Life After High School - Ten Years Later

By Risty and Silver

Disclaimer: Hell, you should know by now.

Summary: Dude, chill out. It was like that when I got there.

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(Kane's POV)

I was a bit worried when I saw the tape, Randy and Gimli had been hanging around all day waiting for a chance to get us and that was scary. But I knew from overhearing my dad's conversation with Benny that someone had obviously hired them and he was trying hard to find out who it was. To be honest, I was more worried about my mum. She would never ring Jaime in one of her normal states and she had not sounded like herself either, she sounded upset but she tried hard to hide it. Something had happened and I was determined to find out what.

The day had turned cold and Ria, Vince and I were snuggled up on the sofa, myself in the middle. I could hear Jaime in the kitchen making us some lunch. I got up, told Vince not to steal my place and went out there.

"Hello Kane" Jaime was busy dishing up chips. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah" I said quietly. "Mrs. Baggins, what did my mum say to you?"

"Nothing" Jaime said quickly, but I could tell that she was lying. "She just wanted to talk to you."

"Mrs. Baggins" I sighed, taking the plate of chips she handed me. "Please don't treat me like I'm stupid. I'm just worried about her, you haven't been around for the last ten years, and you don't know what she can be like."

"She said…she said that Boromir beat her up," she said quickly. "That's all."

"Oh" I said, my mind racing. How had he gotten to her? And had he hurt her bad? Had she told my dad? But I was old enough to realise that it didn't matter who she told, very few people would take her word over Boromir's. After all, he was highly respected in Gondor, happily married or so it seemed and to the outside world, was a stable, sensible man. "Thank you. That's all I wanted to know." I went to the door, Ria's chips and cola in my hand and paused. "Mrs. Baggins" I continued. "You won't tell anyone about what she told you will you?"

"Kane…"

"The people around here, your family…they'll never believe her" I pointed out. "Nor will Boromir's family. The only people who might believe her are those close to her and what good will it do to tell them? It'll only upset everyone and make my mum think that you are trying to interfere in her life again. Let my dad deal with it."

"You are very sensible" Jaime said giving me a small smile. "I can see your reasoning and I won't say anything."

"Thank you Mrs. Baggins" I said quietly. "After all, it might not have even been Boromir who hit her. It might have been…" Suddenly I broke off and blushed knowing that I had said too much. The unspoken words hung in the air. "I had better take these out to Ria" I said quickly and hurried from the room, determined to keep my mouth shut in future. Jaime was nice and I could not help but like her, but I wasn't going to give her any information about my mum and dad. After all, she was still the enemy.

(Emma's POV)

When I woke up from a restless sleep, I desperately wanted to talk to someone, anyone. I grabbed the phone and dialled a number. A number I had not meant to dial. When Jaime answered I felt myself blurting out what Boromir had done, but I could tell she didn't believe me. That was probably just as well. Kane came on, and Vince, and I tried to be normal for their sake. I think they knew that something was wrong though, you can't fool those boys, especially Kane.

As soon as I hung up, I was mad at myself. Why call Jaime, I hated her and I would hate her until the day I died. I was angry with myself, so I found a kitchen knife and cut my arm. It hurt but the pain felt good. I was in the bathroom trying to patch up my arm when Damon found me.

He didn't get angry and at first he didn't ask any questions either. He just sat me down and carefully bandaged my arm. When he had finished, he sat back and looked at me for a minute. I gave a sob and flung myself into his arms. He held me close and gently stroke my back as I cried.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "What happened to your face?"

"I walked into a door" I lied. "I had to get up in the night to see to Crystal and I was tired. I guess I wasn't thinking. I love you Damon. I…I missed you."

"And I missed you" he said, sounding rather confused. "Has something happened?"

"No" I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I'm just getting over emotional."

He nodded and held me close. I felt safe with him, sure he lost his temper sometimes, but I loved him and I knew that he would never let anything happen to me or the children…