Chapter 44

Holden

       As soon as I got a call from Shaw, I called one person I never thought I would call in a long time.

       My dad.

       And surprisingly, he came over as quickly as he could. I didn't tell him why I needed him to come over to watch the kids, but he still said he would come.

       When he got here, I opened the door for him. "Thank you so much for watching them," I said. "There's dinner on the stove cooking right now but it should be done soon. Oh, and both Castiel and Mercy aren't allowed to play video games for a bit longer."

       "Okay," Dad said. "Is everything okay? Is Shaw in trouble?"

       "I'll tell you everything later, I promise," I said, mainly because I didn't know if Shaw was actually in trouble or not. I knew what he did, but...

       I didn't know what was going to happen.

       I thanked Dad one more time for coming over so quickly to watch the kids before I left the house and headed to Kendra's house where a lot of police cars and officers were. Kendra, Hugh, and Shaw were outside as well so I went over there.

       As soon as Shaw saw me, he got up from where he was sitting as I walked to him and pulled him into a hug. "Are you okay?" I asked.

       "No, I'm not," Shaw said, tears staining his eyes. "I killed someone. My mind went dark and went to the place I didn't want to go and I can go back there and..."

       "Shaw," I interrupted. "Don't. You are not going back to that dark place. Just tell me everything that happened."

       Shaw told me everything that happened and when he was finished, I knew there was no way Shaw could get arrested for this.

       "It was an accident," I told him. "An accident and self-defense. There's no way you could get charged for this."

       "You don't know that," Shaw said. "I could go to jail. I could lose the kids. The court could see me as dangerous and I could get the custody taken away and never see them again."

       "That's not going to happen," Kendra said as she and Hugh walked over, and I could see a bruise under her eye from where Roman punched her. "You're not a dangerous person. You only lose your temper when someone you love is in danger."

       "I killed someone, Kendra," Shaw said.

       "He pulled a knife on you," Kendra said. "He was going to kill you. You can't seriously think the court will take the kids away when you weren't only defending yourself, you were defending me."

       "So you're not going to go to the court about it?" Shaw asked.

       "What? No, of course not," Kendra said. "What happened has nothing to do with you being a father. Don't doubt yourself because of it."

       Shaw just nodded, but I could tell he was still going to beat himself up over it.

       "Did they already take your statements?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Kendra said. "They finished shortly before you showed up." She looked at Shaw. "So I think if they were going to arrest you, they would have done it by now. I think it would be okay if you went home. I'm sure you can need the rest."

       "Yeah, you're right," Shaw said. "Are you going to be okay?"

       "Yeah, I'll be fine," Kendra said. "I'm just going to spend the night at Hugh's place. Thank you, again. For coming here. I don't know what would have happened to me if you didn't."

       When Kendra and Hugh walked away, Horatio walked over. We always got so lucky with him being on shift whenever something happened. "Is Shaw going to be charged with anything?" I asked.

       "Well, after both your and Kendra's statement, it's clear that it was both an accident and self-defense," Horatio said. "Kendra also said that Roman actually broke into the house. She didn't let him in. Normally, yes, you would be charged or at least have to go to court but I was able to pull a few strings to make sure that doesn't happen."

       "What?" Shaw asked. "No, that's not fair. I killed someone."

       "Someone who was going to kill you and assaulted Kendra," Horatio said. "And broke into her home. And your home. And kidnapped your husband and daughter. And threatened Jane. And probably did a whole not more we're not aware of. The point is all you did was push Roman for punching Kendra. There has been some cases where people did a lot more and nothing happened."

       "Well, thank you," Shaw said. "Is it okay if I head home?"

       "Yeah, of course," Horatio said.

       Shaw and I headed back to our house, where the kids were now eating their dinner. Dad looked over at us as soon as we walked in. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

       "Yeah," Shaw said. "I'm just... I need to lay down." Shaw then walked to our bedroom and closed the door behind him.

       "Is Dad okay?" Castiel asked me.

       "Yeah, he's just a bit tired," I said. "He'll be fine."

       Dad walked over to me. "And the truth?" he asked in a quiet voice so the kids couldn't hear.

       To make sure the kids didn't listen in at all, I walked outside of the house and Dad followed me. Once I closed the door, I said, "Shaw went to Kendra's because she called him but all he heard was muffled voices. Roman was there threatening Kendra. Shaw pushed him away but he pulled a knife on him. Kendra tried pulling Roman away but he punched her and Shaw lost it. He pushed Roman. Roman fell. Hit his head on the table. And... he died."

       "Roman as in... the one who kidnapped you?" Dad asked. "Cassidy's brother?"

       "Yeah," I said. "You're... you're not going to hate Shaw even more, are you? For being violent again?"

       "What? No," Dad said. "He was protecting Kendra. He gets violent when he's protecting people he cares about. Other then that, he's past his violent stage. And I know your mother and I have to start being more supportive with him. It's just hard. Knowing what he was like and seeing him with you. It's not easy pretending the thought hasn't crossed our minds."

       "I know you want to protect me but you really have to know that Shaw isn't that person anymore," I said. "I just don't get why every time Shaw does something you don't agree with, it's like you toss him away. Dating me. Drinking again. You don't even give him a chance."

       "Because you were never there firsthand when Shaw was in the part of his life," Dad said. "You haven't seen what he can do. Every parent worries about their children."

       "Not so much that you're willing to toss him out for the smallest of things," I said. "He stopped drinking a long time ago. It was a very minor setback. But you would have known that if you were there for him. He's not a bad person."

       "I know," Dad said. "I promise your mother and I are going to apologize to him and make things up to him the next time we see him."

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yay to horatio for pulling some strings so shaw can't get changed ahahahaha

okey i need to keep this short because it's 4 am byeeeeeee