Disclaimer: I do not own any of Elmore Leonard's creation or any of the creations from the brilliant minds that created Justified. Because if I did there would be way more Tim Gutterson! Enjoy!
Prologue
"Too much mercy... often resulted in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first and mercy second."
Agatha Christie
The sounds of glasses breaking and plates shattering were mingled amongst the unmistakable echo of Katherine and Tripp Crowder engaged in what could only be described as a titanic screaming contest. To the various amounts of neighbors that were forced to eavesdrop it was just another one of Tripp's meth induced verbal assaults followed by one of Katherine's drunken tirades.
It was routine, happened about three times a week, four times if Tripp brought in a decent amount of cash from whatever allegedly legal ventures he participated in. In about 10 minutes the argument would be squashed when the police arrived, and they would threaten to take away their daughter. Again. It was highly methodical for all parties involved, and sadly this meant it was routine for Lucy, the Crowder's daughter, as well.
Lucy Mae Crowder could not tell you when her parents started fighting, but as long as she could remember they had always fought, and in her eight years of living that was a long time. Currently, the tiny eight year-old was in her "soundless space" which involved her and her teddy bear, Mr. Magoo, snuggled up under her bed which was surrounded by pillows and blankets. If Lucy concentrated hard enough the sounds of her parents would cease to be heard, then her and Mr. Magoo could read some stories in peace and quiet.
Snuggling with her teddy against the crook of the pillow and the hard wood wall, the pair let the light from a pocket flashlight spill over the large pages of her book. She remained as comfy as she possibly could on the hard worn carpet wearing one of her father's T shirts that was ten times larger than her whole body, and a pair of mismatched socks.
"You see Mr. Magoo, the girl in this book she gets hurt, really bad, she's got cuts and scratches all down her arm. But then, but then Mr. Magoo, the nurse lady, she comes on in and patches her all up, and then the little girl is happy again!"
Lucy's brown curls bobbed up and down in enthusiasm as she pointed out the various illustrations in the book to her bear friend. Her smiling explanations were cut of by a shill shout and the slamming of what used to be a ceramic lamp (or what Lucy guessed it was).
"Sometimes I wish that a lady like the one in this book were real and instead of stitching up cuts she could fix Mommy and Daddy, that they would stop fightin'. That would be the best now, wouldn't it?" She told her silent stitched friend, wistfulness not only reflected in her speech but her large brown eyes as well.
Just as she was about to turn the next page, she could here the distinct sounds of sirens blaring from the end of the block making their way towards her house, no doubt in her mind. Clutching Mr. Magoo to her chest, the petite 8 year old crawled out from under her bed, knocking various pillows out of her way, to peer out through her bedroom window.
Lucy saw two burly police officers exit their car and start knocking on the house's door, and as they entered she heard all arguments cease as the officers began asking her parents questions. If she had been braver at time, Lucy would have peeked from around the corner of her bedroom leading to the living room where her parents and the police were currently talking amongst them selves. She simply sighed and putting away the various pillows and blankets she had been using for her fort so she could go to bed. As she finished folding the last blanket she used, the brunette climbed into bed, tucking her and teddy bear into the bed sheets.
"That's what I'm gonna do, Mr. Magoo. I'm gonna fix people up and love 'em a whole bunch so they wont be broke no more," she said softly before kissing her friend on the forehead good night and switched off her lamp. The little girl didn't even hear the rumblings of a new fight begin to brew as she dreamed bandaging crying children her age, happiness and thankfulness lighting their faces.
xxx
Lucy had always looked forward to her summers in Harlan visiting her grandparents. Though Harlan couldn't compare to Dover, Tennessee nestled right next to the Cumberland River, she did enjoy her visits to see Grandma Josie and Grandpa Kurt immensely. Lucy and her mother had made summers to Harlan a tradition ever since her father had passed away and her mother had quit drinking, which had to have been for about five years now. Her mother failed to go into details about her father's passing, but Lucy had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to so with drugs. That was what all of her classmates had been whispering about at least, and knowing that several of them were children of police officers and sheriffs she saw no reason not to believe them.
At the ripe age of fourteen many would suspect that Lucy would grow tired from hanging around her grandparents and their friends, but none of that really mattered to her. Because she was not from Harlan she did not have any friends to hang around with, and found that during the summer she would rather spend them with her family. Of course sometimes Lucy would find herself in the company of others, and those would be Helen and Arlo Givens. Usually it was just Helen, Lucy wasn't entirely sure what Arlo did, but she had a feeling it had something to do with her Grandfather Wyatt's brother Bo.
She wasn't too close with the Crowder side of her family; her mother tried her best to keep away from them. On occasion one or two of them would come over either her grandparents' house or the Givens household, and Lucy remained as polite as she could, but even then she always showed some sort of mild curiosity for them. As much as she could not stand her father, her cousins were nothing but nice to her, so who was she to judge them. Her cousin Boyd in particular showed a certain amount of tenderness for her, always asking how she was doing in school, and occasionally discussing books with her. Her mother would always have her bury the gifts she would receive from them, mostly due to the fear that they were acquired illegally or with dirty money. Lucy never attested to that, but she would always thank them for any gifts, but on one occasion she did keep an old version of 'Paradise Lost' given to her by Boyd.
Helen Givens was like another mother to Lucy, an aunt if you will, and before her mother was completely sober, Helen would "clean" Lucy up. She was the one who taught her how to put on make up, how to cook, and let the young girl confide in her about boys and her friendships back home. She also was the one whom taught her how to properly clean a wound and stitch it up, not her mother whom was in fact a nurse, but it was her 'Auntie' Helen. Her mother always refused to satisfy Lucy's curiosity in the art of nursing, especially when she was still on the bottle, but whenever Lucy was over at Helen's the sky's the limit on that topic.
Helen, whom was not in fact a nurse, was a whiz at first aid and emergency situations, something that Mrs. Givens insisted to the young girl would be a vital skill to know, even if she did not want to become a nurse. This of course immediately sparked the interest of Lucy, and to this day she remembers her first wound cleaning and stitching. She was only fourteen years old; one of the Givens's neighbors had fallen off a short ladder and gashed their forearm. The scene was startling of course, the worst injury she had seen prior was a badly scraped knee at P.E.
"Alright Luce, it's your time to shine." Helen proceeded back into the house, while Lucy stared slack jawed and sheet white. The man continued to moan in pain as he clutched her bloody arm, cradling it towards his chest. The young girl continued to look on in horror, feeling a wave of nausea wash over he as she saw how truly deep the gash ran.
"Lesson number one; suck it up." The older woman whom had returned pushed Lucy in the direction of the wounded man.
Eyes widening, Lucy reluctantly looked back towards Helen before a screech from the man. Sucking in a deep breath, and took three large shaky steps towards the neighbor. Though on edge, Lucy meticulously followed Helen's direction, first by cleaning the wound with disinfectant soap and water, removing any debris from the wound, a few gags escaping the brunette girl. She then pushed the wound as close together as she could before wrapping it with gauze and an ACE bandage.
"Great job, Luce, and even though this patch up looks great, we're gonna have to take Mr. Rodgers to the-" a loud thump interrupted Helen's praise at the beaming brunette.
"To the hospital?" Lucy replied, rushing over to the passed out man, looking for rising in his chest and feeling for a pulse. Helen simply laughed as she walked into the house and dialing 911. It was truly a moment that Lucy would not forget, and one that she looked back at when she needed a good laugh or two. Apparently Mr. Rodgers was not bleeding out, he was just really queasy at the sight of blood. Figures.
xxx
Lucy got her wish, and at twenty-two years of age she graduated from nursing school, a feat she did not think was possible after handling a bleeding and passed out Mr. Rodgers. And it would seem that fate would further entwine itself with the past event because Lucy ended up working in the Emergency Room. The rush she felt those eight years ago forever etched itself into her bloodstream and working in an ER seemed to be the only way to recreate that initial rush of adrenaline. She supposed that was her drug of choice.
Finding her mother dead in the apartment they shared in Memphis was not something she had ever anticipated happening. At the age of twenty-five, Lucy had seen plenty of people die in the ER, the first couple of times it was naturally upsetting. Soon though she became numb to the entire process; you could only do CPR so many times, crack so many ribs before you realized the effort was beyond valiant. But seeing her mother, wasted away, skin ice cold and lifeless eyes staring at her from the floor was horrifying. By the time the paramedics arrived, Lucy was a hysteric mess, sobbing and screaming at her mother to wake up.
The event alone haunted Lucy for nights on end, unable to get the smallest amount of sleep because every time she would close her eyes she would see her mother's hollow eyes staring through her soul. She had since ditched the last name Crowder and changed her surname to her mother's maiden name, Wheatley, not only wanting to be associated with the name Crowder not because of the discrepancies her family had done in the past, but wanted to separate herself from her father completely. He had never really been a father more of a sperm donor for her mother. Any dirt bag could get a woman knocked up, but it took a real man to be a father, and Tripp Crowder was never that.
Things seemed to even out for her after her mother's death, and, well, she was not completely happy but for a majority she was content with her self. She had finally worked her way up into the management in the Emergency Department. She still had the excitement and buzz with critical thinking in high tense situations at certain times, while at others she would take care of the supplies, staffing and scheduling, and the budget. The pay was not too bad either; there was a significant pay increase and though that was not the main reason she got up to work every morning or night it was certainly a nice perk.
She had also found herself engaged, something she never really imagined would happen. Thomas Brown; basically a good on paper guy. Reliable, dependable, safe. She met him on a whim, and the two dated steadily for a couple of years before he popped the question, in which Lucy replied with a quiet and tentative 'yes.' Things were going swimmingly for Lucy Wheatley, or so it seemed.
"Thomas what…Thomas what are you going on about?" Lucy had just gotten back from a stressful night of work, and had not been expecting a phone call from her fiancé at 8:00 AM. "Thomas I just got off my shift at work, don't you think we can talk later on an…" Her speaking ceased though as she heard his next words.
"This isn't working."
Lucy dropped her cell phone to the ground, her breathing shortening, and with each rapid rise and fall she felt faint. She knew Thomas had been distant as of late but it never really seemed out of the norm for him, he was distant and Lucy was okay with that. She actually grew to love that trait about him, especially when she would come home from work and wanted nothing more than to sleep. So that was why she could not understand why he would just spring this on her, so out of the blue. But really, had it? She was not to sure any more, and slowly the world began to spin beneath her. A wave of nausea broke over her and she felt sweat break out upon her forehead. This could not be happening; Thomas, all her sense of safety and comfort was leaving her. Her cell phone rang out, breaking her from her reflections, and she answered it, not even bothering to look at whom was looking.
"Thomas?"
"Luce? You alrigh'?" Lucy let out a frustrated cry at the sound of her cousin Boyd's voice.
"Boyd it's great to here from you, but I need to cal-"
"Helen Givens is dead." His voice was soft and blunt, yet the news was sharp and staggering. Double the bad news in fifteen minutes, the wind currently knocked out of her as she sat upon the hardwood floor of her apartment. Tears had already made their way into her eyes as she tried to calm herself.
"Wha – what ha – happened?" She was stuttering as she tried to control the sobs that threatened to break out from behind her throat.
"Aww hell Luce," Boyd paused before sighing, "it's not somethin' ya wanna hear." Her heart nearly dropped at his statement, and she gulped audibly, pushing the sobs back with force.
"When's th-"
"It's in a couple of days. I just thought I'd tell ya, figured you'd wanna come down for the funeral." Lucy nodded her head slowly before answering with a soft 'yes' into the phone, licking her lips to wipe away the silent tears the had since fallen. It was when Boyd had asked her if she wanted to stay with him and Ava. Normally she would have turned down the offer, for as much as she enjoyed her cousin's company she never had a desire to stay in Harlan for far too long, but now things had changed. Things were Thomas seemed to be over, and although she had her job at the hospital, she could easily obtain one in Lexington. It might not have seemed rational to anyone else to just up and leave, but she had no loved ones here, no one to confide to while she was grieving, and then in some sort of divine intervention Boyd had reached out. If it was anything, it was a sign.
"You really wouldn't mind, Boyd?"
A/N: Okay guys, this is the rebooted version of the story! There are some clear, obvious changes to Lucy and the story in general, especially since it is going to take place during Season 4 (I got Netflix so it should make things much easier for me with outlining the storyline and such). That being said, it is going to be completely organic and I will hardly be using any dialogue from the show. I'm also working on another story, but this one s Game of Thrones themed, and I'm really nervous about it cause I've never dabbled in that realm before, so if you find yourselves interested it should be up by the end of the month. I'll alternate updates on each story so I wont forget about this one. Alright, let me know what you guys think, I hope you end up liking it, reviews are encouraged and greatly appreciated!