Seeing Red

[Unbreakable Justice]

"True. Go for it," he agreed a he undid his button down to slip out of it and his vest that too was ruined. He put up no fight when she had pressed the soaked shirt against his side. Grimacing for a moment, he shook and hissed, but once he sat down to lean over his table, he clearly relaxed. He let his eyes fall shut and sat quietly while Grace overlooked his side to make sure everything was okay. Hearing the news that it wasn't fatal he gave a small smile before he remained still once more.

As she worked he didn't so much as twitch. He laid quietly like a corpse and just listened to his own steady breathing in an attempt to keep himself calm enough that he might have a chance to seep that night after Grace left.

"You were busy making sure I was alive which is why I made sure that you too were safe. Don't feel sorry for protecting me as I don't for doing the same in return. Just be careful out there, not everyone is as forgiving as me," he warned her as he stood up slowly. He held his side for a moment then leaned down to kiss her brow. "Goodnight, Grace. Get home safe."

He stood up and grabbed some bandages to wrap around his ribs while he walked away up to his bedroom to collapse into his bed right out cold despite the nightmares that crept at the back of his mind.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rosaline folded the corners of her lips downward as the back of her mind retained a protest. Of course she had to make sure he was alive. She needed him safe and she absolutely refused to be the disgrace that let a low life Chicago douchebag kill him. Even if she wasn't supposed to care for his wellbeing now, she would never live that down.

She had still been knelt down on the floor when Connor had suddenly kissed her forehead and dismissed himself quietly. Her eyes popped open slowly as she looked up at him, feeling deeply confused.

Her hand gently touched her brow as she carefully stood, watching him leave the room. Her heart sluggishly throbbed in her ears as the scene seemed to play in slow motion. "What the hell was that?" she uttered through tightly pressed teeth.

She quietly replayed what had just happened through her mind a few times, not fully aware of how long she was standing there. He just left her to her own devices like that?

For some reason the idea that he trusted her so much made her feel a little guilty. She couldn't explain why exactly except that if the roles were reversed, she wouldn't just go to sleep with him in her house. Maybe she felt bad that she wouldn't trust him. After all they've gone through today, part of 'Grace' was still the part of Rose who trusted anyone as far as she could throw him.

Her hand fell from her brow and into her lap as she looked around, aware of time once again. She followed the direction that he went until she found him sleeping in his bed down the hall, feeling a small sigh leave her lungs at the sight. He was a mess, she thought again.

Rosaline shook her head gently as she entered the room and pulled up a chair by the door, seating herself. Jack wouldn't let her hear the end of it if she left him now, so she quietly observed him, feeling the alcohol wearing her down with time until she peacefully fell asleep.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner had managed to sleep far more than he had originally planned. However, even after he fell asleep, it didn't last very long.

At around three in the morning he lunged from his bed as if he had been dropped into an icy pit. He gasped for the air that was driven from his lungs in the nightmare that had attacked him when he was most vulnerable. Sweat drenched him and his body shook while his mind slowly untangled itself from the nightmare and reality. Eventually he saw the soft red rose walls and exposed beams came back into focus to calm his racing heart.

Slowly he started moving from his bed when he realized that some of the night pain was real in the form of his damp side that held a few busted stitches. Grimacing he pulled his fingers away to see blood painting them, reminding him of what heart filled thing he had done the day before. Now he was regretting it.

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and moved to stand to finally notice that he wasn't the only one sleeping in his room. Grace was sitting right across from him. "I'm amazed I slept through injuries and you here," he muttered as he slowly rose to grab more medical supplies to fix the burst seams. "Do you want something to eat?"  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rosaline stirred in her seat, leaning off of her bundled fist to meet glances with the man as he stood in the dark. Her eyes widened as she searched quickly for familiar features and to adjust to the lack of light. Realizing Connor was awake and moving about somewhat relieved her, but the exhaustion she felt overpowered any need to eat. She saw it was still dark out and they got to his place at around half passed 10. It was far too soon fir breakfast, she thought.

"Nah..." she murmured softly. "As much as I like seeing you shirtless, boss boy, I need a bed. If you're feelin alright, I'mma start for home."

Running a hand through her hair, she inhaled while stretching slowly with her arms high overhead. She never realized just how tight her corsets were sometimes until she wore them for a solid while. She was half tempted to just walk home without it, but the chill running through the room reminded her that it was getting far too cold to do that comfortably.

Her eyes strained to see Connor as she lowered her arms feeling exhausted. How could he think of food at a time like this? He should have done that before he started drinking earlier, she thought.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner wondered back into the kitchen and lit a few candles with a matches to act as a softer light than the bulbs that hung from the ceiling. He sorted around before he found a loaf of bread that wasn't quite finished and a piece of fruit to tie him over until he actually felt like cooking or going out for food. He took his seat at the kitchen table with his hand on his freshly bleeding side and ate in silence as he stared at the far wall, his mind now seeming to be a permanent nightmare landscape of war.

"Be safe, Grace. Half past two is not the time that friendlies wonder the streets," he pointed out to her with little energy in his voice. He was still utterly exhausted and in pain. He was in no mood go play rescue for anyone or fight over being safe. At this point if she were to be shot over night, he would feel terrible but he wouldn't be able to chase anyone down. "If you need help, you're on your own. I can't be running around with the way I am right now."

With his final warning given, he put a smoke between his lips to light and gave a glance over his shoulder to her to see what she was going to do.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

The woman stood in the doorway with her lips falling into a slight frown. Part of her conscious always rang in the back of her mind when she had seen him like this. It was so conflicting to see him sitting by candle light, gazing into corners of the room like he were buried in the dark of his thoughts. Rosaline inhaled, thinking how she could possibly comfort him at a time like this.

Carefully announcing her footsteps, she closed the distance between them as he warned that she wouldn't have anyone to save her if something went wrong along the way. She smiled shaking her head as she gently placed her arm around his shoulders in a soft hug with an even softer kiss on his forehead.

"No worries McLeod. I'm a big girl, I tie my own laces and everything." she said teasingly. "If it'll help ya sleep easy, I'll stay a little while longer."

Releasing him, she pulled up the stool next to her, quietly inviting herself to his late night snack. Somewhere in the back of her mind it was settled that she was just going to make sure he was alright.

With a sly smirk, she montioned towards his wound. "Guess I can do worse than a drunk. Sadly, I lack a certain talent for kissing owies. Just making them."  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Though Conner heard her coming, he jumped with her arms placed around him. He let his breathing slow down again as she kissed his brow only to smile weakly when she offered to stay. The way relief filled him, he realized he hadn't been warning her to be nice, he had been trying to talk her into staying. Normally Jack was there when he wasn't able to sleep or had an episode, but he didn't have the heart to wake the man when he was probably home with the misses and kids. He couldn't take him away from that.

"I am a respectable drunk who isn't that drunk anymore so your reputation won't be tarnished too bad in my presence. At least I hope so," he told her with a gentle smile before biting into the remaining loaf to chew plainly. Eventually he rose to turn on his stove and put a kettle on it so he could have some tea to help with the hangover he was already facing.

He sat there quietly as he listened to the water heat up, but eventually looked back to Grace. "If you're staying, would you like to borrow something a little less conforming?" he asked gesturing towards her courset. "I promise not to do anything frisky - I'm in too much pain for that - and I imagine that a cotton button down and pants are a little better than having your breast crush all the time."  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rose gave a very tame grin as she nodded to his offer. Looking down at her own breast, she shrugged and smiled, "Aye, the are a gift and a curse." she answered. Though he promised not to try anything funny, she filled eyed him sideways, uncertain who could deny a man with a body like that. All suppressed perversion aside, Rosaline leaned onto her hands with a soft smile, resting her eyes a bit as the sound of boiling water droned through the room.

"So what made you want a life in the business, boss boy? I can't fancy how a blue blood who actually came from something would wanna make more of a somethin of himself." she wrapped a curl around her finger in a small, circular motion as tired blue eyes settled on his in he candle lit room. "Bless their hearts the lot of em, but your boys are the worst gossips I've ever known. Granted, they're drunk, but I wanna hear it from you."  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner stood up to grab a candle to set on the table close to his side and opened up the tool box of medical supplies that was still there from the first round of stitching. He threaded a new needle with expert speed and started working away the busted stitches before he cleaned it to rework the already torn up flesh. "Clothes are in the dresser if you wish to take me up on the offer," he told her as he started threadin himself again. He growled to himself as he got use to it. Soon he got it closed up and wrapped himself in gauze.

His entire body froze up when it was mentioned that he had come from something, suggesting he was a rich boy, not just some poor imigrant. He heard that it had come from one of the drunk men in his gang which loosened him again. It made sense all over again, but he still shook it off.

"Other than a drunk mutt, who says I came from wealth? I've made it myself here, nothing says otherwise," he stated almost as if what she was suggesting was as bad as striking him.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

"A'ite. That's fine." she said sitting up fully. Rose looked him up and down with a slight frown, but shrugged off his offended tone quickly.

"I get it Connor, I really do." she said starting to unlace her corset snug around her starchy low cut button up. Rolling it up, she tucked it under her arm and leaned on the other over the table. "Somebody took away your smile. As much as you've considered trying to get it back you wonder if it's worth the possibility of losing it again. Sometimes it's easier to just be mad or depressed than to talk about it, and when it eats you up, you have nothing but an empty room and sheets to hold. And its right then and there where that whole cycle starts again. If it ain't the nightmares, its wondering when it stops, when do you stop feeling so much burden? You can't, and you don't, because your burden feels contagious towards the few you do care about."

With that, she let out a hard, heavy sigh as she turned to head upstairs for a better shirt not stained in blood. "Maybe that's just me, but I believe the saying, 'takes one to know one'."

She knew she was being pushy and a little brash, but if she wasn't it would seem out of character for Grace, she thought. Though she did have to wonder just how much of this was actually her alter ego.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner's mood clearly changed as she ran through a scenario that rang a little too closely despite her running through the information as if it were just a normal thing. However, it wasn't right. It was wrong and too personal. He hated it and it was angering to have someone start getting too cloes to it for him.

By the end of it, he had enough. Suddenly he was on his feet and his eyes were narrowed as he glared over the table at her, his hands in fists with his knuckles digging into the table. Now he was shaking as he stared her down, the soft blue gone entirely as he returned to looking like a predator that was willing to kill. "Shut up," he snarled as he bristled wth rage.

"My smile was not stolen away like some broken hearted colt who realized he was to never jump or race in his life though he felt born to. I'm not some Romeo who had his heart ripped out by his Juliet then killed themselves because of the unallowed love. Nor am I some ******** schoolboy who got kicked on the playground," Conner growled as he locked eyes with her. "I am as close to a Lord you get in this era who went to war to protect my family, my countryman, and increase my chances of getting to bed a wealthy heiress. Instead I was shot down in a plane, broke both my legs, left in the trenches soaked in mud, blood, and brains of the first man I ever killed.

"I came home after months in a hospital and mental therapy, still in ruins. And guess what, I tried to kill myself and my father encouraged it. He told me I was weak, pathetic for it and to just get it over with. My mother turned a blind eye and my girlfriend broke up with me. Jack - the same American who pulled me out of the mud - saved my life and took me with him back to the States with him. When we were jumped, I killed the man who did in cold blood and accidently took over my district. Met my wife, was almost killed, and am now acting as the guardian of this city with the Reds.

"I didn't have my smile taken away, I had it ripped out over and over again until it was decided that my heart was easier to hit," he grumbled as he pushed off the table to cross his arms and pace between the dark living room and dimly lit kitchen.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rosaline knew what she had said had set him off in the worst kind of way, but man that had to feel great on his part. She almost scoffed at his use of the word 'Guardian', but her attitude probably already felt like she was minimizing his problems. To hear some of his story did almost make her falter, part of her wanted to just shake her head and hug the man, but mostly it made her want to give up her facade and start swapping stories right then and there. Instead, her lips fell into a crooked line, almost half smiling as she turned on her feet.

"Well, I dunno about that last part." she said smoothly raising a hand to his bare chest, she smiled a bit, meeting his furious stare with cool and calm eyes. As much as she wanted to yell and get angry right back, it wouldn't sink through to him. She instead bit down into a hard line and breathed a heavy sigh. "Looks like they're all terrible shots to me, cause you're still standing, ain't ya? You took every hit life laid on ya right on that charmin little grin of yours and you still treat your men better than any gang leader I've see. Maybe you can't see how much better off you are with out those people, but the fact of the matter is Connor, is that you will never be able to open yourself up to the possibility of being happy until you stop letting that s**t define you."

The second that she said that Rosaline paused. Feeling her lips bundle in the middle of her face, she searched Connor's frame for what she said. Her eyes faltered as she spun on her heels and marched upstairs to get her boots. She was just going to leave because this was all hitting far too close to home for her too. They were too alike and it scared her. Who was the to tell him how to be happy? She wasn't even happy.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

His furious gait stopped when she stopped him with a cooler hand on his warm chest. He looked down at it for a moment almost as if he were offended by her contact, but he didn't flee it. He closed his eyes for a moment the met hers again as he calmmed down entirely. This time instead of going off, he listened to what she said. It felt good that he wasn't being dismissed on his wounds - emotional and physical - but instead validated that he had been wounded, but he was sitll standing. That felt good even if it came late in the morning and while he was still riding out a drinking spree. "If opening up makes me feel any more raw and exposed, I might as well be naked when I do it."

Though his comment was lighter than the story he gave, he didn't miss the way she looked at him after. He watched her walk away from him, but he couldn't let her leave entirely. Just as much as she knew the expression of one who suffered a lot, so did he. It was easy to learn when one saw it in the mirror every day.

Instead, he grabbed her softly by the wrist to pull her back into a hug. He held her closely with his one arm on his unwounded side and rested his head againts the side of her face. "Same goes for you though. I don't know what you're being veiled or clouded by, but if you need to tell someone I won't bite. You've done nothing to hurt me so I have no reason to harm you back," he assured her before letting go to do what she needed.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Running a hand over her face, Rose leaned over the dresser in Connor's room, feeling her eyes uncontrollably swelling, she scoffed under her breath, trying to set her conflicted feelings aside. The moment she realized Connor was saying he wanted to help her, she knew that she wanted to tell him everything. If they would have stayed like that for a moment longer she actually might have. Right now she needed to get away, that she needed to clear her head and sort this out. When she could figure out what to do, she would come back and tell Connor everything.

Rosaline went ahead and changed into a pair of pants and a button down shirt with a white tank top underneath. It wasn't too odd that she would go without her corset since plenty of women were going commando these days, let alone running around in men's clothes. Thankfully Rose's shape made it at least look flattering, especially when she hoistered her gun and the revolver Connor gave her.

The Sun was just barely peeking over the city skyline as Rosaline made her way back down into the kitchen. Seeing Connor with his tea she quietly walked over to him and kissed the top of his head with a soft sigh. "We'll talk when I get back. I promise." she muttered into his hair. "I don't want you to hate me, Connor."

Before he could really ask any questions she made her way out the door and back home without any issue. Marco's men had to of given up chasing her by now. It has been MONTHS already, though she did have to admit that she was a little impressed considering she expected them to quit a lot sooner.

As Rosaline approached her building, she slowly began to notice that something was a little bit off. There was a light on.

"You. Mother. ********> she spat.

As soon as she was through the entrance to her complex she dashed up the stairs as fast as she could all the way in to the 4th floor. There she found her door nearly torn off the hinges and her whole house turned inside out. Her eyes narrowed as she dashed to the bathroom and checked her hiding spot under the tiles for her book safe containing the actual valuables, ignoring anything else strewn about the wreckage.

She tore away the tiles, feeling her heart flutter with relief. "Thank god." she breathed. All of her money and the journals that she kept were safely inside. When she looked around the rest of the apartment she couldn't find anything missing, telling her this was no robbery. They were searching for something, not that she really had to guess who or why.

Rose ran her hand through her hair, contemplating going back to Connor's with what she had, but decided the safest place to put her money was where it was gonna go anyways.


The entire way to the church she thought of Connor, and Marco, unsure if this feeling in the back of her mind and sinking into her gut was intuition or guilt. Her mouth formed a hard line as she noted familiar black cars parked outside the church where the sinking feeling worsened.

Without notice, Rosaline hurried inside, searching every room carefully before finding Mother Margaret in the dining hall, pacing about, clearly upset.

"Maggie." she uttered rushing to her, "Where are they? Did they hurt you?"

"I keep telling those damn ANIMALS to stop snooping around!" she growled sharply, her beady grey eyes burning with rage. "They're out there right now grilling the children and told me if I go out there again--"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Maggie. she hushed pulling her close. "I'll make sure you never see them again."

The old woman roughly grabbed Rose by the shoulders, pointing two fingers in her face and making a crossing movement with furrowed brows. "I absolve you of all your sins, now get them the ******** out of here." she snapped with her fingers now pointing out the door. Rose nodded and followed the flick of her wrist without question.

"Marco!" Rosaline sneered bursting through the back door. Immediately, they connected eyes and he stood up from being knelt in front of a small boy with wide brown eyes. His two hounds weren't far, standing around with sickeningly smug expressions.

"Ah, little lamb. You got my message?" He said with a warm smile. With his fingers sliding over his suspenders, he tucked his hands into his pockets, starting to close the distance between them.

"Leave...now." she hissed through a painfully straight line. "I want nothing to do with somebody who threatens a nun and tries to coerce children. We're done."

Her eyes narrowed and her stance stiffened as Marco now stood just a few inches away from her. His eyes seemed to follow up and down her face and then down towards the holsters strapped over her shoulders before greeting her eyes with a switching expression. "Oh, I think you misunderstood me, Rose." he cooed softly. "See, I think you still believe I'm somebody who's willing to negotiate with you. And I will threaten babies and nuns to get that through your sick little skull because you see, orphans don't pay my salary." Taking his hand, he covered hers with a stern stare as she reached for her holster, meeting her eyes with a suffocating tone. "You'll shoot me in front of these children?"

She answered through grit teeth, "I'd peel you like a ******** banana in front of these children if it made them feel safe."

Marco paused, smiling widely as he turned towards his men and back to her before quickly throwing one fist across her cheek with his knuckles nearly tucked into his wrist and another across her temple. Rosaline cried out and stumbled back, feeling her hands get slapped away and another blow across hee face before she could react. The children jeered for the fowl as Rosaline stomped out on her foot and regained her balance with enough momentum retaliate with a fist. She swallowed the blood and nailed him across his jaw in return as he grabbed her hands and shouted. Trying to pull her close, Rose took one foot and planted it before bringing the other into his balls and ripped her hands away. The other two men were already closing in, she drew her weapons, barking for them to get back. Behind her, Margaret could be heard calling the children in. They flocked inside passed them like a flash flood when Marco leaned up on one knee and grabbed a little girl by the back of the neck and mercilessly threw her face first into the dirt. She screamed and immediately began to wall as Rosaline's eyes widened furiously.

"MARCO, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL SHOOT YOU."

"And I will break her ******** neck before I go down." he snapped holding his glare. The little girl screamed louder as he seemed to squeeze firmly around her throat, then so much so it became rasped.

Rose knew it was true, her bloody teeth pressed so hard her aching jaw clicked. The other two men waited on each end of the barrels of her guns with looks that said the knew what she knew. Frustration seething out of her in a short breath Rosaline held out her arms and dropped each gun. Marco stood to his feet still holding the little girl by her neck, lifting her almost three feet off the ground.

"Put her down." she sneered.

"I think we've made it abundantly clear now that you are not calling the shots."

Dropping the child to the ground, she landed on her feet holding her neck with her own small hands, scurrying to Rosaline with a siren of a cry. Rose took her into her arms, kneeling in front of her, apologizing profusely and promising it was going to be okay. When the feds stood in front of her, Rosaline released the little girl, demanding she ran inside. Her eyes locked onto Marco's seeing the raging violence flaring behind them as he rose his foot and swung with all his might. She followed the hit, feeling her head slam into the ground and turning off her vision like a light.

When Rosaline woke up, she was laying on a bench inside the building, her face instantly flooding her with pain, when she pat her shirt pocket and was struck with nausea. The book was gone. She stood up not even waiting for Maggie and hurried out to hopefully get it back.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner sat down at his table as he drank tea while his house guest tended to herself in his bedroom. He awaited to see her return, but by the time she came back down he had dozzed off at the table all over again. It was Rose that woke him up again not the sun. He glared at it for a moment before looking over to her only to have her kiss the top of his head with a soft sigh. Conner looked up at her when she talked to him for a moment before he nodded at what she said. "Don't do anything stupid," he told her quietly before he stood up to go to bed.

After sleeping in past noon, the gang leader woke slowly and painfully. He had changed his bandages before cleaning up, noticing the ugly bruising and burns from being shot at close range. He did his best to act untouched though as he dressed in his usual and headed out the door to do clean up from the night before. Since no one had roused him, he hoped it wouldn't be too horrible.

Reaching the pup, he headed downstairs to see everything already being replaced by John and Jack. Almost immediately he was being asked where Grace was, but he told him that she had personal issues to tend to and had to call off. It wasn't something the punctual man was thrilled about, but Conner was the last word always. If the man said she was excused, no one would argue otherwise.

Except Jack.

"What happened here?" he asked as he adjusted his coat over his casual attire verses his officer blues.

"The deal went south. Nothing too bad," Conner assured him, but the second his friend brushed his side, he reiled back like he was being shot all over again.

"Conner - "

He shook his head and kept working through the pain in his ribs. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it, just make sure the pup is ready for work tonight. We don't have any tasks so we need to just make sure this palce was ready to go. That's it."

Jack sighed and growled at his friend. He stared at the other as he worked mindlessly on things that were hardly as important as his wounds. The issue was that he knew that the only wounds Conner was battling right then weren't physical. Something roused nightmares out of him again, he could tell easily with how tense his shoulders were and how much he didn't want to do what he was doing. Usually he would just make the man sit down and do what he needed to do to destress, but that was before the young man took up the task as a leader among the Reds. That just was no longer an option. "You look pale... At least let me do the physical stuff and you work on the books."

"I'm fine," he muttered but however, the moment he did, he almost fell right over. Jack was under him in a second and got him into a chair. "Trust me, I'll be okay."

"I know you will be okay eventually, but right now you need to relax until then. Work on the books," he ordered his friend before putting down the leather bound journal before him. He handed him a pen and a bottle of wine before leaving him to work while he decided to be the muscle for the day.