Agnes
Part 9
Author's Note: I have to admit, after watching the Bino episode I was swooning over the Keenler love. But one word stuck out for me and I've used it here just for fun.
This is the longest chapter yet!
The movie referenced here is The Lucky One
Please review.
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"Hey Ma," Don said as his mother opened the door to his childhood home. "This is Agnes."
"Hello Little lady," Josie Ressler said as she leaned over and greeted Agnes.
Agnes hid behind Ressler's legs a little.
"This is my mom Josie," Don said as he looked down at the little girl holding onto his leg.
"Hi," Agnes said quietly.
Don looked at her confused; he wasn't sure why she was being so shy.
"Come on," Don said as he walked inside with her hanging onto his pant leg and sticking to his side.
He dropped her bag and his in the living room and looked at his mother who had just heard about Agnes from his cousin, Sadie the pediatrician.
"This is new," she said as she looked at Don.
"Sorry, it's only been a few weeks," Don said. Technically it had been six, and his mother would get that out of him at some point this weekend.
Josie nodded and looked at Agnes.
"I've still got the swings out back from when the boys were little," Josie smiled at Agnes. "You want to give those a try?
Agnes' face lit up and then she looked at Don.
"Come on sweetie, let's go out back," Don said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to guide her in front of him.
They walked into the yard and Don was immediately assaulted with memories from his childhood. Running around with his friends, soaking each other with the water hose, freezies, swinging so high you could launch yourself off the seat…
"It's still safe?" Don asked as he eyed his mother.
"Your father cemented it in," Josie said. "It's why it's still there."
Don chuckled and gestured toward the swings.
"Go give it a try," Don said as he smiled down at Agnes.
Agnes nodded and walked toward the swings then stopped and looked back at him.
"I'm not going anywhere," Don said to reassure her.
Agnes nodded and got on a swing and started to pump her legs so she could get going.
"She's your partner Liz's daughter?" Josie asked.
Don nodded. He had shared little of his life with his mom, had not been home much over the last few years, and was guilted into making this trip home by her when she called him to ask why he had a child she didn't know about, but Sadie did.
"Sorry," Don said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I should have told you more."
"She's yours?" Josie asked.
Don looked at Agnes swinging. It was a fair question in his neighborhood. Many teen pregnancies, absent fathers, custody battles, and paternity test fights had happened on these streets.
"No," Don said.
Josie looked at him in disbelief.
"No, ma," Don said as he met her eyes. "She's not mine. Her dad died and her mom, my partner Liz, needed to go away for a bit."
"Uh huh," Josie said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Don looked at his mom and realized where he got this habit of crossing his arms over his chest.
"And you and this Liz are involved?" Josie asked him.
Don tightened his jaw, at this age, he wasn't sure this was any of his mother's business.
"We are," Don answered honestly.
"For how long?" Josie asked.
"Ma…" Don started.
"I find out you are raising someone else's child, you come home for the first time in years, and I'm not allowed to ask some questions?" His mother hissed.
"About a year now," Don said.
"So, that's why she's so attached to you?" Josie asked as she nodded toward Agnes.
Don nodded. He didn't want to say that she really wasn't until he started to care for her, but that was a longer story he didn't need to share with his mother.
"When did her father die?" Josie asked.
"She wasn't even a toddler," Don said.
Josie nodded. Her son was the closest thing this little girl had to a father.
"Thanks for having us," Don said. Really, he had no plans to get on a plane and go to Detroit for an extended weekend, but after his mother had let him have it on the phone, he felt there wasn't much choice.
"Donnie, you are always welcome," Josie said as she held his arm. "I just wish you came home more often."
Don nodded.
"Robby will be happy to see you," Josie said.
Don looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Be nice," Josie warned.
"Ma, I'm always nice, but there's a point where it becomes one dig too many," Don said.
"Well, be nice for the sake of her," Josie said as she nodded toward Agnes who was now happily swinging. "She's not comfortable already, don't make it worse."
Don nodded he would put up with his brother's bullshit for the sake of Agnes.
"So, what do you and she do?" Josie asked, trying to picture her son as a single dad with a little girl.
"We baked cookies, once," Don chuckled. "Then I discovered pilsbury cookies and that was a hell of a lot easier."
Josie chuckled. "That's all I ever made you and you didn't turn out so bad."
Don smiled. His mother wasn't one for many compliments, she was a nice woman, but not June Cleaver.
"She's joined an all-girls little league," Don said. "She is getting good."
His mother smiled. "My god, how many years did you play baseball?"
"Until I graduated from high school," Don said.
"Do you play now?" Josie asked.
"No," Don said. "The job keeps me busy. But I do play some pick-up basketball every once in a while."
"She do anything else?" Josie asked.
"Ballet ended, so basically it's little league and day camps," Don said. "We go to the park a lot and she loves Elsa and Anna."
Josie smiled at her son in his forties knowing about Elsa and Anna.
"How are you doing with all of this?" Josie asked as she watched Agnes hop off the swing and start toward them.
"I'm okay," Don said nodding his head. "It's an adjustment but we're managing."
Don looked at Agnes coming toward them and smiled.
"You all done swinging?" He asked.
Agnes nodded.
"Your Uncle Owen has a new pool," Josie said. "He said you are welcome to come over and swim any time you like this weekend."
"He still live two houses down?" Don asked, ashamed he had lost touch with his family.
Josie nodded.
"Go get on your suits and I'll go over with you," she said before she walked back toward the house.
"You want to go for a swim?" Don asked Agnes.
She nodded. He, luckily, had packed her a bathing suit thinking that if it was hot, he could set up a sprinkler for her to run through.
"Alright, let's go," Don said as he ushered her inside.
That afternoon found them swimming in his uncles above ground pool with his cousin's kids who were only a little older than Agnes. She had a blast having other kids to play with and splash around with. Don enjoyed catching up with his cousin Nikki, uncle and aunt, and they stayed for hamburgers and drinks late into the evening while the kids swam, built a fort, caught bugs, played tag, and eventually went inside to watch an animated Dragon movie. His brother Robby and his latest girlfriend Maggie even joined them, and they managed to laugh together for the first time in years.
Honestly, it was the most relaxing and enjoyable day Don had had in a very long time. It was nice having another person around to talk with about kids and ask questions to. It was nice hearing and sharing old stories from his childhood with his mom, brother, aunt and uncle. And it was good to see Agnes open up and basically ignore him for many hours because she was having so much fun with some other kids. He needed to plan more play dates for her.
Late into the evening, he picked a sleeping Agnes up off the sofa and carried her back to his mom's house. Kissing his mom on the cheek at his childhood bedroom and Don thanked her for the great day.
"You need to come home more often Donnie," Josie smiled at him before she took a step toward her own bedroom. "And bring your little girl with you, she loved your cousins."
Don nodded and carried Agnes inside, laying her in Robby's twin bed and pulling the covers up over her, it was no use waking her up to change out of her shorts and t-shirt. He went to her bag and placed her tiger stuffie under her arm, knowing it would bring her comfort, and kissed her forehead. It was moments like this when he did wish Agnes was his daughter. He still thought about Liz calling Agnes 'our' girl and it brought a smile to his face, he did think of Agnes as his more and more each day and hoped, when Liz came home, that she could stay his.
Don shucked off his shorts and t-shirt and pulled on pajama bottoms and another t-shirt and got into his twin bed across the room from Agnes. It sank with his weight and creaked with every movement. He was a bigger man now than when he last regularly slept in this bed but there was something incredibly familiar about it that made it super comfortable.
He looked at his phone, he had noted a few messages from Liz come in throughout the day but, besides letting her know they were safely in Detroit, he hadn't texted her back.
The first thing he saw was the message: Your secret busty gf
Don burst out laughing and covered his mouth and quickly looked over at Agnes to make sure she was still asleep. Then there were 3 messages that followed:
She OK with being there?
How are things going?
Do you want to video call?
Don smiled, she was worried.
He texted back: Bianca
Then:
She's doing well—swam, caught bugs, played tag, built a fort, ate too many chips, drank too much grape pop, and feel asleep watching a dragon movie. She loved playing with my cousin's kids. You want to chat now or tomorrow when she's awake?
Don laid the phone on his chest and closed his eyes waiting to see if she was going to reply tonight or wait until the morning. The room was dark, but the streetlights still lit up the inside fairly well. He could see that his mother had straightened all the posters from his teen years, the wall had been far messier then. She'd taken down a few of them in the interest of good taste, and had otherwise, left his and Robby's childhood bedroom almost untouched. There was something comforting in that. He hoped Agnes would one day have a home that was hers without all this movement from place to place. He hoped when she was his age, she could come back to someplace like this too.
The phone vibrated and he picked it up to look.
Liz texted: Her thigh high boots, really?
Don smiled, so she was still not impressed with Bianca.
Then the next text came: Both?
Don smiled and got up from his bed and carefully walked down the hall, past his mom's room and down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible. It reminded him of his teen years when he would sneak out after everyone had gone to bed to get into trouble with his friends.
He stepped out into the yard and could hear neighbors a few doors down sitting outside on this beautiful night talking with friends and some teenagers, somewhere within a few houses, in a yard also talking. He looked back at the house, no, outside was a better option because his mom was a light sleeper and he'd wake her if he was on the phone downstairs. He turned on a string of outdoor lights by the picnic table and sat on a lawn chair.
Don went onto the app and placed a call. She picked up quickly.
"Hey, thanks for calling," Liz said with a smile.
"Are you okay?" Don asked, sensing a neediness about her texts and wanting a call now and in the AM.
"Yeah," Liz sighed. "A lead I thought was going to get me back to you and Agnes didn't pan out. I'm a little bummed out today."
"I'm sorry," Don said, honestly.
He watched Liz's face, and she was deeply saddened by the events that got her to a place where this didn't work.
"It's set me back weeks," she said as she met his eyes. The sadness apparent.
Don swallowed. Their goal had been the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall. Weeks meant…
"Christmas?" Don asked.
"I'm hoping not that far," Liz sighed before she dropped her head and started to cry.
"Liz, shhhhh," Don said softly. He wanted nothing but to wrap his arms around her in that moment but that was obviously not going to happen.
"I'm sorry," Liz cried as she wiped at her face. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Don said. "We'll get there."
Liz nodded and wiped at her face again. "I hate this."
"Crying?" Don asked, trying to get her to smile.
"Well, yeah, but this…this separation," Liz said as she met his eyes with her watery ones. "I hate every part of it."
Don nodded, he knew what she meant.
He watched her take a deep breath.
"My next move is going to take me somewhere where this may not be as frequent," Liz said as she closed her eyes. "And I can't imagine not having this…"
He watched her start to cry again.
"Liz, we'll figure it out," he said softly. He was so worried that this next plan of hers was more dangerous. "Is it safe?"
"None of what I'm doing is safe," she said in a thready whisper. "This next one…"
Don swallowed hard, he knew what she wasn't saying. It was risky, whatever she was doing was risky.
"Is there another way, maybe with Reddington's help or Cooper or…." Don said, not wanting her to get hurt.
She shook her head vigorously in the negative.
Don swallowed hard again, he hated this. He hated her out there, without him. He hated that she was in danger. He hated so many things about this.
He sighed and shifted on his lawn chair and leaned heavily on his knees.
They sat like that, neither looking at the screen for several minutes but just crying and breathing and processing the information.
Liz was the first to break the silence.
"It sounds like it was a good day?" She said, trying to sound lighter.
Don nodded and wiped at his eyes.
"Honey, come on, tell me about the day," Liz said softly.
Don took a deep cleansing breath and sat up in his chair and looked at her.
"I haven't been home in a long time, Liz," Don said carefully.
"I know," Liz nodded.
"My ma, she heard about Agnes from my cousin Sadie, and it snowballed from there…" Don said. He had texted Liz through the app that they were going to Detroit to visit his family for an extended weekend but hadn't said much else. "My ma made me feel really bad, so we got on a plane and came home for a few days. Agnes was really shy around her and everyone at first, but then she warmed up pretty quickly and was one of the gang."
"Gang?" Liz asked with a smile.
"My cousin Nikki has two kids, a girl and a boy. One a year older than Agnes and one almost two years older," Don said.
"Wow, close together?" Liz said, noting that they weren't far apart.
"Irish twins are popular in this area," Don chuckled.
"Irish twins?" Liz asked.
"Kids born less than a year apart," Don supplied.
"Oh," Liz chuckled and nodded.
"She was a maniac all day Liz, running here and there, jumping in and out of the pool, flighting with play swords and defending forts," Don said. "It was nice to see. Oh, I got some video…"
"You do?" Liz asked, her eyes brightening. She was missing out on so much.
"Here," Don said as he uploaded it to the app.
He watched as Liz watched it and smiled.
Agnes was running around in a bathing suit and flip flops wearing a hard hat and with ropes strung around her body and a foam sword tucked into a rope belt. She ran into the fort made of lawn chairs and blankets and emerged with someone she had freed. Don could hear Agnes telling Anthony that she would save him. They ran off together around the above ground pool and fits of laughter could be heard. Don had got up off his chair and walked around the pool to film Agnes rolling on the ground laughing with both Anthony and Olivia, the three of them talking through full belly laughs about what the next story would be. The video then stopped.
Liz was, of course, crying and laughing at the same time.
"She's so happy," Liz said, her worry that Agnes would be traumatized by her leaving abated. "And beautiful."
"She's going to be a looker, like her mom," Don said with a smile.
She then started to cry harder.
"Liz…." Don pleaded.
She looked at the camera and nodded, trying to stop the crying.
"Liz, it's going to be fine," Don said. "You're going to do this, I have no doubt. And come back to us. You will. I know it."
Liz nodded and wiped at her eyes. And looked into the camera.
"I'm sorry, I must look…"
"Beautiful?" Don asked her. "I think that works."
He winked at her and she chuckled.
"I was going to say a nightmare," Liz snickered.
"Never," Don said, honestly.
She wiped at her nose and looked at him fully.
"You look like the man I love," Liz said softly.
Don smiled.
He watched as Liz for several minutes as she tried to gather herself together and stop crying.
"You're bringing up Bianca?" Don chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood.
"My arch nemesis? Yes," Liz said.
"No one comes close to you," Don snickered. "And she's only there when I turn on the game."
"Can't believe you built her as your partner in the game," Liz sighed. "Red hair, boobs that would topple her body over when she stood, big and beautiful ass, and those boots?"
"She's an avatar," Don said with a smile. "You're the real deal. And Bianca's a really good shot."
Liz chuckled. Only Don could be teased about a video game character.
"Except for the shooting, she's the exact opposite of me," Liz offered, she had always wondered why that was the case since discovering Bianca one night when he had insomnia and was playing it at 3am. She woke up to an empty bed, one of the few nights she had stayed at his place and found him playing a shooter game in his living room with Bianca as his partner. She had noted the character and asked him about her, discovering that Don had customized her, and she was his partner in the game whenever he played.
"There's a reason for that," Don said.
"Do tell," Liz asked, interested.
Don looked around and felt stupid sharing this. He could already feel his entire body blushing and was glad it was under cover of, mostly, darkness.
"You were the reason I was up at night gaming a lot of the time," Don said. "I needed someone who didn't remind me of you so I could go back to sleep."
Liz looked at him with a furrowed brow.
Don cleared his throat and was hoping that was enough of an explanation, but could tell by the look on her face that it was not.
"I had dreams about you Liz," Don said quietly. "Before we were together. I'd wake from them…."
Liz started to smirk she had no idea this was why Bianca existed.
"Tuned up," Don finished, explaining with non-explicit wording. "I needed to relax and stop thinking about you."
"Oh my god, Bianca is the modern version of playboy under your bed," Liz whispered as she looked at him wide-eyed.
Don dropped his head in embarrassment.
"That and she's a really good partner in the game," Don offered.
"Oh my god," Liz said as she covered her mouth. "I didn't…I had…"
"Well, it's not something you usually share," Don said nervously.
"Is she…is she a fantasy or…?"
"No," Don said as he shook his head. "She is the opposite of you, which I needed if I was to get back to sleep anytime this century."
Liz smiled at him and nodded, knowing he was feeling incredibly vulnerable in this moment.
"Well then, Bianca is no longer my arch nemesis," Liz said with a smile. "She's my partner too if she has helped you wind down when needed, so you can sleep."
Don wiped the back of his neck, he couldn't believe they were having this conversation at midnight in his mother's yard.
"Well, that's the story of Bianca," Don said as he sat back in his chair, hoping the conversation was done.
Liz smiled at his cute embarrassment.
"The Lucky One," Liz said her face reddening.
Don looked at her confused.
"I have it downloaded onto my phone," Liz offered.
Don still looked at her confused by the reference.
"You've never…?" Liz started. "Of course, you haven't…"
"It's a picture or a TV show or…?"
"It's a movie with Zac Efron," Liz said. "Anyways, there's a sex scene in a shower that…"
Don looked at her confused for a moment and then realization hit him.
"Your Bianca," Don offered.
Liz bit her lip.
Don smiled and nodded.
"It's at the one-hour mark," Liz said, her face turning a deeper shade of red. "I don't know how many times I've watched it. The scene after it is nice too, but it's really the shower that…"
Don smiled and chuckled softly.
"Sexy shower scene," Don nodded.
"Outdoor shower," Liz swallowed hard. "It's…hot."
"I bet it is," Don smirked at her. "I'll have to watch it."
Liz chuckled, embarrassed by her rom-com.
"The rest of the movie is okay, but really it's just that scene that…"
"Helps you relax?" Don asked, saving her the embarrassment.
"Yeah," Liz shook her head and giggled. "I can't believe we're talking about this."
"In my ma's yard at…almost 1am no less," Don said as he looked at his watch.
"You better go," Liz said. "Agnes will be up in a few hours and…"
"Yeah, I better," Don sighed. "Are you okay?"
He thought back to the earlier part of their conversation and her crying.
"I'm much better now," she smiled.
"Good," Don smiled back. "This was an…enlightening conversation."
"It was indeed," Liz nodded and smiled. "Say 'hi' to Bianca for me."
Don chuckled.
"And you enjoy your steamy shower scene," Don smiled at her.
Liz chuckled. "We need to have another one of those private video calls again soon."
"God yes," Don sighed.
Their private video call was hot. He had asked Aram to take Agnes for a sleepover that night and had the apartment to himself. He and Liz had been online with each other for a couple of hours, talking and doing other things that made his face turn red now. But it had been exactly what both of them needed, some private, encrypted, mostly naked, adult time. At first it had felt weird, but then lust and desire had taken over and her beautiful body on the screen had made him forget all trepidations he had about the experience.
"Go to bed," Liz smiled at him. "Call me when Agnes gets up, okay?"
Don nodded.
"Goodnight, Liz," he smiled at her before they disconnected the call.
Don got up from the lawn chair and stretched his back. This situation had been extended by weeks and, except for his worries about Liz's safety and missing her, he was okay with that. He and Agnes had found their parenting groove and things had been working for the most part. If she needed to stay with him until Christmas, then that's what it would be.
Don went back into his mom's house and crawled back in the bed he had spent his entire childhood sleeping in. He pulled out his phone and found the Netflix app and downloaded The Lucky One. He would need to take a look at it and see what this shower scene was all about.
To be continued…