Ghosts ✔

018 • Dana

They slept next to each other – but they had no sex again. They however had kissed two more times, spontaneous kisses, which had made both of them blush a bit. Dana's feelings for him were an enormous mess. Sometimes there were butterflies, sometimes she just longed for an embrace – but most times Juice was the only one who she could think about; making her miss him terribly and feeling so much regret about her erotic shower with Kip that the shame was almost killing her. Still she tried to ward off thoughts like that; her life was already hard enough. 

"I think we should do it tonight," Kip said on the forth day that Maddox was gone. 

Dana breathed in sharply. They had discussed the plan three times now, resulting in various nightmares. Still they had to try it. There would be a day that Maddox would hurt Tabitha, she was 100% sure. 

And even if he didn't, Kip would end up in the sea sooner or later. Especially when her feelings for him kept growing. As soon as Maddox would catch a longing glance, Kip would die. 

"If we wait, the chance that he will find us will only increase."

"Yeah, you're right," Dana muttered. Nervousness squeezed her heart. If it went wrong...

"Hey, everything's gonna be all right." Kip cupped her cheek with his hand. "You're going back to your man. Juice will finally be able to hold his girls. Both of them." He kissed her forehead. "Everything will be fine, Dane, I'll make sure of it. We thought this out really well."

That was true – but there were still lots of uncertainties. 

"There won't be any risk for the two of you. The only thing you need to, is lure the doctor into this room."

Breathing in deeply, Dana nodded. She could do this. She'd be doing this for Tabitha, for Juice. For herself. For Kip. For Kozik – for everyone she knew. 

"You know the numbers, right?"

Dana nodded; she had learned them by heart when she had been in Mexico.

"Good." He gave her a convincing smile. 

. . .

Dana could barely listen to it anymore. Tabitha was crying for two hours now and still Dana kept away from her daughter. She felt a terrible mother – even though she did it with the best intentions. 

It wasn't before an hour after midnight that she went to see her daughter, smearing some drops of ketchup on her chin, her collar and blanket. 

"Sorry sweetheart," she whispered, pressing a kiss to her heated forehead. "Just a li'l longer."

A shiver traveled down her body as Tabitha started to scream even harder when Dana turned away from her again. Tears piled up in her eyes. 

Come on, Dane. At least they will hear this at the dock too. She won't die because of a few hours without your comfort.

But it felt terribly wrong, using her helpless child to get away from here. 

Squaring her shoulders, she bit her knuckles until the tears jumped in her eyes. Immediately she called up her worst memories. Opie's dead, Juice's tear-stained face when she walked away from him, his broken voice that she had heard through the phone... The tears became larger and she started to sob. Kip squeezed her shoulder, then she ran outside, to the dock, barefoot and only wearing a nightie. 

"Help!" she yelled. "Help, my little baby!" She grasped the bars of the fence and started to rattle them. "Please! My daughter, she's sick! She's drooling blood! Please, let the medic come with me!"

In the shadows she saw some movements; deep voices sounded. A door was opened, and after a minute she saw the man who had patched up Kip more than half a year ago. 

"Please, help me!" she begged him, shedding more crocodile tears. 

"I'm coming," he grunted. "Calm down."

Dana tried to push away the excitement and kept allowing the bad memories inside her head until she felt sick. Together with the man she sprinted towards the house, heading for the bedroom. She went in first. They had moved the crib a little; closer to the door behind which Kip had hid himself. She stood still besides her crying daughter, giving the man enough space to lean over. As soon as he looked inside the crib, Kip left his hiding place; a kitchen knife in his hand. Right before the medic could pick up Tabitha, Kip wrapped an arm around his chest and hooked his foot around the man's ankle. In one movement he pulled the other backwards, moving his arm across the man's face to smother his screams. With his other hand he jammed the knife in the medic's neck, ripping it out and striking again, until blood gushed down across his shoulder and the man's body collapsed. 

A piece of flesh dangled from Kip's arm where the man had bitten him, but he wiped it on his pants nonchalantly, inspecting the dead body and pulling the machine gun from his shoulder. His hand slid inside the man's pocket and a second later he handed her the phone. 

"See you in a few minutes," he said in a low voice. With his unharmed arm he pulled her close and gave her a brief kiss, then he hurried away with the machine gun. 

Dana's fingers were shaking as she typed in Juice's number. Pacing through the room she waited until he picked up, even though it was past midnight. 

Voicemail. She took a deep breath, swallowed the paralyzing disappointment and tried Kozik's number. Again voicemail. 

"Hey Koz," she whispered. Her throat felt soar. "Kip and I are trying to escape, but if we don't succeed..." She took a deep breath, trying to catch gun sounds, but except for Tabitha's cries she heard nothing. "We're on an island in the middle of the ocean, one square kilometer at most... with a coast nearby since they can get here with speedboats. There are five guards, uh, four now, and Maddox is on a business trip until Saturday." Her lips started to tremble. There were too many emotions plaguing her to tell him more, and she wanted to save a few words for Juice. "I gotta go now," she muttered, wiping her eyes. "Bye."

She ended the call and dialed Juice's number again. She swallowed with difficulty as she listened to his voice; the merry sound made her heart squeeze. 

"Hey baby," she said, clearing her throat. Then she broke, as she had already expected – the reason she had wanted to answer Kozik's voicemail first. For some time she just sobbed, until she had regained control of herself. "Sorry," she muttered. "I just miss you so much. Not an hour goes by that I'm not thinkin' about you. I – I love you so, so much." She took a deep breath. "Kip is tryin' to take out the guards right now, we managed to get a machine gun." Tabitha's crying distracted her. Shame crept on her cheeks and she lifted the little child. "I – I'm talking to daddy," she said, clamping the phone between her ear and shoulder. "We have a daughter, Juice," she continued. "I called her Tabitha. She – she has your eyes. Your nose." She pressed her lips together when another sob escaped her lips. 

Suddenly Tabitha was quiet; she was looking at her mother with wide eyes, if she realized to who she was talking. A shaky smile appeared on Dana's face. 

"I'll try to send you a picture. You have to see her." She wiped her eyes. "I love you, Juan. I can't wait to be with you again, to hold you. That – that's the only thing keepin' me sane." She took a deep breath, nervously listening to a sign of Kip. 

Please, let our plan work. Let us get out of here...

"I have to get myself ready to leave," she said in a tiny voice when she started to fear that her emotions would become too intense to move another muscle. "Goodbye my love. I hope to see you soon."

. . . 

Hey all!

I wanted to let you know that I started another Juice fanfic, it's called "Taste of Vengeance" and this is the summary: 

As Juice wakes up in the morgue, he discovers that he has turned into one of the mightiest creatures on Earth. The road is open to countless possibilities, but he is still drawn back to the club with nothing but vengeance on his mind. Will his former girlfriend be able to lure him back to the light or will he be unstoppable on his path of destruction?

You'd be the best if you check it out <3