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A/N – It seems my song-fic muse has decided to make an appearance and now I can't shut her up. Chad and Co. are freaking awesome, JE hasn't been awesome since TS, but she still owns them all. Not Babe, not Cupcake and definitely not pleasant in the extreme. There are scenes of domestic violence. It was supposed to be my contribution to several different challenges on PP. In the end I decided to use it as a reward for my own challenge.
Never Again
He's drunk again, it's time to fight
She must have done something wrong tonight
The living room becomes a boxing ring
It's time to run when you see him
Clenching his hands
She's just a woman
Never Again
The young boy's bedroom was still dark. In the dim glow from the street light, just outside his window, pictures of sailors could be seen on the walls. The submarine model hanging from the ceiling cast eerie shadows on the walls and bed spread. He lay there quietly trying to figure out what woke him.
Joey was eleven years old and the spitting image of his father. The only exception was his eyes. Rather than deep chocolate brown, they were the warm whiskey of his mother. With an olive complexion and thick wavy brown hair, that always seemed to need a trim, he was already a heartbreaker. Right now his eyes were clouded with fear. He hated not knowing what woke him in the middle of the night. Worse, he hated what usually did wake him. Joey lay absolutely still in the dark, the shallow rise and fall of his t-shirt clad chest the only movement, as he concentrated on each sound he heard. He prayed his father wasn't drunk again but he probably was. He didn't know why his mother stayed. Surely the Church would understand if she left his father. If God didn't understand then Joey wanted no part of Him.
There was a thump down the hall that caused his headboard to rattle against the wall. He quietly slipped out of bed and slowly eased the door open. He inched the door from its jamb slowly because it sometimes squeaked. Slipping out of his bedroom he tip-toed down the hall. Peeking around the corner he saw his father looming over his mother, who was lying, curled up, on the floor. Joey could tell his father was drunk and very angry.
"Angie, how many times do we have to go over this? Do you think I like having to teach you the same lessons over and over?"
Joey watched as his father began twisting his head from side to side, stretching his neck, making it pop. What scared him the most though was how his father began clenching and unclenching his hands. He wanted to scream, to tell his mother to run, but all he could do was stand there frozen. He was so terrified he thought he was going to pee himself. When his father started doing that clenching thing with his hands it was a sign of very bad things to come.
"Well, it looks like school is back in session and class is about to begin."
Sinking to the floor, Joey began to cry. He had to bite his hand to keep from sobbing out loud as his father closed his fist and began to hit his mother.
I hear her scream, from down the hall
Amazing she can even talk at all
She cries to me, Go back to bed
I'm terrified that she'll wind up
Dead in his hands, She's just a woman
Never Again
"Joey…" With a slap Mario knocked Joey's mother into the dining room wall, "…go back to bed!" she yelled.
It was like his father was in a trance or something. He just yanked her up by the hair and backhanded her, splitting her lip, never even glancing Joey's way.
All Joey could do was cower next to the wall and shake his head. He just knew if he moved his father would start on him next.
When Joey didn't move fast enough Angie screamed, "Go, now!"
But he didn't move quickly enough to avoid seeing his father twist his fist into her hair and hurl her into the wall. Turning away as his mother collapsed to the floor, Joey ran to his room, sobbing uncontrollably, and hid in the corner. He didn't even notice that he'd finally peed himself. Cringing in the corner he could barely hear his mother begging his father to stop.
He didn't know how long he crouched there whimpering, when he heard a scream that was abruptly cut off.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," he prayed silently, as he rocked back and forth, "please don't let him have killed her. Please, please, please."
Just tell the nurse, you slipped and fell
It starts to sting as it starts to swell
She looks at you, she wants the truth
It's right out there in the waiting room
With those hands
Looking just as sweet as he can
Never Again
Joey sat quietly in the corner of the waiting room as his father chatted with the ER nurses at the front desk of St. Francis Hospital. He didn't understand how his father could be so calm and friendly with the nurses. Didn't he see the looks they kept giving him? It's not like this is the first time they had been here because his mother 'fell' or 'tripped'.
Just remembering the ride over was enough to make him shake with anger. Whether at his father, for his demand that she lie to the nurse, or his mother, for agreeing, he didn't know.
"Tell me again Angie. What you are going to say to the nurse?" his father asked as he coolly drove the dark streets of Trenton to the hospital.
"I'll say that I tripped on one of Joey's toys in the hall and fell down the basement stairs." Angie said in a monotone as she stared vacantly out the car window.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, woman," he said in a deceptively calm voice. "Don't even think I won't find out if you say something else. Just remember, the boy's going to be with me the entire time."
Tears started streaming down her painfully swollen face as she said, "I promise. I won't say anything. I fell. That's all I'll say."
Keeping an eye on his father, Joey got up and started to wander over to the doors his mother went through. He decided that if his mother wasn't going to say something then he would. Just as he reached the swinging doors he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going?" Alarmed, he looked up at his father, "Just tell me why you think you can wander around as you please? I am your father and you'll do as you're told or you'll pay the price." Joey winced as his father, squeezing his shoulder, guided him back to a chair. Shoving him into the seat he said, "Sit down, shut up and don't move." With a final squeeze and a look, his father left him in the chair and went back to talk with the nurses.
Father's a name you haven't earned yet.
You're just a child with a temper.
Haven't you heard 'Don't hit a lady'?
Kickin' your ass would be a pleasure.
Sitting on the chair in the waiting room, glaring at his father, Joey felt like such a coward. He wanted to say out loud what he was thinking but he was just too afraid. He wished he had the courage to tell someone the truth, but his father was watching him. Joey hated the fact that he couldn't do anything. He vowed when he grew up nobody was going to beat on him. He was going to be big and strong and tough. He couldn't wait until the day came when he could give his father what he had coming. He decided then and there he was going to be a cop when he got out of the Navy, that way he could make sure no other family would go through what his had.
Looking at the man that called himself Joey's father, he made a promise to himself; one day that man would pay for all the pain he had caused him and his mother. He would pay, come hell or high water, the man would pay. Joey would make sure of it.
He's drunk again, it's time to fight
Same old shit, just on a different night
She grabs the gun, she's had enough
Tonight she'll find out how fucking
Tough is this man
Pulls the trigger as fast as she can
Never Again
Joey knew that it wasn't over yet. Just because they had to go to the hospital didn't mean his father was over his mood even sober yet. Sometimes going to the hospital made his mood even worse. He really hoped it wasn't going to be like that today. The shove in the middle of his back as they walked into the house told him today was going to be one of the really bad days.
"Go and get cleaned up, Angie. You're a mess, I can barely stand the sight of you. Joey will be along in a bit. We have some things to discuss." Joey didn't like the sound of that and by the look on his mother's face neither did she. "The boy needs to be taught a lesson. He'll not forget who's in charge ever again."
"Please, don't do this!" Weeping, Angie pulled at her husband's arm to refocus his attention onto her instead. "Please," she begged.
Without a second thought he casually backhanded her out of the way. "I said 'go get cleaned up'." With a last fearful glance at her husband, Angie headed to the bathroom.
The moment Angie began walking down the hall, Mario turned and smacked Joey upside the head with a meaty fist that sent him flying into the coat rack near the door with a frightened yelp. Mario barked, "Come back over here, boy. I'm not done with you." Joey, tangled in the coats, was crying and terrified. "Don't make me go over there, boy. It'll only make it worse."
Just as he bent to reach for Joey again, Mario heard what sounded like a round was being chambered. Looking up, he saw Angie standing in the doorway with the shotgun they kept in the bedroom closet pointed at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Straightening up, he glared at Angie, "Put that gun away."
"I won't let you hurt him." Shaking like a leaf, Angie braced the gun on her hip and adjusted her sweaty grip on it. "Get away from him."
"Angie, Angie, Angie." Shaking his head, he began to slowly move towards her, menace in every step. "You ought to know better than to pull a gun on a man if you don't intend to pull the trigger."
Before he could take another step Angie fired. Screaming incoherently, she began to chamber shells and pulled the trigger as fast as she could. When his mother began to fire, Joey curled up into a ball and hid in the coats that had fallen to the floor, praying it was all a bad dream and he would wake up.
Each blast of the shotgun hit Mario in a different spot and drove him farther back. Finally, with a look of shock, he slowly collapsed to the floor in a pool of his own blood.
In the sudden quiet, Joey peeked from beneath the coats to see what was happening. He watched as his weeping mother dropped the shotgun and slid to the floor with her back braced against the wall.
With a wary eye on his father, Joey untangled himself from the coats and crawled to where his mother was sitting. When he got close enough Angie pulled him into her lap and wrapped her arms around him. They sat there, surrounded by silence and rocked back and forth comforting each other, until the unnatural quiet of the night was broken by the sound of a siren.
Seen it before, but not like this
Been there before, but not like this
Never before have I ever
Seen it this bad
She's just a woman
Never Again
Revolving red and blue lights spread alternating shadows and colorful glare over the entire neighborhood. The detective stood just inside the crime scene tape taking it all in. Just looking at him you wouldn't think he was a detective.
Cross trainers on his feet, long legs encased in washed out denim, with a faded Henley and colorful flannel plaid shirt stretched across a muscular chest. His almost too long hair was brown and wavy, curling around his ears. A warm olive complexion and a mouth made for smiling that had charmed many a woman out of her panties. It wasn't until you reached the whiskey colored eyes that you realized, at this moment, he was all cop.
Joe Morelli had to fight to keep his face blank. Scenes of domestic violence were always the hardest for him. They always brought back the memories. The desire to just pound the living shit out of any man who thought he had the right to beat up on women and children was, at times, over powering. This was one of those times. That's why he hadn't gone into the house yet.
"Hey, Morelli. You gonna do something productive or just stand there like usual?"
Glancing at a chuckling Eddie, Joe decided the remark deserved his favorite Italian hand gesture and opted to check with the victims in the ambulance. He still didn't trust himself enough to be in the house.
As he approached the ambulance he noticed the EMT's working frantically on a woman in the back. Sitting on the fender was a young boy with a blanket wrapped around him. The closer he got the sharper the smell of urine. The smell brought everything back in a rush and Joe had to pause until he got himself under control.
"Hey, little man. What's your name?" Joe knew from personal experience that he had to keep a little physical distance between them.
"Brian." The boy looked so scared and miserable. But underneath that he was very angry.
"Nice to meet you Brian. My name is Officer Morelli." Joe's heart broke for the little boy. "These nice people are going to take care of you and your mother. If you will sit tight, I'll run into the house and get a few things for you guys. Think you can do that for me?"
"Can I ask you a question first?" At Joe's nod he asked, "Is he going to hurt us anymore?"
"You have my word that he will never ever hurt you again. Not if I have anything to say about it. I promise."
Fini
Please review, my muse is still feeling rather fragile.