Chapter 9: Episode 9 — Certified Crybaby

“That was fun,” Ash says as they walk toward the car, the teenagers were all over the parking lot, moving the party there.

“Yeah, you gone half the night making out with some random girl was fun.” Astrid says, “I shouldn’t have bothered helping you out.”

“Well, what can I say?” Ash puts an arm over her shoulder, “The ladies dig the protective big brother.”

“And hates the brat sister,” Astrid says as she rolls her eyes making the others laugh.

“Well, we can’t really say that they hate it,” Derek says, “you were, after all, the talk of the guys in the loo.”

“And that isn’t a good thing too,” Jared says. “Guys will be sleeping with you in their minds tonight.”

“They were even betting if you are wearing underneath that top of yours,” Dimitri says.

“Urgh! Please, don’t elaborate.” Astrid says. “I hate this.”

“Aw, don’t say that.” Derek says, “The poor male popularity here are throwing themselves at you, they’ll do anything you want just to get in your,” he scans her, “very short shorts- Ow!” Damien and Ash hit him at the same time.

Astrid sighs and shook her head, “I swear, I’ll be killing more people out here.”

“Don’t worry, we have your back.” Damien teases.

“Even from Derek?” Astrid raised her brows.

“Hey…” Derek says, “I was just making a point.”

“What? I don’t meet your standards now Derek?” Astrid turns to him and walks backward, placing a hand on his chest. “Or am I too much?”

Derek pulls her hands off and moves her to Damien, “Urgh, Damien control your woman.”

“She’s an independent woman, can’t help you there,” Damien says.

“Ash!”

“I’m actually interested in the turnout of this.” Ash approves and winks at his twin.

Astrid laughs and ran her hand down his chest down to his abs. “Hm, you are so adorable Derek, I can just eat you up…”

“Stop it, Astrid,” Derek warns.

“Make me.” She says, stopping and pushed Derek back lightly. Derek grins and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

“I’ll tell everyone about you and Damien…”

“Blackmail, very sexy,” Astrid whispers back.

“Astrid…” Derek groans and picks her up, tossing her over his shoulder and started twirling, making her laugh.

“Stop it, Derek!” Astrid shouts laughing. “Stop it!”

“Say you’ll stop teasing me,” Derek says in between laughter.

“I’ll stop teasing you! I’ll stop!” She quickly agrees.

Derek slows down to a stop and set her down. Astrid tries to walk away and flipped her hair away from her face laughing. She walks ahead, wobbling.

“Damn you, Derek.” She shouts back to her friends who were laughing at her. 

She finally reached the car and leaned on it to get her balance back, when she felt an arm around her waist.

She smiles, “I’m fine, damn boy screwed my balance.”

“So you didn’t have too much to drink?”

Astrid surprised, turned around, and saw a boy she doesn’t know. She tries to move away but she was pinned between the boy and the car.

“Let go!” Astrid snaps.

“Hm, feisty,” the boy smirks, “I like it.”

She pushes him again and glanced to where the others were a few cars behind her, with all the teenagers moving the party in the parking lot, they could hardly see her. The boy grips her wrist tighter and pinned her against the car and positioned himself between her legs. She was shaking, as memories of her last night at Russia field her mind.

“Let me go!” she screams.

“Not until I get a kiss.” He says, smelling her neck and down.

“No! Get away from me!” she starts to scream. “Getaway!” she kneed him on the side, making him let go of her, the moment one of her hand was free she snatched a dagger from behind her and pointed it at the boy’s throat. The people around them moved back and watched.

“Hey, hey, calm down princess…”

“Shut up!” Astrid screams, “Get away from me or I’ll kill you!”

“Astrid!” Astrid drops the dagger and runs to Damien, hiding her face on his chest and cried. Damien wrapped her in his arms. The boys stood around them protectively.

“What did you do?” Ash grabs the boy by the collar and pinned him on the car. “What did you do to my sister?!”

“I didn’t mean to… I was just… we have a bet to kiss her… I didn’t know she’ll- “

“Get out of here or I swear I’ll finish what my sister was about to do to you.” Ash sneered as he pushes the boy away from them. Then he walked toward Astrid, “Astrid, princess, it’s ok now…” he reaches for her shoulder, but she moved away and cried harder.

“Shh, angel, it’s just Ash,” Damien whispered, but Astrid continues to cry.

“I’ll drive.” Jared says, “You need to calm her down Damien.”

Damien glances at Ash who just nodded, Damien picks up Astrid and entered the SUV, she sat on his lap, her face hidden on the crook of his neck. He can still hear her crying and every once in a while, a sob will escape her and tightens her hold on him.

Damien fought off the anger and continues soothing Astrid until they reached home, by that time Astrid had fallen asleep.

“I’ll go tuck her to bed,” Damien says.

Ash reaches to push away her hair from her face, but even then, she flinches. 

“Ash…”

“We’ll be in the kitchen.” Ash cuts off Damien and walks up to the house where Allana started to make hot cocoa for everyone.

“How is she?” she asks.

“Damien tucked her in bed,” Ash says sitting on one of the stools across her.

“What about you?” Collin asks.

“What about me?”

“Are you ok?”

Ash shrugs, confused. “I don’t know. It’s so weird, it hurts seeing her like that. I can still feel her fear and anger right now.”

“It’s a twin thing isn’t it?” Jared says. “They say that any when one twin is overwhelmed by emotion the twin will feel it too.”

 “When I saw her eyes…” he felt the hair on his nape stand, “it was as if she was begging Damien to take her away.”

“So is that it?” Ash gave Derek a questioned look, “Is it because of the look in her eyes that’s making you feel like crap, or is it because it was Damien who she was begging to take her away?”

Ash looks down at his hands. “He is her best friend, and we all know how he feels for her.”

“That isn’t an answer.” Derek points out.

Ash sighed, “I just wish she’ll come to me for a change. I know she hates that I worry about her, but I just want to have her close for a while before Damien takes her away.”

“You know he won’t do that.” Jared says, “Taking Astrid away from you will hurt her.”

“Not if she wants to stay away.” Ash says, “I can just feel it, she’ll be leaving again. I don’t want to believe that she’ll be crazy enough to fight the assassins alone, but I can’t rule out the possibility either.”

“That is true.” Dimitri says, “But she wouldn’t do that Ash.”

“Why do you say that Dimitri?” Allana asks.

“She’s here to protect you; she can never stay away from you.” Dimitri stifles a laugh, “I remember when she arrived at home she was arguing with grandfather when then she said, ‘Ash’s probably furious.’ She was the one kidnapped and yet she’s thinking of you being mad.” He looks up at Ash, “She loves you guys, you just don’t know how much, but just trust her, she’ll do anything for you.”

“She left before to protect us, she can do it again,” Derek says.

“And she hurt you by doing that; I don’t think she’ll do that again.” Dimitri says, “Astrid may be foolish, but her heart is in place. She’s not always killing you know. She saved a lot of lives when she killed those people. And I’m sure she won’t hold back when it’s you she’ll be saving. She won’t leave you worrying and unprotected, especially now that I’m pretty sure we’re being watched by bounty hunters.”

“We’re already being watched?” Allana asks.

“We send in spies to study the target, there’ll be a rendezvous pretty soon.” He says, “Astrid would like that.”

“Why?”

“She’d like to send a message about leaving you guys out of it or she’ll hunt down every one of them and kill them and their house.” He grins, “She likes visual aids when she threatens her enemies, very creative if you ask me.”

“Yeah, well, she used to have a pretty wild imagination when we were younger.” Jared says, “She used to tell stories to the kids at the orphanage too.”

“Well, let’s just wish that we catch one of the spies, if she says to stay away, she’ll be staying.”

“And if she doesn’t say that?” Allana frowns.

“Then I’ll tie her up and make her stay here,” Dimitri says.

Ash forced a smile and nodded, “Thank you, Dimitri.”

Then Damien enters the kitchen.

“How is she?” Collin stands behind Allana who was pouring cocoa for Damien.

“Asleep.” Damien sighed, Allana hands him a cup of hot cocoa, “Thanks.”

“You have any idea what’s going on?” Collin asked.

Damien glanced at Dimitri who frowns and looked down at his cup the others then turned to him, curious.

“There’s a custom…” Dimitri says, “When female assassins turn 18-”

“No…” Allana covers her mouth; tears were forming in her eyes.

That was enough explanation for all of them.

“She killed the bastards before they can go too far.” Damien sadly chuckled, his grip on his cup tightened. “It happened on her last day there…” 

“During our birthday?” Ash asks, tightening his hold on his own cup, at the same time stopping himself to throw it against a wall.

Dimitri nods, “They’ll usually drug the girl, but that night father said not to. He wanted her to be conscious; I guess it’s to put some weakness on her.”

 “Weakness?” Jared asks.

“Astrid is a force to be reckoned with,” Dimitri says, “now, she cowers away from a man’s touch.”

“Not Damien’s.” Ash points out.

“Ash- “

Ash shook his head and taps him on the back, “I know you’ll take care of her, Damien. If it was anyone else, I might argue, but seeing it is you, there’s nothing surprising there.”

Damien forced a smile, “Thanks.”

“Anyway, I should go get some sleep.” Ash says, “Those ladies drained me.”

“Urgh, please no visual stories.” Allana rolls her eyes and acts like she was going to throw up.

The boys laughed and Ash left for his room. 

When he reached the hallway leading to Astrid’s and Damien’s rooms, he stopped and stared at Astrid’s door. He didn’t want to wake her up or, worse, surprise her, she had been through enough, and if he didn’t want him touching her, he respects that. 

But just a peek won’t hurt. He thought. 

He opens the door and heard a sob inside.

“Astrid?” he rushed inside and sees her in the corner of her room, where the moon’s light fell; she wraps her arms around her legs, crying. “Astrid, princess, are you ok?”

He knelt in front of her thinking if he should call Damien or just take her into his arms and tell her everything is fine. But the moment that she looked up at him, his heart cracked.

“Big brother…” she whispers.

That was it, the invitation. He reaches for her slowly and hugged her; she wraps her arms around his neck and cried again.

“It’s ok princess, big brother’s here.” He says. “It’s ok.”

“I’m sorry.” She whispers. “I’m so sorry…”

He looks down at her, pushing away her hair from her tear-stained face and made her face him, “What are you apologizing for?”

“For hurting you.” She looks away, “I’m trying not to be scared, you are my brother, I trust you, I know you wouldn’t hurt me… I just can’t help to move away…”

Ash shook his head, smiled, and kissed her on the forehead, holding her closer. 

“Well, you’re in my arms, now aren’t you? Dimitri told us what happened, I understand. I’m just glad that Damien is here to take care of you.”

“But he won’t always be here.”

“Oh trust me, he’s here to stay.” Ash teased, earning a grin from Astrid. “Astrid, I just want you to stay safe and be happy, I’ll always be here whether you like me to be or not.”

“Of course I want you to be here.” She tightens her hold on him, “You’re my twin brother, we’re a unit.”

“That’s right.” He laughs remembering how he would tell her that before interviews back in the orphanage. “And don’t you ever forget that.”

She smiles and snuggled near him again. He smiles as he wraps her in his arms; then he picks her up and threw her on her bed.

“Hey!” she laughs, Ash sat beside her. “I’m sleeping here.”

“No, you weren’t a crybaby,” Ash said, reaching for his cup from the side table and took a sip.

“Is that hot cocoa?” she peeks.

“Want some?” she nods like a little kid and he hands the cup over. She took a sip and then another until she finished it up. “Hey, that was mine.”

“No more.” Astrid giggles as she handed the empty cup back to him.

“I forgot you’re a chocoholic.” Ash teased.

“That’s right,” Astrid says, making Ash laugh “I swear Astrid, you must be bipolar or something.”

“Then I guess you shouldn’t be surprised if I tell you that you aren’t the first one to say that.”

“We should get you checked when we get back home.”

“That’ll be a waste of time.” Astrid says, “We were trained to block information and even fake personalities in front of doctors, lawyers, and especially psychologists.”

“Well, aren’t you one piece of work?” Ash says.

“I sure am.” Astrid nudges him playfully. “You wouldn’t find anyone like me, I’m pretty sure of that.”

“A kick-ass bipolar crybaby?” Ash teases. “Now why would I look for someone like that?”

“Because you love me that much,” Astrid says kissing him on the cheek.

Ash laughs, “Fine, you got me on that one. But still, I won’t need a new you, one you are enough.” Astrid smiles. “Anyway, you should go rest, Lil sis. You look so tired.”

She moved under her covers and Ash tucked her in, kissing her on the forehead.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ash says. “Good night.”

“Good night big brother.” She says, he was about to close the door when she called, “Ash?”

“Yeah?” he looks back.

“I love you, big brother.”

Ash smiles, “I love you too princess.”

With that, she lied back down and snuggled under her covers, as Ash made his way to his room.

Later into the night, Damien woke up with someone shaking him awake. He looks up and saw Astrid carrying a pillow.

“Damien…”

“Angel?” Damien sat up, “What’s wrong? You ok?”

“Sorry to wake you up, it’s just that- “

Thunderstruck and she jumps on the bed, knocking the air out of Damien. She straddled over him, hiding her face on his bare chest, covering her ears. Damien stifles a laugh and wraps her in his arms and sat up again.

“You want to sleep here?” he asks, she gave a weak nod. He lifted the comforter and pulled her beside him and tucked her in. “Comfy?”

She nods, “Thank you and I’m really sorry for waking you up.”

“It’s ok,” he lied beside her, “I’m glad you came to me and not to Derek.”

“Why would I do that?” she asked questioned.

“Well, you did say that he was adorable and hot.” He teases.

Astrid raised a brow, “Is someone jealous?”

“Of Derek? No.” Damien chuckles.

“Uhuh, yeah.” Astrid teases.

“Why should I? He can’t do this,” he leans forward and kissed her lightly and pulled back, “can he?”

“No, he can’t…” Astrid says in a whisper.

Then another thunder struck making Astrid jump almost on top of Damien, but Damien put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, she rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling.

“Damien?”

“Hm?” he reached for her hair and started to play with it.

“Thank you.” She says.

“For what?”

“For being patient.” She says, “I know you told Ash about my secret.”

“I actually made Dimitri tell them.” He said, “It didn’t make it easier, but your brother needs to know.”

“I know.” Astrid says, “I don’t want to keep hurting Ash.”

“I know.” He says, “But he understands now.”

Astrid gave a weak nod and snuggled closer to Damien, “Its cold…”

Damien smiles and pulls the comforter closer to her and wraps her in his arms. 

“I love you, angel…” he whispers.

Then she brushed her cheek on his arm, cat-like, “I love you, Damien.”

He smiled and after a few minutes she was asleep, Damien stared at her until he fell asleep as well.

Astrid stirred and slowly opened her eyes; she looks around and saw Damien staring at her.

“Good morning angel.” He whispers.

“You’ve been staring at me while I was asleep?” she accused.

“Well, you are in my bedroom, so I’m pretty much entitled to do whatever I want.”

She raised a brow, “Oh really?”

“Yes really.” He says, leaning forward and kisses her, she smiles as she kisses him back. He hovers over her, Astrid reached for his face, and then his hair and pulled him closer. After a few seconds, he pulled away and stared at her.

“Good morning.” She says, her cheeks start to blush, making Damien laugh.

“I can get used to this.” He teases, lying on his side and faced her, running his hand around her waist.

“Too bad this is just until tomorrow morning.” She frowns.

“Well, that can be arranged.” He says.

“What do you mean?” Astrid asks.

“Don’t worry about it, for now, one more night is enough.” He leans over for another kiss.

Astrid giggles, and pulls away for a quick second, “I can’t say I don’t like the idea of getting used to this either.”

Damien stifles a laugh and gave her a quick kiss. “I changed my mind.”

“About what?”

“I am jealous.” He says, “I don’t think it was right for you to tease Derek and not your boyfriend.”

Astrid laughs, “And will I be reprimanded?”

“Yes, you are,” Damien says.

Astrid smiles and reached for his chest and ran it down his heavenly sculpted body, and stopped a few inches above his boxers, “Well, what did you have in mind?”

“As much as I want to have some alone time, I think it’ll be nice to spend the day with the gang.” He grins down at her, noting where her fingers were lingering.

“And what do you suggest we do?”

“That’s a surprise.” He leans forward and kissed her on the cheek.

“I don’t do well with surprises.” She pouts, Damien then trails down her neck leaving kisses down to her collar bone.

“I think you’d like this one.” He whispers, “You’d love it there.”

“Where exactly is there?” she takes in a deep breath, trying to sound unaffected by what Damien was doing.

“That’s a secret.” He gave her another kiss, “Now go change, be in your most comfortable clothes.” He moves away and sat on the edge of his bed; then Astrid sees his wound and frowned.

“Hey,” she sits up, “how’s your back?”

“It’s ok.” He says, giving her an assuring smile, “It stings when I lie on it, other than that, I’m ok.”

“You sure?” she runs a hand over the bandage. “You know we can stay in today. I bet the gang would like that. We’ll be in less danger too.”

“No.” Damien said. “You guys said so yourselves, we need not worry about any assassin right now, so we’ll do everything we can while we still can.”

“But- “

“No buts.” He stands up and reached for her hand. “Go get ready, I’ll meet you downstairs.”

She sighs and nods. She stole another kiss before she walked out of Damien’s room and to her room.