The End Justifies

[Elle Joyner]

"It's amazing, isn't it, how easy it is to convince yourself you aren't to blame, but that isn't true at all. You could have gone to the police in the beginning. You could have stopped it from happening. But you were so afraid of losing your status, your money. You were so afraid of going back to the life you had before Thomas Blaithe that you were content to sit back and watch as hundreds of people died. And not just men and women, but children."


Shaking her head, Jordan bore down on the woman, mercilessly, "Just like you didn't say anything when he came to you with the plan to get rid of me! You were so afraid of the idea of losing your wealth and your lifestyle that you didn't even care what you were doing to your own son! And you couldn't stop, could you? It wasn't enough that you took from me my memories, you tried to take away the only good thing in my life that you hadn't ruined yet! But that's just it, isn't it. That's the problem. You can't stand the idea that someone could happy with nothing, when you're so damn miserable with everything. That's why you hated me. That's why you tried so hard to get rid of me. You're a coward, Nancy, and a monster... and maybe I came into this with the wrong intentions, but I am so glad... so glad that I got Dillan away from you, before you ruined him, too."

 

[NRTupper]

"Jordan," Dillan pulled at her hand, "let's... just leave. Please."


He knew she needed this, desperately, but he felt ill. Hearing his mother, seeing the look on her face, knowing once and for all that it was all true... it just made him ill.


He knew Jordan deserved her revenge, needed it almost, but right now he just wanted to get away from these people. Once and for all. And when they were away, maybe they'd send some files, and a certain recording to the police and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"No, Dillan." Shaking her head, Jordan looked to him, her expression fixed, stern, "It's time for these people to take responsibility for what they did! Because even now, you're still lying! You picked him, Nancy. You picked my father! There were a thousand other employees you could've gone after, but you decided he was the one... Not Thomas, not anyone else on that council. You. And I wanna know why. I deserve to know why..."


It had been the thing she'd needed. In the worst way. From the very start of it all. To know the truth about why her father had been the one chosen. Was it just bad luck of the draw? Had he not held the elevator door for her Majesty? It was the key to everything, to making sense of it all. The memories were there, locked away, and she could just about reach them, but not without that one final piece.


"Why did you pick him?"

 

[NRTupper]

"I didn't pick him," Nancy said, "Thomas did. Your father was a clever man, Jordan, too clever. And Thomas knew, with time, that he would surpass us... that he would overcome Blaithe Industries, the he would take our power. He had to be stopped. But I didn't pick him. I didn't want to do things that way. Thomas... he would stop at nothing to keep power. Nothing. Even... even having his son's new bride shot, even risking his son's life... even having you both killed if you keep this going. Dillan is right... you do need to run. Because if you have any of the information you claim to have, Thomas will stop at nothing to shut you up. To shut you down."

 

[Elle Joyner]

Frowning, she shook her head again, vehemently, "I have spent my whole life running. I'm done. This is my home, and it may be a little broken, and it may need a whole hell of a lot of work, but I will be damned before I let Thomas Blaithe ruin one more part of it. You are the only person who can stop this, Nancy. You are the only person who can stop him."


Reaching out, she took Dillan's hand, her own trembling with emotion, "...Maybe I don't matter to you. Maybe my father didn't. But Dillan does, and I love him. And we're gonna have a family, together. Nancy... if you won't do this, then we have no choice but to run and you... you will lose your only son. But more than that. You will lose the only chance you will ever have, of knowing your grandchild. Do you really think wealth and status are more important than that?"

 

[NRTupper]

Dillan had no intention of staying... but he didn't say as much. There was something in his mother's eyes... something that spoke of a break. He took Jordan's hand but they would be arguing later. Because no matter what his mother did now, they weren't staying.


Nancy shook her head, "Dillan," she said, her voice soft and broken, "I never wanted to hurt you."


He held tight to Jordan's hand, "Then do the right thing."

 

[Elle Joyner]

"We can do it, Nancy... we can take both of you down, with just a quarter of what we have in those files. But in the end the only thing that's gonna save you... the only thing that is gonna make you someone worthy of even the idea of forgiveness, is if you turn yourself in."


Looking up, she could see the blue and red lights flashing in the distance, "...What's it gonna be?"

 

[NRTupper]

Nancy stepped back, shaking her head, her face pale. She turned away.


Dillan tugged on Jordan's hand, "We can stay and talk to the police if you really want Jordan, but my father is going to kill you. He will stop at nothing and I don't intend to stick around to give him room. So we're leaving... either now or later but we're leaving. Understand?"

 

[Elle Joyner]

She'd thought she'd done it. She had thought for sure the woman would break, but she was still so afraid. So afraid of losing the life she clung to, desperately. Shaking her head, suddenly spent, she turned to Dillan and nodded. They had nothing to stick around for anymore. If life had taught her anything, or what she could recall of it, anyway, it was that when you got knocked down you didn't have a whole lot of options but to stay on the ground or get back up.


She wasn't ready to give up, but ultimately, she'd run out of fight...


"Let's go. Let's just go..."

 

[NRTupper]

Later, Killian silent in the very cramped back, the highway stretching on in front of them and behind them, Dillan finally calmed. It scared him to see his father for who he really was... scared him more to think that he might actually lose Jordan.


Once she was safe, he would go back. He'd sort this out once and for all because he wasn't going to raise his child on the run, or in fear.


There was really only one way to stop Thomas Blaithe... one way to be sure Jordan would be safe.


Killian coughed, "Um... so... what's the plan, exactly?"

 

[Elle Joyner]

She'd stayed quiet throughout the ride, tried desperately not to say the things which came to mind... She didn't want to run. She wanted to stay and fight, and Dillan knew it, but she had too much at risk, too much to lose now, and she knew she couldn't put their child in harms way to finish things the way she wanted.


But it didn't hurt any less, the idea that her revenge was so close... that she had been right there, on the cusp of it, and once again, Nancy had opted to save herself, instead of doing the right thing. It angered Jordan. For her father, for her... for Dillan, more than anything.


Her eyes popped up to the mirror in the sun visor as Killian spoke and she shook her head, "No plan, Kill... not this time. I think it's over."

 

[NRTupper]

It was over, in a lot of ways. Dillian gripped the steering wheel tightly. She wouldn't get the revenge she wanted... but he'd make Thomas Blaithe pay.


"We'll find a place to stay, somewhere ... out of the way. You're still recovering," he said quietly to Jordan, "still not remembering... and you," he snarled at Killian in the mirror, "told her everything."


Killian smiled sheepishly, "She deserved to know. It's her life."


Dillan looked away, too angry at the world to risk speaking. Killian was her friend, and he wouldn't alienate one of the last people they had left.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"Don't be mad at him, Dillan. I made him tell me. You don't know what it's like... to have nothing in your head to make sense of. To hear these stories and know something is wrong, and you can't fix it because you don't even know who you are. Maybe Killian had no right telling me, but you had no right keeping it from me. And you know it. Is this what we do? Is this what they've turned us into? We manipulate and we lie and we hide and..."


Pinching her forehead, she sighed, "...Are we really done, Dillan, or this just some way of getting me out of the middle of it, so you can go behind my back and do your own thing? Is it just another game? Because I got news for you, your parents have been playing a lot longer than you have, and you will not win. And I swear to God, Dillan... if anything happens to you, I don't care what it means for me... I will finish this the only way I have left."

 

[NRTupper]

"The baby... the baby matters more than anything, Jordan," Dillan said quietly, "you know it, I know it. I wouldn't be running now if not for it... neither would you. But for now, we have to keep our son safe."


He carefully avoided answering her question.


It couldn't stop here. Not now. He wouldn't let his child be raised in fear, constantly waiting for the 'hit' that Thomas Blaithe would inevitably call on them. Especially now that they'd bluffed to Nancy.


For a moment he'd almost thought his mother would do the right thing. He thought maybe, just maybe, she would speak tot he police, tell them what she knew. But her fear outweighed all else.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"...And you think I can do that on my own? I'm not stupid, Dillan. Please don't treat me like I am. And while you're at it, maybe you stop underestimating your parents. You did before, and it got us both shot." Turning away from him, she moved her gaze out of the jeep, staring intently into the darkness, to the cars blowing by them.


She knew it wasn't fair to be angry with, but there was too much at stake, and she knew him too well, knew that he couldn't just let it go. Just like she couldn't. But in the end it wouldn't matter if they both wound up dead because they were too stubborn to know when to quit.

 

[NRTupper]

"He won't stop," Dillan said quietly, "he won't ever stop. Jordan... not unless I stop him."


Killian wished he could climb out the window. This was not a conversation he should be privy to. Damn.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Shaking her head, she said nothing for a long while. She had nothing to say. Maybe he was right. Maybe in the end that was the only way, but he had stopped her from doing the same thing only months before. He had told her it wasn't the right way. That she wasn't a murderer. And neither was he. But telling him that was more than redundant. He knew it. She knew he did and he would see that...


When she did speak, it was soft, barely audible, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge... dig two graves."

 

[NRTupper]

He pulled over, setting off the emergency lights to warn other vehicles as he got out of the drivers seat. He barely made it to the side of the road before he was on his knees and the sick that had been building since his confrontation with his father finally overcame him.


Killian reached out, taking Jordan's arm, "He's.. uh... you don't think he'd actually?" He asked quietly.


Murder had never been part of their plan. He wasn't particularly okay with it but he'd heard Dillan and he'd come to the same conclusion Jordan had. Dillan was planning to kill his father. In a desperate, half-mad attempt to protect Jordan and the child... he was actually planning to go after his own father in a way that had never been on their list of 'things to do to get back at the Blaithe's'.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Nodding, Jordan didn't look at Killian, couldn't... "I think that's exactly what he's planning."


Unbuckling her belt, she slipped out and moved to Dillan's side, kneeling down, her hand on his back, tracing gentle circles up and down his spine. This wasn't the life the deserved. Not even slightly. This was what the Blaithe's had done to her. To the both of them.


"...What do you wanna do, Dillan? How do you want this done? Because if it's gonna happen, we have to be sure. We have to plan it right."

 

[NRTupper]

He trembled beneath her touch. It was a few minutes before he could speak, "I know how to kill, Jordan... the government made sure to train me right. I can shoot a man from a hundred yard,s or more... never even have to see the whites of his eyes."


He sat up, wiping his sleeve over his mouth but the taste of bile wasn't going to go away easily.


"Maybe... this is how it should be. Maybe this is... fate."


He rested his hands on his legs.


"I'm just... so much like him... you know? I've always... I've always been angry, and... just... take whatever I want, whenever I want... other people be damned," he dared to look at her, "and maybe this is the only way to fix that."

 

[Elle Joyner]

"No. Not, Dillan. You are nothing like him. You have fought your whole life just to make sure of that. Everything you did, everything you've ever done has been to prove how separate the two of you are. You have to know that. Those people, Dillan, they are toxic. And you... you are too good, and too kind to be anything like them."


Running her fingers through his hair, she brushed it from his eyes, shaking her head, "If this is really what you want, I won't stop you. But Dillan, you have to know... there's no coming back from it. I shot my foster-father in the knee, and he lived... but it still haunts me. You do this? Your life... our life, will never be the same. Just... just please, Dillan. Give it a night? Sleep on it. We'll to a motel, and in the morning, if you still think this is how we need to end this, then I will be with you, every step of the way. But don't make any decisions yet, please?"

 

[NRTupper]

"I don't... I don't want to live in fear... wondering when the next hit will come," Dillan leaned into her, his head landing on her shoulder, "I can't do that ... I can't..." But she was right, he needed to rest. They both did. They all did.


He got to his feet with some difficulty and rapped his fingers against the back door, "Killian. You drive... all right?"


Killian complied without question.

 

[Elle Joyner]

When they'd arrived at the motel, Jordan used cash to purchase two rooms. After making sure Killian got to his room alright, they made their way to their own and slipped inside. Closing the door and sliding the latch into place, Jordan leaned against in, closing her eyes. She felt wired, unnerved. The entire mess was on the brink of collapsing, but at the same time, they were so close to the end and she was so desperately tense she was surprised she hadn't snapped yet.


Opening her eyes, she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Dillan's waist, leaning her head against his chest, "Promise me something? When this is all over with, no matter what we decide... just... just promise me that this... all this plotting and hiding and running and the lies is over. For good."

 

[NRTupper]

"I never wanted this, "Dillan said softly, "So yes. I swear it... all I wanted... from the start, is you."


He kissed her cheek, "Come..." he grasped her hand and pulled her towards the bathroom.


He needed a warm shower, and he had a feeling she could use one too.

 

[Elle Joyner]

She'd started after him, but something halted her steps and she paused, halfway to the bathroom, a brow quirked, "...Dillan."


Staring forward, shock registered in her eyes as she looked up at him, shook her head, "...It's... it's coming back. I... I remem... I remember things. Not everything. But... but some things, I can... I can see them. It's... they're so clear. I remember walking with you on the beach, I... I was cold, so you gave me your sweater. I kept it. I kept it because I knew you'd come back for it, but I messed... I said the wrong thing and you thought." Something between a laugh and a sob escaped and she covered her mouth with her hands, "I paid a man... to mug me? And he... he did such a good job convincing you, you almost... Oh my God, Dillan. What... How did you ever..."


Shaking her head, she stepped back, pulled her hand away, "This is who I am? This... this is what I do. I... I break people. I... violate everything they are, and I twist into who I need them to be. And then I... I leave them." A tear rolled down her cheek and she took another step, "...I don't want... I don't wanna remember this."