Senseless

Chapter Forty-Seven

"I forgive you," I whispered and kissed the top of her head.

"Okay," she said pulling away from me. "I have to be strong, we both do." She smiled at me and wiped away her tears.

"If you need to cry, use my shoulder because I will always be here for you." I smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you," she said reaching up to kiss my cheek. "I hope you know that I am here for you, no matter what. I'll always have your back and if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." She said kissing my cheek again.

"Aren't you a sweetheart," I mumbled with a soft smile.

"I hate to break anything up but I have some news." Grant said walking into the kitchen.

Miley and I followed Grant into the living room where Maximus stood with Fringe and Lewis.

"What is it?" Miley asked walking towards what was drawing their attention.

It was a laptop that showed a picture of the twins a stamp of todays date on it.

"Oh my god," Miley said gasping.

"They are alive and this is a good thing. They reached out to us which is another good thing." Fringe said trying to sooth Miley. She hadn't let tears fall from her eyes but I could tell that she was getting close.

"What does this mean?" I asked Maximus. He looked at me with a perplexed look on his face.

"This means they don't intend to kill them." He said with a raise of his eye brows. "But, we don't need to jump to any conclusions quite yet. They didn't say anything, they only sent this picture." Maximus said handing the computer back to Bear.

"Here," Jon said handing Maximus a phone.

"I have a number." Maximus said looking at Miley and I.

"Are you going to call?" Miley asked. She was tense and so was I.

"Yes," Maximus said looking at Miley. "Just let me handle this." Maximus said and looked over at me.

I had an upsetting feeling rising within me. Not because I didn't trust Maximus. At this point in time, I did trust him. But, I knew that he had a different way of handling things and Miley might not like it.

Maximus put the phone to his ear and it rang for a few moments before someone finally answered.

"Let me speak with the leader," Maximus said in a rough voice.

"This is Maximus and I believe we have an issue." He said before clearing his throat.

"Taking the twins might have been a bad move on your part. I know that you think that this will cause a rise out of McCann and you are right, but it will cause a rise from more people if you keep this up." Maximus barked into the phone.

"Obviously, you don't intend to kill those innocent children and we both know that if you did you wouldn't have any leverage on Jason or even Miley. They would kill you and your whole army with their bare hands so I suppose that we need to sit down and have a heart to heart about your intentions. Either way, you aren't going to win." Maximus said.

"I'm not interested. If you hurt those kids you are dead, if you kill those kids you are dead, and if you don't hand them over within the next 24 hours you are dead. I know who I am dealing with but you don't. You have 24 hours to give the kids to us. If you don't do that or if you test us, we will raise hell." Maximus said before hanging up.

Miley clutched my arm and looked down as tears fell from her eyes. She took a sharp breath in before pulling herself back together.

"Do you think that will work?" Lewis asked.

"Yes," Maximus said with confidence.

"I know what I am doing, Miley." Maximus said trying to calm her down.

"Why don't the two of you get some rest and let us handle this. I will make sure someone informs you if anything comes up." Maximus said and Fringe and everyone else agreed.

"Okay," I nodded as I helped Miley out of the room.

"It's going to be okay," I said laying down in bed with her. She didn't say anything. She sobbed quietly as I held her in my arms.

I didn't know what to say and I knew that words weren't going to help the situation. She needed comfort and support and I knew that I was the one that could give it to her.

With me holding her, I also found comfort. After a few restless minutes she finally relaxed and drifted to sleep. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. She needed to be held and watched over and I was the only one qualified to do that.