Bury the Past
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious
A/N:
Chapter 15 (For the love of a husband)
Though she was letting him lead, he didn't know the area so much and so Trina guided him to a nice quiet spot away from the city lights and noise of the traffic. "I'm not too fond of the city," Martin admitted once they made their way to a grassy area. Trina chuckled softly.
"Yeah. Ten years in a small town and I feel more at home there too." Where they lived was a small suburban town with the elderly community of Oasis Canyon twenty minutes north of them. "Maybe once my dad retires, I can get him to move out to Oasis..." Martin raised an eyebrow and started to laugh.
"He doesn't seem like 'retired community' type."
"He's not. Hell, the man's just as stubborn as Gary is. The minute he settles there, he'd be wanting to do something." She laid out the blanket on the grass and smirked. "I'd get him to join the SST. Let Commander Chapman deal with both of my fathers." Martin sat on the blanket and snickered.
"I can only imagine the look on her face with those two."
"Yeah. Out of my hair and in hers." She sat beside him and leaned back, using her arms behind her to prop herself up. She looked at Martin and smiled sadly. "I really missed you, Martin…I was so afraid you were going to leave me. I don't know what I would have done."
"I couldn't leave you. I can't imagine my life without you." She closed her eyes and breathed in. "I thought maybe we could start over."
"Oh?" She looked at the picnic basket and started to grin, suspecting what he might have packed. "Martin. Are you recreating our first date?" She looked at him with slanted eyes and her heart started to flutter as he reached into the basket.
"Well…" He removed a bag of chocolate raisins. "I wasn't really sure how to do this, so I wanted to start off with a never failed tradition raisins." She chuckled softly and watched him remove a two liter bottle of Sunkist. "Orange soda."
"Mm-hmm."
"And of course." He raised an index finger and lifted his eyebrows while reaching in with his other hand to grab the next item. "A bag of popcorn." Trina took the popcorn in hand, an her heart began to swell. "Now, I added something else too." She leaned forward, her eager gaze drifting towards the basket. "I know you're not much of a 'chocolate and flowers apology' type, but I decided to try with these." He removed a bouquet of roses, safely wrapped and handed them over.
"Oh, Martin…" She closed her eyes and smelled the roses, taking in the fresh scent. Whether or not she cared for flowers, she still loved the gesture of roses.
"And this, because I know you like gazing at the different makes and models." She hummed and her eyes lit up as he removed a booklet from the basket. The booklet was an information book with descriptions and images of cop vehicles and various guns.
Trina set the roses down carefully, then grabbed the book away from her husband. "Oh I love it!" She flipped it over, glancing down at the page she opened up to. It had a picture of a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield, 9mm. She furrowed her brow and started to hum as Martin pointed to it.
"That's the gun that one guy had." He frowned and dipped his eyes down shamefully as Trina looked at him.
"Who?"
"This guy in a glass company truck that stopped on the road behind our range. He saw me shooting and stopped to fire a few rounds. That's the gun he had." Trina took a deep breath and held it. She felt a strained feeling in her throat and a tightness in her chest. "He actually had a pretty good aim for someone that said he's only a casual shooter. He seemed like he practiced."
"Beck. Beck Oliver."
"Yeah." Trina's heart sank as she closed the book and remembered Jade's text message. "He got me drunk, tried to get me to cheat on you with his cousin." She closed her eyes and her hands started to tremble.
"And did you?" She loved him for his honesty, and wanted to hear in his own words what happened rather than leaving it all to Jade's text message.
"No." She smiled. "I couldn't do that to you. It wasn't even a consideration. That woman put her hand on mine, started touching my arm, and I pushed her away." Trina gasped softly and raised her hand over her mouth. "I love you Trina, and I'd already hurt you once, I couldn't hurt you again."
She leaned into him, sliding her arms along his neck. "I love you." She kissed his lips once and looked into his eyes. "Thank you for being honest. Just…please know I never meant to lie to you. Okay? I never wanted to hurt you, I was just scared…trying to avoid and keep what I put behind me behind."
"Yeah, I understand that now. We can talk about it whenever you're ready, we don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to." She admired him for respecting her, but there was no sense in keeping things hidden when it was all out in the open now.
"We kind of do." Considering Beck talked to him, she couldn't imagine the horror stories that man could have filled her husband with. "Beck approached you, he knew you were my husband. He told you things, I'm sure…"
"Yeah." Martin rubbed his neck and sighed. "I also went to this performance being done by a traveling family. They knew you too." She furrowed her brow and felt a rush of fear clasp around her. "Robbie and Cat." Her hand moved to her chest and relief washed away the fear.
"God, okay, they can't be that bad."
"No, they told me everything Beck said was a lie. They told me a lot."
"Did they tell you how Beck and his current wife were always harassing me back in the day?" Martin closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "Did they tell you they were also guilty of the same things?"
"More or less. They said you went through a lot of pain, and told me what an idiot I was being. They were right, I was being an idiot."
"You were, but that's water under the bridge…I just want to be with you." She put her hand in his and leaned her head against his chest. "I need you. Especially now."
"I'm here for you," he whispered. He moved an arm around her, holding her close, and kissed the top of her head. "Gary told me you're working a homicide, but not much about it."
"It's my mom. My sister." She looked straight ahead at the trees and grass in front of them. Trina focused on the feeling of Martin's chest rising and falling. "Mom was murdered, along with one of Tori's friends."
"Oh my god."
"Tori's in a coma. Her other friend survived. That's what's going on right now. I'm helping my dad find out who did it." She moved her arms around his waist and closed her eyes. "I'm scared Tori won't make it. She did and said a lot of bad things, but she's still my sister. I still love her."
He squeezed her gently, his warmth comforted and relieved her enough to will herself to doze off on his chest for just a minute or two. As her mind wandered, she thought about all the events that brought her to where she was.
Ned and Wallace came to mind and her eyelids slowly rose up as the muscles in her body started to tense. Martin looked down at her, running his hand along her upper arm. "You okay?" Trina stared at a blade of grass, tracing the center line with her eyes.
"No."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." She raised her head and looked into his concerned expression. "But I need to." She took a deep breath and her fingers started to tremble. "When I was a little girl, twelve years old, Dad and I went to visit my grandparents…" Martin's brow tensed and he nodded once. "These guys break in and tie my Dad up. They were criminals he helped put away."
Tears welled up in her eyes and she tried to focus on the soothing sweeping of Martin's hand. "They killed my grandparents and started beating me, throwing me around and strangling me." Her voice became strained and choked up as she tried in vain to speak normally without breaking into sobbing fits. Martin's eyes grew large and his mouth opened up. "They were going to kill me too, but the police came. Sometimes I wish they had, but nowadays I'm glad I survived."
Martin leaned forward, hugging her tight. She started to smile, knowing she was safe with him. "I was terrified telling anyone that would make them shy away or look at me different."
"Not me," Martin said, "If anything I love you more."
"I love you." She hugged him and buried her face into his shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my life before. I was scared. That incident made my family look at me differently. Tori accused me of using Grandma and Grandpa's death to garner sympathy for myself, because she was too young to know how involved I was. Dad just felt guilty and ashamed, and I'm not sure mom knew how to approach us."
She took a deep breath and turned her gaze up to him. "I had to leave them because it was just too toxic. Tori's friends took their shots at me, Tori joined them. Dad stayed away because of guilt, and mom just became indifferent. I should have just told you, but I didn't want you to think I was damaged goods or something…"
"I couldn't think that." Martin pushed his hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head. "You're not. You're a lot stronger."
She wiped her eyes and laid down on top of his legs, gazing up at him with a new playful smirk. "So that girl…Beck's cousin?" Martin's eyebrows rose and he groaned softly. "Was she pretty?"
He let out a soft chuckle and caressed her cheek, using his thumb to slide a long strand of hair out of her face. "I don't know, you're the only beautiful woman I've seen in a long time. No one's as lovely as you." Her heart skipped and she shook her head, smirking further.
"I'll bet she was pretty. Prettier than me."
"Not even close."
"Ooh keep talking." He leaned over, kissing her lips. "I like hearing you tell me how beautiful I am." She smirked and wagged her eyebrows. "I know that girl was probably attractive, you don't have to deny it. I'm just glad you didn't cheat on me…"
"You're the only woman I want in my life, the only one I need. I don't need to be tested to know I'll stay true to you, there is and never will be another."
"I love you." Her heart skipped a beat and she leaned up, kissing his lips. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about my past."
"It's okay. I understand." Martin tilted his head and looked up towards the sky. "You know what? I wanted to ask you something else too. While we're being completely honest about who we are…"
"What?"
"Would you like to renew our vows?" Her heart burst and she let out a surprised and excited gasp, lurching forward. He leaned back, pushing his hands behind him and looking at her full of love. "So you know, I love all of you and everything about you." She moved her hands over her mouth and her eyes began to glisten with fresh tears. "Past, present, and future."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing; it was a proposal though not in the same way. "Like another celebration and all?"
"With your whole family even, if you want."
"What's got you thinking this?"
"Oh, you know." He grinned and moved his eyes upwards as he recited a line she gave him some time ago. "I just got this feeling that all our dreams are coming true." Trina giggled and playfully smacked his arm.
"Copy-cat." She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "God yes. We should do a ceremony, have both of my dads there, Dad would love it."
"Would you?"
"Yes, yes, a million times yes!" She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him wildly.
Well they've got some stuff to work on sure, but at least he's going to be the husband he needs to be.