This Is Us - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

MIKA POV
'The Island of Bridgeport: Customs'
The arrivals board read as I stood on my tip toes to see past the large crowd, or at least attempted to. But at 5'4" [162 cm] it was difficult to see past anybody, especially with their puffy jackets and coats. Thankfully Pierce is super tall though, standing at 6'3" [190 cm] so I should be able to see at least the top of his fluffy brown head of hair.
I peeped my head, bobbing up and down, ducking and weaving, even jumping to see the people exiting customs in hopes of finding the love of my life.
The crowd begins to thin and one by one the strangers are reunited with their loved ones, family, and friends.
There were few people left, standing around with posters and flowers until finally their loved ones also come through the door.
Then it was just me.
A few stragglers walked past and I looked at my phone again, just to make sure I didn't miss anything.
'Just landed, see you soon my love,'
He said just an hour earlier and now I started to worry as I stared down at my phone. But what was I worrying about? The plane didn't crash. I mean, it's not possible for a plane to crash after it lands right?
I scratched the back of my head and stared at the text with a deep frown. Trying to figure out where on earth my husband was.
"Ahem,"
A small cough catches my attention and I quickly looked up from my phone to see the physical manifestation of the person I was looking for.
"AH!" I screamed, dropping my phone and jumping back in shock. My heart racing as my brain realized who it was and forced my body to move.
"EEEK!" I screamed again and quickly leaped forward again, squeezing him as tight as I could and taking in a deep breath of his scent, engraved in his soft Northface fleece.
His deep chuckle rumbled through his chest as Pierce wrapped his arms around me and he pressed his face against the top of my head.
"Either you shrunk a few inches or I forgot just how tiny you are," He mutters under his breath and I gently smack his shoulder.
"I am not tiny! You ever think that maybe you grew a few inches?!" I try to defend myself as I stand on my tip toes to kiss him and he groans.
"Nope, you definitely got smaller," He says as I pulled away and tried to pick up his duffle bag from the floor. But it was too heavy and ended up taking me sideways, hurting my butt as I landed on the tiled airport floor.
"What did you bring home! A pile of rocks!" I asked and he shook his head, laughing hysterically at my failure as he picked up the bag with ease, not even flexing a jacked muscle as he did so.
"No, Mama gave me a few family heirlooms and I thought I would share them with the kids for Christmas. It's a lot of metal boxes and small stuff," he sighs and holds his hand out to pick me up too. While I'm on the floor, I snatch my phone and accept his kind offer to help me up before examining the cracked screen.
"Aww come on Yeobo, that's the fifth one in what? Three months?" He asks with a sarcastic smirk, acting like it wasn't ridiculously easy for the CEO of the largest tech company in the world to get his husband a new phone.
I bet, if he snapped his fingers and thought about it really hard, it might actually appear.
"I'll have you know it's only the third and I can't help it. I'm a little clumsy, you should know this by now," I tell him and he rolls his light gray eyes, wrapping his large arm around my small shoulders as we walked out of LAX together.
The fact he missed Pierce over the past two months didn't need to be said through words as I could tell through the way he touched me. How he looked when we were crossing the street into the parking lot and a car came close to me, I almost thought he was going to attack the poor Uber driver like a wild animal.
He held me like I was his and his alone and no one deserved the chance to look at me, nevermind touch me. I just snuggled up closer to his embrace, so close that we were tripping over each other's feet but I couldn't care less.
"How's everything been? How are the kids?" He asked as we got to the car and buckled in, he takes the wheel and I lay back in the passenger seat, tired from a long day of work just before going to pick him up.
"Everything's been...what is it in English? The same old same old? Anyway, the twins are fine, their not kids anymore though," I remind him and he turns on the radio.
"They'll always be my babies, I fucking love those little monsters even if one of them has their own monster," Pierce says and I giggle thinking of how little Jaydean drives Matty up a wall sometimes.
Kind of like payback for the little demon he was with me while was growing up. Pierce was the one who became a stay at home dad though and worked from home while I did all the traveling for both of us.
"And that was 'Rerun' a collab with NTB's member's Thomas and Matthias Jackson who are under hot water today after Matthias appeared in public with a rather concerning black eye, husband Thomas Jackson being taken into custody on domestic assault charges, I mean what do you think of this Kristy?"
I looked at Pierce and turned up the radio as he sped up on the highway, no longer headed home, but to our sons' house.
"I think it's pretty clear Kelly, I mean three men living together are bound to get into a fight at some point, especially with his baby's father also supposedly living on the premises? I'm surprised the little girl was allowed to stay with them this long,"
"I don't know about that Kristy, all we do know is the father Wesley Anderson, was seen earlier escorted by Thomas to the hospital with a broken leg and multiple stitches while Matthias was spotted in a parking lot with a black eye reportedly crying in his own lap. Thomas, however, was left uninjured,"
I turned off the radio, no longer willing to listen to the lies and gossip they like to spew out.
"If Thomas hurt Matty in any way, I'm going to kill him," Pierce threatens in a calm even tone that sends sharp chills down my spine.
"Thomas wouldn't touch Matty, come on Pierce," I try to calm him down but he had one hand scratching his chin and the other wrapped so tight on the steering wheel that his knuckles were turning white.
I remember the night several years ago when my abusive ex-boyfriend tried to threaten me. Pierce beat the man until he was barely breathing and to this day I still don't know if the man survived.
In my gut, I know the real answer, but I refuse to accept it.
I gulped just thinking of what he would do to Thomas.
"This must be a misunderstanding, for one, Thomas doesn't have it in him to lay a finger on Matty. He loves our son almost as much as I love you," I compared but I could tell Pierce wasn't going to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.
"And also, Matty's pregnant."
With this Pierce finally loosened his grip on the wheel, letting out a small sigh.
"Something must be wrong then," He mumbles under his breath and I rest my hand on his knee, gently rubbing his leg to relax him as we reach the exit to Matty's house.
"What makes you finally believe me?" I asked and he stopped at a red light, tilting his head towards me with a face full of concern.
"I like to believe our son isn't a monster," He says, talking about Thomas and I bite the corner of my lip. Wishing I hadn't broken my phone because Matty was probably trying to call me at this very moment.
We passed two ambulances as we pulled up to the farmhouse, finding it covered in police tape and officers were talking to Wesley on the porch. As soon as he saw us walking across the lawn he perked up and waves us over.
Catching my first glimpse of Wesley, the man looked like he had been through hell and back. Several scratches covered his arms and his right leg was placed in a black cast as he hovered on his crutches. A golden retriever sat by his side wearing a service vest, letting me pick up on the clue that Wesley is now disabled for a reason I'll discover later.
"I'm so glad you guys are here, shit's really hit the fan and-"
"Get in the car," I commanded, not wanting him to say another word in front of the police until I had gotten through to them. He nods and crutches to the car as the officers try to pick a fight with me.
"Sir, we're collecting evidence and this man is a witness-"
"Yes and you're also trying to do this at two in the morning while my client is sleep deprived and clearly not of sound and stable mind. Anything you collected can be debated in court. He is not under arrest, you have nothing," I quickly told him off. They backed away, but not before radioing to the rest of the squadron that the lawyer had arrived.
I crossed the police line, my husband intimidating enough to back me as we walked into the house. I didn't need to tell Pierce my mission, making it very clear after my conversation with Wesley as to where we were headed.
The rotten stench of blood hits me first and I nearly puke, holding my nose when I saw the floor now covered in blood and I took in the crime scene.
A large black trash bag remained laid off to the side and by the outline, it didn't take me long to figure out it who it was.
"Holy shit,"
Pierce curses under his breath and I numbed myself to the situation, staying strong and hiding the fact I wanted to cry over the death of my granddaughter's best friend and the family dog, Houston.
No one I wanted was to be found in the living room but the words 'gunshot wound' and 'it was an accident' as well as 'We'll have another race incident,' were circling the room.
I walked up the stairs, where more officers were in the hallway talking amongst themselves. One of them saw Pierce and I, his face softening as he did.
"They're in the little girl's room," He pointed and everyone went silent as I walked up to Jaydean's room, not hesitating for a second as I knocked on the door. The stress isn't going to be good for him if he wants to keep this baby so I have to get him out of here as fast as possible.
"Matty, it's me. Open the door, we're here to get you out," I told him and I heard the lock click. I took in a deep breath, afraid of what I would find.
I walked in with Pierce following right behind me, closing and locking the door as soon as he did so. Matthias was on the floor of Jayde's bedroom, holding my grandbaby on his lap as she screamed into his chest. Matty's right eye was swollen shut, but both of his cheeks were stained with tears and red with anger as he rocked back and forth. Holding Jaydean's head to his chest as he did. I crouched down, gently running my finger's through my son's hair and caressing his cheek.
"Appa...t-t-they shot him...t-t-the mother fuckers shot T-t-thomas," He stuttered as he cried and Pierce got down on the floor next to me.
"Houston jumped in the way and pulled the fucker's arm but...he got shot too, except Houston's dead and Thomas is in the hospital...s-s-she watched it all Appa, she saw it all," He cried and I felt like the air had left my lungs.
"Let's go,"
Pierce commanded and Matthias loosened his grip on Jayde. I quietly took her shivering little body from him, reaching onto the bed and grabbing her quilt to wrap her up while also taking her favorite stuffed lamb.
I looked over at Pierce and nodded, Matty tried to get up by himself but failed and Pierce quickly picked him up, just like he use to when Matty was a baby. He carried him in his arms and I covered him in the quilt so the press wouldn't get pictures of our son in this broken state.
I handed Jaydean her little lamb and took up another little blanket so she wouldn't be cold. Pierce and I or maybe Kai would swing by later and grab their things.
Together we left their beautiful farmhouse, pushing our greatest treasures past the police and into the warm family Cadilac with Wesley sitting in the backseat and his dog in the trunk section of the car. Pierce let Matty get into the car himself and I placed Jaydean on his lap before closing the door and getting in front with Pierce.
"Appa, wait...you need to go back in. Thomas needs a special Allen wrench for his legs and Luca needs his medication, it's in our room in the nightstand," Matty whimpered and I turned to Pierce.
"Well, you're not going in alone," Pierce says as he gets out of the car and I do the same, walking back into their house through the garage. We walked into the living room together and I stopped, tapping Pierce on the arm.
"Why don't you go get their things and I'll see if I can pick up any more information," I whispered to him and he nodded, turning away from me as I wandered around the kitchen table.
"Of course he fucking did it, he's the only one uninjured and come on, you saw the guy. Domestic abuse all the way," One of the officers laughed.
A small whimper grabbed my attention and I turned on my heel, looking towards the entryway.
For a second I thought I might be going insane.
Until I heard it again.
I walked closer to the entrance, thinking maybe it was a farm animal from the distance but the sound seemed to come from beneath me.
My eyes traced the floor until I came across the black trash bag, horrified when I found it was now moving.
"HOUSTON!" I screamed as I fell to my knees and gripped the bag, fighting to rip it open.
"Sir, that's evidence for court,"
"See if I give a damn!" I shrugged off whoever tried to stop me and finally tore the plastic, finding Houston whimpering softly with his eyes wide open and his ears down. He looked up at me and panted happily, licking my hands in joy.
"You nearly suffocated him!" I screamed at all the officers near who quickly went silent. I grabbed Houston in my scrawny arms, pulling him out of the bag to find any wounds. He was covered in sticky, crimson blood but the only injury I could find was near his hind leg, away from the spinal cord and bleeding slowly instead of gushing.
"Houston?" Pierce's voice was the only one which stood out in the crowd as I kissed the protective puppy's face.
"Pierce, he's alive. He probably can't walk because his hind leg is injured but he's alive," I told him. Pierce handed me a small drawstring bag containing the things Matty asked for while he gently picked up Houston.
"Come here boy, that's it. Let's get you out of here," He cooed to the whimpering pup and I glared at every single officer in that fucking room.
"I'll see all of you in court," I threatened and we left, slamming the garage door as I opened the trunk so Pierce could put Houston down.
"HOUSTON!" Everyone in the car cried and I closed it. Pierce and I got back in and Wesley turned to check on Houston and his service dog.
"He was alive?" Wesley asked and I only nodded. Putting the directions to the hospital into the GPS.
"Where are we going?" Matty whimpered from the back, I looked in the mirror and watches as Wes wrapped his arms around him and Jaydean.
"I'm going to get my other son,"