Chapter 29

Severus chuckled as I kissed all over his face as a silent thank you, while confessing my undying love to him.

"That contradicts your earlier statement love."

"What earlier statement? Your ears must be ringing."

I responded a bit too quickly, tying the knot on his bandages tightly. He winced before pulling his shirt on and rotating his shoulder to test the movement of his arm.

"Thank you, love."

I beamed at him before sitting down beside him, his wound was well healed but I kept it covered as precaution. I can't believe it had only been 7 hours since I hugged my parents after 10 whole years!

It was approaching mid night, during the rest of the day we had moved to another safe house, I was in the same car as my parents after Severus reluctantly let Donna drag him away. It was a full on tear fest that we sat through, my father was the most shaken one. He apologized so many times for letting me leave on my own, going as far as to call himself a terrible parent.

I had to remind them of what they always told me, which was that every human makes mistakes. That just resulted in dad complaining about no one else being that stupid. After mom and I had managed to calm him down, they relayed the whole story to me.

I had known before hand that my parents were involved with the police in the earlier stages of their lives but as far as I knew, they had dropped the profession once I was born. After me being taken away, they took it upon themselves to personally track me down. No matter how long it took.

After six hopeless years of relentless searching, on a stormy evening, they were approached by a boy covered in a dark hoodie who asked them for their help. According to mom, the boy was tall with eyes the color of the sky on that very evening, and a raging storm held within them.

They agreed to have a word with him and the way he started chose to start the conversation was by passing them a few pictures of me and rekindling their hope. Then he got to the harder and darker part of the proposition he had.

He wanted an alliance with them and their help to get us out of that world. That was the only time they met him up close, the other times it was a similar boy with green eyes. I already knew who those two were and I actually thought about hugging Edward.

He came in contact with my parents once every three months and gave them any information that Severus had passed. That was how Severus had fake moles planted in his gang to take down the moles of his father who had taken an oath for the sole purpose of harming us.

What was their signal to put the plan in action was when Severus contacted them on my sixteenth birthday. Swearing to them that he would protect me no matter what and indirectly confessing his love for me by the following words: 'I do not wish to lose a loved one in the midst of all this chaos.'

They were happy for us, in fact they were more than just simply happy for us. It seemed that Severus was on an all clear from my father and his plans to drive away any other man in my life. From the way I read it, I could swear that my father respected Severus and my mother adored him. Her exact words were:

'No wonder he's from the mafia, he's got that mysterious bad boy look going for him. I'd suggest modeling as a career for him.'

She had the look on her face that she only had when looking at models and both father and me gave her unimpressed looks.

'What? its the truth! Girls would die to see him, and to think he's such a sweet heart on top of that.'

She sighed as dad face palmed, telling me to ignore her and getting back on track. Severus had his doubts about possible sources of threat if his father was eliminated from the equation. Since the cops and military needed proof to decapitate the planner behind all the chaos that I had been protected from, this whole Plan was thought of to help them catch the suspect in act.

And they did, he was now securely in the hands of the government. And as soon as my parents had reported that info to their base, they were told to go on the down low for a while.

I couldn't hold back my shock as they relayed exactly what Severus had to go through, only to protect me. And not just after our wedding, he had been protecting me from the day he laid his eyes on me.

First by choosing me so I didn't have to suffer the fate the other girls had and unknowingly putting an end to his fathers activities. Secondly, the few times he had scared off his fathers men, as a kid, when he over heard them talking about making good use of me. They knew the boss would understand and probably only be mad for not calling him first.

Then there were countless females or maids in the gang who heard about me and tried to free me from that hell by poisoning my food but they couldn't do that either because Severus had taken it upon himself to test the food before sending it to me. After that came the countless threats from outside and dealing with bounties, hunters and assassins. On countless occasions did he have to chase down people after my head.

At the same time working inconspicuously to get in contact with both my parents and the military men. Then he had to deal with revolting members, father issues and countless ambush attempts at his life.

Hearing all of the danger he put himself through to protect the both of us just boosted my ever lasting love for him.

I smiled at him as he stared at me confused.

"Everything okay love? you're crying."

Reaching out, he wiped away at the tears, pulling me closer and calmly perching me on his lap. I sniffled, before pressing both our foreheads together.

"I love you."

It was a simple statement that relayed all my vulnerability at this particular moment and it managed to get me a beautiful smile from him in return.

"I love you too."

A moment of peace and silence passed between us, with me sitting on his lap, forehead pressed against his as he held me from around the waist.

"I heard someone broke into the room."

I looked at him with wide eyes, seeing the genuine concern he showed had me smiling softly.

"Yes, he nearly found us but Sally risked herself...He was hitting her a-and."

I cut myself off as I remembered the terror I had felt in that moment, terror that petrified me, held me hostage and brought tears to my eyes.

"Shhh, its okay love, you don't have to tell me."

It was his silent way of telling me that he already knew, probably from Edward, who had undeniably heard of it from Donna.

"Y-yeah?"

He hummed in response, kissing my lips lightly.

"I know the feeling baby, its petrifying. Sometimes there's a rush of power that you feel when being the one armed but the humanity in you always out weighs it. Your guilt and self conscious are eating away at all your logic and reason, the only thing you can remember is fear. And only the best of us fear having the power to control a life... because we know, life is best when unpredictable. Because even if we knew it, we couldn't have changed it."

I smiled at him, cupping his cheeks, understanding the look he passed me. A silent plea for me to understand that he spoke from experience. Experiences that he'd much rather forget.

"It was part of my training... shooting the men father had captured... it was the scariest thing I had to deal with, I didn't know if they deserved it or not and I didn't have the right to judge either. I just~"

He took a deep breath, pushing back whatever emotion it was, that was daring to breach through his walls. I knew him but I knew there was a part to him he hid. He was nice, sincere and kind for a reason and that reason was something he had always hidden, because that reason would've been considered his weakness in his world.

I raised myself slightly, so I was straddling his waist and hugged him close. He was quick to bury his face in my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me impossibly more closer.

"I know sevvy, trust me, I know. You're not someone who would do something without a reason and it's why I trust you and your reasons."

He sighed against my neck, I felt him smile against me.

"You're the best choice I ever made."

My eyes watered at a speed they never had before and tears raced down my face as I held a smiling Severus tightly to myself.

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A month later:

"So how was it?"

Me and Donna were seated at the couch, watching a new k-drama and fawning over the beautiful people together, while my husband, brother-in-law, father and mother went to interrogate their captive. From what Severus had clarified for me, the man was his fathers right hand, someone his father had entrusted a lot to.

There was some tension between Severus and Edward, it had confused me at the beginning but then I had learned that it was because that man had been the father figure in their life. Someone who had, in a sense taken up the role of leading male for them.

"What do you all want to eat?"

We couldn't order anything since the location of the safe house had to be kept secret and that was depressing. There was a bit of complaining at the beginning but then we just settled for cooking for the employed people of our little group.

I smiled at them as my father and Severus talked about something which seemed too intense for me to keep up with and my mother and Edward discussed an apparently new issue that had risen. Donna and I smiled to each other before walking off to cook whatever we could.

"How is he?"

I knew she was talking about Severus, and I giggled as I remembered how hard it was to get him to the rest, he never left his laptop... until I used some naughty methods. They were some ways that me and Donna had incidentally come across while scrolling the web. The two of us had sat in front of my mother while she taught us 'the ways'.

It was as if we were little kids listening to our teacher. It reminded me of my elementary school days, where we were undoubtedly more innocent and the world wasn't such a bad place. Mom called it seduction. So I was honestly just seducing my husband for acts that didn't even remotely revolve around sleeping.

I blushed thinking about it and Donna came in sight, confusion and worry lacing her features as I realized that I hadn't answered her.

"He's better, very much better."

She sighed in relief.

"That boy~"

"Careful mother you might just hurt his ego."

Edward interrupted with a snort.

"What?"

Donna looked at him in confusion as he turned to me with a grin.

"Don't you agree?"

I chuckled, understanding what he meant. Referring to a man with the 'boy' term might as well be equivalent to kicking him in the privates.

"I d~"

Arms wrapping around my waist had me turning into a stuttering mess as Severus leaned his head on my shoulder. His lips brushed against my ear and I stiffened in his arms, taking and understanding the warning.

"You might want to be careful with your words there, love."

I nodded quickly, earning myself a chuckle from him as my parents filed into the kitchen and Severus pulled back, leaving his hand on my waist. Edward was glaring at Severus as Severus shot him a smug smile. Donna only sighed, shaking her head and focusing on cutting the veggies as I boiled the macaroni.

Edward turned back to me, expecting me to speak up, but I silently shook my head and gave him an innocent smile. He sighed in frustration, running his hands through his hair as he did so.

I definitely couldn't go ahead and say anything even remotely of the sort... my activities of late, were already embarrassing to look back on. And... I was well aware that no one else in the room knew how much of a man Severus actually was.

"What are we having today?"

Dad asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water before sipping from it while leaning against the counter. I shrugged in response.

"Anything available."

He sighed at my reply before narrowing his eyes on Severus's hand that was wrapped around my waist, instead of speaking up, he sighed and diverted his attention. I internally relaxed, knowing that depriving Severus of any form of physical contact was actually going to draw all my strength from me when he did get what was taken away from him.

"How was work?"

Donna asked as mum leaned against the counter with a smile.

"Terrible, that bastard won't open his mouth."

Both me and Donna had the same reaction, which was to flinch as we thought about all the methods the government used for 'interrogation'.

Thankfully, neither me Nur Donna had to step in, because we definitely didn't have the stomach for it.

"How was your day?"

Mom asked in return, changing the topic as she observed our reactions.

"The usual, lounging around in utter boredom."

Donna nodded in agreement as Severus swept his eyes over me and pulled me closer. I refrained from over reacting as he leaned closer, not really knowing his intentions, I kept my eyes wide open. Frowning when his hand rested on my forehead and his face dropped.

"You have a fever."

His small statement drew me the attention of everyone in the room.

"No wonder I've been a little drowsy lately."

I muttered in response, replacing his hand with my own to check again and indeed, I did feel Warmer than usual.

"Have you been getting proper sleep?"

My cheeks heated up at mom and Donnas simultaneous question. Edward seemed to be the first one to catch onto the meaning behind my flaming cheeks and turned away, shoulders shaking in silent laughter as he did. Dad was the next one to understand the meaning and his jaw ticked as he squeezed the plastic bottle in his hand before nodding to Severus and stomping out of the kitchen.

Mother and Donna just chuckled, knowing exactly what I meant. There action was almost as if sympathizing with me for some reason.

"We know how that feels hun, they keep you up till dawn and expect everything to be perfectly fine."

To say I was shocked when Donna smirked deviously at my husband, would be an understatement. I was completely baffled. Mum's word were clearly meant to throw shade at Severus who cleared his throat in response.

"Very well then love, lets get you to bed."

I nodded, still staring warily at the two suddenly not so innocent looking women in the kitchen as Severus drew me away. I walked beside him all the way up to our room, smiling like an absolute idiot.

Severus closed the door behind us and turned to me with a smile.

"Everything okay love?"

I nodded my head as a yes, and grinned even wider as he kissed my head and tucked me in.

"Just thinking how all of us are like a family together."

A warm smile took over his lips as he pressed a firm kiss to my lips.

"That we are."

I smiled behind his back as he walked off to the washroom to change. Thinking of how right that statement felt.

We are family.

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AN:

I know this is the perfect place to end it but I want to do an epilogue because I have something planned for our characters and I want to show them a few years into the future. So screw it, I'm writing it!