Page 39 of Fight

“Here, Here,” Demelza grins, holding up her glass and saluting.

“Before we head out, just one last thing?” Lillian stops our forward motion.

“Yeah?” Rome replies curiously.

“All the heirs have been taken care of now. Does that mean that we are free to go back to our homes and get out of this gaudy and awful place,” she asks and then winces, looking at Dexter, Ruth, and then back to Rome, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any offense.”

Rome shrugs, “I’ve always hated this place.”

“And you know full well that this isn’t how this place will look when we’re done with it because you know how it looked before, and quite frankly, it's horrific now,” Ruth reminds her, looking around at the room we’re standing in with distaste.

“Very true,” Francis replies with a smile and then looks at Rome just as expectantly as Lillian is.

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t go back to your homes now, we have the smugglers that we need to be aware of, but that won’t affect you going home,” Rome replies and is met with happy smiles.

“Even more cause for celebration,” Hugo grins, taking a chug from his almost empty glass.

Rip clears his throat, gaining the attention of everyone as he says, “Actually, before you and grandma go back I’d like to go and make sure that the property is safe, and the staff have been sent on vacation like the others have until everything is back to normal. The estate is far enough out in the woods that it would be the perfect place to hide out, and I won’t be comfortable with sending you back until we’ve cleared it properly.”

“Good idea. We have no idea if anyone remains loyal to your parents even though they’re gone now,” Roberta replies, and it doesn’t escape my notice that she refers to them as Rip’s parents and not their children. I guess after everything that they’ve been responsible for, it’s no surprise that they don’t want to refer to them as theirs.

“Exactly, we’ll go up tomorrow to clear the place, and as soon as it’s done, we’ll let you know,” Rip replies, “I don’t imagine that there will be any issues, so you should be able to head back tomorrow evening.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Hugo replies.

“Alright, now that’s sorted; everyone grab something else from the house to burn; I’m sure we’ve missed some things, and then let’s head out to the garden and get this celebration really started,” Dexter announces.

Everyone separates into small groups and then disperses through the house to find more fucking awful royalty-related stuff. I don’t have to go far before I find a coat of armor draped with one of those purple fur-lined cloak things that you associate with royalty; I happily grab it trying desperately not to knock over the coat of arms it rests on because that is actually pretty cool, and I imagine rather expensive too, I don’t want to risk damaging that.

Once we’ve all grabbed something, this time reasonably sure that there are no more burnable royalty memorabilia left in the house, we head out through the vast house toward the back garden. When we arrive, it’s clear that Ace and Cecil have been bonding over their families specialty because right at the end of the expansive garden and far away from the bonfire is that giant painting of Rome’s father dressed like a king and looking completely ridiculous and before I can question or even make the obvious guess as to why, it’s so far away, Ace pulls out a lighter, and sets fire to something that I can only assume is a fuse because I can’t see from this distance. Then, grinning manically, he runs away as fast as he can, and I have to admit that my heart is in my throat as he stops running and turns back around, looking like he’s standing far too close to the painting that I’m assuming they’ve just rigged to blow up, even more, concerning is the broad smile on Cecil’s face as he comes to stand next to him and hands as a glass of amber liquid.

“They’ve done what I think they have, haven’t they?” Mason asks, looking amused.

Before anyone can answer him though, the painting spectacularly blows up, making me jump, but I can’t help the huge smile that crosses my face. I have always loved explosions; I don’t know why; there’s just something about them that makes me happy, and yes, I am perfectly aware that a trained professional would have a field day with that, which is why I will never see a trained professional, not unless it’s one of D’s they’re actually really helpful and understand our way of life because they live it too.

Mal chuckles, “Yes, brother, they absolutely rigged the painting to explode.”

“Weren’t they supposed to wait for you?” I ask Rome.

He chuckles as we finally put the things we’re carrying on the bonfire, “He asked me if I’d mind if he set it up, and I knew that the second it was done, he wouldn’t be able to control himself and would blow it up himself, he loves it too much. I don’t mind, otherwise I wouldn’t have told him to go ahead and do it.”

“Fair enough,” I reply.

Looking around at all the others happily milling about while we wait for Dexter to light the two bonfires, there’s a definite air of ease and lightheartedness that wasn’t there before, and I realise that they all acutely felt the threat of the parents; and why wouldn’t they? They have been locked in a dungeon, for lack of a better word, for the last god knows how long and tortured at the hands of some of the parents, knowing that the others were responsible in some way as well. I’d be glad that they’re gone and won’t ever be a threat to me again.

The rest of the day is spent relaxing around the bonfires and eating the delicious food that somehow Thomas managed to cook up for all of us, and you can tell that he genuinely cares about Dexter and Ruth, who must have employed him before Rome’s father took over because whenever he sees them, he can’t help but smile happily. We actually all end up going back into the house at one point to make sure that we really have grabbed absolutely everything that can burn out of the house. Dexter and Ruth want absolutely no reminders of the people that lived here before and I can’t say that I blame them.

I’m ashamed to say that I fade far quicker than they do, but I don’t feel too pathetic that a bunch of grandparents are managing to outlast me since the guys are all the same and start yawning around the same time I do. We say goodbye to them all, Malory deciding to stay and celebrate as well; a happy atmosphere surrounds them all, and although my men have obviously very troubled pasts with their parents, they’ve been gone for a very long time and have distanced themselves from it to a certain degree, the grandparents and Malory have been dealing with the danger and the threat of them constantly for the past few years, and their relief is far more prominent than any of ours.

The drive back to the Hawthorne estate is quiet but happy, all of us are tired, and I’m guessing that if the guys are anything like me, starting to feel sore from our fight now, but at least that’s something that we no longer have to worry about, the parents are no longer a threat to the guys and they no longer have to worry about threats on their lives from this point forward. At least not from them anyway; I’m sure that we will have threats to our lives from other sources at some point. I’m reasonably confident that I will have threats from some ex Ravens just because they don’t like the new rules I’ve put in place.

For now, though, there aren’t any threats to our lives and I like that; it feels good, so I can’t imagine how good that it feels for the guys.

“Everyone who needs it, take painkillers and then get some rest. We’ll go and check out Rip’s parent's place tomorrow so that his grandparents can go back home, but we don’t have to do that until later in the day, so sleep until you’re ready to get up; we all need rest,” Rome orders as we walk through the back door.

“Got it boss,” they all reply together, making me smile.

Rome turns to look at me, “Why don’t you head up and have a shower, I’ll bring some painkillers up. Second door on the left.”

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