Like Eating Glass-Chapter 16
I'm not sure if this ending is corny, I mean I could have ended it last chapter but I feel like there were loose ends. Let me know what you think please. Thanks for reading this, 99% sure this is the last chapter this time. Not that you need a reminder, but I don't own Flashpoint.
"I want to go down again!" Allie said as Wordy helped the girls get the sled back up the hill. He'd lost count of how many times they'd ridden down the hill and then he'd walked back up with them again only to repeat the process.
"What do you say we take a little break from the sled?" Wordy said as they reached the top. "Uncle Ed said that he wanted you guys to make a snowman for him. Do you girls want to do that?" Wordy asked hopefully as they found a spot near the jungle gym that had fresh snow.
"Yeah, let's build a snowman." Claire said excitedly. "Lilly and Allie, you make the body, Daddy, can you help me get some branches for arms?" She asked as she looked at a tree a few meters away.
"Sure, princess." She took his hand and started to lead him towards the tree. Her hood had fallen down and some blond hair stuck out the back of her hat. Wordy had a moment where he again flashed back to Emily but he quickly shook the thought from his mind. He helped Claire collect a few branches and returned to Lilly and Allie to see the lopsided snowballs they had attempted to use as a body. He helped them roll the sections a bit more and then carefully lifted them on top of each other to let them decorate it. A smile came to his face as saw the uneven body and the sagging twigs for arms. Got to send a picture to Shelly and Ed when they're done with this. He thought.
Wordy cleared a bit of snow off the end of the slide and sat down as he watched his kids make their masterpiece. Lilly ran into the jungle gym area to see if there were any decorations they could use as clothes and returned with a little boy about her age, maybe a little older. He seemed timid and shied away from Claire and Allie at first but quickly added his contribution of pebbles for eyes. Their attention soon drifted from the snowman and they turned to making snow angels, writing their names in the snow with branches, and chasing each other around. Wordy watched them with a sad smile. He loved to see that his kids were happy but his thoughts kept drifting back to Emily. She wasn't going to play in the snow again, grow up, get to live her life because of his actions and he couldn't shake the feelings of extreme guilt that was building on top of the pressure in his chest.
"Mikey!" A voice came from the other side of the park and Wordy turned to see a man stumble towards them. He stood up and approached the kids but still keeping his distance. "Com'on, we're leaving." He said loudly, his words slightly slurred. Wordy looked carefully at the man and saw that he carried a thermos in one hand. He glanced towards the boy standing between Claire and Lilly and saw that he was quivering slightly. He turned and said sometime to Lilly before turning and starting across the playground. He stumbled a bit in the deep snow but eventually made it over to his very impatiently waiting father. Wordy watched him carefully, his adrenaline pumping.
"What took you so damn long?" The man said as his son stood next to him.
"The snow is deep, I'm sorry." Mikey said softly. Before Wordy even knew what was happening the man had pushed his son to the ground hard and was cursing at him. He heard Lilly gasp and jogged over to his girls first.
"Claire, take your sisters and sit right here next to the snow man." He said seriously as he handed her his cell phone and pulled up a contact. "Then call Uncle Ed, just like we practiced." She nodded and he walked over towards the boy, now crying in the snow.
"Sir, I think you need to calm down." Wordy said firmly as he approached. He was a few meters away from the boy and his father but still close enough to hear a bit of the conversation Claire was having with Ed.
"...we're at the park near our house...Mikey's dad keeps pushing him into the snow and yelling at him and Daddy said to call you..." He tried to suppress a smile as he heard her speaking clearly into the phone like they had practiced with all the girls.
"Yeah, well I don't really give a crap what you think Sasquatch." The man said as he grabbed his son's arm and pulled him out of the snow, twisting it in an unnatural position.
"No Dad! That hurts, please stop!" Mikey yelled and cried as his father held his wrist painfully behind him.
"Actually, it's Constable Wordsworth and I need you to let go of your son right now." Wordy nearly growled, trying to keep his anger in check. He moved a few steps closer as the man seemed to grow more agitated and took another long sip from his thermos. Wordy took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down and think about his training rather than his anger. "Sir, I just want to help. Can you tell me your name?" He asked a bit more calmly.
"Back off, Sasquatch!" He yelled again as he twisted Mikey's arm further.
"Okay, okay, Sir." Wordy said as he took a few small steps backwards. "I'm going to step back, I just want to make sure your son isn't hurt. It looks like he's in pain, you want to maybe let up your grip a little bit?" Wordy asked calmly as he raised his hands in the universal 'no harm' sign. The man's back was to the street but Wordy saw flashing lights in the distance.
"Com'on Mikey, I said we're leaving!" The man said loudly as he pulled on his son's already extended arm, causing the boy to yell and cry loudly in pain.
"Sir, stay where you are and let go of your son!" Wordy yelled again as he took a few steps closer. He saw the familiar black SUVs pulling up to the park quietly, the sirens not on and Ed and Greg silently getting out of their car. Out of the corner of his eye Wordy found Ed and nodded subtly.
"Sir," Ed yelled out, forcing the man to turn away from Wordy. In that second where his back was turned Wordy ran up behind him and tackled him to the ground. He inadvertently released his son, who ran back towards Lilly, Claire, and Allie, and was surrounded by the SRU in an instant. Ed handed Wordy a pair of riot cuffs and helped him maneuver the man's arms into them. Sam and Spike moved forward and grabbed the man's arms to help him up and lead him to the trucks as Wordy stood and brushed snow off himself.
"Can any of us ever have a normal day off?" Ed asked as he slapped Wordy's back.
"Nice work, Wordy." Greg said as he looked towards Jules. She had gone to get Mikey so they could check his arm but it didn't look like he was talking to her. Wordy followed Greg's gaze and started to walk towards them.
"Daddy?" All of the girls looked a little afraid but Wordy put a big smile on his face and knelt down to hug them.
"I'm so proud of all of you, you did a great job." He said as he addressed his own kids but also Mikey who sat a bit to the side of Claire.
"Especially you, Mikey. That must have been really scary." Wordy said as he sat down in the snow. The boy nodded but seemed weary.
"Did you meet my friend, Jules?" He asked as he motioned a to his left. "You see, Jules and me are both police officers, we..." He paused for a moment as he thought of his usual speech. He had presented at the school career days for his kids and never doubted himself but he hesitated for an instant today. "...we help people and we protect people." He finished and saw Mikey looking hopeful. "And we really want to help you, but first we want to make sure your arm is okay. Does it hurt a lot?" Wordy asked gently.
"Yeah." He said very softly in a whisper. Wordy nodded. He waited a moment before speaking again, wondering if he should delve deeper.
"Does anything else hurt?" He asked gently. Mikey nodded, tears coming to his eyes as he pointed towards his chest and abdomen. "Can I have someone take you to a doctor to try and make it stop hurting?" Mikey nodded again as he lunged forward into Wordy's arms. "It's okay, Mikey." Wordy soothed him as he stood up. "Jules?" He didn't have to form the question to ask if she would watch the girls before she nodded.
He started to slowly carry Mikey over to the waiting ambulance, motioning for Greg to follow him as he did. "It's okay, Mikey. You're safe now." He said as he put him down on the padded gurney. "Mikey, this is my friend Tom." Wordy motioned towards one of the paramedics he knew. "He's going to see if he could make things hurt less, okay?" Mikey nodded as Wordy moved out of the way and walked over towards Greg.
"How is he?" Greg asked as he approached, seeing the anger on Wordy's face.
"The son of a bitch..." Wordy felt his anger mounting but he took a deep breath to try and contain it. He saw his girls and calmed a bit as Greg approached him.
"You okay, Wordy?" He asked gently.
"Yeah, I'm good." He was actually a bit surprised by his own answer. Good...I'm good...when did that happen? He mused. His face must have shown the confusion as Greg smiled a bit and put his arm around Wordy's shoulder, turning him towards the ambulance and police cars.
"You saved him, Wordy." He said simply. "You saved him from the abuse, sure; but we don't know what kind of a fate he would have had if you hadn't been here today, if you didn't step in." Greg said with a smile. Wordy nodded, understanding his point.
"I'm not there yet." Wordy said in a cautionary tone. He didn't want to get his hopes up for being back to normal when he knew he wasn't...he could never be. "But things are falling into place." He said with a smile, the first real smile that he'd felt in what seemed to be a long time.
That's it, really this time. I hope that you liked this, I hope you told me if you liked this (I love reviews!) and I hope that we see a lot more Wordy in the next season. June 17th people, write it on your calendars! Thanks a lot for reading this. Some one-shots will be up soon and then I've got a Greg story I've been holding off on writing...that's my next project though so make sure to stay tuned!