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"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked. Ripper wasn't even looking at me, he was staring out at the shed where he knew Alesha was being housed.

He sighed and locked eyes with me. He was struggling. "Do you want to know what I thought of when I first saw you?"

He chuckled and turned away, blinking away the wetness that seemed to rapidly gather in his eyes.

"I thought you were going to hurt me. I thought that I was never going to have the chance at getting my life together after what they put me through. But then when you let me sleep here that first night, it was like something in me shut off. That fight or flight instinct that had been constant for so many years just stopped and for once I was actually able to sleep without worrying about whether or not I'd wake up in the morning.

"You gave me a chance to actually live. Even though I wasn't all right in my head you still let me stay here and work. You let me do odd jobs for the club that someone my age probably shouldn't have been doing, but you let me because you knew that I needed the release. You saw potential in me the whole time and not once did you ever give up on me. And then when Lilly showed up you didn't even care that I was known as the most ruthless killer around, you just cared about the fact that I made your daughter feel loved and safe.

"You made me feel like a human. And for that I thank you. And even though you may not think the same way, I've always thought of you as the father figure I never had," he cried. Silent tears trailed down his cheeks but he didn't care enough to wipe them away. He just continued to stare at me as if he was afraid I would disappear in that same moment and leave him just like everyone else.

As a tear dripped from my own eye I stepped forward and pulled him into a suffocating hug, allowing him to cry silently into my shoulder.

It's funny when I look back on how my life was before Lilly came into it. Before, I never showed my emotions. Yeah I would get angry, but never would I cry in front of my men. Never did I consider cutting bad on the amount of alcohol I drank. And yeah my men knew that they could come to me and talk to me about anything, but none of them did because I wasn't exactly a pleasant person to be around. And then Lilly came along and I started to get better, and then when Scarlett came along I became a whole new person. I became more aware of my surroundings and that my life didn't revolve around just me.

It's insane what a couple people can do to change your perspective on life. A habit that you have had your entire life that you never realized could hurt others you become aware of and do your best to stop it before it becomes worse. The small things that others do to make your life more bearable that you never noticed before become something that you thank people for every day. Becoming more self-aware was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me because without it, I would still be stuck in the same hole that I was for years.

Before I was always angry, always hateful of the world around me. All I cared about was getting my club to the top. I never cared about the people on the other side who got harmed or killed in the process. I was selfish and arrogant, but now I do my best to not be that same person. Yes I still care about my club and yes I am willing to harm others if they are a threat to my men and women, but I am not hurting any innocent people in the process. I make sure now that no one is in the crossfire.

And I can tell that Ripper is feeling those changes as well. Before he had Lilly to confide in, I never saw him cry. I never saw him sad. The only emotion I ever saw cross his face was anger. Any other time he was closed off from the world. He didn't want people to get close to him because he didn't want his present to end up like his past.

I pulled away and made him look me in the eyes.

"No matter what happens in there, you are my son. That woman in there does not matter one bit. You decide how you want to live your life. Do not take anything she says seriously and let her get into your head, okay?"

He nodded and smiled. "Okay Alpha."

We walked into the shed and immediately Ripper tensed and it only got worse the closer we got to her cell.

Butcher and Jason were guarding the outside of it and nodded at us when we stopped in front of them.

"Any news?"

"No Alpha. She's been silent all night. Has hardly even moved even," Butcher reported. I nodded and stepped around them to open the door.

Alesha's eyes widened when she caught sight of who walked in behind me. She obviously wasn't expecting me to bring him in too.

"Ready to finish your story?"

______________________

I sighed and picked at my plate of food. It smelled and tasted wonderful but I just had no appetite knowing that Bryan and Ripper were out there with that woman right now. I could tell Lilly was feeling the same way, seeing as she hasn't even taken a bite of her food since we both sat down.

"Do you think he's okay?" She mumbled, only looking up at me to make sure I heard her before she turned back to her food.

I faced her and grabbed her hands in mine. "I think he will be. He may not be right now, but he has you and the rest of this club willing to drop everything for him. Ripper is a strong man Lilly, and as long as he has you everything will be okay."

She sighed. "I know that. But I just can't help feeling like I should be doing more for him. He did so much for me when Bethany was still alive and now I don't know what to do. Of course I comfort him and I'm there for him but I just feel like I should be doing more than what I am. Is that normal?" She asked. When she looked up at me I could see that she was really beating herself up over this, letting me know that she's been thinking about this for quite some time.

"If you really feel that way than surprise him. That boy practically worships the ground that you walk on, so anything you do he will love. Do you want help planning something?"

"Please," she smiled.

I grinned. "Okay, what does he like?"

We were sitting at the bar planning for about an hour. And then after that we had to go to the grocery store to get supplies.

We decided that Lilly would surprise him with a snack and movie night in their bedroom. She told me about how whenever one of them were feeling sad they would usually watch a movie, which helped. And then we decided that we would go out and buy all of his favorite snacks as well.

When we got back to the compound Ripper and Bryan were still out in the shed, which gave us plenty of time to set everything up so that it was the first thing he saw when he walked into their room.

When we were finished setting everything up Lilly turned and hugged me tightly. "Thank you so much for helping me Scarlett. You have no idea how much it means to me."

I hugged her back and blinked away the slight wetness that had begun to gather in my eyes. "Of course sweetheart, you don't need to thank me."

She pulled away and gave me a watery smile. "But I do. As soon as you came into our lives you changed them for the better. My dad is so much happier now that he has you. Before he was lost and alone because the only person who he had ever loved had turned out psychotic. You came in and gave him the love that he needed in order to balance out his life again. You gave me my dad back, and for that I'll always be grateful," she finished and by time she was done both of us were crying.

"I'll always be here no matter what for the both of you. You've become my family just as much as I have become yours."

~Angel