You, Phil and Stu all carry a bag of gold from the car, barely making it a few feet away before dropping them on the ground.
"What happened to your eye?" Phil asks, slightly out of breath.
"Oh, Stu kneed me in the face during our little dilemma," you say. It must've bruised a bit.
"She elbowed me in the balls right after," Stu counters.
"I said I was sorry!"
"Okay, alright. I'm sorry I asked," Phil mumbles, all of you looking over when you hear the car in the distance.
"They're here. Alan, they're coming. Grab the last bag," Phil says, looking back at Alan who stand in front of the trunk with his hands in his pocket, staring intently at it.
"Please, Alan," Chow begs. Alan goes to grab the next bag just as Marshall pulls up. Marshall, Doug and Hector all get out of the car, Marshall holding a gun to the back of Doug's head.
"Step away from the bags! Let's go!" Marshall orders. You all hold your hands up, backing away from the bags until your against the limo trunk. Hector walks over, unzipping one of the bags and revealing the gold bars inside.
"We good?" Marshall asks, Hector nodding.
"It's all there, I promise," Phil says.
"Not exactly. I'm still missing the original half," Marshall says.
"But, no, that--that's all we have. Chow said he blew the other half in Bangkok," Phil says.
"Where is he?" he asks.
"He's in the trunk," Phil answers.
"Deal's a deal," Marshall says before pushing Doug over to the four of you, you immediately pulling him in for a hug. Everyone else quickly joins in for the short hug, all of you extremely relieved to have him back.
"Give me the keys," Marshall says, Stu pulling them out of his pocket and tossing them to him.
"What are you gonna do with Chow?" Phil asks, all of you expecting the same answer as you stand across from Marshall.
"I just wanna talk to him," he says.
"That's definitely code for killing him," you mumble.
"Move," he says, all of you spreading apart so Marshall can walk past. Marshall pulls out his gun, shooting the trunk multiple times and Hector joining in as you all quickly back away.
"Oh, oh--fuck!" Phil yells.
"What the fuck?!" Phil asks after they finish shooting at least twenty bullets.
"End of conversation," Marshall says.
"Why would you do that?" Phil asks.
"Leslie Chow is madness. You don't talk to madness. If you're lucky, you trap it in the trunk of your limo and you kill it. You did a great thing tonight. You should feel good about this," he smirks, turning and opening the trunk. But, your eyes widen when you see the trunk empty and full of bullet holes.
"What the fuck," Marshall mumbles, turning back around to face you.
"You think this is a fucking game?" he asks, holding up his gun.
"No!" Phil yells.
"Don't, don't, don't, don't!" Stu begs. But, before Marshall can even shoot, Chow pops up from the sunroof and shoots both men in the head.
"Oh my god," you mumble, looking down at the now dead mob boss and his partner.
"Tood-a-loo, motherfuckers," he says, getting out of the car and nearly growling as he walks over to you guys. He lifts his gun again, now aiming it directly at Phil.
"We had no other choice," you quickly say.
"Chow. Chow, wait," Phil says.
"Oh, now you wanna talk, blue eyes? No more silent treatment?" he asks.
"Leslie, no." Alan says, standing in front of Phil.
"Stay out of this, fatty," Chow says.
"No, Leslie," he whispers again. "You shoot Phil, you gotta go through me."
"What?" Phil asks, looking over at you and Doug.
"Alan," Phil says after a short silence of him and Chow just staring at each other.
"Quiet. I'm in a stare-off," he whispers. Chow's hand starts to shake before he slowly lowers the gun, your heart rate immediately slowing down.
"Today you all live. Because one of you was a friend," he says.
"Alan, what did you do?" Phil asks.
"I unlocked the latch between the backseat and the trunk," he replies. Phil pauses, glancing over at Stu.
"And left him his gun?"
"Yeah, I didn't think it all the way through," he says.
"Well, we all wouldn't be living if Alan thought it through," you admit, Alan smiling softly.
"He gave Chow a fighting chance. That's all I ever need."
--
"Fat fuck," Chow says, him and Alan out of breath after lifting Marshall and Hector into the trunk of the limo.
"It's never easy, is it? No one wants to see that. Except for me, but I was born bad. Hold on, I have something for you," Chow says, grabbing something from beside the vehicle.
"For your loyalty," he says, tossing a gold bar to Alan.
"Oh, no, I don't want this, Mr. Chow," he says.
"Okay, give it back, then. Come on. Quick, before Stu smells it!" he laughs, Alan tossing the bar back.
"I don't want it either, Chow," Stu says.
"Oh, please! Like a squirrel doesn't want a nut? It's funny because he's Jewish," he laughs, but his smile slowly fading when he sees Alan's straight face.
"Don't you get it?" he asks softly, kicking the dirt when Alan doesn't answer. "Goddamn it. Okay, go on. Get outta here, all of you. Hey, chubster, I'll call you in a week. We'll get together."
"No, Leslie... We can't be friends anymore."
"What?"
"You're not good for me. It's not healthy."
"Alan, you're not thinking straight. Let's just talk tomorrow."
"Leslie, you're one of the coolest and nicest guys I've ever met," Alan starts, all of you looking at each other when you hear the word 'nice'. "And you're smart, and you're funny and everybody loves you."
"Alan. What is this?"
"It's just that when we get together, bad things happen and people get hurt."
"Yeah, that's the point. It's funny."
"Well, I've gotta make some changes in my life, and this is one of them. I'm sorry. Farewell Leslie Chow," Alan says, holding his hand out. Chow smiles, about to accept the handshake when Alan swiftly moves his hand through his hair, turning and walking over to the four of you.
"You're cold as ice," Chow says, all of you moving to get into the limo.
"Shotgun," Alan calls, you deciding he can have it this time and getting into the back middle seat. Phil gets in drivers and Alan in the 'shotgun' seat, Doug and Stu getting in on either side of you.
--
Phil parks the limo, his sigh breaking the silence in the vehicle.
"Everybody okay?" he asks.
"Yeah," Doug says, you and Stu nodding.
"Alan, you okay?"
"Yeah," Alan nods, staring straight ahead.
"Good. Let's go home," he says, all of you crossing the street to Phil's minivan.
"Jesus Christ," Phil mutters under is breath for no particular reason, more just dwelling on the past few days.
"You know what, guys? You can go ahead without me. There's something I need to do," Alan says, looking up at the pawn shop he met Cassie in the night before.
"A pawn shop?" Doug whispers, looking over at you curiously.
"He met a girl here," you say, Doug's eyebrows raising.
"Do you even know how to get home?" Stu asks, Alan turning to face him.
"Of course I do. I'm a grown man. I'll ask a stranger," he says.
"Good luck, Alan," Phil nods, a smile on his face.
"We'll see you soon," he says, all of you getting into the car and Phil driving off, leaving Alan on the side of the road.
"He seems so... mature," you mumble, buckling your seatbelt in. You sit in the back with Doug, Phil and Stu in the front.
"It's weird. You guys must've done something right," Doug chuckles.
"Yeah, we must've," Stu smirks.
"Do you think he's a virgin?" you wonder out loud.
"One-hundred percent," Phil laughs.
--
"God, I missed this couch," you sigh, kicking your shoes off and plopping down on your sofa. Phil laughs, putting his keys on the end table and sitting down next to you, you pulling the sunglasses off of his face and setting them on the table in front of you.
"That was worse than Vegas and Bangkok combined," you say, Phil humming in agreement.
"We've been through so much shit together, it's amazing," he smiles, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his chest.
"Never thought that my brother would be in a life-threatening situation and it would be me, you and Stu who his life depended on. Not a thought that comes across your mind when you're playing in a treehouse as kids," you chuckle, shutting your eyes.
"We got him back, that's all that matters," he says softly, kissing your forehead.
"Hey, Doug invited us out to dinner tonight. Tracy, Stu, Lauren, they're all gonna be there. Tracy's mom's gonna take Dylan, make it a bit of an adults night," he says. You lift your head, smiling up at the love of your life.
"Sounds fun," you smile.
"So you wanna go?"
"Of course. I think we all need to unwind."
"Alright, perfect," he smirks, leaning back into the cushion.
--
After a much needed shower together and making yourselves look presentable, Phil in one of his more fancier button-ups and you in Phil's favourite dress, you're both ready to leave the house.
"Got everything you need?" Phil asks, straightening his tie in the mirror next to the front door.
"Yep!" you say, rushing into the room with your heels-in-hand, leaning against Phil as you try to quickly put them on. Phil laughs, shaking his head before using his hands to actually steady you.
"We should take mine. You probably shouldn't drive that van until it's fixed," you suggest, getting your last heel on and standing up properly.
"You're probably right," he smiles, resting one hand on the small of your back and just grabbing his keys that have one of your car keys on them, leading you both out the front door.
"Go wait in the car," he says, slapping your ass as you turn to walk away, you yelping in surprise.
"Don't be a dick," you smirk, shaking your head while Phil has a large smile on his face. You get into the passenger seat, deciding you don't feel like driving with heels. It doesn't take Phil long to lock the front door, making his way to the driver's seat of the car and getting it started, pulling out of your driveway. It's a short drive to the restaurant, small talk made between you and Phil about little things that happened throughout the crazy events of the past days, commenting on Alan's new love life and just talking about your upcoming plans for the week. It was never weird speaking to Phil, never has been, but he seemed kind of on-edge and it gave the conversation a tinge of awkwardness. It's not often the two of you have 'small-talk'. You decided to brush it off, though, figuring he may still be shooken up from the three dead bodies you've seen, or maybe he was nervous about being confronted about what exactly happened this weekend by the other girls. It's quite unlike Phil to be nervous about something, he's so smooth that everything usually just rolls off his tongue, but everyone has their moments. You immediately recognize your friends standing out front of the restaurant when the both of you arrive, walking hand-in-hand towards the couples.
"Hey!" Doug says when he notices you both, pulling you in for a hug before giving Phil that weird chest bump thing males always seem to do.
"How long were you waiting?" you ask, feeling slightly bad that you may have kept them waiting.
"Oh, not long at all. We all kind of arrived together only five minutes ago," Lauren says, you nodding with a smile.
"Let's head in!" Tracy says, all of you agreeing and walking inside. You're seated quite quickly and the conversation is very light and fun as you eat your meals, soon just left drinking wine and laughing about whatever you six thought was funny in the moment. The place was so pretty, too. You're all sat at a table outside, right next to the crashing waves of the small beach.
"You feeling okay, Lauren?" you ask as you come down from a laugh, noticing her ancy figure as she sips away at a pepsi, the only one not drinking alcohol. Stu glances down at her before smiling softly, looking back up at the rest of you.
"Um, well, we wanted to tell you guys something," Stu says, now catching the attention of everybody.
"What is it?" Doug asks.
"We're pregnant," Lauren says, your jaw literally dropping.
"No way!" you gasp, watching Lauren's eyes brighten up with her smile.
"We found out a couple months ago," Stu chuckles.
"Congratulations!" Doug says.
"How the hell did you keep that a secret?" Phil asks Stu, a smirk resting on his face.
"Quite frankly, I have no idea," Stu says.
"Well, I'm really happy for you guys. We all are," Tracy smiles. You feel selfish to even think of it in the moment, but your mind wanders off to what it would be like if you were pregnant. Having this same conversation with your friends, sister-in-law and brother, ecstatic to have your own little 'bundle of joy'. But, you quickly snap yourself out of it, thinking back to holding Stu's little baby.
"How did your dad react?" you ask.
"Oh, we definitely didn't tell him yet," Stu says.
"He's gonna kill you," Phil laughs.
"It's okay, he can't do anything over the phone, baby," Lauren coos, cradling Stu's arm as he rolls his eyes.
"Anyways, we should probably get going. We wanted to check out that beach out back. Would you guys like to join?" Doug asks, nudging Phil's shoulder.
"Yeah, sounds like fun, right babe?" he asks, looking over at you.
"Sure," you smile, all of you out of the restaurant within the next few minutes and heading to the gorgeous beach just next to you. The beach is one thing that makes the place so popular. You all take off your heels as you reach the sand, enjoying the cool grainy feeling under your feet.
"I think we're gonna venture off this path for a minute. We'll be right back," Phil says to the small crowd, holding your hand in his tightly.
"Have fun," Doug winks with a large smile on his face, you finding it slightly odd but shaking it off before following Phil down the small fenced path around the corner.
"Hey, you okay?" you ask, noticing how distracted Phil seems as he leads you away from everybody else.
"Yeah, perfect," he smiles, pulling you closer and moving his hand to the small of your back before you reach a more closed-off section of the beach, not a single person around.
"Wow. How'd you know this was here?" you ask, stepping forward to look at the waves.
"Stu told me about it. I wanted to show you," he says. You crouch down, holding up the bottom of your dress as you pick up a pretty seashell off the ground.
"Phil, look at how cool this one is--" you say, freezing in your spot when you turn around to see Phil on one knee. And, when his one hand comes out of his pocket to hold out a small black box, your heart stops.
"Oh my God," you mumble, your eyes wide as your hands cover your open mouth. It all felt so surreal, the last thing you were expecting tonight was happening. The thing you've wanted so bad for a while was happening, and the only words you could muster were 'Oh my God'.
"(y/n) Billings, I've known you your whole life. I've been in love with you since I discovered what love was and I could never imagine myself with anybody else. I wanted to marry you the minute we kissed in Vegas and I bought this ring a couple of months ago not even sure if you would say yes. But, when I overheard your conversation with Doug and Tracy a couple of days ago, I didn't want to wait any longer. I tried not to make this cliche but even after all that, will you marry me?" he finishes while opening the box, tears completely flooding your eyes by now. God, it was taking everything in that moment for your younger self not to come out and frantically jump up and down while shrieking, but you managed to hold it together and let out a short laugh through your tears.
"Yes! Holy shit, yes!" you smile, Phil standing up and pulling you in for a tight hug.
"I love you so much," you sniff, probably squeezing the air out of the poor guy.
"I love you too," he chuckles, pushing you away gently to place a soft kiss on your lips, your hands resting on his face. Once you pull away, he wipes some of the tears off your cheek, still holding the box in his palm.
"Alright, lets try this on," he smiles, grabbing your left hand and taking the ring out of the box to slide on your ring finger, it of course fitting perfectly.
"Phil, it's beautiful," you say, already adjusting to the feeling of your ring finger no longer being naked.
"I took one of your old rings and brought it with me, I was so scared that it wasn't gonna fit. Shit, I've been terrified the whole night," he admits.
"I could tell. I just thought it had something to do with the trauma we've been through. This was all so perfect, though. I had no idea it was coming," you smirk.
"I'm glad you liked it. We should probably head back, tell them the good news," he says.
"Oh my God, I can't wait to tell Doug," you say, Phil smiling as he leads the both of you back down the path you came from.
"You heard that conversation with Doug?" you ask, remembering what he'd said during his speech, Phil laughing.
"Yeah. It's good, though. That way I knew you wouldn't say no," he says.
"God, I'd be stupid to say no," you say, Phil laughing again before kissing the side of your head. When you make it back to the main area, Tracy quickly points the two of you out and everyone suddenly looks over.
"She said yes!" Phil says, everyone cheering as they rush over to the two of you, the guys tackling Phil in a hug while the girls hug you.
"Wait, you guys already knew?" you ask.
"That was the whole plan. Phil's had this dinner planned for weeks," Stu says.
"Oh my God," you chuckles, Doug and Stu moving to hug you while the ladies hug Phil.
"Congrats, you guys," Stu smiles.
"I'm so happy for you," Doug says, lingering on with his hug a little longer.
"Thank you. I can't wait to get married," you say.
"I know. It was so hard to keep it in when you spoke to me about it," Doug grins.
"Would you do the honours of walking me down the aisle?" you ask, Doug's smile brightening.
"God, I thought you'd never ask," he jokes, you laughing as he pulls you in for another hug.
--
You lay in bed next to Phil, his arm over your bare stomach as you lay on your back, looking at the ring on your finger.
"I've been dreaming of this since I was fifteen. And the fact that it all happened with you makes it ten times better," you mumble, Phil lazily smiling.
"We should do it soon. Don't wanna keep you waiting any longer," he yawns.
"I'd love that," you smile, leaning over to kiss the blue-eyed man. He hums as you pull away, whining softly at the loss of contact.
"Get some sleep, we both have work early," you chuckle.
"I love you. Have sweet dreams," he says, holding you closer as he finally shuts his eyes.
"I love you too, Phil."
More than you'll ever know.