Hello! It's been a long time since I've written any prose, so hopefully it isn't as bad as I fear it might be. Haha. But I have a lot of Falliam feels, and am missing the show while it's on hiatus. The summary for the most recent episode ("Even Worms Can Procreate") and the titles of upcoming episodes ("Parisian Legend Has It..." and "Miserably Ungrateful Men") gave me an idea for an AU.
Specifically, the summary for episode 2x13 reads: "Cristal and Blake have a surprise visitor show up who threatens to unravel their relationship, while Fallon goes to war with Culhane when he becomes a power player at Carrington Atlantic." The latter half of that nearly made me write this before the episode aired, but knowing that Adam is coming back as Liam in future episodes finally drove me to write it during the break, haha.
Quite obviously, I don't own the characters, but highly enjoy fanfiction, so that's all this is. #Disclaimer.
I have the entire story planned, but not fully written; I'll try to update as often as I can outside of classwork and my job. Rambling aside, here goes nothing:
The door to Cristal's room opened, and through it walked the head of the manor, lost in his own thoughts. The last thing he was expecting was for his daughter to walk right in front of him, making him jerk to a halt. She was watching him with such an angry, determined look that he had no choice but to react.
"Fallon. Now's not a good time."
Fallon side-stepped in time with Blake's attempt at walking around her. "No, now is exactly the time. Did you hear what Culhane did?"
"Really? Of all things, you want to talk about him?"
"Yes!" Fallon lifted her phone, showing him a news article she'd pulled up. "He's working at CA! There's absolutely no way that he's not doing that to either get under our skin, or to ruin us."
Blake shook his head, brushing off her worry. "It's not our company anymore. If he's hurting anyone, it's the family of that so-called ex-husband of yours."
"It's still our name, Dad. You really think he's not up to anything?"
Fallon slipped her phone into her pocket, bristling at her father's inability to see the obvious scheming that Michael had to be up to. After that press conference-gone-bad for the soccer team, he'd quit just after Blake fired her, and she couldn't think of a single reason why he would put himself in line with Liam and the Van Kirks unless it meant destroying Carrington Atlantic – or at least the Carringtons themselves.
Blake shook his head again, stepping aside and walking off, telling her over his shoulder, "If you think I'm going to focus on anything right now besides Cristal's injuries and our loss, you're crazier than your mother."
Alright, that one hurt. Fallon deflated, looking from her father to the closed bedroom door that Cristal lay behind. The accident had been so violent that Cristal lost the baby, and Fallon couldn't even begin to understand what that sudden emptiness must feel like. Sure, she'd felt the rejection from Liam more than anything else since her mother left back in high school, but miscarriage didn't sound the same.
Drawing in a breath to settle her temper and the sudden return of the Liam Pain, as she'd started calling it in her head, Fallon turned to head downstairs. One would think, in a house as big as the Carrington estate, it would be easy to avoid people. But all she seemed to do since returning from Paris with Sam and Steven was run into them. And Kirby, of course.
At the dining table, the three of them were sitting and eating breakfast. Fallon quickly turned on her heels to avoid any of them noticing her mood.
She was outside with Bo when her phone pinged – a text from Monica, questioning the news about Culhane and CA. Fallon sighed, leaning against the fence behind the horse stables. If her father wasn't going to find outrage in something so obvious, perhaps it would be up to Fallon to see what, exactly, Culhane was up to. She needed something to fill her time with until a new business opportunity came about. Obviously, her last attempt at seeming put-together was a completely pathetic lie. So she wasn't about to jump on board with something that wasn't going to help her move forward.
Maybe finding out what Michael was doing would give her a purpose again. With that drive pushing her on, Fallon made her way back inside with an urgency to her that she hadn't felt in days.
The Carrington Atlantic offices were bustling that afternoon, employees refreshed from their lunch breaks. For pretty much all of them, the transition to new ownership didn't bother them. It was, however, incredibly strange to see the heiress to the Carrington name walking through the halls like she owned the place again. It had been months since her last appearance as such, yet people still got out of her way instinctively as she passed.
Everyone, that is, except one.
"Fallon?"
The brunette stopped short, heart jumping into her throat. What? It couldn't be-
"...Liam?" She turned, staring at him, baffled by the business clothes he wore and the fury on his face.
"You cannot be serious," he said sharply. "How did you find out I was here?"
Fallon tilted her head to the side just slightly, baffled. "I- I didn't. Are you working here now?" Her forehead creased with confusion. He hated his family. He hated all of this. Didn't he?
He huffed, looking around like he expected someone else from her ski resort crew to show up. "Yeah. Sort of. For now, anyway- But, Fallon, you promised you would stay away. Why is this so hard for you to understand?"
Oh. Of course. Fallon should've known better, really. After what she'd done to his girlfriend, it made sense that he would think so ill of her. She was pretty sure that he would disapprove of why she was actually there, too, though. So coming up with a response proved more difficult than she expected.
"I'm not here because of you. I'm... here to see Culhane."
Liam scoffed almost too loudly, and Fallon felt certain she knew precisely what he was thinking. Something along the lines of her rebounding hard, no doubt. And right back to where she'd come from, which made it even worse. If only he knew about that other mistake she made with Michael not too long ago. Perhaps then he wouldn't have been so taken aback.
"It's not like that," she continued quickly. "I just need to talk to him. About my family. So, if you'll excuse me-"
He held up a hand to stop her, and Fallon watched something change behind his eyes. "Everything's all right?"
It was just so Liam of him. Caring despite everything she'd done. Frankly, she couldn't believe he'd stopped her at all, considering the last thing he'd apparently felt because of her was disgust. So she cleared her throat, and told the truth. "I don't know. A lot has happened since - since I last saw you. I'm sorry, by the way. Again. If I'd known you were here, I wouldn't have come. I have no intention of upsetting you, or getting you in trouble with... Ashley."
Saying her name still stung, but the last thing she wanted was for him to reinforce the fact that he was happy with someone else – particularly someone as frustratingly terrible as Ashley. Not that she'd ever say such a thing aloud, anymore, of course. Not to Liam. Point being, she needed to escape as quickly as possible.
Fallon checked her watch, feeling certain that Michael had to be back from lunch, now. She'd half hoped she could sit in his office, waiting for him, but that was looking less and less likely. She just needed to get out of there. "Listen, Liam, I genuinely do not want to get in your way anymore. So if you could just tell me where Michael's office is, I'll be out of your hair."
It took a moment, and she could feel his observant gaze boring into her, but he finally directed her down the hall and to the right, just before the copy room. So the moment he finished his sentence, she took off, trying to gather herself properly before she made it there.
As for Liam, he turned to watch her as she passed, astounded by the whole situation. She had apologized, yet again, and he actually felt a little bad for how he had reacted to her being there. If he was being entirely fair, he knew that there was little chance of her ever knowing he'd joined CA again. He'd only done it the first time for her. And he'd only done so this time for his mother, and it occurred to him that perhaps he needed to stop doing things entirely for the women he loved. But then again, doing so had brought Fallon back into his life, however briefly. And he had to admit he'd been wondering about her since seeing how devastated she'd been at that bar.
Something she'd said made him stop as he began to turn towards his office. She sounded more concerned about her family than she'd wanted to let on, and though he really knew better, Liam found his feet moving as he followed her at distance down the hall towards Culhane's new office. He overheard Michael's shock at her being there, but Fallon closed the door behind her, so he had to walk all the way up to the door to make out the immediate anger coming from the both of them.
Fallon dropped her briefcase down into the chair in front of Michael's desk, crossing her arms to face off with him, already getting into the thick of it. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out?!"
"What the hell are you doing here, Fallon? Come to ruin yet another job for me? I think it's clear that for them to hire me, they're technically taking a risk. I don't need you coming in and making this even worse."
She scoffed, not buying it for a second. "You could have applied anywhere. You and I both know you're doing this to get back at me."
Michael leaned forward over his desk, setting his palm down so he could point aggressively with the other one in her direction. "Not everything is about you, Fallon! When are you going to get that through your head?"
"Maybe when you stop making it your life's work to ruin mine."
"I don't see why I would bother focusing on you, when your whole family has made it so obvious that my family is somehow less worthy. I have a title, now. I have a shot at a career on my own."
Fallon actually had to let out a sarcastic laugh at that one. He was so blind! "On your own? You're still using the family name to get whatever it is you're after, Michael. And if you think for one second I'm not going to keep my eye on you, after everything that's happened, you're dead wrong."
"I already knew you were crazy, Fallon, but this is taking it too far. Just go home."
She stayed put for a moment, staring at him. She didn't believe him for a second. Not after everything they had been through, and all the lies she'd watched him tell. Maybe she wasn't perfect at catching them, but her suspicion had her on edge, and Fallon knew right then and there that she wasn't done trying to prove what Culhane was up to.
Outside, Liam could barely make out the last threat she gave Michael, which involved a very serious warning against touching anything to do with the Carringtons, but by the time Fallon picked up her bag to leave and walked out the door, Liam was long gone.
