I do not own the Power Puff Girls or the Rowdy Ruff Boys.

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Way Things Have to Be

"One…two…three."

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Butch screamed as his arm was rebroken. His healing had already begun, but his bones weren't set properly, thus the need for the rebreaking. "Motherfucker!"

"Sorry," the professor said as he reached for the slats to put on Butch's arm. Once they were in place, with Mojo's assistance, the professor wrapped Butch's arm. "You should be fully healed in about a month. The shot of Chemical X should help make the healing too."

Butch could only grunt as he received his medical attention. Aside from his explicative just now, he hadn't said much since being brought down into the lab. Not that anyone could blame him. Their ordeal wasn't one to take lightly or brush off easily. Brick's leg was plastered and propped up and Boomer was soaking in an ice bath.

"C-c-c-c-can I g-g-g-get o-o-o-out now?" He asked as he shivered. "I th-h-h-h-hink I s-s-s-stopped f-f-feeling my t-t-t-t-toes."

"Give it five more minutes," The professor told him. "It'll help with all the aches you're sure to feel tomorrow."

"I'm sure we're going to feel a lot of this for a lot longer than tomorrow." Brick put in from his place across the lab.

Boomer let out a weak stuttering laugh, but Butch remained silent. The professor and Mojo finished wrapping his arm and set him in a sling and laid it across his chest. "Well, this takes care of all the medical attention you three need. Five minutes, Boomer."

Boomer nodded as best from the ice bath he was in.

"All right. We have some calls to make. A lot of damage was caused and unfortunately, your three were seen causing it." The professor said being completely honest with the boys. "Sarah is aware of the situation, so I'm sure that will give us some latitude."

With that, the professor and Mojo left the boys in the lab. It was their first time being left alone, and the silence was suffocating. Brick and Boomer were especially worried about Butch. He refused to look at either of them. He got his tears out already, but the hurt was still there as he was making decisions about his future.

"We're going to have so much community service. I know it. We better heal up fast guys." Brick said while trying not to shift too much and jostle his leg. "I think I'm going to be done for a few months."

"L-l-l-l-lucky-y-y-y y-y-y-you," Boomer stuttered and then stood up out of his ice bath. "Tell them I stayed in for five minutes." He rubbed his hands over his arms, trying to warm himself up. He then walked in his boxers through the lab to find a towel. He meandered over to the professor's desk.

"When you're aching tomorrow, don't complain to me about it." Brick told him, before looking Butch's way.

"I won't," he saw when saw something that caught his attention. Sitting just barely out of sight from the trash bin was a plastic stick. Peering closer, he saw that it was a pregnancy test. Leaning back, so he couldn't see the results, he quickly ran through his mind about which girl it could be for. It couldn't be Blossom, for she just had Coal and wasn't likely to get pregnant again anytime soon. It couldn't be Bubbles. He made sure he wore a condom every time and she was taking birth control too. That only left Buttercup.

It's fucking Mitch. Goddamn Mitch! Why in the holy fuck should I believe anything that worm says when it comes to my wife? The was the only thing he could remember his brother saying before they were taken over. Neither he nor Brick knew what they'd been talking about. Buttercup said it turned out to be nothing.

Glancing back at his brother, Boomer made the split decision to blast the incriminating plastic with his laser vision. No matter what the outcome of it was, Butch didn't need to find out if Buttercup was or wasn't pregnant from peeking in the trash like Boomer just did.

Still, the blast as he activated that particular power sounded and had Brick turning his way. Just as he was about to ask, Boomer swiped his hand in a cutting motion by his neck and flicked his eyes to Butch, who was making a point to look elsewhere. Brick's brow furrowed in confusion, but before he could say anymore, the door to the lab opened. Peering back as much as he was able, Brick saw Blossom coming down. He took in her much shorter hair and lamented its loss. With how it was cut, it was a bit shorter than his own. Sure, he saw how short it was out in the midst of battle today, but it still hurt his heart. He loved her hair long. "Hey Cherry. Did you go get Coal?"

"He's still with Miss Bellum," she answered as she came to stand by his side. When she turned to Boomer who was standing in his underwear toweling off, she remembered the last time he was in this lab in his undies. An unexpected laugh burst from her lips that she quickly covered with her hand. "We've come full circle, haven't we?"

"Huh?"

"Remember when we captured you and had Bubbles in disguise as you?"

Boomer snorted and let a half smile cross his face as he remembered that event. "Yeah, I got sent out to steal some candy and you three beat me up, tossed me in an energy field, and stole my clothes."

"Bubbles also got a black eye and had to eat a cockroach." Blossom reminded him.

"What did you come down here for, Pinkie?" Butch asked without turning to look at her.

Brick was about to tell his brother off when Blossom shook her head. The Green Ruff was hurting in more ways than one and needed time to heal. "I was wondering what you guys wanted to do about the dagger."

"Destroy it. Make sure the son of a bitch can't come back. I'm fucking tired of dealing with him." He grumbled.

Boomer nodded his agreement and curled in on himself to warm up. "Maybe we should call Jack, it's his knife. Speaking of, where did you even find that. I thought it was lost in the nether."

"You'd have to ask Bubbles. She found it." She then looked at Brick and his leg. "Do you want me to get your guys anything?"

"I'm actually starving," Boomer commented.

"Me too," Brick said as he reached for Blossom. "A pizza."

"Tacos." Boomer said. "Butch?"

Eyes falling closed, he huffed out a sharp breath. "I don't fucking care. I'm not even hungry."

Blossom looked worriedly at Butch. She wanted to say something, but if he was anything like Buttercup, her concern will be seen as pity. Nothing rubbed salt in a wound more than pity. "I'll go with Bubbles to get food then, and assess the damage to the city."

Even though Buttercup wasn't mentioned, Butch clenched his hand into a fist. His knuckles cracked loudly with menace. He also hadn't seen her since he got in and it probably was for the best. Though he had to admit that he was surprised she didn't barge her ass down into the lab to see him. Unless she was much too hurt from the battle to come see him. Despite his anger toward her, that made his heart clench and he wondered how badly she was hurt. He hated how much he loved her. Especially since it was clearly more than she loved him.

"Tacos and pizza. Got it." Blossom leaned over and kiss Brick's temple and then left the lab.

Once she was gone, Brick sighed and turned to his little brother. "Butch…"

"I don't want to fucking talk about it," he growled out as his face contorted into a snarl. "It's nothing fucking new between us. We fight. We fuck. We make up. We fight again. We fuck some more. It's what we do every fucking time."

Neither Brick of Boomer could argue with that per se, but they knew that this particular time was different. Whatever Buttercup did this time really tore Butch up, and it wasn't sitting well with the two of them. The red Ruff found this highly aggravating after all the grief he was given when it came to Blossom all while she was pregnant. He didn't want to cause more trouble, but Buttercup needed to be taken down a goddamn peg, and Brick was more than willing to be the one to do it.

Upstairs, Buttercup was in her room listening to everyone move about. The professor and Mojo were speaking with town officials and insurance companies. Her sisters were discussing where to go for food for the boys. She wanted to see Butch, but everyone was against her seeing him at the moment. Even she had to admit that she was hesitant to see her husband. Of all the times she's seen Butch get angry, she'd never seen him that angry. She might've—no, she did screw up by bringing Mitch into her marital problems. However, there was one thing that she couldn't figure out. How did Butch find out about Mitch? In all the craziness she didn't think about how. Not until now.

Turning carefully to not jostle her injured leg, she reached for her phone and called up her worst best friend. The phone rang and rang and rang, leaving her to believe that he wouldn't answer. If the coward didn't answer, then she would know that he said something to Butch. Just when she thought the call would go to voicemail, it picked up. "Hey."

"Did you say something to Butch?"

There was a beat of silence before she heard a puff of air blow out.

"You goddamn rat bastard!" She hissed. "What in the hell did you do that for?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

Buttercup's blood boiled as she angrily paced her room at his gall. "You're damn right I'm asking you, Mitch. Do you realize what you caused?"

"What I caused?" The incredulity in his voice was hard to miss. "Seriously fuck you Buttercup. Okay, yeah. I called your fuckboy husband to tell him you were at my house taking a pregnancy test. But here's the more fucked up part. That you were at my house to begin with. You're the one that married the fucking guy. You're the one that was fucking the fucking guy, all right? You're also the one that's only friends with me when it's fucking convenient for you. I used to think you were the girl I wanted to be with, but you're so goddamn dys-fucking-functional! Yeah, I'm a rat bastard, but I don't try to bullshit anyone into thinking I'm not. Least of all myself. Get your shit together and don't come crying to me when you find yourself assed out when no one else wants to deal with you."

Mitch then hung up, leaving Buttercup frozen in place. It took a huge effort on her part to not destroy her phone, but she did toss it onto her bed with more force than necessary. She ran her hands through her hair and dropped back into her pillows roughly. The motion made all her aches and pains protest, but they were easily ignored as her insecurities welled up inside her. Her breath came in and out in short shallow breaths and her heart raced, thudding almost painfully in her chest. Normally when she felt like this she would work out or spend time with Butch or her sisters, but neither was an option right now. Instead, she pulled one of her pillows from behind her and over her face. She then screamed at loudly as she could for as long as she could. When she ran out of air, she held the pillow over her face and just focused on breathing normally.

When she had as much of a grapple on her emotions as she was going to have, she pulled it down and looked up at the ceiling. A few moments later there was a knock at her door. When she didn't bother to answer, the door opened, and in walked the professor. "Buttercup?"

"I'm fine," she sighed as she pulled the pillow down lower and hugged it to her chest.

Walking into the room, he closed the door behind him for privacy. Well as much privacy as can be gained with superhumans with sensitive hearing in the house. "You're not fine, sweetheart." He then took a seat on her bed, mindful of her broken leg. "You're as far from fine as you could possibly be. Which is to be expected with everything that's happened."

"Everyone blames me for what happened today."

"How did all of this start, Buttercup? What set Butch off? Was it the pregnancy?"

"I'm not pregnant," the mantra was said with an exhausted air that said she was tired of trying to convince everyone of otherwise. Beside her, the professor's face hardened, but she didn't see it as she was still looking away from him. "I…I was at Mitch's when I took my test. He called…Butch and told him about me being over there."

"Mitch knew before Butch that you were p—possibly pregnant? Why not go to Butch?"

"And have him worry about something that was actually nothing? I wasn't pregnant anyway, so what does it matter?" She ran a hand through her hair mindful of the bruising on her scalp and face.

The professor held his tongue. It was ultimately Buttercup's choice what became of her would've been child, but he couldn't help but feel that she should've told him something. However, he knew how stubborn she could be. That stubbornness was what festered and turned into this battle of wills and erupted into madness.

"I am not looking forward to the talk we're going to have to have," she groaned out.

The professor then reached out and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Give him and yourself time. It's not going to be easy."

"When has anything between us been easy?" She looked down at her wedding ring and sighed. "Yet, I still love that lug."

Along with returning to the Utonium house with food, Blossom and Bubbles arrived with Coal and Ms. Bellum. She looked as tired as everyone felt and the burns on her skin looked painful. The professor offered her aid, while Mojo made himself scarce by heading down into the lab with the boys' food. The professor tended to Bellum's burns as they spoke.

"Things aren't as optimal as you would expect. The damage was great and spanned all over Townsville. Not only that, but footage of the boys fighting the girls is surfacing already. Because of that, I can't be as lenient as I want to be."

The girls shared a look with each other but didn't interrupt. They were sitting in the kitchen, preparing plates for the boys. Coal was being held one handed by Blossom and refusing to be put down. His face was blotchy and streaked with dried tears. Coal wasn't crying anymore, but he still wasn't exactly happy. He was mildly placated by being with his mommy again, pacifier in his mouth being sucked soothingly. He turned his head and whimpered in frustration, but Blossom would breathe an icy breath over him to calm his nerves. But where was his daddy? He wanted his daddy, and couldn't understand why he wasn't there when he wanted him.

"The boys will be charged with mass destruction of public property, and this will go on their public record. There's no way around it given the conspicuousness of the today." Miss Bellum said regrettably. She sighed softly as the feel of the healing gel the professor applied to her tender skin soothed the pain away. She was aware of the marginal amount of Chemical X in it to accelerate her healing and to prevent scarring. "However, given the last decade of relatively good behavior, I will petition for them to do community service. Supervised at best."

"What's the worst?" the professor asked as he applied an adhesive bandage to her gel covered injuries.

"House arrest, if no actual jail time. I'm not sure for how long, but best guess no less than six months. They're recognized as adults and will be tried as such." She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'll remind everyone that the boys are reformed. This incident was due to outside matters."

"Thank you, Sarah," The professor said with a wane smile. He pulled his hand back and stretched bringing his arms over his head. Every joint in his body seemed to pop or crack loudly. "We're getting old Sarah."

"Yeah," she then turned to look at Coal. "Kids are having kids. "I remember when they were just little girls. Destructive, but just little girls."

"Where will you be staying tonight?"

"I've made arrangements at a hotel in the city that was left undamaged," She informed him. "Actually, more than a few people who were living in the residential downtown are put out of homes right now. It's going to take some time to rebuild, and I can't even begin to think of the cost of it all."

"I'll cover the cost to put those displaced up and the material and labor to rebuild." Everyone stopped to turn to look at the chimp who emerged from the lab.

Miss Bellum regained her composure first. "That's very generous of you Mojo. I'll be sure to let the officials know what you're doing for the city."

The chimp sniffed and nodded his head. He then retreated to the lab so that he could relay to the boys their pending options. For their sake, he hoped they received the community service. In the lab, heard the soft mutterings of his boys and in that language of theirs that he could never quite decipher. However, based on the tones that Butch was using it wasn't a pleasant conversation. When Butch caught sight of him descending the stairs into the lab, he growled lowly under his breath and turned his head away. He said something else to his brothers and balled his uninjured hand into a fist.

Mojo came to stand amongst his sons and noticed Butch's untouched plate. A slice of pizza and a taco both lying pathetically on the ceramic that sat on the table at the edge of his cot. "Butch, you should eat."

"Not hungry."

"You need your strength to heal. Eat." His father commanded him.

With a slow turn of his head, Butch looked Mojo dead in his eye and with a sharp flick of his leg, knocked the small table over. The plate shattered and the food landed with a splat. Both were followed by a silence that was charged with challenge. When Mojo didn't move let alone blink, Butch reclined back against the pillows there and turned his head.

Behind Mojo, Brick released a sigh and ran a hand over his face. "Butch, don't be an ass."

"Just leave me alone," He grumbled miserably.

When Mojo looked to Brick for any idea on what was going on, the red haired teen shook his head. "Who was at the door?"

"The mayor. She was telling the professor what you three were being charged with and the sentence." Mojo told them.

"What?!" Boomer around a full mouth. He then gagged and beat against his chest to make the food go done smoother. When he finally was able to breathe, looked up at Mojo. "We're being charged?"

"The damage was great and you three, were less than subtle," Mojo explained. The simian villain repeated what Bellum told the professor and waited as varying looks of dismay and annoyance crossed Brick and Boomer's faces.

"House arrest or hours of community service are our only options?"

"Bellum is doing all she can so that you three don't do time in prison," Mojo informed them. "Our reform is helping, despite last year's spectacle."

With that in mind, the red and blue Ruffs' expressions softened. Unlike Mojo, the three of them never did time in prison and they'd like to keep it that way. "So we're back to being stuck at the volcano tower?" Boomer asked as he resumed eating.

"Not exactly," Mojo said with just enough reluctance to draw Butch's gaze to him. "The tower is destroyed."

"My place is trashed too," Brick suddenly remembered. More he remembered he and Blossom going through the floor and then through a wall. In other words, completely unlivable at the moment.

Butch's emerald eyes flicked between his brother and Mojo as he pieced together what their living situation was about to be. Suddenly he was shaking his head. "Fuck no, I'm not staying in this house." With her, he thought bitterly. He hadn't seen Buttercup, but he knew she was here. It always felt like he was so close and too far from her at times. Now he was too close and not far enough away from her. He was still angry enough with her to not want to see her. If he was at the volcano tower, he could avoid her as much as he wanted. If he had to stay under the same roof as her for an extended period of time, he'd likely rip her head off. Gladly.

"I know it's not ideal, but we're all going to have to manage. At least until one of you three is well enough to help rebuild."

Butch groaned and made a move to stand up. His entire body protested the motion, and Mojo stepped in his direction to help only to be held off with a glare. "I think I can manage to go take a piss by myself."

"With one hand?" Boomer asked.

"I can do this just fine," he threw his middle finger up over his shoulder, much to Boomer's annoyance.

From under the watchful stares of his brother and father, Butch slowly hobbled to the bathroom and just barely held back from slamming the door and locking it. Mojo turned to his remaining sons with a worried look. "Is he going to be all right?"

"It's hard to say. This…really did a number on him," Boomer said keeping his voice low. Not that it mattered if he kept his voice low, what with super hearing and all.

"Space and time, Dad," Brick threw out. "Though we're not going to help him act an ass whenever he feels like it." His was voice loud enough to carry to the bathroom.

"Fuck the lot of you!" Butch hollered from behind the closed door.

"He'll be fine," Brick said as if his brother's bark was a confirmation.

Mojo was reluctant to believe, but if there was one thing he knew about his sons, they took care of each other.

Coal refused to let his daddy go when it was time for bed. He snuggled into his daddy, letting himself be wrapped in the warmth he radiated naturally. Not soon after he was made comfortable against Brick's chest with his pacifier in his mouth, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Blossom rubbed his back while snuggling closer to Brick herself. "He really missed you today. I'm pretty sure he thought he'd never see you again."

"You know for a moment I didn't know if I would see you two either?" Brick admitted as he patted Coal's bottom. H.I.M tried to push me as far back into my own mind as he could, but I was right there at the forefront. I saw everything. Heard everything. Especially him. Daddy heard you, Fireball."

In his sleep, Coal sighed and snuggled closer to him. Brick smiled and leaned up to press a kiss to his spiky head.

"I never want to be in that position again, Brick. I thought I was going to have to kill you," Blossom said resting her head against Brick's shoulder.

"It probably won't be the last time," he joked only to get a frost on his arm. "Sorry."

Blossom sat up and looked down at Brick. "Never, and I mean never again Peaches."

"Sure, Cherry," Carefully, he leaned up and placed a kiss on her lips. When Blossom settled back against Brick, he wrapped his arm around her. "Now, about Butch and Buttercup…"

"What are we going to do about them?" Blossom asked as she brushed some of Coal's hair from his face, only for him to turn his head away from the icy touch.

"Jack shit, except support whatever decision they make," Brick answered. When Blossom started to sit back up, Brick raised a hand to keep her laid against him. "It's not our business. They have to figure it out themselves."

Blossom was silent as she thought that over. Brick was right in that Butch and Buttercup needed to sort out their own issues, but it was…Butch and Buttercup.

"I can hear you thinking," Brick told her. "This is Buttercup's mess to clean up."

Blossom hummed dissatisfied but didn't couldn't argue with him. This was Buttercup's mess.

Boomer had just come out of the bathroom when he bumped into Bubbles. The professor put him up in his room, while he and Mojo bunked downstairs in the living room. "Hey, what are you still doing up?"

"Bathroom," she said.

Boomer moved out of the way but before she went in, he took her hand. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

After Bubbles finished in the bathroom, she found Boomer sitting on her bed. His hands were clasped between him and thumbs twiddling. "Is Buttercup pregnant?" he asked in Czech.

Bubbles quickly closed the door to her room and sat beside Boomer. "How did you know?"

"She was?" Boomer's eyes widened and then he brought a hand up to cover his mouth. "Fuck."

"We're not sure, and she insists that she wasn't. But…"

"But?"

Bubbles' stomach rolled as she remembered what she believed happened. With so much having happened, she nearly forgot until now. "She started bleeding and it just didn't seem like normal. I'm afraid she miscarried."

The blood drained from Boomer's face then. "How?"

Here, Bubbles hesitated to answer. If She told Boomer, she thought it might've been the fight Buttercup had with Butch, then Boomer might tell him. Worried as she was for Boomer, she took notice of Butch's despondent manner. If he thought he might be at fault for causing Buttercup to miscarry…she was sure that would kill him, so she shrugged. "We don't know, we're also not sure if she even was."

"For Butch's sake, I hope not," Boomer sighed. He then flopped back on the bed and ran his hand over his face. "I can't believe this."

"You're speaking in English," Bubbles told him.

"I saw the test in the trash."

Bubbles turned her head so quickly to look at him that it would've been funny if what made her do it wasn't so serious. "What test?"

"A pregnancy test," He sat up on his elbows and looked over at Bubbles. "I didn't see the results, but I blasted it so Butch wouldn't accidentally see it."

"You didn't see the results?"

"If I don't know then, I can't tell him if she was," it was a simple answer, but there was no denying Boomer Logic. "Not that I'd want to tell him if I did know."

"I know what you mean, but shouldn't he know?"

Boomer shook his head. "He wouldn't take it well if he thought she miscarried. It would be worse if he thought it was his fault." He grew silent before his brow furrowed. He couldn't remember much about when he was under, but he saw how beat up the girls were. He knew they did some damage. Butch especially did some damage. "It wasn't his fault, was it?"

"No English," she said biting her lip. "I really can't say. Buttercup was pretty beaten up when I got there."

The two were silent as they thought about their siblings. This was a big secret the two of them were going to have to keep. Bubbles pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on them. "UGH, this is such a mess."

"Yeah," Boomer said, flopping back on the bed. "Stay the night with me? It's weird being in your room without you in it."

Bubbles lifted her head and turned to look over her shoulder at him. "You need to rest and relax."

"I know what would relax me and I'd definitely get a good rest after," he chuckled before getting a shove against a particularly nasty bruise. "Ah, ah, ah! That smarts!"

"See? Rest up. I'll see you in the morning." She then leaned back so that she could kiss him. When she leaned over him, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down on top of him. He kissed her deeply and groaned into it. "Boomer."

"A kiss won't kill me, now come back here." He pulled her back down and pressed her lips against his. He got a few more kisses in before she sat up and pressed a finger to his lips.

"Behave and only for a little while," she then moved her finger and cupped Boomer's face before kissing him again.

Buttercup could hear the soft-spoken words between her sisters and the boys, which mean they were otherwise occupied. She carefully floated out of bed and made her way down to the lab. She made extra sure that she didn't wake the professor and Mojo who was sleeping in the living room. She crept into the labs and floated down the stairs. Butch was lying on his side, sleeping with a scowl on his face. She noticed he did that when he was upset, the deeper the scowl the more upset he was.

She grabbed a chair and gingerly sat down beside him. Whenever she noticed that he slept like that, she'd gotten into the habit of smoothing his brow out by rubbing her fingers over the bunched folds. Without thinking, Buttercup reached out and ran her fingers over his forehead.

Almost immediately, Butch woke up with a sharp inhale and backed away from her touch. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I—I'm sorry," his wife said pulling her hand back. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Butch turned onto his back and exhaled sharply through his nose. "Who knew? You can say you're sorry."

"Butch," Buttercup closed her eyes and counted to ten as she reigned in her temper. "I just came to see how you were."

Butch scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Right."

"I'm serious." She looked him over and reached for his hand. When he clenched it into a fist and pulled it away, Buttercup tried not to let it show how much that hurt. "Butch."

"I don't want to be bothered with you Buttercup," Butch lashed out. "Now get out of here and leave me the fuck alone."

Something about the way Butch said that shook something in Buttercup and she felt her stomach drop out. Rather than show how scared she was, she ground her teeth and looked anywhere but at him. "Look, haven't we fought enough?"

"That's fucking rich coming from you," Butch snorted. "All you wanted was to fight. Well, we fought. As usual, you get what you want out of me, only this time you got everyone else dragged into this shit too."

Jade eyes burned with the tears that threatened to form. "I-I-I-I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I could give fuck all if you meant for this to happen or not! I asked you to do one thing. One simple fucking thing. Apologize to my dad for Thanksgiving. You couldn't be fucked to do that, because you couldn't believe that he was making an effort." The glare he laid on her when she opened her mouth to speak would've peeled paint. "I don't give a rat's ass about what he did. You could blame him. He could blame you or the professor, which I did when I heard how easily he forgot about him. Everyone is guilty of something, but in this case you, Buttercup, fucked up. You betrayed me."

"I-I-I didn't…"

"You confided in goddamn motherfucking Mitch Mitchelson about possibly being pregnant before me! I had to fucking hear from him that you might've been pregnant. I was kicking your fucking ass! We were fucking without any regard! Don't you think I should've known before him?"

Her eyes had welled and were spilling down her cheeks in hot trails. "Well…what—what would you have done had I told you huh?"

"I sure as fuck wouldn't have gone running off to spill my guts to someone I knew you hated. That's for damn sure." He turned to look at her unmoved by her tears. His own pain was just as deep. "Why did you go to him?"

The professor had asked the same question and she gave him the same answer. "You would've worried for nothing had it been nothing," She sniffled. "And it was nothing!"

"You're damn right I would've worried! You wanted me to fight and knowing you, you probably would've wanted to keep fighting. You would've risked our child just so you could win at something to validate yourself. I told you before that it was beneath me to validate you. It's beneath you too." He reclined back his face resolute. "Or at least I thought it was."

The tears were falling in a steady stream, and she couldn't stop them if she tried. "Butch—."

"I'm done."

The breath stalled in her chest and Buttercup was sure that her heart stuttered before beating double time in her chest. "What?"

"I'm done." He repeated with more conviction. "I don't want to see you or even have anything to do with you, Buttercup. At least for a while." He tsked out a laugh and shook his head at his amendment. Even pissed as he was, he was still leaving himself a chance with her. He wasn't about to tell his wife, but he still loved her. No matter how much it hurt.

Shattered. The sound of glass breaking and its tinkling along the ground was all Buttercup heard and felt as she sat beside Butch and let her tears fall. Eventually, she managed to stand and limped out of the lab. When she reached the door leading out, she was greeted to Brick and Boomer, with the latter having the former's arm thrown over his shoulders. Whatever either of them was about to say died as they took one look at her devastated face. When shock and then the beginnings of pity started to form, her face contorted in anger. She roughly shoved past them and limped back to her room. The force at which she slammed the door was loud and followed by Coal beginning to cry.

"Do you think they…?" Boomer started off before glancing into the lab. "Should we check on Butch?"

As much as Brick wanted to know what was going on, he decided to leave it for daylight hours. Whatever just happened, Brick thought it best to leave their brother time to process. With a shake of his head, he had Boomer bring him back upstairs to Blossom's room, so he could rest and soothe Coal back to sleep. Tomorrow they'd deal with the aftermath of the day's events.