– FOUR MONTHS LATER –
– Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018 –
"Will the jury foreperson please stand? Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?"
While the jury foreperson rises to her feet, I feel Finnley nervously shuffling in his spot right next to me, and I automatically reach for his hand to intertwine our fingers, squeezing it reassuringly.
The amount of evidence against Sydney was massive, and that along with the witnesses all taking the stand and testify against him, I think it's a safe bet this case is clear as ever.
But that doesn't mean the jury agrees on him being guilty on all counts against the law. It doesn't mean they have to agree on it at all.
"We have, your honour."
The clerk hands the judge a paper, which he reads in silence, while tension is getting the best of me, and I start biting my lip again.
We've already went through trial to get Jeffrey Donaughy sentenced to life in prison – without the possibility of an early release – but this case, against Sydney Lund, is so much more important, since he turned out to be one of the masterminds behind the criminal organisation that ruined Finnley's life, and not just his.
The foreperson clears her throat, shuffling a foot before she takes a deep breath. "The jury finds the defendant guilty on all five accounts against the law."
I feel Finnley relax beside me while he lets out a breath he was probably holding, and I notice a tear rolling down Eva Lund's face, but the smile on it tells me it's a tear in relief; it's final, it's done. Finnley will be safe.
And since both Eva and James Lund have done everything in their power to help Finnley with this case, I think it's safe to say – despite the fact their eldest son was just found guilty on some serious counts against law – they wanted nothing but getting him in jail.
There're voices bubbling up around us, while I turn to look at Finnley, who shows an insecure smile.
We just remain seated for a little longer, waiting for most people to leave the courtroom.
"I can't believe that is over." Finnley whispers carefully, squeezing my hand. "Tell me this isn't a dream."
"It's not. It's real, you're safe."
"Thank god for that." He leans his head onto my shoulder as we stop walking as soon as we reached my parents, and Finnley's parents in the hallway.
"How are you feeling?" Mom smiles at Finnley, Eva looks a bit worried.
"You look a bit pale."
"I'm exhausted, honestly. But I'm... good." He nods, and again squeezes my hand.
I ignore Eva shortly looking towards our hands – she's really trying her best to accept everything, but she still acts awkward around us. And ever since we told them we're engaged, that awkwardness only grew.
"Let's go and find Stan and Nathan." Finnley nudges me and I nod, following him outside and into the cold October air.
A gentle wind is blowing, but the temperatures are still high for the time of the year.
I let go of Finnley's hand as I spot Nathan and Stan, walking over to us with a stroller, and Finnley instantly smiles widely, and hurries in their direction.
"Stan told me everything already." Nathan smiles happily as we watch Finnley picking Mila up from out of the pram, holding his daughter protectively, leaning to peck small kisses onto her forehead.
"Hi Mila." He coos at her, and I let him do his thing, because he's a little too crazy about the little girl. But she's a blessing, and ever since she was born and strong enough to go home, she's turned our life around – and upside down.
She brought a smile onto Finnley's face from the first second he saw her, and the smile hardly ever leaves his face when she's around.
She's staring at him with the widest eyes, but in silence. She's mostly silent when he holds her.
She's not that much of a fan of me yet, but that might be because I tend to get awkward around kids.
But seeing him with a baby, and thinking that he is my fiancée, makes me feel a bit possessive. Those two are my family too, and I love them both to death.
Emma signed of her rights as a parent, handing full custody to Finnley while they agreed he would every so often keep her updated about Mila.
For now, he's solely the one having custody, and we agreed I would officially adopt her as my own daughter once we're getting married.
Though we did agree to hold off the wedding for a while; until we're graduated and ready for the next big step.
This engagement was enough promise for the both of us we're in everything together.
Like taking care of Mila, who he puts back in the pram before turning to me.
"Wanna take the little angel home?" I smirk at him, and he smirks back, shrugging as an answer.
"Your mom's gonna babysit her, so maybe she can take her home while we drive with Nathan and Stan to meet up with the rest."
"Sounds like a plan to me. We need to celebrate the verdict."
"We already have plans to do so." Stan puts an arm around Finnley, leaning towards the pram a bit. "Think we can steal your dads for a while?"
I can't help but laugh as Mila uses her saliva to form some bubbles on her lip, blinking her eyes sleepily while staring at Finnley enchanted.
"I think that's a 'fine by me' from Mila." Stan stands back up, still having an arm around Finnley, who chuckles while staring back at Mila.
"Uncle Stan is a bit crazy, sweety. Don't listen to him."
Stan laughs out, while Nathan and I chuckle over them. It's really something that changed in the last two months; Finnley relaxing around them more each day. And I now finally see how they behaved around each other before I knew who Nathan and Stan were. Stan and Finnley really like to annoy each other, but they do it in a funny way.
I would've been jealous over their contact if Finnley wouldn't have said yes to my proposal four months ago.
I would've been jealous too, if Stan wouldn't be dating Nathan for nearly a year.
I've regained some memories without searching for ways to remember them. They just came back slowly. Just while having a casual conversation with someone, or by eating something, or hearing a song.
It's far from everything, but there's still progress, so I still have hope to fill up most of the gaps in my memory.
But for now, my friends are all helping me to make new memories, and that's working out just fine.
And for today, we're going for a round of paint-ball with Stan, Nathan, Oliver, Alex, Sam and Jaimie.
This could be fun.
* * * * *
This is fun, but it's exhausting too, so Finnley and I found ourselves a great hiding space, where we can kill anyone who will try to shoot us, while relaxing in the mean time.
I think I have about a dozen bruises on my body from earlier hits, but as a rule, you have a time-out for five minutes, and get to re-join the game again after that.
Three kills means you're out, and this is the fourth game.
Oliver, Stan, Sam and Nathan had been a team, while Finnley, Alex, Jaimie and I were the other team. But since Oliver switched teams with Alex last round – because Alex is the worst, and Oliver is the best – we now have a chance of winning.
If Finnley will continue, because he's just sitting by my side, tired and I think he's a bit done with the game. If he'll quit, and with Jaimie already out, that would leave Oliver and me against Stan, Nathan and Sam. And those three won't likely stop playing if Finnley is done.
They're having a bit too much fun with this game.
"Think you can keep up for a little longer?"
"As long as you're with me." Finnley smirks. "I'm getting too tired to run, honestly."
"I need to go and help Oliver. We can't leave it up to him to kill the others on his own. They're just waiting to ambush him."
"He'll be fine." Finnley shrugs, sliding down against the box we're hiding behind. "But I could stay here while you go and take a look to make sure he's fine."
"Right." I nod, lean in and nudge my helmet against his. "Love you."
"Love you too. Now go help Oliver."
I nod before I crawl to the side of the box, peeking around it to see if I can find anyone. I have no idea where they went, and since it's silent all around, I think everyone's waiting for someone else to make a stupid move that would give away their position.
We have about ten minutes left before the game ends anyway, but I really want to win, instead of ending in a tie.
I sneakily hurry to the next box and sit still and listen for any movement or whispered voices, not getting any. But I do find Oliver casually lounging behind a bunch of barrels, until he spots me, and flips me off with a finger.
Of course he flips me off, I sat in the same hiding spot for about ten minutes already. I didn't do anything to help him, other than hit Alex once when he tried to sneak up on Finnley and me.
He's probably annoyed because we're a bit inactive.
I peek around the next box, pulling back quickly as I notice Stan aiming for me. The shot misses, splashing paint against a box in my view.
"Cris is on the left!" Stan calls out, and I already know the three of them are going to ambush me now.
I notice Oliver laying down, aiming his gun in a particular direction, gesturing for me to aim for the other side. So, he's covering me, and I'm covering him, and anyone who would run to our side would get ambushed in a cross-fire.
I wait, and wait, and then Nathan peeks around the box. I shoot, miss and curse, while Oliver shoots, and pumps his fist in the air victoriously.
I guess he hit one of them.
"Fucking Oliver." Stan seethes close to me, and I see him pass by to sit on the bench on the side and wait for his five-minute penalty to end.
I want to sneak back to Finnley, but knowing Stan can see where that would be, I think I need to wait for him to re-join the game and start back on the other side of the small playfield.
I wait for instructions from Oliver, that come a minute later, when he points upwards and to the pile of boxes I'm behind. I guess he saw movement on top of the boxes. I crawl away from the boxes a bit and wait for someone to appear in vision. First, the end of a gun shows, then a helmet, and as soon as either Sam or Nathan scoots forwards enough to look for me, I shoot the gun and hit him right in the middle of his helmet.
"Fuck." Nathan curses, and I laugh, watching him climb off the pile.
If we would be able to hit Sam now, they would all get to re-join battle instantly. So, we just need to find Sam, and ambush him together.
I watch Oliver take a peek around the barrels, before he runs towards me.
"Sam's hiding in the right corner of their field. He's behind two boxes, and he's practically invisible because he uses a cloth to hide behind. He killed me once from there, and Jaimie twice. So we need to ambush him there, and the safest way is to distract him from up front, and hit him from above."
"Let me guess, you want me to distract him?"
"In all honesty, I am the better shooter out of us two. Besides, I was hit twice already, and you only got hit once this round."
"Fair enough. Better hit him when he hits me, because I would hate to leave Finn alone for five minutes."
"He's done, isn't he?"
"He really is, yeah."
"Then let's end this, or call it quits."
"End it. He told me to go help you."
"How generous of him to lend me his boyfriend."
"Fiancée."
"Ugh, don't go around calling yourself his fiancée, that sounds too snobbish."
I chuckle and shrug. "I kinda love the whole title. But okay, I'll stop calling myself that, ifyou kill Sam."
"Now it's my mission to kill him for sure. Not just because of the game."
"Where do I go?"
"Run back to where I was, keep low but you can walk to the next two piles. There, just lean around the boxes as soon as I signal. You should be able to see me on top of the boxes."
"Cool. See you in a minute."
"Don't fuck up, Cris."
I roll my eyes – though he can't tell since of the helmets and face-protectors, but then leave him behind to head in the direction he told me to go. I manage to get there without even hearing or seeing Sam.
I wait for Oliver to climb onto the boxes, and when he signals, I start firing a round of paint-bullets in the direction he pointed. Soon, Sam starts firing back, but he doesn't hit me simply because I'm still hiding for the most part.
Oliver jumps down beside him, pulls up the camouflage cloth and aims right onto his back, causing Sam to curse and shout in anger.
"Goddamn it, I knew you were going to show up." Sam slams his shoulder against Oliver, who laughs loudly and in a mocking way.
We both head back to our side of the field, waiting for the buzzer to signal we're good to go again for the last part of our game.
I re-join Finnley, who is laying on his back, staring up to the sky. It causes me to worry over him, rushing to see if he's okay.
He's not wearing his mask, his eyes are closed, but his breathing seems okay.
"Finn?" There's worry in my voice, but as he instantly looks up with a smile, I know he's just chilling around.
"Wanna stop playing?"
"Nah..." He pulls me towards him and into a hug. "Can we just hide for five minutes. I feel like we haven't been alone in ages."
"We can do that, yeah." I smile, pull of my mask, and lean in to kiss him gently. "We could also ask mom to babysit Mila for the night and head over to my apartment."
"We could, but than I can't hold Mila while she falls asleep after her bottle."
"Which, of course, is a no-go." I smirk, leaning in to connect our lips again. It's just addicting to kiss Finnley, and I can't stop easily, so when he deepens it by sucking my tongue into his mouth, I do not stop him.
I just move into a more comfortable position to enable myself to kiss him better, when suddenly I feel a jolt of pain on my back, shooting upwards, in time to see Sam shoot Finnley on his chest.
"Guys, no PDA, please."