Paul watched his step as he followed behind Blaise's car up the winding gravel road. He parked his car near an abandoned house closer to the highway and had found himself walking for nearly ten minutes in search of where Blaise disappeared to. He went with his instincts to keep an eye on his target, knowing well that he wouldn't take him up on the drink invitation for later that night.

       Paul watched intently from a rest stop as Blaise's car sat on the side of the road for an extended amount of time. Where could he be headed? With Niamh in tow?

     "Son." At the sound of Joseph's voice from a far, Paul stooped lower moving closer to the trees.  In his line of sight appeared Niamh's back. She stood forming fists with both hands as Blaise whispered to her.

    " It's going to make sense okay? If you get uncomfortable or it's too much for you, let me know. Do you promise?"

   Niamh turned around frightening Paul for he thought he would have been spotted. He stopped breathing but didn't change his position. When she simply wiped a hand over the front column of her neck and turned back towards the house, he let out a silent haggard sigh. He saw her fidget with the placement of her hands. Pushing them into her pants pockets, wrapping them around her middle. Her unsure state vanished when Blaise's hand reached out to her wrist. The lovers clasped their fingers into the other's hand walking as one.

      Joseph nodded his head in acknowledgement of the two as they entered the home. With no second looks behind them, Paul was assured that his being there remained unknown. Counting to twenty, he advanced to the house, avoiding the gravel to lessen the noise

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

      " How are you doing today sweetheart?"

     The creak in the floorboards answered Joseph.  The taste in Niamh's mouth was bittersweet. The warm smile he attempted brought out the admirable affection she always held for the man. Her eyes burrowed into his not wavering even under the pressure she felt slowly but surely winding around her body, putting a strain on her innards.

     "Not exactly the most appropriate question I'm afraid." Joseph's blood flew to the surface of his face so rapidly Niamh was sure his pores would begin leaking the thick liquid. His mouth stayed agape in an effort to say words to somehow defend the comment he suddenly saw as insensitive. Blaise had already revealed what Joseph had hoped to alleviate when he had got them settled in and alone.

     " I must say Joseph. I don't have the time-nor the strength-for sweetness. None at all. I'm worn down to the bone, my flesh is weak.  I don't want to pussyfoot around our issues here. What do you have to tell me about Daniel? About you Kincaids?"  Their bodies had natural shifted within the moments of them standing in the vast empty room. The box in his arm were pulled closer to his side as he bit his numb cheek.

    "Joseph?" Niamh cleared her throat, her hand tightened around Blaise's who had no intention to release her.

     " I would ask you to sit but as you can see....Can you follow me?"

     " Don't drag me around. Please, that's the least you could do right now." Niamh tilted her head back on the verge of tears from agitation.

    " No dear, I won't. I just don't have seats in the open. Follow me."

    " Blaise I'm not looking to be  talked to like -"

   " Let's go to see okay?" Blaise pulled her into his body by her arm hearing the panic in her voice hiccup. His father stood at the door of the last room....the room with the lone box from his last visit here with Niamh. He had made separate trips since then, seeking out whatever he could to explain the lack of things in the home.

      "Guys..."  Niamh was the first to take a step in his direction.

     Loud beeping sounded in the home coming from the small cell phone in Joseph's pocket.

      He recognized it as an alert system he had setup  to warn him of any unidentified movement around anyone of his properties. Reaching into his pocket, he saw the draw list light up their current location in an orange tint. Dismissing it as a forest critter, he aborted the alert.

     " That was pretty damn loud." Blaise's eyebrow rose as he watched his father. He too knew what that sound had meant." Should we be concerned?"

    " Concerned of what?"

    " No one knows of us out here dad?" Blaise looked to the walls where in an ordinary place, windows would have sat. The design seemed wonderful to him then. Who knew what the hell was outside, especially when they couldn't see beyond the thick walls.

    " I get the most messages for this place Blaise. Of course it has to be all of the animals running around. Now come on." Joseph urged.

     " Ah hell. " Niamh tried to shrug out of Blaise's hold. Did she really feel like sitting up in an incognito home possibly under attack while she finds out the depth of her tragic life story?

   No.

     "Before you make up your mind-no listen, please-let me show you something okay? That's all I'm asking right now." Without waiting for the harsh look on Niamh's face to vanish, Joseph stepped into the room opening the closet door that Blaise and Niamh had both seen as bare.

     He stretched one arm out to the high corner of the closet. Neither of them had seen it, but somehow he managed to mesmerize them both as the wall collapsed backwards to the ground. Before them was what appeared to be a lair decked out in secrecy. There was a narrow staircase leading down into the spacious room. It was one compartment of many he had built underground.

   She tried to fight her awe, holding back her gasp of impressment. What Niamh did manage to do was instantly take the first steps down, holding onto the steps as she carefully scooted on her bottom since there were no railing.

     " What the hell are you old man?" Looking to his father, Blaise read the disheveled weariness that plagued him." If you were an unsuspecting victim in all of this," he said through clenched teeth as he caught Joseph by his sleeve preventing him from descending the stairs," I would have sympathy...maybe even pity for you.  "

     " I don't need your pity. As long as Joseph Kincaid is my name, you better remember that I am your father. Get your hands off of me.Now."

     " I can love you dad-I will for all of my life. But I don't like you. I don't like what you have been hiding. What you've been casting off has resulted in my mother not being here, in me having a brother. A brother who the woman I love is suffering from not seeing because we share the exact connection. Tell me how fucked up that is. Tell me I don't have every right to disregard your role as my father. In the end, my father was simply replacing the man you truly are. I'm not going to forget this ever.  In regards to her,--" Blaise indicated to Niamh roaming the bottom floor,"-I can forget that you're my father. I was a child when mom left. I've been ignorant throughout this entire ordeal, but not anymore. I can see the gears in your mind working. You want to use Niamh, am I correct? With all that I have, I can't allow it. I just can't. That's where I will draw the line and defend it."

    " Whatever I have planned son, is all up to Niamh. There is a pending disaster out there. Ready and pulsing...literally. Niamh will do what's right. I know she will, and you won't prevent her from making that decision. Not with all that's at stake."

    " She's not your mop."

    Joseph's stern look resembled many that he had given Blaise when he had stepped out of line when he was younger. It was a warning sign to the ass ripping sure to come later.

    It didn't have the same effect as before.

      " You've destroyed our own family dad, and the Deges's. Just when am I allowed to step in?" He said bitingly.

     " In T minus five seconds I'll walk right out of here if you two just stand there whispering." Niamh had one leg propped up on the bottom step, wringing out her wrists as she waited for them to come to the level she was on.

Ooooooooo

   Paul covered his ears as the loud siren like sound came from inside the home. It left an irritating ringing in his ears which caused him to jump back from the home. The sound seemed to coming from every direction of the home like surround sound speakers.

     " What the actual fuck...." He cursed under his breath. He gracefully leapt onto the porch, studying the front of the home. He listened for voices, but they were entirely too distant-almost completely inaudible. There was no way to peer into the home which he was grateful for because that meant he could remain unseen.

     Of course the door would be locked.

     He didn't even waste his time with jiggling the handle to see. Paul figured there could be a spare key somewhere near. Of course he felt that was completely too easy given the people he was dealing with, but sometimes what you least expect can turn out to be true. His hand dived into the mulch lining the doorstep, feeling anywhere for depressions or the hint of a key.

    He stood on his tiptoes to feel in the overhanding above the door. But there was nothing.

    Behind the house number maybe? The only problem was that the metal numbers did not budge.

    A panel along the doorframe stood out to Paul. With his observation skills, he easily spotted the piece of would which seemed newer than the rest. It was more prominent. Stood out too much.

     His fingers lined the perimeter of the rectangle.

     A smirk itched on his face once he removed the wood entirely as he helped himself to the lone key he held in his palm.

    How stupid would it be of him to risk his chance and just barge into the home? Surely there could be someone else standing on the other side of that door.

    "Don't drag your ass anymore Royer!"

       The door popped open with unabated tenseness. No instant movement.

    He had to have been in the clear.

    Paul entered carefully, trying out his footing on the floor.  His eyes scanned around the room, hooking onto the shadows disappearing in the only open bedroom to his left.

     "...I'll walk right out of here if you two just stand there whispering."

     Niamh.

     The direction from which her voice travelled from struck Paul as odd. It was as if she were standing either far far away or below him. There were only two bodies that he had seen when he first entered. Where could she be?

      From nowhere, the high pitched whining he fell victim to earlier resonated   again the instant he took another step further into the home. It was much more urgent this time as he crouched on the spot holding his temples to keep from groaning outloud.

     " Could you check that thing out? It's killing me." Blaise could be faintly heard. Paul's tear rimmed eyes stretched to their max as he tried to get the sound out of his head.

    "This isn't right. The monitors only show squirrels." The movement from the room slowed to a halt.

     "Go through that door there."

      " What do you mean?"

      " Just go." Joseph whispered to Niamh. What couldn't be seen by Paul was Joseph ushering his son to a cabinet of weapons he had strategically stored in the hidden room. He never knew when unwanted members of The Family would pay him a visit in the four years of working in this space. He always made sure to have some sort of defense at his hands at all costs.

      Joseph kept the alarm running, not wanting to end it and give the intruder the chance to hear them coming.

    Paul began to sniff as his nostril filled with the scent of pool chemicals. A warm drip fell on to his arm as his nose released blood.

      "Justin?"

     The sound finally ceased.

     Heavy footsteps moved to Paul, ripping him from his knees to his unsteady feet. From the other end of the barrel of the gun was Blaise staring intently at the misplaced man.

    " You sure as hell don't belong out here."

   Joseph lowered the gun he himself wielded." Let him go Blaise."

     " Excuse me?"

    " For Christ's sakes he's bleeding on my floor. Let him go." Paul finally gained his composure and was able to shove Blaise away from him. They all watched each other, measuring up the situation.

     " I'm over all of these surprise appearances and bullshit. So if you do not mind...." Niamh stood against the door, completely  not amused by everything.

    With a quick grab, Blaise drew Paul by his collar and pushed him before him towards the room. Paul held his hands up showing he was partly innocent. With his training, he could hurt Blaise, and didn't really want that. Blaise was a man just his size and no doubt could hold his own against him.

   Niamh remained at the door with her arms crossed unmoving as the three men walked by. Joseph turned to once again check the security of the front lock.

     " Come on fam..." She said sarcastically," I just can't wait for this little get together here."