Who: Bishop and Bunny Where: out and about at the Dog Park What: old friends take part in an ongoing reunion, and some discussion about a life-changing event When: the morning of 1/8
Oh I'll ne'er forget where'er I roam, wherever you may be If ever I have had a friend, you've been that friend to me
Ever since the success of the day before and the return of their people to the Dog Park, Bunny had been in a sunny mood. From the moment she woke up there was a song on her lips and a craving in her heart for being outside among the rest of the camp. They might not be celebrating with a carnival this time, but there was still a contagious spirit of joy going around. As soon as she possibly could, she sought to put herself in the midst of it, and set out in general the direction of the Resource hangars, which were usually buzzing all day long. Wearing a smile that was about as wide as the Texas sky above, she waved hello to several familiar faces. It really hadn’t been very long since she made the permanent move out to the Greenbelt, but Bunny had found most of the other residents of the camp to be welcoming, and far more her kind of folks than those she’d lived with at the Capitol.
She’d really made only a little progress toward her destination when a glimpse of a familiar figure sent her on a detour, weaving her way around a stack of empty pallets and between two tents. Despite being a member of the group that had met the escaping officers, there hadn’t been time for her to exchange more than a few words with any of them before the whole party had to load into the vehicles to make a hasty exit. The prospect of getting to speak at more length with Bode, who was within hailing distance now, was more than a little appealing.
Bunny called out to her old friend, picking up the pace just enough that when he looked around she was just about right there and caught up with him. Goodness only knew what all those men had been put through inside La Quinta, but Bode had looked bruised and bedraggled enough yesterday that she greeted him with only gentle enthusiasm now.
“You’re a welcome sight,” she said, grinning and laying a hand on the crook of Bode’s arm. “I was fixing to bring few things by your place a little later today, but I wanted to make sure you had a chance to settle back in a little and wash that place off you first. Any special requests?”
Settling back into the Dog Park after having been away for months was on some levels a struggle. So many things felt the same, but different at the same time. Plus there was still that gaping hole of Teagan’s absence, a hole that had doubt lacing it still. Bishop had come back to his trailer the day before to find a pregnancy test, a positive pregnancy test. Shock had been the first emotion he felt, followed by a flash of anger that Teagan hadn’t told him about the pregnancy the moment she found out. Instead she had rode out with them as if it was any other kind of morning, knowing that danger could find them...and it had. Now, now she was out in Austin somewhere pregnant and alone, that thought set Bishop on edge.
Yet he still couldn't be sure which was up and which was down when it came to her innocence. He wanted to believe it was a lie, that she wasn't the rat. But the evidence still pointed towards it being her and he still struggled with the fact that he could have been so wrong...that his ability to judge character might have been extremely off.
He was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice Bunny until she was right up on him, her hand on his arm like some kind of grounding point. “I could say the same thing about you, darlin’,” Bishop drawled, a genuine smile appearing across his tired features. “Your company's good enough really…” He trailed off, unsure if he should unburden his recent discovery on her or not. So far he hadn’t told a soul, but if there was one person in this park who might be able to help him sort this out all, Bunny was likely his best bet.
“Can I talk to you about something?” Bishop questioned as he began leading them both back towards his trailer. “Not out here in the open, though.”
“Of course,” Bunny replied immediately, falling into step beside Bode. If something was troubling her friend, there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to aid in lightening the load a little, and lending an ear was no hardship at all. She studied Bode as they walked together, though her aim was not to make a guess at what he wanted to talk about, but only to get a feel for his current condition. They lapsed into a not uncomfortable silence for the short trip, with Bunny holding her tongue until they had a little more privacy in which to speak alone.
Inside the tiny house on wheels that Bode called home, she gave a quick glance around to take stock of what looked the same and what might have changed. Many places she’d been, a dwelling like this one would have been taken over the moment the owner disappeared, or at least it would have been raided and, more than likely, cleaned out. Not that expected that of anyone in this camp. No, everyone in the Dog Park knew that Bode would be home again, it had always just been a matter of when. Once the door was shut behind them, Bunny turned to him with a subdued, but expectant air.
“What is it that’s bothering you, Bode? And how can I help?” she asked.
Getting out of La Quinta and coming back to life at the Dog Park had been a shock to Bishop’s system. As much as they all knew it would happen, that they would all be back here, nothing can prepare you for coming back to a place that has been moving forward while it felt like your own life had been standing still.
But as he and Bunny settled into the place he called home, moments like this helped. Or maybe it was just Bunny, the younger was without a doubt the person in Austin had had known the longest. Hell, he still remembered a time when she was Hazel and not Bunny. That's why this felt right, bringing the information he had stumbled onto upon his return to her.
“Don't know if you can help, least not beyond being a listening ear,” Bishop began as he grabbed a couple cups out of the cupboard and poured them both a glass of water. “But, I might as well just pull the band aid off and tell you what's bothering me,” there was a pause as he handed over the newly filled glass to Bunny and motioned for her to take a seat. “Apparently, unbeknownst to me, Teagan took a pregnancy test same morning we left to meet up with those Cats and the thing was positive…”
Bishop scrubbed a hand over his face, exhaustion marring his features, but something else too, the kind of hurt a person gets when something this big, this life changing, is kept from them. “Teagan’s pregnant and I'm pretty sure the kid is mine, but instead of telling me this she rode out that morning like it wasn't a big deal,” he sighed. “And Nevermind the fact I still ain't sure if she's the rat or not.” He had his doubts about what the patrolmen had said, but there was also a heap of evidence that couldn't be denied either - the biggest thing being she didn't go to jail with them and Sonny had.
Eyes widening at these revelations, Bunny turned and sank into a nearby chair. If she was stunned by what she was hearing, what Bode felt must've been that much larger and harder to contain. Finding out about his baby, the child’s mother on the run -- it was a lot for one man to have to handle, especially on the heels of his other troubles in La Quinta.
“No wonder you're not sure there’s anything I can do to help,” she murmured, after a moment of silence.
There'd been talk, after the arrests, of Teagan being a traitor, which Bunny had struggled not to believe. What she'd seen of Teagan she liked, but that meant nothing if the other woman was to blame for Bode being put in harm’s way. Her fiercely protective heart couldn't stand the idea. There were so many questions surrounding who had betrayed the officers, though, and so little she knew about everyone involved. Bunny’s thoughts on the matter since had always circled back to the fact that she had a hard time believing Bode could be taken in as thoroughly as he would have had to be by Teagan, if she was all that was claimed. What he felt for her had so obviously been true, at least on his end, and Bunny could only fervently hope that Teagan was innocent, somehow wrongly blamed.
“A baby on the way ought to be a happy occasion.” There wasn’t even a bit of venom in her tone, just a quiet wistfulness. If anyone deserved that happy occasion, it was Bode. Feeling keenly the weight this must have settled on him, Bunny turned her gaze to meet his, and offered him a sympathetic look. “Everything that’s happening with Teagan -- it’s not your child’s fault. So whatever she might’ve done, wherever she might be, I hope like anything she’s safe, and taking as much care with her pregnancy as she possibly can. Have you tried to reach her since you found out?”
This was why Bishop knew Bunny was the right person to speak to and unload his newest burden onto. She was clearheaded in a way he couldn't be, and in a way he suspected Nate might not be either. Never mind the fact that sitting here talking to her felt like he could have just as easily been sharing this news with one of his sisters. They were raised up in the same area, both Harlan born and raised and there was something to be said for that. Bishop tried at a smile then, but it didn't reach his eyes. “It oughta be,” he agreed, the slump of his shoulders proving it was anything but. “Hard to be happy when until just a day ago I didn't even know the kid existed…” Somewhere underneath the pain and the anger there was happiness and a fear that he might screw this kid up.
Right now though, his pain screamed louder than all those things. “I want her to be safe, that ain't changed,” Bishop began, pausing to take a drink from the glass of water in his hand. “But I ain't really sure if reaching out to her is wise right now. You know it's not often I let my emotions do the thinking, but her not telling me about this the moment she found out….that stings.” He sighed and wondered if Bunny would understand just how much Teagan withholding this information from him at truly hurt him. “I could have died going out to meet those Cats and I woulda died never knowing about my kid,” he paused. “Or worse, Teagan could have died and our kid with her….” Moved, Bunny shifted forward to rest her hand on Bode’s arm as he talked, giving him a light squeeze to show her sympathy.
Bishop was controlling the conversation, using up all the air in the room on his problems and it felt selfish. “My problems don't really got a resolution right now,” he commented, meeting the younger woman’s gaze. “So why don't you tell me how you’ve been. How’re you settling into life out here in the wild?” The last part was said with a hint of humor in his tone, the Hellhounds Chaplain finding it easier to be happy when he wasn't talking about the many things that weighed on him.
There were many more things that might’ve been said about Bode’s predicament, about the terrible unfairness of it, but Bunny let the matter drop. Temporarily, at least. For the next little while, she’d definitely be making a point of keeping an eye on him, since who knew how long it would be before he felt wholly settled on the subject. Well, and how could he? There was no joyful anticipation, no eager plans. Bode had been denied a role, so far, in the life of his future child. No one would blame him for feeling the bitterness of it.
Bunny shifted back, bringing both hands to rest in her lap again. “Oh, I like it here. Of course, I think I could have found Nate living just about anywhere and been content with it, but the people in the camp have been real welcoming, and that makes up for a lot.” A brief wistful expression crossed her features, gone almost before it even had time to settle. True, she missed her folks keenly at times, and missed the mountains too, but her heart knew where it’s true home lay, and that was right here, now.
“Anyway,” she added, with a small smile, “now that you’re back and all our minds are at ease, everything’s even nicer.”
Listening to Bunny speak was calming, it was easier to drown out his own haphazard thoughts by focusing on someone else, on how they were doing. Especially when that someone was near the closest thing to family he had out in the Greenbelt now, the only only person in all of Austin who was born and raised Harlan through and through. “I'm damn near convinced you could be dropped onto Mars and you’d still be content, Hazel,” Bishop remarked with the first true laugh that had left his body since being sprung from prison the day before. Her name slipping out in place of the nickname she went by, maybe because for most of her life she had been Hazel to him and breaking that habit was hard. “Hope you didn't spend too much time worrying about me while I was locked up,” he added, returning her small smile with one of his own.
It meant a lot that he had people who might have been concerned, who worried for his safety while he was inside. But it stung too, because Bishop himself hadn't given them much thought as he threw himself into fight after fight. He had been selfish in ways that were astounding even to him, allowing his emotions to drown out the rational thoughts that might have saved him from some of the cuts, scrapes and bruises he had as a reminder of his time in there.
“You ever wonder if life might have been quieter through all of this if you’d stayed in Harlan?” Bishop tossed out the question, wondering if the younger woman missed the mountains and hollows of Cumberland County.
Shaking her head almost as soon as the question was out of his mouth, Bunny said, “I've wondered whether everyone is safe and sound, but I tried real hard not to look back too much once I'd made my choice to leave.” In just a few minutes of conversation with Bode, her accent, blunted by the distance from their shared home, was starting to unfurl like the leaves of a sprouting fern. They couldn’t be in Harlan, not now and maybe not ever again, but a piece of it was here with them just the same, in the cadence of their speech.
She paused long enough to tuck a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear and then continued. “We've had more than our share of troubles lately, but wishing for something that's behind me doesn't change that. All I can do is look at where we are now and try to make what's coming ahead better.” Of course this was all part and parcel of the patented Hazel Dolan sunny-side-of-life outlook and so it was nothing Bode hadn't heard before. Knowing this, her expression became just a touch sheepish for a second, and Bunny gave a little shrug.
“Compared to the scorched earth we got here, though, I guess the grass is truly greener back in Kentucky. I wouldn’t mind being able to grow some fresh food,” she added, just the thought of a vegetable garden bringing a wide smile to her face. There’d been talk about something like that being working on, once, but Bunny had no idea whether that had ever gone beyond planning and into doing. “Likely I'm not alone in that desire.”
Despite everything Bishop couldn't stop the grin from appearing on his face. Of course he should have counted on Hazel Dolan to see the bright side of things, to look forward instead of looking behind them at what they’d likely lost. He needed to take a page out of her book, to stop going over the ‘what ifs’ in his mind and focus on what was, even if that left him with a slew of questions he wasn't quite sure how to answer. “Someday I’m going to figure out how it is you stay so sunny and bright in the face of all of this,” he commented, his own accent changing the longer they spoke, the heavy notes of Harlan weaving them way into every word. “You also ain't alone in that desire, fresh fruit, hell, fresh anything would be a damn improvement to this place.” It was amazing the things they took for granted back when the world was whole, now Bishop would literally give his right arm for anything that hadn't come out of a can.
“I take it that greenhouse idea didn't get off the ground while we’ve been away,” Bishop continued, choosing now to focus on that instead of his own problems or that ache he felt for a home he had spent some many years wishing he could get away from. “Or did it and this was just your big lead up to surprising me with fresh fruit?” Said as a joke, a way to lighten a mood he had no doubt been responsible in bringing over the whole conversation.
What Bode called ‘sunny and bright’ just came naturally to her most of the time. And when it didn’t -- “Stubbornness. Spitting in the eye of the dark cloud lurking overhead is really the key to optimism.” Despite being more serious about that remark than not, Bunny grinned. Having this chance to catch up with Bode, someone who knew her all the way back to the days of wearing flower crowns and catching fireflies, made smiles that much easier to slip on. Her heart was easily the lightest it had been in weeks, even with the lingering worry about Bode’s situation with Teagan.
“I wish it were a lead in,” she added. Talk of food made her eyes glance toward the door for a moment, her thoughts on the meager kitchen back on the bus, before coming back to rest on Bode’s face. Fresh fruit would have made a fitting ‘welcome home’ gift, too. In the absence of any, she would have to scrape something together as best she could, despite Bode’s earlier assurance that there was no need for her to go out of her way. “Truth is, I didn’t pay much attention to what was happening with that greenhouse. There was so much else going on. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone figured out how to make it work, though? Austin needs more growing things in it.”
Bishop laughed. “Well damn, if I’d known all it took was a little spitting I woulda done that long ago,” he joked, matching her grin with one of his own. The stubbornness in her though, that was Harlan through and through. He supposed that that might mean he could find that same outlook as Bunny, although Bishop really did think it was just something woven into every fiber of who she was - that positive outlook that couldn't seem to be shaken. Joking, laughing, smiling, he found it was coming easiest while in her company, no doubt because Bunny knew him long before he went by Bishop and had ‘Chaplain’ as a title.
Food was one of those luxuries they had all taken for granted while they had it. Now they were mostly living out of cans. Sure, they had both fresh milk and fresh eggs here - but that was still a far cry from what any of them had had before the world crumbled into what it is now. “You can never say life is boring around here,” Bishop commented when Bunny admitted to having not paid much attention to the greenhouse project due to her attention being elsewhere. “It would be downright heaven if someone figured out how to make it work,” he paused while he tried to recall who had brought up the idea in the first place. Josh, maybe? “Think it was a patch who first started the idea, so maybe he’s figured it out. Austin could use a hell of a lot of things, growing things being right up at the top of that list.” Bishop couldn't help the way his mind drifted to other, human things that grew up. “Plants are probably a damn sight easier to raise than kids are…”
Their conversation having come full circle, they were right back at the topic of Bode and Teagan’s baby. The enormous responsibility of having a child in this world would be staggering, and she couldn’t presume to imagine how Bode felt to have all his worries about Teagan and the rat stacked on top of that, but she could still offer as much assistance as we possible for her to give. Helping Bode was different than helping a stranger or mere acquaintance, though that was something she did readily enough as well. For him, though, she would bend over backward, folding herself in half if it would somehow benefit him. Though she suspected he knew as much, it was the kind of thing that it never hurt to say aloud.
Sitting up slightly, Bunny found a place to set her glass, then leaned in a little toward Bode as she began to speak. “You know you’ve got a whole heap of help around here when it comes to raising your child, right?” Her voice was earnest, her eyes clear and locked on his face. “At the end of the day it comes down to you, I know, but there’s going to be a lot of hands looking to make the work of it lighter. Including mine. Think of me as a stand in for your sisters. Whatever you could have counted on them for, count on me for it instead.”
Somehow Bishop had managed to work the conversation back around to himself, to the massive, life altering news he had received just a day earlier. Talking about himself, it wasn’t necessarily a thing he did with just anyone, but then again Bunny wasn’t just anyone. A slow smile appeared in response to her words, in the assurance that she could be counted on in this. Bishop had never questioned that fact, he knew she would be there with an offer of help. Hazel was family, had been long before Nate had put an engagement ring on her finger, and Bishop was selfishly relieved that she was here and the closest stand in for his own sisters. “I know, but with the enormity of the this news it don’t hurt any to hear you say I can count on you,” He set his own glass aside and reached out to give one of Bunny’s hand a quick squeeze. Smiling, she squeezed back. “Thank you, Hazel,” Bishop couldn't say what the months ahead would hold, but it came as a relief to know he had people in his corner who’d be there to support him.
“Now, I’ve likely kept you long enough from whatever task you were doing before I stole your attention,” He began, chuckling softly. “So I reckon I best be letting you get on your way now.” Bishop rose from his seat, intending to walk Bunny out - even if the trailer was small, apparently some of the manners his mama instilled in him would never leave him.
“Alright by me, though you know I could spend all morning in your company and not mind at all.” Rising as well, she followed Bode to the door, where she judged it safe enough to give him a quick and gentle hug in farewell. It was a relief to have him back in camp where he belonged, but a part of her wouldn’t be completely satisfied until both Bode’s lingering injuries and his spirit had recovered. The former, she knew, would be far easier than the latter.
As she stepped out of the trailer and into the camp again, Bunny paused and looked back, brushing her hair out of her face as a stray wind caught hold of it. “But I’ll stop by again soon -- you can count on it. I promised to bring some things by and I meant it.” With a last smile, she waved and turned away.