Niamh climbed out of the car, her heart stretching from tranquility when she caught a glimpse of Blaise descending his building's steps. Each step down had a swaggering bounce that made her tingle in all of the right places just from knowing that he had given himself to her. She never would have thought she could have told a man that she loved them-it didn't seem like something that she could feel naturally, but she was shown different. Of course she initially thought it was the corniest moment for her to profess her love for him, she wasn't a fluff speaker during sex. What she and Blaise had wasn't sex at all. It was truly love-soul-making.

       Sex between them wasn't good.

     Niamh had plenty of credibility to back that statement up.  The numerous men with inflated egos she was once attracted to,with them...sex with them was good. Plain and simple.

     The worst sex will ever be is good.

     Between her and Blaise, there would never be an incident where she could only use the simpleton adjective to describe how she was pleased.  Niamh crossed her fingers for decades upon decades in their future of the intimate act with Blaise. If she or he couldn't perform physically-they would easily receive the same satisfaction simply being in each other's presence.

      That would be more than enough for her.

     How often would she ever be able to speak those three words to him? She wasn't sure one bit. She was aware of feeling that way, and unconsciously she could see herself suppressing it. Not putting it in the open. If she left it unprotected, some outside factor could make its way in and destroy what she had began to build within her.

     Niamh wouldn't survive that. She just knew it.

   Had this been another couple, she would have definitely thought they were moving too fast. That they didn't know each other well enough. That love just couldn't possibly work out that way.

      No one can predict love or direct it. It doesn't stand idle waiting for your cues and instructions of when to appear in your life. The thousands of people who scream out their complaints to the emotion, noun, verb, --whatever classification they have for it-suffer because of the instant gratification they seek from it becomes difficult to obtain.Niamh had enough sense to know that what she had going for her was a precious thing that shouldn't be toyed with.

     " I don't see my dad's car..." Darla cupped her hands around her eyes, scoping out the parking lot for any sign of the vehicle she had arrived in."Hey Blaise where's my d-"

     " He left already. We can give you a ride if you need one."

    "Well duh I need one, mine isn't here anymore." Darla crossed her arms at Blaise's short response. Something seemed tense about him, she recognized immediately. The vein in his neck and the constant ticking of his left temple told Darla that he was under some sudden stress. Just as she was going to question what was up with him, Niamh spoke up.

     " What's the deal?" She asked in a nonchalant voice. Had she not been looking at her, Darla would have been irate at her seemingly uninterested tone. She just didn't know that when Niamh was prepared to help someone in trouble, she'd calm herself to the best of her abilities so much that she would appear disinterested.

      Darla's lips came together once again with the confirmation of Niamh's concern in her  smoldering coal eyes. Her dark eyebrows drew together slightly with the squint of her eyes. Blaise trailed a hand across the back of his neck .

      " I can tell you in a few. For now, let's get Darla home okay? You cool with that D?" After a moment of silence, Niamh and Blaise simultaneously looked to the Darla when she didn't answer.

     " You know what....I can get a ride to be here within seconds. Remember that foreign guy? He's still down with my sugar soo...."

     "Darla, you are so corny." Blaise cringed. He pulled her into a tight hug, placing a kiss to her cheek as he held her away. Any other time he would have objected to leaving her alone anywhere, but he had an urgent matter at hand. He knew Darla was an understanding woman, hell if she was in his position he was sure she'd drop everything to make sure what was needed to be attended to was handled and he'd completely understand.

       " You two go ahead, I'm a big girl." With a smile, Darla turned on her heel and strolled to a nearby bench taking  a seat.

      "Let's go." Blaise said passing by Niamh with a touch to her elbow. She handed the keys to him since she had no idea where they needed to be. Niamh couldn't help but to feel a pull of concern for Darla.

      " Are you sure you're okay?" She called to her. Darla sat with her cell phone held to an ear with one hand , and the other waving  Niamh off. With a thumbs up and nod, Niamh unfolded her arms from across her chest and climbed into the car beside an anxious looking Blaise.

     " Are you buckled in?"

      "Yeah."  Blaise rode the car to the exit of the parking lot, looking both ways before pulling out. What he hadn't seen was the ordinary car just a hundred feet back pull into traffic  two cars behind his own.

      " We're going to see my dad."

     " Joseph? Why? You know you don't exactly have to introduce me to the rents at this point." Niamh attempted to lighten the grim expression on his face. Blaise blew out a long string of air, rolling his neck to the side to soothe the pain.

     " Not exactly.  We've got a lot of shit hitting us right about now."

      "Us? Oh no, what are you dragging me into."

     " I'm sorry.I'm truly and deeply sorry Niamh."

     "Huh?" The laugh she had soon left from the sound of his torn voice.

      " Let's talk some. We haven't done that in a while. What's your family like?"

     " What the hell are you talking about? We don't exactly speak at the moment what do you want me to tell you?"

      " What about your dad? Why isn't he around?" Too far. He went too far. Blaise cursed himself when the strong huff of air from Niamh filled the car.

     " What kind of fucking joke do you have planned Blaise? I have no damn idea where or who he is." Her arms shook in her lap as she scratched at her eans, turning the skin underneath her nails white.

     "What's going on?"

    Blaise intentionally kept quiet, pressing firmer on the gas pedal.

    " Blaise!" She yelled. Leaning towards him, she caught sight of the speedometer hitting eighty in fifty five. " You're scaring me just a tad...that's saying something." Her voice quivered as her heart beat against her chest.

     "Daniel's your father." He couldn't hold it anymore. The words left in a groan. A creaking sound came from Niamh as her skin went cold. She fell back into her seat, anger breaking out across her face.

     " Stop the motherfucking car now. You're on something." She shook her head wanting to rid herself of what he had revealed. What did Blaise know? He sure as damn knew nothing about Niamh. Who was he to say something like that? Connecting her to the devil himself....

   No...She refused to believe anything.

      " Baby, this isn't how I planned to tell you. I promise."

    " Baby?! Don't pull that shit now. I'm done. Pull over now!" Niamh violently jerked the car door handle back and forth, but it had been locked by Blaise a split second earlier.

    "Niamh stop. Calm down please."

    " I need to get out."  She banged her elbow against the window rapidly losing her mind. The sound of blood rushing in her ears crowded her hearing." Blaise let me out please!" Niamh became hysterical. Her skin burned now as her being exited through her pores. She froze.

    "Niamh?" He reached to her knee timidly. The sobs erupted from her chest so heart wrenching Blaise switly swerved off of the road. His car was nearly head first into the woods, but that didn't matter to him. He found himself in a similar scene, pulling Niamh from her seat to sit close in his lap where he could comfort her the best he could. He had no words for her.

     Daniel as a father was a fucked up thing and he couldn't lie and say things would be okay.

    She wouldn't be suffering right now because of him if he had just ignored his father. He should have done the first thing that had come to mind. Pack them both up and flee. To somewhere where they could be absorbed into the atmosphere and never thought of again.

     " Why did you tell me?"

       "What was I supposed to do?"

      " Keep that to yourself. Forget it. That's nothing.....nothing I needed to know."

      " You have every right to know it Niamh. It's...it's yours."

        "No, no, no." Niamh rose from his arms pressing her hands to her temples as a dizzy spell threatened her.

       "Tell me something then. Had I not told you even though I knew, wouldn't you be upset with me?"

     " Well yes, but-"

     " I can't keep something like that from you Niamh. I didn't want to know this either. I felt the responsibility of throwing you to an incompetent state, there was little choice for me. My dad, he might be able to help you more with this than I can or find a way for us to work together. That's actually where we were headed."

      " Joseph knows." She stated rather than inquired.

     " Niamh..."

     " What is this shit? I hate lifetime movies and right now, my life feels like a plot from one of those damned things."

     " Are you trying to be funny right now?"

     " Do I not have the right to? If I wanted to be elated, couldn't I be? How about pissed the fuck off? Sad? What am I supposed to even feel right now Blaise? I should feel stupid and like the biggest idiot to ever breathe. I didn't listen to my mother. You people come into my life. My mom tries to warn me of you. I fuck her over and ignore it thinking that I finally found something stable, something unlike anything else before. Lose her..." Niamh's voice caught at those words. Her hand trembled towards her mouth as she bit back the cries. " I thought she didn't know anything. Thought that everything she said was so...so....dumb. Why wouldn't she just let me do my own thing? I kept thinking that. I kept asking myself why she was so interested all of a sudden in a man I had met. Why I couldn't just get what I needed from you without complications."

      " There's still so much I need to know about you Niamh. It seems surreal to have so many issues at a time where I thought I'd find relative peace with you.  Things aren't falling properly, or maybe they are." Blaise watched her eyelids bat slowly and in an exhausted manner.

      " We'll never know how our lives would have played out had we not met when we did. I saw you...connected with you that night for a reason. More than the sex. More than that now void contract we made. I wouldn't feel right if you didn't blame me in some way for how things have turned out."

    " Why would I blame you? I couldn't." Her raspy voice turned to him for the first time looking into his eyes behind foggy lids. She hadn't meant the words earlier, the ones nearly faulting him for the mess he stepped into which was her life. She felt a tug between keeping sane and panicking. The direction she would head into was unclear.

     " Indirectly at least. There's a major part of my life that you could attribute to the way you've lived."

     " Would you like to hit me with them now. While I've emotionally checked out."

     " I think it's better to be with my father also."

     " Blaise just do it now."

     Moving her into her seat, Blaise reached across her body pulling the seatbelt into its clasp. He backed out of the slump of land his car had been sitting idle in.

        " I am."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

     Joseph came from the underground storage he kept two hundred yards in the woods behind the home he had built. On one shoulder a bag filled with numerous files and plans shifted against his side. In his arms he carried a lock secured box. Long ago he had taken it upon himself to place the information he had for The Family's plans under tight lock and key where only he would ever see and know of its whereabouts.

      He stepped over fallen tree limbs; walking past the high privacy fence he had lining the property. The sounds this far out of town were deathly quiet. Only the sound of his breathing filled the air. Joseph listened closely to the contents of the box, making sure nothing was loose to slide around inside. He had just enough inside to distribute to his son and the Deges. They were protection devices made to prevent The Family's facilities and members to be affected by the alteration of the magnetic field that had been perfected and planned to be used against the country.

        Tires on gravel travelled to his ears from the front of the house. His steps hurried to get into the back door to meet the visitors. Gently setting the things he carried down, Joseph jogged to the front door opening it to find Blaise standing by the passenger side of his car.

    " Son." He called from the porch. Blaise's head snapped to the sound of his voice, and even from such a great distance the look of disappointment could be seen....felt. Through the windshield, Niamh's eyes fell upon him. Taking a deep breath, he shook out his arms and legs, prepping for the two young people as they left the car and headed into his direction.