The glass had barely touched my lips when I heard it. A quick knock and then sounds of the wooden door creaking open before slamming shut.

"Hello, hello!"

I smiled at Richard's greeting as he swaggered into the living room. I put my glass on the end table and stood for a welcoming hug. He gave me a firm pat on the back as he quickly embraced me then parted. He acts like such a dad.

"Quite the welcome, did you and Alex have a good few days without me?" He chuckled as he swung his satchel onto the sofa.

"We did have some fun," I sat back down beside his pack. "Just weren't expecting you to be gone for a solid three days! If you didn't leave a note on the door after the first day, we would've started panicking and gone to harass your wife to see if you were still alive."

He nodded along. "I'd expect nothing less from you."

I rolled my eyes at his solemn face and he broke into little giggles.

"Richard, don't indulge his worst case scenario thinking!" Alex loudly chided from the hall door frame, startling us both with his sudden appearance. He gave a small wave to Richard and sat down between me and the satchel. "Good to have you back, Rich. How's Belle doing?"

Richard rubbed the back of his neck as a sheepish grin overtook his features. "Oh, she's a little down about only having me back for a few days. But I promised her I'd try to drop by home more regularly. All of this has kind of pushed my life outside of the revolution to the back burner. We've got to figure this out just a tad bit more quickly, boys."

Rich propped his hands on his hips as he stood with a stoic face. We sat in silence for a moment before it was too much to bear. I sighed, giving a tight smile to Richard and Alex. "We'll figure it out. Soon, I promise."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I think we should scope out this Seamus kid a bit more before we go that far, Alexander."

I bobbed my head in agreement with Richard's suggestion and took a swig of my water. We had brought our talk into the kitchen, sitting here for the better part of an hour.

Alex huffed and leaned forward in his chair. "He's probably dealt a lot more damage than we can imagine, did you see his eyes? He looks like he's been to Hell and back. I'm just saying that we need to act fast before he goes after someone else."

"Fast, sure, but we also need to have a plan so nobody gets hurt unnecessarily. Or killed." I firmly reminded him. "Plus, we're not even completely certain he was involved in Hugh's death at all. We need to gather more information before we kick his ass, as you so eloquently put it."

"John, I'd say it's a safe bet that he's involved considering he's an apprentice to Eamon, who sounds like an absolute piece of shit." Alex muttered, leaning against the wooden back of his chair.

Richard spoke up. "I know there's a good chance he played a part in Hugh's death, but we need to go about this logically. Like John said, we need to minimize injuries and avoid deaths. Can't do that if we rush into it. I say we look into Eamon a bit more and keep an eye on Seamus for at least a few days before starting anything. There are too many ways this could go sideways if we don't take our time."

I nodded, noticing that Alex nodded his agreement with pursed lips and furrowed brows.

"That sounds like a solid idea, Rich. We'll go with that." Even though that almost guarantees more shitty stakeouts. "How about we discuss it more once you get settled back in? Alex and I have some stuff to take care of anyways. Let's talk it through over dinner tonight."

Alex shot me a look and Rich quickly glanced between the two of us. "Oh, sure, boys. You should definitely take care of that 'stuff'. Sounds important."

A quick wink at me and he stood from the table. "Alrighty, I'll just grab my pack from the sofa and leave you two with your important stuff."

We sat in silence as he went to grab his bag then scaled the staircase. Alex seemed to be waiting for him to be fully gone until sharing his thoughts.

We heard the door to Richard's bedroom close. "What the hell, John?"

"Alex…" I sighed, rubbing my temple while my other hand raised my water for a sip.

"Don't Alex me! This all needs to be stopped sooner rather than later!" His voice was quickly rising and he took a deep breath before continuing in a fast-paced whisper. "I know the dangers of rushing in, but what if we wait too long gathering info and someone else gets hurt? What if we're throwing away our shot at ending this all by going slow? I don't want to run out of time and have you or someone else I care about end up like Hugh!"

I got out of my chair and kneeled beside him, taking his hand in mine. "Darlin', I know this is a scary situation and I don't want any more damage than what's already been done, but we have to do this the right way. Plus, Hercules and Eliza would absolutely wreck us if they knew we were even considering just going in guns blazing. Or actually, Ange…"

"Yeah, I wasn't thinking about them, more so that Angelica would actually kill us." He laughed at my realization that she absolutely would be the one to fear in this scenario.

We let ourselves laugh for a moment, if anything just to distract ourselves from the seriousness of the situation we've found ourselves in.

Alex sobered first and squeezed my hand. His eyes glistened in the stream of sunlight pouring through the kitchen window.

"I love you." I murmured, bringing my other hand up to caress his cheek. His eyelids fluttered shut and he hummed in response.

"I love you, too, John."

Standing up, I kept his hand in mine. I leaned down and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"We're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay, my love." His eyes opened at my words and a soft smile appeared.

"Can we go lie down for a little bit? We've got some time before supper rolls around and I'm a bit tired." His deep brown eyes jumped into action with a solid puppy look and I pulled him up from his chair.

"I'd love nothing more than to hold you and get some rest right now." I whispered as he leaned into me for a kiss.

His lips were soft and warm, the epitome of a dream. He pulled away after a moment and rested his forehead on mine. "We'll be okay."

I smiled as he repeated what I'd said. He loosened his hand from mine and snaked his arms around my waist, pushing himself against my chest. My hand instinctively held the back of his head, my fingers weaving into his soft locks.

"Yeah, baby. We'll be okay."

Author's Note: I'M BACK, BITCHES.