"Set The World On Fire" by Black Veil Brides

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner that night after we came home and put the weapons away. The boys and Romeo avoided mentioning anything else about them for the night, which I was thankful for. I just wanted to go to sleep so I could stop picturing Aidan.

I rubbed my eyes, shutting the image away. Murphy glanced over from the tv, rubbing my shoulder with his thumb and pulling me a bit closer to him. He's looking at me like I'm going to fall apart again. And I hate it just as much now as I did back then.

"I've got a headache, I'm just going to go lay down," I lied. I got up before any of them could say anything and went behind the folding screen to change. Connor and Murphy began murmuring to each other in Russian while Romeo continued watching the TV. I laid down on the mattress, facing the wall, and stared at it until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was alone and the apartment was silent. The beds beside me were empty. The back of my neck tensed as I ground my teeth together in anger, checking the gun stash. There were some missing. Those fuckfaced bastards.

I had no idea where they were, but I was going to find them.

Without much rhyme or reason, I pulled on random clothes of mine and grabbed the manual lock pick and the knife I picked out, hiding the knife underneath my jeans and strapped to the side of my calf. I pulled on my leather jacket and walked out the door, shoving my keys into my pocket with a scowl. They've probably been gone awhile. That thought just made me more angry.

As I walked down the street in my haze of rage, I ran right into someone. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," I apologized, pulling my hair out of my face. I froze, my rage replaced with shock. Klaus was standing there. Tall, blond, muscular, and with some of the lightest blue eyes I've ever seen. He stood like he was military (which he was, formerly, but he was currently a police officer).

"You look like you're going to kill someone," Klaus observed, looking me over, his German accent heavy. I stood there, dumbstruck.

"What? You're supposed to be in Germany," I stepped back from him. He rolled his eyes.

"Tyler told me you went off adventuring. I figured you'd come back to Boston for something. Or someone."

"Are you investigating me?" I frowned. He held up his hands in defense.

"I was worried! Honestly," he added when I didn't relax. "Besides, I have no jurisdiction here. I'm a police officer in Germany."

"Sorry, I'm just mad. And now surprised and confused." I threw my hands up in exasperation as I looked around.

"You're looking for someone?"

"Yes, and I have no fucking idea where they are."

"Where do you think they would have gone?"

I stopped, looked at Klaus, and tried to decide how much I trusted him.

"Have I given you a reason to ever distrust me?"

"No, but it's probably better if you aren't involved."

"Because?"

"Legality and logistics."

"You're looking for drugs?"

"What? No-do you think I do drugs now?"

"I don't know what you do now, you don't reply to me often."

"Sorry, you're right." I bit my bottom lip as I tried to think of where exactly they could've gone.

"They're at the docks, big cocaine motherfuckers down there," I heard Rocco say. I looked around, but saw nothing. Just Klaus. "Come on, Cec, you can't see me. I'm dead. Just think of me as your guardian angel."

Oh my god, maybe I am on drugs. Did they drug me so that they could sneak out?

"Jesus fucking Christ, Cecilia, the boys would never hurt one hair on your pretty little head. You're paranoid now."

I looked down the street. Rocco was standing there in his long dark coat and sunglasses, looking entirely put out that I wasn't believing him. My mouth fell open as I stared. "Klaus, do you see anyone there?"

"Some guy with dirty hair and sunglasses. Is that who you're looking for?" I said nothing, looking at Klaus to be sure he wasn't joking. "Oh, he's walking away."

"Follow me, Cec."

"I need to follow him. It's crazy and I'll maybe explain later, just come with me and make sure I'm not entirely crazy."

I didn't give him a chance to say anything before I took off running after Rocco. When I started to catch up, Rocco started running. I followed him to a part of town I had never been in before. And then he was gone. Klaus caught up to me, a bit winded, and looked at the building before us.

"I don't think you want to be here, Cecilia," Klaus said delicately. "This looks like the headquarters for a drug ring."

"They look like this in Germany, too?"

"They look pretty much the same everywhere-is this what you're looking for?"

"See you later, Klaus," I dismissed him as I began looking around the building for an entrance. I spotted one a little higher up. A fire escape. But I couldn't quite reach the ladder. "Fuck," I muttered to myself. I turned on my heel, running into Klaus.

"I can boost you," he said, motioning to the ladder. I stared at him. "Whatever you're doing, I'm not letting you do it alone. You'll get yourself killed."

We heard gunshots as Klaus lifted me up to the ladder. I scrambled up and kicked it down for him when I got to the top. He came up after me as I started picking the lock open on the door. It was open in a few seconds. This didn't surprise him. He's the one that taught me how to pick locks.

He reached into the inside of his jacket, drawing his own gun. Of course he's armed. He's pretty much always armed. The hallway here was clear. I began heading towards the gunfire and the shouting. The door at the end of the hallway opened as a man ran out of it. Out of reflex, Klaus and I both hit him. Klaus hit him on the side of the head with the butt of the gun while I punched him on the other side. He went down easily. The room he was running from was a control room of some kind. We were in a warehouse and the boys and Romeo were down there creating general chaos.

"What the fuck," Klaus whispered as I started studying the panel. It controls the giant magnet on the ceiling. I used the lever to position it over a cargo container, hitting buttons until it lowered and latched on and then raised again. Before I was able to use it like a battering ram on a ledge some of the thugs were on, I heard someone tackle Klaus. It was the guy we had thought we had knocked out.

Klaus was trying to get the upper hand but had lost his gun. I grabbed it, checked the safety, and kicked the other man off of Klaus as hard as I could before shooting him in the chest. He slid down the wall in surprise before slumping over. I clicked the safety back on and handed the gun to Klaus. He said nothing, putting a bar into the door so that it couldn't be opened again while I went back to the controls.

As soon as the container smashed into the ledge, cocaine spilled out of it everywhere, most of the men falling down into it. Connor, Murphy, and Romeo looked up at the control panel in surprise before finishing off the men. I unbarred the door and went with Klaus to the ground floor.

"Cecilia," Murphy began, knowing full well I was beyond angry. Connor hit him in the chest, drawing attention to Klaus with his gaze. Klaus stood behind me, ready to jump in if necessary.

"I'm with them, they're fine," I told Klaus. He glanced down at me, his light blue eyes distrustful but he relaxed a bit, putting his gun back in his holster.

"Ye normally hang out with cops?" Connor observed.

"About as much as she hangs out with criminals apparently," Klaus replied evenly.

"Later, we should leave now," Romeo interrupted.

Klaus nodded. "Best idea I've heard since I got into this country. I wiped the things down that we've touched. Blood?"

"Clean," the twins replied in unison. Murphy looked fit to kill while Connor looked wary of the entire situation.

We walked back to the apartment in silence. The boys led the way while Romeo walked with Klaus and I. He kept looking from the twins to us and back again until I gave him a look that plainly told him to stop it.

"This is where you're staying? Tyler and Gabriella did not mention this," Klaus looked around with disdain.

"Shut up," I grumbled, unlocking the door while most of the men were involved in a testosterone fueled staring contest.

Once we were inside, Murphy exploded with rage, his nostrils flaring. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

"I came looking for Cecilia. It sounded like she could use some looking after," Klaus replied.

"I wasn't fucking talking to ye."

"I don't care."

I rubbed my temples, going over to where the liquor was and poured shots for everyone.

"Do ye think that's such a good idea right now, lass?" Connor asked quietly as I did so.

"It was either this or leaving you and Romeo to deal with whatever the fuck is currently happening," I snapped before taking a shot and immediately pouring myself another one. I slammed them onto the table in front of the boys. "Drink." They all complied, Murphy and Klaus reluctantly. "Klaus is here because he was worried that I abandoned our kids in Ireland and Tyler obviously couldn't tell him why. I wouldn't have run into him at all if you fuckfaces wouldn't have fucking left me behind in the first place."

"I'm just trying to make sure she's safe," Klaus insisted when Murphy glared at him again.

"Klaus is getting married this year anyway."

"Was."

"What?"

"Didn't work out. I wanted advice from you but you never wrote me back. And then Tyler said you were missing."

"And you came looking for me to make sure I was fine."

"Because it's very unlike you. You're very structured and by the book. But apparently in America you break up drug rings, kill criminals, and assist the Boondock Saints. It seems I don't know you as well as I thought."

I winced a bit in guilt.

"How did ye know who we are?" Connor asked quietly, taking a drag on his cigarette. Even he looked exhausted by the tension in the room.

"I was graduating from university around the same time you executed that Yakavetta boss. We had a very heated discussion on your actions in class the day after."

"Most people still don't recognize us."

"I recognized him," Klaus motioned to Murphy. "Declan looks like you. I put two and two together. It wasn't very difficult."

Murphy looked at me crossly, probably thinking that Klaus had met the twins and been involved in their lives. "He wasn't. I don't think the twins could name him if I asked them to."

"What? No, you were always careful about that. I also don't want children so it was fine for me."

"That's why it didn't work out?" I asked, referring to his engagement.

"She wanted kids. They're just work. And you're almost guaranteed to fuck them up somehow, no matter how much you love them." I raised my eyebrows. "Not that Kelly and Declan will be fucked up like that. You and Tyler seem good with them. Your mother is a nightmare though."

Murphy snorted. "That's the first thing ye've said that I agree with."

I poured more shots. Klaus covered his glass with his hand, his nose scrunched. "It's whiskey."

"Sorry, you're surrounded by mostly whiskey drinkers," I smiled. "I don't have brandy. Romeo might share his tequila."

"I'm fine without it, thanks."

"I'm gonna go have a smoke," Murphy grumbled, sulking away. Klaus moved with him.

"I'll go with you. We should probably talk."

"No, we shouldn't."

"We should." Klaus followed Murphy anyway, closing the door behind him. We heard them go down the stairs in silence.

"They'll be fine," Romeo said. "Right?"

"Probably," Connor said, downing another shot. He glanced at me. "Ye really had no idea?"

"None, I would have definitely told him not to come. I'm okay implicating myself in your mess, not Klaus. He's a good cop."

"Doesn't seem to be that straight and narrow to me, lass."

I said nothing, biting my bottom lip and staring at the door, wondering if the two hot-heads were about to have a sensible conversation or not. I needed another drink.