Gavin Lucas (viciouscircle) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-05-22 17:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, aaron, aaron x gavin, amelia, gavin |
Who: Gavin and Aaron (with Amelia)
When: early AM, Wednesday, Dec 20th
Where: Mercy hospital, Green Street
Status: Complete
At some point Gavin had thought it would be okay for Aaron to be alone. He was safe at Caden's house and he was sleeping a lot so he didn't need a damn babysitter. It felt now like that had been wrong. Caden called him from the hospital and Gavin rushed over there even if it wasn't really an emergency as such. Caden was supposed to be working and apparently his door was busted so that needed to be fixed. The last thing they needed was for someone to enter the house and steal everything, they'd had enough shit piled on them for a lifetime already.
So Gavin came by the hospital and stayed while they fixed Aaron up. He didn't have a chance to talk to him with the doctors and nurses there but his curiosity was burning from what little Caden had told him. They finally wheeled Aaron out hours after he was admitted and Gavin watched his little brother with growing apprehension. He looked rough, sad and far too small for a man of his size and Gavin got up from his seat to walk over to him, resting his hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Let's get you home," he mumbled, though he knew it wasn't really home and if things were okay, Caden's place wasn't where he'd be headed.
Aaron had sobered up a bit through the hours that he had to wait -- because that was mostly what going to the hospital was, wasn’t it? Waiting. For the doctor, for the scans, for the doctor to look over the scan results and then come talk to him again. It passed in a slow, unpleasant blur. The doctors and nurses were critical of him mixing alcohol and painkillers, and Aaron got a lecture he hardly listened to. At some point Caden left and Gavin was there, but he hardly noticed that either at first. Caden had told him not to tell anyone about Adrian so he mostly kept his mouth shut about who had attacked him ... the medical staff wasn’t really asking anyway.
They told him that the only damage they found was some ripped stitches close to the surface. He’d stopped coughing up blood, so that was good, and none of the scans showed any internal bleeding. They re-stitched him and had him sign the release forms, and then he was out in the lobby with Gavin. He looked blearily up at his brother without actually meeting his eyes and gave a little nod. Aaron got up slow and careful, wincing a tiny bit. Hand pressed to the freshly bandaged wound in his stomach, he started shuffling for the exit.
Gavin gave his own little wince in sympathy. He'd planned to wheel Aaron on out of there in the damn chair but he knew better than to insist on that to either of his brothers because he would have done the same thing as soon as they let him get up and in the past had done the same. Lucas pride was a small and defiant little beast. They didn't have much to boast about so when they did, it was forceful. He followed Aaron out, shuffling slowly behind him, trying to not make him feel rushed. "Are you hungry? We can stop by my place and I can heat up some leftovers," he muttered as he unlocked the truck and opened the passenger door for Aaron.
Aaron didn’t think he was hungry, he really just wanted to go straight to sleep, but part of him didn’t want to go back to Caden’s either. Not yet. What if Adrian changed his mind and came back? That probably should have made him worry about Caden and Roxy, but if anybody could fend for himself, it was Caden Lucas. He would probably be on high alert now. Aaron didn’t answer until he had climbed gingerly into the truck. “Yeah, uh ... long’s you don’t think we’ll wake up the kids,” he murmured, giving Gavin another of those not-quite glances. Maybe Gavin would let him crash on the couch. It was probably best he stay away from that vodka bottle anyway.
"It would take a freight train to wake those kids up," Gavin told him with a little pat on his thigh before he shut the door and headed around to the driver's side of the car. He got in with a little grunt and started the car with a sidelong glance at Aaron. "You wanna tell me what happened?" The information he had so far was disjointed and weird and he wasn't sure even Caden knew what was going on so hearing it straight from Aaron would be best.
He barely resisted a sigh, because Aaron didn’t really feel up to having another brother think he was off his rocker or just really stoned or something. But Caden would end up telling him anyway, if he hadn’t already. Aaron slouched a bit in the seat and leaned his head against the window, looking out into the dark parking lot. “I was goin’ to sleep, and somebody broke in,” he muttered. “Tackled me, held a knife to my neck. An’ I thought ... I think it was Adrian. Mila’s brother. Caden thinks that’s crazy though.” The last part came out even quieter, with more defeat.
Gavin was quiet as he let that sink in. It was heavy enough that someone had attacked Aaron - again - but Adrian Moretti was dead, at least that was what everyone thought. The man had been missing for years, Gavin had been to the funeral for Mila's sake. "You sure?" he asked quietly, wondering if maybe it had been Mila again. Denial was a powerful thing and Mila had been possessed, maybe whatever had her played tricks on Aaron's mind.
Part of Aaron got angry at that totally legitimate question. Nobody believed him about anything. But it was a short-lived flash of fire -- maybe they shouldn’t. “No,” he said, barely audible. “Not sure ‘bout anything anymore. But it looked like him, sounded like him. He thought I did something to Mila. Was gonna kill me for it. Said he was dead. I don’t fuckin’ know.” Aaron and Adrian hadn’t been friends, but you didn’t live next to someone for years without being familiar with them, and he’d recognized the man who’d attacked him as Adrian Moretti. If that was just his brain glitching, then whatever. But if it wasn’t ... maybe also ‘whatever’, Aaron had no idea what he was supposed to do now.
"He said he was dead?" Gavin asked and he couldn't help the slight shiver as a chill crawled up his back because that was just damn creepy. Mila's brother back from the dead to find his sister? Gavin had heard crazier things and he wished he hadn't because it was just testimony to how messed up his life had been. "He didn't kill you," he concluded quietly. "Did he change his mind or do we need to worry about him coming back?" It was a reasonable question, he thought. If Aaron was right and he had really been attacked by a dead man who might come back to finish the job they needed to be ready.
Aaron knew he should probably be more alarmed at that prospect, but he wasn’t. Any worry for Caden and Roxy was dim and distant, and if Adrian did come back for him, well ... so be it. But his brothers likely wouldn’t take that kind of cavalier attitude about it. “I told him everything I know ‘bout her bein’ possessed and that she prob’ly went back to the tunnel. He said if he didn’t find her, or if he ... found out I did something to her, he would be back to kill me,” Aaron explained dully. He wasn’t sure he was getting that exactly right, but the spirit of the threat was hard to misremember. “He told me not to tell anyone too, so ... don’t spread it.” He gave a faint huff of dark amusement, because who did Gavin even talk to?
That did sound like a brother to Gavin and that just made it sound even more like it really had been Adrian Moretti. "Well, you didn't do shit," he grumbled. "But we won't be leaving you alone for a while then, just in case." If someone hurt one of his siblings, Gavin would kill that person too so he couldn't really say he blamed Adrian - if that was who this was - but if Adrian killed Aaron... well, Gavin would have to kill Adrian. It was all a damn mess. How did he even track down a dead man? "Maybe he'll find her. Let him search the damn tunnel. You sure as hell aren't going in there."
Aaron had the dim idea that if someone did take him out, his death wouldn’t go unavenged, but who even knew if Adrian could be killed? Maybe he was some sort of solid ghost or sentient zombie or maybe he hadn’t actually died at all, he just wanted people to still think he was. He’d looked skinny and there was the weird head-hitting thing ... Knowing how much Mila had missed him and how upset she’d been at Cruz Acosta’s reappearance, it was beyond shitty if Adrian was hiding from his family. But Aaron didn’t have much space in his brain to think about that. “He won’t find her,” he murmured despondently. “She’s gone.”
Gavin felt the same way, if he was going to be honest, but being honest with Aaron right now was the worst thing he could do. "If Amelia can come back from some shadow dimension and Adrian Moretti can come back from the dead then Mila can come back from this," he said with the stubbornness of a Lucas. He reached over and patted Aaron's knee then grabbed the wheel again to turn them into Green Street. "Keep her in your prayers and don't be a fucking wreck when she comes back like I was."
That hopeful thought about Amelia had crossed Aaron’s mind too, but it hadn’t stuck around long. They hadn’t known what had happened to the little girl, but Mila had definitely been possessed by something evil, which had tried to kill Aaron and then disappeared. Aaron didn’t see much room for hope in that. But again, he was faced with a brother who was Trying, and how often did that happen? He didn’t feel like he should keep arguing. “I’ll try,” he muttered. He felt like a fucking wreck already and like he would always stay that way, but Aaron didn’t say so. There was nothing left to say.
Gavin was being a hypocrite and he didn't really want to think about that. He had been a wreck and he hadn't listened to anyone who brought him hopeful messages, so why should he expect Aaron to be any different. It was weird to be on the other side of it now but he didn't want to examine that too closely either. It was better to focus on tasks at hand and so he focused on getting the car parked and then hurried around the car to help Aaron out. He'd heat up the food now, maybe give Aaron some booze to wash it down with. It was numbing and it had worked for him when he needed it. If he got too sleepy, he could crash on the couch. Gavin was fine with sleeping on the recliner for a night or two, it certainly wouldn't be the first time. He tried not to fuss when he opened the door and really, if their situations were reversed he probably would have felt tempted to throw a punch by now so he knew not to keep pushing. "Charlie made some amazing lasagna," he mumbled. "It won't take long to heat up."
“‘Kay,” Aaron said as he climbed out of the truck. Moving around still hurt, and he was more than ready to just stretch out somewhere and pass out again, but Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, so food was probably something he should do. He just hoped Gavin had some beer to share or something too. Caden had said he was stupid for drinking with the pills, but it had been a while since he’d taken one of those, so maybe Gavin wouldn’t care. Aaron was ready to tell everybody to suck his dick and shut up anyway. Maybe there was no comparison between a daughter disappearing and a girlfriend, but at least Amelia hadn’t tried to kill Gavin before she’d gone, and then someone else had beaten him up afterward. Aaron thought he deserved to drown a few sorrows, goddammit. He shuffled his way into Gavin’s house and toward the kitchen, nudging past the curious sniffing dogs as he made a beeline toward the fridge.
Gavin let him walk unsupported but he was definitely hovering, ready to step in if he thought Aaron was unsteady on his feet. They made it to the kitchen where he pulled out a chair for him, giving his shoulder a squeeze as he walked by him to turn the oven on. "You want a beer? Something stronger?" he asked as he opened the fridge. He'd have a beer and at this point he was kind of hoping Aaron would want to spend the night so he didn't have to go out again. It was late and he was getting sleepy and the vibe of the house wasn't helping. His kids were sleeping and he could almost feel the serenity of it as he made sure to keep quiet.
“Stronger,” Aaron answered with obvious relief. “Whatever you got.” He might follow up with a beer, but to start with he wanted something to help numb everything. The hospital hadn’t given him any more painkillers to take home, so real booze was needed. Since Gavin seemed to be on his way to handle everything, Aaron diverted his path to sit at the kitchen table. He gave a little groan as he sat down, his hand pressing to his stomach again. The bleeding had stopped a long time ago, and the doctors had told him he would be okay, but it still fucking hurt.
Gavin always had something stronger and once he'd gotten himself a beer from the fridge he poured Aaron a glass of rum and set it down in front of him. "Want anything in it?" he asked, heading for the fridge again to get the leftovers out. "Got coke and sprite in here if you want." He didn't mix his own drinks but it still seemed right to offer.
“No thanks,” Aaron mumbled as he pulled the glass in closer. He was more than tempted to just down all of it in one go, but Gavin hadn’t brought the bottle to the table, so he just took a few sips to start out with. He sat silently while his brother worked on getting some food heated up for them, idly pondering how every sound was amplified in a quiet house. The tin foil sounded like a car crash and he wondered if the kids would stay asleep. They were teenagers though, and probably heavily asleep. Jasper anyway; it seemed that Amelia’s circumstances would have made her a light sleeper. “How is Charlie anyway?” Aaron asked eventually, his voice quiet and rusty. He needed something else to think about.
Gushing about how wonderful his girlfriend was when Aaron's was missing was a bad move so Gavin avoided it, humming softly at first before replying. "She's worried about you, about Mila. She asks about you a lot." Once the lasagna was in the oven he sat down and rested his arms on the table, watching his baby brother with sympathy. It was hard not to slip into pity but he knew Aaron would hate that as much as he did so he steeled himself. "Do you want to stay here tonight? The couch is comfortable and you don't really look like you're in a great shape to go out again." Unsurprisingly the dogs had retreated back to his bedroom where the door was half open. It helped Amelia sleep and while the dogs were calm, she didn't seem bothered by normal house noises. They all kept weird hours, she was used to that by now.
That sounded like Charlie, from what little Aaron knew of her. She seemed sweet. Which was good, because Gavin needed someone sweet. Just like Caden needed someone who wouldn’t take his bullshit, and Aaron needed ... well, who Aaron needed was gone. Gone and never coming back and he needed to start accepting that, like Caden had said. Nevermind that the thought made him want to lie down and die himself. “Yeah, ‘f you don’t mind,” he murmured, glancing briefly up at Gavin before he took another swallow from his glass. He didn’t really want to go back to Caden’s, and maybe the presence of his niece and nephew would help him feel better somehow, Aaron didn’t know. He just wanted something in his belly so he could sleep. “How’s it goin’ at the bar?” he asked then, hunting for a subject that had some sense of normalcy.
Gavin understood that too and he wished he could tattle on about things, mindless ramble for Aaron to listen to to drown out the pain. Gavin wasn't good at that though and that was a fault he keenly felt at the moment. "It's going," he said simply and what else could he tell him? That Caden kept kicking people out because they thought Aaron had killed Mila? That wasn't anything Aaron needed to hear right now. He also didn't need to hear that it wasn't the same without him - without Mila. This was supposed to be a distraction. "Caden hates carrying everything and he won't shut up about it. Miles is too fucking small to reach up high so he's no use." He smiled wryly, the obvious message here being that they were kind of fucked without Aaron.
His oldest brother was a man of few words under the best of circumstances, and maybe Aaron ought to know better than to prompt him into filling the silence, but there was nobody else around at the moment. Aaron really needed his support, maybe a shoulder to cry on, a reassurance that this all wasn’t actually his fault, but that was even more to ask than some work-chat. Gavin did okay though, and Aaron gave him a wry smile back. It was tiny, but there. “Sounds like you need some muscle again,” he said, fingers idly toying with his glass. “I’ll be back soon.” Aaron didn’t know if that was actually true, he felt like he was completely falling apart, but he had to say it anyway.
"Yeah you will be," Gavin agreed though he wasn't sure either. If Mila had straight up died it would be different. Aaron would take time to grieve, he'd be inconsolable for a while but at least there would be closure. A funeral, shared grief, the certainty of everyone else that Aaron hadn't hurt her. But no, she was just gone, missing, possessed by something ancient and evil that would likely never let her go again. Gavin didn't know what to do with that anymore than he'd known what to do with his little girl going missing. He was trying desperately to find something else to say when he heard the padding of feet on the hallway, the dogs and bare human feet.
The dogs entered the kitchen with Amelia right behind them wearing one of Jasper's old t-shirts and pajama pants. She looked sleepy, blinking at the two of them blearily before stepping in closer to gently hug Aaron from the side. "Hey," she said softly. "Did something happen?"
Aaron’s throat felt a bit thicker just from watching Amelia walk into the room. What had happened to her was crazy and horrible and sometimes he missed her being a little girl, but she was so beautiful in a heartbreaking way. He was still convinced that the baby was going to be a girl. “Hey,” he murmured, wrapping his arm around her slim waist to hug her lightly back. Aaron cleared his throat as he let her go again. “Just uh ... just tripped like an idiot and popped some of my stitches, is all. Your dad just picked me up from gettin’ checked out.” He was glad that Adrian hadn’t pummeled on his face or anything obvious. He didn’t want to try to explain that away.
Amelia frowned in sympathy but her gaze landed on the alcohol in front of him, then her dad's face and maybe there was a tiny accusation there, just small enough that he could miss it. Maybe Aaron wouldn't be tripping like an idiot if he wasn't drinking. She was used to that though, everyone around her drank a lot so she let it go. Maybe it was what he needed. "You're heating up the lasagna?" she asked instead of focusing on that. "I think you need to up the heat." She almost left Aaron's side to do it herself but no, her dad could do it. She'd stay right where she was and pet her uncle like he was a sad, sick dog at the vet's because that was what he seemed to need right now.
Gavin missed the look she gave him but he turned around and fiddled with the oven to raise the heat some. He wasn't even sure she was right, he just usually did what she asked him now. "He's crashing on the couch 'cause it's late," he muttered. "I'm sorry we woke you."
"You didn't," Amelia quickly replied. "Rudy did." She smiled faintly, her hand landing on Aaron's shoulder to gently stroke him there. She didn't ask about Mila. If they had heard anything, the mood would be different and they'd tell her.
The disapproval flew right over Aaron’s head, but the petting was just what he needed. He leaned a bit against Amelia’s warmth, just his shoulder and careful to avoid her chest, but still. Her hands were gentle and sweet and Aaron felt like a sad, sick dog. Max came over to join in the cuddle fest, sniffing at Aaron’s leg before he sneezed and leaned against Amelia too. He knew it was probably lame to lie to her, God knew the truth probably wouldn’t even surprise her, Aaron just didn’t have the mental energy to go back over it again. So he could blame himself and leave it at that. He didn’t have anything to add, so he just nursed his drink some more and tried to take some small comfort in his niece's affection.
Gavin was glad Aaron didn't tell her the truth. He didn't need her fretting more than she already was and this really wasn't something she needed to know. She'd just be afraid Moretti would come back to finish the job and lord knew his girl had enough to worry about as was. He was still kind of selfishly glad she'd woken up. She was better at this affection thing than Gavin ever could be and Aaron looked like he needed the hug.
"Don't drink too much," Amelia told Aaron softly. "Not if you're still bleeding. Alcohol makes you bleed more." He shouldn't be drinking at all but she wasn't about to tell him that. He was so sad and like Gavin he probably drank a lot when he was sad. Too bad he was physically hurt too or he could just spend the next few days in an alcohol coma while the cops searched for Mila.
Aaron chuckled softly, though there wasn’t much humor in it. “You sound just like the nurses,” he said. He couldn’t argue, but he also couldn’t face any of this sober. If he could’ve stayed unconscious this entire time, he gladly would have. “I’m not bleedin’ anymore though, so don’t worry about me.” Aaron gave Amelia another gentle squeeze. Alcohol wouldn’t help his healing at all either, but he wasn’t going to stop. “Neither are you, come to think of it ... you want a drink?” he offered for a bit of levity.
Amelia rubbed at her eyes with the hand that wasn't busy patting Aaron. She thought about the offer, then looked at Gavin. "I'll have a beer," she said, part question, part challenge. She liked beer, she'd found out as much at the bonfire, but she hadn't really had it often since.
Gavin couldn't help but wonder if it made him a shitty dad to ply his kids with alcohol but fuck, if he didn't he wouldn't know where they were getting it from. Store bought was safer and his girl was all grown up. He got up and went to the fridge to get her a beer, opening it for her and everything. The way she smiled at him, tired but warm, made him feel a little better about it.
It didn’t really surprise Aaron that Gavin gave in to the request. Alcohol had been a part of their family’s life since before any of them could remember. Aaron could recall starting to sneak beer and liquor out of Joseph’s bottles as early as age ten, and they ran a bar for God’s sake. Not to mention, Amelia was no longer nine, and she’d been through hell, so she deserved to sit and have a drink with them. They all sat in quiet for a while, just sipping their drinks and waiting for the food to heat up. There wasn’t much to talk about, and Aaron was grateful to not have to keep up the chit chat. Once the lasagna was ready, his first few bites were hesitant, but his stomach seemed to be okay with it, so he ate a little over half of what Gavin gave him. Aaron sat back with a little sigh. “Better get on the couch before I pass out right here,” he murmured.
Gavin wanted him to eat more and he understood now the fretting everyone did over him when Amelia was missing. Eat more, drink more water, try to cut down on the booze. He wasn't going to say any of those things to Aaron because if he did he really did deserve a punch in the face. "Shouldn't be too rank, I changed the sheets a few days ago," he muttered with a little smile. He'd been sleeping on the couch for so long, Amelia had insisted he make it up like a bed when he was there and he wasn't there that often, choosing to spend the night with Charlie every so often. "I could do with a few hours of sleep too. I'll do the dishes tomorrow, don't worry about it."
The last was aimed at Amelia who was already grabbing the plates and she set them down again with a little shrug. That was fine by her, the beer had made her a little sleepy again too. "You can take the bed," she offered, her hand on Aaron's shoulder again, gently squeezing. "And I'll take the couch."
“Y’sure?” Aaron asked quietly, but he didn’t really care where he went. They could put him on the floor and he would be okay, even if he woke up stiff and unhappy with that decision in the morning. When Amelia confirmed that she was sure, Aaron nodded a bit and stood up. He winced slightly, his hand moving to press against his stomach again. That was going to be sore for a while. He was beyond done with pretending to feel human, so he just gave Amelia a brief, passing hug. “G’night,” he muttered as he shuffled his way toward Gavin’s former bedroom. Thanks could come later, all Aaron wanted was to be unconscious again.