You Never Gave Me a Reason
Disclaimer: I don't own Revenge or its characters.
6) An Argument that Arranges Unexpected Allies
Conrad had been expecting chaos from the moment Charlotte had announced that she was moving back home. The idea that his volatile daughter and his even-more-volatile wife would be living under the same roof without anyone present to cool the fire was frightening on multiple scales - he feared for both of their lives. There was just no way this was going to work.
After the first few days of shared living, Conrad saw very little change in Charlotte's demeanor, but it quickly became apparent that Victoria's patience was being severely tried. Each time he caught a good look at her, he was surprised to observe the emotional exhaustion that showed clearly on her face and in every action she took. She was too short of energy to pick even one fight with her husband that week; which at first seemed to be a positive result of this thought-catastrophe. As the week progressed, however, what little energy she still reserved was increasingly used to verbally assault the undeserving - including himself - and this had resulted in the loss of two housekeepers and his own injured pride. It wasn't until the day she began throwing things at him that Conrad decided to begin checking in on the happy family. He was surprised to find mother and daughter already engaged in a war of words during his first visit.
"Mom, they're not mine! Don't you believe me?"
"Charlotte, don't lie to me. I can see them in your eyes!"
The music of an original Grayson screaming match filled his ears from the moment he opened the front door, and in he walked to the cadence of their angry voices and thumping steps - he tracked these footfalls to the living room, and he followed to find his wife standing over their daughter in her slouched stance in front of the couch. Fear was in the brown eyes of the first, while drugs blurred the brown eyes of the second; tension radiated from the bubble in which they seemed to stand, locked-in on each other with determination thickening the air they breathed. Conrad was beginning to wish he hadn't entered the house.
Still, with nowhere to run but into the fight, he cleared his throat loudly enough to attract the attention of both women. Charlotte merely glanced his way dismissively, while Victoria did a full turn, some kind of unreadable expression in her eyes. "Conrad," she sighed, exasperated.
He raised his eyebrows at her surrendered tone. "What's going on?" he questioned, blinking from his distraught wife to his indignant daughter. His gaze settled on Victoria - rather, the plastic bag of pills she clutched in one hand, dangling at eye-level.
"I found these under her bed," she informed him.
"Why were you looking under my bed?" Charlotte asked accusingly, pulling her mother back to her. "Don't you trust me at all?"
Victoria laughed at that. "It's becoming apparent that I can't do that anymore. How long have you been using, Charlotte?"
Her daughter remained silent, crossing her arms. Conrad furrowed his brow and stepped further into the room, reaching Victoria's side. "Charlotte, answer your mother," he addressed her calmly. She didn't respond as peaceably.
"Dad, you can't tell me you believe any of this," Charlotte pleaded with him, staring seemingly into his soul. "This is clearly another one of her sad attempts to regain control of everything!"
Victoria's eyes widened in injury. "I'm worried about you, Charlotte!"
"Oh, shut up!" she snapped in reply, stepping dangerously close to her steaming mother. "All you want is to lock me up so you'll have more time for Daniel and your other illegitimate child!"
As he sensed escalation, Conrad stepped between the two women, reaching out to his obviously-influenced daughter. "No one wants to lock you up, Charlotte. Your mother and I want to help you."
"As if you two would help anyone!" Charlotte spat, jerking away from his hand. "I am not on drugs!"
"Charlotte-" he began, but was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to Victoria, who was staring at him with a resigned expression, and was shocked to see her shake her head slowly.
"There's no use in arguing when she's like this," she stated, eyes tired and face flushed. Turning to her daughter, she added quietly, "Goodnight, Charlotte. We'll talk in the morning."
Charlotte rolled her eyes and pushed past her mother. "Goodnight, Victoria," she tossed over her shoulder, adding insult to injury. Conrad knew this last bite was one that would continue to gnaw at his wife - a mother who had early in her years of parenting exposed her fear of being hated by her children. Since those days, she had grown much thicker skin, but these small comments - "I hate you", or even being called anything but mom - still hit her core, though she would never admit such.
Once they heard her bedroom door slam shut, Conrad turned to her, his face likely the picture of confusion. "That was unexpected," he stated quietly, examining her expression as she stared at the doorway through which her daughter had escaped.
"I've been suspecting this since her first night here," she muttered, eyes suddenly shiny with tears. He swallowed his fear at this sight - Victoria didn't typically cry during these fights. What was it about this single argument that had her so emotionally beaten?
Conrad sighed, moving closer so as to whisper his words. "We've faced addiction with Daniel, and he made it out the other end," he reminded her, but she didn't seem at all placated.
"Charlotte's different," she admitted, averting her eyes from his. "I can't figure her out. She never lets me in."
Blinking at her, he glanced at the door and replied quietly, "Maybe this is your chance to get closer to her."
Victoria looked up at him, tears beginning to escape the grasp of her eyelashes. "You don't understand, Conrad. We never had a relationship to begin with, and now..."
By the time he saw her hand come up to cover her mouth, it was too late to say anything; a sob choked her words, her voice stalling before she finished in short breath, coming out like a sorrowful laugh. "I'm losing her."
He watched her silently as she began to unravel, though she fought a valiant battle with her own emotions until her eventual loss. Tears began dripping from her eyelashes and her face paled, starkly contrasting the dark hair that fell in her face as she looked at the floor, ashamed. He wasn't sure what to do, but his subconscious mind took over, without any input from his conscious mind, which contained all logic and self-preservation.
Conrad was cautious but unafraid as he took one step forward and brought his arms up to loop around her waist loosely. He expected her head to shoot up and fire an angry remark as he pulled her in gently, but she didn't even seem surprised; she simply moved into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder as if this was a natural, everyday occurrence. In a moment, he was holding her for the first time in what seemed like forever, and she finally had a shoulder on which she could let out frustrated and exhausted tears.
"I don't know what to do with this," Victoria admitted between gasping breaths, a trembling hand reaching up to swipe tears from her cheeks. He tentatively began running his hand up and down her back in a slow attempt at comfort, simply flustered and upset by the sound and sight of her crying. "I don't even know what she's upset about anymore. I never figure out something's wrong until I find Daniel wasted or Charlotte popping pills..."
Her voice trailed off, and he sighed sadly, unsure of what to say. "What do you need me to do?" he eventually asked, sincerely wanting to help her out of this. It wasn't fair to leave the parenting to her, after all - especially with everything else on her plate.
She shook her head in resignation, trying to regain composure. "I can't do this anymore. I need help."
He swallowed, loosening his grip on her waist. His next question was a dangerous one, but he asked anyway, prepared to jump backward if she was angered by the idea. "Would it help if I moved back in?"
Conrad was again surprised at how well she responded to him that night, as she pulled back enough to look at him seriously and asked, "Back into the manor? With Charlotte and me?"
"For now," he added quickly, glancing at the doorway. "Until things settle down - if you want, that is."
Victoria seemed torn for a moment, blinking between him and couch where Charlotte had sat and thrown words of hatred at her. The days spent receiving these attacks had amounted to enough stress and sleeplessness that she actually surrendered; nodding her head, she replied, "I suppose she'll respond better to you. She knows you love her."
Surprised for the third time, he had to remind himself to take a breath before replying in words of reassurance. "Sometimes it's hard for people to realize they're loved," he said quietly, speaking from experience. "You just have to keep loving them in hopes that they see it."
Victoria offered a small smile; the words seemed to go over her head. She didn't appear to realize that he was talking about her.
Ack! Sorry for waiting so long to post. My internet is playing hide-and-seek, but I think it's fixed now. Anyway, thanks so much for reading! I hope you'll follow, favorite, or hopefully leave a review and tell me what you think.
ASDFGHJKL THE SHOW IS BREAKING MY HEART! ConVict is more painful to ship than it used to be, now that the writers are making Conrad so ruthless, but I'll just keep holding on... Meanwhile, I've been writing fanfiction like a mad person in order to cope and I'm in the middle of a (tumultuous) sequel to this story. I have no idea if I'll ever post it, but I'm just sayin'... I'll have a (probably crappy) sequel ready by the end of this one, so if you'd ever want to read it, lemme know and I might post. It'll be a little more... dangerousss...
So yay :) Conrad and Victoria are living together now. That makes a little more fun possible, huh?
Okay I'm done wasting your time bye.