Tony stood outside Riff's apartment kicking at debris from all the recent construction. He'd spent a good part of the last hour pacing up and down Riff's street. After his conversation with Valentina, he was determined to get Riff's ma to go to the hospital with him. The idea sounded much better though when he was sitting in Valentina's kitchen, with her next to him.

Unsurprisingly, Riff's ma had been drunk when she answered the phone that night when Tony called from the hospital. She'd answered, slurring her words, and falling silent after Tony delivered the devastating she promptly hung up on him, leaving Tony with only the monotone sound of a dial tone.

He couldn't say he was surprised she'd been drinking. She was always drinking. In fact, he couldn't ever remember seeing her sober.

It was common where they lived for the men of the home to be the drinkers and the drunks, but in Riff's home it was his mother. And that normally led to gossip and the gossip led to speculations.

Tony's heard the talk his whole life.

She drank because Riff's pop beat her up and has since they met.

She drank because she'd once been something and could have been something if only she "hadn't gotten pregnant by him at sixteen."

She drank because that son she'd given up everything for turned out to be a "no good juvenile delinquent".

She drank because Riff's pop had once again shacked up with a new family for the time being.

Tony personally didn't care that she drank or why she drank. The only thing Tony cared about was that she sat around and drank while her husband clobbered their only son. No one seemed to care about that.

Really, he wasn't even sure how Riff even felt about his ma visiting him in the hospital. He just knew if it were him and his ma was still alive, she'd be the first person he'd want to see. But then Riff's ma was nothing like Tony's. In fact, she was the exact opposite of Tony's ma.

Where Tony's ma showered him with love and warmth, Riff's treated him with hate and coldness. He has clear memories of her coming home from work and not even acknowledging either of their presences. Even when they were little and Riff was sick-which was all the time because he seemed to catch everything under the sun-she hardly showed him any type of compassion besides maybe a bucket to throw up in and maybe an ibuprofen.

It had been Tony's ma who usually ended up taking care of him. She'd tuck his fever raged body into bed besides Tony, gently smoothing his bangs out of his eyes. She'd make him homemade soup and would gently rub his back until he was sleeping. She'd even take him to the doctors if he needed it.

"You're so lucky. Tony." He remembers Riff saying over and over again. "My ma wouldn't care if I ended up dead on the streets. She'd just be glad there was one less mouth to feed."

Admittedly, he knew his childhood wasn't perfect. His ma and pop fought all the time. He never remembers them hugging one another. His pop ended up leaving around the time Tony was eight. He hadn't seen him since, but the guy seemed like a loser anyway so Tony figured he wasn't missing out. Besides, his ma gave him enough he never felt he was lacking in anyway.

Riff's ma on the other hand gave him nothing. In fact, Riff's mother all but threw him to the wolves. And the biggest and baddest wolf of all was Riff's own pops.

Riff's pops was an intimidating man. He was big and burly with a face that always seemed red no matter what his mood. He was the only thing that Riff was truly and utterly afraid of.

It didn't take spending much time with the guy and the way he ran his family to see why Riff was the way he was and what had shaped Riff into who he had become. And why he had carefully constructed the mask he was so scared to let fall.

As much as his own father ranted and raved, Tony had never been scared of him. But then Tony's pops never raised his hand to him or his mother. Riff's pops seemed like he made hitting his wife and son a sport. And they both walked around with the bruises to prove it.

Tony had even seen Riff's pops beat him with his own eyes. On several different occasions.

When they were eight, and Riff had flunked a math test, he'd seen Riff's pop take a belt to him. Over and over and over.

When they were twelve, and Riff had defended his Ma over something, he'd seen his pop punch Riff so hard in the face that Riff stumbled backward into the table. This had only rewarded him with a hard hit to the chest.

And when they were fourteen and Riff had been caught stealing a beer, Tony had seen his pop grab him and slam his face down on the counter then deliver several hard kicks to the back of his legs.

Throughout all of it, Riff never let out so much as a peep.

Even though he could tell Riff was embarrassed by his home life-his ears got red any time someone mentioned it-Tony guessed there was also some comfort of him himself knowing. Over the years it had actually become a regular pattern of theirs for Riff to show up at his window, at all hours of the night, badly beaten.

Quietly, and what eventually turned into methodically. Tony would clean him up the best he could...putting antiseptic on the welts on his back, wincing with Riff as he hissed and cursed in pain.

He'd hand him ice for his rapidly swelling cheek, gently prodding his ribs making sure nothing was broken or beyond his growing expertise. Knowing through out the whole thing not to ask too many questions, even though he wanted to.

They never talked about it. At least not really. Occasionally, Tony would work up the nerve and ask why Riff wouldn't just move out and Riff always gave the same response.

"I can't leave my ma with him. At least if I'm there he'll hit me instead."

His answer never made any sense to Tony because he could never wrap his mind over Riff's obsession with protecting someone who clearly gave zero shits about protecting him.

It almost became like a dance. Perfectly constructed, each of them having their roles, their parts. And neither stepping outside those perfectly drawn perhaps unfairly casted lines.

The last time he saw Riff's pop had been the worst of all. They had to have been about sixteen because it was right after Tony's ma died. This time had been so bad in fact, that Tony still couldn't even think of it without feeling sick to his stomach.

Riff's pop had come home in a mood which went from bad to worse when he realized dinner wasn't ready yet. He had grabbed Riff's ma by the throat and was screaming at her as he slammed her into the wall.

Riff had dove at his pop, telling him to "get the fuck off". Instantly, his pop had released his ma-who had taken off to the safety of her bedroom-and turned all his anger on Riff, knocking him to the floor with a hard punch to the stomach.

Tony still remembers Riff laying on the kitchen floor, his eyes locked into Tony's, a small smirk on his face clearly pleased with himself for getting his father off his mother's case. Like always, he didn't let out a sound as his pops kicked him in the ribs and back over and over again.

Tony had stood there frozen, not sure what he should do. He felt every kick like it was happening to him, and he knew despite Riff's misguided idea of victory, he had to be hurting.

Tony also knew as much as he was a great street fighter, he was no match for this man. The past times he tried-and he had tried-proved it. Normally it resulted in him getting knocked flat on his ass with Riff then catching worse for Tony's involvement. Even with his recent growth spurt, Riff's pops still had him by at least sixty pounds.

It was only when Riff's pops turned to grab the pot of boiling water his ma had left on the stove did Tony know he had to act. He knew by the dangerous rageful look in Riff's pop's eyes exactly what he was going to do with that water.

How he managed to do what he did, he still doesn't know. It must have been pure adrenaline. All he knows is one minute he's standing there watching Riff get his ass handed to him and the next he's moving. Moving and running at Riff's pops, slamming into him full force with everything inside him.

It had been enough to knock the man to the ground, away from Riff and away from the pot of boiling water. Then like a flash, Tony was on top of him, hitting and punching him as hard as he could. It was only when he grabbed the pair of scissors that were laying on the counter did he hear Riff's voice behind him.

"Tony….that's enough."

Tony paused, the scissors held in midair right above Riff's pop's chest. He turned and looked at Riff, who was barely standing. He was clutching his side, all his weight pressed into the chair which with his spare hand, he had a death grip on. His nose was bleeding and his face was already turning black and blue.

"He's had enough." Riff had said softly, "It's okay. I'm okay."

Slowly, Tony looked down and saw his own fists and Riff's pops face bruised and bloody. He backed away slowly until his back hit the cabinet behind him.

"Let's go." Riff had said simply, offering his hand.

Tony had gotten up on his own, despite his shaking, knowing there was no way Riff could handle his weight right now. Instead he put his shoulder under Riff's arm to support him and together they headed out of the apartment.

That was nearly four years ago, give or take. That was the last time Tony saw Riff's pop. He moved out with some cheap young thing shortly after that, destroying the last pieces that were holding Riff's ma together.

That was also the last time he'd been in Riff's apartment. Maybe that was some of the reason Tony was having such a hard time heading inside.

He'd almost killed a man there. He almost killed his best friend's own pop.

What he'd done to that Egyptian King kid had merely been an encore.

He was just about to turn and head towards the hospital when he remembered who he was actually here for.

"You're doing this for Riff. Suck it up, man". He said to himself and maybe even out loud.

Finally, after taking a deep breath, Tony headed up the front steps and into the building.


Riff has spent the better part of the morning after Anybodys left being annoyed and wondering where the hell Tony was.

His annoyances first started from the nurse who tried giving him a sponge bath.

Originally he'd asked for a shower-although he wasn't quite sure how that would work considering-but was told a hard no because of his stitches. Shortly after, a timid looking nurse walked into his room with a small tub filled with soapy water and a literal sponge.

"I can do it myself." Riff had snapped with such vigor that the poor nurse burst into tears and fled from the room.

Unfortunately, Riff hadn't realized how much work goes into a sponge bath especially when half your bodys not working along with the muscles that go with that half. Not to mention that a piece of the part that is working is throbbing making it painful to move his arms in any way.

By the time he was done he'd spilled most of the water in the tub onto himself. He ended up having to get moved out of his bed onto a gurney by some huge male nurse who looked like he could snap boards with his neck. The timid nurse changed his bed sheets, redressed his dressing and changed him into another hospital ordered gown. Although Riff preferred to think of it as a rather large shirt.

Finally when Riff was dry, freshly changed, and laying in clean sheets-which he had to admit felt pretty good-act two of his annoyances made their appearance. It came in the form of this therapist nurse lady. She came in, had a seat, and announced they needed to have a discussion about "his bathroom habits".

"Thanks. I've been potty trained since I was three." Riff said, originally trying to wave her off. He was desperately feeling like a nap and the pain pills were starting to wear off.

"That's nice." The therapist nurse lady, who for some reason reminded him oddly of Valentina, sat down, "But things after a spinal cord injury, even an L2 like you have, "being potty trained" doesn't really matter." She went on to explain that because he couldn't feel anything from the waist down his bladder, or whatever it is, was no longer going to give his brain the signal that he had to go. "Incontinence might be a problem" She began to which Riff flipped out.

"So are you saying there's a chance I'll just start pissing myself?" Riff couldn't even contain the horror in his voice. He could just see it. Him trying to have a fucking war council with the Sharks only to realize he pissed his pants right as they were about to discuss weapons.

"Well, hopefully it won't be a problem." The therapist nurse lady said without flinching, "You can schedule regular bathroom breaks. Most people find that helps. Also, sometimes in time, normal control of your facilities may be restored. It says here in your notes that once your swelling goes down you may regain some function below your injury. That's fantastic and promising news."

"Yeah, it's fucking fantastic." Riff snapped mockingly. "Can't wait."

"We're just going to focus on the here and now." The therapist nurse lady replied, clearly ignoring Riff's tone. "We are getting a little ahead of ourselves. You're still healing. Right now we are still just trying to use the catheter that's in your penis–"

"I don't want to think about that." Riff said quickly. Even the thought of the tube in that area made him queasy.

"The catheter is going to measure how well your bladder is working on its own." The therapist nurse lady continued, "A catheter can come in very handy. Sometimes people end up even using a small one themselves–"

"There's no way I'm sticking anything into my dong." Riff said defensively.

"It may seem like a big deal but you'll adjust." The therapist nurse lady said getting up, "You'll be fine. People live pretty normally once they adjust. I'll be back in a few days to discuss our options."

When Tony walked into his room a minute later Riff was so happy he could have kissed him.

"Look who finally decided to show up." He said with a grin, "You don't even want to know what my morning was like."

"I'd love to hear about it," Tony said sitting down looking nervous, "But I brought someone with me today. I probably should have asked you first–"

"Long as they don't want to stick something in my penis I'm cool with it." Riff replied.

Tony paused, looking slightly confused before he shook his head and continued, "Like I was saying I don't know how you'll feel about it. But I ran into her this morning and she wanted to drop by."

"Okay." Riff shrugged. For the life of him he couldn't figure out who Tony was talking about.

"Okay. Hang on." Tony jumped up and disappeared into the hallway.

Riff sighed, not knowing what the big deal was. He began picking at a loose piece of skin around his fingernail, his mind still on the most recent conversation he'd had with the therapist nurse lady. He looked up just in time to see Tony walk back into the room, followed by no one other than his mother.

"Hi, Riff."

"Hey, Ma." Riff replied, feeling himself take a double take. His ma was the last person he expected Tony would have brought with him. He could tell by her bloodshot eyes and tangled hair she'd probably already been on her way to an afternoon bender.

"How could you do this to yourself?" Ma's voice broke, "Damnit Riff. How could you do this…."

"It was an accident." Riff felt his ears turn red. He glanced at Tony who was suddenly studying the floor like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

"A pretty stupid accident." Ma snapped. She started crying and Riff immediately felt uncomfortable. He'd seen his Ma cry plenty, just never over him. "You're paralyzed , Riff. Do you understand what that means?"

"It might not be permanent."

"Why would you be in a knife fight in the first place?" Ma shook her head, "I don't know where I went wrong with you. I tried to be a good mother."

Riffs heard this speech before. Whenever he fucked up, like really fucked up, she went into a rant about how much she's done for him and how hard she's tried.

"I'm sorry Ma." That normally was the only thing that calmed her down.

" 'Sorry,' don't fix it this time, Riff."

Riff shifted in his bed, which shot a shockwave of pain up his back. Before he could stop himself, he let out a small yelp.

"You hurting?" Tony was quick to be by his side.

"No, Tony." Riff snapped, much harder than he intended to, "I feel fucking fantastic."

"I'll go find a nurse. See if they can give you something." Tony looked like Riff had just slapped him. He left, leaving Riff alone with his Ma. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say. Finally, when Riff couldn't take it anymore he cleared his throat.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"I just don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this." Ma answered. "And how am I supposed to tell your father?"

Riff was awfully glad Tony came back at that moment with a nurse because he had no idea how to answer her.

The nurse pushed his meds into his iv that seemed now permanently attached to the crook of his arm. Riff watched as both Tony and Ma's faces began to waver and blur. Then he gratefully fell head first into nothingness.