim said to her.
"He gave you panda eyes Chimney." Bobby said to him.
"Yeah and I am fairly sure that I deserved that." Chim said to him. "He warned me against doing it and then I provoked him and I annoyed him and well so did Maddie. This is a family mess we'll sort it out." Chim said to them.
"If you're sure." Athena said to him.
"I am, its only a broken nose." Chim said to her.
"Its a couple of very nice bruises." Maddie said to him. "Makes you look more manly." She added Chim laughed at this. "Thank you, I know you probably don't feel so forgiving." She said to him.
"Not really but I am willing to forget about it." Chim said to him.
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Ray and Jason arrived at his door a few hours after they arrived back on base, Evan smiled as he opened the door. "Hey guys you want to come in and tell me how much of a dick I am?" He asked them.
"Actually we were thinking about offering to kill him." Ray said then whacked him about the back of the head. "Maddie called to find out whether you'd made it back to base, she also told us what went down. Now why would you go make your gorgeous sister cry." He asked him Evan glared at Ray who snorted and returned the glare. "You get that they could have ended your career with that assault charge they didn't file." Ray said to him.
"He deserved it." Evan said to him.
"I doubt that, but honestly I am more worried about you than I am about your sister's fiance." Jason said to him. "Is your head in the right place?" Jason asked.
"Its in a better place than Sonny's ever will be." Evan joked. "I'm good Jason, she just said something that over rode the thinking part of my brain." Evan said to him Clay snorted.
"Not about Clay?" Ray asked.
"My sister would rather I wasn't dating a team mate but that wasn't what annoyed me." Evan said to him.
"I'd prefer you weren't dating each other, that being said the two of you have proven you can do the job." Jason said to him. "We brought beer." Jason said to him.
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"You brought beer and you didn't invite me?" Sonny demanded as he entered Evan's apartment.
"You forgot to invite the hairy lout?" Evan asked as he fist bumped his friend. "Help yourself." He said to him.
"So things didn't go so well in LA?" Sonny asked.
"I punched my future brother in law breaking his news." Evan said Sonny looked unimpressed.
"All the damage you could have done you broke his nose, I am disappointed." Sonny said to him.
"Also called my sister out on the older brother no one told me about." Evan said to him Sonny's face coloured. When his friend had learned that they'd all helped him come to terms with the family secret and the shame they seemed to feel about Evan's existence. Jason had once said that his friend was the sum total of someone else's fuck ups and he wasn't far from the truth.
"You going to make good with your sister?" Jason asked.
"Eventually." Evan said to him he growled. "Do not school me on family relations Jason, I am not the one on the verge of a divorce."
"Low blow man." Ray said to him.
"We all have family fuck ups, unless your Sonny in which case you are the fuck up." Evan said causing everyone to laugh.
"She likely to turn up here?" Ray asked.
"Not even sure if she knows where the base is Ray." Evan said to him.
"Probably a good thing." Clay said to him leaning over and kissing him.
"Woe you two." Sonny yelped. "Not ready for that." He added with a grin Evan leaned in and kissed Clay for good measure. "Okay fine I get the message Texas red neck needs to get used to it." Sonny said to them making everyone laugh.
"You have our word we'll behave when on duty boys." Evan said to them.
"I thought we were coming to cheer you up." Ray said to him.
"I have a boyfriend, I have my best friends and team mates, I don't need cheering up I need alcohol." Evan said to them as he downed the last of his beer. "Hey Clay see the drinks cabinet, pull out the tequilla would you." Evan said to him. "Get the whiskey out for the red neck, I don't want him accusing me of abuse." Evan added.
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"Can I help you ma'am?" A man in uniform asked as she pulled up in front of the base.
"Yes well I hope so, I am the sister of petty officer Evan Buckley. I'm here to check on him." Maddie said to him.
"I'm going to have call through and find out where and whether or not you are allowed on base Ma'am, please cut your engine and wait quietly." The young guard said to her she nodded doing as she asked. "Your name Ma'am?" He asked.
"Madeline Buckley." Maddie replied.
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Evan's phone ringing drew his attention, looking at the phone he sighed it was the front gate of the base.
"Bad news?" Jason asked.
"Front gate." Evan replied as he answered the phone. "Buckley what can I do for you." Evan said into his phone shortly afterwards his right hand came up to rub at the bridge of his nose. "Yeah sure, give her directions."
"She turned up here." Jason said to him.
"She clearly decided not to wait for me to make the first move." Evan said to him Jason barked out a laugh at this. "I hope you guys are ready or wish to scedattle." Evan said to them. "This is unlikely to be pretty." Evan said to them.
"Oh we aren't going anywhere, its time we met the pretty lady." Ray said to him.
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Maddie found the door in the complex that she'd been told was Evan's and could hear the music and laughter coming from within so she rang the door bell and waited. A couple of minutes later Clay opened the door all smiles. "Told you it was the door." Clay called into the apartment. "Hi Maddie, come on in and excuse the red neck." Clay said to her as she stepped into the apartment she saw that it was mostly empty.
"Why is it so empty?" She asked.
"I just moved in." Evan said as he appeared. "My stuff is mostly in my old quarters on base, what I have off it." He added.
"You don't have much?" Maddie asked.
"Didn't have a lot of room." Evan said to her. "I have some stuff in storage that will be delivered sometime next week, the rest I'll go out and buy." He added. "What are you doing here?" He asked her.
"You didn't think I was leaving things unsaid for so long did you?" She asked.