Inner Storm: A Christmas fic
Inner Storm
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Murder in Suburbia
Pairing: Ash/Scribbs
Disclaimer: ITV owns these characters. No infringement intended or whatever.
AN: Having a blue Christmas this season and was rereading the Turning Point Series to feel better. It inspired this sort of. I am just proud to finish a story after over a year of a dry spell.
The weather outside was frightful, as the song goes, with the snow coming down in large thick clumps upon the windshield. Though the storm was icy and the roads were much less stable to drive upon, the atmosphere inside the car was much more chilling, making the drive from the Ashurst estate much, much longer.
"Emma-"
The car door slammed before Kate could get another syllable out. She sighed, knowing she was in for a long night, and she would have been a bit vexed at her partner's behavior if it hadn't been her fault to begin with. She paused, wondering if she should wait a few minutes before following the blonde inside, but the cold draft that made it inside the car had Kate thinking otherwise, braving the storm outside only to brave another within the flat.
Kate heard the slamming of drawers upon entering the flat, her hands filled with the gifts from her parents' house and her heart with dread. She shut her eyes and counted to three before she let her shoe nudge the door open. The scene wasn't far off from the tantrum she was expecting. Though no cutlery made it out of the drawers, Kate did spot the scotch on the counter, while her partner muttered angily as she tried to find the glasses. Kate dare not offer assistance, knowing that it would only fuel the fury, and she really couldn't handle that until she'd at least gotten her hands on some of that scotch herself. Slowly relieving her arms of the presents, she stepped towards the counter. Emma stopped her movements only long enough to cast a resentful glare before she took, to Kate's relief, two glasses from the rightful shelf. They could have gone without the slamming to the counter, but it was a start.
"I hate her," the blonde stated in a low voice, her lips barely moving though the muscle in her neck twitched with the statement. She poured scotch into both glasses much to Ash's surprise.
"I know," was all Ash allowed, grabbing the remaining glass on the counter after Scribbs nearly downed her in one swallow.
"So much." She poured more for herself but she didn't take it. "I almost hate you too."
"I am sorry."
Scribbs turned to her partner now. "You promised me this year would be different. What did I say last year?"
"That it was the last year you were attending."
"I wanted to stay home- or hell, with my sister for a bit, but you didn't want me to. It was hell as I knew it would be but you thought somehow it would be different."
"I honestly thought it would be," Kate started to say, but she stopped with a small sigh. "No, I knew it wouldn't be," she conceded.
"Yeah." Emma downed the second drink.
"I wanted it to be," Kate said as she, too, took the scotch in little more than a swallow. "I'm sorry she told Gloria that you were my phase, as if it were temporary."
"We got wedding photos stating how untrue that is. That isn't why I am so angry."
"Tell me."
"I get it from my own family too, the cheek about how I could possibly nab a girl like you. I can joke for so long. Then your mum... I'm angry that it's getting to me. Now, after all this time, it is getting to me. All night, I had those thoughts I used to when we started to date. I am just tired of wondering if I ever would truly be good enough for you-"
"Stop," Ash commanded. She stepped closer now. "I love you."
"I know-"
"I love YOU," Kate stressed. "I don't care if they think you aren't good enough for me, I know that you are. It is I who should be worried that I'm too uptight and neurotic for you."
"You are, but I like it," Scribbs said.
"My point, is that we are here. It's Christmas, and I have yet to unwrap my present."
Scribb's eyebrow rose. "Really?"
Kate walked towards Scribbs, gently taking placing her glass down. "Yes. And you have yet to open yours."
"I thought you let me break a rule and open mine last night," Scribbs said, a smile finally creeping on her face.
"This is one of those gifts you can unwrap whenever you like," Kate said.
"Oh, I like those. I suppose it must be unwrapped in the bedroom?"
"Of course."
"Onwards then."
"If you like, I can really make my mother's Christmas and tell her you're going to be pregnant soon."
"Can you be on speaker so I can hear?"
"I hadn't planned any other approach."
"I love you, Ash," Scribbs said, pulling on Kate's hand and dragging her into the bedroom for the night.