Bridget Pandigaeshik (pandabridge) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2009-08-07 20:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | bridget, phin |
Pandapartment; Friday evening; Phin, Bridget, kids
The kids were bouncing all over the place. They were always like this when Phin was on his way over, and it still didn't stop being depressing. Bridget tried to distract and exhaust them with a game of crawling tag around the apartment, but as soon as there was a knock at the door, the twins forgot she existed and went dashing for it, shouting about their daddy.
Bridget sighed and moved to her feet to join them. "All right, all right, let me get through so I can actually open the door up." She double-checked through the peephole that the visitor was indeed Phin, and then turned the locks to open the door.
It had been a couple of days since Neil had visited the Kobol sight and gave Phin a nice few sets of bruises on his ribs, stomach, cheekbone and some cuts along his hand where he'd gotten kicked. There was bruising around those cuts too. He couldn't really do much to cover up the hand or the cheek but he'd been trying to think of excuses for when Bridget asked about it, if she was going to. He smiled a little when he heard the kids and he leaned over, with effort, in preparation for them to come barreling at him.
When the door was open, they came bounding out loudly and Phin let out his usual exaggerated grunt, except it wasn't exaggerated this time, because that fucking hurt. Still he hugged them tightly and gave them both multiple kisses to the sides of their heads, to make up for all the ones he'd missed. He grimaced as well since everything was sore but he tried to wipe it away as quickly as possible. "I missed you," He told them amidst a few more kisses.
Bridget zeroed in on his cheekbone right away. Then her eyes went to his hand as he put his arms around the kids, and then there was the grunting and the wincing. She frowned, but didn't say anything just yet. He probably wouldn't be able to hear her over the kids anyway.
After letting the kids babble away at him and replying here and there when he got a chance, he gave them each a pat on the back and another kiss and told them to go get their backpacks. That was all it took to get them bounding back into their rooms for a neatly packed bag on each of their beds. Phin stood up, slowly, trying to keep the grimacing to a minimum as he did so. "Hey," He said now that it was just him and Bridget standing in the doorway.
"What happened to your face?" Bridget asked, forgoing any greetings. "And hand?" She looked down at his shirt. And torso, too.
Phin glanced at his hand and waved the unmarred one nonchalantly. "It's nothing," He assured her as he cleared his throat some. "Have any big weekend plans?" he asked to change the subject.
Bridget's forehead wrinkled further as she brought her eyes back up to Phin's face. "Yeah, lying to me at this point is a great idea." She reached out and lifted up the bottom of his shirt to get a quick glimpse of what was underneath it.
Phin frowned. "It was just a...misunderstan-" his eyes widened when she lifted his shirt up and he stepped back and tugged it back down. "It was a misunderstanding. It's settled now. I'm okay. It's nothing, really." he insisted. "I'm not lying." because it was nothing, and Neil had gotten his point across so it wasover with now.
He'd shoved the shirt down quickly, but not before Bridget saw some of the yellowed bruising. She set her jaw and looked up at Phin. "Just the other day you were telling me you'd do anything to prove you've changed, and now you're keeping things from me again." In this instance she was more angry at her brother than at Phin, though.
She turned back when she heard Penny coming up the hall, carrying her backpack. Bridget quickly spun her head around to Phin. "Did he use the baseball bat?"
Phin's eyes widened again. "What? No!" He shook his head quickly. "Bridge, really, it's all right. There were no baseball bats. I got the message. It was...just a scuffle. It's nothing to make a big deal of, that's why I didn't say anything. I'm not lying. It's no big deal. Just a fight." he kept stressing that not lying part. He didn't want to start some fight in her family and then get blamed for it or labeled a tattletale.
"Hey little panda, did you grab Mama?" that panda bear was starting to get heavily worn. Penny's eyes widened. She turned back around and went marching back toward her room. She couldn't forget Mama!
Bridget watched Penny go before turning her frown back to Phin and the wound on his cheek. "I didn't condone this," she said. Brad was never very good at listening, particularly when he was angry. "I specifically told him not to do this." After a moment she added, "Even if you do deserve it."
Phin knew she wouldn't have approved, and it was clear she didn't realize it was Neil either. He shrugged. "Even so...it's over and done with." he shifted a bit on his feet, clearly uncomfortable. "It's really nothing to get upset over." he assured. Billie had been upset over it too, when she'd seen the wounds. He'd told her it was nothing and she'd asked if Bridget had sent one of her brothers after him. Phin had told her that Bridget wouldn't do something like that, though part of him wondered if their conversation at the rec center had changed Bridget's mind.
"Are you going to be able to handle the kids this weekend?" She hoped so, because as soon as Phin was gone, she was heading over to Brad's place to confront him about this.
Phin nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay." he assured her. He didn't want her to reneg on letting him taking them. He missed enough of their lives as it was. Jeth came ambling back up the hall and toward them with Penny in tow and Phin smiled. "Everybody have everything?" he asked, stepping into the apartment, just so he could open the closet to get the double stroller. It was a new one that sat them next to each other instead of one in front of the other, which caused less fighting over seats.
Bridget didn't reply, just stepped aside so he could get through to the closet. As he went, she watched him for any signs of pain or discomfort. It was important that he was well enough to take care of the crazy twins. It was also important that he was well, period, but Bridget didn't linger on thoughts about that very long.
Phin kept his grimacing to a minimum as he unfolded the stroller and turned it around. He collected their backpacks and nodded toward Bridget. "Go give mommy a hug and kiss," he told them with a bit of a forced smile. It was always touch and go with them, whether they would beg for Bridget to come with them too or not.
Phin seemed to be moving all right, so Bridget brought her attention down to the kids. She crouched when they approached and put her arms around them to give them the requisite shower of kisses. "Be good for daddy, please," she requested before telling them that she loved them and would see them soon. They were really hyped up to see Phin today (more so than usual) so she was hoping they'd go without comment about her joining them.
Thankfully the twins were pretty good about saying goodbye and climbing into the stroller. Phin stowed their bags on top of the visorsthat he'd extended out over the strollers. He gave Mama over to Penny to hold and Duck over to Jeth. "Say bye-bye, mommy," Phin said with a wave to Bridget. Both kids repeatedly said goodbye as the waved.
Phin turned the strolled to aim it toward the door. "I'll see you Sunday afternoon?" he said. The pick-ups and drop-offs always caused a sadness in his eyes that he couldn't seem to completely hide. He really hated all of this.
After waving a cheery goodbye to the kids, she looked at Phin and fixed that ever present frown back on her face. "Yeah." And then added, "Be careful. With them."
Phin nodded. "I will." he said before he pushed the stroller out of the apartment and toward the elevators, excitedly chatting with the kids to occupy them as he went.