"I almost feel bad for him," Jack said solemnly as he mumbled a thank you and took the cup of coffee from Billy's hand. "Victor has always wanted his children to follow in his footsteps. He groomed them from the time they were walking to be good little soldiers, to respect the family name, to honor the legacy, to be good little Newmans, but now … Watching his son do exactly what he would have done can't feel nearly as good as he thought it would. All that huffing and puffing and pushing Nick has led them here and now his son might never walk out of there alive. That's on his hands and that look on his face tells me he actually knows that. It's a heavy load to carry."
"You're giving Victor a hell of a lot of credit, Jack. Have you forgotten everything he's done in his life that he's managed to somehow not feel any guilt for? This is a guy that had you kidnapped and held captive for months. This is a guy that found a psychotic drug lord to take your places in this town. This guy watched as Marco interacted with your family, ran your company, and …" It was still hard for him to talk about it, he couldn't imagine how it must feel for Phyllis to live with it. "What he did to Phyllis … I still don't know how he manages to get up every morning and not feel any kind of remorse over that." He shook his head. "But he does. He's Victor. He somehow conveniently manages to circumvent any kind of culpability as long as it's in his best interest to do so. I seriously doubt he's experiencing some kind of internal turmoil over Nick's current situation. That look on his face is probably about the quality of the coffee more than anything else."
Jack sighed. "You might be right," he conceded, "but I still have to hope that there's some kind of humanity in there. If it were Kyle, I know how I'd feel horrible even imagining that I might have led to his decision somehow."
"You and Victor are nothing alike, Jack. You have a soul. Victor doesn't."
"Don't get discouraged. These things take time. Cameron has been dealing with these issues for months and he's not going to magically just overcome everything in seconds. The fact that he didn't completely shut you down is actually a really good sign. It means you've got him thinking and right now, that's one of the best signs we can hope for." Commander Von Lutken patted her arm gently. "You think you might be ready to try this again?"
"I don't know," Gwen said shakily, "Maybe we should leave it alone for a while. He might feel like we're pushing him too much if we keep it up and I really don't want to see …" She stopped and forced herself to take a deep breath. Tonight had really put everything into perspective. It came as no surprise to her that Cameron was having a difficult time with their breakup but even in her worst nightmares, she would have never imagined he would do something this irrational, this dangerous, this reckless. "This isn't Cameron," she said softly. "I know him and for him to do something like this, he's just got to have totally and completely snapped. To be honest, that terrifies me because I'm not sure if I can help now. I'm not sure if anyone can and if something happens, if he does something that can't be undone, I've got to be the one to explain all of that to our son."
"The comment about your son is what seemed to get to him the most," Sergeant Brunson commented. "That's what shut everything down, so maybe that's what you lead with. Remind him of how important it is that he remains a part of his son's life. Tell him that he's got to come out of here so that he can still spend time with Maxton. If this gets worse, if someone gets hurt … he's going to be looking at serving time and I know he doesn't want his son to have to see him like that."
Gwen nodded. She reached for the megaphone and pressed down on the button. "Cam?" she called out. "Cam? Can you come back to the window, please?"
Phyllis braced herself as she felt Nick's fingers tighten around hers one final time as his eyes said everything he couldn't say aloud. She would pulled off the couch quickly and on her feet before she had a chance to protest. "I'll go," she said in a strained voice. "You don't have to pull me."
Cameron pushed her against the window, his arm reaching around her quickly and pushing the window open slightly again. "Gwen?" he called out, his heart beating faster as he saw her standing there in the midst of the rather chaotic scene. "Are you there?"
"Yeah," she said. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, Cam. I'll be here as long as you need me to stay. I want you to come out here and talk to me. I want us to talk about how we're gonna handle things with Maxton. He misses you, you know? He talks about you all the time."
"He does?" The words were almost a whisper and he heard Phyllis' voice quietly respond to him.
"She can't hear you all the way out there if you don't talk louder," she said.
He nodded and readied himself to call out again. "Maxton asks about me?" he repeated, his words louder this time. He waited for her response, the idea of his son missing him and wanting his presence should have filled him with guilt and it did, but it also filled him with a glimmer of hope. At least his son wanted him around. Someone in this world still had a purpose for him. There was a place for him, a place with his son, a place he could still matter, a place he could still do good.
Gwen felt the tears fill her eyes. As many issues as she had with Cam, she knew how much he adored their son. "Of course he does," she responded, her finger still pressed hard on the button, "He loves you. He misses you and he wants to see you. If you come out here, we can talk about that. We can set up a schedule so that you can see him and he won't have to miss you."
"Do you mean that?" He wanted so much to believe her, but trust hasn't got him very far in the past few months.
"Of course I do," she said, the guilt becoming almost overwhelming. Even if he came out right away, she knew there would be consequences and it was highly unlikely that there would be a normal visitation schedule for quite some time.
"She's not answering me," Cameron muttered as his breathing quickened. "That means she's lying.
"She probably just didn't hear you," Phyllis said quickly. "Ask her again." She closed her eyes in silent prayer.
"Do you mean that?" he repeated. "If I come out, you'll let me see Maxton?"
"Your finger has to be pressed down," the Commander reminded her. "If it's not, he won't hear you."
"Oh," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I don't use this thing." She waved the megaphone in the air. "I said Of course I mean it. We'll make it work. We'll figure it out."
Gwen watched as the curtains suddenly covered the window again.
"She said I could see him," Cameron whispered. "If I come out now, she said I could see Maxton."
Nick watched carefully as Cameron walked back across the room. One hand still gripped her arm as the other held the gun to her side, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. He pushed her with less ferocity onto the couch as his attention finally turned towards them.
"I could finally see my son again. It's been months since I've seen him. I thought he hated me."
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," Phyllis reassured him. "You're his father. Every son loves his father."
"She's right," Nick added. "Even with all the horrible things my father has done … and believe me, he's done plenty, I still love him."
"You really think he could forgive me? Even after this?"
"Kids are resilient." She could feel her heart racing as she watched his face. "They can forgive almost anything their parents do especially at your son's age. Right now you're still their hero."
"I want him to be proud of me," Cameron said quietly. "I haven't done much to make him proud lately."
"This could make him proud. You can make the right choice. Nothing you've done here is too bad to be undone. We can all still walk out of this and be okay. Think about your son, Cameron. Think about Maxton. Think about how happy he'll be to see you again."
"Okay," he said after a few moments of silence. "You go over there. You go tell them that I'll come out, but I'm coming with you and I don't want to see any guns. None. If I see guns, I don't come out."
She nodded. "Alright. I'll tell them." Her legs felt oddly unstable as she walked over to the window.
"Movement!" an officer cried again. "It's the woman. Looks like without Brooks."
"Cameron wants me to tell you that he's going to come out, but that I'll be coming out with him. There can be no guns anywhere in sight or the deal is off and he wants another confirmation that he is going to be allowed to see his son." She looked back towards Cameron who stood off to the side of the window.
He nodded at her, his hands clenched tightly as he waited to hear the response.
"Understood," Commander Von Lutken responded, "and I'll hand off the megaphone to Gwen so that she can answer the second question." He looked towards her. "Go ahead," he whispered.
"I don't know if this is such a great idea," she said quietly. "I feel horrible for lying to him this way. When he comes out, he's going to be so angry that …"
"Right now we need to get them out of there. We'll deal with the rest later. Gwen, we need you to do this." He shook the megaphone towards her again, his chest heaving as he saw her hand reach for it.
"Cam," Gwen called out again, "I'm here. If you come out, I'll let you see Maxton. I promise. We'll work it all out. It'll all be fine."
Cameron allowed his eyes to close and his shoulders to slightly relax. "Tell her we're coming out now," he said gruffly.
"We're coming out now," she said as she let the curtain fall in front of the window.
"You stay there," Cameron said as he pointed the gun at Nick. "When we're both out and clear, you can do whatever the hell you want."
Everything in him wanted to argue, but the gun pressed against her back stopped the words in his throat.
"Let's go," Cameron said as he guided her towards the door. The silence in the room was suddenly broken by a voice very familiar.
"I just feel so guilty. He's never going to forgive me for this. When he finds out that he's not going to get to see Maxton and that he's going to …. What? I didn't …. It isn't pressed … Oh God!"
Phyllis felt her body jerk before falling to the floor. Nick was beside her in an instant, his arms wrapping around her and thrusting in front. She heard the sounds of screams – her own, Nick's, Cameron's, and those of all the officers outside, and then she heard the shot.