Lucia hesitated as she raised her fist to knock on the door of her brother's apartment. It had been years since she had last seen him and that wasn't on the greatest of terms. She distinctly remembered the dismissive words he said to her and his description of her as a whore and how he- why was she here again?
She glanced behind her at Shawn and Camila, her friends whose only hope for spending the rest of their lives together was her brother. She was doing this for them, even if Jerome was a prick, who really didn't deserve her attention.
"Are you ever going to knock?" She whipped around to glare at Shawn. "Yes." He rolled his eyes, "Doesn't look like it." She lunged at him, but was stopped in her step by the sound of the door behind her opening.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" She didn't move, too scared to face the brother that had long abandoned her. "Miss?"
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she slowly turned around, head lowered to the ground before she looked up, a meek smile on her face. "Hey Jerry."
Lucia watched as her brother's eyes widened in shock, his stance falling slack as he looked at his baby sister now all grown up. "Lucy? What are you doing here?"
She shrugged, "Don't do that, you know why you're here." She tugged on Shawn's arm and pulled him forwards. "You remember this guy?"
Jerome stared at Shawn for a moment before recognition appeared on his face and nodded. "Yes, Mendes?" Shawn nodded. "How are you? I hear they're about to put you behind bars?" It seemed like casual conversation but both Shawn and Lucia could hear the taunting behind it. "Actually aren't you supposed to be there right now?"
"Maybe." He shrugged indifferently, refusing to give him that satisfaction.
"Look, why are the pair of you here?" Jerome asked, sick of the slow conversation and avoidance of the topic. They stayed silent as they considered if they should tell them what they needed if he was taunting Shawn so easily.
"Ok, fine. I'll see you some other time, maybe when this clown is behind bars." Jerome dismissed them and moved to turn back into his house, when a voice stopped him.
"Wait."
The three turned around to see Camila moving forward and in front of Shawn and Lucia. "Who are you?"
"Camila Cabello, Shawn's girlfriend."
Jerome stared in shock for a moment, before casting glances between Shawn and Camila. "You managed to get this girl to go out with you?!" Shawn nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You're batting way out of your league, mate."
Shawn's eyes fixed into a stern glare while Lucia's grew in concern for the possibility of a physical fight. "Look, what do you want? I don't have all day and quite frankly I'm this close" He motioned with his fingers about a millimetre of a gap. "To calling the cops and alerting them to the fact that you're out."
Lucia and Shawn made no move to respond, questioning if this was the right move. At the lack of response, Jerome scoffed before stepping inside when Camila let go of Shawn and hurried in, the door slamming behind her.
Shawn and Lucia stepped forward and begin slamming their fist on the door. "Camila! Come back out!" Shawn cried. "Jerome, let her out." Lucia squealed, but no sign of the door being opened occurred.
Still they tried to make their way in, unaware of the conversation that was now taking place inside.
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Camila stared at Jerome as she stood in the hallway of his house. He stared back, unsure what to do as he ignored the calls of his sister and her criminal best friend. "You have a nice house." She hesitantly commented, causing a snort to escape from Jerome. "Thank you, though it is an absolute mess right now." He shrugged as he reached down and picked up a small toy. "That's 3 year olds for you."
He moved towards a separate room and Camila followed, determined to find the confidence to do what Lucia and Shawn were too scared to do so.
She watched as Jerome stepped into the room and heard the squeal of, "Daddy!" as a little girl bounded into his arms. She watched as Jerome kissed the little girl's head and whispered words to her before the little girl shyly waved at her and pounce back towards the television.
"You have a daughter?" Jerome nodded. "Her mother didn't want her, but I did- do."
"She's beautiful." Camila murmured as she stepped into the room and admired the little brunette, who cuddled her teddy bear as she watched the TV. "What's her name?" "Emily."
Camila couldn't help but see her future with Shawn as she looked at the little girl. That would be her one day, with a child of her own to adore and love and hopefully Shawn would be the father, if she could get this legal representation.
Reminding herself of why she came here, she stood her ground and settled her face into an expression of determination. Jerome turned to her and asked, "Why are you really here?"
She sighed, but refused to wimp out like her boyfriend and friend. Instead she faced him and began to explain to him. "Shawn's facing time in prison, obviously and they've concocted evidence against him that isn't real. We've made edits to them and plan to exchange them, but it all means nothing if he has no legal representation and neither Marcus or I are capable because we're with the firm. Not to mention, his own gang are trying to put him in there."
"So you need me?" She nodded, eyes falling shut in fear.
"No."
Her eyes flew open in shock. "Why not?"
He shrugged, anger clearly pulsing through his veins. "Why should I? Why should I help some criminal who doesn't deserve it? Who has never ever abided by the law? In what possible way can you justify helping him?" He ranted as his face grew red with every bit of rage he expressed in his rhetorical questions.
"Because that's your sister out there and whether you like it or not, she's his best friend and she wants him to be free, so he can move on and forget about his life here." She attempted to appeal to him, through whatever small brotherly love he may have for his sister. "Because when he's gone, your sister is free to do what she wants. To leave, to marry Marcus, the boy she loves. The boy who she lost because she decided she'd had enough and tried to put their best friend in prison for their freedom. This may be her only chance to live the life she deserves and so long as that boy out there is threatened with the possibility of a sentence, she'll never have that."
Jerome stared at her for a moment, taking in her words. Camila hoped that he absorbed what she was saying and would see what his sister deserved and how he could be the one to give it to her. They were siblings after all, half-siblings but they were the closest relative each of them had and she was determined to get them the love they deserved. Even if there was her own selfish motive behind it.
"It's still a no. Why should I help her gain what she could've had her whole life, if she never joined? She was just as awful to me as I was to her, even if she'll never admit it. Why should I help someone else, who doesn't deserve it, just for her? Someone who doesn't respect me? Who mistreats me? Who chose a pair of criminals over her own family?" He almost cried out with rage.
Camila felt herself grow slightly fearful at the rage the man possessed, but still she persevered because she had to try. This was their last option and while Lucia and Shawn may have been afraid to admit it, she was not.
"Fine, then do it for me."
Jerome stared at her in complete bewilderment. "You? I don't even know you? Why should I help you?"
"Exactly that. You don't know me. I've never done any wrong to you and I never will. I'm asking you as a girl in love with a boy whose made some crazy mistakes to allow yourself to help him in order to give the girl the life she's craved. The life she's dreamed of since she was a little girl only to have it all changed because her father was shot at thirteen." She took a deep breath. "We can't choose who we fall in love with. When I met him, I hated him and I said just as much so to him, but things change and now I'm working in firm that wants to take him down while he tries to fight back and struggling."
She stepped forward and placed an arm to his. "I know what you can do. I know the cases you've won and even if we do mess with the evidence a little. It still requires the work of a good defence lawyer and that's what you are. Please, I beg of you. If not for anyone else, for the little girl that hasn't been born yet. The one who I hope to have in a few years time with that boy out there, who I hope to be able to give a family with both her parents, away from any crime ring. Please, just let me have- that- that chance."
Tears had begun to pour down her face during her speech before she cracked and whimpered through the last sentence of her speech.
She looked down silently crying before she felt a little body wrap around her leg. She looked towards her left to see Emily wrapping her arms around her leg and looking up at her with curious little eyes. "Why are you sad?" She asked.
Camila crouched down so that she was looking straight into Emily's eyes. "Well, I'm crying because the person I need most in my life, he might be taken from me." The little girl gasped. "Like how nemo's mum got taken from his father?" Camila refrained from laughing at her analogy. "Exactly like that and I need your daddy's help in order to keep him with me."
She whispered as she wrapped her arms around the little girl who pushed her face into Camila's neck. "I'll get daddy to help you!" She beamed at Camila. "You will?" She asked in shock. She wasn't trying to emotionally manipulate anyone, she just couldn't help but want to explain her predicament. "Yeah! Because daddy always tells me to help others in need and you're in need."
Camila smiled down at the sweet innocent girl, reminding her of her own youth. "You're a sweetheart, Emily. Never let anyone change that."
Emily let go of Camila and turned to Jerome. "Daddy? Please help her. She really needs it." She whimpered as she looked up pleadingly at her father.
"I don't know." He hesitated atill, although greatly moved by Camila's emotions, he couldn't help but feel that Shawn just didn't deserve that chance, at all.
The boy was a criminal who had committed it all, from petty thefts all the way up to murder and arsenal. The fact that he had evaded charges for so long made him even more deserving.
But this young woman in front of him loved him. And not just a oh my god he's so attractive, I like bad boys kind of love. No this was pure unadulterated love between two people that had bonded, connected and it had nothing to do with Shawn's criminal past.
"Please, Daddy. You've always talked about helping others, so help Camila. That person seems really important to her. Just as important as I am to you." Emily reached up to kiss her father's cheek.
Jerome sighed, his daughter was right. He had to help Camila and Shawn. It didn't matter if he had faulted and disobeyed so often, not when he was bringing happiness to a girl who deserved it, who hadn't done any wrong other than fall in love with the man, something which she knows is wrong, but she was right. You can't help who you fall in love with.
"You're right, darling. Camila does need help and I'm going to give it to her."
Camila felt a bright smile beam on her face at the declaration and she had to restrain herself from screeching. "Thank you." She whimpered out through said restraint. "You don't need to, she's right. Doesn't matter what he's done, you deserve it."
She grinned before hugging him quickly and then pulling Emily into her arms. "Thank you, Emily, really." The little girl grinned before kissing Camila's cheek. "I hope whoever it is, stays with you forever." She grinned softly before Camila let go. "Me too."
She made her way back to the front door where Shawn and Lucia were still screaming their protests. The idiots. She quickly swung open the door, causing silence to fall from the pair. "Finally." She muttered, causing Shawn to snap out of his daze.
"What do you mean, finally? You just ran in there?!" She shrugged. "You weren't doing anything, what else was I supposed to do."
Shawn sighed in frustration before pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. "As long as you're alright." She nodded. "I'm better than alright." He looked down at suspiciously, "Why?"
She opened her mouth to tell him the good news, when Jerome stepped forward, holding Emily in his arms. "Because I'm going to help you."
Shawn looked at him in shock, "Really?" He uttered bewildered. Jerome nodded, "Why?"
He sighed, "Because while you may not deserve the chance to have a free life." He motioned to Camila. "She deserves the life she wants and if that life is with you, I think it's only fair to give it to her."
Shawn looked down at his girlfriend and grinned, kissing her lips briefly. "You are so special to me. So special."
"Mila! Is this your special person?" A little voice piped up and Shawn and Lucia turned to focus their attention on the little girl. "Is that..." Lucia began but trailed off as Jerome finished her sentence off for her. "My daughter? Your niece? Yep."
Lucia felt tears spring in her eyes. "She's beautiful." She whispered as she looked at the three year old who was awaiting confirmation of Camila's special person. "So is he?"
Camila nodded and hugged Shawn close to her. "Yes, Emily. This is Shawn and he's most definitely my special person."
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A/N: Please vote and comment!
25 votes before I update I guess?