#alekbbe

The few days since Elena had returned home from college had been a whirlwind. Hell, since the death of Connoghan's wife, everything had been topsy-turvy. Extra bodyguards, Extra caution urged by Meechum and her father, being unceremoniously pulled from classes before she even got to take her first final because her father deemed the position with the Connoghans "too dangerous."

So she was called home like a sheep to pasture, enveloped back into the Moretti fold to protect her from the big bad Irish wolves. Before her accident, Elena would have been incensed at how her father (because who else would have made such a command?) dragged her away from the life he had forced her to follow with such a flimsy excuse as 'it's for your own good.'

But now, it was a relief to be somewhere that made the shadows haunting her life a little smaller.

Helped that she had been recruited by her mother to help with the planning for her parent's anniversary party, of course. It was good to have a distraction. Though nothing could distract from the fact that something or someone was missing. Elena hadn't been able to put a finger on what was wrong for a day or two, too busy catching up with her brothers, sketching out seating plans, and helping pick caterers...

It was only when Elena realized that the shadow she had grown to love most was gone that she discovered what was wrong.

Alek Nielsen had been sent away.

Tony said he had been tasked to get the Connoghans to agree to a sit-down with their family, try and keep more blood from spilling. Knowing her father and knowing the stories she had been told of the Irish man living in Boston... Elena wasn't so sure anything but blood would serve as penance.

Yet, even knowing this could not keep the young woman from starting as soon as she caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the fading twilight stepping out of one of the ubiquitous black towncars that always seemed to populate her family's expansive driveway. A smile brighter than any that had been seen in months spread across Elena's lips as she tossed away the book she had been reading. Hardly caring that she was dressed for bed, bare feet and all, the girl sped down the staircase and flung open the front door, running out onto the gravel towards the man.

"Uncle Alek!" She cried out, laughing brightly and throwing her arms around the tall man's neck. Elena could barely reach, even when on her tip-toes. "I'm so glad you're back!" Elena squeezed him tightly for a moment before stepping away, almost reluctantly.

It was a relief to have her Uncle Alek home. He was safety. He was strength and calm in the storm that her life had become ever since that fateful night three years ago.

"Come inside! I'll make us hot chocolate and see if we've got something to eat. And you should tell me what you've been up to that meant you weren't here to see me when I came home." She shot the man a teasingly bossy look. "I've been dying to hear about what's really going on with the Connoghans. No one will tell me anything except that a woman was..." Elena twitched a little, the word 'shot' hovering on her tongue, but refusing to come out. So instead she let out a soft sigh and said: "...was killed and that everything has gone to hell." Elena half-smiled up at Alek, grabbing his hand and began to pull him towards the kitchen.