The Bodyguard » Niall Horan

39 » George Cross

I received the details of the events a day after waking up.

Chester had managed to escape prison with some help arranged by Kellan. It took the prison guards two hours until they realized he had simply walked out. He'd probably received a ride to Dover, where he'd watched us closely the entire day, according to surveillance cameras in the area.

How he had managed to place the bombs in that particular restaurant without knowing we'd go there, was a mystery no one was going to solve. Perhaps Chester knew I enjoyed Italian food and just guessed. I had no idea.

I had lost the entire bit after the bombs exploded, but Niall had told me he'd woken up, got a solid right hook from Chester. Niall told me Chester then sedated me and took me with him.

It had taken one and a half day until they had found me, thanks to GPS coördinates. Apparently, Mark had given me a cellphone when I was in the hospital, which I hid in my bra. It had been there the entire time, to my surprise. I wondered if I had known subconsciously something would happen.

MI6 had known quite quickly I had been abducted by Chester, but had no clue where I could possibly be. Mark finally came to the conclusion I must've had it with me because he couldn't find it anywhere near my bed. It surprised me the signal had been still good, considering the amount of blood I had lost due to the slice on my jaw.

Chester had kept me in a basement. It was a farmhouse of one of his prison mates, located a few miles away from Dover. It had been abandoned since he'd gone in.

There had been press at the scene. Niall had been there, too, but I couldn't remember as I had passed out.

I had expected to be mauled by the press, but the opposite happened. They praised my perseverance and had sent me well wishes. They even called me 'Our London Hero',  which had quickly caught on and had spread across every media outlet.  Perhaps Niall's tweet had something to do with it.

Oh, yes. Chester died. One bullet, right between the eyes, had been enough to remove him from the Earth. I wasn't sure how I should feel about it. I did believe he deserved his death, though. He had caused so much unrest in the lives of my brother and me... I was glad it had come to an end.

But, to me, death had been a cowards way to get out. I couldn't prosecute him or get him punished for his actions. The people would slowly forget about that monster, a bad memory they'd rather put away.

I didn't believe in a God or Jesus, heaven or hell. But what I surely hoped that, if such a place existed, he'd be put in the deepest pits of hell.

My wounds healed quite quick. The jaw remodeling thanks to Chester really bugged me and I couldn't bear to look at it. The slice was a thorn in my eye. Niall kept repeating he thought I looked beautiful, no matter how I looked and no matter the scars. I highly doubted that.

Waterlane had gotten off lucky and was recovering at home with a special team to help him. He'd suffered a collapsed lung, a severe concussion, a broken arm and several internal bleedings they had managed to find and stop.

Kellan had been put behind bars for placing the bombs and for collaborating with a criminal. He had been thrown out of office and wouldn't be allowed to perform his former job in the future. I believed he had several accusations pinned on him, of which six counts of homicide, eight counts of attempted homicide, forgery and malfeasance in office. It was quite clear he'd not be walking out any time soon.

Ronan, my brother who lived in Australia, had flown back to the U.K to the great delight of my parents. I was happy to see him again.

I had left the hospital a few days ago and had spent the days in my own apartment. People came walking in and out while I was recovering from my injuries. Niall had come over nearly every day, as he was today. Claire had the day off, too, and was fixing us some lunch. I could hear she was talking to Niall.

Ronan was sat next to me while I was flicking channels. I couldn't really find anything worthwhile, so I turned it off. It had scared Niall how much Ronan and I looked alike. We were used to it.

"You're not gossiping about me, are you?" I shouted to the kitchen. The two, caught in the act, walked out of the kitchen holding four plates of lunch. Niall handed me one and sat down next to me. Claire handed Ronan the other plate and sat on the hocker. 

"Dad called me. He told me Chester's body has been released. He will be cremated this afternoon." Ah. So that's what they'd been talking about. I took a piece of egg on my fork.

" Okay," I replied a little suspicious. Claire looked from me to Ronan with her piercing green eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to be there?" She asked, as professional as any other lawyer in court.

"After everything he's done? THose idiotic letters, editing my face with a knife and oh, killing our mother? No, thanks, Claire." 

Niall had gone tense next to me. "Dad told me you'd say that," Claire nodded, "But I had to ask anyway because I didn't want you to regret it." She shifted her gaze to Ronan. "What about you, Ronnie?" 

Ronan looked up from his plate. "No," he muttered, hurt sounding through the simple word. I looked at him, curious. "You don't have to say no because I don't want to see him. I wouldn't blame you if you'd wanted to go down. He's your biological father," I quietly responded.

" I know, Mer," he said without really looking at me. "I don't want to see him after what he did to you." He took a bite of his scrambled egg. "I hope he can feel how his body turns to ashes," he responded darkly. Claire's eyes nearly bulged out of their caskets. 

"Wow, Ronnie," she responded, worried of what she'd heard.

"Sorry," Ronan shrugged. "He doesn't deserve a dignified farewell. That's all." 

Niall slowly released his breath next to me.

"Right, enough about that. Let's talk about something a little lighter, if you wouldn't mind," I muttered.

"What about your homage?"Niall asked seemingly bemused. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "No, not that subject either, if you'd not mind." 

"Oh come on, don't be an idiot," Ronan said. "It's not everyday one gets a George Cross." I pushed my shoulder against his. "I barely did anything to deserve it," I replied.

"Oh? I beg to disagree," Claire started. I shot her a nasty glance while she started summing things up.

"You protected Niall at that event and lured that nasty Kellan away from the massive crowd, you handled the thing in the Italian restaurant marvelously,  letting the staff go, calling reinforcements and letting Niall out first, oh and you've been stuck in a fucking basement for a day and a half while a criminal on the loose who mauled your face to get you to cooperate... Let alone all the things we don't know about," Claire summed.

I sighed. "I don't know. Six people died because of me," I said as I crossed my arms. 

"No, six people died because of Chester and Kellan Blake," Ronan corrected. I stared at my plate. "And yet it feels like I did it." 

"Did you know our dear Mercer already received a Cross? The Victoria Cross, to be exact," Ronan casually dropped. I shot him an angry glance.

"You're shitting me!" Claire exclaimed, her face shocked. "How come we don't know about it?" She continued, outraged this time.

"Because Ronan shouldn't have found out in the first place, but rummaged through my stuff when we both still lived at home and found it in my sock drawer." 

Ronan's face was saintlike. "How would I know?" 

Claire focused her eyes back on me. "Why did you receive a Victoria Cross?" She inquired like the lawyer she was. I put my plate back on the table.

"That's classified," I replied.

"And you won't even share with us why you received it?" she asked, surprised.

"I am not allowed to tell you, that's opposite of not wanting to," I said. With that, I ended the conversation. I grabbed my plate and walked towards the kitchen.