Who: Fin and Madison Where: Fin's Apartment and out and about. When: Friday, Saturday 29th Warnings: Language Status: Complete
Fin stood in the kitchen of his apartment, listening to the soft sounds of piano music while he kept a watchful eye over a pan and the sizzling bacon and sausages within. The past twenty four hours hadn’t been the easiest for him and he was grateful for the company, even if they were still asleep in his bedroom.
For some reason he had agreed to go out on the search for Danny, though he had only lasted just under two hours before leaving in a sea of muttering and arms thrown in the air. He kept picturing Danny standing there with his arms crossed and the best disappointed look on his face tutting at Fin for neglecting Books and Beer to be part of ‘this wild goose chase’. Of course his actions had caused concern for Madison who ended up sending him countless texts and making several calls during the day to make sure he was alright.
Thursday evening came the failed attempt at going to the AA meeting that James had suggested, the night wasn’t a complete lost though, he did get to spend some time with James and the two of them talked over better tasting coffee. When he got back he sent Madison a text I’m home now, happy? but didn’t expect his friend to show up at his door not long afterwards. The two of them sat on the couch watching a movie before turning in for the night, they had shared a bed more times than they could count, (especially after the messy divorce) so neither thought anything about it as the two of them fell asleep, Fin’s arms around Mads.
He had woken before her and slipped out of the bed as silently as he could, Madison had been working too hard the past few days with the fog and then the resulting aftermath of it, Friday was her day off and he had organized a viewing of the house he was interested in with the agent in charge, Mads would go along for moral support and to give her honest opinion… and Fin knew she’d give it. While his friend slept he put the coffee on to brew and started on breakfast - nothing like bacon, egg and sausage all fried up to start the day.
The week had been shit. First the power outage, then the fog, followed by a slew of violence and vandalism that seemed to come out of nowhere. One right after the other. The added stress from her fretting over Fin didn't help matters either. All of it was both physically and emotionally draining. By Thursday morning, Mads was struggling to keep herself functioning. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for days. That wasn't an option though. She had responsibilities and they couldn't be ignored.
With the town seeming to settle, the search for Danny Valiant finally began. Mads went out in the morning with a small group of volunteers looking for any sign of the missing man. Fin had joined the group, but seemed to be growing more and more agitated as time passed until he threw up his arms and stormed off. She called after him, but he gave no response, leaving her standing there. She watched his retreating figure, a couple tears escaping her eyes as she did so, before roughly wiping her eyes and turning around to continue her search.
As soon as she was able she texted Fin. And called. And texted again. Mads wanted to know, no, needed to know he was okay. He was annoyed, it was evident in his tone, but she didn't care. She would rather him feel annoyed than feel nothing at all. When he finally announce that he was home, she beelined it to his apartment to see him. Calls and texts only did so much to quell her worry.
It turned out to be a good decision. Being able to snuggle up to Fin was a great comfort and allowed her to release some of the stress that had been building over the week. That release came in the form of uncontrollable tears which made her upset, but once they subsided she felt significantly better. And dead tired. She'd had a hard time keeping her eyes open during the movie and was eternally grateful when Fin suggested they turn in for the night. She fell asleep almost immediately, finally giving into the intense exhaustion she felt.
Mads let out a loud groan when the familiar nagging of her alarm sounded. Her hand automatically moved to the end table to grab at her cell phone... her cell phone that wasn't there. She was finally forced to open her eyes and discovered she had left the blasted thing on the dresser. “Goddammit,” she muttered, sliding off of the bed and stumbling over to turn it off. “Fuuuuuck,” she complained loudly as she stretched. She so did not want to be awake. The smell of food got her attention and she wandered out of the room to see Fin cooking in the kitchen. “Mornin',” she greeted sleepily.
“Take a seat, I’ll get you coffee.” Fin said with a bit of a smile when Mads walked, no shuffled, out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. He had heard the alarm but by the time he realized it wasn’t his and that it was in the bedroom it was too late, so instead he got two mugs and the cream from the fridge for her coffee. Fin always seemed to get the cream to sugar ratio wrong so he put the cream container and sugar pot onto the breakfast bar above the sink before pouring the black coffee into the mug. He then turned back towards the stove, making sure that the bacon and sausages didn’t burn, humming softly to the melody of the piano.
He wondered how Mads was feeling, especially after bursting into tears during the movie, Fin did worry about her, she was the closest thing he had to a sibling and they had gone through so much together. He was glad that when she went to sleep she stayed asleep and didn’t toss and turn all night long. “Usual, two eggs?” Taking the cooked bacon and sausages out of the pan he put them on plates before cracking some eggs into the small layer of fat in the bottom. “And we can stop by Seaview to get you some clean clothes for the house-hunting.”
Mads plopped down into as seat at the table and leaned forward onto her arms, resisting the urge to let her head fall onto them. There wasn't an ounce of grace in her movements. She was far too exhausted to do anything more than just be at the moment. “Two, yeah,” she drawled, raising two fingers to give visual clarification of her answered. She slumped forward and rested her chin on her arms. She was losing the battle against her exhaustion without her weapon of choice, caffeine, to help fight it off. Confusion briefly crossed her face when he mentioned getting a change of clothes and looking at a house. Then it hit her. House hunting. Right. They had agreed to go look at that house Fin showed her back on Sunday. The fixer upper. Fuck.
“Yeah, sounds good.” She wouldn't say anything else. Mads would have loved to stay curled up with Fin (or without, she wasn't picky) all day long, but she had made a promise to do this with him and she wasn't about to back out. Exhaustion be damned. She extended her arms out along the table in a big stretch, fingers flexing in a 'gimmie' motion. “Coffee?” She whimpered, looking up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.
With the four eggs starting to cook Fin went about getting the other things needed for breakfast including condiments and cutlery while Mads had her first morning coffee, he knew not to ask hard questions until that first hit of caffeine had done it’s thing. “Drink up, there’s plenty of it.”
He knew that house hunting wasn’t something that Mads didn’t really want to do but he trusted her opinion and knew that she wouldn’t let him do anything stupid and look at everything with that critical eye that was needed so he didn’t go and just jump into buying something that he shouldn’t. Mads really was a lifesaver at times, she had stopped him doing some stupid things over the years although there were times though this wasn’t always the way as he still made lots of mistakes, he was happy that she was back in town, Fin enjoyed any time that he got to spend with his best friend. “We shouldn’t be too long, hour and a half tops, then we can do whatever you want to do.” Even if it was coming back and just curling up together and having a nap.
“Coffeeee,” she purred happily as Fin slid the mug into her waiting hands. Blessed, wonderful nectar of the gods. Mads sat up and immediately went to work making said coffee edible. She couldn't get herself to drink just straight coffee no matter how much she tried. It was just too bitter for her tastes. The promise of the house viewing only being less than two hours made her feel better about the whole thing. It's not that she didn't want to go with Fin, she did. Hell, she was the one that insisted on it. No way was she going to let him run in head first into buying a house. It just happened to be on a crappy day. “That a promise?” She gulped down some of her coffee.
Flipping his own eggs over and putting Mads’ sunny-side-up ones onto her plate Fin smiled as she took the mug of coffee. “I’m hoping it won’t even take that long, there’s two to look at - the one I talked to you about and another that’s a bit bigger, more expensive but ready to move in, thought it wouldn’t hurt to look at it as well.” He put the plate of food in front of Mads with a small smile. “Eat up.” Turning back Fin continued to nudge his own eggs until they were cooked and turned off the stove and stood at the kitchen counter and started on his breakfast.
Mads gazed down at the eggs. Sunny-side up. She didn't dislike eggs prepared that way, but she much preferred them scrambled. No bother, Fin was kind enough to cook for her, she wasn't going to be picky. Even if he did know she preferred scrambled. His attempt at getting more variety in her food, she was sure. She poked the eggs, letting the yolk run unopposed toward the bacon and sausage stir fry before mixing it all together. “A move-in ready one, huh? I thought you were determined to get a fixer-up?”
He knew she loved her eggs scrambled but yes, it was trying to get her to add some variety to her life, she could’ve cut the piece of toast into fingers and dunked them into runny yolks. Fin did things like that sometimes, get Mads to do something different even though he knew she was the type of person who didn’t really like change all that much. “Well, the rest of the fixers I looked at online were horrible - water or fire damage, needed new electrical, plumbing and the like. I thought that as I was seeing one I might as well see another, make it worth the time, if not only for some ideas.” He said in between mouthfuls of breakfast.
“That makes sense,” she replied, not even caring that her mouth was currently filled with food. There was no reason for ladylike manners around Fin. Mads took a sip of her coffee to help wash down the egg, bacon, and sausage mixture before wiping at her mouth with her hand. “Glad you decided to give a move-in ready one a try. I was worrying you might be tempted by a condemned building.” She chuckled. No, really, that had been a legit worry even if she did present it as a joke.
They had done away with things like manners and gender norms years ago, some people looked at the two friends weirdly, wondering what their relationship was but it was just ‘them’, two people of opposite sexes could be just friends without ever bringing sex into it. And Mads was definitely the better belcher out of them both. “I’m not about to go and buy 19 Ludlow Lane or that weird old farmhouse down near The Fallow, I do know my limits Mads.” Not that he’d go anywhere near those two places, or anything that had some serious damage or needed a new roof, they might be cheaper but more often than not tearing them down and starting again was the better idea. The fixer he had his eye on was a newer building, it just didn’t look it inside.
Hell yeah, she was the better belcher. “Oh thank god,” she exclaimed dramatically, bringing the back of her hand to her forehead with a sigh for added effect. “I was worried.” Mads chuckled and scooped more food into her mouth. “So which are we seeing first? Fixer upper or move-in?”
Fin just rolled his eyes at the dramatic gesture, Mads should've taken up acting instead of becoming a cop. “Move-in first, then fixer-upper. They're both in pretty good areas, though the fixer is closer to the town center than the other and much closer than here. I did a drive by on Wednesday, just to check it out.” He continued to eat, occasionally looking up at Mads as they both devoured their breakfast and coffee, of course he had brewed enough so they both could have two mugs and a bit extra if his friend wanted to take some with her. “Any ideas of what we should do for the rest of the day? It's my day off so we can do whatever you want… even if it's coming back here and sleeping the afternoon away.”
“Sleep.” He barely got the chance to finish what he was saying before she answered. Mads knew exactly what she wanted to do. “Definitely sleep.” She let out a sigh, rubbing at her face in an attempt to further wake herself up. “God, I feel like I could sleep for days. I've never felt so damn exhausted.” She took a moment to gulp down the rest of her coffee before getting up from the table and placing her empty plate in the sink. “Suppose we should think about getting dressed and moving, huh? Because I swear if I sit down again I'm going to clunk right out.”
“Sleep it is then.” Fin smiled, putting his own plate into the sink, doing the dishes could wait until later. “But when we get back I'm putting your phone out here, no more alarms or obnoxious calls to wake you up.” He got the travel mugs out of the cupboard, grateful that he had several of them and filled them with hot water to warm them up so they could both take a hot coffee along with them, Mads looked like she could use it. “Let's get ready, sooner we’re done looking at these houses, the sooner you can come back and sleep.” Honestly Fin wouldn’t mind spending a few hours in the afternoon sleeping, he’d only spent two nights at home since he got out of hospital and last night was the first decent sleep he had gotten, thanks to Madison no doubt and any sleep he could catch up on was more than welcomed.
True to his word, the house viewings didn't take more than a couple hours. Mads listened attentively to the realtor and was not shy about asking questions. She wanted to make sure that whatever house Fin ultimately picked was the best option for him. Not wanting to be rude, she waited until they had parted ways with the realtor before giving her opinion on both houses. The move-in ready house was nice, but lacked a certain charm. It seemed terribly cookie-cutter and it was painfully obvious when compared to the more unique homes surrounding it. The fixer-upper did have that charm and was closer to Fin's work, not to mention it made him light up (something the other home didn't do), but it needed a lot of TLC. If the claims were true concerning its sound structural integrity, plumbing, and heating - they would need an inspector to confirm – it might win her over.
When they got back to Fin's house, Mads immediately stripped down and crawled into bed. No words, no fuss. She hadn't been lying when she said she wanted to sleep. Fin joined her not long after and she snuggled up to him, barely even registering herself doing so. She managed to mumble a goodnight before slipping into a deep sleep.
The house viewings went pretty well, other than the realtor mistaking them for a couple, which they played up for their own amusement - complete with terrible pet names. They had a good laugh about it while travelling between the two houses, both needing a good belly laugh at something. Fin really appreciated Mads opinion on the places and agreed that the move in was just as cookie-cutter as his apartment and whoever the current owner was didn't really have good color sense if the burgundy and brown bedrooms were anything to go by, yes it was only paint but something about it turned him off the place. The fixer-upper was better than the photos, well when he used his imagination, yes there was a lot of work and he would have to organize an inspector to have a look at it to confirm there was no underlying damage before he put an offer on the house. He was glad Mads was there with him, he felt like he might've put an offer on the house if she wasn't.
When they got back and Mads stripped down and went to bed Fin did a few things quickly before joining her and letting his friend snuggle close before drifting off into slumber as well.
Several hours later Fin started to stir, it took him a second to remember that it was Mads in bed with him and not anyone else, something he was grateful for. Giving his friend a gentle squeeze he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, she'd wake in her own time and he didn't mind lying there while she slept on.
It was another thirty or so minutes before Mads started to stir. She let out an unhappy noise and forced her eyes to stay closed. She had absolutely no desire to wake up, but unfortunately, her body had other plans. “Fuckin' A,” she mumbled grumpily into Fin's shoulder. “Stupid piece of shit body ugh.” To say she was unhappy about her situation was an understatement. How was she supposed to catch up on sleep if her head and body wouldn't let her? Nevermind that it was impossible to actually catch up on sleep.
She blamed it on her dreams. She couldn't tell you what they were about, but it did leave her feeling somewhat anxious now that she was awake. Anxiety dreams were the worst.
Mads finally opened her eyes and glanced up at Fin. “Meh.”
For those thirty or so minutes Fin thought about that house, wondering if he should try to call an inspector that afternoon and organize an appointment for the next week before the weekend hit and the offices would be closed, it was safer thinking about that than anything else. At least Mads hadn’t shot his dream down in flames when she saw it.
He knew what Mads was like when she woke up, he had seen all of her ‘waking up moods’ and was used to the small smile and soft words if it was a good sleep or the muttering and swearing if it interrupted sleep, rubbing her back he let her grumble - knowing that the nap was definitely in the later. “That good, huh?” He offered a small smile. “More coffee?”
“Fuckin' stupid all of it,” Mads muttered. She rolled her eyes, closed them for a few seconds, then opened them once again with a huff. Nope, sleep would not be coming to her anytime soon. “Coffee is the only good thing in this world,” came her response to Finn's question. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair before dropping her arm onto the comforter with a frustrated grunt. “Fuckin' dreams,” she muttered. They had left her all antsy and irritable. “So... coffee?”
“I'll go get it going, you take your time.” Fin pressed a kiss to Mads’ brow as he unwrapped his arms from around her and slipped out of the bed. “Dreams suck at the best of times, just try to ignore them.” That’s what he was trying to do, especially since most of his were about Danny.
He went out to the kitchen and put the kettle on to get the coffee going again, he didn't drink a lot of it, usually preferring teas, but there was always some grounds in the fridge and the French Press lived near the kettle, especially when guests visited. While the kettle boiled Fin got the press ready, all the while thinking of something that might cheer his friend up, he knew the past few days had been stressful on her - any kind of tragedy was stressful on the police and Tuesday and Wednesday had been hell for the small PPPD. He was pressing the plunger down when the weird idea of taking Mads to a strip club came to mind, the one out of town where Brad had said that he worked, Fin remembered something about Friday night's been the All Male Revue - a show for the ladies (and the occasional guy) he didn’t know if Brad worked on Friday’s but hey, hot guys in next to nothing putting on a show - it’d be a laugh nonetheless and Mads could use it. He’d just hide the fact that Brad worked there.
Fin's train of thought was interrupted by the ringtone of his phone, walking over to the couch where he had placed both his and Mads’ phones he picked his up, seeing that it was Mario, who was working the later shift. “Hey Mario. Everything okay?” He asked.
Turns out everything wasn't okay. Mario's mother was unwell, really unwell. Mario had just found out and was calling to let Fin know that he'd be leaving over the weekend and was unsure if he'd return to Maine or not. Fin understood, it had only been about a week but he would miss his most recent employee, the man was hard working and he'd have little trouble finding more work. There was a few things Fin needed him to sign so he said he'd drop into the store in an hour or so. “I'll see you then.” He said before hanging up and letting out a loud sigh.
Mads watched Fin slip out of the room to get the coffee she so desperately needed started. She fell back onto the bed with a loud huff. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, noticing all the little abnormalities. She really didn't want to leave the bed, but what good was it to stay in bed when she couldn't sleep? Reluctantly she crawled out of the bed and made her way to the master bathroom to wash up a little. With business taken care of, she wandered out into the living room, tilting her head at Fin's heavy sigh. “What's up? Gotta call?”
Fin was still kind of in his own thoughts when Mads walked into the living room. “Just work. My new employee - Mario - just got bad news and has to move back south it’s a pity cause he’s a good worker but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. I’ve just got to drop in to the store later and get him to sign a few things before he goes.” Leaning against the counter Fin sighed again, not as loudly this time, so much for getting more time off but he wasn’t a heartless bastard who was going to stop someone from leaving to look after a sick parent.
“I'm sorry to hear that.” Mads knew that the departure of Fin's employee would mean more time would need to be spent at the store. This was unfortunate. It would mean less time for her friend to be able to heal after his major loss. She leaned against the counter next to him and let out a sigh of her own. “When do you have to go in?”
Fin looked over at Mads, he felt bad having to cut short ‘their’ day but she understood, she always understood, sometime he felt like he didn’t deserve to have someone like Madison in his life. “I was going to take you to the strip club, get you a bunch of ones to stick in some hot guy’s thong and have a good laugh at it all, but I guess that’ll have to wait.” He pushed himself off the counter and got the sugar and cream out for the coffee as well as two big mugs. “Don’t know about you but I could do with a caffeine boost, maybe after this things might get a bit clearer.” Though he doubted it, things really weren’t going in his favor lately.
She snorted. “The strip club? That would’ve been interesting.” Normally Mads would be all for going to the strip club to have a good laugh at the absurdity, but, truth be told, she wasn’t feeling it today. Not that she would have ever admitted that to Fin. If he thought going to the club would be fun then, dammit, she’d make sure to have fun. She pushed herself from the counter as well, moving to Fin’s side and wrapping her arm around him. “Yeah, maybe,” she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“There's always another time, not like neither us nor the strip club are going anywhere.” Fin welcomed the hug, wrapping his own arms around Mads and resting his cheek against the top of her head, he felt safe and protected even though he was the taller of the two. “Tomorrow? Other than the evening shift I was planning on doing some cooking, had to throw out what was in my freezer thanks to the blackout.” He lifted his head and looked down at his friend. “Want me to cook some for you too? It's no problems doing a double batch, at least I know you're eating well.”
She smiled up at him. "I always eat well." That was a lie and they both knew it. Mads lived off of take-out and hand-outs; they were her bread and butter. Oh, yeah, that too. Bread and eggs and simple stuff like that. "But if you're going to be cooking anyway I won't complain." She booped her nose against his cutely in an attempt to lighten the mood. He was beginning to feel down again; she couldn't blame him. "Don't worry... things will get better. I can feel it in my bones."
“If you eat well that must mean that I’m a virgin.” He joked with a smirk, he sometimes wondered how she could eat so much crap food and not be 200 odd pounds, exercised played a part and the fact that cops in this town didn’t just sit around all the time but still, Mads metabolism must be very fast. “And if I get baking I’ll bring something for you all at the station, after this past week I think all you cops deserve some sugar laden treats. Think the guys would like Whoopie Pies?” Fin hadn’t made them for a while and surely the cops would appreciate any kind of treat.
When Mads booped his nose with her Fin smile widened, he was starting to feel a bit down but he’d work things out, it just meant having to rearrange some things and he was sure that Sally and Nat wouldn’t be overly happy about losing their eye candy either. “I hope so Mads, I just can’t shake this feeling that it’s not the end of it, that fate hasn’t stopped kicking me when I’m down. But... ” He took a deep breath. “Right now I’m going to do something positive, I’m going research a building inspector and see if I can get them to look at that house next week. Might as well do it before everyone closes for the weekend.”
A look of surprise. "Oh my god, Fin, you're a virgin?! You hide it so well!" She laughed, squeezing him a little. "Whoopie pies, huh? Bet they'd love 'em. I know I would." It had been a while since she had one of Fin's whoopie pies but she remembered how delicious they were.
"Yeah..." Mads was beginning to feel that way herself. It was just one thing after another this past week for both of them. But it'd get better. It had to. "That sounds like a great idea. Sooner you get that house checked out the better."
“If I am I mustn’t be doing it right.” Mads knew way too much about Fin’s habits, especially when he visited Bangor to hit up the gay clubs, many an evening he got an eyeroll or a lecture about playing it safe with anonymous sex. And there was no way in hell she would ever know about who he ‘met’ on his last visit there. “Just make sure you leave the others some, I don’t want to hear that you ate them all.” He gave her a light poke in the side with a fingertip.
Seriously what other shit could happen to make things worse?? “If everything is okay I might even be able to get moved in before the snow hits. It might not be finished or anything pretty but as long as I’ve got heat, four solid walls and a kitchen I’ll be fine.” He really hoped that this would be the case, that he would be able to move in and do some of the cosmetic things over the winter when there wasn’t much else to do.
"Hey hey, I know how to share. I passed kindergarten with flying colors." She grinned, looking both proud and amused. Mads nodded her head at the mention of Fin moving into the house before the snow. "I would hope so. They aren't predicting an early winter are they?"
“I hope so, because if I hear that you ate most of them I’ll be most upset.” He said with a mock pout, sticking out his bottom lip for added effect. She knew that he’d always make more anyway, or prepare a batch of cookie dough for her to eat raw, which is why he stopped making cookies with Mads around, more dough ended up getting eaten before it was actually cooked. “Don’t say that Mads! I want to get something done before it hits, even if it’s just getting everything I need inside in case we get snowed in.” Wishful thinking on Fin’s part because he knew that he’d have to be at the store instead of fixing up the house.
“I was just asking a question...” she said with a mock pout similar to his own. “Besides, you mentioned snow first! So if snow falls I’m putting it all on you.” Mads stuck her tongue out before moving out of their embrace. It seemed the coffee was ready and both of them were in desperate need of it. “You’ll get it up to snuff before then. I’ll help you. Brad probably would too.”
“That’s right, blame me for the weather.” Fin joked, he just hoped that the snow was still a ways off, or if it did come that it was only light because too much and the whole town ground to a halt and after the three days of fog that’s the last thing they all needed. When Mads moved back and broke their embrace Fin went about getting their coffees ready to drink and nodded when she mentioned that Brad might help. “He did a great job on the repairs over the weekend, I might see if he’ll help out in his free time.” It was pretty obvious what repairs he was talking about, from the kitchen the two foot square section of new drywall was clearly visible, he really needed to paint it before any kind of inspection and definitely before he moved out but for now it was a bit of a reminder of what his mindframe was the week beforehand.
Mads briefly glanced over at the repairs that Brad had made in the drywall. She hadn’t seen the state of the wall before it had been patched up, but from what she heard from Brad it had been a mess. It was a good thing Fin had managed to miss a stud otherwise he’d be getting coffee ready with a broken hand. “I’m sure he will,” she assured with a smile. Once the coffee had been poured into the mugs and hers sufficiently sweetened, Mads nodded a head toward the living room. “Bet we could squeeze in an episode of Longmire before you go.”