Chapter 16
Ty blinked and rubbed her hand over her face. She lay there for a moment trying to figure out where she was. Rolling over she saw Billy laying face down on the bed next to her, his arms crossed under his head and breathing slowly in and out.
I remember now. We got shit-faced last night and come back to his place rather than waking Liz up. Ty squinted and tried to decide if she had a headache or not. If she didn't take some aspirin first, she would have a migraine by lunchtime. Glancing at the clock she was surprised to see that it was only 9:30 in the morning. She slipped out of bed as quietly as possible and padded into the bathroom to raid Billy's medicine cabinet. Finding the pill bottle, she poured three out into her hand and swallowed them with a drink of water from the faucet. Her stomach grumbled and she realized that the last time she ate was during that…conversation with Liz yesterday.
She walked out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. She grabbed Billy's shirt from last night and put it on. She breathed in Billy's unique scent and was tempted to get back in bed and maul him. She resisted the urge and went into the kitchen.
She made really strong coffee and by the time it was done Billy had managed to crawl out of bed, put on a pair of pants and wander into the kitchen. She smiled, drinking the sight of the intricate black tattoos crawling across his skin. She always was a sucker for ink. Pouring them both a cup of coffee, she sat down at the table and handed him the steaming black mug.
"Thanks." He grumbled, voice still husky from sleep.
"You're welcome." She took a sip of her coffee and smiled as it wormed its way down her throat, warming her from the inside out. "I'm going to go see Bones this morning and get our payment for last night then I'm going to go pick up Will from my Aunt Evie's house. You are more than welcome to come with me if you want?" she suggested hopefully, not sure what his answer would be.
"Let's get some breakfast first then we'll go."
"Really? You'll come with me?" Ty smiled, excited that he was willing to go with her to get their son.
"Sure. I need to meet him if I ever expect him to get to know me." Billy half-smiled at her and she couldn't resist leaning across the table to kiss him. She nibbled playfully on his full lower lip and he gripped the back of her head, pulling her in for a much more satisfactory kiss. She pulled back and smiled at him. Billy sighed and rubbed his hands against his scalp, his normal sign of feeling either angry or nervous. Ty couldn't tell what was going on in his head so she asked.
"What's up?"
"I'm…concerned that he won't like me." Billy admitted haltingly.
"I'm not gonna lie. He will probably be a bit standoffish at first but give him a chance to get used to you and I'm sure you'll get along great. He's just not used to all of the "scary" tattoos." Ty smiled gently, amused at Billy's obvious nervousness.
"You have tattoos, how are mine any different?" Billy frowned at her, slightly confused.
"He's just used to me. He's seen me almost everyday since he was born. You are this big, scary man that he's never met before who is covered in tattoos. It's just one aspect of what is making him nervous. You'll both be fine. I promise."
"Alright." He grudgingly conceded the point, still nervous but unable (unwilling?) to talk any more about his feelings. "Let's eat then go see Bones."
Ty got up from the table and made some scrambled eggs and toast. They ate quickly, looking at each other from time to time and smiling. Washing up from breakfast, Ty squeaked when Billy stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He nibbled at the exposed column of her neck. She leaned into his embrace and sighed in contentment. He bit down on her earlobe and a jolt of desire shot straight to her core.
"If you keep that up we'll never get out of here." She mumbled reluctantly. Billy chuckled.
"I'm going to take a shower. You should probably get some clothes from Liz's place. I don't think any of my stuff would fit you."
"Ok. I'll be back in a few minutes." Ty said, setting the last plate in the dish drainer.
Billy stepped back and she walked toward the door.
"Did I mention that I like you in my clothes?"
Ty smirked. "I'll have to remember that." She grabbed her keys and went downstairs to Liz's apartment. Unlocking the door, she slipped quietly inside. She quickly took a shower and dressed in a long sleeve black t-shirt with a bleeding heart/dagger design on the front and a pair of worn dark wash jeans. Liz knocked on her door as she was tying her boots.
"Come in." Ty called, standing up and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Where were you last night?" Liz demanded angrily.
"Why? What's wrong?" Ty stared quizzically at her sister.
"The warehouse was on the news this morning. It blew up!" Liz exclaimed.
"Oh, well it wasn't scheduled for demolition until this morning. That's weird." Ty said dismissively.
"It was scheduled for demolition? Why? What are you up to now?" Liz demanded, angry that she had been kept in the dark about her sister's plans.
"Billy and I decided that we are going to rebuild the warehouse and make a club out of it. No big deal."
"Wait, does that mean you're staying?"
"I think so, at least for a while. Will needs to get to know his father and, who knows, maybe something might happen to change my mind about the whole marriage thing." Ty smiled and shrugged. "Billy and I are going to go get Will today so we won't be home till later tonight."
"Alright. See you."
Ty grabbed her wallet and shoved it in her back pocket. She opened the door and almost ran into Billy who was standing at the front door, his hand poised to knock.
"Hey gorgeous. Ready to go?" Billy asked; backing up so Ty could shut the front door.
"Yep."
They walked down stairs and Billy stopped by his car. "I'm driving."
"Sure. Hey, whose night is it to run the corner?" Ty asked, getting into the car and carefully shutting the door. Billy was a bit protective of his baby and always got pissy if his car doors were slammed.
"I don't know. That's your department." Billy shrugged. Before she left, Ty was the one who always did the schedules for the corner, he never knew who was supposed to be running it and he was okay with that. His job was just to deliver the money to Bones, she took care of everything else. He started the car and pulled out of the parking space. Turning out of the parking lot, he headed over to Bones' Bodyshop.
"I'm gonna have Dog and Jamie run it…if that's alright?" Ty asked hesitantly, chewing nervously on her lower lip.
"Whatever you say. As long as they get their jobs done, I don't care who runs it." Billy shook his head. All of a sudden Ty was asking for his approval. She never used to do that and it confused him. Never one to talk about his feelings, he let the thought slide and just concentrated on driving.
Five minutes later they stopped in back of Bones' shop. They got out and walked into the building. Ty wrinkled her nose at the mixed smell of wet paint and sweat that assaulted her senses.
"Shit, this place stinks." Ty grimaced.
"You got a problem with it, you clean it." Bones growled from the back room.
Ty rolled her eyes and walked into Bones office. "No, thanks anyway though. Maybe you could get Sherry to clean it for you." Billy shot her a look and she stopped talking.
"Have you ghosted that little fucker yet?" Bones demanded, wiping an oily cloth over his knuckles.
"Yeah, last night. Just thought you ought to know." Ty shrugged, suddenly looking almost nervous in Bones' presence.
"Whatever. The money will be in your account by this afternoon." Bones waved his hand dismissively but Ty ignored him, standing stock still in front of his desk. "You can get the fuck out of my office now." Bones growled, irritated at her persistence.
"Bones…Joey is not joining the gang." Ty stated, a mixture of defiance and hesitation evident in her tone. Bones put the cloth that he had been holding down and looked at her over the broken frames of his glasses.
"He's not? And when did you make this decision?" his voice quiet but in a way that was even more intimidating because of its softness.
"Last night. I've thought about it a lot in the past couple of days and I don't want him to be a part of this lifestyle. He's already way too deep into the drug dealing and it's not safe. He's got a child on the way and he and Liz deserve better than what this kind of life can give them." Ty blurted.
"humph." Bones grunted, glaring at her. His eyes slid slowly from her face to focus on Billy. "Do you agree with her?"
Billy nodded once. He did agree with her, although, he thought it might have been better to put this off for a while. Hell, if it were up to him, he would have had Joe join the gang and be done with it. He had learned a long time ago that if he disagreed with Bones it meant beatings or worse and he wasn't usually willing to cross him.
Bones watery blue eyes closed for a moment and when he opened them it was evident that he had come to some kind of conclusion. "Fine, I'll let him off the hook for now but so help me, if either of you stupid fucks gets yourselves killed, he's taking over as second in command."
Ty's posture relaxed slightly and she nodded. "Thank you."
"Get the fuck out of my sight now." Bones commanded, pointing angrily at the door.
Ty skittered across the floor in her haste to obey. Billy followed at a more leisurely pace. They got to the car and Ty collapsed into her seat, practically sobbing with relief.
"Shit, Ty. The next time you decide to poke the sleeping dragon, please leave me out of it. I don't want him getting pissed at me and trying to fucking kill me or something." Billy growled, glaring at her.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to do this now and get it out of the way. I feel much better knowing that Joe doesn't have to turn out like us. I mean, I know he could kill a man if he had to, I just don't want him to have to make that decision." Ty said apologetically.
"It's fine. Just don't do that to me again. Now, where is your Aunt Evie's house?" Billy asked, starting the car and pulling onto the main street.
"She lives on the outskirts of New York. She used to live in Detroit but Bobby moved her to New York when he made it big as a pro hockey player." Ty smiled with pride for her cousin. Hell, with as close as she and Bobby were it was more like brother and sister.
Getting on the freeway, Billy spared a glance at her. Her emerald green eyes were staring out the front window and she had a soft smile on her lips. It was obvious she was reliving good memories and he didn't want to intrude so he just left her alone.
About a half hour later Ty shook her head and looked around. "Sorry about that. I just got caught up thinking about the summers that I used to spend in Detroit with all of them. God, those were some great days." She laughed lightly. "I've turned into a sap haven't I?"
Billy smirked. "Just a bit."
They passed a mile marker sign and she was shocked to see that they had already done a hundred miles. "Fuck. I didn't realize you were going that fast."
Billy looked over at her and smirked. "I never did like driving slow. Felt like wasting time."
Ty smiled. "That just means we'll get there that much faster. I've missed Will so much, I can't wait to see him."
"Do they know we're coming to get him?"
"Um…" Ty thought for a moment, trying to remember if she had called Evelyn to tell her. "Shit. I don't think I called her. I guess I'd better do that." She grimaced guiltily and pressed the speed dial number 4 on her cell phone.
Hello?
"Aunt Evie?"
Catylina, how are you? Is everything okay? Ty never called unless she needed something or someone was in trouble so Evie's worry was to be expected.
"Everything is fine. How is Will?"
He's doing well. He misses you something awful but Bobby has him ice skating every afternoon and Jackie is trying to teach him how to play guitar, so between the two of them he's always busy.
"Thanks for taking such great care of him. Any way, the reason I called is that the job that I was working on got finished early and I'm on my way to come get Will."
Oh, that's great, honey! I can't wait to see you. When are you going to get here? I'll need a little while to get a room set up for you for the night. Are you going to be staying for a while this time?
"Um…I wasn't planning on it. I really need to get Will and just head back to Boston." Ty chewed her lip nervously.
Alright honey, maybe some other time. Did you get a chance to speak to William while you were there?
"I…um…we'll talk more about it when I get there. I really need to concentrate on driving."
Evie chuckled. Alright love. Drive safe and we'll see you in a couple of hours.
Billy glanced at her as she flipped her phone closed and was surprised to see that she was still chewing the corner of her lip.
"What?" Ty jumped and glanced guiltily at him
"Um…nothing." She murmured, not wanting to have this conversation now, especially when Billy was driving.
"Yeah, right. Uh huh. Spill it. What's wrong?" Billy stared at her, curious about what was bothering her.
"I…ok, so this sounds really high school but you have to promise you won't tell Liz that I said anything." Ty stared at him and he chuckled.
"You're right, it does. What is it?"
"Ok, so…Liz kinda told me about the conversation that the two of you had yesterday." Ty blurted nervously.
"hmmph." Billy grunted, unsure of how to respond. The tone of her voice gave him no indication about how she was feeling.
"I…fuck. Ok so, don't take this the wrong way but…" Ty stopped, staring out the window and tried to choose her words very carefully.
"But what?" Billy growled. He was nervous but couldn't figure out if it was because she might say she wanted to get married or that she didn't.
"I'm going to be perfectly honest here. I just don't think that either of us are the…marriage type. I'm honestly terrified of it. Not because being with you for the rest of my life is scary, we fit together. Minus the apocalyptic arguments, we're damn near perfect." Billy smirked and nodded.
"What are you so scared of?" he was curious, they'd never had a conversation quite like this and he was interested to see where it would go.
"Mom and dad were a lot like us before they got married or so Aunt Evie tells me. They fought like cats and dogs but they loved each other so much, it was like they were one person instead of two. They got married right after high school and had me not 6 months later. They had Liz two years after that and they were so happy. They still fought constantly but it wasn't serious, they were just two argumentative people with very fiery personalities. Again, a lot like us. I'm so much like my mother that we could have been twins…at least that's what Evie says." Ty sighed and glanced out the window again. After several moments of silence she started speaking, this time almost whispering, as if what she was going to say was hard for her. "Dad died when I was 6. Mom might as well have died right along with him. She stopped living, taking care of us girls, taking care of herself. She went to work, came home and passed out. She was like a hollow shell of what she used to be. I started taking care of Liz and it was like that for the first two years or so…at least until mom started drinking. When she drank, she would get angry and lash out, saying shit to whoever was in the room at the time. Then she started bringing boyfriends home. I guess she was trying to fill the gaping void that losing dad left. Anyway, she started doing crack and that's when she met Bones. We moved into the house next door to yours after that cuz she was fucking Heco's dad and wanted to be close to her source. You pretty much know the rest from there."
Billy waited for her to start talking again but after five minutes of silence so complete you could have heard a pin drop, he asked "What does that have to do with you getting married?"
"Shit. If my mom and I are so alike, and if we got married and you died or something, I couldn't bear the thought of doing to Will what my mother did to me. It's not fair to him to make him live like that, practically without a mother. I just …"
"Ty, you aren't your mother." Billy interrupted; concerned that she would ever think herself capable of something like that. "You never could be. You are much stronger than she ever was. You left me for five years and nothing like that happened."
"Yeah, but that was different." Ty stated defensively.
"How was that any different? I might have died, you never would have known."
"That's not true. I got a phone call from Bones every so often and he would have said something if you died."
Billy glared at her. "What the fuck was Bones doing calling you?"
"He…found out that I was pregnant with Will and convinced me that you would hate me if you ever knew. I didn't want to give him up so I left. Bones felt bad for me or something and has been sending me around 2 grand a month for the last 5 years to take care of your son."
"Shit. So, wait, Bones knew about Will? Not only knew about him but was paying you to take care of him? What the fuck? How did he even find out?" Billy shook his head, not sure if he was more pissed off or disappointed. "Fuck. There's more to that slimy old bastard than meets the eye. Anyway, basically you are afraid that if we were to get married that I would die and you would do to Will what your mother did to you?"
"Yeah, I guess that about sums it up." Ty admitted sheepishly. Even in her own head her reasons sounded hollow. Saying them out loud just made it that much worse.
"Since marriage is out of the question for now, how about we just live together?" Billy asked. Even as the words left his mouth he was mentally kicking himself for admitting his need to have her in his life.
"Shit. Seriously?" Ty murmured, wondering what Will would say about all of this.
"It's not permanent or anything, just until you find your own place." Billy tried to back pedal and Ty's face fell in disappointment.
"What if I want it to be permanent?"
"Do you?"
"I don't know about forever but the next 30 or 40 years sounds good to me." Ty smiled and Billy glared at her.
"You're a bitch, you know that right? Letting me think that you didn't want to be with me. Fuck, woman, you are going to be the death of me, I swear."
"Yeah, and you're a bastard so what's your point?"
They both laughed, relieved that the tension that had been hovering over them was gone.
"Bones really paid you to take care of Will?" Billy stroked his gotee, thinking about the implications of her answer.
"Yeah, apparently he does in fact have feelings for his family. Who knew?" Ty shrugged.
"He's still a bastard." Billy stated and Ty nodded.
"That's a given. He is a Darley after all."
Billy smirked and turned the radio back on. He listened as Ty sang every song that came on for the next two hours. Finally the pulled up in front of a modest two story house in a nice neighborhood in a suburb of New York.
There were several vehicles parked in the driveway but the one that caught Billy's eye was the black Harley VCRX Night Rod Special with custom red tribals. He whistled appreciatively. "Who's bike is that?"
Ty blushed and looked away. "It's mine."
"No shit."
"Yeah, Bobby bought it for me because he said that if I could only ride it when I was visiting Evie that it might make me come home more often."
"hmmph." Maybe he had been wrong to judge her family as pussies so quickly.
"If you want, you can take her for a ride before dinner."
"Sure." Billy parked the car and they both got out. He walked around to Ty's side and hugged her tightly to him. "I think I forgot to tell you something before."
Ty looked up at him and quirked her head to the side. "Really? What's that?"
Billy leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you."
Ty gasped as he captured her lips with his, putting every ounce of himself into that one action. They were interrupted by a door slamming open and a squeaky voice shouting, "MOMMY!"
"Will!" Ty exclaimed, scooping him up into her arms and hugging him hard. After several seconds he squirmed to get down. Reluctantly she set him on his feet and he stepped back to look up at Billy.
"Does he know yet?" Will asked Ty as he continued to glare at Billy.
"Sweetheart…" Ty began but Billy interrupted.
"Will, yes I know. Ty told me the night before you left. I'm sorry that things worked out the way they did but I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere." Billy got down on one knee and looked Will in the eyes, mirror images of his own.
"Promise?" Will demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Billy smiled at him. "I promise." Will surprised all three of them by throwing himself into his father's arms. Billy hesitantly hugged him and Will wriggled himself deeper into the embrace. Several minutes later Will reluctantly let go and Billy pulled back. "You and your mom are going to move in with me once we get home."
"Really?" Will asked, looking at Ty.
"I think it's time you get to know your dad, so yes, we are moving in with him." Ty smiled and Billy stood up, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Ty looked up at the porch and blushed when she realized that the entire Mercer clan had witnessed their conversation.
"It's about damn time." Bobby said, walking across the lawn to give Ty a hug.
"Yeah, I know." Ty shrugged and smiled. They all walked up the steps and into the house. After getting a hug from Jackie, Angel and Jerry, Ty turned to Evie. Evie hugged Ty and pecked her on the forehead.
"I'm so glad you are here. This must be William." Evie said, looking at Billy.
"Um…yes, ma'am." Billy said, sticking his hand out awkwardly to shake. Ignoring his hand Evie hugged him. Pulling back, she smiled gently at him.
"I'm Evie. None of this ma'am business, makes me feel old. Why don't you take Will in the back yard and play for a bit. Dinner should be ready in about a half hour."
Billy just looked at her for a moment, wondering where this woman got off telling him what to do. He shrugged and turned to Will. "Want to show me where the back yard is?"
"Sure." He grabbed Billy's hand and ran out the back door, dragging him behind him.
"Ty, will you help me in the kitchen?" Evie said, walking out of the room, not even waiting for her response.
Ty smiled at the guys and followed Evie out of the room.
"Set the table, please." Ty worked on her request as Evie bustled around the room, putting the finishing touches on the meal.
"So, how did William react to the news?"
"Um…I don't really think you want the details." Ty said, smirking at her memories of that night.
"Ah…so favorably?"
"Yeah, you could say that. We are moving into his apartment."
"Has he asked you to marry him yet?"
"What? Why would you think that? Neither of us are the marrying type. You know I'm not." Ty stated defensively.
"If you think I'm going to let you get away with that lame answer, you have another thing coming young lady. You two are absolutely right for each other. A blind person could see that. You are not your mother, as much as I might have told you that you looked like her and had her personality, you have something that she never did."
Ty raised an eyebrow skeptically and Evie laughed.
"You are a much stronger person than your mother ever was. You have enormous amounts of will power and you have the love a support of a family to back you up. All she had was me and at the time, she wasn't willing to take my support and by the time she admitted that she needed me, it was too late for me to do anything to help her. You are smart enough to know that you need your family and that, my dear, is what makes you so much stronger than your mother could ever hope to be. Now, go relax with the boys and watch the game. Dinner will be ready shortly."
Ty wiped her cheeks from the two tears that had fought past her defenses and smiled.
"I love you. Thank you." She hugged Evie and rested her chin on the shorter woman's head.
She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She plopped down next to Jack on the black leather sofa and rested her head on the armrest.
"Hey Kat, how you doin'?" Jack asked, turning from the TV to study Ty's face.
She sighed and smiled at him. "Things are good. Its been a long week. Thanks so much for helping take care of Will."
"No worries. You know you both are our family. We Mercers take care of our own." Jack grinned his thousand-watt smile at her and she just had to laugh.
"Way to turn on the charm Jackie-boy." Ty smiled at him and he pulled her to rest against him. She curled against his side and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They had always cuddled like this as kids and as Jack was gay, it wasn't like anything would ever happen between them.
Billy watched as Will pumped his legs, forcing the swing back and forth. Not that he had any experience with kids, but he thought his son was rather sturdy for a five year old. Will looked over at Billy and smiled.
"You wanna swing with me?" Will asked, pointing at the empty swing next to him.
"Um…I'm not sure that the swing would hold my weight. I don't want to break it." Billy hedged and Will laughed.
"It holds uncle Angel so I think you'd be fine." Will smiled encouragingly and Billy reluctantly stood up and walked over to the swing. He sat gingerly down and when the swing didn't immediately collapse under him he gently started swinging.
"Any body ever teach you how to jump off the swing while it's moving?" Billy asked smirking at his son.
"No. Uncle Bobby says it's too dangerous and he doesn't want me to hurt myself." Will said, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Oh, your Uncle Bobby is just a pussy." Billy said, laughing.
"Ohhh, daddy said a bad word!" Will accused, glaring at him.
"Crap. Just don't tell your mom, ok?" Billy just had to laugh when Will solemnly shook his head.
"You need a time out. That's what mom always makes me do when she hears me say a word like that. You have to go sit in the corner for five minutes." Will pointed to the corner of the porch and Billy chuckled. Will glared at him and pouted until he got up off the swing and went to sit in the corner, thoroughly amused that his son was ordering him around and that he was actually listening.
"Dinner's ready!" Evie called from the kitchen.
Ty extricated herself from Jack's embrace and walked out to the porch. She smiled when she saw Billy sitting in the corner and Will swinging.
"Will, honey, what is your daddy doing in the corner?" Ty laughed when Will giggled.
"He said a bad word and I made him sit in the corner for a time out."
"Alright. Well, he'll have to finish the time out later because dinner is ready." Ty said, walking over to Billy and holding a hand out to help him up. He used it to steady himself and when he got to his feet he went over to Will.
"Let's go in for dinner."
"Catch me?" Will asked, pumping the swing as hard as he had yet. At the pinnacle of the arc Will took a flying leap out of the swing and landed in Billy's arms. All three of them walked into the house, more content than they had ever been, feeling like a family for the first time ever.
XxxxX
That's it. It's finished! I hope you all enjoyed reading this story because I really enjoyed writing it. This last chapter was mostly for Lauraxxx cuz she kept asking for Billy/Will interaction. I know it's not much but it's all I could come up with. Again, thanks for reading my story and for all of your kind reviews! I'm going to be taking a small break from writing, but never fear, I will write more. I'm playing with plot bunnies for a modern day Eragon fanfic as well as the sequel to my Four Brothers story Katrina, this time writing the Bobby/Lexi story.