Fic: Search Everywhere (For A Happy Ending) 3 of 3

[pandorablu]

Even though he was only 15 at the time, Elliot knew what he was getting into by staying friends with Ace and Chris. He had wanted to be them for the longest time, but being a member of a crime family, any crime family, was the last thing Elliot wanted to do. But he had known them since practically before he knew how to talk, so he wasn't about to leave them like that.

So Elliot would be lying to himself if he didn't know sooner or later he'd be in the position he was in; tied to a chair and only allowed to take a piss every few hours and a glass of water for nourishment trapped in some basement room in a crime boss' speakeasy.

Elliot didn't know how long he was down in that room in the Idol. It could have been a few hours, or a few days. But when Cook stepped into the room with two people he had never seen before in his life, he knew that whatever they had really planned for him was about to start.

His regular escort for his piss breaks, Matt if he remembered his name correctly, came in with a chair. Cook dragged the chair over to sit in front of Elliot, the scrape of the legs against the concrete floor loud in the space as he placed it backwards.

"Hi Elliot, it's nice to meet you." Cook had a smile on his face as he sat down, letting his arms rest on the back of the chair. Elliot knew not to trust that smile though. That smile had been the last thing who knows how many people had seen right before Cook shot them dead.

"We don't really want to hurt you, you know that right?" Cook said, trying to charm Elliot.

Elliot scoffed. Cook ignored him.

"We don't need you, we just want your friends… Young and Daughtry. You tell us where they're hiding, and you can walk right out that door." Cook pointed to the door that was still open a crack.

"Like I'll tell you. You're just going to kill them."

Cook slammed his hand on the chair. "Exactly! It's like we're connecting. This is a great step."

"I'm not going to tell you were they are." Elliot sneered. "So you can take your connecting crap and stuff it."

Cook's face fell. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this. You seem like a nice enough guy. A smart guy too for not getting involved in the same muck as Young and Daughtry. But if that's how you really want to do it." Cook shrugged. "Who am I to stop you." Cook got up out of the chair, turning it around and pushing it against the back wall. "I will leave it in these two gentlemen's very capable hands. Any time you want out, you know what we want." Cook placed his hand on the shorter man's shoulder. "This is Andy. He'll do all the talking. Say hi to Elliot, Andy."

"Hi Elliot." Andy had a crooked smile on his face as he greeted Elliot and tucked his shirtsleeves up.

Matt brought in a table with a bag on top of it. "Thanks Matt." Cook said as Elliot's keeper for the last few days set the table down to Elliot's left.

"No problem boss." Matt smiled as he walked out. Elliot had really wondered, more than once in the last few hours, what had made everyone in the neighborhood love Cook as much as they did. If his last few minutes with the man were anything to go on, then Elliot thought Cook was a wolf in sheep's clothing. And a wolf only knew how to do one thing.

"This is Neal. Well… everyone knows him as something else, but Neal will do for now." Cook smiled. Neal didn't say anything as he unfurled the bag and Elliot saw the various knives and other cutting tools he was pulling out. "He also doesn't talk much." Cook mock whispered.

Cook clapped his hands together. "I don't know about you, but I want a drink." The man Cook identified as Neal raised his eyebrow. Off the look, Cook said, "Don't start."

Cook gave Elliot one more look. "And don't scar him too badly." He said before walking out the door.

Elliot turned to Andy and watched as the man sat in the chair Cook had just been in. "Now I don't like to get my hands dirty. Give me a gun and I'll shoot them thirty paces off and be done with it. My boyfriend Neal on the other hand has a different approach." Andy paused, raising his eyebrow. He obviously was expecting some kind of response out of him, but Elliot was more afraid of the
blades Neal was pulling out then the fact that the two of them liked to fuck. You didn't work in theater for long and not run into a homosexual man anyway, so Elliot didn't have any reaction to it.

Andy nodded his head, almost in approval. "Well look here, a progressive."

"More like a guy who's worked in theater too long to care." Elliot spat back.

"Almost a shame then." Andy sighed. "Well, back to the matter at hand." He paused. "You see, Neal likes to get messy. Loves it in fact. He is so good with his blades it's even got him a bit of a reputation. You ever heard of 'the Doctor' Elliot?"

Elliot shook his head. Shrugging his shoulder, Andy said, "You will now." Elliot struggled against the ropes that were tying him to the chair as Andy tucked up his sleeves. "Did you know that shallow cuts almost hurt more than stab wounds?" Andy finished tucking up the sleeve on his other arm. "It's the nerves. The nerves on the first few layers of your skin are more sensitive to pain than you might think." Andy whispered in Elliot's ear. "Doc's going to give you a thousand paper cuts."

Elliot didn't understand what was so menacing about a thousand paper cuts, he'd gotten them all the time. They hurt like hell in the first instant, but they weren't that bad.

In what felt like hours later though, Elliot felt like his skin was on fire and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His arms were peppered with neat slices, some parallel, some perpendicular, but they all hurt. And there were only a few that actually went very deep and drew a steady flow of blood.

The ones that hurt the most were the ones on the soles of his feet. Sometime during the torture his shoes had come off and after Neal had grown bored with his arms had moved on to Elliot's feet, propping them up on the extra chair in the room. There was one particular cut across the bottom arch of his right foot that Elliot could feel the blood seeping out and trickling down almost in rhythm to the beat of his racing heart.

"You know what will make this stop Elliot. Tell us where your friends are hiding and Neal won't have to move on to… more interesting pursuits." Andy said as Neal was cleaning off one of his blades.

Elliot looked at Neal out of the corner of his eye and watched the rhythmic motion of the other man cleaning Elliot's own blood off the blade. "Give me your best shot."

Andy sighed. "I was really really hoping you wouldn't say that." He slumped back into the chair, an almost dejected look on his face. "Neal?"

Neal pulled out what looked like some kind of handheld clamp device. Andy pulled out an extra length of rope, tying down Elliot's forearm more securely to the arm of the chair, but also in locations that meant any movement made the fresh cuts on Elliot's arms burn with agony.

Andy held out Elliot's hand, holding it so that his forefinger and pointer finger were held out straight. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Elliot's eyes widened as the clamp device gripped the fingernail on his forefinger and Neal yanked.

White hot fire raced up Elliot's arm. The cuts had turned into an aching constant throb after a while. This was new. The blood poured more freely, and the air itself felt like it was setting his wounded finger on fire. Elliot bit down on his already mashed up lips, trying to stifle the noise even though he knew the other two had heard.

"More?" When Elliot didn't respond, he was too busy trying not to focus on the pain, Neal did it again, only this time to the pointer finger. The agony raced up his arm one more time, and in the aftermath it almost felt as if Elliot couldn't get his fingers to move at all… like Neal had pulled off more than just the nail.

Before Elliot could even think, Andy broke both fingers, which Elliot almost thought of as a blessing. Numb was better than shooting pain.

"Now are we going to move on to the other fingers? There are eight more after all. And then we can move on to the toes." Andy said.

"Fuck you." Elliot spit out.

Andy shrugged. "Okay." He repositioned Elliot's hand so Neal could more easily access his pinky and ring fingers next.

Elliot struggled against the hold, but that just reminded him of the cuts that were all over his arms, rubbed raw and fresh against the coarse rope. In what seemed like a blink of the eye Neal had pulled off the next two fingernails, and Andy had broken the fingers.

"Now the thumb is the trickiest. Hurts like a bitch too." Andy whistled. "You think the other fingers were bad? Thumb's the worst." Andy put his hand on his chest. "I'm talking from personal experience here." Elliot gave the briefest of looks to Andy's thumb and saw the slightly crooked finger and the discolored nail.

Elliot thought he could handle it. Except for the flash of pain in the moment it happened, everything had been dulling down into an ache Elliot could push out of his mind.

Pulling out the thumbnail hurt more than his other four fingers, but it was Andy breaking his thumb that pushed Elliot over. Elliot watched in slow motion, as Andy had to break the finger not once, but twice in order for it to really become useless. It hung there for a few moments like a dead piece of meat on his hand.

Elliot's own voice sounded far away as he said, "I'll tell you where they are. Just stop. Please?"

*****

Andy was wiping his hands on his handkerchief when Cook came back into the room. After telling them where Young and Daughtry were, Andy had dressed most of the more serious wounds Elliot had, his torn fingernail beds being his first priority, before untying him and letting Michael escort the other man to the hospital. They weren't completely heartless bastards. Even if they all wanted Young and Daughtry's heads on a platter. Well Neal just wanted to have some fun, so his motives were a little less complex.

Cook had passed Michael and Elliot in the hall. Cook saw the larger man helping the other man out, even though it looked more like Elliot was using Michael as a leaning post.

"Didn't even get to the toes." Neal looked like he had a pout on his face as he placed the last of his blades into his bag.

Cook laughed. "Maybe I'll let you have Daughtry as a play thing."

"He's more of a thorn in your side than Young?" Andy asked, slightly curious.

"Oh more than you'd believe." Cook snarled. "Young just kills. Daughtry takes pleasure in it."

Neal raised his eyebrow. "Daughtry doesn't know when to stop." Cook said off the look, knowing that he had practically made a dig at what Neal had just done.

"Is he going to be okay?" Cook asked, tilting his head towards the outer hallway.

"Nothing a good fuck and some time off won't cure." Neal said as he zipped the bag closed.

"And we got the information we needed." Andy said as he put his handkerchief in his back pocket.

"So?"

"Yamin said they're hiding in some brownstone on 86th Street. Apparently the house is owned by Yamin's cousin who's in England on business until next month." Andy smiled a shark's smile.

"Well then we'll try not to mess it up too badly." Cook said as the trio left the room.

Mike was a little ways down the hall, slightly out of breath. "I just saw Sarver slip out the back with Yamin. Did we get it?"

Cook nodded his head. "Tell Ryan to end the set early tonight." He paused. "We've got some rabid dogs to put down."

"And Archie?" Mike asked.

Cook thought it over for a moment. "Have Matt run over to Kris and Adam's place. If he really wants to kill them, I'd rather have it happen here than anywhere else."

"So you're not going to kill them on sight?" Andy asked.

Cook turned to his childhood friend. "They killed Archie's entire family. No matter what I feel, it's only right that we let Archie have the final choice."

Andy's only response was to nod his head in agreement. "So who going to come with us?"

Cook was glad that Andy, and in effect Neal, were going to support whatever Cook choose. He had butted heads with them so much over the years it was a small part of the reason he had been glad that his father had given him Hell's Kitchen to run. He was feeling trapped in Boston, and the change in scenery, for all that had happened and was going to happen, was good for him.

"We're going to get everybody."

*****

Cook stared at the innocuous brownstone for a few silent moments. It looked like any other home of the street, bearing no indication that it housed two killers who needed to be put in their place.

Luke ran back up after checking out the layout of the street and the alleyway. "There's an entrance in the front and one on the side. There's also a basement, but there's no way they're getting out that way since it's only a window that not even I could really fit thorough." He said as he unholstered his gun. "I don't think they ever counted on being found."

"Good. Makes this easier." Cook said.

Michael raised his eyebrow. "But it's Young and Daughtry."

"That just makes it more fun." Neal said as he checked his own gun.

Cook indicated Jason, Luke and Andy. "Go to the alleyway and stop them if they come out that way. Mike, Neal and I will knock on the front door."

Neal smiled. "The direct approach."

Cook turned to his stepbrother. "Thought you'd like that."

Cook smiled as he knocked on the front door. Neal was already prepared to kick the door in with his foot as soon as either one of them were at the door.

They all watched as the doorknob twisted, hearing Young say, "Hey Elliot, I thought we weren't going to see you until later."

At the word 'later', Neal kicked the door open. The shock on Young's face instantly turned to hatred when he saw that both Michael and Cook had their guns trained on him. "Twitch and you're dead." Cook said. "Might shoot you just for the fun of it too."

"Chris!" Young yelled. Cook shot him in the shoulder. "That was fun." He said as Young collapsed to the ground, holding his shoulder. Michael pressed his foot down on Young's midsection, only giving him the comfort of pressing his own hand into the wound. Neal slipped past the two and went off towards the footsteps he heard Daughtry make as he tried to escape out the alley. "Move again and I'll shoot the other shoulder."

"You're just going to kill me anyway." Young spat as Michael pressed down harder.

"I'm not the judge of that." Cook said simply as the three of them heard several crashes in another section of the house. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cook heard Neal say. The cock of his gun echoed in the lower level of the house. Cook could imagine the large gun Neal liked to carry resting up against Daughtry's head.

If Daughtry was smart he would stop in his tracks. If not, well Archie was just going to have to live with the disappointment of only killing one of the two people that had destroyed his family.

Cook saw Luke escorting Daughtry out of the corner of his eye. Neal still had his gun trained on Daughtry's head though. "Don't trust this one." Neal sneered as he hit Daughtry on the head with the side of his gun. Daughtry turned and gave Neal a returning sneer.

"I've got the rope." Jason said as he wiggled the cord.

"Tie that idiot up first." Cook said as he indicated Daughtry. Cook heard the hiss as Jason tied Daughtry's hands particularly tight behind his back. Neal cold-cocked Daughtry one more time as Jason stepped around them and went over to where Cook and Michael were still training their guns on Young. "Tie him up too. Take his gun. Luke, you want to help him up?" Cook smirked as Luke was none to careful in raising Young onto his feet so Jason could tie his hands together.

Cook jerked his gun in the direction of the front door. "We're going on a little trip. So if either of you," at that he moved his gun from Young to Daughtry, "does any more than put one foot in front of the other, you're getting shot in the knees. Got that?" At their non-response, Cook said, "Let's go."

****

David was sitting at the bar, trying to take his mind off of where Cook was by having a coke and talking to Chikeze. The other man was glad to have the company as he prepped bar for the night, cleaning glasses and actually being able to talk to someone instead of just humming to himself as he worked.

But for all he tried to concentrate on what Chikeze was telling him, David was distracted. Matt had been practically out of breath when he'd gotten to Kris and Adam's, his words falling over each other as he told them that Elliot Yamin had cracked and confessed where Young and Daughtry were hiding, that Cook had taken everyone and was going to get them, and that they needed to
eave now if they were going to be back at the club in time.

David wasn't distracted because he was worrying about Cook, but more about what was going to happen when Cook came back. For how confident he had been that Young and Daughtry should pay for killing his family, David didn't have the confidence in himself that he could go through with the deed. It was killing someone. Granted, it was two people that definitely wouldn't be missed and everyone would be better off, but in the end David's dark desire was to end two lives. Hell he'd never even fired a gun before.

"You know Cook's not going to think anything less of you if you can't do it. I told Cook a long time ago that I don't mind what he does, but I can't kill somebody. Don't have it in me." Chikeze seemed to be reading David's thoughts. "And Cook respects me for that. Few guys would."

David nervously took a drink of his soda, trying to collect the thoughts swirling around in his head. "I want to? Or at least I think I do… I haven't wanted to do something so… bad… ever. But it's still…"

"Ending another life."

"Yeah." David sighed. "I… I keep having nightmares, about what must have happened… I can't get it out of my head."

Chikeze stopped what he was doing. "Killing those idiots isn't going to change that."

David bit his lip. "Maybe it will?" David kind of hoped maybe it would put something to rest.

"David, just… make sure you're going to be okay with it. Whatever you choose." Chikeze got out as they heard a ruckus outside the side door. David watched as the door opened and Cook lead everyone into the club, Young and Daughtry tied up and walking between them with some guy David didn't recognize holding his gun to Daughtry's temple and Luke with his gun to Young's head.

"Take them downstairs and truss them up." Cook said. "We'll be down in a minute."

"Come on ya numbnuts." The mysterious man said as he pushed his gun harder into Daughtry's skull. "Gonna wrap you up all pretty like."

Cook and Mike came over to the bar while everyone else walked Young and Daughtry downstairs. Chikeze had two shot glasses filled by the time Cook and Mike got to the bar. "Thanks." Cook said as they both knocked back shots. "Are you ready for this?"

David sighed. "No?"

"Arch, you don't have to do this. I can just go down and take care of them myself." Cook touched his shoulder. "I swear it's okay."

David bit his lip. "No I… I need to do this. If I don't… I don't know if I'll ever be able to go to sleep without seeing them."

Cook engulfed David in a hug, David resting his head on Cook's shoulder. "You should have told me." Cook whispered into David's ear.

"I thought it would go away, I really did. And then I wouldn't have to worry you about it." David muttered.

Cook pulled David back and looked him straight in the eye. "Get that idiot thought out of your head. I'd be worried more if you didn't tell me. At least then I know what you're thinking about. This whole time… I didn't know how you were handling it because you didn't want to tell me." Cook pulled David to him and put his forehead against his. "That worried the crap out of me."

Mike let out a cough. "If the lovers are done?" Cook gave him a look.

Cook turned back to David. "Let's go do this alright?" He stepped back to let David get off the barstool.

David took Cook's hand and Cook gave it a squeeze as they walked down to the basement level. Cook stopped the two of them before they entered the room. "Last time Archie. You sure about this?"

David took a breath. "I'm never going to get over this if I don't do it."

"You don't need…"

David tore his hand out of Cook's grasp. "Stop telling me what I need. All I've been thinking about these last few days is what I should and shouldn't be doing." He spat. He turned to Cook. "You told me once that if I had to convince myself about something, then it probably wasn't something I should do. Do you know what I've been thinking?" He paused. "Why I shouldn't do it. Not that I should. That… I'm not even thinking about."

Cook walked up to David and pulled him into a fierce hug. "It's okay, Archie. It's okay."

David suddenly started crying into Cook's shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he raised his head after a few moments. "Thanks. I think I needed that."

Cook ruffled David's hair. "Anytime." David didn't stop the smile that curled his lips.

David put his hand on the doorknob. He counted to five before turning it and going inside.

The mysterious man who had his gun to Daughtry's head when the group had come in was in the room, along with Jason and Luke. All three of them had their guns unholstered and in a loose grip in their hands, just in case something happened.

David didn't see how that was possible though. Daughtry and Young were tied down tight to two old wooden chairs side by side. Both of their mouths were stuffed with cloth so they couldn't talk, and David noticed that Young was bleeding from the shoulder. "Why'd you shoot him?" David asked.

"He misbehaved." The mysterious man said with a cruel smile.

"Neal." Cook warned as he unholstered his gun. He held it out butt first to David. "Last time to back out."

David snatched the gun swiftly. "Stop saying that."

Cook shrugged. "Call me devil's advocate."

"You want to take the gags out?" Luke asked. He seemed to be asking Cook, but Cook was going to go with David on this.

"No." David said quickly. "No." He repeated more slowly. He stood in front of Young. Better to put him out of his misery sooner, David thought.

Cook stood behind David. "Hold the gun up. Just like last time." David briefly flashed to when this all started, the standoff between the two of them. He held the gun up, his arms shaking for a moment before steadying. Cook placed his hand over David's. "Grip the gun like this." Cook moved David's grip on the gun slightly. "Cock the hammer." David's hand was the one on the gun, but Cook was the one actually doing the action. "And put gentle even pressure on the trigger." Cook's finger was over David's on the trigger, but Cook wasn't going to exert the pressure to do it.

David counted to five again before putting pressure on the trigger. The gun was louder than he thought, or maybe that was just the pounding of his heart, and the force pushed him back into Cook's chest.

But Young still had a hole in his head, even if it wasn't perfectly in the center of it.

Daughtry's screams and curses were muffled, but everyone in the room got their intention clearly enough. Neal moved around and punched him in the gut, Daughtry unable to curl inward because of how he was tied up.

David moved over so he had an easier shot in front of Daughtry. Even with the gag, he could see the sneer on Daughtry's face though. "Makes it easier." David said softly as he held the gun aloft again. Cook was behind him, holding his arms straight, but when the gun went off next, it was all David.

The gun was still smoldering when David let it drop to the floor. He puked up the soda and the small amount of food he had eaten earlier in the day on the other side. No one said anything about it as David wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

Cook picked his gun up off the floor and rubbed circles on David's back. "Let's get out of here. Luke, Jayce…"

"We've got it." Luke said.

David's eyes were barely open as he, Cook and Neal walked out of the room. He didn't open them fully until they had made it back upstairs. Where he was immediately hugged by Carly.

"Oh baby." Carly said. "You want to get something to drink? Eat?" David shook his head. "You want to lay down?" David nodded his head.

Cook kissed the top of David's head. "Take care of him Carls." Carly put her arm around David's shoulders and walked the two of them back towards the dressing room in the back.

Cook took a deep breath. The only thing his body wanted right in that moment was to go with David and lay down on the pullout couch. But his head told him now was the best time to strike at the Guarini family. They hopefully didn't know that Daughtry and Young had been captured and killed, giving Cook the upper hand.

"So how do you want to do this?" Andy asked.

Cook sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We've always known where Guarini is, it's just been a matter of… courtesy that we haven't done anything. But now that's all changed. So I think we hit them hard, and we hit them fast."

"When do you want to do it?" Mike asked.

Cook thought about it for a moment. "Dawn."

"Catch them with their pants down. I like it." Neal smiled wide.

*****

"So that's it then." Cook sighed as he collapsed into a chair around the large table that had all the plans for the Guarini home and their main warehouse.

"Can't think of anything else we need to worry about." Adam said pushing back his black hair and heaving a sigh. Both him and Kris had shown up almost immediately after Cook had started putting plans into motion, helping dispose of the two bodies and pointing out weak spots and flaws in the security for both locations.

"It still seems almost too easy." Neal said from his position across from Cook at the large table.

"This isn't the MacNally family." Cook said with a smile.

"That was fun though." Neal smiled back.

"Were you dropped on your head as a child or something?" Mike asked Neal point blank.

"Hey!" Andy and Cook exclaimed. Neal growled in Mike's direction.

Mike raised his hands. "Sorry mate." Neal raised his eyebrow.

Neal and Mike had been baiting each other all night, but Cook was finding it oddly enjoyable. He knew the two of them didn't really mean anything by it, but it was still entertaining to watch nonetheless to see how far the two of them would go.

Cook knew when enough was enough though. "Okay guys, stop." Cook checked his pocket watch. "It's already 4 am, and if we're going to do this right, I need everybody here."

"Yeah, yeah." Mike said. "So it's going to be you, me, Kris, Adam, Neil and Luke at the house and everyone else is going to the warehouse right?"

"I'm still pissed that me and Carly can't come and kick Guarini in the balls." Kristy sulked from her seat between Jason and Luke.

"I'm glad you want to help take Guarini down, but going to the house is going to be a lot more hectic than the warehouse. I want my favorite girls safe." Cook smiled at Kristy Lee.

"Fine." She huffed one last time, protest dying on her lips.

The door to the back rooms opened a sliver and everyone at the table watched Carly slip out and close the door. "Archie's finally sleeping." She said as she sat down on the arm of Michael's chair. Michael wrapped an arm around her waist as Carly gave it a squeeze. "Poor baby was more exhausted than anything."

"Alli?" Kris asked.

"She's okay with watching Archie until we get back. Going to wake him up if he starts having nightmares again." Carly said. "So are we ready to do this?"

"Get your knives baby girl." Mike gave Carly's bare shoulder a kiss. "We're going hunting.

*****

It was surprisingly easy to disarm the guards around the Guarini compound. In less than twenty minutes all three were incapacitated. "Not having fun yet." Neal whined as the six of them were huddled around the side door, waiting for Kris to finish picking the lock to gain access.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Hold your horses."

Cook gave Neal's shoulder a hard slap. "You'll be busy enough when we get inside."

Kris dusted off his hands as he put away the lock pick. "Too easy." He said as he placed his hand on the door, the slightest pressure allowing the door to give way. Adam gave his boyfriend a quick kiss as the six of them passed through the door.

Cook took a quick look down the long arching hallway to make sure they were alone. "Okay, Kris and I are going to Guarini, and the rest of you are going to clean out the house."

"It all goes to shit, meet back at the Idol. We've got it." Neal rolled his eyes. Adam gave Kris's hand a squeeze before the two groups separated, Neal, Mike, Luke and Adam going left while Kris and Cook went right. Kris and Adam were the only ones who knew the layout of the Guarini house, so it made sense for the two of them to lead the teams going inside.

Kris and Cook kept to the dwindling shadows of predawn as much as they could, only making any extra amount of noise when they had to take down one of the guards. Kris lead Cook left, right, and left again, Cook barely keeping track of where they were going in the house.

Kris finally stopped at a T in a hallway, giving a quick look down the intersecting hallway. Kris held up two fingers, indicating how many guards, plus he mouthed the word "bedroom". Cook dashed over to the other side of the hall. Counting down from three, the two of them simultaneously turned into the mouth of the hall, shooting both guards before they had a chance to pull their guns.

Reaching the large double doors that lead into the bedroom, Kris and Cook dragged the two bodies off to the side before reaching towards the doorknobs for the bedroom. Cook tested the knob and gave a nod of his head when he realized they were unlocked.

They each grabbed a knob. "Go." Cook said as the two of them twisted at the same time.

Even though they had their guns cocked and loaded, neither of them saw the knife coming. "Shit." Cook cursed as he saw one of Guarini's signature knives embedded in his shoulder. He would have figured that Guarini slept with a knife under his pillow. Cook slept with his gun within easy access after all.

"I'm actually surprised it took you this long." Guarini sneered. Cook had his gun trained on Guarini while Kris had his trained on Kelly, the brunette holding up the bed sheet to her chest. Kelly wouldn't go down quietly though, and both Kris and Cook knew that.

"I had some business to take care of first." Cook said as he pulled the knife out of his gun shoulder and tossed it to the side, letting out a small hiss.

"So they are dead then." Guarini sighed. "I told them running to Elliot was a bad idea."

"We were going to find them; it was only a matter of time." Cook hissed.

"Well when you have the two of them on your side, time moves rather fast." Guarini turned towards Kris. "I didn't believe the rumors that The Ghosts had actually chosen a side. You pride yourselves on never choosing one."

"That was before you decided to kill an innocent kid's family. I know David. I *like* David. That was your mistake." Kris said evenly.

"It happens." Guarini shrugged. "So why haven't you shot me yet?" He asked Cook.

"I wanted to ask you a question." Guarini raised his eyebrow so Cook continued. "What the hell did you have to gain? This whole time, Carrie, Archie's family, everyone else…"

Guarini laughed. "You've had it so easy. Your stepfather comes in and takes over like my father was a pesky fly on the wall. Hell's Kitchen was supposed to be mine." He seethed. "But in you come, with your charm and people who were willing to follow you to the ends of the earth and all you had to do was smile." Guarini gave Cook a cold look. "I did the only thing that made sense."

"Asshole." The words had barely left Cook's mouth before he had finished pulling the trigger.

Guarini fell backwards onto the bed, the sheets staining red as the wound in his chest seeped blood into the sheets. Kelly tugged the bedsheet with her as she scrambled out of the bed to get away from any more of the blood. Cook could see the tears threatening to spill in her eyes.

All three of them could hear the sound of sirens off in the distance. The rest of the guys must have missed someone before they were able to call the police. "Go." Kelly said softly, staring at the bed. "The cops will be here soon."

"Kels…"

Kelly looked coldly at Cook. "Unless you want to actually get pinned for this, get out. But we're done Dave. Done."

Cook nodded slowly as both he and Kris started running.

*****

It was weird, Cook thought, that for so long he went without any kind of affection or tactile touch that he now craved it like breathing.

Kris and Cook had made it back to the Idol as fast as their legs could carry them. They didn't see anyone else, but the plan had been for everyone to take different routes back to the speakeasy, so Cook wasn't surprised.

Once Cook stepped inside he was slammed into full tilt by David and given one of the biggest hugs he'd remember being on the receiving end of in a long time.

Cook heard Allison's laugh from over in the stage area. "He's been wanting to do that for the last three hours. Only way I could prevent him from going nuts was getting him to play the piano." She commented as Kris walked over to where she was sitting on the piano bench and gave Allison a hug before sitting next to her.

"We the first ones back?" Kris asked as he put his arm around Allison and she snuggled into his side. Allison nodded. Kris gave Cook a look over David's head. Something was wrong if they were the first ones back.

Cook was going to worry about that once he was done enjoying having David's arms around him though. "Hey Arch."

"Glad you're back." David muttered into Cook's chest.

"Wouldn't be anywhere else." Cook said.

David raised his head and looked up. It was then that he noticed the dark mark on Cook's shirt sleeve. "What… are you hurt?" David touched the spot and his finger came away red. "You're bleeding?" He turned to Allison. "Get me the med kit Alli?" He asked as Allison rushed off and he lead Cook over to the main table that was still stacked with plans and papers from the night before. "Take this off." David tugged at the shirt as Cook started undressing.

"You going to take care of me now?" Cook smirked.

"Something like that." David's hands ghosted over the knife wound in Cook's shoulder. "Who did this?"

"Guarini. He's dead though." Cook watched Allison place the kit down and David get to work. David took out the gauze and made quick work of wrapping the wound. Cook was impressed with the efficiency David had and made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"So does that mean it's over now?" David asked as Cook rebuttoned his shirt.

Cook nodded. "There's going to be some… issues with some of Guarini's lackey's on the street, but it's nothing we can't handle."

Neal and Adam crashed through the door. "Where's Luke and Mike?"

The two of them collapsed into chairs. "Luke got shot in the leg with a through and through when one of Guarini's men got the drop on us. We had to take him to the hospital. Johns is going to stay with him until the doc gives him walking papers." Adam said.

"Is he going to be okay?" Cook asked.

Adam nodded. "It'll scar something terrible, but he'll be up and around once it heals up."

Cook nodded and sighed when he saw Carly, Andy, Jason and Kristy Lee walk through the door next. "How'd it go?"

"Guarini's main warehouse is burning down as we speak." Kristy Lee couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Where's Luke?" The smile slipped off her face when she saw who was missing.

"And Mike?" Carly asked.

"Luke got shot in the leg and Mike's staying with him until the doctor gives him the okay." Cook said, hissing when he wrapped his injured arm around David.

Carly rested against the edge of the table next to Cook. "So what happened to you?" She nudged his uninjured shoulder.

"One last gift from Guarini. One of his damn knives found it's way into my shoulder."

"I'm guessing that's before you killed him." Carly smirked. Cook nodded. "And that's all there is to it. If it's all the same to you I'm going go back to my place and try and get some actual sleep for once." Carly turned towards Archie. "You going to be okay?" She ruffled David's hair.

David nodded as he tucked his face into the crook of Cook's neck.

"We'll stick around until Mike gets back with news on Luke and then I think Arch and I are going to go on a bit of a vacation. Might even leave Mike in charge." Cook said as he started playing with the soft hairs at the base of David's scalp.

"Oh he'll love that." Carly said as she was walking away. She raised her hand and waved goodbye to the group before walking out the door.

Carly leaving seemed to be the excuse everyone needed to start walking out and going back to their own homes. Kris, Adam and Allison left first, the trio making Archie promise he'd come by and visit again when his life wasn't being threatened. Jason was going to the hospital so Mike could check in with Cook and then go home himself. Kristy Lee almost immediately chirped in that she was going to go with Jason, and Cook tried to keep the smirk off his face. It seemed like Kristy Lee was finally going to stop flirting with all those college boys after her set. Not that Cook was going to say anything. He liked his balls right where they were.

"So I guess baby brother really does have it all handled." Neal said when it was just him, Andy, Cook and David left in the speakeasy.

"I can see your broken up about it." Cook smirked.

"Ass. I'm being serious for once." Neal balled up one of the errant pieces of paper on the desk and threw it so it harmlessly bounced off of Cook. "Dad was worried about you too." He muttered.

"Well you can stop worrying. I've made my place here. And I plan on staying for a long time." Cook's hand stilled where it was still playing with the hair at the nape of David's neck.

Andy rolled his eyes. "If you ever manage to say you're proud of him I might die of shock."

"Shut your trap." Neal said, which started a squabbling match between him and Andy.

"Hey Arch…" Cook trailed off when he realized that David had finally fallen asleep huddled to Cook's side.

Cook smiled, yeah, he wasn't going anywhere for a long time yet. Maybe forever.