Title: Enemy of My Enemy…
Rated for: T though ratings will change depending on the chapter content. I will label each accordingly.
Genre: Adventure/ Suspense/ Family/ Romance
Fandom/Universe: My Own Worst Enemy
Characters: Henry Spivey-Edward Albright, Jack Spivey, Dësmã Albright
Pairings: None.
Spoilers/Warning: None.
Disclaimer: My Own Worst Enemy and all related characters are copyright Jason Smilovic and the NBCNetwork. No infringement intended.
Summary: Congratulations, it's a girl! Only Edward didn't know and Henry wasn't prepared. Uh-oh…
Status:
AN: Okay, so maybe I have another couple chapters left.
Chapter: My Hands Are Holding You
Dësmã stomps into the house without bothering to knock or announce her presence. She heads straight to the ground floor bedroom and shoves the doors open hard enough to make a huge thunk.
Edward jerks up, a gun in his hand even though he doesn't need it- what's he gonna kill? A bird?
"Are you looking to get shot, Dëssy?" Edward scowls. He's been using her nicknames the past few weeks and likes that she hasn't told him he can't. Edward runs a hand through his hair and sets the gun on the nightstand.
"Don't tempt me." Dësmã snaps. "What the hell did you say to her?"
"Who?" Edward shifts uncomfortably- he can feel Henry pushing forward and its pissing him off more than he'd been last night.
"Who do you think? Angie! Henry's wife and the Mother of his children!" Dësmã paces but it doesn't help nor does the fist she smacks into the wall.
"Hey!"
"You're lucky it wasn't your face." Dësmã cuts him off. "Mom is dead. She's gone and you don't get to use her as an excuse to shut out Angie when she's been through all this krap we've put her and the kids through."
"There's no 'we' in this Dësmã." Edward stands up and shuffles out of the bedroom. He's doing his best to ignore Henry, accusing him of being selfish and calling him every variation of 'coward' he can think of. "I'm the one with the chip, I'm the one that was broken and I'm the one Janus still wants dead. Maybe." He adds.
"We both know its my fault you broke." Dësmã states quietly at his back.
Edward stiffens his shoulders but he doesn't look at her. He fiddles with the coffee maker, grabbing two mugs and then some fruit.
"I'm not stupid, Dad." Its taken some getting used to, calling him that and she knows Edward isn't immune to hearing her say it. "I heard Gerald explaining the chip-tech. I know enough to piece together the scenario you didn't want to tell him." She walks to the counter and stands opposite from him. "I remember that night at the train-station. … thinking I knew what I was doing. That Mom couldn't tell me what to do… because I was hurt and angry and I needed you. I needed my Dad, only you were dead." She wipes the tears from her cheeks and shoves away from the counter glaring at him. "You apologize. And do it right!"
"Apol-." Edward scowls but she's already walking out the door. "Dësmã!"
"NO!" she yells from the porch. "You go over there and make it right! They don't deserve to feel the way I did all those years. And talk to your son! Jack-ass needs to calm the fuck down and start listening to his Mom." With that, Dësmã disappears into the trees.
Henry has Edward half-way out of the house before Edward puts his foot down and tells him to knock it off.
"She's right. You can't keep locking me away, Ed. I love Angie. I miss my kids and I need to do something about Jack."
"Shut up!" Edward stomps back into the house and bumps into Gerald.
"Uh, so, Henry talking to you again?" The voice at his back belongs to a tentative and nervous tech in hiding.
"Can you shut him up?" Edward demands. He already knows the answer and the risks.
"Uh, we talked about this, Edward." Gerald gingerly moves around the counter, putting something between him and the deadly spy. "The risks… you agreed to wait it out, let Henry assimilate-."
"He's not." Edward snaps. "Now get him out of my head. I want my life back."
"And which life is that?" Matthias questions from the open door.
.
Jared is waiting at the falls; he's been waiting the past few days because he wants to know one way or another. He's rewarded after a 16day wait, which, according to Sully, is longer than Dësmã has stayed away from her favorite falls. The splash she makes is drowned out by the falls but he's not about to wait for her to spot him. Jared splashes in, coming up close enough she can't miss him but far enough away she wont be able to smack him.
"What are you doing?" Dësmã spits out water, she splashes and looks around hoping she's not alone with him but… she really is. A panic she's never felt before, sets in and she doesn't like it. She's been afraid before, but this is something different. She can feel her breath catch and her insides twist up in knots…
"Swimming." He replies. He offers a smile and sees the pain flash across her face before she swims towards the falls and the ledge behind them. "Dësmã!" she's too close to the falls to hear him and if she did, she'll only pretend she doesn't, so he follows her.
Dësmã scrapes her leg, arm and stomach in her haste to get out of the water and away from him. She can barely breathe past the fear and the pain she knows is just a memory now. She's done so well the past few weeks, avoiding him because thinking about him and the question hanging between them is hard enough. She gets to her feet and turns to find that he's standing right behind her. The sound of the falling water is louder than whatever he's trying to say but he has her trapped. Her fear spikes; being alone with him and what he did the last time he had her cornered. Dësmã closes her eyes, hands in fists at her sides. She can still feel it, the pain of his fists on her body… Worse still, is how much more it hurt emotionally, because she hadn't understood that he was like Henry. Jared was just another cover that Janus used to blind her.
To keep tabs on her.
Dësmã startles when he grabs her arms. He's gentle but still, it scares her. She's pulling out of his arms and smacking into the rocks at her back just to get away from him. Dësmã's angry he can see this, how afraid she is…
She's looking at him with big dark eyes, her body so tense… Jared backs off, hands raised to let her know he's not going to hurt her. He's sorry to have frightened her and it shows on his face. Anger floods through his body but he forces that other voice to quiet down. He tells the spy to shut up and stay in his box where he belongs.
Jared gives her enough space and watches her body shift. The spy tries to push forward but Jared holds that other him down. He's distracted enough that he's too slow to stop Dësmã from running past him and diving back into the pool.
"Dës!" Jared is quick to swim after her. His longer arms and legs quickly help him close the distance but she's out of the water before he is. "Dësmã! "
She doesn't even glance at him but the feel of Jared as he grabs her around the waist to try and stop her from running away sends another wave of panic through Dësmã. She hooks her foot, managing to tangle his legs and the weight of him landing on top of her is not as bad considering he's tried to take most of it on his arm and side.
"Let go!" Dësmã yells. She twists under him and gets pushed on to her back. Both fists come up to push on his chest but he's not trying to fight back. He's not trying to hurt her at all and she finally stops trying to scramble away. "Please, I can't-." her throat feels like there's something stuck in it and her eyes feel worse.
"I'm sorry." Jared wipes the tear from her cheek with a gentle touch. "I'm sorry, Dësmã." he's sorry for sort of tackling her, though that was mainly on Dësmã. He's sorry for the things he knows the spy did to her. That part of him makes him sick. He's sorry everything had become some dark nightmare… "That wasn't me." the words are barely a whisper.
"They're both you." Her voice chokes on a sob and she turns her face from him, her arm resting over her eyes even though he can see she's crying.
Jared breathes a heavy sigh, moves off her and sits on the ground. He spares a glance to the falls, her favorite place on the island…
'Did I just ruin this for her, too?'
Dësmã roughly wipes both hands over her face and drags in a heavy breath. The sun sets off a shower of bright sparks on her left hand and the ring he gave her is a reminder of the question she hasn't answered.
"…when I bought your ring… I worried… what your answer would be." Jared sort of smiles, he looks down at his hands and shakes his head. "Didn't know if you'd finally run away from me." He turns just enough to look at her. "All it took was…" he frowns, finger pointing to his head. "…damn chip… someone on the other end with a switch…" he sighs. "I love you. Me. I'm the one in love with you, Dësmã."
She hears it in his voice. Its almost…him. The problem is, this version is just a program. He was the version Janus threw in her way.
What an idiot she'd been.
They'd created this pretty perfect guy for her.
'And I fell for him.'
Dësmã turns on her side and shoves off the ground until she's standing. She doesn't look at him but she knows he's standing up as well.
"What's your name?"
The silence stretches but she's not about to let them lie to her anymore. Dësmã turns to face him. "Your name."
"Dës-." Jared tries to reach for her but stops when he sees how she makes fists of her hands.
"Let him up." Dësmã orders. "I want to know his name. I want to kno-." she grits her teeth and blinks fresh tears from her eyes. She cant even say it, that she wants to know who it was she gave herself to. Who was the guy she'd really been with that year…
Jared shakes his head, takes a step away from her but stops. His head is hurting and the spy… he takes over. Its just for a few seconds, nothing more, before Jared has him back in the box. But when he looks at her… Jared knows she saw it. "…Owen."
Dësmã feels the name cut through her like it was a sharp blade. It hurts more than she thought, more than she wanted it to.
Jared watches as her tears slide down her cheeks. He doesn't stop her from walking away but it feels like he's lost everything he'd ever wanted. He'd built a whole life with her…
.
Jack has enough of island life.
He hasn't been enjoying the surf, sand or the beach. About the only thing he looks forward to are the training sessions. He's good at it, even better is that he likes it.
What he doesn't like is having to see her. Anytime she's there, anytime he hears her voice… Jack cant see her doing anything that will change how he feels.
She ruined his life. She came in and blew up his world. She brought secret government spies and killers. He's been shot at, she's smacked him around just because he's had the misfortune of being raised by her dead Dad…
Jack slows down… he can hear the falls and then he's walking past the last trees until he stops at the edge.
This is her place.
Jack doesn't get how its so easy for Ruthie to choose her over him.
"She's not even our real sister." he scowls down into the pool but its empty. There's no one around.
Jack kicks some rocks over the side and paces. Its not just Ruthie who's picking Dësmã. No, now its his Mom too. It was bad enough they came back and then 'Edward' moved into one of the empty houses but then she was doing sleepovers. Jack didn't know how to stop Dësmã from taking them all. Hadn't she taken enough from him?
All the arguing… who the hell were they to tell him what he could do? If he wanted to go into the city with or even without Jace, then why the hell shouldn't he? He was a nobody here. And yeah, Jack understands what his Mom keeps telling him, that it's not safe to leave, that he needs to accept their new situation, that Henry is still his Dad and they're still a family.
"A family." He scoffs. They haven't been a family, not if Edward is living in his own place. They haven't sat down to a family dinner since …its been a while. Even before Dësmã showed up, they hadn't sat down to regular family meals.
No.
Jack's not going to follow 'the rules'. He's old enough to take care of himself and if they all want to stay on the island, well… he doesn't have to.
Because Jack knows this isn't his life. Dësmã and Henry or Edward, whoever the hell he is, have already taken a year from him. And Jack isn't going to let them take more. If the Graze's chose to hide when Dësmã demolished their lives, that's on them. But Jack is not going to hide anymore. He still has a grandfather, a way back to the life he should have.
A life he already had...
.
Angie has a plan. She's gotten help from Matthias and Sully to get the beach set up. Ruthie is taking care of Jack, hopefully she manages to bring him. Dësmã had Henward in hand, she's been great at making sure that Edward actually gives them a fair chance to assimilate. There's been regular family dinners, and its been so nice to actually sit with each other, talk… Get to know each other again.
"This is just another step." Because Angie has a surprise for Dësmã.
"Angie!"
She turns around and spots them stepping out of the tree line.
"He's all yours." Dësmã smiles and gives Edward a light shove before going to Sully and hopping on his back.
Edward smiles, seeing them roll around in the sand. His daughter is laughing and then he turns to Angie who's got a soft smile on her face too. This is when Henry takes over, there's a rush of emotions that remind Edward of how he'd felt with Harper. Its not as bad now, the anger at Henry for making him feel like this again. There's a part of Edward that likes the reminder, its not so bad with Angie because she's Henry's.
Angie plants a kiss on his cheek and drapes her arms over his shoulder. "So..." She's smiling as they turn away from the kids and head to the chairs set up under the palm shades. "We have an additional guest tonight."
Edward doesn't like the sound of that. But Henry's just happy to have Angie smiling at him, he doesn't even notice.
"Who?" Edward stops mid-step and he can see that Angie knows its him.
"Edward," Angie sighs and grabs his face in one hand. "Henry, you need to help him be nice."
"Who?" Edward tries to pull away but Henry is putting up a fight.
"Jared." she pulls him forward, to the chairs. "This is for Dësmã."
Edward scoffs. "You know what?" He laughs. Edward thinks he knows his daughter well enough by now that he's going to let her walk away from this dinner when she sees the broken boy soldier show up. "Sure."
Angie narrows her eyes at him, not sure if she's going to believe he's just going to give in this easy. "Henry...?"
"No, its still Edward." He smiles and takes a seat at the table.
Angie hesitates and her eyes dart to where Ruthy is coming with Jack in tow. She literally has his hand gripped in hers and she's pulling him along.