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?
The door of the gas station swung open and in came Virgil, walking as if he had just become Batman himself. Richie watched as Virgil proudly marched to the couch and sat down. He began fishing through his backpack for his Static costume, ignoring the irritated glares he was receiving from Richie. When Virgil was halfway in costume, Richie finally broke the silence.
"Virgil, where the fuck have you been?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean? You've been gone for a week and all of a sudden you show up like nothing happened."
"Oh." Virgil paused and shoved his tongue in his cheek. Finally, he shrugged and said, "I got married."
"What the fu— You got married? To whom?"
"Angelica."
"Oh yeah, because I totally know who the fuck that is!" There was a pause, but before Virgil got a chance to say anything, Richie interjected with, "You got married and didn't think it important to tell me? Virgil Ovid Hawkins, we had sex!"
Virgil shrugged. "I'm sorry, Richie."
Richie gasped and shot up in bed, immediately becoming aware of the sweat and tears that covered his face. Breathing heavily, Richie glanced diagonally to his left to see Virgil fast asleep, clutching a pillow in his arms. He pulled his legs to his chest and hid his face in his knees, his breathing still heavy. His mind raced.
Oh, God. This was such a huge mistake. I shouldn't be here right now. I should have just gone home.
Richie groaned loudly and wrapped his arms tight around the back of his neck. His breathing picked up and he felt sweat beginning to roll down his back. He whimpered softly as the room began spinning, and he squeezed his eyes shut in hopes of making it stop. For a split second, before an intense fear of death set in, he became aware of how badly his body was trembling and how intensely he was crying.
Virgil stirred in his sleep, immediately becoming of aware of the violent sobbing coming from the other side of his bed. Shooting up in the bed, his eyes wide, Virgil scrambled toward Richie and placed a hand on his back. When Richie jerked away from it, Virgil bit his bottom lip and panicky asked, "Richie, what's wrong?"
When Richie didn't answer, Virgil bit his bottom lip again and placed his hand on Richie's back one more. To Virgil's delight, Richie didn't jerk away from it this time, so he gently began to rub circles on Richie's upper back, attempting to coax him down from the, what Virgil figured, panic attack.
Close to ten minutes later, the violent sobbing calmed and Richie ceased shaking. Too tired to support himself, Richie fell to the side into Virgil's arms. Gently, Virgil stroked Richie's hair and gently assured him it was going to be alright.
When Richie finally came to, and realized where he was, he jerked violently out of Virgil's arms and scrambled to his feet. "I—I'm sorry… I have to go," Richie chocked out. He picked up his duffle bag and hurried toward the door.
"Richie, wait!" Virgil called after him. "Where are you going? What happened? What's wrong?"
Stopping in his tracks, Richie looked down at the ground and drew in a shaky breath. With a soft sigh, he turned to face Virgil. Immediately, he felt his heart fall to his stomach when he saw the look of confusion and pain in Virgil's eyes, and it hit Richie that Virgil really had no idea what was going on.
"I can't do this," said Richie as his voice cracked.
Virgil's lips went slightly agape. He opened and closed his mouth for several moments until he finally figured out what to say. "Can't do what, Richie?"
"This," Richie said as he spread out his arms in front of him. "I can't do this. I'm not ready for this. I'm not… I'm not ready to trust you, Virgil.
"I'm sorry," Richie said softly.
Much to Richie's surprise, the pain in Virgil's eyes melted away and was replaced with warm sympathy. Smiling gently, Virgil climbed off the bed and walked over to Richie. Standing about two feet away, Virgil outstretched his arm and gently, cautiously placed his hand on Richie's shoulder.
"I have to go, Virgil. I can't be here."
Virgil nodded understandingly. "Well, at least let me give you a ride home," he said and dropped his hand to his side.
Richie considered the offer momentarily. It was pretty early and he really wasn't in much shape to be walking across town; not after that panic attack.
However, before he had a chance to answer, cries of glee directed the attention of both Richie and Virgil to the living room. They then became aware of footsteps running across the apartment until they saw Chloé standing in the doorway, her face bright and beaming.
"Daddy, Santa came, Santa came!" Chloé cried, jumping up and down, as she pointed toward the living room. "Can we open the presents? Can we, Daddy, can we open the presents! Please, Daddy?"
A grin crossed Virgil's features and walked up to Chloé, patting her head to calm her down. "Calm down, baby girl, we will open the presents. I just need to take Richie home first."
The original gleeful expression Chloé had was quickly replaced with a saddened puppy dog look. She looked up at Richie and said, "Why are you leaving, Richie? We haven't even opened presents yet."
Richie smiled softly, his stomach creating a light spasm from an airy laugh. "I'm sorry, Chloé. You should be spending today with your dad, anyway. You don't want me here."
"Yes, I do," Chloé said softly as she pouted. "Daddy won't mind if you spend Christmas with us. Maybe Santa even brought you presents."
Richie shook his head gently and said, "I don't think I have any presents this year. I didn't ask him for anything."
"You didn't ask Santa for presents?" Chloé asked wide eyed, the idea of not having presents on Christmas being a new concept for her. She knitted her eyebrows momentarily, but then the light immediately returned to her eyes as she said, "I'll share my presents with you."
"I don't—"
"Please?" Chloé begged with big brown eyes. "I really like you, Richie, and it's Christmas; you shouldn't be alone on Christmas."
"Chloé, honey, if Richie wants to go home, we have to let him," Virgil interjected as he gently squeezed Chloé's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll see him again," he informed, looking at Richie with a warm smile.
Chloé sighed despairingly. "Alright," she said and made her way out of the room.
Virgil frowned as he watched Chloé sulk back to the living room. Letting out a small sigh through his nose, he turned back to Richie and said, with a forced smile, "Come on; let's get you home."
Clearing his throat, Richie moved the duffle bag farther onto his shoulder as he followed Virgil out to the living room. As they made their way to the front door, Richie couldn't help but notice how sad Chloé looked. He stopped in his tracks, the sight of Chloé sitting on the floor with her legs to her chest breaking his heart. He bit his bottom lip, remembering the times he had begged his own father to stay home for Christmas; begged him not to go to work.
"Richie, are you coming?" Virgil asked, breaking Richie of his thoughts.
Richie blinked and turned his head to look at Virgil who was standing in the doorway. "Um…" he mumbled and turned back to Chloé. Clearing his throat, Richie set down his duffle bag beside the door and moved toward the living room. "I think I'll stay. Just for a little while," Richie said to both Chloé and Virgil.
Virgil smiled as he watched Chloé run to Richie, encompassing him in a tight embrace, and squeal about how excited she was Richie was going to stay. Chloé took Richie by the hand and maneuvered him toward the Christmas tree where she urged him to sit down beside her, and Virgil briefly wondered what it would be like for that to happen every Christmas. Even if Richie wasn't ready to trust Virgil again, at least Virgil could be warmed by the knowledge that Richie cared about the happiness of his daughter. In a way, it was just as good, if not better.
"Daddy, are you coming?" Chloé exclaimed, breaking Virgil from his thoughts. "It's time to open the presents!"
With a soft laugh, Virgil said, "Coming, baby girl," and shut the front door before making his way into the living room.
"Well," Virgil said, looking intently under the tree, "I think that's all of them. We opened all of the presents, Chloé."
"Hold on, I have one more," Chloé said as she ran out of the room.
Raising an eyebrow, Virgil laughed softly to himself as he got up off the floor with a soft groan. Disappearing briefly into the kitchen, he returned with a large trash bag and began picking up wrapping paper and opened boxes off the floor and stuffing it into the bag. Virgil had learned years ago if he didn't start picking up the wrapping paper now, he would never do it. There was something to being lazy on Christmas morning that always got the best of Virgil.
When the floor was halfway clean, Richie began helping by handing Virgil wrapping paper that was scattered around him. "You certainly got her a lot of stuff," Richie noted as he handed Virgil a handful of crumpled wrapping paper.
Virgil shrugged as he took the wrapping paper and stuffed it in the trash bag. "She's my daughter," he said simply. "Besides, I always get her a lot of presents. Since I only see her once a year, I want her to have a lot of stuff to remember Daddy."
Richie smiled and handed Virgil another handful of wrapping paper. "You're a really great dad. I don't think she's going to forget you."
After stuffing the trash in the bag, Virgil placed his fist against his hip and used his free hand to run his hand through his dreads. Letting out a small, airy laugh, Virgil said, "Thanks, Richie. I'm sure you're the only person who thinks that."
Richie shrugged. "I bet Chloé agrees."
Sighing, Virgil tossed the trash bag to the side. He lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged next to Richie. "Well, unfortunately, Chloé doesn't decide how much time I spend with her," he said and crossed his arms.
"What did Angelica say about me?" asked Virgil after a moment of silence.
Richie clicked his tongue and raised his eyebrows briefly. Clearing his throat, Richie said, "Do you really want to know?"
Virgil shrugged. "I'd like to know what my ex-wife is saying about me."
Pressing his hand against his mouth, Richie gingerly pulled his hand down his chin, over the stubble on the bottom of his chin, to his chest where he gently scratched his collar bone. Sniffling, Richie watched Virgil watch him intently, waiting for a response. Deciding it was only fair that Virgil know what people were saying about him, Richie gave in and shared everything he could remember Angelica saying.
"She said you're a liar and shouldn't be trusted. She urged me not to waste my time with you because, one, there would be nothing to gain from going back to someone who broke my heart, and was so nonchalant about it. Two, being with you wouldn't show you how badly your actions hurt people. It would just be giving you what you want."
Richie sighed and closed his eyes, lulling his head back, when he saw pain developing in Virgil's eyes. Taking a deep breath, he continued. He had already started; he had to get it all out now.
"She's really mad you got married to her just pretend you were straight, Virgil. Before she was mad because you she was married to you for fifteen years, and you never loved her like she loved you, but now she knows why, and she mad because you used her.
"You really hurt her, Virgil. It's not fair that you strung her along for fifteen years…" Richie trailed off his thoughts. After a moment, he lifted his head and opened his eyes. What he saw broke his heart.
Virgil was sitting across from Richie, his lower lip held firmly between his teeth. He was breathing heavily through his nose as his eyes darted from side to side. Richie could tell Virgil wanted to cry because his eyes were glistening something awful, and at that moment all Richie wanted to do was hug Virgil; wanted to tell him everything would be alright, but he honestly wasn't sure it would.
And part of him wanted Virgil to feel miserable; wanted him to feel the same emotional pain Richie had felt the night Virgil came back and nonchalantly shattered his heart and his entire world. Maybe then Virgil would really understand what he had done; would really understand whom he'd hurt.
Just as Virgil was prepared to speak, they heard Chloé come running back into the room holding a package wrapped in newspaper. Virgil did his best to wipe his eyes dry and put on a smile. The last thing he wanted to do was worry Chloé. Not on Christmas.
"Sorry it took me so long, Daddy. I had to wrap it," Chloé said and held out the present to her father. Beaming, she said, "I hope you like it. I made it myself."
Clearing his throat, Virgil accepted the present and said, "Thank you, Chloé," as he began to open it. When he got it open, his eyes widened a little bit at what he saw.
It was small, black and electronic. Its dimensions were were similar to that of a first generation iPod, but the only indication it was meant for music was an female adaptor meant for headphones. "What is it?"
"It's a music player, Daddy. I heard you say the first night I was heard that you wanted one," Chloé informed, beaming.
"Where did you get the money for this?"
"I didn't buy it; I made it!"
Virgil's eyes went even wider as he heard a snicker coming from Richie, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what Richie found funny. However, Virgil chose to ignore Richie and focused on the fact his daughter had made a complex piece of machinery.
"You made this?" he exclaimed, his tone filled with shock and awe.
Chloé grinned. "Well, no… Rachael made it. I just told her what I wanted it to do; that's what I was making when before we went to pick up Rachael the other day; I was making a sketch for it."
"It senses your mood and plays the appropriate song. It's programmed to a database of six million songs. At least, that's what Rachael said," Chloé explained.
"Six… mill—Rachael made this?" Virgil stammered, pointing to the mp3 player, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. His tone was filled with borderline disbelief. "H—how did Rachael make this, Chloé?"
"Oh, that's right; I never told you," Chloé said with a big grin. "Rachael has powers like me. Her powers are really cool."
At that moment, Richie, who had been in his own little world, besides laughing at Chloé's comment about making the mp3 player, looked up at the mention of someone having powers. He narrowed his eyes as he looked between Virgil and Chloé, realizing he should have known all along how Chloé knew who he was.
"What… um… what are her powers, Chloé?" Virgil asked, but something inside him was saying he already knew.
Virgil glanced at Richie who was intently staring at the mp3 player Virgil was holding in his right hand. When he noticed what Richie was looking at, Virgil handed him the music player, deciding he wanted to find out how it worked, and turned his attention back to Chloé.
"She's a super genius."
Chloé paused momentarily before asking, "Do you like your present, Daddy?"
Virgil grinned and pulled Chloé into a warm, protective hug. He glanced over at Richie who looked as if his brain were about to explode, though Virgil was unsure if Richie was baffled by the machine or if he was overthinking the fact there was another super genius in the city. If Virgil remembered Richie at all, it was probably both, but more so the presence of another super genius than the machine.
Virgil turned his attention back Chloé and smiled brightly. "I absolutely love it, Chloé. Thank you," he said as he kissed Chloé's cheek.
A/N: Oh, come on, you didn't think they were going to live happily ever after that easily, did you? That would just be so boring! The last chapter was basically BEGGING Richie to freak out.
Also, I think it's amusing Rachael is a super genius. It'll give Richie something to geek out about later. Because, , Richie arguing with an eight year old girl about quantum physics or something would be absolutely hilarious.
I have no idea how I'm updating these chapters so fast... It's like, I got so many ideas, it's like my brain is on fire!
... I know, I know, stop using Richie's lines. XD
Yeah. I have nothing else to say. XD Please review! Hope you liked it! :D