I started this back in the spring when it became obvious certain things were going to transpire. I've worked on bits and pieces here and there and finally decided to put it to bed tonight. I would, personally, love to see it as some part of the epilogue when the show ends. Enjoy!
She shivered.
While it was clear the air conditioning was set to a meat locker degree, she also deemed herself sure of the fact that the sight of him approaching her was contorting her nerves in such a manner that her body's only viable response was to tremor.
She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, mentally placing herself in the crystal clear water of the Gulf of Mexico alongside her family and repeating herself that was okay and in control. It was a comforting trick her therapist had suggested to her when she was 17 and while she found herself having to use it less and less, today was definitely a struggle.
"Maddie!" He approached enthusiastically. "I'm so happy to see you."
He smiled genuinely, placing a confident hand on her back and searching her face for some kind of reaction; some flash of happiness to see his face.
Drawing in a breath, she tensed and gripped the envelope in her hands tighter.
How dare he.
It had been eight years and a trial since she and Teddy Conrad had laid eyes on one another and he walked in as brazen as ever, seemingly ready to reclaim his place in her life as her father. Who was he to think he had any right to touch her so possessively?
"No physical contact."
The guard's deep voice bellowed across the room, bouncing from concrete wall to concrete wall with enough shrill to make her spine tingle. She let out the breath she had been holding when Teddy finally did remove his hand from her back, glaring at the guard with his best form of ridiculous intimidation as he did so.
Thank God.
He scooted the chair across the floor as he sat across from her, paying no mind to the shriek of the legs being dragged across the decrepit linoleum.
She jumped slightly.
"I'm sorry," he offered her a warm smile, reaching his hands out to hers before stopping himself midway. He glanced to the guard, who looked on disapprovingly. "I hate not being able to hold you. Like I did when you were a little girl, remember?"
She blinked hard, bringing her eyes to his. Her eyes were cold; dismissive. His were becoming more and more pathetic with each passing second, as the arrogance swiftly passed away to make room for the most epic vulnerability he had ever experienced.
She focused on his graying hair and the wrinkles on his face; on the dark circles beneath his eyes. She tried desperately to remember him holding her as a little girl; she tried desperately not to hate him.
He sighed, frustrated.
"Maddie, you came all the way down here to see me. Can't you say something? Anything? Tell me about your life? How's your mom? Daphne sent me a letter-"
"I got married last year," she cut him off, her eyes just as cold and matter-of-fact. "Had a baby three months ago."
He swallowed sadly, trying with a vengeance to reign in the tears forming behind his eyes.
"Yeah, Daphne briefly mentioned that in her letter. What's her name?"
"Emmeline."
His eyes lit up.
"That's a beautiful name."
"Emmeline Claybourne Foust."
He swallowed again and allowed his gut to pass through him and to the floor. There was no way to shield himself from what he knew was coming next.
"Claybourne?" He choked meekly, completely at her mercy. She could crush every bit of him right now and if he knew her at all, she was going to do it.
"I changed my name when I turned 18."
He nodded, feigning understanding; feeling the burn tear through him like a wildfire. He drew a sharp breath and closed his eyes to steady the vertigo besetting him.
"Maddie-"
She chuckled bitterly and shook her head, her light brown layers delicately framing her face.
"You don't get it. You don't know how much you hurt me, or how much you hurt Daphne. All you ever thought of was yourself!"
He ran a hand over his solemn face.
"Sweetheart, listen. Everything I ever did... it was all-"
Maddie put her hand up, challenging him.
"Don't you dare. Don't you ever say it was all for me and her."
Her eyes were cutting him like daggers to a cloth and for the first time ever, all he could see in those eyes was him.
He wasn't sure when or how or why, and goddamn it he wanted to know why, but at some point in between the bittersweet night he gave her the Tiffany necklace and now, she had become Deacon Claybourne's daughter through and through.
She's right, he thought. He had been excusing his transgressions for decades under the guise that he was only protecting his family, when the one thing he could never protect them from was his Camelot burning to the ground.
He sighed, defeated as a single tear slid down his careworn cheek.
"From the day you were born all I ever wanted to do was the right thing."
She looked down at the table, smirking bitterly as she slid the large envelope to him. He caught it, taken aback.
"You know, I used to imagine my wedding day..." She trailed off, bringing her eyes up to watch him as he gingerly opened the clasp and emptied the contents, beginning to slowly flip through the photos.
He gasped a little, his eyes welling up with more force than he could stop. There she was... his little girl, all in white. The dress was everything he'd always dreamed it would be-stylish, but sweet. Womanly, but innocent. Intricate, yet oh so very simple. Every piece of it from the spaghetti straps to the V-back; from the beaded bodice to the sweeping train... it embodied all of her grace, style, and spirit perfectly.
He looked up at her, stunned by her beauty and the weight of the photos in his hands.
"Me too, honey. And you were every bit as gorgeous as I knew you'd be."
Maddie crossed her arms, allowing no expression to play on her face.
He took note of how her demeanor here contrasted the demeanor of the girl in the pictures.
That girl smiled so brightly as she walked through the door of her mother's church, gripping a handsome young man who smiled equally as bright as the two of them were showered in rice. Soft tendrils framed her young face, while her husband's shoulder length dark locks blew wildly in the wind. The girl before him was living a different reality.
He swallowed the lump rising in his throat.
"What's his name?"
"Trevor."
Teddy nodded slowly, not wanting to overstep his boundaries but desperate to know the man who had, based on the wedding photos, been welcomed into his family with unabashed love and open arms.
"What does he do?"
Maddie sighed.
"He's a producer. We met when he worked on my EP. He did Daphne's album and dad's album last year. He's working on mom's right now."
It was painful, but Teddy beamed. Maddie's discomfort at being in their current situation was obvious, but something on her face changed when she talked about him; something in her voice, even. She was proud of him.
All Teddy could hope for now was her happiness and that it could endure.
"Is he good to you?"
She kept her eyes on the table, but a small grin crept upon her lips.
"Very. He's good to everyone. He's amazing to me and Emmy... he's good to mom and dad. He's good to Daphne and Jasper."
Teddy contorted his eyebrows.
"Jasper?"
"My brother. That's him in the picture right there."
He followed her finger to a family photo including a dark haired boy who couldn't be more than six. He shared his sister's bright, infectious smile as he clung to his father's leg as if it was a fire pole. It was obvious from his eyes and posture that he was a complete ham who sought all the attention in the room-no doubt a trait that was more Jaymes than Claybourne.
He looked over to Rayna as she knelt down to her son's level and pressed her face against his hair, absolutely beaming. She had a face of her age, but instead of every line showing the pain she'd endured, they showed how truly happy she finally was. She finally had everything she ever wanted; everything all of her stress and hard work deserved.
Grinning, he scanned his eyes across the family photo, gazing sadly at Daphne. She was tall and thin and built exactly like her mother; radiant in her garnet bridesmaid dress as soft, blonde waves fell flawlessly past her shoulders. Her blue eyes popped in the sunlight as she held a bouquet of deep red roses across her abdomen.
He sighed, shaking his head at the memory of the one single letter she had sent him but a month ago. It detailed little, but briefly mentioned Maddie's marriage and pregnancy. She also briefly spoke of her own career, which was skyrocketing. Unlike her sister, who had ultimately taken the softer, more obscure approach of her father with a Bluebird residency and four song EP, Daphne had launched herself like a firecracker. She fine tuned herself with glittering dresses and an opening spot on an arena tour-a girl of her mother's heart.
He missed his family more in that moment than he had since he first went away.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there, sweetheart."
He brought his sad eyes to her face, again crushed by the fury building in her eyes.
"Keep going. You missed more."
Her tone was frigid.
"Maddie..."
"I had a baby, dad. I had a baby three months ago and you weren't there."
Teddy sighed again and continued flipping through the photos, eventually landing on a stack of photos documenting Maddie's pregnancy and baby shower.
Then, like a sucker punch, there she was; there was Emmy. She was a beautiful girl and clearly had already stolen the hearts of everyone in her life, including her grandfather. Teddy's gut twisted at the sight of Deacon sitting on the edge of Maddie's hospital bed, gazing at the infant with pure love and pride as Maddie looked on, mesmerized.
He swallowed the chunks rising in his throat.
"But he was."
Maddie nodded, finally allowing a bout of tears to prick her eyes as her tone turned from ice to red, hot anger.
"He was. He was there for all of it and you weren't. Because you're a criminal. You're a liar, a cheat, and a thief."
Teddy dropped the photos onto the table and buried his face in his hands, unsure he could take any more of her truth.
"Maddie, please."
Overtaken by her hurt, Maddie scrambled to collect the snapshots and stuff them back into the envelope she had brought.
"You embarrass me and you embarrass Daphne. You embarrass yourself."
The former mayor, once at the height of everything, had never felt smaller. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She had rendered him completely and utterly speechless. For the first time, it seemed, he had no comeback; no great excuse. All he had was anguish.
Maddie slid one single photo over to him as she stood from her chair.
"This girl right here... this sweet girl will never know you. She can't know you. And that's why I changed my name."
He looked up, broken.
"Honey..."
"You were protecting your family, right? It's my turn to protect mine."