A/N: Here is next installment of my Carlos bashing story set in the months before Michael Westen's return to Miami.
PALE IMITATION
Part Three
With his phone in one hand, Seamus Glenanne tossed the despised bean bag loaded shotgun at Fiona's new boy toy and strode swiftly across the room, his voice was raised in both anger and disgust at his sister's apparent bout of insanity.
"A bounty hunter, an' now this – frigging bean bag rounds? Yer bloody lucky our mam is nae har ta see whot's become o' ya."
Carlos Cruz rose up onto his feet, throwing the gun which had started this latest piece of drama onto the couch and went charging over to where the Irishman was pacing back and forth with his cellphone in his hand, scrolling through the names held in the phone book.
"I don't know what the hell is going on here, but there's no way I'm gonna sit back and let you - whoever the hell you are come to our home and start a -"
The sentence ended with Seamus's tightly packed fist connecting with the younger man's jaw, effectively ending his tirade. "Ya watch yar mouth, sonny boy. This is family business."
Carlos staggered back and then in an instant retaliated by swinging a punch of his own. Unfortunately for the younger man, Seamus who had grown up in a house with six siblings knew better than to drop his guard and easily evaded the fist aimed at his head.
"SHURRUP THA PAIR O' YA!" Fiona yelled at the top of her voice, breaking up the fight before it could truly get started.
Catching hold of the back of her boyfriend's shirt, she jerked him backwards and away. Then she went straight up in front of her brother, her face a mask of fury. "I won't have ya breaking up me home... Now stay over thar - and don't do nuttin'." She shoved her brother backwards until he hit the kitchen counter. Turning away, she glanced back and gave him one more hard eyed glare. "Not. One. Word."
Carlos smiled at her and held out a welcoming hand, but then he too fell back as her hand flashed out to deliver a resounding slap across his cheek.
"Not another word," she hissed, twisting to point a finger back to where she had caught the sound of Seamus sniggering. Dragging her fingers through her long hair, Fiona stood between the two men, breathing deeply as she tried to regain control of her emotions.
"Fiona?" Carlos was the first to speak, but he stopped when his girlfriend narrowed her eyes at him.
Then slowly she straightened up and looked first to her brother, speaking as calmly as she could given the situation. "Seamus, by all means, call my nephews and invite them over."
She then turned to Carlos. "Come with me, we need to talk." She walked away, leading him outside.
As they went out of the front door, she could hear Seamus already talking on his phone, telling whichever one of his son's he had managed to contact to "Get o'er har as quick as ya can, yar Aunty Fiona, needs our help."
Hearing the door slam behind her, the redhead wasn't surprised when strong fingers gripped her bicep, halting her mid stride.
"Fi, Fiona... Stop. I want you to tell me what's goin' on... This isn't like you. Madre de Dios, you've never mentioned anything about your family before and now your brother turns up and then you're pulling explosives out from under the couch." He shook his head as he tried to make sense of what had happened in the last hour.
Taking hold of her lover's hands, the Irishwoman stepped backwards until she was resting against the trunk of her red Hyundai. "That's what I want to explain."
She tilted her head to the side and gave him a half smile. This was going to be difficult. She hadn't spoken to anybody about her family since Michael... She blinked and tried to keep her mind on the present. Michael is gone. He's left to return to his one and only true love.
"I'm sorry I never told you about my family. I think now you can see why. Just I didn't think it would ever be an issue between us."
"So, tell me now." He leaned in closer, smiling softly down at her. "Without all the hitting and yelling, por favor."
"You want to know all about my family?" She shook her head and laughed lightly. "That would take too long."
"O-kay, you can tell me all about tu familia after we deal with this problem... So, what is really goin' on?"
"I told you about my time in Allarod... I didn't even think about the consequences at the time, I just wanted to be free... I needed a way out quickly. Somebody was trying to kill me and there was a man, a British secret agent, who was going to use me to hurt my family," she sighed and, releasing one his hands, she gently stroked her palm up and down his muscular arm.
She stared into his curious brown orbs, willing him to understand without all the gory details about how and why Arthur Meyers had a vendetta against the Glenannes.
"So I made a deal and, in return for my freedom, the CIA wanted one of my arms dealer contacts... I don't know what they wanted with him. But, unfortunately for me, whatever it was didn't prevent him from putting a price on my head. I thought if I just stayed away from my old life... I thought my reputation would be enough to stop anybody coming after me." She laughed at her own naivete. "But it seems I was wrong."
"And your brother, what does he have to do with this?"
"Seamus? He's an exporter of a sort and he was passing by on his way to Cuba. But he decided to stop off in Miami because of bad weather... Look, this is going to get pretty wild. My family, well, we have a certain way of dealing with problems like this. It might be better if you -"
"Uh-huh mommee, what kinda boyfriend do you take me for?" He cradled her cheeks gently between his hands, placing a kiss on her forehead and then staring deeply into her stormy blue green eyes. "I want to be here, helping you. I'm here for you, mi amada, always. Now what -"
"FIONA!" Seamus roared, his face suffused with anger as he came out of the house striding towards her, his phone still in his hand. "Whot tha bloody hell have ya been up ta?!"
"I -" She caught hold of Carlos' wrist to stop him rounding on her brother, while she waited to find out what was the cause of this next crisis.
"Seymour?" He spoke if that one word should be enough to let her know what was wrong.
Now she knew exactly what the problem was and looked down at the brick pavers which made up the driveway. What had happened to Seymour was not her fault. It had been that vindictive bitch, Olivia Riley, who'd had every contact Michael had made in Miami thrown in jail... The whereabouts of her previous lover's ex next door neighbor, Sugar, was still unknown.
"I- thought -," she stuttered.
"Well, ya thought wrong... An' don't try ta tell me ya dinnae know. When Mikey killed thot CIA fella, Seymour got dragged inta all yar mess an' got deported back ta Romania an' apparently fram whot I've jus' been told, he warn't tha only one."
"How-? Is he alright?"
"Oh yeah, he's real happy ta be back home." Sarcasm dripped from the Irishman's tongue. "He got sent back in handcuffs an' then he wa' left ta rot in some high security prison 'til his da could get ham out. Now he's stuck workin' fer his old man."
The redhead winced at her brother's words.
"At least he's free," she countered, trying to put a good spin on the news. The only times Seymour had ever mentioned his homeland was when he was very drunk. His father had been somebody high up in the Romanian government before the revolution and now ran a criminal empire from his home in the Carpathian mountains.
"I don' think he sees it thot way. I have it on good authority thot he's no longer a fan o' yars. So, thanks ta yar big mouth an' Mikey boy's itchy trigger finger, we have no big guns. Oh, I forgot ta mention, Jojo is pissed off at ya fer havin' tha police an' FBI investigating his boathouse an' because he's now bein' watched by every agency wit' initials, he cannae help us out even if he wanted ta."
"So, whatever you had planned is over." Carlos didn't bother to hide his relief at the news. "How about we," he turned his attention to his girlfriend, "take a trip outta town, maybe go to Tallahassee. Lou was sayin' only yesterday he needed somebody to travel up to the capital -"
"No!"
"Ya would have me sister run away?!"
The Glenanne siblings spoke at once, both staring at Fiona's latin lover like he'd lost his mind.
"Not run away, just -" The young man tried to explain how he thought it would be better if they just got out of town for a few days and laid low while the storm died down and they decided what to do. Retreat and regroup was an essential part of urban warfare as he'd understood it back when Carloco was running in the streets of Little Havana. But he was given no time to voice his opinion.
"Ya picked a right one har, little sis," Seamus scowled. "Try talkin' some sense inta yar man while I try ta find somebody willin' ta help us out... Ya really screwed up this time, Fiona. Count yarself lucky tis me thot's har."
Fiona chased after her brother, managing to get in front of him and using the flat of her hands against his chest to bring the taller, heavier man to a halt. "Let me call some of my new contacts. I'll find us some guns."
"Fine. Ya have 'til Pat turns up wit' tha rest o' tha lads." He turned to look back to where his youngest sibling's boyfriend stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. "Ya need ta talk ta thot one, sweetheart, if ya plan on keepin' ham around. Jayzuz, tha next t'ing ya know, he'll be sayin' tis tha law we should be calling in ta handle t'is fer us."
"You're being unfair. Carlos is a good man."
"D'ya hear me denying thot fact? Nah, luv, bein' a good man tis tha problem an' ya know it." He treated her to a penetrating stare. "Otherwise ya woulda told ham who ya really are. Fer god's sakes, Fiona, send ham on his way befer he ends up like thot Kavan fella."
"Carlos understands the situation and he wants to help. I'll nae send ham away just cuz ya don' think he is up ta Glenanne standards." She hated the way all her brothers thought they knew what was best for her and she wasn't about to tell the one man who wanted to be with her to leave.
As she went to walk away, Seamus stopped her. Keeping a firmer hold on her arm, he stepped in closer and lowered his voice. "Sis, whot happened between ye an' McBride? Las' we h'ard, ya wa' as tight as ya had ever been."
"He left me... Again," she snarled, the reminder of Michael's betrayal was bitter indeed. "Fer tha last time this time, Shay! I cannae-" Unable to find the words, she gazed back at her new lover. "I have a fresh start and I'm happy now."
"Aye, luv, keep tellin' yar self thot." He shot her grin to make the sting out of his words and let go of her arm. "Get ta ringin' yar friends then... Hey, Carlos lad, come an' give us a hand loadin' up me car. We gotta long night a head o' us." He lowered his voice so just Fiona could hear him. "See? I can play nice." He winked at her and then turned away, clamping the younger man so hard on the back that he nearly knocked the ex gang banger to his knees.
Ms. Glenanne watched as her boyfriend and brother walked back into the house side by side and suddenly, for the first time in months, she found herself wishing her former lover was there.
Michael would have known what to do. He'd have come up with a plan of action and taken charge.
An' if wishes war horses, beggars would ride, me darlin' girl, as her da used to say.
She closed her eyes and tried to push away the troubling thought that she was settling for second best. Carlos was a good man. He was kind and affectionate and, most important of all, he wanted to be with her. Getting out her cell phone, she scrolled through the numbers. Carlos Cruz wasn't Kavan Daly, nor was he John Campbell. Carlos had the skills necessary to survive if her enemies came calling and, as he had just proven, he wasn't one to be scared off by the threat of automatic gunfire.
Ten minutes later, the redhead made her way over to where Seamus and Carlos were working together loading up the weapons and explosives from her home into the back of the Honda CR-V that her brother had somehow gotten his hands on.
"I gotta lead. Thar's a load o' arms waiting fer shipment thot's being stored at a farm out past Black Point Park. Me contact says thar's automatic rifles, RPGs - an' several crates o' Claymores, all waiting ta be delivered ta some South American warlord." In her excitement at the thought of a dawn raid, the petite redhead's Irish accent had slipped out. It had been nearly six months since she'd had any real action in her life and the thought of going into battle was intoxicating to the reformed freedom fighter.
"And who does this lovely shipment jus' waitin' ta be liberated belong ta?" Seamus queried.
"No need ta get yar knickers in a twist, Shay." She paused, seeing the puzzled look in her lover's eyes, as she realized Carlos had never heard the lilting brogue of her native accent. "The guns belong to a friend of Greyson's, so we're not going to be making any new enemies. This guy already hates us."
"Well, thot's alright then, isn't it?" Seamus beamed. Then he gave his sister's boyfriend a friendly, less forceful slap on the back. "C'mon laddie, let's nae keep tha Queen o' Sheba waiting."
"Queen o' Sheba, is it?" Fiona laughed at the nick-name she had been given by her siblings nearly twenty years earlier after returning home from living the high life in Europe and the Middle East. "An' whot abou' ya, No-Beard-Tha-Pirate?"
"No-Beard, ya remember thot?" he chuckled, rubbing his hand over his stubble covered chin.
It had been back when his oldest child, Pat, had been about two and a half and the twins barely six months old. Seamus had returned home after being away for nearly four months. During that time, he had grown a full beard. But upon returning to the loving arms of his family, all three boys had screamed so loudly and for so long at the sight of the strange man who had entered their room that in the end, his wife Isabelle had demanded he shave it off and promise to never grow another.
"Who could forgit thot? Ya turned up at mammy's house with yar tail between yar legs. Kicked out of yar own home til ya shaved thot monstrosity off." The petite redhead laughed at the memory.
"Yeah, well, me beard might be gone fer good, but ya never lost all yar fancy airs an' graces, did ya? Now give me tha address so I can let tha boys know whar ta meet us."
After supplying her arms dealing relative with the address Rico had given her, Fiona went back into her house to secure it before their departure. Carlos caught up with her just inside the entryway.
"So, what else don't I know about you, mi corazon?" he queried as he wrapped her small frame in his strong tattooed limbs.
Fiona kissed him hard, as much from the desire to deflect the question as the excitement of the coming battle. This was her life now, she told herself firmly. This was the man who was by her-
"Quit snoggin' already and come along, will ya, Fi?" Seamus barked as he barged into the house, interrupting the intertwined pair. "Me boys ar' almost at tha farm, an' Am sure they'll be no better at followin' orders than ya wa' at their age." He nodded towards the open door. "Let's get thar befer all hell breaks loose, shall we?"
But as it turned out, all hell had indeed broken loose well before their arrival.
