Hunter couldn’t help but keep checking his wrist that held his watch as he watched out of the window for any sign of his lover and eldest daughter. “Relax, they’re fine. I think they just needed some time together” Fives whispered, wrapping up Hunter who sighed. “Probably but I can’t stop worrying, their our world” Hunter murmured, “I know but just relax and talk to the others. Wrecker is happy the younger kids aren’t here but he also looks a little lost having only Hera and Amber to watch for who are with their own parents. Go talk to your brother” Fives suggested, Hunter nodded, going off to find his brother.
“Everything alright?” Fives looked up to see Echo watching him with concern.
“Yeah, Hunter’s just being a helicopter lover. Cross is out with Omega” Fives explained, Echo nodded looking at his twin with a sad smile. “Any chance you have seen Tech?”.
“I thought you were married to him” Fives teased as he shook his head. Echo sighed, patting his brother's arm, “How are you coping with the loss of Jess?” Echo whispered, “Not good. But, I will manage, he was a brother, even if he said ‘he never liked us’, I know our lieutenant did” Fives grumbled, Echo nodded, the two fell silent as Wolffe walked past them. The older brother of the said lieutenant was impassive as usual.
“Papa” Fives looked down to see a miserable Amber, “Yes poppet” she smiled, “Where’s Omega?”. Fives sighed, “She’s out with her mother” Amber only deflated looking more upset, “I know I miss her too but…” Fives was interrupted by the front door opening and a smirking Omega entering with an impassive Crosshair. Almost like a switch Amber lit up walking over to Omega who got dragged into bracelet making. Fives sighed, thanking the heavens as he couldn’t be bothered to deal with a tantrum, even at fifteen. It would be like arguing with Rex again since the poor girl was raised by the idiot.
“Fives stop thinking before you brain explodes”
“Hardy-har, where have you been?” Fives turned to Crosshair who smirked, kissing his cheek. “Here and there, can we talk later?” Crosshair whispered, Fives nodded, kissing his lips before watching Crosshair disappear to greet others.
“Father?” Echo looked down to see Hera who was blinking back tears, he wrapped an arm around her as she broke down in his arms. Fives took that instant to leave which Echo nodded in thanks for, the man soon found himself talking to some in the police force who he didn’t really have a good relationship with but he was nothing but polite. If he was rude, he was sure Kix and Jesse would come back and haunt him.
Elsewhere…
He was seething as he looked down at the words on the letter he found in his brother's jacket. Something boiled him more whether it was because of the day it was or the fact that he was more emotional. But, he would corner his brother even if the others were in the room, he would no longer get away from running from the truth.
Back at the wake…
Fives smiled as he greeted many even Rex who nodded at him, Ahsoka was polite but only for the sake of the situation. There was a missing individual, yep Cody wasn’t there but then again the man had explained not everyone could get the rest of the day off. Even if the man had been fired, he still had one more job to do and he was lucky he could attend the funeral. But sent his apologies about the wake and instead sent Obi-wan to go in his place, the man looked out of place but interacted with the others more out of sympathy more than anything.
Crosshair found himself sitting with his ‘siblings’ who took any chance to cuddle up to him, even Rose who was in view of Wrecker almost all the time as she asked him too.
“What do you think dad would do if he found out about that time Thorn had that rat party, where he invited almost the whole school while dad was in service?” Rose asked, lightening the mood.
“I think dad would have murdered Thorn but before that, he would have made everyone who was at the party clean the house from top to bottom” Dusty exclaimed, remembering how bad Kix was for dust in the house.
“Father, would have filmed it” Rose added with a smile, Crosshair only rolled his eyes thinking about every time Jesse whipped out the camera which reminded him of something. He caught Hunter’s look, Crosshair threw his keys at Hunter who caught them and nodded, he disappeared for a few minutes only to reappear with a bag and gave Crosshair his keys back.
“What’s that?” Thorn asked.
“Something our parents left for each of us. I went to get them earlier when I remembered” Crosshair explained, pulling out six books. He passed them all their dedicated names and two more which were actually for Wrecker and Gregor. The two took them with smiles. Crosshair passed Tech’s to Echo who took it with a nod since Tech had literally vanished, “He’s on the porch” Crosshair whispered, Echo nodded walking out the house.
“Oh god, are these…no…their our baby books and….woah, they updated them….of course he did” Dusty complained knowing this was Jesse’s work, he flipped through his book only to see little words and quotes written in both Kix and Jesse’s handwriting, a hand reached for his own revealing to be Duster who hadn’t spoken a word since the deaths of his parents. Crosshair smiled watching the others share memories, his eyes wandered over to his wrist. Seeing the time, he sent Wooley a text who didn’t mind watching the kids until tomorrow. He sent a thanks in return only to get up and leave the room for some fresh air. He was walking towards the front door when something had him turning around and thank god he did due to Omega who had fallen from her chair, he snatched her from the air and she thanked him with a smile.
“You okay?”
“Just tired, can we go home?” Omega whispered, Crosshair sighed. He tried to look for Hunter who was drinking something alcoholic while Fives was on some soft drink which meant he and Fives would be driving.
“Sure, I can drive you home. Let me go ask the others” Crosshair whispered, kissing her hair. He went to move when a comment had him not moving.
“Ah, bend over sweetheart, you look good like that” someone said, Crosshair turned to see another police officer who was looking at Hera, the young girl flinched. Obviously the man was drunk but Crosshair was not in the mood to deal with that, he popped his head into the corridor to see the man follow Hera who whimpered especially since no one was around, “come on sweetie, just do it again. Reach for the object on the…ack!”. Hera gasped out loud as the man was lifted off his feet and thrown out the door, Crosshair moved quickly as the man stumbled to his feet only to be knocked straight onto his back.
“Woah! What’s going on?!” Rex called out from where he had been speaking to Wolffe and Echo outside. Crosshair ignored them, stalking for the man who stumbled backwards.
“Say that again, I swear and you will be the one in the ground!” Crosshair warned, the man nodded going pale white. Crosshair ignored the small crowd as Hera ran for his arms, Crosshair immediately scooped her up as the man went a shade of white that shouldn’t have been possible especially when he saw the Elite symbol on Crosshairs arm. Echo moved on the double seeing Hera sobbing into Crosshairs arms, the marksman was forced to explain what had happened and Rex had to grab Echo when he heard. Instead Crosshair did one better, he called in for an arrest which caused a few issues but when Cody turned up to have a word with the man, the poor man paled seeing his former commander who took him from the wake and dropped him off home with some excellent words.
“Thanks Cross, fancy heading back? Tech’s already home” Echo patted Crosshairs shoulder, the younger man nodded with a yawn as Hera cuddled into Echo, the older man holding her close as they said their goodbyes. Crosshair went back inside to find Omega who looked sick, she was talking to Amber who was rapidly explaining something. Omega could only nod until she caught Crosshairs eyes.
“Come on, we are going before I punch someone else” Crosshair muttered, Omega gave him a wide eyed look. So did his siblings who had heard that Crosshair had punched their uncle Rogers for something that had been said. Omega grinned, taking his hand after hugging Amber. Once they had all said their goodbyes and found Hunter, they headed for home. Wrecker exclaimed he would either stay with Rose or come back later. The others nodded leaving only to climb into their respective cars. Fives had Hunter, Hera and Echo while Crosshair just had Omega, the two enjoying the peace.
“Mama?”
“Yes”
“Are you going to tell them?”
“About what?”
“Me”
“No, it’s your news to tell but if you want my help just say so…” Crosshair said with a grin, Omega nodded, reaching for his hand. Crosshair took it, squeezing hers as he drove. He remained at the speed limit because he didn’t want to argue with the law enforcement plus his bike was in the process of being repaired so he was using his mustang, one that he didn’t use often.
“Mama?”
“Uh-huh”
“When will you tell them about your heart?” Crosshair only raised an eyebrow as he drove. “You can’t expect them just to read minds”
“It’s not that simple, Megs. I know my pacemaker isn’t doing its job correctly and I know I need surgery. It’s just with what my body has been through I’m scared to go through with the surgery knowing I might not wake up again, is terrifying and…it’s not like there’s hearts on the market. Turtle, I will talk to them tomorrow about it when your father is not intoxicated and the depression dies down. Now, change of topic, does Jeremy know?” Crosshair twisted slightly to Omega who shook her head.
“Yeah, he knows. He’s also terrified of what you guys will do which is why he hasn’t been around the past day” Omega said, Crosshair nodded, “Want me to grab him on the way past?” Crosshair asked, Omega nodded ringing her boyfriend who ensured he would be ready. “Send a text to Fives for me” Omega grinned receiving a confirmation as Crosshair pushed the speed of the car and flew past Fives who shook his head.
It wasn’t for another hour before Crosshair got home with the two loved up teenagers who headed straight for bed. Omega thanked her mother while Crosshair nodded, the man locked up knowing Wrecker was staying at Rose’s from his message. Heading for the stairs, Crosshair was startled by someone violently grabbing him and shoving him into a nearby wall, he gasped in pain as his back slammed into the wall. Before he could get a word in he was punched, he cried out falling back onto the sofa. Footsteps from upstairs had him turning only for someone to grab his chin violently.
“EXPLAIN THIS!” Tech roared at him, Crosshair flinched accepting the letter. He knew one thing: his twin didn’t know the definition of privacy.
“It was none of your business”
“Oh, it’s definitely my BUSINESS when my TWIN decides to NOT tell EVERYONE that he is DYING! Sure it’s not my business!” Tech roared, Crosshair knew one thing. Tech had been drinking and he was also annoying to deal with when he had a drink.
“Caleb, let’s talk about this in the morning…” Crosshair tried to calm his twin who just shoved him.
“What is this? Ignoring the problem just so you can make it everyone else's? So you can go off and play happy families before you take a knife to the throat or pill in an act of suicide, not realising the affect it has on everybody else! Sure, go do it because you certainly won’t be missed, nope just your flaws! Your pathetic Tristan! It’s your fault they left and joined the suicide club! All yours, if you hadn’t met Tarkin, none of us would have been in this…” Tech continued to ramble while Crosshair had physically shut off, his mind was going mental as he did something he normally only did to his enemies.
“Night Caleb” With a flip of their bodies, Crosshair pressed Tech’s pressure points and within seconds the engineer was fast asleep. He was panting slightly so when he turned he saw a worried Echo and concerned Fives standing there. Echo had moved to place a blanket around his husband who was thankfully still breathing before he went upstairs to join Hera for a cuddle night, his daughter clinging to him tightly.
“Tris, he didn’t mean it…”
“Oh I know, I just need to think” Crosshair mumbled, leaving the room. He was exhausted but his mind was busy so he headed for the garage where his bike sat, without another thought he moved under it and started replacing the parts he had taken apart before their holiday. Fives watched on sadly from the doorway before he headed up the stairs, he knew one thing. He, Hunter and Crosshair would be sitting down and talking tomorrow to deal with what had just happened. Sliding into bed Fives found himself wrapping his arms around his sleeping partner, Hunter didn’t move much but the lack of their husband in bed was concerning.
Even to the point Hunter woke up about 2am in the morning and went for a walk around the house, only to see the garage light on. There he found a sleeping Crosshair who was in Hunter’s truck bed. The bike had been put back together. With a sigh, Hunter opened the truck and lifted his skinnier and lighter husband into his arms before he headed back up the stairs, shutting off the lights as he went. By the time, he reached the room. Fives was awake and gesturing to the shower where the two held a sleepy Crosshair in between them as they showered him, Crosshair woke up during it and couldn’t help but sob into their arms. The two held him tightly all the way to their bed. He was squashed in between them as they slept. Fives was explaining what had happened while Hunter was in bed, the man nodded. None of them could blame Tech because some wounds were much deeper than others. It would seem Tech needed someone to blame and that person was Crosshair, the man who had gone through hell for them all.
Stay Tuned for final chapter (s) on the way very soon!
Thank you for all the support this book has been given! I'm glad I have brought the ability of joy to all my readers! :)