It's been almost a month since Marisol was taken from her home and staying there with Miguel with Victoria here wasn't any better either. Now that Victoria was here Miguel had completely ignored her and forgetting her at times to the point where she almost had to go days without anything to eat if it wasn't for Cobra giving some of his food. But she was used to this kind of stuff, she remembered clearly of her mother not giving her any food whenever she was bad or just her mother being in just a bad mood; which was like almost every day.
Even though Cobra was down there with her they still remembered to feed him rather than her. But Miguel didn't bring down the food, nor Nicóle, it was Sabrina who handled it. Out of the people Sabrina had to be the one. Marisol would worry if she had poison Cobra's food the first time she brought it down, but he took a chance and was completely fine after that.
It almost surprised her.
Sabrina would never speak either, instead of looking jealous like always, she wore this sad frown when bringing their food. Cobra would sometimes ask her what was wrong as she just simply shook her head with no words. Even though Marisol couldn't stand her she did kind of felt bad for her in a way.
It was around lunchtime and Cobra sat in the corner braiding some of his long raven hair while Marisol sat on the other end watching him boredly. As she looked at him, she knew couldn't say this to him because he would go on a rampage, but every time she looked at Cobra he looked more and more like Miguel every day. From the face and hair, they looked like twins with the only difference being is that Miguel's face was more scarred up and aged more. Cobra's hair was even more tamed and straighter contrasting with Miguel's wild messy hair. She knew Cobra hated being compared with his father in features, but it was so hard not to when almost don't know which is which.
But at least Cobra acted nothing like his father.
"Mary," he spoke softly, "I hope Matéo's fine."
She sighed, "You're not the only one . . ."
He smiled, "Hey, rumor has it you might give him the deputy position."
"I'm still debating it," Marisol admitted, "he's one of my best soldiers, he's responsible, the only part I'm worried about when it's his time to lead . . . I'm scared he'll lead the group to a dark path."
"Look, he may not be the nicest of people, but I know he wouldn't be a bad leader. You said it yourself, he has the qualifications."
"I know, but after this, I don't know if he still fits the bill."
Cobra sighed, "Yeah, you're probably right."
They turned their attention to the dark silhouette in the doorway holding two bowls. As the figure came down Marisol saw it was Sabrina bringing them their food. But Marisol noticed she looked kind of . . . off. As she walked down the stairs she seemed to have a limp in her step.
She wasn't walking like that yesterday . . .
When she came into the candlelight beside Cobra when giving his food Marisol also noticed something really horrible about Sabrina.
She had a busted lip, a stab wound on her cheek, and her left eye was so bruised Marisol wasn't even sure if she could see out of it. She watched her shaky hands handing a bowl to Cobra, but Cobra was more concerned about her rather than the food.
"What happened to you?" he asked worryingly.
She turned away and glared, "It's none of your goddamn business."
Marisol gritted her teeth at her tone, "He just asked a fucking-!" Cobra raised his hand stopping her while she rolled her eyes crossing her arms.
"Please, Sabrina," Cobra pleaded softly looking in her eyes with a concerned expression, "Did . . . Miguel does this . . .?"
She looked and frowned before, minutes later, she stiffly nodded. Cobra sighed while Marisol was left confused on why Miguel would do this. Sure he was a cold-hearted, monstrous brute, she never thought he would he would hurt his own wife.
Actually, yes she could, but she still wanted to hear a reason.
Cobra opened his mouth first, "Why did he do this?"
"Are you blind, boy? It's because of your fucking mother!" she growled.
He blinked, "What . . .?"
"Ever since she's been here, he's paying attention to her instead of me! He can't even stand to look at me anymore since Tori's been here."
"Well boo-hoo, a monstrous tyrant doesn't love you," Marisol mocked harshly making Cobra shoot her a look, "Miguel doesn't love Victoria either, Sabrina. He wants to be a power trip over her again so he can fuck with her head, and believe it or not, he's got you in the same position too, honey."
"You don't know anything about him!" Sabrina spat, "he has his moments, but he cares about me and the kids, it's just Victoria always getting in the way of everything."
"Victoria didn't get in the way of anything, you damn slut!" Marisol protested, "if anything you got in the way of their marriage, but he just started to get a bad taste in women."
"You fucking-!!"
"That's enough, you two!" Cobra loudly interrupted before turning his attention back to Sabrina, "Mary's right, since she and I are here he wants us here with him so he can be in control of our family again, that's why I'm down here and for you, Ivy, Nicóle, and Pablo, he already did his damage."
Sabrina shook her head, "You don't get it, the reason he did this to me in the first place because I just could we just spend a little time since it's been a while, I got mad when he said he was busy with Tori and just lashed out at him when . . . I wasn't supposed to . . ."
He sighed hating that she still didn't get the point even after Miguel hurt her. She was clearly wrapped around his finger, brainwashed on all of his lies and false promises. Miguel could nearly stab her to death and still didn't get the point.
"Just forget it, Cobra," Marisol's annoying voice interrupted his thoughts, "if she wants to be Miguel's punching bag be my fucking guest."
Cobra knew Sabrina was getting tired of Marisol's tone as started to stomp her way upstairs.
"Wait!" Cobra called out making her hand frozen on the door handle, "Sabrina, please, you and Pablo don't have to suffer like this. Miguel only cares about himself, nothing more. If you still don't believe me that's fine, but please, think about what we said here."
Sabrina didn't turn around but stood still for a few minutes before opening the door and walking out.
Marisol turned to Cobra, "She's a lost cause."
Cobra looked down to his shackled feet and sighed, "I hope not."
-
Violet could see the tiredness in Moo's face, he's been driving all that night and still continued this morning. Blossom was still sleep in her arms Violet herself just woke up herself finding Moo still driving. She didn't know how he did it, sure he was younger than her and used to staying up all night, but everyone had to get a little sleep once in a while.
He really did mean it when said he didn't want to waste any time getting them back.
She turned her attention to him as stared out tiredly into the open road as mumbled quietly to himself in Spanish. Though she didn't know what the hell he was saying it scared her a little with him not acknowledging her if was awake.
It was almost like he was in his own little world.
She tapped him, "Moo?"
He jumped whipping him around to face her. His remaining eye was almost bloodshot red that was filled with so much sleep to the point where Violet started to wonder how he could even see the road.
"Oh, sunshine, you're awake," he attempted to smile.
"Moo, you wanna take a break from the wheel?" she suddenly asked in concern, "I can see you really wanna sleep."
He shook his head and yawned, "No, I'm good, we're almost there anyway."
She chose not to point out he was talking to himself, but she did notice it was very warm beside her. It couldn't have been the weather because of how cool it was, she leaned closer beside Moo noticing she could feel the heat off of him. She slowly put her hand over his forehead as he eyed her curiously.
Her eyes widened when his head was almost hot like fire.
"Moo! You're hot as fucking hell!!" she cried out.
He smirked, "And you too, sunshine."
She glared, "It's that damn bite, isn't it? You lied to me, you said you weren't dying from it!"
"And I'm not," he tried to reassure her calmly, "ever since I had it my stress fevers have heightened up. Once we get back and take a nap, I'll be fine."
She kept staring at him in concern, "Can you please promise me that you're okay right now driving us back to town because we can stop right now so you can get some rest."
He nodded, "Don't worry, I'm fine, Vi, now, just relax, I don't want you stressing out either, alright?"
Violet stiffly nodded still worried about Moo's fever and pushing himself too hard. She really did want him to stop so he could at least take A small nap for his stress fever to go down.
But if he said they were almost there, they were almost there.
-
By the time night fell they had traveled for six more hours before they made it to the gates of the town. When they stopped Violet saw Moo wasn't in the best of shape, hours fever had gotten higher and started to breathe heavily laying back against the seat.
He slowly closed his eyes gazing into Violet's unpatched eye while looking at him worriedly touching his hot cheek.
"It's alright . . . Sunshine," he breathed tiredly, "just get Cash . . . to open the gates so . . . I . . . I can . . ."
"Sshh . . ." she silenced him softly, "just rest, for now, I'll have someone get us inside."
He smiled softly not saying anything else after that proceeding to shut his eyes. Violet soon got out with Blossom in her arms going up to the large metal gate. She looked up to the watchtower noticing that strangely no one was up inside.
"Hey! Anyone in there?" she called out making sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. After a few more calls it turns out they weren't after all.
Violet groaned out of frustration wondering why in the hell why nobody was watching out. The was still young after all so it couldn't be the excuse it was probably too late at night to watch; it shouldn't even be an excuse in the first place.
As she went back to the cart to check on Moo stopped at a large whisper calling her name.
"Psst! Vi, is that you?" the voice asked.
Violet froze, "Who the hell are you?"
She backed away for a second until she sighed in relief at the sight of Ashley appearing from the darkness with his gun over his shoulders wearing his uniform. He smiled at his cousin walking up to her but frowned as soon as he saw the state that Moo was in.
"What's wrong with him?" he asked in concern walking up to him.
"Stress fever," she sighed hoping that Moo wasn't lying.
"Aw, man, he worked himself too much, hasn't he?" at that Violet nodded, "he's gonna be fine, but I'm glad you two came back here at this time though."
She cocked her head, "What do you mean?"
He frowned, "Since your mom's been taken my mom is the leader for now, but she's gotten so fucking awful. From the harmless curfews to her just killing anyone to whom she thinks is secretly allied with Miguel," he winced, "at the end of the day she's just killing innocent people."
"So tell me how's it a good thing we came here at this time again?"
He rolled his eyes, "Since Miguel won't take anyone Moo, my mom plans to . . . give him away instead of fighting for her way to get Aunt Mary back."
Violet's heart sunk at his words, she never knew her Aunt Cat would sink this low, or become this weak to point of just giving up and just handing Moo away. He was needed was here, not only that, his family was here too. Either way Violet wasn't going to give up, unlike Catalina.
"S-She can't do that!" she blurted out making Blossom jump, "I won't let her!"
"That's the thing, she's not."
Violet raised a brow in confusion, "Why?"
He smirked, "Someone happened to leave because it got too tough here, but Cat thinks they're allied with Miguel and didn't want him to get there before her search party catches him. Luckily, she made me stay behind to be at the watchtower because Cash had to tag along too," there was a hint of jealousy in his eyes when he said that, "I can get you back to Moo's apartment without her knowing you came back."
"But what if someone sees us and warns her?"
"Don't worry, the curfew's pretty strict so no one can't out of their homes and the lights are required to be out and the curtains shut, you're safe with me."
She had a nervous feeling in her stomach, with all of Ashley's reassurance she still had this feeling that something was bound to happen.
Pushed Moo aside to the passenger's seat where he still was half-sleep, Ashley put the hood over Moo's head just in case someone does see him, then he started the cart back up motioning for Violet to get in. She sighed getting in the back beside Smokey having nothing else to say and wanted to get Moo safe back home.
Ashley dug through his pants pockets pulling out a small remote. Violet stared at it for a moment before Ashley caught her gaze. "The remote to the gates," he answered. He pressed the biggest red button on there as the metal gates began to slowly open with a slight creak.
As he drove inside Violet still had this tight feeling in her stomach.
-
Violet laid Moo down in hours own bed putting a cloth dipped in cool water over his head. He was already fast asleep as soon as was in bed having no idea what she was doing anyway. Afterward, she placed a kiss on his lips before walking out of his room. Ashley was sitting in the living room on the couch holding Blossom in his arms, he down at her before looking back up at Violet with a curious expression.
"Does Aunt Mary knows that she's a grandma?" he chuckled.
She shook her head, "Not . . . yet, I might wait to tell her . . ."
He smiled handing Blossom back to her as he walked to the door, "I'll come by to check on you two every day and bring some more food and supplies if you guys are running low. I'll make sure nobody comes through this door."
Violet nodded and smiled, "Thanks, Ash, I'll make sure to tell Moo the news when he wakes up."
"I'll have your back," he winked then began to frown, "I'm sorry it had to be this way for him, he doesn't deserve to be taken away again with him still so young and has his whole life ahead of him."
Again?
"But don't worry, I got everything under control." With that, Ashley said his final goodnights to her before walking out, locking and closing the door behind him.
Violet decided to just sleep on the couch with Blossom, not feeling like setting up her pen tonight and didn't want her to be alone. She went ahead and laid down with Blossom resting on her chest as yawned snuggling up closer to her mother. Violet slowly shut her eyes about to enter into slumber drifting off to sleep.
As she did, she couldn't take her mind of on Ashley meant by Moo being taken "again".
-
"Vi," her tired eyes slowly opened as she heard her name being groggily called, "Vi, are you here?"
She got up laying here sleeping daughter on the couch then stretched with a loud yawn. She assumed that she's been sleeping for a while since it was beginning to turn light outside. After that, she went into Moo's room seeing him lay on his side looking out the window, she sat beside him feeling his forehead sighing in relief that his fever was finally down.
He turned to look up at her with a scared and worried expression. Concerned, Violet touched his cheek rubbing circles around it with her thumb.
"I . . . I thought you left me," he said quietly looking down.
"You know I wouldn't do that to you," she reassured him, "I'm right in the living room if you need me."
He shook his head, "I thought you didn't want to be here with me when I'm the town's most wanted . . ."
She blinked, "How did you-"
"I wasn't that far gone, Vi," he sighed heavily through the pillow, "I'm surprised that it even took them this long to wanting to get rid of me."
"Moo, I won't let them do that to you," her voice cracking in desperation, "I won't leave you again."
"Maybe you should, go home, you and Blossom shouldn't live your lives hiding because of me."
"It won't always be like this, when we get our moms and Cobra back we'll the lives we've always wanted," she smiled softly at her words, "I don't if it has to be us against the world again, we still have each other and that's all that matters."
He looked into her eyes and frowned, "Even if it meant protecting a monster like me?"
She leaned down pressing her forehead against hers shutting her eyes tightly, "You're not a monster, Moo," he started rubbing her back, "I'm going to do everything in my damn power to protect you."
He pulled her in as their lips began to touch, kissing for almost a little bit before she pulled away gazing into each other's eyes. They no longer shared these silly nervous looks after they kissed anymore, but more sureness that the two actually cared for one another and certain that they were . . .
"This is why you're my one only," he smiled stroking her hair."
"And so are you," her words only speaking nothing but the truth.