Reunited (Deckard Shaw)

Chapter 20

Hattie, Deck and I stand in the back of the room while Hobbs is reunited with his family. His mother insists that he eat something but he quickly says "There's no time" and starts trying to explain our situation. "You should've stayed away. What's going on? What did you bring here?" Jonah asks annoyed. "I brought the truth" Hobbs quickly replies. "What truth?" Jonah challenges. "The truth is we were set up. We were framed by people who made a deadly virus. It could go global if it's not stopped" Hobbs summarises rather well. However, Jonah clearly isn't buying our story. "We could all die. All of us. Everybody here, everybody on the island and everybody around the world. Jonah, I need to help fix this machine. I need you to help my friends and I need us to build defences around here now" Hobbs continues and pleads with his brothers for their help. "You think you can just come back in here and we're gonna help you after everything you did?" Jonah questions and starts to argue with him again. "We could die!" Hobbs yells, trying to reason with his stubborn brother. "Good! Because I would rather die than help you!" Jonah yells back and I sigh and look at my feet in defeat.

Suddenly, Deck steps forward, "Listen, I know your brother's hard to be around, believe me. But I trust him and he brought us here because this place has something nowhere else on the planet does. You" he says to Jonah in an attempt to convince him and I smile at the gesture. "You don't know me, I don't know you. Time for you all to go, take your machine with you!" he yells at us and tries ushering us out the door. "Jonah Hobbs!" his mother yells as she stands and everyone stops everything they're doing. I realise the authority she has over her sons and I'm thoroughly impressed. "You have some respect for your uso. If he needs anything, we're gonna give it to him. The food off our tables, the clothes off our backs, even the mana of the island. And you boys, all you boys, you show our guests here some respect or so help me god, I'm gonna take this here slipper and sasa your big fat heads! You here me!" she yells at them as she raises her slipper again. "I'm sorry to bring this here mama" Hobbs apologises sincerely. "Luke, this is your home, We Samoans, we can handle troubles" she replies with a grin. I smile at her before everyone leaves to help us in one way or another.

Hobbs' mother hands me a bag of clothes for us all to change into. Hobbs and Hattie have already left so I find Deck. "Deck, I've got a change of clothes" I tell him as I raise the bag. "Great, let's go" he replies and takes my free hand, leading me into an empty room. We start changing and I start thinking about when he seemed to consider me family when he said "We're the Shaw family". Does he really consider me a Shaw? "Hey Dex" I say hesitantly. "Yeah" he replies, looking up at me as he puts his shirt on. "You know when you were talking to Hattie and said 'we're the Shaw family'?" I ask while avoiding his gaze. "Yeah?" he responds questioningly. "You looked at me when you said it" I add, hoping he'd see where I'm going with this. "I did" he replies with a smile. "Do you think of me as a Shaw?" I finally ask and finally look up at him. He only smiles at me and walks towards me as I watch him. He reaches me and wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me into his chest. I only rest my hands on his chest as I stare back at him. "I've always thought of you as family and I know that one day you'll be a Shaw. I've known that since we were teenagers" he explains and I smile genuinely. "Really?" I ask. "Really" he replies and I kiss him lovingly before wrapping my arms around his neck for a tight hug.

Deck and I enter the garage hand in hand with the change of clothes for Hobbs and Hattie. I pass Hattie her clothes before Deck pulls out Hobbs' shirt. "Your mum said you might wanna wear this. Must be your favourite size; spray on" he jokes and throws the shirt at Hobbs. Hattie and I smile at the joke. "Why don't you put another jacket on, it's a hundred degrees out there" Hobbs teases and I silently agree. It's roasting here and Deck's wearing a jacket. "Alright, let's get down to business. We got weapons?" Deck asks seriously. "Oh we got weapons" Hobbs answers with a grin before leading us through the garage. He slides a door open to reveal a wall of farming equipment with the outline of weaponry drawn on the wall. "Mama, where's all our weapons?" Hobbs asks. "I get rid of them" she answers honestly. "Very noble Mrs Hobbs" Deck states with a kind nod. "We're in serious trouble" Hattie whispers to us. "That is an understatement" I respond quietly. Mrs Hobbs explains that these weapons killed her family and we can fight without them. We soon realise that we can hack Eteon's weapons with the glove Hattie took, so she gets onto that.

The next few hours pass rather quickly as we all prepare defences on the island, including a no man's land and a kill circle. I meet Deck and we go to check on Hattie's progress. "Give me the good news Hat" Deck says once we reach her. "I'm in, but the only thing is I can only block the signal on the satellite for 6 minutes" she replies. "6 minutes might be all we need" I reply, assuring her that it's enough. "Better than a stick in the eye" Deck states. "Which is basically all we're got to fight them with anyway" Hattie replies sarcastically. "Done more with less haven't we?" Deck questions, causing Hattie to chuckle. Deck takes my hand as we leave and pulls me aside from the crowd. "I need you to stay with Hattie when Eteon gets here" he tells me and I sigh. "What about you?" I ask. "I'm gonna light the kill box but I need to know that Hattie's safe and I trust you. Please" he explains and pleads. "Ok, I'll keep her safe. I promise. Just be careful out there" I agree, tightening my grip on his hands. "I will, I promise" he replies before pulling me into a hug. "I love you Bex" he says before kissing my cheek. "I love you too Dex" I reply and tighten the hug.

"Jonah, it's almost dawn. They'll be here soon" Hobbs tells Jonah while he does some of the final steps of repairing the machine. "Make it happen now" he orders. "Hey, don't rush me, that's how mistakes are made" Jonah protests without taking his eyes off the machine. "How long does this process take?" one of Hobbs' brothers asks. "30 minutes, and it's 33 till I go viral" Hattie answers. "Look guys, I really think we should consider option one" she says to me and Deck. "No" I respond simply. "Don't strike a match just yet Hats" Deck adds. Deck starts yelling at Jonah to hurry so I step in front of him and place my hands on his chest to stop him from getting closer to Jonah and to try and calm him down. "We're seriously gonna miss this window!" he yells, trying to take a step towards Jonah. "Dex" I try to stop him before Jonah just says he's done and places the device on Hattie's arm. "Brace yourself Hats" Deck warns her. "It ain't gonna be pleasant" Hobbs adds. "No it'll be fine" she replies until the machine starts to extract the virus and she flinches. "Mother-" she starts and grabs my hand. I gasp at the pain in my hand when she squeezes it. "Ow" I mutter. She eventually lets go of my hand and apologises. "It's ok" I reply while rubbing my hand and Deck takes my hand to see it himself. "It's ok, I'm fine" I assure him with a smile. He looks up at me concerned before looking back at my hand, which was still hurting. "Dex" I say, getting his attention again. He looks back up at me and I put my free hand on his cheek. "I'm ok" I state and run my thumb over his cheekbone. He smiles back and nods as he places his hand on mine.

We're all suddenly distracted by the sound of an explosion, an alert we set up so we'll know when Brixton gets here. "As we planned?" Hobbs asks. "As we planned" Deck responds. "Usos, it's time" Hobbs tells his brothers. Everyone rushes to their stations as Eteon approaches the house and Deck waits for his queue with Hattie and I. I step back when Hattie starts to talk about how Deck stayed away to keep her safe, to give them their moment. Deck's queue arrives and he looks at me before taking my hand and pecking my lips. "I'll be back" he states with a grin and I smile back before he runs to his car as the fight ensues on the battlefield.