February 13th 8:30pm-
Aiden stepped into the bar expecting it to be a little darker than what he had actually gotten, the décor was upbeat and nice, and the clientele was also a little higher scale. He looked around and spotted Antonia across the room, her hand waving to him from a small table in the back. He smiled and made his way through the small crowd of people who were standing around and talking, and carefully slid into the chair across from her. "So, why did you want to come here?" He asked, looking around at everyone as he reached for her hand.
"Because I had an extremely long day, and I've earned a drink… or three." She said, watching him tilt his head and wince a bit. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He shook his head.
"You don't have to stay here with me, Aiden. I can take a taxi home." She said, sensing his uncomfortableness, she sighed.
"I'll stay, I'll stay." He said, looking up to the waitress as she approached the table.
"What can I get for you guys?"
"I'll have a bourbon, neat." She said, smiling at the waitress, her eyes glancing to Aiden, who lifted his eyebrow. "He'll have a soda pop." She glared playfully.
"I'll just have a beer, please." Aiden said, glaring back at Antonia. He smiled up at the waitress, and she nodded, stepping away from the table to put in the order. "There is no need for sarcasm, Tex."
"I just feel like you're judging me because I'd like to imbibe, and I think it's completely within my right to feel a bit hurt by that." She said, watching as he shook his head, a slight smile on his face.
"I just think that drinking at the end of a long day is a bad idea. It breeds habit, and habits can lead to addictions." He shrugged.
"I think I have a pretty good handle on my habits, Agent Fitzgerald." She said, gratefully accepting the drink from the waitress. She watched as he eyed her across the table. "I am starting to believe that you may have had a drinking problem in your past, maybe another addiction… Sex? Drugs?"
"Rock and roll." He said, giving her a wide-eyed smile as he took a sip, he watched her laugh as she sipped at her drink. "You are an adult. I'm not going to lecture you." He said, shrugging.
"You do understand that by saying that you're not lecturing me, you are in fact, lecturing me?" She said, taking another sip.
"Just drink your bourbon, woman." Aiden teased. He sat back in his chair and watched her for a moment, gently drumming his fingertips on the table. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet for lunch."
She shrugged and sighed. "It happens."
"I saw your little drawings in Hodgins' office." He smiled, watching her eyebrow lift as she sipped her bourbon.
"You did, did you?" She said, now drumming her own fingers on the table. "I'm not Renoir, but I think I could hold my own against some five or six-year old kids at the time." She teased. "Hodgins and I were quite the pair when I was little. Outside of my grandfather, I think he was my biggest male influence." She shrugged, just speaking out loud, not really thinking about what she was saying.
"Not your father?" Aiden asked, catching the look on her face as her eyes moved to the glass, she lifted it to her lips and dropped the rest of the bourbon down her throat. "I'm going to get myself another drink." She said, standing up quickly, she rushed off to the bar.
She returned a couple minutes later with two glasses of bourbon, setting them on the table, she looked across at Aiden, and he shook his head. "Oh, these are both for me, don't worry." She said, sighing as she took a sip from one of the glasses. She smiled at him, and he lifted his eyebrows expectantly. "Oh, you want me to start talking…?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.
"I'm assuming that's why you brought over the double shot of liquid courage." He said, nodding to the two glasses. "Are you alright?" He asked, watching as she trembled a bit as she lifted the glass. "You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to, Tex. I am just making conversation."
"Poking holes in my story? Being an investigator?" She teased, sipping a little more.
He laughed, shaking his head. "No, being an involved boyfriend." He reached out and pulled the glass from her lips. "You can talk to me about anything."
"Well, you know about what happened today, about… what's his name." She said, shrugging.
"Alex Gordon. Yeah." He nodded. "So he's suspended?"
"Pending review, yes. Mom said she's noticed him acting a little squirrelly around me, and it was making her uncomfortable. I just assumed he was trying to suck up to me." She shrugged. "The car thing was really the final straw for me though." She said, shuddering a little. "I don't even like it if someone waits for me at a restaurant, let alone in a dark parking garage." She sighed. "As for our victim, we'll be putting the markers on the skull today, hopefully have an ID tomorrow." She nodded, taking another sip. She watched him over her glass for a few moments, as he just watched her. "How was your day?"
"Busy." He said, shrugging. He sipped his beer and just continued watching her, and he could tell that it was making her a bit unnerved. She swallowed the rest of that glass, and moved onto the next. "Hey, slow down a little bit. I don't want to have to drag you out of here over my shoulder."
"I'll be fine." She said, narrowing her eyes as she took another sip, almost daring him to say something more, and of course he took her up on it.
"I'm getting a little tired of the cat and mouse game." He said, sipping his beer, he sat back and watched her confused expression. "I ask a question, you deflect… I tell you that you can talk about whatever you want, and you just rattle off a bunch of things that I already know. Tell me something that I don't know."
"You get grumpy when you drink." She muttered, licking her lips.
"Ping." He said, making a face.
"What was that?"
"The sound of you deflecting another question." He said, knowing that he was just getting her worked up.
They sat for several minutes, her eyes focused him as he sighed and watched her think about what he was asking her for, what he could possibly want to know. It felt like he had something specific he wanted to ask. "What do you want to know?" she asked, lifting her eyebrows, she watched him cross his arms over his chest, and shrug.
"I want to know why… in all of the pictures that you drew for Hodgins when you were a little girl… why there isn't one representation of your father." He said, leaning forward. "You drew your mom… you drew Hodgins, you even drew your stuffed elephant… but I don't see your dad in any of those drawings." He said, leaning on the table. He dropped the challenging tone from his voice, and settled on curious, as he could see the stubbornness starting to rise in her expression. "Was he out of the picture? Did you not know him? I'm just curious… because your dad said that they had been partners for over 35 years, you're 27… and if math serves me right, he'd have been around."
Antonia stared at the amber liquid in the glass in front of her, swirling it around for a moment before looking up at Aiden. He could see that it was starting to get to her, as her eyelids were drooping slightly. "Well…" She said, speaking to her glass. "Dad did mis-count a few of those years." She said, sighing. "Because for about four and a half of them, he was in the witness protection program."
"He was in the witness protection program?" Aiden repeated.
"I mean, sort of, I guess." She said, shaking her head and shrugging. "He was supposed to be, but he went AWOL… and… and I don't really understand what happened." She said, shaking her head. "There was a plane explosion, and he was supposed to have been on it. I guess he was on it…" she shrugged. "The FBI faked his death because of some case he had been working on."
"When was this?"
"I don't know, like 30 years ago…" She shrugged. "I have newspaper articles about it. I just don't open that box, Aiden." She said sternly, looking at him angrily as she drank the rest of what was in her glass, setting it on the table just a little too hard.
"The timeline still doesn't add up." He said, shaking his head.
Antonia closed her eyes. "If you're talking about me, then… no, the timeline doesn't add up." She opened her eyes and looked him in the eyes. "He is my biological father, there is absolutely no doubt in that." She swallowed hard. "I was three years old by the time Dad came out of hiding." She swallowed hard, her tongue felt dry, her head was spinning. "It all just sucks, Aiden, okay?" She said, slamming her hand on the table, she jumped at her own sound. She took several moments to find her words, finding them at the tips of her fingers as she stared at her hands before looking up at him. "My sister… my brother… they at least got a good start at a normal childhood, you know? Conceived the old fashioned way, out of love, or passion, or whatever. I was conceived in a goddamned petrie dish, I was conceived in guilt, and mourning, and sadness… I wasn't even given a fair start." She said, pointing her finger at him as she shook her head. "I wasn't even given a fair start." She sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. "I'm thirsty." She mumbled.
"So your mother told you that he was dead?" He asked, watching as she placed her hands on the table in front of her, her eyes moving to the two empty glasses.
"She genuinely thought he was dead." She said seriously. "Like, really severe depression, graveside sobbing, and a complete shut down of all work with the FBI. She never said the word dead to me, but I knew, a kid knows, or thinks she knows." Antonia let out a sarcastic laugh. "I need to go." She said, as she started to get up, but he put his hand on her arm, and she sat down hard. "I have to go." She whispered, her eyes pleading with him.
"No, you're not going anywhere." He said, watching her settle back in her seat, she put her head in her hands. "You don't have to talk about it anymore, but you aren't leaving without me."
She laughed again bitterly. "You don't want to go home with this." She shook her head. "I'm really not worth it." She sat for several moments, her head in her hand as she stared at the table. "Aiden, did you ever have an invisible friend when you were younger?" She asked, watching as he tipped his head a bit, unsure of what she was asking. "Like, did you… did you have a… friend, like… a make believe friend that you'd talk to, or tell people you talked to."
"I guess, maybe." He shrugged. "I don't remember, but if you talk to my mother, she could tell you."
"I had one." She said, sighing. "He was a really good friend. His name was Deuce." She said, staring at her hands.
"Deuce." Aiden nodded. "Like your stuffed elephant."
"Yes." She said, smiling a little and nodding. "Well… Deuce was real, he wasn't invisible at all… he just told me that he was… the real one, I mean… not the toy. Oh God, I'm so drunk." She mumbled.
Aiden chuckled a little, watching as she shook her head. "It's okay." He said, touching her hand, she let him rub his thumb over the palm of her hand for a few moments.
"Aiden, this is just… nobody outside of my family knows about this, or understands it, and I really think that I should just stop. I'm just…" She whispered as tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I don't feel very well." She whispered.
"I love you, Antonia." He said softly, watching as her dark eyes met his across the table. She must have looked surprised by his admission because her tears stopped, at least for the moment, and she sniffled. "I hadn't said it since I sat down. I wanted to make sure you knew." He said, continuing to rub her palm softly with his thumb. She stared at his hand for a moment, his thumb rhythmically moving across her skin, she felt a shiver make its way up her hand to her neck, and the alcohol was coursing through her system pretty well. She brought his hand to her face, closing her eyes as she placed it against her cheek. "What are you doing?" He asked, a bit of humor in his question as she looked up at him.
"I just wanted to make sure you were real, not invisible." She said, feeling his hand against her hot cheek. She closed her eyes. She felt his thumb moving slowly across her cheek, and when she opened her eyes, he was looking directly into them. "I'm the kind of girl you leave behind, Aiden." She whimpered.
"Tex." He said, shaking his head.
She let go of his hand and sat for a moment staring at the table. She let out a big sigh, and looked at Aiden with a pained expression. "Jack was in the lab today." She said, shaking her head. "Jack never comes to the lab." She looked up at Aiden. "He went into my mom's office, closed the door. You know what that means, right?" Her speech was slurring, and she swirled the droplets of bourbon in the bottom of the empty glass. He could tell she was starting to get worked up about something else, and wasn't exactly sure how to stop it.
"That he had a private conversation with your mother?" Aiden asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Nice deduction, Sherlock." She glared. "No. Grace and Jack are going to get engaged." She sighed. "She's going to get engaged, and they're going to get married, and have beautiful blue eyed, curly headed babies… and Auntie Toni is going to be that old spinster Aunt that they see on holidays, but don't really know… and she smells like peppermint and sadness…"
Aiden laughed. "You don't smell like peppermint and sadness."
"No, but I will…" She said, leaning her head on her hands as she looked across the table at Aiden. "I will." She sighed. "Maybe I'll have a cat… you know? I can like, dress it up in people clothes, walk it around town in a little stroller."
"Yeah, that's not weird." Aiden shook his head. He sighed, as they were interrupted by Antonia's phone ringing. He could tell that she was in absolutely no state to be answering the phone, but was way too quick for him. She picked the phone up off the table and turned away from him.
"Hello." She said, glaring at Aiden across the table as he held his hand out to her to take the phone. She swatted at his hand and glared. "Oh, hey Grace!" She said, her eyes widening as Aiden's movements became more frantic. He leaned over the table as he tried to grab the phone from her hand. "Stop it." She said, swatting at him. "No, not you… no… Aiden is attacking me…" She said as he stopped for a moment and glared at her. "No, it's fine, we're just out and about, doing stuff and things and you know." She laughed uproariously. "No… no, I'm not drinking. Nope." She said, glancing at the empty glasses. "What was that? Jack asked you to marry him? Wow… I am so surprised." She said, gritting her teeth as she struggled with Aiden as he tried to grab the phone. "That's wonderful." She gritted her teeth and sighed, still swatting at Aiden. "I'm looking forward to your perfect wedding and your perfect children, and your perfect life… I have to go, I have to go jump off a bridge now." She said as she hung up the phone and slammed it hard on the table, listening to the screen crunch under her hand. "Aw, crap." She mumbled, lifting it slowly as she looked at the severely cracked screen, the phone going dark. "Crap, crap." She mumbled as she poked at it. "I broke it."
Aiden grabbed the phone out of her hand and looked at her with a shocked expression. He shoved it into his pocket and stood up, moving to her side. "I think it's time to go home." He said softly, watching her eyes lift to his, she looked like she was about to be sick.
"I don't want to go home." She whimpered.
"It's time." He said, reaching for her hand. "I think we've done enough damage for one day." He said, holding out his hand to her. "Three bourbons… definitely your limit."
"Um, I had one at the bar when I brought the other two back here." She said, smiling drunkenly at him as he looked at her with no humor in his expression. "So that's four bourbons." She said, holding up five fingers. "I hate myself right now." She mumbled.
"Yeah, I get that feeling." He said, as he took her arm and helped her from her seat, she could barely stand up. Aiden dropped money on the table, paying for much more than what they had ordered, but just happy to be getting out of the bar, and he helped her into her coat, as she pouted, and tried to help. They walked out onto the street, and the cold February air smacked them in the face. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, and he was sure he knew who it was. There was no time to check it, he needed to get her to the car and get them home.
"I'm sorry." She said as they stepped up to the car, her eyes full of sorrow and fear. "You can call me a cab, it's okay." She whimpered.
"I'm not calling you a cab." He said, helping her into the car, he reached over and buckled her in, as she tilted her head back and started to cry. "No, no… no crying…" He whispered, dropping a kiss on her nose, she just continued to cry.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. "Please don't be mad at me." She whimpered.
He said nothing as he closed her door and walked around the front of the car, opening the driver side door, she looked over at him and sniffled. "I love you." He said, reassuring her as she sobbed.
"I don't deserve you." She said, trying to catch her breath as she cried.
Aiden drove through the streets quickly, his phone still buzzing in his pocket as he ignored it for now, his hand on Antonia's as he tried to help her keep it together long enough to get to his apartment. He pulled up to the side of his building, parking the car in its space, he walked around and opened her door. By now, she had stopped crying, but was sniffling, rubbing her eye with the heel of her hand. He reached across and unbuckled her seatbelt as he helped her from the car.
"This isn't my apartment." She mumbled, holding onto him as he shook his head.
He said nothing, only helped her from the car and up the steps to the door. She leaned her head into his shoulder and sniffed. He unlocked the door and they stepped inside sloppily as he unlocked his apartment door and they stepped inside. "Okay…" He said, sighing. "Bedtime."
"Sexy bed time?"
"Uh, no." He said, shaking his head. "Not tonight." He said, walking with her across the apartment to the bedroom. He pulled her coat from her shoulders, and tossed it on a chair. "Before I put you in my bed, are you going to be sick?"
"I am sick." She nodded her head. "I'm mentally unstable." She mumbled.
"Are you going to be sick, Antonia?" He asked again.
"I don't think so." She mumbled. He walked with her toward the bedroom, sitting her on the bed, he pulled her shoes off, and stood up, watching her look at him as he watched her. "I'm sorry." She whimpered.
"It's fine." He said, watching as she shook her head. "I was the one asking the questions, and I should have stopped. I'm sorry." He said softly.
"I'm so sorry." She whimpered. "I love you, please don't hate me. Please?"
"I don't hate you." He said softly. "Quite the opposite."
"Grace is going to kill me." She said, flopping backwards on the bed, she started pulling at the blankets.
"Alright there, Tex." He said, pulling her legs onto the bed, he tugged at the blankets until she could slide under the covers. "Okay…" He said, kissing her lips, she grabbed his collar.
"Sleep with me." She said, sniffling.
"I have to do a couple things, and then I'll be in bed… just close your eyes."
"I don't want to go to sleep, I want you to make love to me." She said, continuing to hold his shirt tightly.
"No." he said shortly, shaking his head. "I will not make love to you when you are in this state. You need some rest, and we'll talk when you can think clearly." He said, running his fingers through her hair, he sat beside her on the bed.
"I thought I was pretty clear." She said, sighing.
"Close your eyes, Tex."
"Why? So the pain will go away?" She whimpered.
"Yes." He whispered.
"The pain won't ever go away, Aiden. It never goes away. I am a broken person." She said sadly. "It never goes away." She whimpered.
"I'll make it go away." He whispered, "I'm here, and I love you." He whispered, kissing her forehead as her eyes closed slowly, her lip still trembling.
"I love you, Aiden." She whimpered. "I've never told anyone that before."
"I love you." He whispered.
"Please don't leave me." She whimpered sleepily.
"You can trust me." He said, watching as she slowly calmed. "I'm right here, baby." He whispered. "I love you."
"Love you." She whispered, finally allowing herself to finally calm down, the last thing she heard before she fell asleep was Aiden promising her that he would be right there with her when she woke up. He watched her sleep, as he stood up slowly, making his way to the phone to see if he could put out any fires before they became too out of control.