Chapter 13: Stuck In the Middle

A loud bang roused Murphy from slumber. Blinking sharply, he sat up. Branna was curled into a ball beside him; the blankets pulled tight around her. Rubbing a hand over his face, he rolled out of bed and opened the door to the bedroom. Connor was back.

Out in the living room, Connor looked lost in the kitchen. Murphy smirked as his brother fumbled through the cupboards and stared down the stove as if willing it to turn on. On the couch sat a svelte woman in a black leather jacket and faded skinny jeans. Her pale complexion was dotted with freckles leading up to a shock of short red hair. The style of the cut left a swoop of bang in front of her face.

Beside her was Rome, dressed in jeans and a dark green t-shirt. He was sitting with a leg propped up on the short coffee table.

"Look who decided to join the party!" Romeo exclaimed when he saw Murphy.

The two friends clasped arms and Murphy put a finger to his lips. Romeo nodded.

"Branna sleeping? Connor told us about what happened last night. Thought you two leprechauns might need some backup so I called in someone." He gestured to the strange woman on the couch. "This is Jess."

The redhead leaned forward and extended an arm.

"Names Jessica Madigan, but most people call me Jess. It's nice to finally put a real face to the Saints. You know, those composites they show on the TV don't really do you justice." She winked.

Shrugging off the obvious slight flirtation, he walked into the kitchen. Murphy tapped Connor on the shoulder. He smirked as his brother spun around. Turning the knob on the stove, Murphy turned the front burner on, placed the pot of water on the burner and fixed his brother with a look.

"What?" his twin asked.

"The mugs are on the top shelf." He pointed to show his twin what he'd been looking for.

"Oh fer fucks sake!" Connor hollered.

"Shut the fuck up! Did ye not fucking hear me the first time? Branna's sleeping. Last night really fucked with her head." Murphy poked his brother in the shoulder.

Connor's face went from frustration to sombre in seconds.

"Don't. Don't fucking do it brother."

"Do what? This?" Murphy could sense his brother's inner frustration. It was like an instinct. He reached forward and thrust another finger deep into Connor's shoulder. Connor's eyes darkened.

'I'm warning ye. Don't. I don't have the patience for yer bullshit."

Murphy was startled. What the fuck was his problem? Connor'd been acting strange all morning. Said he was going to go round up some troops after they'd brought Branna back to the apartment in the wee early hours of the morning. He'd come back with a name and phone number and then left within minutes of coming through the door. Now, hours later, he had Romeo and this red headed sprite of a thing sitting pretty on the couch while he was acting like he had bloody banshees in his pants. And yet, he had the bollocks to talk about his bullshit?

"My bullshit? My fucking bullshit? Fuck you!" Murphy landed a hard left jab to his brothers' face.

Connor sprawled backwards, using the countertop as leverage. Scrambling forwards he shoved his twin back. All of a sudden it was arms and legs every which way. Murphy felt a fistful of hair being tugged while he drove hard punches into his brother's' abdomen. Connor was landing kidney shots and kicking. Amid the grunts and the sounds of violence, a clear voice rang out.

"Would you both mind please? For fucks sake. Are they always like this?"

Murphy caught Romeo's sigh.

"It's like babysitting a bunch of ankle biters when they get like this."

"Well I for one am not going to sit here while they beat the shit out of each other." The red head's voice sighed. "Didn't the dark haired one want us to keep quiet anyways cause that girl they're trying to protect is sleeping? She won't be much longer if this keeps up."

Ignoring the woman, Murphy continued to scrap. He landed a hard stomp to Connor's left foot, Connor howled and released him. As graceful as a swan, Jess slid in between them.

"You, cut it." She pointed at Connor. "I don't care what he did. It's over now. Make the fucking coffee. I'm thirsty as fuck."

Murphy watched her turn her piercing blue eyes to him.

"You, what the fuck? You tell us to keep it down so that we don't wake sleeping beauty in there, yet you go on and have a full on brawl? Explain please?" she held her hands out waiting for an explanation.

"Who do ye think ye are? Me Mum? Fuck off." He turned to go into the living room and saw Branna standing there in the doorway.

She'd pulled on one of his t-shirts and a pair of his jeans; the jeans hung way too low on her hips. She looked incredibly sexy, her dark hair mussed and swimming in the sea of his clothing. Had he not been in front of company, there were many a thing he would like to do with her, namely get her out of his pants. She was grasping the waistband with one hand, holding them out in silent sarcasm.

"Hey, sorry about the noise, love. I didn't mean to wake ye," He said quietly.

Walking over to her, he kissed her on the mouth. He could feel Connor's confusion boring into his shoulders. Shrugging it off, he smiled at the dark haired woman in front of him.

"I know exactly what ye didn't mean. Trouble is ye never mean what ye end up doin' now do ye Murphy MacManus?" She smiled a crooked smile.

Her teasing tone made him laugh. Taking her by the free hand, he pulled her towards the bedroom.

"Come on, I'll bring ye some pants. Ye can't be wearing those all day."

"Why not?" Branna scoffed. "Ye don't think they suit me?"

"Well, as good as they look on ye, they're me lucky jeans and I'm gonna need them. So yer gonna have to change."

* * * *

Jess turned her azure gaze to Romeo. He was casually leaning back against the couch with a smile on his face. She wanted to be annoyed at Rome for not giving her the full story. It was obvious there was more to it than "the Saints need a few extra hands bumping someone off." The darker haired twin, Murphy was it? He had just laid a whopper on the girl they were trying to protect. Sneaking a glance over to the other twin in the kitchen, Connor, she felt herself flush. From what Romeo had told her, neither one of the boys were very astute at homemaking, in fact his words had been "will burn water." To see him fumbling over the stove, clucking like a mother hen, was endearing. Not so much that she wasn't curious as to whether or not it was for her benefit, or the dark haired woman Murphy had taken back to his room.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable she turned to Romeo again, levelling a penetrating look.

"So tell me the full story. What the fuck just happened? Are they, or are they not, protecting this woman from Fitzpatrick because it's the right thing to do? Or is it because they've both got some weird ass fucking twin 'thing' going on for her? Not that it matters, cause to be honest, she's good looking and it wouldn't surprise me. I just need the facts. You know I need the facts Rome. I don't do a job without all the facts." She did air quotes.

Crossing his bad leg over his knee, he sighed. She knew that he knew she was right. She could always tell when he was holding back. She chalked it up to having known him since they were both kids living down the street from each other. It had been a predominately Latino neighbourhood and Rome had been the first kid not to shun her and whisper "gabacha", white girl. They'd become fast friends and over the years, he'd become closer to her than a brother. They were almost family. He knew better than to withhold information from her, especially when she was putting her life on the line.

"It's complicated ya see." Romeo started, he struggled with what to say next. "I don't even really know the whole thing myself. Murph and Branna, well they got some unfinished business if ya get my meaning." He finally finished waving his hand in the direction the pair had gone.

Jess nodded slowly. She understood but that wasn't enough for her to waste her ammunition or her life.

"Unfinished business? There has to be more than that Rome. Why would you call me if you don't know the whole story! I can't put my life on the line for some bullshit revenge against a former lover or whatever; you said this was serious shit. I need the full story right now or I am out of here."

Romeo threw his hands up. Before he could answer, Connor set down to cup of black coffee on the table and took a seat on the chair across the stout coffee table.

"Look, it's complicated. Like Romeo said. Branna and me brother have a history, but their history has little to do with what we're needing the help fer. The man we're after, Fitzpatrick? He killed countless people with nail bombs when he lived in Ireland as part of a guerrilla style militia called the Republican Army."

He paused, waiting for her to nod her understanding.

"One of the men he killed was Branna's brother. She's been looking for him fer near ten years so she can put a bullet through his fucking head. He's found her now, and neither Murph nor I will let Branna go into this by herself. Colin's got himself hooked into the Winter Hill gang. He has old time Irish gangsters backing him. They may not be super tough, but they aren't fucking stupid either."

Jess screwed up her mouth trying to sort through the information. It all seemed to make sense except for the fact that Murphy had just finished gobbling Branna's face and the feeling between the two was just close to be more than 'just friends'

"Well, that is fine and fucking dandy. It doesn't, however, explain to me why your dear brother was just sucking face with her? I just need to know everything. If I'm going to risk my life, I need to know what the possible liabilities are. If there is something going on between them that is more than just a casual fuck, I need to know. I need to know that everyone I work with is capable of the same thing." Her tone was pointedly obvious.

She watched Connor's eyes fill with anger. He clenched his fist around his coffee. White knuckling the mug, he took a long sip. Fixing her with a strong and penetrating look he spoke, his voice almost shaking with fury.

"I don't take comments like that lightly love. Remember who yer fucking dealing with here. Murph and I are more than capable of killing at a moment's notice, don't ye fucking forget it. As for Murphy and Branna? I'll tell ye this much, it is much more than just a casual fuck. What they have going on, that's between them. Ye don't need to worry yer pretty little red head about it. Both of them are more than capable of putting the job before everything else. If that is what ye be getting at."

Jess heard everything he'd said. In fact, the tone of his voice made her sweat a little. Maybe she'd taken him a little too lightly in the beginning. His clumsiness and quiet humour was gone now. Now, she was looking into the eyes of Connor MacManus, one of the Saints of South Boston. The look he gave her told her exactly what he would do to her if she even thought about speaking ill of his kin again. Strangely enough, all she could really focus on was that he'd called her pretty. A pretty little red head to be more precise, and not necessarily under the best tense but it was pretty nonetheless. Feeling suddenly put in her place, she lowered her eyes.

"Alright, fine. I just wanted to know what I was getting into exactly."

Connor relaxed almost immediately. Tension gone, he looked towards the closed bedroom door where one could hear faint giggling.

"Oi, Murph ye mind getting yer arse back out here? We have some things to discuss." Connor called.

The hushed giggling stopped abruptly and a red-faced Branna emerged from behind the doorway. Her green eyes were glittering and she looked like she could barely contain her laughter. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"We're having technical difficulties Connor. It might be a second."

Jess looked at Connor and her confusion grew. He looked as confused as Jess felt. When Branna didn't move from the doorway, with only her shoulders poking out, Connor stood to go investigate. He peered around the bedroom door and guffawed louder than Jess thought was possible.

"Oh fer Christ's fucking sake. How in the fuck?" she heard him say as he disappeared behind the door chuckling.

She could hear Murphy's frustration at his brother's glee of whatever the situation was. Branna sounded like she was crying she was laughing so hard. Finally, Jess couldn't take it anymore. Standing, she looked at Romeo. He shrugged. A few quick steps and Jess swung open the door herself. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

Branna was on her tiptoes with her groin pressed tight against Murphy. She was trying to maintain her balance and gripped the dark haired twins shoulder with an iron fist. She was stifling her laughter with her other hand. Murphy was holding out the waistband of his pants and Connor was crouched at groin level. He appeared to be trying to unstick them. He looked up when Jess cried out with a laugh.

"What's so fucking funny?" Murphy said exasperatedly.

Jess pointed at his crotch.

"What the fuck?" she said between breaths. Branna just shook her head.

"He tried to get fresh with me and apparently me jeans really wanted to get fresh with his." She cried as tears of laughter ran down her face.

Connors face was a mixture of concentration and pure amusement. He fiddled with the buttons on the waistbands and the zippers but he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Ye got small fingers? I don't think I'll be able to unzip them." He said, his eyes twinkling with delight.

Jess nodded.

"Let me see what I can do."

Coming closer to the stuck together jeans, she cocked her head to the side to get a better angle. The ring of the zipper tag of Murphy's jeans had actually slipped itself through the zipper tag on Branna's jeans. Biting her lip, Jess went to work. After a few long minutes, the two were separated.

Branna fell backwards onto the bed holding her belly and laughing. Murphy, finally freed, rubbed his hands over his face and started laughing. Connor was rolling on the floor with tears in his eyes and Jess couldn't help but laugh with them.

"Hey? What the hell is going on in here? You leave the gimp out in the living room while you all come in here to party? No fucking way! That is NOT funny!"

All the heads in the room spun to the doorway. Romeo stood, leaning on his cane glowering at them. The sight made them all burst into another fit of hilarity.