Here we are, the last chapter... but there will be a sequel, I promise. Now, this is the part you can skip where I just babble on and on to hopefully make this chapter title center better than it does when I don't write this silly, useless, crap on the top. Oh? Disclaimer? Really? Okay. Original characters are the products of my own imagination and any resemblance to real person(s) living or dead is purely coincidental. WWE owns the rest.

Chapter Eighteen

{o}

"Please don't tell me you need to talk to Jon," Jen said, as she opened the door into the kitchen wider, to let Aaron in. "It's late, and he's in bed. The doctor gave him something to help him sleep and he's out like a light. And after today, I really don't want to wake him."

"No, Jen, that's fine. I actually was hoping he'd already be asleep," Aaron said, as he walked into the kitchen. He was still wearing his uniform, which let Jen know he'd worked one very long day.

"Does Sarah know you're here, and have you eaten?" Jen asked, motioning towards the table, to give him permission to sit.

"Yes, I called her and let her know I'd be stopping here. And, I had a couple burritos at lunch." Aaron sat down at the table.

"That's not enough, let me get you something. I've got some beef stew I can heat up fast." Before he could answer, Jen called out, "Sefa, Aaron is here," then turned to the refrigerator.

"That sounds good," Aaron admitted. "I told Sarah I'd stop and pick something up for myself, but if it isn't a bother-"

"-It's never a bother, we're friends," Jen said, pulling a container of beef stew out of the refrigerator. She was glad to see him. He'd taken "Richard/Dennis" whatever his name was, away mid morning, and they hadn't heard a word from him since. Not that their day had been calm, by any means. Even though Jon kept saying he was fine, Jen and Sefa insisted he go to the doctor. After calling Dr. Proctor, who agreed to meet them at his office, Sefa agreed to stay behind with Marc for the sake of the Academy, but Roman and Lance both demanded to be able to go along with Jen and Jon. Jen didn't argue.

The Doctor agreed with Mox's self diagnosis that physically he was fine. But he did write a prescription for something to help him sleep and another for an anti-anxiety medication, telling Jen that the anti-anxiety was only if he showed signs that he needed it, and suggested they get in touch with Jon's talk therapist.

"Physically, he's great, not a thing wrong," Dr. Proctor explained, while Jon was getting dressed in the examining room where he couldn't hear them. "He's probably going to have a bruise on his back from the gun, but that will heal. And right now, even emotionally, he's very calm. But this has to have affected him, and the sooner he talks about it, the sooner he can work on healing."

So, they had come home and she called Charles Harvey, who was Jon's therapist, and he and Jon had spoken on the phone, alone for awhile in the den. Jen had to force herself not to listen at the door, not because she was nosy, well, okay, she was nosy but she was concerned nosy. After all he had been through, seeing someone shot, having a gun pointed right at him for as long as he had, how could Jon be so calm?

"He wants to see me tomorrow afternoon," Jon said, coming into the kitchen, where Jen was fixing lunch for all of them. "I can call if I need him before then, but he says he wants to see me in the office, tomorrow at one. I told him that should be fine, because I figure you want me to see him in person as soon as possible." His voice was strong and assured, as if he were comforting them. He got himself a cup of coffee in his "MOX" mug and sat down at the table. He looked over at Roman and frowned. "What are you holding?"

Roman looked down at his right hand almost as if he'd forgotten he had one, and stared at what was in it. "A-a rock," he admitted.

"I get it, Lance has Einstein, and you want a pet of your own," Jon had said with a faint grin. "But you can do better than a rock."

Lance half giggled, half snorted and even Sefa and Marc chuckled, but Roman stared at the rock as if he might have expected it to talk. "I-I grabbed this," he admitted. "When we went to find you, after Lance told us what was going on. I grabbed this, even though it was stupid. I mean, what good is a rock when everyone else has guns? But-but I know how to throw. I thought- I figured-" he paused, drawing in a deep breath. No one said anything, just waited for him to continue. "I figured if I saw the guy with the gun and he didn't see me, maybe I could get him with the rock… and it's stupid, I know, but I felt I had to do something." There was a desperate misery in Roman's voice, as if he didn't completely understand why he'd grabbed the rock, but wanted someone, Jon especially, to understand. Jen realized he had been walking around with that rock for hours, and she hadn't even asked him why. He'd switched it from hand to hand, and once he might have even put it in his pocket, but he hadn't removed it from his person.

Jon nodded as if what Roman said was easy to understand. Then he held out his hand. "Can I have it?"

Roman stared at the rock, then handed it to him.

"I'm going to keep this," Jon said, putting it on the table next to his plate.

"Why?" Roman asked, which saved everyone else in the family from asking.

"Because any time I feel like I'm alone, or that nobody cares? I'll see that and be able to tell myself that somebody cared enough to arm themselves with a rock and would have used it to save me if they could," Jon said. "Because most people would have just run off." His fingers closed around the rock, and he looked over at Lance, who had started to stare down at his own hands as if he was hoping he would find a rock or something similar in his. "No, don't go there," Jon said shaking his head at Lance, "You ran and got help. And I'll never forget that, either." He looked around the table at Sefa and Marc. "And you came, ready to kill to save me if you had to. I'm not going to ask you for your guns, or ask Lance for his sneakers, but this rock can represent all of it. That I was in trouble and you risked yourselves to save me."

That was when Lance did start crying, but he did his best to try to hide it, not making a single sob, but tears were rolling down his face. "At least I knew I might be dying when I was sick," he finally said. "I had a warning. You could have just been… gone."

"I know," Jon said. "But I'm not, I'm fine."

The rest of the day had been quiet. Sefa had already called the local radio station and had them announcing all day that the show for tonight was cancelled. A few folks had shown up, not hearing the announcement, but a couple of the students had volunteered, and told them the news. The reason given was "Family emergency," which was certainly no lie.

Jen had the beef stew heating in a pan over the stove, and was making Aaron a sandwich when Sefa came in the kitchen. He and Aaron exchanged greetings, then Sefa asked him if he wanted some coffee or iced tea.

"Coffee sounds great," Aaron said.

Sefa started a fresh pot, and got out the sugar and cream. By the time Jen was putting a bowl of beef stew and a chicken salad sandwich down for Aaron, both he and Sefa were drinking coffee. Jen helped herself to a cup as well, then sat down to join them.

"I hope you don't mind if I talk while I eat," Aaron said, before taking a bite of the stew.

"Not at all," Sefa said. "We're curious, what happens next?"

"Well, he's been transferred to the County jail," Aaron said. "And he'll be arraigned on Monday. But, we had a very long chat on the way there. Where I reminded him several times that there were three witnesses that saw him shoot his friend. Whose name was Simon Green, by the way."

Sefa and Jen exchanged looks. Aaron had assumed that Sefa and Marc had both seen Simon getting shot and they had done nothing to discourage him from thinking that. They wanted to protect Jon any way they could, and if Jon was the only person who actually saw the shooting, he would have to testify. "Uh, what did he say to that?" Sefa asked.

"He didn't dispute that," Aaron said. "And he told me several times after I'd read him his rights that he he had killed Simon, to save Timmy. To be honest? I don't know if this is a recent development, but I don't think Dennis McConnell is playing with a full deck."

"Do you think he'll get off on an insanity plea?" Jen asked, immediately alarmed.

Aaron shook his head. "Getting off for reasons of insanity is difficult. Just being mentally ill doesn't give you a license to kill, you have to prove your mental illness makes you unable to tell you the difference between right and wrong. And Dennis was showing a ton of regret for his actions. Both before and after his booking. He could try to get off on the idea that at that moment, Simon drove him temporarily insane so he felt he had to shoot him, possibly to save Mox, but I don't think that's going to work with a judge, even if he gets the best lawyer in the world, which I don't know if he can afford. He didn't ask to call a lawyer, so I think he's going to wait to get one appointed by the courts. But I'm pretty sure no matter what lawyer he gets, they are going to insist on entering a plea of 'not guilty' at the arraignment. It's almost mandatory in murder case and most times judges refuse to even take a guilty plea in a murder arraignment."

"But he is guilty," Sefa protested. "He's even been saying he's guilty! It's open and shut, he can't pretend he isn't!"

"Pleading not guilty is not saying he's innocent," Aaron explained. "He might have a chance to plead guilty later, but I arrested him for Felony murder, which is legally as bad as first degree murder."

"What's the difference?" Jen asked.

"Felony murder is when someone is killed while another is committing a certain crime. Like kidnapping, drug dealing, breaking and entering, so on and so forth. If someone breaks into your house, and they shoot you, then they're up for felony murder because the law sees it as the person was ready to kill to commit the crime."

"But both men were in on this whole thing together," Sefa reminded him.

"That doesn't matter," Aaron said, taking a sip of coffee. "What matters is that someone committing a crime, killed someone else while doing it. The theory is that by doing the crime, they were also willing to kill to do it. But, there is a chance that even though it can't be disproved that Dennis killed Simon, the lawyer might try to prove that it wasn't felony murder, that it was manslaughter or even involuntary manslaughter. I mean, unless Mox comes forward, it's going to be hard to get felony murder to stick. Because what crime were they committing?"

"How could he say that?" Jen asked indignantly. "He shot the guy! There was nothing accidental about it! It's flat out murder!"

Aaron shrugged. "He could say that Simon left him no choice, that he had to kill Simon to save Mox, which was what he kept telling me. A lawyer could use that to say that it was justified homicide. Or, involuntary manslaughter. Dennis is guilty as hell and any lawyer worth is weight will realize that and won't even bother to try to get him off completely, they'll want to plead down the charges."

"How far down?" Sefa asked. "I don't want to see him out on the streets again. Hell, I'd like to see him fry. Not really because he killed that other son-of-a-bitch, but for what they did to Mox. The problem is, that if we try to get him for what he did to Mox for all those years, we have to drag Mox through it, don't we?"

Aaron sighed and nodded. "Another reason why felony murder might not stick. Because the only felony being committed was kidnapping and unless Mox comes forward and is willing to testify, how do we prove it wasn't just a case of Simon and Dennis were walking in the woods, and happened to come across Mox. That's what his defense is going to argue. And, if Mox comes forward and says they were going to kidnap him, that's going to lead to an awful lot of 'why?' and the whole story is going to have to come out."

"That's why we were hoping this would just end it," Jen admitted. "Just take him off the streets forever without having to drag Jon into any of this… mess."

"I think it will," Aaron said. "The thing is though, that to avoid a trial, the DA is going to have to be willing to take the death penalty off the table and go with the idea that if he pleads guilty, he'll get life in prison."

"Without parole?" Jen asked.

Aaron shrugged. "That's what I'm going to suggest." He paused to take a bite of his sandwich and a sip of coffee. Jen and Sefa watched him, but said nothing, waiting for him to speak. "If he pleads out for life without parole, he'll probably end up in gen pop."

"Gen pop?" Jen asked.

"General population," Aaron said. He looked from Jen to Sefa, "In our little talk on the way to County, we discussed that. And… I reminded him that gen pop could be very… bad for him if he wasn't a good boy."

"Why would gen pop be bad?" Jen asked.

"Because in prison, nobody is likely to give a shit if he's in jail for murdering his best friend. Hell, he'll have plenty of company that's done the same thing. But, if it's discovered that the reason why he killed his best friend was over a kid they'd kidnapped back when he was five or six, and raped and tortured that kid? Well, let's just say there are plenty of people in gen pop who are more than happy to dispatch a pedophile. If he's put in jail for being a pedophile, they'll probably put him in isolation. Which is no ball of fun either. Hours seem like days in isolation."

Jen had heard that before, about how among what most would call the worst of society, people who abused children, especially sexually, were considered to be the absolute lowest of the low. It was one of the few things that made her think that there was some decency in just about everyone.

"So, it's in his best interests not to have this go to trial," Sefa said. "Because if it goes to trial, then it's all going to come out about him kidnapping Mox and abusing him, and that could put him in serious trouble in prison."

"Yeah," Aaron admitted. "But, how is Mox going to feel about this? He has the right to see Dennis punished too, for the crimes done to him. If we just let him plead down from murder, he'll be getting away with… everything else."

"We'll talk to him in the morning," Sefa said. "But I have a feeling all that is going to matter to Mox is that Ri-I mean, Dennis, is not going to be able to hurt anyone else, ever again."

Aaron nodded. "Good. And I'm going to need all of you to come down and give a statement tomorrow or Monday. Mox too."

"Even Lance?" Jen asked.

"Even Lance. He's the one that went to get help." Aaron gave Jen a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Jen, he's not in any trouble and you and Sefa will be able to be with him the entire time as his parents. In fact, you can be there when everyone but Marc gives their statement. You're Mox's legal guardian, so you can be there when he gives his statement. His social worker will be there with him, too."

Jen nodded, then studied Aaron. He'd eaten his sandwich and most of the stew. The coffee had done its job, and he'd perked up a bit, but there was something in his expression that said he still had something on his mind, something that he wasn't sure they wanted to hear. "Aaron, what's going on?" she asked, keeping her voice neutral. "There's something you aren't telling us."

"As I said, we had some time to talk when I drove him to county," Aaron said. "And, he said a lot of things, and I asked a few questions." He paused and drew in a deep breath. "He gave me the name Mox was born with. And where he and Simon grabbed him."

Part of Jen had been preparing for this since they first met Jon, and she knew Sefa had been too, but the longer time had gone on without this information coming to light, the easier it had become to pretend the day never would come, or Jon's real identity wouldn't be discovered until he was eighteen, when there was really nothing that could be done about it. But here it was, Jon had only been sixteen a few months and the truth had been discovered. She bit her lip, unable to speak.

Sefa asked for both of them. "So, what did he say?"

Aaron's gaze alternated between the two of them. "He told me they grabbed the kid outside of an Elementary school in Cincinnati Ohio. And that his name is Dean Ambrose."

Dean Ambrose, Jen thought, and realized that it might be his name, but she would never be able to think of him as that. To her, he would always be Jon "call me Mox" Moxley. She felt her heart thudding in her chest, because she knew the next question Sefa would ask for the both of them, but the look on Aaron's face already told her the answer.

"You had someone run the name through the database." Sefa didn't ask, he stated.

Aaron nodded again. "Patrick ran it, and… yeah, there was a hit. Someone has been looking for him for a very long time."

The End.

Author's Notes: Yes, cliffhanger ending, I admit it. But there is a sequel on the way, that will be called Won't Get Fooled Again. It picks up right where this ends. This story was originally going to be a lot longer, but I realized I really needed to split it. It's roughed out, so again, even if something happens and I have to disappear, I will at least post the roughed version.

So, thanks for taking this part of the journey with me, and I hope you'll be sticking around for the next.

Peace Out
Willow