By Choice

A Word: This chapter and the next are going to be short, and deal with my headcanon of the twisted Victoriano family. Or what Ruvik's willing to reveal to Seb about it anyway. So feel free to skip if the prospect of incest, child physical and sexual abuse, and abortion upsets you.

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There is a kitchen as it turns out and it actually looks like someone uses it pretty regularly. Probably not Ruben going by how it takes him more than a few minutes to find things. "I pay a woman in town to cook. She doesn't stick around beyond that."

Sebastian doesn't blame her. The mansion is oppressive by itself. More so with Ruben around if she's like most of the cautious people from town. He holds up the bottled water he grabbed for himself. "Not really that hungry right now."

"No?" Ruben shrugs off his dismissal and pulls out a tupperware container that really doesn't look like it belongs. Neither do the bright orange carrots inside of it. Precut and washed. "What do you need to know about my father? I've already told you that Cabrera's grudge isn't linked to anything logical. I wasn't lying about that."

"I don't doubt that, but it's always a good idea to find out everything I can," Sebastian drains the bottle and goes back for a second before dropping into a worn looking chair at a table scratched and gouged from years of cooking. His thumb nail catches in one particularly deep one as he strategizes on the fly for this round of questioning. Years of working with partners who never hesitated to smack him over the head for his bluntness have instilled some sort of a sense of tact in him. One he tries to follow more often than not because it gets results, but he's still pissed at Ruben and not inclined to hold his punches at the moment. "I'd also like to know more about Laura. There's some things in her medical file that worry me."

"Her- What?" Ruben goes utterly still for a moment before his eyes snap over to him. Blazing with anger but not enough to cover his surprise. "When, no, how did you get access to-" Ruben's eyes narrow to thoughtful slits and shift slightly left. "The hospice has them. Valerio should have them secure though, but you..."

"That's what I'm paid for," Sebastian offers and nothing more, because it's always better when he can keep people guessing. "You might want to talk to Valerio about that though."

"I'll do that. So you were able to access her files," the anger and surprise is already gone. For all that Ruben seems like a calm and cool person he seems to burn through strong emotions like wax. Hot and fast, a strong outburst that's over almost as soon as it's begun. "And you found something concerning in them."

"Start talking," it's entirely possible Ruben's never seen her files before. The papers he looked at were all old enough to be buried by the newer reports, and he wants to see what Ruben will say without knowing what he's looking for.

"Father was a proud man. Pious, educated, and very certain he was right in everything," Ruben starts after a moment of consideration. "He tended to drink as well, and his qualities didn't change even when he was senseless with it."

"He was abusive," Sebastian translates. He wouldn't have interjected like this on the force. The danger of being accused of putting words into a witnesses mouth too dangerous, but he's not likely to have to take any of his work to court these days and can steer the conversation as much as he needs.

"In a way, yes," Ruben shrugs and picks up one of the carrots neither of them have actually eaten yet. He doesn't look particularly interested in eating it now either. "I wouldn't go so far as to call him an abuser. We feared his anger more than his fists. He never dared to leave marks behind."

"Just because he didn't hit you doesn't mean it wasn't abuse," Sebastian says. The platitude is old and slips out of his mouth automatically. He'd always hated it when he'd come across kids that used that kind of logic. That their dad or their mom weren't abusive because they didn't hit them, didn't hit them often enough, or some other excuse.

Ruben shrugs and continues to look at the damn carrot. Seemingly utterly fascinated by it and not effected at all by the conversation which is mostly just hinting around things. Depressing things. Shit, now he's feeling sorry for the asshole again.

"The barn that burned was on a farm that raised flower crops not far from here. He bought it for Laura. Sunflowers were her favorites," Ruben explains as if it's totally logical for an entire farm to be bought for that reason alone. "She was getting ready to turn eighteen. He called it a birthday present."

"Hell of a present," Sebastian comments and waits for the point. "I'd call it overkill though."

"Hmph, he was afraid. Maybe for the first time in his entire life," Ruben's contempt for his dad was obvious before, and it just gets more obvious now. "Laura was going to leave and be free from his control."

"Free to talk about what he did to her?"

Ruben's silent again and drops the carrot to fix him with an unreadable look. "What was in her files, Sebastian?"

"Your sister had two abortions," Sebastian lays it out because Ruben seems set on hinting around things. Set on not actually saying anything unless he has to. "One when she was thirteen and one when she was fourteen. Your dad took her to have them both done at the hospice."

Ruben doesn't react. His eyes drift slowly away from him though. Moving to stare at one of the plain walls, as he says nothing for several minutes.

"Some days, I really wish that he wasn't dead," Ruben eventually intones and when he looks back his lips are twisted into something hard and dark. His eyes are even harder, and Sebastian realizes with a start that he was wrong about Ruben burning through emotion fast. The man buries them deep, but there's no mistaking the loathing and hatred in his eyes right now. Something so large it could have only been built up for years. "It feels like he died far too painlessly."

"That happens," and it's usually for the best. Sebastian's had to arrest one too many kids after they snapped. Had to throw them to the courts. Even though a good defense attorney could argue self-defense on most of those kids they rarely came out alright in the end. The car accident that took the Victoriano's was probably the best outcome in this case. "You saying your dad-"

"Yes," Ruben interrupts quickly, "do you really need to know this?"

Does he want to, is the real question. He doesn't but, hell, he's getting the feeling that he's going to need to know everything before this case gets done. "I need to know everything."

"If you says so," Ruben turns to one of the shelves and approaches the table with a bottle. Dark green with no label and an already loose cork. The heavy scent of wine fills the air as soon as he pulls it out. "But you'll want some of this first. I guarantee it."

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