April 24, 2019
The next day passed quickly for Liam and Fallon, particularly since she didn't have to sit out on his meetings on Tuesday. And because after they were done talking to Dana, they went to the library that had been refurbished with a beautiful ceiling worth a million dollars or more, just to stare up at it for a little while. Or, well, so Fallon could do that while Liam looked through the shelves at the first edition copies of things.
Fallon started to threaten that she would start pulling out copies and telling him the ending like old times, so Liam decided they'd been there long enough. It was his turn to take them somewhere he thought she'd like.
When they got out of the cab on the west side of Manhattan, she didn't recognize the area. But she should've known he would be as cheesy as he was.
"You can't be serious," she said automatically.
Liam stopped walked, obviously disappointed. "We don't have to-"
"No! No, I just... I shouldn't be so surprised. Of course you know where this is." Fallon smiled, and it was a little apologetic despite the fact that she truly was pleased. "We're here, Liam. It's great, let's go."
He was a little more reserved as they approached the park. It wasn't Central Park, but rather a smaller one, overflowing with flowers amongst its walkways. In spring, New York truly had sights worth seeing, including the path that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks had walked while filming You've Got Mail.
"Why this place?" She asked after a little while, stopping afterward to lean over and smell a patch of roses.
"It's not the same," Liam began. "Of course. But in the smaller ways, the movie reminded me of us. The mix-ups, the fights and misunderstanding. The fact that they both wanted the same thing but it took one of them," he shot her an amused look, "longer than the other." He shrugged, smile widening. "Plus, it's just a piece of calm in this unbelievably crowded city. I thought you could use it right now."
Fallon turned around, leaning back against the fence to smile fondly at him. "I'm not sure I've ever explicitly said it, but I'm really glad you were walking by that night. And that you stopped, no matter your reasoning."
"Me too."
That night, Fallon called Alexis to check in on her, Cristal and Anders. It was a relief to know that Steven and Sam weren't in the house anymore, but with the way Alexis came and went, and the fact that new Cristal and Anders couldn't exactly walk out without earning Blake's ire, Fallon couldn't just leave it alone.
Clearly, Liam was right. She couldn't help but revel in the fact that she was needed.
He waved a little to get her attention, gesturing towards the bathroom to let her know he was going to take a shower while she wrapped up her call. Fallon nodded and leaned back against the headboard as she attempted to relax.
"I still don't think he's really Adam," Alexis was saying on the other end of the call.
"I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter, though. Blake thinks that he is. The guy was arrested because he intended to do something to me, and Dad just bailed him out anyway."
Fallon sighed, unsure what sort of reaction she'd expected her mother to have at the news of her daughter being in clear danger. But frustration and an assertion that Alexis was right? That wasn't it.
"Well I don't know what to tell you, Fallon. You know your father always has to be right."
Fallon lifted her eyes to the ceiling. "Good to know you're concerned for my well-being, mom."
"Oh, darling, I never said I wasn't! But you're the one who's safe, now that you moved out. I'm still stuck with these people."
"Nobody said you had to be, Alexis. If you're that worried about yourself, you should just move."
"And leave Anders and Cristal to fend for themselves? I would never," Alexis simpered, making her daughter scoff.
"Whatever," Fallon muttered. "I've tried to warn all of you, and nobody will listen. You'd think after what happened to Cristal, somebody would actually care."
Alexis became quiet on the other end, which was music to Fallon's ears as much as it was a baffling notion.
"Never thought I'd manage to render you silent," Fallon snapped. "Have fun in that hellhole Dad's made."
And with that, she hung up on Alexis, uninterested in whatever excuses or self-indulgent pouting her mother was bound to bring up. Setting her phone aside, Fallon just sat for a moment, wondering what a normal person would do with their spare time. Watch something? Read for fun?
Her eyes drifted towards the bathroom door. She could sneak in and join him, sure. But she could also try and find a copy of his manuscript and read a little of it before he got out and caught her.
Fallon pushed herself up from the bed with haste, moving over to the briefcase that he always brought with him to his meetings. Inside, she found a notebook, various papers clearly printed off by Dana to give him visual schedules and numbers on things. His phone was still inside there, but underneath the papers she found a flap that was latched to one side of the case. She started to unhook it, ready to peek underneath in hopes of finding what she was after-
His phone lit up, making her gasp loudly in surprise. The bathroom door opened behind her a moment later, and Liam stuck his head out, concerned.
"What's wrong?" He asked. Fallon turned around and caught the way his brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"
Fallon felt herself start to panic, realizing how close she'd come not only to being caught, but to going against something he specifically asked her not to do. She was just curious, that's all. But she snatched up his phone and lifted it to show him. "I heard this buzz and it surprised me," she claimed, walking over to hold it out to him.
Liam looked down at the notification and sighed, opening the door further. He was half-dressed, wearing pajama pants but no shirt. He dropped the towel he'd been using to try and dry his hair a little, took the phone, and led Fallon over to the foot of the bed. Once they both sat down, he looked at her seriously.
"You can't come with me tomorrow," he told her without premise.
Her head tilted slightly, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she waited for an explanation, as she felt sure he had to have one. The hesitation didn't make her feel very good, though.
"I have to record part of the audiobook in the morning, and I don't want to ruin it for you."
Fallon frowned. "So what's with the grim tone? I thought something was wrong." This time, he was the one who didn't answer. "... Liam?"
"My aunt wants to do lunch tomorrow."
"Ah." She nodded slowly, realizing that she would be alone for the majority of the day tomorrow. "Well, I can go check on Kirby tomorrow instead."
Liam reached over, taking her hand. "Fallon, you know I want you to be there, but-"
"But I was involved in what happened to Uncle Max. I know."
She pulled her hand away and started to stand up, but he caught her around the waist, pulling her straight into his lap so he could drop his chin on her shoulder. "You never intended it to happen. It's not like you could've caused it on purpose, anyway. And what he wanted to make you do... it's disgusting, Fallon. I'm not saying he deserved what happened, but I also don't think you deserve to take any blame for it."
"She hated me anyway," Fallon pointed out, her arms draping themselves across her stomach, on top of his. "I'm still not sure why, apart from the fact that I'm a Carrington."
"...I don't know, Fal. But it doesn't matter."
Fallon turned her chin, trying to look at him to gauge his reaction when she made her suggestion: "What if I came with you anyway? Presumably, if this lasts like we want it to, I'll have to deal with her eventually."
He shrugged, though she could sense the reluctance. "If you'll be okay with it, then I don't mind. But I do think you should go check on Kirby tomorrow, too. We should cover all of our bases, you know?"
She hummed her agreement, leaning a little more heavily against him. Liam pressed a kiss to her shoulder, and she was happy to take the distraction that his affection offered. And until an ungodly early hour the next morning, they were content. But then Liam's phone rang.
Fallon rolled away from the noise, complaining, "Next time we travel? No phones."
"Seriously," he agreed, rubbing at his eyes as he reached over to the buzzing cell.
She looked back over her shoulder in surprise, though, when he answered the call. The bedside alarm clock said it was just after six in the morning, so whoever was calling at that hour was either in trouble, or in a different timezone, or... Fallon didn't know. But whatever the case was, he stepped all the way into the bathroom to take it, and when he came out, he didn't seem to be all that stressed out about it. He just seemed annoyed, and tired.
Liam climbed back into bed, brushing her hair back as she leaned against him again. "Go back to sleep, Fal."
But a couple hours later, he was waking her up again – but intentionally this time.
"I'm heading out," he told her, helping her sit up before pressing a kiss to her cheek and grabbing his things to leave. "You can still back out, you know."
"Not happening, Liam."
"As you wish," he shrugged. But he passed her a quick smile before heading to the door.
She watched him go with an odd sense of comfort. If this continued as well as she hoped and believed that it would, the same sort of sight would greet one of them on a nearly-daily basis. And that made her sigh with contentment. Everything else aside, some things in her life were going so well that she almost couldn't believe it.
She got ready for the day and made her way downstairs, calling a cab and tapping away on her phone as she waited to arrive at the Colby's New York residence. She was working on some ideas in regards to the idea of moving and starting up a new energy empire – specifically when it came to ways to convince CA to sell her back Morell Corp. After what she'd said to Laura, she had really just doomed herself, in theory.
The cab pulled to a stop and Fallon got out after paying and giving the driver a rather nice tip for the speed of the trip. Kirby was the one who opened the door, and pulled Fallon into a tight hug as soon as she saw the brunette.
"Okay, easy," Fallon told her, patting Kirby's back awkwardly. "Let's at least go inside before you start to panic."
"I'm not panicked!" Kirby protested, even as she stepped back to let Fallon in. "I'm relieved to see you, jeez."
Fallon smiled a little at the admission, and turned around to face her friend, reaching out a hand to squeeze the redhead's arm. "How have you all been?"
"Besides worried?" Kirby shrugged. But she glanced down the hallway before lowering her voice. "I think Monica's upset with me about something but I'm not sure."
With a frown on her face, Fallon turned down the hallway to look for the others, unsure what would've earned Monica's disapproval. When they all finished their hugs and greetings, and everyone settled in to catch up, Fallon kept an eye on the dynamics between the others. But she didn't see what Kirby could've been talking about.
She was just checking in with Michael about if he really wanted to leave CA when she noticed what Kirby was up to. "If you're going to take my picture," Fallon drawled at her, "at least warn me first."
"Sorry," Kirby shrugged. "Steven asked for proof of life."
Fallon frowned, taken aback. "He could've just called me."
Michael lifted a hand at that. "Oh, actually that one's on me." He frowned back at Fallon when she turned her disapproval on him. "You had bigger things to worry about, didn't you? I was trying to help. And he was getting too close to asking questions that might get him in trouble with Adam."
"... Fine." Fallon turned back to Kirby, waving her over. "If you're going to send him something, at least make it look decent. Otherwise he might think something's wrong on principle."
Kirby smiled as she stood up and walked over to sit by Fallon, the two of them posing briefly for a selfie that Fallon actually didn't think she would crop Kirby out of later. In fact, she thought it might make a nice post somewhere once the whole mess with Adam had calmed down.
After the picture was sent, Kirby continued to text back and forth with Steven, to the point where Jeff just started staring at her. Until she looked up in confusion. "What?"
"You gonna tell him what we ate for breakfast, too? What are you talking about so much?"
"He asked about Liam," Kirby offered. "So I asked about Sam. We're just talking."
Fallon drew in a deep breath, avoiding Michael's gaze and quickly turning towards Jeff. "Speaking of food – you wouldn't happen to have anything left from that breakfast, would you? I'm meeting his horrible aunt for lunch and I'd rather not be distracted by how hungry I am."
Jeff stood and led her into the kitchen, showing her what they had to offer. It took Fallon a few moments to come around to finally saying something, but when she had a couple pieces of bacon on a plate, she finally looked his way, leaning against the countertop. "I'm sorry you two got wrapped up into this. It could be argued... that I don't deserve it. But Kirby didn't ask for any of this, so... Just, thanks."
He nodded slowly, looking somewhat impressed by her willingness to offer that up. "You've grown up since last year. I'd like to think we both have. In different ways, and for different reasons. But we have a new common enemy. Two, in fact, if what I hear about you and Blake is correct."
Fallon frowned, looking down at her plate. "Someday we'll all be free of him. But I'd rather it happen on my terms." She looked up at him again. "Wouldn't you?"
Michael appeared in the doorway, clearly catching the end of their conversation. "We'll find a way of dealing with him after this passes."
"If it passes," Jeff muttered, shaking his head.
"It will," Fallon announced. A deeply frustrated and ironic laugh escaped her. "I once said that I would never hide out and wait for someone to come get me. I swore that I'd never be that weak. But that's exactly what we're doing."
Culhane shrugged one shoulder, leaning against the door with his other one. "Staying safe is sometimes the right answer."
"Staying safe and doing nothing?" She countered. "No, we're just wasting time, now. I didn't want to- to think about it. But we are."
Jeff leaned forward on the counter, clearly excited by her change in mood. "So what's the game plan, then?"
Two hours later, the group of friends-slash-relatives-slash-exes (Fallon was starting to get very confused by the whole thing) had a game plan ready for her to run by Liam. She even suggested that she could talk him into coming back by for dinner, despite the obvious discomfort they expected for him and Michael.
As she brought up Liam, however, and started to gather her things and head out for lunch, Monica pulled her aside.
"What?" Fallon asked, taking her phone out to call a cab.
Monica covered Fallon's phone with her hand. "Wait. I need to show you something." She handed Fallon her own cell instead, open to Monica's Instagram feed.
Fallon was confused at first, but her expression quickly turned dark as she swiped through the various pictures in the post Monica had pointed out. "That bitch," Fallon snapped, her gaze flicking up to Monica.
The collection of pictures all featured Ashley Cunningham in New York City, and the caption claimed that they'd been taken that morning. But the more important thing was the fact that Liam was in every single photo. The last one was the one that drew such a strong reaction out of Fallon, though. In it, Liam winked at the camera while Ashley kissed him on the cheek.
"How did you find this?" Fallon asked, unable to stop herself from flipping through the pictures over and over.
"You think I wasn't going to stalk her accounts after Sun Valley?" Monica lifted an eyebrow, as if to say that Fallon surely knew her better than that.
One heavy sigh later, Fallon took a screenshot of the post and sent it to herself, but just passed Monica back her phone and resumed her call to the cab company. Once she hung up, she realized Monica was still staring at her. "What?"
"You're not going to – call him or something?"
Fallon just scoffed. "Liam isn't stupid enough to do something like this. Not to anybody, but definitely not to me. But he's also too good a guy to ever consider it. You know that."
Monica shrugged. "I mean, after everything that happened-"
"He isn't that good of an actor," Fallon snapped. "Pretending to be married for real is one thing. This is lightyears beyond that kind of lie. This is just cruel, and that is absolutely not his MO."
"So then why would she do this? And why today, when you couldn't go to the meetings with him? How does she know?"
Swinging her bag onto her arm, Fallon just shook her head. "I can't imagine that it's a coincidence. The only other person who knows I'm not with him today, is Steven. And Michael specifically made sure that Steven wasn't aware of what's happening. Tell Kirby not to talk to him anymore. Not about us, anyway."
"You think Adam is trying to sabotage the two of you?" Monica asked, following Fallon to the front door.
"He has to be. But my brother clearly doesn't know me very well if he thinks boy problems are going to stop me from coming after him. And whatever he's giving Ashley to play along, he's naive to think I wouldn't be able to beat it. This just means we have to put a rush on our plans."
Fallon threw the door open and stormed out, getting into the cab.