Dancing with Danger: a Jay McGuiness+ TW Fanfiction

Chapter 14

I can't stay still, and my feet have worn a path out on the floor boards of the police department. I gave up on trying to do this alone and called Jay, asking for him to just come and sit with me. I need the stability and comfort that his mere presence seems to give me.

He arrives in the doorway of the waiting area they had me in, and I sail into his arms. He holds me close, knowing somehow that I don't want someone telling me it will all be okay, or badgering me for news. I just want someone to be here with me and give me an anchor to hold onto.

We sit in the hard chairs and he comfortingly rubs my leg, occasionally squeezing my knee. My own face is buried in my hands as I try and think like Henry, to get any clue to where he would take Clara. That text message rings around in my head. I'm taking her back to the beginning of the end. To where they separated our family. And then it will all end.

The detectives had already probed my mind for any clues I had, but I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something. The beginning of the end? The end of what, his family? I knew enough about Henry that he wasn't talking about me and mum as part of that family. So where they separated him, Clara, and Lucy.

It hit me like a ton of brinks, and suddenly I'm dragging Jay behind me as we run through the old building. "Where are we going? Shaun!" He asks. I don't answer him quite yet, but he follows me still trusting that I know what I'm doing.

I bark out to him as we slide into his car, "Go to the graveyard on Francis Street, quickly. He's saying goodbye to Lucy before he kills himself, and he wants to take Clara with him!" Jay's eyes widen, but I'm focused on fishing that card out of my pocket. I pull it out finally and immediately dial Detective Morgan. Jay continues to drive, while I talk to her. It's evident that we're going to get there before her, and she tells me and Jay to stay in the car.

We hang up and I catch myself looking at Jay, who's speeding to the graveyard as fast as he can. Why have I dragged him into my insane life? He should be getting ready to go out with his friends, not driving me across town so I can save my niece from my insane brother at my late sister-in-law's grave. When the press hears about all of this, they're going to have a field day.

Our sudden stop at the locked gates interrupts my thoughts and I jump out of the car, ordering Jay "Stay!" while I climb the Iron Gate. I have been on this path so many times; my feet need no instruction to get to the still clean tombstone shaded by an ancient oak. Henry is leaning against it, half a 40 still in his hand. His other hand is tight on the neck of his daughter. I hear him talking as I try and creep over. "I love her, darling. And she loves you and me, and if those bitches hadn't taken you from me, you'd still love me like I love you. "

But Clara sees me, and you can't blame the scared child for calling out to me. Her voice is so rough and broken I hurt at the sound of it. "Shaun! Shaun!"

Henry jumps and drops the alcohol, instead grabbing the gun next to his leg. "Get away from here Shaun! You won't take her from me again!"

Clara is openly weeping, and I know the safest way would be to talk Henry down. "Henry, please. You don't have to do this! Remember when you protected me and Lucy from dad? That's all we wanted to do, to protect her from that future!"

He laughed savagely and pulled Clara tighter to his leg. "But that's what I'm doing! I'm going to protect her from the evils of this world!" He crouched down onto the ground next to her and, gun still in hand, cupped his daughter's face in his hands. "She's never going to have to see all the bad that I have. She'll never have to have a broken heart, or experience any pain or fear."

"She's scared now Henry! Don't you see that? Just let her go and we talk this out. Please, just let Clara go safely!"

Henry's face is serene when he faces me again, and I still can see him in there, my brother. "But then I'll be arrested. Plus, the only way that I can ever make our family whole again is if we go to where Lucy is." His gaze flickers to the cold stone behind them, then over my shoulder. "Once you two have kids you'll understand."

I look over my shoulder and cuss loudly. "Fucking hell, Jay you need to go, please! I don't want you to put yourself in danger!"

Henry uses my distraction to cock the gun, and my voice cracks as I plead with him once more, "NO! Wait." Desperately my mind searches for some way I could get close enough to get the gun away from Clara. "I'm a part of your family too, aren't I? At least let me tell you goodbye."

Henry furiously looks between me and Jay, and cocks his ear to the sirens barely audible in the distance. Then he hisses "Come here then, sis."

Jay hisses "No!" behind me as I slowly walk over. Right when I get in range though, Henry leaps on me and headlocks me. "Welcome to the family journey, Shaun. Lucy did consider you her sister after all."

The barrel of the handgun is cold and firm against my temple, and I can't stop the trembling that starts. A small hand slides into the one that is hanging loosely by my side. That's what gives me the strength to do what I have to. Despite the loaded gun next to me, I know what to do, and I'm calm. Well aware that this could be my end, I look to Jay.

Henry takes in a deep breath and that's when I strike, sending the full force of my elbow into his gut. His howl of pain is followed by the blast of the gun, and then a shrill child's scream.

For a moment all I feel is pain, all I know is pain. Then my vision returns, and it's as though there was no pain at all. My mind races to catch up to the scene around me. Clara is unconscious on the ground next to the tombstone and my heart stops as I recognize the redness soaking through her skull and matting her hair.

Henry and Jay are lodged in a wrestling hold, and he yells at me, something it takes a moment for my pounding skull to understand. "Grab the gun!" It's lying on the ground beneath their feet and I dive for it.

I raise my trembling arms, gun held in both hands. It's a cold, uncomfortable, foreign feeling, and if I could I'd drop it in the deepest ocean. "Let him go!"

Henry falls away and looks between me and Clara, lowly cackling. I pull myself to my feet, stumbling a little. Jay's face is pale as he watches me, quietly saying my name, though I am not focused on him. "Shaun, your leg,"

I bark at him briefly and harshly. "Jay, leave!"

"But, Shaun,-"

"Jay, you do not need this. Think of the boys, and of the fans. Leave, now!"

The sirens are louder, and I turn to glance behind me. Henry uses this time to dive at me and I shoot at him, aiming for his stomach. His arm is hit instead, but still he stops moving. "Jay, Right NOW!"

He sends me a pained glance, and leaves, but not in the direction I meant. Jay goes straight to the sirens.

My heart continues to pound while my gaze flickers back and forth from Henry glaring at me while he cradles his arm, to Clara's limp form. I want so desperately to go to her and try and heal that crack.

I blink, and Henry's being tackled to the ground, and Detective Morgan is pulling the gun from my stiff fingers. Paramedics swarm Clara, and the pounding grows more furious. I stumble again, someone's arms grabbing me before I collapse completely. A pair of really blue eyes amid a mess of curls is swallowed by a dark peace.