(A/N: Hey everybody I've finished part two of Sins of our Fathers, once again sorry I had to do that, in my personal opinion it was kind of a dick move but it was necessary because A: It was taking too long to get this chapter out and B: It was getting too long. Alright that's enough yapping let's get to the main event.)
Chapter 22: Sins of our Fathers Part 2
By the time morning came Dallas had finally returned to the safehouse where he found Marinette and Adrien sitting at the table having breakfast. After walking through the front door Dallas could see the two of them were both in a different kind of mood once he'd finally returned. Adrien began to greet Dallas with a small joke. "Hey bro, glad you could finally…"
"Where the hell have you been?" Marinette asked with venom in her voice as she interrupted her lover.
Dallas simply responded coldly as he didn't like her tone. "Out, that's where I was, and with Valentina in case you were wondering."
"Oh I assumed it was with her, because if it was with anyone it would be that crazy Russian bitch." Marinette replied as she crossed her arms.
Dallas just narrowed his eyes onto her and growled. "Choose your next words very carefully Mari."
Sensing this would turn ugly very quickly Adrien attempted to be the voice of reason. "Okay guys I think we all need to take a step back and just…"
"Adrien, stay the fuck out of this, this is between me and her." Dallas ordered as he just glared at Marinette and she glared at him.
Marinette then stood up from her seat and walked around the table to meet him so she could yell right in his face. "How the hell could you possibly want anything to do with her after last night Dallas? Especially after she tried to kill Adrien!"
"She wasn't trying to kill Adrien and you know it you little brat! Sure she screwed up but in the end it didn't matter because we got what we needed and Adrien survived!" Dallas fired back not backing down in the least.
"You know when you first told me that Valentina was an assassin I was a bit nervous to be around her but I was willing to give her a chance sense you knew her better than anyone, but I guess a snake is still a snake no matter how you pretty it up. I should've known that she couldn't be trusted, but then again what was I expecting? Especially sense she chose to be an assassin." Marinette spat angrily.
"You think she chose this life?!" Dallas yelled at the top of his lungs. "You wanna know why she became the woman she is today? You wanna know why she lost her cool last night and acted so rash? I'll tell you why, it's because that fucker killed her parents and her very first love when she was only seven years old. He killed her dad just so he could see who was the deadlier of the two, he killed her mom just because she got in the way, and as for the boy she loved…he was just trying to save her life when she worked up the nerve to avenge her parents. Bottom line Mari she's been trying to avenge her family and this boy for years all because this asshole wanted to go down in history as the deadliest man who ever lived. Could she have done better than what she did? Yes of course she could've, but the truth of the fucking matter is not all of us have perfect fucking lives when we don't have to worry about someone trying to put a bullet in the back of our heads every five minutes. Some of us have to worry about someone else trying to kill us, all she was trying to do was clean up the mess she'd made so many years ago, one that was long overdue to be cleaned up. I mean put yourself in her shoes Mari, what if it were your parents? What if what you wanted to do the most was avenge them more than anything that your emotions got the better of you? Can you honestly say that you wouldn't act the same way she did last night?"
Marinette couldn't exactly fault Valentina for wanting justice for her parents let alone her first love, but she still couldn't excuse her for shooting Adrien in the neck with a poisoned dart. "Be that as it may Dallas she still did something incredibly stupid to get what she wanted and it could've killed Adrien."
"You think she's the only one in the world who's done stupid shit like this to get what she wanted?! You don't know what it's like to be a part of this life Mari, some of us have to deal with a bunch of bullshit that we just want to put an end to it all! I know why she did it Mari because I did the exact same stupid thing to get what I wanted and it blew up in my god damn face!" Dallas shouted back, he didn't want it to come to this, but he knew there was no way to get Marinette to back off. Suddenly there was a silent pause in the room, no one uttered so much as a whisper. Dallas then sat down at the table and just let out an exhausted sigh.
"Dallas, are you okay?" Adrien asked as he put a hand on his shoulder.
Dallas just closed his eyes as he prepared himself to tell his foster brother his darkest secret, and greatest shame. "Adrien, I think it's time to tell you that secret I promised you. It…should help bring a few things into perspective." He said with a neutral tone.
Shadow range reservation, Arizona, seven years ago…
It was late July, the time was close to four in the afternoon, Dallas was practicing his tomahawk and knife fighting with his grandfather in his garage as he always did when visiting his grandfather's house. And as usual his grandfather was putting Dallas in his place as his teacher in the old ways as he'd knocked him down for what had to be the tenth time. His grandfather simply laughed as Dallas looked up at him from the flat of his back. "Why do I even bother with this grandpa?" Dallas asked with frustration knowing that he could never beat his grandfather no matter how much he practiced.
"You have the fire of a bull buffalo but none of the intelligence of a wolf that's why." His grandfather replied as he offered a hand to Dallas to help him stand.
"What the heck does that even mean?" Dallas asked again as he stood up. "Half the stuff you and the other elders tell me don't even make sense."
His grandfather just sighed and said. "Because you don't listen to their words, what it means is you have passion for the fight but you lack the necessary wisdom to win."
"I still don't follow you grandpa." Dallas replied as he dusted himself off.
His grandfather simply knelt down in front of him and asked again. "Tell me Dallas, how does the cunning wolf catch his pray?"
Dallas then answered to the best of his knowledge. "Easy, he runs it down until he catches it."
"No!" His grandfather replied as he swatted Dallas on the back of his head. "He out thinks it, by running it into more and more of his kin until the pray makes a mistake in which the wolf will exploit it and bring him down. Thus earning him the kill."
Dallas just gave a stern look and stated. "Last time I checked the owl represented wisdom in our culture."
"The point I'm trying to make Dallas is that you need to out think me if you want to win, you need to be smarter than your opponent before you can beat him." His grandfather replied.
"That's easy for you to say, your about as smart as ten wolves." Dallas stated, then he realized his words didn't exactly sound very respectful and tried to take them back. "Wait that came out wrong."
"No it's alright…" His grandfather replied as he waved off his comment. "I understand what you meant." From outside of his grandfather's garage the elder and young Lakota both heard the cackling of Dallas's older brother Simon. He clearly saw the whole duel and found it quite humorous.
"Looks like you got your butt kicked again little bro." Simon snickered not even trying to store his laughter.
"Oh as if you'd do any better." Dallas retorted as he crossed his arms. "At least I'm still practicing, when was the last time you actually practiced in the old ways let alone worked out in the last month?"
Simon just strutted into the garage and replied with way too much confidence for his own good. "I don't need to practice anything, I'm just naturally gifted."
Their grandfather just hummed at his eldest grandson's comment then he said plainly. "Alright then, if what you say is true then fight your brother."
Dallas's eyes just shot open as he turned to his grandfather uttering only one word. "What?"
Simon started to chuckle at his Grandpa's comment. "Are you sure Grandpa?" There grandfather simply nodded his head and said. "If you can beat your brother then you can stop training. If you cannot then you have to start training again at least once a day."
Dallas then grabbed his grandfather and pulled him down to whisper in his ear. "What are you doing?"
His grandfather simply turned to him and said. "I know you can beat your brother, because you have something he does not. That is passion and wisdom. That is only if you put your mind to it."
Dallas then groaned and asked. "WHY CAN'T YOU EVER JUST MAKE SCENSE?"
"Let me be more direct then…Your brother is like a cougar…" His grandfather said, before Dallas interrupted. "He prays on YOUNG BOYS?"
Simon's eyes shot open in surprise, but you could just see in his soul that he was more shocked than anything. Their grandfather just started to rub his eyes as he sighed and said. "You've been spending too much time with your father." As he turned back to Dallas to finish the statement that he already started. "Like I mentioned he is like a cougar large, bold, and defiant. But, he is also loud and obnoxious."
"HEY!" Simon whined at the top of his lungs. "Which you can easily use to your advantage my young brave." Dallas then looked over to his brother and took a deep breath and let it out slowly to gather his confidence. "Now both of you take your stances."
Upon hearing his order both boys grabbed a practice knife and tomahawk and took their fighting stances. Simon just looked at his brother and grinned over confident in himself thinking that he could win easily. Though Dallas was slightly nervous to face down his older brother. Then he mentally reminded himself, out think him and you will find his weakness, just like grandfather said, just wait until he makes a mistake and STRIKE. Their grandfather raised his hand to signal to get ready, and then in a quick movement he dropped his hand to signify that the battle was to begin. Simon rushed his brother with the native battle cry of his people, with his tomahawk raised above his head and knife at his side, just a few feet away from Dallas the younger Lakota dodged to the right side and forced his brother's strike to hit nothing but the air in front of him.
That was when Dallas noticed his chance to strike. For his brother made the fatal mistake to leave his left flank exposed for the perfect attack. Without hesitation he used his quick reflexes to use the knife to jab the back of Simon's knee which force the older Lakota to drop like a buffalo that had just been shot by a noble hunter. Then he quickly whipped around and hooked his tomahawk around his brother's neck forcing him to the ground where it gave him the chance to give his final blow into his brother's chest. Simon simply looked up at his brother from his back in shock as he could hardly believe that the young Lakota could take him down with such ease. Simon says, "HOLY SHIT, HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?"
(A/N: Yes that Simon says line was intentional. It was too good to pass up. But credit has to go to my future sister in law, or current sister in law, it just depends on how long it's been after she and my brother got married for whoever is reading this chapter.)
Before he could answer their grandfather started to slowly clap with pleasure at the site that he hoped to see. "Very good…It's like I told you young brave, wait for an opening and strike. You have done well today Dallas, though for you Simon you owe me one session of training each day or until you can take me down as easily as Dallas did you."
Simon just sighed at the same time as he groaned. "Okay fine, so I guess I'm a little out of practice."
"More like a lot cuz I just kicked your butt all the way to next Sunday." Dallas added a bit cocky. "Now excuse me while I break dance." Dallas quickly started off by doing the water sprinkler, he would've continued if his brother hadn't put him in a head lock and started giving him a nugy. "HEY SIMON CUT IT OUT!"
"If you're so tough then why don't you make me dude?" The older Lakota boy asked as he just kept up his joke. He kept on grinding his knuckles into his brother's head until their grandfather finally broke them up.
"Enough, really Simon act your age for once in your life." The old Lakota stated as he pulled the boys apart.
"Oh come on dad boys will be boys." A voice stated from the entrance of the garage, standing there in the driveway was none other than Dallas and Simon's father Maxwell Clearlake dressed in a casual denim jacket, orange shirt and regular blue jeans and a pair of snake skin boots to complete the look. It would seem he was there to simply collect the boys. "You gotta let them have their fun, I mean you remember how Seth and I used to go at it right?" Usually Max would get a response from his father, but he already knew what his son was getting the boys for as he was one of the few who truly knew about Max's 'hobby'.
"Hello Max, here to get the boys I see." He said with a stoic stance and steely gaze.
Max just chuckled at his father, even though he was being totally serious. "That's it? Just 'Hello Max here to get the boys I see, look at me I'm Flying-Feather Clearlake the great patriarch of our family bow down and kiss my buckskin moccasins because I'm a grumpy old badger'." He said doing a horrible impression of his father while making a joke which was clearly in poor taste.
"Is this truly how you address your father my son? Like a child?" The old Lakota asked twice with a stern and cold look.
"Come on dad learn to lighten up will you? Look I know it's been tough for you sense mom died but living life with a stick stuck up your butt isn't anyway to live." Max replied, somehow his father seemed to look even angrier with him. "What's with the look? It's not like I've killed anybody."
"Knowing you you probably did." Flying-Feather stated coldly making it very clear that he didn't approve of his eldest son's secret which wasn't so secret to him, but even though he wanted to he never called the police and told them about his illegal life style.
Max just sighed as he replied. "Dad I might do things that most people would frown upon…"
"No, you do things that everyone would frown upon. It's bad enough that you're a criminal but to bring your sons into it is irresponsible." Flying-Feather interrupted. "If you truly loved your sons you would give up this life, or at the very least you wouldn't drag them into this and let them live normal lives."
"Speak for yourself grandpa…" Simon stated plainly, clearly he was on his father's side when it came to the lifestyle of a master thief. "Dad's teaching us things that'll get us what ever we want in life and we love him for it too, right little bro?"
Dallas just remained silent as he looked away from both his brother and his father, when he first started learning the basics of being a thief he mainly did it to earn his father's approval like any impressionable child would do with their parents. At first Dallas didn't mind it, until karma played it's hand in the most unexpected of ways. It all happened after his father had first taught him how to pickpocket, which Dallas had executed flawlessly after stealing the wallet of a wealthy business investor in Huston Texas, within the wallet was a cashiers check for three-thousand dollars, which was written out for a heart transplant surgery. The guilt instantly began to well up within him after words, he knew what he had to do was return the check to the bank it came from but before he even got the chance his father had taken the check and spent it all on the boys for a whole week at Cedar point. What should've been a fun filled time for Dallas turned into an eternal memory of guilt and grief for him leaving him to forever wonder if who ever needed that check survived. The only one he ever told about what he'd done was his grandfather, whom in all honesty was more disappointed in his son rather than his grandson for doing what he did with money which was meant to save someone else's life.
Just as Dallas was about to correct his brother their father interrupted him. "Look dad, if the boys don't have a problem with it then don't worry about it."
"Hmph…" The old man mumbled in disapproval. "You're beyond help let alone reason, just too clouded by the fog of your own ambition that you can't even see the truth standing in front of you."
"Okay that was my nice way of saying dad, don't tell me how to raise my kids." Max added before he turned to the boys. "Come on boys, let's go. We've got a long drive ahead of us."
Dallas had a bad feeling that his father had something illegal in mind for the boys, so he asked his father directly. "Where are we going Dad?"
"St Louis, gonna go pay a little visit to the national history museum while we're there, as a part of your birthday kid-o." Max replied as he smiled at his son.
This was his father's way of saying he was going to bring Dallas along on his first big heist, the first of many if he'd guess correctly. Dallas quickly tried to think of an excuse to get himself out of this situation if he could. "Uh…yeah…I don't think that's a good idea dad. I mean mom will probably be coming to get me in a few days to take me to L.A. and…"
"Don't worry about it Dallas, I already called your mom and she's gonna meet us there. Now come on let's get back to the house and start packing up I wanna get there by Wednesday." Max said interrupting his youngest son.
Before they left the garage Flying-Feather placed his hands on Dallas's shoulders as he came up from behind him and said. "Actually I need Dallas to help me put away some of my training equipment, there's only so much I can do at my age."
"We don't have time to waste dad. Dallas come on let's go." Max stated as he reached for his son to lead him by the wrist back to his house. Only for his own father to deny him again.
"It'll only take a few minutes, and you don't have to leave just this second do you?" He asked bluntly.
But Max refused to give him so much as an inch. "Dad, I know what you're trying to do and it's not gonna work. He's my son so I get…" Before he could finish his statement Flying-Feather quickly interrupted him with an authoritive tone.
"And your my son, and the head of this family which means you have to do as I tell YOU to do. And I'm telling you this, go and pack your things while my grandson helps me put away my equipment." He stated with a firm tone.
Simon understood what his father was talking about and quickly tried to help him get his way. "I could help you grandpa, I might even do it a little quicker." He offered trying to look as innocent as he could.
Flying-Feather turned back to his eldest grandson and said with the same firm tone. "If I wanted help from a prideful little brat I'd have asked for you Simon. Now go and pack your things with your father."
Max simply narrowed his eyes on his father as he did the same onto his son, then Max pulled his eldest son off as they both walked away. "You know sooner or later you'll find yourself in a situation the old ways can't help you win dad." He said almost bitterly.
"Maybe…but until that day comes you'll do well to remember your place my son." His father called back to Max as he and Simon walked away. "Just as much a fool as ever." Dallas was thankful that his grandfather's role in the family gave him a little more power over his father in accordance to their traditions in the tribe. But not even that was enough to keep Dallas from being forced to become a thief under the guidance of his own father. After putting away the rest of the equipment Dallas found himself dreading whatever it was that his father had planned for him and his brother.
"Can't you just tell him he can't take me with him?" Dallas asked his grandfather as they stood in the garage waiting for his father to return. "I don't want to help him with this, I don't want to be like my dad."
Flying-Feather sighed as he answered his grandson. "I wish I could my young brave, but my power over him only extends so far."
"There's got to be a way for me to get out of this, maybe I could pretend to be sick and he won't take me." Dallas theorized briefly. "Oh who am I kidding, he'd never buy that."
"Dallas, I might not be able to help you save your future but you can." Flying-Feather addressed his grandson.
"But how? How can I get my dad to wake up and realize that I don't want this life?" Dallas asked as he hid his face in the palms of his hands.
"The way I see it Dallas you have two options before you, you can always tell your father that you don't want to be a thief, or you could do the one thing that I'm clearly not strong enough to do and tell the police about him." Flying-Feather replied as he placed a comforting hand on his grandson's back.
Dallas looked up to his grandfather with a scared expression. "You make it sound so easy. But I couldn't do that to my dad, I just couldn't call the cops on him."
"Then you only have one option, tell him the truth. Tell him you don't want to be a thief." The old Lakota said looking Dallas in the eye.
"I can't do that either, it'll break his heart if I do that." Dallas said shooting down his only other option as well.
"Dallas…" Flying-Feather began to ask as he sensed there was more to this situation than he was letting on. "What's the real reason you won't confront your father about this?"
Dallas swallowed hard as he tried his best to let the truth out. "I'm…I'm scared, I'm scared that he won't understand what I want is just to be a regular kid. I know that it's too late for Simon but I'm still far from actually enjoying this kind of life style and I'd rather keep it that way. But I'm not brave enough to tell my dad the way things are because…I don't want him to hate me."
Flying-Feather then asked in a stern voice. "Dallas, do you know why our ancestors called our greatest warriors braves?" Dallas simply shook his head no just before his grandfather continued. "Because that's what they were, brave, meaning that they were brave enough to face our enemies on the field of battle regardless if they were afraid of death, because even they had fears, if they didn't fear anything they would be known as fearless, which though an ideal thing to be is impossible to be. The point I'm trying to make Dallas is that you must be brave enough to face this fear and do not run from it. Whatever you do is up to you in the end, but know this my grandson, no matter what happens I will be there for you."
The way his grandfather said it made perfect sense to him for once, but he was still worried how his brother would react to this. "But what about Simon?" He asked with concern.
"Never mind how your brother will feel about this Dallas, all that matters is what you decide in the end, once you've made that choice you must remain fully committed to it until the end." His grandfather replied as he gave Dallas a loving hug. "May Wakan Tankan watch over your soul my grandson."
Once his father had returned with their truck Dallas offered his grandfather one last goodbye before being inevitably taken to St. Louis Missouri. As Max had hoped they had arrived to St. Louis sometime during Wednesday, after checking into the hotel Max and the boys headed straight to the museum to scope out anything that looked valuable enough to steal, they combed over exhibit after exhibit until they finally found what Max was looking for. "There it is boys…" He said as he beckoned for his sons to follow him into an exhibit dedicated to the middle east. The artifact on display was one that his father had his eyes on for a long time but could never get it without a crew he could trust, and what better crew could he ask for more than his own flesh and blood.
"Whoooooooooa…" Simon Exclaimed as he approached the glass case protecting the artifact. It was a kind of crown or a head piece crafted to look like a pair of angelic wings, it was made of pure gold encrusted with hundreds of tiny amethysts. "The wings of Allah, said to be well over seven hundred years old. Once the soul property of a noble family until it was lost during the British crusades on the middle east during the dark ages. Worth millions to the right buyer."
Max smiled at his eldest son and said. "Someone's been doing his homework I see." He then turned to his younger son and asked. "How about it kid-o, you wanna try nabbing this as your first caper?" Dallas just looked away from him nervously trying to avoid the question as well as mentally psych himself up to tell his father that he wanted nothing to do with this line of work. But before he even got a chance his father just decided for him. "Okay I get it it's hard to narrow down the list of what you want to nab, I guess it's settled then, come Friday morning we'll be set for life kids. This is the big score, one last job and we're out."
Dallas already knew this was just a lie, but he wasn't quite sure if his father was lying to them or to himself, not that it mattered. Dallas knew he had to put a stop to this whole thing before it was too late. The following night Max and Simon had started to prepare for the heist packing up all their usual things they needed such as night vision goggles, lock picks, glass cutters, code cloners, blow torches and in case there was a guard dog, dog treats laced with a tranquilizer to knock them out. But as extra reassurance Max always brought along a gun just in case he needed to. "If we leave now then we can get the crown while the evening traffic is just about to start on all the main streets, that'll force the cops to take the long way to try and get us. But what they won't know is we'll be long gone by the time they get there." Max stated as he started to go over the plan one more time. "Alright, boys what are your roles again?"
Simon answered his father first. "I'm the look out just in case if somebody who's not supposed to be here sticks their nose where it doesn't belong." He sounded a little upset that he didn't actually get to partake in the job this time, mainly because Dallas had just turned ten years old earlier that week and Max felt as though Dallas deserved to be on point with his father for this job.
"Good, Dallas remember your task?" Max asked as he turned toward Dallas, who didn't seem interested in this at all. Thinking he wasn't paying attention Max called his name a little louder. "Dallas! What's your job for this again?"
Dallas finally looked up to his father and let out a sigh, it's now or never, he said mentally. "Dad, what if…we didn't pull this job after all? I mean…do we really need to do this?" He asked somewhat nervously.
"Listen Dallas, we came all the way out here for one reason and one reason alone and that was to welcome you into the fold with your first job." Max replied as he patted him on the shoulder. "Now what was your job again?"
Dallas just sighed knowing it was pointless to even bother arguing with him. "I hack the cameras to loop old footage and shut down all security alarms in the building along with the security gates. Then it's a straight shot to the crown and back to where we get in from on the south side where the get away car will be waiting for us."
"Great, alright boys…" Max put a hand on each of his sons shoulders and said with a smile. "Let's go steal us a million dollar crown." While Simon and his father simply shared a smile Dallas just looked away from them knowing that he had no choice anymore, the decision was made for him and all he could do was pray he wouldn't regret what he was about to do. About an hour after the traffic started to pick up the Clearlakes all entered the museum through the south side of the building after Dallas had hacked the cameras and opened all the security gates, Max lead the boys down the hall to the exhibit where their prize waited for them. "Alright boys time to split up, Simon take your lookout point and warn us if anyone's coming, Dallas your with me."
"Uhm…actually dad I…kind of need to use the bathroom real quick." Dallas said trying to stall for time.
"Are you kidding me?" Simon asked with annoyance. "Why didn't you go before we left the hotel you idiot?"
Dallas just turned back to his brother and said. "I didn't have to go then."
"Oh for the love of…can't you hold it until afterwards?" Max asked just as annoyed.
Dallas then made a face that looked almost painful. "Dad please!" He said as he started to bounce a little bit to try and sell it.
Max just sighed and said. "Fine, but make it quick we're on a time crunch." Without another word from Dallas he went into the nearest men's room to try and stall for as long as he could.
Simon then looked over to his father and asked. "Do you think he's lying?"
"Nah, he's probably just nervous, and he should be too. It's his first big job, but he'll get used to it." Max replied as he waited for his younger son to exit the bathroom while Simon headed off to do his job. He waited for Dallas for what seemed to be an eternity, he looked at his watch and saw that they were already two minutes behind schedule. "That's it he's wasted enough time." Max said slightly annoyed as he marched over to the men's room door, just as he was about to enter he saw it opening slowly as Dallas came out. "Jesus did you fall in or something?"
"Well sorry but you're the one who decided we should have Mexican for lunch remember?" Dallas fired back as he crossed his arms.
"Don't you sass me, now get moving we're behind schedule." Max stated as he ushered Dallas along toward the exhibit, he took a brief second to call Simon over their coms. "Simon, anything to report?" But to his astonishment he didn't hear his response. "Simon do you copy?" He called again but still heard nothing.
"Maybe his batteries are dead." Dallas theorized. "You know how he always forgets to charge his com like he's supposed to do."
Max just groaned as he and his son continued forward, they hadn't even gotten to their score yet and they were already hitting a bump in the road. "It's fine, I'm sure if we hurry we can just get to the crown it won't matter. Come on let's go." He said as he hurried along toward the crown, as soon as they'd gotten to the thresh hold of the exhibit Max's mood suddenly changed thinking that things were finally looking up again, that is until he tripped the alarm. Once he did the security gate dropped and the alarm started to sound. Max quickly turned to his youngest son and cried. "I thought you said you shut off the alarms!"
"I was sure I did!" Dallas yelled back, knowing that there was no turning back now that the die had been cast.
"Did you screw up the hack? God damn it how could you have...? Never mind, grab the blow torches and start cutting!" Max ordered, mainly because Dallas was the one carrying the heist equipment, but as soon as Dallas opened the bag police started to drop in from the skylights in the sealing dressed in full body armor. Knowing that it didn't matter anymore Max turned to his son and shouted. "RUN DALLAS! GET BACK TO THE CAR WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!" Dallas didn't hesitate and took off down the hall running through every single security gate with his father close behind, which puzzled Max slightly as he had no idea why they weren't engaging as they ran through them. He started to get suspicious. "Wait a second…" He started to wonder how this could be possible for the police to get their so quickly without them having so much as a clue of what they were doing. "Did someone tip them off? But who?" Just as they rounded the corner to the hall they'd entered the museum in another security gate came down blocking their escape route. "No-no-no-no-no-NO!" He shouted with frustration as he pounded once on the gate. "Come on, we've got to get to the back up exit. SIMON IF YOU CAN HERE ME THE COPS ARE HERE WE'VE GOTTA GO!"
About a few seconds later the police came running down the hall towards Max and Dallas. "SLPD, PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND SURRENDER! DO IT NOW!" An officer ordered as he and all other police officers aimed their guns at Max.
"FAT CHANCE OF THAT PIG!" Max shouted as he tossed a smoke bomb at the police to try and by them time to escape. They started running down another hallway toward another exit only for another security gate to block off their escape. "SHIT! Come on to the loading area!" They managed to get in to the loading area where trucks would come in to deliver new artifacts. "Could it have been dad?" Max continued to theorize to himself who could've outed their job to the police. "No there's no way, he didn't know the plan, there's no way it could've been the boys, Simon was on look out and Dallas was…" He paused for a moment as he started to put his mind to work. He knew that there was no way Dallas could've screwed up the hack, especially sense he learned how to hack from the best in the business, in fact he was so good there was never a chance for him to leave a trace for anyone to follow. Which made him the most likely suspect. But he chose to confront him about it later while he tried to make his escape.
Which sadly didn't seem to be possible as the police had cop cars pulling up in force, the sound of sirens filled the surrounding area as they came towards the back door. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND SURRENDER!" Another officer yelled again.
Max just felt the sting of betrayal finally start to sink in. "My son, my own flesh and blood, Dallas, how could you do this to me?" He said as he turned to his son finally accepting the truth.
Dallas just looked up at his father and said. "I tried to tell you dad, but you just wouldn't listen. I didn't want to be a thief like you."
"But then why did you agree to let me teach you the ropes?" Max asked with confusion.
"Because I just wanted to make you proud of me, I only wanted your approval, but after I picked that one man's pocket back in Huston I knew this wasn't the life for me." Dallas replied as he stared his father in the eye.
Max then frowned his brow and said sounding angry. "So to get out of this you chose to stab me and your brother in the back?! How could you do this to us?! And why?! This was supposed to be our last job!"
"Of course it was dad! Until you found an even bigger score then that would be our last job, and so would the next one and the next one and the next one!" Dallas shouted back. "The point I'm trying to make is that there's no such thing as a last job to you dad."
Max just glared at his son with anger. "At least tell me how you did it! You owe me that much!" He demanded furiously.
"I contacted the police a day before the heist so they could prepare, as for the gates I just made a well timed hack so they'd engage if you tried to steal the crown. But I saw that it would take too long for them to reactivate so I had to stall for time until they came back on line. As for Simon and the coms, I switched both your channels while we were still in the van at the last minute so you couldn't talk to each other and so he couldn't warn you they were here." Dallas replied without so much as a hint of regret of what he'd done.
"I can't believe you!" Max shouted at his son. "I taught you everything you'd ever need to know in order to survive in this cruel unforgiving world and this is how you repay me?!"
Dallas just shouted back at him. "I just wanted a normal life! But you wouldn't let me have that, so I did what I had to do! Now for the last time, just surrender and don't make this harder than it needs to be." At this point he didn't care anymore if he made it out alive, because he wasn't going to spend the rest of his life in prison. He preferred what his ancestors would've chosen over imprisonment, to go out fighting. Max then started to walk out the door towards the police not even looking at Dallas. Who then asked. "What are you doing?"
He paused for a moment as he turned back to his son and said. "This is it, my good death." Without another word Max quickly whipped around as he pulled his gun and started to fire aimlessly at the police, gunfire filled the air drowning out the sound of the police sirens.
"DAD!" He cried as he ran over to his father, he fell to his knees as he took his father in his arms. He'd hoped that he was still alive, that he could be saved, but upon looking at his father's chest he knew such luck wasn't possible. Dallas looked upon his father's face, it was a look of pure pain, the pain of being betrayed by his own son. Dallas couldn't hold back the tears any longer, in that moment he started to cry as he held his father in his arms. From that moment on Dallas would never forgive himself for what he'd done, all he wanted was his freedom from the life his father intended for him. And he got it, at the price of his father's life, and his brother's freedom.
Present day…
As his story finally came to a close Dallas both looked and felt emotionally drained. "About a day later mom finally got to St. Louis and I told her everything, my brother went to jail and my dad was sent back to the reservation in a pine box. And ever sense then my life has been a never ending shit show one after another, three years after that my grandpa died, I was kidnapped and nearly raped and killed, I watched as my mother died slowly from cancer, and to top all of that off my own uncle abandoned me in my time of need and let the government put me in foster care, and the rest…is history." He stated as he hung his head in shame.
No one dared say a word the entire time he spoke, not Adrien, Marinette, Tikki, Plagg, not even Spizz said anything. After hearing what Dallas had been subjected to by his own doing they finally understood just how hard his life truly was. "I had no idea…" Marinette said finally ending the awkward silence. "I guess after everything you've both gone through…it's a little easier to understand where you're coming from."
"Now that you know how hard it is to let go of the past, do you understand now why she lost it? Do you understand just how hard it is to move on from something like that?" Dallas asked twice as he finally looked up at her.
Marinette just sighed knowing that she couldn't be angry at Valentina for this anymore, nor could she be mad at Dallas either, it seemed at first she only saw her actions to be that of a selfish nature but in reality they were just fueled by pain and regret, which was something that even Dallas understood. "I guess I do now, now that I think about it…I guess I was a bit harsh." She said feeling some regret for everything she'd said. "But she still shouldn't have done what she did, that much she has to apologize for."
Dallas nodded his head and said. "Believe me she will, but when she has the strength to do it though. Right now isn't the best time for her."
Adrien was glad that Dallas was finally opening up, he felt as though they'd actually grown closer than they'd ever been sense he'd moved in. But there was one thing he was still concerned about. "Does your brother know? About…what you did I mean." He asked timidly.
Dallas just sighed as he replied. "No, and he can never know about what I've done, which is why I've never told anyone about what happened that night up until now. Which is why I'm trusting you both to keep this to yourselves understand? You cannot tell another soul about this."
Marinette placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said softly. "Your secret is safe with us." After finally settling down Dallas went into the living room to see the morning news. He wasn't surprised to see the top story was about Chloe getting arrested, though he was surprised to see she was only being covered by a blanket. He inwardly laughed at her expense finding it far too hilarious not to laugh at.
But that quickly disappeared when he heard mention of their classmate Milan then seeing a picture of her showing her in the intensive care unit. From what the news anchor had said she had been throwing up blood due to some kind of drug overdose. He may not have known her for long but he didn't know her to be a drug addict let alone someone who used drugs on a daily basis. She didn't even seem like the type to use drugs. Which just confused him completely, until he remembered one little thing he'd somehow over looked from the night before, the cupcakes. He started putting together the pieces and ultimately came to the conclusion that she'd overdosed on peyote and was paying for it. It didn't take long for either Adrien or Marinette to figure it out either as they were just a few feet away from the TV. Feeling mostly responsible for this Dallas felt he was obligated to go to the hospital and help her if he could. But that's when he realized that he'd left his bag of healing herbs back at the mansion, which meant he had to return to the mansion in order to help her. After all three of them had transformed they all took off towards the mansion with Ladybug and Cat Noir acting as an escort for Iktomi.
Little did they know there was already someone inside the mansion, Natalie and Simon were there in the attempt to collect more butterflies for Hawkmoth. "We'll have to be quick, the more time we waste the more likely someone will notice we're here." Natalie voiced as she marched with a basket in hand to transport the butterflies.
"I can't believe your boss actually farms butterflies, but I guess that's a lot easier than just going out and catching a million or so of them over the weekend." Simon stated as he followed her into Gabriel's office. That is until she stopped him.
"You stay out here, I need someone to tell me if anyone's coming." She stated firmly.
Simon just frowned as he started to complain. "Seriously? Your sticking me on lookout duty, so lame."
"Stop complaining and do as you're told, I'll be back in five minutes. And DON'T…touch…anything. My employer has cameras all over this mansion. So if you take anything he'll know." She ordered firmly as she turned back into the office and closed the door behind her.
Simon just frowned his brow and just stuck out his tongue at her from behind the door. "Bitch." He voiced as he assumed the position of watchdog. "I've been free for a whole week and I still haven't gotten to see my brother, like he promised I would, nor have I even had so much as a break from trying to read that damn book, aside from this shit but still. I'm starting to think he's taking advantage of me."
Around that point Simon decided to confront Gabriel about it and he just called his cellphone to complain to him. "Do you need something Mr. Clearlake?" Gabriel asked sounding very uninterested in talking to him.
"Yeah I need something, why the hell haven't you let me try and find my little brother yet?" He asked bitterly. "You're happy little French ass promised me that as soon as we got here you'd let me go see him, well we're here and I still haven't been allowed to go and see Dallas so when the HELL am I…"
"MR. CLEARLAKE…" Gabriel shouted on his end of the phone. "First off, you will not speak to me like that ever again. And second, you will be allowed to see you're brother soon enough, but only when it's safe for you to do so. Need I remind you that you're a wanted man? Once we've gotten you a false identity you will be allowed to find Dallas and do what ever it is you wish to do with your brother, am I clear?"
Simon just growled as he replied. "Transparently…" Then he hung up. "Damn old geezer, as soon as I find Dallas the first guy we dick over is you Mr. B, think you're so much better than us, well I'll show you what happens when you fuck with the Clearlakes."
Just outside of the mansion the trio of heroes landed in the driveway of the mansion and quickly detransformed just in case if they happened to be seen by anyone in there costumes, after quickly feeding their kwamis they all headed up to the front door. But just before Adrien made the attempt to unlock it with his spare key Dallas grabbed him and pointed to the car parked in the driveway. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that car belongs to your dad." He voiced as he pointed to a green Sedan which he'd never seen before.
Adrien turned to both Marinette and Dallas and said. "Someone's here, be ready." He slowly turned the door knob and found that it was unlocked, as he'd expected. While he did that Marinette quickly called 9-1-1 just in case.
"Don't worry dude…" Dallas reassured as he pulled a couple of knives. "I'm ready for anything." As Adrien slowly opened the door Dallas's jaw just dropped as he saw the very last person he'd ever expect to see in the mansion. "Except for that, I was not ready for that."
Simon's attention was drawn over to the door where he heard a voice, he turned and his face grew a giant smile as he caught sight of his younger brother. "DALLAS!" He cheered as he ran over to his brother and wrapped him in a crushing hug. "It's been too damn long." Simon simply cried tears of joy as he was finally reunited with his brother.
"Simon…can't…breathe!" Dallas squeaked as best he could while his brother had him wrapped in the tightest bear hug he'd ever been in. Finally Simon let him go and just gave his brother a look over.
"Holy shit you've really grown up little bro, you've really changed too. What did you develop a biker fetish or something? And when did you get that scar on your face?" Simon joked as he mocked Dallas's look.
Dallas just groaned. "Why does everybody assume I have a thing for bikers." He said shaking his head.
"Maybe it's because you dress like one?" Adrien added as he stood beside the two brothers also puzzled as to why and more interestingly how Simon was even there with them, he also found it rather convenient that they were in the same place at the same time.
Simon just turned his attention to Adrien for a brief second then turned back to Dallas. "Who's this pampered little woose?" He asked while pointing a thumb to Adrien.
"Excuse me?!" Adrien growled as he was about to get up in Simon's face and show him what for, but Dallas just stood in between them as he didn't want his foster brother nor his half-brother getting into a fight.
"Simon, this is my foster brother Adrien Agreste, he's also a very close friend of mine so please show him respect. Adrien, this is my brother Simon, you know the one I told you about." Dallas introduced the two of them to each other hoping things wouldn't get much worse.
Simon then began to recognize the young blond standing next to his brother. But he had to play dumb as it was apart of his agreement that he remained as discreet as possible. "Oh, sorry about that. Usually my brother and I only hang out with people from OUR side of the tracks."
"Uh…no problem." Adrien said back as he crossed his arms, he would've asked him how it was he was in Paris but Dallas beat him to it.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked bluntly, if he'd finished serving his sentence Dallas would've been much more enthusiastic about seeing his brother again. But he knew for a fact that Simon was sentenced to a full fifteen years imprisonment and he'd only served seven years in total.
Simon just looked at Dallas with confusion and asked. "That's all I get for a greeting? Just what are you doing here? No 'oh my god Simon I've missed you' or 'holy shit big bro I can't believe you're here' not even a 'how-how Simon it's great to see you' just a big fat what are you doing here?"
"Well I'd be a bit more welcoming if I didn't come to the conclusion that you probably broke out of prison, which I'm almost 100% sure that you did." Dallas added sternly.
Simon just bit his bottom lip as he tried to think of what he'd say very carefully. "Well…your…not…too far off the mark there." He replied honestly.
Dallas just narrowed his eyes as he stated with disapproval. "Mm-hm, just as I'd thought. Now what are you doing here?"
Simon just put his hands on Dallas's shoulders and asked back. "Do you really think I need a reason to want to see my little brother after not being able to see him after all these years? The first thing I wanted to do after getting out of prison was to come and see you Dallas."
"Is that why you're here then? Just to say hi?" Dallas asked again as he gave him a cautious look. "Or are you just here to try and ask me to help you restart dad's gang and pick up where we'd left off?"
Simon paused for a minute as he came to realize just how good Dallas had gotten at reading people over the years. "Well…I admit that's part of it, but we'll worry about that some other time. Right now I just want to know what my crazy little brother's been up to in the past seven years, also why you're here in Paris France and not back home with grandpa."
Dallas just paused for a moment as he looked away from Simon, after hearing him mention their grandfather a single tear fell from his eye. "You don't know do you?" He asked Simon slowly as he started to explain. "Grandpa Flying-Feather…he's gone."
Simon's face took on a look of shock at his brother's words. "He's gone? But how…how did he die?" He asked his younger brother honestly wanting to know what had happened to their family patriarch.
"He was diagnosed with cancer, I didn't even know until the day he died. I was there when it happened, it…it was horrible. I almost didn't recognize him after seeing what he looked like after being on chemo therapy for so long." Dallas replied as he sniffled. "But before he…he died…he passed on the horn to me, said that..."
"Wait…you mean the horn of gray buffalo?" Simon asked sounding confused. "But that's supposed to go to the next eldest standing in line, if anything uncle Seth should've gotten it before you, hell I probably should've gotten it before you."
"Well considering you were in prison and uncle Seth pretty much turned his back on the family all together I don't think he was left with a whole lot of options. Plus…how do I put this, grandpa said that I was the only one worthy of inheriting it after he passed."
Before Simon could even ask what Dallas even meant by that Marinette walked in as well after finally finishing her call to the police who were now on their way, she paused when she froze in place upon seeing Simon Clearlake standing before her, she felt a wave of fear wash over her as she came face to face with the one who attacked her in her dream. Simon took notice of her as well and asked again. "And who's she? Another friend of yours? Ooh…or maybe your new girlfriend or something." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, but after looking at Marinette's face a little closer he saw a look of fear as if she'd seen a ghost.
"No Simon Marinette and I aren't dating, not from a lack of trying on my end that is but still. The two of us are just friends nothing more." Dallas responded honestly, it didn't take him long to notice the look of fear on her face as well as he looked over to her.
Simon turned back to Dallas and asked in a hushed tone. "Is she okay? She looks like she'd seen me before, and that she didn't have a pleasant experience."
Dallas saw no reason to lie to his brother, not that it would've mattered as he still didn't know the police were on their way and hopefully he'd be arrested and deported back to the united states. "Long story short I gave Mari here a little of my peyote and she had a vision quest. And apparently you were in it." He replied quickly.
Simon just looked at Marinette with surprise. "You had a vision quest? I didn't think it was possible for an outsider to have one of those." He said sounding excited.
Before he could ask her anything else on the subject Dallas quickly interrupted him and stated. "Well she did, now if you'll excuse me I have to get somethings I need in order to help a friend of ours who happens to be in the hospital so we're a little pressed for time."
But just as Dallas started to walk away Simon tried to stand in his way as he tried to get his attention. "Whoa hold on now little bro…" He said as he walked along side him as he made his way to the stairs. "I haven't seen you in seven years can't we at least have a small chat before you take off?"
Dallas just shoved him aside and said. "I don't have time to chat right now, there's a girl in the hospital who's suffering from a drug overdose of peyote and I need to help her before it's too late."
"But Dallas…" Simon started to protest only for Dallas to shrug him off.
"Simon, right now all I care about is helping my friend. It's my fault she's even in the hospital so I have to fix the problem right now. I admit I've missed you a lot but right now I don't have the time to reconnect with you." He stated to his older brother as he just headed up to his room.
Simon just stood there feeling confused, angry, and irritated with Dallas. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He asked rhetorically and angrily. "I came all this way to try and find you, I haven't seen you for almost a decade, you didn't even bother to come and visit me while I was locked up and now you're just gonna blow me off like I'm not even here?"
Dallas stopped for a brief second, then he turned to him and said. "Just like I remember, self-centered and greedy. You don't even care enough that there's a girl dying in the hospital right now to put this reunion on hold, grandpa was right, you never deserved the horn of Gray buffalo. Which is why he left it to me after he died. I honestly had hoped that prison would reform you Simon, but all it's done is help you maintain who you always were. If you want a reunion with me fine, but right now my friends are more important to me, so until you pull your head out of your ass I don't want a damn thing to do with you." Without another word Dallas just kept on going to his room.
Simon just stood there, stunned by his brother's harsh words, so much so that he couldn't even formulate a response. As Dallas came back down the stairs with his backpack he could see a pain filled look on his brother's face, he wanted to apologize for what he'd said, as well as never coming to see him while he was in prison, but he didn't have time to do that at the moment. He just made a beeline for the door and didn't even pay his brother so much as a goodbye. It was in that moment when Simon felt alone again, this time he felt he was truly abandoned by his own brother, the pain of his heart breaking felt even worse than usual. He suddenly began to cry as he hit his knees, feeling rejected by the only family he cared to mention was even worse than him not ever seeing him in prison.
Adrien then turned to Dallas and asked. "Don't you think what you said to your brother was a little cruel?"
Dallas didn't even look at Adrien as he answered. "To a human being, maybe. But to a selfish prick like my brother, hell no." Without another word the three teens all quickly transformed and went on their way, they all managed to leave the mansion just as the police had arrived. Simon stopped crying for a brief moment as he heard the front gate opening and a car pulling inside, he ran over to the window and saw a squad car with two officers heading for the front door with guns drawn.
Simon was unsure if Dallas or one of his friends had called the police on him in advance or not but it didn't matter as he knew he had to hide. Without hesitation he ran into Mr. Agreste's office and tried to stay as quiet as he could. Just then he heard the front door opening up as the officers came inside slowly and quietly. As he hid behind the couch he heard the officer's coming, the door opened slowly as the officer peaked inside. He simply looked inside just checking to see if anyone was inside, he didn't actually investigate the room, it was more of looking in and seeing if anyone was simply hiding inside. Once he was satisfied that no one was in there he closed the door and continued the search. As Simon popped his head up and saw the officer was gone he breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time he caught sight of something he wasn't expecting, in Gabriel's office were a few portraits of Adrien and 'Mr. Butterfly' in the room, then he came to realize they shared a family resemblance. "Hold on, does that mean that this kid…and Mr. B…are related?" It was around that moment when Natalie had finally come back up from the butterfly garden with a brand new batch of butterflies tucked away inside her basket, as soon as she had come up through the portal in the floor Simon quickly poked his head up and whispered. "We have a problem."
She quickly snapped her head over to where she'd heard Simon hiding behind the couch. "What do you mean we have a problem?" She asked back also whispering, before he could answer her she heard the officers from outside the door.
"You think it could just be a prank call?" One officer asked the other.
"Could be, but then again what's with the car out front? People don't just park their car just so they can abandon it." The second replied.
"I don't know, I've seen some pretty elaborate pranks in my day." The officers just kept on going back and forth for almost a minute until Natalie's hand was forced, she knew they couldn't stay any longer than they already had otherwise they might be discovered by the police.
"I guess I have no choice." Natalie said as she pulled her miraculous out of her pocket and fixed it to her chest, it sparked and crackled slightly as it always did when she put it on. A split second later her Kwami Duusu flew out as bubbly as ever.
"Oh it's so good to be home!" She cheered as she flew around the room like a bottle rocket, that is until Natalie quickly shushed her. "Oh…sorry, I didn't realize we had company."
"More like unwanted company Duusu, we need to get out of hear before they find us and start asking questions." Natalie stated quietly.
Simon's jaw just dropped from what he was looking at, he was just startled by the tiny little peacock looking creature that had just appeared out of nowhere. He then began to ask Natalie. "What…the fuck…is that thing?" Natalie was about to answer him when poor little Duusu's emotions got the better of her and she just started crying uncontrollably. "What? What'd I do? What'd I say"
"You idiot…" Natalie growled at him. "Now look at what you did." She then turned her attention to her very emotional kwami and tried to calm her down. "Duusu he didn't mean anything by it. But you need to be quiet there are police men in the next room."
But it was too late as one of the officers then asked. "Do you hear someone crying in there?" Natalie and Simon just fell silent as they knew what was about to happen. Natalie had decided she couldn't waste any more time.
"Duusu, spread my feathers." She whispered and quickly transforming herself into Mayura, then she turned toward Simon and said. "Give me your photograph, I have an idea but it will require your assistance."
Meanwhile Ladybug, Cat Noir and Iktomi had finally arrived to the hospital. After quickly transforming Dallas headed right for the doctor in charge and told them everything he knew about this drug she had OD'd on and was able to help her. But to his surprise their original diagnosis was actually a mistake, she wasn't suffering from an overdose at all but rather a bad reaction to a medication she was on in secret, even from her own father. After giving her a round of I-V treatments she was officially determined to be stable and on the road to recovery. But two questions remained, what kind of medications did she take and why was she taking them in the first place? The answer to both were one that no one saw coming.
Milan was in the hospital bed feeling completely ashamed of herself as she confessed to the doctor and her father what she'd been taking. "Abortion treatments?" Fred voiced puzzledly. "But honey why would you need to take those?"
She just kept her eyes away from her father's face unable to look at him as she spoke. "I…I had to." She sniffled. "Because…I found out a few weeks ago…that I was pregnant." She admitted feeling so much disgust in herself.
Fred just gasped, he immediately felt weak in the knees as he fell back into the chair he was standing in front of. It was clearly a giant surprise to him to hear that his daughter had gotten pregnant, and tried to have an abortion. "Well clearly the medications you were on didn't work as well as you'd have liked. From what our tests have shown the drugs you've been on have severely weakened your immune system and have caused internal bleeding in your stomach and lower intestines, hence the reason you puked blood." The doctor stated as he wrote out a prescription for some medications to help her deal with her afflictions until she was better. He then tore the prescription from his pad and handed it to Fred and added. "Make sure she takes the antibiotics twice a day and that she doesn't skip any meals, also I want her to have a full two weeks bed rest until she's finished with the meds. Now if you'll excuse me I have more patients to attend to." With that said the doctor left the room and went on his way leaving Milan and her father in the room alone.
Fred just closed his eyes and said calmly. "I need you to be honest with me Milan. Did Ivan pressure you into doing it?"
Milan finally looked at her father after five minutes of self loathing and asked back. "How can you even ask me that? You know he's not the type to go that far dad."
Fred looked up at her and asked again. "But he was the father wasn't he?" Milan fell silent again as she just nodded her head yes in response. Fred just sighed and asked. "When did this happen sweetie?"
Milan folded her hands as she began to explain. "It happened on our anniversary, we…wanted to try and spice up our relationship because…the usual things we used to do just seemed to bore us both. So we…we just…did it. Things just went by so fast and we just…lost control of ourselves, and in the heat of the moment…I guess we forgot to use protection because a few weeks later I started to feel sick, then I took a pregnancy test and sure enough…I was pregnant. So I went to the abortion clinic thinking that I could make all of this go away before anyone found out, and they gave me a home treatment to handle it. I swear dad I didn't mean for any of this to happen." After finally finishing she just broke down into tears, she was beyond distraught, she was an absolute emotional wreck.
Fred looked shocked, he didn't even know what to say to her at this moment other than. "Did you tell Ivan about this honey?" He asked calmly.
She simply shook her head no and said. "I didn't tell him because I was trying to save his future from being ruined by my…our screw up, so I kept this all to myself. I'm so sorry that any of this ever happened."
He had every right to be angry with his daughter and her boyfriend at this time, but after what she'd been through he just couldn't bring himself to feel any ill will towards his child, and he understood what it was like to go through what a young man Ivan's age when it came to the opposite sex. He just chalked it up to a couple of kids who loved each other beyond any doubt just doing something stupid because they weren't thinking clearly due to their own hormones. He stood up and walked over to his daughter's bedside and just pulled her into a hug. "I wish you'd told me about this honey, that's all I have to say about this. I would've supported you no matter what you would've chosen."
Outside the room Dallas was able to hear everything, not because he was eavesdropping but because of his heightened senses thanks to braves brew. He was shocked that she and Ivan had actually gotten pregnant, but not as shocked that she'd terminated her pregnancy without even telling Ivan let alone seeing if he was okay with it first. "Oh boy…" He voiced to himself. "When Ivan finds out about this he's probably gonna flip his lid."
"When Ivan finds out about what?" Adrien asked from behind him as he and Marinette had returned from the hospital cafeteria with a few cups of coffee.
Dallas turned around as he began to explain as he took his cup. "Now bare in mind that what I'm about to tell you guys isn't really my secret to share so we all need to agree that this stays between us, and none of us are to tell Ivan, period!"
Marinette could see the look on his face as he said it, she needed no explanation of how serious it was so she nodded her head yes to signify that she agreed with him. The last thing she'd ever do would be to betray her friend's trust. "What happened then?" Adrien asked again.
Dallas started to elaborate. "Ivan got Milan pregnant." He started slowly, this alone got a look of shock on both their faces. "But she didn't tell him about it, evidently her plan was just to nip this in the butt before anyone else found out, Ivan included. But as we all can see that kinda backfired on her so now she's in some pretty deep shit, or at least she will be when Ivan finds out. But it can't be because of us got it? This is something that she needs to do herself."
"Too late…" A voice stated from behind the trio, their heads all whipped around to see Ivan standing there with a very angry look on his face. Without even saying another word he just shoved past them and went straight into Milan's room with nothing but rage. Dallas and Adrien quickly followed him in just in case he thought about doing something really stupid, but all he did was stand there and glare at Milan as he shouted at her. "How could you do this to me?!"
As Adrien and Dallas just stood behind him the young Lakota immediately started thinking fearfully and with so much regret for even opening his mouth, this is not going to end well.
(A/N: And there's the cliff hanger folks, not sorry that I'm doing this to you again. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see what happens. Speaking of in the next chapter of WOS, Ivan and Milan get into a heated argument, Dallas throws himself into the middle of it to try and calm them down and he asks someone from his past to try and help them get through it if they can and try to save their relationship. Alright that's it for today folks sorry again that I had to do a two parter on this chapter I hope you enjoyed it."
