MS - Rav's newest story

[Ravynlee]

Over the din of the music all Mel could hear was the obscenity and the sound of panic in his voice. She instantly knew in her blood that something was wrong. Bam was no stranger to getting himself into trouble, and for that reason perhaps Mike was probably aloof for keeping him around, but all in all Bam was a good guy. He was a teenager trapped in a grown man’s body, and whether giving the cops a generally hard time or holding up traffic for the sheer **** of it, things like that were always good for a laugh – and more importantly they kept the long arm of the law extended in the wrong direction; away from what the rest of the crew were doing. Though there were times she couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him, Mel had grown fond of his antics because of the severity she got from everyone else, Mike included. If Mike was her brooding step-parent then Bam was her older brother getting up to no good and dragging her along, but he was never one to get this stressed over anything that he couldn’t talk his way out of. In those three harried words Mel knew that something was very wrong in her world. Either Mike was dead or someone close to Bam was. When she heard the word ‘Professor’ she felt her insides turn to water. There was only one person by that label they talked about in their inner circles and that was Mike’s best friend – and Mel’s old teacher at Brown, Brad Delson.

“What?”

“What’s wrong?” Benji asked.

Over the sunglasses his brow furrowed and almost became invisible. Mel shook her head at him. She couldn’t hear what Bam was saying and worse than that she couldn’t process anything else either. Suddenly the noise was too loud, the lights too hot, the crowd too suffocating. When Mel uttered something about ringing Bam back, Benji looked at her with doubt and consternation.

“What’s up?” he urged.

Over the din of the music he had to bow close but Mel didn’t see his face now. She could practically lay her head on his shoulder and seek shelter there for the rest of the night if she so wanted, but she pulled away and shook her head. As much as she was starting to have feelings for him she was in no position to drag him into the chaos of her life as she had done Shwag – and more than that bottom line was that her new good friend was a cop.

“I have to go,” she said when she met his glasses, “I’m sorry.”

She actually meant it.

Benji studied her face and Mel couldn’t shake the notion he was slipping into detective mode. The carefree guy of moments ago was nowhere to be found even though literally nothing about him had changed. Without his playful demeanor Mel had no point being here. She apologized and drew further away from him. Benji’s hand around hers once more pulled her into a stop. She froze. The urge to strike him was impulsive, it was reactive, and it had nothing at all to do with the look he was giving her. Mel choked down a snagging lump at the back of her throat that mainly consisted of guilt. She looked at Benji but all she saw at that moment was her failure with Shwag.

“I could come along, maybe I could help?” he suggested.

He was already off his seat before Mel could stop him. Now standing before each other, practically eye to eye, Mel was overcome with an even more frightening emotion as she stared at her reflection distorted on his sunglasses. Her heart was pounding but it could have just as easily been panic. In an instant she could feel Mike’s kiss on her lips from before and felt a surge of adrenalin rushing through her. She couldn’t think. She didn’t have to. She had a job to do. But she didn’t want to pull away from this moment, from this place, from this memory she was creating here with this new ray of hope in the form of a tattooed bull named detective Benji Madden, but she knew she couldn’t stay. This around her, this joy belonged to someone else, not her, she had sold her soul when she had taken her first life, no, when she had broken the neck of that little girl months ago… She had tried rationalizing it since, in her thoughts, in her nightmares, and it was only true regret since wandering down this path. Though there were many reasons she could give, and tried to alone at night struggling to sleep over the din of terrors creeping in with the darkness, she had done it to save herself as much as the child, to sever herself from her past, to strike down the hate that had always festered in her heart at it’s tentative root, and save one more person growing up as she had, looking for someone to pay for their tragic mistakes - but yet here she was again feeling as helpless and as frozen as she did that moment she had that kid’s head in her hands.

Mel shook her head and tried to smile. Where she was going no one could follow, it was a fate she’d chosen for herself, her demons were her own, and it was wrong to expect anyone else to walk it along side her. She had already lost too much, there was no point dragging anyone else down to **** with her, as tempting as the offer may have been. But Benji didn’t seem disappointed. He didn’t seem dismayed. He put his arms around her and kissed her cheek and then after a tentative pause he kissed her lips. Mel closed her eyes and let him. She wanted to kiss him back but couldn’t, she couldn’t react at all, she knew if she did she would be condoning his impulse to follow and Mel had enough heart in her left to know that was being selfish. Though she barely knew him at all she didn’t want to lose him – or what he represented - either, but saying goodbye at a crowded bar was far easier than saying goodbye at a graveside. And with that Mel turned her head away and walked out. Benji didn’t follow. She was only half glad that he didn’t.

---

​

More later.

Thanks

 

[crazy robster]

I have read the updates and I'm thrilled that the story is progressing so fast!!

RIP Brad... Oh dear, you have set out to kill everybody haven't ya sis? I could actually picture Mike's look after he'd heard the bad news...his rage! OMG!! Something tells me the Mike - Chaz battle will be unforgettable! I LOVE IT!! Go Mike!! Muahahahaha I'm excited! Gonna go get the GO MIKE banner to prepare for the big moment!! I'm so happy we are heading towards a peak moment here but like all good things I'm kinda sad it's coming towards the end you know? Oh well, being emotional as **** again, don't mind me... As always can't wait to see what happens with Robbie *I had a dream about him last night by the way, don't wanna go into detail though it will make a lot of people uncomfortable * And PLEASE! Return the poor baby to her mum JESUS I haven't felt so sorry for another child my whole life! Ahem... more? *puppy eyes*

EDIT: Sis come to MSN this is one of the rare moments where the moon is in perfect parallel position to the sun and we can actually chat! Don't ruin the moment!! LOL

 

[Pheonix791989]

aww mum.... i love it!!! more pretty pretty please??????? i love how my character is taken to benji already. n_n. its all good so update!!

 

[Ravynlee]

Well not so much him as much as what he represents (a way away from Mike!) but yeah him too... you deserved some happiness after all, cant say how long for as this **** will be drawing to a close soon enough and we'll see once the proverbial smoke clears just who's left standing... and if there's any chance at all anything can be salvaged or I have to start another story anew. More than likely this latter option, but we'll see. Have to finish this first THEN see where we go.

Happy you like.

More later

 

[Pheonix791989]

i really like how you seem to be able to creat such an atmosphere..... when i was reading that, JJ was standing over my shoulder and it was like i was in the world of the story and he was benji. kudos. if you ever get back on aim it would be great.... I'm gonna update my story when I get off of work though. you might like it. but as far as your story goes... its as adicting as warcraft. really awesome. im gonna cry when its over lol.

 

[Ravynlee]

Aww thanks! Means a lot coming from a fellow writer such as yourself! I try

And thanks as always sis - I wouldn't mind if you shared your dream but... maybe on MSN ^^ And yeah... get your banner ready I guess. Give me a few days/week or so. If I'm good and keep writing my little heart out. Could stretch out a bit longer. We'll see.

Now I just finished this chap I started earlier today and I am going to post it, with some reservations I may add. Talk about pushing the envelope!

(See what I mean in the last few sentences)

Now reading this over (give me a break it is near 4 am here) I understand to some it's going to seem like a HUGE jump out of character for these two, one in particular, and I don't usually do this, but if you read this closely you may get an idea of how it will end for at least one of them. I deliberately penned this part so that if you read between the lines you can almost see what's coming - pity he can't, but read it and see what I mean.

Okay, deep breath, read and go easy on me. I'm sleep deprived, among other things

More later. Sometime.

---

​

“Are you gonna eat that?”

Turning her head aside to watch the steam billowing up from the kerbside Ravyn watched Rob point at her burger and turned away again. She shook her head. Dusting his hands on his thighs Rob reached across and slid the food in front of him. It was untouched and still warm and Rob had barely finished the last mouthful of his before he tucked in hungrily. Beside him Ava was picking at her fries one at a time and chewing loudly. Her little feet were swinging in the air kicking at the underside of the seat with her heels. Rather than reprimand her Rob urged her to keep eating. The fact that she had spent the last few days surviving on nothing but junk food wasn’t a concern to him, he was just glad she was eating, but he knew that she was growing tired of not just the vagabond lifestyle but the separation from familiarity as well.

“I want my mommy!” she grumbled, holding her little chin up on one fist and wearily rubbing at her eye socket with the other. A French fry dangled between her pale little fingers as she snuffled on a sob.

“I want go home!”

“Soon,” Rob assured with a mouthful of food.

He pushed her soda towards her but Ava grunted and shook her head. She was exhausted and with good reason. The hour was getting late and though New York was infamously known as the city that never slept, it was unusual to see too many youngsters out on the street at night when most others were home safely tucked in bed. Ravyn just watched her out of the corner of her eye as Rob continued eating. Pausing long enough to steal a thirsty gulp from his bottle of water, Rob paused to acknowledge Ravyn with his usual look of sympathy and concern.

“You want something else?” he offered.

Ravyn shook her head. She watched him pull a wad of cash from his pocket and discreetly ****** a note from it and hold it towards her. Ravyn looked away in disgust as Rob left it on the table. Returning the rest of his cash to his pocket he sucked some food from the inside of his cheek before he picked up his food and resumed eating.

“How can you?” she asked eventually.

Though they sat on opposing sides of the table Ravyn was doing her best at trying to look as far away from him as she could. As Rob continued bighting into his burger and Ava started trailing chips across the tabletop lazily, Ravyn finally returned her attentions with her seething stare.

“How can you sit there and eat after what you did? How can you expect me to?”

“You need to eat.”

“You killed someone.”

“Keep your voice down,” Rob warned.

Assuring that the few littered at surrounding tables hadn’t heard, Rob resumed eating but after a mouthful seemed to have lost his appetite and tossed it aside. Wiping his hands and face on a napkin he shoved a fistful at Ava before returning his attentions to his ex wife still doing her best impression of a sulking teenager.

“I’m a cop, I’ve done worse than that, believe me.”

“You’re not a cop. You’re nothing, remember?”

“Whatever I am, I’m still better off than you are,” Rob muttered around the rim of his bottle, “a junkie that can’t keep her legs shut.”

“Is that what this is all about?” Ravyn asked.

She scoffed, but Rob was already urging Ava to get up out of her seat. She watched him stand and manoeuvre the little girl, now half-asleep, out from behind the table but made no move to follow.

“You killed him because you were jealous? Oh my ***, you are so pathetic-”

Her words were cut off as Rob snagged the back of her collar and reefed her up on to her feet to join them as inconspicuously as he could.

“You want to talk pathetic take a look in the mirror sweetheart,” he muttered. “You were the one that did this to yourself, I didn’t have a choice, now move.”

They were leaving the restaurant by now and people were no doubt looking at them like a couple having a domestic dispute in public, but it didn’t end once they hit the open air. With Ava on his hip and Ravyn giving him a wide berth, Rob was leading them back down the street with his eyes vigilantly surveying the streets for any signs of trouble.

“That money, all that cash in your pocket, that was his too wasn’t it?” Ravyn was teasing. “So you didn’t just slaughter him you had to rob him too? So much for ‘protect and serve’ – Still a cop my ***. You were just ******, weren’t you? I bet you haven’t had a **** the whole time you were gone and seeing us really ate you up inside, didn’t it? You want me to drop to my knees now and give you a-”

“Would you shut up?” Rob snapped.

With her arm in his fist he drew her close and shook her as Ava squeaked and lulled about semi-consciously against his chest.

“Jesus Christ! You were bad enough when we married, I didn’t think it could get any worse! What the **** happened to you, huh? Get a *** damned grip, all right? If I wanted to do something I could have done it already while you were passed out, remember?”

With a glare Rob shoved her loose and Ravyn slid away, not as comforted by his declaration as he had probably intended it. Scowling by this time and barely able to keep her snarl from full public view, she walked along with her arms folded defensively across her chest. She was shivering and the flesh on her arms and neck were prickled with goose flesh but she couldn’t feel the cold – there was none. The weather was nice out; it was pleasant, bordering on sultry. Catching sight of her reflection as they passed by a store window Ravyn glimpsed at her ashen complexion, red rimmed eyes and sunken look about her face, and didn’t really absorb any of it. What she did see was Rob walking just behind her with Ava in his arms seemingly unfazed with the world. Hearing that dull wet crack in her ears again and feeling his fingers around her throat from the night before Ravyn’s eyes were enraged. It was hard to believe she had once looked at him with anything other than this hate festering inside her heart. People’s heads were turning as they passed and Ravyn was amused by it. They were looking from the marks on her neck, both old and new, and then at Rob’s wary face. Ravyn wanted to burst into tears and make up some story that yes he had beaten her purely for her own amusement but she kept it to herself with something of a sinister smirk.

“We have to get off the street,” he murmured, sliding an arm around her shoulders. Ravyn tried to pull free but there was no chance – he was covering her neck with his sleeve – *******.

“Me wan’ home,” Ava yawned into his collar.

Eventually Rob agreed.

“Yeah. I guess we can do that,” he uttered. “Come on, this way.”

 

[Ravynlee]

Three quarters of an hour later Rob was dragging her by the wrist into the darkened apartment. The lock was jimmied and Ravyn assumed with a hurried glance that Rob had utilized another one of his skills acquired from his days in law enforcement to commit yet another crime. Barely allowed time to scoff he pushed her inside and closed the door behind them. The locks were snapped back securely into place behind them.

“Shh!” he warned with a finger.

Ava was by now peacefully asleep on his shoulder, her little cheek was smeared with tomato sauce allowing strands of her hair to stick to it. With a hand on the child’s back he quickly handed her to Ravyn. Ravyn balked but instinctively nursed her as Ava started to wake. In a few quick and quiet strides Rob swept from room to room, assuring they were alone. When he returned he was shoving his pistol in the waistband of his pants again. Ravyn blinked down at the gun, then met his eyes with a disapproving stare. Rob reached down and hefted Ava back into his arms.

“What is this place?” she sniffed.

The small scabs on the inside of her elbow were dried out and were pulling at the skin, making her feel itchy.

Rob was walking away, heading towards a hall with his footsteps cautiously quiet. He was creeping about like a thief returning a child rather than stealing it. Ravyn followed. He warned her again to be quiet and elaborated that they had to also be quiet when they moved about. Sarah was still in the hospital as far as the world knew and her brother now guest at the city morgue, leaving no tenants left to inhabit the place. Too much noise would give them away, but it was at least for tonight, a sure fire bet for a warm bed and a few creature comforts, so long as they were careful not to give themselves away.

“This is where she lived?”

“Sarah? Yeah. Don’t think she’ll be needing it, at least for a few days,” Rob told her.

Switching on a bedside lamp gave the hallway, and the rest of the living room, just enough light now in which to see. Only able to see Rob pass the doorway and hear the creak of bedsprings, Ravyn wandered around restlessly as he put the sleeping child to bed.

Though most of it was still in shadow Ravyn could make out enough to get a feel for its inhabitants. The furniture was modest and well worn; there were kids toys still scattered haphazardly on the carpet. Across from her the windows offered views of lower neighboring apartment buildings and the water towers and washing lines that decorated the tops of them. Beyond she could see a tiny sliver of the river and the lights on the other side of the bridge. Ferries and trawlers still patrolled the waters like slowly moving fireflies. Seeing a small collection of photo frames atop the television cabinet Ravyn made her way over and peered closer.

Images of a baby’s smiling face made her heart sink sadly. She wasn’t thinking of her son at that moment she was thinking of her niece Haily. Glimpsing over her shoulder to the sound of movement Ravyn watched Rob make his way out of Ava’s room. She turned back to the pictures so she didn’t have to face him. That’s when she saw it – Sarah, the familiar face of the woman who had lingered over her bedside when Ravyn awoke from her attack was the same one smiling back with her baby in her arms. Ravyn gasped and took a step back. She came to a stop against Rob’s side and cringed away from him. He stopped and frowned down over her. Then he frowned at the photographs. He picked one up and inspected it before he set it down again and lay it face down. He cleared his throat and looked at the carpet a moment, clearly impelled to say something prolific. Then he cleared his throat again.

“There’s a room out back you can stay in. I’ll take the other one. There should be clothes in her closet if you want. You might want to find a jacket or something. You’ll probably feel like you’re coming down with a fever in a few hours but you won’t be. It’s just the… ****… in your system… like working its way out.”

Ravyn nodded and didn’t say anything. She watched him nod back before he excused himself to wash up and lay down. As sorely as he needed a shower he made a comment about having to be cautious in case the pipes here were rusty – the last thing he needed was to have his cover blown while he was standing ****-naked in the bathroom with his eyes full of soap suds. Ravyn smiled but it wasn’t genuine. After the events of the last 24 hours, if not months before that, she was looking at him now like he was a veritable stranger to her – in many respects he was. Rob was half way out of the room by the time she managed to summon enough will to speak to him. When she did she sounded uncharacteristically civil but a hint of the old defensiveness still lingered in the background as she thanked him.

“I’d been… meaning to… thank you… for what you did all those months ago,” she said, albeit with great difficulty. “Saving my life and all… I wanted to thank you then, but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

Rob, clearly unsure on how to take the comment, nodded dubiously. He scratched the back of his head and scuffed up his unruly mop of hair.

“Okay,” he said. “It was my job, but… thanks.”

Though Ravyn was still practically glaring at him at least the snarl had been briefly watered down to a pout. Her venom was giving way to sickness. If he was right pretty soon she would be burning up and at that point she would need what anger she had left to drive her. Thinking it best to go out on a high note Rob bid her good night and promptly left the room. He checked in on Ava before making his way into one of the bedrooms and lay down. She heard bedsprings creak as he settled on a stranger’s bed. Ravyn stood waiting, surveying her alien environment caught in some great crossroads and unsure what door literally to take. Beside her the photos of someone else’s once happy existence haunted her peripheral vision. Ravyn didn’t like looking at them, in particular, she didn’t like being reminded that the woman she had once semi-befriended had been mother to the Chester Bennington’s child and had not told a soul about it – and for some reason Ravyn took particular offense. Sarah hadn’t seemed like the type to even associate with someone the likes of that creep, but then again she knew now first hand what the world he inhabited was like. And with that thought she wept a little. She wept for Nick. She wept for the manner of his death. He wasn’t a murderer or a child molester, he like her had just made bad choices in his life – and Ravyn didn’t think he deserved to die because of it. By that logic Rob was probably already looking at her like a target because, by his words, she was nothing more than a lowlife junkie now that had thrown her life away by choice. With a scoff Ravyn made her way across the apartment and searched the kitchenette nearby for another means of escape. There was another small door that lead out onto the fire escape but it was blocked partly by the refrigerator. Obviously Sarah wasn’t afraid about burning to death in her apartment she thought with a scoff, to the untrained eye Ravyn was almost convinced that Sarah had deliberately barricaded it so no one else could get in.

Maybe she knew something about the great Chester Bennington that the rest of his fans didn’t? She wondered.

After trying unsuccessfully and failing to shift it without making noise, Ravyn gave up and wandered back out to the front door, wondering what her next course of action from here would be. When she heard Rob sniffing and stirring down the hallway behind her Ravyn froze. Then she smiled to herself darkly.

“What the **** do you think your doing?” Rob cried a few moments later.

 

[Ravynlee]

He had scurried like a crab mere inches away from her but Ravyn merely crouched there at the foot of the bed with a knee up on the mattress and her hands now empty. Even in the dim shadows Rob was coherent enough to notice as she knelt closer and took the button and zipper in her fingers again and wrestled them open.

“Christ, stop!” he ground out.

He reached out and snagged her by the arms this time and held her still. He was panting. He sounded panicked as if he had awoken from a nightmare and he had every right to be. Ravyn wasn’t hiding her intentions as she attempted to undress him still before Rob finally had enough and shoved her away from him.

“What the **** is wrong with you?” he cried, trying hard on the last few syllables to keep his voice constrained so as not to draw neither Ava’s nor any unsuspecting neighbors attentions.

Tripping over her feet Ravyn hit the floor with an undignified thud before Rob had scurried to the edge of the mattress to pick her up again. He froze. Had anyone heard that? ****! He took her by the arms and shook her roughly to snap her out of whatever spell she was under, but with her head rolling about limply Ravyn just s******ed at his response before he shook her again and got her to focus.

“Don’t you want this?” she asked. Even in darkness she could see he was frowning incredulously. “Isn’t this what you killed Nick for?”

“No!” Rob defended. “I did it because- because-”

“Aren’t you lonely? Haven’t you had anyone since you went away?”

“No, but- that doesn’t mean- Rave, I’m not doing this. I can’t all right. You’re my sister-in-law-”

“No. She’s moved on. After you left she got with someone else. It’s over between you two. She thinks your dead, remember?”

Rob winced. Her words had cut him deeply and that’s just what they were meant to do. Though his grip on her arms was tight he seemed to be holding himself up now too. Rob bowed his head, but Ravyn continued, content to bring him down after his deeds the night before.

“She’s with Joel now. They were talking about getting married. She buried you. We all did. Why’d you even come back for? Everything you had is over anyway.”

“Why are you doing this?” Rob finally asked. His voice was low and gruff but still maintained enough hurt that when he shook her Ravyn only smiled at him rather than cringe from it. “I did what I did- to protect you! Can’t you understand that? That guy, Bully, he was a bully, didn’t you see that? Didn’t you make that connection at all?”

“I saw you snap his neck in cold blood, that’s what I saw.”

“Because he was ******* using you, okay! That’s all his kind does, that’s exactly what he does, or did - gets you so hot-wired you cant do anything without it and then pimps you off to pay for a habit he gave you in the first place!”

“No, he wouldn’t have done that. He cared about me. He cared for me when no one else did-”

“Wake the **** up, Rave, you walked right into it, into this **** you used to hate! You’ve gotten so bad you can’t see yourself anymore! I can’t see you! All I see is this… washed up, bitter, angry woman that’s been hurt all her life and now she’s taking it out on herself in the worst possible way…”

Rather than speak Ravyn shook her head and denied it all, feeling her eyes dampen and her throat clench in angst. She bowed her head, stung that she had lost control over this conversation so fast and desperate to reclaim the upper hand. But Rob’s voice was lower now, he had sounded angry with her before, but now he sounded pitiful, sympathetic to her cause as if he gave two-*****, and let go of her arms to take hold of her face. Ravyn raised her eyes bracing herself for a kiss that never came. Rob was just staring back at her in his miserable way. In the quasi-dark he was trying to implore her to wake up to herself without the ability to judge if she could actually see it or not.

“Rave, I loved you once, I did – but not now. Too much has changed, we’re completely different people now. I’m different, you’re-”

“It’s because of what he did isn’t it?” Ravyn said. Her voice was tiny, vulnerable. “Mike. He ruined me and now it’s all you see when you look at me. It’s not as if I liked it. I can’t even remember it. I just wish I hadn’t lived so I didn’t have to face what he-”

“Hey, hey,” Rob soothed.

He held her and at first Ravyn defied him. As much as she was unaccustomed to physical contact, the fact she was being held now against a man after the subject of her rape and attempted murder came up to the forefront of the conversation, she was left feeling more vulnerable than she had in a long time. She was rigid and unyielding as Rob held her and pulled her down to sit with him on the edge of the mattress. They were rocking back and forth slightly the way a parent would consoling their terrified child. When Ravyn sniffled and smeared her eyes of tears she closed her eyes and pushed out a weak and unsteady exhalation.

“You know before him there was ever only you,” she murmured.

She heard him sigh as if he were disappointed. His shoulders fell and he slowly nodded. Rob was finally drawing this introspective moment to a close – but Ravyn had other ideas. Manoeuvring her hand down the front of his pants Rob seized her wrist and uttered a sound of disapproval. Only inches apart now she met his eyes as he frowned at her through the shadows.

“Don’t,” he warned.

But Ravyn wasn’t listening.

A moment later he uttered out a guttural gasp as Ravyn bowed her head and his hand conformed around it weakly. Not long after that the bed springs creaked as he slumped backwards and she joined him.

Down the hall in her own bed little Ava slept peacefully.

She didn’t hear a sound.

---

hehe

​

Yeah... naughty I know... trust me, it works. Wait and see...

 

[Pheonix791989]

post more pwease??? *** it seems like rob is using every trick just to get something done... i havent figured out what yet. hmm...sneaky ******* he is. to be honest, im more worried about ava then anyone else in the story. maybe its because she's a kid thrust into this world of crime and unjust. just dosent seem right to me. but great update and post more **** it!!

 

[Friðbjörn]

haha wow I didn't expect that

for one, for rav to go so hungrily after him and second I didn't expect him to give in after that buildup lol

but yeah...I wanna read more

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Holy ****.

I have a habit of listening to songs that make the situation worse ten times over don't I? (This time, I was reading the last post of your update and just by **** luck Don't Speak by No Doubt came on and I thought to myself of how much the lyrics fitted in with the last chapter). Lol. Well. At least you've now made it clearer that Rob isn't the ******* and he is trying to do what is best for Rav. Poor woman, really, she's had a **** of a time and she's so....she doesn't know where she stands, emotionally especially after Nick's death. I know some people might think other wise, but I really feel for Rav. But hey! That's me for you.

Again another Hallmark (you like these Hallmark moments don't you? lol) moment with Ava. Like you said in DS, yes she's adorable and so innocent. I wonder if Sarah is okay...and I wonder what Jo's reaction will be when she finds out that the body that she buried is actually alive? Wow. That's a freaky prediction right there. Daniel saw a glimpse and he liked your style of writing (I guess I'm not alone hey?). But I've learnt with this story never try to assume the ending to situations, they are like Rubik's cube, ******* impossible to predict the combination of colours we (the audience) are going to get, well in this case, the combination of dramas we are in for!

xxxx

 

[Ravynlee]

Thanks guys - am working on two chapters now but probably will have them up after work tonight.

Happy you're enjoying it so far.

More in a few hours

 

[crazy robster]

*gasp* You did the naughty with my husband!!! HOW DARE YOU!! Well, I know Jojo thinks he's dead and I know she's getting married to Joel but still... :'(Do you cover an undying love for him behind the supposed "hatred"?? CONFESS WOMAN!! *turns interrogation lamp on you*

On a more serious note, I really love how things are evolving, everything changes so quickly, ideas we have previously formed are overthrown, you know how to hold one's interest don't ya sis? It's the writer's most difficult task to keep the readers interest and curiosity on high levels, you know that better than us I think, and YES you have succeeded 100%! Yay for you!:clap:

Ahem... that last scene, I would have appreciated some more detail (in private of course :spiteful but I know you're busy so I'll just sit back and wait for more of this!!

 

[Ravynlee]

Yes, guilty as charged, but it's not as black-and-white as you may think. Nothing ever is with me. Read on. See what I mean

(As for more detail, we'll work on that at a later date, you and I, in the relevant time and location, APU haha. You could get creative on your hols sis and tell ME how it goes, see your take on it... but let's stop freaking out the rest of the readers, some things really are just better left to the imagination ) haha

Now this part especially didn't come together quite as concise as I had envisioned it, but after 2 days I seem to be making it worse, so for the sake of argument I will post it in the hopes you get a better idea of what I was trying to say. I could probably do a **** of a lot better but lets face it, I'm an impatient sod, and I just want to get to the crux so we can all go home and put this one behind us Just not too fast of course...

Again, sincere thanks for those that read and reviewed. Love yas :friends:

---

​

Mel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

All she could do was shake her head as Bam hurriedly explained it all to her. She smartly silenced him with a hard fist to the mouth. As he reeled as Mel panted, not physically spent but fighting hard against her grief. Regardless what had transpired before or since Brad Delson had been a great guy and no manner of death, be it accidental or otherwise, could be justified against the likes of such a kind soul.

“What the **** were you thinking, huh? Mike’s going to kill you! Maybe I should kill you and save him the trouble-!”

“I know it looks bad-”

“Bad? Bad?! No when the troops invaded Iraq, that was a bad idea, this is ******* phenomenal! What the **** is wrong with you? Huh?”

They were outside now in the darkness of the Port Authority Piers with the jagged skyline of Manhattan in the near distance. Despite the late hour workmen on forklifts and others hefting boxes to and from their arms still carried on as usual a hundred feet away. They were too busy emptying a crate ahead of schedule to give the arguing duo much more than a sideways glance. Besides, none of them were strangers to this kind of scenario. Port Authority was overseen by regulated officials that ultimately answered to none other than Police Commissioner Brown, who also happened to be a good friend and associate of Mike Shinoda - and no one was going to stop him pilfering his choice of imports coming in or out of the country - let alone intervene on any one of his crew having a lover’s spat in the darkness. That kind of intervention was a no-no in these parts, unless you wanted your headless corpse to be shipped off to differing parts of the globe for distribution, or so the threat implied. But Bam and Mel were not there to see orders were carried out. Any officials keeping watch on the scene knew it was more beneficial to look the other way when any one in the MS crew showed up, whether they agreed or not. But tonight they weren’t here on business, at least not on official terms. Just over two hours from midnight and they were struggling to come to terms with Bam’s candid revelations with his involvement with Chester, with his role in Brad’s murder, and now his fears that his double-crossing ways were about to spell out the end when he soon had to confront Mike.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Bam explained as Mel stood staring out at the harbour rather than face him or the red mark she had left on his cheekbone. “I was just trying to stop him, I didn’t mean to, it was an accident, I didn’t think-”

“No, Brandon,” Mel hissed scathingly, “you never do.”

Bam pursed his lips up to the mention of his real name, his previous argument quashed now in the wake of it. He struggled to explain himself, but in true Bam fashion most of it made little sense. He was still reeling himself and panicking like a wild animal feeling the cage walls closing in on him. When he mentioned Chester’s name Mel swung away again, unable to face him.

“I met him before he went away,” he explained. “It was at one of his parties, you know how it is, like, I was just… I dunno, there. A friend of mine knew him and we got to talking, before I knew it like he got arrested and Mike started this whole… ****, and… I dunno… I didn’t think it would get this far you know? He’s not a bad guy, not like Mike would have you believe-”

“He shot Mike’s brother in cold blood,” Mel reminded.

Dubiously Bam agreed.

“Yeah but it was an accident! Think about it, I just did that! Is he going to come after me now? He is, isn’t he, and it was a ******* accident! I mean, ****, haven’t we done worse since, you, me, all of us?”

Mel’s face buckled as she slowly turned to face him. Her eyes were wet but they were narrow and vicious. Though his words rang a modicum of truth Mel’s emotions were still far too raw, and thanks to the alcohol too haywire, to respond with any clarity. The memories she had of the man known affectionately on campus as Big Bad Brad, for his emaciated frame but plenitude for knowledge that far surpassed even his superiors, haunted her. Brad had never hurt another living soul so far as she knew and for someone that had and made a living that way, he was something of a beacon the rest of them should have aspired to. At Bam’s insistence, Mel shook her head trying to dislodge the thoughts of her other life, of when she would sit at the back of the classroom and chuckle along as the rest of the group made fun at the professor’s speech impediment in repeating the word ‘like,’ as many times as he could during any given sentence. The kids at Brown found it amusing and made a game of it, which was affectionately referred to ‘the like counter,’ but it was always done out of respect for one of Brown’s underrated tutors. Brad Delson had worked his way up through the system from modest beginnings through hard work and sheer tenacity and had earned his right for respect – and in one stupid move Bam had taken it upon himself to end it all with the hood of his car. Mel was struggling now to face him with tears shimmering in her eyes.

“What did you just say to me?” she challenged him.

Bam looked at her warily. Though he had her called in a blind panic it was clear even now he was having second thoughts about his choice in confidante. With hands held up he backed away from her. He didn’t want to physically fight her, not when they were on a schedule, at least. Jared had already called him and told them of Mike’s plans and before long he would be face to face with Mike, and if neither one of them showed up, let alone black and blue, he was going to look at them both, and justifiably so, with suspicion.

“Just think about it,” he urged, “What we do every day… doesn’t that seem hypocritical to you, or is that **** just me?”

“The only hypocrite I see standing here is you,” Mel said.

 

[Ravynlee]

Her retaliation was cold, quick, and seething. She was still struggling to come to terms with not just his actions but of one of her so-called friend’s betrayal. In a world of political pressure, of societal pressure, of the violent world of revenge created by Mike in his frustration at the flawed judicial system, the bonds they had forged, if it were possible to trust anyone under the umbrella of MS, meant they were literally bound together in blood. They were like soldiers on the battlefield, a handful against many, that no one else on the outside could properly understand. Mel looked at him and couldn’t seem to stop shaking her head. She had a hard time directly meeting his eyes. Though she was looking at him as a friend she couldn’t see him at all. At that moment all she could taste was betrayal.

“All those times we tried to make a play for Greyfoxx and she was always a step ahead – that was you wasn’t it? You were tipping her off, weren’t you?”

Bam shrugged. In a snarl Mel wrenched him by the collar and Bam wrestled her loose.

“Why?” Mel cried with her voice raised in frustration. “Don’t you have a conscience? Don’t you care? We’re trying to make this city a better place and here you are-”

“What? How? Man, we’re not doing anything! We’re not! We’re just as bad as half the *******… whatever they are that the man’s trying so hard to get rid of. Don’t you get it, he’s as bad if not worse than the rest of them up there,” Bam defended jutting a finger out at the twinkling lights of the skyscrapers across the water. “He thinks he’s the solution man, he’s part of the damned problem!”

“Fire with fire.”

“Yeah, an eye for an eye, I get that, I do, but come on man… how many eyes does it take? What, one drug-dealer for his brother? What about ten? What about twenty? What about a hundred, a thousand? Why not sweep this whole ******* city and get rid of everyone? Then after the junkies are gone we can start on the people with guns, after all, a gun killed the kid, right? Then what? What? Where does it stop, Mel, really? Haven’t you stopped to think about any of this at all, or do you like being, I don’t know, his slave?”

“Slave?”

“Aren’t we? He tells us to jump we do it. Why? Man I don’t even listen to my parents, why the **** should I keep taking orders from someone who like makes the rules up as he goes along? Think about it. He takes out Chester and then what? Who does he have left to go after when he’s gone? You know who he’s coming after next? Us. That’s who.”

Mel scoffed.

“I think you’ve spent too much time with your druggy friend, you’re starting to sound paranoid. No, more like one too many blows to the head-”

“Paranoid?” Bam repeated. He sounded insulted. He went to respond then held his hand up and began to walk away.

“You know what, I can’t deal with this **** anymore, I really just… this is crazy. If you don’t want to hear it fine, don’t. But when he starts seeing you as a threat don’t have your *****-*** come crying to me, because I warned you, you didn’t want to listen.”

He was walking away in the direction of Mel’s car, to the car she had picked him up in after he unceremoniously dumped his just after the accident, as if making to steal it. Mel watched him for a moment with her arms folded across her chest defensively, trying to gauge what he was going to do. Though anger still coursed through her veins she couldn’t help but pout watching him retreat like a kid who couldn’t have his own way. Despite everything he said she couldn’t help but empathize with his plight, as much as the conflict raged on within her. He was after all a friend, he was her only real friend in this saga that had even the slightest idea of what her life and the paradoxes that intercepted it was, and after losing Shwag she wasn’t ready to be left behind again by anyone if she could help it. Pushing herself forward she followed a few steps as Bam opened the car door to get in.

“And where are you going to go?” she asked, her words underpinned by the sound of gravel crunching under her shoes like breaking bones. “You know if he doesn’t take you out one of us will.”

“You do what you have to,” Bam said, gesturing expressively with his hands. “But I’m out. That ***** is crazy and the only reason I’ve had his back for this long is so I know where he is, he can’t sneak up on me if I can see him. Man, I used to think like you, but now I know better. It’s not about his brother anymore, or justice, or whatever else he keeps telling you, it’s just a war and he doesn’t want to lose it, that’s it.”

“And you know this for a fact?”

“I know the longer we stay here talking about it the less chance I have of getting the **** out of here.”

“So that’s it? You just… kill someone and you get up and run?” Mel scoffed indignantly. “Mike might be controlling at times but at least he’s not a coward.”

“No, that’s why he gets us to do it for him.”

“What, so now you have a conscience? You know the people we get rid of aren’t worth it. They deserve what they get.”

“So he says.”

“So he knows. Look, okay, he’s got issues but we all have. Mike’s not an idiot. You can’t just kill someone for the **** of it. Everyone we’ve taken care of, everyone we’ve… they had it coming. How many times before he came along did you see stories of crims on the street getting away with murder literally and wanted to do something about it? We should be thanking him, not turning on him, he’s a little extreme sometimes but at least he’s got *****. He didn’t run just because **** got too hard. What the **** are you doing?”

“What I should have done a long time ago.”

Bam closed the door with a slam and looked back at her through the opened window.

Mel dropped her arms now and increased her pace those few steps, bridging the gap between them. She drew to a stop and stared at him, resuming her defensive stance again. The look on her face was still angry but there was softness to her eyes now. It wasn’t pity but it was arguably close. The truth was as bad as Bam had screwed up she couldn’t hate him for it, he like Mike, like Shwag, like herself more than most had made numerous mistakes, but he wasn’t a bad person. More than that though, on some level, Mel didn’t want to admit he could be, because she knew in her heart she was worse, and if was damned…

“So this is it huh? You run and hope you get a head start before he catches up with you? You think Chester Bennington is going to help you now? Bam… quit being such a ****. We’ll figure something out-”

Mel balked. Bam had started the engine. But he wasn’t pulling away from her just yet. He was looking back at her strangely. If there had ever been a connection between them that brief moment was it. Her face was still tight with tears and his still bore the hot red welt of her fist but she was looking at him with compassion. He was after all not that much different from her, and if she were in that predicament, *** forbid, would anyone be on her side to help her?

“Like what?” Bam wanted to know.

 

[Ravynlee]

He watched as Mel reached down and opened the door and put his foot on the accelerator. The car skidded backwards and Mel swore loudly at him. She yelled as he wrenched on the wheel, reversing out of the pier. She told him she had no intentions of hurting him but the wayward glare he was giving her through the window and the ensuing cloud of dust showed he didn’t for a moment believe her. The mark on his cheek was nothing, they had tussled on occasion before this, and over far more trivial matters, but Bam wasn’t taking any chances. She watched him skid out across the gravel and yelled something about helping him. She watched the car swing around and the taillights speed away through the swirling clouds of dust and groaned to herself. She raised her arms indignantly. The tall clumps of dried grass that lined the fence line swayed lazily in the dissipating gust of wind as Mel drew to a stop.

“Great!” she exclaimed and threw her arms up. Now he was leaving her here to walk, he really was an ***! And he was supposed to have been her friend?

With a scoff Mel kicked at the gravel watching the rocks flicker across the rest and settle somewhere off in the darkness. The dust begrudgingly began to settle. Then, to her surprise she saw headlights swinging towards her again. She braced herself. Was he going to do a repeat performance and run her down too, she panicked. But she didn’t run. Though Mel knew the feel of fear she didn’t react because that’s what warriors did, they didn’t run from the fight, maybe that was one of the reasons Mike had chosen her as he had – then she scoffed again, as if being chosen to kill was anything of any great honor? She stood rigid watching the car hurtle towards her and then at the last minute arc away and slam to a halt a few feet away from her. Dust swirled again and Mel did her best to wave it away. Through the thick choking cloud she watched the door swing open. Through the window Bam was looking at her.

Mel pursed her lips at him.

“Took you long enough,” she uttered, before she strode around and slipped inside.

“Help how?” Bam wanted to know.

He was gripping the wheel between his hands anxiously. The pale green glow of the dashboard lights made the look on his face seem more haunted rendering the deep blue of his eyes to an unnaturally darker shade. They were like finger holes poked into a living skill as he implored her for answers.

Mel turned away and sunk into her seat, slamming the door to a close.

“I don’t know yet,” she uttered.

In truth she didn’t know how far her commitment ran. With her head still reeling of thoughts of Brad, of Mike, and of all that had happened in the last 24 hours, if not the last few months, she sat slumped and brooding out the window watching the pier and the inky waters of the Hudson slip away.

“Where does Ryu live?”

“Why?”

Frowning dubiously Mel slid her eyes aside to meet him. The silence in the car, over the hum of the motor, was unsettling and heavy with expectation.

“If you want me to help just do it,” she said.

Her mind was already wandering back to a time when she was naive to the horrors yet ahead of her and the look of utter loathing she had seen on the bigger man's face in the back of Mike's club when Joe Hahn had lost his finger for the sins of his ego - and he hadn't even killed anyone, let alone double-crossed them. Gnawing at her lip Mel struggled to formulate some kind of plan to exact her revenge on the one person she distrusted the most on the planet.

“If I’m going to help you out of the mess then I have a score of my own to settle."

And with that they sped off back across the bridge well aware the clock, and other outside elements, was working against them.

---

​

 

[Ravynlee]

---

​

In the darkness Ravyn watched him sleep. The smile she wore was dismal, reflecting the look in her eyes. Lightly cupping his scruffy cheek in her hand she ran her thumb across his lower lip, across the small dimple hidden away behind the hair on his chin. She remembered the morning Nicky had been born and they had marveled at that same trait picking out physical characteristics he had inherited from whom. He had been so perfect, such a happy and healthy baby, and Rob had been over the moon welcoming his firstborn into the world. The grin he had worn on his face that day still made her knees weak when she recalled it. How happy he had been then, how happy they had both been – where the **** had it all gone so wrong, she wondered to herself.

Stroking his hair from his face Ravyn laid poised listening to his breaths, as they remained steady deep and even. He always slept like a baby after they made love; he always slept like the dead.

Delicately she slid her hand down to creep under the pillow. She searched with her heart pounding away in her throat. Feeling the warm metal of the pistol she froze and oh so carefully drew it out. Rob didn’t stop her. He didn’t so much as stir. It felt like a dead weight in her hand. Though she had handled guns before this one felt unnaturally heavy. Maybe it was the sickness in her that made her feel weaker? Maybe it was something else. She blinked at it but only for an instant. The gun that had taken her son’s life had looked almost exactly like this one, but she couldn’t afford to think about that anymore.

Careful not to wake him she lay tense a moment, expecting him to ****** it out of her hand and bark at her bravery, but his breaths still remained slow and heavy and constant. Ravyn could feel her pulse pounding in her ears practically deafening her to everything else. When she looked around she could see the green lights of a bedside alarm clock behind him.

11:18 it said.

Ravyn swallowed loudly. Then, as delicately as she could she manoeuvred her way out from beneath his heavy weight and slipped away.

---

​

 

[Ravynlee]

---

​

Stirring to an empty mattress, Rob groaned. The sound of a squeak somewhere above him made him stop. He squinted his eyes open across the pillow.

“Rave?”

“Don’t,” a voice said.

It took him a moment to register where he was as he scoured the shadows. With protesting joints he weakly pushed himself up. He heard a sharp click and froze. His hand splayed under the pillow. He flinched. His worst suspicions were confirmed once his eyes adjusted to the darkness to realize she was standing in the doorway with her arm outstretched towards him. Through a gap in the curtains a slice of moonlight glimmered across the barrel of the pistol. It was aimed directly at his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he muttered, his voice still thick from sleep and thirst. He snorted incredulously, probably thinking it was some sort of bizarre yet bemusing dream. A moment later he groaned and sunk a fraction into the covers. Better sense had just kicked in and he didn’t like the way it had turned against him.

“You used me – for my gun?”

“If you move I’ll shoot you.”

“Come on Rave, that’s not a toy, give it-” Rob began to warn, and then stopped.

His attentions were stolen by the figure of another in the room with them. It was Ava and she was looking at him with her little eyes weeping. The incredulous smile that had been creeping out across his face ended in an instant. He swung his eyes up at Ravyn.

“What are you-?”

“I told you,” Ravyn said, tightening her grip around Ava’s shoulder. “I’m not letting him get away with what he did.”

“Who?”

“Mike! Who the **** do you think!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, let’s just… think about this for a minute-”

“Save it, I know all about your protocol,” Ravyn uttered.

She jut of her chin, drawing attention to the scars that were scored into her flesh beneath it.

“You’re not talking me out of it. I made a deal and I’m going to see it through-”

“A deal? What kind of deal? Ravyn, this is a- a kid’s life were talking about! Just stop and think for one ******* minute, please!”

Ravyn shook her head. The gun in her hand felt like cement and her limbs were shaking with the effort of keeping it upright and steady but she was determined to see this through to the end. She didn’t have any choice. She sniffled and swallowed down tears, tasting them as others shimmered in her eyes. As surreal as this moment was Ravyn couldn’t help but feel a sickened sense of elation knowing that she held the power of *** in her hands – she could kill him in an instant and there was nothing at all he could do to stop her – it was paradoxically what it must have been for Mike the minute he threw her down on her bathroom floor and tried to decapitate her with whatever the **** he had used. In front of her Rob had uttered something. He was trying to console Ava but Ravyn drew the child backwards another step away from him. His cop tactics wouldn’t work on her but she couldn’t take the risk with Ava.

“I need her. She’s my ticket out of here-”

“You’re using her as collateral? Are you ******* insane?”

“Yes,” Ravyn said quite simply. She even smiled. Had he seen it properly in the dark he might have even seen the proof for himself. “I told you, he’s going to pay for what he did. You and all your cop buddies let him go but I won’t. Chester won’t. He’ll-”

“Chester?” Rob repeated incredulously.

With each passing second it was clear he was losing all sense of control and comprehension with the events unraveling now around him.

“You’re selling me out to help him?” He scoffed. He even chuckled. Slumped back on an outstretched arm he sat rubbing his face a moment. Several meters away Ava was sniffling fearfully.

“****, I knew you were crazy when I married you, but this… this is un-*******-believable… Chester… my ***, I can’t get away from him can I? I wish I hadn’t- what does it matter, I did. I did what I had to do and he went to jail and I’m not sorry for it. Not for any of it,” he said, but his tone severely contradicted the words he was speaking.

Rubbing his brow with his hand he sat a moment, burdened by thoughts and memories that made his shoulders sink even lower towards the mattress.

“You want to shoot me you go ahead, can’t get charged for killing a dead man can you?” he muttered dryly to himself.

Then he summoned his eyes up to face her as directly as the darkness and distance would allow.

“But it won’t change anything,” he said. “Unlike you, I know him, I know what he’s like, I know the minute he gets what he wants he’s gonna get rid of you and then it’s all over. For you, it’s all over – and I can’t save you then.”

“I never asked you to in the first place!” Ravyn cried.

It was the first time she had raised her voice since arriving, and despite Rob’s urging for the contrary, she kept yelling, not caring now whether anyone else heard or not. She had had enough of being dictated to, first by him, then her sister, then by Mike, then by the judicial system that told her there was nothing they could do for her and to basically go on with her life and forget about her ordeal – as if she could! But Rob was looking at her now, she could feel it, the way he used to when they were married. It was after Nicky had been buried and that look that had been on his face at the hospital never went away – it was anger and disappointment and it was blame, blame for something she had never been in a position to change anyway. But here now for the first time in her life she could. The law couldn’t stop him, his conscience certainly wouldn’t, but if selling her soul to the devil assured Mike Shinoda was held accountable for his crimes then so be it, and there was nothing at all that Rob or Joanna or Joel or anyone else in her life could say or do that would make her change her mind.

With her eyes still dismal with tears she told him, “I told you, you should have let me die! I did die! I didn’t want to live this half-life and you didn’t give me a choice! I don’t care if it was your job, for everything else you’ve ever done just once you could have looked the other way for me! You could have let me go – let me go and be with my son, with our son – he needs me… and I need him… because I can’t go on living like this anymore, Rob, I just can’t…”

“Rave,” Rob said.

He made a move towards her but in a loud bang the gun went off. In the sharp, deafening explosion that happened, both Ravyn and Ava squealed.

Rob groaned.

Ravyn panicked.

And then she ran.

---



​

And now I'm off to work! More later.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

That kind of intervention was a no-no in these parts, unless you wanted your headless corpse to be shipped off to differing parts of the globe for distribution.

:lol:

Haha I found that part funny as! I found that **** funny! Omg. The said reality of places like the ports in basically anywhere, is that what you just described it's so true. Mmmmm.......is this part giving the readers an indication to what happens to Sarah? Omg. I would so be so damned gobsmacked if they did that to her, since we haven't heard much of Sarah and what's been happening with her.

Other than that, I personally loved that bit. It really does remind of me a shipping port (mind me and my drunkness at such places ^^). It reminds me of Newcastle, I don't know if you know where that is, but I do, for some reason. Maybe cos everytime I think of a shipping port I think of oil rigs and there's a **** load off Newcastle beaches. I'm just a bit worried that Mel's going to abandon Bam and that........

Just saw the second chapter.



All I have to say is. Omg.

But come back! If I read it properly, Ava's still with Rob's now-****** corpse.

Lol. Couldn't help but to laugh at the point where you called Nick, 'Nicky'. Aww. Cute though.

Congrads again.

Here's another bunch of emoticons to describe my congrads.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I love these emoticons. A picture tells a thousand words, yours is telling a story which I think should be turned into a movie or something, and emoticons, well, everyone loves them. Just because there's a shitload of them to describe the shitload of thrills you give me during my reading course of this story.

 

[Ravynlee]

Thankyou

I'm not sure what part you're referring to regarding the Nick/Nicky part but after 2 days struggling with those two chapters things might've been a bit haywire. Generally speaking, as confusing as it may be for the reader, there are 2 Nick's essentially.

Nicky - Rav's son

Nick - Stahl, the dude she ran away from rehab with before Rob finished him off.

The reason I used the similar names, like I said, as confusing as it may be for you, was that all the way through everything for Rav keeps going back to that night she lost her son (Nicky) and when Nick (Stahl, aka Bully - his movie of that name where he is a real nasty piece of work, and I love it ^^) came along she had this instant connection in her eyes... sounds strange but if you haven't been paying attention and need me to spell out the obvious the girl has been progressively losing the proverbial plot the whole way through, so that's the logic behind that.

Sorry for the confusion. And again if I referred to one as the other forgive me, if you read the context of the name you should know who I'm talking about

As for Newcastle, of course i know where it is, I was born in Sydney, I just live interstate, so yes I have an idea what the reputation is there. And as for Mel abandoning Bam have to wait and see. And as for Sarah, again, wait and see. Ava...? Can't say what's happened there yet, I like to keep y'all guessing. Just trying to tie in loose ends as we make our way to the final climax, so to speak.

Yeah, Rav shooting Rob, who saw that one coming, huh? :scary:

More later.