A/N: I gave some serious consideration of withholding this chapter until I had gotten s few reviews on Ch. 19, but I just can't hold out on you guys. Just a heads up, the story is almost complete, the end is in sight... and no, it's not a sad ending like wolfchick11's latest ;)
Julie opened her eyes just in time to see the twins spilling into the apartment. They were laughing with each other, holding take-out bags from some fast food place. Connor looked up first, like he was going to say something, but his face became utter shock. Turning his face up as well, Murphy's eyes widened. Both boys dropped their bags and made to reach into their jackets.
"Don't even try it," her father barked, pulling her in front of his body to block him.
Both brothers glanced at each other and gave slight nods. They pulled out their guns, and Julie could feel her father's hand tense around her neck. But the men carefully laid their guns on the floor in front of them. With a satisfied grunt, Julie's father through her behind him, drawing his knife. The sudden ability to breathe made Julie gasp. She fell on the floor, nearly busting her head against the table leg. Looking up after a few moments, she saw Pokey sitting on the edge of the table top. She reached up for him, grabbed a flipper and pulled him down beside her.
"I've come to get my things," her father told the twins, brandishing his knife defensively.
"Then take them an' go," Connor replied. "But ye'll be leavin' Julie here with us."
"I don't think so," her father shook his head. "She's mine, too. And I'm not leaving without her."
"It's not like ye want 'er anyway," Murphy retorted. "The fuck does it matter if she stays here?"
"You're right, I never did want her," Julie's father answered. "She isn't worth much more than a pack mule around the house. But she belongs to me and I'll be damned if I'm going to just let her go without my say-so."
Both brothers moved forward, as though they were planning to jump the armed man. Julie's father struck out with his knife, grazing Connor's upper arm. When Murphy moved in, her father stuck him in the shoulder. He hissed in pain and backed up half a step. Connor made another move forward, but caught the knife blade across the palm of his hand. He cried out in pain and frustration.
Julie go to her feet behind her father quickly, jamming her hand into the secret pocket in Pokey's back. She had regained her breath finally and had wanted to cower under the table, but the sound of Connor and Murphy being wounded had made up her mind for her. She pressed Pokey a hair's breadth away from the back of her father's head.
He must have felt it, because he turned to look at her with a scowl. "What the fuck is this?"
"Remember when Uncle Jimmy gave me Pokey for my fifteenth birthday," she glared at him, gritting her teeth and feeling the adrenaline coursing through her body as she breathed hard. "Everyone said it was odd to give a fifteen year old girl a stuffed animal. Well, there was a reason he gave me this damned doll."
"What the fuck are you talking about," he glowered, looking angry and confused.
With a satisfying click, Julie drew the hammer back on the handgun she had hidden inside Pokey's secret compartment. Her father must have recognized the sound because his eyes widened. From the corner of her vision, she saw Murphy start to lunge forward, but Connor stopped him, holding him back and saying something softly to calm him.
"Uncle Jimmy knew all along how bad you had been treating me," Julie said harshly to her father, pressing the barrel of the gun through Pokey's stomach and against his head. "But he was killed before he could save me from you."
"So, you'd rather stay here with these creeps" he asked nervously.
"They're my new heroes," she replied. "They saved me from you once, and I won't let you hurt them because of it."
"Julie,I," he started to reply, but she jammed the gun harder against his head.
"Twenty fucking years, Dad," she spat. "For twenty fucking years you and mom have beaten me, spat on me, insulted me, and taken everything you could from me. No more. It ends tonight. Right here, right now."
Her father closed his eyes, waiting for the shot. Julie's finger itched against the trigger. For a moment, everything was silent and tense. She looked up at the brothers, their piercing blue eyes watching her in anticipation. The fingers of her left hand trailed up to the cross at her neck. Tightening her jaw, Julie raised the gun from her father's head and brought it down hard across his face. Even with Pokey's fluff to cushion it, the blow was still enough to knock her father backwards a few steps.
The men grabbed his shirt from either side, pulling him toward the door. Julie watched them drag her father away, and secretly, she hoped they would finish the job she had started. But they only took him to the door.
"Ye'll be gettin' the fuck out now," Murphy said harshly, nearly ramming her father's head into the door.
"Julie," her father called angrily over his shoulder, pulling away from the brothers. "After all these years, everything I've ever done for you?"
"Yer lucky she didn't put a bullet in ye fer every bruise ye've ever given 'er," Murphy replied.
"Aye, that's what I'd be doin'," Connor added, reaching for the doorknob. "But Julie is a generous young lass."
"If ye ever show up here or bother Julie again," Murphy warned. "She won't have ta shoot ye. We'll do it for 'er."
Her father looked at her, and for a second, she imagined she saw fear in his eyes. A second later, the boys had shoved him into the hallway and closed the door on him. Connor threw the lock before both brothers turned back to look at her. She slid Pokey off the gun, setting the gun on the table and clutching him to her.
Murphy gave a gentle smirk. "I can't believe ye had a gun hidden in the penguin."
Julie looked over, starting to smile, but with the sudden loss of adrenaline, her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor. The brothers cried out her name in concern as they came rushing over to her. Both sets of hands gently pulled her into a sitting position. Tears had started to stream down her face, and she was trying hard not to sob.
"Ah, Julie," Murphy said, sounding almost sad. "Look what the bastard did to yer neck."
Connor's good hand slid across her cheek and into her hair, making her look up at him. He had a slight smile as he said reassuringly "He's gone fer good now. Ye've stood up ta 'im, and scared the livin' shit out of 'im."
Julie started laughing a bit, then it grew deeper, more hysterical. Before too long, it changed into weeping. She wrapped an arm around each brother's neck and pulled them in close to her. Connor pressed his lips to her temple, while Murphy ran his along her jawline on the other side. All three heads ducked together, they sat there on the floor for several long quiet moments.