Author's note:
Thank you so much for the feedback on the previous chapter, I really appreciated it! I hope you all like this chapter. It's more of a chapter to round things up instead of being plot-driven. It kinds of feels like a last chapter but it's not the end of the story just yet I assure you! I have little bit more to add to this story.
Please read and review, and have a look at the hint for the next chapter! :)
2nd March 2014
Ireland pulled the car – it was Victor's, left down the street from the hotel, but she didn't care about having to steal it – into the Benedict's driveway, parking diagonally and not bothering to correct it. She almost fell out of the car in her rush, but quickly righted herself. She slammed the front door open, hearing shouting and a baby crying.
She followed the noise of the shouting into the living room. Gracie was stood by the wall, sobbing and looking frightened as hell. Oliver stood facing off against Saul and Karla, looking like a lion stalking its prey.
"Just get out of here!" Karla was shouting. "We did nothing wrong, it was your family that were in such a dodgy business. It was only a matter of time before you were caught, it's what you deserved."
"Excuse me?!" Oliver roared, his hand slapping Karla round the face quick like a whip. "How dare you! How dare you say my beloved wife and daughter deserved to die! You insolent little bit-"
"DAD!" Ireland snapped out a shout as Oliver went for Karla again. Saul quickly pushed his smaller wife behind him as Oliver stopped and spun around to face Ireland. "Karla's right. It would have happened eventually, even if the Benedicts hadn't led the net to us. I miss them too dad, but I am sick of this revenge thing."
"Oh I get it," Oliver chuckled darkly. "You like them, is that right? Your soulfinder got you wrapped around his little finger?"
Ireland had had enough. She was sick of having a dad like him and she wanted to stop him from harming Karla and Saul. It had been a very long time coming but she was ready to speak her mind to him once and for all. "Yeah I like the Benedicts," she admitted to him, "and I am in love with Xavier Benedict and I don't care what you think of that. I'm choosing my soulfinder over you."
Oliver snarled at her, giving her a look of pure hatred. "After everything I've done for you?! I always knew that out of all my children you were the weakest, that you would disappoint me the most. For all the things you could leave me for, why on Earth would you choose a Benedict?"
"Because he isn't trying to control me, daddy!" She exploded. She saw Gracie cowering and Karla creeping over to the other side of the room to comfort her granddaughter. "I know about the personalities you stuck in my mind, the Benedict family helped me get rid of them. Not being under your control really opened my eyes to the real you. All I wanted was for you to genuinely care about me, but you don't. You're heartless. This isn't about getting revenge for you anymore, this is you being twisted and evil."
"You! Get back over here!" Oliver commanded. He waited until Karla left Gracie's side and joined Saul again before he turned his attention back to Ireland. "Do you expect me to apologise? Because I'm not going to. I did what I had to to keep you loyal to him. If I could have truly trusted any of you, then I wouldn't have used my power. The whole world is against me and I am sick of it! My soulfinder died, Ireland. Delia would have wanted me to avenge her."
Quickly, Ireland stepped in between him and the Benedict parents. "I will not let you do this! They don't deserve this, they're a good family. They are what we should have been, daddy. I tried to give you another chance but I can't do it anymore. I am too strong a person to be under your control again. It's not too late, dad. Turn yourself in. Yeah, you'll get sent to prison but that's probably what's going to happen to me and I'm not scared. Me and Evan, we'll forgive you for everything you've done if you just admit defeat and stop this."
Oliver didn't speak for a long minute as he looked down at his daughter, silently regarding her with no expression on his face to revealwhat he was thinking. Ireland couldn't help but think maybe this was it. Maybe this was the moment when he would finally listento her and do the right thing. Maybe she could visit him in prison and they could form a good father-daughter relationship. Maybe…
She didn't see him move until it was too late. He always had been fast when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Her head snapped to the side as he hit her. There so much force in it that she fell to the side, her body slamming against the floor. She felt a crack. Her right elbow was broken.No matter what she had done in the past, he'd never broken one of her bones before. Hadn't ever taken it further than slapping her cheek and putting her in the confinement room.
She pulled herself to her knees as she came out of the daze the smack had put her in. Her arm was throbbing in pain.
"This has been a long time coming," she heard Oliver say.
Looking up, she saw him remove a dagger from his belt and- "NO!" Ireland and Karla both screamed at the same time as Oliver struck at Saul, viciously slicing his throat open. Saul fell, clutching at his throat as if to hold his blood in, his eyes solely focused on Karla. She felt the tremors of telepathy being used and guessed that Saul was saying a last goodbye to his wife.
Ireland's eyes filled with full on tears for the first time in ages. Crying was a weakness he had taught her, yet here she was falling apart at the sight of Saul dying.
Oliver faced Ireland again, breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. "You know, I think I'll kill the child now. Her life for Quinn's life, that sounds like a fair deal."
"No! Gracie run!" Karla shouted, momentarily distracted from her dead husband. But little Gracie was frozen, too petrified to move.
In the blink of an eye, Oliver had a gun in his hand. Ireland pulled her own gun from the holster around her thigh. As Oliver took aim and shot, Ireland threw herself in front of Gracie. She pulled the trigger of her own gun at the same time as she felt his bullet tear itself through her stomach.
Oliver staggered as the bullet shattered his hip, grunting in pain. Through sheer determination, he stayed standing. He walked towards Ireland as her back hit the floor, exhaustion taking over her body.
"You haven't won, Ireland. And just so you know, I will never forgive you for this betrayal. I will come back for you and punish you for this. You are no longer worthy of having the name Hawk; you are an enemy of the Hawk family."
Before she slipped into unconsciousness, Ireland saw Oliver leave the room and Gracie sink down to the floor, her entire body shaking with fear still.
Ireland jolted awake from the dream, the back of her head hitting the wall beside the bed. "Ouch," she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes.
A strangled cry brought her attention to her other side, where Xav lay sleeping. His face was twisted into a grimace, sweat beading his forehead, his breathing rapid. Just like she had been, he was having a nightmare. Hard to know what his was about. In the past few months his dreams were almost always about killing Noel or coming home to find his dad dead and Ireland close to dying. He dreamed of Karla's and Gracie's tortured faces a lot too.
Neither of them got much peace during their sleep anymore but they were hoping that would soon pass.
She reached out and gently stroked her fingertips along his cheek, whispering his name to slowly wake him up. He awoke with a start, almost falling out of the single bed that they shared. Instead of going back to Uriel's apartment, they were now living with Karla and staying in Xav's old room. They didn't like having just a single bed, but there was no way they were going to sleep separately and Karla needed some company, the whole family didn't want her to be alone, so they were dealing with what they had.
As Xav woke up enough so that he could tense his body enough not to fall, the arm that had loosely been holding Ireland tightened around her waist. "I'm okay," he said in a gruff voice, sensing her worry for him. "It was just a dream, I'm fine… Did you have one too?" He asked, referring to a nightmare.
"Yeah," she nodded, sliding an arm around his bare torso. "The same one. About that night. But I'm fine too."
Xav didn't respond. They both knew that they were both lying. It was hard to get over dreams of such a terrible night. "We should go down and make breakfast," he changed the subject. "Vick and Elliott should be here soon."
Ireland agreed with him so they both slid out of bed and pulled on some clothes. Ireland didn't bother dressing up, instead opting for some sweats and one of Xav's shirts. She didn't get out much these days anyway and she had nobody to impress.
The house was quiet outside their room, which wasn't unusual these days. It still struck Ireland as weird though considering the house was once teeming with life and laughter.
They found Karla in the kitchen, sat at the table and holding a hot cup of coffee in her hands. She didn't look at them as they entered. Ireland went over to the fridge and swung it open, scanning the almost empty fridge. "What do you want for breakfast, Karla? How about… Eggs? That's pretty much all we have, I'm afraid."
Karla didn't answer. Not a surprise. She hadn't spoken one word since the night Saul died, not even to say a eulogy at his funeral, which almost the whole town had turned up to. She didn't do much of anything anymore. Ireland had somehow ended up taking over the household, doing all the cooking and cleaning and making sure Zed and Yves went to school in the morning. She always said that she'd hate being a housewife but she actually found that she enjoyed it. It was normal and normal was what she needed right now.
She was basically Karla's carer too. She made sure the older woman ate enough, bathed, and wasn't left alone in the house. She'd already lost a lot of weight and they were all scared she'd try and hurt herself if she was on her own. It was so horrible seeing her like this but it was to be expected considering she'd just lost her soulfinder three months ago. They were all hoping she'd become less like a zombie in time.
"Eggs are fine," Xav said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as he squeezed past her to put the kettle on. "I'll go shopping later."
"Thanks," she flashed him a smile.
Not long later, she was just settling down at the table after cooking enough eggs for the three of them when she heard someone coming in through the front door. A few moments after, Victor came into the kitchen with their next door neighbour Elliott Williamson.
She knew why they were here of course: they were re-opening the slopes. Saul had been the one to manage them so the family had closed them down, however after talking about it for over a month they had finally made a decision. Elliott had worked closely with Saul and knew a lot about managing the slopes, so he was officially a partner of the business. He would be working as the main manager but the Benedict boys would be helping out too.
However even though she knew this she still got tense when she saw Victor. She was always waiting for the day the net would send him to arrest her. She knew it was coming. Seeing as Evan had escaped from prison, they'd put him back there almost straight away but they had reduced his sentence so he would be released in July. Ireland visited him every other week and he was doing well.
Even though Ireland was on the net's side now, she knew they would still make her pay for her crimes. Right now they were focusing on finding Oliver and getting him dealt with. They were happy knowing that she was with the Benedicts and in line, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they got around to doling out her punishment.
Victor walked over and kissed Karla's head. "Morning mom," he said in a cheery tone. They'd all decided that positivity around Karla was the key in getting her to feel better. "I've been up since four," he laughed. Hazel had given birth to the twins about two weeks ago, on the 19th February; they'd named them Julien and Ariadne. "I'm absolutely exhausted. But it's so worth it. Hazel said she'll bring the twins over tomorrow so you can see them again."
"That'll be nice," Ireland replied, letting herself relax a little. Since that night, the family had welcomed her as one of them. Turns out saving Karla and Gracie earned their approval, even Victor's. She was pretty sure they actually liked her now, strange as that was. "How's Hazel?"
"She's good. Better than me considering she makes me do all the night feeds. It's fair, cause she's with them all day while I'm at work, but still," he shrugged.
Yves walked into the kitchen then, going straight over to the fridge and swinging it open. "Ugh. There's nothing to eat. I'm starving."
Ireland rolled her eyes. God, these boys never stopped eating. It was unbelievable how much she had to cook for just one meal for those that lived in the house.
Yves closed the fridge and sat down. Like her, he had been shot that night but whilst she'd had to have her spleen removed due to the damage inflicted, Yves hadn't been seriously hurt. He'd been wearing a bulletproof vest thank God, however his spine had been bruised from the impact of the trauma. Physiotherapy was helping with that though and he had a prescription to stop him from being in any pain. As he shifted in his seat a little, it was obvious that the bad back still gave him discomfort though.
"Where's Zed? You two are both meant to be helping out today," Victor reminded Yves. "He does know that, doesn't he?"
"Don't worry," Yves reassured his older brother with a wave of his hand. "I woke him up before I came down, give him half an hour or something. You know how much of a morning person he is not. It'll take him ages to drag himself out bed."
"Nah it's just that it takes him so long to pamper himself with all those beauty products," Xav joked, causing some laughter.
"He loved this." The room went silent and all heads shot towards Karla at the sound of her voice. She continued, looking down at her mug instead of meeting the eyes of her family. "He loved busy mornings with family jokes. I'm glad that you can all still be happy; it's what Saul would have wanted. I'm… I'm sorry that I haven't been much of a mom since… Since he died." Her voice cracked on the last word.
Xav reached over and put a hand over his mom's. "Don't be silly. You'll always be our mom," he said softly, a beautiful smile gracing his face. Ireland truly loved his smile. "We all miss him every single day. We're just trying to continue on with our lives; dad wouldn't have wanted us to stop living."
Karla looked over at him, a sad smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. "I know. That's why I'm going to try and stay strong. For him." She looked at Ireland. "Thank you for taking good care of me and my boys. You are… You've very good for Xavier. I was wrong about you."
Ireland smiled at Karla as a thanks for the lovely comment. She hadn't realised it but she had been waiting for Karla's approve this whole time.
Turning her smiling gaze to Xav, she gave his leg a squeeze under the table. Finally, she knew who she was. Finally, she had found a place where she belonged and was accepted.
Finally, for the first time in her life, she was truly full of joy. And it was all because of Xav not giving up on her.
A hint about the next chapter: I'm thinking of doing a chapter with little scenes about how each of the brothers are doing, but I'd like to know if that's something you'd be interested in? Let me know!