Title: Blood Lost – Chapter 1
Author: Romantique (The Original)
Classification: John/Diana but the Rayburn family is here.
Rating: M for language, drinking, drugs, suggestive sexual situations. The F Bomb is dropped frequently. This is Bloodline, after all.
Summary: Takes place at the end of Season 1, exploring the aftermath of a Rayburn's death, and the arrival of his unknown son.
Disclaimer: MAJOR SEASON 1 SPOILERS. This Bloodline fan fiction occurs after Season 1. If you haven't watched, you've been warned.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
o-o-o-O-o-o-o
"DANNY! . . . DANNY!"
Diana Rayburn woke with a start and turned toward the shouting coming from her husband, lying next to her, who was thrashing in his sleep.
"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU FIGHT HARDER?!"
"John. John!" She reached over and firmly shook his shoulder. "Wake up, honey."
The Islamorada moonlight shone its blue light through the open slats of the wooden blinds in their otherwise darkened bedroom, revealing John's skin, drenched in beads of perspiration.
"JOHN!" she repeated, only louder and sharper this time.
Finally, he stirred. "Wha?" His eyes flew wide-open, looking lost and glistening in the moonlight.
"It happened again," she answered him, not certain how awake he was. "That awful dream you keep having."
After a moment, he muttered, "I dunno." And he took in deep, steady breaths in an attempt to slow his racing heart. He hoped it would slow down, as he would not soon forget the feeling of his heart pounding out of his chest when he went into A-Fib. "I can't remember."
"Well, I can," Diana stood her ground. "You were shouting in your sleep. The same things you said all the other times."
Breathing in some more air, John finally spoke, "I'm sorry I woke you."
"Waking me is not the issue," she countered, leaning back against the pillow on her side of the bed. "You can't go on like this. This has been happening every night for weeks since your brother died! You're not getting any rest when you sleep. You walk around like a zombie during this campaign you decided to launch. And your blood pressure isn't under good control." After a beat of silence, she continued, "You won't talk to me about it, and I guess that's fine. But you need to talk to someone."
The truth was, it wasn't fine with her that her husband wouldn't . . . or couldn't . . . talk to her. They used to be able to talk about anything, but that was before his late brother Danny came between them . . . before Danny died.
John sat up in bed and, in one motion, pulled his sweat-drenched t-shirt off, over his head. "I'm going to take a quick shower."
Arms crossed, Diana watched him disappear around the corner and into the master bath. She was so angry, she shook. Slowly but surely, she was losing her husband. She could feel it.
o-o-o-O-o-o-o
The next morning, Detective John Rayburn drug himself into the office. Fellow Detective Marco Diaz tapped on John's door, anxious to see him.
"John, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure," John answered, seated at his desk, swallowing his medication with the lukewarm coffee he picked up on his way to work with a Danish. He'd left the house early so as not to wake Diana. He decided there was no point in taking his blood pressure, first. He could feel it was up.
"The D.A. tried to plead out with Wayne Lowry on the murder charges," Marco took the seat across from John's desk. "But he maintains he didn't have anything to do with the death of those girls, and he had nothing to do with Danny's. Even though the evidence shows different."
"So, what's next?" John asked, cradling his aching, sleep-deprived head in his hands. "A trial?"
"Yeah," Marco answered. "Looks that way."
"I was hoping to spare the family of a trial," John said, his aching head was still cradled. "They've all been through so much."
"You included," Marco remarked. He couldn't help but notice how bad John looked since Danny's body was found. "I was hoping for the same. But that's not the direction this is going. I just wanted to let you know."
John finally looked up, bleary eyed and looking older than his years. "Thanks for that. I guess I'd better brace the family."
As Marco started to stand from his chair, he slowed things down. "Have you heard from Meg? How's she doing?"
"She's fine," John reported. "As well as can be expected. She seems to like New York."
"Would she be coming back for a trial?" After a beat of silence, he continued, "I know things are over between us. I just don't like that they ended on a bad note. You know? This is a small town. It doesn't have to be that way. Not from my perspective."
As Marco continued to stand, John answered him with a question of his own. "Did you ever consider that maybe it does from hers?" After a beat, he added, "Maybe you just need to allow her some space."
"Of course. That's what I've been doing," Marco said, almost offended. "I'll see you later, John. Okay?"
"Yeah," John said, his head still pounding. "And, hey. Thanks again for the heads up."
As Marco left the room, John's years of experience told him it would be easier for the D.A. to get Lowry on charges of murdering Danny, given their association, than it would the girls. His guess was that Danny's trial would come up sooner, rather than later.
Fuck, he muttered to himself. Why couldn't the asshole just take the plea?
o-o-o-O-o-o-o
"Brother," John spoke into his cell phone. "I need you to meet me for a drink. After work."
"I can't," Kevin responded quickly. "Belle and I have been having dinner together every night. It's been good, except she's got us on this health kick. I don't think we'll be pounding any cocktails back, but why don't you stop by our house instead?"
"Because what I need to talk about? I don't think you'd want Belle to hear," John spoke low.
"Oh." The subject matter suddenly became clear. "Any chance you could take off early? Grab a beer here at my shop?" Kevin chuckled. "Belle doesn't know anything about my stash of brews I keep here at the office."
"Well. I really do need to talk to you." John's brow furrowed. "Let me see what I can do about moving some things around. I'll try and swing by about 4:00?"
"Sounds good, my brother," Kevin answered, ending their call.
o-o-o-O-o-o-o
"No offense, but I've seen you looking better," Kevin Rayburn said, handing his brother a cold bottle of Heineken. "I mean, I know I'm not one to talk about how someone looks, but I do feel I'm looking better since getting back together with Belle and with the baby coming."
"You look great, Kev," John agreed, accepting the bottle and popping off the cap, allowing it to fall to the floor to join the many others. "Married life definitely agrees with you. Being separated? Did not."
"Man, but you look tired. You've got bags under your eyes," Kevin noted, taking a swig from his own bottle. "And looks like you've recently put on a few pounds. How's your blood pressure?" he sounded concerned at what he was seeing, not having seen John in a couple of weeks.
John grabbed a nearby stool and took a seat. "Too high. This weight gain might be because of a new medication I'm on."
Kevin stood leaning against his desk. "How are things going at work?" He decided to start with the obvious.
"Oh, work is work. No better or worse than usual," John answered.
Moving down a list of possible stressors, Kevin continued. "And Diana?"
"She's great." John smiled and put his hands up in the air.
"The kids?" Kevin proceeded.
By this point, John was aware of what his younger brother was doing. He laughed. "They're fine. Everything is fine. The problem is, I've not been sleeping well. I keep having these . . . recurring nightmares . . . about what happened to Danny." There. He said it. "Diana wants me to talk about them with her." He looked up at his brother. "You know I can't do that."
"No, you can't," Kevin agreed. "Still, women don't like it when they think we're keeping stuff from them."
"She finally said, if I couldn't talk to her about it, I need to talk to someone." John took a pull from the ice cold bottle.
"You know you can always talk to me. We're in this. Together," Kevin said.
"I guess that's why I'm here," John confirmed.
Shifting his weight, Kevin gently probed. "You've never told me exactly what happened that morning."
Shifting his weight, John offered, "Maybe because I'm not so sure. And that's not the whole of it. Found out today that Wayne Lowry did not accept the plea deal for the murders. It looks like it's going to trial."
"Fuck," Kevin swore, knowing what that meant for all of them. "Not the news we wanted to hear. Do they even have enough evidence to convict this guy?"
"Yeah. I think so," John nodded. "Now? We just have to go through all the motions of a trial."
"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "And that means Mom will want to be in the courtroom every day." He was one step ahead of his brother.
"Don't I know it," John concurred.
Kevin added, "And she'll expect that one of us to be with her every day, too."
"Hey," John held out his hand. "You and Belle do not need a trial encroaching into your lives. Not with her being with child and with a history of a previous miscarriage and all."
Kevin nodded. "Agreed. I want to protect her from all that. Or at least as much as I can."
Continuing to consider his mother, John added, "And I don't want Meg feeling like she needs to come running back here, only because of Mom, either."
"Mom'll have to tear herself away from Bobby," Kevin brought up the sore subject of the boy who claimed to be Danny's son. "Has she said anything about having DNA testing on that little punk?"
"Not that I know of," John shook his head. "And must you call him that?"
Kevin shared, "Meg said you, me, and she all need to stand our ground if Mom ever mentions leaving any of the Inn to him. No money without a DNA test. I've got a kid on the way to consider. You've got Janie and Ben. And then, this little sidewinder comes barging in."
"That sounds prudent," John said. "What Meg suggested. If and when the situation presents itself."
After Kevin let that subject go, he looked puzzled. "Do you think we should give Meg a heads up? About the trial."
John nodded. "You two are close. Yeah, maybe. If you would."
"Sure," Kevin agreed. Then, concerned by what John had just said, he gingerly asked, "Are you and Meg not close, anymore?"
"That's not what I meant," John quickly clarified. "I meant, you and Meg are closer in age with you two being the youngest."
"Not me," Kevin smiled. "I'm in the middle. I am the middle child with everything that means, as Belle loves to remind me."
"I should have been in the middle," John lamented.
"Yeah. You got a rotten deal, Bro," Kevin agreed. "You were forced to step up."
"We all got a rotten deal in one way or another," John agreed. "Anyway, as long as there's no campaign function, I can be at the courthouse. That's not a problem. Though I'm not so sure Mom will want to sit with me."
Sally felt John, Kevin, and Meg had lied to her about Danny despite their denials, because of what Lenny Potts told her.
"Sure, she will," Kevin said. "She'll want there to appear to be a united front."
"You know her," John laughed. "Always about appearances." After a beat, his tone changed to a more serious one. "Listen. Don't say anything to anyone about the trial until I've had a chance to talk to Mom. Okay? I'll do it soon, but it's not something I'm going to go rushing over there to tell her. I'll let you know when I've had a chance to talk to her."
"You got it. Hey, John?" Kevin changed the subject. "What can I do for you? To help you get some sleep and bring your blood pressure down? Have you thought about taking some time off?"
John shrugged. "Maybe I should."
"Maybe you should," Kevin repeated. "And how about you and me . . . we take up running again? We both used to be in much better shape than we are now. We could start off easy, of course."
Listening, John nodded. "Maybe that, too."
Kevin pointed out, "Running might lower your stress and help you sleep."
"It might just do the trick," John said. "And after we get our stamina built up, maybe we could get back to playing Squash."
"That'd be great," Kevin smiled. "Just like the old days."
They were both thinking the same thing. Just like the old days. A long time before Danny came home.
Finishing the beer, John asked, "You'd really do that for me?"
Kevin shrugged. "Well, yeah. It'd be good for me, too." Then, his tone became more serious. "You know, it could have just as easily been me who is the one who isn't sleeping. I was ready to shoot the bastard. You know that."
"Do you ever think about him?" John asked.
"Only in terms of I'm glad he's not here," Kevin took a pull of his beer. "Especially now that the baby is on the way."
John let out a huge sigh. "Okay, then. Let's do it.
"Tomorrow? 6 a.m.?" Kevin smiled. "Meet me here in your running shoes. We can start around the marina. You can shower here, afterwards."
John mirrored that smile and stood up to leave, setting his empty on a nearby work table. "Thank you, Kev." And he walked over and gave his younger brother a bear hug. "Diana will like this idea." And he patted his growing beer belly.
Kevin laughed and patted what was left of his. "Belle will too."
(To be continued . . .)