Went to see Warrior last week, and it blew me away. Such an AWESOME film, such an awesome squee-inducing ending - but I just couln't stop my silly brain thinking, what's next?

This is just a sappy little brain-fart inspired by the brotherly angsty goodness that was this movie. Now I have it out of my system, I can go back to whumping Steve McGarret lol.

Hope this doesn't ruin anyone's enjoyment of the film, or spoil anything. If you've not seen it, don't read it. If you have, I hope you enjoyed it, and this :-)

Supernoodle, 9th October 2011 x

Absolution

He sits with Tommy in the ER, unwilling to let his brother out of his sight. He's found him again, after all these years – his kid brother. He doesn't want to lose him again.

They've already lost so much, so many years. Tommy is a man now, not the scrawny little kid he'd wrestled with in the back yard of their parents' house, not the kid who tried to so hard to protect their Ma on the nights that Pop came home after night on the tiles with Jack, Jim and Jose. Tommy had been fourteen when he'd last seen him and he'd thought that his brother was gone forever, but now there was the faintest hint of hope that he might have him back.

It hurt though, knowing that he'd had to nearly kill Tommy to do it, but sometime you had to smash things down before you could build it up again, and what was another heap of guilt laid on top of the mountain he already had? The Conlon men were made almost entirely of blood, sweat and guilt and it was time to let some of it go. No matter how bad you want to, you can't change the past and now, for the first time in forever, there seemed to be a future.

Tommy shifts in the bed beside him, says something under his breath then seems to settle. It's the calmest Brendan had ever seen him, and despite the cuts and bruises on his brother's face, bruises that were far worse than their Pop had ever inflicted, there was a peacefulness about him. Of course, it might have been the drugs, but Brendan didn't think so.

"You alright, Tom?" He whispers, voice catching on his brother's name. It has been so long since he's spoken it, the word feels strange on his tongue.

Tommy doesn't open his eyes, but he nods. "I'm okay," he murmurs, voice hoarse, weary sounding, but the blazing hot anger he'd been faced with on that Atlantic City beach is gone. "You okay?"

Brendan smiles, it's the happiest he's felt and years but he's fighting to keep back the tears again and he reaches over and takes his brother's good hand, squeezing it tightly and to his relief, Tommy doesn't pull away. It's going to take work, he knows this, but every journey starts with a first step – and this is a big goddamn step.

"You don't have to hang on to me, Bren. I'm not going anywhere... Not for a while." Tommy murmurs, eyes sliding tiredly round to meet Brendan's and he gestures to the IV in his hand. "Not till the goddamn boat stops rocking, anyway."

He'd been shaking and ready to puke all the way to the hospital, something to do with nerve bundles and shock the doctor had told them. They'd had to sedate him to get his shoulder back where it should be, had decided to keep him in for a few hours until the drugs wore off and Brendan was kind of glad. Not glad that he'd nearly ripped Tommy's arm off, not at all – he could still hear the grisly tearing and Tommy's screams of agony, but here, in the ER, it was just the two of them, away from the screaming crowd, the reporters...It was good to even be away from Tess for a while. He shared everything with her – had since he was sixteen years old, but Tommy had been right, he had chosen her over his brother and it was going to take time to work through all the emotions, the guilt, the anger, the relief, that was churning around inside him.

And then there was Pop. He hadn't been lying when he said he'd forgiven him – people could change, he knew this, but he couldn't forget. It was going to take a while before he could really open up that can of worms. Some things just hurt too much, the wounds were just too deep to be able to close up with a few ragged stitches, but that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try. And hopefully they could all try together. Tommy seemed willing enough.

"I tried to find you, Tommy. You know that, right? I contacted the Army but you were using Ma's name..."

Tommy nods. "I coulda found you, I guess. If I'd wanted to. I coulda contacted Pop. Hell, I watched some of your fights on TV back in the day... I coulda found you."

"You saw my fights?" Brendan asks.

"Yeah a couple... You weren't that good back then, man... How the hell did you win Sparta?"

Brendan laughs, and the sound catches him by surprise. It feels like forever since he's had something to actually laugh about. "You tell me, cuz I'm damned if I know. I think someone up there decided it was about time I caught a break."

Tommy nods down at his arm that's strapped tightly to his chest. Under the white bandages, Brendan can already see the bruising. "Yeah, I caught a break too..."

"Tommy, I-I'm sorry... I didn't want to hurt you..."

This time Tommy smiles and he shakes his head. "Man, I wanted to hurt you. I wanted to rip your goddamn head off..."

Brendan smiles and gingerly fingers the swelling under his eye. "I'm going to share it with you... The money. That woman and her kids, you were fighting for them?"

Tommy peers at him through heavy lids, bites his lip and nods.

"I entered Sparta because the bank was gonna take my house, Tom. My daughter, my youngest – she was sick for a while, and we had all these medical bills and Tess and I were working three jobs and we were still gonna lose the house, and I couldn't let that happen, you know? So I started fighting again – but now I have all this money, I don't have to worry about the house. All I have to worry about is losing my brother again, and I'm not gonna let that happen – so whatever you need, Tommy, I'm gonna be here for you, man. And if you need to help out that family, then I'm gonna help you do that, okay?"

"Br-Brendan, I-I..." Tommy stammers, and Brendan gets to his feet. Tommy needs to rest and he needs some ice for his face. Plus he knows he should call their Pop, let him know that Tommy's gonna be okay. He doesn't owe the man anything – far from it, but he knows they're all going to have to try if they want to get their family back together.

"Get some sleep, Tom. I'll be here when you wake up, okay. I promise." And patting his brother gently on the leg, he leaves the cubical in search of his wife.