Don't Kill the Messenger (closed)

[Macbeth]

Well, that wasn't something she heard very often. The general consensus was that she made every situation so much worse that it was almost an art form.

Like now, for instance. "What was it like," she asked, softly and slowly, "with you and Ershey...when you was kids?" She'd never asked him that. And until she heard the answer straight from him, she'd never be able to forget Ershey's expression the day she first learned who he was. And she'd never be able to stop wondering how she could feel so comfortable with a guy like that, no matter how sorry he was.

[Risk]

Risk's smile faded when he heard Macbeth's question. He disliked talking about the past, especially when it came to Adri. It wasn't anything he was proud of or wanted to remember.

"Different," he finally answered after a couple of moments. "I'm sure she told you... I was the favorite 'cause I was the oldest. I wanted to be like my Dad and do well in school. But... I just got caught up with the wrong people. Can you imagine a ten year old being part of a gang and what that does to you? I obviously didn't know what I was thinking."

[Macbeth]

Yeah, she could imagine. She'd grown up in Five Points, for God's sake. "So what was your dad like?" She turned to look at him. "I'm not saying Ersh ain't told me none'a this, I just wanna hear your version."

[Risk]

"He's... fine," hesitated Risk. "He cared for us... I mean, we're his kids. But he's scary when he has a temper. He'd go off on you any second before you know it. I guess I have some of that too... Adri's lucky she didn't inherit that."

[Macbeth]

Beth nodded thoughtfully and then smiled to herself, not at his words but at her own memories. "My dad couldn't say boo to a bug. He was English...came from money, too...real proper, y'know? And with his goddamn books. Man must've had two hundred of 'em, and all he did all day and night was read 'em. Always off in his own little world...after Mama left, anyway. He loved me and Ada, I know it, but he never knew where the hell we was or what we was up to, 'less he was rambling to one of us about Shakespeare."

Aside from screaming about Ada during confrontations with Tristan, this was the first time she'd ever talked about her family since she moved here.

[Risk]

"At least he was... tame," chuckled Risk, picturing what would happen if their fathers ever met. Not that they had any reason to, of course. "After Adri left, my Dad went off on everyone. Things got worse after that... How about your Mom though?"

[Macbeth]

Beth's face darkened. "I ain't thought about her in years." But I taught Jo to say "namaste." She sighed. "She was from India. Y'know it ain't even legal for a white man and Indian woman to be married in this country? Guess that makes me and Ada bastards." She shrugged. "She spoke Hindi, prayed to her bloody pagan gods, told us the craziest bedtime stories you ever heard...and then she left when I was nine. Had one last fight with our dad and walked out, and we never saw her again."

Sucked into the past for a moment, she blinked and shook off the memories irritably. "How 'bout yours?"

[Risk]

Risk glanced at Macbeth, surprised at how casually she spoke about her Mom leaving them. "She's just like Adri. Patient, kind... but will bite you in the ass if you do something wrong," he said, chuckling softly. "She left us too. Well, just my Dad and I. With Adri gone, she was fed up with how we were acting and... she just didn't come back one day."

[Macbeth]

"Well, here's the money question," Macbeth said with a bit of a smirk. "How the hell did you end up becoming a cop?"

[Risk]

"I ran with the same gang for years," explained Risk, amazed at how easily he could talk to Macbeth about his past. "I got tired of it, eventually. Going after people, dealing with the politics... I tried getting out but you're stuck once you're there. I was playing poker one day and met a cop. I didn't know it, then, but he was eyeing our gang. Got to the bottom of it all... and ended up helping him. He told me it might be worth a shot to do somethin' else with my life."

[Macbeth]

"Like become a professional snitch." She outright smirked at him. "We oughta get Race to take bets on which one of us gets stabbed in an alley first."

[Risk]

"Yeah, like a professional snitch," laughed Risk, shaking his head at her. "I think we might end up stabbing each other instead."

[Macbeth]

"You'd die first," said Beth. "I'd stab harder."

((This is possibly now my favorite post ever.))

[Risk]

((Haha!! I love it ))

"You'd go into a frenzy and you wouldn't even see me run away," he winked.

[Macbeth]

"Lies," Macbeth said lazily, her eyes drifting shut. "Can we just sleep here?" And she prayed to Shiva and Vishnu that he'd just say yes, because she'd never admit that she couldn't be alone, not here or in the sick room, not even alone with Jo. Not tonight.