Chapter Fifty Two

It was so very weird being in the attic of her house.

Ivy looked around unsurely as Logan contentedly snoozed on the bed. Everything had become a lot more technological in the room she once shared, with computers and multiple screens. It was as if this was now a security room. She got up, gently picking up her ickle cutie little tiddlywink and taking them out of that room down the stairs and went to Gary's original room. She was surprised at the room; it actually looked used. She'd figure Gary would spend most of his life in the attic with the damn computer screens.

Then she slowly blinked, a bit lost.

She felt like she couldn't sleep in her own damn house.

Well shit.

Gary, Jimmy, Petey and Lani had their rooms, but this was a five bedroom house. She went to the last room, with no signs of use, glad there was a bed at least but it was western and far too high. She grabbed the cover, dragging it over to a corner and making a nice little nest for her boy, putting him in it softly. She didn't want him dropping to the ground. "There ya go, Monty-boy." She touched his cheek and then made changes to the room. There was only a mattress on the floor now and she'd have to buy more pillows in case Logan fell off.

The door slammed open and Ivy quickly turned, staring up at the unknown gun holder that somehow had access to her house, stepping forward. Teeth bared in a snarl as she heard Logan cry in alarm and she took the chance to jump the tall black haired man whose eyes had drifted from her to the baby, easily dodging his reactive but late left hook with a duck, slamming a knee upwards into his stomach and breaking his nose with another quick knee. She grabbed his hair, thrilling in the fight once more with guilty enjoyment, and with lightning speed slammed her fist into his face four times and making him unable to efficiently attack her back.

Another male, Latino this time and bulkier than the last one had three men backing him came up to her and she cursed the fact she wasn't wearing anything good for protection or swiftness, clothed in semi tight jeans and a very tight striped black and red blouse with no shoes and slippery socks. She wished she had her robes on. The fist coming at her was grabbed and she dangled from his arm and sent a foot into his face, pushing off with a back flip and knocking him clean back into the others. Running up and stepping on him, the Scot launched off onto another one, slamming a controlled elbow into his temple and knocking him out, rebounding off his body to dodge the talented fast jab coming at her from the next one, clearly a boxer.

She back stepped twice in a zig zag pattern before the next upper cut went zinging past her head and his body was on show, causing a wide grin to go over her face and she slammed both fists into his stomach, ignoring the blood that choked from his mouth and focusing on number four that was calling for reinforcement before she slammed a fist into the phone and breaking it into smithereens, grabbing him by the throat and head-butting him in the nose. She snarled out a demand of, "Who is your faction?!"

"J-Jaguar!"

"Then why are you attacking me?!" She snarled, getting in his face, slapping him. "Don't you fucking know who I am to you?!"

His frightened shake of the head had her growling.

"You're new I take it." Ivy calmed down as best she could, blood pumping and trying to dislodge the enthusiasm for a fight from her.

She chose to stop doing this.

She had to.

'Says who?'

Ivy mentally smacked herself.

No.

She had a child to look after.

"I-I've been here a year."

"Not long enough to know who I am though, hm?" She looked at her ring, checking for damage and inwardly relieved that it seemed fine. This gave the man a chance to attack, trained in some art, but not on her level. She knocked him out as quickly as the others, next putting her ring on its' chain around her neck once more. Logan was still crying and she narrowed her eyes, suddenly viciously protective over him with the need to get out of here. She got him, dashed upstairs to the top and grabbed a bag from the attic and shoved her main shit in there as well as some baby things and a baby sling she could put her boy in. Upon changing clothes to her breast bindings, comfy t-shirt, harem pants and spar shoes, she tied him against her.

There was no way she was staying in this place.

She stationed her child against her chest tightly. If more were coming then she'd not be able to care about his comfort, only his safety. Who the fuck did that man she called a husband employ if they didn't even know one of their second in commands by face?

The door downstairs slammed open and she looked out the window. No hose pipe to slide down and she wouldn't risk a jump with her child in tow. Fuck. Fuck this fucking situation up its' motherfucking arse. She touched Logan's frightened head and kissed it before ducking under her bed in the attic and taking out her pair of metal nun-chucks. There would be no mercy from her right now. Her child meant everything to her. It was like the twins in the kidnapping situation but twenty times worse with what she was feeling.

She jumped down the hole in the floor to land on the man coming up with a scowl on his face, eyes focused on getting out of here as she knocked him out, slapping the guns out of the hands of the next three with one sweep of the left nunchucks while the other one smashed into their faces and putting them out the fight, only to show the large amount piling into the hallway. Adrenaline hit harder than ever as she sneered, dodging the well thrown knives, slapping one out of the way with a weapon, dodging the kick and smacking down her other weapon into his knee at the same time she thrust an elbow into another's face before realising she should focus more on defence rather than attack and dodge as she usually did, getting carried away with herself.

Baby on board and all that shit.

Then she blinked and said out loud. "I'm Ivy Jones, second in command with Pete Kowalski the advisor and fellow fighter Jimmy Hopkins. Stop this at once!"

They shuffled in alertness before disregarding her words as someone didn't believe her, a rather bloodthirsty looking male that tried to strike at her child in which she replied with a nun-chuck to the neck, uncaring she just busted in his windpipe and he would suffocate to death.

"I said stop!" Ivy snarled to the twenty other members of Jaguar reinforcement, hearing even more cars coming in. She grit her teeth as they didn't, knocking out three more, slower than usual, which was only a few seconds slower each time, but her mind, so used to taking down multiples within seconds felt she was lacking and she pushed harder into the crowd, leaving behind bodies while carrying a crying baby as her mind focused on the enemy. The whole corridor taken down within minutes, she ran out the door and gawped at the thirty odd members in a semi-circle as she clenched her blood splattered nun-chucks. How'd they get here so fuckin' fast?

The other-worlder gulped as neighbours peered out and fear settled in for her child. "Shh, Monty. Logan, Logan, shh." Ivy tried to calm him, but the jolting and jerking hadn't done anything for his well-being even though she'd bound him tight against her and limited her wild movements. There was a mass of weapons, but no guns which she breathed a wobbly sigh at. Ivy stepped forward and this caused a bunch of them to race forward and attack and she had to duck three separate swings of machete's and two baseball bats and took one out with a chop to the neck, using his falling unconscious body as a shield while kicking another two in the face with her speed before kicking the same two in their knees as they held their faces and taking them out.

A kick towards her face instead scrapped her knuckles from the rubber of the sole of the shoes as she blocked with a fist before a nun-chuck aimed toward his face took him out. The heavy unconscious body was shoved at the machete people as distraction and she used him as a step ladder to get a roundhouse kick at three machete wielders, getting two while the last one had enough time to duck but she turned it into a diagonally sweeping kick, slamming his face to the ground and jumping on his head to bury slightly deeper to cause maximum pain and no getting up.

One hand always hovered over her child, blocking while the stronger attacked but she knew she'd have to use it against the other twenty five a lot more. A punch to two others faces lowered that to twenty three and kicks down to nineteen but that still wasn't halfway, and she heard even more cars come racing up. Twisting the elbow of one while blocking a kick with a shin, she took out another with a spinning kick as she twisted number eighteen's arm and broke the shoulder of sixteen, while seventeen tried another few blows but his eyes widened as fifteen went in for a backwards blow and was knocked out as fifteen suffered a similar fate with an elbow to a temple. Fourteen, thirteen and twelve tried their best with baseball bats, but an enraged woman with nineteen years' experience was far more than a match they could ever possibly hope to win, taking various broken bone injuries along with their defeat.

She dodged the next one, very much a martial artist with a chance, ducking his fist and blocking constant light speed attacks, but she had anger, energy and wrath against those daring to step on her property on her side and in a serious fight without rules and regulations, she was easily the victor. She gave a few seconds to take him in. A black man with enthusiasm and a face made for grinning with a little goatee. She'd remember him. Unlike the next dozen. Her chest heaved before she looked around at the next lot of two dozen having arrived, sweat barely beginning to form.

It wasn't the hardest fight she'd ever had - taking out hundreds of people in one night on raids over two years ago came to mind – but it was the most careful she'd ever been, taking light damage to her outer body with bruises and scrapes and shallow slices all over; but not a single one on her crying boy. Hearing that enraged her further when she paused, and it made her swiftly decimate the next fifteen within thirty two seconds, a trail of broken bones and blood behind her. They were Jaguar and she felt a touch of guilt for not trying harder to make them see the truth, but it suddenly didn't matter.

She'd defend her child from anyone.

She wanted to fight.

Those two ideas swirled and whirled around her mind far too much during the fight.

The Scot couldn't lie to herself.

She loved the fight.

Ivy felt a swell of energy from that thought and quickly set off to defeat the newest arrivals, all forty or fifty odd of them. She was only about three quarters of the way, clothes fairly clinging to her body with barely there sweat, when a familiar sound came to her. A motorbike roared in the background and she took a very quick glance to see Andy race up with poeple flinging themselves out the way or getting run over and she grabbed the hand he offered, swinging on the back of his bike to make her getaway,. A bleeding hand was protectively on the back on Logan's head as she clutched to Andy's waist with the other arm, weapons still in hand.

Ivy didn't know how Gary would tide this open gang fight over. She'd literally been fighting in the morning light with multiple witnesses. Well, it had been within her property borders and the house was big and the surrounding front gardens belonging to her were large, but the two huge houses on either side could see into hers and they'd seen a lot, she bet. She supposed her husband pay them off to keep them silent. Or maybe he'd buy them out? That was an idea. Her mind, still flying from the fight and adrenaline buzzing with her fight or flight instincts wondered what it'd be like to smash all three houses down and make a huge mansion if they owned them. Then she shook her head and concentrated on where they were going.

She remembered north belonging to Ayrshire. So, she could only believe that- oh holy, fucking shit, were they following?! Her gut dropped in fear when she looked back, seeing the guns. She was on the back. She was the likeliest to get shot. "Turn! NOW!" Andy did, obedient to her wishes, dodging bullets. She was glad, because she didn't know how she'd survived this with her child, utterly wishing she was back in China. Logan had stopped crying, just scared, causing her to want to weep that even a baby wouldn't keep on crying being so fearful. She hated herself for that minute. For what she was, for what she'd done to keep her child safe. She clutched to Andy tighter, kissing Logan and whispering words of comfort to the shaking baby.

"Andy! Keep turning and go to the bases!" Ivy still had the keys, thankfully, and she'd lock herself up in one of them. Hopefully one where her husband would be. "Where's that fucking husband of mine?! I shouldn't have to be hiding from my own men for fuck sake!"

"I'm taking you to him!" Andy swore determinedly, going at high speeds and going back routes through Bullworth into Ayrshire. "I'm his getaway man! And always yours too, leader!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She nearly felt like crying. Her emotions were at an all-time high. How the bloody fucking hell could she thank him completely? Her child on the line made everything twice as tense. Fuck her own body; if anything happened to Logan she'd go on rampage against everyone and their family and friends until she was dead and six feet under. She'd definitely award him. 'Maybe money or-or-or a new bike or something!'

"Thank you!"

"Just keep a look out, boss!"

She could've sworn she was in love with him at that moment, so damned grateful. "Yes! Left! Left again! Right! Shit!" She swore, wishing she had a gun to take out the wheels. "Do you have a gun?!"

"In the jacket, boss!"

Her legs clenched around his thighs and hips as she felt him up for it. She took the gun with a determined glint in her eyes and looked back, shooting at the wheels of her own people. "Why the fuck don't they know me, Andy?!"

"Nearly every one of the fuckers trailing is new to the gang, only following leader's rules! We have to get away before we kill them! They just don't know, Miss Ivy!"

"Idiots!" She hissed loudly, watching in hidden glee as they smashed into each other at a well-placed gunshot to the wheel, taking out three cars trailing them. She hoped no one died, but that was the least of her worries for now, making sure her kid was okay by ducking her head down but found him in a worried state. But what could she do to calm him from a situation such as this? No one sure as hell had taught her that shit in parenting one-oh-one, that's for sure. She noted the warehouse coming up and suddenly found herself in another fight as she jumped off the bike in fear for her child, upper cutting a bulky and muscled man raising his gun and breaking his face in. "Fuck! Andy!"

"On it!"

Ivy smacked down three off them as Andy fiddled with something from behind his bike, knocking out a couple men with her fists.

"Duck!"

She did, watching as most men were showered with bullet's from the tommy gun he held outside the warehouse he'd brought her to when they brought their own weapons out, kicking the door open for her. Ivy had the realisation she'd never get any freedom from this in Bullworth, but she loved her kid and man enough that she knew she'd survive this life or die trying. There was silence in the warehouse as Andy led the way, willing to take pain for her as he ran in first. They came upon a finishing meeting as Gary and one of the newest gang leaders submitting to him looked upon them.

Gary stood up and went over to them swiftly and looked down in alarm as the woman came up to him and clutched onto him, shaking.

"She'd been under attack from dozens of us, possibly in the hundreds, with Logan. They didn't know her."

Fury flushed through him as Andy responded to his unspoken words taking in his child shaking and wound up wife in her sweaty clothes as he saw his members file in. "Get out. GET. OUT!" He roared at them and they scrambled. Hard Men, or whatever the fuck they were called looked on in wariness. "You too!" They went quickly, happy to get what they wanted and stay alive. He looked down at his crying woman, kissing away her tears. "Ivy, thistle, what happened?"

"I don't know who they were, but in my own fucking home- Lo-Logan, darling." She ducked down to the ground as the boy finally cried once more as she couldn't help but bawl with him. She'd expected her kid- her own fucking kid - to die! She hugged the boy, having never felt so helpless and weak. "Shh, shh!" Gary dipped down to hug her and she buried herself into his arms. "I thought he was gonna be dead! These men, they didn't know who I was and they would've killed me for being in my own home! Gary! Why the fuck are they Jaguars?!" She burst into angry tears at that as shock set in, unable to believe her own crew would try it on.

Gary had no idea what to do for that moment in time. His woman was crying and his son shook over the shock they'd had. Ivy could take it, but she had her child on her and that had obviously fucked her up. "What happened, Ivy?" No response made him run a hand through her hair and paw away the constant tears. "Thistle, thistle what happened?" His voice was softer, huskier.

Ivy blubbered what they'd done. "-And I had him attached to me! I thought he'd die at any time! Please, Gary! I can't stay there any longer! I can't stay in my own home!" She rocked Logan causing Gary's immensely protective instincts to go crazy and want to hole her up somewhere so he could protect her. "I didn't come back for this!"

So he did protect her. The most protected area, apart from the home was one of the bases in Wynnmere where Vale had decided to reside up in. "Andy, take her to Wynnmere base number seven." It was the second most protected of all his properties. He couldn't believe this happened on the first morning she was back home and his possessive disposition demanded she be kept away and safe with their child. It's the only thing she wanted and he'd not been able to do so. He hated the feeling of failure that pressed on him. "I'll be there as soon as I fix this outrage." He promised Ivy who nodded shakily. He buried his hands in her hair and kissed her harshly, trying to knock the fear out of her. It seemed to work as she calmed a touch, giving him a strong look of troubled thoughts before calming. He looked over her taking a meditative breath, eyes closed before her eyes opened and hardened.

"Yes, leader. Could you stay in front of us? Thanks, leader." He watched as leader helped the woman and child up with him leading them out, giving Andy a probing look. "They shot at us with me riding them away."

Gary had used Andy as his dropping off service plenty of times. He growled out, entirely pissed off at his own members for not recognising one of their own and its' obvious heir. "Fucking morons. Ivy." She looked up with a snarl and he too wanted to beat the shit out of someone. "It'll be fine, love."

Ivy licked her lips and looked down at her frightened child. "It's not me I'm worried for, Gary. Logan? Logan?" The baby buried his face in her chest, clutching tight to her. Ivy looked up, worried.

Gary touched his boy's cheek, frowning at the lack of eye contact that would usually instantly happen on his jovial boy who was so much like his mother. His lips pursed, unsure what to do. "We'll get Mandy over there straight away. I'm coming with you now." He took out his phone. "Mandy, I don't care if you're in class, you get your ass over to Wynnmere base seven. In fact. Andy will pick you up." He looked at the man who nodded and walked out quickly. "Logan needs to be seen to immediately." He dialled off from the call and grabbed her hand. "C'mon."

"Gary, listen."

"Hm?" He looked back, checking her over for injuries.

"I love you. That's the only reason I'm staying here or I'd have demanded Andy take me back to China instead and I wouldn't have returned."

"I get it." He said, now looking over the exposed skin of his child to check for injuries.

"No, Gary."

Gary raised a brow before they left the building. "What, thistle?"

She grabbed his tied and top of the shirt and tugged him down very gently, face cold and raging. "This is not allowed to happen again. I will not have my son in danger from his fathers supposed protectors. Understand?"

The stern words froze his voices muttering revenge in his head and he gently took her hand away from nearly grasping his throat, placing a kiss on her bare wrist. "It won't or it'll be me dragging you there." He'd follow because she'd only keep running if he took her back here each time, and then it'd be only time until she ran from even him. The woman could run, and even tracking devices would eventually run out of juice. Still, he'd make sure it wouldn't happen; though commuting each week would suck. "Let's go."

He went through the door staring around at his men who were gathered outside in the bigger part of the warehouse rather than the smaller meeting room at the back.

"Exactly why were you chasing down your second in command carrying her child?" Gary questioned them with narrowed eyes and started to stalk up and down in front of them, waiting for someone to answer, but none would dare make eye contact with him. "Let me put it another way. Why were you trying to kill my wife and child?"

There was a silence as no one dared to say a thing or move a muscle.

"No answer? No ANSWER?! Why did any of you enter my home without my explicit authority?! Why did you not try and simply call me first?! Call one of your sub-leaders for confirmation if no one could get me? Or how about not threaten a woman with a baby in her arms by putting her at gunpoint in my home? Just grab her and bring her in if she proved resisting? Now, you may say I gave strict instruction for only certain people to be in my home and she was not on the list but did you not think I wouldn't know what goes on in my own home? Especially when it's a woman with a baby? No, it seems you didn't." He said derisively. "Who're the ones that called for backup?"

Three men were shoved forward.

His mind conjured up the names to the faces he saw, as well as the talents.

Nobodies.

"My ninth month old son is traumatized because of you." He took his Glock out and shot each in the head, each shot making his members flinch, putting it back in its holster in his jacket once more as the bodies dropped, leaving a solemn silence. "Dispose of the bodies. Then you're all going to spread rumours of a movie being produced with those actions scenes in it. Each of you will be cleaning the damage up so no evidence is pointed Jaguars way while patrols will make sure each and every one of you remains until it's complete." Generally most of these men were the ones trusted on patrols rather than easily disposable drug-pushers or bouncers for clubs Jaguar owned or other such mediocre nonsense.

Downgrading them would get them learning basic communication they should have mastered as patrollers.

He took out his phone, walking back over to wife. "Jimmy, keep track of the patrols today with Petey. Arrive here at…" He informed the man of their location and reason and put his phone away and turned to his members. "You'll remain here until Jimmy gets here. Come on, thistle." The trio left the warehouse to see the men Andy had gunned down groaning and getting up.

Ivy looked down at a bullet. Rubber bullets. Baton Rounds. Whatever you wanted to call it, it left the members alive. She ignored it though as Gary commanded one of them to drive them to Wynnmere and simply tended to her child. He was responding now in the calmness of the car and Ivy gave the child a check over. He'd not gotten hurt or anything from the Jaguars but the jolting and tumbling she did might have bruised him. She pulled off his top and took it his upper body before guilt hit her and she let out a whimper of shame.

He'd had a large bruise over the left of his body.

Gary had been watching and hissed out his words. "Did they-?!"

"No. I would take another broken arm before they pulled a hair from his head. This was from my moving." She checked his body, running hands down the sides of his torso but nothing felt broken. "I'm pretty sure he's just bruised." She laid the unhappy baby on her lap and gently pushed up on each foot so his knee moved to his stomach. No pained noises or uncomfortable look. Logan even kicked back. "Monty should be okay."

"Monty." Gary snorted at the nickname, further rolling his eyes when the baby looked at him before realising his child reacted. He shuffled over and picked his son up from under the arms, settling him on his lap, head cared for. "He's going to think he's called Monty because of you."

Ivy rested her head on his bicep. "Do you like his name?"

He looked at her crown with a small smirk. "Logan Montgomery Smith. Not what I would have called him but acceptable. A good name." He amended a little when seeing her face.

"Oh yeah? And you'd have called him…? What? Gary Junior?"

"A very fine name, by the way."

Ivy gave a little smile and put her finger in Logan's hand, smile widening when he clenched and looked up at her man. "Never said it wasn't. Name of my favourite character in Pokémon too." She laughed at his look of distaste, trying to get over her own chaotic emotions. Logan's look at her before he started babbling, filling her with warmth. Then he kicked down causing Gary to wince and pass him back over. "Oh shit, nice one, kid. Taking after mummy."

"Bitch." Gary grunted, shifting. "Did you forget the strength?"

"Ooh. That's mummy's only dick, Logan. Don't hurt it."

He just looked away from his family, shaking his head, trying not to chuckle as a little smirk crawled up his face.

.I.

"He'll be fine." Mandy said with a grin, holding the child up so he balanced on his feet. "If he's anything like you two, he'll heal up real quickly. Now, he's not shaking anymore or refusing to look me in the eye, so there're no immediate signs of trauma. He's still walking and crawling so he's not gone backwards in development which sometimes happens. He was just scared. As always, our Ivy protects us all."

Ivy gave her a wink as Gary shifted away to sit down at the end of the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Aye. Thanks, Mandy."

"Hey, this is my job." Mandy shrugged as she handed over the baby. "He's got such cute eyes. You'll have to give evils to all the ladies after him when he's older."

"Yeah well, if male of mine over there gets what he wants they'll all have to go through serious back checks when Logan takes over and I won't even have to lift a finger." Ivy smiled wryly at her husband who raised a brow at her before going back to his paperwork. She smiled, unable to help staring at him for that extra few seconds before turning to her girlfriend. "So Jimmy asked you to marry him yet or what?"

"No." Mandy flumped down in her seat, quickly putting away her tools. "Not all of us jump straight into things."

"Why not? It'll be awkward as hell if you broke up. You're both my best buddies, ya know."

"We're happy as is." Mandy smiled honestly, chuckling. "Now why don't you tell me about the temple? I bet Petey got all the info about it. Did you do any of that crazy stuff the Shaolin monks do? Like holding yourself up by the neck?" She got excited, remembering the cool things she'd seen.

"Are you insane? Of course I did!" Ivy exclaimed causing Gary to look up at the ceiling as if mentally asking for patience at her stupidity. "But generally days were long. I got up at five, washed until five thirty, then two hours of martial arts, breakfast for half an hour, then four hours of martial arts, half an hour rest at noon. Then two hours of meditation, lunch for an hour then cleaning duties for an hour though it was Chinese lessons for me after that and then the day was over until eight where we had to go bed. We could do anything in that time, though nearly all of us went for those types of lesson. I can now do twenty seconds of being hanged from under the chin."

"Are you insane?" Mandy responded. "How can that ever help you? No, no, don't tell me. Neck muscles are intrinsically weak. I can gather why."

A wide grin was her reply. "Such clever friends I have," Ivy cooed to her baby, easily dodging the flick from Mandy. "So brute, has Jimmy been rubbing off on you?" Ivy asked knowingly causing the girl to flush as Gary looked up to see her face, amused. "Lemme guess only as much as Gary has on me?" Mandy put her head in her hands while Gary gave her a look and Ivy snickered at irritating both in the room. "Logan, I don't think I'm currently welcome." Logan garbled something. "Exactly, stinky, let's go clean you."

Mandy got up. "I'll help and we can talk."

The Scot blinked at her with an amused expression. "Why do I have a feeling you're following only so I can get my mouth washed out by soap from you?"

An innocent smile was the reply but the flash of teeth wasn't. "I've no idea, bestie."

"Oh dear Buddha…"

"Damn, he's a splitting image of that bastard leader of ours." Jimmy whistled, bouncing the baby on his knee as he watched over him.

Ivy chuckled, going through her training with her wooden training apparatus in the room they'd sectioned off for training. "As everyone says."

"But he's definitely yours, especially when he smiles. I'd feel sorry for the kid if he had Gary's smile."

She burst out laughing, holding onto the wooden dummy. "I didn't go through twenty hours of painful labour for nothing, mate."

"Twenty? Ouch." Still, Jimmy was smiling down at the boy in his arms who seemed particularly liking of him and his nearly bald head. "Hey, holding Logan now, some part of me regrets telling Mandy we shouldn't have kids so young." He admitted, playing with the boy who wanted to lean against him and cuddle now. "He's great. I kinda want my own." He looked up when Ivy slowed her training down and turned to him with a small smile and hands on her hips. He tried to pass the baby over but Logan was happily attached. "Heh."

"Logan knows you'd be a good dad. He was right squirming away from his real dad."

Jimmy laughed loudly at that as Ivy looked over and watched Gary come into the room. "No way. Way to go, kid! You tell that daddy what you think of him!"

"And what's that, Hopkins?"

"How much more he loves us over you. Duh."

Gay sneered at him, but they all knew it was in comradeship. "Shut up, loser. Go make your own."

"Maybe I will, and he or she will be twice as good as your kid."

"I beg to differ."

Jimmy sat down, putting Logan on the ground next to him. "Let's hear the begging then. This'll be a treat."

They bitched at each other and Ivy rolled her eyes and left the two to it, starting up her fast paced training against the dummy once more. She didn't notice she had a little audience of one not a metre away from her before it turned in an audience of two watching the one trying to copy his mama. It was ten minutes in that Ivy felt the tug on her workout tracksuit leg. She peered down at her boy babbling up at her, trying to do his own version of a kick. Maybe her face was easily read because Gary spoke up with an incredulous tone.

"You are not going to teach our son how to fight at nine months old. It's enough I'm letting you at three years." He picked up their child and walked out of the room with Ivy following as a snickering Jimmy tagged along.

Ivy let her eyes widen. "It's all innocent!"

"Right."

"He was enjoying it! Tiddlywinks copy movements. It's how they learn."

"Then we're not having our son in there watching you and getting ideas."

"He's not even a year." Ivy said in bemused exasperation, hands palm up. "It can't hurt."

Gary turned to her and gave her a look. "He has both our genes."

The hands went to her hips and she looked away, pouting. "You may have a point."

"As if I never."

Jimmy called from behind, "Well-"

"Shut up, Jimmy."

"Looks like we've got infiltrators." Ivy heard from waking up slowly on the bed but kept her eyes closed. The past few weeks had Gary keeping the business from her, as if to say that if she didn't want to fight then she'd be kept from it all. She could partially understand such logic, but it still ticked her off so she listened. She twitched her muscles, noting the baby was asleep and tucked up against her chest. Gary was on the computer, video calling. "And a lot. Our weekly sweeps aren't done lightly either."

It was Jimmy, sounding anxious.

"Gary, if we're having all these people getting in our ranks, it really isn't the best time for Ivy and Monty to have come ba-"

"I know."

"Of course you do." Jimmy's tone of voice had an annoyed resignation to it. "I think you should let them go back to China for a bit."

"Ridiculous."

"Then send her back to Scotland for a couple weeks. She gets to see if her family are there and you could always call it a belated birthday gift, while we track them down and they stay out of it." Petey was there too? "What's bad about that idea?"

"It's equally as stupid."

"Stupid to who? I bet she'd agree." Ivy inwardly did. Even a glimpse of them to keep their faces fresh in her head would be grand. "They're looking for weaknesses and I don't doubt your intentions on keeping them safe, nor your ability to, only the enemies have their own tactics, and frankly we don't even know who they are. They could be any of the surrounding groups, the cops, someone else from another state, another country, ah hell." Jimmy was winding himself up. "I don't even want Mandy near this and she's dealt with a lot of healing shit over the year your girl's been gone and unable to protect anyone. You have to convince her to help us or get somewhere safe. I want her in or safe."

Petey added on. "Face it Gary, Ivy's the face the other gangs liked and you controlled them by, and with her then gone and now out the game, we've been run over with work and defending bases for months. We now have to think about protecting them and frankly it's wasting time and energy that we need on the frontline to keep our strongholds strong. There's no way either of us think you'd ever have anything less than the best as protection for your kid, even though Logan has already gotten the best protection we have; Ivy with a mama bear protective instincts and her Glocks and nun-chucks. That's scary as hell!"

Jimmy chuckled lightly as Gary even cracked a small smirk. His wife was the best, and each little thing to remind him of that made him smug. "Fact is, she showed us how easily she could wreak havoc through our own boys without a gun and what she was like after Logan was in danger. The before was crazy as shit - but Ivy is fucking terrifying now. Ivy can do it like normal people can't and we need her now more than ever when she was killing enemies by the dozens. After all, all they need is a couple of Ivy's and we'll be killed. We need better fighters, not just pawns. And we need the best, right behind you, in on the fight. Again, we need her back, or gone."

"You think I don't know this? I've been keeping such artists away for months!" Gary hissed causing Logan to wake up and babble, instantly energetic. The chair creaked as Gary's body shifted in it and he got up, coming over. He gently picked the baby up and padded back over to the screens and Ivy watched him through slotted eyes. They were all still in shirts and smart trousers, while Petey was also donning a doctors white jacket, obviously still training on a very late night session with Doctor Phelps. There was some blood splattered on his collar. "Hmph."

"Come on, he's adorable. You don't want him in trouble," Jimmy said softly.

"I think he's hungry." Petey snickered as Gary looked down at Logan trying to find something to latch on. "Hey Ivy! Wake up!"

"Shut up, you-"

"IVY!" Jimmy called out longer.

Ivy fake jolted and stretched. "Quiet, fool. I'll feed him a banana because he ate before he slept." He got up and looked her over in her simple baggy top and Bullworth basketball shorts. "Go back to sleep. It's nothing but idiots bullshitting everywhere." He walked out, clutching the child protectively.

Instead she wandered over and flopped into the chair. "Sup, lads?"

"Ivy. We have infiltrators." Jimmy declared, making her look a little more awake. "There's every chance they know about Logan, especially after your amazing return."

"And? Anyone who touches him will be detained by me, so to speak. What's the deal? Nearly all our businesses are legal, are they not? Set up traps and baits, lure them in. Fake some deals here and there that would really get them lured to it and send out messages to be overheard. Gary did that shit all the time at Bullworth. Not so hard."

They stared at her in surpise.

"…What?"

Petey simply stared at her. "I think you've been around Gary far, far too long."

"Let's fucking do it," Jimmy said, finally glad for an idea he could begin implementing. "We could do that."

Gary had been listening in the whole time ever since she sat at his chair. Those two considered her up with him and their way into his head via her but he was glad they didn't immediately try to deport her off to her birthland. Maybe he'd been around all of them too much, because they were all willing to use people's skill before trying to get rid of them, in any way 'getting rid' meant. He was proud of his little empire and its' members just that little bit more. He put a hand on her shoulder. "And you wanted to quit the Jaguars? Looks like you can't help yourself."

She jumped at Gary's hand and voice, nearly grappling and throwing him into the damn computer but resisting; just about. "Bloody fucking hell, love. Since when did I say quit? I'm useful darn it, just not as much. I'm just giving Logan the parenting he needs."

"So I'm not? And why didn't you think like this before you went 'swanning off' as you'd say?"

"What? Don't give me that, love. Of course you are, why else would you go feed him when he's hungry?"

"Because he just wanted to listen in. He's nosy." Jimmy grinned, knowing Gary couldn't do shit to him on the other end before getting serious. "But yeah, Gary, we should give that a go."

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Once again, it's really fucking stupid. This isn't school ground brawling. I should put you on permanent patrols." He turned to his wife with a scowling face and derisive voice. "You? You need to read a fucking book on strategy. See me tomorrow you two." He disconnected the call and turning to her with a smirk at her disgruntled expression from his insults. "I'll be implementing it as soon as possible." She raised a brow for explanation which he readily gave, "That was because of people possibly hearing in or tracking the call. Lani's asleep so I couldn't know for sure. In fact, I need you to buff up your hacking skills so you can be back-up for Lani when she's on her A-game or even when she's out of the game."

"So, uh- Okay Mon-Mon." She grumbled to the nibbling baby.

"Okay, Monty I can just about take, but Mon-Mon?"

Ivy prepped her baby and self for feeding and then let him latch on to her nipple. "C'mon it's just a nickname." She saw him look at her breast feeding fondly and narrowed her eyes. "So what is 'it' then?"

The leader of the Jaguars pulled her up and guided her to the lowered bed surrounded by pillows. "Your idea, loser. But I'm gonna up it."

"How?"

He gave a little smirked as she settled in bed and lay down next to her, stroking Logan's head. He then looked up at his wife who gave him a bemused look and began whispering words into her ear. "Well… Those Quetzalcoatl will finally have their use."

A/N: My gosh, another chapter! Incredible! Apologies for the delay, but lot's of life stuff happened and your author finally found a pursuit in life (hopefully) so lots of science learning has been happening!

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