Homelander wasn't sure how he had gotten to her in time. He wasn't sure how he'd made it, but he had. He'd gotten her out of the car just before it burst into flames. He was crouched on the floor with Victoria in his grip. He kept his arms around her, holding her tightly as she grabbed hold of one of his forearms, her side leaning against his chest as he knelt on the floor. Victoria turned her gaze to the side and saw the car in a ball of flames. Someone had planted a bomb in her car. She knew that she shouldn't be shocked by now considering how many people wanted her dead. But, once again, she'd come close to that line and it was only Homelander who had saved her. What if he hadn't had been there? What if she'd been by herself and had just gone out for a drive?

"Are you hurt?" Homelander demanded from her, voice fraught with worry. He'd scanned her, doubting his x-ray vision and needing to hear her tell him that she was fine. She just shook her head, breathless and struggling to keep herself together. "Come here, Vicky."

He tried to help her stand up, but her legs felt like jelly, unable to hold her weight. He practically dragged her to her feet, but he knew that she wasn't going to stand by herself. He could feel her shaking in his grip and he wanted to do nothing more than pick her up and take her home where he knew she would be safe. But he also knew that someone was responsible for almost killing his wife and he wanted to find out who it was, which meant calling it in.

"Evie," Victoria breathed her daughter's name. "John…Evie…"

Homelander's brows knitted together. "Where is she?"

"Back at the hotel," Victoria said.

"I'll take you back there," Homelander said. "And then I'll come back here and deal with this."

Homelander knew that their daughter was safe. The chances of anyone getting to her in a hotel surrounded by top security were slim. But even he wasn't going to take any chances, especially when it came to his daughter. He picked his wife up with no complaint and shot off into the night sky. He didn't need to ask her where she was staying considering he knew her entire itinerary. She shared it with him because she figured it would be for the best for him to know where she was.

Landing just outside the hotel, Homelander followed Victoria inside as she rushed up to the suite. Security stood aside for her and the pair of them swept into the room. Daniella was sat on the sofa with Natalie on the armchair. The former had her laptop open and was typing ferociously while the other was on her phone, playing some kind of game if Homelander wasn't mistaken.

"Evie?" Victoria just gasped her daughter's name out loud.

"Vicky, what the hell is going on?" Daniella asked, throwing a glare over her friend's shoulder to Homelander who just ignored it. "Where have you been?"

"Evie? Is she okay?"

"She's sleeping," Natalie answered.

Victoria moved across the living room quickly as the two other women stood on their feet and exchanged anxious glances to each other. Homelander laced his hands behind his back as he kept on walking behind Victoria, but he could see that Evie was safe and fast asleep in her bed. Victoria grabbed hold of the doorframe to stop herself from toppling into the bedroom. She moved her other hand to cover her mouth to stop the loud gasp from escaping her lips at the relief of seeing her daughter tucked up in bed.

Homelander knew that Ryan was in the bedroom next door, but he also sounded like he was asleep. A part of him wanted to go and wake him up and talk to him. He wanted him to see sense and see that his place was next to him, but he didn't. He knew that he had to take things steady.

"She's alright," Homelander whispered to her, a hand going to the small of her back and Victoria just nodded her head. She let him move a hand to her arm and guide her away from the bedroom to let Evie sleep. Homelander closed the door behind him, feeling a swelling sensation in his chest at the sight of his little girl.

"Vicky, what the hell is going on?" Daniella exclaimed to her friend.

"Is everything alright?" Natalie added on.

"I don't know," Victoria confessed to the pair of them. "I…we went for a walk…and someone had planted a bomb in the car I took."

"What?" both Natalie and Daniella exclaimed at the same time.

"John got me out before anything could happen."

"The car exploded," Homelander said. "And I need to get back there and investigate it. I need to find out who did this."

Victoria felt Homelander watching her and she knew that he was waiting for her to tell him that she was okay with him to go. She just nodded her head at him and he nodded sternly at her, a hand going to hers and squeezing it tightly before he dipped down and pecked her on the cheek. He let her go and left the room, not before winking once at Daniella, finding himself unable to resist winding her up just a little bit. Victoria didn't notice and Daniella figured now wasn't the time to say anything about it.

Once the door had closed behind him, Victoria went to sit down on the sofa, taking Daniella's unoccupied space. Daniella sat down next to her while Natalie raided the mini fridge. She pulled out the small bottle of whiskey and emptied the contents into the small tumbler. Daniella wrapped an arm around Victoria's shoulders, holding her tight.

"We'll find out who did this," Daniella promised her. "They're not going to get away with this."

"But that's the problem, isn't it?" Victoria questioned her friend and Natalie sat down in the armchair, sliding the drink towards Victoria. It was Daniella who picked the glass up and forced it into Victoria's hands. "Whoever it was, it doesn't matter, does it? There's always going to be someone out there who wants to kill me…hurt me…I…I don't know if I can keep doing this."

Daniella watched her friend and she knew that this was going to take some time. She knew that Victoria was scared and she understood it. Hell, she'd be even more terrified if she knew about all of the death threats that were sent to her every single day. She'd never leave the house if she knew. But for every threat she received, there was a message of support. People looked up to her. People saw her as a figurehead. They saw her as someone who could challenge what was going on.

"I know, Vicky," Daniella agreed with her on that point. She understood. "And if you want to stop this then no one would blame you. No one would blame you at all…you can go back to New York and to the townhouse. You can go and forget all of this and just be with Evie and Ryan, but…and I know that you might not want to hear this right now…but it won't stop lunatics from coming after you. It won't stop people seeing you as an enemy. The only way you can get all of this to truly stop is if you go to some remote island somewhere."

Victoria downed the whiskey that Natalie had poured her. The other woman was quiet. She knew that she was just the nanny in all of this. Victoria paid her well and offered her lodgings. Plus, Evelyn was a sweet kid and Natalie had grown very fond and protective over her. She'd seen Victoria go through so much. She'd seen her marriage to Homelander implode. She'd heard titbits of what it had been like to be married to the world's most powerful supe. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but there had been times when Victoria and Daniella had been talking and things had come out. She knew that she could go to the press if she wanted to. They'd pay her a nice cheque for some of the things she'd heard. But that thought never crossed her mind. She actually liked Victoria. She thought she was a good person. She'd just gotten into things that were too dangerous for her to handle.

"I'm not sure if this is helpful right now," Natalie interjected and she looked to Daniella or a moment, speaking up and wondering if it was going to get her in trouble. "I'm sorry, but someone has just tried to kill Victoria. I think what she needs is some time to hole up wherever she wants to before deciding what to do."

Daniella knew she probably had a point. Daniella was a pragmatist. She got to the point. She didn't enjoy not knowing a plan. Sometimes she forgot the human element of things and she wasn't too proud to admit that. Nodding her head, Daniella just squeezed Victoria around the shoulders.

"Of course," she said. "I'm sorry…I…whatever you need, Vic…whatever you need."

…

Daniella and Natalie had struggled to get anything else out of Victoria that night. She had gone to bed after two glasses of whiskey, showering and slipping into her long-sleeved pyjamas. She'd suspected that Homelander would come to her and she'd been right. It had gone three in the morning when she heard the knock on the door, not as if she'd been sleeping anyway.

She climbed out of bed and pulled the curtain back. Unlocking the door, she let him in and Homelander wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her. He thought that she might just remain stoic, but she suddenly flung her own arms around his neck, burying her face there and inhaling his familiar aftershave. He picked her up off the floor, her toes just scraping the floor as an arm remained tight around her waist and another went to cup the back of her head, keeping her face pressed to his neck as his cheek nestled against the top of her head in her hair.

"Going back there…seeing that…fuck," Homelander mumbled. "I thought I'd lost you, Vic. I thought I'd lost you again and I can't keep going through that."

Victoria almost snapped and asked him if he thought she could, but she didn't say anything. She stood there quiet, just clinging to her husband. He felt like the only safety she had left now. He felt like the only one who could actually protect her. She hated that feeling, but for that night she couldn't help but give into it. She wanted some semblance of comfort. She wanted her husband.

"I don't know what to do," Victoria confessed to him, pulling back and looking him in the eye. "I just don't know what to do."

Homelander wanted to tell her that he knew what she should do, but he suspected that wouldn't go down well. She was emotional. She might just snap at him and take her anger out on him. He could see that happening and he wasn't entirely in the mood for it. He took a moment to consider what the right words would be. He moved his hand from the back of her head and cupped her cheek, thumb moving over her cheekbone.

"You don't need to do anything, Vic," Homelander said. "Just go to bed and get some sleep. No one is going to hurt you in here. I've got you, alright?"

Victoria was amazed that he hadn't told her that she should come back to the penthouse. She'd half expected him to try that with her. She figured it was coming in a little bit of time, but she didn't push it. She just knew that she didn't really want to be left alone.

"Will you stay?" Victoria wondered from him and he nodded.

He watched her move over towards the bed and he followed. He stripped out of his supe suit, leaving it haphazardly strewn over the armchair in the corner of the room. Victoria climbed into bed and Homelander followed her. She laid on her back and turned her head to the side as Homelander copied her movements.

"All I can think of is what could've happened," Victoria admitted to him, finally finding that she could make sense of her feelings. She'd barely said two sentences to Natalie or Daniella. "If you hadn't have been there then I'd be dead and I…I know that what I'm doing is dangerous. I knew that before I started doing it. I did it because it was the right thing to do…but now…is it wrong if I don't care about doing the right thing? Is it wrong if I just want to give all of this up? Take Evie and Ryan and live somewhere no one knows us?"

"Why would that be wrong?"

"Because I'd be running away," Victoria said. "I think of everyone in history who died for what they believe in and I…I'm not like that, John. I'm not like those people. I don't know if that makes me a coward. I don't know if it makes me some spineless hypocrite, but a small part of me has stopped caring because I don't want to die. I want to watch Evie grow up. I want to see Ryan go to college."

Homelander was slightly insulted she hadn't mentioned him, but he didn't push her on it.

"You can have what you want," Homelander said and Victoria shook her head sadly.

She couldn't have what she wanted because her husband had ruined that. He had ruined everything.

"No, I can't," Victoria said in a whisper and Homelander sensed there was a deeper meaning to her words, but he didn't push her on it. He knew that what he'd done had pushed her away and he'd let her go. He'd been so convinced that she would come back to her, but that hadn't happened so far. She'd remained stubborn, but how much longer could she keep this up for?

A part of Victoria blamed Homelander for her even being in this position. If he hadn't gone through with his plan then she might not be here. Then again, where would she be? Would she still be with Homelander? She might've stood by him if he hadn't gone too far because it would've been the safer option. But she didn't want that. She didn't want to stand by him, not really. She hadn't truly wanted to be with him since she'd found out the truth about who he really was.

"You should go before Ryan wakes up," Victoria urged from him.

"I will," Homelander promised her and he knew that she was hurting. He longed to be able to take the pain away for her, but he knew that wasn't possible.

She turned onto her side and reached for the light, hitting the switch and bathing the room in darkness. Homelander watched her back as she lay there, but he knew she wasn't sleeping from the way her breathing never changed. The two of them just laid in silence, neither one of them daring to speak and tell the others what they were thinking.

…

"I need to come with you everywhere."

"You don't need to do that," Victoria said. "You're still a kid."

"But I can protect you. No one else can protect you like that…I just…I don't want anything to happen to you."

Victoria had told Ryan what had happened the following morning. She'd changed into a pair of jeans and a plain grey sweatshirt before going to the living room for breakfast. She'd given her daughter a big hug, holding Evie tight to her and not wanting to let go. She knew that her daughter was too young to understand what had happened, but she knew that Ryan would find out one way or another and she preferred he heard the truth from her.

"I know, honey," Victoria said, grasping his hand inside of hers. "But nothing is going to happen me. I'm okay. Your dad and me met last night to talk through some childcare things and he…he got me out of there before anything could happen."

"But what if he hadn't?" Ryan asked from her.

She wanted to tell him that she'd already thought about that scenario multiple times and she hated how it ended. "I know," Victoria assured him. "I know and I've thought about that too many times to count, but I can't ask you to come with me to every event I attend. Besides…I need time to figure out what to do, okay? We're going to go home and just spend some time together…me, you and Evie, alright?"

Ryan nodded his head. He agreed with her that would be the best course of action. He wanted to go home too. Victoria was pretty sure that she'd made her mind up over what was going to happen, but she just needed some time and space.

"Why don't you go and pack, okay? We'll fly home this afternoon."

"Alright," Ryan agreed.

Victoria ruffled his hair and moved to her feet, going to take her own advice. Natalie was with Evie in her bedroom and playing with her while packing her things away too. Before she could go to her bedroom, she heard the door click open and saw Daniella stood there. She didn't come in, however. She just stood holding the door in her hand. Victoria frowned at that.

"Are you coming in or what?" she wondered, knowing that she was curt with her friend, but she was still slightly annoyed over how she'd acted the night before.

"Don't get angry," Daniella urged from her.

"Why would I be angry?" Victoria wondered from her.

"Because you've been through a lot, but he called me last night and he just…he said he really wanted to see you," Daniella said and Victoria kept on frowning, arms folded over her chest as she wondered who she was on about.

"Who?" Victoria wondered.

And then she opened the door fully and Victoria had to do a double take at the man in front of her. Her eyes widened and she felt as though she'd been winded, her stomach churning and her hands shaking by her side.

"Victoria," he spoke her name and it sounded so familiar on his tongue.

"Alex," she gasped back, wondering just what he was doing there.

…

A/N: So last time they spoke it didn't end well...some more drama in the next chapter and a familiar face makes an appearance too!