So Long and Goodnight...

Gerard’s P.O.V.

“Alexa,” I said a bit more gently but still feeling no remorse for her. “Why the fuck would you help him?”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed trying to get a hold of herself. “It was stupid. He gave me a hundred fucking dollars and said that all I had to do was take her on a walk or something for a few minutes. He said he was just playing an innocent prank on her and I …I was mad at her because she was mad at me over you and so I was game to try and get back at her. I thought he was just a normal dad trying to pull one over on his kid like Don always did to you and Mikey, ya know, just fun little jokes. I had no idea he planned on killing her or I never would’ve done it. Please! You have to believe me. Helena, I’m so sorry. I never wanted you dead and I really meant what I said that night. I’m sorry!”

“What she said that night?” I inquired glancing at Helena who was standing next to me still shaking slightly.

“She told me the real reason she came to see me that night was because she missed me and she wanted to be friends again,” Helena clarified never taking her eyes off the crumpled pile of clothes and skin that was Alexa still sobbing on her knees in front of us.

I heard Raven scoff behind us but she said nothing more. Alexa glared evilly at her and then returned her gaze to Helena.

“I meant that,” She whispered.

Helena just glared back at her, looking doubtful.

“Helena,” Alexa whimpered. “Why would I make something like that up? If I really hated you as much as it seemed, you know it would’ve been like swallowing poison for me and back then, I wasn’t the greatest actress. I guess …” she glanced up guiltily at me. “…Some things don’t really change.”

She was referring to the many times she cheated on me over the past five years and tried to pretend she wasn’t only using me. She had found out about an hour ago that I had actually known for quite a while.

“Yeah I guess not,” Helena mumbled rather venomously.

“Helena, I’m sorry.”

“So I’ve heard,” she sighed in reply.

“Not only for helping your father.”

“What else could you possibly be sorry for?” Helena retorted sarcastically.

“For lying to you.”

She just raised her eyebrow in the form of a question.

“About Gerard,” Alexa elaborated. “You made me promise you when you left that I wouldn’t hurt him again, that I’d take care of him.”

Helena tensed slightly in what I assumed was embarrassment and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I felt a smile spreading across my lips as I turned my head to gaze at her, a wave of immense affection washing over me and I suddenly wanted to kiss her but I figured now would be a bit of an inappropriate time so I just slipped my hand into hers and barely noticed that Alexa’s eyes followed the movement with what looked like sadness and a pinch of jealousy.

“I obviously lied,” Alexa continued shakily while trying to pry her eyes away from out interlaced fingers. “But I really did have the best of intentions. This is just …who I am I guess. I’m not saying that I had a hard life in any way. Raven’s right. I’m a spoiled little brat. It’s just that I watched my mom bring her “business partners” over at night while daddy was out of the house and I was always taught that money was power and power was everything. I grew up thinking that was what I needed to do to get somewhere with my life.” She laughed bitterly through her tears. “Remember when I was 13 and my mom entered me in that beauty contest?”

“Yeah,” Helena said shakily. “I remember. You won first prize.”

“How do you think I did that, Laney? There were girls in that competition that were so much prettier than me but mama told me,” she blinked away fresh tears and tried to stop her voice from cracking. “She told me that to get what I really wanted I had to …make some sacrifices.”

A horrified look slowly crept onto Helena’s face.

“She made me …have sex with the head judge. I was only 13.” She buried her face in her hands as she cried.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that even Raven was wide-eyed and frozen in place.

“Jesus,” Ray breathed in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Helena asked, searching hard for her voice as her grip on my hand tightened.

“I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t want to tell anyone.”

Helena gazed at the ground, all anger she had previously harbored lost in pity for what was still, no matter what, an old friend.

“I always wondered why you weren’t excited when you won.”

“Well …now you know.” The room was silent for a few seconds as everyone absorbed the odd turn of events that had accompanied this unbelievable night. “If it’s any consolation, Gerard,” Alexa said meeting my eyes, “I really did love you once.”

I only nodded in reply. What else could I say?

Helena stared at Alexa for a minute, analyzing her, comparing her in her mind to how she used to be, trying to decide if she deserved her sympathy. Apparently deciding she did, she gently slipped her hand out of mine, stepped forward and held her other hand out to Alexa who looked at it as if unaccustomed to such a friendly gesture. She gave Helena a grateful smile which was willingly returned, took the hand that was offered to her and let Helena help her to her feet.

“Thanks,” Alexa whispered, her eyes still wet.

“No problem,” Helena replied with a smile and returned to her perch on the arm of the couch next to where I had been sitting. I followed and sat down beside her letting my arm find it’s way almost automatically around her waist.

Everyone else in the room slowly relaxed and found their seats as well. Alexa took the only open seat …on the couch on the opposite side of the tiny room next to Raven who kept staring at her, an evil expression fixed to her face. I almost had to laugh. Alexa looked extremely uncomfortable.

“So Lane,” Frankie spoke up. “I have a question that won’t stop nagging at me.”

“Shoot,” Helena said slipping back into a relaxed, friendly state.

“Ummm …what the fuck happened exactly?”

“You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific, bro,” Helena laughed.

“Ok like...” Frank rested his chin on his overlapped hands which were propped on his legs as he leaned forward in his seat trying to think of a more intelligent question to ask that still covered the two main things that we all wanted to know.

“Was it really an accident?” Bob asked, his intense blue eyes trying to see directly into Helena’s soul for the answer to his own question.

“No,” Helena said simply, her gaze never wavering from Bob’s. “It was dad’s classic handy work. That’s why he paid Alexa to distract me and why his car wasn’t in the driveway when we got back from our walk. He was watching us, waiting for the right time.”

“He cut the brake line,” Ray guessed.

“Loosened it. Just enough to make it look like an accident caused by poor car maintenance. When I tried to slow down at the top of the hill …that’s when it let go all together and it was raining so hard…” she trailed off, the memories of it all replaying in her head.

“How did you…” Alexa spoke up timidly. “How did you survive that?”

Helena pursed her lips in thought before speaking. “I remember …being really scared at first and then just …not feeling anything. It was like …I wasn’t alone.” Her eyes teared up and we all knew what she meant …her mother and sister. “I vaguely remember almost being shoved out of the car by …something. Maybe it was just my imagination but, I ended up on the grass next to the road after I rolled a bit and then I heard the car smash through the guardrail. It was one of the most terrible sounds you can ever imagine. Metal scraping metal… That’s the last thing I remember before passing out. When I woke up, it was still raining pretty hard but the worst of the storm had passed. I walked to the main road and hitchhiked the rest of the way to Montana. I’ve been living with my uncle Charlie since then.

“Why didn’t you write us?” Mikey asked sounding slightly hurt.

“She couldn’t,” Raven whispered finally understanding. “Her dad has eyes all over that city. He would’ve known she wasn’t dead. He would’ve gone after her …and he would’ve killed anyone who got in his way.”

Helena nodded her head in confirmation.

“Ya know, Helena,” Alexa said with a mischievous tone in her voice that I didn’t recall ever hearing before. “I think maybe it’s time you pay ‘daddy dearest’ a visit.”

Alexa’s devilish grin was contagious. It spread to everyone in the room as they replayed her words in their heads and as I watched it claim Helena’s face, I saw a fire in her eyes that put all the ones before it to shame and I knew that she meant to get even. She was out for revenge …and she would have it in time.