Seeing Red

[Unbreakable Justice]

"Conner is a grown man, he can wish for what he wants and chose to turn down what the universe hands him. Doesn't change the fact that you two would work well together, despite your disapproval," Jack replied with a soft smile on his face. He ignored her comment on his friend's condition as the man was in the bath already so there wasn't much he could do until after words. Instead his smile fell as he thought about what he knew about Conner and how much she thought the two didn't fit.

"You are right though... You are right," he suddenly spoke up as he looked down to the wooden floor for a moment. When he looked back up he appeared far sadder.

For a moment he shook his head before he explained the sorrowful expression. "That man doesn't deserve the trouble of falling in love with a hardened woman. He's not even suppose to be in this life, he wasn't born for it, you know?" He snorted for a moment then continued on.

"Conner should be back in Ireland still; chasing girls, riding horses, racing faster cars. The kinds of things rich boys do best, that's what he should be doing. The war did some things to him, bad things. The kind of things that mean he can't have what he was born for anymore which is why he came to the States.

"I don't know what he told you, but we became friends in the war with America and Ireland being on the same side and all. We met in a training camp, became close over the next month as I talked about my newborn baby I left behind at home and he blabbed about the fillies he left at home. Then he was a giddy kid who was shiny, new, and full of hope as he had just turned eighteen months before. But then he went out on his first mission and never really came back from it."

Jack stopped and looked at her with tears in his eyes. He shook his head again, apologizing under his breath as he wiped them from his eyes. Though he was a large man he seemed to be trying to make himself smaller. He curled up around himself as he leaned back against the wall and bit his bottom lip. "No one is ever really ready for their first kill. You talk about it as if you were, but no one is, he more so than anyone I've ever met. The ones that happened while he was in the plane never bothered him for it was just plane on plane violence. When he looked someone in the eyes, it messed him up. His happened when he was stuck out in the middle of a mine field, soaking wet, in shock, and constantly terrified. A soldier from the enemy line came out to finish him off but Conner decided he was going home still so he pulled out his gun and shot the man between the eyes. Dead.

"Conner came back anemic, hypothermic, and covered in pieces of skull, brain, and blood. His reaction to it was so severe that his fiance broke it off when she came to get him off the plane home. His parents disowned him because he couldn't face the nightmares and became inoperable. The only thing that saved him was me having gone home with him as he promised to show off the car he'd been upgrading before the war. I took him home with me to my wife and daughter, we kept him there, nursed him back into functioning, and came out here. Him becoming a gang leader was all because he picked a fight and people looked up to him for it, followed him for it. So now this has become his life, the only life he's really been able to live since then.

"Even at that point, his wife still shot him in the chest after he tried marriage again so I don't think you'd be anything new for him."

Jack stopped for a moment before sighing and realizing he hadn't explained himself at all in saying the two deserved each other. He had only explained how she wasn't alone in being messed up. Again he bit his lip out of comfort then ran his fingers through his ginger curls. "What I'm meaning to say, Rose, is that someone who knows suffering the best, is the best suited to help someone fight against it. Neither of you deserve more suffering. I just feel that you both would find peace in your shared pains... The fact that Conner is capable of making you feel empathy is evidence enough for you. At least for me it is. But I'm not the love doctor. I met my wife because she was the nurse that helped treat my injuries I had at the factory I use to work."

"Just let the poor woman sleep. She has no need to hear of my past, it's over with and done. Let's move on and ignore it." Conner peaked around the door with his hand holding a cloth to his side and wearing nothing but the pants he pulled on after stepping out of the tub. He gave both of them a exhausted look then walked away as if he were never there.

Jack sighed and moved to chase after him like the worrisome mother bear that he was. Instead he stopped and just gave a quick smile to Rosaline. "You're also both stubborn enough never to get married because you would both want to propose," he joked. He waved godnight to her and shut the door to go tend to Conner's injuries instead.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Seeing that Connor had been spectating Jack's increasingly sad story left a mark across Rosaline's face that tinged with embarrassment. It wasn't something she could explain in exact words, it was a sensation most would feel when caught talking about somebody. Though he hadn't shown any kind of aggressive behavior towards her specifically, the anticipation of being berated was still present. She furrowed her eyebrows into the center of her face, knowing this was another feeling she did not enjoy experiencing. Barnabas would have shot her for less, but Rose knew it was different with Connor, and she needed to act as such.

"Boss boy don't even know when to hush and let someone feel for him a minute, cryin out loud." she teased, turning a wise grin to Jack eagerly wanting to rid herself of the nawing feeling inside.

The door closed behind Jack as the imprint of his smile made its way across Rosaline's thoughts. It was a moment she felt would be etched into her memory, maybe just a still frame to serve as a reminder of what kindness still exists out there. Her lips that bent into a smile had slowly begun to lose shape once the humor of his last joke was lost. Politely, she waved to him and bid good night.

"Then maybe you'd be surprised how ready I was." she uttered into the silence of the four walls around her. A memory lashed across her thoughts, making her cringe slightly before disregarding it completely.

Her thoughts stirred, trying to forget that entirely, but she had already mentioned it. Not being ready to kill made sense in regards to Connor, how he was even sane at this point was a damn mystery. Not to mention what those women did to him was foul beyond what any earthly reckoning could deal back to them, in addition to the fact that the poor man was hardly whole before they all broke him.

She could relate to that more than she really wanted to say. Even if she didn't know what it was like, it was so clear in his eyes, like a child pleading to be carried after a long walk. Maybe he really didn't need a dainty girl, but someone who cold hold him up every once in a while...

A scoffing breath fell from her lips before pausing her thoughts right there. She was still very against filling that role in any sense of the idea and hated she even entertained it. Rose carefully sank back into her pillows, consumed in the scent of the man she was borrowing it from. Months of lying to him and she had the nerve to think she was better than anyone who came before her? It was absurd.


These thoughts plagued Rosaline during her time in that room. Day in and day out, she contemplated something that some part of her felt should have been banished to the darkest corners of her thoughts. Some days, she would rather lie in the bed lent to her and listen to the subtle, but necessary sounds that contributed to the workings of the house. Without each of these noises going off precisely when needed, it seemed all would be unwell.

There was the clock in the main hall upstairs. The minute hand was almost five minutes fast when descending to the half hour mark, but it always compensated when ascending, meaning that any time 35 minutes after the hour, was accurate. She noted how everyone in the house lived by the law of this clock. Every morning she was greeted by a glance from the wounded red Maverick himself, shambling down the hall to his study if he hadn't slept there the night before.

Once he was able to move around without howling, and Jack could worry less for his well being, a new sound added onto the morning routine. The sound of creaking gas pipes, buried in the walls. When the stove or heat kicked on, it was always with a bold rattle like rocks inside of a rolling tin can. She heard it several times a day, for breakfast, for tea, for dinner. It was actually a little stunning how much time Conner spent in the kitchen, and damn did he make some marvelous biscuits. Though she suspected that he just wanted to show off what few skills he did know, something would have suggested the gang leader might have actually enjoyed having someone to cook for, for a change. She certainly appreciated the gesture, steadily looking forward to the faint rattling sound more as her appetite returned.

The last sound, certainly the most welcome, was the faint, calm humming she heard down the hall late every night. Whether Connor decided to stay in the study until the early hours, or tried to go to bed at a civilized time, she heard this tune recited at least once every night.

He passively explained where he had learned it from, 'just some nurse' who treated him back when he was in the military.

It was in those times when she was granted another piece of the puzzle that was Connor. And the more she learned, the more it seemed to break her heart without her knowledge, much less her consent.

It was saddening to see that a man who loved so deeply was wounded twice as such, as though his hopes for what ever happiness the world held for him were dashed into pieces, lit aflame until the ashes were just a smudge in the ground. Some part of her admired that man as well. Though he was gone, she caught glimpses of him in passing smiles and feign playful gestures, moments that were becoming less rare on the nights the two were up either exchanging banter from down the hall, or when he was helping her dress her wounds. It was embarrassing to admit that she enjoyed it, but having Connor as company and caregiver was...refreshing. As they both healed and grew stronger Rose noticed a day at a time, as she became accustomed to the slightest movements in his home without teetering on hyper-vigilance, she maintained a steadily growing fondness for the man who lived in it. Who was imperfect, but he tries. Who thinks she's good, though she lies. He's hard on himself, broken, and too stubborn to ask for help.

He's messy, but he's kind. Maybe lonely, most of the time.

But he's all of this, mixed up and tucked behind a pair of hopeful, bright eyes. She might never get to know the man he was, because he's gone. But the one who remained was perfectly fine.


Realizing this made the rest go without saying that when she was more than reasonably capable of walking on her own, she knew that her times as a guest had come and gone. Connor had his duties, and now she had hers that had been pushed aside for too long, she told herself. Convincing herself that the church needed her, she had been away for over a month. Though the boys she'd ask to go check on Mother Maggie and the children reported that all was well, the anxiety that had lied dormant in her for that time began to itch at the back of her thoughts, demanding immediate micromanaging.

She wouldn't say as much when she'd leave. Just that her apartment was trashed and had been laying in disrepair behind a broken locked door the whole time and she needed to take care of it. Much to her embarrassment, her devotion to the orphanage was one of the few topics she briefly skimmed over when sharing stories with Connor. Much of her fight there with Marco and his men was omitted, just knowing that the implications of a child being injured by a grown man would boil the Red leader's blood to degrees measured only in kelvin. Also adding to the promise she made to herself to mention as little about her time spent there as possible, she was going to continue to keep that same church from becoming a topic of discussion, in the event Connor ever became comfortable enough to ask about it, what little she gave was vague enough to fill in the blanks in a point A to point B fashion.

That's what she told herself anyway. Forgetting for the briefest of moments that the past often had a terrible, painful way of catching up to people.  

[Unbreakable Justice]

The pulse of Conner's house restarted at the pace it's owner did.

Every rhythm was painfully slow within the first few days. Those days, Jack was the only one really walking between the two wounded gang members as he bandaged and comforted both when they would allow it. When he wasn't even there, the speed only seemed to manage to slow. Conner stayed in the study he was using as a spare bedroom as the space had few rooms and only two were in condition to hold occupants.

Six days in, the speed picked up. Finally the leader chose to leave his blanket made bed off the floor to return to usual activities. Such things included cooking for whomever desired to come over for the regular meal times for the household. Eagerly he shared these meals with Rose. It was those times that he took full advantage of getting to know her a little better - at least as much as she would share. In attempts to get her to open up more, he tried to share what he was comfortable with giving her as information. After having been hurt so many times though, it was truly hard to really share anything with anyone. Still he tried. At least she allowed him to work on healing her and making her feel better. If it weren't for her, he could have been in a rougher place.

Yet though he tried to convince himself he was doing this because he owed her, he was quite willing to do the work.

After a week and a half he was almost fully up to his usual activities though not in shape to go running around with everyone else. Instead he stuck with doing boring tasks of inventory, paychecks, collecting protection money, and sorting out paybacks to make sure that those who couldn't afford the protection wouldn't go under. Most saw this portion as just charity work. In Conner's mind though, he didn't see the point of letting a town go under to poverty in his territory for how could this look good on him at all? Plus he just couldn't stand to see people he got to know well suffer.

Along with this boring work though, soft melodies began to chime alongside the chatty pipes in Jack's absence. Though the mountain man had to return to his real job and family, the ease of the household didn't relent. Conner sang instead with a voice deep and hearty for the most part. As he was younger and in the military, he truly did love making up songs with the other pilots and soldiers. He had made a lot of lifelong worthy friends while enlisted and it showed with the light tunes as he hid the darker songs he was taught in the back of his mind. There was one song that kept reappearing though. Instead of a song in celtic of alcohol and battle or one full of mockery of the Germans, this one was a love song. It was in German itself - a rougher language to the unfamiliar ear - but he made it sound poetic and loving.

Each word came out clearly as if he were a natural German speaker without a bit of the poetry mudded by an unfamiliar tongue. Yet whenever he was around Rosaline, the words slurred until it became a melody hummed instead. When he was asked about it, he shrugged it off telling her that it was just some nurse who casually sang it in the hospital.

In truth, it was his prayer - the only one he really held onto after he lost his faith. Yes, it was a love song, but it was taught to him on his worst nights when his fever raged and nightmares haunted him. Evangeline sang it to him at his bedside with her voice a bell of peace through the firing mortars in the not so far distance. The song was the world to him and it was one of the few that made his body feel calm to his soul and have hope; but for now it was just pleasant to feel the words on his lips again.

A few weeks passed slowly but steadily to where Rosaline decided she had to get back to her own patterns of routine. In truth, Conner didn't want her to leave even for errands and wanted to beg her to simply stay with him. But that wasn't who they were. They weren't married or engaged. Not even lovers. What right did he have to request such a thing from her? So as he leaned back in one of his kitchen chairs pealing carrots, he made no attempts to stop her from going off to her secret place he never chose to pry to or really think too hard on. If it was needed for him to know, she'd tell him. Besides, he was going to have his hands too full that day to really be worried about where a grown woman was going for he had three smaller ladies to look after and a boy.

"Conner, you better be feeling as good as you thought you'd be by this point. If Marie and I don't get to go on this outing, we'll lose our minds," Jack warned as he came through the door without knocking, successfully taking up the entire doorway with toddler twin daughters on each hip. The oldest girl of long red curls in a messy braid walked behind followed by the fierce, proud woman herself with jet black hair and a green bundle held in the crook of her arm. Jack looked to Rosaline for a moment before smiling, "If you aren't into kids, I suggest fleeing now. This house is going to be a mess for the rest of the day."

Though the man seemed perpetually tired since his wounding, Conner lit up a bit at the sight of Jack's household. He moved a little stiffly to get up out of the chair but once on his feet he moved with the confidence of never having been injured in the first place. "Rose is going on her own thing. It'll be just me and the clansmen tonight. Good thing I've some of my own outings planned," he smiled as he walked to Marie and took the bundle from her arms carefully to reveal a dead asleep little boy that had more freckles on his face than he had skin. "Guess you're having another redhead."

Marie sighed. "Somehow my entire family has had black hair, but throw in a dash of ginger and suddenly that's all I can make."

He smiled and shifted the weight of the infant to one arm then beckoned the twins off their father's hip to join him with proud Annabelle gliding across the ground in her pristine clean dress, looking nothing like the the rough and tumble twins Jocelyne and Lilly. "I'll hold down the fort here with them and you guys enjoy yourselves. You deserve it. I think Benjamin and I can handle three girls," he assured them just like he had every time they asked him to babysit since Annabelle was three. They were hardly new parents, but they still worried as such.

"Behave girls. We'll be back tonight."

"Better flee while you can, Rose. If I need help and you're still here, I'll drag you down with me," he teased as he cradled baby Ben in his arms and got back to the kitchen making stew with his one spare hand. In the mean time Annabelle found her spot at the table to read and the twins found their own activity of roughhousing in the livingroom. Nothing out of the ordinary after the parents left.  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rose smiled watching the loving little family as they hurried in like a fiery little hurricane, feeling a warm smile grazing her cheeks seeing this brand new setting unfold right before her eyes. "I love kids, actually." she quietly told Jack. When Connor took baby Ben into his arms she chuckled, feeling her heart tick slightly off que. Something about seeing such a rough man handle something so small and fragile so gently rendered her completely speechless, like two worlds collided without the rest of the room noticing. Taking a steo back to truly observe the room she looked to Jack, thinking to herself that this moment-- seeing him surrounded by his children and wife, was a moment worth getting shot for. In this second in time, the anxieties plaguing her subsided, giving her the much needed (and certainly appreciated) validation that she needed. Certifying here and now that finally, she truly did the right thing.


Jack and Marie took off without much else being said, and the children made off to their routines. Rose found herself smiling slightly, following Connor into the kitchen as the twins rushed around like a single bullet train where she leaned on the wall with folded arms. She recognized he his feeling as admiration, notably associated with any regard towards the young gang leader. Many times over the last few weeks she remembered trying to sort out these notions she had that maybe it was more to it than that, but quickly dashed those ideas into deep corners of her mind, usually followed by embarrassed chiding to herself. She shook her head slowly, wanting to convince herself that all it was that she was feeling was respect towards this man, who can handle four children and a hundred men, wrestle his own demons, and make a rather damn fine biscuit.

Managing to drag herself out of her thoughts, she nodded to Connor with a slight tilt of her head and smiled. "Did you maybe...want me to stay a little longer?" she asked with a tender smile. "Not that I doubt your fine abilities as a babysitter."  

[Unbreakable Justice]

Conner gave a full hearted smile that he flashed back at Rose, "I would greatly appreciate the assistance, but it isn't required. Maybe after a while but at least the first few hours I've got this down to a science. I've been watching over these guys since the oldest one here was three. So almost six years."

He shrugged and went back to humming that same song that Annabelle started humming along with almost unconsciously as she continued reading her book. He smiled at the accompaniment but kept his attention on Rose. "If you want to stay, the beef will be ready in a little over half an hour and you can help me keep from falling asleep on the job. I may have said I was entirely up and ready, but I forgot how tedious babysitting is... To be honest though," he started before blushing and smiling awkwardly, "It hasn't changed my mind at all. I still want a kid of my own - maybe kids. At least one to grow up with and teach all the things I've learned to. Boy or girl, I want a chance to fix the ruin of my parent's parenting. Unfortunately that means no grandparents to babysit or coo over them when I'm stressed, but hey, so be it. Honestly, if I could, I would've been a dad already. Kinda hard to do with no wife anymore."

He stopped stirring for a moment and sighed as he rubbed the underside of his left ring finger. He remembered both rings he had worn on that finger. Each time he'd proposed to the girl he thought was the one was fresh in his mind. And every time they broke his heart came to mind. Yet, as the stupid romantic that he was, he couldn't wait to meet the girl that was truly his soulmate.

"Would you?" he suddenly asked after being silent for a few minutes. "Would you become a mom if you could? I'm not asking to know if I should start courting you - don't worry, I'm on the fence about dating right now - but as one spouse-less person to another. Are you wanting to have kids of your own or are you content with just helping out with others'?"  

[xxangelsofchaosxx]

Rosaline watched with a tinge of bemusement as he carried the child about the room, humming a soft melody that even the oldest had been trained to nod along to. The scene in itself was heartwarming from the perspective of someone who knew nothing about the valorous leader of The Reds. Under the rough circumstances that Rose and Connor met, it was still somewhat surprising that this man had so much tenderness to him. All she could think of was the cold, dark stare he gave her when he had asked her name to engrave on her tombstone. She chuckled at the thought as he haphazardly accepted her offer, stating that he was going to need someone to keep him awake through his shift after all. Rose shook her head, ready to scold him for not sleeping enough when he had the chance but her mind circled around other things. He talked about wanting a family for his own. How he would do everything in his power to keep his children from feeling the abandonment that he did. It was honorable, it was sweet, Rose was proud to hear that.

When had he asked her if she'd become a mother if given the chance she didn't hesitate to answer the question with a wide, Cheshire smile, "If I manage to live that long? Absolutely."

Her face radiated with a brightness as her heart skipped in her chest, realizing just how oddly enthusiastic that might have sounded. "I mean, I've always wanted kids of my own. If I could be just a fraction of the woman my mother was, I think I'd be pretty great at it. But I also love the children at St. Vincent's." her hands thoughtlessly clasped one another over the center of her corset, another thought to pass as to how uncomfortable it would be to brew a mini Rose with corsets on. The idea of giving them up left a mild tinge of a sour taste in her mouth. "If Maggie couldn't find a suitable replacement to run the orphanage, then I would take over. She's getting along in age and I think that's going to be relatively soon, which I didn't really have much of an issue with all things considered." she added, implying her solidarity.

From where she stood, Rose meandered in the threshold connecting the kitchen and the living room, having been waiting for a solid answer from Connor as to whether or not she was to leave. It was looking as though she might have needed to extend her stay when she glanced at the children in the living room but noted that there was a figure outside of the window. Some ways across the street, a tall silhouette of a man wearing a sharp black vest over a white shirt and a long red handkerchief, like most of Connor's underlings. His frame was topped off with a round velvet hat that seemed to be a shade darker than the black he was adorned in. Rose thought maybe he was asked to stand watch as Connor had asked when Rose first came to the house. But plenty of time has passed, they were capable of defending themselves and the boys knew that now. Something didn't sit right with her, though. The way she could feel him staring without even seeing the expression on his face chilled her bones. Something didn't sit right here, and even against her better judgment, she needed to go see what he was doing. Rose continued to listen to Connor, excusing herself for a moment with a nod and slight smile while creeping into the next room. Reaching over the couch, her fingers softly parted the curtains a bit further to find his features shifted to a broad grin that was familiar, and deeply unsettling. His hands retracted from his pockets, waving to her in long, seemingly calculated movements that made her stomach quiver in its pit. In the back of her mind, red flags were raising, flailing, waving from side to side. She knew that there wasn't a chance in hell that going outside to talk with him would end well. For now, Rose was opting to delay whatever interaction the man was beckoning for and returned to the kitchen.

Connor seemed fully occupied with the children when he was in her sights again. She couldn't even half-heartedly say 'for some reason' when she tried to assess why it was so cute to see him this way. Somewhere in her consciousness, she was starting to admit to herself that she had fallen for this bullheaded idiot and all of his quirks that separated him from any man she'd ever met. In the months she had to get to know him as both Grace and Rosaline, the part of her that adored his weaknesses and admired his strengths merged into one entity somewhere along the way. This went without saying that she was in no hurry to jump at him as soon as could be. No, not after everything he'd already been put through with all the venomous harpies that have rolled on through. Sure, she lied about who she was for three months, but she never intended to kill him at least. She had enough sense to know that he was good enough of a man to protect, rather than swap in place of her uncle.

Rosaline's eyes trailed down the sight of him shushing the infant, thinking over what she had just seen outside. She didn't want to say anything that would worry the children, god knows if they're Jack's kids, they're just as attentive to everything around him as he is. But still, she wasn't going to lie to Connor about what was outside.

Her lips shaped into a fine line as she leaned over the table with a stern look focused on the toddler wrangler. A gentle hand waved in the air, dismissing any sense of worry to be had before she began speaking. "Aye boss boy, I'm gonna run outside and dismiss your guard dog out there, a'ight? I'm certain we're out of the woods now, and if we need 'em, we'll just call 'em."

She didn't wait very long to get a response from him before heading outside. Rose didn't like the idea of making him worry about this guy, but the familiarity she felt when trying to study his face made her incredibly uncomfortable. The kind of uncomfortable that made people feel like they just swallowed a dry handful of spiders. Quietly, but quickly, she closed the door behind her and hurried down the steps of the front porch with wide, hesitant eyes.

"You're out past yer curfew, lad." she began with feigned confidence. "You can take the rest of the night off, the boss is just fine here."

A set of hazel eyes glanced at her from below the cap with a sinister smile. Chilling her to the bone, Rose let out a sharp, frightened cry that sent her stumbling backward several steps until she regained her footing and instantly lashed out with a bare fist.

"You son of a protestant whore!" she snarled. Another flash from the back of her hand viciously reached out to him with a swish in the air, as though her fingertips were the claws of a nine-tails whip. Smoothly, he stepped aside from each panicked strike with a slight look of confusion on his face that was mixed with wild bemusement. "I. WILL. ********. KILL. YOU."

Amry grinned wickedly. "If you were going to, you would have drawn your gun already, dahlin."

"No..." she roared gripping his shirt tightly, "I want to do it with my bare. ********. hands."

"Cute." he smirked gripping her hands. Their exchange was a tussle that seemed too perfect to be coincidental, almost as though they had locked into a dance that aggressively thrust one another against the bricks around them. Rose shoved with all of her strength, doing everything within her power to break free from his grasp without screaming at the top of her lungs as she did so or prepared to disembowel him. "You know Rosie, it breaks m'heart to finally get to see ya, just to have you act the fool like this."

Amry made a sound, struggling to keep her calm as he spoke. "Are you going to keep at this all night, dahlin? Not that I don't have the stamina for it, but I thought you'd like to hear from your Uncle Barney before we have a round at it. If you just...ugh...be a good girl, we can go about this like grown folk."

Every word he spewed made her feel like she was going to vomit. Rose gnashed her teeth in disgust as she fought to escape his grasp and the memories that came with his touch, and the disgusting pet names he dared to utter once more. "So he chose to send the one man I want dead, ********> she snapped, stamping her leg into his quadriceps. Rose couldn't seem to control her breathing, it grew more rapid as every hair on the back of her neck had stood on end. Each deepening breath acting as an additional support beam meant to hold open her lungs were crushed immediately. Her eyes narrowed to slits, focused and hateful. She blinked away tears before she could rip her hands away, they were instantly digging through her hair, shoving away the incoming memories that filled her with so much spite. She could still hear her own screams ringing in her ears, it made her muscles retract from her stomach to her neck as though she were being crushed by the weight of the shame she felt. The hate that she felt. An attempt to reach for her gun was intercepted by grasping hands ripping her arms up into the air and throwing her against the wall behind them. She hit the bricks with a sharp 'omph' that was followed by a startled cry as Anry pinned a knee at the apex of her inner thighs, hoisting her up higher on the wall by her crouch. She couldn't kick him with her legs that far apart, and all if any ability to scream left her entirely. She was petrified.

"You're being very rude, Rosie." he muttered, sounding offended. His hands gripped her wrist even tighter, popping the joints effectively. "When I heard you joined the ******** Reds for real, I had to come and see for myself. I had half a mind to come and snap your little ******** neck for what you did to my boys, but your Uncle Barney gave me another proposition. Slow b*****d dun even know you swapped flags, but he wanted me to tell you to hurry up and turn in the rugrat. And if you do, he'll give ya a cut of the turf. If you play nicely, I'd happily offer my services."

She struggled, grimacing painfully as his knee ground against her pelvic bone. He smiled with a sense of gratification as he narrowed the distance between them. "Like you, I joined the winnin' team. Much sooner than you did, but I've played it like I was your uncle's canary. Gotta do what you can to survive, but you know that well, don't ya? The way your uncle practically threw you our direction. Of course, we weren't gonna kill you then, but then you...you went around slitting throats, drowning Eddy in a vat of oil...that was you, wasn't it? The one who peeled Johnny's ******** skin off? All because you weren't up for a little fun? Nah. We weren't gonna kill you then, but now you'll wish I did."

Rosaline flinched, holding back bile as his face drew closer, the smooth texture of his skin caressing her shoulder suddenly dipped into her collarbone and up the nape of her neck. Her eyes froze in front of her, blankly burning holes into the wall across from them as he uttered softly, "Just as soft as I remember."

Rose's heart sank--no, ripped itself from the cage of her chest and plunged into her stomach, thrashing and throbbing, tearing through her like it had been set on fire. A sharp cry escaped her as her legs lifted up, and wrapped around his waist. His eyes were drawn back, shocked and confused, when he lifted them to meet with hers, she threw her head into his face as hard as she possibly could. Flashes of light and dark stung her eyes, but she kept pounding against the cavern of his teeth until he released her hands to cover his face. The weight of her entire torso pressed onto his center balance, forcing him to the ground just as Rose began a barrage of balled fist, not thinking for even half a second to grab her gun and blow his brains onto the pavement. No, she wanted him to hurt, she wanted him to ******** suffer. Fire seared into her gut, growing with each snarl that drew air into her. Defensive hands rose above him to stop her only to be bitten and sworn at, smearing red across her lips in doing so.

She kept going, not giving him a chance to speak, scream, cry out. She wanted him to know what it was like to choke on fear, to be violated, stripped of all his power. She wanted him to live with this feeling, knowing that she killed each and every one of his brothers the exact same way she was about to snuff him out.

"They all begged!" she snapped, her voice dark and husk, a towering fist dropped down on him from the top of her head. "THEY SCREAMED." she hit him again. "Eddy was too drunk to fight back." again. "Charlie asked for forgiveness...will you? HUH? Will you tell me sorry for what you did?!?" he was fading in and out now. She sneered, shaking her head. "Johnny cried. He begged for his mama like the little b***h he was and I didn't stop until he screamed and begged just--like--me!"

Her fist shone with hot white knuckles smeared with red. Scattering eyes fixated on the hues of his face she painted as her hands dropped to his throat. She was far too angry tell him in more detail how everyone he cared about was slaughtered. Too furious to think of how she would do the same to him. He struggled beneath her, slowly, vividly changing from red and purple to a deep blue. This was perfect as it was, she could be perfectly content with killing him like this.

His hands fell to the ground, grappling a handful of soil and rocks. All he had left in his defense was a cheap but effective trick that would leave her open for a solid swing from his opposing arm. She fell back as he scrambled from beneath her and quickly stumbled down the end of the alley towards the house and down the street.

Rose snarled and huffed, pushing out as much dust from her mouth and nose as she could with heavy breaths. Stinging eyes opened, searching for his silhouette. He was gone.

"You had a rat problem." She began much more calmly than she had expected when mentally reciting it on her way to the kitchen. Her lips folded into a downward line that stung her face, unsure how Connor would respond. She couldn't lift her eyes to meet his intense hues knowing at some point she might have to explain why one of his boys is about to be gutted like a fish.
"I know him."  

[Unbreakable Justice]

"Guard dog? I didn't ask - " he didn't get to finish his thought when Rose was already up and out the door. He turned with the helpless infant in his arms when he realized the danger. He had gotten use to being safe in his burrow that he hadn't considered the danger that could be lurking. "Annabelle. Kids, den. Now." The commands came briskly and he handed the stirring Benjamin to Annabelle as she turned to collect the other children. Conner kept his eyes on the door and grabbed the knife from the table to hold in his right hand. His left was filled with a heavy revolver while he tucked himself against an exposed post, facing the door.

He slowed his breathing down to being quiet enough he could hear the kids upstairs run to their posts as well. When he heard them fall quiet in the living room, he turned attention back to the door. He cocked the gun with his opposite forearm and sat quietly. After adjusting, he began to hear the sound of flesh on flesh outside his walls. The muffled screaming was clear enough to know which was who and one of them was Rose. His mouth twitched in a snarl as he wanted to go out and get her. As he went to move though, he remembered the kids. If he and Rose went down, there wasn't a single thing but a hunting rifle in Annabelle's hands to protect them. He had to sit and wait for whomever next to come through that door. God willing, the impostor would be slowed down enough by Rose for him to blast the ******** all over the door the second he stepped through it.

It felt like hours that he was barred down facing that door. It had been long enough that Lilly and Jocelyn had started up again - despite Annabelle's pleas to not. When Rose came back through that door, he recognized the violent side he realized then that he hadn't truly ever seen. "So not a dog then," he replied softly as he moved from his post. Carefully he guided her to a chair at the table to sit. The second he put his gun down, a different fired.

He dove down over the top of Rose and withdrew the knife he still had in his hand. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the startled Annabelle holding a rifle shakily in both hands. "Christ, lady! What ******** bloody hell were you going to do with that s**t?! First off," he started as he righted both of them and put down his knife. He walked to her an grabbed the warm barrel to force the butt against her shoulder, "Keep it tucked in your arm. You have no control when it kicks if you don't. Second off, keep both of your eyes open when you're firing so you have full depth perception. And third, pay attention to who you are shooting at! Could have took someone's head off if you remembered how to aim the damn thing!"

"I-I'm sorry, Uncle Conner. I w-was just trying to help. She was all bloody and I thought a lady was going to get you again," she whimpered before the full waterworks started, the infant joining in from the couch. She sobbed as she cradled the gun until Conner took it from her hands to instead have her hug him. "I didn't want you to get hurt again!"

With a heavy sigh, the man squatted fully down to pick up the girl up in his arms while she sobbed and he unloaded the rifle. He leaned it against the wall and rubbed her back while bouncing her like he would any fussy child. "I know, I know. Clare isn't here though, now is she? Nor is Grace," he spoke while giving a glance back at Rose. "It is just us, okay? Rose just had to deal with some business. Neither of us meant to upset you, we were just trying to make sure that you all were safe. You understand that, don't you?"

"Uncle Conner? Benjamin won't stop crying... I think he needs a change." Jocelyn stepped around the couch to see Rose and grew wide eyed before giving a wicked sneer back at her twin sister. "Told you she'd win. I get to punch you in the nose now!"

"Nuhuh! We didn't do the spit-swear!"

Conner sighed again and put the older child down to practically hang on his leg while he walked to collect the infant. "Rose, could you please sir the stew before it burns? Let me handle the circus and then you and me need to talk."

"Ooooo, she got busted! Busted, busted! You think he'll spank her or just time-out?"

Jocelyn turned her grin to Rose before muttering to her twin, "Probly spank her like Daddy does when Mama gets in trouble in their room."