A/N: hey guys! Look I didn't wait another month to update! This chapter is kind of a transition chapter into a more set of serious chapters to come, so pay close attention to Ian.
I wouldn't even trust you
I've not got much to give
We're dealing in the limits
And we don't know who with
You may think that I'm out of hand
That I'm naive, I'll understand
On this occasion, it's not true
Look at me, I'm not you
"Hey mom look!" Declan said running into the kitchen where Emily sat finger painting with Lauren.
"What's this?" she asked looking at the piece of paper he handed her.
"It's a permission slip for me to join the MMA kids class at the Police Athletic League." Declan said excitedly.
Emily pursed her lips together. She looked up at Declan, he looked so excited.
"I don't know buddy, I gotta talk to your dad about this before I sign it okay?" She said trying to sound like she'd consider it. She didn't like the idea of it very much. "Why do you want to be in mixed martial arts? I thought you were wanting to play basketball this winter." She asked him, a little confused.
"I did, but a couple of my friends from the soccer team are doing it and they said its really awesome." Declan said enthusiastically. "You have to be 14 by the next school year and I will so can I do it? Pleassssse?" he begged, tossing his curly blonde hair out of his eyes.
"I'll think about it. I have to talk to Ian first." She said.
"Well, when are you going to talk to him?" Declan asked impatiently.
"Well he's… Where is he anyways?" she asked. She'd woken up and he had left a note saying he'd be back in an hour or two. That had been 3 hours ago.
"I dunno. He said something about work or errands or something. I don't remember… Can you call him and ask him?" Declan asked getting back to the topic he wanted.
"Declan. I said I will talk to him! Now go do your homework or something and stop pestering me about it okay?" She said rolling her eyes at him.
"Fiiiiiine." He said stalking off upstairs.
Just then the front door opened, and Ian walked in tossing the car keys in the bowl.
"Hey, where've you been? You said you'd be back like, an hour ago!" She said taking the paints away from Lauren and walking over to the sink.
"I didn't know you cared." He said gruffly.
Emily looked up at him affronted. "Whats wrong? Why are you giving me attitude for?" she asked washing her hands off.
"It's nothing. Just busy, it's no big deal." He said shortly.
"Well we have to talk anyways, so you might as well get it out." She said drying her hands.
"Emily, just drop it. I have a headache… and what do we have to "talk" about now?" He asked rolling his eyes, irritated.
"Declan brought me a permission slip home today." She started, gauging his mood as to how this conversation would go. If he said no, Declan would be devastated, but she wouldn't have to be the bad guy, because Ian's "no" actually meant, NO. But, if he said yes, they would be at odds with each other for days and Declan would surely use the divide and conquer strategy to get his way.
"Yeah, so?" Ian said opening a can of pop from the fridge. "What? You forgot which name you're supposed to sign?" he asked sarcastically. She crossed her arms and sighed. Clearly, this was a bad time, but Declan was like his father in the regard, once something was in his head he would not drop it.
"It's for mixed martial arts, Ian." She gritted out.
"What? Like boxing?" Ian asked confused.
"Mixed martial arts is MUCH more than just boxing Ian. Its full contact, almost no rules, extreme forms of boxing, wrestling, and in a cage no less." She explained.
"Annnd?"
"And what? It's too violent Ian. Declan isn't like that, you know that."
"Do I? Oh you mean in the last 2 or so years I've gotten to know him?" Ian asked rudely.
Here we go… she thought exasperatedly.
"Ian, listen. It's too violent for him."
"Says the woman with a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu." Ian said pointedly. "And came after me with an MP5-K submachine gun."
"Yes, okay I took Jiu-jitsu AND Muy Thai, and are you ever going to let that go? You're lucky you shot me first or you wouldn't even be here." She said raising an eyebrow at him. "But Declan doesn't need to know any of that and for one, you almost STABBED me to death with a table leg."
"Are you ever going to let that go?" he said mocking her.
"Ian!"
"Love, let him do it. They have referees don't they? He'll be fine. Plus, the boy should learn how to fight, he's gotta learn how to defend himself." Ian said, leaning against the counter.
"Ian, I don't like it. Its not who he is, and I'll be damned if he turns out like either one of us." She said seriously. "He plays lacrosse and he's an incredibly gifted piano player. He doesn't have to be a thug." She said pleadingly.
"Darlin' have you ever seen a lacrosse game?" Ian asked raising his eyebrows at her point.
"Yeah I used to watch all of his lac—" she trailed off, looking away from Ian's glare. She had just totally contradicted what she'd told him at the warehouse. That she hadn't seen Declan since, but that had been a bold faced lie, because she had always kept a close eye on him, if even from a distance.
"You gonna try and tell me lacrosse isn't a violent sport?" he said shrugging off her last sentence.
"Well okay, no, but can you just back me up on this?" She asked, lifting Lauren up out her booster seat.
"Love, it's ridiculous. I learned to bare knuckle fight as soon as I could walk." Ian scoffed.
"When? At the orphanage?" She asked confusedly.
"Nah, there are a lot of Irish travelers that I used to grow up with, I learned from the best." He said giving her a smirk.
"Okay, whatever, that's besides the point. I don't want him learning this stuff!"
"Why? You could help him train, it'd just be yet another thing you two would have in common." Ian said bitterly.
Emily sighed. She had no idea what had crawled up his ass but she was running out of patience and Lauren was starting to squirm in her arms, wanting down.
"Ian, I know you're upset about that but you could always make more of an effort to connect with him you know." She said.
"Fine, you don't want him fighting, I can teach him how to load, fire, and reload an AK-47 probably faster than anyone in this country." Ian said.
Emily just glared at him.
"Not funny, Ian."
"Who said I was joking?" he said walking out of the kitchen.
"IAN!" she cried. He was walking to the basement where the guns were. He wasn't kidding.
She sat Lauren down to toddle away and rushed over to the basement door throwing herself in front of it.
"Move." He said.
"Fuck you." She spat.
"Emily, watch your mouth." He growled.
"FUCK. You." She enunciated, glaring at him. He put both hands on the door behind her head.
"Move, now. Or I will move you involuntarily. And you'll probably land somewhere on the patio. Through the glass door. Got me?" He said quietly.
"Do what you want, but you will have to step over my cold dead body before I let you teach that child how to handle a gun. Got. Me." She said in the exact same deadly voice.
They stood glaring at each other for an excruciating minute.
"Fine. You don't want me to teach him how to protect himself with a rifle, sign the damn permission slip." Ian said, finally.
Emily chewed on her lip. He still had her pinned against the door and she really didn't want a physical altercation today. Not in front of their daughter anyways.
She sighed, shoulders slumping, admitting defeat. "Fine." She said quietly. She saw Ian visibly relax, and then she brought her knee up, hard.
Ian doubled over in pain, groaning.
"You sign it, asshole." She said triumphantly standing over his body. She went and picked up Lauren and walked out into the backyard, making sure to slam the door behind her.
