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June 17ᵗʰ, 2019
"Rafe, you home?" Lexie hurried down the creaky wooden stairs of her small home, peering over the ledge to find her brother sat on the old leather couch scrolling through his phone.
"Yeah, what's up Lexa?" the dirty blond questioned. Lexie smiled to herself at the old nickname. Rafe was four years old when Lexie and her younger twin, Sarah, were born. As Rafe was only a child, he couldn't yet fully pronounce the name "Alexa," so the nickname still appeared from time to time.
"Do you happen to know where mom went? She's off from work this week and she's not answering my texts." the brunette explained, her voice laced with worry. Lexie tended to stress herself over those she loved. She couldn't be at a state of relaxation unless she was sure that the people she cared about most were safe. Sure, she was reckless, but she cared not so much about her own safety as the safety of her five best friends, one being Rafe, and the other four being pogues she had known from a young age.
Also, her mother, of course. Emily Sterling had a risky job. The woman worked as a Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI. This meant she traveled throughout the United States to investigate varieties of homicide cases. Lexie acted as if she didn't mind the misaligned work schedule for her mother's sake. It had been Emily's dream since high school, and Lexie was aware of that. She always wanted the best for her mom. The job paid well, well enough to live a nicer lifestyle on Figure Eight, but Emily grew up in the Outer Banks. The rivalry between kooks and pogues had existed during Emily's youth. And after the messy divorce between Emily and Ward, Emily came to the realization that kooks are all stuck-up assholes.
Although kook life was deemed "better", Emily didn't want her children to have the same mindset as those living on Figure Eight. Well, at least Lexie and Rafe. Ward had taken custody of Sarah and Wheezie (the youngest Cameron girl) during the divorce. With Wheezie being only 5 and Sarah and Lexie 8 years old when the event occurred, they didn't have much say in which parent they ended up living with. Lexie didn't remember much about that time of her life. It was all a blur of constant screaming between Emily and Ward over who would get custody of which children. The custody battle was later solved in court.
The custody battle was undoubtedly difficult for all involved. Emily had to lose two of her children, as did Ward. Lexie lost her built in best friend and other half, as did Sarah. Wheezie was a confused child stuck in the middle of it. Rafe lost his father figure and the only man he looked up to in life, as well as two of his little sisters.
Rafe's voice snapped Lexie out of her negative thoughts. "Last I heard mom had some business to sort out with Big John. That was hours ago, though."
"Well do you thi"- The last thing Lexie remembered about that night was her worry filled voice being interrupted by a knock at the Sterling's front door. The rest was all a blur.
"It's 11:48 p.m., who could that be?" Rafe questioned as he stood up.
At the door, Rafe was met by the faces of Big John Routledge, John B Routledge, Pope Heyward, and JJ Maybank.
"It's Emily. She's been shot. Where's your sister? We need to get to the hospital right now." Big John said rapidly, his voice breaking.
When Lexie heard those words, her skin grew pale and her ears began to ring. She couldn't lose one of the people closest to her. How would could her life go on if her mother's didn't? What was going to happen? Was her mother going to die?
The teens were all piled up into the Volkswagen bus. Lexie stared off into the distance, her hearing muffled and tears unknowingly falling from her eyes. Lexie wasn't one to show emotion. At least, not while she was sober. If she wanted to cry or punch a wall, she would do it in her room, away from everyone. She believed that showing emotion was a sign of weakness. In fact, she didn't think the pogues had even seen her cry in the eight years they had known each other.
The brunette could vaguely hear the voices of her friends and brother attempting to talk to her. They were all worried about the girl and her mom. When Emily Sterling wasn't working, her time consisted of giving the pogues rides to their usual hangout spots or making them food. She was truly the mother JJ and John B never had. Pope had a mother, but Emily loved the Heyward boy. When Emily would get back from work, despite her being exhausted she always filled Pope and Lexie in on the case. The two teens were very interested in what the older woman would have to say about the case. Especially Pope, it was something he looked forward to every week or so as he wants to pursue a career in forensics.
Lexie thought about those moments on the drive to Kildare County Hospital. Suddenly the van came to a halt. Lexie saw the five boys get out of the van. She tried to do the same, but her knees were weak beneath her. She felt the arms of her brother stabilize her as they all walked to the front entrance. The front desk operator informed Big John of Emily's room number. They made their way to it, but stopped as they saw an unexpected person next to Emily's bedside.
