Shaking His Head He Began To Clean After The Bounty Hunter. He Remembered All Too Well The Days He Was

Shaking his head he began to clean after the bounty hunter. He remembered all too well the days he was ready, itching, for a fight. Now a days he just hoped for an evening alone with his wife. “Clean this up and make sure you get that checked out later today by an actual doctor. Don’t want it to get infected.” He could tell the man was deflecting maybe trouble with the wives, but that was none of his business.

Deciding that maybe this was the right time to tell him what he had been ruminating for a while he dragged a chair to sit in front of him. “Tengen, we have to talk about something.” Running a hand through his hair, he sighed wondering if he might be making a mistake. “ I need you to shape up because I’m thinking about taking Anna and Orion on a family vacation. A get away for a while, and with Elizabeth gone, I’d leave you in charge of this office, but I can’t do that if you’re running around like this.”

It wasn't as if Tengen chose to get injured as often as he was, it just simply happened to him, and while he couldn't control how people reacted, he did understand what Charlie was saying, no matter how peeved it made him to admit that Charlie was right.

"You're acting like I can control how other people act when I go and grab them," he grumbles even still like a petulant child, lowering his shirt once Charlie was done tending to him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried about me, boss," Tengen teases, grinning over to him in an effort to change the topic and avoid the conversation about his wives

Declan was right. It was bullshit. When Declan had brought up adopting his niece, not just a part of her, everything in her loved the idea. The thought of her being a maternal figure in her life, perhaps even being a family together excited her. There was nothing more she would have loved than to have her own family. She should've known the universe had other plans.

Looking up at him, her heart broke. He deserved the truth. Alejandra owed him that much. "My mom," she said as she set her bag on the floor for the moment. "She didn't die in an accident." An accident was always the easiest way to explain why she was so young when she left them. "She had a disease. It's a very rare aggressive version of Alzheimer's called the Jalisco mutation." Then she dug the crumpled letter from her pocket. It had been read over and over more than a dozen times, hope in her wishing it wasn't real. Holding it out for him to take to see for himself. "They asked Mayaken and I to test to see if we might carry the marker. They have a research team helping and," her throat began to close up.

Choking up she finished. "I am a carrier. I have it and its only a matter of time until I start to exhibiting symptoms."

"H-How can you say that? Dammit, Alejandra, you fought for me to adopt her. You got her back to me when she landed in foster care. That's bullshit and you know it." Declan hadn't known a better woman than Alejandra. The moment he saw her, something told him she was special. And, fuck, was she. Always had the right things to say. Encouraged him to buy the farm and get away from his dangerous life. Who he was today and where he was headed is all thanks to Alejandra's influence.

"Allie, stop." Finally, Declan stepped forward, taking hold of her arm. He spun her much smaller body, forcing her to look at him. "Talk to me. What is really going on?"

Mayaken had felt so out of place. So many people. So many sounds. While it felt nice to be out and about, it just served to remind him just how much more isolated he was over his sister. Looking over at her she was already talking with some other people making quick friends. He had on many occasions tried to be as social as his twin but his self conciousness of being judged over his accent always kept him from being as easy going as her.

Knowing that he wouldn't fit in with his sister and her new friends, he made his way through the crowd towards where the stage was to find the only reason he had come here. Michael. And the moment he did he couldn't help but smile as he watched him up there. God, he was so confident and effortlessly cool. As the next song came up and Michael began to point to him, his cheeks began to redden and he felt his skin began to heat up, when he got over the initial shock, he smiled and waved. Chalking up the actions as just him letting him know that he saw him in the audience and being flirty like his sister usually was with people. Before he knew it he was swaying along to the music with everyone else having a genuine good time and glad he had come along.

Michael was singing his heart out as he always did, dancing about stage. He just so happened to spot a Mayaken in the crowd just as he was about to start his next song. He decided he'd have a little fun with it. He had a feeling he'd get a fun reaction out of the man.

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah, Yeah yeah yeah yeah, I'd like to say for the record that I like how you walk, And how the other girls all shut their mouths and when you talk And your body's so black and your mind is too, I wanna make a good connection when I plug into you...~"

He gave a wicked sort of playful grin, pointing at him during the last line of the first few verses. He gave a wink and continued on with the song. He'd periodically look over every now and again, seeing if Mayaken was still there.

@dozenrozez

Turtles All the Way Down, (2024).

There were plenty of times over the last two weeks since knowing that he still existed. That he was still out there walking. Breathing. Free. That she wanted to sneak into his home, to be the one to take his life from him given what he had done to her. But something in her kept her from doing so. The little girl in her that he had shattered, still afraid of him, kept her from enacting on it.

She knew that he was only asking if this was what she truly wanted because what it would mean. "Ryder," she said, pulling back and looking him in the eye. " I don't' want this. I need this. Not just for me, but for anyone else he has done this to! I can't be the only one! What if he's doing it right to someone else?" That thought alone made her sick. "The world is a better place with him gone and I need to see it happen. I need to see this through to the end."

Ryder didn't hold it against her. It was only natural to want someone to hurt as much as they caused. And Ryder was more than happy to take the shape of karma. There was, however, a small voice that worried about Liz. Ryder's moral compass was basically nonexistent. Liz's, on the other hand, Ryder wanted to protect.

Keeping his arms around Liz, he pulled away enough to peer down at her. "I have everything I need to do this, and I can do it as soon as next week. But are you sure you want to be there? Once you witness life leaving someone's eyes, there's no going back."