Author's note: I promised you a chapter about all the boys, and I have delivered. 10,700+ words. It's a looooong chapter and took me weeks to write so I would appreciate feedback please?! :)
March 2014
Trace was exhausted as he walked up the driveway of his house. It had been a long day at work, having personally interviewed three murderers throughout the day as well as being called to a gang fight behind the local high school. All he wanted was to collapse onto the sofa with a cup of steaming hot coffee and beg for Georgie to switch cooking days with him as he felt he just didn't have the energy.
His eardrums were not prepared for the screaming that was going on inside the house. He locked the door behind him just as he heard Gracie shouting, "it's not fair!"
With a sigh, he turned and headed down the hallway towards the kitchen where all the noise was coming from. He didn't want to deal with this but it was a regular occurrence in their household since Saul had died and the sooner it was over with the better. He knew his daughter could be like this all night if they just ignored her.
In the kitchen, Gracie was sat in her seat at the dining table, arms folded across her chest and a pout on her face. Georgie was pacing back and forth, attempting to rock the baby to sleep. She gave Trace an exasperated look as he entered.
"I swear to God," Georgie said through gritted teeth, "you deal with her. She's been like since I picked her from school and I am sick of it. She's refusing to do her homework and won't even let me help her."
"It's just Maths!" Gracie shouted. "It's not important and it's stupid! I can't do it so I give up. I just want to watch TV."
"I told you, you're not watching TV until your homework is done," Georgie said strictly. It was one of the rules they had set in place for weekdays, a rule Gracie had only started to fight against in the last few months.
"Gracie do what your mom says," Trace added as he walked over to put the kettle on. "How was work, love?" This second sentence was directed towards his wife.
"Alright. The kids are starting to learn the alphabet so I spent most of the days trying to come up with clever little ways for them to remember it. Putting it into a song was most effective," she informed him. Georgie worked in a preschool and Trace loved hearing her talk about her day because it was so obvious just in her tone of voice that she was fond of her job. "You?"
Trace groaned and took a sip of his freshly poured coffee. "Don't even get me started. It's only 5 and I already feel like just going to bed."
Georgie gave him a sympathetic look but whatever reply she would have given him was interrupted by the sound of a ten year old girl disliking the fact the attention was not on her. "I'm not doing my homework. You can't force me to," she snapped, her dark hair swishing in its ponytail as she shook her head.
"Then I guess you're staying down here all night," Georgie shrugged casually as if this was no big deal to her.
As Gracie simmered with frustration in her seat, Trace thought over the months since they'd lost Saul. Gracie had been traumatized, hadn't even spoken a word to anybody for days and even then the only thing that got her speaking was when her brother rolled over for the first time and she was calling for her parents to come into the room. After that, she'd talked but had always seemed full of anger and emotion. The only time she was silent these days was when they were at Karla's – she would sit on the sofa in her grandmother's arms unspeaking for hours if they let her. Trace guessed they were giving each other comfort, being the only two other than Ireland (who had taken the death well considering) that had seen Saul getting killed. Gracie saw a professional therapist twice a week and the therapist said that she was improving, but Trace hadn't seen that if he was being honest.
He squatted down next to Gracie so that he could be at eye level with her. He waited until she turned her head so that she was no longer glaring at her mother, but at her father. "You see this?" He pointed at the badge on his uniform. "This is proof of the job I do. Although I like my job, it can sometimes be really difficult and I don't always want to do it. But I push through because I know it will be worth it at the end. Your Maths homework is the same princess, even if it doesn't feel that way at the moment. We don't want to have to shout at you Gracie, we don't like doing that. I know you're hurting, but please stop being angry at us because we're just trying to do the best thing for you. So please do your homework so none of us have to sit in the kitchen all night."
For a moment there, Trace thought she was still going to say no. He wouldn't put it past her to sit here all night. She really was that stubborn. He wished luck to the guy or lady that ended up marrying her and having to put up with her stubborn fits for the rest of their lives. Thankfully though, today was not one of her stubborn days. Without saying anything – apparently still too wound up to vocally admit defeat – she picked up her pen and started working her way through the questions. The pout and frown remained on her face though.
Breathing a sigh of relief that the war was over, he stood up and went over to Georgie. Taking his six month old son from her and into his own arms, he chuckled when Mark reached out with his chubby little fingers and pulled on Trace's lower lip. Mark's very dark green eyes looked back up at him in wonder. "You know," Trace said gently. "All of us either got my mom's brown eyes or my grandad's blue eyes. I thought Mark would be the same, or he'd even have your grey, but no… He has my dad's eyes. He reminds me of him so much all the time."
Georgie wrapped an arm around his back, giving him a little squeeze. "I miss him too." Trace knew this was true. Since they'd met when they were six, she had been close to his whole family and Saul especially had been like a second father to her. She was grieving just as much as he was. "I was thinking of going down to his grave tomorrow afternoon with the kids, just to make sure it's still neat and there are no dead flowers there. You should come with us if you can get a couple of hours off work."
"I think I will," he gave her a small smile. "That'll be nice. I'll call Ireland, see if my mom wants to join us too. So, listen… I'm really tired and don't really fancy doing much now that I'm home..."
"So you want me to cook even though it's your day to," Georgie finished his sentence with a roll of her eyes, knowing him all too well. "How about we just order a takeaway? If you don't have to cook, then I don't want to," she said in a sassy tone that made Trace laugh.
And by the time the takeaway arrived, Gracie had finished her homework and was in a much better mood, happily recounting a tale about her and her friend Poppy Williamson. Trace knew that she would most likely be in a mood over something tomorrow, but they would deal with that when it came down to it. Her being emotional was to be expected after seeing something so terrible and he knew it would just take time for her to move on from it.
Just like it would take time for him to move on from it. He missed his dad every single day, sometimes finding himself picking up the phone to call him with some news before remembering his dad wasn't there to answer the call. It was heartbreaking, but his wife and children were always there to take his mind off it.
Coming home from work to a wife and kids was so ordinary, so perfectly ordinary, but Trace wouldn't change it for the world. Losing Saul had made him appreciate his own little family so much more and he wasn't going to miss a moment of their lives.
He was determined from this moment on to remember the good times with his dad, to reminisce about all the times his dad had made him feel safe and protected, the times they'd made each other smile and enjoyed each other's company. He wouldn't dwell on the negative, wouldn't let himself think about how his dad wouldn't see his grandchildren grow up.
He would remember the good times and focus on his family, making sure they had more than enough memories of him for the day that he eventually passed himself.
Trace Benedict was going to live.
It had become a regular occurrence in the last few weeks for Uriel to go round to his friend Vivienne's house for dinner every Friday. He saw her at work at the zoo every day but it was nice to spend time with her outside of work too, especially considering he usually spent his free time around family. He loved his family, he really did, but these days he struggled to be around them all the time because of the memories of his dad it brought on. So spending the evening at Vivienne's was a welcome break from all of that for him.
Tonight was especially fun as it was Uriel 24th birthday and Vivienne had gone all out just for him: she'd made a red velvet and cream cheese cake for him, decorated her dining room with balloons and birthday banners, and had even bought him a new watch as a present. The watch had surprised him considering he'd mentioned only once, and briefly, a couple weeks ago that he needed a new one, and he couldn't believe that she'd remembered.
His favourite part of the evening though was seeing the huge card Vivienne's boys had made for him. Two year old Owen had simply drawn mostly scribbles on the front but had been jumping up and down in excitement as Uriel looked at it; the oldest, Cai, had attempted to draw some animals and sign his name on the inside. The message inside was written by Vivienne and said: to our favourite grown-up friend! Seeing the boys' smiling faces had filled Uriel with such warmth, knowing they were as attached to him as he was to them.
Now the four of them were sat at the table eating home-made pizza – Viv was some sort of genius when it came to cooking in Uriel's opinion – and Uriel found himself unable to stop smiling. It honestly felt like these days he only smiled when he was around Vivienne.
"I would like to say," he said to her, "that your birthday next week is going to be even better than this. But unfortunately, I'm not that good at this kind of stuff. I can definitely try though."
Vivienne laughed and replied in her smooth Welsh accent, "don't worry about it. I promised the boys we'd go to the cinemas anyway, I always take them on my birthday. You can come with us though, if you don't mind watching a kids film."
"Course I will," he grinned. "As long as we can go for something to eat together afterwards and you let me pay for us all." When she rolled her eyes he quickly shook his head and pointed a finger at her. "No, don't argue with me. It'll be your birthday so you should let me treat you. It's what friends do, right?"
Vivienne gave him a shy smile, her cheeks blushing red. Before she could answer though, Cai spoke up. "It's my birthday tomorrow, Uriel! I'm going to be five and I'm having a party with all my friends! We're going to have a bouncy castle, aren't we mummy? Are you coming Uriel? Please, please, please!"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he promised the young boy. "I've already bought you a present you're going to love."
Cai's eyes lit up upon hearing this. He then turned to Vivienne and asked, "is daddy coming to my party?"
The smile fell from Vivienne's face and Uriel noticed that her body had gone tense. He didn't know much about Cai's and Owen's father as Viv didn't talk about him much, but as far as he knew the guy was still in Wales and had never really bothered much with his children. He hadn't even cared when Viv had told him she was moving with the kids to America and frankly, Viv was glad he wasn't in the boys' life anymore.
"I don't think so honey," Viv said gently. "He's very busy and he's still in Wales, remember? It doesn't matter though, we'll still have plenty of fun."
Uriel was thankful when Cai didn't press the matter as he could tell that it had upset Viv a little. But of course it would, what mother wouldn't be upset that the father of her children wasn't interested in being in their lives? It just showed that she cared.
The evening continued with no more talk of things that could upset any of them, and not for the first time Uriel found himself wondering why did he feel so comfortable around Viv and her boys? At first he'd thought it was just because they were friends and you had to feel comfortable around your friends, right? But it felt a little bit more than that.
Towards the end of the evening, a realisation came to him. He hadn't thought about his feelings for his ex Hazel at all in the past few months. He would have thought that at a time like this, when he was grieving the loss of his dad, that he'd be wishing that she was by his side still to comfort him. Instead though, he'd found that the first thing he did when he was having a bad day was to call Vivienne. He always knew that she would make him feel better and cheer him up. Thinking about it now, he realised that Vivienne had mostly replaced Hazel in a lot of ways in his mind. He was still in love with Hazel, he didn't think he'd ever get over that, but what he felt for Vivienne was something new and refreshing.
Leaving the children in the living room, Vivienne saw Uriel to the front door. Standing on the doorstep, he turned around to say goodbye but found that the words wouldn't come. Her red hair was loose down her back, her green-brown eyes looking at him so openly. She had no secrets from him and was just such a lovely, beautiful person, that he knew he could trust her with anything. He could barely even remember what his life had been like before he'd had her as a friend, as utterly cliché and corny as that sounded.
Uriel wasn't usually brave when it came to girls. He remembered his first date with Hazel after being reunited with her, when he'd been afraid to kiss her and asked her for permission first. He hadn't done it to look like a gentleman, but had done it because he wasn't brave.
He wanted to be brave now. He wanted to take a leap of faith. He didn't know how he had gone so long without realising this was what he wanted. Maybe it was his dad dying that made him realise life was too short to mope around about a girl who was now engaged to your brother that you could never be with again. Maybe that was what made him open his eyes to the possibility of being with a woman who had been right in front of him this whole time.
He was going to be brave.
Moving quickly, not allowing himself the chance to change his mind, Uriel grabbed Viv's face in both of his hands and leaned down to press his lips against hers. His heart swelled with joy when after a moment's hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
She tasted like cream and rosé wine and he didn't want the kiss to ever end. He didn't know how this would change things between them, didn't know if the future held more for them than just friendship, but right now, in this moment, Vivienne Buchanan was all he needed.
Victor Benedict and Hazel Clarrison collapsed onto their bed side-by-side. Turning his head to the left, Victor looked at his soulfinder. When their eyes met, they both burst out into laughter.
"I am so tired," Hazel said a minute later after they'd settled down. "I can't believe it just took three hours to put them both down for the night."
This fact was true. It seemed that the twins never wanted to be asleep. Despite not being a month old yet, Ariadne and Julien were already so in tune with each other, as if they'd already developed that strange twin bond that people spoke of. As soon as they got one to sleep, the other would start crying which would then consequently wake the other one up again. It was an endless cycle so they ended up having to try and get them both to drift off at pretty much the exact same time. And although the twins had separate cribs in their room, Vic and Hazel had quickly discovered that the twins only slept soundly throughout the night if they were in the same crib. Some nights they even held hands.
"I wouldn't change them for the world though," he admitted in a wistful tone. "In fact, I already want to do this all over again. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but I would love to see you pregnant again knowing it's my child that you're growing. I want to start trying for another as soon as possible."
"At least let me recover from the twins first!" She let out a giggle, her face scrunching with the movement. "It's recommended that I'm not even meant to have sex for six weeks afterwards."
"But after that, we can try for another?" He asked, not caring how eager he sounded. Truth was, a part of him kind of wanted to keep her pregnant for the next five years as absurd as that sounded. He wanted a big family, at least four children, and luckily Hazel did too. Why not have the kids all around the same age? He knew from his own family that it made them closer.
Hazel rolled her eyes at him. "I wanted to go back to work, Vick. I only booked two months maternity leave with the net. Then again, I worked until the last day with this pregnancy and I'd definitely do it again. Let's just say that when we do start having sex again, we won't outright try for a baby though. We'll just… See what happens. I don't want to force it."
"Fair enough," he smiled. "Anyway, while we're talking about the future I might as well give you this now. I was going to leave it somewhere for you to find while I was at work, but I'll give it you now."
Hazel's eyebrows furrowed together in a curious confusion as Victor slid his hand into his jeans pocket. The paper rustled as he grabbed it and handed it over to her with confidence. Giving each other letters was kind of their thing. It started when she'd left him, saying goodbye over a note, but was now for much happier things. They'd leave each other little letters around the house, some about ordinary things like what to get when they next went grocery shopping, some more romantic where they confessed their love. Most recently they had got into the habit of making up cheesy poems to make each other laugh. As Hazel unfolded the paper and read this particular letter silently, Victor watched her face to judge her reaction to the words he had debated over before writing. The letter read:
When we discovered that we were soulfinders, I didn't want to love you. I tried to hate you even. But I am so glad that my heart didn't listen to my mind and I took a chance with you.
One of the last proper conversations with my dad was one where we were talking about you. He said that I should hurry up and marry you because it was what we both deserved and neither one of us would find someone else that listened to us moaning and still loved us. He was right, of course.
So, Hazel. Marry me?
Hazel slowly lowered the letter onto her stomach and gave Victor a look that suggested she thought he were an idiot. She lifted her left hand, showing him the engagement ring she was wearing. "You know, for such a sensible guy you sure are unbelievably corny when it comes to romance. And stupid. You've already proposed, remember?"
Victor chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah I know that. But since then we've just been focused on Ari and Jules and we hadn't talked about an actual wedding at all. I want us to focus on that now and get married as soon as we can, as soon as we can organize it all. I want you to be a Benedict."
Hazel smiled a little. "Nuh-uh. I've built a reputation with this name in my career and I'm not willing to give that up, I've already thought about this. I'll hyphenate it instead so it's Clarrison-Benedict."
Victor decided that this was fair enough. She had worked hard to get where she was in her career and even if she hadn't, who was he to demand that she take his name? Whatever she wanted to do was fine by him.
"Vick..." Hazel said in a cautious voice, choosing her words carefully. "Won't you be sad that your dad won't be there though? Do you really want to put yourself through that?"
"Yes," he replied without even having to think about it. "If it means getting to be your husband, then yeah. I think out of all my brothers I've dealt with the loss the best, and that's really only cause of you and the twins taking up so much of my attention. Dad should have been at our wedding, and it'll hurt that he won't be, but it makes me feel better knowing that this is what he wanted for us."
"I guess that makes sense," she replied, her fingers reaching out to hold his own. "Besides, I think a happy occasion to celebrate is something the whole family needs, not just us."
"Exactly," he agreed with her. He then went on to list all the things he wanted at the wedding, amusing himself as the list got more over-the-top with things they would actually never even consider. When there was no response or laugh from his fiancée at this, he turned his head and was unsurprised that she had fallen asleep. He considered waking her up to get her undressed and under the duvet, but sleep was so precious in their house now that he didn't want to risk it. She'd probably bite his head off or something.
Instead, he grabbed the green knitted blanket they kept at the foot of the bed and pulled it over them both, before pulling her curvy body against his own and holding onto her as he fell asleep too.
Sat alone in a corner of the hall, Will watched the other graduates celebrate with their family and friends. The academy had organised this small party after the ceremony that made the graduates official FBI agents. Of the twenty-five people that had signed up the same time as Will, only six had graduated. It just went to show how hard it was to become an agent, and just how much time and effort you had to put in to succeed.
Will had put in that effort. He'd shadowed his older brother Victor, a well-known FBI agent, as he worked and had learned a lot from him. He'd even joined him on some cases, such as the recent showdown with the net against Oliver Hawk. The work was something Will was really passionate about. He wanted to help people, but also make sure the guilty people paid for their crimes.
Watching the other five graduates celebrate made him half wish that he had invited his own family and friends. He hadn't even told them that his graduation was today, hadn't even told them he'd passed the course. Somehow he'd even managed to keep it a secret from Victor. He had meant to tell them, of course he had, but he had just kept on putting it off until it was too late. In a way though, he was kind of glad they weren't here because it would have reminded him of the one person that was missing.
Out of all the Benedict boys, Will had been most like Saul. He looked exactly how Saul had when he was twenty-one, had the same power of sensing danger, had the same sense of humour, was just as laid back as his dad, was just as easy to get along with… And Will knew that the similarities between him and his dad made it painful for his family to be around him, especially for his mom.
He didn't hold it against them. It was painful for him too, being around the family and feeling the constant loss of his dad. He just couldn't do it. So Will had been avoiding his family as much as he could, immersing himself in his work so he had something else to think about. He had taken Saul's loss the worst out of all his brothers and he thought that was probably down to the fact that he was alone. Most of his brothers had their soulfinders, Yves had his secret girlfriend, Uriel had his friend Vivienne… Will had nobody. He wasn't close enough to any of his friends to confide in them about his dad and there certainly weren't any girls in his life to cheer him up. So avoiding his family just made him even more miserable, but he just couldn't make himself pick up the phone and call one of them.
When his superior suddenly asked him and the other graduates to go into his office, Will was thankful to get away from all the smiling faces of the families around him. He felt like he could finally breathe properly when the door of the office shut and he didn't have to put up with it anymore.
The few seats in the room were quickly taken so he leaned against the dark wood bookcase, folding his arms across his chest. His superior was a tall, balding man with olive skin called Charles Walker. He sat down in his large leather chair on the other side of the desk and pursed his lips.
"What's this about, sir?" One of the other graduates, a lanky guy called Wyatt, asked.
"I have your first official assignment," Walker replied, his brows in their permanent frown. "It's not an easy one but I'm hoping some fresh minds will be just what we need to get this done. You're all familiar with the name Persephone Carter by now, yeah? We still don't know what her power is, just that it's something dangerous that can end the civil war between savants. It's rumoured she's capable of ending the world as we know it. Her parents last reported that they were in Valencia, but they have since moved and we don't know where to. Many anti-net groups are hunting her down to either kill her or use her for their own purposes, so we want to find her before they do. We need to protect her."
Out of all six of the graduates, only Will and a guy called Nicholas were savants, but the others had all been educated about savants and the savant net. Almost everyone that worked in law enforcement had to know the secret so they knew just what they were dealing with.
"So what exactly is it that you want us to do, sir? That you haven't done already?" It was the only female graduate that asked him this, a pretty brunette called Finley James.
"I want you to find her," Walker replied, with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "I've had some of my best people trying to and we still haven't managed it. You lot are promising though, otherwise we wouldn't have passed you on the course. The first thing we ask of you is to travel to Valencia and track the Carter's from there. If for some reason you can't travel there, we understand and will put you on a different case. But just keep in mind that this won't be the only time you're asked to travel and if you're not okay with leaving your family for long periods of time, this isn't the job for you."
"I'm in," Will said quickly, without even having to think about it. "You can sign me up for the search team."
It was the perfect opportunity for him. For one thing, if the team succeeded it could give him a pretty good reputation and get him noticed. For another, it would give him a good excuse to not be around his family. He wouldn't have to explain anything to them, wouldn't have to ignore their phone calls anymore. He might not even see them for a long time considering it was probably going to be pretty difficult to track down Persephone. He knew that he was just running away so he didn't have to face the fact that he wasn't the only one grieving for Saul, but at that moment he didn't care.
Running away was the only thing that sounded good to him.
"You are such a show-off," the teasing voice came into Xav's mind telepathically. He could hear the humour in it and laughed as he came to a stop at the bottom of the snowy hill.
He pushed his goggles up and off his eyes, resting them on the black ski hat he wore. Looking over to where he knew she was waiting for him, he cracked a grin. His soulfinder, Ireland, was stood near the back of the food shack, her own skis discarded by her feet. On his own skis, Xav slid over to her and let his eyes drift up and down her body. He unhooked the skis from his feet and left them in the snow.
"Still can't get over how sexy you look dressed like that," he commented with a cocky smirk; she rolled her eyes in reply. Ireland had taken his advice and chosen ski gear that was tight on her body, hugging her womanly curves in all the right places. Just the sight of her dressed like that made him decide straight away to spend more of his free days from studying with her. She'd been reluctant at first, not wanting to leave Karla in the house on her own, and he'd only persuaded her to get out by calling Zed and Blue over from next door. Karla had said she'd be fine alone, but they still didn't want to risk anything – they were still on shaky ground when it came to his mom's depression.
He wrapped one arm around her, lifting his other hand to tug a strand of her blonde hair that had come loose from where she'd tucked her hair under the thick, dark blue hat she wore. "I wasn't showing off," he replied to her earlier words. "I was good enough to be in the Winter Olympics you know, but I had to give it up to avoid attention to my family. I can't help that I'm good at skiing, I wasn't doing it for any particular reason. I just like the thrill." Ireland raised her eyebrows and gave him an almost patronizing look. "Okay," he conceded, "so maybe I was showing off just a little bit. Can you blame a guy for trying to impress the girl he loves?"
"You don't need to impress me," she said sweetly, her arms wrapping around his neck. "I'm already yours. Although it was good to finally see you doing something you're good at, I was sick of watching you fail at everything."
Xav narrowed his eyes at her and mocked an offended expression. "I never fail at anything! I managed to win you over, didn't I? And let me tell you, that wasn't easy." He brushed his nose against hers, smiling when she took a quick intake of breath and tightened her grip around him to pull him closer. "Admit it though, you were impressed."
"Maybe a little bit," Ireland admitted, her eyes flickering to his lips as she licked her own absentmindedly. "You're certainly a lot better at skiing than I am."
Xav couldn't help himself as he tilted his head back and laughed loudly. They'd spent the last few hours mostly on the beginner's slopes as he taught her the basics of skiing, navigating around the small children being taught by one of the employees. She'd managed to learn the basics but that was pretty much it. The beginner's slopes were the only part of the ski slopes that she could remain standing on. Ireland was good at so much, could handle guys three times her size and scale a building without breaking a sweat, so he'd been surprised that she wasn't amazing at skiing too. He was sure that she would get better over time though with his guidance and he hoped that this could be a shared hobby they had.
As his laughter died down his eyes met her amber ones again as he said, "Just a teeny tiny bit better," he joked. "So, are you enjoying your last free day until tomorrow?"
Tomorrow Ireland was starting voluntary work at a youth centre for foster kids and was taking Karla with her. It was a good way to get his mom out at last and both women were actually looking forward to it. "Yeah," said Ireland. "Even though I'm probably going to be covered in bruises by the time I peel this suit off."
"I'll help you with that," he said in a dark, seductive tone. "I don't mind."
"Mmm, I'm sure you don't," she chuckled. "I'm not sure if I want you to help me though, you're just too-"
He didn't wait to find out what he was too much of. His head dipped down and he captured her lips with his own, clutching at her hip and pressing his body tight against hers. She took a step back and bumped into the back wall of the wooden shack, melting in his hold as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. It was an erotic kiss that made him forget they were in public – albeit, not many people ventured behind the food shack so they had a little privacy, but still there was the chance that anybody could walk by and catch them.
His hand moved up and cupped her breast over her clothes, squeezing gently; this caused her to gasp against his lips. The action made him groan and he ground his hips into hers. Ireland bit his lower lip, her fingers digging into the back of his neck. "Xav," she whispered. "Xav, Xav." It was as if that was all she could say, his name sounding like a prayer from her mouth. Their lips met again and Xav marvelled at hearing her panting breaths; he enjoyed knowing that he was causing her pleasure.
He lost all sense of time as they kissed but he didn't care. He wanted to drag her home, straight upstairs to bed and have his way with her. He felt almost as if this was his last chance with her, despite knowing that they had the rest of their lives together.
The feeling of another mind pushing into his made him grunt in frustration, especially when it was quickly followed by a voice. Zed's. "You two need to get back here. Now."
When Xav pulled back and saw Ireland's disgruntled expression, he knew that she had heard the interruption too.
"We could just ignore him," Xav suggested, moving to start kissing her again.
Ireland turned her head to prevent the kiss, letting out a soft, quiet sigh. "It sounded urgent, Xav. Do you think it's your mum? I can't think of anything else that would be that important. We should go back."
Knowing she had a good point, he agreed and sent out a little message to Zed to tell him they were setting off home now. They both grabbed their skis and carried them down the short hill that descended to the car park. They cut through the woodlands area in silence. Worry was gnawing at Xav. What if it was his mom? What if she'd taken a step back and had broken down yet again? It would break his heart to see her like that again.
When they got to the house, they dropped their skis in the front garden and headed into the house. "What's going on?" He called out, pulling his hat off his head as the heat of the home hit him, making him start to sweat in his jumpsuit. "Zed?"
He and Ireland went into the living room, where they found Karla sat on the black leather sofa with her legs tucked up beside her, Blue sat next to her cross-legged, and Zed pacing in front of the lit fire. His worries ceased when Karla gave him a small smile, showing him that she was okay.
Zed spun to face them as they walked in, waving a piece of paper in his hand. "Finally!" He exclaimed, face flushed. "What took you so long?"
"We got here as quick as we could," Xav retorted, annoyed. "This was meant to be our day away from everyone else, what the hell is so important that you had to ruin our day?"
Zed gave no apologies for this. He rarely ever apologized; he only did when it was something serious and even then you only got the apology once. "This came through the post with no return address. Read it." He thrust his arm forward and Xav tore the paper from his grip. There was a short note on the paper, handwritten in a bold style and he read it quickly:
I am not finished with you yet, Benedict family.
SE, H3, by the end of MH, CS no show, BW.
Body tense, he passed the note to Ireland. "Recognize the handwriting by any chance?" He knew what her reply would be before she even said anything. There was only one person who could have sent this.
Ireland took a deep, shaky breath and nodded her head. "My dad wrote this."
"He's gonna cause trouble again," Zed said angrily, fists clenched at his sides. "God knows which one of us he's going to kill next! Is he ever going to stop or does he just want to kill all of us?" His eyes flashed over to Ireland. "What does the last part mean? It's some sort of code, he would only have added that for you – none of us would know any of his codes. What does it mean?" He repeated the last question.
"I really don't know," she shrugged. "My dad had loads of codes to communicate with us when he couldn't talk to us one-on-one but this one doesn't look familiar to me."
Zed seemed to accept this answer, but he clearly didn't like it. Pulling his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, he announced that he was going to call Victor and let him know what was going on.
Xav looked at Ireland as she handed him the letter back and got a look at her. She had a blank look on her face and when she met his eyes her own were slightly dilated and a little wider than usual.
Xav knew Ireland well by now. When they'd first met, he wouldn't have been able to look past the mask she wore sometimes, wouldn't have able to tell when she was lying. He could tell now though; he always knew how she felt just from her facial expressions. So now, as she looked up at him, he knew that she was lying.
She knew what her dad had written in code for her and for some reason she was lying about it.
He looked away from her, not saying a word. He didn't want to argue with her, not in front of the others anyway. Later, when they were alone, he would talk to her about it. He wouldn't let her keep secrets from him.
The secret meeting place of Yves Benedict and Jessamine Maxwell was a run down, crumbling shed in the middle of the woodlands area lining the edge of the town of Wrickenridge. It was a small and crumbling shed, the wood rotten and the door hanging off its hinges. Ivy had grown on the outside walls and weeds were starting to grow up through the gaps in the wood inside the shed.
Rarely anyone came out to the shed these days, but almost everybody in town knew about its existence. The thing was though, no one knew for sure how the shed had even got there. The myth was that there was once a couple, madly in love and perfect for each other, but disastrously something had torn them apart. Brokenhearted, the man had built the shed away from all the town's inhabitants and lived in it for years, refusing to venture into the town in fear of seeing his lost love. Eventually, after a very long wait, his love turned up at the shed. She missed him, she'd told him. They embraced on the threshold of his makeshift home before heading back into town together to live the rest of their lives in each other's arms. The man hadn't needed the shed anymore, and so he hadn't continued with the upkeep of it and had allowed nature to take over the shed.
If the myth was true, the shed had been a home for a lonely old man. But for Yves and Jessamine, it was a haven. A place where they could have complete privacy and quiet peace, it was just what they needed. On sunny days, they sat on a low branch of a tree pressed right against the side of the shed, and on rainy days they huddled into a corner inside the shed, with a blanket draped around them both and an umbrella covering their heads to protect them from the leaks in the roof.
It was a secret meeting place for the couple because their relationship was a secret. Simple. They had been dating since July 2013 now and not one person in their lives knew they were together. Yves' family knew that he had a girlfriend called Jess, but there were plenty of Jess' in town and they had no idea which one he was dating.
None of them would have predicted that his girlfriend would be Jess Maxwell, daughter of a rich politician, head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school basically. Why would a girl like her choose to date an unpopular geek like Yves, someone she wouldn't normally even acknowledge the existence of? At school she seemed stuck-up, wild and unapproachable, and really just a total bitch.
That was the opinion most students at school had of her, and was the opinion Yves had originally had too. The only thing that wasn't cliché about this cheerleader was that she wasn't dumb, or didn't pretend to be dumb. She was highly intelligent, Yves' biggest competition grades-wise, and was in all the AP classes that he was in.
Yves avoided the popular people like her, so when she'd had an extended period of time off school and fell behind, he wasn't happy that their head of year had assigned Yves to help her catch up. But, just like in a movie, his opinion of her had slowly changed and he had fallen in love with her.
They hadn't gone public because neither had wanted the attention their unlikely relationship would bring. They'd wanted to figure out if they would work without their friends and family sticking their noses in and messing things up. Yves particularly was glad that Jessamine hadn't been pulled into the danger his family were caught in constantly.
On this cool day in March, Yves pushed his way through the trees, following a familiar route to him. Jessamine was already at the shed when he stepped into the small clearing surrounding it. She was wrapped up in a white faux fur coat, leather boots pulled up over her knees. Her short dark hair was in its usual straight cut framing her face, and the only make-up that stood out on her face was her dark purple lipstick.
Her dark eyes, almond-shaped to show off her Korean heritage, flashed over to him when he cleared his throat to announce his presence. Her lips turned up into a smile. "Hey," she crooned as he walked over to her. "I've missed you."
Yves gave her a quick peck on the cheek, so relieved that she was back from the two week vacation in the Bahamas she'd been on with her family. "You don't even look tanned at all," he chuckled, leading her over to the low branch.
They both sat down as she replied, "I told you I wouldn't. I never tan. I am cursed to forever look either anaemic or like a ghost. I'm not quite sure which one I'd prefer."
When Yves responded, his voice no longer had the joking tone to it and was now serious. "I'd choose anaemic. Being a ghost would mean you'd be dead... And I can't lose anyone else."
Jessamine gave him a sympathetic look before resting her head on his shoulder. No words needed to be said and Yves was glad of this. The fact that they were close enough that just being in her presence comforted him was something that made his heart swell. A few months ago, he'd left his own father's wake and gone to the school field where she'd been having cheerleader practice. She'd gestured for him to go into the woods and a mere twenty minutes later she had joined him. He'd collapsed into tears in her arms.
To change the subject, he lifted the Manila envelope he was clutching in his right hand. "Post came this morning. I already opened all the other letters I received – all acceptances. I just couldn't open this one without you there."
"Snap." She raised her left hand where she was holding an envelope of her own. They had applied to all the same colleges, and both had Columbia University as their top choice. Not just because they wanted to go there together, but because it really was just one of the best colleges around. "Only I had 5 acceptances, 3 rejections. The rejections have made me worry about this one too, but I don't think you have to worry. Why would any college reject you? You've always been top of class, you got amazing SAT results, and you're already a millionaire because of the software you sold to Apple." Her tone basically just said duh.
"But you're second top of the class," he grinned. "You had good results too, your dad is pretty powerful and well-known, and you have extracurricular activities. You'd be an asset for any college."
"So. Are we gonna stop complimenting each other and get this over with any time today?" She raised one eyebrow, which always annoyed Yves because who the hell could actually do that?! He'd once spent a good portion of the afternoon sat in front of a mirror trying to imitate her; he'd failed miserably.
On the count of three, they tore into the envelopes and slid the main letter out. After a moment of silence, they looked up at each other. Yves' eyes were wide, and Jess was biting on her bottom lip like she always did when she was nervous. "Well?" he prompted.
They held up their letters for the other to see and Yves scanned the first paragraph of hers. A huge smile spread onto his face at the same time Jess squealed and threw her arms around his neck, the sound of rustling paper following as her fist clenched the sheet. "Yves!" She exclaimed, pulling back but keeping her arms where they were. "I can't believe it! I actually did it, I didn't think I would, oh my god!" She laughed. Yves adored her laugh. It was loud and infectious, far from a timid giggle that some girls had.
He lifted one hand to her cheek as the other encircled her waist. "We're going to college together," he gasped, unable to contain his happiness. "It's the college my dad most wanted me to go to as well, so that just makes this such a better moment!"
"And," Jess added, "we won't have to hide our relationship there because no one will know us. No one will care." She hesitated before asking her next question. "Yves, are sure you're not upset that your dad won't see you go to his top choice for you?"
"No," he answered honestly, shaking his head. "Maybe a little, but it's not bothering me. Since the day he died, I've been telling myself not to break down over it because he wouldn't want that. He wouldn't have wanted me to turn down the college experience and education; he would have wanted me to be as happy as I am right now with you. You know, thinking like that really helps me. I know he'd proud of me, so it's okay."
Jess smiled and held him tightly, resting her forehead against his. "I'm proud of you too, for how you're handling all this."
Truthfully, Yves had probably dealt with his dad's death the best out of all his family. Or at least, that was the way he saw it. Trace and Vick had done well because of their kids, and Xav had his worries about Ireland being arrested and taking care of mom to cloud his mind, so maybe it was actually pretty equal... But Yves was content with how he done considering the situation. He was being positive about things, refusing to let this ruin him. And having his secret meet-ups with Jessamine definitely helped too.
"Thank you," he whispered. "I love you, Jess."
"I love you too," her reply was instant and full of warmth.
Yves lifted his chin to kiss her, not caring that it would smudge lipstick all over him. Jess almost always wore lipstick so he was used to this anyway, and had taken to carrying a small pack of tissues around with him just for this exact reason.
Losing himself in the kiss, he pictured moving into dorms at college and knowing Jess was just a short distance away from him. Introducing her to new friends as his girlfriend and revelling in their jealous gazes (because they would be jealous, he was sure of this; she was such a beauty). She'd come home with him one week and meet the family at last. Maybe in their second year they'd get their own flat together, where they'd argue about who's turn it was to clean up before bursting into laughter and making up in... Exciting ways.
The time they had together in the future bloomed in his mind like a captivating flower and he could not wait for it.
A voice stopped these thoughts and their deepening kiss. "Woah," it said. "Well, what do we have here then?"
Zed paused in his running to jump over a fallen tree, turning around to give his soulfinder a helping hand. Blue was only small, something that endlessly both amused and annoyed Zed – amused because he liked to tease her and take care of her, annoyed because it made her seem much more vulnerable than she was so it made him worry about her.
Speaking of worry, Zed could see it written all over her face. He looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes as they started jogging through the woods, getting back into their rhythm. He didn't want to talk, didn't want to look at her, and frankly he sort of wished that she hadn't joined him on the run.
Clearly though, Blue had other ideas. "Zed," she gasped, slightly out of breath from the exercise. "Can we stop a minute?" When he didn't reply or even act like he heard her, she spoke to him telepathically instead. "ZED! Stop. Oh my god. Just stop."
Heaving a great sigh, he knew that he was coming off as rude but he couldn't stop himself. He didn't want to talk to her. Coming to a stop and spinning around to face her, he snapped. "What, Blue?"
She looked slightly taken aback as she caught her breath. She leaned against the thick trunk of a tree, crossing her arms over her white tank top. "Do you want to explain to me why you're acting like you don't want me here?"
"Because I don't want you here!" He exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. He felt like he was that frustrated he could just pull it all out. "Why are you here? Why did you have to follow me? God, Blue. It's like you can't let me be alone for one second. I can't breathe; you're suffocating me."
Blue frowned, eyes narrowing and mouth in a flat line. She was pissed off. She was scary when she was pissed off. "You are such a bastard," was her angry response. "How dare you. How fucking dare you, Zed?! All I'm trying to do is to make you happy and to get through to you that you're not alone. That I'm here for you. But all you keep doing is pushing me away.
"I'm worried about you. You were just starting to get control of your anger and now you've just spiralled out of control all over again. You're constantly in trouble at school, I'm surprised they haven't kicked you out yet. And even though we spend time together, you don't talk to me. We can be sat in the same room and it'll be like you don't even realise that I'm there. I'm trying to help you," she sounded desperate.
He knew all of this, of course. He knew that she wasn't going to give up and he hated that he was hurting her. But he didn't want to talk. He hadn't yet spoken about losing Saul and he didn't plan on doing it any time soon. He wasn't going to break down. He didn't want Blue to see him in such a weak state.
"I don't need your help," he said flatly. "What I need is for you to leave me alone and give me some damn space. I'm coping just fine, Blue. Why don't you go home and phone your new boyfriend?" He knew he was being unnecessarily cruel but he couldn't stop. Seeing her confused expression, he explained. "You know, that guy Lance from your history class that you've been fucking around with? Oh yeah, I see you with him. You never stop smiling when you're with him."
"Are you kidding me right now?!" She walked over to him, branches snapping under her feet, and shoved his chest with enough force that he stumbled back a few steps. Her cheeks were bright red and her eyes shone with unshed tears. "You want to know why I'm always smiling around Lance? Because he is my friend and we have enough things in common that I can have a conversation with him without thinking about you. He takes my mind off you and I like that because then I'm not worrying anymore. You think I like being around you right now? Because I don't. I hate being around you these days but I keep doing it because I'm still hoping that you'll open up to me. I want you to be happy, Zed, even if you're not making me happy right now."
Her words didn't fully hit him until the tears finally started running down her cheeks. She didn't lift her hand to wipe them off. Zed's heart ached and in a strained voice he quietly said, "my dad's dead."
"I know how you feel," she whispered. "I lost my mom and it hurts every day. But you can't let it destroy you, I won't let you. He's not coming back and you have to accept that."
"How?" he strangled out. "How the hell do I accept that?" He collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, not caring that the branches underneath him dug into his skin and mud was likely smeared all over his shorts now. When Blue slowly sat down next to him, she pulled him into her arms and Zed finally allowed himself to cry for the first time since his dad died. He didn't like that Blue was seeing him like this, but was glad that it was her that was comforting him. "I'm sorry," he sobbed, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head against her neck. He clung onto her like he was drowning and she was a life boat. "I'm so sorry for everything I said. I'm sorry I'm a failure at school, I'm sorry I don't make you happy, I'm sorry that you're having to look after me... It's just so hard. I lost my dad, and then it was like I lost my mom too because she isn't herself anymore. Xav and Ireland have been acting like the parents and it's just not right. I can barely stand to be in the house anymore. I'm so, so sorry."
"Shh," she stroked his hair and kissed his head gently. "It's alright, Zed. I know that you don't mean to hurt me."
"That doesn't make it better," he mumbled. Lifting his head, he looked into her crying eyes with his own crying eyes. "Don't let me get away with it, there's no excuse for talking to you like that... Promise me you won't ever leave me?" Her leaving him was his biggest fear. God, just the thought of it...
"Never," she smiled and stroked his cheek with one hand. He leaned into her touch. "You can't carry on like this anymore though, it's too difficult for both of us. You have to get your anger in check and you have to do better at school. I don't think they're going to go easy on you for much longer."
"I will, I promise," he nodded, determined not to break that promise. For the rest of their lives together, he would never break a promise he made to her. "I really don't make you happy anymore? To the point where you don't want to be around me?"
"Yes," she admitted in a soft whisper, eyes sad. "You've been unbearable. You being upset makes me upset, you scare me when you get really angry, and you haven't made me feel loved or anything."
Zed thought about how depressed she had once been and despised himself for making her feel even a fraction of that again. What kind of boyfriend was he?! A really shitty one, he thought to himself. Tightening his grip on her he kissed her lips lightly. "I know I've already said it, but I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, I did always feel a little better when you were around even if part of me was telling me that I wanted you to leave me alone," he tried to make it sound like a joke but it fell flat between them. "I do love you, Blue. You're my everything. I'm gonna make you happy from now on. We're going to go on a date every week, I'm going to do everything I can to make you smile. I'd also like to warn you that I'm never going to be nice to that Land guy, so don't expect that of me."
"Lance," Blue corrected him with a grin starting to form on her face; this caused Zed to smile too. "Can you promise me one more thing?"
"Anything."
"Promise me you won't hide your feelings anymore. When things get too hard for you, when you can't stop thinking about your dad, find me. Talk to me. You can't bottle it all up, it won't do you any good."
All smiling aside, they were discussing a serious matter. Their relationship had been so close to falling apart because of his grief and things had to change now before it was too late. He didn't hesitate before promising her this, quickly following it with a kiss.
A loud squeal made them both jump. Zed clambered to his feet, leaning down to help Blue up too. "Let's go see what that was," he suggested. "Maybe we'll stumble upon something inappropriate." He waggled his eyebrows, making her giggle.
Hand in hand, they ducked under a tree branch and pushed their way through bushes of leaves, before finally coming into a small clearing. The sun was shining down through the treetops, revealing an old shed. The shed of the town of myth? Zed wondered briefly. On a low branch beside the shed, Zed saw the thing that interested him the most.
There sat his older brother Yves, making out with... Jessamine Maxwell? She was Yves' secret girlfriend? How on Earth had his brother managed to pull that off?! Jessamine was one of the hottest girls at school and ran in many of the same circles as Zed did. They were often at the same parties, had even kissed during a game of spin the bottle a few months before Blue returned to school. It was just such an odd pairing.
A smug grin appeared on his face before he said, "woah. Well, what do we have here then?"
The kissing couple broke apart. Jessamine smiled at him in a friendly manner, whilst Yves' entire face blushed a fiery red in embarrassment. "Zed," he stammered. "Blue. How did you- Why- What are you doing here?"
"We weren't doing what you were doing that's for sure," he snorted. "So what are you doing with a loser like my brother, Jess?"
"Zed," Blue chastised him, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "Be nice. It's obvious, isn't it? Yves is a stud, clearly he's irresistible and the ladies can't keep their hands off him."
Zed burst out laughing, so hard that his stomach started to hurt, as Yves seemed to blush even more if that was possible. Blue was chuckling beside him and he could see Jessamine trying to contain her own laughter as she put a hand on Yves' shoulder and tried to calm him a little.
Zed was happy. He was laughing for the first time in ages. He was teasing his brother, back to normal. He had a girl that loved him and had stood by him through the rough times. He was happy.
Maybe things were finally going to start getting better now, he thought hopefully. No, he corrected himself. Things were definitely going to start getting better, no maybe about it. Because he was going to make things better.
No more moping around about his dad's death.
Life moved on and the Benedict family would survive like they always did.
A hint about the next chapter: Xav confronts Ireland about Oliver's note.