The Divided

Chapter Fifty

When we reached Dean's house, his family was already there, along with Wyatt, Bella, Alice, Landon, and Roman. We walked in and Dean closed the door behind us. "There they are," Iris announced. "Dean will you help me finish up?" she asked, gesturing to the food she had cooking on the stove. With a kind smile, he nodded and joined his mother in the kitchen.

Reagan was having a conversation with Roman at the dining table and seemed to be getting along well. Iris was talking to Dean as he flipped some pork chops in a skillet, making him smile as she spoke. Wyatt and Landon were immersed in a chat on the loveseat and were smiling excitedly about something, while Bella and Alice sat on the bigger couch. Although they were polar opposites, they seemed to like each other.

"Hey, Mel?"

I looked down to find Hadley looking up at me. Crouching down to his eye level, I smiled at him. "Hey," I greeted him.

"I'm happy you're okay," he told me.

"Thank you. I'm happy you're okay, too."

I watched the innocent boy in front of me look down and fiddle with the superhero action figure in his hand. After a short moment, he quickly glanced over his shoulder and to his older brother. "Is Dean okay?" he asked quietly.

I scrunched my eyebrows and my stare softened as I stared at Hadley. Glancing to Dean, then back to Hadley, I nodded. "Yes. He is," I insisted. "What would you think he isn't?"

His little shoulders shrugged, and his eyes remained on the grip on his toy. "I saw that man shoot him...He was really hurt."

My reassuring smile dropped immediately, and I nodded sadly. "But he's okay now," I assured him. "And he will be completely healed before you know it."

The boy nodded, seeming to believe my words. "Why did those people take you away? You were from the other side too, so why would they take you away?"

I sighed. "The Ameliorate Leadership is full of bad people who do bad things," I told him.

"But you are good," he replied. "And Roman, Bella, and Landon are nice."

I nodded and grinned softly. "We are exceptions. The rest of my family aren't good people."

He took a moment to think. "We are fighting with them, aren't we?" Hadley asked. "Because of the bad things they've done?"

Bobbing my head, I wondered how much he actually knew about what had been going on. I glanced at Reagan and Iris who were still talking with Roman and Dean. I didn't know how much everyone had explained to him. "Yeah, we aren't getting along with them right now," I informed him.

"Are we going to go into a war?" His high voice was soft and full of fear. His scared, grey eyes looked up into mine.

He was too young to even know what a war was. "I don't know," I lied. "But you don't have to worry about everything going on, okay? We will handle it. We won't let anyone get hurt."

Hadley just nodded in return and I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Then, he surprised me by slowly wrapping his little arms around my torso and hugging me. This boy was too young to have to experience all of this danger and to be worrying about it. Right then I knew that I would protect this little boy with my life.

#

I sat up in bed and wiped my eyes tiredly. I'd been laying there for hours, but I couldn't fall asleep. My mind was wrecked, thinking about everything that had happened and what was going to in the future. When I found out the Ameliorates were bad people, I realized I had been lied to my whole life. Now that I knew Xavier and Cassidy weren't even my real parents, I hadn't known a single true thing growing up. All I had known was false information that had been drilled into my brain.

I didn't know who I was. My whole life has been a lie, so who was I really? The thought of finding my real mom was a comforting feeling and I wanted to know if my real dad was really dead or not. I mentally noted to ask Roman if he knew I wasn't really a Sharpe.

My mind was going crazy. So much has happened in so little time. I had been so close to death. I was literally in the middle of an execution ceremony with a gun pointed at my head when they showed up to save me.

"Can't sleep?"

I turned my head and looked over at Dean laying down beside me. His long blond hair was all over the place and his eyes were half closed. The comforter was pulled up to his bare chest and he was laying on his side with one arm under his pillow. Pushing a strand hair that had fallen out of my bun and into my face, I shook my head.

Slipping me a sympathetic smile, he raised his arm. "Come here." The words were simple and innocent, yet so demanding. I didn't hesitate to lay down under his outstretched arm and snuggle into his chest. He rested his arm around me. "What are you thinking about?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Everything," I admitted.

"We'll be okay," he assured me. "We will handle everything as it comes. Everything will turn out okay."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

I exhaled a breath and his arms tightened around me. Here is where I felt safe. I felt safe in his arms. He was my safety. 

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~Emily