The baby monitor woke Kiana out of her deep sleep. The piercing cry that she rarely ever heard was pouring into the open space. She woke up languidly to start, but as she realized what had happened a few hours before, she snapped her head off of the couch's cushion and searched around the room.
"Baby?" She called for Sawyer and there was no reply. Just the loud ringing of babies crying. "Sawyer!" Her heart raced. The room was still somewhat dark and she knew it was pretty early in the morning. She looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and it read 7:00am; she'd only been asleep for three hours. She quickly threw on her sweatpants and reached for her jacket hanging on the back of the bedroom door.
She rushed out into the hallway with her keys jingling in hand. Allison was already on her way into the twin's bedroom. She was going to tend to the girls while Kiana slept. She turned around groggily at the sound of Kiana's urgency.
"Where are you going?" She asked. Kiana didn't want to panic her but she had every reason to be panicked. Sawyer, if left alone with Declan, would make this situation a lot more difficult that it already was. Kiana slid past Allison into the twin's bedroom.
"Key, where are you going?" She was a lot more firm in her question that time. Kiana was growing tired of the constant emotional drainage this situation required of her. Her adrenaline was constantly pumping and she was always thinking on her feet.
"I told Sawyer everything last night and I think he went to see Declan." Allison gasped.
"Kiana, he's going to hurt him!" As if she didn't know that already. Kiana sighed and lifted Sydney out of her crib. She instantly stopped crying and Kiana skillfully went for Savannah. She usually loved feeding her girls; it was a great bonding experience and was really intimate in the early mornings. But now it seemed like a hindrance. She needed to protect her husband.
Sawyer could cause enough of a disturbance for someone to call the cops on him. Or worse, he could end up seriously hurting Declan and undermining the trauma Allison had been through. He could complicate everything.
"I know—as soon as I'm done, I'm going to call Xav and go over there." She shook her head, completely unsatisfied with that idea.
"We're going now." Allison was off in a second. Kiana was balancing two babies in her hands with her breasts completely exposed. That made chasing after Allison almost impossible.
"We have four kids! We all can't go." Allison returned with Christine and Sean in both hands. They were still asleep and she was expertly avoiding any pressure on her wrist. Kiana groaned aloud.
She knew there was no way she'd be able to leave Allison home. But Kiana staying home wasn't an option either. Allison could hardly stop Declan on her own so she knew she'd never be able to get Sawyer off of Declan. She didn't have many other options but to take the kids. Maybe Sawyer would be more sympathetic if his kids were there to see him being irrational and barbaric.
"I'm going to finish feeding. Put Sean's car seat in my car and pull up front." Allison was off to do as she asked with her slippers and pajamas still in place.
*
Kiana pulled up to Allison's house with a screeching halt. Xavier pulled up a second later.
"Stay in the car with the kids, please." Kiana begged. Allison looked like she was about to protest but Kiana just sprung out of the driver's seat before she could. She shut the door with a slam. Xavier flanked her on her side and they both raced to the front door.
The feeling that washed over her when she stepped inside would probably last well beyond this situation. She'd never feel the warm and welcoming aurora she once had. She heard banging as soon as she walked through the threshold.
"Sawyer!" Kiana called. Xavier shielded Kiana while he moved throughout the house searching for the source of the commotion. They carefully moved through the living room and into the family room. Xavier extended his arm back to caution her and she noticed a glass vase had fell on the floor and shattered. Kiana was instantly more worried.
"Sawyer, where are you?" Kiana screamed.
The early morning sun shone through in the kitchen's eatery and a stool was missing two legs in the corner while all the dishes on the counter had been thrown to the ground.
"Oh my God," Kiana whispered to herself. She was in the midst of looking around when Xavier took off running. Kiana looked down the hall and saw a glimpse of figures moving around in the laundry room. She followed Xavier there to see Sawyer and Declan struggling to get the upper hand over the other.
Droplets of blood decorated the crisp white floors and there were even some splatters against the wall. Sawyer and Declan fell to the ground and Sawyer managed to end up on top. He pulled his fist back to land it against Declan's face but Xavier wrapped an arm around his before he could. He started to pull and separate the two but Sawyer was high on adrenaline; he put up a good fight.
Declan managed to stand up again and got his posture ready for the next round.
Kiana could tell this had been going on for a while; one of them would get the upper hand, lose it and then they'd start again.
Seeing Declan standing enraged Sawyer enough to break from Xavier's hold and charge at Declan head first. Kiana might as well have been invisible. They collided into the laundry room's back door that led to the backyard. The upper glass portion of the door shattered with a toe curling sound. Xavier struggled to break up the two and Kiana had no idea what her role was in the situation. She didn't think the fight would have been so intense.
Through the opening where glass should have been, Kiana could see Declan and Allison's neighbor on his back porch, peering through the opening with his phone up to his ear. Kiana could only imagine what he thought was happening; a black woman standing in a house she didn't own with a back door broken. She knew the cops would be on their way.
"The neighbors called the cops." She urgently told Xavier. Allison would be upset with everyone if Declan ended up getting arrested before he got a chance to go to rehabilitation. However, Kiana would be upset if her husband ended up getting arrested over nothing. He would definitely be considered the aggressor in a court of law and she didn't need that kind of stress looming over her head. He needed to be home to help her with their family.
"We're all about to get arrested." Xavier screamed to them. He ripped Sawyer off of Declan and used all of his force to try and get them are far away from one another as possible. "Your kids fucking need you both—stop this dumb shit."
Heavy panting filled the space and they were finally calming down a little. Declan was slouched against the wall adjacent from them. His heaving was heavy and his chest rose and fell dramatically. Blood and sweat mixed down his nose and chin and dripped occasionally on his shirt. Sawyer's hair was stringy from the sweat over his body. One of his eyes was already turning purple and he had a split right at the start of his hairline.
"Look at her fucking face!" Sawyer boomed. Declan met her eyes from below and Kiana could see his was apologetic.
"I'm sorry, Kiana." Kiana scowled. He seemed genuine and she wondered if he even remembered anything that happened that night. He probably had no idea what kind of terror he put Allison and Kiana through.
"You need to apologize to your wife." She seethed. Hard running could be heard throughout the house and she knew it was Allison. Kiana was honestly surprised she had managed to stay in the car for as long as she had. She stopped in her tracks when she entered the room. It was completely turned upside down. She took one look at her husband and her jaw dropped.
"Why would you do that to him?! Your own fucking brother?!" Allison lurched for Sawyer and Xavier held her in place.
It pained Kiana to see her holding so much concern for Declan but that was her husband. To some extent, Kiana could see how she could continue to feel the way she did.
"Listen," Sawyer started in a deadly snarl. "If you want to let this dumbass treat you like a human punching bag every damn day, fine. You can sort that out yourselves. But Kiana didn't sign up for this stupid shit. I * love * my wife. So, when she comes home to me with her face fucked up—I'm beating ass. You made a choice to keep dealing with this. Live with it or get out of it—"
"Watch how you fucking speak to my—" Declan found the strength to stand up again. Sawyer laughed sturdily.
"Sorry," He could barely get the words out from all his chuckling. It was out of place and honestly a little eerie. "Maybe I should've punched her in her fucking mouth instead. Would that be any better?"
"Sawyer!" Kiana couldn't believe he was saying any of this. Allison clearly wanted to burst into tears. She was obviously hurt and embarrassed by what Sawyer had said. Kiana was somewhere in between rage and pity. She knew how hard it was for Allison to come to her with this information and she was certain that Allison was now well past the point of regretting she ever did. However, Sawyer was completely out of line.
Allison turned on her heels and jogged out of the room. Kiana could hear her sobbing when she rounded the corner. "You should be ashamed of yourself." She told him. "She's been through so much and she had to make some really tough choices. I don't know why you feel you have the right to make her feel guilty about anything." Kiana tried her best to pull him to the side but she knew Xavier and Declan were all ears.
She grabbed a small hand towel from a folded pile of clean clothes in the corner. She tried to clean the traces of blood on Sawyer's face.
"Your face is why I feel I have that right." He said in reply.
