Chapter 22: Guardian Angels

A/N: Last chapter of Backstab, not including the next chapter, which is actually more like an Epilogue then a chapter. Must apologize, the beginning is a little rough, meaning I kinda rushed it a bit…but thanks so much to all of my wonderful reviewers and followers, and please enjoy.

Oo0oO

I sank to my knees, hands wrapped around my chest as the sound of the gunshot reverberated across the room. In an instant, a mob of policemen tackled Blue, forcing him to the ground and into a pair of thin, silver handcuffs. He was still writhing and cursing, mostly at me, but by this time the police had forced him into the cuffs, and were dragging him out of the theatre.

Meanwhile, I stood kneeling on the stage in horrified silence, salty tears beginning to spill from my eyes. For weeks since my arrival at the Lennox House I had watched my friends die around me, because I had been stupid enough to drag them into my escape plans in the first place. I actually believed that, that we could win, that at least one of us would taste freedom once more, return to our family or siblings and leave this horrible place behind. But instead I had led every last one of them to their death. They died for the dream of escape, of a better life out of the Lennox House. Amber…Blondie….Rocket…. I couldn't bring myself to think of her name.

In blind grief I tumbled down the stage; half walking, half falling to where SweetPea lay unconscious on the ground. She wasn't moving, and though I did not yet see blood, I found myself unable to move, only sit. Reaching out, I grasped her hand between mine, holding it to my chest as I continued sobbing.

"Please SweetPea," I begged, "please you can't die. This is your story, and it's not over yet. Not until you get home, and see your family. Not until you live your life the way you deserve to, and fall in love and live happily ever after!" I sobbed, desperately shaking her. "You have to get up!"

When silence met my pleas, I sobbed harder, still holding onto her hand. After what felt like an eternity of stillness, I suddenly felt her stir.

"What…Baby? What happened….?" she questioned, sitting upright and noticing my tears.

"SweetPea you're….alive," I breathed. "Bu-but how? I saw you get shot. Blue aimed the gun to your head and….."

"I…don't know," SweetPea blinked, looking as surprised as I felt. "I heard the bullet go off and I remember blacking out, but that's all."

We sat there for a second in silence, both of us still unable to comprehend what exactly had just happened.

"SweetPea, Baby!" a voice called, drawing us both to our feet. Tyler wandered over from a group of officers, whose eyes followed him curiously.

"Tyler you're alright!" SweetPea exclaimed, bolting up and throwing herself into his arms. For a moment Tyler looked like she'd caught him off guard, but in less than a second he hugged back.

"I saw everything that happened, while I was waiting for the police," he explained, drawing back. He turned to SweetPea, "I'm just glad you're alright. When I saw Blue pull the trigger and you fell to the floor I…I thought it didn't work. I thought I lost you."

"What do you mean?" I asked quizzically.

"While I was waiting for Madam Gorski to come with the police I had some extra time. So, as I side project I kinda snuck into Blue's office and replaced his bullets with blanks in case of emergency."

"What's a blank?" I shook my head in confusion.

"A blank is like a fake bullet. It looks and feels like one, but when you pull the trigger you get the boom and the effect but not the actual bullet. They use them in movies instead of real bullets."

SweetPea and I stood back in awe, looking at Tyler with renewed respect. SweetPea was the first to recover her speech.

"Tyler you…you saved me. I could have died but….you saved me," she rambled, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

For a moment I thought Tyler was going to make some cheeky, cool remark, but he surprised us all, by leaning down and kissing SweetPea. The first time they kissed, back when we were parting ways when we first came back to the Lennox House, it had a kiss goodbye, something done in the case that they never saw each other again. But this was different. This time there was so much love and affection, the kind of love you only see in movies and books. But here it was, happening right in front of me, a love so deep like that. The last time I felt love like that was the last time I saw my mother, the last time I held my sister when she slept. That kind of love was rare in this world, that true unmistakable love that is meant for only very few to share.

It was a while before either pulled away, both of them looking quite so flustered when they did that I couldn't help but smile. They both turned to look at me then, and I really looked at them. They were the closest thing I still had to family in this world. We had gone through so much together, yet we had all known each other for such a short amount of time. And in that time we had grown stronger together, and in the end risen to expose Blue once and for all.

"Baby, SweetPea, Tyler!" Madam Gorski said, rushing over from a circle of officers. "It worked, you did it. Blue's lawyer is insistent in taking the matter into court, though everyone knows who will lose. It's hard to tell, but Deputy Samuels said anything less than a life sentence would be unthinkable," she explained happily.

"What about the girls at the Institute?" Tyler piped up suddenly, glancing anxiously between SweetPea and I.

"The most severe of cases are being transferred to different mental Institutions across the country; so I heard. However, I also managed to convince him that Blue has been keeping a few girls longer than he was legally binded to because of their allure to the men who come here, and that it was their duty to release them. I mentioned you two as a few of them."

"They just let you do that?" SweetPea gaped.

"Oh SweetPea, you forget that as well as choreographer I am also psychiatrist. And as long as I say you're mentally healthy, with a doctor's note of approval you're free to go," she announced, looking over our excited faces. "Now, if you'll excuse me there is still more business to be taken care of," she said mysteriously, strolling back to the officers.

Tyler snickered under his breath at the intrigued faces of the men, but said nothing.

"So…. what now," I asked, my brain still trying to grasp that it was all over.

"I don't know," Tyler admitted, "my whole life I've lived helping girls escape from this Institute, looking for an opportunity to stop my father. But now that it's over…" he faded off. "What about you SweetPea?"

"….I made a promise to my sister Rocket, when she almost died the first time. That I'd return home to our mother and father, and tell mom that she always loved her."

Tyler and I nodded our understanding, and then he turned to me. "And you?"

I stopped, for once thinking about something other than survival or taking down Blue. What could I do? My family was mostly dead, and I doubted my distant relatives would want/recognize me. In fact my closest living family was….My step father, I thought to myself, a jolt of anger and grief sparking through my body. He was the reason all of this had happened, why I got sent to the Institute and all of my friends died. This whole time I'd been blaming myself, when he was the reason for so much of this pain. He'd bribed Blue to make sure the high roller was reserved for me, he sent me to the Lennox House, he killed my sister .I tried to shake off the anger and hate that was building on me, but it plagued me. I knew what I had to do.

"I'm going to find my step-father," I announced, "and I'm going to bring him to justice once and for all."

SweetPea and Tyler looked at me, noting the emotion and intensity in the way I spoke. "You're going to go off on another suicide mission to bring evil to justice? Huh, I can't decide if you're the noblest or stupidest person I've ever met in that manner." Tyler said jokingly, the romantic caring Tyler of a few moments ago already long forgotten.

"Baby, are you sure you're gonna be ok?" SweetPea asked, concern tainting her cheery mood.

I nodded solemnly. "I will. I have to."

SweetPea smiled, and so did I. Now wasn't the time to be looking towards the unsure future, or the definite horrors of the past. For now at least, we all existed in this single moment in time. The three of us stood side by side. After exchanging glances, we walked together towards freedom.

Oo0oO