Modern Fantasy

[Khavi]

Cait laughed at Dae's proclemation of undying love towards the car she had gotten for them.

""OK...my son's life is in jeopardy...people are dying...but...this...THIS is love! I gotta drive, now!"" he cried. A little begrudgingly, she tossed him the keys. The only reason she had let him drive at all was because she had no idea where they were going. Once they got there, though, it was her turn.

Not too long later they were wailing down the streets at no less than 80 miles per hour at any particular point in time. There was never a doubt in Cait's head that Dae was as much a psychotic driver as she was, especially when they made a screeching, fishtailing turn around just outside town.

"This must be the most roundabout way of getting somewhere I have ever seen,' she murmured. It was a while before they got to wherever it was they had been going. The house they were looking for was a little run down, with peeling paint and cracked windows, rusty gutters and a broken stair leading up to the porch. Many of the surrounding homes were similar. It was the type of neighborhod where no one would think to look twice if Cait and Dae were walk up to the front door with shotguns and
swords and all but pointed sticks in their possession.

Which only made it easier for them to do what they had come to.

Dae got out of the driver's side and pulled his swords and all out of the backseat. Cait swung out of her side, shotgun in one hand. She reached over into the glove compartment and pulled out the pistol Dae had given her ealier that morning, and tucked it into the waistband of her pants, underneath her jacket at the back. Best to keep some things hidden.

They cautiously traversed the front steps (mostly so they wouldn't fall through the half-rotted, termite riddled wood... the last thing they needed was to be taken out by their enemy's porch stairs), and stood for a moment before the door, gathering themselves. Finally, with a quiet three-count, they kicked in the door. It flew off the hinges with surprising ease, into a grungy livingroom with six or seven very surprised people in it, mostly doing varying forms of drugs.

"Perchance you could show us the way to whoever owns this... fine establishment? We've got some business to discuss with him," Cait inquired, looking around the place. The reply, however, was the sound of at least five guns cocking, and not an easy answer to her question. Cait pumped the slide on her gun, and Dae drew his pistol from it's holster, as well as one long blade from it's sheath.

There was a sudden quick movement, and before anyone could bat an eye a huge brawl had broken out. Cait aimed as best she could to only wound those she fired at, for the last thing she wanted on her mind was someone else's death. Though the fight seemed to last forever, it was in all actuality only several minutes long. Cait had two bullets left in her chamber, and her pistol untouched under her jacket. She was breathing hard, one lens of
her glasses was cracked, and she knew she had the beginnings of a gorgeous bruise on her back from getting hit with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun. And that was before the second wave came pouring down the staircase.

Her shotgun was empty in four seconds, the trigger making only a dull click as she pulled it. She dropped it, reached behind her for her pistol.

Before she could pull it, a cold, metal object was pressed to her temple.

"Don't you dare fuckin' pull it, kid. I will blow your fuckin' head off faster than you can fuckin' blink. Who sent you?" came a harsh voice. Cait froze, hand on her gun, terrified of what would happen if she even blinked. She swallowed, was about to speak, when a heavy boot came down on the man who held the gun to her head, and he went down hard. Instantly, Cait was on him, pistol to his forehead, knee pressed to his throat, murderous look behind her one broken lens. That was when she noticed that he was the last one left alive and mostly unhurt in the room, for teh rest of his allies were either dead, dying, or aggreigiously wounded.

"Tell me where I find your boss, and you won't find a bullet in your cranial cavity," she snarled.

He spat into her face.

Wiping her face on her sleeve and pressing the gun harder to the man's forehead, she asked again. "Only ONCE more, poppet... WHERE is your LEADER?"

The fear began to show behind his eyes, and he stammered out an answer. "If you... If you go tomorrow nite to the big club downtown... Den of Apostles. If you let me go, I-i'll tell him you'll meet him there. He owns it, he'll be ex-expecting you!" Cait's eyes narrowed, but she pulled the gun away and roughly released him.

"You had better tell him, poppet, or I come for you," she growled. Plucking the shotgun from the floor and putting the pistol back in her waistband, she turned and left with Dae.


Once back in the car, Cait sank into the seat and put her head in her hands. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, and wanted only, at that point, to go home and sleep forever. Though it had only started, Cait wanted it all to be over, right then.

"Are you all right?" she heard Dae ask, and looked up at him.

"No," she muttered. "I just killed people. I'm not, by any means, all right. Is there anything else we have to do today? Because all I really think I can do by now is sleep. For a long time. And maybe never wake up."

[Raige]

After listening to what Cait had to say, Dae started the car and pulled slowly away, for once driving the speed limit. He drove in silence, leaving the music off for the trip, back to Cait's house. He got there in what seemed to him in no time at all, and he parked in front of her front door and turned the engine off. He looked down at his hands and saw the blood on them, the blood on his shirts, covering his arms. He looked as though he had just come from a regular bloodbath. Noticing Cait wasn't moving to get out, he opened his own door and went around to her side and opened hers, then helped her to get out. It was then that he noticed for the first time that she had tears streaming slowly down her cheeks. He lifted her chin with his right hand so that she would look him in the eyes.

"Listen to me Cait. What happened back there...I didn't want for it to happen. I wanted this to go nice and easy, but I knew it wouldn't. I knew it in my heart. I know you're...confused and hurt. You took a human being's life, no doubt about it. But listen to me Caity...it was them, or it was us. Those guys weren't playing around, they weren't waving their guns to impress us. They had full intentions to kill us both, Cait. You did what you had to to stay alive. Believe me, I wish it wouldn't have come down to that. I'm so sorry I got you involved in this mess. Let's get you inside and cleaned up, then you need to rest. Come on babe...come on now, don't cry. It's not your fault."

Dae led her into her house, and after checking all of the rooms to make sure no unwelcome visitors were waiting for them, he led her into the bathroom. She seemed to follow him lifelessly, and he was worried that it was too much for her. He turned the hot water on and then stood up and faced her and gave her a small smile.

"I'll wait outside the door. Don't worry Cait, I promise it'll be OK. Everything is gonna be fine. Just take a shower and relax, I'll be right outside the door."

Dae went outside the bathroom door and closed it behind him. Just as he said, he didn't budge from the spot until she cracked it open behind him. She had a robe on, and he led her to her bedroom and made her lay down.

"Rest now Caitlin. I'll be here when you wake up."

She started to protest, but Dae put his index finger over her lips and silenced her. It wasn't even five minutes later before she was in a deep slumber. Dae stood up and walked to her bedroom door and looked back at her.

"Yeah...you've earned your sleep pretty lady. Rest easy."

Dae closed the door behind him and went down the hall to the front door. He opened it, locked it behind him, and went outside, closing the door as he left. He had a key in his wallet to her house, so he wasn't worried about locking himself out. He went to the car and started it again, peeling out of the parking lot and into the road, cutting off an older beat-up looking pickup truck and a Mercedes in the process. He drove to the police station again, and parked in the lot behind the station. He grabbed a bag that looked wet from the backseat, then got out and closed the door behind him. He went into the station and asked to see Detective Kelly. He was shown into Kelly's office, and once the door was closed securely behind him, he collapsed into a chair across the desk from Kelly.

"What the hell happened to you? You look like you passed through a meat grinder, only you kept your skin."

"Let's just say things didn't go as planned with the lead I had."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

Instead of answering, Dae picked up the sack from the ground and tossed it on Kelly's desk. As Kelly opened it, Dae spoke.

"To put it lightly, the nice folks I went to pay a visit to lost their heads."

Kelly had fully opened the bag, and inside was one of the scumbags' heads that Dae had forcefully removed from the man's body. Kelly began gagging as he frantically pushed the head and bag into the trashcan beside his desk.

"You're a sick fuck, you know that? I should lock you up and throw away the key."

"Hey! You forced me into this, I didn't want to get involved, remember? It was your bright fucking idea to kidnap my son and bring me into the mix, remember? Don't go pussyfooting around now, you son of a bitch. We have a deal, and I'm doing my part, so you better fucking do yours, got me?"

"Fine, fine. You're right. Are there any bodies to dispose of?"

"Yeah. The address is 609 South Bozeman Avenue. Might just want to torch the place and call it arson and leave it as an unsolved case, otherwise you're going to have a lot of paperwork to do."

"How many bodies?"

"Around 20. I'm not sure exactly, I was too busy trying to stay alive."

"Did anyone else besides you survive?"

"Yeah, I let one man live. He's setting me up an appointment with the little ringleader tomorrow night at the Den of Apostles."

"I see. You think that was a good decision?"

"Hey, I'm not the fucking detective here, you tell me. The guy is my only way to get to the boss. You tell me if it's the right decision."

"Alright, alright. You win."

Dae sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, I need more bullets. I ran out."

"You ran out?? Jesus Christ! Alright, fine, I'll get them to you before tomorrow night, deal?"

"Yeah, whatever. I need another gun too. Another pistol, same as I have, and a small-of-the-back holster to put it in, with an additional 3 magazines."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Hey, listen up, asshole. I'm not about to walk into the lion's den without some proper arsenal. If I'm going into that place, I want to be confident that I have at least a 50% chance of getting out alive. Now you get me that pistol, or you can send in a team of your stupid quiet college town cherries to try and bust the place, and watch all of them get slaughtered in the process, and that'll look really bad on the news, don't you think? Now what's the deal?"

"Fine. I'll have everything you need tomorrow. Is that all?"

"Yeah. That should cover it."

"OK, good. Go get yourself cleaned up and get some rest, you look like hell kid."

"How kind of you to notice, jackass."

Dae stood up and walked out of the office and out of the station and to his car. He got in, started it, and drove to the frat house. He left the car idling and ran inside to his room. He grabbed a couple changes of clothes and went back outside and then drove back to Cait's house. He grabbed his katanas, the shotgun, the box of shells, and his bag of clothes and went into her house, closing and locking the front door behind him. He dropped his bag on the floor by the door, propped the shotgun up in a corner, put the box of shells on her table in front of her couch, and carried the katanas into the bathroom with him. He closed the door behind him and rummaged around her bathroom cabinet for a rag. He found one, got it wet, and cleaned his katanas thoroughly before putting them back in their sheaths. Then, that task being done, he undressed and cleaned himself up, finding a cut somewhat painfully, as it simply began stinging like hell when he got soap in it. He finished showering, wrapped a towel around his waist, and inspected the cut. It was about 4 inches long across the middle of his back. He couldn't figure out how he got it, but he didn't really care anyway. He found himself incredibly tired, so he gathered his swords and the pistol and holster, and walked back into the living room. He laid his swords down on the floor in front of the couch, dropped the pistol on the table, and looked in his bag for his black and white And1 shorts. He grabbed them and put them on, then tossed the towel behind the couch. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a cold Corona from the fridge, popped it open, and took a small swallow, savoring the taste and thinking about the events of the past three hours. He had killed over five men. The thought was, sadly, not all that worrying to him. The more he thought about it, the less he cared. Finally, as if to end an arguement with himself that he wasn't even having, he shrugged and said,

"Fuck them. It came down to who wanted to live more. Obviously, we did."

Dae finished his beer, tossed the bottle into the trashcan, went back into the living room, grabbed the shotgun, fully reloaded it, put it back in the corner, checked and saw that he only had five more bullets in his pistol, put it back on the table, laid down on the couch, and barely closed his eyes before he collapsed into the deep, dreamless sleep of those who believe they are justified in their actions.

[Khavi]

Cait slept hard for a long time. She woke up early the next morning from a dreamless, still slumber. In the faded dawn light, she slid stiffly from the bed. Her back ached presumably from the very large bruise she knew had to be there.
She stretched a little, weakly, and changed into a longsleeved black Ozzy Osbourne shirt, tied her hair back into a wild ponytail, and went out into the livingroom. It was a a slightly chilly morning, but much warmer than it was in England, so she lacked pants for the while.

Dae was asleep on her couch, a little curled into himself, more tranquil than she had ever seen him before. She smiled faintly as she passed the couch, did her best to ignore teh shotgun on the coffee table as she gently touched his cheek.

"It's the only time you don't look dangerous," she murmured. She continued into her kitchen, and got herself a bowl of lucky charms. The newspaper had been dropped trhough the mail slot, and as she sat at her little dining table by the balcony glass doors, she read about the case of arson that had gone down the preivious night. The address was 609 South Bozeman, the same they had had their fight teh preivious afternoon. There were no leads to who had done it, and not enough remains to tell exactly how many had been killed in the 'blaze'. She shook her head, and decided to read the comics instead.


She was curled into her beaten old easy chair when Dae woke up, half-assedly watching TV and reading an Entertainment Weekly. He, too, sat up stiffly, gave her a light nod in acknowledgement and stood up and himself wandered into teh kitchen. Cait glanced back down at her magazine, then idly back up at Dae. Her breath caught in her chest when she saw the amazing wound across his back. She pushed herself to her feet, and followed after him.

"My God, Dae, that looks awful... Does it hurt?" she asked, very very gently touching the edge of the purly bruise surrounding it. He glanced back at her from teh fridge, and noded a cit.

"Course it hurts."

"Shouldn't we... uhm, do something about it?"

"No."

"Not even a little Neosporin? That's really awful..."

Dae turned around to face her, pat his hands on her shoulders. "Caity, I'm ok. Don't worry about it. All right?" He put a hand on her cheek, kissed her forehead. "Trust me, I'm all right."

Cait smiled a little. "...Ok, I'll let it be... Besides, I've got one to match." She turned around and lifted the back of her shirt to show the bruise spreading across her back in blueish fury. She looked back at him, saw he was smiling in a amusement. "What? Why are you laughing? It's huirts like all hell..."

"...A tatoo, Cait?" he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. Cait immediately dropped her shirt, clapped her hands over the base of her spine, and whipped around.

"Not a word to my parents! Or anyone else! It was a bad idea from highschool, and I never bothered to have it take off... Please, nothing leaves this kitchen!"

Dae chuckled, nodded, and went back to rummaging through her refridgerator.


Most of the rest of the day was spent in the apartment, lazing around doing nothing. A very tiny amount of planning went into what they were going to do that night, bust mostly they didn't want to think about until they had to. Eventually, though, come 5:30 they had to start getting dressed and showering.

Cait needed the entire hour she was given to get ready, as well. She showered, blowdried her hair, put on makeup, a short, halter topped, open-backed red dress, stiletto-heeled strappy black shoes, and painted her finger and toenails the same shade of red as her dress. Once all done up (accept with no idea how to do her hair), she left the bathroom to find Dae already dressed at ready.

He himself wore baggy cargo khaki's, dark blue air force t-shirt with a shortsleeve blue/white checkered dress shirt left unbuttoned. thick silver dogchain necklace, the same watch, same bracelet.

"What shoudl I do with my hair?" she wondered aloud, staring into the mirror. Dae murmured something about 'gorgeous either way' as he laced up his tan Lugz boots. Cait chuckled, decided to leave her hair down, and grabbed her black, high-mantled sweater duster ('pimp coat', in her own words), and was ready to go. Better to keep the bruise on her back covered, as to not key in her involvement in teh whole thing.


'Den of Apostles' was a large place, with a huge line of people out front waiting to get in. Figuring they would have been put on the list to get in immediately, Cait and Dae passed the entire line and approached the huge bouncer at door. Dae gave the man his name, told him he had an appointment with the owner himself at eight. The guy eyed them suspiciously, Cait put on her best 'I have nothing at all in my head, other than maybe a bunny or some cotton candy, but I'm still sexy' look, he checked the list, and nodded them through.

Once inside, Cait made absolutely sure she looked like any local bimbo, and Dae looked tough as he possibly could (which was nearly scaring Cait herself). They were found shortly thereafter by the same man who had promised to get them a meeting.

"This way... H-he's waiting for you..." the man stammered, and led them through the crowd of writhing, twisting, drugged up glitterati littering the room. He stopped at a door in teh back, knocked thrice, and it was pulled open. The man motioned Cait and Dae in, and shut teh door quickyl behind them, not bothering to enter himself.

The sight befkre them made them both stop dead in their tracks.

Sitting on an elegant, low to the ground, black leather sofa, surrounded by body guards and several gorgeous, scantily clad women was... Jesus. Long white robes, long brown hair and beard. Cait swore she saw scars on the backs of his hands, the tops of his feet.

"Welcome, my children, sit down, please."

They did so, managing not to look too shocked, Cait crossing her legs teasingly over one another. She arched an eyebrow, and leaned over under the guise of trying to neck with Dae, and murmured in his ear, "Looks like we found Jesus without the mormons... But just treat me like I'm not too bright, I have an idea. Act like you picked me up in some bar somewhere. If I don't talk, they won't suspect me of playing into this. From here on, I'm just an oversexed, undereducated bimbo."

Dae gave an almost inaudible sound of agreement, and placed a hand on her shoulder to push her away.

"Not now, babe, later..." he said, just loud enough so the rest could hear. One overly-passionate kiss, and it was down to business. Cait leaned back, looked away, appeared not to pay attention. Mentally, her mind was constantly active, noting down the important things.

She prayed, silently, that everything would work out, and she wouldn't have to use the handgun hidden in her purse. She didn't think she could shoot anyone else.

[Raige]

The man wasn't what Dae had expected at all. It took all of his willpower just to meet the man's eyes and not openly stare at him. Dae tried to gather his wits, but the man really unnerved him. Dae used to be fairly religious himself, and sitting here face to face with this living look alike of the Messiah was unnerving, and Dae found himself feeling slightly guilty for some unknown sin. Dae cleared his throat, tried to speak, and found he couldn't, so he cleared his throat again.

"Rest and be at ease, my son. What troubles you?"

Dae found himself sweating, but he focus his thoughts on the task at hand.

"I uh, I've got some friends that have recently received their tickets to heaven. I was wondering how one is blessed this way, and one of them told me to make peace with Jesus. Now I'm here."

"Ah, of course. I am the doorway to heaven. Have you asked my Father for forgiveness of your sins?"

"Yes."

"Well then, be saved. What is your offering?"

"Three hundred dollars."

"Very well then, for it is not the size of one of my flock's treasury, but how sincere he is when giving. You shall receive your redemption on your way out. Until then, drink, and be blessed."

Dae stood up and pulled Cait up and they turned to leave, but were stopped by two red-robed figures. The "Apostles", it seemed, carried automatic rifles these days. Dae turned around slowly.

"Kneel to the ground before you leave our lord's presence!" One of the Apostles commanded.

"Relax, John. Our children haven't been in the presence of their shephard before, they do not know yet how to behave."

"Forgive me."

Dae knelt down and bowed his head, forcing Cait to follow suit.

"You are forgiven. Go now."

Dae stood up and he and Cait made their way out. They headed to the bar first, Dae taking his time with his drink because he knew they were being watched. He finished his drink, Cait finished hers, and together they made their way to the exit. He took 300 dollars out of his pocket and handed it to the man standing by the door, and he got a zip of grass. Dae thanked him, and he and Cait made their way out to their car. They got in, Dae started the car, and they drove off slowly. As soon as they were out of sight, Dae floored it, putting as much distance between them and the club as quickly as possible. Eventually he pulled the car over to the side of the road, put it in neutral, and leaned over and placed his head to the steering wheel.

"What was wrong with you back there?"

Dae sat back and leaned his head back against the headrest, his eyes closed.

"I don't really know. Something about that guy completely chilled me to the bone."

"How about he's a psycho?"

Dae sat there for a moment in silence, then nodded.

"Yeah...I guess. Let's go give this shit to Detective Kelly."

Dae drove the rest of the way to the police station in silence. He went in, deciding it was better if Cait was kept out of the picture, and into Kelly's office. He closed the door, and turned around and tossed the bag of grass on Kelly's desk.

"There's a sample of the shit that is going around for you."

"Where'd you get this?"

"Jesus gave it to me."

"Say what?"

"Jesus. The guy that is pushing this stuff goes by the name of Jesus. He looks like he's mental, he thinks he's actually the son of God, dresses the part, looks the part, even has scars on his hands and feet where the nails would've been. The guy thinks he's sending people to heaven in some sort of pre-rapture. He's saving the lost souls of all those poor stoners that have died because of the shit he's pushing. He's dangerous."

"Sweet Jesus." The look on Kelly's face was one of horror. "What else happened?"

"Nothing. I bought this zip, brought it back here. Now you've got your evidence, and the person bringing it in responsible for all these deaths. I did my part, now it's your turn."

"We can't have this get into court. I'm sure the guy has some big hotshot lawyer that'll keep him out of prison and put into a mental institute, and he'll be out in a year, tops."

"Not my problem, Detective. I want my son back now."

"Dae, I need you to finish this job. I can't give you your son back now until this guy is gone."

This was too much for Dae to handle. He practically leapt over the desk and tackled Kelly out of his chair and onto the floor, one of his hands squeezing Kelly's throat, the other slamming down repeatedly on Kelly's face. Kelly grabbed Dae's throat and his hand that was punching him, and they struggled to gain leverage for a few minutes, making a hell of a noise. Kelly's office door burst open, and two officers came in and pulled Dae off of Kelly. They started to put handcuffs on him but Kelly called them off.

"No! It's alright, go."

The two beat cops looked confused, but shrugged and went out of the office. Kelly gasped a few times, then looked at Dae.

"I'm not asking you, Vryce. I'm telling you. This guy has to go down, and you're the only one who can do it. There's a difference in covering stuff up and ordering my cops to do a hit. If we go after him, he'll get away scot free. It's up to you."

"Find someone else to do your dirty work, I'm through. I'll be back in the morning to get my son."

"You have until then to change your mind."

Dae stormed out of the office, slamming the door hard enough to break the glass. He went outside and got in the car and drove back to Cait's without saying a word, ignoring her questions, fuming in rage. They went in her apartment, and he sat down on the couch, more infuriated than he was before he'd left the station. Finally, he exploded.

"That son of a bitch! If I go back there, I'm as good as dead! They already know I bought that death-inducing drug, how the fuck am I supposed to get that close again?!"

[Raige]

Dae's eyes snapped open, a flood-gate of rage completely open in his mind. He slipped out of Cait's bed quietly so as not to disturb her, and went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. While it brewed, so did he, wild ideas and crazy schemes always being replaced with the thought of killing everyone who had so recently thrown a wrench into his life. He got himself a cup once the pot was full, and stood there in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, drinking it. He looked down at his body, at the myriad small scrapes and bruises he had acquired in one day. He knew Cait hadn't fared much better. This thought only made him angrier. He finished his first cup and poured his second and began drinking it. He knew what he had to do. He wasn't going to risk Cait's life again, that was unacceptable. Therefore, he had to take care of this mess alone. He found a pen and some paper, and quickly wrote a note to Cait telling her to meet him at the copshop tonight at midnight, and if he wasn't there, to get his son from Detective Kelly. He signed it, went into the living room and began carrying his stuff out to the car. He got all of his bags and weapons into the car, went into the bedroom, smiled a goodbye to Cait, and quietly left the house, turning the coffee pot off on his way out (no use in him saving his son only to find out the woman that would collect him from the copshop had burned to death because of a mishap with the coffee pot). He went outside, barefoot and in shorts, and got in the car, started it, and drove back to his frat house. He grabbed his bags and went inside. He went upstairs without seeing anyone, got in his room, and closed the door. He had barely sighed when he felt a pair of hands grab his wrists. He started to put up a struggle, but a well-placed club to the back of his knees dropped him. He looked up at his assailants and saw precisely the people he didn't want to see right then. The strong-arm goons that had been in the club last night. The man that called himself Jesus was sitting peacefully in full lotus position on the middle of Dae's bed, looking at him. For a moment, no one said anything. Then Dae was dragged on his knees and was forced to bow down in front of the man.

"Ah, my son, how far you've strayed from the flock."

Apparently Dae was supposed to say something, but he didn't know what, so he remained silent, and received a boot in the ribs for his efforts. Gasping, Dae spat a small amount of blood onto the floor.

"I'm not part of your fake flock, asshole."

This apparently wasn't what Jesus was looking to hear. He frowned, then nodded at the guy to Dae's left, and Dae received a vicious blow to the face. Dae nearly lost concious, but something in him struggled to stay awake, and he fought off slipping into blissful sleep, momentarily.

"I would think someone in your line of business would know better than to go to the corrupt authorities."

"Yeah...well...I have...other interests." Dae managed to gasp. Apparently, this Jesus was a much less forgiving one, because Dae felt a sharp pain in his arm, and then he slipped into welcome unconciousness.

Minutes...hours...days...Dae couldn't tell how long he'd been out, nor could he tell how long he'd been wherever he was. He had awaken to find himself in a circular room with bare stone floors and walls. He was still in a pair of shorts, and he wondered if it wasn't the fact that he couldn't lay still for the fact that he was shivering from the cold that he finally emerged from his slumber. His right arm was aching incredibly painfully, and felt like it would fall off when he gingerly touched it. He knew from past experience that his arm was broken at the shoulder. He sat upright in the room he was in, leaning against the cold stone walls. He didn't know where the door was, but he knew that sooner or later, he'd have company, and when that happened, he would be ready...

[Khavi]

Cait watched Dae fly around the house from the comfort of her own bed, wondering absently where he thougth he was going. She was, however, too far unconsious to really realize what was going on, and thus was blissfully ignorant until she woke up fully a few hours later and read his note.

"...Midnight at the police station. Oh, he'd better be there. I'll never forgive that bastard if he goes and gets killed on me," she murmured, putting teh note back down on her kitchen counter. She had a bowl of Lucky Charms, and went about teh rest of her day relatively quietly, mostly awaiting word from Dae that he was still alive.

Over the course of the day Cait managed to mostly finish her Lifedrawing assignment, had the picture at the duck lake nearly finished in it's painting. She was exceedingly proud of the almost-finished results, and it was nice to remember the day only a few weekends bast she and Dae spent at the park with Malch.

It was getting dark when Cait decided it migth be good to shower and start getting ready to go and find Dae, or his son, or both. She prayed hard that it would be the latter, and that everything would be done that night. Her body and her mind were damaged enough after the preivious days, she didn't want to put up with any more. Thus she showered, put on clean jeans and a black Jimmy Eat World shirt, Vans, and knocked her hair back up into a half-pulled-through pny tail. Contacts in, and it was already 11:30. Keys in hand, she went to go hunt down whoever it was she was supposed to find.

She took her own car this time, as Dae had taken their 'working vehicle'. The old beater chevy was her baby, despite the fact she has to paint it herself. It was a rather nice job, if she said so herself, with various swirling patterns all down it's sides and over the hood and the top. It had taken her a long time to finish, and the end result was very pleasing to her.

It was ten to midnight when she pulled up to the station. She got out of the car, looked around, up and down the street, for any other cars or people. There were som cop cars, and an old man walking his dog at the very end of teh street in the lamplight, but otherwise it was barren. She cocked an eyebrow, and went in, because it was midnight dead on by that point.

The old cop at the desk at the front gave her a quizzical look when she came in the doors. She just said "Detective Kelly," and he rolled his eyes and nodded, motioning to a door nearby. The sign on it said, oddly enugh, 'Detective Kelly, Narcotics' in gold letters on a little plaque. Inside she heard and angry voice talking, and the sounds of a child, relatively unhappy. She pushed the door open, and was met by a shocked Kelly, the same man who had appeared at her apartment the preivious sunday morning. On the floor, half hiden behind Kelly's desk, sat Malchavian, looking tired and unhappy.

"Who the fuck are you?" he growled.

"A friend of Dae's. He told me to meet him here at midnight. And if he didn't show up, to get his son," she said coolly. "I want the kid."

"...You're the woman from his apartment, aren't you?' he said, realization dawning on his face. "Caitlin something or other..."

"It was my apartment, thank you very much. Now please, give me the kid so I can go find Dae."

"How do I know you're really on our side? What's the kid's name? Dae's whole name, too, please."

"Daemion Rohan Vryce sent me to retrieve his child, James Malchavian Vryce. That name is tatooed quitely nicely across his chest. Care to hear about some of the other ones he's got? Sunburst on his right shoulder, the elvish sumbols for-"

All right, all right, I get it. Dae should be here in teh next haf hour. If he isn't, I'll give teh kid to you, and you can take him. If he shows up after you leave and asks, I'll tell him you have it. I do hope you're sincere, because that man is absolutely rabid about his offspring."

"Understandably so. Would you sit idly by if someone stole your son?"

"Depends which one they took."

Cait raised her eyebrows, but said nothing more on the subject. The next half an hour was spent in silence, neither much wanting to talk to the other. Dae, however, failed to make an appearance. Thus, at 12:30 sharp, Cait took Malchavian, who had fallen asleep, into her own custody, with the rather snide blessings of Detective Kelly.

"As I said, I hope you're sincere, Mz. Montreau. I'd just hate to see Dae kill anyone else in the pursuit of his child."

"Blow me."

Cait left the station in silence, Malchavian curled in her arms, breathing softly into her shoulder. She put him the carseat Dae had left, and that she had secured into her back seat, buckling him up gently. He stirred once, made a quiet noise. Cait smiled faintly, hoping against hope teh boy's father still lived somewhere.

Back at her building, the night watch was, as usual, asleep at his post. Silently, Cait carried the sleeping child up her room, careful not to wake him or anyone else. She didn't want to have to explain too much to the boy, just yet.


Dae wasn't heard from for days. Cait sat in her apartment four days after themorning he had left, having just given Malchavian lunch. The boy had stopped asking after his daddy, but seemed content with where he was and who was watching over him. Caitlin, however, was growing increasingly worried and anxious. Dae would not just dissapear like that without some word to her, and he certainly wouldn't just leave the prospect of having his son back. Something had happened to him. Something was wrong.


"Thank you so much, Robert, I promise I can explain it all to you soon... Just watch him for a while, I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I can pay you later I... I have to go," she said.

She left the house of one of her castmemebers from Hamlet, and got back in her car. The first place to check would be the frat house. She had to know if any of teh guys had seen Dae there lately. It was the only place she knew to start.

On the other side of town, she pulled into the frat driveway. The car she had rented was sitting in the street, looking as if it hadn't been driven in several days. She cocked an eyebrow, removed her keys from the ignition, and slid out of her car. She pounded on the door for a while, but no one answered.

"Hey, Luke! Jimmy, someone?! You boys can't all be gone... Honestly, people, someone just answer the goddamed-" she cried, but was interrupted by... Jesus. "...Oh my... Gosh. You know, I'm used to people asking if I've 'found Jesus', but this is getting ridiculous..." she murmured.

"Ah, come in, my daughter. I've been expecting you, really. Ever sicne we took over this... house of brotherhood... I've been wondering when you would come looking for Daemieon. You seemed far to brilliant than you were putting on at the Den, but really, I was beginning to doubt my early thoughts on you. Please, child, come in, sit down," he said, stepping back out of the doorway.

Arching an eyebrow yet again, Cait stepped in.

"Perchance you could just tell me where Dae is, and we could all just go our seperate ways, end of story?" she wondered, sitting in the chair that was offered. It was very eerie, being in Dae's kitchen with Jesus.

"Sorry, but I can't do that. I can tell you we have him locked in the basement of our main center of operations... but sadly, I can't tell you where that is."

"And the other boys in the frat?"

"They've all been... seen to. Never you mind."

"Can you take me to him?"

"To who?"

"...To Dae. Can you let me see him? I swear I won't tell police, I just.... Listen, Mr. Christ, he's got a little kid at home, and I don't want to be the one to explain t that boy if his father gets killed."

"Ah, yes, I've heard about that... But I'm sorry, I cannot allow you to know where he is being held. He must repent for his sins and be welcomed back into the flock before anything can be done about his release."

[Raige]

Dae was kneeling down, leaning back on his haunches, shoulders resting lightly against the wall. He had long started shivering, and try as he might, he couldn't ignore it. He stood up, trying not to jar his arm. He began walking in slow circles to promote the circulation of blood in his legs and keep his mind clear. He didn't have to wait much longer. The door burst open, bright light dazzling his eyes. He blinked a few times, raising his uninjured hand to block the light. He made out two bodies entering the room. The first hand grabbed his upraised arm and started to pull it behind him. Dae reacted instantly, his body turning and his right leg curling up. His knee planted itself firmly in the man beside him's groin, forcing the guy to emit a woof of air. He felt the other body coming toward him, and ducked down low, swinging his left arm haymaker style parallel to the ground. His arm connected with two ankles, tripping the man. Dae was on him in an instant, his knees keeping the guy's arms pinned, using his free hand to tear at his throat. Blood dripping from his fingers, he went into the hall, looking around him. He didn't know where he was, but a set of stairs led up, so that's where he went. He reached the top without incident, and reached for the door's handle. He opened the door slowly, looking each way. No one was around, so Dae headed to the left. He heard commotion from a room on the right, and he slowly inched up to the open door and looked in. There was a group of robed people sitting in a circle, meditating. He darted by the door and kept going. He reached a door and opened it, and looked outside. Luckily enough, he had wandered to a door that led to out of this building. He went out and closed the door behind him. He looked around, then took off for the open road as fast as he could. Dae heard shouting behind him but didn't look back, and he kept running as fast as he could. He took a left and darted across a busy intersection onto Main Street. He kept running until he reached Nineteenth and he took a right. He darted into a shop on the corner and waited, breathing heavily. He waited for fifteen minutes and didn't see anyone. He went to the desk of the store and asked to use the phone, then called Caitlin's apartment. No answer. He left a message for her to come to World Board's and hung up. He went down into the basement and went into the stockroom. He grabbed a white Independent shirt and a pair of snowboarding pants. He went upstairs and grabbed a pair of DC Shoe Company shoes that were his size and put them on, then turned the lights off and waited for Cait's car to pull into the small sidealley parking lot.

[Khavi]

Cait lie on her back on the floor of her livingroom, in a patch of late afternoon autumn sunlight that kept her warmer than the faulty central heating system could. Her sketchbook lay open next to her, and on it's pages were random doodles to keep her mind off the situation at hand.

It had been two days since here attempt and getting something from 'Jesus', and she hadn't heard from him since. Nor had she heard anything on the health and welfare of Dae... and she still didn't know how she would tell Malchavian if his father and mother boith were dead. Or what what would do with him. She couldn't adpot him herself, she didn't make near enough money to support a kid, or the time to do it and still get to school. Maybe her mother would be able to help, or her brother Thom. He was married, and had a boy of his own, and pulled in an amazing amount of money, what with his being on the English national rugby team...

But she also couldn't bear to think of such things for more than a few minutes. She wouldn't beleive Dae was honestly dead until she got a phonecall proving it, and even then not until she saw the body. It was too depressing a topic.

She stretched out, sat up, and put her glasses back on. Glancing over at Malchavian, she saw he was asleep on the couch, tightly clutching his stuffed monkey. A small smile came to her lips, as she pushed herself up to her feet. It was probably a good time to start thinking about dinner, as it was coming up on 5:30, and she was starting to get hungry. No doubt Malch would be, too, when he woke up in a little while.

A search through the cabinet yeilded little, other than spaghetti noodles and a jar of Ragu. Looked like that was dinner. Along with what was left of the french bread she had bought a day or two earlier, and maybe an apple each, it wouldn't make a bad meal. Assuming she didn't light anything aflame or otherwise harm herself or her kitchen.


It was dark out bythen, and the spaghetti was working on boiling, the sauce was at a simmer, and Malchavian, having woken up, sat at the far end of the kitchen, where cait could keep an eye on him. He was colouring, in the sporadic way that three year olds have, with crayons and paper she had found for him. She was busy straining the spaghetti when the phone rang, but she chose to ignore it for the moment. It probably wasn't anything important. Probably telemarketers. The answering machine would get it.

[color-red]"Cait? Caity? Come on, pick up..."[/color] came the voice over teh phone.

Dae's voice.

She promptly dropped the pot into the sink, still filled with spaghetti. Her heart stopped, she froze, and didn't make a run for the phone until it was too late. Making a mad dash across the room to grab the phone out of it's cradle in the living room, she frantically pressed the 'talk' button and spoke urgently into it.

"Dae? DAE! Don't hang-"

There was a click on teh other end, and then a dial tone. She swore silently to herself, and then played back teh message.

"Cait? Caity? Come on, pick up..." A quiet sigh. "When you get home, Caity, when you get this message, I'm at World Board's downtown, and I don't have a car... I'm ok, though, I'm still alive, I just need a ride. I'll see you when you get here."

She started down atthe answering machine, and was about to turn and leave when there was a small tug on her pantleg. Glancing back, she found Malchavian standing behind her, monkey still in one arm, his free hand holding to the leg of her jeans.

"...Popa?" he murmured. He looked like he might cry. Cait knelt in front of him, smiled gently.

"That's were we're going right now, moppet. To find popa," she said, and picked him up as she stood. She stepped into teh nearest pair of shoes, grabbed her car keys, and went down to the parking garage as quick as she could.


She flew down the road, nearly past the legal limit, remembering best as she could where World Board's was. Malch was in his carseat in the back, anxious to see his dad. He squirmed a bit in his seat, looked out the window, bounced. Cait herself couldn't seem to sit really still, for she was still worried abut Dae. What if he was found before she could get there? What if it was a set up? What if Dae were there, but with a bunch of the 'Apostles', waiting to grab her and run?

She tried to keep such thoughts out of her mind as she pulled into the empty World Board's lot. Undoing her seatbelt, she twisted around and got Malch out of his carseat, and proceeded to exit the car.

She stood close to teh car, locked it, and looked around the lot. Her spirits slowly fell as she realized how empty it was, and that she seemed to be the only person in teh parkinglot. Hers was the only car. Sh elooked down, leaned back against the car, held a little tighter onto the child in her arms.

Just as she was about to turn put Malch back into his carseat a drive home and pray that Dae was on a bus to her apartment, his voice hissed over to her.

"Giving up on me already?"

Cait's head whipped around and she soptted him leaning against the hood of her car. Her jaw dropped to her feet as he walked around and stood before her, looking down at her with a half smile on his face.

Then she promptly flung her free arm about him, and sobbed into his chest, days of frustration and worry and anger leaking wildly out.

"I was so worried, I thought you were dead, and I didn't know what I was gonna do with Malch, because I dn't have enough money or time to raise him, and I... I didn't think I would ever see you alive again..." she stammered, and she looked him in the eye. "But I got Malch back for you..."

[Raige]

Dae winced slightly when Cait threw her arm around him, burying her face in his chest, crying. The pain was almost blinding, but he managed a small smile for his son and stroked the back of Cait's hair, doing his best to comfort her in his injured state. When she finally pulled free, he rubbed his son's hair, smiling at him. Malch reached his arms out for Dae to hold him, and Dae had to admit that he wasn't in near as good of shape as he might've looked.

"Sorry buddy, Daddy hurt his shoulder..."

Dae stopped his sentence short at the look on his son's face, then took Malchavian in his ininjured arm and stood there, holding Malch, his son's arms wrapped tightly about his neck.

"Thanks Caity...thanks for going to get my boy..."

Dae leaned over and kissed Cait softly on the lips, smiling as he stood straight. He motioned for Cait to open Malch's door and put his son in the car, strapping him in his carseat and closing the door. He turned to Cait, his face looking much more serious.

"I need to go see a doc, Cait. My shoulder is fucked up."

Without giving an explanation, he got into the passenger side of her car. She was in her car and flying down Main Street in an instant. He told her what happened to him without going into detail in front of Malch and promised to tell her more when they got back to her place. They were at the Bozeman Deaconess Hospital in less than no time, parked in the parking lot, and walking to the ER entrance, Dae cradling his hurt arm and holding Malch's hand in his free hand, Cait walking on the other side of Malch. They went in, Dae had Cait fill out the paperwork for him, and were soon enough in a patient room, waiting to see the doctor. Dae helped pass the time by playing with Malch, using the reflex hammer on Malch's knee, making him laugh everytime he couldn't control his leg jumping. The doctor came in, Dae explained that he had taken a nasty spill down a flight of stairs and got his arm caught in the handrail bars, and that's how his arm got hurt. The doctor merely raised an eyebrow and continued looking Dae over. Dae grimaced as the doctor made him raise his arm as high as he could, which was barely an inch away from his torso. Finally, after looking Dae over one last time, the doctor asked a nurse to take Malchavian into the children's waiting room and keep him company. With Malchavian gone, the doctor turned a stern look on Dae.

"Look son, I've been practicing medicine for over 20 years. I've never seen a shoulder in as bad of shape as yours. Especially not coming from a fall down stairs. You want to tell me what really happened?"

"Look doc, I told you."

"Well, if you don't want to be honest with me, I can't change that. I can't prescribe honesty. This shoulder is going to take a long time to heal. At least a month, maybe two. You need plenty of bed rest for the next two days at least. You're body looks like you decided to jump into a batting cage with no bat. I'm going to give you a sling to wear until I can get you in for surgery, and some Vicadin for the pain. Just wait here and I'll get you some samples until you can get to the pharmacy in the morning."

"Thanks, doc."

The doctor helped Dae into his sling, then left the room. Dae turned a tired smile at Cait.

"Smart man. I know a place where we can lay low for a while babe, until I get back on my feet. I really want you to come stay with me, Malch seems to have taken a liking to your company."

Dae reached out and took Cait's hand and pulled her to him, then took her hand and placed it on his face, leaning his head against it and closing his eyes.

"Thank you so much for getting him Cait...you don't know how happy I was when I saw him. And you again. I was so worried about both of you."

Dae took Cait's hand and kissed it, then stood up and flexed his legs, his muscles stretching painfully.

"Alright babe, let's get this prescription, get my boy, go by your place to get some clothes, and take a trip to my buddy's house up at Big Sky."

In another few minutes, the doctor came back and gave Dae his prescription, they collected Malchavian, went to Cait's apartment, grabbed several changes of clothes for all of them, and within an hour were headed up the highway to Big Sky ski resort. The drive took about 45 minutes, but when they got to Dae's friend's house, Dae knew Cait was sure it was worth it. The house was a 7000 square foot log cabin with huge windows, two outdoor jacuzzi's, a wrap-around deck, 2 car garage, it was basically the most beautiful house Dae had ever stepped foot in. Dae had Cait pull around behind the house and they all got out, the door opening as they walked toward it. Out stepped a shaggy-haired, baggy-clothes wearing dude named Beats. Dae explained to Cait that he had known Beats since they were freshmen and did lots of drugs the week before finals. Beats led them in the house, through the insanely huge kitchen, down a short hallway, and opened a door onto another wing of the house.

"Yeah, this is the guest rooms. I dunno, it's not my room but it's pretty tight. If ya'll need anything, you have a kitchen back here, and if you can't find it back in this one, go to the big one. I'll be downstairs. Hey Dae, you wanna smoke?"

"Maybe later bro. Thanks for letting us stay."

"Always, man. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, have fun skiing bud, we'll catch you at lunch."

Dae turned and closed the doors behind him, then walked back into the bedroom. Cait had already gotten Malch into the small children's bed Beats had put in the room when he found out Dae had a kid. Dae sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed and took the shoes and socks off, then gingerly and oh so carefully pulled the sling from his arm. He looked at his shoulder and body for the first time, noting the myriad scrapes, cuts, and large amounts of bruises. He shook his head and leaned back, then held out his arm for Cait to lay beside him.

"Come sleep woman, you've got to be exhausted."

[Khavi]

Cait winced involutarily when she imagined the beating Dae must have taken, judging by the various bruises, cuts, scrapes, and other variations of wounds he had. Her imagination calmed itself, however, when she stepped out of her shoes and into bed next to him. There was something undeniably soothing about curling into the warmth offered by the quilt and Dae himself. Everything seemed, for the most part, like it would turn out all right. She was easily asleep a bare few moments later.

The next morning, as she stirred back into the world of the living, Cait noticed out the window at the head of the bed that there was a thick layer of snow on the ground. It was quite pleasant, in her mind, waking up snuggled down beneath the covers with Dae. A faint smile played over her face when she looked up and noticed he was also awake.

"Morning," she murmured, a bit sleepily. He responded in kind, and slightly tightened the uninjured arm her had around her. They lay like that for a while, quietly drifiting between being awake and dozing.

Until, of course, Malchavian woke up and crawled up inbetween them, snuggling into his father's chest. Cait smiled as she stroked the little boy's fair hair, and a sort of familial bliss settled over the three of them. After a short while, they all seemed to be fully awake, and Dae and Cait sat upright. They played with Malchavian for a while, laughing and tickling.

After a while, though, Cait noticed that Dae was obviously hurting from his injured shoulder. The painkillers were probably wearing off, and he had likely overused it playing around with his son. Cait figured it was probly best to let Dae rest awhile, a heal in peace.

"All right, pet, lets go get breakfast and let papa rest, ok?" she said to Malchavian. "You can help Auntie Cait in the kitchen." He smiled at her, and as she gathered him up she leaned over and kissed Dae on the cheek.

"We'll be back in a little while. Your Vicodin's on the nightstand if you should need it, call if you need anything else," she said, sliding from beneath the covers. The central heating system kept it from behind as cold as she figured it would have been.

Gathering up Malch, she moved towards the door. "Right then, kiddo, lets go," she said, laughing as she pulled open the door and swung out of the room, Malchavian giggling happily in her other arm.


The next few weeks were spent in a similar fashion, mostly inside. They only left the house a few times, once to pick up the rest of Dae's painkillers from the pharmacy, and a few others to get groceries that they couldn't find around Big Sky. Dae's doctor called to inform them of when he had been fitted for surgery to fix his shoulder. It was, over all, a very pleasant point in time, making up for the weeks they had spent worrying and hurting preiviously. One afternoon, though, stood out in Cait's mind as being particularly lovely.

She was lying on her stomach on their bed, catching up on what she had been missing in her classes. Having gotten one of her fellow animation students to send her notes she had missed, she was busy trying to figure out how she was oing to keep herself afloat in class. By this point, it didn't seem possible. Her best bet was to drop out and start again the following semester. Dae was somewhere else with his son, doing whatever it was fathers and sons did together.

However, she heard him slip almost silently into the room and carefully shut the door behind him, felt him creep across the bed towards her and place a light, feathery kiss at the base of her spine. A smile snaked across her lips as he kissed up her spine, to the bare skin a few inches below her neck that her tanktop didn't cover.

"What're you doing?" she wondered aloud absently, pushing her notes away.

"Dunno." Another light kiss, this one at the nape of her neck.

"Where's Malchavian?"

"Sleeping in the next room. Beats is there, too, he's safe." Kiss, just below her right ear.

Cait twisted around to lie on her back and look up at Dea. She reached a hand up to stroke his cheek, draw him down to her to kis him back. When he pulled away eventually, Cait smiled again. She bit her lip a little, contemplating what she wanted to say. It was something that had been gnawing at her for a while, in the back of her head.

"Dae..." she started, softly. "These past couple weeks, with you an Malch... They've been so wonderful, almost perfect, and when this is all over, when we don't have to worry about drug dealers or Apostles... I don't want it to end. I want to stay with you guys as long as I can because I... Dae, I love you." She paused for a bit, thinking. "I didn't realize it so strongly until you dissapeared, and then again when you came back... I don't ever want to lose you like that again, not ever."

[Raige]

Dae didn't quite know what to say. While he had easily kept a happy demeanor about him these past few weeks, particularly because he knew he and his loved ones were quite safe, deep in the dark corners of his mind he had been preoccupied with taking his revenge on those that had thrown his and his son's and Cait's lives on such a loop. He had no intentions whatsoever of staying up here in Big Sky, hiding from the scum that had hurt him so badly, but he hadn't said anything to anyone except Beats when they had had some quiet time away from Cait and Malchavian when those two were sleeping. Honestly, he hadn't put much thought into anything else, especially what would happen with Cait after this mess was over. Her words were strangely calming, reassuring. He smiled a little, and kissed her lips softly.

"You know you always have a place in my heart, Cait. And Malch would love to keep you in our lives. We both love you, Cait. I want you to stay with me forever..."

Dae ran his hand through Cait's hair, brushing it out of her eyes and kissing her forehead.

"Don't ever leave me, Cait...I need you."

No more words were needed, Dae said everything else he needed to physically. While it was complicated trying to show her how he felt with just one arm, it wasn't altogether impossible, and was quite enjoyable for the both of them. Dae roused himself a couple of hours later and pulled some shorts on, then went out into the house. He found Beats and Malchavian downstairs in the TV room. He took Malch up in his arms and sat down next to Beats and they continued watching the Disney movie Aladdin. Not much later, Malchavian was sound asleep.

"You gonna take me down to the hospital tomorrow for the followup checkup after my surgery?"

"Yeah dude, of course. You shoulder looks like it's not hurting you as much anymore, you feel better?"

"Yeah, another couple of weeks and I should be good to go."

"You still plan on going on a rampage once you're all healed up?"

"I don't know...Cait and I talked today...I kind of have a responsibility to her and Malch to stay healthy, you know? And I think if I go on the hunt, I will most likely at the very least get a few dings and scrapes. What do you think?"

"You've got a point...but you know that if you don't rectify the situation, you aren't going to be able to live in safety and peace in Bozeman anymore. You know you're gotta do something."

"Yeah...I know. You still willing to help?"

"Hey man, we made a pact to help each other whenever we needed it. I couldn't really call myself your friend if I didn't help you out now, could I."

"Yeah...I guess not. I appreciate it man."

"No worries dude, it's what friends are for. You wanna smoke?"

"Nah dude, they might do a blood test tomorrow."

"True, true. Aight, I'm gonna go outside and take a hike and smoke a whole shit ton, so I'll talk to you tonight sometime."

"Yeah, for sure bud, have fun."

"Do I do anything but have fun?"

"No, I don't think so."

They shared a laugh, then Beats left. Dae took Malch upstairs and put him in bed beside Cait, then went into the living room and laid down and started doing situps. He went through as many exercises as he could that didn't involve both arms, then took a shower. He pulled a pair of loose basketball shorts on and went and laid down beside his lover and child, smiling contently and easily drifting off to sleep.

[Khavi]

Dae held Malchavian in his good arm as Cait filled out a few necessary forms for him. They were back at the hospital in downtown Bozeman, this time for Dae's surgery. Cait and Malch were going to go to the zoo for a while as they waited for the surgery to end, before taking Dae back up to Big Sky to recuperate.

The receptionist didn't even look up as Cait handed the clipboard back to her, just motioned them to the waiting area where the surgeon would come out to talk to them shortly.

They had only been sitting in the waiting room, Dae bouncing Malch on his knees, for a short while before the doctor came in. They stood, Cait taking Malch as Dae spoke quietly to Dr. Dreslough. Before they left, Cait asked how long the surgery would probably take, so she would know roughly when to get back to the hospital.

"I'd say... 3, maybe 4 hours. If you've got a cell phone, you can give me the number and we'll call you when we're close to done, in case it takes any more or less time," he replied.

"Oh, of course," she said, and relayed him the number of Dae's cell phone, which she had in her purse. The doctor scribbled it down onto whatever paper he had on the clipboard that had been under his arm, and bid Cait and Malch goodbye before leaving. Dae, with a kiss on the forehead for both, followed closely after the doctor.

Back outside, they found the car in the parkinglot and made their way to the zoo closeby, where they woudl spend the afternoon waiting for Dae. Cait had brought along a sketchpad, for it had been quite a while since she had actually had time to draw.

"Ok buddy, what you want to see first?" she asked once their fares were paid and they were in. Malchavian, obviously having been there before, tightened his grip on her hand and started off in a particular direction, tugging her along. Cait laughed, and obliged by following.

Shortly thereafter, they came to the elephant enclosure. Malchavian strained to see over the outer wall, and Cait picked him up so he could see. He was instantly enthralled, watching the huge creatures lumber slowly about their cage.

After a while there, Malchavian led Cait on a path he seemed to have memorized, to certain cages in turn. After the elephants were the orangutans, then the cheetahs, then double back to the apes to see the gorrillas, then on to the reptile house. After a while they came to the petting zoo section of the place, and Cait had a chance to sit down for a while. She kept a close eye on Malch as he quite happily fed goats and a few sheep, and even a llama.

Cait decided that the ferrets in a large glass tank she sat next to were her favourites. They'd run up to the side of the tank she sat at, blink at her, make a few chittery noises, then run away and play around, then come back and watch her, then run away and mock-fight again. Thus, on the pages of her open sketchbook, graphite ferrets dressed as pirates (very Redwall, she thought) swashbuckled their way around the blank paper. After a while, Malchavian came back over to where she sat, (he had been recorded into her art as a tiny, llama-riding paladin) asking if they could go eat. Cait smiled, nodded, and told him to go wash his hands as she closed her book and slid it back into her bag. When he came back, hands thoroughly clean, she took his hand again and they went in search of a food stand. She had seen them scattered about the place.

Not too long later, they sat in the grass, eating hotdogs in the shade of a large tree. She glanced down at her watch, and saw that it was almost 4. Three hours since they had left Dae at the hospital. She wondered absently if everything was going all right, figured they would call her if anything went drastically wrong. Malchavian ate his hotdog surprisingly fast for a four year old. However, he did make the mess she would figure a four year old to make, so she took a napkin, dampened by the condensation on her Pepsi, and wiped his face clean of ketchup and mustard. He had, luckily, managed to keep from getting too much on his shirt. It was nothing a little soap and water wouldn't get out later.

Cait, sure that Dae would be out of surgery soon enough, decided it would probably be best to start heading in that direct. She was pretty sure she had seen a Baskin 31 Robins down the street from the hospital, they could probably wait there for a while.

Back in the car, Malchavian spoke animatedly from his carseat in the back about the animals he had seen that day, which ones he liked best. The ducks were, as Cait knew, his favourites. She smiled back at him in the rearveiw mirror as she pulled into the Baskin Robins/Chevron shared lot.

She was halfway through her lemon sherbet when the cellphone went off, screaming for attention by loudly playing Ride of the Valkyries. Rooting it out of her bag, she answered it knowing full well who was on the other end.

Not three minutes later they were in the hospital lot, pulling arund to the sidewalk by the exit. Dae was there, sitting on a bench, with a heavily bandaged right arm and quite obviously still half anesthesized. She got out of the car, helped him stand up and get into the car. Malchavian seemed happy to see his father again, but Cait motioned him quiet, mumured that Papa was really tired. The nurse that had been waiting with him gave Cait some more Vicodin, told her to call later and schedule an appointment in a few weeks for Dae to get his stitches out and start physical therapy.

The drive back to Big Sky was quiet, uneventful. Dae slept almost the whole way, waking only once to ask groggily if they had anything to drink, but before Cait could get the water bottle out of her bag he was out again.

When they got back to Big Sky, Beats met them and helped Dae out of the car and into the house, so Cait could take care of Malchavian. When they got up into the lodge, they found Dae dead asleep on the couch in the livingroom nextdoor to their bedroom. Beats told them to yell if they needed any help with anything, and went back to whatever it was he did in his end of the lodge.

That night, Malchavian slept in the big bed with Cait, listening quietly to the stories she told him that she had heard from her father when she was little. He was asleep relatively quick, curled up next to her. Dae still slept on the couch. Cait had left a glass of water, the Vicodin, and a little note that breifly said 'love you, feel better, take your Vicodin'.


In the morning, Cait sat in the kitchen/dining room, talking and drinking coffee with Beats. Malchavian was on the floor by Cait's chair, colouring happily when Dae came in, still looking relatively drugged. A violently purple bruise was peeking over the bandages, spread across a little part of his bare chest.

"Morning, love," Cait said, smiling. Beats said something similar, asked how Dae's arm was as he sat in the other empty chair.

"Feeling better this morning?" she wondered, getting up to fetch Dae some coffee, too. "Your doctor said to call him later, and make an appointment to get the stitches out." She set the cup in front of him, sat back down.

"Malch and I went to the zoo while you were in surgery. We had a greeat time, didn't we kiddo?" she said, smiling down at the boy. He looked up and nodded vigorously.

"We saw the ducks!"

[Raige]

Dae awoke with the first light creeping in through the huge windows in the living room. He looked about groggily, not quite remembering how he got back to Beats' house. He sat up, saw stars, and promptly laid back down. His shoulder was throbbing painfully, the pain was so intense that it was rather difficult to breathe. He lay there, out of breath for a few minutes, before gathering his determination and sitting up again. He leaned forward, took the vicadin on the table, put both in his mouth, and drank them down with some water. He looked at the note and read it which brought a smile to his lips. He heard voices coming from the kitchen, so he wrapped a blanket around himself, holding it closed with one hand, and shuffled slowly into the kitchen. He saw Beats and Cait sitting at the table drinking coffee, and his boy was coloring by Cait. A small smile played about his lips, and grew wider when Cait said good morning.

"Morning, sweetness."

Beats repeated what Cait said, only in the mocking way that Beats does, which made Dae laugh, which made Dae had to immediately sit down because of the pain in his shoulder.

"Whaddup chief."

Dae reached down and ruffled his son's hair. Malch stood up and gave him a hug, which Dae returned with his good arm and kissed the top of his head.

"What're you coloring shorty?"

"Ducks! We saw them yesterday at the zoo, lots of them everywhere. Then we had a hotdog, and then Caity got us ice cream and we got you and how come you slept so much on the way home? Were you sleepy?"

Dae grinned at his son.

"Yeah bud, daddy was really tired. Why don't you finish your picture and I'll hang it up for you in our room?"

"Ok Can we put it in the living room instead?"

"You'll have to ask Uncle Beats."

"For sure little buddy. You can color on the walls too if you want." Beats grinned and winked at Malchavian.

"Oh, no you can't. Don't listen to Uncle Beats, he's trying to get you in trouble bud. We'll hang your pictures up in the livingroom, ok? But no coloring on the walls."

Malachavian seemed to think about this for a minute, then shrugged and said "OK."

Dae took a drink of his coffee, set the cup down, then took Cait's hand in his. He jerked his head like he needed to tell her something, and when she leaned closer, he kissed her softly on the lips.

"Thanks for taking care of me love. Someday I'll make it up to you."

"OK, the emotions are getting deep and the PDA is intolerable. Come on kid, let's go watch some TV downstairs on the moving couch."

Beats grinned at Cait and Dae, picked Malchavian and his coloring pad and crayons up, and left the room after squeezing Dae's good shoulder a little, a simple gesture of their friendship. Dae smiled and watched him go, then turned back to Cait and kissed her hand.

"I've been truly blessed with my family, you realize that?"

Dae stood up and led Cait by the hand into the living room, where he and she curled up on the couch together and sat in perfectly comfortable silence, looking out at the beautiful mountain scenery of Big Sky.


The next few weeks passed relatively slowly, Dae regaining mobility and strength in his shoulder with each passing day, becoming closer to Cait with every passing moment. He finally confessed to her everything about his life, his drug usage, his being a drug dealer, his problems with his father, everything. He felt by doing so that he was unlocking a part of him that he had never exposed to anyone, and it was refreshingly healing. He spent most of his days playing with Malchavian in the snow, or playing with Cait in a much different manner wherever and whenever they were alone together, and once he could, spent a lot of time snowboarding with Beats. After a month, he began lifting weights again, and after another 2 weeks, he felt himself fully healed and ready to finish the job in Bozeman. After putting Malchavian to bed one night, he left Cait in the living room, drawing in her sketchpad, and went downstairs to Beats' bar. He and Beats sat there, thinking of people they knew that would help them, making a list of those people and supplies they figured they would need. After about an hour and a half, he took a few shots of Crown Royal with Beats, decided on what time they would get up and start making preperations in the morning, and went back upstairs. He found Cait in bed already, and he stripped down to a pair of black Nike basketball shorts and got in bed. He put his right arm on her, his hand resting just below her ribcage, and stroked her hair with the other. He felt her stir and heard her sigh contentedly, putting one hand on top of his and the other on his neck, rubbing it.

"Were you sleeping lover?"

They stayed that way for awhile, making smalltalk mixed with lover's speak. Finally, after a little while of laying together in silence, Dae kissed her neck.

"Caitlin, love?"

"Mmhmm?" she murmured sleepily.

"Tomorrow it begins. Tomorrow Beats and I are going to start getting things ready to kick into action...and I want you to know you don't have to be a part of it this time. No one is going to think any less of you if you don't want to fight this time, love. In fact, I'd much rather you didn't. You know I love you, and I don't want to chance anything happening to you. But I know you, and I know you are going to do what you want. I just want you to know that tomorrow it begins, and if you want, you can help, and if not, that's even better."

Dae waited for an answer, then kissed the base of her neck.

"Talk to me, love. I'm not a mindreader. What are you thinking?"

[Khavi]

Cait had been on the edge of sleep for a while when Dae came in and slid int bed next to her. She turned over, nestled in and took his hand. She was exceedingly content to lie there forever, quietly talking to the love of her life, halfway between dream and reality. After a while of silence, however, Dae spoke up again.

"Tomorrow it begins. Tomorrow Beats and I are going to start getting things ready to kick into action...and I want you to know you don't have to be a part of it this time. No one is going to think any less of you if you don't want to fight this time, love. In fact, I'd much rather you didn't. You know I love you, and I don't want to chance anything happening to you. But I know you, and I know you are going to do what you want. I just want you to know that tomorrow it begins, and if you want, you can help, and if not, that's even better," he said. Cait opened her eyes all the way, furrowed her brow. She thught for a while, unsure of what to do. He kissed her neck gently, and said softly, "Talk to me, love. I'm not a mindreader. What are you thinking?""

Cait sat up, raked her fingers back through her wild hair. Her legs were crossed beneath the covers, Indian style, and her hands rested in her lap. She looked down at them, then back at Dae. He had sat up as well, was stroking her arm. He looked worried, hopeful, anxious... she bit her lip before finally speaking.

"Dae, I... I know there's no way I could ever talk you out of it. And I know you have to go back. I would never stop you. And I... I want to help. I want to come with you, fight for you, do whatever I can. But someone has to stay with Mally. Someone has to keep the light on and be ready to take you in. So I... Maybe I'll get a little out of the way apartment just outside home. I'll stay with Malch, I'll keep out of the big things if you want me to. But I want to be close, just in case. I want you to call if you need anything. Anything," she said. She turned bodily towards him, put a hand on the back of his neck and drew him close to her. She kissed his forehead, his cheek, looked him in the eye. "I love you, Dae. Please, don't get yourself killed for this. Malchavian needs you. I need you. I know they've hurt you. More than I know you're willing to admit. But you come back to me and Malchavian alive. Promise me you won't die for them. They don't deserve your blood on their hands."

She slid her arms around his neck, pulled him to her. "I love you, more than you'll ever know. I just want it to last longer than it has."

[Raige]

Dae smiled a little, kissed his lover's lips softly.

"We have all the time in the world, Cait. You know as well as I that we all have to die sometime...but now isn't my time. Don't ask me how I know it, but I do. I will come back to you Caitlin, I promise. I refuse to lose you now, or ever, until such time as you decide that you want to go."

Dae put his hand on Cait's cheek, rubbed it with his thumb, then kissed her again. No more words were said that evening, none needed to be said. All emotions, thoughts, words, all were expressed physically.

Later, Dae lay awake, one arm holding a sleeping Cait close to him, the other stroking her wild hair gently as she slept soundly, her head on his chest. He lay awake until the sun began to peak over the horizon, lost in thought. As the sun began to show over the ridges of the Big Sky mountain range, he heard Beats stirring in the kitchen, then smelled coffee brewing. Carefully, so as not to awaken Cait, he got out of bed and pulled a pair of jeans on and a wifebeater. He walked barefoot into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of coffee, and went out onto the deck where he knew Beats would be. The morning air was chilly, but not unpleasantly so after a night of heated passion with Cait. They stood there in silence, both simply appreciating the beauty of the surrounding landscape, as they had done several times in the past. Finally, both of them having finished their first cup of coffee, they went back inside and sat down at the kitchen table and began calling people they knew that would help them. To everyone they told the same thing: come up to Beats' house in Big Sky if they wanted to have some fun in the next week. No one turned them down. After a couple of hours, it was almost 9, and Malchavian came into the kitchen. Dae poured him a bowl of cereal, turned some cartoons on (Pokemon, to Dae's utmost annoyment, was Malch's favorite cartoon right now, so Dae turned that on for him), and went to wake up Cait. He lay down beside her, on top of the blankets, and kissed her neck, just below her ear. She stirred, and he kissed her jaw. A smile played about her face, and she purred a little, so he kissed her lips. She opened her eyes slowly, and he realized, again, just how beautiful she was. He smiled.

"I love you."

Dae kissed her again, mouths becoming familiarized with one another yet again, before he pulled up and leaned on one elbow, looking down at her.

"Good morning sweetness."

[Khavi]

Cait felt Dae's lips gently on her neck, her jaw, then her own mouth. She opened her eyes as he pulled away, smiled faintly at him. She drew her finger along the angle of his jawline, under his chin. He was a bit stubbly around the edges, as it appeared he had yet to shave that morning.

"Morning," she murmured in response. Judging by where the sun was, it was already late for her to be sleeping in. But then, given the preivious night's activities, she wasn't surprised she had had a bit of a lie-in. She sat up, pulling the covers up with her, for modesty's sake. Not as though it were necessary, it was just habit for her.

Dae explained to her, then, what was going on the next few days. Some of his and Beats' buddies were coming up to have what could be called nothing else but a 'War Council'. As Dae spoke, Cait pulled on clothes, found her glasses, did her best to tame some of her hair by pulling a comb through it, and then sat back down on the bed with him. He finished he little spiel, and Cait nodded a little. She leaned back, resting her weight on her hands, one leg folded under her.

"I can watch Malch if you want, while you lot plot whatever it is you want to do. Much as I would prefer to know what's happening, I'm sure youc an just fill me in later... I want to learn how to shoot, though. If things go wrong or something happens unplanned, I'll need to know. As of now, that's all I ask," she said. Dae nodded, kissed her cheek, and dissapeared off to do something with Beats.

Cait found Malchavian sitting in the living room, waitching Pokemon or some other godawful cartoon. She tidied up the room a bit, throwing out the empty soda cans, putting dirty plates, bowls, and the like in the kitchen, and clearing up her varying drawings and paintings that were scattered over the coffee table and floor, half finished and screaming to be worked on. Once his cartoon was over, she cleaned up Malchavian as well, and then set to doing the dishes and generally spiffing up the kitchen. All the while, Malch sat on the floor playing with 'drums' (upturned pans and pots Cait had set down for him, to keep him occupied). When he grew bored with that, she hunted down his colouring books and crayons.

Just as she finished with teh dishes, she heard people arriving. A few voices, breif greetings and gruntings. Very testosterone-laden. Cait rolled her eyes and decided that, rather than sit and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon, she could make lunch for everyone.


When Dae found them again, Cait had utilized the CD player and was busy waltzinf around the kitchen making lunch, all to the tune of Lifehouse's 'Stanley Climbfall' CD. She hadn't even heard him come in, but kissed the base of her neck, almost making her leap out of her skin and drop the breadknife in her hands. However, she managed to hold on to her cutlery and turn around to face him. She smiled a little, then motioned to the sandwhiches she was almost done with.

"I figure you and whoever else it is out there might be hungry. I took the liberty of looting the refidgerator and found some pretty good things. You go on and take out the plate with the meat and cheese on it, I'll be right out with veggies and bread and such..." she said. He chuckled, kissed her, and did as he was told. Cait finished slicing the bread, and the flitted out with Malchavian in tow, two plates of bread and vegetables and one bowl of potato chips balanced very artfully in her hands.


Later that night, with Malch safely tucked into bed, Cait sat around the kitchen table with Dae, Beats, and the boys who had been introduced as Nick, Kadir, Luke, Brian, and Mizzle. They had cards in hand, and were busy in a few rounds of poker before bed. There were several opened bottles of carying kinds of alcohol out, Cait with her prefferance of Guinness.

"Royal Flush, boys," she said, pressing her cards down onto the tabletop. "Pay up." As the varying amounts of money were begrudgingly pushed at her, she looked at Dae and smiled wickedly. "You," she said, tugging a bit on his goatee (which he had since trimmed), "You... I will collect from later." There was a laugh around the table as Dae cocked an eyebrow to match hers, and Cait winked as she collected everyone's cards and shuffled.

"Who's in this round?"

[Raige]

Dae shook his head, amused, as everyone pushed their money towards Cait. He ha dto grin when she promised to collect from him later. When she asked who was in the next round, Beats was the first to say no.

"It's definately cheef time, sorry Caity. Busy day tomorrow.

Dae chuckled adn stood up and stretched. He wasn't sure how long they'd been playing cards, but he himself was fairly buzzed from consuming too much.

No wonder you lost all your money, you're half-tanked.

Everyone said their good nights to Dae and Cait and went downstairs to the smoking room, and Dae helped Cait clear the table of the bottles and cans and glasses. Once finished, they walked out onto the deck outside their shared bedroom. Dae stood behind Cait and wrapped his arms around her. They stood in silence, watching the stars, showing affection for one another in various ways, for a long time before Dae finally yawned.

"Come on, love, time for bed."

Dae let go of Cait and went inside, changed into a pair of red and white And1 shorts, then climbed into bed and lay on his back, waiting for Cait to come join him. Once she did, he put one arm about her, the other behind his head. After a bit, he kissed her forehead, and said jokingly,

"So, lover, were you planning on collecting from me tonight...or...some other time?"

Dae grinned mischieviously, and laughed quietly. They had moved Malchavian to another room, but it had an adjoining door to their bedroom, and he didn't want to chance waking his son up. He took the arm from behind his head and, using that hand, tilted her chin up and kissed her.

"God, I never want tonight to end. But like every other good thing in my life, it will, and all too soon..."

[Khavi]

Cait giggled when Dae inquired as to when she would be 'collecting' from him, and quirked an eyebrw as if in thought. It wasn't at all a tough decision to make, yet as she was going to speak, he did again.

"God, I never want tonight to end. But like every other good thing in my life, it will, and all too soon..." he murmured. Cait smiled faintly, moved closer and wrapped an arm around him. They simply held eachother for a while quietly, wanting to stay as such for as long as they could. Cait shared similar opinions as Dae, but knew all too well that this night would be over before she knew it. A smile crossed her face anyway, and she looked up at Dae with a jokingly wicked glint in her eye.

"So, then, I do beleive you owe me from that game tonight?" she said, and kissed his neck, right at the nape. He chuckled as she kissed and playfully nibbled her way up to just under his ear, at which point his lips met hers. She felt his fingers trace down her spine, then up over the curve of her hips and shoulders. Cait kissed him again, and knew for certain it was going to be a pleasant night indeed.

When Cait woke up the next morning, it was still relatively early. She felt strangely rested, despite the fact that there been little sleep for either of them the preivious night. Cait lie on her back in bed, looking up at the ceiling and thinking random happy thoughts. Dae still slept peacefully, one arm around her waist and his fingers entwined with hers, his head resting on her chest. Absently, with her free hand, she traced little patterns on his bare back. Every once in a while, he would sigh contentedly in his sleep. Eventually he woke up, stirring a little. He slid his hand free of hers, wrapped his arms all the way around her, rested his chin on the upper half of her chest, eyes traveling fondly over her features.

"Do you really have to get up and go anywhere today? We can't wait just another... oh... thirty years or so? When the bad guys have likly all ODed themselves?"

[Raige]

Dae smiled a little, kissed Cait's stomach.

"I wish we could stay here forever, love. But I can't hide here, my lifestyle won't allow it, not to mention my pride."

Dae sat up, looked down at his hands, clenched them into fists, then slow unclenched them.

"Those bastards are evil, think of all of the lives that they have ended through selling their corrupt pot. Believe it or not, even pot dealers like what I was when I sold take pride in knowing that we aren't hurting anyone, that we are truly helping some people, and helping others to simply have a good time. I took pride knowing that what I did was, while illegal, pretty much harmless. They brought disgrace to an occupation that, while society doesn't accept, the type of people that I dealt with came to love, albeit a false one. I had good times with a lot fo those people that died. Not to mention they disrupted my life, thereby disrupting yours. They forced me to take several lives, forced it upon you as well. They caused my child, my son, to be kidnapped by crooked cops. They brought my baby into a matter that a little kid, a complete innocent, should never be involved with. That, my love, makes this very personal."

Dae turned in the bed, took Cait's hand in his, looked in her eyes. He knew that the hatred he felt for them was visible in his eyes, audible in his tone of voice, and he prayed that it wouldn't frighten her away from him.

"That is why we can't stay here. Precisely why everyone of them will die, and very soon, by my hand. Maybe not directly by me, but I will be the cause of it. And true, I can't correct a wrong with another, and it is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life, and something I will have to answer for when I am judged in the afterlife, but it is something I am prepared to deal with. I have to."

Dae wait for a moment, until the silence became unbearable. Then he sighed.

"The only thing I ask from you is that you take care of my son while I end this. I can't possibly ask anything more from you."

Dae kissed Cait's hand, then got out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and left the room. He went through the house, waking people up. Once they were all up and awake, he returned to his and Cait's bedroom and pulled on a pair of jeans, sleeveless t-shirt, and a black hooded sweatshirt, pulled his shoes on and tied them. Then he went to the closet and pulled out the bag of guns he had stored in there, as well as the shotgun and ammo bag. He went out into the living room to find Beats had also brought his own guns from his room. Together they began explaining to everyone how to load the various guns, where the safeties were located on them. Then, they all went outside and began trekking up the backyard away from the house. They didn't have a range, so he had Luke bring a bag full of the bottles and cans they had emptied last night to a spot that was relatively flat and open. He lined up 10 cans and bottles for each person there, then went back to the group. Beats had already let each person choose their own weapon. He joined them in line, took his own pistol, a .50 callibre Desert Eagle, from its holster at the small of his back, pulled the slide back to chamber a round, let it snap forward, thumbed the safety off, and fired 10 rapid shots, quickly and fluidly ejected the spent clip and pulled another from a pocket, slammed it home, pulled the slide again, and fired 10 more. 10 cans were knocked over, 10 bottles shattered. The entire process of firing, reloading, and firing took less than a minute.

"That, boys, is what we're looking for from everyone. Time to get to work."

Dae began to walk back to the house, the sounds of bullets firing all around him. He knew that in a week it was nigh on impossible for them to get quite that good, most of them never having even fired a pistol before, but he knew they'd be all that much better. He planned to have each of them fire 1000 rounds in the next 5 days, 200 rounds a day. That should give them an edge and keep most of them alive for the following weekend's activities. It was now Friday. He planned to strike next Saturday night. They had a lot to do by then. He got back to the house and went inside and made a pot of coffee, got himself a cup, removed his sweatshirt, and sat down at the table to wait for the rest of his crew to arrive. They would all be there within the next couple of hours. He began to make a list of things they would need, things they might need, what they had, what they still needed. He was going to send Mark and Gavin on a run to Bozeman later that day, in the afternoon sometime, to get what they needed. Mark was easily the best thief he had ever seen (he witnessed him walk into a sports store and steal a skateboard, a set of skis and ski poles, some clothes, and a GPS unit and walk back out with it all, without ever paying a dime) and Gavin wasn't that far behind him (he'd been with Gavin when he went to a grocery store and steal just shy of 500 beers in 1 trip into the store). He'd send them with money, but he knew they'd get most of it for free. He'd personally go into Bozeman with Beats and Kadir and the three of them would get vehicles to carry everyone, probably Navigators or something of that sort. Until then, he didn't have much to do himself except wait.

"And the waiting is the tough part..." he muttered to no one in particular.

[Khavi]

Cait watched as Dae left a final time, off to go teach his friends to shoot or plunder or whatever it was they were doing that morning. After lying in bed for a while half asleep, she put on underwear and an ancient Led Zepplin shirt, then got back in bed and decided it was a good morning to read. She sat on top of the covers, resting back against the headboard, and cracked open her latest Louise Rennison book: "It's Ok, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers."

A while later, Malchavian sleepily puched open the door and ambled across the room. He hoiseted himself up onto the bed, made his way across it to Cait, and nestled down next to her.

"When's breakfast?" he asked, his speech still a little slurred by sleep. Dog-earing the page she was on, Cait set her book aside and turned to face Malch. She smiled at his half-asleep state.

"Whenever you want it, babes. Are you hungry now?" she asked.
"Kinda," he said. He yawned so wide, Cait wondered if his little head would split in half.
"All right then, well, if you want we can make a trip out to the kitchen and get something or other to eat. Or you can stay here and sleep, and I can bring something back. Which'll it be, love?"
"I wanna go with," he said, and perked up a little. He sat up, as did Cait, and she picked him up and danced Malch out to the kitchen.

Much to her surprise, Cait found Dae in the kitchen already, papers in front of him. He was writing things down, making notes, lists. There were already crumpled sheets on the floor by his chair. Setting Malch into his boosted chair at the table on her way, she went to the cabinet and made up the boy a bowl of Frosted Flakes. She gave him the bowl and a spoon, and went to see what Dae was up to.

She laid a hand just below his neck, and was about to speak when she noticed the surprising amount of knots in his back muscle.

"Good God, Daemieon, it's not even noon yet and you're so tense you're going to implode," she said. She bent and kissed the crown of his head. "You've got a week to go yet, love, don't overwork yourself." She squeezed his shoulder and went to find her own food.

Later that afternoon, the last batch of people Dae and Beats had sent for arrived. Over the next several days, Cait spent a lot of time watching Malch, making sure he didn't hear anything he'd be better off not knowing, securing that he would keep his childhood intact through the whole ordeal. Cait had late nights, staying up with Dae. Once Malch was safely in bed and asleep, he would tell her eveyrthing that had done that day. They dedicated one early morning, with Malch still asleep and Beats making sure he was all right, to teaching Cait to properly shoot. Luckily she was a relatively quick learner, and she was well enough in a few hours to suffice what she would need.

It was the last night they would be spending at Big Sky, and Cait was again up late with Dae. It was close to 12:30 am, but she wasn't paying much attention. Dae was taking a very well-deserved and much needed rest. His head lie on his folded arms in her lap, and she was busy gently rubbing the preiviously-discovered knots out of his back. Lately he had been working very hard to pull everything together in just under a week. Tomorrow, they would test whether or not his plans were going to work.

Eventually, Cait bent and kissed the base of his neck, and Dae relaxed a lot. "There we go, not quite so knotty as you were. Feeling any better?" she asked. He nodded as he sat up, facing her. She smiled faintly, and took his hands in her own.

"As I've said, I know I can't talk you out of any of this, but... please be careful tomorrow, and for however long it takes. I'm glad we've got those hotel rooms in town, I don't want to be stuck here while all of you are there," she said softly. She leaned closer and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to be an awful wreck of nerves by tomorrow nite, and probably for the next few months, even if I'm sure you're perfectly safe and healthy. I just hope those drug men are pleased that they've destroyed my composure, the bastards." She smiled again, and said, "Just be sure to come home at night, so I can keep you decently knot-free."

[Raige]

Dae smiled a little, then shook his head sadly.

"You know I can't risk seeing you next week...I'll lose focus...and it would put you and Malchavian in too much dang-"

Dae was stopped in mid-sentence by a kiss from Cait. She pulled back, and he looked at her, then grinned.

"Well...if you insist, I suppose I don't have much of a choice..."

Dae took her in his arms and they sank into their passion yet again. Some time later, Dae awoke in the very early hours of the morning, before the sun had even risen. He was covered in a cold sweat, and he was shaking. He looked over and wasn't too surprised to see Cait awake, propped up on one elbow and watching him. His last few nights had been riddled with nightmares, and he smiled weakly at her, an unspoken apology for waking her, yet again.

"This one bad?"

They shifted position in bed, she sitting up and he laying partially across her legs, looking up at her. He wrapped his arms around her, and she gently wiped some of the sweat from his face and then began tracing patterns on his bare chest, waiting for him to answer. He closed his eyes, remembering the dream, and shivered.

"Yeah...not too pleasant..."

"Want to tell me about it?"

Dae considered for a moment, then nodded his head, just a little.

"I dreamt that we failed...all of my friends died...it was bad...worse than the others...they got you and Malchavian...I watched you and my son die...God, I'm so scared Cait..."

He stopped speaking, unable to go on. She simply held him, comforting in her warmth, the familiarity of her body reassuring. They spent the remaining hours of the morning that way, her simply holding him, until he knew it was time for them to get up and get ready to leave Big Sky. They got out of bed and got dressed, packed up the rest of their clothes, got Malchavian up and dressed, packed up his belongings, then went into the kitchen. The kitchen was slightly chaotic, what with 11 people in it already, each trying to make his or her own breakfast or coffee of mixed drink, whatever suited their tastes. Dae left Cait to scrounge up some food for her and Malchavian, and left the kitchen to haul his and her and Malchavian's stuff out to the Excursion he had bought 2 days prior. That done, he went back inside and took the 2 duffel bags filled with guns and ammo to the Excursion, then carried the 3 shotguns from his room (one his, the other two recently purchased for this week's events) to the vehicle. He made one last trip inside to carry out his katanas, then went back inside and found Cait and Malchavian sitting in the living room, him eating a bowl of cereal and her eating some toast, a cup of tea in front of her, and a cup of coffee waiting for him. He kissed her cheek, sat down beside her on the couch, and drank his coffee while she and Malch finished their breakfast. Once everyone was finished eating and packed and had loaded their stuff into their vehicles, everyone piled into one of the three vehicles, either his Excursion, Kadir's 77 Internation Scout, or Beats' Cadillac Escalade, and they all drove down into Bozeman. They drove to the Holiday Inn in downtown Bozeman, checked in, and carried all of their stuff to one of the three adjoining suites they had reserved for the next week. Once everyone was in and settled, he called a meeting.

"OK boys and girls, it's time to start. It's 10 in the morning now. Iowa, I want you and Jess on top of the roof of the building across from the Den no later than 2 this afternoon. Keep watch, make note of who leaves and goes in. Gavin, you and Tori get on the roof behind the Den and watch the back entrance. Take pictures, make notes, make note exactly of the times whoever comes in and out does it, what vehicles they drive, try to get plate numbers. Stay until the place opens up for business tonight, then make yourselves scarce and come back here. Iowa, can you drive?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Cool. Make sure you park far enough away that nobody notices your Bronco, and be careful not to be seen, alright?"

"We're not idiots, Dae."

Dae looked at Jess and grinned as she started giggling. No matter what, the woman could always make him smile, which is why he loved her as much as he could any sister. He put his hand on the side of her face briefly.

"I know that babe, but I don't want anything to happen to you guys, you know that. Just be careful, ok?"

Dae watched them go, then turned to Mizzle and Luke.

"OK boys, you guys get the dangerous job tonight. I need you two to go into the club tonight and scope it out. Make note of where the guards are, cameras, try to see how many of the guards are armed, get a rough estimate of how many people are in there tonight. Watch your asses, they don't know you guys are associated with me, but we can't be too careful. If things start to look sketch, get the hell out of there in a hurry, got me?"

They both made smartass comments, something along the lines of "yes mother", and took their leave. Dae had them carry pistols with them, just in case things got too hot. They took Mizzle's Malibu. Dae turned to look at Kadir and Nick and Dirt.

"I need you three to check out the police station here downtown. Try to find out how many cops are in the copshop late tonight, see how many patrol cars they have. Take special note of Detective Kelly, when he leaves for home, what car he drives. Get the plate numbers, those are especially important. Make sure to be extra creful and don't get noticed. This is really important guys, I have to get Kelly's plates, so do your best to get them."

They nodded in the affirmative, each looking determined to get the job done right. They left, and Dae turned to Mark and Beats.

"Alright fellas, you have lists of all the shit we'll need for this to go off as easily as possible. Go to it. Pay for what you can, here's some cash. Whatever we can't afford, do what you have to, short of drawing attention to yourselves. Have fun boys."

They took the wad of cash from Dae, then left. Dae looked around for Cait and found her in the living room with Malchavian, 2 stuies down. She was sitting on the couch, sketchpad in her lap, while Malch lay on the floor, playing with some of his trucks and cars. Dae came up behind the couch and leaned over it and wrapped his arms around Cait, kissed her cheek.

"I love you."

That being said, he smiled at her and went back into the room he was previously in, and began taking the remaining guns out of their bags and laid them on the counter of that suite's kitchen. He placed the ammo bag on the counter as well, and began filling magazines with bullets. It took quite a bit of time, and onc ethat was finished, he filled the shotguns up with shells as well, then took his katanas and wiped them free of imagined particles of dust. He tested their weight, their familiar grip bolstering his confidence a little. He was worried about his friends, but he knew they could take care of themselves. Beats, Mark, Mizzle, Kadir, Dirt, Nick, all of them had been in tight situations before, with the law and with other, less desirable types, and they had all emerged from them without a scratch. He trusted them all with his life, as he would very soon literally be doing just that.

"God, watch over them, let them return safely."

Dae swung the blades a few times, the blades cutting through the air, almost musical in the fluidity of his motion. He put them back in their sheathes, went into the suite between this one and his, closed the door behind him, then rejoined his family in the suite they shared with Gavin, Jess, and Tori. For the moment, they were alone in it, and Dae took that time to simply relax with his family, or relax as much as he could. He could already feel the tension building inside him, and he did his best to push it down so that it wouldn't be visible to Cait, or affect the way he behaved with Malch. He sat down on the floor beside Malchavian and smiled as he ran his fingers through his son's hair.

"Can daddy play too?"

[Raige]

It was almost 8 oclock, Iowa noted as he looked at his watch. He and Jess had been on this roof for almost 6 hours now, had maken note of everything of significance happening around the Den. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, boredom like an aura about him. Things had been quite slow covering the front of the building, activity minimal. He hoped Gavin and Tori were dealing with their boredom better than he was, he was itching to do...something, anything but stay here for another 15 minutes. Jess had handled it rather well, writing down everything they saw in neat notes. The only thing he saw that would be important to factor into Dae's plans was the lone guard that had come out on the roof of the Den at precisely 7 oclock. That had complicated their position minimally, meaning that whenever either he or Jess had to take a bathroom break, they had to crawl back from the edge of the building a few yards before they stood up, nothing more. He glanced at his watch again.

"Just another few minutes..."

Gavin exhaled the smoke from his lungs, his eyes nearly shut from the effects the pot had on him. He had been bored out of his mind, and when Tori asked if he wanted her to finish the watch so he could just chill, he had jumped at the chance. Now, however, with it being almost 8, both of them were laying on their backs, looking at the night sky, high as kites. He passed the joint to her, thought of something abstract, and began laughing like he always did when he was stoned. He didn't think about watching the nightclub anymore, they had watched it until almost 7, surely nothing of importance could be happening now...

Mizzle drove around with Luke in his Malibu, waiting for the right time to go to the club. He wasn't nervous at all, he lived for the club scene, so how hard could it be to simply look around while he did his thing? Not very, he had decided. He took the bowl from Luke, steering with his knee, and lit it up, breathing the sweet smoke of the pot deeply into his lungs, lost in the music of 50 Cent. He glanced at the clock on his car stereo, 7:50. Almost time...

Kadir parked a good three blocks from the copshop. He and Nick began to walk towards it, while Dirt would circle around and take up a position on the opposite corner as Kadir. Nick would continue walking between the two of them, every half hour, and relieve them so that they could walk around for a bit before taking up their watch again. It was a good plan, Kadir thought. They'd stay until Detective Kelly went home, then head back to the hotel. They all knew that that bastard had done to Dae, and they all wanted to simply wax the bastard themselves tonight, but Kadir loved and respected Dae enough to do things the way he wanted to. This was Dae's operation, and Kadir was just glad Dae had thought to call him to help out. They had made a promise to one another a long time ago to always help each other out if they needed it, and so Kadir would do this favor for Dae gladly. The risk was minimal, tonight anyways, and they'd all be glad to finally hit back at the cops that had been harassing them for so long now.

"Alright Jess." It was the first words either of them had spoken in nearly two hours. They both crawled back to where the guard on the roof of the Den wouldn't be able to see them, then stood up and dusted themselves off, stretching to rid themselves of the stiffness that accompanied staying in one place too long. They went to the other side of the roof and climbed down the fire escape, then headed down the street and got in Iowa's Bronco. They drove down two blocks so that they wouldn't have to drive directly by the Den when they went to pick up Gavin and Tori, turned right, drove down two blocks, took another right and drove for one block, took another right, drove a block, then turned left into the parking lot behind the building Tori and Gavin were on. Iowa parked his Bronco and turned it off, watching his mirrors for Gavin and Tori. He looked at his watch, 8:20.

"Where the fuck are they?"

Iowa's nerves were on end, he hated waiting this close to the Den, out in the open like this.

"Still up on the roof, maybe? Should one of us go get them?"

Iowa considered it for a moment, then shook his head.

"We'll wait for a few more minutes, then if they aren't down, I'll go get them."

Mizzle pulled his Malibu slowly into the Den's parking lot, found a spot, and parked. He shut the motor off, looked over at Luke.

"Ready?"

Luke looked slightly nervous, but he didn't say anything, merely nodded his head. Mizzle nodded back, then they got out, closed the doors, and walked toward the entrance. Or rather, Mizzle noted, the end of the line, which stretched from the doors to the end of the building and around the corner.

"Jeez, the natives are out to play early tonight."

They continued walking, joining the line, making small talk with a few unoccupied ladies they met towards the end of the line.

"Fuck. I'm going up."

Iowa got out of the Bronco and walked quickly to the fire escape and began climbing up. If Gavin was razored, he was going to beat the hell out of him when they got out of here...

Kadir looked at his watch. 9 oclock. He looked into the police parking lot, took note of the number of squad cars, the number of total cars, and their license plates. He lit up a smoke, then continued his walk to the end of the block where Nick would be waiting.

"God dammit you two, let's go."

Iowa had found them, both laying on their backs, giggling as always when they were absolutely stoned out of their minds. He was surprised the guard on the roof of the Den couldn't hear them, wouldn't be surprised if another of the guards from the Den was even now making his way up the fire escape. Iowa took out the pistol he was carrying and cocked it, then made his way towards the fire escape, Gavin and Tori in tow. He checked over the side, saw nothing, then made them go first. He told them to hurry, but do so quietly. Just as he himself was slipping over the side, he heard the door to the roof open and hard footsteps crunching on the gravel. He hurried down, telling Gavin and Tori to move their asses. They made it to the ground, and bolted across the parking lot. Whoever it was on the roof saw them, yelled something at them, but Iowa didn't stop to find out what. He threw open his door, jumped in, and had the beast started and in gear before he even closed his door. He sped out of the parking lot, heading away from the Den, making random turns, hoping no one was on his tail...

"Oh, shit." Dirt was just walking by the entrance to the copshop parking lot, on the opposite side of the street, when four cops came running out of the building and headed towards their cars. Dirt spun about and started walking in the opposite direction, away from the streetlamps. The two cars sped out of the parking lot. Dirt met up with Kadir and told him what he saw.

"Should we tell Dae?"

"What for? They could've been going anywhere, going to the dorms for all we know."

"I dunno, guess I'm just sketched out by all this shit man."

"Yeah...maybe we should call Dae, ask him if he's heard from anyone else."

"I'll go tell Nick to call him, let you know what he says."

Dirt headed towards the place he knew Nick would be, waiting for him.

Dae's phone startled him from his meditative state. He found himself growing increasingly restless with each passing hour. Mark and Beats had returned only an hour and a half ago, and he still had no word from Iowa's group, even though it was over an hour since they were supposed to leave their observation posts. He grabbed his phone and answered on the second ring.

"Yo. What? No, I haven't heard from them. Yeah, Beats and Mark are back, but that's it. Just two cars? Well, they could've been headed anywhere. Yeah, I'm pretty sketched out too man, it's cool. Kelly left the building yet? Damn. Alright, as soon as he does, you guys get the hell out of there and get back here, I don't think my nerves can handle another few nights of this shit man. Yeah, be careful bro. Peace."

Dae ended the call, then immediately called Iowa. He waited for an answer, tension growing like a living thing inside his body, until finally he got Iowa's voicemail.

Shit!

Dae pressed the end button on his phone, then called Mizzle's phone. Mizzle didn't pick up either. Which, while not unexpected, wasn't reassuring either. Dae set his phone down, rubbing his temples.

Where are they?

Dae was just about to call Iowa back when his phone rang. He looked at the caller id on it, and it was Iowa's number. He answered it immediately.

"Yo!"

"Dae? Hey hun, it's me, Jess."

"Jesus, I'm glad to hear you. Where you guys at?"

"We're on the interstate, headed towards the hotel now."

"The interstate? Why in the hell are you going the long way?"

"Well, it's a long sotry, but to make it short, my idiot boyfriend fucked things up a little so we had to take evasive measures to make sure we weren't being followed."

Dae sighed. No one was hurt then.

"He got high, didn't he?"

"Yeah honey, just a little."

Yeah right, Gavin doesn't know how to get a little high.

"Alright babe, drive careful the rest of the way, two cops just left the copshop and Dirt thinks they might be looking for you guys. Now that I know you guys had some complications, I think he could be right. Tell Iowa to be careful babe, and get here safely, ok?"

"Ok hun, we'll be there soon."

"Alright babe, talk to you then. Peace."

Dae ended the call and breathed a sigh of relief. Beats was standing behind him, leaning against the wall, Budweiser in hand, when he stood up. Dae shook his head.

"If I even make it to the weekend, I'm going to have an ulcer that'll kill me faster than any of the cretins we're hunting ever could."

Beats chuckled, then held out a beer for Dae, which Dae gratefully took, opened, and took a long pull from.

"So what's the problem?"[/color]

"Nothin' now, but our boy Gavin somehow managed to get himself and Tori so high they lost track of the timetable. Iowa had to take the long way back here to avoid any problems. They'll be here soon."

Beats grinned and laughed, then took out a Newport and stuck it in his lips, handed one to Dae. They walked out onto the balcony of the middle suite and looked out over Bozeman. A long time passed before either said a word.

"Leave it to Gavin to get high when he's somewhere where if he got caught, he'd be dead."

"Yeah...that's got to stop, tonight. I don't care how high you guys get when no on eis in the possibility of danger, but I can't put them out there when I know they are smoking themselves retarded, you know?"

"I hear you bro, and I agree. Don't say nothin tonight thought, he won't remember in the morning anyway. Any word from Mizzle or Nick?"

"Yeah, Nick called. They think they've got the police building figured out, the afterhour guards and whatnot. They've got all the plate numbers, a rough estimate of the number of squad cars, or at least all the ones that were at the copshop tonight. We'll figure in another 5 or 10 when we make our final plans, just to be safe. All they are waiting on now is for Kelly to go home so they can figure out which car is his, then they'll be back."

"And Mizzle and Luke?"

"Haven't heard from them, but I'm sure they're fine. Mizzle knows what he's doing, he's done the club scene enough."

"It's Luke I'm worried about, he hasn't spent too much time in the clubs."

"I told him if things get hot to get the hell out, hopefully he will."

"But will he even recognize if things are getting hot in there, or will he be too wrapped up in all the women to even notice?"

Dae stood there in silence, then took a deep drag on the smoke and flicked it out into the night.

"Dammit Beats, you aren't very reassuring."

"Just making you think who you choose for what job tomorrow night, bro. Just making you think."

"Yeah, I know. Damn. I hope he's alright."

"He's with Mizzle dude. Mizzle knows what's going on."

"Let's hope so."

Dae looked at his watch. Almost 2 in the morning. Everyone except Mizzle and Luke had returned, and most were now soundly asleep, or drinking to unwind. He sat in the livingroom part of his suite, feeling as though he were a watchspring wound too tight, and he would snap any minute. His phone rang, and his heart nearly leapt into his throat. He answered it on the first ring.

"Mizzle?"

"Haha, jeez, you sound worried."

"Nah, I'm straight. Where you at?"

"Just pulling into the lot of the hotel."

"Cool, cool. Talk in the morning?"

"Sounds good, Lucasa is already passed out. He had quite a night."

"Uh huh. Did you guys learn anything useful?"

"I learned some women are freakier than others, and ones that are willing to have sex in the bathroom of a club are the nasty ones."

Dae started laughing, tension draining from his body rapidly. It was the first time all day he had laughed, truly and freely, without any worries on his mind. It was very refreshing.

"Anything else?"

"Oh, if you're talking about guards and whatnot in the Den, then yeah. But we'll talk about it in the morning, I gotta get Luke in the damn hotel, the lightweight."

"Alright bro, we'll see you in the morning."

"Cool, peace."

Dae closed his cell phone, then set it down on the table. He grinned. Mizzle definately knows how to take care of shit in a club, that's for damn sure. Dae stood up, stretched the stiffness out of his legs, then went into his and Cait's bedroom. Malch was asleep on the pull-out bed/couch, and Cait was sleeping soundly in the bed. Dae undressed and slipped under the covers. Cait, sensing his presence, rolled onto her side and he glady slid up behind her, wrapping his arms about her, their bodies pressed closely together. He breathed in deeply the smell of her hair, kissed her shoulder, then closed his eyes. Before he knew it, sleep had taken him.

Dae woke up early the next morning, shaken, sweating, something in his half-awake mind bothering him deeply. He couldn't focus on what it was, couldn't remember what it was that he had been dreaming. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, then looked about. Cait lay on her stomach, the steady flow of her breathing letting him know that she was still at least resting, although probably not asleep. She didn't usually sleep when he dreamt. It was odd, how she could feel when he was upset. He looked over her, propped himself up on one elbow, started tickling her back. She smiled a little, and he grinned.

"I knew you weren't asleep, you faker."

Dae leaned over and kissed her shoulder, then scooped her up in his arms and rolled over so that he was on his back with her on top of him. The feel of her body against his was comforting, pleasant, familiar.

"Good morning, my fire-haired beautiful love of my life."