Page 99 of Redemption

I move so I can see her properly. “Just say the fucking word, and we’ll be there. We’ll come back with you. Hell, if you don’t want all of us, I’ll come by myself. I will always have your back. No matter what.”

She studies me for a second, and then nods, “Thank you. Pack a go bag. I’m not saying now, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to need to call you in. All of you.”

“Got it,” I reply. Frowning, I ask, “You’re safe, right? I mean, you’re here, so you must be relatively safe, right?”

She nods. “Yeah, it’s complicated. We are safe, we’re just dealing with a lot at the moment. It did get a bit dodgy at first, and there were some touch-and-go moments, but everything has settled down again now. I’m not sure how long it’s going to stay like that though. In fact, I am reasonably confident that shit is going to hit the fan again, and I’m going to need to bring you guys in when it does.”

“Okay. Well, you say the word, and we’ll be there as quickly as we can be.”

“Thank you,” Jynx replies with a grateful smile.

“You don’t need to thank us. You know you could have called us in a lot sooner if you wanted to,” I reply.

She smiles. “Trust me, I got very close to calling you in, but there were complications.”

“Aren’t there always,” I mutter.

“Too true,” she agrees. She clears her throat and looks around the room, raising her voice slightly. She asks, “Alright, where’s my niece?”

Lyric chooses that moment to walk back into the room with Ophelia.

“Jynx!” She exclaims happily. She quickly moves through the room and gives Jynx a one-armed hug. “I’m so glad that you guys made it. We were all getting worried that you wouldn’t be able to come.”

“I was talking to you on the phone pretty much every day, helping to make plans and things for the wedding,” Jynx points out with a raised eyebrow.

Lyric shrugs, “I know, but you’re also dealing with something that you won’t tell any of us about, so until you actually showed up, I wasn’t going to get too excited.”

Jynx nods as understanding flashes through her expression, “Fair enough.”

“Alright guys, I know you’ve just arrived, but I need to double-check that everyone knows what’s happening tomorrow before everyone else arrives and before I can relax for the party tonight,” Pete says loudly, getting everyone’s attention.

Everyone automatically starts to walk through the kitchen and out to the table in the extension. There’s enough room in here for all of us to sit down. It’s where we usually have important discussions, and Rafe has only started to lay a few things out on it for the party, and they’re all still covered, so we aren’t going to mess up any party preparations by sitting out here for Pete’s briefing.

He gives us all a stern look as he sees several of us eye the covered dishes. Admittedly, I am one of them.

“Don’t even think about it,” he orders firmly, although there’s a twinkle of amusement in his eye that takes the edge off.

Ace immediately pulls his hand back and starts pouting, which makes the rest of us smile.

“I have a feeling that this is going to take a while and that after it’s done, we’re all going to be put to work rather quickly,” Lyric starts. Pete just grins and nods, making Lyric’s smile widen. She looks at Jynx, “Do you want to hold your niece?”

Jynx grins excitedly, “I thought you would never ask. I would love to.”

Lyric smiles as she gently places Ophelia into Jynx’s arms, and Jynx melts.

All of her men stop talking one by one as they catch sight of Jynx, and the way that they’re all looking at her is absolutely adorable.

Lyric and I share a look.

“Alright,” Pete starts, making us all quiet again since we had already started to talk amongst ourselves again.

In our defense, it’s been a long time since we were all in the same room together, and soon Elijah, Callan, and the others are going to be gone again, and Jynx, Rome, and the guys will be off doing whatever dangerous thing they’re doing, and we’re all going to be scattered again. While I know that it’s a part of life, it does mean that when we do get moments when we’re all together, we make the most of them.

“Okay, so everyone is going to be getting ready at home tomorrow,” Pete starts. “Because it’s last minute, the venue can only accommodate us for a short amount of time. We can’t get ready there, but that’s fine. We do still have it until late, and we’ve booked the whole place for the evening. Again, because it's short notice, everyone will have to leave by ten the next morning so they can get it sorted for the next set of guests. The day after the wedding, you guys are all coming back here, and we’re having our goodbye party for Elijah, Callan, Noel, and Marty.”

Pete carries on going through the plan for tomorrow, making sure everyone knows where they need to be, what everyone is in charge of, who's coming back here the day after, which is pretty much exactly who is here now and a couple of extras who haven’t arrived yet.

Lyric was right. The conversation did go on for a while, but it was one that needed to be had.