#(and the image it brings to mind is owie so skip over if any of that makes you squeamish)

[shallliveoninsong]

Mercy Guides our Hand

"No! Please don't--"

Pleas were cut off by the dousing of the forbidden books oil. The Reader can't bear to look but the masked leaders hold them in place, kneeling on the floor of their hidden room that housed their collection of illegal books.

Despite all their screaming the sound of a match being struck still seems to echo throughout the small room.

In a blink of an eye, years of hard work, carefully smuggled priceless information that the Commonwealth went through great lengths to hide, compelling personal stories, and years of precious memories of the Reader are aflame.

"Stop! Those are mine! Please!"

They do not see the Reader's tears. Or more likely, do not care. The bone white masks of the leaders supply no response.

Save for one.

The figure says nothing, but the Reader recognizes the Archjustice. He gives some hand signal to the other leaders of the Commonwealth.

The Reader is yanked back and their legs held down. Wordlessly the Archjustice approaches, the base of his golden staff echoing taps on the wooden floor as he steps forward.

The Reader's turmoil of grief at the loss of their precious collection is interrupted, albeit briefly, by confusion. They expected to have been dragged off already to be cast downriver as an exile. Or at the very least thrown into a holding cell until the accommodations for the sentencing ceremony could be made for them to be cast into the Downside.

The Archjustice puts the criminal's questions to rest.

He brings the staff down upon the lower limbs of the guilty. Once. Twice. Thrice-- The Reader loses count.

The heavy round decorative piece cracks bone easily, leaving a bloodied mess of mangled swollen limbs behind.

The criminal, the danger to the prosperity of the Commonwealth pleads for him to stop. They cry out for mercy.

Mercy, upon which the Commonwealth is built.

This is mercy.

[thatbluegibson]

CH 76

"So where was Travis off to in such a hurry?" Dave asked.

The boys ran ahead of them towards the little playground in the church grounds at the end of the road and Liz reached for Dave's hand. He was keenly aware that Liz hadn't mentioned anything to the boys about their relationship yet and the last thing he wanted to do was step over any boundaries so he would let her be the affectionate one for once.

He had been nursing his hangover while Liz was at the studio when Travis and the boys showed up early, barging into the house like they had lived there all their lives. Dave had been nervous about meeting them and although Owen took an immediate liking to him, Jack seemed a little aloof. He dutifully shook Dave's hand and politely introduced himself, but the moment Travis and Owen were out of earshot, he started asking questions.

*

"You have tattoos like my daddy," Jack said suddenly.

"Yep," Dave crouched to his eye level and rotated his arm to show him the feathers. "And your mommy."

Jack looked him over with the assessing eye of someone three times his age, then nodded sharply. "Uncle T says you're taking care of my mommy, but she doesn't need taking care of."

"Yeah, isn't that the truth...," he laughed, marveling at how much Jack looked like Kyle. Sandy blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, and tall frame, even for his age.

"So what are you doing here?"

"Well...," Dave thought carefully about how he would state this. He didn't want to say too much but he also wasn't about to lie to Jack. "We're really good friends and we like spending time together so-"

"So you're her boyfriend?"

He might look like Kyle, but he was all Liz in the personality department. There would be no bullshitting this kid. "Yep."

Jack considered this a minute, sending Dave's anxiety through the roof before finally cracking a smile and he dug into his pocket to produce a shiny yellow toy car. "Do you like cars, Mr. Dave?"

*

"The Triumph dealer was calling his name," Liz brought him back to the present with a laugh and they dropped onto a park bench next to the play structure.

"How's recording coming along?" he asked. She had offered precious few details about her time in the studio and he knew it was because she didn't want him meddling but he was curious.

Her smile made his heart lift in his chest "I finally got the piano piece down," she said. "I'm going to mix it back in LA once I find a place."

He knew just the place but decided to save the offer of 606 until later. "Any particular reason you're doing this or is it just for fun?"

She sat back against the bench and he reflexively put his arm around her, "Paul took me on a tour of the studio and suggested I start writing another piece, so I went home and did just that. Then I thought about what you had said about the doctorate and ... well, I made a call to U-Dub, dropped a couple names and the address I was at and they got me in the program almost right away."

"There was zero chance of you sitting still here, huh," Dave chuckled.

Liz raised an eyebrow from behind her aviators but smiled. "Did you sit still when you busted your leg?"

He shook his head almost leaned in to kiss her when Jack's whine rang out to them. "Mommy, I'm so hungry!"

"You just ate lunch!" she cried. "If you can convince your brother to leave we can go get something to eat."

Jack skipped away to plead his case with Owen and Liz reached up to hold Dave's hand. "They've certainly taken a shine to you," she said.

He let out a relieved sigh and grinned. "It really could have gone either way."

"Oh, I doubt that," she laughed. "The key to Jack is to talk to him like he's an equal and the key to Owen is food."

"He says yes, Mommy!," Jack yelled from across the playground, making both Liz and Dave laugh.

"See?"

The boys ran ahead again as Dave and Liz followed them to the edge of the church grounds. "Go through the trees, Jack but stop as soon as you reach the pavement!" she called after them when they paused for a moment at a bank of thick trees and shrubs. Her hand found Dave's again and she sighed sadly. "I'm going to miss this place when I get to LA," she lamented.

"Then you'll have to bring me back here when you haven't been maimed by a stage light and I don't have a tour breathing down my neck."

The fact that he could make her laugh so easily was something he hoped he would never get used to. They could hear the boys laughing and playing in the thicket when they reached the edge of the lawn and the narrow pathway that led to the street. Two stone columns stood on either side of the path and an ominous iron archway connected them several feet in the air.

Liz went a few feet down the path but stopped when she realized Dave wasn't beside her. "What's wrong?" He shifted a little on his feet then looked around to find another route. "Oh my god, are you scared?" she teased.

"I'm not scared," he scoffed and glanced at the ancient headstones jutting up from the earth. "I'm terrified."

"Oh, Dave," she giggled and walked back to him, taking his hand to drag him into the cemetery. "They're just boxes of old bones."

"That's what every pretty girl says at the beginning of a horror movie," he insisted, but let her lead him through the gates. "Next thing you know, your brains are being gnawed on by the undead."

She laughed and reached out to push his hair off his shoulder. "They'd have to get through this mop first, so I think you'll be okay."

He smiled and squeezed her hand, idly thinking about how Halloween would go that year. She could bring the boys over and they could all go door to door, or Taylor and Ally could take the kids and they could stay home under the guise of handing out candy, but just leave the bucket on the porch. His mind was immersed in the possibilities when he heard Jack calling them. Thinking something was wrong he looked up and found they were happily playing in a little clearing marked with another set of iron gates, though these were much smaller. Two white marble lambs topped the stone gateway, laying peacefully as if they were asleep and fresh flowers were set carefully next to each little headstone, all in their own little glass vases.

"Look, Mommy! This one says my name!"

Liz made her way over and knelt down next to him, clearing the leaves from the stone and reading the name with him. They spoke quietly while Dave stood with Owen by the gates so they wouldn't interfere. He recognized the flowers on the graves as the ones in the garden back at the house and he felt his stomach drop. She had obviously cleared the headstones and laid the flowers, but her motives were unclear. Shit, had she lost a baby at some point? Owen tugged on his hand and he bent to pick him up, brushing his long auburn hair back out of his eyes. He looked nothing like Kyle and everything like Liz. Green eyes, dark hair, skin that was quick to blush and eyebrows that would knit together when he was thinking about something. He hadn't yet gotten a feel for his personality but he was hoping Owen took after her like Jack had.

Liz stood up and wiped the dirt from her jeans, gently putting her hand on Jack's shoulder when he looked up at her. "It's okay, buddy. I promise," was all she said and Jack nodded, seemingly satisfied with her words.

"Can Owie and I have a race?" he asked.

Dave set Owen back down and Liz rolled her eyes. "Yes, but where are you supposed to stop?"

Jack and Owen were already running down the path when he yelled over his shoulder, "The pavement!"

Dave watched her carefully as she stepped over a grave and back to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she looked around, realizing he knew it was all her handiwork and said quietly, "I try not to overthink my motives. Poor little things never got a chance."

He wanted to ask her so many things, but the subject was far too heavy for the middle of the day and he chose to shelve it for another time.

*

The pub they had chosen was fairly empty due to mid-day on the high street and they quickly found a quiet corner to settle into.

"And then Pluto became a dwarf planet because of the classification of...," Jack chattered on, holding up Liz's phone with a NASA image of the planet while Dave listened intently and handed him pieces of chicken strips.

"Those pictures make Pluto look a little like the Death Star," Dave said, squinting at the small photo through his glasses.

Jack furrowed his brow and looked to his mother with concern. "What's a Death Star?"

"It's in Star Wars, bud," Liz muttered, distracted by Owen shoving several fries in his mouth at once.

"What's a Star War?"

Dave's jaw dropped a little and he slowly turned to stare at Elizabeth. She glanced over, looking a little sheepish and shrugged. "Dude, I've never seen Star Wars," she admitted.

"That's it," Dave said firmly, jumping up from the table and lifting Jack into his arms. Liz stifled a laugh as he held Jack upside down and pretended to scold her. "We're going home right now and all of you are watching Star Wars. Get your stuff, let's go."

Jack laughed and squirmed in his arms while Owen looked fearfully at his mother. "Mama! Still hungry!"

"I know, baby," she laughed and handed him one of her brother's chicken strips. "Dave's just kidding."

Dave flipped Jack upright and set him back in his chair, his little face was bright red and he was still giggling hysterically. "Can we have a movie night, Mommy?"

Dave gasped like he had just heard the best idea in years, "Can we?"

They both turned to her with wide eyes and she burst out laughing. "I don't care. Just let me finish my damn beer!"

*

Liz checked the time and smiled to herself. It was way past the boy's bedtime but was willing to let it slide this time. She set her book on the nightstand and wandered down the steps into the dark kitchen, hearing the closing credit music drift from the sitting room where Dave and the boys had made a makeshift couch out of pillows, blankets, and cushions. A white sheet hung from the wall and Dave's phone was plugged into a projector borrowed from Apple Studios, featuring the very first Star Wars movie.

They were all sound asleep, Owen snuggled up under Dave's right arm as he leaned against the chair and Jack under his left. She felt as if a weight had been lifted now that she was with her boys again and that they had acclimated to Dave so well. She had been worried, mostly of Kyle saying something to the boys that could threaten their relationship with Dave before it even started, but they hadn't once brought their father up. The thought made her wonder how rehab was going and made a note to ask Travis in the morning.

She knelt down to pick up Owen but woke Dave in the process. He blinked sleepily, smiling when he focused on her face. "You missed the best part, babe," he said quietly.

"I'm sure we'll watch several times tomorrow, too" she replied and crawled across the blanket to kiss him. "These guys need to get to bed."

Owen didn't wake, just curled into his mother's arms and shoved his thumb in his mouth, but Jack began to mutter still under the haze of a deep sleep when Dave moved him.

"Dave, did they do it? Did they get the Death Star?"

"They sure did, bud," he said softly and lifted him into his arms.

"That's good," Jack nodded against Dave's shoulder and drifted back to sleep.

They got the boys tucked into their beds and tiptoed back to their room. Liz clicked off the lamp on her nightstand and flopped back against her pillows, frowning when Dave continued to scroll through his phone. "What are you doing?"

"Downloading the next movie."

"Nerd," she accused with a laugh. "And now you're indoctrinating my children?"

"Babe, you're lucky I didn't call CPS on you! Jack is seven and he'd never seen Star Wars!" he teased.

"You didn't see it until you were at least, what... eight? And you did just fine," she shot back.

Dave thought back to the Memorial Day weekend when his mom took him and his sister to the movies. His parents had divorced the year prior and Star Wars was the first bright spot in what had been a really shitty year. "Smart ass," he grinned.

He set his phone down and settled into the bed next to her, reaching across the sheets to drag her to him. She relaxed into his arms and brushed the hair out of his face before kissing him.

"Have you thought any more about the Taylor and Allison thing?" he asked suddenly.

"What thing?"

"The whole baby thing..."

She froze for a moment, absorbing his words. "Oh," she nodded. "I didn't realize they wanted a whole baby."

"Smart ass," he repeated.

She smiled and put her hand on his cheek, tracing the line of his beard. "What about it?"

"I've just been thinking a lot about it and if you wanted to do it, I'd be... you know... cool with that," he fumbled over his words, realizing that he had been completely selfish in his reasons to keep her from helping his best friend.

"What changed your mind?" she asked, trying to appear as unaffected as possible. She had been almost too tired to speak, but now she was wide awake.

"Just... I don't know. Seeing you as a mom, I guess."

She was quiet for a long moment, thinking hard about what he was telling her. "I want you to tell Taylor and Ally," she finally said.

He nodded, already thinking of all the ways he needed to apologize to them for how he acted over this. "Yeah, but I want you there to protect me when Taylor tries to put his fist through my face."