A fork in the road.... [WASHINGTON. Closed to Robert]

[abster]

Sitting on the porch, knees bent and pressed to her chest, Abigail leaned against Sam and curled up beside him. She hadn't said anything much, if at all since- since it happened. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know who was taking it worse her or Gabby. Maybe her, probably Gabby. She didn't really understand, she didn't understand it at all that their mom was gone and she wasn't coming back.

"You need to get to work," Abigail said, her face dry. She didn't even know if she could cry any more. It all felt weird inside. Pushing Sam out, she waved as he left and she heard fresh screams and tears from Gabby inside. Until she stopped, the soothing sound of someone else in their home making it better for her. Abby wasn't much help at the moment, she didn't know what to do.

Pressing her face against her knees, she hugged herself tighter and tried not to think about it. Tried not to think about her mom lying there in a hospital bed, small and sick and dead.

Comments

[abster]

"I don't care about me, I don't care if you leave me again but you can't leave her. I mean it," her voice was rough but serious. She could deal with it, she could handle her life but she couldn't- she couldn't look after herself and Gabby. She didn't want a life for Gabby where she had no parents, no one looking out for her. Where she'd end up older and as jaded as Abby was. "What about your wife?"

[scaledtokill]

"But I care about you," Robert said, almost surprised at the passion in his voice. Abigail could take care of herself but she had lost her mother, she deserved to have at least one parent around who was willing to be there for her.

"And Virginia will have to live with it. She's not in any shape to help raise a child but... She won't resent Gabby or anything like that."

[abster]

"I know," Abigail said quietly. She kind of did know that maybe, deep down even if she didn't want to admit it. He did care for her, it was just kind of fucked up. She just didn't want Gabby to have that, she wanted her to have the best.

"What's wrong with her? She's not..." Abigail began. She didn't know a lot about him. Just a little, mostly the stuff she'd found on the internet but they didn't talk about his family life. Or what was happening with Corry's parents. She just assumed, she guessed most people did. "... ill?"

[scaledtokill]

"Virginia is a very high functioning addict," he explained. As angry as Abigail was at him he didn't think that she would spread any rumors or do anything to hurt his wife. Virginia hadn't done anything to earn Abigail's ire.

"You can probably see how dealing with me would drive someone to seek coping mechanisms," he said. It has happened with April's mother as well, only she didn't have the control Virginia did. "It's not an environment I'd want a child to grow up in."

[abster]

"Oh, like... I read about Corry in the papers. I didn't realise, I'm sorry. Will she not- get help or something?" Abigail asked, she didn't know what to say to that. She couldn't see her controlling father liking that. She didn't think he liked anything though. "Me either. If she is that is."

[scaledtokill]

"I'm very proud of Corry for getting clean," Robert said. He didn't know if Corry would ever want him to talk about that to her but he was proud. While alcohol or drugs had never been his addiction of choice he knew how difficult it was to try and give up a vice.

"And that would mean Virginia had to admit she had a problem. I love my wife, but acknowledging flaws of her own is not in her character."

[abster]

"She sounds... exactly the kind of person I imagine being married to you. No offence," Abigail said. It was weird to think of her dad's other lives, other kids when he'd been missing so much of her own. "What was it like? Your other families I mean, the other kids? My siblings."

[scaledtokill]

"None taking, she's an amazing woman," Robert said. He knew how strange it must be to hear him talk about Virginia like that but he didn't think he could explain it. Virginia was his soul mate and he couldn't ever really leave her if he wanted to.

"You would have to ask them, I don't know that all of them would feel comfortable with me sharing," he said. April certainly wouldn't and honestly he had no idea what Bach's life was really like. "Bu it wasn't easy on any of them."