Welcome back, my readers. I have begun the lovely journey of the Sequel to "Shatter me". This can be read without the first part but things might get a little confusing. I do suggest reading it to understand Skyla and her general development. This was one of the most voted stories in my poll. I appreciate feedback and adore it. Please do so if you feel the need. If you don't want to submit a review please feel free to message me directly. I love hearing from you. As stated in the description, this is canon just like the first one. Sorry. And this is a bit of a slow burn story in terms of a relationship. We can't just dive in with someone like Becker. It has to be developed like a photo. Anyway please enjoy it.

I held the rum bottle up letting the last of the droplets hit my tongue. With a frown, I stumbled over to my fridge and pulled out a beer. Popping the top off I began to drink the cold, carbonated liquid.

Over the last two months, Connor had made plenty of strides with his gadgets in detecting what era the anomaly belonged in. We had gone to a dozen or so anomalies and seen many different creatures. I maybe had gone on a half a dozen or so of those missions.

After Stephens' death, I dove back into work within a week. Focused wholeheartedly on finding Helen and ridding the world of her. It got to the point where Nick and Lester forced me to take a leave of absence, especially after I had come into contact with an Ankylosaurus. They said I was playing with my life and jeopardizing the team. I didn't see it for that particular situation. I was distracting the dinosaur so Connor and Abby could get into position, so we could get the damn thing home. For lack of a better way to put it, I was temporarily suspended for a couple of weeks while I got my act together.

Today, however, had not been a good day. I got home two hours ago and started drinking. I wasn't a drunk, even after Stephen's death. No, I was sober most of the time. But now with Stephen's death still fresh and what I had to deal with today, well, I needed something to drown out the chaos.

I heard a knock at the front door. I walked as carefully as I could over to it, stumbling into the walls as I made it to the door. Looking through the peephole I saw it was Nick. I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. He had come over almost every other day for the last week to check on me. He stood there with two other men behind him. "Am I being arrested?" I asked, my words slurring just barely. Eyeing the two men behind him, they looked to be soldiers.

Nicks' head cocked to the side. "Are you drunk?" he asked. I looked down at the beer still in my hand and nodded bringing it up to my lips. I heard Nick let out a breath as he pushed me aside and walked into the house. The two other men also started to walk in when I put my hand up touching one of their chests to make them stop.

"What's up with the bodyguards?" I asked looking up to the one I had my hands on.

"Let them in, they're fine," Nick said from the kitchen. I eyed the soldier that was standing in front of me. I heard the tinkering of the empty bottles in the other room and realized my hand was still on the soldier's chest. I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen. "Jesus, Skyla, did you knock down a liquor store?"

"Sir, we really don't have time for this." The soldier said from behind me. I hadn't realized he had followed me as I looked him up and down still trying to come to terms that Nick had two soldier escorts.

I glanced over to Nick wondering what he was going to say in response to the passive-aggressive comment the soldier had made. Nick let out a sigh held a hand up in protest before he turned to me. "We need to go to the British Museum. There's been an anomaly sighting."

I shook my head. "No can do," I said as I swayed a little from the head motions and caught myself on the counter.

Nick looked around realizing just how many bottles of empty booze there were. He looked back to me with a quizzical look. "What happened?" he asked.

"He's dead." Nick let out a sigh before he walked a little closer to where I was standing. "Skyla, I know that. I miss him too-" I shook my head.

"No. Not Stephen. I got a call this morning. My grandfather died in his sleep." I walked around Nick, chugging down the rest of my beer and leaving it on the counter next to the others. "Besides aren't I still suspended?"

Nick took a deep breath. "Lester said you were suspended until we got new security. And well-" Nick gestured over to the two guards. I looked at the men up and down again.

"Pretty boy and wanna be muscles? That's cute." I said.

"Actually, it's Captain Becker and Garrett." the soldier I had my hand on earlier said.

I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at Nick. "Either way I can't obviously go," I said with a sway.

Nick walked over to me and embraced me in a hug. "I'm so sorry Skyla. Your grandfather was a good man." He whispered in my ear. Before we parted from the hug, he leaned in and kissed my forehead. I leaned against the counter as I watched them leave my house. The soldier, Becker, gave me a once over before he went through the door, closing it behind him.

I looked around my now empty kitchen taking everything in from the day. The call this morning was one I had been expecting for a while. After the time when Stephen, Nick and I visited him, his health went south. Even though it was expected, it didn't make it hurt any less. I spent all day going over paperwork with his care home and the cemetery. Per his wishes, he would be cremated and buried next to his wife. He didn't want a funeral or a fancy casket. He didn't want to be in an urn over a fireplace. He just wanted to be cremated then eventually buried next to his late wife. A couple of tears began to stream down my face. I was happy that he had it all planned out, there was no way I would be able to do all of this. I just had to sign off on everything saying it was okay to do so. My phone buzzed on the table, a text from Abby and Connor letting me know they were sorry for my loss. A small smile crept onto my lips.

In the last two months, all of us got a lot closer. We relied on each other and held the others up when they needed it. After Stephen, all of us were in our own little world. Nick blamed himself mostly for a couple of weeks. Until I slapped him across the face to hopefully knock some sense into him. He then finally realized my need to see Helen burn. It was Helen that collected the creatures in that warehouse. It was Helen who summoned all of us there in her own way. And finally, it was Helen who we rescued from being crushed and eaten that day.

With a long sigh, I walked out of the kitchen, turning the light off and stumbled down the hall to my room. I tripped over my shoe and collapsed on my bed, falling asleep almost immediately.