I hurried through the hallways of the hospital, searching for the room my brother was in. I hoped he was still alive. I hoped I wasn't too late. I was already feeling guilty of so many things, and I didn't want to add his death to the list. I already had Alex's on there. But, as I rounded a corner, I saw my father standing outside of a door, leaning against it, probably thinking.
"Dad!" I called, and his head perked up as I ran into his arms. After tonight, I had to appreciate everyone just a little more.
"What are you doing here?" He questioned, breaking our hug. "You’re covered in blood. Where's Eric?"
"With Mark and Alice." I stated, "Did Mom come?"
"Yes." He replied, "But how could you do that to us? You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"But I didn't. I had to do it. They wanted me to do so many bad things." I lowered my voice, "They made me break into the agency, they hacked the information system, and then I had to get into the weapons vault."
"You didn't." He ordered lowly, "You couldn't have."
"I figured out the password." I muttered lowly, "Why would you do that?"
"You weren't supposed to know it." He growled, "What did they get into?"
"There's fighting going on at the agency right now. Or, at least, there was. There weren't many of them, though. Unless they did get some sort of automatic machine gun, they should all be dead." I whispered the next part, "Two of our family members are dead."
"Phillip isn't dead." Dad stated, "Or not yet."
"I wasn't talking about him."
He pulled on my arm and leaned in close. "Then who? What happened?"
"Trisha should be." I started, but tears formed in my eyes. "And Alex is."
He stood there for a second, not moving, not breathing, just shocked. "Oh my God." He shook his head, "Poor Alice and Mark."
"I know." A tear rolled down my cheek, but Dad wiped it away. "Can I go inside?"
"Yeah." He said, and I opened the door, going inside.
Phillip was laying flat in the bed, his stomach wrapped in all sorts of fabric, and had an oxygen mask on his face. Mom was right by his bedside, and she looked up at me when she heard the door.
"Belle." She whispered, looking back at Phillip. "You're okay. And… covered in blood."
"I am." I sat right next to her, "I said I would be. And it’s Alex’s."
"How could you do that to us?" She asked in disbelief, "I just can't believe it. You both are spies. And Alex, too. Is he okay?"
"Alex is dead." I whispered lowly, and she gasped. "He got shot and fell a few stories."
"You're kidding." She cried, and held Phillip's hand. "I couldn't imagine what Mark and Alice are going through right now."
"They don't know." I told her, "I just don't think I can tell them yet."
"That's…" She paused, trying to find the right word. "Awful."
"I know."
We sat in silence for a bit, only listening to the beeping of Phillip's machine. I didn't know what else I could say. I thought about everything instead.
"Belle." I heard Dad's voice, and when I looked up, he was smiling slightly. "There's someone here for you."
I stood up and walked to the door, but the person came inside before I got to the hallway. And I nearly stopped in my tracks. I was staring at a dead person. But, if anyone could survive anything, it'd be him.
"I thought you were dead." I cried as his arms wrapped around me, and mine wrapped around his back, and I cried into his shoulder.
"Not this time." Alex assured me, and when he tried to let go, I didn't let him.
"I was told you were dead." Mom stated, "And I didn't know how to break the news to your parents."
"Make everyone's lives a whole lot easier and don't." Alex suggested, and we all agreed on it. "How's Phillip doing?"
"He's alive." Mom answered, "But that's about all we can get. He lost… so much blood."
"I bet he did. Getting shot sucks." Alex stated, and Dad and I agreed.
"How many of you have gotten shot!?" Mom demanded all of us, and Dad, Alex, and I shared nervous glances. And then all raised our hands.
"Look, it's really not that bad." Dad assured her, "And if the bullet flies through you, then you only need to patched up the flesh wounds. Maybe internal organs that are damaged."
"You are not helping." Mom stated angrily.
I was about to add to Dad's argument, but the door opened again. We all turned to see someone I didn't think I'd see for a long time.
"Adam." I breathed, and he waved me to him. I looked back at my parents and followed him outside into the hallway.
"I'm sorry." I stated right after the door shut again. "I know what I did was wrong, but I can't-"
And then he kissed me to shut me up. His hands were around my back and he kissed me deeper, over and over, until he needed to breathe.
"I'm not mad." He whispered lightly, "I'm extremely grateful."
"I didn't do anything special."
"You saved my son."
"It's my job."
He broke apart from me, but still held onto my hands. "So, when were you going to tell me you were a spy?"
"Honestly?" I didn't want him to know the answer, but he would anyway. "Never."
"Ah." He looked down and didn't speak again, which made it even more awkward. "I could've kept a secret."
"It's not that." I assured him, "We're not allowed to tell people unless we're married to them. My whole family didn't know, either. It was a rule."
"Oh." He held my hands tighter, "So, when we get married, you were going to tell me?"
"I don't know, my Dad hid it from my Mom for twenty years." I muttered, but my eyes gasped at his words. "Wait, when?"
"Well, I thought maybe when I'm not your teacher anymore, we wouldn't have to relatively date in secret and do so many more fun things together."
"We already do fun things together." I stated, "Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas-"
"Well, almost Christmas." He corrected me. “But Valentine’s Day made up for it.”
"Yeah, but the little dates we do. And when we see each other at Fullerton." But I sighed, "I honestly think I'm going to drop it. I just can’t do it."
"So why did you go to college if you have this spy job?"
"I was on suspension from my job. There was a Russian attack at my high school graduation, and because people would've known who I was, I had to lay low. I had to be in disguise." I laughed lightly, "Not like it mattered, because they attacked Fullerton, anyway."
"I remember that." He stated, "And it was because of you?"
"I'm sorry." I apologized sincerely, "Which is why I can't go there anymore."
"That doesn't affect me negatively. In fact, it's better." He smiled slightly, "Me being your teacher made it a little awkward. Sure, it was fun, but it's better if I'm not." He leaned in and kissed me gently. "But even if you don't go there, I still want to see you."
"Even though I lied, and even though I'm a thief?" I asked, because if he hesitated, I knew it wouldn't work out. And I wasn't putting him in danger.
"Yes." His eyes showed sincerity, but I was still nervous about it. "And I know Jack would be very well protected with you around."
"That he will be." I stated surely, "And you're more forgiving then my Mom is. She wants to divorce my father."
"I'm so sorry."
"I don't know if it's still true or not." I continued, "Because my Mom doesn't work, so she can't really survive without him."
"Well, I hope everything works out." He said, and I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him.
"It will." I smiled as I looked inside, and noticed Phillip was awake. Mostly everyone was here, and there weren't any more secrets to keep. Everything was finally settling down again.
"Belle?" I heard Peter ask in my ear, and I excused myself from Adam for a minute.
"What's up?" I headed away and pressed my fingers to my ear. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, even Alex." Peter stated, "But… all the Russians were killed."
"That's a good thing!" I exclaimed, but then I thought about it more. "Oh… Trisha?" But I continued before he could speak again, “Harrison?”
"Yep."
I had to tell my mother, and Adam. I had to. I didn't want to, but Mom’s sister and Adam’s brother was dead and it was more or less my fault. But I would do it later.
"Okay. Thanks." I turned the earpiece down and walked back to Adam.
"What happened?" Adam questioned.
"My aunt died." I stated, "But she was a traitor. I'm not exactly sorry for her."
"Oh." He wrapped his arms around my back, "It's still sad. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry for me. I didn't like her too much." But I continued before he could say anything else, “And… Harrison died.”
“What?” He asked in disbelief, “Harrison? But he’s not a spy. He wouldn’t have been there. He’s not dead.”
“He was a Russian spy. He was a traitor too.” I explained, “I’m so sorry.”
He still didn’t look convinced at my words, but he found a way to accept them. He moved my stray hair behind my ear and kissed me gently. "At least it wasn't you."
I smiled as I kissed him back. "At least we're all alive."
~~~~~~~~~~
We were all under one roof again. Half of us had injured, some more serious than others, but we were all relatively fine. And all of us took a well-deserved vacation.
"So this is all your family?" Adam asked as Aunt Abby and her family finally got here. "It's a big family."
"We're not that big." I replied, looking at the three youngest kids run around, and the older cousins sit on the couch with their injuries (because most of us were shot) and the aunts and uncles sit down and have a conversation as well. "But we're close."
"I believe it." He smiled as we noticed my mom playing with Jack, "And they all love Jack."
"They all love you." I smiled, "Even my Dad."
"He better, because I know he could kill me." He laughed lightly, even though it wasn't supposed to be funny. "How are you holding up?"
"Besides my Aunt dying and my brother and cousin almost dying?" I asked sarcastically, "Surprisingly okay."
"That's good." He replied as I pulled him beside the wall where we couldn't see any of the other people here, and I started kissing him gently. It's just been so long since I haven't been worried about people finding out about us, but since people knew, I didn't care anymore. And since I quit college, he didn't either.
"I love you." I whispered before kissing him again.
"I love you, too." He stated so surely, pulling me by my waist and being sucked in by him. "And I wanted to give you something."
"Oh, fun." I pulled away so he could get out a little box, one I was sure was going to hold a necklace or earrings or something.
"It's just something for saying thanks for saving my son, and surviving." He gave the box to me, and when I opened it, it was a small silver band with a pure white, rose-shaped diamond on it. "I didn't know your ring size, though."
"It's okay." I smiled, but before I could take it out of the box, he grasped my hand.
"There is a catch, though." He smirked, and I cocked my head to the side, ready to guess his catch. "Please do me the honor of becoming my wife."
I nearly choked on my own breath as my head spun and I stopped breathing. "Your… what?" I asked weakly, wondering if I heard that right. "Your wife?"
"Of course." I couldn't take my eyes off of his, trying to find if he was serious. And what made me nervous was that I think he was.
"Yes." I breathed, tears prickling my eyes. "Of course I will."
I was nineteen. He was twenty-three. Would my parents try to convince me to change my mind? Yes. And it would be a huge responsibility, trying to fill the shoes of a woman who killed the love of my life, but I was finally over it. I was going to be Mrs. Princeton. And we were the teacher and the thief.