Kings of War

Shaun Damon was not an emotional man, but this was certainly wearing at his iron exterior. His heart had swollen to make his chest feel tight and he wasn't sure what to do. It was unusual for him, a man who was always so sure of himself. So fucking sure, and now, when faced with the woman and the little boy that had ripped his heart to tatters, he found himself hesitant. He never let himself love. It was a useless liability. The people you loved left you, or somebody used them as leverage against you. Loving Eli, and having a child with her, had been out of the ordinary for him, a strange foray into an emotion he constantly denied being able to feel. Love was indeed a four-letter word.

He watched Jason, lips till caught up between his teeth. He hated to show emotion, thus the aviator shades that always carefully concealed his eyes. He had shoved them up though, up onto the top of his head. It made him feel so pitifully naked. He couldn't hide behind them, and his discomfort was beginning to rise. When the small boy spoke, he felt his head swell a little. So, even after nearly two long years of seperation, his son still remembered him. He was still Daddy. That fact comforted him a little as he watched the child, now so much bigger and more vocal than he was before. Shaun thought the boy looked a lot like him, but for his mannerisms. Some things he did, or the way he would speak was reminiscent of his mother in every way.

Her words jolted him from his train of thought and he looked at Eli, releasing the ring from between his teeth. Was she begging him? It looked an awful lot like it, and the pleading tone in her voice made his chest throb painfully.

"I'm not taking him away from you." He said, voice low. No, the boy needed his mother, and more than that, Shaun needed Eli around. He had just gotten her back here, there was no way he'd send her on her way again. He may have been an asshole, but the two had a place in his heart. A place that no other would ever hold.

"You and him will be staying here." His voice left no space for argument. "Here where it's safe and I can keep an eye on you." This time, when he looked at her, his voice was earnest. "And I'm sorry for what happened, they weren't following orders when they brought you here. The ones responsible have been dealt with." He left the sentence to hang. He was sure she could imagine what he was talking about. After all, she had lived here for years, that was more than long enough to know how Shaun punished disobedience in his lowers.

His eyes followed Jason's movements as the young boy crawled over, fastening his arms around Shaun's neck. God, he had missed his son so much. Wrapping his arms around the boy, he simply lifted him up into the air, hugging him tight against his chest. At a complete loss for words, he buried his face into the boy's shoulder, simply holding him. After they had left, he had never felt quite the same. Now, holding his son, he felt whole again. And he knew that he would do absolutely anything to protect them.