Darker London

Val felt like she was ready to rip someone's head off, and as she drove to her ex-husband's house that was evident in her slightly reckless use of the road. It had been a long time coming, but Ross had finally reached the point where his usefulness to Val financially far outweighed the mental trauma he was inflicting on their son.

She'd thought about this for an hour or so and that had been enough. She wanted Ross out of their lives, especially right now when she was trying to keep her criminal brother at bay.

( did you sail away with some distant notion? )

Val had no outlet for her current stress. Usually she would just run a little more than usual, but she wasn't going to leave Danny's side even for small sections of time, let alone to take off around the block. And so the world had become just her and Danny, and for now Val was okay with that. She knew that she would give her life to protect Danny from having to come into contact with her half-brother again.

When Danny slept, Val watched him, not reaching out to stroke his forehead, not wanting to wake him. But she wanted to hold him all the time, keeping her arms strong around him like an unbreakable wall. It couldn't ever work like that though.

Very late into Saturday night, unable to sleep, Val crept out of the living room where they had dragged their mattresses to sleep. Val couldn't even stand the idea of him sleeping somewhere where she wasn't that close by. She picked up the phone in the kitchen and looked back to Danny again. He slept, and Val was glad.

Outside the air was still and warm and Val dialed as she pulled the door closed behind her, resting against it. Cars on streets that weren't hers were one of the only sounds Val could hear as she listened to the dialtone of her older brother's phone.