Heroin and Vodka
Author's note: Hey guys, its been a long time since I last updated. I just completed my internship. So, now I'll have much more free time to update my stories. Plus I spent some time jotting down a few key parts of the story and its progress in Season 3. BTW this is the last chapter of Season 2. Next chapter onwards will be Season 3 So there. Anyways, enough of my chattering. I give you chapter 12.
Chapter 12
"I saw it in her eyes. You violated her."
She took a deep breath and released it before looking up at the man's eyes.
"How many times did you it? For how many years? You don't even know because she was nobody to you. And then came that boy, your son, Christophe."
The man nodded in acquiescence as if gauging her words carefully, before he leaned in to her.
"Now you're fired." He whispered, before yanking the door open and leaving.
End Flashback
Wes stood silently, eyes widened, in shock.
"No." Wes replied, in denial. "My father—h-he's dead."
"No." Annalise replied, with a shake of her head. "He's very much alive. And his name is Wallace Mahoney."
Annalise was curled up on her bed, the picture of her stillborn son in her hands. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, as she struggled to come to terms with the rapidly resurfacing memories.
"Why are you here?" Annalise asked, as she opened the door and spotted Laurel.
"I wanted to find out what happened between you and Wes." she replied, as she walked in.
"Why is that any of your business?" Annalise demanded.
"I don't know." Laurel sniffled. "Maybe because you've ruined all my relationships since I got here? You came between me and Frank. Now between me and Wes."
Annalise sighed. She brabbed Laurel and pushed her back out doors.
"You know what? You're drunk. You need to go home." she replied.
"Not until you tell me what happened." Laurel cried out.
"I said go home." Annalise repeated.
"What did you tell him? That he killed his mother? Or was it that you're the one who ordered Frank to kill Lila?"
Annalise froze. She looked into Laurel's eyes, deeply probing into them.
"What did you just say?" she whispered.
"Oh yeah. Frank told me. That he killed Lila because you asked him to do it. Which makes all the sense in the world—that you started all this. Sam was cheating on you with a younger woman. And then she's pregnant? So why not use your trusty hit man to get rid of her and then play all of us like your little puppets. As we defend Rebecca, kill Sam…"
Laurels words began to echo strangely as her eyes began to unfocus.
"It was you. All along."
There was knocking at the door. An elderly African American woman pulled the door open to find her daughter standing across the threshold.
"Annalise!" she cried joyfully, as she enveloped her in a warm embrace. "There's my baby. She come home."
Little did she notice the tears which were rolling down Annalise's face.
Everyone was gathered at Annalise's house. But the person to whom the house belonged itself was ironically absent.
"You were the last person to see her." Conner accused Wes.
"We don't know that." Wes countered.
"Well, we know she kicked everyone out of the house except you…" Conner fired back.
Micheala decided to chime in.
"Seriously, what did she want to talk to you about?" Micheala asked Wes.
"That's none of your business." Wes replied.
Micheala rolled her eyes, annoyed.
"Annalise is missing. Caleb's missing. Everything's our business now."
At that moment, Laurel walked into the living room.
"Annalise is missing?" she asked.
Micheala turned around and spotted Laurel.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
"Hung over." Laurel replied rhetorically.
"Where is Annalise?" Laurel reiterated.
"Do you need us to redefine the word 'missing' for you?" Asher replied snarkily.
"Could everyone just stop yelling for a second?" Laurel replied, trying to gather her thoughts from the previous night. It was then that a sudden thought came to her.
She got up and approached Frank.
"Frank. I need to talk to you. Now." Frank raised his eyebrows before leading Laurel into the kitchen.
After a while…
"I'm sorry, Frank. I don't know what made me say it." Laurel finished, recounting the incidents of the previous night.
Laurel silently gauged Frank's reaction. For as long as she had known the man, she had never seem him lose his cool. That is, until now. Frank's arms were visibly shaking and his eyebrows were knotted together in worry.
"You don't suppose this has anything to do with Annalise's disappearance, do you?" Laurel asked.
At that moment, Bonnie decided to walk in,
"We found her. Oliver tracked down her credit card." she replied, walking in. "She brought a plane ticket. To Memphis."
"What's at Memphis?" Laurel asked, quizzically raising her eyebrows.
"Her mother." Bonnie replied.
Frank finally looked up at Laurel.
"You want to tell her?" he asked Laurel.
After Bonnie was all caught up, she sighed.
"Well, what do we do now?" she asked. "We need her here. Right now. Her arrest warrant is about to be issued by the DA's office any minute now. She needs to know. And she isn't answering her phone."
Frank was meanwhile pacing the kitchen.
"Well, someone needs to go down there and tell her before its too late. And it can't be me. Annalise would kill me if she saw me."
Bonnie sighed.
"I would ask Nate to go, but we still don't know who the rat is. We need him at the station and—" Bonnie stopped abruptly. "I know one person we can count on."
"Anna Mae." Ophelia called out. "There's a gentleman caller come to see you."
Annalise appeared in the living room and looked to see who it was. To her shock, she spotted a familiar tall Latino standing in the living room, arms tucked into his overcoat.
It was Isaac.
Before her mother could enquire further, Annalise walked up to Isaac, grabbed his hand and walked him outside.
"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear that we had our last session." she replied, immediately no sooner had she dragged Isaac out into the garden.
Isaac chuckled.
"Don't I even get a 'Hi'?" he asked jokingly.
Annalise remained silence, her lips pursed in annoyance.
"Okaaay…." Isaac nodded. "Clearly you aren't in a jocular mood, as I see. Bonnie called me and begged me to make you come home. Apparently a warrant has been issued in your name?" he asked questioningly.
Annalise's eyes widened.
"Have they issued it yet?" Annalise asked, lowering her eyes.
"So…you know about this?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I had a hunch." Annalise replied.
"As far as Bonnie has told me, the warrant hasn't been issued yet." he replied.
If he had any other questions on his mind, he didn't show them. Annalise made to turn back to the house when Isaac caught her hand. He turned her around to face him.
"Why did you end your sessions with me so abruptly, Annalise?" he asked, probing eyes gazing deep into her own, as if reaching into her soul.
Annalise pointedly looked away for a few seconds before turning to face him once again.
"Are you using again? Heroin or something else?" she demanded.
Isaac's eyes widened.
"Why are you asking me that?" Isaac asked.
"So, you are, seeing as you aren't answering my question." She replied, folding her arms.
"You're wrong." Isaac asserted. "I'm not. I promise you."
Annalise looked away once more, her eyes still deflected from Isaac's piercing gaze.
Isaac sighed.
"Is that why you left me?" he asked softly, "You were concerned I was unfit to help you? Annalise, I…" he broke off, becoming silent.
Tears formed in Annalise's eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Isaac's heart clenched in pain as he observed her.
"Talk to me Annalise." He replied softly. "Come on. Talk to me."
Annalise nodded.
"Sam…told me it was in my head. That that was a story that I told myself as a little girl that I kept telling myself." She sobbed and continued. "Its why I fell in love with him. Because he made me believe that wasn't the problem. And I was so relieved. But Isaac…it just keeps happening."
"What does?" Isaac asked intently.
She was silent for a few seconds before she looked up at him, finally gazing into his eyes.
"I hurt people." she replied, softly.
Isaac's eyes widened.
"You think you're hurting me?" Isaac asked her softly.
She nodded.
"The baby. Sam." Annalise continued.
"You didn't make those things happen." Isaac replied, attempting to comfort her, but failing miserably.
"I want to believe you, so bad." Annalise replied.
"There is no one person that has that kind of power." Isaac asserted.
"Tell me the truth." Annalise demanded.
Isaac paused before slowly nodding his head.
Annalise paused for a few seconds before gazing up at him.
"Am I triggering you?" Annalise demanded.
Isaac began to consider his options. While in his heart of hearts, he knew that Annalise was a bad trigger for him, he couldn't tell her so at that moment as that would break her. So, he chose to lie instead.
"No." he replied immediately.
Annalise nodded, in half-belief. She looked up at Isaac. "You should come in. Stay over for the night. I'm sure you've had a long flight."
Isaac shook his head.
"No.I possibly couldn't. Besides, I—" but Annalise cut him off.
"I insist." She replied firmly. "We'll both leave for Philadelphia tomorrow."
Isaac opened his mouth to protest but one look from Annalise silenced him. Isaac began to chuckle in amusement. Annalise soon cracked a grin and both of them began to laugh.
Annalise had entered the house and had led Isaac to the bathroom for a shower.
Meanwhile Ophelia had been observing her daughter carefully.
"Whose the gentleman, Anna Mae?" she asked scuttling over to him.
Annalise turned to face her.
"He's my therapist, mama." Annalise replied.
A frown immediately appeared on her face.
"A therapist? You mean like that no good Sam Keating whom you married?" she asked.
This time a frown appeared on Annalise's face.
"He's nothing like Sam, mama." she replied curtly before she turned to leave, strutting away proudly, with her head held high.
Ophelia shook her head dismissively.
"These no good therapists!" she whispered.
Annalise was fast asleep when she suddenly felt herself stir. Someone was shaking her gently.
"Annalise. Annalise. Wake up." Her eyes fluttered open. She looked up. It was Isaac.
"Get up." He commanded.
"What is it?" Annalise asked. "Is it mama? Is she alright?" she replied, getting up.
"Everyone's fine." Isaac replied comfortingly. "But right now we're going to complete an exercise."
Annalise fell back into her pillow with a frustrated sigh.
"Isaac, it's the dead of night and—" but Isaac cut her off.
"Annalise, I'm your therapist and I know what I'm doing. Now get up." he replied sternly.
Annalise sighed before leaving her bed and walking out with Isaac.
Isaac took her to the garden and came over and stood beside a mound of earth.
"Come." He beckoned Annalise over.
Annalise walked over to him. Isaac reached into his overcoat, and handed her a notepad and pen. He pushed the notepad into her hand
"This is for you to write a letter for your baby to take to his homegoing."
Annalise gave him a perplexed expression.
Isaac sighed.
"Annalise, you've been deferring this long enough. Its high time you dealt with this pain before it comes up and upends your sobriety. You've been doing splendidly so far and I would hate for your sobriety to be ruined by this."
Annalise sighed. She took the pen and notepad. She began to scribble, just letting the words flow from her heart to the paper.
Hi Sam! I'm your mother, Annalise.
After this, she couldn't help but pause as tears began to stream down her face.
Isaac watched her softly. He could barely imagine the pain she was feeling. He reached out and took her hand, grasping it softly in his.
"I lost my daughter too, Annalise." Annalise looked up at him immediately, eyes widening fractionally. "I never told you this. But to this day, that pain has never left me. I know what you're going through right now, Annalise. Believe me. The pain numbs over the years. Trust me." he replied encouragingly.
Isaac knew he was lying. Stella's death was had remained as painful to him today as it had been three years ago. But the man was unable to bear seeing her in such a state. So, he chose to lie to console her.
Annalise sobbed, before nodding her head as she continued to write.
I'm so sorry I never got to know you. So sorry you never got to see this world. You have no idea how badly I wanted you. I bore you for nine month, hoping and praying, that you would be fine. Alas, I failed to protect you. But that still doesn't mean that I don't love you. I will always love you. Always. Love, your mother.
As she finished scribbling down the note, Isaac handed her the trowel . She took it with shaking hands and began to dig down into the soft, moist earth. She had barely plunged the trowel into the earth, when she broke down into hysterical sobs.
She felt a warm hand reach out and take hers. Annalise looked up. It was Isaac. He was smiling gently and encouragingly. He pushed the trowel down and pulled the earth out.
Encouraged and renewed with fiery resolve, Annalise continued to dig deep into the earth until she had widened out a niche small enough for the note. She gently laid the note into the ground. She then began to cover it up with the soil she had dug up. After having completed the exercise, she got up shakily.
Isaac smiled widely.
"Annalise." he replied, softly. "I'm so proud of you…"
Tears came to Annalise's eyes as she suddenly reached out and hugged the man fiercely, tears streaming down her face. Strong hands reached out and wrapped around him, embracing her softly. Isaac held her like that for a few seconds, before Annalise broke apart, coughing in an embarrassed fashion.
Isaac chuckled.
They were on the way back to Philadelphia. Annalise was resolute in resolving matters as it were right that day. She yawned widely. She suddenly felt a gaze on her and turned to her left. It was Isaac.
"You should rest, Annalise. You barely slept at all last night." he replied.
After the ordeal of the previous night, Isaac had taken her back to the kitchen and had whipped up some hot chocolate, assuring her that it would be beneficial, for the state she was currently in. She had accepted it gratefully. The rest of the night had passed away with Isaac exchanging fond memories of Stella with Annalise. Annalise had also informed him that she had already been aware of Stella. When Isaac had inquired how and learnt that it had been his ex-wife's doing, he had been furious. He apologized to Annalise profusely for involving Jacqueline in this mess and assured her that he would handle the situation.
Back on the plane, Annalise nodded. It was a couple of hours flight to Philly anyways. Surely, a few hours of shut eye woudn't hurt.
Thinking so, she reclined on her seat and shut her eyes, dozing off.
Isaac meanwhile had pulled out a magazine and was perusing its contents, when he felt Annalise's head slide softly onto his shoulders.
He turned to her.
He couldn't help but smile softly. She was an amazing woman. She was intelligent, witty and resolute. She was a brilliant lawyer and knew her way around the law. But she was also kind and caring. She shouldered so much pain and burdens that Isaac had been shocked that the woman hadn't committed suicide. She was strong. Unlike him. He was glad to have known her.
He gently wrapped his left hand around her and continued to peruse the magazine.
Author's note: Phew! There you go. I promised you guys a longer chapter and here it is—my longest chapter till date. And with this, we close with Season 2. Next chapter onwards will be Season 3. I might be a bit busy with my schedule for the next few weeks as my new term is beginning. So the next chapter will be out around late July-early August. Anyways, read and review.