MS - Rav's newest story

[crazy robster]

You nailed it sis that was breathtaking that was brilliant that was 100% awesomeness! I chuckled a bit at the thought of Allie as a criminal, like Fribs said, but yeah it was great!! And grrr...Rob...isn't he like...ignoring me and our baby completely?? He needs a slap in the face. My God if I was married to a man like that in real life we would fight like a cat and a dog every single day!! I can't stand apathy! Please, am I allowed to have an affair? LMAO :D Can't wait for more! <3

[Friðbjörn]

an affair? haha

Rob would go bananas

[crazy robster]

LOL Fribs!! Actually I don't care if he goes bananas or grapes or apples, he has no excuse!! Perfect timing I say sis... Can't freakin wait for the update!! :D

[Ravynlee]

^ :rofl: That was great! haha - Fruit salad of debauchery huh? Meh, while the cat's away the mice will play or so the saying goes I guess haha

 

And just to clarify, sorry if it was inferred but not intended wholeheartedly (at least not yet) Allie is Chester's new lawyer or some such, she is the one that will eventually get his sorry butt out of jail. Eventually. Haha. If she's corrupt remains to be seen. The law is blind remember? Even the guiltiest members of our society are entitled to legal representation... but no matter, shall see how that one develops as the story progresses.

 

And while sis knows in part what's in store for her character the rest of you just have to wait.

Here's a small update for today.

Hope y'all enjoy.

 

(Disclaimer - if you don't like the word 'Fuck' then switch off now. Mike's gonna lose it temporarily >:o- oh and implied adult themes... as if the rest of it so far wasn't *shakes head* haha)

 

---

 

“Honey, it’s beautiful… what’s the occasion?”

Fingering the sparkling jewel that hung around her neck Rashell smiled. She clasped Mike’s hand as he clasped at her shoulders. In the mirror their reflections kissed. Rashell purred back over her shoulder into her husband’s welcome face.

“No occasion,” Mike smiled breathing intimately against her. “Can’t I lavish gifts on the most beautiful woman in the world?”

Pecking his lips again Rashell balked.

“Hmm. Speaking of, can’t you at least wash them off you before you walk in this house?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You stink of them. I know perfume when I smell it,” she said.

Shimmying out from between the sheets she got to her feet. Pulling a pale pink satin robe over her negligee she flicked her hair that was almost brown in the early morning shadow over the collar. Behind her Mike had repositioned himself with a weary groan on the foot of the mattress. He sat watching her with a heavy frown and a skewed smile leaning over his long legs like atlas carrying the proverbial weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Come on, Rashell, you’re being paranoid.”

“Am I?” she challenged.

Though there was no malice to her tone what so ever the look she gave him albeit briefly over her shoulder spoke more to her accusations than mere words ever could. Leaving the room she entered the ensuite and snapped on the light with a gentle click.

“You spend all night over there at that… club of yours, or whatever you want to call it. It’s like I hardly ever see you anymore.”

“Come on, babe, you know I have to work.”

“No, work I can understand Michael,” her voice said, echoing back from the tiles with a strange dissociative quality. “What you and your so called buddies get up to over there… sometimes I’m not even sure I want to know about it.”

With a weary groan Mike stood, his joints cracking like little whips amid the quiet. Kneading the back of his neck he approached the bathroom and lingered in the doorway with his shoulder pressed against the buttress without so much as peeking in.

“What are you talking about?” he asked without much regard.

Folding his arms across his chest he waited, listening for the toilet cistern to flush and quieten again before he rolled himself forward to stand just inside the doorway. Rashell ignored him at first and washed her hands at the porcelain sink with her eyes fixated ahead at her own reflection. She stroked her cheek and brushed her fingers through her hair before the sparkling diamond that hung below her throat caught her attentions with an appreciative stare. It glimmered like a teardrop beneath the track halogen lighting. Mike’s fingers slid over her shoulders and groped the satin with tender affection. With closed eyes he nuzzled close to her neck and inhaled her personal scents. He breathed in deeply and let it out again before he opened his eyes once more.

“You know it doesn’t matter how many women I might look at babe, you know you’re the only woman for me. You know I love you.”

Catching his dark eyes in the mirror again over her shoulder Rashell’s reticent pout dissolved to a smirk. Reaching back she gently cupped his crown, trying for what it was worth to stroke his short dark hair. She sighed. She wished he wouldn’t keep cutting it so short these days, he was leaving her little to run her fingers through.

“You always have a way with words, mister,” she mused.

She giggled as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a firm squeeze. Sometimes he could be rough with her and not even know it. Gently tapping his arm she gestured he let her go. Smothering more kisses against her hair Mike muttered out a wanton sigh before Rashell drew her shoulder down and ducked away from him. She wasn’t opposed to having impromptu sex at some godforsaken hour of the morning but she did require he at least smell decent before he instigated it. Giving him an apologetic smile Rashell lingered by the counter as Mike reluctantly peeled off his jacket. Rashell’s smile grew in triumph.

“So I take it business must be doing well now for you to be bringing home expensive gifts like this. Looks like it cost a small fortune.”

“It did. But I saw it and knew you had to have it.”

“That’s sweet, babe, but really, I don’t need expensive jewelery to know you still think of me. The occasional phone call every now and then, even if it is just to say you’re going to be staying late, that would mean more to me you know. I know trying to keep the club afloat in a competitive market means you have to put in more hours, but I would like to see my husband every once in a while, just to remember what he looks like. So god forbid I don’t have to keep seeing it on the news and think to myself he looks like someone I used to know.”

[Ravynlee]

“Okay, I got you, point taken,” Mike quipped.

With a cynical snort as he stepped out of his black pumps and socks with a muffled clatter.

Rashell watched him snap on the water inside the glass cubicle with a suggestive smirk and eventually peel his clothes away, stepping naked in beneath the water with a bestial groan. The cacophony of fat droplets splattering against the tiles rang like applause throughout the marble bathroom. Still fingering the new jewel at her neck she let her eyes wander from the ground up, admiring the sight of her husband behind the mottled glass with a satisfied smile. Running his hands over his face and head Mike spat out a mouthful of steamy water.

“You coming in or not?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“Like you of all people need an invitation.”

“Never know. God knows who you might want to be in there with, could mistake me for any one of those topless bimbos you keep in that den of debauchery you call an investment.”

Squeaking open the door Mike peered out through the steam and frowned through the water droplets streaming off his furrowed brow to again snort at her. Rather than respond he beckoned her over with a curled finger. With a giggle Rashell happily obliged. Minutes later naked and locked together beneath the steaming jets of water Mike and Rashell stood staring into each other’s eyes intimately. Rashell was smiling in contentment.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Rashell confessed. She reclaimed hold of her wrist with both arms slung around his neck and broad shoulders, slipping against the downpour. “Just… thinking.”

“About me?”

“You’re such a narcissist,” she s******ed as he murmured against her lips amusedly. “I was thinking about us. About how lucky I am to have you.”

“Mm. I’m hearing you.”

“Even if you are getting a huge ego over this.”

“That’s not all that’s getting huge.”

“Mike,” Rashell giggled, playing along as he nuzzled into her neck and left a raised mark there. “I’m being serious. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed or not but you’re getting quite a fan base out there, you know that don’t you? I mean, just the other day this woman came by looking for you-”

“Was she cute?” Mike teased.

Rashell slapped his tanned shoulder in mock-insult.

“I don’t know. But she was here asking all sorts of questions. At first I thought she was just in the wrong neighbourhood but then when she said she was a reporter-”

Suddenly Mike had gone rigid against her and was pulling himself upright to look into his wife’s face seriously.

“Excuse me? A what?”

“A reporter,” Rashell repeated. “Said she worked for The Tribune or something. No wait, The Times. I don’t remember what her name was but I know it sounded strange. Sounds like something you’d expect from a hippy commune or something down in Jersey or something. Ravell, Rainman-”

“Ravyn,” Mike uttered with a detestable frown.

Suddenly his demeanour had shifted as he slid his arms from around his wife, his expression distorted but stony beneath the cascading water.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Rashell grinned. “Why, do you-?”

“I have to make a phone call,” Mike said.

He was peeling her arms down from his shoulders with all previous jovialities quashed. Sensing something was amiss but not sure what to make of it Rashell went to embrace him again out of concern only to find his hands snag her wrists and hold her off briefly. When she dropped her arms a moment later Mike was already weaving past her making his way out of the shower.

Concernedly Rashell called after him.

“Honey, what’s wrong? Did I-?”

“What did she ask you?”

“What? I dunno. Questions I guess. I didn’t get it at first, she was asking about your brother and I just realised-”

“She knows about Jay?” Mike asked.

Poised to hold her eyes a grave moment Mike roughly continued to dry himself with a towel before he threw it over his face and scuffed up his hair in irritation. Rather than speak Rashell snapped off the water to follow but Mike was leaving the room before she had even stepped free of the water.

“Honey?”

“I’ll just be a few minutes. Wait there.”

“But Mike I thought we-”

“Just stay there!” he snapped. Then his footfalls and his irritated tone stormed across the next room and with a retreating thunder were gone completely.

 

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“We can’t keep doing this. Too many people might see. After the other night, like, my partner, I think he already might-”

“Fuck that!” Mike snapped.

He dropped from the brick pile he had been sitting on with a loud clap. The sound echoed like a muffled blast into the darkness. Around them the construction site sat empty, the pre-dawn gloom reclaiming the city with an eerie stillness. Somewhere in the distance a truck hooned down the freeway. Music thumped too loud from someone’s car like a secondary heartbeat. Storming up to his taller counterpart Mike swept his arms out gesturing he had more encompassing matters on his mind than Rob’s insecurities.

“I don’t give a fuck who knows! This bitch came to my house, man. She came to my front door and started grilling my wife! She’s fucking lucky I haven’t like capped a bullet through her head before this! I fucking should!”

Prodding himself in the forehead with two fingers he gestured a point-blank range shot with his implied weapon before Rob guiltily dropped his eyes low to the ground.

“The only reason I haven’t is because she’s your ex- fucking wife, okay? That, and I don’t need ten thousand cops descending on my club right at this very minute! The press would have a fucking field day! This… fat bitch needs to learn how to keep her mouth shut-”

“Alright,” Rob muttered.

Mike stormed over to him and practically wrenched the younger man’s head up. His face was lethal as was Rob’s but the trepidation the Asian-American saw there made his frown distort from outrage to all out disgust. With a huff he scoffed dubiously.

“It’s not all right! What did you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her anything.”

“The bitch knows something, like, she obviously didn’t get it from me.”

“I swear, man, I didn’t. I told you I wouldn’t-”

Whether agitated by the cop’s reticent attitude or the lack of answers being given to him, Mike stormed off again a few paces with the sound of his shoes punching the dirt and gravel like a series of angry fists.

“I’ve come too far and I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to have this… bitch of yours come along and ruin it,” he grumbled over his shoulder.

Rob frowned back, his insult stirred up with remorse and unease as he shared his attentions between the deserted allotment, his angry associate and the dirt at his feet with barely disguised paranoia. Ahead of him the rusted shell of a concrete mixer sat silhouetted along with a veritable jungle of discarded items against the ghostly backdrop of sleeping city streets. It was all too easy for him to loose time pondering at just how many unfortunate souls had wound up lost beneath this compacted dirt and smothered in cement that no one would bother looking for let alone consider to seek for here. Arguably he knew he should have been one of them. The proposed extension to the club would take many years for that very purpose he thought impulsively as he sat rubbing the sleep from his eyes and face with a disassociated groan. Feeling the weight of the other man’s presence and eventually his lethal stare on him Rob yawned and looked up to show he had been paying attention to the angry club-owner’s tirade.

“I don’t care how you do it, you get her to shut her fucking mouth or I will, am I making myself clear?”

Rob nodded back at the ground dismally.

“Yeah,” he said.

Mike’s s****** made the plain-clothed officer blink up with an indignant scowl to his already terse expression.

“I doubt it. Bet she didn’t even listen to you in the years you were married. What’s that saying, Jews don’t get divorced, they get even?”

Rob’s lips pursed into a grimace but word didn’t follow as Mike continued on like his quip had barely stirred a ripple in his vocal outburst.

“But I tell you one thing, she sure as shit better start, because I’m telling you if I go down because of her or anyone like her I’m taking them and a shit-load of other people down with me, including you, do you hear what I’m telling you? I fucking made you Rob. You owe me. Without me your ass would have been history long before this and you know it.”

Crouched down Mike was staring into Rob’s face with all the gravity of a dying soul seeking final absolution. Huffing on breaths that appeared to practically pain him Rob stared back, his jaw locked so tight his nostrils were flaring with each exhalation.

“You don’t want me turning on you, Rob. Trust me, you don’t want that. Especially not with a little one on the way. She’s gonna need her daddy around for a few more years yet but only you can make that happen.”

“I swear if you touch her-”

“It’s too late for that,” Mike scoffed, waving away the idle threat with an air of invincibility. “We both know what happens when good cops finally snap. Trust me your death wont even make the evening news. I don’t give two shits about your damned reputation. Farrell might not have seen you coming but I’m much smarter than that Rob. That gold badge you carry belongs to me and you know it. Without me you’re just another nobody, don’t forget who pulls your strings and the strings of half of this godforsaken city.”

Mike smirked without the slightest trace of humour to his face now almost completely obscured by shadow.

“Now you make this little problem disappear or I will, got me? And I guarantee if you force my hand on this it’s going to be a permanent solution.”

“I get it,” Rob muttered behind the palms of his hands. He flinched but just barely as Mike reached out to clap his old friend on the back of his head with a congenial chuckle.

“I thought you’d see things my way,” he said.

His knees popped as he stood upright and dusted the dirt he could scarcely see off of them.

“It’s funny,” he mused as if delivering an amusing anecdote, “You’d probably be surprised just how many people do, like see things my way. In life like there is no easy option. Life’s a lot like business, survival of the fittest. You think about that - I’ll see you round. Oh, and congratulations on the promotion, detective. I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em all dead.”

S******ing amusedly Mike strode over to his car closed himself inside and pulled on up the street leaving Rob alone in the dark with his thoughts, his standard issue 9mm in his fist and a look on his face like a man condemned to execution.

 

---

 

More later.

And thanks for reading and reviewing guys. Means the world.

:yes:

[Ravynlee]

Okay I couldn't help myself. I penned this just quickly before work. It lightens the mood a little. Here sis, this is for you

 

---

 

The rain thundered down as the men exited the corridor. Emerging in an open-ended hangar they came to a stop assessing their surrounds with a cautious stare. Music warbled from a dented tape deck, ricocheting painfully around the aluminum walls. Two men shooting hoops beside a bulky SWAT truck scuffled across the pavement with exaggeratedly raised voices. Outside beneath the torrential downpour the jagged landscape of the city appeared like some impressionist watercolour painting melting into the angry sky above.

“Bourdon, Friðbjörn, I’d like you to meet your new team.”

“Hey, what we got here captain? Some fresh meat?” one of the men chuckled.

He was nursing the basketball beneath a colourfully tattooed arm as all eyes turned to acknowledge the trios arrival with amused s******s. Behind him another man wearing a black DCMA tanktop, a long chain sporting a gleaming set of brass knuckles and sporting equal amounts of monochrome tattoos approached to drape an arm over the first and slap the ball from his grip.

“Their the male strippers you ordered,” he chuckled as he walked backwards, bouncing the basketball between his hands as the hangar erupted with chiding laughter. The first man peered over his shoulder and gave him the finger. The laughter rang out louder.

“Guys, serious for a minute,” the captain called over the roar of the music and noise.

With a click the song died mid-stanza and left the thunderous applause of the rain alone to abate the mounting silence. The handful of men stopped what they had been doing to approach the captain with dutiful stares. Four in all they stood in civilian clothes, looking eerily like random strangers that had been picked off the streets for this very purpose. Swallowing loudly Frib scanned their faces with a dubious stare. Desipte the fact he was the shortest one amongst them he could well feel the seniority around him like a kid in the schoolyard of college grads. Looking aside to his partner he wasn’t appeased to note that the look on Rob’s face hadn’t changed in the car ride over, if indeed it ever shifted expressions at all.

“These here are the twins, that one’s Benj, that’s Joel Madden, the scruffy one next to him is Karl Urban and that big son of a bitch on the end is Oded, these here are the new recruits we were telling you about. This is Rob Bourdon and Kristjian F- how do I say your name again?”

“Uh - just Frib, Frib will do,” the petty officer said with a hot self-conscious tinge to his cheeks.

The men s******ed back in amusement.

“Bourdon,” the one named Joel said as he extended his hand cordially. “Don’t I know you? Hey you’re the one that brought down Chester Bennington. Yeah I remember you, how are you?”

“Good. Yeah. You?”

“Wow, what the hell do you need us for?” Benji asked with his endearing smile as handshakes were exchanged all around. “You could probably handle this whole operation by yourself. Talk about overqualified.”

Rob snorted to himself as he dropped his eyes like Frib had done. Clearly unprepared for the accolades that never ceased to circulate the new detective Frib forced himself to look away and study the faces of his newest partners, wondering with a severe frown if any of the others held as many suspicions in that regards as he did. It’s all just a test, this is all just a test, just let it go and see what develops, you don’t have any evidence to back that up yet, he told himself. When he looked up again Rob was looking at him. Frib almost choked on his tongue. Had Rob somehow been able to read on his face what he had been thinking?

“Let’s get down to business.”

Scattered around the large hangar the group sat with their backs to the rain thundering down on the other side of the gaping archway.

“You all know why you’re here,” the captain was instructing from his perch against a wooden crate to the faces all staring back intently. Parting his interlocked fingers he dug behind himself to withdraw the folder he seemed to carry with him everywhere and opened it to hold a page aloft for the other officers to see.

“While you have your objectives this gentlemen is your prize. You score her the whole sordid pyramid crumbles. Her street name is Greyfoxx, we don’t really know much more than that. She was reportedly one of Chester’s underlings before Bourdon here sent his ass to Rikers but word on the street is she’s taken his reigns and reforming the troupes beneath her command. She’s the one we need to take down if we want to succeed in this little endeavor.”

“Piece of cake. I’ll have her in by dinner time.”

“Don’t get cute,” Goren warned, “and don’t get too ahead of yourselves. This Greyfoxx is as slippery as they come. She’s fast, she’s smart and she has the whole fucked up element of the sewer behind her. You wont be able to get at her through your usual sources, fact is very few people even know what this woman looks like. All they know is her name and her reputation. Now her boyfriend was something of an entrepreneur but Fox here is as dangerous as they come, and as cunning, just like her name sake eludes.”

The men s******ed with dispassionate amusement.

“If she’s so hard to catch how are we supposed to know where to start looking for her?” Benji shrugged vaguely. The men nodded back in agreement. “I mean, if she has the street and the pushers and the junkies behind her what chance have we got? We’re what six men against six million out there? I don’t like those odds.”

“Dangerous odds,” Oded said in his gruff manner. The murmurs of agreement continued to resound over the downpour behind them.

Passing the picture to Frib to peruse and hand around the captain stirred against his perch stoically. He sighed.

“Well we’re lucky we caught a break. Thanks to your new friends here we were able to apprehend one Joseph Hahn. For those of you who don’t know he started running with Bennington’s crew just before the whole bust went down. Luckily he made it in good with both Chester and Foxx before their little operation went to shit. He was cooperative enough to give us a few insights into this little organization.”

At the cost of his other fingers, I bet, Frib pouted at his shoes dourly. The paper rustled as it passed from one set of hands to another before it made it’s way back to the captain’s hands with a thankful grunt.

“What organization? Last I heard they had all scattered?”

“Yeah. Sources said they all panicked and ran for the hills.”

“They did,” Goren said simply with his arms folded against his barrel of a chest. “She’s bringing them all back again.”

[Ravynlee]

“Great, a city full of criminals and drug addicts and thieves, like that’s a new concept.”

The men s******ed at their offsider’s sarcastic observation.

“Look I don’t like it anymore than any of you do,” Goren said with a tone of voice that wavered between parental and utter disregard, “But I have my orders and so do you. The Top Brass are worried about a gangland warfare festering in the city streets and frankly so am I. If this Greyfoxx or whatever the hell she calls herself is really as dangerous as they say you can imagine what kind of headache she’s going to cause us if we don’t head her off now.”

“So snatch and grab?”

“Yes. Find her bring her in, the rest we don’t care about. She is the key we need to keep both her boyfriend behind bars where he belongs and to stop the shit storm from building over before it starts. She’s top priority men. Everything else takes a back seat until we get this crazy bitch in custody. All right get out of here. And make the new kids on the block feel welcome. Don’t make me regret why I dragged you all together in the first place.”

 

 

 

 

Wandering the halls not long afterwards Rob and Frib followed their new team in through the hallowed halls of the Narcotics department with solemn stares. Through a squeaking set of doors they entered an office not unlike the one they had left behind in the city with its typically cluttered walls desks and whiteboards marked with barely legible scribbles as the troupe disbanded inside. Phones rang and the voices of others garbled against the backdrop of clicking keys and two ways and police scanners. Rolling his eyes around the room Frib felt his heart kick up with a sense of delirium that he had actually made it to probationary detective in such a short space of time, and with such a brief and uneventful career he had thus far endured. Watching the twins show Rob a white board at the far end of the room the young man huffed out a sigh unable to stop himself from feeling residual guilt and apprehension simmering inside of him. He was unable to shake the fears that he had been brought up to this rank purely on his partner’s say so and with an unspoken debt now hanging uninitiated and unwelcome over his head, and was now at the mercy of unseen forces he did not want to be trifling with.

Dropping his eyes he huffed out a heavy and burdensome sigh as the sound of the young men’s voices carried back from the other side of the room with an almost childlike exuberance.

“Wow, so like you’re like the guy that brought down Bennington all by yourself huh? Man what are you doing here? You should be out writing a book or talking on Oprah or something, rolling in the loot, you know.”

“Hey we should all go out and celebrate later and you can maybe tell us all about it.”

“Yeah, hey, you like jokes right? Hear the one about the cops that walk into a bar? Okay so there’s this Jew, this Arab, Kiwi and a couple of white boys walk into a bar right. Heard this one? No? You don’t know what happens?”

“Just give him the damn punch line Joel.”

“You sure?”

“No,” Rob confessed.

The Madden twins grinned back amusedly.

“What, how the hell should I know? Lets go find out! Come on, my shout!”

“Hey, guys, want to head out and grab a couple of Buds? Get to know the neighbours, like.”

Oded, Frib and Karl paused over their paperwork all wearing strangely unimpressed frowns on their faces. Joel and Benji chuckled back as Rob smirked with a dubious pout.

“I thought we had a job to do.”

“Drinking’s a job.”

“Especially if you do it as much as this bitch does,” Joel thumbed over his shoulder at his twin stirringly. They chuckled again with a few playful slaps and shoves as they made their way over to join the others.

“Come on, just a few. We can catch up there and talk shop or whatever. It’s not like the case is going anywhere right now. A few hours won’t hurt.”

“I don’t drink,” Rob said at last wary to see how his confession would be received by his new counterparts.

Joel’s grin died as the others’ grew.

“You’re kidding. What, not even a little at Christmas or something?”

“It’s not Christmas yet,” Karl said as he dropped the papers in his hand back to the pile before him and strode around to his friend to clap him in the back of his head sharply.

“And that’s New Zealander by the way. You say Kiwi one more time you’re gonna be pulling that long chain out of your ass one link at a time, got me? Not all of us get turned on by your ethnic slurs even with your bent sense of humour.”

Casually draped over his twin’s shoulder Benji gave the other man a dramatic pout before he chuckled and slapped Joel’s chest playfully.

“You don’t wanna know what turns me on, guys.”

“No you’re right,” Karl said as he walked away, a smirk discreetly growing upon his haggard features, “We don’t.”

“Welcome to the madness,” Oded said, blinking down over Frib with a small smile too.

Rolling his eyes aside Frib looked to his partner with a somnolent expression as he watched them all walking away with meandering purpose.

“What the hell am I getting myself into?” he uttered under his breath.

Pushing himself forward he hurried to catch up with the troupe as they exited through another door on the other side of the precinct glad that no one had heard him let alone answered.

 

 

---

[andrea]

Oh god I feel bad for not review yesterday, but oh well I caught up finely, well sort of, haha. The first update was to much to take in all at once, but in a good way. Wonder how long Frib's is going to keep silent about what he thinks is going on with Rob and Mike. And second update, first I have to say, oh my god, like have you been reading what I say in the COS, haha? That was just too much to take, more like in a fluster way, haha. *fans self here*

-Didn't read the third update, got to go, it's late here! Will read and review later-

[crazy robster]

OMG sis that made me grin like an idiot!! You used BOTH the Maddens? Well, of course they're twins, Joel can't go anywhere without Benji right? "Hey Benj, my phone got cut off what do I do??" I'm impressed and happy!! And you have portrayed them very well sis, their sense of humour, their strong bond, Benji's overprotective attitude towards his bro... Excellent! Can't thank you enough!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SIS!! More more MOOOOOORE! <3 <3 <3

[Greyfoxx]

omg omg omg i missed sooo much. Damn, *prints it out*

[Friðbjörn]

haha how cool is that

karl urban...from lotr

and is that oded the one and only oded fehr? from the mummy movies and that terrorist mini series?

 

can't wait for more

[Ravynlee]

haha how cool is that

karl urban...from lotr

and is that oded the one and only oded fehr? from the mummy movies and that terrorist mini series?

 

can't wait for more

Right you are! See how crazy it is in my head sometimes? *lmao*

New faces, new scenarios, cant hurt right? Besides great eye candy for me

If anyone else can get their heads around it then even better.

More soon ^^

[Pheonix791989]

sorry its been a while i had a broken finger and then my internet went down at school. yay benjiiiiiiii!! you used the much hotter twin. w00tness *squees for benji* i love the updates. ballin. you better update more so i have something to do this weekend other then listen to my dad bitch at me.

[crazy robster]

Haha someone else also appreciated the Madden addition in the story! Excellent!! But my sis used BOTH the twins not only Benji 0_o Not to mention that...ok ok I won't reveal more, waiting patiently for my sis to update I'm not ruining it LOL I SOOOOOO can't wait!!

[Ravynlee]

Shh sis! haha Don't say nothing! Hahaha awww you're both sweet. Admittedly I know very little about the Maddens save for what sis has told me and the info I extracted from an Aussie interview here last week, but its fun to have more faces in it besides just the LP crew. I've unfairly pigeon-holed the whole band over the years but at least this way I get to branch out a bit more. Plus not everyone gets off on LP alone, we all have external interests too (go the eye candy!) so I didn't see the harm in it. I know a lot of people dont appreciate this kind of story but I thought it was kind of cool to pen out this surreal little universe in my head - if others like it bonus for me, and if not *shrugs* So be it.

 

So I know it's been a few days since my last confession, I mean update :lol: but yeah, real life gets in the way sometimes. It also paves the way for some interesting ideas. Hope it all makes sense.

Here's today's update. Enjoy!

 

Thanks again to those that read and review. :ok: As always.

[Ravynlee]

(Disclaimer - usual foul language, implied gore and maybe a touch too much perversity, but I'm only human right? Imagine the warning you'd get if this WASN'T a general all-ages forum! haha So yeah, you know the drill - don't know 'em never will).

 

---

 

Mel stood watching her boss across the stage with a serious frown.

Her headache was steadily growing worse as she stood there leaning against the bar with her foot up on the nearest stool, squinting through the bright lights and the contrasting darkness and the relentless thump of the music coming from any number of speakers that inhabited the club. Beside her Bam was drinking despite the fact her watch said it wasn’t even midday outside. The innards of the club, set behind heavy doors and framed on all sides by dark material-draped walls, disassociated her senses further. It felt like a whole separate universe inside here most times, in fact if she didn’t keep track of the time she feared the days would blend into one another with a long haunting finality, a corporeal groundhog day here in hell.

Ribisi was reading the paper as he often did, priding himself on absorbing knowledge and having an eerie penchant for keeping it all to himself behind those red rimmed and traumatised eyes. Ryu and Tak were playing pool with another man in a rear room. As usual Mike sat alone staring at the screen of his laptop with vested concentration. In front of him three women were dancing on the stage clad in little else but dangerous heels, thong panties and bored looks to their made up faces. Mel watched them sway like they moved to a beat not coming from the speakers. She downed the last of her Red Bull before slamming the empty can against the bar top. Lazy eyes watched her from seemingly every direction but from the single face directly ahead.

Mel was bored and restless. Beside her Bam had tapped her arm either to summon her attentions or simply annoy her. She grunted down over him. He was motioning towards the door. A woman had entered. She wasn’t alone. She wore long black boots, a black corset dress that hugged her solid frame and a slick black coat that swished behind her as she moved like the ocean rippling at midnight. Flaming red hair cascaded down over the collar, contrasting her pale almost pearlesque complexion. There was a brief smattering of laughter from a few in the club but Mel was not one of them. Though she was not immune to the beauty of all things, even death, Mel was intrigued as she watched the redheaded lady study the darkness without straining and walk straight up to Mike without a moment’s hesitation. Every one of his henchmen made to stand but with a raised hand Mike held them in position. He smiled back over his shoulder at the newcomer and the two she had brought with her, amusedly looking like extras out of some modern gothic vampire flick or some such.

“Fox.”

“MS. Long time no see.”

Mel scowled back irritably.

“Well, you know me,” Mike smirked relaxing back with an arm draped over the bar in front of him casually. “All work no play. How’s Chester?”

Fox snorted with mock amusement. Even from half way across the club Mel could well hear their voices laced with more than just forced cordialities.

“He’s fine, thanks for asking,” Fox nodded aside in a way to suggest she meant the exact opposite.

“So what brings you to me? Need a little… grown up company while you’re waiting? Hmm. We could make some amazing music together Foxxy.”

“Thanks. I don’t date primates.”

“Ouch,” Mike smirked. His teeth were showing in some semblance of a smile but the look on the rest of his face contested he was far from amused by her quip. “Well it’s a good thing I don’t date drug-fucked princesses then isn’t it, but you know me, I’m always open to trying new things.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Have you looked in the mirror lately sweetheart?”

Drawing in a considerate breath Mike paused, letting his acerbic pun summon the previous stoic look upon his face once more.

“So I guess if you’re not here to play you’re here to talk shop then.”

“Joe Hahn.”

“What of him?”

“You set him up for the feds and I wanna know why.”

“Why? No reason. He outlived his usefulness here. I thought the man could do with a change of scenery.”

“Is that why you hacked off his fucking finger? For the fun of it?”

“Please, you pushers do worse to yourselves when your on a bender, don’t come to me on a pedestal Fox, he got what he deserved end of story. You know, truth be told he got off lightly. I had other plans in mind for one mister Hahn but… apparently the forces-that-be decided he’d serve a better purpose for me alive than dead.”

“The forces-that-be,” Fox scoffed dourly and swept up his drink to down voraciously. She slammed the empty glass down against the bar the sound of which echoed above the din of the music with equal amounts of rage and authority.

“I am the forces-that-be.”

“No you’re not, you’re just some chick in a costume with an inferiority complex,” Mike said peering back across the arm’s length that divided them with cool detachment. “Don’t forget, I know you. I knew you before you became this thing you are now. I know who you really are, Meaghan. I bet the feds would really be interested in hearing what our mutual friend Joe Hahn has to say about you when they get through drilling his ass, you think?”

Snorting through her mounting rage with a cruel smirk Fox leant closer to the Asian-American and managed a wanton smile. She s******ed to herself and slung an arm around his shoulders enticingly.

“Mike,” she cooed with her green eyes penetrating him. “There’s no need for us to be like this, besides all this talk of Joe and asses frankly is more your style, not mine.”

She laughed at his small sneer and leant so close she was practically purring into his ear like some sleek dangerous panther.

“Don’t forget, I know you too. It works both ways... Funny, I never noticed your eyes before, they look so… familiar to me. Oh that’s right, I must be thinking of Jason-”

“Get out,” Mike grumbled, all traces of anything but hatred stripped from his tone.

[Ravynlee]

Fox pulled back just enough to stare him in the face evenly. Reaching up she gently caressed the side of his face as if reconciling the memory of a loved one. With a sudden snatch of her wrist Mike squeezed it before inclining to meet her stare with one of his own.

“I said get out.”

“You know he looked so much like you,” Fox continued on, unperturbed. “Especially that night on his way to the hospital, when he was screaming for you to save him and you weren’t anywhere at all to be-”

Suddenly up out of his seat Mike was pushing Fox backwards, snapping her roughly by the wrists and ceasing the words flowing like bitter honey from her lips. The men that littered the club were on their feet now, as was Mel, even the dancers had stopped in their dubious way, as the music continued on unabated lending a surreal atmosphere to the proceedings.

“Get the fuck out of my club before I blow more than just holes through you- You wanna be the undead, I’m more than fucking happy to accommodate,” he sneered.

Fox laughed.

With a hiss Mike shoved her loose.

“You don’t scare me Mike. You’re just the same old coward hiding behind all this,” Fox said, waving a pale hand through the air to gesture the club with an ambivalent air. “Behind your words, behind… her.”

Peering back across the bar all eyes centred on Mel expectantly before the sound of stools scraping across the boards and angry murmurs from the mob permeated. Mike scoffed back, keeping his posse at bay as much as he was amused by Fox’s opinion with an ambivalent air of his own. He even smiled as he stroked the dark hair on the end of his chin and blinked up from the floorboards into Fox’s eyes with a leering smile.

“If you knew what she was capable of you wouldn’t even be standing here,” he said, ominously.

Fox scoffed at him.

“I’m not scared of anyone, especially not some gender-challenged ninja wanna-be like that. If she does it for you, so be it, each to their own, right? But when Chester gets out, and he will, you want to hope you’ve got something more to hide behind than that, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Thanks for the warning. Now fuck off.”

“Ooh how much your brother sounded like you. It’s almost like I can still hear him. Oh that’s right, I can’t, he’s dead. Silly me.”

All eyes were on Mike who stood stiff and silent against the insult with his teeth gnashed and his dark eyes slitted. He raised a finger and pointed it in the redhead’s face ominously.

“My brother was not a drug addict like you,” he said carefully, precisely, bitterly.

Fox scoffed and shook her head gesturing her opinion had already been shared on the matter regardless. Turning her back she surveyed the faces that glared out from the shadows and with a final parting smirk in Mike’s direction she and her companions walked out of the club just as simply as they had arrived. The tension did not depart with her. Whether feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes upon him or frustrated by the confrontation in general Mike stood a moment before with a vicious grunt he reached out and swept the empty glass off the bar. It shattered upon the floor with a loud smash. One of the dancers muffled a squeal. Then, eventually, to the call of the music and the necessity of distraction - and a terse look from the man himself - the women went back to dancing as the others settled back to what they had been doing before the intrusion, albeit with tentative expressions now etched on their faces.

“Yo M, what the hell man, why are you just letting that bitch walk away like that? Someone should pop a cap in her ass-”

“You’re so cute when you’re drunk,” Mel smirked wryly over her shoulder. She met Bam’s eyes over the rim of his glass. Though she still didn’t really know the man all that well his impulsive antics and acerbic attitude struck a familiar accord with her, especially given the amount of time they’d spent in the same crew together shaking down the same quarry with equal amounts of rigor and energy. “Where do you think you are, South Compton?”

Bam opened his mouth to retaliate around a smirk when the sound of another intercepted over the drone of the music.

“Why would I do that?”

Mike approached with a casual swagger having vented much of his aggression on the glass that one of the staff underlings were busily and silently tending at his back.

“Well, someone should teach her a lesson. I mean you hacked off Hahn’s finger and yet you let that bitch all but kick you in the balls and you’re just gonna stand here and take it?”

Mike scoffed as he came to a stop barely metres from them. Mel straightened up, not so much in fear but in readiness, the adrenalin still coursing through her veins from the minute she saw her boss lose his calm reserve on an inanimate object moments ago. Mike for his part was smirking now, back to wearing his ever-affable smile that was as mysterious as it was forced, the big keeper of secrets that lied behind those wide dark intelligent eyes.

“For one thing,” he said “Joe Hahn was different. He was my friend-”

“I’d hate to be your fuckin’ enemy-”

“Jesus,” Mel cursed under her breath, sliding her eyes aside once more to her co-worker with a look of quiet caution to them.

Mike s******ed, more interested at that moment in wiping his hands together as if cleaning the residue of contact with his visitor from them. His smirk had grown to a smile, an all-out grin full of teeth that with a bowed face looked almost maniacal in the dim club lights.

[Ravynlee]

“Joe took something from me. He took my trust. I took his finger. It was a fair trade I think. But Fox… Fox is different-”

“What is she, like an ex-girlfriend or something?”

“No.”

“Man, don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? M, like, I’m sorry man, I shouldn’t have- he’s drunk, he’s just- piss talk, you know what I’m saying?” Ribisi excused from his place along side the bar.

He was gesturing to take away Bam’s drink, explaining that he shouldn’t have kept serving his friend when obviously he’d had enough and was so out of his mind he didn’t know what he was saying, but Mike dismissed it away with an unconcerned gesture. He stood along side Bam then, leaning with his forearms across the bar top as Mel stood on the other side of Bam watching. She could already feel the eyes of everyone else on the club on them and didn’t have to look to verify it. The air already tense from the brief confrontation was beginning to buckle beneath an expectant verbal silence.

“And what would you have done?” Mike asked, watching Bam down the last of his alcohol like it would be his last. “To teach her a lesson?”

“I dunno- take her out, take out her whole family for the aggravation like, something.”

“And what good would that have done?”

“Sh- man, like, I dunno, what’s with all the questions? I thought you were like-”

Clapping his friend on the back Mike smiled at him. It was downright anything but humorous. With a nod of his head he gestured Mel over. As if driven by instinct she stood behind Bam as he gave her a cautious look over his shoulder. It was cut short as Mike suddenly propelled him forward by a fistful of shirt. Suddenly Bam was off his stool and on his feet. The air was electric as Bam hit the bar with his stomach. He let out a loud irritated curse. Mike s******ed at him and let him go. Bam went to take a step back when he realised Mel had blocked him in. He swore at her, about to push her out of his way. A loud click at his crotch had his words stall at the back of his throat.

“Take it out,” Mike was ordering.

Bam frowned back, his face a skewered mask of confusion, insult and disbelief. When he looked down he saw the blade that had severed Joe Hahn’s finger in Mike’s fist. It was pointed at his manhood. Bam blinked back up his blue eyes wide with realisation.

“Mel, if you’d kindly do the honours.”

Pinning Bam’s arms at his back, Mel stood rigid against her opponent as Bam started to panic.

“No! No! Hey, M- Mike, man, don’t- don’t do this okay? Get the fuck off me! Listen let me just-”

“Now what would happen if I cut it off?” Mike snarled into the shorter man’s face, “Your dick, what would happen then? Nothing right? You’d bleed to death, and what then, your friends come looking for my blood and then what? What!”

“I dunno man, shit, I dunno, just don’t-”

A moment passed. Then another.

“The next time you think you’ve got the balls to challenge me you present them, or I’ll kindly take them from you, do we have an accord?” Mike whispered menacingly into Bam’s temple. Bam nodded furiously. With a snort Mike shoved the other man and tossed the blade away.

“Relax, I’m not gonna cut you.”

Ribisi picked it up to fold into place and return atop the bar silently. With another nod Mike called Mel off. Obediently albeit tentatively she backed away as Bam shrugged himself right with a grunt. The look he was wearing was lethal. Mel frowned back with her chest tight at the notion that her actions were fast digging a hole for her amongst everyone she would not be able to free herself from one day. She slid her eyes aside to Mike but Mike for his part had already put the whole ugly incident behind him with his usual sophisticated smile.

“Idiot, if I gun her down her friends will come looking for revenge, then someone here will take it back to them and back and forth it will all play out. I’m not playing into that. I’m smarter than that. Real battles are won with the head not… blind retaliation. She came here looking to call me out but it’s not going to work, you know why? Because I call the shots and that… bitch isn’t dictating my actions for me. She wants a war she’ll get it, but on my terms, on my say so. She wants to play hardball, fine, lets play.”

“M,” Ryu enquired from a cautious distance a few metres away, “what do you want us to do, man?”

Mike pondered the question a moment with his arms folded across his chest. He blinked aside as Ribisi turned a page of the newspaper he was reading. The skittish young man froze when he caught Mike’s eyes staring at him and looked about to apologize. The smile on Mike’s face and the proceeding clap on the shoulder made him smile back with cautious humour. Excusing himself Mike dragged the paper over and turned it around, stabbing a finger into it tellingly.

“Here,” he said with his teeth flashing. “This is where we start. The bitch loves nostalgia, lets give her something to really think about.”

He laughed then, the sound was low yet audible, braving the ears of the closest few with equal amounts of humour and smugness. It echoed with chilling finality.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“Jesus H Christ on a rubber crutch, do you believe this guy?”

Frowning over her shoulder Joanna snorted at her sister before she went back to filling her bowl with another helping of ice cream.

“Sis, please.” It was as much about the blasphemy as it was sheer irritation, stealing another sharp glare at the newspaper in her sister’s hand with her brooding frown darkening.

Ravyn didn’t appear to hear her. Leaning down over the tabletop with her temple on her fist she scanned the page with vested concentration.

“ ‘Local businessman donates generous funds to city’s new war against drugs campaign’ - you have got to be shitting me.”

Thumping the lid down Joanna shoved the ice cream container in the freezer before she slammed the door shut loudly. Ravyn blinked up frowning.

“What?”

“You know what,” Joanna snapped, gesturing towards the paper laid out on the table with one hand and rubbing at her brow in irritation with the other. “Can’t you just- please?”

“What? I’m just reading the paper?”

“No, you’re going on and on about this MS guy, always talking about him sis, if you’re not reading about him you’re researching him, if not that then-”

“But it’s my job-”

“It’s not your job! Fuck, you’re obsessed! You sound just like-” stifling herself from further outbursts Joanna slapped a hand to her mouth and shook her head with her eyes closed briefly, internalising whatever she was going to say with a muffled apology. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I just…”

Joanna sighed and sought to compose herself. Sweeping a hand through her hair she huffed determinedly and approached to take a seat adjacent to her sister. Ravyn continued to frown back at her, the look on her face equally concerned and defensive.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. It’s just… I worry about you, about all of this… if he’s really as bad as everyone keeps saying he is why are you stirring up trouble? Can’t you just leave sleeping dogs lie sis? Really, can’t someone else cover this particular story? Why does it have to be… never mind.”

“Sis, I’m not looking for trouble, I’m just… looking for answers. Don’t you want to know if what they’re all saying out there is true?”

Realising that Joanna didn’t seem any more appeased by the question, in fact less so, Ravyn shifted tact with a falsified smile and leant closer to confide in her.

“The truth is… I’m lost. I know it might seem like I’m getting in over my head here but I just… I need to know the truth is all. I mean, how can one man who came from nothing, w-who was raised by second generation immigrants in a grocery store of all things, how did he suddenly get from there to here, you know? And why? Why’s he doing all this? I mean, some people are calling him a vigilante; some are calling him like the godfather, a criminal. Doesn’t it intrigue you, I mean even a little bit, just to wonder what he’s really like, what goes on inside his head, what makes him tick, you know… I do.”

“You’re a writer for crying out loud not a- a-… a detective.”

The silence rolled in like an incoming tide, temporarily dividing the two women as Joanna ate then in silence, her face a mask of indifference if not misery.

Seconds clacked by too loud. Not even the sound of a neighbour’s barking dog, or the spoon scraping against the bowl’s ceramic edge, could shatter the stillness. The television remained off in the next room; it’s absence resounding throughout the house like a state of mourning. Clearing her throat Joanna blinked out of her thoughts with a look of distraction.

“So… if he’s a criminal how come he’s throwing money away? Doesn’t seem like something normal criminals do,” she stated quietly.

Ravyn sipped her coffee and shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she confessed. The scoff Joanna gave her was ignored with a tightly clenched jaw and a glimpse in another direction.

“Does it have anything to do with those… allegations we’ve been hearing about all in the news the last few months? Like a bribe, he wouldn’t be the first man in history to promise one thing and do another…”

“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with his brother, Jason. I’ve been looking into it but I’m having a hard time finding out anything credible. When I went to his house, his wife told me-”

“Wait, where? You went to his house? Mike Shinoda’s house? What the hell is-?”

“Rashell, she told me that Jason had been shot a year and a half ago or so in some drive by shooting accident or something, I don’t know, she was vague on the details but-”

“Ravyn,” Joanna lectured. Beneath a brooding frown her dark eyes were orbs of frustrated concern. “What the hell is wrong with you? You just rock up to his house unannounced, a man being investigated by not just the police but like half dozen other agencies and you expected what? You’re lucky she didn’t shoot you.”

“No, she’s not like that. She’s surprisingly sweet. Surreal actually, to think someone that decent is married to a evil monster like that, but-”

“Oh I can’t take this-”

“What?”

Hearing the chair legs scrape against the tiles Ravyn blinked up in time to see her younger sister push herself away from the table nursing her face in her hands. She wasn’t sobbing, at least not loud enough to be heard amid the stillness, but the turned back and heavy shoulders said more than tears could as guilt gnawed away at Ravyn’s stomach. Swearing under her breath Ravyn vocalised an apology but Joanna’s hand dismissed it away as much as her body language did.

“What? What is it? Okay I’m sorry, I won’t… talk about it anymore if it upsets you this much.”

[Ravynlee]

“It’s not- that,” Joanna sniffled discreetly, dabbing at her face in the kitchenette away from her sister’s prying eyes. “It’s just… god, you don’t know how much you sound like him at times do you? I swear to god if I didn’t know better I’d swear you two were related, not…”

Ravyn paused before she spoke, weighing up her thoughts with cautious gravity.

“What’s happening between you two? Is it…?”

Joanna scoffed towards the ceiling, her broad smile laced with as much sarcasm as internalised pain as she let out a small sound that was meant to be a chuckle but resembled a wince for all the humour it contained.

“What’s happening? Ha! What could happen sis, he’s never here! He was meant to… to take me to an appointment yesterday, for my 18 weeks scan… he couldn’t even call me to tell me he couldn’t make it he just… god, why do I even bother? I’m such an idiot. Sometimes I wish I’d never even gotten pregnant at all.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Within a few strides Ravyn was at Joanna’s side, nursing her as the younger woman leant against the bench top nursing her stomach and her face as the tears finally started to spill. After manoeuvring her up they stood together as Joanna let the tears fall, sobbing wretchedly with her hands curled into weak fists, hovering them before her face like she could hide herself away from the emotional pain if she tried hard enough. The sounds wrenched the silence, burdening it with further guilt and anguish until they parted with sullen smiles and tearstained eyes, all previous animosities forgiven in its wake. Smoothing back her sister’s wayward dark hair she inclined a little and kissed her brow. Joanna giggled despite her sniffles and smiled. The red highlights in her hair glistened like strands of blood beneath the bright fluorescent bulb above.

“I wish I could leave him,” Joanna said, her voice small, weak and tragic. “I wish I had the guts to leave him like you did, but now with this baby…”

“Hey,” Ravyn said, raising her falling face with a determined frown. She shook her head, huffing out breaths in place of words that would not or could not release themselves. She smiled. It was so fleeting she almost didn’t form it. “Tell you what… you give them a call and see if you can reschedule. Make another appointment.”

“Why? It’s not like he’ll-”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll go.”

“It’s not your job sis, I don’t expect you to-”

“Hey,” Ravyn repeated, reclaiming gentle hold of her sister’s face as Joanna attempted to pull away from her. “It’s not a job, it’s a privilege. It’s sister’s privilege. If Rob wants to miss out on everything that’s his choice, it doesn’t have to be yours, okay?”

Joanna sniffled and nodded.

“I wish I was as strong as you are.”

“You are, trust me… It’s in the blood.”

Simultaneously both women’s attentions lowered to focus on Joanna’s stomach protruding out beneath the blue angel Singlet top with a tell tale pooch. Their sad smiles grew wistful as they stood together in a loose-armed embrace contemplating the unborn child that at the centre of the conversation. Joanna’s smile grew with pride and Ravyn’s followed soon after.

“There’s no chance for this little one then.”

“Damn straight. Man thinks he’s got it hard under this roof with one of you imagine what he’s gonna be faced with in a few months time, give him something worth really complaining about, asshole.”

“Sis!” Joanna s******ed.

Ravyn smirked back defiantly.

After parting Joanna returned to take up her bowl of ice cream, her constant craving throughout her pregnancy, as Ravyn picked up the cordless from it’s cradle to hand over. Exchanging items, Joanna’s smile dwindled as she stroked her stomach. She drew in a considerate breath before speaking.

“Sis, was he… like this, you know… before Nick was born?”

Midway through spooning a mouthful of ice cream into her mouth Ravyn stopped. She blinked. As her outgoing breath expelled her frown buckled. She swallowed if just barely. It took her a long time to speak.

“Things were different then,” she said.

Lowering the bowl onto the bench top Ravyn clasped her sister’s arm in comfort and apology before with a small smile she excused herself to the bathroom. Hearing her footsteps retreat Joanna listened to the bathroom door close and the light snap on before she let out a heavy sigh trying hard to push out all of her unpleasant thoughts along with it. Glimpsing aside the photographs pinned to the refrigerator door drew her attentions. She smiled at the image of herself and her sister and her husband between them letting the memory of last Christmas come and go with prudent recollection. The nephew she had barely known had been gone mere months then and even now with no trace of him it was like he had never even happened. What would become of her marriage if god forbid-?

Forcing such thoughts from her mind Joanna drew in a calming breath and glimpsed down to acknowledge the phone receiver in her hand. She frowned at the silver band that graced her finger. Then she saw her fingers white with strain against the plastic moulding. She could scarcely feel her fingertips anymore. With a gasp she struggled to uncurl her vicious grip. She hadn’t even realised she had been squeezing it so hard. A strange fluttering sensation in her stomach made her freeze and look down expectantly. She held her breath. A moment later it happened again.

“Sis! Oh my god, sis!”

“What?”

Striding out from the living room sweeping her damp hands through her hair Ravyn paused mid-step with a wary look as Joanna all but danced up to her with her face now more alive than it had been mere moments ago.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Feel this! Feel this!” Joanna exclaimed excitedly. Her eyes were wide and jubilant as she snagged Ravyn’s hand and dragged it to rest against the blue material of her Singlet top. “Can you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

Joanna groaned and grinned in exasperation.

“The baby!” she cried. “Your niece. She just moved!”

 

---

 

That's it for today. Thanks again.

:thumbsup:

[crazy robster]

Awwwww....just awwww....This is such a shame this work of art should be standing on a bookstore shelf my sis you are great, this is great! You deal with so many characters and yet you manage to keep everything amazingly coherent and flowing smoothly, congrats!!! *hugs* Wish you could post 30 pages every day! Haha nah kidding...LOVE IT!! More MOOORE! Pweease!!

[Ravynlee]

Thanks my sweet ^^ I try (hugs)

[Pheonix791989]

ballin ass update. shame bam being a dick like that. had a feeling that he was gonna get something like that soon enough. haha. serves that dick hole right. maybe that was a bit too harsh. who knows what is too harsh at this point eh?

[Friðbjörn]

oh this is bookmaterial all right

 

perhaps a little glad mel didn't cut off the family jewels lol

torment like that is not my thing, well...I do watch horror movies and laugh...heehee

guess I should rethink that statement

 

anyway...keep it coming please