Blackness Awaits

by Karlsson, Norma Jeanne

  I move quickly retrieving the gun from beneath the covers and aim between his eyes. I begin to count internally as his face pales. His thumb moves across the screen of his phone and without looking he presses a key.

  “I’ve just texted the men that have them and told them to kill one. Now you’re down to your last chance,” his voice shakes.

  “I’m at twenty on your count down.” I don’t react to what he says. I don’t believe him. I can’t believe him.

  “I’ve told them to torture and maim them if I don’t make contact every thirty minutes. If you kill me you seal their fates.”

  “The only fate sealed in this room is yours. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three…”

  Kellerman

  I’m running through the corridors as fast as my legs will carry me desperate to get to Kid. Kav is in step with me as we pant and heave. Kav is screaming for people to get out of the way and I’m brandishing a gun. People are moving.

  We get onto the maternity unit and people are screaming and ducking away from us. I’m three doors from Kid’s room when I hear the gunshot.

  “NOOOOOO!” I roar and tear into the room. I rip back the privacy curtain to see Kid is sitting in her bed, gun aimed at a man on the floor. Cooper is standing in the doorway of the bathroom gun drawn aiming at the same man.

  “Kiddo?” I call.

  “I’m fine, Kel.” She turns her gaze to meet mine and I see fury stream through her face. “Where’s the baby?!” she screams leaping from the bed charging at me. I engulf her in my arms and crush her to my chest, but she fights against me just as hard.

  “He’s fine. Kieran has him,” I explain and her fight stops. She tips her head up at me in confusion.

  “I don’t know why he’s here, but he was the only one qualified to take the baby so I could get to you.”

  “Kavy, go get my son,” her tone has an air of threat and pain. Kav hesitates for half a second before running back down the corridor.

  “Drop your weapons!” a man yells from down the corridor in the opposite direction of Kav. Kid and I slowly turn laying our guns on the ground as multiple police officers rush toward us guns drawn. Cooper jumps in front of us before the cops can take us down.

  “I’m agent Nick Cooper.” Cooper flashes a badge. “Miss Kelly is in my protective custody. There was an intruder in her room that I have shot. He requires medical assistance. Neither Mister Kellerman nor Miss Kelly have committed any crimes. Please lower your weapons,” he commands in a professional yet authoritative tone.

  “I’m sorry agent Cooper but this guy ran through the hospital with a gun,” the officer says approaching me with an ominous look on his face.

  “While I understand that’s against hospital policy, he’s broken no laws by carrying a gun unconcealed with a valid permit. His family was in danger and he was trying to protect them. I think that warrants his behavior. I believe the news outlets would love a story about it.” Cooper has won based on the look on the cop’s face.

  “I’m really sorry for scaring people, officer. My son was almost kidnapped while I was held at gunpoint in the parking lot. Once I was able to get away I knew my girlfriend’s life was in danger. I acted on instinct.” I shrug trying to play off the fact that I was running through this hospital preparing to commit murder.

  Kid goes completely rigid at my explanation. Not the best way to learn about what just happened to us. Kav comes running in with the baby cradled to his massive chest. Sweat is pouring into his eyes when he reaches us. Kid rips Johnny from his arms and starts checking every inch of him for an injury. Some nurses ran around us at some point when Cooper was talking to the cops to work on whoever is bleeding all over the floor.

  O’Sullivan, Kieran and Cal run up two seconds behind Kav. When their eyes land on Kid they all relax.

  “Gentlemen I believe you’re needed outside at a crime scene. Federal agents are en route to clear this scene. Thank you for your assistance.” They’ve been dismissed. Cooper changes his gaze to a nurse hovering behind our bunch. “We need a new room immediately for Miss Kelly.” She nods and runs down the hall.

  Kid is still feverishly looking over the baby who’s starting to fuss at being jacked with.

  “Kiddo, he’s fine.” I try to convince her but she ignores me. The cops leave the area and the onlookers start to return to their original locales. Kid won’t stop messing with the baby so I pick her up in my arms and hold her to my chest and she does the same with the baby.

  Cooper nods down the hall and I see the nurse waiting for us outside a new room. I walk down the corridor cradling all the life that belongs to me in this world to my chest. I feel peace roll through my body knowing they’re all safe. Safe in my arms.

  Kavanagh

  Holy. Fucking. Shit! That was absolute insanity. I flop into a chair in Kid’s new room and catch my breath. I’m not doing cardio for a week! Cal, O’Sullivan, Kieran and Cooper drop into chairs around the room while Kellerman crawls in bed with his family. I’m tempted to crawl in with them, but I stay in my chair at the bedside.

  “Someone tell me what the fuck happened. Where’s Thomas?” Kid demands quietly as she shoves her boob in Johnny’s mouth. I don’t think he needs to eat, Kid needs him there.

  “Surgery. Took a shot to the lung,” Kieran replies for the group.

  “What’re you doin’ here?” she asks in a nicer tone than her words convey.

  “Followed Mancini’s guys here. They weren’t too careful. All the smart ones are still locked up. Grady had to bring dummies along,” Kieran explains scrubbing his hands over his face.

  “That was Grady in your room?” I ask concerned that Kid just killed a state governor.

  “Yeah. He’s bat shit fuckin’ crazy too,” Kid scoffs. Kellerman is sitting behind her in the bed one arm wrapped possessively around her shoulders the other around Johnny. If he could drag them into a cave he would right now. I’d take the cave next door.

  “Did you kill him?” I ask tentatively getting ready to call my pop. He could get her out of it.

  “Nicky shot him before I had the chance.”

  “Easier clean up for me than her,” Cooper explains typing away on his phone. He’s working now. He’s sitting there in fucking flip flops, shorts and a polo. You’d never know he was a federal agent that just shot a state governor.

  “Did he have a weapon?” O’Sullivan asks pulling his blood covered shirt over his head. The tat across the back of his shoulders stretches as his arms move and my eye is drawn to our family clover dotting the i of his last name. A little bit of Kid in all of us.

  “Just his fuckin’ mouth,” Cooper answers gruffly.

  “Huh?” Cal pipes in. He took a good hit to the head when the SUV crashed that Kieran took the tires out on. He refused medical attention to get up here to Kid, but I’m worried he may have a concussion.

  “It’s a long damn story, but I have it here on my phone. Have a listen to this shit,” Cooper says turning up the volume as he plays the conversation Kid had with Grady.

  When the recording finishes I feel sick to my stomach. I can’t believe this motherfucker. I look to Kid’s face and it’s a stone veil of no emotion.

  “I can’t remember if my mother put me in the car with the driver at the airport. I always thought she did but now I can’t fuckin’ remember.” Kid’s tired, sick, pregnant, freaked and so many other things I’m not surprised she can’t remember.

  “I don’t think she did. My nurse told me about my father bein’ dead not my mother. I don’t remember her ever visiting me. I think it was the nurse that put me in the car. I think Uncle Mick faked my death to keep me safe. Do you think he coulda done that Nicky?” she rambles trying to track everything down.

  “He had the skills and the resources. I don’t see why not,” Cooper says confidently.

  “She hated me that much. She hated me so much that she told them how to kill us. Where we’d be. Why did she hate me?” There’s choked emotion in
Kid’s voice as she gazes down at Johnny. He’s no longer nursing just sleeping using her boob as a pillow. Good man.

  “Because she was a fuckin’ idiot. An evil piece of shit that got what she deserved. You’re a damn gift!” Kellerman growls into her neck. I’m going to look at caves when we get out of here. He’d look good in a cave with a loin cloth. So would I.

  “Kid,” Cal calls to her quietly. “You remember when you told us about your dad that day at the breakfast table?” She nods. “I told you about my mom dyin’ that day and you crawled in my lap and made me feel good for the first time in a way I’d never felt. Your mother couldn’t stand you because you burned so bright you out shined her. Even when she tried to remove you from this world you fought your way through and burned brighter than before. Don’t let her touch that light now. You burn brighter today than you did yesterday knowin’ that you bring light to everything you touch. Even a fucked up soul like mine.”

  They sit and stare at each other for a long time after he finishes. This is what they do. They communicate through their eyes and it’s creepy and mesmerizing to witness.

  “You’re not fucked up,” Kid repeats the same words to Cal that she said almost fourteen years ago as tears prick the back of her eyes. Kid doesn’t cry but pregnancy hormones are going to make that hard on her. Cal nods and sits back in his chair.

  “Cal I think you should have a doctor take a look at you,” I say concerned in tone.

  “I’m good, Kav,” he dismisses me.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Kid asks with more concern in her voice than I had.

  “He got knocked out holdin’ Johnny in the back of the SUV,” Kieran explains. “My bad. I had to take out the tires to get it to stop. Crashed into a row of parked cars.”

  “I think it’s time I heard the whole story,” Kid says with an edge to her voice. Kellerman clears his throat and launches into the story. Watching the fear, anger, pain, nausea and love wash over her face as she listens is almost too much to bear. This chapter in her life has to be over now. She’s had enough. It’s time for her to live the life she’s always deserved filled with nothing but unconditional love.

  Shannon

  September 20, 2014

  “Happy Birthday, Momma,” Kel whispers into my neck holding me from behind his hands resting on my barely-there baby bump.

  In front of me is a huge three tiered cake covered in cream fondant decorated with stunning sugar flowers in every color possible. It’s breathtaking and in danger of melting from all of my candles. I close my eyes and make my wish…blow. It takes a few tries, but I get them all out and applause erupts from my party goers.

  Everyone is here at Flannery’s to celebrate my thirty-first birthday. After we eat heavenly cake, I scan the room and take in the faces of the incredible people that fill my life.

  Maggie and Mary are fussing over Johnny and he’s loving every minute of it laughing and spitting bubbles at them. Pop, Doc and Pappy are huddled together discussing something very important (football from what I can hear). Ryan and Adam are laughing at Collin and Hugh trying to pick up one of the waitresses working tonight. She’s not giving any one of the guys in the room the time of day. Good for her! Aidan and Finn are discussing Aidan’s move here in a few weeks. He took a job at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He’s moving into our house of course, which is under major construction currently. By the time it’s done I think the house will almost double in size and Kavy assures me it’ll be done before the twins are born.

  Karl is at a table talking to Kieran. Those two are the strangest pairing in the world but they have formed a weird friendship. Thomas is at the bar talking to Nicky. Thomas is still my bodyguard even though there are no longer any threats to my life. I love having him around and he keeps me safe. Nicky is the same old secret agent telling me nothing but always around. Butch and Rodger are playing pool together smiling over at Johnny more often than not.

  Kavy, Sully and Cally are standing here talking to Kel over my shoulder about how much cake I could put away in my teens. They aren’t lying. Kel’s deep laugh rumbles through my body and I smile at the warm tickle it sends through me.

  A year ago I had almost none of this. I had my family and that was it and it was enough then. Now looking around this room I can’t imagine living a day without all of these people in it. My life is fuller, richer and happier than I ever imagined life could be. I’m safe. I’m happy. I’m loved.

  Kavanagh

  Standing here in Flannery’s for Kid’s birthday is nothing short of a miracle. For the last year people have been trying to kill or take her from me and she’s done nothing but fight against it. Amazing is too small a word to describe her.

  She’s glowing brighter than I’ve ever seen her. Pregnancy agrees with her. Who knew the world’s most stunning woman could look even better? It took a week or so for her to bounce back after the hospital incident with Grady. But she’s back and better than ever!

  Former Governor Grady lived through surgery only to be shipped off to a federal penitentiary. He’ll never see the light of day again. Mancini pled guilty to various charges but got a good deal because he cooperated against Grady.

  Mancini gave the whole story about what happened to Kid and her dad. Kid’s “mother” (the evil witch that gave birth to her, she was no mother) gave Mancini the route the driver would take to Wrigley Field so that he could ambush the car. Mancini was to eliminate Kid and her father. He’s the one that took the final shots at Kid while she hung in the backseat of the burning town car. There’s a special place in hell for that motherfucker.

  Grady is not Kid’s father. Why he thought that (lied about it) we’ll never know but a DNA test proved that was a fucking lie. Mancini took out Kid’s “mother” a few months after the ambush. She never saw Kid at the hospital. Kid’s memory of her mother putting her in a car with a driver was wrong. It was a nurse that did that. Uncle Mick orchestrated the entire thing. We have no proof of that but it’s the only thing that makes sense. He kept her safe and trained her to stay that way for the rest of her life. That man is a God send that I’m thankful for every day.

  So that’s it. Kid’s safe. Kid’s pregnant. Kid’s loved. All is right in the world.

  Kellerman

  The size of Kid’s family makes it a long ass process saying goodnight to everyone. But I finally have her to myself.

  I push her down to the mattress and capture her mouth in a fervent kiss. She moans in the back of her throat and arches her back into me. Pregnancy has made her a vixen. I unclasp her bra and move my mouth along hers tasting and nipping at her mouth. She pushes her hands into my hair smashing her mouth hungrily to mine. I massage my tongue against hers as a groan thunders through my chest.

  I move my mouth across her jaw and down her long slender neck. She tastes like milk and honey. I cup her tit with one hand as my mouth devours the other nipple, nibbling and tugging.

  “Kel,” rasps from her lips urging me further.

  I whisper kisses down the plain of her torso to her slight bump and stop. I cup it in both hands and press my lips to the home of my children. I can’t wait to feel them move inside her. It’s time.

  I sit up on my knees and pull Kid to a seated position.

  “Kel,” she protests until she meets my eyes. She can see the seriousness of my gaze and waits. Her green orbs aglow.

  “Marry me,” I demand. Not how I had planned this. “Be my wife, Kiddo. You’re everything good about me and I can’t spend another day in this world without everyone knowing you’re mine. Marry me.” She just stares at me for a long time, studying my face. Her face is soft. Her auburn waves are a mess falling around her shoulders brushing across her breasts framing her pendant. Her high cheek bones are flushed with desire and her plump lips are swollen from my assault on them. Her beauty knows no bounds.

  “That was quite the caveman proposal, Kel,” she admonishes. She’s right, it was.

  “I didn’t plan it to be li
ke this. I have a better plan, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I need you to be my wife like I need to take my next breath. You turned my world upside down when you walked into Mia’s room. My life was nothing but a shell until I saw your stunning green eyes alight with fierce protection at the sight of me. I was dead on the inside and you brought me back to life and made that life something people everywhere are envious of. You are the greatest gift any man could dream of and I have you. I want you to be by my side for eternity. Please, Kiddo. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she answers immediately and smiles her panty dropping smile at me that makes my fucking toes curl.

  I push her back on the bed and plunder her mouth while removing both our underwear. In one glorious movement I fill her and shudder when I bottom out. Kid wraps her arms around my shoulders and her long sexy legs around my waist and I begin to rock into her slowly. With each stroke I match my tongue in her mouth and she begins to tremble.

  “I love you,” I murmur against her mouth before capturing it again and increasing my pace. Thundering into her she gasps and constricts her legs as her fingernails score my skin. A long deep moan flows from her mouth to mine as her orgasm rocks her to the core fueling my tension. I bury my face in her neck and thrust tirelessly as sweat mists our bodies.

  “I love you too,” she whispers into my ear and I come undone, powering forward emptying myself inside her. I slow my strokes as we both come down and temper our breathing. I press long kisses to her forehead, cheeks, nose and chin before I press firm to her mouth. Then I collapse onto her smashing her beneath me. She always lets me until she can’t breathe anymore. I break the connection this time to finish what I started.

  “Don’t move,” I say climbing off the bed and opening my dresser drawer. I fish out the black velvet box and come back to the bed. I lie down beside her and scoop her body to my side. She throws her leg over mine and her hand goes to my abs her face tipped up glowing at me.