If Tomorrow Never Comes {Bren & Melody}

[libby]

Friday 22nd January, 2010

Libby had been rightly miserable when her Uncle Gray said he was taking off soon after her birthday, he said he still loved her and her daddy but he just had to get away for a while. She knew he was going to spend some time with his twin Debbie, her aunt but she didn’t know what he was going to do after that. He had been away for almost a month now and it was killing her. She missed the trouble the two of them would get up to. She just missed him. She was besotted by her uncle, everything about him was amazing. In fact Libby still couldn’t believe she had gone from having just a mom to a full family. Everything about it was amazing. Libby kept asking her dad when Gray was coming home but he would say the same thing, he didn’t know. She kept herself locked up in her room most of the time because Libby without Gray was like Bonnie without Clyde it didn’t work.

Libby had asked her dad if she could go to the youth club after school that day because she wanted to meet up with a friend. It was the place she had met that boy Alex and she was hoping that maybe she would get to meet him again if she went. Maybe she would be able to make new friends. Alex wasn’t there however, but she did begin to talk to a few of the other young kids who were there and after a couple of hours she had decided to make her way home knowing that her dad and Melody would be probably be there by now. It wasn’t a long walk from the youth center to her home, but it was long enough and because she was desperate to get back and get dinner, she decided to take the short cut through the park.

When she was half way through the park she could have sworn she heard footsteps behind her, but when she looked there was nobody there, but it spooked Libby enough to start speeding up. She didn’t get very far when she was grabbed from behind. A blindfold was put over her eyes and then a gag was put into her mouth and then she was being dragged somewhere. She had no idea where she was going, and now she couldn’t even scream out for help. It was already dark due to the time of year, even if it was still relatively warm. She felt herself being hauled into something, and then it started to move. She must have been in the back of a van or something. Then she began to hear voices, there was more than one. “We know what you are. We’ve seen plenty of you and we don’t like it. People like you shouldn’t be allowed to survive.” One of them said. Even though Libby couldn’t say anything she still managed to make a gasping sound and she was crying, the blindfold getting wet from her tears.

The next thing she knew her skirt was getting ripped off of her and what happened next would have made Libby scream out in pain if she could, she knew what was happening to her and she knew what the guy was doing to her was wrong. The man was on top of her and she could feel him move up and down inside of her the pain was excruciating and her insides were burning. Libby might have been young, but she wasn’t young enough not to know what was happening to her, this guy was raping her. She kicked with her feet trying to move her body away from him, but it only resulted in her getting a smack to the face which made her pass out briefly with the pain. Libby just wanted to go home and now more than ever she wished she had called for her daddy to come and pick her up.

Just when the guy got up off of her and she thought that everything was over with she felt a stabbing pain to the chest twice and then she could hardly breathe. She had passed out from the pain again and then suddenly Libby’s tiny little frame was thrown out onto the street and the van sped away at break neck speed. Libby had been thrown onto the street near to her home, but she was now lying on the sidewalk without her skirt, the blindfold and gag removed, but she was lifeless, her little body broken and bruised. She had a lump at the side of her head, and the eye where she had been smacked was swollen and black and blue and closed tight. Then there were the two holes in her chest where she had been stabbed, both causing fatal damage to her lungs. Libby’s life was hanging in the balance right at that moment. One of her lungs had completely collapsed and the other was on the verge of doing the same thing.

[grayson]

The idea of returning to Vegas was now the most appealing thing in the World. Seeing Debs in New York was what he needed. To spend time with your twin sister whom you rarely ever see was better than anything, except being with Libs. She was the most beautiful little girl anyone could ever come across. And she was growing up so fast now, it seemed like yesterday he had first met her. Because she was his favourite person in the World, he had of course brought back a whole box of presents and a little something else he knew she would love. When Grayson saw the 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign, he knew he was close to home. It was dark now. He knew the faces he would see as soon as he pulled into the driveway of Brendan's home. Libby of course would be home from school, Brendan would be arriving home from work... he sighed happily at the thought.

As Gray drew closer to the street he now knew as home, he saw a little body, nearly naked on the side of the street. His heart stopped. It couldn't be could it? Surely she'd be home by now, either picked up by someone or dropped by one of the other parents. But when he rode past, he recognised her t-shirt and her little near lifeless face. He skidded the bike around and rode back as quickly as he could, taking his hand off the gas and dropping the bike with a loud thud. He approached carefully, his eyes filling with tears. Grayson never cried, it wasn't in his nature. But if this was who he thought it was, he would cry rivers.

When Gray saw the body, he dropped to his knees and began wretching his guts up into the gutter. "Oh God, oh fuckin' Jesus." He managed to gasp when he had stopped puking. He took his jacket off and wrapped it over her. It managed to cover almost all of her body. But he noticed everything before he did; where she was bleeding from and what these son of a bitches had done to her. He lifted her up with as little movement as possible, using his kinetic energy. His powers would begin to overtake him if he wasn't careful. Gray's emotions affected him so badly when it came to his powers, that he could either explode, killing himself or kill someone else nearby.

With as much control as possible, he managed to lift the bike without touching it and climb on with the little girl in his arms. Controlling the bike without any hands was difficult, but with the amazing ability he had, he could do it. As quickly as he could he managed to control the bike to the house and immediately dropped it as he ran inside with Libby in his arms. "BRENDAN!" He shouted as loud as he could. Still keeping Libby in one arm, he grabbed his mobile from his pocket and dialled 911. "I need an ambulance, please, my niece, she's been stabbed, beaten up an'..." Gray had to take a deep breath before being able to say the next bit. "Raped. She's dyin', please, I need ya to get here asap!" He dropped the phone to the floor as well as himself. He put his head to hers and cradled her like a baby, "Come on Libs, don' think about doin' anythin' bad. I know ya can hear me littlen, jus' han' on. Uncle Gray's gonna help ya."

[brendan]

Brendan had finally got his magazine up and running about two weeks ago now and his life couldn’t have been any better. With the fact he had April as his assistant editor it meant that he could take more time away from work to spend at home with Libby. Since Gray had taken off for a few weeks to visit Debbie and anything else he wanted to do he’d made it his mission to collect Libby from school and if he couldn’t manage it, he would ask her to get one of the other kid’s parents to take her home instead, or she was to go to the youth center with a friend. He’d gotten a telephone call from her earlier saying she was going to the youth center and she’d be home in time for dinner. It was just as well really, given the meeting had run later than planned. Melody read the evening news around six and as it was already heading for that time, he knew he wouldn’t be able to collect Melody right away, so he decided to go straight home and get a start on dinner.

When Brendan was driving down the street toward his home Libby’s body hadn’t been thrown out at that point, so he had no idea what had happened to his beautiful baby girl. He got in and immediately put a lasagne in the oven for their dinner for later. They had their meals quite late in the evening now as they always waited for Melody to come home from work. He had only just left the kitchen to head into the living room area when he heard Gray’s voice. So he had finally come back from his trip away that would please Libby he thought, since she had kept herself locked up in her room most of the time he’d been away. That kid loved Gray so much, but then Brendan loved his brother just as much especially when he had been under the impression there had only been him and Debbie.

However the tone of Gray’s voice made Brendan think that not everything was good and as he walked into the living room he couldn’t believe what he saw. Gray was on the floor cuddling his little Kitten and she didn’t look good. She didn’t look good at all. Brendan immediately dropped to his knees and couldn’t do anything but stare at the sight of her beautiful face. “Wha’ the hell’s happened to her Gray?” Brendan asked in a shaky voice although given that Gray had just came back he probably didn’t have a damn clue. He was about to call for an ambulance but he already heard the sirens and knew right away Gray had already done that. Brendan was completely devastated as he took another look at her and suddenly he just began to sob his heart out. Then he sort of gathered himself together momentarily and kissed Libby’s forehead, “Well get ya sorted, jus’ ya wait an’ see. Ya ain’ gonna be meetin’ yer mom anytime soon ya hear me? I ain’ gonna lose ya, I don’ know wha’ I’d do without ya in ma life, ya gotta pull through this ya hear?”

Brendan then stumbled to reach for the phone and called the news room where Melody worked, he hated to interrupt her but this wasn’t anything that could wait. Melody was a part of Brendan’s life and she needed to know what was happening, because the only place he was going to be that evening was the hospital. He finally got through:-

Brendan: Yeah I need to speak with Melody Webb please.
News Station: I’m sorry sir, but she can’t come to the phone right now, she’s reporting the news.
Brendan: I know she’s damn well reportin’ the news, but this is important. Can ya jus’ give her a message then?
News Station: Certainly sir.
Brendan: Can ya tell her somethin’s happened to ma Libby an’ me an’ Gray hafta take her to the hospital, an’ tell her it’s real bad.
News Station: We’ll do that for you sir.

Brendan let go of the phone as his emotions took him over once again and he just slumped against the sofa on the floor watching Gray cuddle his daughter to him. He just couldn’t lose her. The tears started falling again and in Brendan’s dark mood over what had happened to his daughter and thinking about who had done it to her, the weather which even for January always fairly warm, a hurricane was beginning to blow outside as Brendan’s emotions caused his ability to go out of control once more.

[Melody Webb]

Melody was in good spirits, and really there wasn't any need to be down right now. Ever since meeting Brendan unexpectedly a couple of months previously, everything had been going on the up and up. Her job was getting better, getting more time to do more stories around town, and she finally got a new co-anchor for the six o'clock news. Melody was working well with Shane Turney, and she was never going off at him, like she used to with her old co-anchor. So work was more enjoyable.

So now it was about five minutes till she went and read the news for the night. Melody stepped into her dressing room to get her make up done, as she was already dressed, and got her hair fixed up. She then headed out, with the news in her hands, looking at the main stories for the night. Melody settled into the chair, and spoke briefly with Shane, and soon enough it was time for the news. Five minutes passed, and the ad break came up. Melody was about to speak to Shane again, when Shelley from the main desk at the news station came over to Melody.

"Hey Shell. What's up." Shelley handed over the note. "It's from Brendan. It sounded important, and by the message I took, it is." Melody swallowed, not sure what she was about to read. She took the note from Shelley, and began to read what was written. Her hand went up to her mouth instantly, gasping. Melody was normally a hard person, when it came to emotions, most of the time, but seeing what was written on the note brought tears to her eyes. She stood up from her chair. "I, uh... I... um have to go." The tears started to fall slowly, and Melody walked over to the producer. "I'm sorry Ted. I have to go. It's really important. It..." Ted put a hand on her arm. "It's okay Mel, just go. I am sure that Shane can read the news on his own for tonight."

Melody gave him a weak smile. She ran down to her dressing room, and grabbed her bag, not bothering with changing. No time, she thought. As she headed out the street, hailing a taxi, Melody dialled Brendan's mobile. All she got was his voice mail message. Wiping at her eyes, she saw a taxi come her way, and she waved it down. Finally she got to leave Brendan a message: I'm on my way Bren. I am going to be there for you, okay? I will get there as soon as possible. I am getting into a taxi right now. Melody then hopped into the taxi. "Las Vegas General Hospital please. Emergency entrance. And step on it." The taxi driver nodded, and then they were soon speeding off towards the hospital.

Looking out the window of the taxi, Melody could see that the weather outside was unseasonably different. She was no weather forecaster, but she could tell that a hurricane was in the area, and it was blowing quite a bit. Melody just hoped that if she got caught in the wind, what with her emotions right now, that she wouldn't teleport somewhere besides where she wanted to go.

Soon enough the taxi stopped outside the emergency entrance, and she threw money at the driver, thanking him, and quickly got out of the taxi. As she made her way towards the entrance, she knew she had to keep her emotions in check, and be strong for Brendan, for whatever had happened to Libby was surely going to be hard on Brendan big time, what with the new forecast outside now. She entered, and went straight to the desk. "Libby, Elizabeth Harris please."

[libby]

Libby was in so much pain all over, from the sexual assault which she was far too young to have gone through to the stab wounds and facial wounds. She kept drifting in and out of consciousness as she tried to breathe but kept failing. She was completely out of it by the time Gray had arrived back home only to find his little niece’s body lying on the ground broken and bruised. Gray was naturally devastated, the anger, fear and emotion evident in how he reacted and Libby who had been desperate for her uncle to come back was totally unaware that he was back and finding her in a state he probably hoped never to have found her in.

Even when Gray spoke to her and put his jacket over her she wasn’t aware of it, even when he was lifting her and the bike using his kinetic ability she wasn’t aware of it, all the cool things she loved about Uncle Gray and she was missing out on them right at that minute. Gray somehow keeping a hold of Libby’s tiny body and riding the bike got them both back to Brendan’s house and carried Libby into the house in his arms shouting for Brendan. Gray had then done the natural thing and called for an ambulance. Gray had then spoken to her, and it was when he had spoken to her directly that could just about hear his voice and inside she was desperately wanting to yell out that she was so glad he was back home, but as she flickered her good eye open she began to have difficulty in breathing again and her eye closed as she passed out once more.

Her daddy had just put a lasagne into the oven when Gray had walked in and shouted on him. Naturally Brendan came out and was shocked to see the sight of his brother cradling his daughter in his arms. He had asked what had happened to her, but he knew it was a stupid question because Gray had been away and obviously only just got back home, he probably wasn’t aware of what had happened. Even when her daddy kissed her forehead she didn’t move or flinch, although she could hear what he was saying to her, but she could hear her mom’s voice speaking to her as well. Not that Libby realised what was going on but that’s when Libby was the closest to death, her mom was standing there behind Brendan and she looked just like Libby remembered her, but she wasn’t happy.

Faith had her hand on Brendan’s shoulder, not that he would feel it, or at least she didn’t think he would feel it. She looked at Libby with a very sad face and tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe they did this to you my baby girl. I’m sorry I never told you about your daddy, I hope you can forgive me, but I know he loves you very much. I am not going to let you die Elizabeth Harris; you have a long life ahead of you yet. Do you hear me?

Then Faith just evaporated like she was never there. Then the sound of the ambulance sirens filled the air, and all too soon they had come in and got Libby onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, beckoning with their hands for Gray and Brendan to follow. The ambulance then sped away and had them all at the Emergency Room of the local hospital within about five minutes. The paramedic began describing Libby’s condition to the doctors who were waiting at the doors.

“We have an eleven year old girl, Elizabeth Harris, in critical condition. She’s been sexually assaulted and badly beaten and she has two knife wounds to her chest. She’s not breathing too well; I suspect a punctured lung and a possible collapse of the other. Her pulse is weak and she’s lost a lot of blood. The girl’s blood group is O; she’ll likely need a transfusion.” The doctors nodded their head and took the gurney from the paramedic and sped her away to the operating room to see what they could do for Libby.