I felt bad about leaving you off on a cliffhanger, so you're getting this one a little early, and, if I feel like it, I'll still post on the regular day. Don't say I never did anything nice. This one will answer some questions about that cliffhanger.

Chapter 9: Hit

Emily's eyes were wide open despite her worry and lack of sleep. Tired and stressed as she was, she was on high alert. Though it didn't seem like they were following her, and she did often check for any stalking cars, the fact remained that Bardolino's men caught up to them and it was her fault. She waited too long. She knew she was pushing it, but she was selfish. It could have cost them their life, her life, Nate's life.

"God, they could be dead," she said to herself, her fists squeezing the steering wheel so tightly they weren't getting any blood. Her friends could be dead, and it would be her fault. "What did I do? Why did I wait?" She wanted to yell so badly, and if Nate wasn't asleep in the back seat, she would have.

She kept asking herself why she didn't try to help them, why she didn't do what she was supposed to and protect them. How? How did things happen like this? The thoughts were racing; thoughts about how she should have gone into that apartment and at least tried. Yes, her priority was Nate, but that didn't mean she wanted to just leave them to fend for themselves. They had a plan. She had a plan. Her mind drifted to what could possibly have been or could still be happening to her friends. The images were not pretty. Their ultimate goal, she gathered after profiling Bardolino as a man and a criminal, was to have a legacy. In her research, she learned that Joey Jr., Vince's older brother, died recently. Emily guessed that was what put Joe on the hunt for his other son to carry the name and business. Along the way, they discovered Nate, a new male heir that wasn't tainted by years of distance and experiences they had in the past. So, she had to assume Nate was the end goal. What they would do to reach that goal… The pictures she was conjuring were disturbing. Thankfully, Nate chose the right moment to wake up and break her trance of self-beratement.

"Emily?"

She looked back quickly and then, focused on the road, peeked at him through the rearview mirror. "Hey Nate. It's still late. Try to go back to sleep."

"Do you know where we're going yet?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"We're going to a whole new country."

"Really?"

"Yes. And we're almost there."

She had been driving for nearly two hours and they were in the home stretch to the first destination.

"But where's here?"

"We're going to Wales," she told him.

"Like the fish in the sea?"

"No, not like the mammal in the ocean."

"What?"

"A lesson for another day, Nate. Try to rest. We're almost there."

"Will you wake me when we get to Wales?"

"Sure. Yes. I will wake you."

"Awesome," he sleepily replied, followed by a yawn. "I think I'm going to like our adventure."

She wanted so badly to enjoy that, to truly believe that this would be her last fun hoorah with the child, but she knew too much. It might be fun for him because he was ignorant to the danger, but seeing how she didn't know if either James or Vince were even alive, she had no idea what came next. She was going to go on her adventure with him carrying the pipe dream that both Vince and James were still out there, living, breathing, and on their way. It was a long shot, but she had to hope – for Nate. Maybe a little for herself too. She didn't know how to deal with the guilt.

In the meantime, she had to remain strong and just focus on Nate and getting them to safety. She used some of her contacts to have a place to lay low for a day or so before their flight. She was debating whether or not to go to Paris as planned. Though the plane tickets that would have eventually got James and Vince to Paris weren't in their possession, instead, waiting to be picked up at the airport, the men there could have easily tracked it once they got a hold of the fake IDs, and she was sure they did.

"I think it's our only option," she whispered. They would have to go to Paris unless she could think of something better before then.

She would keep thinking about it, but only after they were settled in for the rest of the night.

"Hey Nate, we're just about to be in Wales," she told him.

He shifted awake and quietly looked out the window, not saying much. "We're going to stay here?" Nate asked when they pulled into a nearly empty lot. There wasn't anything around.

"No."

"Good, because there aren't even any whales."

Emily smiled. "No there aren't. There won't be any when we get there either. But right now, we have to get into the other car and then we'll be there. Just ten minutes."

"Ok."

Emily opened the door for him and helped him out, handing him the blanket. Before moving the stuff that she packed from her car to the new one, she got the keys out of the glove box and got Nate in.

"We'll leave in a second. Just get comfortable again and buckle up."

He nodded and she got to work. As soon as the trunk was filled and the Nate was buckled, they took off. She wasn't familiar with Wales but managed to get them where they needed to be. Nate liked the ride over the bridge.

"That's where we're staying," Emily told Nate, pointing to a rather large house that belong to an acquaintance who owed her a favor. "We're going to be here for a day or so."

"It looks big."

"It is big. It will give us plenty of room to play. But, first, we need to get in and you need to get back into a real bed."

He wanted to argue with her, but he was tired. It was still the middle of the night and his was kind of restless with the drive. So, when Emily pulled the car up and carried the sleepy boy into the house, he didn't say one word. But he didn't want to be alone.

As Emily was pulling his shoes off and getting him cozy for bed, he asked, "Will you stay with me?"

"Sure. I would love to." She happily slipped off her own shoes and snuck into bed with him. Everything else could wait until tomorrow, she thought, as she cuddled with Nate. He was out in no time, but she couldn't shut off her mind. She needed to find out what happened with James and Vince, but she didn't want to use internet to do that. She'd figure it out.

"They told you to go. They wanted you to protect Nate," she told herself, trying to quiet the voice in her head. "Take a deep breath and stop thinking about it. There's nothing you can do." The more she told herself not to think about it or tried to distract herself, the more she did think about it. It was driving her crazy.

It took a few hours, the sun already beginning to rise, before she calmed herself enough to fall asleep. She was resigned to taking Nate out for breakfast where she could use the public internet access to search for any news. That was the only thing that allowed her rest: a plan.

When she woke up a few hours later, her arm was numb from Nate's weight, but, for a moment, she couldn't stop the smile as she looked at the sleeping boy, everything else temporarily forgotten. Emily wrapped her arms around him a little tighter, holding him briefly before she slipped her hand out from under him and snuck out of bed.

Based on her experience with Nate and given the continuous wake ups the past night, she knew she had at least another hour before he'd wake, plenty of time for her to get in a quick shower and get some things out of the car. She looked in on him quickly before heading outside to grab their bags. She didn't plan to unpack everything, but at least wanted to bring in their clothes and toothbrushes. She did that, hopped in the shower, and changed all before Nate's feet started padding down the hall in search of her.

"Emily?" he called out.

"In here," she responded, sitting on the floor in the other room ruffling through the bags.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get some clothes out. I thought we could go out for breakfast. What do you think?"

They were as safe as they could be, and she knew she had to keep things as normal as possible. She could take him out as long as she was cautious.

"Can we go somewhere fun too?"

"We'll see. Food first."

"Ok." He moved closer. "I like this one." Nate pointed to one of his tops. "Can I wear that?"

"Of course, here." She passed it to him along with a pair of jeans. "I put your toothbrush in the bathroom. Brush, get dressed, and then come downstairs. We'll go in a little while."

He smiled and tilted his head back, his sloppy bed head hair covering his eyes. Watching him, seeing all three of them in Nate, just made Emily more anxious to find out whatever she could. They couldn't stay there long, but she knew that she wanted to do what she could to make it seem like a fun adventure to Nate rather than a getaway.

So, when he met her downstairs, she passed him a blue ballcap and put on a matching one before the two headed out. She didn't know where she was going but figured there had to be a suitable place nearby if they wandered a little.

"Can we go there?" Nate asked, pointing out the window to a diner.

Emily didn't see a problem with it and found a parking spot. He held her hand as they walked to the building, up until they sat down at a table.

"Get whatever you want," she told him.

"Even ice cream?" His eyes went wide with excitement.

"Only if it comes on top of something else. They have pancakes."

"No. Waffles. Waffles are better 'cause the craters are syrup boats. And chocolate milk."

Emily laughed, and, deciding to live a little childlike, she ordered the same thing. Waiting for the food, Emily pulled out one of the burners, one she could toss after, and searched the internet for news. She found a few online articles about the breaking news. One dead, one in critical condition… That's what it said. It didn't give names, just that, as of then, it was believed to be a home invasion. They were looking for a female suspect. Me, she thought, as well as several males… Of all that, the only thing she could focus on was that one of them was dead. She would have to tell Nate that one of his fathers was dead.

How was she supposed to do that? She sighed. She was sad and now she was going to have to break this news to Nate who, undoubtedly, would not take it well. He was going to be devastated.

"Are you sad?"

"What?" Emily's head rose, as she was pulled from her thoughts.

"You're crying."

"No… No, I'm ok." She quickly wiped the stray tear. She'd have to just act normal. Now was not the time to break the news. "I have to use the restroom. Can you stay here and don't move?"

"Ok."

"No leaving this spot, ok."

"I won't. But I'm not a baby. I can sit here by myself."

"No, you're not a baby. I'll be right back," she said, reluctantly excusing herself, but making sure to ask one of the waitresses to just keep an eye on Nate.

She just needed a moment to collect herself, to splash some water on her face, and push the sadness away. Reacting so strongly would do nothing but make Nate worry and react himself. She couldn't let that happen. She would tell him when she knew for sure who died and how bad the other one was.

"Pull it together," she told herself and shook it off. She definitely didn't want to leave Nate unsupervised for too long.

Heading back to the table, she dumped the phone in the garbage. She saw Nate still in the same spot and the food on the table.

"You didn't start?" she asked as she sat.

"No. Daddy says it's nice to wait for everyone to be at the table and about to eat."

"That's very polite of you. Thank you. Dig in."

The two had a pleasant breakfast, but Emily was still on the lookout. News from England could easily make its way there and the description they released of the woman fleeing the scene, aka her, wasn't all that inaccurate. So, if it spread, someone could think it was her. Yeah, that and about a thousand other brunettes, she reminded herself. There was no way. Until they released her name and picture, she was ok. And there was no mention of Nate, so that was working in her favor.

After both were done eating and the bill was paid, they walked around the area a little. Emily didn't want to venture too far, but, after it was clear that the news would catch wind of the story and there was only so long that Clyde could pull strings and keep her face out of the papers, she knew she had to get them out of there sooner than planned. She had two open tickets to France and, though it was possible that the goons could catch on to the Parisian meeting place she had set, she was more comfortable there than they would be, so she'd have the upper hand.

"Anything you want to do today, Nate?"

"Is there anything cool to see here?"

"Well, I've only been here once and that was just in passing, so I honestly don't know. Why don't we walk around some more and see what's here? If we don't see anything we like, we'll head back to the house and watch dumb TV."

"Ok. Sounds fun," he agreed.

They didn't really see anything that caught their eye, but did stop at a bookstore. They would have some downtime in hiding and the least they could do to occupy time was read.

"Pick a few books," she told him. "Let me know if you find one you like, or you need help reaching something."

"Hey," he said defensively, hands on his hips. "I'm not short."

"No, you're not. You're just not fully grown."

Nate rolled his eyes and strolled through the titles, searching. Emily watched as he carefully looked at each book and, when he saw one he might like, pulled it out. His head moved from side to side as he examined the cover, then shrugged as he moved over to the chair to look through the inside more. He was cute, and the way he did that reminded her a lot of herself when she was younger.

She liked finding things in him that were also part of her, not just physically, but behaviorally. They had some similar quirks. His laugh, though, was all James, the way he put his whole body into it. And his incredible kindness could also be attributed to James, but the way he was so protective, even if she only saw it once, was very Vince-like. She did like to think that his ability to understand and read a situation was something he got from her. She was slowly learning about him, but she loved it.

Emily kept in eye on him as she grabbed a few books for herself. He seemed pretty engrossed in the graphic novel he found and knew they would be taking that home with them. Taking two for herself, she returned to him.

"Like that one?"

"It's good," he said.

"Any others?"

Nate pointed to the collection next to him. This he definitely got from her too.

"Think we can narrow it down to three?"

"Yeah." Lips pursed, he looked through all of them like he was making a calculated decision. "Hmm… This one…" He looked again. "This one, and this one."

"Awesome. Let's go pay."

Once the books were officially theirs, the pair returned to the car and back to the house. By that point, it was time for a late lunch, so Emily mustered something up while Nate continued reading the book he started earlier. There wasn't much in the house to cook with, but she made do, and Nate didn't seem to mind.

As they sat at the table, Emily told him, "We're going to leave tomorrow morning."

"Already?"

"Yeah. The next place will be fun. I used to live there."

"Really? Where?"

"We're going to France."

"I read about France. Daddy made me study it for class. They have a flag like ours. Red, white, and blue."

"They do," she happily responded. "And now you'll get to see the real France that you read about."

"I guess that's cool. Can't we stay here a little longer? We didn't do anything."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but it's important that we go."

"Is something wrong?" He was inquisitive. "We've moved a lot, and now daddies are making you come, but they didn't. Why?"

Emily sighed, not really wanting to get into this. "It's a complicated situation, Nate, but I'm hoping we'll figure it out soon."

Not completely satisfied, pouting a little, he said, "And then you'll explain?"

"I will do my best," she promised.

"I guess that's ok. I'll wait." He huffed. "I can be patient… sometimes."

"That's a good quality to have, Nate," she teased, playfully smacking his arm.

"Can I look around the house?"

"Absolutely. Wander. Have fun," Emily told him.

So, that was how the rest of the day was spent. Nate found a kid's room and played with the toys while Emily got everything set for the next day. They needed to be out of there early the next afternoon, so she didn't want to wait to do everything in the morning. It didn't take her long, though, so she ended up spending most of the time playing with him and keeping him busy.

By the time they got to bed, both were exhausted. It was a long day and the emotions were starting to hit Emily at full force. This time, she didn't sleep in the same bed as Nate, afraid she'd cry in front of him and wake him. She didn't want to make things worse. It wasn't that she wanted to keep things from him, though, really, she didn't want to have to tell him that someone was dead, but she didn't have the facts necessary to tell him what he needed to know or answer any of the questions she knew that he would have.

Thinking about it made for another restless night for Emily. Unable to stay in bed much longer, she woke up early the next morning and cleaned up the remnants of their stay. She appreciated her contact letting her use the house, so she owed it to her to leave it cleaner than she found it. They didn't leave too much of a mess.

When Nate woke up, Emily was quick to get him fed and ready. Emily did her best to get Nate excited for the trip. It wasn't like he hadn't been on a plane before, so he wasn't nervous, but he wasn't excited either. Emily could tell that he already missed his dads. Her heart ached for him.

"The plane will be quick. Just about two hours and then we'll be in Paris."

"Cool," he said, and flipped through his book.

That was pretty much how the plane ride went. Both of them read and talked a little. Just like she said, it was a short plane trip, and Emily was just happy they got through security at both places fairly easily. There was a car waiting for her in the airport parking area. All she and Nate had to do was find it. It took some doing, but it was there, so they hopped in and Emily started for the safe house which was, ironically, very close to where she stayed during her time in hiding from Doyle.

When they arrived in Paris, though, Emily felt like someone was watching them. She was always looking over her shoulder, but didn't see anyone consistently there. Still, she felt like there was. Trying to ignore it, she pointed Nate in the direction of the car and got him in. They were about five minutes from the airport, driving about as if nothing was wrong, Emily constantly checking the mirrors for a tail, and that was when it happened.

"Hang on, Nate," she told the boy when she spotted a car speeding up, cutting off traffic and recklessly driving. Weary, not sure if it was just an idiot or one of the goons, Emily sped up and tried to outmaneuver the other driver.

For a while, it seemed like she lost them, and she decelerated, trying not to draw any attention to them. But just as she was about to take a turn, the same car came barreling toward them. Swiftly trying to get out of the way, she made a sharp turn. It wasn't enough though, and they were hit.

The other driver was going too fast and plowed right into the driver's side of the car. Emily felt the impact, her whole body shaken in the hit, rebounding and slamming her head on the glass.

Fuck, she said. Everything felt like it hurt. She moved her head to the side, looking back to Nate.

"Nate? Nate, are you ok?"

"It hurts," he said. "It hurts."

"It's ok, Nate. I'm coming. Just sit still."

Slowly, Emily looked out the window through the shattered glass. The black sedan was flipped, and it looked like the driver was hurting. They made off easy, it appeared. She hoped. Sorely, blood dripping down her face, she moved to open her door, pushing one leg out at a time, taking stock of her injuries. She was ok, she thought. But the moment she stepped on the ground, her leg gave out and she let out a pained cry.

"Emily?!" Nate called for her.

"I'm ok. I'm coming," she promised, but it was a lie.

By this point, there was a crowd of people around them, the last thing they needed. She was dizzy, so dizzy, and every attempt to stand just met with another fall to the ground. All she wanted was to get to Nate. She could vaguely hear someone around her say that an ambulance was called as well as the police. None of that mattered to her. She just needed to get to Nate and keep him safe. Fighting her body, she tried to pull on the damaged back door to get to Nate, but it wouldn't open and there was no way she would make it to the other side.

"What hurts Nate?" she weakly asked.

"My arm. It hurts really bad."

"It's ok. I'm going to get you help. Stay where you are. Don't move. Can you do that?" Her words were slow and hard to get out.

"Ok… Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm alright," she lied.

A couple of friendly locals tried to help, but she told them she was ok until the ambulance came, though, she was combative when they tried to help her first. She insisted they tended to Nate. The other driver was unconscious, so at least, if he was after them, they had some time to get away. Or so she thought.

When the emergency crew checked on Nate and Emily tried to force herself up once more. Someone told her not to, to sit still, but she wouldn't. She wanted to see Nate and to tell the crew that they needed to get to a different hospital, one further away… She wouldn't get the chance.

The adrenaline was wearing off, her head was hurting, her whole body felt stiff… It was too much. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep it off. Still, she was determined to try to see what was happening with Nate.

Then the commotion hit. She wasn't sure what she was hearing, a bunch of yelling maybe, and she swore she heard the word gun, but she needed to get up, and she did, using the door to prop herself up. She paused as she stood, the dizziness washing over her again. And then out of nowhere, she felt a force come at her, knocking her head first into the metal frame.

"Mademoiselle? Mademoiselle?"

"Emily?!"

Gunshot.

That was the last thing she heard as her eyes closed and her body slid down the car, collapsing on the pavement.