Cutting Ties - Part 3
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: none
Disclaimers: FNL and its characters aren't mine...as much as I wish one or two of them would show up in my bedroom.
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Inside, Maddie is crying as she crawls over to the coffee table. Her shaking hands knock the remote onto the floor and upend a couple of beer bottles before they find the phone. She’s seen Tim call Billy enough times to know that his cell is the first number in the speed dial. She hits the button and prays that Billy will hear the ringer. When he picks up, it’s hard for Madd to get words out.
“Billy. It’s Maddie. You have to come home. There’s a-a-a guy here and Tim…” She can’t finish. It doesn’t matter though. Billy’s already cut her off, says he’ll be right there.
Madd uses the table to help herself stand. Still sobbing, she makes her way back over to the door where she looks out and sees Tim sitting on top of the man, pummeling him. She can tell from her vantage point that the man isn’t moving. She runs outside.
Leaning down, she grabs Tim by the belt and tugs hard to pull him off the man.
“Tim. Timmy! Stop! You’re going to kill him!”
She pulls as hard as she can. She falls on her butt, but succeeds in taking Tim with her. They sit sprawled on the front yard for a minute, both sucking wind, adrenalin pulsing. Madd stands first and grabs Tim’s arm, yanking in the direction of the house.
When they get to the door, Tim doesn’t bother to open it - he just walks right through where the screen busted out.
They stand inside, facing each other, panting. Tim leans back against the wall, tips his head back, tries to catch his breath. Tears still run from Maddie’s eyes, but she’s quiet now.
If she would think about it for a minute, she’d probably know, but she can’t think. Hell, she can barely stand. Her brain right now can’t handle what it would mean, what kind of things had happened in this house.
“Timmy,” she says softly, “who was that?”
He meets her eyes. The monster in his chest squeezes its fist.
“That was my dad.”
He slides down the wall until he’s slumped on the floor and repeats himself with a bitter laugh.
“That’s my fucking dad.”
His hands come up and cover his face. His hair falls over them as he starts to cry - huge sobs that shake his whole body. Maddie looks down at him, pain etched into her face. She’s never seen even the hint of a tear from him, not when he would show up with a Billy-induced shiner, not when he told her about what happened with Jason and the accident and Lyla, not ever. She sinks to her knees and gingerly wraps her arms around him. He stiffens, instincts coming back to the surface. She doesn’t let go, though, and now her right hand is rubbing circles on his back and for reasons Tim can’t explain it comforts him and makes him cry harder at the same time. He winds his arms around her too and spills 17 years of tears.
Billy finds them like this, curled into an exhausted embrace, when he comes home. They would see the next morning the tracks in the grass from where he had pulled his truck right up into the yard, not even bothering with the driveway. He had run over to the unconscious mess on the lawn, checking to see if Walt was still breathing before he came into the house.
“You two okay?”
Tim and Maddie look up at him, eyes red and swollen, and nod. Billy sees the bruise starting to swell on Madd’s cheek and the puffy corner or her mouth. He gives her a look.
“I’m fine.”
“What the hell happened here?” he asks.
“I think it’s pretty obvious, Billy.” Tim’s voice is low.
“Okay. I’m going to take care of Walt. I’ll be back soon.” With that, Billy heads back out. He walks over to Walt and tosses him over his shoulder with some effort. He carries him over to the truck and Maddie can hear the clunk of Walt’s head hitting the truck bed. Good.
/tbc/