The story takes place after Pope is doing his time in Folsom and before Episode 1, Season 1 in TnT's "Animal Kingdom." I was wondering what really happened after the phone incident. Warning: contains possible abuse/belt M/M
Language warning!
"You wanted to have more responsibility, now back that up," Smurf said picking up his purse from the corner. "Yeah, Smurf, I can handle it. It's just with Pope in prison, the boys might need some time," Baz said carefully. They had all been through a lot, maybe they needed more time.
"Do you know how much that lawyer cost? A lot, Baby, now get the boys in line or I will," Smurf said as she took off to some unknown destination.
Baz took a swig of his almost empty beer and signed. This wasn't going to be fun. But Smurf was right, they had to get back to business.
"Craig! Deran! Can you guys come in here?" Baz yelled. He could hear them playing video games in Deran's room. Bang! Bang!
"Guys! Come on," Baz tried again, a bit louder. He knew they could hear him. He really wasn't sure if the family was mad at him for getting Pope put inside, or relieved. Pope has been going off the rails for a while now.
Baz slammed his empty beer on the counter and stalked off to confront the younger boys. As he expected, the door was wide open and they were hitting a bong.
"Didn't you guys fucking hear me?" Baz said irritated.
"Yeah, we heard you, man," Craig said without emotion.
"What do you want?" Deran said still killing the enemy or some shit. Baz wished he had time for games.
"What I want is for you two to grow the fuck up!" Baz said, kicking the tv off.
"Hey, you prick, we were almost at the checkpoint!" Craig exclaimed.
"Jesus Christ, dude, what an asshole!" Deran said at the same time.
Baz took a deep breath.
"Look, can we just talk a minute?" Baz said trying to calm down.
"About you being an asshole?" Craig smirked, "Sure."
"No, about business. Smurf wants, no, I want, us to get back to doing some jobs. Sooner rather than later," Baz admitted.
"So we can join Pope at Folsom? No fucking thank you," Deran said, taking another hit off of the bong.
"Look, what happened was a mistake. I feel responsible. If...never mind. This is a waste of time, you two losers, can just sit here fucking getting high while Smurf and I make the money," Baz said suddenly overcome by emotion. Baz kicked the door open wider and stalked out. Pope was his brother too. He missed his crazy ass. Baz didn't miss him stalking Catherine, but he missed hanging out with him.
Baz quickly got another beer and went to sit by the pool. It was a nice evening out here, the sun was going down. He was in such a beautiful place, but he was miserable.
A few minutes later, he heard the sliding glass door open behind him. He didn't look back.
"Hey," he heard Craig say.
"Can we talk to you?" Deran asked looking down a bit. Baz sometimes envied their closeness, without Pope, he felt the odd man out.
"Yeah, sorry about that. It's just hard to think of Pope being in there and him taking the fall for my mistake," Baz said in a low voice. "I guess I was taking it out on you guys."
"Look, Baz, he didn't just take the fall for you, it was for all of us. It wasn't your fault, man. I mean it, shit happens," Deran said with feeling.
Craig interjected, "He's right. You can't let this get you down. The lawyer said he'd be out in three or four years with good behavior or some shit."
"Pope? Good behavior? He's fucked then," Deran said with a laugh. They laughed for a minute thinking of some of the crazy shit Pope had done.
"Remember the phones, man? He ripped them all out of the goddamn walls because he thought they were tapped. Then, he tried to climb that telephone poll, right? He was damn lucky you were home that day," Craig reminisced.
Was he?, Baz wondered to himself, thinking back.
***Years before***
Pope knew that they were listening. Every time he picked up the phone, he heard a clicking. It had started a few days before. Everyone thought he was crazy. Julia almost punched him when she missed a call from her dealer because he had turned off all the ringers. When one of the phones rang, Pope tried to pick up an extension to see if he could heard the sound. Sure enough, he always heard something suspicious.
He started just unhooking the phones, hoping no one would try to make a call and plug them back in. With so many people in the house, it was never long before someone discovered his ruse. They would plug everything back in and wonder what the hell was going on. He wanted to tell them, but he knew that they would hear and probably bug the rest of the house.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when Pope found he was home alone. That didn't happen that often. Julie was at a new boyfriend's place, Deran and Craig were at a surfing competition, Baz was probably with Catherine, and Pope had no clue where Smurf was. He had heard her said that there was spicy chili in the fridge for dinner, if she wasn't back in time.
Pope thought he would just do a quick sweep of the house while he had time. Sure enough, as soon as he got to the living room, he heard it again. This is why he couldn't sleep! In a rage, he yanked the phone line out of the wall and smashed the receiver to bits on the floor. He heard the sound again! He better do all of them. This was the only way he could protect his family. Four smashed phones later, including the new cordless in Smurf's room, Pope finally sat down and relaxed. His family would be very thankful that he had taken care of this for them. Click!
What was that? How was it possible? Oh, damn! The telephone polls. He would have to disconnect the lines. Stupid him. He almost missed that.
Pope had a few cuts from destroying all the phones but didn't notice the bleed seeping everywhere. He put on some boots and got a crowbar and went out the gate. He then thought maybe garden shears would also help and stuffed those in his back pockets. Why hadn't he thought of this before? He started climbing.
Baz and Catherine had just gotten in another fight. She thought that Pope had been crank calling her during the night. Baz defended his brother and called her jealous and paranoid. Catherine also said that every time she tired to call, the phone was off the hook. Was he talking to other girls? She told him to take her home and so he did. She slammed the door and gave him the finger. Sometimes he wondered why he put up with her? She was probably thinking the same thing about him. He planned to talked to Pope about it again tonight. Maybe he owed Cath an apology? She was not dumb.
As Baz pulled into the long driveway, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Was that a bear? What the fuck? He slammed on the brakes and reversed, quickly jumping out of the car. Was that...No, it couldn't be. Yep, it was Pope? What the hell was he doing?
"Pope! What the hell are you doing, man?" Baz shouted.
"Hey Baz, don't worry, I'm going to take care of this," Pope responded happily.
"Pope, you are going to kill yourself. Get down now!" Baz screamed. Pope was loco.
"Just let me cut this line and I'll be down in a minute," Pope said as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
Baz was now terrified, "Pope, if I have to come up and get you, I am beating your ass tonight. Do you understand? Get down!"
Pope just seemed to smile. He was almost at the top now.
"That's it!" Baz started to climb up after him.
Pope took the crowbar out of his back pocket, as he looked down, he saw Baz. Startled, he dropped it. It feel inches away from Baz's head.
"Jesus Christ, Pope, you are going to get it. Stop already," Baz pleaded.
"Baz, don't worry. I said I'm taking care of it," Pope said as if he were explaining something to an extremely slow child.
The phone. Pope was the one screwing with the phones! Cath was right. It was Pope being, well, Pope.
"Pope, I took care of the phones. I swear. It's all good, buddy," Baz said calmly.
"Really, you stopped the listening devices?" Pope asked surprised.
Pope had the clippers out now, was he going to drop them onto Baz's face or electrocute them both?
"Yes! I stopped them. Let's come down and I will fill you in. Oh, Cath is in the house. She needs to talk to you," Baz said, hating himself for offering his girl up as a prize, but this was life or death.
"Cool!" Pope seemed satisfied by that.
The teens both climbed down. Baz jumped to the side a bit just in case those clippers did fall. He turned off the car and then turned to his brother.
Baz didn't know whether to punch him or hug him. So he kind of grabbed him hard and hugged him. The adrenaline was draining out of him and he suddenly felt exhausted.
"Let's go inside, Bud," Baz said kindly.
"Yeah, I need to talk to Cath. They are tapping her phone lines, too," Pope said sincerely. Baz gently pulled Pope near the house, he was afraid to let him go.
As soon as he got him inside, Baz shut and bolted the door. A normal thing to do would be to call 911 and have this boy committed. He was family, though, Smurf would never condone that.
Baz said, "Pope, you need to snap the fuck out of it. Have you been taking your meds?"
"Yes, man. Of course, Smurf said if I didn't, I was going to...," Pope looked down with embarrassment.
"I think I heard her say, '...get your ass whupped,'" Baz finished.
Pope knew where Baz was leading him. Pope's meds were to be kept in his bedside table. Now Baz was gripping his bicep firmly. He pushed Pope into his room and shut the door. Baz seemed really pissed. Surely, he wasn't going to...do anything?
"Show me," Baz said simply. The rule was that Baz used the pill container for each day so that he wouldn't forget a day of medication.
Pope hung his head and whispered, "They make me feel sick."
"Pope, bro, we have been through this before. You need the pills. You almost fucking killed yourself and me out there. I don't know what else to do with you. NO ONE ELSE is here, just me, so I'm going to deal with you," Baz yelled. He really was furious. This was not the first time Pope went off the meds and did something dangerous. And Cath was right, it was Pope calling her.
"No, Baz, I'll be okay, you'll see. I just haven't slept. Give me another chance," Pope begged. Since Baz was adopted, Pope was just slightly older. Baz had to be the big brother now, for Pope.
"I'll give you something," Baz raged.
Acting on pure instinct, Baz grabbed Pope and pushed him down on the bed. He jammed his knee into his back to pin him down as he unbuckled his belt. His biological father had done this very same thing to him many times for things such as knocking over a drink or annoying him with his crying. This was different, he was doing this out of necessity.
Pope heard the sound of the belt being pulled out of its loops. Although, he had been spanked plenty in his life, he had never heard that sound. It put a chill through his spine. He couldn't move and his upper body was now held in place by Baz's left arm. He tried to turn and saw Baz holding the now folded leather belt in his right hand.
Whap! The belt came down with a snap over his jean's encased rump.
Whack! As he felt the second swing of the belt, he yelped with fear and pain. Damn, that hurt! Slap!
Pope tried to free himself, but Baz was stronger.
"You're getting ten more, do you hear?" Baz yelled. He was bringing the belt down as hard as he could. He was mad, but also scared at what could have happened. Crack!
Pope cried, "Please, Baz, it hurts. I'll take my pills right now!"
Smack! Smack! Two fast stripes were laid down on Pope's sit spots.
"You *crack* almost *crack* killed *crack* us! *Smack*"
Pope was weeping now and trying to move out of the way of the unrelenting strap. Whap! WHAP! WHAP! These hits were lower and sting much more.
"Ahhh, no more, it burns..." Pope pleaded kicking his legs and trying to move away.
"Are you learning a lesson *SMACK* here?" Baz said, also out of breath.
He thought that was ten, but he wasn't sure. He threw down the belt on the floor, his anger spent.
Baz let go of Pope and slumped by the bed defeated. Pope clutched at his backside, trying to rub some of the sting out. He lay on the bed, with one hand massaging his ass and noticed Baz on the floor.
"Hey, that fucking hurt, man," Pope said, not sure how to act.
"I'm sorry, Andrew. I shouldn't have done that. I just got so scared," Baz cried. Pope was ashamed that he had caused Baz to breakdown. He probably should be mad that he got his butt beat, but he knew he wasn't thinking straight before. He could take a bit of a lickin', what he couldn't take was doctors and hospitals. A padded cell.
"No, man, I ...probably deserved it. I mean, I got what was coming to me. Maybe if you tell Smurf, I won't get it again tonight? Shit, maybe I'll show her my red ass too," Pope said, calming down and feeling worse for what he had forced his brother to do. The beating had actually cleared his head, maybe more than the pills ever did. He did want to check his ass, Baz really had a hell of a swing.
"You know, I got the belt about ten times worse. Sometimes..on my back until it bled. I think you'll be okay," Baz said sadly.
Pope knew what monsters Baz's parents were. This wasn't anything near what Baz went looked down on Baz and saw that his shoulders were shaking from crying so hard.
"Hey, stop! I'm okay. Bud, what's wrong?" Pope had never seen this kid so broken up, even on the worst nights with his bio parents.
"I swore I'd never do that to anyone-ever. I was so mad. Fuck! Please, man, can we forget this?" Baz pleaded.
"Of course. I would rather everyone not know that my little bro bent me over and whooped my ass, for good reason," Pope said honestly.
"Do you really mean that? I swear, I will never do that again, to anyone," Baz said meaning it. It made him sick that he took his anger and fear out on Pope.
"Brother, stop. You know I've gotten spanked a lot worse from Smurf for a lot less. I fucked up. Sorry for putting you in this position...I mean I almost dropped a crowbar on you," Pope said now gripping his shoulder. Even Baz found that funny after the fact.
Pope took his meds, they cleaned up the house, got new phones, and finally told the story, leaving out what really happened.
Now drinking beers with his other two brothers, Baz remembered that getting pissed didn't really solve much. He couldn't lose his temper and become the man he hated to this day, his father.
"So, are you guys really to get back to doing some jobs?" Baz asked.
Craig and Deran looked at each and grinned back at Baz.
"Of course, man, what are you thinking?" Deran asked.
"Well, that's this place that is a..." Baz shared his latest plan, just glad to have his remaining brothers by his side. Maybe he couldn't have saved Pope, but he had tried.