A/N: Final chapter! Thank you so much for reading :)

Chapter Nine

"Wait!" Steven stood up, reaching for Brendan. "Maybe you shouldn't just yet."

"Why not?"

"Look at yourself, Bren." Cheryl said quietly; Steven was helping her to her feet.

Brendan glanced at his reflection in the glass. He looked haunted; pale and drawn. He was shaking violently.

"I was just so scared…" Brendan breathed, clutching one of the hospital chairs for support. Steven came up to him, placing a hand on his arm.

"Let's go somewhere quiet to calm down a bit, yeah?"

"Alright." Brendan agreed, allowing Steven to steer him away. "Chez?"

"I need some air." She said quietly, giving a strained sort of smile.

Before Brendan could protest, she'd walked away from them. Brendan stared after her numbly.

"She's not right." He said croakily.

"She'll need you when all this is over." Steven said softly, guiding him into an empty room.

"Will it be over?"

"Of course it will." Steven said firmly, pushing him down to sit on the edge of the bed.

"How?" Brendan asked, not really expecting an answer. He wanted someone to tell him what to do. To tell him how to make his sister okay, how to confront his father. Steven sat beside him on the bed, his presence a warmth in itself.

"You'll find a way," Steven said quietly. "And your father isn't a well man, so who knows-"

"Ye think he will die?" Brendan turned to him. Steven shrugged apologetically.

"I'm no doctor but he didn't seem right."

Brendan bowed his head. "He'll probably outlive me."

Steven let out a strangled sort of cry at his words.

"I'm sorry," Brendan soothed, pulling him in close to his side. "I didn't mean to scare ye."

"It's okay," Steven said shakily. "Just the idea of anything happening to you…"

"Likewise," Brendan smiled uneasily. "When I realised where ye had gone, I think I stopped breathing."

"I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."

"Ye told Cheryl ye were going home."

"I know, and I did. But then I got to thinking…"

"About?"

"You shouldn't have to do everything alone, you know?"

"Some might say I deserve it."

Steven shook his head sadly. "I just hate the idea of someone making you that unhappy. You're Brendan Brady, no one's supposed to get the better of you."

Brendan smiled a little at that. "We all have our weaknesses, Steven."

"You reckon?" Steven looked sceptical.

"Well, ye already know mine."

"Your sons, of course."

"Naturally. But who did Walker go after? And Danny? Warren?" Brendan inclined his head.

"I'm a weakness?" Steven asked, confused.

"Ye are my weakness."

"Why though?"

"Because of how much I love ye." Brendan said frankly. "And love is weakness."

"It's not," Steven shook his head resolutely. "Love is power. Those who can't love are nothing."

Brendan studied him carefully. "Is that what ye told my father?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Sometimes I forget how clever ye are."

"Me?" Steven looked incredulous. "I'm not clever."

"Ye are, ye just don't realise it." Brendan looked ahead again, clasping his hands in front of him. "I have to go in there soon."

"I could come with you?"

"I need to do it alone."

"I understand." Steven said softly. "But I'll be here afterwards, if you need me."

"I just hope Cheryl will be here too…" Brendan trailed off.

"I'm sure she will be." Steven said reassuringly.

"How did we get here, Steven?" Brendan asked suddenly. "I never would have believed it, a few years ago."

"When you met me?"

Brendan nodded. "I wish I'd known then how important ye were. But I suppose I did, and that's why I…" Brendan trailed off, frowning.

"You aren't like him." Steven said firmly. Brendan wasn't sure if it was for his benefit or Steven's.

"Will ye tell me someday what ye and my father spoke about?"

"Maybe, not now though." Steven said with a sigh.

"Alright." Brendan took a deep breath, standing up. Steven did the same. He hesitated over whether to touch Brendan so Brendan decided for him, drawing him in to his chest. "When this is all over, we'll go away for a few days."

"Dublin?" Steven asked hopefully.

Brendan laughed throatily. "If ye like. Cheryl too."

"She'll need it." Steven agreed, holding on tight. "I love you."

Brendan kissed the top of his head, his lips lingering in his hair a moment longer.

Xxx

It was a surreal moment, walking through that hospital room door. His father was hooked up to all sorts of machines. He looked terrible. Brendan had only caught a glimpse of him before when he'd pulled Steven out of the room. Now he could look carefully at the man before him.

His father stared back at him blankly. Brendan pulled himself up that little bit straighter.

"Son…" he said, his voice weak.

Brendan stood over the bed. "Steven gave ye quite a scare."

"That little scrote." His father hissed. "Should be locked up."

"Bit rich, coming from ye." Brendan pointed out.

"Ye still singing from that hymn sheet?" His father said, an evil smile gracing his lips.

"It's just me and you, Da. Ye don't have to pretend."

His father's smile faded. He looked Brendan right in the eye. "I know exactly what I did to ye, son."

Brendan let out a breath. His father had never admitted it to his face before.

"Tell me why." Brendan said, his voice hollow.

"I can't do that."

"Ye owe me that much," Brendan said harshly. He was horrified to discover tears in his eyes.

"There's no way to explain it," His father said, looking away from him. "Why did ye beat Steven?" He asked suddenly, disarming Brendan.

Brendan stared at his father incredulously. "There's no why about it."

His father nodded, as though he had expected that answer.

"What ye did was planned, calculated… ye waited till Cheryl wasn't there. When we were alone."

"That's true."

"Nana knew what ye did."

His father looked at him levelly. "I didn't know that."

Brendan snorted, his hands gripping the bedcovers tightly. "I killed her."

He heard his father draw in a sharp breath. "Ye did what?"

"I suffocated her." Brendan said, his voice blank.

"Monster…" his father breathed, eyes wide and disbelieving.

"I am what ye made me, Da." Brendan raised his head to look at him.

"Ye were always a wrong-un. I knew that the day ye were born."

"No, Da. I was innocent. Just an eight year old boy. I still played as superman for fucks sake."

"And look at ye now…" his father looked him over disapprovingly. "With yer little boyfriend."

"Steven's ten times the man ye will ever be."

"Funny. That's what he said about ye."

Brendan bowed his head. "Yer words can't hurt me anymore."

"Ye reckon?" His father smiled again. His voice was beginning to fail him. Brendan tensed. "Do ye think yer sister will ever look at ye the same way again? Ye will repulse her. She'll hardly want to touch ye after this."

"That's not true." Brendan said sharply. But even as he said it he remembered her tension with him this morning even though she thought he hadn't noticed.

"Yer sister is a kind soul," his father continued. "But she can't deal with something like this. She needs someone to worship, and can that really be you? After everything ye have done?"

"She's stronger than ye think." Brendan said bitterly.

"Ye reckon?"

Brendan glanced towards the door. He knew Steven was outside waiting for him no matter what happened. But Cheryl? Brendan desperately wanted to believe they could get past this.

"Ye are gonna die alone, old man." Brendan said quietly.

His father scoffed, turning away. He didn't look well at all.

"Look at me!" Brendan shouted suddenly, grabbing his collar. "Ye need to listen to this. I won't let ye dictate my entire life, not anymore. I'm gonna be better, for my boys, for Steven, for Cheryl and ye won't be around to see it."

"Ye gonna kill me, son?" His gaze was unafraid. He almost seemed to welcome the possibility.

"Ye aren't worth it. I'm more than that now."

"Oh yeah? And who told ye that?"

"I did." Said a voice from the doorway. Brendan spun around, relief flooding through him as he saw Cheryl standing there.

"Cheryl." His father breathed, holding out his hand. Cheryl stepped forwards, her face set. She took his hand.

"You're cold." She said wonderingly.

"I'm not well, sweetheart." His father breathed. "Listen, I don't know if ye believe all he's told ye but-"

"Don't lie to her now, Da."

"I wasn't going to." His father growled. "But I'm yer father, ye love me."

Cheryl's expression was stony. Brendan had never seen her so reserved.

"When Malachy died, and Steph and our Lynsey. Do you know who was there for me? Brendan. When I was at my lowest point, so disappointed with him, for good reason I might add, I stood by him because I saw something good in him. I believed in him. I know he can do better if he just tries. But you Da? You're a monster. There's nothing you can say to me to make me feel any differently. And even if I hadn't found out, if it came down to a choice between you and my big brother, I'd still choose him. Because no matter what's happened between us, we're family. And you stand by your family no matter what." Cheryl released his hand. It flopped pathetically onto the bedcovers.

"I'm not going to make it." His father rasped. "This is yer last chance."

"Goodbye, Da." Cheryl said quietly. "I hope you burn in hell." She turned her back on him, leaving the room.

Brendan chanced a glance at his dwindling father. His machines began to beep as he went into cardiac arrest. Nurses and doctors rushed in, pushing Brendan to the side. One of them shook his shoulders to bring him back to reality.

"Mr Brady, he's asking for you."

"Let him die, I don't even want to watch." Brendan said stiffly, walking to the door. Moments later he heard the resounding flat line.

Steven was holding a distraught Cheryl outside. When they saw him they ran into his arms, all three of them clinging together. He held them both tightly, knowing that he would never stop taking care of them. But knowing now they would also take care of him. It wasn't about taking the power back anymore, he was long past that. It was about looking ahead to the future, building a new life with the people he loved. Most importantly, it was about family and the new one he had built.