Well, after two weeks of waiting, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. Our lives are getting in the way of writing. Hope you enjoy it!
At 8am the next morning, Bill and Sharon are woken up by the sunlight that is shining through Sharon's bedroom window. They are snuggled up, with Sharon curled into Bill's side, her head resting on his chest.
"Good morning, beautiful," Bill says softly.
"Morning," Sharon replies, smiling at him.
Bill kisses her softly on her forehead and then climbs out of her bed. "You stay here; I will be right back with some breakfast." He leaves the bedroom and walks into the kitchen. He prepares some eggs and bacon and pours some fresh orange juice into two glasses. He places everything on a tray and carries it back to Sharon's bedroom. Sharon sits up and Bill places the tray on her lap. He walks around the bed and gets back in on his side.
Thirty minutes later, they are done eating and get out of bed to get dressed. Since it is Saturday, Sharon puts on some comfy sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Bill puts on his clothes from the day before since he doesn't have anything to change in to.
They decide to spend the day at home so Sharon can rest some more after the chemotherapy session the day before. Bill gets their book from his bag and sits down on the couch next to Sharon. She rests her legs over his and slouches down a bit to get comfortable. Bill starts reading to her:
"The raft was not as seaworthy as I'd hoped. The waves repeatedly threatened to swamp it. I wasn't afraid to die. I was afraid of the emptiness that I felt inside. I couldn't feel anything. And that's what scared me. You came into my thoughts. You filled them. It felt good."
Suddenly, they hear the door open and Rusty rushes in toward his room. This behavior worries Sharon. It seems as though he is trying to avoid facing them. Bill notices Sharon's concerned face and puts the book aside. Sharon excuses herself and with Bill's help, she gets up from the couch. She walks over to Rusty's room and softly knocks on his door.
"Rusty, are you alright? You're worrying me."
It takes a minute until Rusty replies. "It's nothing."
"You mind me coming inside for a moment then?" She feels like she is having dejá-vu.
"Actually, since Bill is here, I would prefer him coming in here first."
This concerns Sharon even more now, so she quickly calls for Bill who comes rushing over.
"Bill, I think Rusty is hurt, he doesn't want to let me in, but he asked for you."
"Let me get my bag real quick."
Sharon nods and then lets Rusty know that Bill will be right with him. A minute later, Bill is back. Sharon takes a step back and lets Bill enter Rusty's room.
For the next twenty minutes, Sharon is wandering back and forth in her apartment, sitting on the couch, just to get right back up. She is nervous and can't sit still.
When Bill finally comes back out of Rusty's room, Sharon hurries toward him. "Is he alright? What happened to him?"
"He is ready to tell you that himself now. He just asked me to tell you not to freak out. It really looks much worse than it actually is."
Sharon feels her heart ache. She covers her mouth with her hand, then turns around and rushes to Rusty's room. When she enters his room and sees him, she feels her eyes filling with tears. His left eye is majorly bruised and his lip is swollen. When Sharon tries to hug him, he cringes. Sharon intensely looks at him, her eyes asking what is going on.
"One of my ribs is broken, some more are badly bruised." Rusty looks down to the floor, visibly ashamed.
"Oh my god, Rusty, how did that happen? Who did that?" More tears are welling up in Sharon's eyes.
Rusty takes her hands in his. "I was out with my friend and we were having fun playing basketball in the park, and then this gang showed up and they started yelling at us. They kept insulting us so we left, but they followed us, insulting us even more. Then they ran after us and started kicking us. My friend managed to get away and ran off because I told him to, but they were holding me tight and kept kicking. When I was lying on the ground, this one guy with a baseball bat repeatedly hit me. I must have lost consciousness, because the next thing I remember was waking up at dawn. Then I made my way back home. Bill just tended to my bruises and the ribs. I hope you're not mad at me."
Sharon gasps at the pain that her son endured, alone, without his mom keeping him safe like she promised she would. She knows that she can't protect him forever, but she should be able to while he is still under her roof. "Rusty, why would I be mad at you?" Sharon asks, shocked that he would even think that. She runs a hand over his once unruly hair and leans over to place a kiss on his forehead.
"I don't know. I just thought that it was my fault, because bad things always are." As Rusty says this, he looks down at the comforter, not able to meet Sharon's gaze.
Sharon rests her hand on Rusty's knee and takes a deep breath before she begins. What she has to say will be pushing the emotional line that they have created, but it needs to be said. "Rusty, I know a lot of people have let you down in your life. I can't pretend to understand what happened when you were younger, but I'm almost certain that your mom blamed you for a lot of the bad things that happened, even though it wasn't your fault. And because of this, I am positive that you blame yourself for a lot of the bad things that happened. You need to finally understand that it wasn't your fault. I know you wanted to help her because that's the kind of person you are, but you couldn't help her. That's something that she needed to decide to do on her own, it didn't have anything to do with you. It wasn't your fault that she got addicted to drugs or that she abandoned you, it was hers. Sometimes things just happen that you can't control, like getting beaten up by a gang or me getting cancer. Rusty, I hope I don't end up as one of those people who have let you down." Sharon's voice breaks at the end, full of emotion and love. She wipes the tears that are filling her eyes and then rests her hand back on Rusty's knee.
Rusty looks up at her and says, "You're right. My mom did blame me and I do blame myself. But living with you makes me forget about that sometimes. I've never been happier. Sharon, you could never be one of the people that have let me down."
"That's good, because now I need to do something that I know you don't want me to do. Can you describe the men who attacked you? What did they look like? What were they wearing? How did they sound? Was there anything distinctive about them?"
"No, Sharon, please don't. Don't go all police captain on me. Can't you just be family in this instance and not police? I really don't want to go through this again. Can't you just let it go?"
Sharon looks down into his pleading eyes and sees a young child, her young child, begging her to stop, begging her not to go through with it. In those eyes she sees the pain of a forced adulthood and the pain of not having a mom who loves him. She looks down at her hands, the hands that held her children when they were first born and the hands that hold the phone when she is talking to them from across the country, and sighs. She wishes those hands could have held Rusty as a baby so he wouldn't have had to go through such pain. She looks back up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "Okay. I'll stop. Why don't you get some rest? I'll be in the living room."
Rusty nods his head and watches her slowly walk out of his room. He sees her hesitate before she closes the door, but then he hears it latch shut. He tenderly lies down on his bed and gently kicks off his shoes. His eyes shut just as his head hits the pillow.
Sharon walks out into the living room and finds Bill sitting on the couch, staring off into space. "Hi," she says, announcing her presence. She sits down on the couch beside Bill and looks over at him. She realizes that he still hasn't heard her and so she rests her hand on his leg and gently squeezes.
He looks over at her and says, "Sorry, I was thinking."
"About?" Sharon asks curiously, wondering what Bill could be thinking about so intensely as to not hear her.
"Nothing in particular," Bill says and smiles at her, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
Sharon looks at him curiously, knowing that he is holding something back.
"Well, I should be going," he says in a loving way, "I don't want Rusty to need you and you to not be available. He needs you, Sharon, as much as you need him."
"I know. I'm starting to figure that out. I'm sorry that we can't relax together today. I was looking forward to it."
"It's fine. We'll just have to plan for another day, a repeat of last night."
Both of them understand the meaning of that as they think back to the night before. It wasn't just sex, it was more than that, it was love.
They both stand up from the couch and Bill places a soft kiss on Sharon's lips. The corners of her lips turn up into a smile as he pulls back and they both walk over to the door. As he opens the door, he quickly turns back and gives her another kiss, and then leaves.
As Sharon closes the door, her face lights up with a huge smile and she walks over to get a glass of water. She sets the glass back on the counter after taking a drink and then walks over to sit on the couch. Just as she is sitting down, she looks at the coffee table and sees their book sitting there. He must have forgotten it in the midst of kissing her. She shakes her head and lets out a small laugh and then picks the book up from the table. Opening the front cover, she sees a small, yellow post-it note hidden in the pages. Surprised that she hasn't seen this before, she flips to the post-it note and gasps as she reads, "I hope I can some day find the courage to say this to you instead of just to myself. I love you, Sharon." She doesn't think that she was supposed to find this, so she puts it back in the book and then closes it, placing it back on the coffee table. She leans back into the couch and lets out a surprised chuckle. She quietly says to herself, "I too hope one day you will say it to me." She closes her eyes and smiles to herself.
It is then that she hears a scream come from Rusty's bedroom. As quick as she can, she stands up from the couch and then hurries over to Rusty's bedroom. Not even thinking to knock on the door, she enters his room and rushes over to sit on the side of his bed. Seeing him sitting up in bed with sweat running down his face, she gently pulls him into a hug. Forgetting about his broken rib, she curses at herself when she feels him wince. As she is about to let go, she hears Rusty say, "Don't. I don't care that it hurts, please just hold me." Obeying his wishes, she pulls him against her body and she feels his tears falling on her shoulder.
"I had a dream that you were the one that was getting beaten up by those men, not me. I was watching but I couldn't help you. I was completely helpless. You were so weak from the cancer and you couldn't fight back."
Tears continue to soak Sharon's shirt as she rubs his back, trying to comfort him. The tears begin to slow after awhile and finally Rusty clears his throat and says, "Alright, what do you need to know about the men?"
As always, reviews are appreciated! Hope you enjoyed it!