Obsidian

by Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox. I just enjoy playing in it.

A/N: I began this a couple of months ago. It was inspired by conversations with NarcissaNerea,who has also been kind enough to beta. All remaining mistakes are my own. As always, enjoy!

Chapter 10

Gathering at Nicole's house seemed to be a good idea. While Sharon was in the hospital and Andy was busy keeping an eye on her and playing go-between with the investigation, having the four of them together under one roof seemed like something that should happen. It was Gus's idea. To be honest, neither of Sharon's kids had thought about it, and both felt ashamed after the idea was posed to them.

Nicole and Charlie had lost their mother. Their stepdad was busy taking care of their mom, so the least they could do was try to be there for them. Their families were linked now. They should try to bridge whatever gap remained.

Ricky had called Nicole with the idea, and she requested that her brother be present for the afternoon. Gus was taking a turn at the hospital, keeping an eye on Andy while the four of them were together.

Silence settled over them after the initial introductions. The four were seated around a table on the patio behind Nicole and Dean's home. The boys were playing in the distance. They knew that something terrible had happened, but they were too young to completely understand it.

"How is your stepdad?" Emily finally asked, breaking the silence. She looked from Nicole to Charlie and back again. Their new stepbrother had not spoken much, at least not to them. She knew from things that Rusty had explained that he wasn't especially close to his dad.

"Still in shock I think." Nicole turned her glass of iced tea on the table. "He insisted on going home last night. I'm worried about him, but he wanted to be alone. Our stepbrothers are arriving today, but I'm not really sure that they will have any more luck than we did. Mom and Jake were together for twenty years. They were… they were each other's one, you know?"

Ricky and Emily exchanged a look. His sister looked away, but Ricky focused on the woman that was seated across from him. "Yeah," he said. "I think we know. We didn't have a lot of luck getting your dad to leave our mom."

"That's surprising." Charlie snorted. "Leaving is what he's good at." He was a little stunned by it too, and he had witnessed a good deal of it over the last couple of days.

"Charlie." Nicole scowled at him. "Please. Not right now, okay?" She would rather that he not be critical of their father at all, but especially not when they had guests, and certainly not with everything else that they were going through.

"From where I'm sitting," Ricky stated, "your dad is pretty good people." He arched a brow at the older man. "He's been nothing but good to our mom and he's taking care of her right now. I get that you've got issues, but you can't fault him on that."

"What do you know about it?" Charlie snorted at them. "You don't know my dad, okay. He gave you the flowery version. Just wait. I'm sure he'll eventually disappoint you too."

"I know that our father wasn't on the approved list of people that were told our mom is still alive," Emily said quietly. "They were worried, and we agreed, that he might slip in front of the wrong person. Sober or not, our father isn't the most trustworthy individual."

"And he hasn't called," Ricky continued. "Our mom is supposedly dead and we've not heard a word from him. I'm not going to say that his history makes your dad a candidate for Father of the Year," he said, "but at least he gives a damn."

Nicole sighed. She cast a sad look at her brother. "Charlie. Please?" Her brother was looking explosive. It was a combination of his own stubbornness and their father's temper.

"Fine." He deflated. Charlie slumped in his chair. "I'll lay off the old man for a couple of days. He's at least called to check on Nic, even if he is busy somewhere else." He folded his arms across his chest. "Sounds like yours is an even bigger piece of work."

"You could say that." Ricky shrugged. "We've come to expect it. Mom has always tried to make sure that we had a relationship with him, but the problem is, there's only so much that any of us can do. When we really need him, dad isn't around. Although, that might be a blessing this time; I can't imagine having to deal with him during all of this."

Emily nodded silently. She decided to change the subject instead. "Is there anything that we can do for you?" She glanced at Charlie again, but kept her attention on her stepsister. "I feel like we should be helping you somehow. Are there any calls that we can make, or… I don't know, something that we can organize?"

"That's very kind," Nicole replied, and managed a small smile. "Honestly there really isn't anything to do. Mom and Jake both have wills, and her wishes were pretty specific. We've called all of the family that we could think of and Jake has made several calls too." She shrugged. "A lot of it is already taken care of. Mom took care of a lot of it herself. When our grandmother passed away, I guess none of those details were really in place. Mom didn't want us to ever have to feel like that, so…"

"Sounds familiar." Ricky shook his head. "Our mom is big on plans too. I kind of hope your dad knows what he's getting in to. She's got plans for everything. Going to the grocery store requires a two hour family meeting," he joked lamely.

Silence settled over them again. It was awkward and stifling. Charlie couldn't stand it. His chair scraped against the stone patio flooring as he stood up. "Look, we don't have to do this," he told them. "Our folks got married but that doesn't mean that we need to have any part in it. We appreciate what you're trying to do here," he said, and gestured at his sister to include her in his statement, "but there's no reason to play at being a happy family. We're all adults; we've got our own lives. We don't need to pretend that this is anything more than that. We'll see each other a couple of times a year, we'll be civil, and that's it."

"No, that's not it." Ricky looked up at him. "We do have to do this." He shrugged. "You don't care, but we do. We get it. This is the worst possible time for any of this." His gaze dropped to Nicole and he smiled kindly. "The thing is, it's what our mother would expect from us. Whatever your relationship is with your dad," he stated, "we like him. He's been good to our family, and we know that he would like to be here right now. The only reason that he isn't is because he is taking care of our mom. We might not be able to help him do that, but we can do this. We can step up and be decent and do what he can't." His gaze lifted toward Charlie. "You're right, we don't have to expect to be more than civil to one another a couple of times a year, but for right now we can act like we're something other than strangers, if for no other reason than because our folks got married, but mainly because your mother died saving ours."

Nicole looked up at her brother again. She shrugged a single shoulder while moisture filled her eyes. They couldn't discount that. Their mother had died, for reasons they could not begin to understand, but in large part because she had chosen to fight rather than run. It didn't seem too much to ask that they find a little of that strength and attempt to meet their new step-siblings halfway. She knew that Charlie had agreed when his shoulders slumped and his head bowed. When he looked at her through his lashes, Nicole smiled sadly. She wondered if he would ever realize just how much like their dad he really was.

When Charlie moved back to the table, Nicole touched his arm. She gave it a squeeze, but pulled away quickly. Her brother was not the overly demonstrative type. When she turned back to the other two, she shrugged again. "I have to put together a wake for almost a hundred people. My mother's Italian relatives are going to be descending on us. I don't suppose either of you cook?"

"No." Emily sat forward. Her hands were clasped together in her lap. "Not unless you plan on serving salads or deep dish pizza." She jerked her head toward Ricky. "This one got banned from the kitchen when he was fifteen. He lives off Amazon Prime and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

"One little grease fire." That had almost taken out their entire house, but they didn't need to get into all that. Ricky pulled out his phone. "I can do better than cooking, actually. I happen to know a local caterer that just got a major opening. Why don't you tell us what an Italian wake entails, and I can make a call."

Charlie sat down at the table again. He stretched his legs out beneath it and leaned back in his chair. "It's not all that different from an Irish Catholic one, but our Aunt, our grandmother's sister, is still living. She's going to have certain expectations."

"Oh god." Nicole groaned. She covered her eyes with her hand. "I'll write it down for you," she decided.

"Okay," Emily rested her hands atop the table. "We have that covered. What else do you need? We can call hotels around the city, book rooms for your family?"

Nicole considered it. She studied the two of them. She decided that they needed the distraction as much as she did. "I would appreciate that." She reached for her tea glass. "There are some details that Jake will want to handle, but when our stepbrothers get here, they can help him with that. I know you're limited in moving around the city," she said, acknowledging their security detail without bringing it into conversation, "but making some local calls and arrangements would be a huge help."

Charlie looked at his sister. "Sharon wants us to make sure that dad takes his pills. What was she talking about?" He didn't know as much about their dad's health and he figured she would.

"There are two," Nicole explained. "He takes something for his blood pressure and something else for heart rate. Don't nag him about it, it just makes him mad. If you hand him the pills and a bottle of water, he'll take them without arguing. I'll call Lieutenant Provenza and ask him if they thought to get dad's meds out of the condo. I'm sure dad didn't think about it."

"I thought he was doing better?" Ricky frowned at her. "Rusty made it sound like he was over all that." He glanced at his sister.

Emily nodded. "The last time that I talked to Rusty about it, he told me that they had gotten beyond it and everything was going well."

"It is," Nicole told them. "But dad has to take his meds, especially when he's stressed. I think it's more a matter of Sharon worrying about him with everything that's going on than anything to actually do with his heart. Dad doesn't always think about himself, especially when he's focused on other people." Nicole shrugged at them. "Especially when that person happens to be your mom."

Silence had grown around the table again. Charlie didn't realize it at first; he was staring at the centerpiece, wondering why his sister had chosen rocks and wide-petal flowers. When he realized that no one was speaking, he looked up. He found them all staring at him. "What?" His sister arched a brow at him and Charlie rolled his eyes. "When did I become our father's keeper?" He huffed. "Fine. I will make sure that he takes his pills." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Thank you, Charlie." Nicole smiled knowingly at him. There were times when she would almost swear that she was the elder sibling.

"Yeah." He waved her off with a grumble and looked away, slumping in his chair again.

Emily's lips pursed. Her head tilted. "How worried should we be about our brother?" She directed the question at Charlie. "Mom and your dad told us that it's under control. Our police protection just says that we shouldn't worry, they'll get him. I understand that they are trying to keep us calm," she gestured helplessly, "but it's not exactly working."

Charlie thought about what, if anything, that he should tell them. He straightened in his chair and shrugged. He finally decided that if he was sitting on that side of the table, he would want to know. He had a unique perspective, being one of the police that was trying to keep them safe. At the same time, he guessed he was one of them now too. "They're going to use the funeral as a way to draw him out. Your brother is pretty safe for now, and Phillip Stroh has always preferred a hands-on approach to things, so he'll be safe at the service. Rusty is bait," he said plainly. "Dad is worried about it, and I know that your mom is too. I think their main issue is keeping Rusty patient long enough to pull this off. The idea is that Stroh will come out of hiding and follow Rusty back to the safe house. When he tries to move on him there, they'll be able to either capture him, or stop him."

"Just like that?" Ricky frowned. "I thought this guy was supposed to be some kind of super villain?" He glanced around the table before his gaze settled on Charlie again. "He was smart enough to not get caught for years, right? Then he managed to break out of jail, he's even tried to get at Rusty before. If he can do all of that, what makes them think that he's just going to tag along after a fake funeral service and try to get Rusty while he's surrounded by cops?" A frown drew his brows together. "That seems pretty stupid to me."

"Desperation." Charlie explained. "We don't think that it's going to happen immediately. Stroh will follow Rusty back to the safe house, but it will probably take some time before he eventually makes his move. It won't be immediate. They've got it staged out. They will make it look like they are withdrawing police protection, keeping a basic detail in place. Stroh managed to escape from custody in a courthouse surrounded by cops. I don't think he's worried about one small safe house in the middle of the city with a couple of patrol cars parked out front. On top of that, he's going to want to get this done so that he can get out of town again. That's where the desperation comes in to play. Your mom kicked his ass. I figure he wants to get it over with and get the hell out of dodge while he still can."

"What does dad say about it?" Nicole asked quietly. "That might be the plan, but what does he think, Charlie?" She didn't know Rusty well, but she had met him. He was a nice young man who seemed to have overcome a lot. She had even watched his VLOG a couple of times while he was still doing it. She knew that their dad was fond of him, proud of him even.

"He's worried." Charlie sighed. "More worried than I think he wants anyone to know. I had to ask around to get some details, but from what I found out, your little brother is good at slipping his protection." He rested his arms against the table and studied the other two. "Lieutenant Cooper, he's one of the guys helping keep an eye on you, I talked to him about it. He ran the Op a couple of years ago when they used Rusty to flush out another suspect. He said that they had concerns going into it because Rusty managed to get away from his detail a few times. He was stubborn, didn't like to listen. They had to scare the crap out of him to finally get him to pay attention. Later on during the operation, Rusty slipped his surveillance and the guy they were looking for almost managed to get him. Turns out your mom ended up saving him." Charlie lifted his tea glass and took a sip. For once he wished it was something stronger. "Cooper thinks that Rusty has grown up a lot, but he's still Rusty. He's worried that he'll get frustrated and decide to finish this on his own. Dad seems to agree with him, and I think your mom does too. She's talking about wanting to get out of the hospital, go to the safe house and keep an eye on things. Dad has agreed for right now, but he's hoping that her doctors will either not release her or he can change her mind."

"That will never happen." Ricky shook his head. "Mom is pretty stubborn, especially when it comes to her kids."

"So is dad." Nicole told them. "Don't worry, he isn't going to let anything happen to her."

It wasn't really Sharon that she was worried about, however. Ricky met her gaze. "She won't let anything happen to him," he said.

"I should get back." Charlie stretched before he stood. "I'll let you know if I hear anything." He pushed his chair back in and then leaned against it for a moment. "All of this is pretty screwed up. We're all trying to figure it out. Thanks for, you know, coming by and all that. I'm sorry if I was an ass. That was really nice of you."

The Raydor siblings glanced at one another. It was Emily that decided to speak. "We won't pretend to know what you're going through right now. We won't insult you by saying that we can imagine it, because we can't. I don't even know that either of us can say that we know how we would feel if we were in your place because I've never allowed myself to think about it. What I will say is that I am very sorry, Charlie, for your loss. You don't know us and we don't know you, but we are here if you need anything, and maybe between the four of us we can figure out a way to stay sane through all of this."

Charlie made a face at her. His lips twisted into something that might have been a crooked grin. "See, that's your first mistake. You're dealing with Flynns. We don't do sane very well."

Ricky waited until he had gone before he lifted his glass in salute to his new stepsister. "Bless you. There are two of them."

Nicole's face settled into the first genuine smile that she had managed since learning that her mother had been killed. "He refuses to see it, but yes. Charlie is so much like our dad that sometimes it's a little scary. Mom worried he might end up turning out exactly like him. Every time he had a beer with dinner or picked up a glass of wine, she would worry. Charlie is so determined to be everything that our dad isn't he can't see that he is just like him. It has gotten better the last couple of years." She shrugged. "I call it the Sharon Effect and I know that it makes your mom feel a little odd, but honestly, since dad has been with her, his relationship with Charlie has gotten better. I just don't think that either of them can recognize that yet. Dad backed off, he decided to let Charlie come to him, and it's working. They're both just… really hard-headed."

She looked down as her smile faltered. Nicole's eyes closed as moisture filled them. When she looked up again their dark depths had dulled with sadness. "I'm really glad that your mom is okay," she said thickly. "Part of me was really angry at first. Why did it have to be our mom? She didn't have anything to do with Phillip Stroh. I was really mad at my dad for putting her in that position. Like it was his fault, because if he wasn't getting remarried then mom wouldn't have gone by there with the annulment papers, you know? I wanted to hate them both for that. Our mom has been the one person that's always been constant in our lives." Nicole reached up and swept a tear away from her cheek. She shook her head. "I guess you know what that feels like. Then Charlie told me what your mom said, how it all happened, and you know… that's just like our mom. There was no way that she was going to run. She was always a fighter. This whole thing is never going to make sense to me, but I'm glad that she was fighting. As much as it hurts, as much as part of me wishes that my mom was still here, I am truly thankful that Sharon is okay. I don't know what we would do if we had lost them both."

Ricky got out of his chair. He moved around the table and sat down closer to Nicole. "I'm sorry this is happening," he told her, "I wish that it had ended differently. I know mom does too. I'm sure she will tell you that when she can."

"I feel terrible because I haven't been to see her," Nicole admitted. She wiped away another tear. "She has been really great to us. I'm just worried that I will break down and I know that she and dad don't need that right now. Charlie doesn't know her; he isn't going to be emotional with her right now, so I'm letting him be there for both of us. I just feel like I'm being such a bad stepdaughter. I wanted this for them so much, and this is how it's starting…"

"Don't be." Emily leaned against the table. "Trust me, mom understands. I think you're right to stay away, and maybe that sounds terrible, but as someone who is really worried about her mother… I know that mom would focus entirely on you, and that really isn't good for her right now."

"God." Nicole ran her hands over her face and into her hair. "We are a mess, aren't we? Look at us."

"Not a mess," Ricky told her. "We're just coping. It's all we can do."

"How about we start working on those lists?" Emily smiled gently at her. She decided that if they could keep their minds focused, that might help. "I suggest that we order something to eat and open a bottle of wine while we're at it."

Nicole took a moment to wipe her cheeks again before she nodded. "I think you're right. Let's take care of that. I'll just let Dean know to keep an eye on the boys." She pushed out of her chair. She considered her guests for a moment before she turned away. It was awkward, but she was glad that they had come by. Her friends and cousins could be sympathetic, and Dean was doing everything that he could to be what she needed, but she supposed that the only people that would really understand were the strangers that were sitting on her patio. She would accept their presence and their help. Even if, truthfully, at the moment, she just wanted her dad.

-TBC-

A/N: This is written all the way through chapter 14, although I'm not finished yet. I am simply finding it difficult to get time to edit and post. My apologies for the long delays, and thank you so much to everyone who has continued to stick with it! You all rock!