A/N: Well, here's chapter 7. I'll warn you. It's kind of a bummer chapter. Until 8…
Chapter 7Alison peeked out the window and smiled. She thought she heard the sound of a car door shutting. Alison walked to the front door, opening it for Rafe.
"Hi sweetheart!" Alison put her arms around Rafe, pulling him in for a kiss.
"Hey, angel," Rafe said softly.
Alison frowned. Something wasn't right. Rafe didn't sound like his usual self. He wasn't smiling either. "Rafe, what's the matter?"
Rafe hung up his coat and walked over to the couch. "Just about everything."
Alison sat beside him, a look of worry on her face. "What happened? What can I do?"
Rafe looked down. "There's nothing you can do. There's nothing anyone can do."
"Rafe, you're starting to freak me out just a little bit. What happened?"
"I received some bad news today."
"What kind of bad news?"
"The grant money that funds the youth center…it's run out."
"Okay. What does that mean?"
"They're shutting it down, Alison. That's what it means."
"What? They can't do that, can they?"
"Well according to the city of Port Charles, they can," Rafe said, raising his voice a little in anger. "They don't have the funds the run the program anymore, so they're closing it."
"Well…can't they get the money from somewhere else?"
"Doesn't matter." Rafe shrugged his shoulders. "Even if they could, it would be too late anyway."
"Rafe, I don't understand."
"The building has already been bought. Effective January 1, the whole place is going to be torn down and some pharmaceutical company is going to take it's place."
"What?!"
"Believe me, it's not the news I expected either."
"They can't do that! That's not fair! There has to be something we can do to stop this, right?"
"I don't think so."
Alison put her hand on his shoulder. "Rafe, I'm so sorry. That's terrible news."
"I should have seen this coming. I knew there was always the possibility that the funding would be cut but I always assumed they wouldn't let that happen. Now it's too late to do anything about it."
"Rafe, don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault."
"I just can't believe it's going to be shut down. Doesn't seem right."
"Look, why don't you go unwind for a bit? Take a shower. Go for a run. Take a nap. Do something, okay? If you keep thinking about it, you're just going to make yourself feel worse. We'll talk about this later, alright?"
Rafe gave Alison a weak smile. "Okay. Love you." He kissed her lightly.
"Love you, too."
As Rafe stood up to leave, Katrina ran into the room, a puppet on each hand. She lit up when she saw her father.
"Daddy, you're home! Play with me!" Katrina held up the dog and cat puppets she held, moving their mouths up and down.
"Not now, Princess." With that, he patted her on the head and left the room.
Katrina frowned as she walked over to her mother and climbed into her lap. "Mommy, is Daddy mad at me?"
"Oh, no, baby. No. Daddy's not mad at you. Daddy just had a bad day. Let's just let him have some time to himself right now, okay?"
"I know, maybe we can cheer him up!"
Alison smiled. "What could we do to cheer him up?"
"Hmm…well…you could cook him his favorite dinner! Spaghetti and tomato sauce with extra, extra, extra parmesan cheese…just how Daddy likes it!"
Alison laughed. "Well that sounds like a plan. And I have that in the cabinet right now."
"And after dinner, maybe I could read Daddy a bedtime story."
"Oh, you're going to read the story?"
"Yeah. When Daddy reads he uses funny voices and it always makes me laugh, so maybe it'll make Daddy laugh too. And then you know what you should do, Mommy?"
"What?"
"You should kiss him lots and lots! Because Daddy likes it when you kiss him."
Alison laughed again. "I think those are all really good ideas. You want to help me cook dinner?"
"Yes!" she whispered excitedly.
"Okay, come on." Alison got up from the couch with Katrina following her.
"Hey, Mommy?"
"What, sweetie?"
"I think we should make some cookies too, because Daddy likes cookies."
"I think someone else loves them too." Alison grinned at her daughter, knowing her little game.
"Please, Mommy?"
"Alright, we'll make some. You're in luck, because Mommy likes them too!"
Alison yawned, her eyes too sleepy to continue reading her book. As she put the book down, she noticed the clock. 11:48. Rafe hadn't come to bed yet. She was worried about him.
After dinner, Rafe slipped off to the garage, where he'd been for hours now. By the time Alison had gotten Katrina a bath and tucked her into bed, the little girl was too tired to remember that she wanted to read her father a story.
Alison stood up, deciding she should go check on him.
As Alison passed the hallway, she peeked into Katrina's room. The child lay fast asleep in her bed, clutching her little teddy bear tightly. Alison smiled, closing her bedroom door.
Alison made her way through the kitchen and opened the door to the garage. She stood in the doorway and watched Rafe for a few moments.
"Damn it!"
Alison cleared her throat, getting his attention. "Hey."
"Hey."
"Rafe, why don't you come to bed?"
"Because, Alison, I'm determined to get this dollhouse put together."
"That's not something you can finish in one night. You can work on it tomorrow. Come to bed."
"Look at this box. It says right here, 'Easy to Build!' Yeah right! 'Easy to build' my ass! I'm so sick of this damn door! It's not going in the frame right for some reason! I must have something in the wrong place."
This didn't sound good. Rafe for one, wasn't much of a curser, but this dollhouse was certainly bringing out a lot of rage in him. She knew also that he had a lot on his mind. She was sure working on the dollhouse was just a way for him to distract himself.
"Rafe, it's late. It's almost midnight. Why don't you give it a rest? You can come back to it tomorrow and I'm sure by then, it'll seem a lot easier than it is right now."
"Alison, you don't understand. When you told me the way Katrina's eyes lit up when she saw this dollhouse at the craft store, all I could think about was how happy she would be seeing it under the tree Christmas morning. But I can't even get the damn thing together! What else could go wrong this Christmas?" Rafe threw the instructions down on the floor, frustrated with them.
Alison walked over to Rafe, sitting down beside him. "It's not just the dollhouse that's bothering you, is it? Do you want to talk about it?"
"I can't believe I'm losing it, Alison. Four years I've run that center and this is what it comes to. You know, that place was nothing when I took over it. You should have seen the change that came over them in just those first months. They were suddenlyexcited about playing sports. They were making good grades, because we helped them with their homework. We gave them a place to play after school. Kept them off the streets. And for all of that hard work, the city of Port Charles decides to let it go to waste. Just like that. They don't care to find a way to financially support it. But the idea of big business taking over to quote, "bring more jobs to the city" is all they care about. But what about all of those kids? Don't they realize their taking away something very important to them? I've never felt so unappreciated in my life."
"Hey, you are appreciated. I mean, those kids love you. The parents love you. You have worked really hard to make that center what it is today. And what's happening isn't fair."
"I have to tell the children about it tomorrow. I know they're not going to like it."
"I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to fix it."
"So do I. But what's done is done." Rafe turned his attention back to the house, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.
"Maybe we can figure out something. We just need to think about it for a while."
"Maybe. Damn. These things should come pre-assembled."
"You know, Rafe, I'm looking at this dollhouse right now and, in all honestly, I think you're doing a great job on it. It's beginning to look like a real house."
"A house without a door."
"Okay, let me see those instructions."
Rafe handed the now crumpled paper to her. She studied the directions for a while as she examined the little door. "I think I know what's wrong with this."
"What?"
"Sweetie, it's just upside down."
"What?" Rafe picked up the door, looked at it, then laughed at himself. "You're right. You're absolutely right. How did I do that?"
"I think you've been spending a little too much time with this. And you must be tired."
"I am tired."
"Well come to bed. Because I'm tired too, and it's really hard for me to sleep if you're not beside me keeping the bed warm. We'll think about all of this tomorrow, okay?"
Rafe smiled, reaching out to touch Alison's face. "All right. I'll take a break from it. But only if you promise me one thing."
"What's that?"
"That you'll take my mind off my problems."
Alison smiled. "Now that, I can do." She moved close to him, kissing his lips gently. "Where you going to hide this?"
"On that shelf, in that box up there. You don't think she'll see it, do you?"
"No, I don't think so. But I'll keep her out of the garage just in case. You need some help moving it?"
"No, I got it. But could you toss that box in the trash for me?"
"Sure."
"All right, the bed calls me now."
"Rafe?"
"Yeah?"
"From now on, we'll try to avoid 'some assembly required.' I don't like to see you full of rage."