Life After High School - Ten Years Later

By Risty and Silver

Disclaimer: We wish we own them but we don't, so . . . ahh screw it, we don't own them. Damn it!

Summary: **carries on watching Parkinson on TV** Find out for yourself. I'm busy.

A/N: Hey Risty, sorry about that, but at least I wasn't too far off. I think I came to that conclusion regarding how old he was when he died. Your family tree said that he was 18, but if that were the case then Benny would have only been thirteen years old. (He's 33 now, the same age as Damon) Fifteen years made more sense of the top of my head. Sorry about the mistake.

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(Benny's POV)

After the incident with Mark, Damon began to withdraw into himself more and more. Even when Emma came home about a week later with their baby son who they named Lance. He was good with her, but he was very short tempered with the rest of us, including the kids. He stopped taking care of himself and started drinking more and more. I tried to talk to him, Lucas tried to talk to him, but he'd either stare at us blankly and go on drinking, or just tell us that everything was fine. It wasn't though, anyone could see that. I tried to get him to let me prescribe him some tablets for depression, but he wouldn't have it. With Emma and her mood swings home, it was down to me to look after them both and the children too. Lucas helped of course, Galia was still around and Randy and Gimli were great, keeping the children amused for hours on end. They were glad to have Emma home and when I asked about it, they admitted that they realised how badly they had treated her and hadn't wanted her to die. Touching.

A few days later, Gimli ran into the kitchen where Kane, Vince and I were making dinner, waving a newspaper. He slipped on the floor and hit the cupboard. I reached down and helped him to his feet.

"Easy Gimli" I said with a smile. "What is the rush?"

"Look at this" he told me, thrusting the paper under my nose. I took it off him and stared at it, unable to believe my eyes. 'Boromir South back from the Dead' the headline screamed. Quickly I skimmed over the article. 'Yesterday, the parents of Gondor's most popular man paid thousands of gold pieces for a spell to attempt to return their oldest son to life' it began. Thankfully for them, 'Boromir South, who died from stomach injuries while leaving Bree about a week ago, was successfully resurrected and is now being treated in a private hospital. In the weeks leading to the attack, it was revealed that he and his wife had separated and this was likely to be a permanent decision. His parents admitted that this was true, but denied further rumours that their son had problems with drugs and alcohol. His younger brother, Faramir, seconded this. 'I knew that Adele was not right for him' his father said in a vicious attack against his former daughter in law. 'Boromir always manages to pick the wrong women. Adele is nothing but a lying whore who used our son purely for his money. Boromir has told us that he has reason to believe that his children are not his and that he wants nothing more to do with her or any of them. We shall support him all the way.'

"Poor Adele" I muttered as I came to the end of the article. "And the kids" I'd never met the girl but I doubted that she had been anything other than a loyal wife and that everything Boromir and his parents said were lies. But of course people were going to believe them, weren't they? They had the money and the power. No one was going to turn round and say that they were wrong. I wasn't going to call Jaime, after all I had promised Damon and Emma that I wouldn't and I didn't really want to speak to Mark, but I wondered what her reaction would be. Not good, I reckoned.

I thanked Gimli for bringing it to me and asked him to keep an eye on Kane and Vince while I went to find Damon. Emma was asleep in the bedroom holding little Lance, and Crystal was asleep in her crib. Damon was in the living room, just staring out of the window. I handed him the paper and he took it and read through it without uttering a word.

"Crikey" he said when he had finished. "They don't pull no punches do they? The question is, is this good or bad news? On one hand, I have one less thing to worry about unless he decides to tell people that it was me who attacked him, which I don't think he will. But on the other hand…"

"He's still out there" I finished. "And I suppose we can only wait and see what cruel plan he has in mind next."

"Yeah" Damon forced a smile. "Well whatever it is, I'm certain that you and I can foil it. Right, brother?"

"Right bro" I agreed, glad that he seemed a little better. He's had fair too much to deal with lately and it couldn't have been easy, so I don't blame him for getting a little worked up or depressed. I just wished that he would let me do more to help…

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By the way, Risty, I brought Boromir back again because I have a major plan that we might be able to use him in. I'll send the idea by email as soon as I get a moment. And about Adele, don't worry I haven't got anything against her. I just thought that Boromir's parents were more likely to believe their son and want to blame the whole spilt on her rather than admitting that it could have been his fault. Talk to you later.

Silver