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Jonnie stood with his back against the wall beside the back door. Gun clutched in his shaking hands. His best friends words still lingered in his mind.
Felt stupid. After everything he'd done, to believe there was any other option. But Jim seemed just so certain. Certain there was a way out for them. And Jonnie wanted to believe him. But —
Out of the corner of his eye, Jonnie spotted Jimmy run out the front door.
Fuck. He said he'd stay put. "Give you a second to think, buddy," Now he's fucking leaving?
"Jimmy! Wh—"
He wasn't running away — he was running to the garden.
The nervousness eating at Jonnie was replaced with pure adrenaline as he turned out the back door.
Jimmy's parents stood a few feet apart, their weapons pointed at each other and ready to fire. Jonnie's focus wasn't them.
The gate opposite Jonnie, behind Jimmy's father, flew open, he could see exactly what his best friend was about to do.
Fuck.
Jonnie ran into the rain, beating Jimmy to his own parents and shoving him back as he felt the sharp impact of metal hit is head.
Two shots. Loud enough to wake the dead.
Jimmy landed in the mud, watching his best friend slump down after him. Blood started to pool around his head.
"Fuck!"
Jimmy scrambled to his friend, eyes meeting the gun he'd dropped. Then his mother. She hadn't looked down, eyes locked on her husband as she prepared a second shot.
Johnny hadn't see the two boys till he'd pressed the trigger. Unable to do anything as his own bullet hit the young kid trying to save his son.
He watched Jonnie fall, Jimmy crawl to his side before —
Two more shots.
Neither from his gun. He could feel the bullet as it whizzed passed his face, hardly missing him yet making him jump to the side.
He raised his gun back at Bella, but she wasn't standing there anymore. Now, fallen to the mud, blood dripping from a whole in her head.
"Dad!"
Johnny looked down again. Jimmy cradled Jonnie's head in his lap, trying desperately to stop the bleeding while looking to his father. Eyes wide, face stained by the rain and his own tears. Like a helpless child.
"Help him — please!"
Twelve hours. Maybe thirteen. Hard to say. Jimmy sat as close to Jonnie's hospital bed as he was allowed. Listening only to the beep of the machine that meant he was alive.
He was alive.
Johnny stood beside his son's chair, hand on his shoulder.
"JJ?"
He spoke softly, the nickname he hadn't called his son since he was ten slipping out without warning.
"Hmm?"
"Doctor said they finally reached his parents. They won't be coming by."
Jimmy sat up straighter, chest tightening as he took a slow breath.
"Good."
Johnny had met Jonnie's parents before, when the boys were younger. They made him look like the perfect father. According to Jimmy, the kicked Jonnie out after he graduated. Explained why he spent so much time at their house.
Jimmy really was all he had.
The door opened. Both looked up, expecting the doctor or a nurse. Not him.
"Grandpa."
"Albert."
Johnny stepped forward as Jimmy stood up, making sure his son stayed behind him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I bring no harm," he insisted, hand up as if to prove he wasn't carrying a gun, just a bouquet of flowers. "Just, came to offer my condolences. Say, I'm sorry. For how things unfolded."
He held out the flowers. Johnny hesitantly took them and tossed them to the nearby table.
"Didn't have to end this way." Albert continued, looking over at Jonnie.
"It really didn't," Johnny agreed, eyes locked on Albert.
"It's a dark time for me too, you know? 'Is painful, to lose a daughter."
"You want us to feel sorry for you?" Jimmy question bluntly. "I lost my mom. Sure, she wasn't a good person — and I was the one who pulled that trigger —, but she's — she was still my mom…"
Johnny stepped back, placing a comforting hand on his son's back as he fought back tears.
"… And I might still lose my best friend. Because he tried to save me."
Albert gave a small nod.
"And I'm sorry. Again, my visit is to bring no harm. I just came with the flowers."
He took a step closer to Jonnie, Jimmy swiftly put himself between them.
"You stay the fuck away from him!"
Johnny pulled Jimmy back behind him, now putting himself between Albert and both boys.
"I'm still an officer, Albert. Could have you arrested right now."
"Okay. Okay. I'll leave you alone," he promised, hands in the air again. "Just, please, smell the flowers for me John. All I ask."
"All you ask?" Johnny repeated. He gave a small glance to the innocent looking flowers he's tossed to the table.
"All I ask," Albert repeated. "I shall leave you alone now."
Johnny picked up the bouquet, giving it a quick look over as if to check for anything that might jump out at him.
"Don't…"
Jimmy scrambled to Jonnie's bedside, taking hold of his hand.
"Buddy? What is it?"
"The flowers," Jonnie managed to mumbled weakly, eyes hardly open but still looking up a Jimmy. "Don't."
Johnny turned his attention back to Albert, a knife flicking out from under his sleeve.
Jimmy had never acted quicker, grabbing his dad's gun from beside the chair and firing it right at Albert. He was aiming for the hand, but hit his chest.
The old man hardly made a sound as he slumped to the ground. He landed face-down, blood pooling out from underneath him.
Johnny dropped the flowers, running back to his son and wrapping his arms around him.
"Oh thank God…"
Johnny slid the gun from Jimmy's hand into his own, keeping it pointed at Albert in case he somehow got back up.
Jimmy stared at his grandfather's lifeless body for a second before returning his focus to Jonnie. He looked down at him, taking hold of his hand with both of his.
"Jonnie, buddy — it's over now. He's — he's dead. And you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay!"
Jonnie gave his best friend's the slightest smile, eyes a little more open now. All Jimmy needed to feel more confident in his own reassurance.
They'd be okay.