The Wanted Series

Title: Checking Things Out
Series: The Wanted Series 3
Author: Hazel (hethumeleth@luukku.com)
Summary: The man on the backseat needs help. Viggo meets Lijah's family.
Paring: EW/VM, will include Orlando/other in upcoming chapters…
Rating: PG-13
WARNINGS: Weapons, blood.
Disclaimer: Don't know 'em. Haven't even met 'em. Can't know anything.
Feedback: Yes, please. Flames welcome also. Mail me at hethumeleth@luukku.com
Archive: OK, just let me know.
Author's notes: Thank God my writing is becoming clearer chapter by chapter…J
Thanks to: My wonderful beta Tuuli/Trish.
Website: www.nic.fi/~teroma/crazycorner

~~~

Viggo had no idea where they were going. The sun was rising and the police was no longer after them. Well, they were after them, just not right now. They were probably wanted by the police already throughout the country. Well, Lij seemed to know where he was heading, and that was good enough for Viggo. More than that, even. He trusted the little man, whatever he was doing, and whatever he was doing it for. Viggo simply trusted him. And besides, the sunrise was *beautiful*.

Lij didn't know what had made him decide that he should go back home. He had been away from his entire family for years now. Since his father had made him leave. Made by doing all the things he did back then. //God… Was I fourteen?//

From what he had heard from his connections his father had disappeared a few months earlier. Already then he’d thought of visiting all the people he had left behind. His mother and sister. //Wonder if they still have Cherry. Lovely little dog….must have died already though…too old…//

The silence in the car was almost frightening. Not a sound even from the back seat. Lij glanced over his shoulder. The man lay still, too still…

Viggo had always enjoyed the mornings and had seen a bunch of sunrises but this one was kind of different from all the others. It was almost magical. Its warmth after the chilly night of driving the motorcycle with only a leatherjacket on was kind and caring. And the colours it painted the sky with… //Amazing…//

Viggo was so focused on watching the view that he almost hit the car slowing down in front of him. Finally the car pulled over, as did he with his bike. Lij jumped out of the car.

"What's the matter?" Viggo asked, getting off his bike. "Run off gas?"

"No," Lijah said, opening the backdoor and leaning over the man lying still in the seat. "Just checking on this guy…"

Viggo stepped closer and leaned over to see what the other one was up to. Without noticing he placed his hand on Elijah's shoulder as he moved even closer to Lijah's lean body.

Lij was just about to check the man's pulse as he sensed Viggo standing right behind him. Elijah froze. His breathing stopped and the movement of his hand reaching for the guy's throat paused for a brief while. Then a slight pressure on his shoulder interrupted him and he gasped. His sight was blurry and breathing suddenly very difficult. Still he managed. Made himself say something. "He's alive." //Good… Still able to speak… How about breathing next…//

Lij tried to steady his breathing as he continued. "I was just worried, cause I hadn't heard him do anything in a while so I stopped the car and checked how things were with him. And…"

Viggo lowered his head and breathed in the scent of the little man still under him and shifted his hand lower on his back. The way Lijah smelled…like soap and sweat and candy put together. The scent of //Elijah…my Lijah…// was like a drug and Viggo was lost. Wanting to kiss and to caress the small man under him he bit his lip and, instead, just slowly backed off. Viggo knew Lijah wasn't ready. Not yet. Would he ever be, he wasn't sure, but right now it was too much.

As the older man's breath tickled his neck, Lij couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't think. The only thing he realised was that he liked the feel of the other man touching him. He loved the way he felt, like…like fainting all of a sudden. The dizziness and the need for more made him speechless even after the man had moved away. He hadn't felt like that before. And certainly not because of a man.

Sudden chills ran up his spine as the thought of his father crossed his mind again. And for the first time he truly hated his father for what he had done. Like it wasn't enough that he had taken advantage of him but that the memory of rui ruined his life years after the incidence… Just too much. Too fucking much…

"Lets keep driving," Lijah said in an awkward voice as he straightened up, "We should reach my mom's place in few hours…"

Viggo watched Elijah shutting the backdoor and walking back to the front door. Lij wasn't looking at him. Didn't even glance in his direction. Viggo had gone too far after all. Still tying to act like nothing unusual had just happened he asked, "We're going to your mom's?"

Lij got in the car, shut the door and rolled down the window a bit. He didn't want to give Viggo any more chances to touch him. //Not now…// at least. He had to have some room to think all that had happened in the last two minutes. He started the engine and yelled through the opening and over the noise, "Yeah… Just follow me, kay?"

Viggo nodded, knowing Lij didn't see him, and walked to his bike. watching the car as it drove off. The following hours would be crucial to the future Viggo had already planned for the two of them. Viggo knew that. And he was terrified… The hours would give them both, Lij especially, time to go through it all. All the things that bothered and made him insecure. All the things that kept them from living a full life.

~~~

Through the leaves of the big trees, Lij could see the house he loved so much. The house he’d grown up in. His home. So many times he had played games with his friends and his sister on that driveway. How often he used to just lie down on the porch and listen the sounds of the night.

And how many awful times he had run into the wilderness, away from his father. Away from the pain.

The sand on the driveway became a cloud of dust behind his car as he drove to the front yard. The first sign of life was a huge German shepherd running towards the car. //Cherry!// Their faithful old dog. Still looked like a little puppy. At least by the way it was acting it could have been one. Elijah stopped the engine and stepped out of the car.

First Viggo had trouble seeing through the cloud of smoke Lij had created. This time not by smoking, but driving so damn fast. Viggo had to slow down, first of all because of the non-existing ability to see, and second of all cause of the unfamiliar road that was like the River Amazon with all its curves.

Finally Viggo got to Lijah’s car and got off his bike. And the first sign of life he saw was a huge dog, attacking Lij furiously. As she sank her teeth into Lij’s arm and growled like all hell was about to attack her home, her family, Viggo couldn’t move. He was terrified. Watching Lij and the big beast fighting was like watching his own mother fight for her life. Even more than that. Like his mother, no way, more like himself fighting for surviving. Viggo didn’t like what he saw at all. Carefully, trying not to alarm the dog, he moved closer step by step and pulled out his gun.

Lijah thought he’d faint. The thought of that big animal's sharp teeth in his flesh. In his hand… But wait…that dog *has to* know him. After all the years he's been away the dog *must* remember him. It must… With the new-found trust Lij just stayed still as the dog bit into him. The pain was overwhelming, but it disappeared immediately when he remembered that Cherry *never* bit anyone hard and he realised that the pain was all in his head.

At that point the dog was confused, ‘cause the man whose hand she had in her mouth wasn't fighting back. And the scent that was all around the man…so familiar. And the dog let go of Lijah.

Viggo had his gun pointing at the dog and he was ready to fire in case the animal tried anything else. But as he watched the frightening scene, he started to feel unsure about the whole thing. The dog wasn't acting lihe whe was protecting its home anymore. And as the animal let go of Lij and instead of barking or biting started licking the hand she had been biting Viggo lowered his gun and let out a lungful of air Lij Lij started to walk towards the house when he realised Viggo wasn't there. He looked back and saw Viggo freeze as the dog now growled at him. Lij laughed and called the dog away from Viggo. Cherry ran to Lijah and he complimented her for doing good job keeping the 'unwanted' visitors away. Grinning at Viggo Lij told him to come along.

~~~

The day had been hot and too long. Hannah had been helping her mother with the dishes and now they were having some ice-tea on the porch. Zach was going to stay in town over the night so he wasn't expected home. Still they both heard the sound of a car driving to the front yard. The dog lying in Hannah's feet stood up rapidly and rushed to the surprise-visitors.

Hannah stood up as well and got in the house. She opened the hall closet and took out their shotgun. Unwelcome visitors had been a pain in the ass as long as she could remember. Especially after Zach had invited somehis his 'business' partners over for a drink. Zach was always getting himself in trouble.

Hannah stepped outside and saw Cherry running back to the house, waving her tail. "They left already?" she asked from her mother, astonished.

"No…" was the only thing De coe could say, staring at the path to the front yard. "And I won't let them."

//What…?// Hannah turned around and almost dropped the heavy gun in her hands. //Elijah…// "I can't believe it… He's home, he's really home…"

She couldn't move but her mother rushed up and ran to her son.

Lij couldn't believe he was here. Home at last. And his mother…God how he had missed her…was now crying just a feet away from him. Elijah reached out his hand and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Viggo watched the mother and son as they hugged. But there was no time to waste. The man on the backseat needed help. Could the woman give it? He didn't know. He just trusted Elijah. And it was Lij who had led them her"Eli"Elijah," he said and walked to them. "We need their help. Get them to the car…"

Lij nodded seriously. Hannah had heard the plea in the bigger man's voice and she stepped closer. She smiled to her brother, welcoming him back, and then continued her way to the car. She knew what the emergency was. She knew what her brother did for living. And he knew her mother didn't know anything about the dangers her younger son faced every single day or about taking care of gunshot wounds. She said loudly over her shoulder. "Go and have a chat with mum, Lij. I'll need the big guy with me, though."

Lij grabbed her mother's hand tightly, never wanting to let go again, and smiled at Viggo. "Go help her," Lijah told Viggo and then answered the man's silent question. "Don't worry, she knows what she's doing." Then he led her mother into the house.

Viggo looked at the closing door and then walked to the car. The young woman leaning over the man on the bac backed off and said firmly, "I need you to carry him to the guesthouse for me."

With Hannah's help he lifted the surprisingly light man and carried him the ten meters to the smaller house. Hannah showed him a bed to put him down on. She left the gun at the foot of the bed and walked to the man.

Without saying anything she ripped the blue morning gown off the man's upper body and leaned in for a closer look. The man had obviously lost a lot of blood but the unconsciousness was probably just because of the shock of getting shot. There wasn't enough blood visible on him that it could have been cause of the blood loss.

Viggo jumped backwards as the girl straightened up and rushed out of the room. uldnuldn't see blood… Of course couldn't. She's just a little gir…//

"Come on. Haven't all day here," her voice from the next room stopped Viggo's thoughts about startled little girls and he rushed to the room, through an open door and down the stairs to the basement.

Hannah put on the light and walked deeper into the basement. Then she disappeared behind some shelves that were hiding an entrance to another room. She glanced at the man that was following her over her shoulder and smiled to herself. //Finally someone decent for Lighe to fall in love with.//

Viggo looked around, amazed. The other room was full of guns and hand-grenades. Suddenly it was like they were at war omethmething.

"They belong to Warren. He's my…my father…" a sudden voice from somewhere ahead startled Viggo. "He hasn't been around lately and, telling the truth, we don't want him to be."

Viggo nodded quietly, wondering why Lij hadn't said anything about his father. Well, Lijah didn't say much to him anyway, so why would he suddenly have opened up about his dad? Viggo continued looking around the room.

"What's your name, stranger?" the girl asked, handing him some bottles with clear liquid in them.

"Viggo," Viggo answered. "What's this?" he continued, lifting one of the bottles in front of his face for closer examination.

Hannah laughed. "Haven't seen alcohol before, have you…"

Viggo grinned at the lovely and funny girl and then realised he didn't know her name. "So what's your name then? Already told you mine."

Hannah grabbed a first-aide kit and turned around to leave the cellar. "It's Hannah."

Viggo smiled and followed the spirited young woman out of the basement and then said to the girl's back, "Nice to meet you…"

Hannah smiled to herself. //Definitely a nice man for our Lighe…//


-loppu-


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