not_an_oreilly (not_an_oreilly) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-09-16 12:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-10-2017, darcy, darcy and patrick, patrick |
You said you'd be fine.
Who: Darcy and Patrick
Where: Patrick’s place
When: Late
Darcy left Aidan’s room, headed for her house, but didn’t get any further than the front step before she was headed to the other half of the duplex, fishing out the spare key to the place and letting herself in. “Patrick?” They had issues, a whole host of them, including Patrick being way too fucking over protective, but at the same time, somedays he was all she had in the way of a father figure left. And he’d told her he would be fine. Only now, not so much.
Patrick hadn’t expected Darcy here. He was tired and not really looking forward to whatever she had to say, especially because he was concerned she now knew something he hadn't been ready to tell yet. "In here," he called from the kitchen.
Darcy headed towards his voice, setting her bag down on the table once she came into the kitchen. She didn’t know what to do. He didn’t look different. He looked like he’d always looked. But he was different wasn’t he. “Were you not going to tell me?” she started, not wanting to beat around the bush.
Patrick let out a sigh and looked her way. Great. So it was this conversation. "Not yet," he answered honestly, watching Darcy. "Because nothing is set in stone yet. Who told you?"
"What do you mean not set in stone! You're a..." Her voice cracked a little over the word and she left it open. "You just were going to let me think you were okay when you were definitely not." Darcy tried to glare at him, but there was fear in her eyes too. "Aidan."
“I didn’t know at the time that I told you I was fine, Darcy. And besides, I am fine! We’re not even really sure this is going to happen. It’s just a theory.” And it was one he didn’t want her getting bent out of shape about, especially if there was even a small chance that it might not be true. Which was really, really slim, apparently, but still there.
Darcy looked at him, clearly not buying that. “I think it’s more than a theory Patrick,” she told him sternly. Sylvia was a vampire and Patrick was definitely a werewolf. She bit her lip, picking at the hole in her shirt that was definitely not hers.
“Darcy, stop it,” Patrick said, more gently than he expected to as he walked closer to her. He was physically trying to be calm, to not snap at her, but it was hard when everything around him was so volatile in itself. “I am gonna be fine. I have too many people to protect to let myself not be fine.”
Darcy felt her breath hitch, not meaning that emotion to come out at all. Or for her eyes to water like they were. “What if you’re not?” Her voice was shakier than she expected it to be, not completely there. What if she lost someone else? She’d lost too many others.
Woah. Patrick wasn’t ready to see that and for a long, long time he didn’t know what to do. Something was warring inside of him, some internal awkwardness about Darcy crying at all fighting against this new, itching need to make her stop crying, to go out and screw up whatever was making her sad. It wasn’t really registering at first that it was him that was making her sad. He walked over to her and reached out, putting an arm around her shoulders to bring her into a hug. “I just told you, Kid. I’m not gonna let it happen.”
Darcy went where he pulled, burying her face into his chest. She wasn’t like this with family. With people like Patrick, but she’d lost her parents. Large portions of her family had died. She couldn’t lose another. “How do you know?” Tears weren’t falling yet. They were there, brimming, but not falling yet.
“Because I can feel it, Darcy. It’s...the one important thing I have to do, protect you guys. You’re my family and I swear I will not let anything come in between us or stop me from keeping you safe. I will make things fine, Darcy.” He promised, giving her a slightly-awkward pat on the back. He wasn’t great at giving hugs either, probably about as good as Darcy was with taking them right now, but he was trying.
Darcy sniffed a little, holding on to his shirt instead of him. She sighed softly, breathing starting to even out. He was somewhat reassuring, though she wasn’t sure what he was going to do to make it happen, she wanted to believe him.
After a moment, Patrick nodded and started to guide her into the kitchen more. “C’mon. Sit down and I’ll..get you a sandwich or something.” Anything to get her to be calmer. He could almost smell the panic in the air and it was freaking him out a little. “How are you otherwise, Darc? Other than all this.”
Darcy found her way into a chair, pulling her feet up onto it, knees by her chest. “I don’t want a sandwich.” She pulled at part of her hair, braiding it mindlessly. “Fine I guess.”
“Well, something then. Bread. I don’t care, just eat something,” He said, staring toward the cabinets to try and find something to put together for Darcy. It’d be easier to focus when he had something else to do with his hands. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“I’m really not hungry Patrick,” Darcy told him. She wasn’t. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten, but she couldn’t eat now. “Why not?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Darcy,” Patrick said, bringing over a sandwich to place in front of her on the table. Then he sat down across from her and watched her. “...Because you don’t look fine. You look a little like shit right now, Darcy. You’re not good at hiding ‘fine’.”
Darcy pushed at the plate, but didn’t pick up the sandwich. “Fine. Avery’s moving out because she hates me and she’d rather live with Lochlan somewhere else that’s not here. Aidan said it makes more sense for them to have the house and me move in with him and Eily which is great. Avery gets what she wants and I get punished. He’s going to talk to Eily about it. Probably you too. All this shit is going on and no one told me. And I don’t like Aidan’s girlfriend or love interest or whatever and he and I got in a huge fight about it. I think it’s better, but I have no idea if it is and he’s still going after her.” The words tumbled out once she started and there was no stopping it. Eventually she just laid her head down on her knees, not looking at him. Why was she telling him of all people all of this? Probably because he was the first person to actually ask.
“Yeah, well, I don’t like a lot of shit about Aidan so girlfriend probably fits right in,” Patrick said, looking back at Darcy. He frowned at the idea of her moving in with Eily and Aidan, though. “You can stay here, with me. Three people in that side of the house is gonna be crazy enough. Stay here if you want. You can have the bed.” Patrick didn’t want Darcy to feel this way and maybe if she moved in here, he could take better care of her. Actually look out for her, make sure she was eating, and not having to deal with Aidan. Eily might be good for her, but Aidan was apparently already causing issues.
“I’m not taking your bed Patrick,” Darcy said shaking her head. “I’ll just go somewhere else.” Might take her a bit to get there, but she’d find somewhere. She could pick up some extra hours at the brewery and make enough to cover rent. Or try and move in with Noah. Which was a little too much for their lack of a relationship, but at the moment it seemed like a good idea.
“Hey, Kid. Listen to me. Don’t take the bed if you don’t want, but your ass is not ending up somewhere without a place to sleep. I got a couch, I got a floor, and I got space. I can talk with Avery if you want or Lochlan or both, or I can keep my mouth shut and help you move your shit over here. But you’re my family and you’re either staying there or you’re staying here, but you sure as hell aren’t out on your own, ok?” Patrick asked, looking back at her.
“I won’t be homeless Patrick,” she told him, making a face. “I’ll figure it out.” She was going to be stuck here wasn’t she? She could say goodbye to spending the night with Noah, that was for sure. Patrick would kill him.
“Darcy...I get it. You’ve been out on your own for a while and facing the idea of coming back to live with family again probably doesn’t sound so great.” Not to mention that he might be a fucking werewolf and the idea of having someone else in the house scared the shit out of him right now. “But family is there in all times, the good and the bad, and if you need a place to stay, it’s here.”
Darcy bit her lip, frowning around it. “Family never goes away.” She had been on her own, at least mostly. Avery was there and the risk of her tattling was always there, but at least she’d been on her own.
“Yeah, well that’s some shit you don’t have the luxury of pushing aside, Kiddo. But it sure is a nice consolation prize to you walking around the Dome streets, trying to figure out where you’re staying.” Patrick pushed the plate back toward her fingers. “You think about it. But in a couple of days, if you still don’t have an answer, I’m showing up to get your shit and I’m bringing it here.” And maybe he’d talk to Avery and Lochlan anyway.
Why had she told him? “Okay.” She was going to wind up here, sleeping on the couch and watched every waking second. “Thanks,” she said, taking the sandwich and forcing a bite. It wasn’t like she’d eaten anything today.