Chapter Seven: The Place I Once Called Home
Alanna sensed the pulse of magic and gazed up at the paper in her uncle's hands, expression curious. The envelope in her hands bore her brother's handwriting, though they both usually preferred cursive to printing. A backup plan of sorts? She knew Uncle Greg hadn't gotten the letter from the apartment, so where on Earth had Lance hidden it? Alarm surged as her uncle shuddered violently, dropping the letter as he did so. Reaching down, she scooped the lined sheet of notebook paper up and turned it, examining the contents.
Shock echoed around her – Lance had known Uncle Greg would pick them over Miss Marina, but he'd still done the ritual? Why? Why would he do that to them? And yet as she continued to read, she could almost hear the anguish in her brother's voice as he explained why Miss Marina was the One. Why Uncle Greg needed her more than he would ever need his nipotes.
Catching her lip in a light grip with her teeth, Alanna forced herself to think. Was the apartment miserable? Oh, yes it was. Did she hate the prospect of living there for however many more months were on the lease? Absolutely. And though she didn't want to admit it, if their finances were as tight as Lance had implied, then it was entirely possible that their current apartment really was the best they could get, at least until they were old enough to start working. But… If Miss Marina was the One, then what right did they have to take her away from Uncle Greg? Were they really going to be so selfish as to demand that Uncle Greg give up the love of his life for their sake? Where was the morality in that?
No, Alanna realized with a sinking feeling, Uncle Greg deserved a life of his own, with someone who would love him and support him through the best and worst times of his life. And besides, Lance had seen Uncle Greg with a ring before he'd used the ritual spell, so what, exactly, had her brother's actions changed? Maybe Miss Marina had gotten the ring a little faster than she might've if he hadn't done anything, but since Uncle Greg had obviously already been planning on proposing, then about the only thing Lance had done was ensure there were no obstacles to their uncle's happiness. What was the problem with that?
Lowering her gaze, Alanna wriggled out from under Uncle Greg's arm and stood up. All along, Lance had been right and she hadn't seen it. With trembling hands, she folded the letter and tucked it back in its envelope. Her heart cried out, but it was time to stop being so selfish and let their uncle go. No matter how much it hurt.
So she laid the letter on the chair next to Uncle Greg and cleared her throat, waiting for him to look up. "I'll just get our stuff out of your car," she informed him, keeping her expression level and her voice even. "Then you can go home."
"Home?" he croaked, staring at her as if he'd never even seen her before.
Her heart twanged all over again, but she refused to flinch. "Yeah. Thanks for your help tonight, but we'll be okay now." Keeping her chin high, the redhead turned and walked towards the curtained entrance. She would not cry. No, once Lance was out of the woods, then she could cry on his shoulder and tell him how sorry she was for putting him in danger.
Did she really think he'd walk away now? Did she really think he was the sort of pond scum who abandoned his own family? Who sacrificed them for his own happiness? After all this time, after everything they'd gone through as a family, did they really think that little of him? Greg's heart broke as the truth sank in. They did and worse, they had cause. Because he had abandoned them, he had sacrificed them for his own happiness, and he'd never apologized. He'd only given them half-hearted explanations, letting the excuses pile up one after another. He'd turned a blind eye as Marina ignored them, shunning their earnest efforts to make amends and correct a bad first impression. Over and over again, he'd made it plain that they were second to Dean, second to Marina, easy to discard and ignore until the day was over and Marina had left.
His kids, they'd saved his life, rescued himself and his team and how did he thank them? By forcing them to watch as Marina gushed over Dean and never even glanced in their direction. By agreeing to a museum outing and then reaching for the phone to invite Marina along, never asking if his nipotes were okay with that. By leaving them nothing but the crumbs of his attention and time – and often turning them away even then. He'd taken them for granted, assuming that they would always know he loved them, even if he didn't even bother to show that love! Shelley had warned him, Sophie had warned him, and he'd not only disregarded those warnings, he'd thrown them back in the women's faces. Wretched, wretched arrogance.
Snapping to his feet, Greg took two strides and grabbed Alanna's shoulder, turning her towards him and enfolding her in a hug. Without hesitation, he crushed her to his chest, hanging onto her as if afraid she would disappear if he let go. Dropping his head to her long red hair, he let the tears flow and cradled her. "Don't you dare, mia nipote. I screwed up and I'm sorry, but you are mine. You will always be mine and I'm not letting you go. Not again; I love you more than I can ever express. You and your brother."
A sob wrenched free and she clung to him.
Rocking on his feet, he whispered, "You, Lance, Dean; you're my family. Wherever you are, that's where my home is. Always has been, always will be."
"But you love her," Alanna wept.
"I do," Greg admitted. "But sweetheart, that was never your problem to solve. Or your brother's either. It's my problem to solve and I chose not to." His grip tightened. "And I will spend the rest of my life wishing I'd taken action long before now, because this situation…it's my fault. Not yours, mine."
"You shouldn't lose her because of us."
Inside, his heart twisted, but he shook his head. "If I lose her, that's not because of anything you did or anything Lance did, Alanna. Her decisions and actions are her own. She is a full grown adult and so am I. I chose not to address her behavior and now here we are, but that is not your fault. Anything that happens now is not your fault." Gentle, he tipped her chin up. "Do you hear me?"
Tearful violet gazed back. "But what if you never find anyone like her ever again?"
Greg pulled her in again, stroking his niece's hair and back as he did so. "Shhh, mia nipote, shhh. We are going to get through the next couple of days and I am going to tell Marina that I know what she did and that I find it unacceptable. Once we've got the two of you back home and your brother's feeling better, then I'll talk with her and we'll see if we can work things out. But no matter what happens, Alanna, the outcome is my responsibility."
Despite the brave words, he felt that same fear she'd voiced. If Marina was the One, then where did that leave him, especially when his kids grew up and moved out? But…would the One really treat his kids like she had? Would the One really accuse his nephew of never having loved anyone in his entire life? He couldn't believe that, though anguish ripped through his soul at the thought of breaking up with Marina. And yet…how could he do any different? She hadn't just betrayed his kids, she'd betrayed him, too.
The sound of footsteps broke through the musing and he looked up in time to see a nurse enter their area. "How is he?" the officer asked, even as he turned Alanna to face the woman.
Soft brown met his gaze; the nurse wore hospital scrubs and her black hair was caught up in a short ponytail. The petite woman smiled encouragingly. "He's going to be okay," she assured them. "A lot of it looked worse than it was."
Greg exhaled and he felt Alanna's arms tighten around him. "What are we looking at?" The nurse glanced at Alanna, but Parker shook his head. "Just tell us; she's old enough to hear it." Not to mention all the trust he needed to start rebuilding. He'd won the first round and earned a second chance, but only a fool of the greatest magnitude would assume that was enough.
The nurse sighed, exhaustion peeking out past her upbeat attitude. "Two broken ribs, three more that are cracked," she reeled off without checking the chart in her hands. "Many of the injuries to his face and torso appear to be from a fistfight, but we've found several knife wounds as well. Most to his arms, but one caught his side. They're shallow, so they bled more, but nothing life-threatening."
"Documented?"
"Yes, of course, sir," the nurse replied. "We've set all his clothing aside for the investigators and taken photos of the injuries." She backed up, gesturing for the pair to follow her. "We have him in a recovery area right now. Once a room is ready, we'll move him there."
Greg doubled back to grab the letter, then ushered Alanna ahead of him. "You can leave him in recovery. I need to call our regular hospital to arrange for a transfer."
The brunette frowned. "We can take care of him here, sir."
"I don't doubt that," Parker soothed. "But the kids' regular doctors are at St. Mungo's." Inwardly he winced at revealing the hospital name, but the name was going to go on the transfer paperwork anyway.
The nurse's expression cleared and she nodded. "Of course, sir, I understand. I can start arranging our side of the paperwork, if you'd like."
"Please." As they walked, Greg dug out his phone, mentally arranging a priority list. He needed to start the transfer to St. Mungo's, figure out how to cover for the fact that there was no missing person's report for the kids, and then he needed to call the SRU and put in for a sick day. And once he'd done all of that…he had to call Commander Holleran. Oh, joy…
It hurt. Especially where the one guy had nailed him with an oversized pocket knife that had been a lot sharper than he'd expected. But much as his body hurt, it was his soul that ached the most. Yeah, he'd been out of it, but he knew who had saved him. He knew who had called 911 and stayed by his side until the paramedics arrived. Lance wanted to curl in on himself, but the doctor and nurses had told him to lie still. Even with the strapping, he still had broken ribs and would for awhile.
So the young man turned his head into the thin hospital pillow and let the tears flow. He'd been wrong. So very, very wrong. Not an ounce of memory and Uncle Greg had still come for him. Had still been willing to do whatever it took to protect his family. But… Why hadn't Uncle Greg done that before? Why hadn't he talked to Miss Marina about how she was acting? How come he always said to wait for Miss Marina before talking about anything? What if Miss Marina was the problem? What were they supposed to do then?
Tears turned to sobs. After what he'd done, how could he expect Uncle Greg to listen to anything he had to say? And Uncle Greg had proved him wrong, so 'Lanna was probably even angrier at him now. He wasn't supposed to curl in on himself, but he did it anyway. So what if he made things worse – he'd already ruined everything. He'd had absolutely everything he ever could've wanted and he'd thrown it all away. Worse, if Uncle Greg hadn't already found the letter, he would soon and then the ritual would come crashing down. Uncle Greg was smart, he'd be able to trigger the spell chain all the way to the end and then two more lives would be ruined by what he'd done.
He'd tried so very hard to put everything right. To give Miss Marina what she wanted, to give Uncle Greg the life he deserved. Instead he'd just made a mess and hurt everyone he cared about. But what could he have done differently? He hadn't just jumped in, he'd asked for advice and help. It wasn't his fault that Lance had screwed everything up so spectacularly, but what was he supposed to do now?
I wish we'd never come here.
Just outside the recovery area, Greg came to a halt at the sight of two detectives. Plainclothes, of course, but they'd obviously come for the assault case. With a sigh, he tapped the nurse on the shoulder and indicated the men. She nodded back and hurried away to retrieve the evidence while Parker guided Alanna towards the officers.
They looked up; both were younger than Parker, but one was young enough that Greg suspected he'd just been promoted off the beat. "Good evening, detectives," he greeted.
The older detective, a man about Greg's height with receding blond hair and blue-gray eyes, grunted. "Morning, but who's counting?" Brisk, he moved on. "Parker, right?"
"That's right. Lieutenant Greg Parker, SRU, but I was off-duty when all of this went down."
Blue-gray flicked over his civilian clothing and the detective grunted again. "Still going down. How's the kid?"
"Two broken ribs, three cracked ones, and aside from the fist fight, the nurse said a knife got involved, too," Greg reeled off, rubbing at what was left of his hair. "Let me guess, though. No one saw anything."
The younger detective, taller than his partner with a full head of dark brown hair and rugged features, nodded glumly. "Yes, sir. We'll do another round of interviews, but right now, our best witness is… Well…"
"Your boy," the older detective cut in again. One hand hefted a report. "And maybe you. This missing person's report is kinda thin, don't you think?"
There was a missing person's report? With the ease of long practice, Greg concealed his surprise and took the report, skimming through it. A frown emerged. "Home schooled? Mio nipotes go to St. John's; that should've been in here." At Alanna's fidget, he froze and his head whipped to her. "You didn't stop going to school, did you?"
Violet couldn't meet his gaze. "No, Uncle Greg. We kept going and Lance, um…he took care of any paperwork we needed."
His jaw fell open in horror. "You mean, if I'd come to St. John's, I would've found you two?" Of course, he hadn't because he hadn't even known what he was missing, but it had been 'just' a matter of his kids running away, he should have.
Still staring at the floor, she nodded.
Darn it; in the context of the spell, it made perfect sense, but without knowledge of magic, it certainly didn't reflect well on him as their guardian. Of course, that he'd let the situation get so bad that the kids had run away in the first place didn't exactly leave him smelling like roses anyway, so he probably deserved the blackballing he was about to get from the unimpressed detectives.
Except before either detective could rip into him, Alanna's head came up, a pleading expression on her face. "Please don't yell at him. Even if he'd found us at school, we probably would've run away again."
Parker winced. That wasn't nearly as helpful as Alanna had wanted it to be. With a sigh, he asked, "Would you guys have run from me? Or Marina?"
The guilty examination of the floor answered the question.
At the detectives' inquiring looks, Greg allowed the grimace all the way out. "My girlfriend," he filled in. "Look, I admit it: I let things go way too far, but that's neither here nor there. Regardless of what either Marina or I did, I'm as sure as I can be that the kids' next door neighbor is responsible for the assault."
The blond detective rocked back on his heels. "What makes you think so, sir?"
"Because when Alanna and I arrived at the apartment complex, she got ahead of me and I caught up right about the time he was trying to grab her," Parker explained, anger vibrating just under his flat tone.
"He tried to grab me earlier, too," Alanna put in, curling closer to her uncle instinctively. He rested an arm around her shoulders.
Neither detective missed the implication. The younger one gazed at Alanna. "Your brother was fine then?"
About to nod, she pulled back, made a face, then admitted, "He was, but I slapped him and I think maybe my fingernails got him."
One eyebrow went up. "What happened, kiddo?"
Alanna made a face. "The water turned brown again and we were fighting about coming home."
Greg swallowed a sigh. He could guess how that had gone, particularly since Alanna had basically come running to him right afterwards. Not all the way, but if his magic hadn't woken him up, he might've had a redhead camped out on his doorstep once she worked up her nerve. Returning his attention to the detectives, he said, "I'm not denying you access, but right now, I've got to get the paperwork done for a transfer from this hospital to the one where the kids' doctors work. I'm also not sure what they might've given him for the pain."
It was the detectives' turn to grimace; if their victim was on painkillers, he might not be fit to give a statement. "What about access to the apartment?" the blond asked.
Alanna immediately dug her keys out, but Greg stilled her, arching an eyebrow. "Didn't the unis secure the apartment?"
"Some guy claiming to be the vic's rep came by, kicked them out, and said we'd need his client's authorization to enter the apartment again."
"Did you get a name?"
The brunet detective offered a business card and Greg took it, frowning at the name on it. Not a name he recognized, but the seal was the non-magical version of the Gringotts seal.
"I'll see if I can sort that out," the stocky man promised. "In the meantime…"
He canted a glance towards his niece and she nodded, carefully sliding her apartment key off her keychain. The redhead inspected it a moment, then offered it to the detectives as her uncle spoke.
"As far as I'm concerned, you have whatever authorization you need to enter the apartment. Let me know if anything seems off in there."
"Will do, Lieutenant Parker," the blond replied. "We got your number from the unis, so we'll be in touch. Let us know when we can talk to him."
"Copy," Greg agreed. He started to offer the missing person's report back, then asked, "Can I keep this?"
The men traded looks, then shrugged and nodded permission. After shaking Parker's hand, they left, leaving uncle and niece staring at each other.
"Your brother filed this, didn't he?"
Alanna shrugged, not looking at her guardian.
"Alanna Victoria Calvin," Parker gritted out. "How long have you two been planning this?"
For a moment, he was afraid she wouldn't respond, then her eyes came up, defiance shining again as she tilted her head to the side. "What's it matter? You hardly noticed we were gone, anyway."
"Because of what your brother did," Greg hissed, painfully aware of their surroundings.
Red hair tilted the other way and Alanna held up one hand, ticking off on her fingers as she spoke. "The museum. Outings at every park within driving distance. Dinner and a movie. Apartment dinner dates." The teenager paused, studying his expression. "Oh and every single weekend since we moved in!"
Shame writhed, a living thing in his chest. Hang it all, she was right. How many times had he pushed them aside, letting Dean and Marina take center stage without so much as a flicker of consideration for the ones who'd been with him far longer. Little wonder they believed themselves second-best. Little wonder they'd decided they were just 'in the way' anyway, so he'd be much better off without them. How many bridges had he burned with his stupidity? How long would it take to rebuild the trust he'd so carelessly cast aside in his pursuit of keeping his girlfriend happy?
"Lance did most of it, though," Alanna added, thoughtful. "I didn't know he left you a letter or about that report."
A frown threatened, but Greg swallowed it back down, afraid Alanna would misinterpret it. The letter…there was something so raw and primal about it that Greg knew his nephew had come up with it on his own, but a missing person's report? What teenager would think to quietly file a mostly truthful missing person's report, just in case the spell broke? Or even if the spell hadn't broken; if his nipotes had vanished after it had been filed, anyone looking would see the existing missing person's report and assume all the details had already been filled in. The thought sent a chill down his back, particularly when he also considered the utter dump of an apartment his kids had been in. An apartment in a very bad part of Toronto, where people probably went missing all the time without it ever getting reported.
Something about this was starting to smell. He still had a whole to-do list he had to deal with, but once he got the immediate issues out of the way, he and Lance were going to have a very long talk about this spell and everything that had gone into his kids running away. An intense discussion would do more damage in the short term and yet he couldn't see any way around it. If he was right, then this spell hadn't just been Lance's idea. Or Alanna's either. You didn't need a spell to run away, after all.
Resting a hand on Alanna's shoulder, Greg nudged her towards the recovery room. "Go. I'll catch up once I've made a couple phone calls, okay?"
Violet studied him, then his niece nodded and disappeared inside the room.
Drawing in a deep, fortifying breath, Parker pulled out his phone and started with the hospital transfer.
A headache throbbed in his temples as he wrapped up a quick call to the SRU to put in for the next day off. There was no way he was fit for duty, even if he hadn't had a ton of other issues on his plate and Greg knew it would take time to get the mess sorted out. Heck, he'd probably need help at some point, but not yet. Not until he'd gotten past the critical early stages with his nipotes. Absently longing for an aspirin, Parker found his last contact number and wearily punched it in.
The line rang a few times, then picked up with a brisk, "Commander Holleran speaking."
"Commander," Greg replied, forcing his voice to remain audible and level. "Do you have a minute?"
"Another overnight hot call?" Holleran inquired.
"Technically no, but you're not far off," Parker admitted. "This is going to sound odd, but do you remember mio nipotes?"
"Of course I…" There was a pause, a sudden intake of breath, then the lieutenant winced at his boss's colorful response, followed by a sharp, "Report!"
Greg leaned his head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. "I'm at Mount Sinai. 'Lanna's fine, but Lance got beaten to a pulp, probably by their lousy no-good excuse for a neighbor. There's going to be fallout, sir; I'm not sure how bad it's going to be yet. Depends on how well the, um…mechanism…was crafted."
"Do you know who did this?" Holleran demanded in a low, furious hiss.
Parker's laugh was mirthless. "It affected me, sir. Last time something like this happened, I was fine aside from a migraine for the first day or so. That means there's only three candidates and I've already narrowed it down to one." A second mirthless bark. "He's already paid for what he did, sir. He's still paying and it's going to take me months to earn their trust back." Assuming I can.
Holleran audibly stilled. "Greg? Are you sure?"
"Yes." Parker shifted, glancing towards the recovery room. "Could you do a favor for me, sir?"
"And what would that be, Lieutenant?"
Rage narrowed hazel eyes. "Could you call Marina and tell her not to contact me? I'll call her once I'm good and ready. If she wants a reason, tell her the trigger phrase was Old English for 'My will be done' and she's a damn liar for telling my nephew he's never loved anyone besides himself."
"Greg." Horror rang, but Parker shook his head.
"Sir, if I'm right, then the only thing that happened was them. I still need to talk to Lance and figure out the whole sequence of events, but I already know they think I don't love them anymore. They definitely don't trust me anymore."
"Keep me informed," the commander requested. "I'll contact Miss Levin." He hesitated. "Greg, does she know about your abilities?"
"No. I was gonna have to wait till after the wedding because of the Statute. But she clearly knows about mio nipotes, so I guess the Statute is moot anyway." With a final sigh, Greg added, "I need to get in the recovery room, sir. I'll call when I can."
"Don't stay up much longer, Lieutenant," Holleran chided, but there was a note of genuine worry in his voice.
"Do my best, sir." With that, Greg Parker hung up and turned towards the nearby door, tension vibrating in his gut. The immediate issues were dealt with. Now he just had to face his own nephew. Simple…right?
Lance worked to keep himself still when he heard his uncle's familiar footsteps. It was harder than when Alanna had come in, but unless he missed his guess, the ritual had broken and now the consequences were about to come crashing down on his head. If he could delay it even for a few minutes, that was worth it. The tears had drained and now he just felt…empty. He'd hurt the people he loved best and he wouldn't blame them in the slightest for hating him.
A heavy sigh came from just behind him, followed by a quiet, "I know you're awake."
Lance squeezed his eyes shut, then started to roll, only to freeze as pain jabbed inside his torso. A moan forced its way out of his throat.
"Easy!" One hand touched his back, holding him still. " 'Lanna, go get a nurse; I think your brother did something he wasn't supposed to."
"Copy," Alanna agreed, her lighter tread hurrying out.
"Broken ribs are a pain," Uncle Greg observed. "I should know; I've had a few on the job. Just be grateful you won't have to deal with them much longer."
The teen swallowed down any cries and forced a jerky nod.
"Now, while your sister's gone and we have a moment, I need to know exactly what you did and how to keep it from happening again."
"Won't happen again," Lance rasped.
His uncle's voice turned dry. "I know you won't do it again, but what about someone else?"
Slowly, carefully, Lance shook his head. "Wouldn't work on you. If they tried what I did, I know how to find the release phrase, even if they change it."
Uncle Greg hummed, the sound considering. "So only someone with our family tree could pull this off?"
The brunet frowned, then caught on to what his uncle couldn't say in a techie hospital. "Yeah, but they'd prolly need my notes to do it."
"And those notes are where?"
"Backpack," Lance whispered. "Was gonna burn it, but been busy." And everything had been falling to pieces, so he hadn't wanted to get rid of his only source of information.
For a long moment, his uncle didn't respond, then Lance heard footsteps again and felt the hand leave his back. Then Uncle Greg appeared in his line of sight, a placid expression on his face, the same type he used whenever he was negotiating. One hand reached out and tugged a folding chair over, then his uncle sat down, hazel meeting his sapphire.
"Everything is in this notebook?"
"Yes, sir." He couldn't muster anything more than that.
"What about the lease for your apartment?"
A frown tightened his jaw. "My trunk. I think."
"I know about the missing person's report; was there anything else you filed on my behalf?"
"School stuff."
The stocky man nodded. "Anything else?"
Lance tucked his chin, thinking hard, but finally shook his head. If all had gone as he'd intended, 'Lanna probably would've had to wait until she was eighteen to get a driver's license, but they hadn't been able to afford a car anyway. Plus their magic largely rendered the need for a car moot, so long as they were careful.
Uncle Greg leaned back, tapping his fingers against his crossed arms. "All right. I'll take a look at your notebook and the lease when I have a chance." Stern hazel caught his gaze again. "Besides you and your sister, was anything else affected?"
"No." At the pointed brow hike, Lance swallowed hard. "Made sure. Just us."
"Just you." Uncle Greg shook his head, looking away and when he spoke again, his voice broke. "Why? I read your letter, but I still don't understand. Why would you ever think Marina was more important to me than you or your sister?"
"Because she is," Lance rasped. "She means everything to you, sir." Tears burned against the backs of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. "You rely on her and she relies on you. When she hurts, you hurt. Even when she's not there, you smile when someone mentions her. You get angry if anyone talks bad about her." His vision was getting blurry, but he sought to focus on his uncle. "If you lost her, you'd lose a piece of yourself."
"And losing you would be any different?"
Of course it was. He couldn't help the sniffle. "You got along without us before, sir."
"I got along without Marina before, too."
His chin ducked. "When the heart finds its completion, it doesn't function alone ever again."
"So. Having decided that the two of you were expendable and Marina was indispensible, you decided to give me the perfect life. Without ever asking me what I thought of your grand scheme, I might add."
"I knew you'd say no."
"But you knew better." Sarcasm rang, with hurt and anger lurking beneath. "You decided you knew what was best for me and you were so sure you were right that you wouldn't even give me any say whatsoever in your grand plan for my life."
He meant to apologize, meant to grovel, but when he opened his mouth, something else entirely slipped out. "Isn't that what you did?" Uncle Greg froze. "You left and you made us think you were drinking yourself to death. But that wasn't true, was it?"
"If Castor Troy had found out about you two, he never would've let you live," Uncle Greg hissed. "If he'd caught onto how much I care about my team, he would've executed every last one of them. And their families. And the two of you. Just to get to me."
"But we didn't know!" Lance burst out, ignoring the protest from inside his torso. "You left and you lied to us! We could've kept the secret, but you wouldn't even give us the chance."
"There was a gag order."
"So what? I was just following orders? Is that really your excuse for leaving us behind?" Fresh tears were falling and Lance forced himself to roll over, ignoring the scream from his ribs. "You know what? I wish you'd never found us again. I wish the ritual had never broken and you were still clueless. I wish you'd stop pretending to care. Sir. So why don't you just say it. You hate me, just like 'Lanna does. Just like she does."
"Lance, I don't."
He snorted. "Oh, now you're gonna lie again? Face it, sir. You came home for Miss Marina, not us. We were just convenient to keep around until Miss Marina moves in and now you're mad 'cause I wanted to leave on our terms, not hers."
A hand touched his back. "Lance, I love you. Both of you. That will never change."
The boy's chin tucked into his chest. "Let's say I believe you, sir. You love her more and you always will. Miss Marina can't stand us and sooner or later, you won't be able to stand us either. The only thing I did was speed it up." More tears were falling, but he forced the last of his words out. "If you really loved us, you would've stood up to her. But you didn't, so I did something and now you're mad at me about it. Big deal; you'll see. Soon as she brings the hammer down, we'll be right back where you found us. Only now the neighbors will know we're related to a cop."
"Do you really think I'm going to allow any member of my family to live in that rattrap of an apartment?" Uncle Greg demanded.
"No. But we're not your family, are we?" With that, Lance curled in himself again, ignoring the pain from his broken ribs. It wasn't anywhere near as painful as the loss of his whole world.
~ Ad Alia
Author Note: To Be Continued... *cue Flashpoint end music*
I have a couple orders of business and I'd best start with the most distasteful of them all. I have posted a full announcement on my profile, as it is quite lengthy and I don't want to completely hijack my author note.
In brief, as I'm sure all of you are aware, this site uses CloudFlare as a defense against Denial of Service attacks. They also have their CloudFlare settings at the highest possible protection level, which causes no end of problems for those, like myself, who use alternative browsers. That is, any browser that isn't Chrome, Edge, or Firefox.
As of Wednesday, May 4th, 2022, CloudFlare updated their Browser Detection service and locked out all 'unapproved' browsers from Fanfiction. My own day-to-day browser, Pale Moon, is perfectly capable of rendering Fanfiction, but that did not matter to the High-And-Mighty CloudFlare. Because of this, there was no way for my browser to reach Fanfiction.
The backlash, though not as swift as I might've hoped, was severe enough to force CloudFlare to back down. They made the mistake of targeting several older versions of Firefox along with the Developer Edition - had it been only alternative browsers affected, I suspect they would not have backed down.
It is fortunate that CloudFlare did back down, as I doubt Fanfiction ever would've taken any affirmative action in favor of their users. I checked their Twitter account and found countless Tweets reporting CloudFlare issues, beginning in September of 2021. As CloudFlare remains to this day... Well, I think we can all fill in that blank.
Equally fortunately, CloudFlare backed down yesterday, Thursday, May 12th, 2022. If they had not, this author note would have included my announcement of the end of my posting career here on Fanfiction.
For now, there will be no change. I will continue posting, both here and on Archive of Our Own.
However, if CloudFlare ever pulls this stunt again, that may well be the end. Again, full details on my profile.
On a more cheerful note... I have officially gotten my first commissioned piece of artwork. And it so happens, that the artwork in question is based on a character in this series.
Unfortunately, aside from story covers, Fanfiction is not really built for images. But if you are willing to trundle over to Archive of Our Own, where I post under the same screen name, I have put up the artwork and a link to the artist's DeviantArt posting. More details are over on Ao3, so I hope that my faithful readers here will be willing to head on over and take a peek - she did a really good job!
And now... I hope everyone enjoyed this story - when we weren't screaming at the characters for being so dang stupid. As always, I treasure each and every review posted - so please read and review. In the meantime, our next story, "Unconditional Love", starts Friday, May 20th 2022, right here in the main Flashpoint archive.
See You on the Battlefield!