[ 50 ] 1972

a/n: i had to delete the old one and repost bc it was posted in between chapters 44 and 45, and every time i would move it back to be after chapter 49 and refreshed the page, it was back between 44 and 45.

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"Oh, you mean you're the same girlfriend that didn't even make it to his funeral? You must have really loved my brother then."

-

Over the next few months, Claire had been smart enough to hide the pregnancy from Con by any means necessary, and she had been making plans behind his back to run off with the baby after giving birth. But it was difficult. If he knew of her whereabouts before, now he knew of her every move, since he had hired body guards to escort her everywhere and watch her every move.

He had even forced her to move into the mansion that he had lived in with Ann-Sophie and never let her go out anymore. In addition, he hardly ever returned home at night, but he did demand for her to be at his beck and call. When he did make it home, she would make it her mission to sleep in another room that wasn't their bedroom, only to prevent him from finding out that she was pregnant--and that the baby was Bobby's.

Claire hadn't even been able to go to Bobby's funeral, or more accurately, she had not been allowed to attend.

Because he was a high ranking police detective in the district, his funeral service was broadcast on local television for the world to pay him tribute. She watched every moment of the ceremony as officers dressed in their best uniforms carried the casket in with three flags rested atop it: one Australian for the country of his birth, one Spanish one for the country of his mother, and one Mexican one for the country of his father. His family followed behind the casket completely devastated and crestfallen, drenched in tears and shoulders slumped. His sisters Elenore and Elaine walked first, followed by his older brothers Fernando and Erensto, and last his parents with looks that were full of a grief that could not be shaken.

From what Claire knew, Bobby was their youngest, which meant that he was the baby of the family, the one everyone tried to shield and protect from everything. This time, none of them had been able to do anything for him.

He had been so young, only twenty five when he died.

The details of the murder were that he had gone to the hotel to meet up with someone, and a criminal had broken in and strangled him to death. Claire wanted to go to the police and tell them everything, but there was no way Con was going to allow her to even get close to the police station. "If you ever try to leave me, I'll kill you first." He would tell her menacingly, his words dead serious and sending a chill down her spine.

It wasn't until a few weeks after the funeral that Claire found herself faced with the opportunity to make a phone call. If it was going to be her only one, she was going to make it count and do something for someone other than herself for a change. Something out of character for the heiress Claire Feeney, something selfless.

She had kept Bobby's contacts book hidden in the pocket of her long coat the night he was killed, and in it was his siblings' phone numbers. She flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted. Elenore. She was the closest sibling in age to Bobby, at twenty six years old. Bobby would often tell her stories about how he would be forced to play house with his older sisters because his older brothers never wanted to play with him. Elaine was three years older than Bobby, while his brothers Fernando and Ernesto were four and five years older respectively. That was how he and Elenore had become very close and told each other everything.

Surely--Claire thought--Bobby would have told her about his plan to leave the city, and maybe even the news that he was going to be a father. Claire hurried and dialed the phone number into the phone and waited as it rang.

It only took a few rings for someone to come to the phone.

"Hello?" Came Elenore Vega's voice from the other end of the phone when she answered the call.

"Elenore!" Claire greeted her with relief.

Confused, his sister replied, "Yes, this is Elenore speaking. Do I know you?"

Claire gave a shake of her head that Elenore couldn't see through the phone, but she followed up with the words, "You don't know me, but I knew your brother Bobby. He was...my boyfriend."

Suddenly full of anger, Elenore reproached the girl on the other line with venom in her words, "Oh, you mean you're the same girlfriend that didn't even make it to his funeral? You must have really loved my brother then." She said the last part dripping with sarcasm.

A lonesome sigh escaped Claire's lips. Elenore and Bobby's family had every right to hate her for not showing up to bid her last goodbye. They had no idea that she was being held captive in her own home by the person who had killed Bobby, but then again she wasn't nearly as innocent as she painted herself out to be in her mind. Without giving too much information so as not to waste any time, Claire explained through hurried whispers, "I don't have time to go into details, but I need you to trust me and believe me when I say that I loved Bobby with all my heart. I honestly believe he was my one true love. We were going to run away together and raise our child."

"A child?" Elenore's attention was suddenly captured once more.

"Yes." Claire said calmly, even though on the inside she was a bundle of nerves. Her blue eyes kept darting to the door, checking for any guards that might be spying on her. "We're going to have a baby, and in my situation now...I won't be able to take care of him on my own. I need you to do something for me, but before you reply, also think that you're doing this for your brother, just think that you'll be doing this for Bobby."

The idea of basically giving away her baby actually tore at her heart because that baby came from a pure love that she had never experienced before. She wanted that baby, but she knew that Con would never accept it. She knew that the next best thing would have been for someone else--one of Bobby's siblings to take him. She also knew that Bobby would never want his child to be raised and poisoned by someone as bad as Con Hood. Claire felt exactly the same. The one good thing in her life, and she didn't want it ruined by a person who was full of hate.

"Are you..." Elenore paused for a second before she continued, her head wrapping around the whole situation. "Trying to give me your baby?"

Claire swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to get the words out.

"I know that he won't be in any better care than with Bobby's family." She said, and Elenore willingly accepted the offer. It was her brother's child after all and she would do anything for Bobby. Having that child with her would make her feel like there was still a small piece of her brother still with them--the child was made by him after all . Claire gave her the address to the house and instructed her on what to do in order to fool Con.

-

Over the next few months, Con eventually found out about Claire's pregnancy, as she was no longer able to hide it in her last couple of months. He arranged for the baby to be taken from her at birth and sent off to an orphanage, where she would never see him again. Elenore Vega made arrangements to have the baby legally adopted by her and her husband, and she used her mind control powers to gather all the necessary information.

It was a dark and stormy night when the baby was born, and Claire was exhausted, but she wanted to keep her eyes open as long as possible. Con was in the room as the doctors aided her, brooding in one corner with his arms crossed over his chest. Claire heard the wailing of a baby as she gave one final push and went slack in her bed, drenched in sweat and barely able to stay awake from her efforts. The doctors quickly cleaned the baby and placed it on her chest for him to feel his mother's heartbeat.

"Congratulations Mrs. Hood, he's a strong and healthy baby boy." The doctor announced.

Tears escaped her eyes as she held her little boy to her chest. They were tears of joy that he was absolutely the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. But they were also tears of sadness because she knew she couldn't keep him. Con had already warned him that he didn't want another man's son in his house, and Claire didn't want the baby around Con anyway.

She had him in her arms for a few minutes until Con walked over with one of the nurses and instructed her to take the baby from her. "What name should we write on the birth certificate?" The nurse asked as she held the newborn child in her arms.

Con replied with an uncaring wave of his hand. "Let his mother name him."

The nurse then looked to Claire, who was sprawled on her bed, slowly falling into the clutches of sleep. When asked what her son's name would be, she replied breathlessly. "Arthur..."

"Arthur Hood..." The nurse started to write on the birth certificate.

But Claire gave a firm shake of her head, immediately correcting her. "No. Arthur Vega."

It was the only moment Claire Feeney shared with her newborn son before he was taken away, to be delivered to an orphanage. But his aunt Elenore had been watching, keeping an eye on them, and she followed them to the location where the baby would be dropped off. Even though it was late at night, she had arranged to take him as soon as possible, since she didn't want him to spend even one day in a place where he would be alone.

At the orphanage, Elaine paid off the head caretaker and everything was set. When they arrived to drop off the baby, he was handed over directly to Elaine Vega. "It says on the birth certificate that he was given the name Arthur." The middle aged woman read off the piece of paper in her hand before handing that over to Elaine as well. Elaine smiled to herself for a moment--Arthur Vega. It sounded like a good name, and she knew her brother would have approved. It was the name of a king. On the birth certificate however, Elaine felt a prick in her chest when only Claire Feeney was listed as his biological parent. But Elaine vowed to tell the baby about his father and let him know that his father loved him very much.

With the child legally in her custody, she took him to Perth with her, which was where she and the rest of the family lived. Bobby had only been living in Sydney because it was his dream to become a marine and later a police detective, and the Sydney Marine Academy was known to be the best in the nation. He had moved there to go to school after getting himself a scholarship and a job at a rich family's house. If only Elaine and the family would have known that all of this would happen, she knew they would have stopped him.

Perhaps Bobby would still be with them.

But it was too late and pointless to think about the past. Her brother was gone, and she could not bring him back as much as she wanted to. Now she had her nephew to care for, and she would make sure that he would grow up to be a good young man.

-

so claire actually did something nice to protect her son from con? she actually sort of has a heart now?

for this chapter honestly, it had been half written when i stopped writing for this story. so i just finished writing for it now. and i also did some editing of course. anyway, i hope you all like this update. it means a lot to me.

i will try really hard to post more often so that i can finally finish this series once and for all.

-clary