I don't own The Professional or any of its characters. They belong soley to Luc Besson. I also am not affiliated with McDonalds in any way. I receive no money for any of this.

Shattered

Chapter Two: Realizations and Recoveries

Vinnie walked through the front door of Tony's restaraunt. Tony stood up. Matilda stopped breathing and waited for the worst.

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Meanwhile, Kim and her 6 year old son Luke, walked through the doors into the waiting room Benny was in. Luke obviously still had absolutely no idea why they had to leave the house. Seeing Benny he let go of his Mum's hand and ran up to him with his arms up.

"Benny!"

Benny picked him up.

"Hi, Luke." he set him back down.

Kim walked up to them.

"Luke, honey, go sit down over there ok? You still have that book with you?", he shook his head, "Ok. Go on."

Luke walked over to one of the chairs and pulled a bent and folded comic book out of his pocket. He opened it half way through and began to read.

"Alright. You ok Kim?" asked Benny.

"Yeah. I'm just worried about how Luke is gonna take whatever the verdict may be."

"You're not even remotely worried about Stan?"

"No. I'm not. The man made me hate him. There's no other explanation for his treatment of me. If that wasn't enough, he never even tried to stop taking those god damn pills."

"You ever think that maybe it was an addiction?"

"I know it was. He never tried to break the addiction Benny. As far as I'm concerned, this is God repaying Stan for all the pain he's caused other people. Including me. And the dozens of other families he's ruined."

Benny opened his mouth to reply but the doors to the surgery room flung open and the nurse that he spoke with earlier walked out. Blood was all over her gloves.

"He's very lucky. No spinal damage. A little more than half his ribs are broken though. We're fixing them now and puttin them back in place. Once that is over with we are going to sow him up, which will be fixing the lacerations on his back. Not sure how long it will take him to fully heal just yet. It will be a matter of months though. I've gotta get back in there. I'll have to do introductions with you all later."

She walked back into the room. While the doors swung Kim and Benny could see they had Stan on his stomach and that there was even more blood in the room. People were still grouped around and they could hear the meter that measured his pulse beeping in a steady rythm.

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"What did ya find out?" asked Tony in a undertone.

"Well, they got a few S.W.A.T members dead, only a handful headed to the hospital, a DEA agent went to the hospital about an hour ago in critical condition, and the man they were there for has been found. Kinda. He's dead. They said he was a hitman. They just found bits of him cause there was the explosion. Which is what put the DEA guy in the hospital. I only hope that it's that Stansfield. He deserves it. What?"

Tony had gone pale.

"Thanks Vinnie. Go back in the kitchen."

Vinnie gave him a puzzled look and walked around him into the kitchen. Tony walked back over to Matilda.

"Matilda?"

"Yeah?" her voice was quiet and cracked.

"We need to talk."

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"Jesus Christ Benny." said Kim.

"Yeah. Oh shit. I was fucking certain he was gone. Oh god." Benny put his hands over his face and slowly drug them down and off.

"I'm gonna guess we'll be here a while?"

"Probably. If you two wanna go get something to eat go ahead. He's out of the woods now so I'll just stay here for updates."

"Ok. I'll go see if he's hungry. After seeing that I know I'm not."

"Don't blame ya."

She walked over to Luke.

"Hey Dewie." she said, calling him by his nickname.

"What?" he asked from behind his comic.

"Wanna go get something to eat?"

"Where?" he asked. Still behind his comic.

"Wherever you want."

"McDonalds." he said dramatically pulling his comic down.

"Ok." she laughed.

"We goin now?"

"Yes."

"Is Benny coming?"

"No he's gonna stay here for...for what's going on."

"You still haven't told me mom."

"I know. We'll talk after you've eaten ok?"

"Ok. As long as I'm not getting any shots. I don't like shots mom."

"I know. You're not getting any shots."

Luke got up, re-folded his comic, shoved it in his back pocket, and shoved his hands inside his side pockets. They walked to the door that led out of the waiting room.

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"What happened Tony?" asked Matilda in a dead voice.

"You heard that explosion right?"

"Oh no. No. No. No." she buried her face in her hands and began to cry. Amazed at how many tears she could still produce.

"Hey now. He wouldn't want you cryin like that." said Tony.

"He promised. Tony he promised everything would be ok." she shouted. Her voice muffled by her hands.

"And it is. You're safe."

"Just tell me that he got rid of them. Tell me he finished them all off."

"Who?"

"Stansfield. Stansfield and his men."

Tony briefly hesitated. Then decided on what he thought was best.

"He did honey. He did. That's what that explosion was. Leon took Stansfield with him. I figure he either got real hurt or Stansfield was too good to be taken down easily. Everything is ok now."

She looked up.

"I guess."

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They had finished eating and were on their way back to the hospital. Luke had taken out his comic again in the front seat of Kim's car. He set it on his lap.

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"Can we talk about why we're at the hospital now? I mean, we're going back there right?"

"Yes and yes."

"Ok then."

"We are at the hospital for your dad. He got very hurt while he was working today."

Luke went pale and tears started in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.

"It's ok honey. The doctors there fixed him. He's going to be ok. They're stitching him up now. When he wakes up we'll be able to go see him. We went there early because they didn't know if he was going to be ok. Now, they know that he will. It's ok."

Luke shook his head up and down, sniffed, wiped his eyes, and replied.

"Do you know when he will wake up?" he asked.

"No. I bet Benny will though."

Luke finally smiled again.

Jesus kid. You've even got his smile.Thought Kim.

"Are we almost there?" he asked.

"Yeah. We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Luke picked his comic back up and while still smiling began to read.

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"Something tells me i'm about to lose my famous kind streak." finished Tony. They had briefly argued. Matilda wanted to be cleaner and Tony wouldn't hear it. She grabbed the money he gave her, stood up, and walked to the door and out.

She didn't even know where she was going. She just let her feet carry her.

After about ten minutes she noticed where she was. Her old apartment building. She went inside and up the stairs. When she reached her floor she stopped in front of her home. What used to be her home. She could still see her father's chalk outline on the floor in the doorway. She abruptly turned and walked straight. Towards the door at the very end of the hallway. Leon's door. It was unlocked so she went in. Shutting the door behind her she locked it, leaned against the door, let herself slide down, and when reaching the floor she began to cry. Every bit of pain she had felt since leaving Leon during the shootout seemed to inch out of her through her tears.

No.she thought.This is all the pain I've felt since as far back as I can remember. This is Stansfield tormenting me. This is my brother being murdered. This is my half sister hitting me. This is my Dad hating me. This is my mom dying. This is my life. It's more than just losing Leon. It's everything I've hidden.

She lay there. And just let it all come out.

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"Sir?" the nurse tapped Benny on the arm. He jumped, making Kim wake up. Luke slept on.

"Yeah?" his voice was groggy.

"We've just put him in another room. A recovery room."

"What about the conscious problem?"

"He regained consciousness right after we'd finished stitching him up. We had to sedate him again because he would have been in way too much pain. He didn't seem to know where he was. We're pretty sure he has a concussion. Not sure how bad yet. Shouldn't be too bad. He'll know who he is but, he'll have forgotton some recent events. Considering what happened to him today I don't think that's actually a bad thing."

"When can he leave the hospital?"

"That will be determined on how quickly he recovers in the next few days."

"And his room?"

"You can go in there now if you really want to. He is sleeping and needs to stay that way for a few more hours. So be very quiet. The room is pretty big and there is an extra bed in there if you want to lay the boy on it. It might be a good idea for him to sleep through the first couple hours as well."

"Ok. Thank you."

"Nurses will be in there every hour or so. Just to check on him. Have a good night."

"You too."

Benny stood up.

"You want me to carry him?" he asked Kim.

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Benny picked up Luke. They walked to the hallway and into Stan's new room.