Temple made us keep Cass at the house for at least 1 hour to make sure the Elixir lasted long enough. He attached a small bag to his stomach with a line and a small timer device. Turned out Elena cousin was a diabetic and Temple was using it to our advantage by using a insulin pump with the Elixir. He set the timer for ever hour to give the Elixir a boost and keep up his appearance.
Cass had passed out from exhaustion from the pain already and we hated waking him up to get him in the car. They were going with the story that he was cleaning his registered firearm, thank goodness these goons were carrying 9 mm, and had forgot to check the chamber and it went off.
"Elena, call me if for a even a second you feel like something isn't right you hear me?" I stress to her so if need be we can save them both.
She nodded and drove off taking Cass disguised as her cousin to the hospital. John placed his hands on my shoulders, "Come on no point in stressing on them right now unless we get a message."
"Yes, you're right. Now I'm going to figure out how those little assholes got in this house." I made my way to the computer room and started looking over the footage of the security cameras.
John was listening to them talking downstairs to Graves the younger guy still crying but no longer huddled in the corner.
I rested my head in my hands in disappointment and guilt. "It was me." I groaned.
John twisted and gave me a gaze the bored into me I could feel the disturbance in the force.
"What do you mean?" He asked moving closer to look at my screen. I rewound the footage and showed him the kitchen window they got in through the back alley. The outside video cameras showed them all walking down looking for the first opportunity they could.
I took it even farther back and showed him after breakfast this morning I opened the window to let out the heat and never closed it. I could beat myself for being so stupid.
"Shit, Mary. Don't beat yourself up over this, they wanted to go out and do crime and it's their bad luck they broke into the wrong house."
"I know John, but we can't exactly trust them to release them from here now can we? We killed their friends, possibly family, what would you do when that situation as a human? You'd go to the police or vigilantes to get justice over the loss, even if they were in the wrong. They know where we live and they've seen our faces. They are 18 and 26 years old. I don't know what to do."
"Well let's go down and talk to them again. We still have our old badges right?" I look up at John catching on to what he is trying to say.
"Yeah, but they're at our country home in a box in my closet. The box is marked JP&M. It's by the filing cabinet in the back. You want to ask Lar or Temple to snap with you? Or should I call Grier she's always happy to help out, for a bottle, of course."
John nods, "Give Grier a call, I hate bugging Temple and Lar all the time. I know Lar probably is wanting to go home to the family."
"Alright, then I'll stay here and pull up files on them, Cass has the programs to make them look completely ñn and I can easily fake some other paperwork if need be. I'll try to think of something for the ones who died. See if we can't scare them in to either keeping their mouths shut or offering them the same option as Graves...."
I pull out my phone and give Grier a call. Within 10 minutes John is back with the badges and IDs for us to use. We thank Grier and give her the bottle and she smiles and thanks us before snapping away.
I've pulled up everything I can find about Marco and Michael Ricci and stick them into the empty file folders that we stamped and embossed with my old offices stationary I still had from my home office back in San Diego.
John goes and gets the wallets and IDs from the other three bodies that Lar and Temple have already taken downstairs. He hands the IDs to me and tells me he's going to clean up the floors.
I look over the IDs and see another Ricci, Alonzo Ricci, age 32, Italian citizenship, Raffaello De Luca, age 30 Italian, Tomaso De Luca, aged 35. I do a background check on all of them and find out, they're all family. Family with a link to the Italian mob bosses.
'SHIT' is all that runs through my head. They all have a very light public record with minor run ins with law. Drunk in public, assault charges, and Tomaso had possession of stolen property on his record which he served two years for. The others spent a few months tops locked up.
The only one without any record was the youngest Michael from the states. He had just graduated valedictorian, had a scholarship to Harvard Law and seemed to be a dam decent kid....
I went with their cellphones to Temple and asked him to snap them far from us.
"What's the matter Sin?" He had lost his bubbly charm with the stress of the day and was looking at me now after he snapped the phones away.
"They all are family, Italian mob family members to be exact." I whispered.
"SO? What's the problem then? Kill them and move on. We can't let anyone go, remember 'NO SURVIVORS'. Your words exactly love." Temple patted my hand.
"Temple the kid is 18 and is clean, he was probably dragged along by his family since he's visiting from the states. He was valedictorian, just graduated high school, had a full scholarship to Harvard Law and has his whole life ahead of him. The others were dicks, the one down there with him is young but he has a nice little rap sheet with that temper of his. I just feel bad for the kid, out visiting family and his cousins take him out for 'fun' and this is what happens? I mean I'm just guessing this but where do I draw the line in the sand? When do I start becoming everything I hate, because it's 'necessary'?"
Temple looks at me, a piercing gaze full of confusion and in-credulousness. "You said the kid had a clean record, and a full scholarship to Harvard Law? Honey, I'm sorry about this but you need to wake up and smell the espresso on this roast." He shakes his head at me before continuing on.
"He may have a clean record, doesn't mean he's clean. Harvard Law in an Italian Mob family? More like the family lawyer to make sure the family stays out and keeps making everyone money. Or have you forgotten how Mob families work? He's probably crying cause he doesn't have mommy and daddy to save him and cover his dirty deeds."
"Sin don't be fooled by appearances... I mean look at me and Lar, we're two sexy Fae with lots of love to give, yet it was Lar and I who killed the others with no remorse. Just because the majority of the time we are good, doesn't mean we can't be cold and cruel." He moved with a provocativeness to what he was saying but came to a abrupt stop by the end of his statement.
"So why don't you go on up get together what you were going to do with John and get the information you needed first and then if you can't do the deed, I'll be the one with blood on my hands." Temple urged me to go and finish what I was doing.
As I sat there printing out all the paperwork and getting every thing put together, I started crying. Not having the blood personally on my hands didn't make me feel any better. To top it off, we had heard nothing from Cass and Elena. My anxiety was starting to build up.
When John came in after cleaning up, I was still trying to finish calming myself down and wiping my face of the tears.
"You want to talk about it?" John sat down and started to help put files together of them all.
"No, I'm just worried about Cass right now, it's been 4 hours and nothing yet." I wipe my face again and look at the monitors watching the cells. Graves is asleep and so is the Marco. It's the kid Michael who is up pacing looking around at everything pulling and tugging.
"Look at this." I point at the monitor as I see the kid trying to remove part of the pipe off the sink.
"He can't tell that it's welded together?" John comments scratching his head in awe at the lack of observations.
"I guess not, so much for valedictorian." I shake my head.
It's been eight hours since they left for the hospital and not a word or text, nothing. Finally not able to take it anymore I give Elena a call.
"Hello?" I hear her tired voice come through.
"Elena, it's Sin. What's going on?" I ask pacing the floor of my room.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry I forgot to call, he's in surgery right now, he's been in for about 2 hours now. They are removing some splintered bone fragments from his muscles. The x-ray's showed that it hit the edge of his bone fracturing and splintering about 8 cm in length down the leg bone. They should be finishing up here soon. Oh, yes here comes the surgeon, I'll call you back shortly."
My heart that was pounding a minute ago has eased up a little bit. I looked at John who was looking at me waiting for me to say something.
"He's been in surgery, for bone fragment and splinter removals, she's going to call me back soon."
"See, now come to bed and let me hold you until she calls." John pulled the covers back and I slid in next to him as he held me close.
About half and hour later my phone rings and it's Elena, "So they want him to stay at least 24 hours to make sure there's no infection and the surgery went well. He's still pretty groggy but starting to wake up. Would you like to speak to him?"
"Please."
"...he...lllooo?" a yawning more baritone then Cass's would be normally comes through.
"Hey Kid, I'm glad to hear you're okay." Even I can hear the relief in my voice.
"Yeah.... gooing to have to take gun safety classes again. Police came and told me before surgery. First offense so only fine of 500 euros and classes to take again." He yawns again really loudly.
"Alright kid, that's not a problem. We can handle that. I'll let you get some rest. Hand the phone to Elena, please and kid?"
"Yeahs?" another yawn comes out.
"I love you." I say my voice catching at the end.
"I love you too. Here she is." he says as Elena gets on the phone.
"Hello?"
"Elena, do we need to keep your cousins IDs so he can go to the classes?"
"Oh yeah, when we come back tomorrow we can take of all that. He's going to need some phys cal therapy most likely they said. They had to wire the pieces back into place so it would heal properly. They almost put plates in but since the pieces were big enough they used wire." Elena took a deep breath before starting to sniff and I could tell she was holding back tears.
"Elena, it's okay. He'll be alright." I tell her.
"I know but I just don't know what I would have done if ... " A sob came out and she took a couple of deep breaths and I could hear her getting up and moving around.
"Sorry, I went into the bathroom since he's sleeping." She took a couple more breaths, "Sin, I'm pregnant and I don't know how he'll handle it." A sob escapes again and this one she's having trouble regaining her composure.
Honestly, I'm trying to keep mine as well.
"Wow. Elena, you should tell him. You two should talk about it. I think he'll have a better reaction than you may think he will." I tell her calmly.
John is questioning me with body language and eyes about what is going on. He mouths to me 'pregnant?' rubbing his stomach. I shrug with a smile and he smiles and does a little victory fist in the air shaking it. His reaction makes me smile even more as Elena finally calms enough to talk.
"You really think so? I mean you guys don't live a normal life and there's so many dangers, I don't want to burden him." She unburdens her worry to me in a trembling voice.
"Elena, I know my Cass. Please tell him and talk to him. Wait till you bring him back here to do so. That way it will be more private and you'll feel more at ease."
"Okay, I'll see you all tomorrow."
"Oh Elena, check his bag on the insulin pump. Switch it out if you need to. I don't want you to fall asleep and forget darling. Now we love you both and we will see you tomorrow, hun."
After hanging up, John and I cuddled happy for them and the happy news, even if Cass was still in the dark about it.
"Mary, why don't we move out to the country house. I think Elena would appreciate feeling safer there." John suggest.
"We can't until things are wrapped up downstairs. I wish we could have gotten farther on learning to feel and control the magic to snap." I whispered into his chest feeling happy and sad at the same time.
Elena was pregnant and Cass was going to be a father. They were going to raise a child together. A longing in my heart grew that I had not had in a very long time. I clutched John a little tighter and he looked down at me and hugged me tighter.
"Are you okay, Mary?" He mumbled into my hair, nuzzling his nose against me.
"Yeah, just a desire that I shouldn't think about. It will only hurt thinking about it." I said heavily.
"Tell me my love, what desire? I am here to kiss away your tears and hold you until the hurt doesn't hurt anymore."
Taking a deep breath and trying to gather my strength I opened up on a subject I didn't really talk about other than I couldn't. "I always wanted a family of my own, to be pregnant and feel that little precious life growing and moving in me, to be a mom." My voice became shaky and tears threatened to spill.
John tensed under me and only held me closer. He didn't say anything he just held me and rocked.
"I love you Mary, I'm sorry." He finally said his voice breaking apologizing for my pain.
....
When Cass and Elena came back the next day, Cass and I were practically pulling our hair trying to keep each other in line and not say anything. We helped Cass around to his bathroom and room which was on the ground floor anyways. The door ways were not made to accommodate crutches and that included the hallway to the bathroom.
"We'll figure it out Cass." Cass was starting to change back into him self as John helped him out of the bathroom until he could make it to where he could use his crutches.
"Get me a bedpan, I should be fine with only having to get to the restroom for other business. I don't want to bother anyone every time I need to pee." He laughed as he started using his crutches to get to his bedroom doorway.
He stuck one crutch inside the room and clutched the door frame to hobble in far enough to grab and use the other crutch. Elena helped settle him on to the bed and lift his legs up to rest on the bed. She propped him up on the bed and we made our excuses to leave the room.
I was chomping at the bit as we sat in the next room over, the computer room. We were still putting things together to take down stairs and we still were listening in on the conversations going on between our intruders. The past three hours had been interesting on what had been coming out of the two Ricci's mouths.
Graves was laughing at them for them thinking they would get out of there alive. "Depending on how wicked of a life you've lived, you might become a blood bag like me." He laughed some more.
"If you're lucky they'll end you quick." He looked at the wall darkly.
"You know John, why don't we put a rush on Graves? Seems like he's no longer happy with the circumstance he's in and is feeling ungrateful to still be breathing."
John looks at me a teasing glint in his eyes, "Should I get some pie?"
My eyes threw daggers fiercely at him and he physically jumped in his seat clutching his heart, "Oh wow, I was meaning Chocolate or cherry. I know Apple pie is not on the list." He feigns mock hurt as I turn away to continue on the computer. After a minute or so I hear him mutter quietly "So mistreated over here because of pie." He huffs.
"I'll show you mistreated...." I muttered loudly under my breath as I go to turn to him, his head pops up between my legs from under the desk. I start at the unexpected surprise.
"Oh please do." He smirks up at me his hands snaking up my long skirt I was wearing.
"What are you doing?" I smirk as he spreads my legs and slides his hands up to pull my underwear off.
"You know very well what I am doing." He grinned devilishly grabbing my hips and pulling me to the edge of the chair.
"John...."
"I ..."
"Oh..... my...."
"OH..... !"
I was giggling and gasping as he sat covered by my skirt and did naughty things to me. I couldn't focus on anything but that glorious tongue on me. I leaned back just enjoying it and not paying attention.
A knock came on the door as I was coming hard on Johns face. The knock came again and I was able to hear this one more clearly. "Just a minute!" I shouted hoping no one would come in right away as John continued lapping at me. I pulled his head back and made him stop.
"John come on lets get up."
"What's the rush? I was just getting started." John kissed my knees.
"Someones knocking." I made him get up and I quickly ran to the door.