Zero

Chapter 42

Luke's POV

"Molly didn't mean to hurt Drew," I point out immediately, glancing at Calum as he follows after Molly, leaving me, Ben, and Jack alone with our parents.

"She let Drew abuse her power instead of just coming to us and telling us the truth," dad argues.

"And what would you two have done?" Ben jumps in, taking the words from my mouth, "You two barely knew Molly back then. You barely know her now for Christ's sake. As soon as she told you about it, you would've been looking for a way to get rid of her powers."

"That's not-"

"It is true," Jack continues, "The ugly truth is that before Drew died, none of us knew Molly. Not really. We knew Drew, and we knew Molly wasn't like her. But hell, you two barely knew Drew. All of her drug problems. She was terrible to Molly. She treated her like shit. And not once did Molly come to any of us because she didn't trust us, and we didn't know her. Drew may have died from an overdose on Molly's powers, but it was Drew who made the decision to abuse Molly, not the other way around."

"Molly has lived with that guilt for years," I add, my voice small, "Even after she's tried to convince herself that it wasn't her fault, she can't move past it. The last thing she needs is for you two to go back to treating her like shit."

Molly's POV

"Hey," Calum whispers, sitting down beside me on the guest room. Zara and Sierra are across from us, digging through the toy chest in the corner of the room to try to find dress up clothes for Calum and I. "Are you okay, Molly?" He squeezes my side.

"No," my throat burns uncomfortably as I fight off tears. He hesitates for a second, clearly unsure of whether he wants to try to say something. He settles on pressing his lips against the side of my head. I sigh and lean against his body.

"Daddy you get the crown," Zara declares, carrying a pink Sleeping Beauty tiara over to Calum. He smiles brightly as she places it on his head.

"What about me, Zara?" I ask, forcing a smile onto my face as I look at my daughter. She giggles loudly and runs back over to Sierra to dig through the chest again.

"This crown is digging into my head," Calum whispers to me.

I laugh softly, "The pink really compliments your eyes." He smiles and kisses me.

"Gross," Zara whines, making Cal and I break away. "Here mummy." She places a bright yellow fedora onto my head, then wraps a blue boa around my neck. She moves over in front of Calum and wraps the matching pink boa around his neck.

"Here Z," Sierra calls, holding up a purple boa. She grins wildly and snatches it from her hand, wrapping it around her neck before flopping down across mine and Calum's laps, giggling loudly. I smile and hug her small body tightly, kissing the top of her head.

"I wanna play tea party now," she declares, not moving off of our laps, "Does Uncle Luke wanna play?"

"Probably not, honey," Sierra jumps in before Calum or I have the chance, "He still doesn't feel good, remember?"

"When's he gonna be better?"

"Soon," Calum promises her.

Our daughter pouts, "I'm gonna give him Gigi."

"Wow," Sierra praises, clearly shocked, "That's really, really sweet, Z. I'm sure he'll love that." Zara just grins as she climbs out of my arms, grabs her stuffed dog, then takes off running downstairs to give her to Luke.

"Gigi was the toy that got her through the flu last winter as well as strep," Calum explains to me, "Whenever she feels sick, Gigi is her go to stuffed animal."

"That's sweet."

"How'd your parents and brothers take Luke's powers?" Sierra asks softly, "I'll ask Luke later, but I doubt he'll actually come clean about everything."

I shrug, "They didn't like it at first, especially since he came clean about being Vengeance. I cut in and told them that I faked my death, which distracted them. After that, it all went to shit."

"They found out about Drew," Calum elaborates.

"And now they hate my guts," I finish, sighing deeply.

"I'm sure that's not true, Molly," Sierra assures me, "They just need a moment to adjust and wrap their heads around it." I shrug, just leaning against Calum's warm body.