CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was by far the roughest night that Arnie had had in a long time. Alex had insisted that Arnie sleep in his room for the night and took the couch for himself. Aideen and Melissa spent the night in Alex's room with Arnie, one on each side of him, refusing to let him go. He couldn't sleep at first, but Aideen used her energy to knock him out. He thought he was too exhausted to dream, but that wasn't the case.

The nightmares were terrible. Now, not only did he see his parents, but he saw the Berlins, all staring at him accusingly. He saw Gracie enduring the same things he'd endured from bad foster families. Neglect was actually a nice break from the ones who crossed the line and actively abused him, and now Gracie was facing the same fate. The Berlins had been the only decent foster family he had, and now they were dead, and for inexplicable reasons, he felt like it was all his fault.

He saw himself being sent back to the foster families he'd had over the years, shuffled back and forth between people who never wanted him for more than someone to hurt so they could feel powerful. He never spoke of what he'd been through, but there were strong reasons for him to be so adamantly against the foster care system. The Berlins had wanted him, and had accepted him as one of their own immediately, but his case worker had refused to let them adopt him for years. It took a lot of fighting on their part to gain permanent custody of Arnie, and no one else had cared enough to do that for him.

He'd run away from bad families so often that he was listed as a trouble maker in the system, only to be placed with the toughest of families. He'd spent many nights hiding out on the waterfront or on Alex's couch or in Aideen's room. He'd go anywhere to avoid what waited for him in those houses that were never homes. Now Gracie, sweet, innocent little Gracie, was going to be handed off to Gods only knew who and there was nothing he could do about it. Alex was trying to find her a good family, but he only had so much power. Social Services might send her somewhere else in spite of his best efforts.

After the tenth time that Arnie awoke screaming that night, he stopped counting. He would sleep for only minutes before another nightmare would begin, each worse than the last. He watched his parents die again and again, and the Berlins would follow. The foster care nightmares became memories, horrible flashbacks he thought he'd moved past. There was little that Aideen and Melissa could do to soothe him, but they tried, and it got to the point where they simply cried right along with him. Arnie finally refused to try to sleep anymore, and since the sun was up, the three of them walked out of the room.

The delicious scent of breakfast filled the air. Alex stood in the kitchen, clearly not having slept either, and was busy preparing every breakfast food he could come up with.

"Help yourselves, Kids," Alex said.

The smell of food had apparently woken Jesse up and he sat at the table in navy blue boxers and a matching bathrobe shoveling food into his mouth so quickly it would have put Randy to shame. He smiled awkwardly at Melissa, Aideen, and Arnie. "Morning," he said between bites.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Melissa scolded him. "Bad doggy."

Jesse's beast let out a whimper of protest before he dove into more food. "Boys," Aideen said, shaking her head.

"I'm not hungry," Arnie said. His body was starving, but his mind could not wrap itself around the idea of eating.

"You need to eat," Aideen replied. "You need your strength."

"I'm fine," Arnie insisted.

Melissa sat in his lap at the table and shoved a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. "See?" She asked. "It's yummy."

Arnie knew he wouldn't be able to argue with them, and having tasted food, his body wanted to eat. He reluctantly began feeding himself, so Melissa hopped into her own chair and filled a plate for herself.

"Did you hear anything from Social Services yet?" Arnie asked Alex after a minute.

Alex visibly stiffened. "I'm still working things out," he replied. "Gracie's going to be staying with Tandy and Darren Zimmerman. You probably know them. They're slayers, and are very good people. They can't have kids of their own. They've been foster parents before, but they're ready to adopt, and they actually know Gracie. Tandy has been helping her train for the last couple of years. She'll probably adjust well enough with them."

"She'll be safe then. Thank Gods... I was so worried they'd put her into the system..." Arnie paused. "What about me, Alex?"

"As I said, I'm still working things out."

"They said no, didn't they? They said I can't stay here."

"Your old case worker popped up as soon as word spread about what happened. He says I'm too young to raise three foster teenagers by myself and is recommending that they remove you from my care... I'm fighting it, Arnie. I'll find a way."

"No you won't. He's evil, Alex. I don't know what type he is, but he's evil. You're approved to take in 'stray kids' by the Unit, and all members of the Silver Society are pretty much considered self-sufficient enough that it's not an issue of being able to take care of us. He just doesn't want me here."

"I'll keep fighting."

"Don't bother. He'll make sure I'm back in the system with the worst possible family. It's okay. I'll just run away like I always do."

"Arnie, listen to me. Don't give up hope. I talked to Johnny, and he said he'll make a case for me to keep you, and if I can't, he'll petition for Clarissa to take you in."

"I don't want to burden her."

"Oh, please," Aideen replied. "You're already family, Arnie. Mom helped raise you. There's no way it would be a burden."

"I can't do this again," Arnie said. "I can't go back into the system. I won't survive it this time."

"Nonsense," an all-too-familiar voice said. Geoffrey Gobin stood at the back door wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked cold even when he smiled, and his charm was clearly a façade for something sinister. "Hello, Arnie. It's nice to see you again, although I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Bite me, Gobin," Arnie replied.

"Mr. Paxton, we spoke on the phone," he said as if Arnie had not spoken. "I'm Geoffrey Gobin, Arnie's case worker."

"Of course," Alex replied, politely shaking his hand although he clearly didn't like the man much more than Arnie did.

"I'm here to take Arnie to a more... suitable home."

"Hold on, you said you were looking for one, but that it would take a few days," Alex said.

"Well, a great family popped up, and they can't wait to take Arnie in."

"I'm not going," Arnie said firmly. "I don't care who they are. I'm almost seventeen. You can't push me around anymore, Gobin, so go away and leave me alone."

"Arnie, I'm not trying to push you around. My only concern is what's in your best interest, and the current arrangement is not. Mr. Paxton is a nice man, but he's just not equipped to handle three teenagers. The Fosters are a wonderful family. You'll like them."

"A foster family named Foster? Great. They're probably evil and lame."

"Arnold-"

"Call me Arnold again and I'll break your jaw, Gobin."

"Arnie, you have to come with me now. You don't have a choice."

"I'm too old for the system."

"You're still a minor."

"I'll get emancipated."

"That's all well and good, but until you do, you are my responsibility, and quite frankly, I don't find you mature enough to be on your own."

"I've been on my own for years!"

"You've had several foster families."

"They were all terrible except for the one decent one that you tried so hard to keep me away from."

"I know you cared for the Berlins, but they're gone now."

"Don't you think I know that?" Arnie stood up and threw his plate off of the table, shattering it as food went flying across the floor. "I'm out of here." He ran out of the door before anyone could stop him.

"Arnie, wait!" Gobin called after him. He tried to run after him, but Alex stopped him.

"You need to give him time," Alex said. "If you chase after him right now, he's going to hurt you."

Aideen slipped out of the house and ran after Arnie. She found him at the waterfront, collapsed in hysterical tears. She didn't bother trying to speak to him, but simply hugged him and let him cry.

"I don't want to go back," Arnie finally said.

"I know," Aideen replied.

"I can't go through it all again, Deenie. I don't know how much more I can take."

"It's going to be okay, Arn. I'm here for you, and if they lay so much as a finger on you, I'll kill them myself."

"You already did that once."

Aideen shrugged. "The Drakes had it coming. They broke my best friend."

"You're lucky they couldn't prove it was you."

"The only one who could say without a shadow of a doubt that I'd done it aside from you was Shooter, and he kept his mouth shut."

"You were eleven, angry, and trying to protect me. He wouldn't arrest you for that."

"And he won't arrest me now because I helped make him immortal."

"He's still angry about that, so I wouldn't count on him deciding it's a reason to keep you out of jail."

"I'm also much better at making bodies disappear now."

"That's true..." He paused. "I didn't even tell you what happened... You just showed up that day and went all Reaper on them and promised me that they'd never hurt me again."

"I know you, and I knew someone had hurt you. Sure, the others were bad to you, but the Drakes actually left you in a state where you were terrified of your own shadow. That's not like you, and it was unacceptable. I had to do something about it."

"You're a really good friend, Deenie. The best."

"I know." She smiled. "I promise, Arnie, I won't let anyone hurt you. I never have, and I never will."

"You know, I'm your soul's guardian, not the other way around."

"And how can you guard me if you're not okay? I'm just looking out for my best interests."

He laughed. "Yeah, sure."

"What? Haven't you heard from the vampires and witches lately? I'm totally selfish."

Arnie laughed again and said, "Okay, I'm calmer, thank you... I need to go to the hospital and see Gracie before she gets released."

"I'll go with you," Aideen replied, taking his hand. They headed to the hospital, which didn't take very long, and saw that Gracie was awake and looking much better than she had the night before.

"Hey, Kiddo," Arnie said gently. He hugged her.

"Did you hear?" Gracie asked. "Tandy and Darren are gonna let me stay with them!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm happy for you," he replied honestly.

"Where will you go, Arnie?"

"I don't know yet, but it doesn't matter much."

"The doctor said I'm okay to leave. He's letting me go as soon as he gets the paperwork done, but that might take a while. Doctors like doing paperwork about as much as Deenie does."

Aideen laughed and said, "She's not wrong."

"You're such a smart little kid," Arnie said with a smile.

"Not smart enough," she replied sadly.

He let her words hang in the air, knowing what they alluded to and refusing to go there again. Gracie would blame herself no matter what he said, but he'd be there to help her through it.

Instead of discussing her comment, he asked, "So, how soon do you think Tandy and Darren will let me come visit?"

"As soon as you like," Tandy said from the door. She was tall, slender, and built like a model, but Arnie had seen her slay. This blonde, tan woman that so many assumed to be an airhead was actually fierce, and she'd do anything to protect others. He knew the reason that she couldn't have kids was because she'd been slaying one night and things had gone terribly wrong. She'd been lucky to survive, and her reproductive organs had been damaged beyond repair. It was sad. She'd make a great mother, and now, she had the chance to prove it.

Her husband, Darren, was shorter and rounder, with glasses, pale skin, and unremarkable brown hair and eyes. He looked like a librarian or an accountant, but he, too, was one of the tougher slayers in Salem. Arnie sometimes wondered if he really needed the glasses or if he just wore them to make people underestimate him.

"Great," Arnie said. He excused himself, leaving Tandy and Aideen with Gracie as he stepped outside and Darren followed him.

"Arnie, if you need anything, anything at all, please ask," Darren said. "We'd like to be able to help you."

"I'll be okay," Arnie replied. "Just take good care of that little girl, or you'll answer to me."

"You know we'd never hurt a child."

"I know. It's the only reason I'm letting her go with you instead of kidnapping her and running away."

"If your new fosters give you any trouble, come to us. You're always welcome in our home."

"I appreciate that."

"There you are!" Gobin said.

Arnie cursed. "Okay, you found me. You get a gold star," he replied. "Inverted, of course."

"Come with me, Arnie," Gobin said firmly. "It's time."

"Good luck," Darren said.

"Thanks." Arnie went back into Gracie's room to say goodbye.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Aideen asked.

"No," Arnie replied. "Help Gracie get settled. I'll call you later and let you know where I end up."

Aideen nodded. Arnie looked at Gobin with hatred in his eyes. "Alright, Gobin," he said. "I'm all yours."

~*~

"They took him away from you?" Cierra demanded of Alex after he filled her in that day. "How could they? He needs to be with people who care about him right now!"

"His social worker's a real piece of work," Alex replied. "I'm trying to get Arnie back."

"I can't even imagine what he's going through right now. I mean, it was hell losing my mom, but at least I had Dad."

Cierra's stepfather was the only father she'd known until recently, and she adored him. He treated her as his own, and after her mother's death, he'd been the only parent in her life. Her biological father had turned out to be a warlock who'd tried to turn her evil, but in the end, she'd escaped his influence and returned home to her "real" father.

"He's a strong kid," Alex said. "If anyone can survive this mess, it's Arnie."

"It's not fair," Melissa chimed in. "He's too good of a person to deal with this much pain."

"Psychics seem to attract difficult lives," Cierra replied. "Statistically speaking, most psychics experience either a traumatic loss or some other sort of psychological pain. I've also read that we tend to have some form of mental illness, most often depressive disorders."

"If psychics are mentally ill, how do we know it's not all in our heads?" Melissa asked.

"Well, a crazy person doesn't know they're crazy, but we know that most of what we deal with would be perceived as insane by the 'normal' people. It's all chemical, really. Different areas of the brain are affected. If it was a schizophrenia issue, certain chemicals would show up, but if it's just psychic abilities, it's more like electrical currents in our brains... I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"A little, but that's okay. I asked," Melissa replied cheerfully. "So is that why half of us have dead or abusive parents? We're just predisposed to it?"

"Evil wants to hurt us, and the best way to do it is to mess with our personal lives. What better way is there to hurt a psychic kid than taking away the security a parent provides?"

"I see your point."

Cierra froze suddenly. "Uh-oh," she said.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Trouble... Aideen's in trouble."

"Don't you just love dating a clairvoyant?" Melissa teased Alex. "What sort of trouble?"

"I don't know, but it's bad... She'll be coming here soon."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked.

"Yes. Stay here, and call Dylan. She'll need a healer."

"Everyone forgets that I'm a healer now, too," Melissa complained.

"You are, but you're still learning," Alex replied. "Having Dylan as back-up never hurts." He sent a telepathic message to Dylan to hurry up and get to the house.

~*~

Cassandra was at a mandatory meeting for the number one slayers from every part of Massachusetts, so Aideen was on her own for the day. Cassandra had wanted to assign a temporary bodyguard to her, but Aideen had stubbornly insisted that she would be fine for a few hours by herself. It had been one thing while she was at Alex's house, or while she was with Arnie, but it was another now that Gobin had taken Arnie to meet his new foster family.

This was a stupid idea, she realized. Maybe I should have called the sexy hitman.

It didn't entirely surprise her when the spells started to fly at her head, or when the vampires tried to attack her, but when bullets came toward her, Aideen was startled. Apparently, Evan wasn't the only hitman who'd been hired to go after her.

"Aideen, get down!" Evan suddenly shouted. He came running toward her. She hadn't even realized that he was lurking nearby. He knocked her to safety as bullets came from six different directions. She wouldn't have been able to duck out of the way of all of them on her own.

"Thanks," Aideen said when the bullets stopped, but she paused when she felt something wet against her flesh.

"Oh my Gods... No," she said. "Please be alright..." She rolled Evan off of her and saw a wound in his chest.

"No! Evan, I'm so sorry!" She cried.

"I'm okay, Aideen," he replied. His voice was a little unsteady, but he held her gaze and was fully aware of what was happening. "I just need someone to remove the bullet and stitch me up. Do you know how to do it? I could walk you through it."

"I'll try," Aideen said.

"You'll need something sterile to extract the bullet with."

Aideen pulled a pair of tweezers out of her bag. "Will these do?"

"They'll have to."

Aideen created a small fire and ran the tweezers through it to sterilize them. "Now what?" She asked.

"Check if you can see the bullet."

"It's going to hurt..."

"I have a high pain tolerance."

Aideen nodded and moved some of his flesh apart so she could better see into the wound. She found the bullet lodged in his chest, but it had missed his heart by several inches. "I see it," she said.

"Pull it out."

"You'll bleed out!" She protested.

"No I won't. It didn't hit any major organs. I've got a medical degree, Aideen. Relax. I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, but if you die, I'm resurrecting you just so I can kick your ass." She paused. "Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?" She asked.

"Do you have any rags handy?" Evan asked instead of answering her.

"I've got an old t-shirt in my bag."

"Would you mind if I bite down on it? I have a high pain tolerance, but I'm not immune to it. I'd hate to scream or bite my tongue off when you do this."

Aideen took the shirt out and said, "Bite away." Once his jaw was clamped down on it, she extracted the bullet. He closed his eyes and bit harder, but did not scream.

"Okay, now what do I do?" She asked, removing the t-shirt from his mouth.

"Put pressure on the wound so it stops bleeding," he replied.

"I don't have anything to stitch you up with."

"There's a needle and thread in my jacket."

"Do you sew in your spare time?" She asked with a laugh.

"I deal in a business where bullets fly around a lot. I like to be prepared," he replied.

Aideen found the needle and thread and said, "This, I can do. I've had to stitch slayers up before." She pinched his flesh together and carefully sewed his skin back together. It was neat and nearly perfect. He'd probably have a scar, but scars were sexy anyway.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"I'll be fine," he replied. "Help me up."

Aideen did as he requested, but as soon as she did, more bullets came toward them, and this time, they were both hit.

Aideen's shoulder hurt from the bullet, but it had gone straight through, and her injury wasn't serious at all. She realized in horror that Evan had taken a bullet to the center of his chest, and Aideen didn't have to look at the wound to know that it had pierced his heart. He was going to die if she didn't get him to a healer. She wasn't sure know how he wasn't already dead.

It was normally against Silver Society policy to bring strangers to Alex's house without permission, but seeing as how this stranger had just saved her life by taking not one but two bullets for her, Aideen figured that Alex would make an exception. Somehow, she dragged him to the house.

Jesse and Dylan helped her bring Evan inside. "You guys were ready for me?" Aideen asked. 

"I had a vibe," Cierra explained.

Melissa healed Aideen's shoulder while Dylan set to work on Evan, who was unconscious. "He's lost a lot of blood, but I think he'll be okay," he said. "For some reason, the injury isn't as bad as it should be... What happened? Who is this guy?"

"His name is Evan," Aideen explained. "He was hired by both the witches and the vampires to kill me, but after I made him miss his shot for the first time in his life, he decided to protect me instead... I don't know how he survived. He got shot twice for me. I took care of the first injury, but the second one should have killed him before I got him here."

Suddenly, Aideen got distracted. "Alex, the scroll's glowing," she said.

Alex growled. "Not again," he mumbled. He unrolled it and looked at what it said. "What the hell? What are you talking about? There's no way," he declared.

"What is it?" Aideen asked. "What did it say?"

The scroll's glow grew stronger and Alex shook his head. "Why the hell do you keep doing these things to me?" He demanded before he flung the scroll at the wall in annoyance.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Cierra picked the scroll up and read it. Her eyes bulged in shock. "Oh my goodness," she whispered.

"What is it?" Melissa asked.

Cierra reread the words to make sure that she understood them correctly before she said, "The scroll says that Evan's the thirteenth!" She shook her head as she added, "He's one of us."