Life Without Them (On Hold)

Chapter 11: Helping the Blackbourne's

A/N: I've had several callings of Cliffy, even from the man himself, so thanks to Kohbstar and her gracious trade of The Fallen, you guys get this chapter early. I'll be celebrating my birthday next week so there will be no updates on any of my stories next week. The next update for this story will be March 8th. Until then, enjoy!

Axel

We never did make that pizza. After Nathan stormed out, Sang took the kids in her room to try and calm them down. Victor and Gabriel wanted to go with her, if no other reason than to make sure the kids didn't think that they felt like they weren't their fathers, but we stopped them. Usually anyone can get the kids to calm down, but in situations like this, all they want is their mom.

I remember a time last year when the twins overheard me, Raven and Marc discussing possible reasons for why the guys left. Raven thought that they might've found someone else and didn't know how to tell Sang. The twins were depressed for days thinking that they'd never get to meet their fathers because they already had a new family without them. Sang grounded Raven for a week. And this wasn't a normal Academy grounding, no, that'd be too easy. Grounding nowadays forces you to watch two hours of Morgan's girliest kid show, which usually makes no sense.

So while Sang's in the room with the twins, Brandon's ordering us dinner.

Some of the guys on the Blackbourne team look anxious. Like they can't decide whether or not to go after Nathan and talk some sense into him. The other half are looking down the hallway waiting for Sang and the twins to come back. Phil is one of the people in the room who looks surprisingly calm, which truthfully scares me more than anything.

I motion for Owen to follow me out to the balcony. He's been grouped with the anxious ones, a look I've not seen on him before. He closes the door behind him and I start on the reason I've brought him out here.

"Don't go after Nathan."

"Excuse me?"

"He's the hot head of your team right? Temper too high to handle? Act first, ask questions never?"

"Unfortunately," he sighs.

"Well, I've got two of those. It's best if you just let him cool off and come back when he's figured out that he's fucked up. With Raven, it's when he runs out of ammunition at the range. With Brandon, it's when he's realized he's taken apart all of his bikes without a way to get home. Let him cool off,"

"I can't, in good conscious, allow a member of my team to wander around an unknown city with a masked psycho on the loose."

"Trust me, Owen, he's fine. Corey's been tracking him since he left the apartment."

He looks stunned for a moment before asking, "How exactly did you manage to get a tracker on Nathan?"

"It's Corey," I say by way of explanation. "Besides, you all haven't exactly been on your A game since seeing Sang,"

"Touché," he responds.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to him tonight, after he's blown off some steam."

He heaves a heavy sigh before saying, "Very well,"

"Now, how about we make the appropriate arrangements for your team's living space."

"Will we actually be able to move into this building?"

"My team owns the top two floors for security reasons," I tell him.

"Impressive. How exactly did you manage that?"

"We may not be millionaires like you and Victor, but I've learned how to make good investments. Plus, using Corey's powers for good earns us a decent income. Raven has his own gym down here. Brandon still has his bike shop back home, plus he takes a few custom orders over here. Marc has his coffee. We get by."

"I'd say you're doing more than just getting by," he comments. "You've really build a life here." He stops for a second to compose his thoughts. "Axel, I want to thank you, truely. Man to man. Thank you for providing and taking care of my family when I couldn't."

"No thanks needed, Owen. Sang's our family too. She's like a little sister to us."

"All the same, thank you."

We shake hands and head back inside.

"Alright guys," I announce to the room. "Sang's probably not going to come back out anytime soon—"

"I'm right here."

I look over to the hallway and see Sang in pajama pants and a sweater. Her hair is a bit disheveled like she's been running her hands through it constantly, her eyes rimmed red and puffy, mouth twisted in a scowl. Anger pours off her in waves.

"How are the twins?" Victor asks her.

"They've cried themselves to sleep," she tells him with ice in her voice. "I just came out here to tell you all something."

I discretely pull out my phone and hit record. She said all, and I'm pretty sure that whatever she has to say, Nathan will need to hear.

"Those kids are my life! And I refuse to let you, or anyone else have them think otherwise. I refuse to let them think they are unwanted, or unloved, or a mistake! I will not have poison around my children. Mine! They may be yours biologically, but you have to earn the right to be called their fathers. They are my babies!" she stops to take a breath. In a low voice she continues, "We used to say that we would be better than our parents...do better. But that...that was not better."

"Sang—"

"Save it," she cuts off Sean. "I'm far too tired to deal with this shit. Axel, would you mind just...taking dinner to your place? I need my house to myself tonight."

"Sure thing, Sunshine," I respond, turning off the recording and placing my phone back in my pocket.

"Thanks." She takes one last look around the room, her eyes lingering on each of her boys as she lets her anger fade away from her face. Unfortunately, disappointment takes it's place. In just two seconds, it looks as if she's aged 10 years. Bags show prominently under her eyes, and her mouth is pulled down in a frown. Her ever expressive eyes are dimmed. She lets out a deep sigh, "Goodnight...everyone."

Shaking her head, Sang walks down the hallway to her room, and I get everyone moving.

"Alright. Corey, will you go downstairs when the food comes? Guys?" I turn to the Blackbourne team. "Follow me to your new homes."

I lead them down to the floor below us after getting the keys from my apartment, and we stand in the hallway. There are six apartments on each floor, giving the residents plenty of space and privacy. That's one of the reasons we chose this building; easy access to the metro, and good security measures in place.

The two apartments at the ends of the hall have three bedrooms, while the four in the middle have two. I tell them this and wait to the side while they figure out their living arrangements.

It's decided that Victor, Gabriel, and Luke will share the apartment below Sang and the twins, Owen and Sean will share the two bedroom to the right of them, Nathan and Kota will share the two bedroom across from Owen and Sean, and Silas and North will be in the apartment next to Kota and Nathan.

After that's taken care of, I hand out the keys and keep a set for when I go talk to Nathan. He won't be able to get back in the building without them.

After all of the keys are handed out, we go downstairs to grab their bags out of their cars. By the time everything is in the apartments, dinner has arrived and we all gather in the open apartment opposite Sang that we usually use to hold our meetings.

Dinner is a somber event. No one really feels up to "catching up" after this evening's events. Once dinner is done, and everyone is back in their respective apartments, I get Nathan's GPS location from Corey and head out. It's time to find a hot headed red head.