Blackness Takes Over & Blackness Awaits

by Karlsson, Norma Jeanne

  “Well you know what happened with you, Taylor and Cooper,” Aidan says with grains of fury in his voice. “Kellerman was in the hall and tried to get to you but ended up takin’ a bullet to the leg, nicked his femoral artery, as Cooper got two shots off. One hit Taylor the other got Kellerman. The rest of us came down just after and found all of you. All four of you were down. Ryan and Adam tended to Kellerman while Kav and I came to you.” There’s a long pause and all the faces in the room are solemn.

  “I started workin’ on you and Kav got me some FBI agents to transport you from the house. Apparently, Sully Senior had put a tracker on my SUV knowin’ we were up to somethin’. When he realized we had left he notified the FBI and a medevac team. Saved your life havin’ them there that quick. I lost you five times,” Aidan’s voice breaks. He brought me back to life five times. Five times. My breath hitches as does the rest of the room’s as I’m certain they didn’t know that either. Kel’s hand is shaking in mine, but I keep my eyes trained on the shimmering blues of Aidan.

  “Five fuckin’ times,” he says through quiet tears. “I begged you to come back to me the last time. I begged and pleaded for you to just fight one more time for me. Once more in this unfair goddamn life to please just fight. Just one more fight. I was losing and needed my sister to win for me.” I feel one hot tear roll down my cheek as I watch my baby brother struggle through the memory of begging me to live. “You’re the best piece of me. My life doesn’t work without you in it. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t save you. I tried so fuckin’ hard, but I couldn’t do it. I had to make you fight.” His tears are flowing with force now, as are mine.

  I have no words, no thoughts, nothing to express the emotions flowing through me. I sit straight up in my bed and extend my arms out to him. I need to be in his arms now.

  In a flash Aidan launches into my arms pulling me down to the bed and crushing me into his chest. A shaky sob breaks from his throat and I squeeze him tighter trying to show him how much I love him and how thankful I am that he brought me back to life, made me fight.

  The room around us is silent a long while as Aidan calms back down and his tears abate. I hold him as firmly as my weak arms will allow until his grip on me begins to relax.

  “Thank you for savin’ my life. Thank you for makin’ me fight. Thank you for not givin’ up on me. Thank you for lovin’ me. I love you baby brother,” I murmur into his chest. I tip my head up to look into his red and swollen bright blue eyes.

  “I love you too,” Aidan whispers pressing a long gentle kiss into my forehead.

  “This is worse than the fuckin’ funeral,” Kieran says in a rough huff sniffing back what sounds like tears.

  “No shit,” Karl remarks in the same sniffy tone as Kieran. “If I’d known we were havin’ a cryin’ circle I woulda grabbed a box of Kleenex on my way in. Is my mascara runnin’ Kieran?” That gets a nice cleansing laugh from the room. God I love Karl! He’s not wearing any damn mascara by the way.

  “Kellerman I’m not sure how you’re sleepin’ in this bed with her at night,” Aidan says peeling himself away from me. “I’m sore after ten minutes.”

  “Felt good bein’ in her arms those ten minutes though, didn’t it?” Kel asks a smirk playing on his lips.

  “Nothing better in the world, man,” Aidan agrees as he reclaims his chair at the end of my bed.

  I look around the room and as suspected there’s not a dry eye in the place. What I hadn’t noticed was the rest of the family had come in at some point during this. My fathers, mothers, and the rest of my brothers are all standing looking at me with love and adoration. There’s no pity from what they learned earlier about the almost rapist. They’re just happy I’m alive.

  “All right now that everyone’s in here and everything’s out on the table I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. You all did so much to find me and save me that thank you doesn’t do it justice. But it’s all I have. So thank you. I love you. No more fuckin’ cryin’!” I beam. After a brief moment of smiles and snickers the tension leaves the room.

  The boys get up and mill around getting ready to set up for Christmas Eve dinner. Kel keeps his perch at my side. I doubt he’ll ever feel comfortable leaving me again and I’m okay with that. Maggie and Mary take seats across from him and offer him glowing smiles before looking at me.

  “I talked to the Nazi, Sheryl,” Maggie informs me with a roll of her chocolate eyes behind her glasses. “She told me that you can eat what you feel comfortable with.” She looks at me with a hopeful gaze.

  “Got some pumpkin pie?” I ask sweetly. Her face beams as she runs from the room no doubt to bring me an entire pie to eat.

  The boys start setting up card tables in my room to make one very long table. They lay table cloths over the tops and set the table with pretty Christmasy plastic plates and dinnerware. The parents start carrying in copious amounts of food. Maybe I will eat something. Once the table is filled with food and family, I release a huge sigh of relief. Kel looks up at me from his chair at my bedside. He won’t even leave me to go sit at the damn table.

  “Happy?” he asks hopefully.

  “Yes.”

  Shannon

  I wake just as the sun peaks over the horizon. It’s Christmas morning. Usually, I’d be making a fuss running around cooking and stuffing stockings, but I’m here in bed with Kel feeling happier than I’ve felt in weeks.

  “Dylan,” I hear a shrill voice call. I turn my head toward the voice to find a petite blonde standing in my door shaking with fury glistening in her steely blue eyes. Her hair is a mess, face drawn and pale. She looks sick.

  “Kel,” I say nudging him awake.

  “Mmm,” he replies hoarsely without making a move to get up.

  “Kel you need to wake up,” I command while sitting the back of the bed up. The crazy chick is making her way into my room and she looks possessed. I really wish I had my gun.

  “Dylan!” she shrieks at the top of her lungs. Kel and all three guys spring straight up in their beds. If this wasn’t so fucking weird I’d be laughing.

  “Cassie?” Kel asks rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

  “What the fuck?” Kavy calls from his doll bed. He’s not wearing clothes, underwear maybe. My boys are all sitting up assessing the situation and trying to see if the chick looming at my bedside is a threat to me. I’m trying to figure that out myself.

  “You didn’t call. And now I find you here, in bed with this while I’m carrying your child. You’re such a fucking prick!” She squeals and swings her arm clumsily to smack Kel. I quickly intercept her wrist before she makes contact and pull it down to the bed.

  “Keep your fuckin’ hands to yourself,” I growl. Sully is now standing behind her shirtless and panting.

  “Cassie, you put your hands anywhere near Shannon again, I’ll personally put you outta here on your ass,” Kel threatens in an ominous tone. I release her wrist and she glares at me. Bring it on bitch!

  “You’re threatening me? I’m the mother of your child,” she says stomping her feet like a toddler. She’ll make an outstanding parent.

  “This bitch is insane,” Sully snorts from behind her. Kel shakes his head and stands up from the bed approaching Cassie. Sully flops in a chair next to where she’s standing, waiting for what her next move is.

  “Are you gonna let him talk to me like that?” she huffs at Kel.

  “He’s a big boy. I think he can manage his words on his own. What’re you doin’ here?” Kel prowls toward her. He’s pissed, but he’s trying to pull it together.

  “I fly here all night, on the most God awful private jet I’ve ever been on, to get to you on Christmas morning and find you in bed with this slut and then you allow this heathen to speak to me like I’m trash? Who are you? Where’s the Dylan I fell in love with?” Kel is seething, but Kavy is up out of bed and ready to pounce. I see Kel give the go ahead nod as he takes a seat on my bed to watch him work.

  “Hey Tinker Bell,” Kav
y coos sarcastically tapping her on the shoulder. She turns and stumbles at the glory that is Aaron Kavanagh standing before her in only his tight boxer briefs. This should be fun. “You say somethin’ like that to or about Kid again, I’m gonna help her outta that bed and watch her kick the shit outta you. I don’t know who the fuck you think you are but you are not welcome here. You think you’re carryin’ Kellerman’s baby well good for you. That,” Kavy points at me and her gaze follows but quickly returns to Kavy, “is his woman. She is number one in his life. Not you. You never fuckin’ will be. That kid you’re carryin’ turns out to be his you still won’t be shit.” I’m not sure if she’s going to cry or explode based on the scarlet color of her face.

  “Who the fuck are you?” she yells. “Is this really the company you keep now?” she turns her back to me as she asks Kel. “If these are the people you’re spending time with maybe I should consider keepin’ the baby away from you. Maybe I’ll just go back to Seattle and call my attorney and get that process started now before this filth can corrupt my child. I mean seriously Dylan, she was kidnapped from her home and this one,” she indicates to Kavy with her head, “is threatening to have her assault me while I’m pregnant. I suggest you put some clothes on and get on the plane with me home so that you can maintain a relationship with our child. If you stay here with this trash you won’t ever see this baby.” Wrong fucking choice.

  I sit up on the edge of my bed, throw my legs over the side and hop to my feet. Adrenaline is coursing through me so I feel no pain and there is no waver in my step. This chick is short and I’m towering behind her back. Sully, Cally (who’s now on his feet at my side), Kavy and Kel are all gawking at me dumbfounded.

  “Listen to me and listen good,” I command sharply at her back causing her to spin away from Kel to face me. “You’re gonna submit to a maternal blood screen so we can find out if that baby is Kel’s. If the child turns out to be his I am gonna fight with everything I’ve got to have custody removed from you. See while you may think I’m trash, I know you are. I had you looked into and I know that while you’ve been pregnant you’ve smoked weed, drank alcohol and snorted coke.” Her face has paled ten shades since I began, but I’m not finished.

  “You try to keep this child from Kel and I’ll come after you myself. And I promise you I won’t be using words the next time we communicate. Sit your ass the fuck down now while I call someone to come draw your blood. I see you’re thinkin’ about tryin’ to run. My suggestion is you stay put so my boys don’t have to grab you and hold you down.” Cassie is shaking from head to toe; Kel is shaking too (with fury).

  “You’re doin’ drugs while you’re pregnant? What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Kel bellows. She flops dramatically into a chair.

  “It’s not that big a deal. It was early in the pregnancy. Bein’ alone and knocked up was hard,” she says as she shrugs like it’s nothing.

  “You do know you’re sittin’ in a room full of attorneys right?” Cally asks from behind her bugging his eyes out at me. Yeah this bitch is stupid.

  “Why does it matter? You think any judge is gonna listen to you all and not me? It’s my baby, biology always wins,” she scoffs.

  “Wow, Kellerman you took a huge step up movin’ on to Kid,” Sully teases. “This one is cute at best, but fuckin’ dumb as a rock. You lucked out findin’ Kid. You coulda been stuck with this shit the rest of your life.”

  “Tell me somethin’ I don’t know O’Sullivan,” Kel replies shaking his head. I need to sit down. I move into the bed as though it’s easy, even though that couldn’t be further from the truth. I press the call button and ask the nurse to send up someone to draw some blood. She hesitates before she complies. I’m guessing somewhere out at the nurse’s station there’s a note from Doc that says do whatever I say. We all sit in silence a long time before Crazy starts to talk again.

  “If I find out it’s yours and you won’t go back to Seattle with me I’m havin’ an abortion,” Cassie threatens. All my boys’ eyes bug out and I sit up a little straighter. That was a threat I wasn’t expecting. I’m trying to formulate a response when Kel speaks.

  “You try to abort my child and I’ll kidnap you and lock you in a fuckin’ basement until you deliver. Then I’ll feed you to the lowest scum of the earth I can find. You fuckin’ threaten me again and you’ll learn real quick what type of man I am,” Kel growls sounding smarmy. Okay that was quite a warning.

  “Yeah, not a real bright move Tinker Bell,” Kavy grunts.

  “You can threaten me all you like, but I know that you can’t prevent me from having an abortion. Woman’s right to choose,” she says flippantly.

  “You have no idea what we’re capable of,” Cally threatens. I can see all of our attorney brains are working overtime trying to come up with a solution to her threat. The problem is she’s right. I could file an injunction to stop her from having an abortion but it won’t hold for the term of the pregnancy. FUCK!

  “Dylan, I’m guessing you can tell I’m right by their silence. So, would you like to come home now?” her voice is completely devoid of anything human. Kel looks at me trying to come to grips with her threat and what to do.

  “Don’t know if it’s mine,” Kel grumbles in frustration.

  “It’s yours. I had the maternal blood screen two weeks ago. Got the results yesterday,” she says in a flourish pulling out an envelope from her handbag. Shit! “It’s a good thing your DNA was on file. You remember giving a sample when that murder happened at your neighbor’s? Came in handy.” Wow this chick is an absolute cunt!

  Kel hands the envelope to me without even looking at it. I rip it open and read quickly. It’s Kel’s baby. I feel acid rise up my throat stopped only by the melon sized lump forming. I look at Cassie and she’s beaming from head to toe with her victory. I look at Kel and without a word he knows the answer. He scrubs his mangled hands vigorously across his face.

  “I’ll wait for you to get dressed,” she says clinically pulling her phone out to completely avoid having to look at anyone. We’re all silent. She’s got us all where she wants us.

  “If I go back to Seattle you won’t do drugs, drink or do anything else to endanger the baby,” Kel commands forcefully.

  “Of course not, honey,” Cassie replies sweetly looking up from her phone lovingly into his face. This bitch is completely whacked (women like her give a bad name to our gender as a whole). “Just a few stipulations though. You break off all contact with Shannon and the rest of these people. We live together and once the baby’s born we get married. I don’t want a wedding when I’m all fat and disgusting. If you break any of these rules, I’ll either have an abortion or tell the cops that you beat me so that I can get full custody.”

  This is not happening. This cannot be fucking happening. I can’t do anything. Kel can’t do anything. My boys can’t do a goddamn thing. She’s taking him from me! I don’t expect him to leave his unborn child for me. I won’t let him. He and I know what it’s like to be alone in this world and I can tell Cassie is no different from my mother. Without Kel, this baby doesn’t stand a chance. If he lets her go and she has an abortion Kel will carry that guilt for the rest of his life. I can’t do that to him.

  “I’ll give you five minutes to say your good byes,” she states and moves from the room quickly. Kavy, Sully and Cally are stunned stupid. I sit forward and wrap my arms around Kel’s neck pulling him in tight.

  “I don’t wanna leave you,” he whispers into my neck.

  “I don’t want you to leave me,” I whisper back. “You have to go though, Kel. We’ll figure this out somehow. You have to play her game right now. I can’t do anything to stop her.” I release Kel’s neck and he gently eases me into his lap crushing me into his chest.

  “This can’t be happening. I can’t do this. How am I gonna do this?” Kel pleads.

  “You record everything she does or says,” Kavy orders. “You get every piece of evidence you can that she’s an unfit mother for the
next six months. The whole time pretendin’ to be exactly what she’s askin’ for. You buy a burner phone and keep in contact with us so we know where we’re at. She goes into labor…we’re on a plane to Seattle to have that baby taken from her.”

  “What if she’s not an unfit mother?” Kel questions quietly.

  “She already fucked up doin’ drugs and drinkin’. She’s a shit person on the surface. That means deep down there’s somethin’ worse. You’ll find it. We’ll find it,” Kavy spouts confidently.

  “Kiddo?” I turn and look up into haunted teal eyes.

  “Kavy’s right. You make it your mission to find dirt on her. Anything and everything. I’ll get you the baby Kel I promise. We’ll be okay,” I assure him sweetly pressing a kiss to his cheek.

  “She’ll want sex,” Kel mutters.

  “I know,” I sigh. This fucking sucks!

  “Can’t do it,” he states firmly.

  “You’ll do whatever you have to,” I command sitting up to look in his face. He’s in pain. His life is being held hostage and there is no foreseeable escape. Maybe I’ll shoot her after she has the baby. “You better get goin’.” Kel hesitates for a moment before placing me back in bed. He leans over my face and captures my mouth in a searing achingly sad kiss. I work my mouth and tongue in concert with his, drinking in every last memory. He slows the kiss and rests his forehead against mine. His teal orbs open and my heart shatters.

  “I love you, Shannon Kelly,” he says with a firm gaze his eyes broken.

  “I love you, Dylan Kellerman,” I respond with a waver in my voice. We hold each other’s eyes a breath longer before he stands. He quickly pulls on jeans and a T-shirt, shoving the rest of his stuff in a duffle bag. He gives the guys each a chin lift before looking at me.

  “Bye, Kiddo.”

  “Bye, Kel.”

  He’s gone

  April 28, 2014

  Shannon

  I haven’t heard from Kel in five weeks. I’m worried. Struggling doesn’t begin to describe what he’s been since he left Christmas morning. We’ve only talked on the phone once since he left. Talking is too hard because Cassie is a fucking leech. She never leaves his side. The one time he called me he was in the bathroom with the shower running. We talked for four minutes before she started banging on the door insisting to be let in. So now Kel only texts. It’s difficult too but more manageable. Five weeks is scary. The longest he’s gone without texting before this was three days. I have no way to contact him without jeopardizing the safety of the baby. He buys a new phone every time he contacts me so it’s not like I even have a number to call him at. This is bad.