Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock. I am not making profit from this story so no one sue me, please. Any characters whom are not from Static Shock are rightfully owned by me.
Summary: Virgil and Richie haven't been friends for nearly 20 years. They have gone their separate ways and lived their successful live through work. However, how have their personal lives suffered since their failed friendship?
"What do you think I should do about that burn?"
Robert drew in a deep breath and leaned forward. He laced his fingers together, rested his elbows on his lap, and placed his chin on his hands. Shaking his head gently, he puffed out an airy laugh and said to Adam, "Virgil can pay you to have it fixed."
Adam's eyes grew wide and he tilted his head diagonally toward Robert. "Oh, no, Robert, that's not necessary. I'm sure he didn't mean to… you know… burn my floor…" he trailed off and turned attention back to the blackened carpet. Clearing his throat, Adam said, "We needed a new carpet, anyway."
"Well, he'll at least help you replace it," offered Robert, but Adam could tell by the tone of his father-in-law that it was nonnegotiable, so he simply nodded. "Just because he's upset," Robert began, after a moment of thought, "doesn't mean he has the right to destroy things." Unlacing his fingers, he dropped his hands to his lap and leaned back on the couch again.
"Well, can't say I blame him," said Adam as he shrugged, leaning back into the couch as well. "I'm certainly not mad, anyway. It's just a carpet."
With a grunt, Adam hoisted himself off the couch. He meandered over to the hallway and returned moments later with a rolled up rug. Kneeling down, he unrolled the rug over the burn. Adam looked up at Robert with a smile and said, "That'll work for now; can't even tell anything happened," as he got to his feet. "I'll plan fix it after the New Year."
"Aunt Sharon?" questioned Chloé's voice in a small tone. "When is dinner going to be ready? Chelsea and I are hungry."
With a soft laugh, Sharon set down the knife she had been using to slice ham, and turned her head toward the door that led to the back patio. In the doorway stood Chloé and Chelsea, elbow to elbow, obvious signs of hunger glistening in their eyes.
With a grin, Sharon looked away just long enough to cut a piece of sliced ham in half. "Here," she said, offering each of the girls a piece, which they hungrily accepted, "that should tide you over for a little bit. Everything is just about ready; we should be eating in about… fifteen minutes. Okay?"
"Okay," said Chloé and Chelsea simultaneously as Sharon looked back to the ham to continue slicing it.
Chloé and Chelsea continued to stand in the doorway as they watched Sharon slice ham. When she finished that task, Sharon moved on to putting rolls on a tray to be put in the oven. The girls stood quietly for five or six minutes before Chelsea finally questioned, "Mom?"
Sharon glanced down at her daughter briefly, then returned to the ham, attempting to nicely plate it. "Yes, Chelsea?" she questioned.
"Can Chloé and I go upstairs? It's too cold outside now. It started snowing."
Sharon grinned. She glanced out the kitchen window to confirm that it was, in fact, snowing. Judging by how fast it was falling and how easily it was sticking, she figured they would have a couple inches by morning. Looking down at Chelsea and Chloé, Sharon said, "Of course."
"Let's go to my room," said Chelsea as she gestured to Chloé. "We can play with Barbie's again."
"Okay, I like that," replied Chloé with a quick nod.
Chloé tagged behind Chelsea by about a foot as they made their way to the bedroom. Just as they were about to go into the room, Chloé had a realization that made her stop dead in her tracks. She knitted her eyebrows and looked around, trying to find something or someone which was obviously not present.
"What's wrong, Chloé?" asked Chelsea. "Are you having another sense?"
Chloé shook her head. She continued looking around the hallway until her eyes met Chelsea's gaze. "Where are my mom and daddy? I just noticed I didn't see them downstairs…"
Chelsea shrugged. "I don't know, Chloé," she said. "I'm sure they're around, though."
Before they had a chance to mull over the whereabouts of Angelica and Virgil further, the boisterous sound of Sharon's voice filled the household with: "Dinner is ready!" Chloé and Chelsea responded by turning around and charging down the stairs to the table where they took their seats, side by side, at one end of the table. Robert took a spot of honor at the other end, and Sharon and Adam sat side by side across from the spot set for Virgil.
Stirring on the overly yellow-colored guest bed, Virgil let go of a groan as he blinked a few times. Squeezing his eyes closed, he grimaced as he raised his hand and wiped the corner of his lip. Blinking his eyes open again, he looked down at the pillow that was puddled with saliva. "Eh," he groaned. Drawing in a deep breath, he pushed himself into a sitting position on the bed and looked around the room. Smacking his lips together gently from the weird taste in his mouth, he rubbed his eyes with the middle fingers of his hands. Finally, before standing up, Virgil reached his arms behind his head stretched until his back cracked satisfyingly and he let out a pleasured groan.
For only a jiffy was Virgil genuinely happy; a hallucinated happiness created by the nap from which he had just woken. Just as quickly had Virgil experienced the happiness, it was torn away from him and replaced with the gut-wrenching, nauseating realization of utter despair he had felt before falling asleep. Moaning, Virgil grasped the sides of his head, shut his eyes, and dropped his head toward the ground. He shook his head between his hands making him aware of the tears in the corner of his eyes.
Drawing in a deep breath again, he let go of his head and looked up at the room before him. "Okay," he muttered to himself.
With that, he got up from the bed, went to a nearby mirror to fix his dreads, and made his way down the steps to the dining room where he found everyone already eating and engaging in casual conversation.
"Glad to know I was invited," Virgil said sarcastically as he took his seat at the table. He didn't notice the looks of surprise he was getting as his attention was focused on filling his plate with food. Glancing up only briefly, Virgil said, "Pass the potatoes."
"Here you go, Daddy," Chloé said, happy to see that her father had come to the table.
Chloé had inquired about her parents when she sat down at the table. While she had been upset to discover that her mother left, she was at least relieved to know that her father was still at the house—because it was her dad Chloé was there to see—but had been told that he may not join them for dinner because he 'wasn't feeling very well.'
When Virgil had gotten his fill of potatoes, he placed them in an empty spot on the table and said to Chloé, "Thank you, baby," as he leaned over to place a kiss on his daughter's head.
"You're welcome, Daddy," said Chloé with a smile.
Chloé turned back to her meal and continued conversing with Chelsea, leaving Virgil to the scrutiny he was unaware of; he had not looked up from his plate, except to find the potatoes, during the entire time he had been sitting at the table. He was uncharacteristically in a good mood, and it was a little concerning for everyone around him, except Chloé and Chelsea, who were unaware that anything was out of the ordinary.
"Virgil, are you okay?" Sharon asked cautiously before taking another bite of ham.
"I'm great, Sharon," Virgil replied. "Never felt better."
Reaction Formation, Sharon thought. She drew in quick breath through her nose. For a few moments, she focused on eating her meal as she picked and chose what to say next. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything, but fortunately, Adam took over the conversation with Virgil.
"You going to watch football with me, Virgil?" asked Adam. It was something they did every Christmas Eve. It's the Giants versus the Chargers. It's supposed to be a great game."
Virgil hesitated over an answer. His eye twitched before he squeezed them closed completely. Inhaling shallowly, he finally responded with a nod. "Of course, Adam; we watch football every year. Why would this year be any different?" he joked with a somewhat forced laugh.
"Just making sure," Adam said with a light laugh and shrugged. When another thought came to mind, he offered, "We can watch it in the garage." Since Chloé was there, Adam didn't vocalize why he had made the offer—Virgil had made it clear he didn't want Chloé knowing he smoked—but Adam was positive Virgil knew the reason for the offer.
Virgil harshly swallowed the food he had in his mouth. "That sounds fine," he said with a prominent nod. "Probably going to need it after this meal," Virgil continued. "It's really good, Sharon."
Sharon widened her eyes at the comment. It took her a minute to comprehend Virgil had just complimented her. "Um… well, thank you, Virgil. I'm glad you like it," she said, barely noticing the smile gracing Virgil's lips. She would have, of course, been able to see it better had Virgil been looking up.
There was a long pause amongst everyone at the table, for the most part. Chloé and Chelsea murmured about their schools and teachers who they liked or did not like, but that was the only talking in the room. Sharon busied herself with eating her meal, attempting to ignore her brother for the time being, and Adam filled his plate for another round. The only person not concerned with food was Robert, who had his attention fixated on Virgil who was gingerly eating his dinner. After ten minutes like that, Robert finally spoke up.
"Virgil, look at us," Robert instructed. "If you're going to be able the table, be part of this family dinner." While Robert did want Virgil to engage in the family dinner more, he also wanted to see his son's face; he wanted to see if he could tell what Virgil was thinking and feeling.
Slowly, Virgil rested his fork on the plate. He spent the next three minutes keeping his attention away from Robert, attempting to contort a smile to his lips. Breathing deep, Virgil plastered the smile he had warped on his lips and finally looked up. When he earned an echo of gasps, Virgil quickly looked back down.
"Virgil," Sharon said, "are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, Sharon," Virgil said, irritation prevalent in his tone, "I said I'm fine. Please stop asking."
"I'm just—"
"Yeah, I know, Sharon, you're just making sure. Well, stop making sure, because I'm fine. Okay?"
Sharon nodded slowly, carefully. "Okay."
"I'm going outside," announced Virgil as he pushed back from the table. He was only a couple steps from the table when his father's harsh voice halted him in his tracks.
"Virgil, you can't just leave the table. This is family time; you are part of this family."
Virgil stood in his spot for a few minutes, debating over what to say. He wanted to go outside and smoke. Finally, after much consideration, Virgil finally said, "All due respect, pops, I don't really care. I'm going outside."
"Virgil, is this still about Richie? Because you need to accept that—"
Something in Virgil finally snapped and he spun around on his heels. His eyes were filled a fire that no one had ever seen before causing Sharon and Adam to inadvertently push back from the table. Chloé and Chelsea abruptly stopped their conversation and looked up, startled by the bellowing sound of Virgil's voice.
"Don't sit there and tell me what I do and don't need to accept, father," he hissed with emphasis, "I am not one of your fucking clients;" he yelled, unaware of anything but his anger, "I do not need your counseling; I am perfectly fine! Perfectly fucking fine! I have already accepted that Richie is never coming back; I have already accepted that all I ever do is fuck up things! Is that what you want to hear? Is that what you want me to accept?"
Virgil let out a breath through his nose like a pissed off bull. "So I would just really appreciate it if you all would stop pretending like I'm some bomb that's about to explode and you have no idea how to stop it!" he groaned loudly.
Virgil threw up his arms in defeat. The anger began dripping from his face, immediately being replaced with indifference. "I knew coming down here would be a mistake…" Sighing, Virgil stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Turning away from everyone, Virgil mumbled out an "I'm sorry" and headed toward the patio door.
As Virgil left the room, Sharon quickly got up from her seat and walked over to Chloé and Chelsea who were more shocked by the sudden outburst than scared by it. "Come on, girls, let's go upstairs. We'll play a game," Sharon said, holding out her hands. Chelsea and Chloé graciously accepted Sharon's offered hands and were led upstairs.
At the same time Sharon was leaving with the girls, Robert was getting up to go outside when a hand was placed firmly on his shoulder. "Let me talk to him," said Adam. "It would probably be better if he talked to someone he didn't just blow up on."
After a few minutes, Robert nodded reluctantly, knowing that it probably was better for Adam to talk to Virgil.
Just as Adam was about to the patio door, there was a ring of the doorbell, followed by a series of knocks, at the front door. Turning around on his heels, Adam went to answer the door instead. His eyes went a little wide when he came face-to-face with the visitor. "Richie?"
Richie glanced down at the ground and shuffled his feet slightly. "Um… Is Virgil here?"
"Yeah," said Adam with an inviting motion of his hand. "He's on the patio. Come on; I'll take you to him," he said and shut the front door. "Just bear in mind… he's kind of in a bad mood," Adam politely warned, but since Richie was the reason Virgil was in a bad mood, Adam didn't really figure Richie actually needed the warning.
Adam and Richie made their way through the house to the patio. They found Virgil sitting in a plastic chair, facing away from the door, smoking, just as Adam had figured Virgil would be doing.
"Virgil? There's someone here to see you," said Adam.
"I don't want to see anyone," Virgil groaned. "I'm not really in the mood right now. Can you just ask if we can reschedule?" He took another drag of his cigarette and crossed his legs in addition to his already crossed arms. He had been working as a lawyer, he knew, because he had just told Adam something he typically would have said to Elaine.
"I'm already here, Virgil. You might as well schedule me in now," said Richie, his tone dripping with harsh sarcasm. He put his hands firm on his hips.
"Richie?" Virgil croaked, jumping up and whipping around at an impressive speed. Eye-to-eye, Virgil said, "What are you... what are you doing here?" as his voice cracked.
A/N: To be honest, I am quiet proud of this chapter. I hope you guys liked it. Please review, guys!
Just one thing I can think to say: I am so stoked that Richie is finally back. Like, you don't even know. I can't wait to write some Richie/Virgil dialogue. In fifteen chapters, I have not written one word of present tense Richie/Virgil conversation. It's way overdue!