November 2019- Seven Years After the Blackout

Miles assumed the silence was a good sign. He hadn't had to force Mia to do anything- she went willingly on her own to face Nora with her tail between her legs- but figured it would be best to wait outside until the storm blew over. He had busied himself with firewood on the side of the house, glancing up every so often at his bedroom window. The candles flickered against the glass and once in a while, a shadow or two would pass by.

Now, close to half an hour later, neither women had stormed out of the house and he hadn't heard any blood curling screams hinting assault. He entered his home and was greeted by silence. The lower level was dark, letting him know they were upstairs. All the doors were shut, though light filtered out from underneath the door of the room Mia had taken over. He paused outside the door, heard a faint scratching noise that he knew was a pencil writing.

His own room was dark but once he opened the door, candlelight poured out from the adjoining bathroom. He paused in the doorway, watched Nora sink into the tub, and considered his options. She tipped her head back against the ceramic rim as her arm hung over the side, fingers trailing over the opening of a wine bottle. Quietly, he walked into the bathroom and sat himself on the floor at her side.

"No glasses?"

"Didn't feel like that kind of night." she muttered, lifting the bottle to her lips. "You shouldn't have said anything to her."

"You two have a funny way of showing your appreciation."

"Waste of time."

"She's not going anywhere Nora. At least not until June and I'm sure by then, she's going to stop being so dramatic and admit she was being an idiot."

She merely shook her head and took another sip of the wine. He frowned at her reaction and moved closer, leaning his elbow against the side of the tub.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm tired. It's been one of those days. I'm just done." she leaned her head back and let her eyes shut. "I'm not used to her being like this."

"I don't know. Doesn't seem like she could get you all worked up and swigging straight from the bottle." he waited for her to respond. When she didn't, he leaned over and touched her cheek gently. She jerked away, startling him, and he dropped his hand back to the tub. "What the hell was that?"

"Nothing. Just- please leave me alone right now."

"No. Christ, I barely touched you. What's the problem?"

"Nothing."

"Did I do something?"

"No."

"Well, what-"

"Dammit, Miles, just stop!" she snapped, voice cracking slightly. "Go away. Please."

His face hardened and he stood up without a word, then stomped into their bedroom. He grabbed a change of clothes out of the dresser, slammed the drawer violently, then changed out of his uniform. He fell onto the bed without a word, though he wanted to yell at her that he was doing his best and she should cut him some slack. She was the one who came crying into his office. He was trying to be supportive. Obviously, he wasn't the greatest at it but at least he tried.

He stared up at the ceiling with his arms behind his head and listened to the water splash as she moved around. A little while later, she came out with a towel wrapped around her. He gazed at her as she moved to the dresser. After a moment, she turned to face him and leaned against the front of the drawers.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever."

"I don't know how I- it's difficult to explain."

"That's up to you. Do whatever the hell you want."

"I don't-" she paused, tilting her head up to the ceiling with a sigh, "I don't need you acting like this."

"I'll mind my own business. Don't worry."

"No, I- Miles, please,"

"Please what?" he sat up then and stared at her darkly. "What do you want me to do? You come to me, upset over her, and I fix it. I see you're still upset and I try to help and you push me away and now you want me to... what?"

"I don't know." she shrugged helplessly. She was confused and tormented. She wanted so badly to let him know but felt she couldn't.

"Do you know what it's like to have you not want me to touch you, to act like you're, I don't even know what that was, afraid of me? Nora, I know I've done some awful and shit things over the years but I'd never hurt you."

"It's not about you. It wasn't you."

"But it was someone."

"It's over."

"Like hell it is."

"I don't want you being like this."

"Like what? Pissed that someone is harassing my wife? I'm sorry. I'll go shake his hand instead. Just point me in the right direction."

"It wasn't a big deal."

"Goddamn it Nora,"

"This is why I didn't want to tell you! I knew you'd get pissed off."

"You're fucking right I'd get pissed off!"

"I don't want you to be! It wasn't anything! And I handled it."

"Clearly!" he stared at her, trying to keep his anger in check. "That's what this was all about wasn't it? Sure, you're upset over Mia but this is what had you acting this way today."

"Miles,"

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Someone touched you." he stood up and walked towards her. She dipped her head down, curls falling in front of her face. "Nora,"

She refused to look up at him, shook her head slightly, then sighed as she felt his hands on her face.

"Honey, look at me."

"Just let it go."

"Look at me." he pushed her gently but she lifted her head up and met his eye. He moved his one hand to push her hair out of her face and noticed the red marks on her cheek- marks he hadn't noticed earlier because she had been crying and her complexion had been blotchy because of that. He traced his thumb gently over the area. "This is why you were upset."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Who did this?"

"It doesn't matter."

"If it doesn't matter, then tell me."

"No. I know how you'll get and I don't- you don't need to deal with that."

"I'll take care of it. Baby, obviously I care if someone hurt you but if anyone did this to anyone else, I'd want to know too. I'm not going to put up with that."

"Can't we forget about it? I want to forget it happened Miles. Just let it go."

"No. Whoever this was is going to be dealt with."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"You can't fix it! You can't change it! You can't control everything!"

"I think the title gives me the right."

"There are things even you can't do."

"I think you're forgetting I'm one of the most powerful guys in the area." he smirked. She just stared sadly up at him and the smirk faded. "It was Bass."

"Miles,"

"What did he do?"

"Don't be like this."

"Nora, what did he do?"

"It wasn't-"

"Stop the bullshit. That's why you think I can't do anything because it's Bass. Didn't I tell you last month if he came to you again to tell me?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!"

"I don't want it to!" she exclaimed. "I don't want you fighting with him. It's not him. He's- I don't know what's going on with him Miles but he's not right. It's not his fault. I think there's something wrong with him."

"Don't fucking defend him."

"Miles, stop." she put her hands on his chest, fingers tightening around his t-shirt. "This is why I didn't want you to know. I'm more mad because of what it means for you, not me. I'm sorry. I don't-"

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because if I-"

"No. Don't. Jesus, don't do that. Did you go to him? Were you a fucking willing participant?"

"No. I mean, I went-"

"What?"

"I went to him because of Mia."

"Why? Why wouldn't you tell me first?"

"Because Bass is the one who gave her permission. I asked him to stop, I thought if I did, he'd keep her from leaving. And then he- I don't want you angry at him."

"Are you listening to yourself?"

"Yes! You're not listening to me! He's been going downhill for a couple years. I see it, you see it. Everyone knows it but no one is willing to do something about it. If you let something like this get in the way, who knows what he would do. You're about the only thing that is keeping him together right now."

"Nora-"

"Let me finish! Please, God Miles, just stop talking. I think that's what this is about. It's not about me at all. It's about you, like in some, twisted, convoluted way, he thinks if he pushes at us hard enough, I'll leave or you'll think it was me and break up with me. He thinks you're going to take his side and he'll make it look like it was my fault. Do you see what I'm saying? Something isn't right with him. He's so... I don't even know what. But he shouldn't be blamed. He needs... like, an intervention or something and I know that it would hurt you just as bad as it would hurt him and I'd rather just deal with whatever is going to happen than have you hurt because of it."

"No. No, Nora. God, I-" he broke off with a frustrated sigh, "Baby, it is not your job to look out for me. I'm supposed to look out for you and protect you and I can't fucking do that if you won't tell me what's going on. Don't stand there and take responsibility for something that wasn't your fault."

"I'm not saying it was my fault. I'm saying don't freak out on him."

"You're kidding me."

"I won't let you throw away thirty years of a friendship because of me, who has barely even been around a fifth of that time."

"Why would you ever think that I would accept this because of how long I've known him?"

"Miles, it goes far beyond knowing him. He's practically your family. Some things just can't-"

"I don't care." he cut her off, cupping her face once more. She blinked a few times, caught off guard by his intensity. "I. Don't. Care. You are my family. You are my wife. I don't want to hear you selling yourself short because you think I care more about him. You're crazy if you think I'm going to sit back and let him abuse you like this because I've known the guy since he was in diapers. That doesn't give him a fucking free pass."

"Well, that's what you're going to do. He's not abusing me."

"Yeah? What do you call it then? What did he do?"

"He's confused."

"Goddamn it Nora!" he yanked away from her and shoved his hands into his hair, gripping tight in frustration.

"Well how do you explain it!" she exclaimed. "This isn't Bass! We both know this is not Bass!"

"No! It's not who Bass used to be but it is who he is now. People change and he's changed for the worse. And-"

"And it's up to us as his friends to help him! I am begging you. Do not do something you are going to regret. Don't go to him and fight him over this. Don't even bring me into it but he needs to be sat down and talked to."

"He's not a kid having a damn temper tantrum Nora! This is serious!"

"He's losing control. Blowing up at him isn't going to help. You need to treat this carefully."

"No. I'm not-"

"It wasn't a big deal."

"What did he do?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters a whole fucking lot. Tell me what he did. Maybe then I'll decide if I'll let this one slide."

"He said he would stop Mia from being sent out if I slept with him. That's all. I laughed at him and told him he was crazy."

"And then he gripped your face so hard you have marks. What else did he do?"

"Nothing."

"Nora,"

"Miles, nothing else happened." she kept her voice steady and her eyes locked on his, making sure she didn't show any signs that she was lying. "I'm mad, okay? I'm more mad than anything else. I don't take him seriously. I don't want you angry at him. It'll just make things worse than it really is."

"Except we already had this conversation and I told you if he came to you again, you were to tell me. You agreed. He approached you and it escalated. You want me to sit back and say nothing and wait until he hurts you again and worse this time? Or tries something else?"

"I want you talk to him, in a roundabout way, and see if he listens. This came out of nowhere. It'll probably dissipate just as quickly. You know how he gets."

"This isn't right."

"Look, I promise you if something else happens, you can go fight him all you want. Right now though, I want you to keep calm about it. Miles, think about it."

"This crosses every line in the book. You know that right?"

"Would you be able to completely let go of him? All because of me?"

"It's not about you. It's about him. None of this is your fault."

"I'm just saying. Bros before hos."

"Don't ever say that to me again."

"I'm kidding. Honestly, this is just one more sign that we need to try harder to rein him in."

"Nora,"

"I'll be angrier if you confront him. I swear I will. Let it go. If he ever did serious harm to me, I would tell you immediately but this... this is stupid. He needs you right now."

"No."

"I'm the one who had this happened to them. If I'm not ready to fight over it, then you can't be."

"That's not fair."

"Miles, please."

"Damn it," he rubbed the side of his face, then stared at her. Once again, he brushed his hand over her cheek. "I'll talk to him but next time this happens, that's it. And if I find out something happened and you kept it from me again, that'll make me angrier too."

"Fair enough. You know, you talk a good game but the way you agreed just then proves you're not willing to go all the way on this. That's fine. It's not something to be ashamed of. I don't blame you. There have been plenty of cases where people are angry over what a loved one has done but that can't diminish-"

"I'm not doing this because of him. I'm doing this because of you and I'm trusting you." he swept his eyes over her, then turned to the door, and opened it.

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs for a drink." he shut the door quietly behind him and she heard his footsteps fade down the hallway. She collapsed against the side of the dresser and hung her head. At least he knew partially what had gone down. A part of her was relieved and ecstatic that he had reacted in such a way. She would be able to tell him the rest, she knew that, and knew he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. Yet even if he was willing to shun Bass, she wasn't willing to be the catalyst for that. You know he'll regret it later. He'll resent you for it too.