A/N: Here's chapter 7. Enjoy, people.

"Has your friend sent it back yet?" Iris asked, tapping her feet on the ground.

"No, it's pretty heavily encrypted so it'll take a while," Oscar responded, munching on a bowl of fruits. He offered a kiwi on a fork to Iris, who took it with a sigh. "Don't worry,  Jess is really fast with this and I've asked her to put us as a priority."

"Yeah, sorry I know you're doing a lot," Iris mumbled, digging her toes into the carpet. "I'm just... yeah, feeling a bit tired."

After dessert, where Iris could barely manage two mouthfuls of brownie before passing the rest to Damien, she put on her sweetest smile and asked if she and the boys could have some sibling-bonding time playing board games in her room. Unable to resist twisting the knife in David's blank face, she added that usually she would spend this time of the year planning for Christmas, and this would be her first holiday without her mother and she was feeling ever so lonely this year.

That really brought the mood down.

"By the way," Julian said, "did you guys ever give Iris your presents?"

Damien glared at him and hissed, "Dude, now is not the time."

"It's okay, Brandon already told me." Iris shrugged and tried to think of an answer that wouldn't make he sound ungrateful and selfish like her biological father. "I really appreciate the sentiment, but you really didn't have to get stuff for me. If you'd like, you can return it and buy something you want."

Brandon and Damien exchanged apprehensive looks.

"Um... we actually bought it a while ago," Damien said slowly, "so we can't actually return it. You can keep them though. Something to remember us by when we're done with all this." The boys managed a weak chuckle.

Iris didn't know how to answer. For years, she had been driven by hatred and anger towards her biological family. Loyalty was the most important thing in the world to her— and she never hesitated in cutting off someone who broke it. Like Alex.

Her mind stopped as she thought about him. Him with his laid back attitude and desire for things to return to normal, but they could never return to normal. Not after what he'd done.

I should've aimed my bullet for his heart rather than leg. She swallowed and picked her cuticles. It was pointless to think like that. No matter how enraged she was at him, there was no way she could've killed her best friend.

These emotions tangled into a clump inside her head and Iris forced it aside. Focussing on those would distract her from her goal. Finding Meredith-- her mother's killer-- took priority over any feelings which resurfaced from Alex's arrival. And if Jax wanted to be all buddy-buddy with the boy who'd betrayed them... well, she wouldn't stop him.

Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket, a scowl twisting her face. She declined the call, but it almost immediately rang back again.

"You can take it." Elijah nodded. "We'll shout if anything's changed."

Iris sighed. "Alright, thanks."

She stepped out of her room and shut the door behind her, taking five paces to the right to hopefully put enough distance if one of the brothers decided to try and eavesdrop. With slightly shaky hands, she swiped her screen to accept the call and pressed her phone against her ears.

"Hey."

"Hi, Jax," Iris whispered, "did you need anything?"

"Yeah, to know why the fuck you're avoiding me."

Iris flinched and bit her tongue. "Okay."

His breathing was crackly over the phone. "Have I done something?"

"...No."

"Are you being threatened in some way?"

"No."

"So, what? You just decided to ghost me for no reason?" He laughed humourlessly. "This is quite insulting, actually."

"I'm sorry... things have been hard lately."

"I can't imagine what you're going through, but we've known each other for almost a decade. You can tell me anything and I swear I won't judge you— hell, even if you said you needed to bury a body all I would ask is where to bring the shovel."

Iris laughed a little and pressed the heel of her hand against her eyes. Pressure built up against the back of her throat, the desire to break down and confess everything to him and hear his steady reassurance.

"Even Alex is worried."

Iris stilled like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her. "What?"

"Alex," he repeated. "He told me what happened at your house and caught me up on what he knew about Mi Cha or, rather, Mia. I know she was the one who saw— who saw Elise—"

"You spoke to Alex?"

"I- yeah?" Confusion bled through his tone. "He's our best friend."

"Was," Iris said sharply, "he was our best friend. Until he betrayed us."

"We were— are— young! I talked to him and he said he had his reasons—"

"His reasons," she echoed, staring at a small painting of a lilac tulip framed on the wall in front. "He had... his reasons, you said." Anger cooled into something uglier and jaded.

"Wait, no, that's not what I meant to say..."

"But it's what you said." Iris gritted her teeth. "You honestly think he had a reason for burning down our base? For burning down our base with your sister inside?"

Jax sucked in a breath. "Look, I wanted to strangle him when I first saw him but I promise when you hear him out, everything will make sense!"

"Hear him out..."

"Stop repeating everything I say!"

"You're not making any sense."

"That's your problem, Iris. You don't want to listen to anyone. You just get so emotional and charge straight into—"

Iris laughed incredulously. "My mother is dead you bastard, and Alex seems hell bent on stopping me from finding out why!"

"N-no, I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, did he not tell you that?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm over each syllable. "Did your best friend not tell you he threatened to shoot me for trying to talk to Mia?"

A silence hung between them, fragile as thin glass. An apology clung to the back of Iris' throat— one word and they'd go back to normal— but she forced it back. She pressed her fingers to her lips and steeled her resolve.

"You can do whatever you want with Alex," she growled, "but just stay out of my way. We're done." She ended rhe call before he could respond.

I wish you were here, Mum, Iris thought, leaning on her knees. You'd tell me what to do.

"Iris!" Elijah called. "We've got it!"

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Fun fact: in the old version, this was the epilogue chapter

Thinking about creating a Discord server— thoughts?

I hope you guys liked it!

Stay safe and thanks for reading :)