“I didn’t climb mountains to be defeated by this hill!” – William Barnes

 

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well have not lived at all.

-J.K Rowling

 

When people are protecting something truly special to them, they become as strong as they can be.  Challenges are what make life interesting.  Overcoming them is what makes them meaningful.

William is sitting in the holding cell after having been booked and having his mugshot taken. He sits on the bench with his back to the wall and his eyes closed. There is a look of calm on his face. As the door opened, William opened one eye to see who was entering the cell. Two biker looking guys were being placed in the cell, behind them, officer Stone stood. He looked at William and smiled. He closed the cell door and had all the other officers clear the room. William looked at the guys and gave them a nod as they approached him. The bigger of the two looked down at William. He was a big man, with a dark beard and tattoos on his arms and face. He had to be six foot six and weigh three hundred pounds. The other guy was smaller but had just as many tattoos.

William looks at the two bikers. “So, you two seem like you’re new here. You want me to give you the tour?” William smiled.

The big guy looks at William. “So, you’re a funny guy huh? I hate funny guys.” The big biker balls his fist and gets ready to hit William, but William quickly kicks the big man in the knee, smashing it backwards, sending him to the ground as he grabs his knee. The smaller biker jumps on William, catching him in the jaw with a straight right hook. William grabs his arm and slams him into the wall. He knees the guy in the kidneys as hard as he can, however, from behind him the big guy gets up and pulls out a retractable police baton and hits William in the back with hit. William hits the ground in pain. The biker uses it again across the forearm of William breaking his arm. He reaches back to swing again, but this time William reaches out and pulls the smaller guy in front of him. The baton comes down on the head of the smaller guy cracking his head open.

The big guy roars at William and runs at him. William ducks and sweeps the legs of the big guy sending him to the ground. William jumps on him and grabs the baton and starts hitting him with it. Just then the cell door flies open, and four police officers run in. They pull William off the biker. They slam him into the wall; Stone walks in and walks up to William. “Seems you are just like them. You are never going to get out of here. Attempted murder with a deadly weapon. Where did you even get this from?”

William spits some blood on the floor. “I took it off your fat bitch over there. You crooked ass mother fucker.”

 

From the hospital lobby we see a tall muscular built man dressed in a gray three-piece Armani suit, wearing a pair of rattlesnake skin cowboy boots. He has short wavy hair, which is styled perfectly.  He is a rugged, but very nice-looking man.  He is seen walking to the room in which Summer Hurst and her family rest in.  He stands outside of the door for several moments staring at Summer while unnoticed. Hunter was standing by the window talking to Colton, as Cassie was sitting on the bed, brushing her mother's hair, while she sits, still sleeping in the hospital bed.  He sighs as he knocks before entering.  Everyone turns in his direction as he walks through the door.  "How is she doing?"  He looked over to Hunter.

Hunter looks over at Stefan as he enters the room. "She woke up a couple of hours ago. She is just sleeping now. I guess it took a lot out of her. I am glad you are here. We need your help getting someone out of jail. Cassie will tell you what happened." Over in the corner, Colton is on the phone. "Kami, I need you to get the footage off the cameras at the ranch house. When you do, you can email me and Uncle Stefan, I will forward his address. Yes, everything is okay. Yes, it has to do with the outage. Look at ten minutes prior and ten minutes after. Thanks Kami."

Stefan walked closer inside and directed his attention to Hunter. "Yes, Colton text me and told me to come here."  He looked at Colton, "I thought something bad had happened to my baby sister.  We may not be the Brady Bunch, but I would kill for her.  Sorry I haven't been around to see her.  Even now, seeing her lie like this even asleep, just reminds me of the day she was born.  I was ten when I last saw our mother; she looks so much like her."  Stefan walks closer to Summer's bedside.  "Forgive me Sis, you know I don't like hospitals."  Cassie had stepped down from Summer's bedside.  Stefan took his hand about to brush the side of Summer's face when her eyes opened.  "Touch my hair and you will be in the bed next to me."  She lifts her left hand and grabs Stefan by the wrist.  Hunter lets out a muffled laugh and a huge smile comes across his face.

He walks over and leans down and kisses her on the lips. "Glad you decided to join us. Lily and little man went to get you something to eat. They should be back soon. You just rest babe." Just then Colton's and Stefan's phone send a push notification. They both check their phones. Colton lets out a little laugh. "Dang she is fast. Cassie you might want to call Kami." Stefan is quiet as he watches the camera footage from the ranch house. He looks at Cassie and walks over to her. He holds the phone in front of her. "You need to tell everything. Do not leave anything out."

Cassie looks over to Colton who gives her a nod.  She looks over to Hunter, and back to Stefan.  "Can we talk outside?  I don't want to risk upsetting mom."  Stefan agreed, he reached over quickly to Summer's bed and leaned down as if to whisper in her ear.  He quickly takes his right hand and rubs the top of her head, messing up her hair.  He jumps back out of Summer's arm reach and laughs.  "See you soon, save me a pillow. Love you, Brat.” Summer smiled as she shook her head.  "Don't worry, you'll get one."  Stefan and Cassie step outside and down the hall.  Summer looks over to Hunter and then to Colton.  “What is going on, what could I possibly get upset about?  What happened at the ranch house?”  She begins to try and lean up further in the bed to get out, and she feels herself getting lightheaded; the dizziness sends her backwards in the bed, as Hunter quickly reaches for the back of her neck laying her back softly onto the pillow.

 

Hunter looks down at her. “It is nothing you really need to worry about. Just normal stuff. Stupid people doing stupid things.”

Stefan steps back into the room.  Hunter looks at Cassie who has tears in her eyes.  She goes to sit in the chair over by the window as Stefan looks on.  "Brother, we need to have a little talk.  You think you can leave for a bit, and take a ride with me to the PD?  It's time Mr. Barnes met his attorney.

Hunter looks at Cassie, Colton and then at Summer. "Boy, keep an eye on you mom and sister." He walks over to Summer and leans down to her. "I will be back as fast as I can punk. Try not to cause too much trouble." He kisses her and walks to the door. "Let’s go Stevie." Stefan shakes his head and follows Hunter out of the room. They head outside and through the parking lot.

While Stefan and Hunter make their way to the parking deck, Stefan tries to stop Hunter before reaching the truck.  “I don’t know how you do it man.  How do you remain so calm knowing your entire family, which now includes this young man, has and will continue to have a Mikaelson target placed on their backs?”  Hunter keeps walking; Stefan had yet to realize that the calm before any storm was always the biggest lie ever told.  The sheer willpower of holding it all together amid everything, was something Hunter had to do.  To know him; to understand him, one would know that on the inside, the storm was coming; hell was awaiting its new arrival, and it was only a matter of time before Hunter would deliver.  Very few have witnessed that storm; It was something He certainly was not proud of, and a storm, not even Summer bared witness to.

They arrive at Stefan’s 2024 Mineral Black Infinity QX80, and Hunter turns to Stefan before he opens the door.  “You asked me how I can remain so calm, the answer to that is, I don’t; I just know I have to.”  The men step up into the truck and Stefan starts the engine. “This is all about Cassie’s relationship with that Mikaelson boy, I assume.  Dominic is threatened by her influence on his son.  I’ve heard stories about him; how ruthless he had become when he was sent to Paris.  He was leading his own team there.  His only reason to return was the death of his mother.”   Hunter turned his head in disgust. “So, he lied to my baby girl; he lied to us all!”  He then turns his head to look out the window.  “Does she know?” Stefan puts the truck in gear, and they begin to drive away.  “No, I just got wind of this last night.  You know, Mr. Mikaelson isn’t the only one with insiders on their payroll.”  Hunter turned back to Stefan who smiled sadistically.

“It appears that Mr. Rexall was on the switching end of the Mikaelson payroll and was sent by the son to fetch Cassie and bring her to him.  Your house fire was the result of the failed attempt.  This was not an attack on Summer.” Hunter lets out a muffled grunt. “That does not mean a damn thing to me; I should have been there and none of this would have happened to her.”  Stefan slows down to a stop at the four-way. “You can’t think like that, no number of what-ifs can change the outcome, brother.”  Stefan now begins to slowly take off again. 

Hunter takes a deep breath and slams his fist into the glove compartment on the dash.  “I could have prevented all of this when that punk kid showed his ass at my daughter’s doorstep. I should have let Summer kill him when she had the chance; Instead, I stopped her.  I should have ripped his fucking head off.”  Stefan looks at Hunter. “And then what would you have done; allowed your wife to go to jail or worse yet, taken yourself out of the picture, leaving them more vulnerable than they were already??  Think rationally here for a moment, you did the right thing.  Noone saw this coming, but now with Rexall’s death, I am afraid this is going to lead to an all-out war between your families, not to mention a power struggle between the Mikaelson’s.”  Stefan puts the truck into park as they reach the front of the police station. “Brother, as much as I hate to say this, you need to take everyone, and I mean everyone and leave town for a while.” Stefan turns to Hunter with a serious look on his face.  “I know my sister, she will be your hardest battle, if she does not leave, we may all lose her for good next time.  She has never backed away from a battle of any kind, not even as a kid, and that I am sure you know is her weakness. Get them out of here, Hunter, before it is too late.” 

Hunter lowers his head; he knows Stefan is telling the truth.  This would only go one way if he kept his family here.  This was bigger than any wrestling match, the stakes were higher, and the end results could become fatal.  They were not runners, they were not cowards, they were a family; a family with innocent members; a family who stood by each other no matter the cost, but also the same family Hunter would not risk.  “I will, if it is the last thing, I ever do.”

 

Both Stefan and Hunter make their way into the station.  The woman sitting behind the plexiglass office spots Stefan instantly.  "Good afternoon, Mr. Kensington, how can I help you today."  She stares over at Hunter with a disgusted look on her face.  "Oh, it's you again. I’ve seen enough of your family inside these walls to last me a lifetime.  Who do you have in here now?"  She just curls her lip as Hunter cuts his eyes.  Stefan shakes his head. "Now, Miss June, that is no way to talk about my brother-in-law and his family.  You know that is a form of abuse, and by law, Mr. Hurst here could press charges."  Hunter smiles evilly.  "We, are here to see my client, William Barnes."  Miss June just corrects her attitude and begins to type on her computer.  "Mr. W. Barnes 45986, is in the infirmary at this moment.  I can let you go back and wait in the room if you like."  She curls her lip once again to Hunter.  "That will be fine, June. Thanks."  The two stand by the door as June presses the button and unlocks the door.  Moments pass as you can hear William's voice coming down the hall.  "I do not need you to hold my arm like you want to take me to the shower, dickhead.  I am capable of walking on my own."  Hunter smiles and shakes his head.  "He's a pistol."   The door opens and the guard gives William a short push into the room.  William begins to turn in reflex but sees Hunter and a strange man sitting at the table.

Hunter looks at William and sees the cast on his arm. "What the hell happened to you, boy?" William looks at Hunter and then to the man next to him. "Sir, they had a little welcome to the cell party for me. It was that Stone guy. He is kind of a dick sir."

“Stone, as in officer Stone?” Stefan looked at William.  “Have a seat young man, I am here to help you.  The name is Stefan Kensington.  I am Mr. Hurst’s brother-in-law and your attorney.”

William sits down and looks over Stefan. “I remember you sir. You used to come out to the ranch house when I was there. My parents would take me out there during the summer, years ago. I would hang out with Cassie and Colton.” Hunter takes a deep look at William and starts to laugh. Little fucking Billy.” I remember you now. You and Colton pulled the engine off the old tractor to make a go cart. Colton crashed it into the oak tree behind the barn.” William and the men laugh a bit. Yes, sir that we did. We had some fun times back then. Then mom got sick, and we had to move away. That had to be fourteen or fifteen years ago.”

Stefan shakes his head, "Damn, it seems like ages ago.  You mean to tell me; you were the scrawny little fella that my niece seemed to had fallen head over heels about?"  Stefan looks at Hunter.  "Summer always said they were the cutest couple back then.  She even told Dad to take pictures of them when you both were on the road."  He turns to William.  "If I remember correctly, Cassie had it in her bedroom for the longest, even when she was older."  William just smiles and then turns to Hunter, who has a cold look on his face. "Boy, things are happening, and they are not good. You might want to think about taking a trip. You do not know it yet, but you have walked into a hornet's nest." Stefan looks over to William. "Hunter is right, I already advised him to take the family and leave town for a while.  You, son, I'm afraid walked right into a feud that has been going on for nearly six years now.  Have you ever heard of the name Dominic or Damon Mikaelson?

Anger flashes in William's eyes. "Of course I have. That family has been trying to strong arm my father's garage from him. That was one of the reasons I did not reenlist in the Navy again. I had to come home and help my dad keep the garage from being taken from him. If this has anything to do with them, then I am not going anywhere. They all suck." He sits back in the chair and thinks to himself. "Damon, Damon. It is not the same Damon.. Cassie's Damon?"

Hunter's face nearly turns a few shades of red, just at the mention of the Mikaelson name.  "They both can choke on a bullet for what they did to my Baby Girl. Their time is coming, I promise that, but first, let's get you out of here and away from this shit show.  If I know Cas, like I know her mother, she would burn the state of Texas to the ground if anything happened to you, boy."

William lowers his head. Softly speaking. "I want to thank you both for the help and all, but I am not going anywhere. When I get out of here, I am not running off. I know sir, you want to take care of Cassie and your family, but that is a lot to do for one person. I am going to stay and help. You should focus on your wife sir. Colton will focus on Lily and Sammy, and I will protect Cassie." Hunter and Stefan both look at each other and kind of grin. Hunter stares at William. "Boy, this is no game and people will get hurt. You need to be sure about this." William nods his head with a determined look in eyes.

Stefan looks at William. "Alright, let’s work on getting you out of here, okay.  First, we need some info from you. Tell me a little about yourself.  This is what we will establish as a character history.  Judge/Jury will want to know what kind of person you are.  If there happens to be any skeletons, it’s best to open up now, rather than have the State’s attorney find them and say you are hiding something."

William moves in closer. "Well, I was born and raised here. When I was younger my dad taught me how to work on cars and motorcycles, pretty much anything with an engine and wheels. After my mom got sick, we moved back near her family in Overland Missouri. When I graduated high school, I joined the Navy as a Seabee. I was a Construction Mechanic. I fixed heavy equipment and base vehicles. The last couple of years I have been stationed over in Afghanistan, working with all branches of the military taking care of the vehicles and Humvees. When my dad told me about the issues with his garage, I decided it was time to go home and help him with that."

Stefan begins to write some notes in a folder.  He looks at Hunter with a smile.  "He sounds a bit like you."  He laughs. "Those Kensington women and their Seabees." Stefan nudges Hunter on the shoulder.  "That all sounds good son, may I ask how your mother is now?"

William just looks at Stefan. "We lost her shortly after she got sick. Cancer sucks sir."  Both Hunter and Stefan look at each other, and Stefan nods.  I am sorry to hear that son, I lost my mother when I was ten years old.  We did not know it, but when she gave birth to my sister."  He looks at Hunter. "She already had stage 4 ovarian cancer.  She was never supposed to give birth to her.  Doctors told my father she was advised to terminate the pregnancy when she first found out.  My mother was a hardheaded woman my father said.  She never told him.  I guess, that is why Summer was mainly raised by our Grandparent's.  It was too heartbreaking for my dad.”  He now turns to Hunter.  "Summer doesn't know this, and I don't know how I could even begin to tell her.  We all know she blames herself for her death, but if she knew the reason why our father didn't have much to do with her as a child, I think it would hurt her more.  We always told her he was away on business."  Stefan lowered his head.

"Now let's move on. What were you doing at the Kensington Ranch the night of the incident?  "I had just returned her truck to her. It was having an issue and she had brought it to the garage. I met her at the hospital and drove her home since she was busy answering calls about her mother's health. She invited me in, and we were talking about the old times. You know, since we had not seen each other in so many years. She was getting ready, because Colton and Lily were bringing their son over for Cassie to watch while they went to see how Mrs. Hurst was doing in the hospital. They were also going to bring Cassie some clothes over since she did not have any at the ranch house yet."

 

Hunter looks at William. "Clothes? Why would they be bringing her clothes?"  Hunter takes a deep breath as the voice of Summer rings in his ear as if she was sitting beside him whispering. ~chill out idjit, she is a grown woman after all.~  Stefan looks over to Hunter with a smile as he shakes his head.  "Okay. now that we have gotten this far, I need you to really think about this next question.  Forget that Cassie's Father is sitting here for a moment.”  He looks to Hunter.  "Or if you prefer, I can ask him to leave.  It is your choice, son.  But in your own words, describe everything that happened that night in full detail leading up to the incident in question."  Stefan turns to Hunter.  "This is just to justify his credibility.  If the jury suspects him of hiding any details, big or small, they will find loopholes in his story and their attorney will shred him like a paper doll on the stand." He turns back to William.  "Take your time, son."

William begins to tell the story step by step of that night.  He cautiously looks to Hunter on and off for any unusual facial expressions.  As he is done, he stands to his feet for a moment.  "Sir, I had no intensions of taking advantage of your daughter.  We were both surprisingly shocked at that moment.  She covered herself quickly and I made my way out of the room.  I hope you believe me, sir."  Hunter looked on, and then nodded his head. "I do, boy. I do."

"Okay, Last question.  Who all was present at the time of the incident who can justify your grounds of action and how would you describe your current relationship with Cassie now?"

" It was me and Cassie. Colton, Lily and their son Sammy. They were on a video call with a couple of people, I think their names were Hara and Kami, I think." Hunter sits back for a second. "Do you know what the call was about, boy?" William just shakes his head. "Not really. They seemed to be just talking. There was something about a wrestling match." Hunter just nods his head. "Now about the last thing you asked. I would say we were friends. But between the three of us, I really like her. Honestly there is nothing I would not do for her."

Stefan nodded his head.  "I think that should be enough to start with.  I am going to bring all this up before the judge, and the DA's office.  With your military background, and no priors, there is not anything stopping bail to be posted.  You are not a flight risk it seems and I'm only about 100% positive this will not even make it to trail."  William and Hunter both turn to look at Stefan.  "Everyone in this town seems to be scared of the name Mikaelson, Only the Judicial system is afraid of a Kensington. You are as good as a free man, son.  You will get to see my niece soon enough. Hang tight son. " Stefan stands from the table as he pats William on the back and nods to Hunter.  "Stay here, brother.  The kid is gonna need a ride home."  Stefan exits the room.

 

William looks at Hunter and clears his throat. "Sir, now that he is gone, would you mind telling me what happened to Cassie. What did these people do to her?"  Hunter sits quietly for a moment.  This obviously was not his story to tell, however, the outcome of Cassie telling it was catastrophic and he did not want nor need her to go through that again.  He lets out a long sigh.  “It is a difficult situation boy, I should not be the one telling you, however, man to man, I trust that you will not speak of this around her.  I can see that you care for my little girl and know just what I will do to protect her and my family.  The punk, that is Damon, I am guessing, dated Cassie back in college, things happened that would normally happen in college, and she found herself in a predicament if you know what I mean.”  William frowns a bit but nods his head.  “Well, the Old Mother Fucker found out about it, obviously.  He had his goons kidnap her on her way to tell Damon about it.”  Hunter’s breathing was beginning to get choppy.  William could tell this was not an easy story for him to tell. “Sir, you don’t have to continue.”  Hunter holds his hand up, turning his head and closing his eyes for just a moment.  “It is ok, it is best heard by me, and you should know if you plan on getting serious with my baby girl.”  Hunter stands on his feet for a moment, pacing the floor, trying to shake the urge that was burning inside of him.

“Let’s be clear here before I continue, this happened almost 6 years ago, we only found out about everything, just a few months ago. This for us, is a freshly cut wound, Cassie lived with this on her own, in silence, for all those years.”  William’s face fell into a sadden state as he shook his head and took a seat once again.  Hunter still pacing the floor.  “The old man, had beaten and…”  Hunter walks to the table, picking up a chair and slinging it across the other side of the room.  He paces the floor in an angry stance, breathing heavily. “And raped my eighteen-year-old, little girl and murdering her unborn child.”  William’s eyes widened, his face now red with rage and heartache.  He stood from the chair and went over to Hunter who dropped to his knees in front of the table.  William goes to his aid, but Hunter pulls himself up, flipping the table over and whales out an angry cry..”I lost my baby girl that night.”   

William stands there not saying a word. Hunter starts to calm down a little and looks at William. "That is not the only thing those bastards did. That same night, they tried to kill Colton. He was on his way to save his sister, when they drove a truck into the side of his bike while he was driving it. Then while he was laying there in the road, they showed him what they were doing to Cassie over the phone. He could not do anything. He was so broken, he spent weeks in the hospital. To this day he still blames himself for everything. Now we know that it was both the bastards that did this to my kids. They hurt them. They tried to kill them. They took our grandson from us." Hunter just lowers his head. "I am going to end them. For what they did to Colton, Cassie and now Summer. If you are going to stay by her side, then you are going to be in this. If this has changed anything, then you need to go once you are out of here. She is falling hard for you, and if you leave now, she will understand why."

William just sits there, breathing quickly. "Sir, that is not going to happen. I am not going anywhere. They all deserve what they get. Even if Cassie does not want to be with me, I am not going to let them get away with what they did." Hunter nods at William. "Well just to let you know. When Summer finds out about this, she is going to go crazy and try and kill them herself."

Hunter takes a seat, looking around the room at the disaster he made, Stefan opens the door to the room with a stack of papers in his hand and a large Ziploc bag with William’s belongings inside.   He looks around the room at both men.  “Do I even want to know?”  Both Hunter and William look to each other and let out a muffled grunt. “You my boy, are a free man.  No court appearance, no probation, and I do believe this gun is yours.”  Stefan hands William the bag, he opens it, reaching inside and pulling out the pistol. “That’s a nice Glock, is that a 3 or 4 in barrel?  Stefan examines the look of the gun.  “Actually, it’s a 4.2 sir.”  Both Hunter and Stefan look impressed. William takes the gun and slides it into the back of his pants.  “So, is that it, sir?  I don’t need to forewarn my father of any police coming to the front door?”  William asks.  “Not at all, all charges have been dropped, and wiped from any records. Your arrest never happened, son.”  William looked over to Hunter and then to Stefan.  “Thank you both, for all the help.”  Hunter laughs and pats William on the shoulder.  “You can thank Colton for making the call.”  Stefan nods. “If I know my niece, she probably would have threatened him if he didn’t.”  The men nodded and laughed as they walked out of the door.