Who: Riley and Tess What: Tess Walks Away from an altercation and Riley finds her When: Late afternoon into early evening, June 15, 2019 [forward-dated] Where: Marketplace First and Tess’s Apartment (Liberty Street - #102) Rating: Medium for account of violence Status: Complete
One of the best things Tess liked about working in a garage was the coveralls. It was like a flight suit, but more so of a way to keep her clothes from getting dirty from any spills, rubbing against things, or her grimey hands. And Tess had found out in the last hour - the coveralls were good to protect her clothes from blood.
The young woman walked by herself from the government’s garage towards home. She wasn’t thinking about working a shift at Josie’s tonight. Her blonde hair was a mess, her solid blue bandanna now with drying drops of blood turning it black stuffed in her left side pocket. The chain of her ID card lanyard lightly clinked against the teeth of the coverall’s zipper. Tess had a cut over her right eye with blood running down to her upper eyelid. Her left eye was swollen shut, bruised purple blue. There were bruises on her face, knuckles, along her abdomen and torso. She had fought back, but the law won tonight.
Walking and half-shuffling, Tess was beginning to pass the Marketplace.
Riley smiled, laughed.
It had been a week at least since Finn had popped the question and since then he had been in nothing but good spirits. The ache to tell Tess was there; he needed to gush and ask her to be his best man, or woman. He wanted to tell her everything, detail by detail of the event so she could understand the magnitude of the event itself. Tess was as close to a best friend as he could get without overshadowing Finn. He wished he would have gotten to her sooner when he came upon her in such a state.
Leaving the marketplace after getting a few things for that evening’s dinner, he spotted the familiar crop of blonde and coveralls. With excitement he rushed toward his friend only to have his smile shatter and his shoulders slump.
“Tess?”
Groceries went into the bag at his hip to free up his hands and he looked his friend over, gently, sympathetic to the plight. He didn’t ask questions, she would tell him what happened if she wanted to. Frowning, he motioned for her to follow. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
“Yeah. Hey Riley,” Tess spoke hoarsely. She was tired and sore, but wasn’t completely out of it. If she had thought of hiding what happened, she would have cleaned the blood from her face. The young woman was too weary and also wanted people to see what had happened at least to her face.
She saw that smile shatter and breathed, wincing at the pain of her broken ribs as her lungs expanded with air. “Okay,” Tess whispered as she took Riley’s lead and followed him to their building.
He noticed the struggle in her stride. Perhaps there was more pain underneath that couldn’t be seen and if that was the case then a diverted course would need to happen. Riley took one of Tess’ hands gently, to give her the peace of mind to know that he was there for her, before an arm would go around her so she could lean most of her weight onto him. He wished for super strength, teleportation, something that could get them to their destination quicker. As it was he loaned his strength as best he was able.
She was going to need a lot of rest. Finn would understand the need to check in on his friend regularly while she recovered. He knew Tess was strong, stubborn, but any injuries needed rest and nourishment to heal up.
“I’m taking you home and going to help you there. If we get there and things look bad, we might need to get you to the Facility for treatment.” He had a suspicion that she had come from there, from work, because of her manner of dress.
She wanted to get a shower and sleep. Or at least change clothes and sleep. Tess let Riley take her hand and place an arm around her. It hurt, but she breathed shallowly in hopes to not let him see it. Leaning against him, she kept walking.
The young woman was stubborn, not going to the Facility for treatment both out of not wanting to seem weak and not to give the guard the satisfaction of seeing her broken. If she could make it through a car crash with a concussion and compound fracture of her leg, she could make it through this. But damn did she feel terrible right now.
“Okay. Mmmm, don’t need stitches, Rile,” Tess rasped.
His hold on her was very gentle; arm around the waist and not so much the ribs or chest though for no particular reason. He would hold onto her as long as he needed to.
Riley was praying harder with each step that she didn’t need stitches, or really anything of the advanced medical nature, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath.
“I’ll getcha home soon, promise.”
Tess could make it to her apartment. “Thank you, Riley,” she spoke as she leaned against him. Her fingers flexed around his holding her hand.
She had argued, gotten in the guard’s face after he obviously didn’t know his bike as well as he thought.
Reaching their apartment Riley took a moment to fish Tess’ keys out of her pocket and let them into the apartment. He got her in and into bed after a bit more walking. The door was shut behind them and her keys set where she kept them.
Back at the bed, Riley took Tess’ shoes off, and began to peel back the coveralls leaving the bottom for decency. Assessing her wounds he did his best to conceal the gravity. She would live but boy howdy she would be in pain.
“Alright, let me get some stuff. Be back in a flash, just rest, yeah?”
Riley left only for a short walk into the kitchen for a few supplies (limited of course much to his dismay) and was back patching up his friend in a quick moment. Gentle, he did what he could for her.
It wasn’t often Tess was in a state where she needed someone else’s help. But tonight was one of those rare times. Walking was easy, being completely there was harder. And she trusted Riley - she was her best male friend.
The blood on her face was dried and thankfully she could see out of the right eye. Tess reached down to help Riley, breathing slowly. She couldn’t even consider if what she had been through was worth it or not. Perhaps she’d think about that tomorrow.
Nodding, Tess sat there almost falling asleep. But she was awake when Riley returned. Gently she reached for friend’s hands and felt that copper ring around the finger of his left hand.
“What’s this? Did Finn...?”
He couldn’t help but pause as she felt the ring and smile. The brightness exuding from him overshadowed the darkness and just then he was the literal sun. His happiness would be set aside until she was comfortable. Gently he continued his work until there was nothing left to do.
Sitting back he beamed at her. “Yeah, he did. A few days ago, by the lighthouse. I’m gettin’ married, Tess. I need you to be there.”
Tess smiled until it hurt, which didn’t take much. She could hear the happy thoughts, not usually reading her friend, as she slowly tilted her head upward to ease Riley’s work.
“That’s so great, Rile.” Tess grinned - looking a little goofy with her swollen shut left eye. “I’m so happy for you and Finn,” she whispered. “I will be there!” The young woman may discuss this again with Riley tomorrow, but she was so happy and excited for him in that ten rounds with that Russian boxer from Rocky IV sort of way.
She was smiling and his own only grew - he was thrilled to pieces - as his thoughts replayed that day in his mind. He had no idea she was listening but he wouldn’t have cared anyway.
“I love him, Tess. So much. He’s my soulmate.” An exhale of satisfaction. He looked at her with wonder. When she confirmed she would be there he was over the moon.
“And if nobody has told you that you’re the next America’s top model, I don’t know what’s wrong with people.” He teased lightly, patting her hand.
Tess could hear the waves, the wind how it moved through Riley’s hair. It felt so joyous.
“I am so glad you two found each other here.” She sighed, her shoulders slouching. The weight of the last hour or so was hitting her a little more.
Shaking her head slowly, she eyed Riley with her right eye. “I would wrinkle my nose at you, but my face isn’t having it.” Tess smiled softly and gently held his hand.
“Me too, Tessa,” he breathed. He couldn’t live without Finn. “There’s someone for you, too. I can feel it.” And then he was laughing at her kindly, “You just rest. You can wrinkle your nose all you want later.” Sassy, Riley tossed his hair at her.
“Can I get you something? I can make you tea.”
“Mmm, maybe. Maybe. Tell Finn I said ‘congrats’” Tess grinned. “Okay.”
“Water?”
Riley would nod and smile warmly at his friend. “I will do that, sure.” Finn would probably want to know how she was holding up once he got back home and told his fiancée what had happened. There were few people that Finn didn’t care for and since Tess was a big deal to Riley, the woman was also a big deal to Finn.
At the request Riley nodded. He got up and went to get a glass from the kitchen. Once it was filled, he brought it back and to Tess, sitting down on the edge of the bed with the water held carefully out. “Here.”
Tess nodded as she sat there on her bed. She didn’t really care at the moment what she looked like. She was just thankful for Riley. Maybe she would sleep for a bit.
Gently, she took the glass of water. “Thank you,” Tess whispered as she slowly brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. After a few moments, she sighed to herself.
Riley nodded at his friend.
His frown had come back. He hated seeing her this way and being helpless to do anything about it. All of the comfort he could give he would. “You’re welcome, Tess.”
Figuring she probably wanted to rest he wouldn’t stay longer than needed.
“I’m really happy for you and Finn,” Tess smiled softly and took another sip of water. Not wanting to have Riley frown any more, she shifted and slowly crawled under the pale blue throw she had dumped on the bed a few nights before.
“Thanks!” He chimed, trying his best not to be too overwhelming in the moment. He was happy that Tess was happy, but he knew she wasn’t in top form as well.
“I should go and let you get some rest.” She would benefit from a nap, sleep tended to do you good when you were in such a state.
“You’re welcome,” she smiled. Tess would be more excited when she felt better.
“Okay. Thank you again, Rile.”
“Anytime,” he grinned, patting her gently on the arm.
Riley moved to stand, leaving his friend to rest. He hated to leave her there but resting was part of healing and Finn was expecting him home soon.