"We Found Each Other in the Dark" by City and Colour

"Well, you're both still alive," I joked, smiling slightly at Murphy when he closed the door behind us. Romeo looked over from where he was reading on his bed. Murphy didn't reply but leaned down to kiss me before going into the shower area to talk to Connor. "That was weird," I muttered to myself before sighing and going over to the sink to clean up the glasses.

"C'mon, Romeo, let me show ye around Boston at night a little bit. I know a great bar a few blocks away," Connor announced, practically dragging poor Romeo out of the apartment with him. I watched them leave as I dried off my hands on one of the dish towels. Murphy came over and leaned against the table, a lit cigarette dangling between his fingers. He was looking down at the floor.

"Klaus loves ye a lot," Murphy broke the silence.

"I know," I said, leaning against the counter to face him. He was trying to articulate his feelings. I waited patiently, watching him curiously. What had Klaus said to him? Whatever it was, it must have struck some kind of chord within Murph.

After what seemed like hours, he looked up at me. "I should've told ye about tonight."

"Yeah, you should've." I sighed. "I probably should've mentioned Klaus was a cop. I never thought you'd meet him, honestly."

"He didn't seem to either."

"Probably because I've been bad about writing him back when he writes me. And I don't remember the last time I returned one of his calls. It seemed disrespectful to his fiancée." Knowing that they're no longer together enforced that belief for me. Klaus needs someone to call him on his own bullshit. That can't be me.

"I think he knows that." He put out his cigarette angrily. "I don't want to fight with ye about this. This is stupid."

I smiled, trying not to laugh. "I don't want to fight about it either, Murphy. Klaus isn't anywhere near a threat to you or us or anything."

"I know." That surprised me.

"What did Klaus say to you?"

"That's between lads, lass," he grinned. I rolled my eyes at him as he pulled me into a hug. I let my body relax against his, my arms going around his waist. He pulled back slightly to kiss me softly before deepening the kiss, navigating me to our mattress, as he began lifting my shirt over my head.

We were laying on the mattress (clothed in case Connor and Romeo came back) when Murphy turned to me, looking serious. "I do have one question for ye, though."

"Yeah?"

"Klaus mentioned that ye followed some crazy guy to the warehouse."

I bit back a smile. "You'll think I'm crazy."

"Ye are but I'm fine with that."

I was quiet for a few seconds. Rocco had looked so real, so alive. "We saw Rocco." Murphy furrowed his brows. "I couldn't find you and I was freaking out about it. Trying to figure out where to go and how to get Klaus to leave and I just saw him. He looked just like I remember him. Alive, disheveled, and so excited to take down some 'big cocaine motherfuckers.'" I laughed at the quote in retrospect. Fuck I miss him. "He said he was my guardian angel now."

"That sounds like Rocco," Murphy murmured, kissing the top of my head. "Do ye see him often?"

"No," I shook my head. "I've been to therapy. I've tried medication-"

"That's not what I mean," he chuckled a bit. "I didn't mean it literally. I just meant in little things. Like things that make ye think of him often."

"Oh, well yeah," I admitted. "But isn't that just something everyone does?"

He shrugged. "Seems to be how God works to me."

I studied him. "Can't take the Catholic out of the Irish, huh?"

"I'm serious, Cecilia. I think ye'd hear a little bit more if ye just listened."

There wasn't a reply that I had for that so I said nothing at first. "God helps you that much? Even after, well, everything?"

"God has plans," Murphy nodded. "They might not make sense right away but ye end up where ye are supposed to be."

"My dad used to tell me something like that when I was younger." He was one of those guys who always had a phrase for everything. But he never said it condescendingly. I miss him, too. Now that I think of it, I guess that I stopped believing in God when he died. Mom did, too. She's tried to hold on to her belief, but I know his death hit her hard. She changed after that. Now she worries about everything and tries to control everything. As much as it drove me away as a teenager and a young adult, I know now that she was just trying to hold on to what she has left.

"What are ye thinking about?"

"My mom and my dad. How much Mom changed after he died."

"How did he die?"

"I don't actually know. Mom's never told me much. It's a pretty touchy subject with her. He was visiting Boston when he died. Mom and I had to travel to ID him. I didn't go in, obviously, I was too young. But I remember how it sounded when she cried after seeing him. She never really cried much after that. It's like she died with him."

"That must have been hard."

"It was. We stopped going to Church around then. Mom tries now but I just never returned to it. I didn't trust it after that. It wasn't a system I wanted to believe in if someone as good as my Dad could be taken away like that without warning."

He stroked my hair.

"I guess that's part of how I ended up in Boston in the first place," I admitted. "I met Aidan while he was on spring break when I was a senior in high school. Then I followed him up here when it was time for me to go to college. I was miserable," I laughed. "Then I met you and Connor and everything just changed overnight."

I looked up to see Murphy looking at me with his eyebrows raised as if I had just proved some point for him.

"What are you looking so smug about?"

"Nothing, it just sounds like ye ended up here for a purpose."

I whacked him with my pillow for being a smart ass, causing him to laugh before tickling me in response.

The door opened as Connor came in covering his eyes. "Are ye wearing clothes?"

"We're decent, Connor," I answered before Murphy could tell him no. Connor spread his fingers to check with one eye before being satisfied and motioning Romeo in. Romeo came in, plugging his ears with his fingers.

"What's he doin?" Murphy asked Connor who threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I told him to cover his eyes." Romeo realized we were all staring at him and grinned before nodding exaggeratedly to show that he couldn't hear us.

"God help us," Connor mumbled, throwing himself backwards onto his mattress. Romeo followed Connor's example but didn't remove his fingers from his ears.

"'Night guys!" Romeo said a bit louder than normal. Connor snorted and threw his shoes haphazardly across the room.

"I'm gonna feckin' trip on those in the morning," Murphy grumbled.

"Probably," Connor replied, humor in his voice. I shook my head before laying back down on the mattress. What a weird little family we make.