The Age of The Masrui

“I can’t miss the funeral, you can’t miss the birth, you can’t leave River... a mess. It’s all a mess...” Bella said sadly as she curled into him.

---

Serena cried in his arms for a long while before she silenced - slumped against him as she breathed shakily, completely worn out.

---

“Good, they’re okay.” Karsi nodded before rubbing his arm gently. “I love you... so much.”

---

“I didn’t get there in time.”

“Damage was caused on impact Maddox. It wouldn’t have mattered if you’d got there ten seconds or ten minutes after... the moment his head got knocked he was gone. Don’t start this self blaming bullshit because I can’t take any more of it, I’ve already got Caliban’s guilt because he skipped out coming altogether. Nobody could’ve saved him. If he wasn’t fooling around with River maybe he wouldn’t have been in a place where he’d have gotten hit - or maybe he would’ve because Karsi nearly didn’t make it out. Gabriel didn’t and at least seven other people died and over a dozen with injuries. It was a roulette and unfortunately our brother lost.”

"If it wasn't for you then there wouldn't even be the closure for anyone. There wouldn't be answers." Marlowe whispered, rubbing Maddox's arm gently. "You done everything you could, you and Ronan nearly got yourselves killed to get Dane and River out. You done so well, Mads.. it being the result we wanted or not, you done so well; you were so brave."

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"I love you too," Louis whispered. "I wasn't going to leave you, no matter what happens in there; I was never going to leave you."

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"I'll stay here as long as you need me to," Kadir whispered. "Here meaning at your side, okay? I won't go home until you can't stand me anymore. You're not alone."

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"A mess." Ronan agreed.

"If it wasn't for you then there wouldn't even be the closure for anyone. There wouldn't be answers." Marlowe whispered, rubbing Maddox's arm gently. "You done everything you could, you and Ronan nearly got yourselves killed to get Dane and River out. You done so well, Mads.. it being the result we wanted or not, you done so well; you were so brave."

---

"I love you too," Louis whispered. "I wasn't going to leave you, no matter what happens in there; I was never going to leave you."

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"I'll stay here as long as you need me to," Kadir whispered. "Here meaning at your side, okay? I won't go home until you can't stand me anymore. You're not alone."

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"A mess." Ronan agreed.

“We’ll work it out... we’ll work a way around it...”

---

“I want to call you an idiot for putting the kids at risk of being orphaned but the truth is I wouldn’t have left you either so I can’t be mad at you.” Karsi whispered, curling into him. “I’m just glad we both got out of there alive.”

---

“There were seven of us and now…” Maddox started, voice breaking.

“I know. I know.” Altair whispered

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“I’m sorry it was such a shitty first date...” Serena laughed once without humour, closing her eyes.

"It isn't fair, sweetheart. I'm so sorry, I- when I thought Dorian was... the amount of times you've gone through that pain." Marlowe sighed, kissing the top of his head before glancing over at Altair and offering her other arm out to him, "You come here too, Altair. Come on.. ​don't be so you. It's about time you let me hug you."

---

"It was.. memorable. I am so sorry it was for all of the wrong reasons. Damn old buildings, hm? If we ever get a place together that is something to make a note of - it needs to be modern."

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He slipped his arms around her a little more comfortably. "We need each other to breath, hm? Co-dependent to the letter."

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"Will we? How.. I- don't want to be alone, for any amount of time."

"It isn't fair, sweetheart. I'm so sorry, I- when I thought Dorian was... the amount of times you've gone through that pain." Marlowe sighed, kissing the top of his head before glancing over at Altair and offering her other arm out to him, "You come here too, Altair. Come on.. ​don't be so you. It's about time you let me hug you."

---

"It was.. memorable. I am so sorry it was for all of the wrong reasons. Damn old buildings, hm? If we ever get a place together that is something to make a note of - it needs to be modern."

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He slipped his arms around her a little more comfortably. "We need each other to breath, hm? Co-dependent to the letter."

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"Will we? How.. I- don't want to be alone, for any amount of time."

“We see what the situation is with River... she could be awake by the time they tell us so.. it might not be an issue mm?”

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“I am fine. Thank you though.” Altair shook his head.

“We should go home mm?” Maddox moved to stand up, wiping at his face.

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“It’s bad.” Karsi nodded, laughing humourlessly. “I was scared...”

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“Check the building is up to code is a new thing to add to my anxiety list before going places.” Serena murmured. “I... I need to shower, get out of this dress. You can go, it’s okay.” She added. “You didn’t sign up for this, this is part of the boyfriend package mm, comfort and all of that - even that with Lux, I’m sorry I just handed her over to you...”

"If your ready to go home, then yes, we probably should." Marlowe agreed softly, "If you need to go into his room though Mads, see him... chat to Karsi too - that's okay. Like you said; the kids will be fine for a little longer."

---

"Or we prepare for worse case." Ronan whispered. "I- I couldn't go to Rowan's because of things here, it would be nice if..." he cut himself off and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry - that isnt fair I shouldn't of even thought that yet alone said it."

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"I was scared too." He confessed. "Your everything to me, Karsi. I - I couldn't do any of it without you, no matter how much support your brother gave me."

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"This is exceptional circumstances." Kadir whispered, "We are avoiding proper labels, anyway. I want to stay here and be here for you; the choice is if you want me to or not."

“Sounds like I’ll have plenty of time to speak to him, Karsi too... it’s fine.”

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“You want me to stay here and miss his funeral don’t you?” Bella asked quietly, her tone even.

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“I believe you could, if you have to... but hopefully it’ll never come to that. Appears we’re both a set of cockroach’s mm?” Karsi assured softly.

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“I do... I do want you here... I think I might need you.”

"Well, here I am then." Kadir hummed softly. "Feel free to use me and abuse me; no need for sorry or pleases or but and I - I'll do my best not to read into it anymore than you want me to."

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"I am fine with being a cockroach as long as you are." He chuckled.

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"I don't want that, but... I do need you, and I need to be with her. Or... mourn her. Rowan was easier to.. disown, I guess? Not really but.. it was easier to pretend but River. She is the centre of the family.. mine and Reid's world and - I'm being selfish."

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Marlowe nodded, whispering quietly, "I'll follow you out, meet you in the car. Just - give me a minute?"

“As long as it means we always survive... I can deal with it.”

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Bella nodded slowly, taking a few moments before simply saying; “So I’ll stay...”

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“No... read into it.” Serena whispered, wiping at her eyes. “My dad... life’s too short isn’t it? We could be gone tomorrow. Read into it. I need you here with me. Not want... it’s become a need. I’m done skirting around it. If I keep putting it off because I’m scared I’ll get my heart broken I’ll die alone and unloved and it could happen tomorrow...”

---

Maddox hesitated before nodding, heading outside to hail a cab and keep it waiting.

Marlowe grabbed her crutches and made her way over to sit down beside Altair instead, whispering, "You're not getting away with it." before slipping her arms around and pulling him into a hug. "I'm glad you're okay Altair."

---

Louis nodded, kissing the side of her head gently. "You need to get some rest,"

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"You don't have to. I feel terrible."

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"Okay, well... we will take it all as it comes then, okay? For now all that matters is you, and what you are going through and.. how I can support you."

Karsi nodded, closing her eyes without hesitation as she settled down.

---

“I do have to. You need me.” Bella squeezed his hand gently. “And I can’t lie - as much I would love to go home and have the baby there and just hide away from the world for a while... I don’t want any of it without you, can’t do it without you. And you need to be here... so... I stay.”

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“I - you too.” Altair nodded stiffly, not used to the affection.

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“I feel like you’ve walked right out of some sort of romance novel my sister read in her teens - in a good way.” Serena chuckled, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder

"I know that if anything happened to Maddox and I, the kids would be looked after with you, and Cal and Karsi. Your kids would be fine with me too, even though most of them are grown and Astrid is always suspicious of my intentions now. Family, mm? I love you, like I love Cal and Karsi and Rian. I- I've never actually told you that so, there it is." She hummed, leaning back then. "You can phone me, whenever, for anything."

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"I can't... see I wouldnt have much of a choice, if you went I would have to come because River is the centre of the Langstead's but I can't miss the birth of both of my children. I can't not be there for you twice in a row."

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Louis rested his head on hers gently.

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Kadir laughed quietly, "You ever watched Korean Drama's? Now those are romantic: you watch the whole three seasons and the leads never even hug but when they do it is like fireworks."

“And I don’t want to go through it without you again. And I won’t make you pick between your sister or your son.” Bella swallowed thickly. “I want to be with my family, I won’t lie to you... but they’re alive and okay. And there’s video calls. River needs you, you need me, and I need you...and so I stay. My family will understand.”

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“No... but I’m glad we didn’t have to wait any amount of time before we got to the fireworks.”

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“Thank you, and for being there for Maddox... for the family.”

"No need, your family is mine. We are one in the same now." Marlowe smiled, ruffling his hair playfully then before grabbing her crutches and making her way out. Soon placing herself into the taxi beside Maddox, arms automatically slipping around him once again.

---

"I'll have to make you binge watch a series with me, I think you'd love them. Drama, romance, a whole different kind of film conventions. They are my guilty pleasure." He laughed.

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"Thank you- thank you so much..."

“No need to thank me... when River is okay we can fly home and I can say goodbye to my dad then.” Bella rubbed his arm gently. “For better or worse.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

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“Sounds like the kind of distraction I’ll need over the next few days.” Serena nodded sadly. “I’m going to shower... warm the bed for me?”

"This is certainly the worst part," He sighed, wrapping his arms her and resting his chin on top of her head.

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"I will." Kadir hummed, getting to his feet and offering her a hand up. "Why shower though? Bath... take your time."

“We’ll get through it.” Bella promised.

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“I just want to get into bed... I don’t trust myself to not fall asleep in the bath.” Serena admitted as she took his hands and got up. “I just wanna crawl into bed and sleep...”

"Okay, okay. Sleep sounds amazing right now."

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"I hope so."

((Are you wanting to skip? Also how did it go with your dog?))

(( Mini stroke - he has had an injection to take pressure off his brain and we are phoning them in 2 days with how he is. Lots of dogs recover, some don't- it depends on what part of his brain it happened in. So yeah, waiting game right now.

We could skip, you first? I am a bottle of prosecco in currently ))

((If my cat can survive the two story drop and be okay with a leg missing I have every faith in your dog. Animals are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for))

Around 3 weeks later...

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“Gabriel giving you back the shares he held in your company is huge, especially considering he updated the will shortly before he died... guess he didn’t hate you that much after all.” Caliban hummed in surprise as he passed Dorian a coffee, sitting down on his couch a moment later. “I bet Serena was seething when she had to call you and give you the news. Have you made your mind up about whether or not you’re going to go to the funeral?”

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“So, yeah. The Manor House goes to Marcel which we expected as the oldest son, various trinkets going around us all, I’ll send you an itemised list of everything he left Rhys and Esme, Rhys said he’ll go over it tonight.” Serena said tiredly - it being nighttime already in France where she was FaceTiming her sister from. “Property wise though he’s left you the cottage, left me the lodge, the business gets split quarterly but Caspar is going to take on CEO...Everything is sorted for the funeral tomorrow, how’s everything on your end?”

“It’s okay. We’re okay. Last of the repairs done to the house two days ago so it’s like nothing happened here... house is quiet without Rhys and Esme but I’m glad he’s got you to keep an eye on him, I appreciate Altair flying out too. As much as he pretends he went to be the Levi representative at the funeral I know he’s there for Rhys in an uncle capacity which he needs.” Bella said quietly from where she was curled up on the couch, “It was hard letting Esme go but she said she wanted to and we trust Rhys and Cleo, plus it means she’s with family because we’re not here half the time...”

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“Knock knock.” Karsi hummed quietly as she leaned against the open doorframe in Tesni’s room, giving her a tired smile - having just got back from the hospital. “Hey...”

(( 100% Milo is a baby though, he has always been melodramatic when it comes to his injuries ))

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"I want to go, I - If it it were up to me entirely then I would but she hates me, her whole family despise me so it would just make everything more miserable wouldn't it? People forget he filled in for my father, in close to every way. This has been.... so... so difficult."

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"Mom..." Tesni whispered, putting her phone to the side and pulling her ear phones out as she rolled off the bed and made her way over. Slipping her arms around to hug her as tightly as she could; cautious not to hurt her; "You're home."

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"It's all... a lot to take in." Ronan sighed softly from where he was sat beside Bella. "I still feel terrible, I really do. I've told Bella she can get any flight she wants and be there in time, I- Sorry."

"No, no." Kadir whispered. "We are holding the fort here. You and Isabella need to focus on your little one. Plane travel isn't good is it? And enough strain has been put on."

“Esme is fine, the fresh air and running round with all the animals and everyone is doing her amazingly - you know what she’s like, walks into the room and has everyone wrapped around her little finger. Rhys is okay too... you know what he’s like as well, especially when he gets in drinking with his uncles and Marcel’s sons... don’t worry or feel bad about anything. Dad would’ve understood why you’re not here.” Serena agreed, giving them a reassuring smile. “We’re holding the fort.” She echoed Kadir.

“Is she putting sun cream on? And she’s drinking enough water right? And Rhys isn’t drinking too much with his uncles is he? I don’t - “

“Bella. Stop.” Serena laughed then. “Ronan don’t feel bad... like I say, my dad would understand. He’d want you to be with your sister.”

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“I am, all good and healed up.” Karsi nodded, eyes widening a little in surprise at being called mom, though she didn’t point it out as she hugged her back tightly. “The kids are still at their after school activities so, you’re stuck with me.”

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“Caspar still texts you doesn’t he? I’d say you should go...” Caliban encouraged. “If they can get over Bella not going they can get over you going. Like you say - the guy was a surrogate dad to you.”

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((Some chicken and I’m sure he’ll be fine haha))