"Ghosts" by SYML

I woke up to Murphy gently running his fingers through my hair while he was smoking a cigarette, whispering with Connor so that he didn't wake me up. Instead of immediately getting up, I laid there just enjoying laying on him and listening to him talk. Connor eventually went into the kitchen area to get more coffee for both of them.

Murphy kissed the top of my head. "Ye ever going to get up, love?"

"Five more minutes," I mumbled, pushing myself against him even more. He chuckled slightly, moving his hand down to rest on my hip.

"Someone's finally awake," Connor grinned, sitting near Murphy's feet and handing Murphy a cup of coffee.

"She's been awake for a bit," Murphy teased, blowing my cover.

"Eavesdropping on highly sensitive conversations?" Connor said, pretending to be offended.

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as eavesdropping if you're talking about stuff I was there for," I rolled my eyes.

"Fair enough. On a more serious note though, ye mind getting groceries with Romeo today? Murph and me were going to call Da."

"Yeah, I think we can handle that. Make sure you say hi to the twins. They're probably in the we're-so-bored-nobody-is-coming-back-home stage and driving the adults crazy."

"They must get that from ye," Murphy said slyly, causing Connor to almost choke on his coffee.

"I'll remember that the next time you tell me I'm out of hand," I smiled, kissing him before he could protest, and getting up out of bed to get ready for the day.

After I had finished, Romeo was still somehow asleep. I poked him in the ribs lightly with my foot. He sat up straight, looking around like the apartment was being invaded.

"I don't think an assassin would politely poke you to wake you up," I laughed. He turned a bit pink before grinning and laughing with me. "You're on grocery duty with me today."

"I'll go get ready, Cec."

I nodded, covering my mouth as I yawned, sitting down next to Connor to wait. Before I got a chance to even say anything, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize. And I certainly didn't get a chance to even answer properly.

"Cecilia, it's Eunice."

"Hey-"

"I don't have much time. I'm getting the fuck out of this country while I can. You guys are clean. No database records. Of any kind. No pictures, no prints. Should affect international databases in a few hours." I stood, beginning to pace the room.

"What?"

"I fucked up the database, Cecilia. Murphy, Connor, their dad, you, your mom and dad-nobody has any files on record any more. No more warrants. Just names and numbers. I doctored anything on the Saints with photos from some other criminal files and altered the names." I glanced over at the twins, they looked worried, studying my face intently. "And now, I've gotta get out of here. Consider this your gift for cleaning up the city again."

"Go to Klaus," I blurted out. I could tell this surprised her as I heard her high heels come to a stop on the other end. She started walking again.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I think you should. And I think he thinks you should. He could help."

"I can't, I'm getting out of here. I've already called in some favors."

"Then go to Ireland. We can put you up for as long as you need."

"That's better than my plan." I gave her the address for the camp, telling her to ask for Adrienne and say that I specifically sent her. "Thank you, Cecilia."

"No, thank you Eunice, this is...a lot," I said. "Stay safe. We'll hopefully see you in a couple weeks at the latest."

"I look forward to it." And then she was gone. I hope she gets away safely. Eunice is smart, she'll find a way.

"That was Eunice," I tapped the phone. "As a thank you for what you guys have done for the city, she wiped all of our files out of the systems and doctored anything that named you directly or had your pictures on it."

The twins looked at each other and then back to me in disbelief. I shrugged, shaking my head. Apparently none of us had thought that that was a possibility.

"I told her to go to Ireland and stay at the camp until we get back."

They nodded. Romeo walked over, buttoning up his shirt.

"Ready?"

He nodded.

"We'll be back in like an hour, I guess." Grocery shopping seemed so trivial now after Eunice's phone call. I'll give the woman this much: she's got some flair to go along with that brain.

"We'll call Da," Murphy nodded. I kissed him goodbye before leaving with Romeo.

We walked in relative silence. I was still trying to work through what Eunice had done while also worrying about what was going to come in the next few days. As long as we didn't fuck it up, we'd be able to live our lives like normal people. I think that's the most surprising part to me. Never would I have guessed that that was an option with Murphy. Hopefully this is the end of it, though, and he and Connor can leave well enough alone. I'd be lying if I wasn't worried that they wouldn't be able to count their blessings and enjoy life. Maybe I am still a little bit bitter about our first breakup.

"Thanks, Romeo," I said as he held the door open for me.

"No problem, Cec," he grinned. We went through our list pretty quickly since the store wasn't very busy. As soon as we got about a block away, I groaned. I left the bread on the counter.

"I left the bread on the counter, I'll run back and get it," I told Romeo, grabbing the receipt out of the bag. "You go on back to the apartment, I'll probably be a few minutes and I don't want the meat getting too warm."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I scanned the receipt as I got back to the store door so that I could point to it and signify that the bread was mine and that I was just dumb and forgot it.

"Cecilia, turn the fuck around," I heard Rocco yell at me. I turned just in time for a cloth to be shoved in my face. I tried to scream but my limbs started to become heavy as my vision darkened. As I passed out, I was able to make out the man's face that was holding the cloth to my face.

Caleb.