There For You

Time To Go II ( 15/15 ... THE END )

Disclaimer: I know they're not mine. I'm old and tired so, PTB, please don't slap me around for playing with your toys.

Last Time: Sara makes it clear to her father that she'll do anything, blackmail and or violence if need be, to protect her family. Frank understanding he is beaten agrees to bring Michael back home to the people he loves.

I feel strange driving down the street.

I always do.

It took nearly six month to clear his name but Michael is a free man now and his place is here with his family.

In that six months, Michael unflinchingly stubborn in his insistence that he wait until his life was back in order before joining Sara and his little girl, I had my time with him. But that time ended two months ago and I feel somehow odd about seeing him at all now.

For four peaceful months the three of us lived together.

Father, Son and brother ordering greasy take out while parked on the sofa sharing whatever ball game was on all of us never saying a word about all that happened in the years before.

The scars ran deep, we all knew it, so we hardly ever spoke of it.

In our time together I began to see a dark under current running steady and strong between the three of us.

No matter how much we enjoyed or were grateful for it being together also served as a constant reminder of the worst horrors of our lives.

As good as those months were, I knew that wounds never really heal when you pick at them and since the mere sight of each other had the power to rub all our wounds raw, I made the choice to step back from Michael's life with hope he'd build a life for himself without me, the dark past we shared, hanging heavy around his neck.

I had no choice with LJ.

I was his father and would remain a fixture in his life.

Something I was able to make peace with because I knew if he kept his head on straight and his nose to the grindstone he'd head off to college, starting his own life, leaving me, the past, and all this misery behind, in another year or so.

LJ would have to wait but Michael I could set free right away.

Tree-lined and quiet, the neighborhood is everything I'd hoped for him.

The fact that Frank Tancredi in his sudden and sweeping change of heart insisted on purchasing it, suspicious to say the least, until they were "on their feet" doesn't change how perfect the house - all of it - really is.

Parked in the drive, sweeping the gift for Em off the passenger seat, feeling all the while as if I shouldn't be there, that I'm intruding even when he'd made it clear how urgent it was he see me today, I begin to make my way reluctantly to the front door.

Before I'm halfway up the walk he's out the door grinning, taking long quick strides, toddler perched on his hip, down the sidewalk to meet me.
" About damn time! I'm getting a little tired of begging and pleading just to get you out here... Am I going to have to get you to move in down the street just so I can see you once in awhile or what? "

" Never gonna happen... suburbia is all you, not me, little brother. "

After a stiff hug, the best either of us can muster with a toddler trapped between us, we make our way inside, through the house, into the spacious, warm,
littered with toys, family room that over looks the backyard.

Taking a seat on the couch, lifting one foot to the coffee table in front him, urging me to do the same at the other end, placing and trapping his one year daughter - at least for the moment- between the two of us, his smile and the words, sincere and heartfelt make me miss him more than I thought possible.

" God!... It's good to see you, Linc. I know you've got your own life, LJ to think about, but I miss seeing you..."

Watching him, feeling guilty about the distance I've put between us, I'm grateful for the amusing scene playing out before me - him scooting forward bringing his leg down blocking her path as she attempts escape - allowing me to change the subject with ease.

" Can't wait for them to walk but once they do ... life is never the same, huh? "

He laughs, nodding his understanding trying desperately to distract her by scattering wooden alphabet blocks over the cushions between us.

" Here..." I reach down, grabbing hold of the bag at my feet, laughing at his frustration as she eyes the blocks no more than a second or two before turning her attention and all her strength back to trying with all her tiny might to push his leg out of the way and break free.

" Maybe this will distract her for a few minutes? "

Waving the gift bag in front of her eyes, pulling her attention and hands away from the effort he pulls the heap of limp brown fur out of the bag and turns it over and over, clearly puzzled, in his hands.

" It's cute ... but ... well ... what is it? "

He looks at me smiling with that curious ' I need to know' look, one I've seen a million times dating all the way back to when we were just kids, as he rights the stuffed beast in his hands so it's looking him in the eyes

" A spineless teddy bear, maybe? "

" It's an otter... Teddy bears are mundane, Michael. Em's a special little girl... a teddy bear wouldn't do. She needed something as special and unique as she is. "

Obviously pleased, or at the very least curious, she takes the toy from his hand climbing up, awkward, trying with only marginal success to hold the toy and make her way up at the same time, closely examining and stroking it's fur coat once situated between us.

Watching them together, her scooting close to his side as he brushes the hair away from her face, feeling as if I'm a third wheel, I shake off my need to be with them grateful for the time we've had and get on with finding out why he's asked me there in the first place.
" Listen... I want to be home when LJ comes back tonight. I hate to cut things short but I can't stay too long. You said you needed to talk to me ... said it was important.
What's up? "

He watches me silently, undoubtedly weighing the effectiveness of trying to get me to stay for a few long minutes before giving in and stating his business.
" If you gotta go you gotta go... I needed to talk to you because I have a date at the courthouse downtown Friday afternoon and I wanted you to be there for me. "

My heart clenches in my chest and I feel as if I might be sick at the mere thought of him back in that courthouse.

" Courthouse? What the hell for! You were cleared...you're done with that, Michael."

Seeing my obvious alarm, probably far worse then I realize judging by the look on his face, he reaches over and takes hold of my arm, shaking me gently back to my senses as he speaks.

" Whoa... Sorry! It's not like that... I didn't mean to scare you. No trial this time... no hearing ... it's something else... "

He goes quiet next to me, forcing me to look over and meet his eye before I'll hear what it is he has to say. " No trial court this time around, Linc. Just a little visit to the Justice of the Peace... I need you there with me, by my side, because I'm... Sara and I, we're... going to get married. "

" Married? ... my little brother? Seriously?"

He smiles brightly, making how good this life is for him crystal clear.

" Yep... me... married!"

He glances over at his daughter next him briefly then back over to me. " ...a little late, I guess, but I asked, she accepted, and we're going to make it legal Friday at four PM. Will you be there? I need you.. not sure I can do it without you... "

" Yeah, of course I'll be there. I won't miss it for the world. "

" Congratulations... "

Rising to my feet holding out my hand offering it up for him to shake, I take firm hold of his hand dragging him to me, into my arms, hugging him hard, relieved in knowing at last he has everything I ever wanted for him.

" I'll be there for you, Michael. Whatever you need... I'll always be there for you. "

THE END!