Chapter 6

"I swear I'll never do that again in my life," groans Mia as she wakes up to her head throbbing. The throbbing is accompanied by a really heavy headache, but compared to the assault that knocked her out, it's just a lovetap;and for that, she's thankful.

She finally pries open her eyes to see that she's in her room, wearing her pajamas, and from the looks of things, quite comfortable in bed.

How the hell did I get home? Mia asks herself. She remembers the party and how Andrew got on her nerves- she's still considering murdering him in retaliation for that- She also remembers her indiscriminate drinking, the pain that threatened to take her life, and finally, the merciful blackout that saved her from it all.

But try as she can, she just can't seem to remember anything after that and she finds that very strange.

"Well, there'll be time for contemplation later," she says, getting the sheets off of herself. "Now, I need to get out of bed."

Mia's on her feet when she notices the steaming cup of coffee with the words My first hangover on it. Dad, she thinks with a smile; only Sam can think to do something like that. 

Her breath suddenly hangs in her throat just then. Crap! She groans within herself. Her parents know she got drunk last night. It doesn't take a genius to know that they'll be very far from pleased.

Thing is, she has never gotten on her parents' bad side before, apart from the occasional normal "making friends" issue argument she usually has with Regina that is, which isn't considered anything by the latter- an achievement she's rather proud of to be honest- but now, all that's down the drain and it's due to the handwork of a particular blonde demon whose name she'll rather not mention.

Anyway, not willing to delay the inevitable, Mia grabs the coffee off the bedside table and rushes down the stairs to face her parents.

Downstairs, Sam's telling Regina a joke which the latter is obviously only pretending to listen to as she types intently away on her laptop. "My prodigal daughter finally graces us with her presence," he says with a hint of playfulness the moment he feels Mia hug him from behind.

"Good morning, Dad," she returns, smiling.

"Don't even think that goody-goody act of yours is going to get you out of this one, young lady," Regina quickly says before Mia has the chance to greet her. She's clearly displeased. "What in the world were you thinking getting drunk like that?" she asks.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," Mia replies. "It's just that-" 

Whatever she's going to say gets stuck in her throat when a loud continuous beeping ring suddenly begins blaring through the whole house- she doesn't even know they have that sort of thing installed.

She looks up to ask what's going on but Regina beats her to it. "Sam, what is it?" she whispers urgently, closing her laptop as she briskly goes to stand next to him.

"They're here," he replies, and then, "Everybody get down!"

Mia still doesn't understand even an inch of what's going on and will have remained standing if not that Regina pulls her down just in time before a ball of what looks like pure electric current suddenly comes hurtling in through the window and hit the wall, causing the latter to blacken instantly.

"What the hell is that?!" Mia shouts in a mixture of fear and surprise, but no one answers her as Sam springs up, reaches underneath the centre table to pull it down and reveal a secret compartment in it; bringing out a gun from it and begin shooting indiscriminately at whoever is attacking them from the outside.

Now, to say that Mia's surprised to see her father with a gun will be quite an understatement. She's absolutely bewildered. But he works in a construction company, she says to herself, why will he have a gun?

Sam, on the other hand, has a lot more to worry about than answering the surprised look etched on his foster daughter's face. "Come on, Regina!" he shouts. "Get Mia somewhere safe."

"On it," she replies before bringing out a Swiss knife from her jeans back pocket like it's always being on her and leads Mia towards the bedroom; unfortunately, all through the confused screams of the latter.

Thing is, Mia just can't fathom why the hell her parents have weapons, which they seem to know how to effectively wield by the looks of it. They're good people, she assures herself again and again.

Unfortunately, that isn't an explanation as to why they have weapons, or who in the world will want them all incinerated for that matter.

The men outside, whoever they are, have stopped bombarding them with electric balls and are now engaged in an open gunfight with Sam; the latter surprisingly holding his own quite well against them.

Regina is leading Mia down the corridor towards the master bedroom when a man suddenly jumps in through the window and tackles her. It happens so fast that all Mia can do is watch as her mother and the assailant fall to the floor.

But no sooner do they hit the floor that the man has a knife sticking out of his chest. When he's rolled off, Mia sees that Regina managed to position herself quickly in such a way that when they fall, the man has no choice but to fall on the knife. How would she even know to do that? Mia finds herself wondering again. She's just a simple secretary.

But as with all of her other questions, that one goes unanswered too.

To be honest, Regina will love nothing more than to explain everything to Mia in that moment, but the danger hasn't passed even then and she has to make sure it's dealt with first before any talk can now happen.

"I know this is all very confusing for you, Mia," she says, acknowledging the frightened look in her eyes, "but I really need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Mia wants to say no, that everything has become too confusing for her and she doesn't know what to trust anymore, but she finds herself nodding affirmative. In truth, despite everything, the fact remains that Regina is her mother and she loves her; and that, she can trust.

They both enter the bedroom when another man comes flying at them again, this time tackling Mia to the ground. She screams as the man pins her to the floor but nothing happens as he has a knife buried in his windpipe. "Good thing I went for that throwing practice last summer, right?" says Regina with a smile as she shakes the man off Mia and help her stand. She smiles too.

The moment gets ruined again when bullets starts flying everywhere and they have to take cover. Regina orders Mia to stay in the corner as she retrieves a pistol from the clothes drawer and starts returning fire.

Sam bursts into the room a while later, looking pretty banged up. He's bleeding out of so many places and looks highly probable to have been hit in a vital organ. "Call him," he orders Regina.

"He already knows," she replies. "He'll be here soon."

"He better," he mutters in response before returning his attention to taking down the attackers. In truth, it doesn't take a genius to see that they won't last much longer against the ever-increasing influx of assailants, not unless they have external help.

About eight gunmen gets access to the room an hour later of Sam and Regina's resistance, but before any of them can get a shot off, they all suddenly go tumbling to the ground like a pack of dominoes with knives sticking out of their backs.

"You finally arrived," Regina says to the guy who comes into the room after the assailants' falls.

"What can I say, Regina? Traffic was hectic," he replies and removes the baseball cap he's wearing, and Mia almost has a heart attack.

Thing is, underneath the cap of her and her parent's saviour is the face of the last person she'll ever have expected it to be. Andrew Cameron.