Color Me (under construction).

22. Judgement Day

No one tells you when you grow up how life is going to go. After a certain age people stop holding your hand and you're off on your own. No one told Beau she'd be stood before a beefy man who held her fate in his rubbery hand. He looked at her with no words, his lips pressed into a thin line. It felt awkward to hold his stare, but Beau knew she had to show him she wasn't afraid. Even though there was a little voice screaming at the back of her head for her to run and never look back.

There was something about his appearance, and the way others reacted to him that told Beau he was the boss. A single, black gun sat threateningly on the desk before him; one of his hands loosely holding a small glass of whiskey. With a soft sigh the man lifted the glass to give it a swirl before extending it to Beau. Her eyes dropped to the glass before blinking back at the man. She would not speak first and she would not show him her fear.

A deep chuckle came from the back of his throat as he sat the glass back down. "You're a very smart young lady."

Beau just looked at him, holding her ground. A soft knock sounded at the door of the large office they were held up in. A familiar blonde woman stepped in, her body clad in black clothing with her hair pulled into a tight pony. The man watched on as Beau's eyes widened in recognition as Emily crossed the room to stand beside him. She smiled toward Beau with a small nod. The surprise quickly subsided as Beau remembered back to the phone call John had with her. It was the plan all along - she had orders, Beau recalled Emily saying.

Standing there now with Emily avoiding eye contact, Beau couldn't help but feel something was off. When Matt showed up, John was immediately standoff-ish. He wanted nothing to do with him and he wanted him nowhere near Beau. It was drastically different with Emily. They seemed closer and both protective of the other, until the phone call. Emily was relieved when Beau came back for John. However, the woman who stood in the doorway was not the same woman standing before Beau now. Except, somehow, Beau felt that the Emily she met was hiding in the face of this man. Only if Beau knew how to kick up enough dust to bring that part, the part that cared more for John than anything else, out of her. The part that they shared in common.

A surge of confidence hit Beau square in the chest as all her fear slipped away. She needed to kick up dust.

"Well, this is awkward." The man tilted his head in amusement as Emily's eyes snapped to Beau, "Everyone talks about you like you're some fearsome god, but I don't see it."

If the room could breathe, it would take a sharp inhale, holding it in. The man gave a quick hum, "maybe you're not as smart as previously thought."

"Maybe not," Beau shrugged. "Then again you don't know me, but you'll say you do. You'll say you know me better than I think. Maybe, you'll tell me some unknown truth about my father, or that my mother isn't the well refined woman I know her to be. Perhaps you'll go after my friends, telling me with one call they're dead. Or maybe, you're smarter than you look."

"Instead of all that you'll  go after the one thing that connects us: John. You'll tell me he's not the man I know, and that his name isn't even John. Jay, was it? Hm, then you'll go on about the fact that he's done terrible things and he's not a good guy. All the blood on his hands and lives he's ruined, including my own. It'll all sound very convincing. Am I right?"

Emily's eye were wide with shock at Beau's little speech as the man just watched her. His eyes had a spark of amusement and something else that Beau couldn't quite place.

"Thank you for allowing me to save my breath. You're very creative, Beau, and as I'm sure you already know, Jay is very important to me. He is my son after all."

"Right," Beau gave a tight smile. She hated hearing this poor excuse of a man talking about John. After everything John told her about this man - the man that took his life without permission, she could feel her skin boil. "John is understandably important to a lot of people."

She made sure she was making eye contact with Emily as she said this. With a miniscule nod, Beau knew Emily was hooked. The dust had been kicked enough. Because John was important to a lot of people, and it takes the right people to understand why. To this man, who claimed fatherhood, John was merely a weapon. To Emily, a childhood friend, John was the hero that snuffed out the monsters when they were kids. To Beau, John was the spark the ignited the flame within her soul. He fought for all of them, and Beau realised now was the time to fight for him.