Extinguished

~26~ Barrel

Taylor's POV

After Liam slammed the door, we both just stare at each other for a minute. We're both completely shocked. Something's going on with him...he's never acted that way before. Not in the three years I've known him, anyways.

We finally start moving, assessing the damage in the living room. I head over to start picking up the mess.

"Put on shoes this time, crazy," she says with a slight smile as she comes over with a garbage sack.

We both start picking up the pieces in silence. I finally talk first.

"I guess in a bit I'll head to the storage unit. We were trying to figure out what to do with that TV at your place, glad we didn't get rid of it."

"I'm sorry, Taylor. I'm worried about him," she says, dumping a big piece into the garbage.

"Me too. Something's going on."

The rest of the evening, Liam still hasn't come home. I start to get anxious, so I decide to grab the extra TV from storage and get it mounted to the wall. Ellie has tried calling everyone. Alex, his friends, his girlfriend, even Jake. No one has seen him.

Finally, around 10:30, Liam comes in the door. He stops when he sees us on the couch. His mom usually goes to bed by 9:30 anymore; He was hoping he missed her.

"Have a seat," she says coolly. I can hear the relief in her voice, even though she's trying to hide it from Liam.

Liam sighs loudly and rolls his eyes, as he sits in the chair next to the couch.

"Where ya been?" She asks, starting the interrogation.

"Out," he says, not looking at her.

"Out where?"

"Just out, mom. Man. You don't need to know everything."

She stops for a minute, and then puts her hand on her forehead for a second, looking like she's willing a headache to leave.

"Liam, I'm sorry that I decided to move without checking with you. This is the second time I've done that to you. I didn't realize it until this afternoon. Please forgive me," she says, with tears in her voice.

That threw him for a second. He was expecting her wrath, not her apology.

"I never checked with you. I had already moved out when I told you that Taylor and I had broken up. That was probably really hard. Then I didn't even ask you if you were ok moving back in with him. I guess I just assumed that you would want to."

He sighs as his demeanor starts to relax. "I did want to."

Ellie looks surprised as she glances at me. I just shrug. I don't know what to say right this minute.

"I'm confused. I thought that's why you're mad."

"It's not."

"I'm going to need more than that, bud. I don't know what's wrong."

"The only reason that he even wants us here is because of the baby. He didn't care when we moved out. It's obvious that this baby takes priority in this family," he finally admits. He's trying to sound mad, but the devastation is coming through thick.

"Is that what you think?" I finally speak up as I go over to him and bend down, grabbing his hands into mine.

"You really have no idea how much I love you, do you?" I ask. "The first thought I had when your mom agreed to move in was I'll finally get to live with Liam again. Bud, I had no rights to you. I never had a leg to stand on. But if I did, I would've fought tooth and nail for you. I couldn't love you more even if you were mine. I thought we already talked about this before," I say, trying not to lose my macho for the millionth time in front of these two.

He still can't look at me, but his face softens as he gives me a hug. I hug him back.

"I'm sorry about the TV," he says, finally looking at me.

I shrug "We'll work it out."

I'm still upset with him, so I don't want him to think he's off the hook completely.

"Sorry I called you dumb," he says, looking past me to his mom.

"Thanks," she says simply. She's still mad, and he knows it.

I go to sit back down, not wanting to be in the line of fire.

"I wasn't kidding when I said you were paying him back every penny. I don't know what the amount is, that's between the two of you. You guys can talk about that later. That's your punishment for what you did earlier."

He nods, and looks a little relieved. It's obvious he thinks he got off easy. I can tell, however, that Ellie has barely gotten started.

"That's just your punishment for the TV, Liam. There's still the matter of you leaving, without telling me where you were going. Not only that, but you never answered your phone, which is another broken rule. I called everyone, and nobody had any idea where you were. Do you have any idea how worried I've been? And third, you were out way past curfew. I want to know where you were, and I want to know right now."

He knows he's up the creek with no paddle; He starts talking quickly.

"I went out with Aria."

"I called Aria!" Ellie says, raising her voice. "Were you with her when I called?" She's almost out of her seat at this point.

"Yeah," he says, looking at the ground.

"Did you have your girlfriend lie to me?" She asks, getting madder by the second.

He only nods, once.

"Well young man that is now four infractions. Anything else you did while you were out? Smoking? Drugs? Drinking?"

"No. We just hung out at the skate park and then grabbed dinner."

Ellie looks at him for a long moment, trying to decide if she believes him. She must have, because she finally gets up and grabs the paddle from her bedroom. "Let's go."

"Mom, come on. I'm almost 18," he says, looking to me for support.

"Yeah, well you're not 18 yet. Let's go."

It's obvious that this discussion is over.

He slowly gets up, looking at me one more time for help. Why he thinks I'm getting in the middle of this is beyond me. I think he deserves it too.

They go in his room and shut the door.

I turn the TV to the sports highlights, trying to ignore what's going on in his room. Even though I can't see anything, I can hear everything. He's NOT having a good time in there. More than likely, he won't be having a good day tomorrow, either.

After a while, they come out of the bedroom, and Liam is still crying.

"I'm ssssorry Taylor," he says, trying to get the words out.

I stand up and give him a hug. "I'm sorry I made you feel like this baby is more important than you. It's not, and it never will be," I say, ruffling his hair.

He smiles, and he heads to bed.

Ellie goes to bed shortly after that, and then I follow. Shift is going to come too early.

~*~

It's time for shift, so Ellie and I drop off Liam at school on our way to the station. It's been a good day so far. We had a car accident call, and thankfully, everybody survived.

It's a little after lunchtime and I head to my office to get some work done. All of a sudden, Diego bursts in.

"Lieutenant, I've just called the cops over the radio. Get to the bay. NOW," he hisses quietly.

I'm out of my seat, running as fast as I can. I just know it. With every fiber of my being, I know Ellie is in danger.

As soon as I get to the bay, I see her. It feels like I'm going to collapse. She's there, staring at the end of a barrel.

Jessica is holding the gun.