Chapter 3: One More Fight
Year 2151 – Earth, Ireland
Will was driving quickly towards Dublin. Traffic being painfully slow on the way there. You'd think the advent of flying cars would help alleviate the traffic. He was on his way toward Dun Laoghaire Harbour near one of the shipyards. When he got there, he started walking the pier looking out for Brenden. His "office", as his text message referred to, was usually on the bench along the pier. Secrecy was kind of a requirement when you're running a technically illegal boxing league.
Will walked out to the farthest end of the pier but couldn't find his faithful bookie anywhere. Seeing no sign of Brenden, Will decided to sit down on the bench they used for their last meeting, and just hoped that he wasn't too late. He took a deep breath, trying to get his nerves in order, still a little shaken from reading Hannah's letter from the Alliance.
Jesus…colonizing deep space. Would Hannah sign on for that sort of thing? Would they let me come along if she did? What about Michael?
Will shock himself a little and tried to focus on his surroundings. Seagulls were flying all about, ships arriving and departing on schedule, skies were perpetually grey with the constant threat of rain, in other words it was a typically afternoon in Dublin. It was going on 30 minutes now, starting to get really worried he missed the meeting. He was just about to get up and leave when suddenly his bench was flanked by an approaching chubby fellow in a long trench coat, an ascot cap, and a cigarette in his mouth. It was Brenden.
"Oh. You're early." He said.
Early? Well, yeah I guess I kinda bolted out the door after I saw the letter. "Well it's the first time we messaged me in weeks, I didn't want to miss it."
Brenden took a seat beside Will, looking as casual as possible.
"So what've ya got for me?" Will asked.
"A date with Diaz. 2-to-1 odds. You can expect a payout around 10,000 Euros."
"What?! 3 months of nothing and that's the best you can do."
"It's the best you can get, mate." He said while chucking his cigarette over the side.
"Bren, that's not good enough. This is going to be my last fight. I need something big to go out on, just so Hannah and I can live comfortably."
"Willy, your record was abysmal last year. I know you got hit in the head a lot but come on you must've been awake for all those loses. With how you've been preforming your lucky I was able to get you anything at all. The fact that you're retiring makes me want to throw a party congratulating you for still having all your teeth."
"I know that I sucked all year, but Bren, I really need something here. I need big nest egg. Come on, there's gotta be some big fish somewhere that's looking for an easy win."
"Most of them are feasting on other jobbers right now, and I'm not exactly eager to set you up with those guys after how your fight with Manningham went."
Will took a deep breath and then dropped a bomb on Brenden. "Bren…I'm having son."
Brenden gave him a confused look in response. "Is that suppose to convince me to throw you to the wolves?"
"No, it's suppose to give you an idea of how desperate I am."
"Will! Look, I know a lot less messier ways of getting out of paying child-support than killing yourself."
"That's not what I meant, damn it! I'm fighting for this kid, for my wife. She's had suffer through a lot of ring-side matches, watching me get my arse beaten into the mat and I want something to show to her it was all worth it! That means getting a big-arse fuckin' paycheck that we can raise our fuckin' kid on and go anywhere we fuckin' want! Now I want you to get me a big-name fighter so I can beat him into the ground!"
Brendan just stared at him, dumbfounded. A little impressed by his sudden bravado & zeal for his family. He stared running ideas through his head.
"Hmm…alright. You're that passionate about it I guess we can work something out."
Will was relived to hear him relent a little. "Right. You said "most" of them were busy, yeah? So there's got to be some of them open."
"Well there are some names available, like Rogers, O'Shay, McCormick…"
McCormick? I've heard that name before. Will thought to himself. Could it be…?
"McCromick? As in Connor McCromick?"
"Yeah, he's one of the best in the class, you don't want to fight him though."
A wide smile started growing on Will's face. "Oh no, no Bren, that is perfect!"
"What you goin' on about?"
"I know Mick! We grew up together at Anne's Orphanage! Oh if I ask him to fight there's no way he'd say no!" Will was positively giddy now. Brenden was utterly bewildered.
"Did you miss the part where I said he's one of the best in the class?"
"No Bren, this is prefect! I know exactly how he fights. We used to tangle with each other when we were lads in the play yard, doing practice boxing. If you organize a match if us, what would the max payout be?"
"Well, shit a match like that against you would be something 6-to-1 odds so probably half a million Euros."
"Yes! That's more like it Bren! Don't even call him up, I'll call him. Ain't no way he'll say "no" to me, you can set up all the official stuff."
"Jesus, you're really dead-set on walking into the lion's den, ain't ya?"
"Like I said Bren, I got a family now. This is my last match so I'm gotta throw all I got in it."
"It might take more than that, mate." He said slightly shaking his head.
Will checked his watch, suddenly remembering he still needed to visit Lauren at the hospital.
"I gotta run now Bren, thanks a lot for the meeting! I'll catch you later!" Will yelled while running down the pier back to his car, and sure enough just then it started to rain. Will paid it no mind though, he had a feeling of joy and excitement in his heart. Granted, Hannah herself might feel way differently about it.
An hour later – St. Paul's Hospital
It was utterly miserable outside. Heavy rain was pouring down, smashing into the hospital windows, and the mood wasn't much better inside. Hannah was sitting bedside close to her mother, holding her hand tightly. Lauren was currently fast asleep, exhausted from her latest round of treatments. Despite them, it was pretty clear her body was withering away, her arms were practically nothing but bone now. The brain tumors were also giving her dementia, so trying to have a coherent conversation with her was a constant struggle.
Hannah had been at the hospital now for 2 hours. She was just about to type in her phone asking Will where he was but just then she heard loud footsteps down the hall and some nurse yelling at some to "slow down". That's when Will suddenly came through the door in his rain coat, completely drenched and looking out of breath.
"Ahh…sorry darlin'. I just got done talking with Brenden and I came over as fas—"
"Shhhh!" She cut him off. Pointing to her sleeping, bedridden mother.
"Right. Sorry." He whispered.
He found a chair and pulled it up beside Hannah.
"So how is she?"
"It's not pretty." She said while rubbing the back of Lauren's hand with her thump. "Her tumors are getting worse and she's been in & out of it all day."
"How long does she have?" He asked, looking at Lauren with a solemn look on his face.
"The doctors gave her a few weeks, two months at most." Hannah's eyes started watering up a bit, but she did her best to stay strong. Will placed his hand on her back, to lend her some of his strength.
"I just want her around long enough so she can see Michael. Even if she's not even lucid by then."
"I'm sure she'll pull through somehow."
"We can only hope…I had to sign her over to hospice care. All that's left is the waiting."
"I'm terribly sorry darlin'. I know this must be unbearable for you."
Hannah's reply was a simple "Yes." She let a few moments pass before she brought up an unexpected question.
"So I assume you read the letter from the Alliance?" Will raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Did you?"
"Well you left it open out on the table for me it was kinda hard to miss."
"Oh, yeah I did. So…are you considering doing it?"
Hannah took a more relaxed posture in her chair. "Hmm…I don't know to be honest. I mean, colonizing deep space, growing crops on an alien planet. That would be the adventure of a lifetime. Literally, since there's practically no chance you're ever going back, but…I don't know if they'd even let Michael come along or you for that matter. Not to mention buying the tickets and the supplies would be insanely expensive."
"Tickets? You mean they don't take care of all that stuff themselves?"
"Well for most of the expeditions yes, but there's such a huge boom right now in space exploration that there's a whole bunch other ones funded by private entities, plus there's a lot of people willing to pay through the nose just to leave Earth right now."
"I can certainly understand that." He chuckled.
"But I think I'm definitely going to call them for an interview at least. Just to see what it's like and if I'm good enough to go."
"Oh you're definitely good enough darlin'. You're one of the smartest people I know."
Hannah had a big laugh at that. "Ha! That's not a long list. You punch people for a living."
"Hey now! We're just bigger on street-smarts where I'm from." He said in mock offense.
"Speaking of what you do for a living, what happened at your meeting with Brendan?"
There was the question Will was dreaded the whole way here. Might as well bit the bullet now.
"Well…umm. We…uhh." Hannah's expression become more irritated the more he stammered.
"Spit it out, Will." She knew when he was stalling.
"We organized a retirement match for me." Finally putting it out there.
"You-! I can't be—" She grabbed Will by the arm and dragged him into the bathroom, not waiting her mother to hear the harsh haranguing she was about to give her husband.
"I can't believe you! I thought you were done already! My mother is on her deathbed and you're going to give me another heart-attack by throwing yourself into the death-ring again! What were you thinking?!" She screamed giving him a punch to the shoulder.
"Darlin'! It's not as bad as it sounds. I'm doing this for you & Michael! I know this guy, he's an old friend of mine, there's no way we'd kill each other, and fight is gonna have an insane purse!"
"The only one "insane" is you! We don't need the money, Will! I need you, helping me raise our child in a way that doesn't destroy you! I don't want to have to take care of two comatose patients in the same year!"
"Baby, it's just one more fight! I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was out for good, but I will be after this. Besides, if you sign on with the Alliance or whomever is funding this thing, then we are going to need the money." Hannah's anger had died down to frustration.
"I just can't believe you're doing this again." She grunted. Tears were visibly starting to fall down your face now. Will grabbed on to both of her wrist to get her to calm down.
"Hannah, listen. I promise you're never going to lose me. I did this for you and baby, I fight because I want the best life possible for all of us. Please! It's just one more match and then I'm done for good."
"I just…I can't even look at you right now." She swung the bathroom door open. Lauren, now wide awake.
"What on Earth are you two shouting about?!" Neither of them paid attention to her at the moment.
"Will, just get out of here. Go back to the apartment or whatever. I am just too angry to talk to you right now."
Will looked like he was ready to continue arguing, but in light of having a newly awoken Lauren in the audience, he thought it best to just relent and retreat for now.
"Alright honey, I'll be off then." He gave a courteous nod. "Lauren, hope you're feeling well." And with that he left the room.
"What in blazes was that about?" A deeply confused Lauren asked. Hannah walked over back to her bedside.
"Will just did something really stupid."
Dusk – Shepard Residence
Will was in a terrible state right now. It felt awful, betraying Hannah like that and feel the full force of her hurt in response. He prayed to whichever god or deity would listen that Hannah would find it in herself to forgive him, and that this whole struggle would be worth it. It better be worth it, his marriage might just be on the line now. He loved Hannah, he knew he would do anything for her, but maybe he did take it too far sometimes, putting himself in danger for the sake of an over-the-top act of devotion. When all she wanted was to just have him around.
He then thought about the Alliance letter, how Hannah sounded so excited talking about being a potential colonizer. He wanted to help her realize that dream. He pulled his phone out, looked through his old contacts and found the number he was looking for. He pressed dial.
*Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring* Connected.
"Hey, it's me, Willy…I know, it's been a long time. So...I hear you're a boxer now."
A/N: Sorry this one took longer. I had to think really hard about how I want the Brenden and Hospital scenes to go. I think I'm happy with how it turned out though. I wanted to give a sense of just how desperate Will is, I hope I did a good enough job justifying him going with the match and scaring poor Hannah to death. I am having a lot of fun doing this "writing" business, so please feel free to review and tell me I need to improve on anything.