Born to Fight

Chapter 4

Jamie

When we had first pulled up, Josh and I had been quietly engaged in conversation with police officers who were asking us questions. I don't know how long I had been standing there answering questions when I heard someone calling my name. I had been relieved when I had looked up to see Celeste. Seeing her standing there in the doorway looking at me, she looked broken. But she was alive and unharmed, and that was all that mattered. When she had hugged me, she had held on to me so tight and I had reciprocated, glad to be able to see for myself that she was safe and hold on to her providing her with the support she needed. From this point on, Freeze and I would protect her with our lives, she would never be alone, we would see to that. Whether Celeste knew it or not, I was in her corner and I always would be. I knew that Josh would protect her too. From this moment on, Celeste would have all the help and protection she would ever need.

Celeste

When Josh had run out of the house, I had been confused. Josh and Jamie were Navy SEAL's, so they would have traveled the world and seen all kinds of gory stuff. So why had Josh looked like he was about to toss his cookies? Why had he run out of the house like that? Right after Josh had run out of the house, Jamie had gotten up from the table and quickly ran outside after Josh.

I was left sitting at the table wondering what I was going to do now. I wasn't putting much faith in the police. Given what I had seen so far, I was beginning to doubt they could protect me if the men that had killed my mother came back. Right now I seemed to be at rock bottom. I was seventeen years old, and I had lost the only family member I had left. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay here, I was still a minor and if I tried to stay here alone child services would throw me into foster care or a group home. My mother owned the house outright, and I knew it would be mine now. My mother had always told me that when she died, I would get everything. I knew that even if I could stay here, I wouldn’t want to be here. Being reminded every day for the rest of my life, of how my mother was senselessly murdered didn't appeal to me. I also didn’t want to go back to school and be forced to answer hundreds of questions about what had happened here tonight. I didn't want to be the subject of rumors and whispers in the halls. And I didn't want to have to look into the faces of my teachers and peers and see their looks of pity.

I decided that I had been thinking too much. I was beginning to give myself a headache. Deciding that I needed to get out of my own head for a while, I decided to go outside and look for Jamie. The moment I went outside the front door, I saw him standing with Josh on the front lawn. They were keeping some distance between themselves and the police officers that were still wandering around the property. When Josh looked over towards the house and saw me standing there watching them, he quickly stopped talking and motioned in my direction. Jamie looked over to where Josh had pointed and saw me, and a moment later he started walking towards me. I started making my way towards them and met them halfway.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, directing my question at Jamie but looking at Josh curiously.

“Yeah, everything is fine,” Jamie replied.

“Look, we were just wondering what your plans were. You can’t stay here, not after what's just happened,” Jamie told me looking concerned.

“I know. I don’t want to stay here. I can’t. It feels wrong being in there without her,” I told him, as I looked towards the only home I had ever known.

“Well you are welcome to stay with us for as long as you want,” Jamie replied.

“What about Loki?” I asked, "I can't just leave him here."

“He can come too,” he replied, giving me a smile.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be any trouble to you," I said looking at them both. I couldn't help but feel there was something that the men were withholding from me.

"We wouldn't have offered you a place in our home if we didn't mean it," Josh replied.

I looked at him for a moment, trying to get a read on him. He seemed genuine. “Okay. Well, I guess I should go pack,” I whispered. I looked at Jamie and he nodded in agreement.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked. I looked at him and nodded. We quietly made our way back inside the house together to get everything that I would need.

Jamie

Josh had run out of that room so fast that I had had no other choice but to go after him. I had never seen Josh run away from anything. When I caught up with Josh the poor guy looked like he had just seen a ghost.

“Josh, what is going on with you?” I asked. “Josh, man, come on, talk to me. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Either that or you're about to hurl, so which one is it?”

“It’s her,” Josh said, sounding stunned.

“What’s her?” I replied, confused about where this conversation was going.

“Celeste, she’s his,” Josh whispered. Looking at him, I could see that Josh was pretty much trapped in his own head. In fact, the way he looked right now, was pretty much how Celeste had just looked while she had been talking to the cops.

“His who? Josh, you are not talking sense man,” I said.

“Celeste, she looks exactly like my father,” Josh whispered urgently, looking at me like he was trying to make me understand.

I looked at Josh as if he had suddenly grown two heads. I had heard what Josh had said but I couldn’t wrap my head around the meaning of his words.

“Jamie, you remember me telling you that my dad had an affair, right?" I simply nodded in response. "Well, before she died, my mom told me that there was a child as a result of that affair. She said that over the years she had wondered about the woman and child. She said she had felt bad for them. My dad had left them all alone. She said that my father had turned his back on the woman the moment he had learned of the woman's pregnancy, and my mother felt it had been the wrong thing to do. She felt my dad should have stayed in the baby's life. I am telling you, Celeste is that child. I would bet everything I owned on that fact. She looks exactly like him,” said Josh looking haunted.

“Josh, just calm down, we will figure this out, but first, let's just help Celeste get through the next few hours. And then we will get around to sorting things out regarding what you have just told me, okay?” I replied, trying to get Josh’s head back in the game. Josh looked at me for a moment and nodded. Suddenly his eyes seemed to lock on something behind me, before he brought his hand up and pointed at something behind me. Looking in the direction he was pointing, I saw Celeste watching us. Satisfied that Josh was now back on track, I took Freeze and began to make my way over to Celeste with Josh on my heels.