Chapter 46: Intervention.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fosters. If I did, there would be no hiatus between the two halves of season 3.
AN: The next chapter. Please READ and leave LOTS of reviews.
Connor's POV (January 15th, 2026):
It's been a day and a half.
A day and a half since Tim jumped off the roof of Anchor Beach.
He's lucky to be alive, albeit in a coma.
His parents still hadn't shown up, and apparently, according to Wally, it was because they were both in Europe on business. When asked why they weren't on their way to their son's side, Wally simply replied that it was because they cared more about their precious careers than their son.
Wally can't bear to even enter the hospital after seeing the state he was in. Tim had numerous broken bones, internal bleeding and bruising. In between his numerous surgeries, he was kept in a medically induced coma. Wally had stood at his bedside, staring at his friends mangled form, and had whispered something to himself.
The only word I caught, was revenge.
On our way out of the room, a doctor pulled us aside and told us that Tim had injuries acquired before his suicide attempt. Injuries that pointed to physical abuse. The doctor told us that when Tim's parents arrived, they would likely be reported and arrested.
For half of the drive home, all Wally does is cry. But halfway there, he stops. The tears cease, and his eyes grow cold, and a deep glaring frown takes residence on his visage. It's the same look he had on his face when we were following the ambulance to the hospital and he spoke the most frightening words I'd ever heard him say.
"If he dies... I'm gonna kill every single one of them."
When we get home, he slowly meanders into the house, sitting in his recliner in his bedroom. Minion hops into his lap and lays down, and Wally strokes the dogs hair. Minion whines, sensing his boy's distress and anger.
We all go to sleep that night, a sense of unease settling over the house.
When we awake the next morning, it was to the sound of Wally getting ready for school.
Jude and I ventured into the kitchen to find Wally dressed completely in black, sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. He had headphones in his ears, so I tapped him on the shoulder to gain his attention.
"What?" Wally asked coldly.
"You sure you wanna go to school?" I asked him, "You can stay home if you want."
"I'm not staying home." He responded coldly, "I've got stuff I need to do."
"Alright, well, if you need anything, call us." Jude said softly.
Wally turned to us, and his cold gaze softened at lightning speed. He walked up to us and wrapped us both in a hug.
"I love you, Dads." He whispered.
"We love you too, buddy." Jude said.
Wally released us, and with a wave, he walked out the door, bicycle helmet in hand. Right before the door closed, Jude and I saw the look on his face shift. It returned to the cold, furious mask that he had been wearing since it happened.
I dragged Jude into the kitchen, and we both plopped down into chairs at the table.
"Jude, this is bad." I said, "This is really bad."
"No shit, Connor. Did you see the look on his face when he left?" Jude responded worriedly, "That look... it was... it was evil."
"And what he said yesterday in the car..." I recalled.
"I know. He was being serious." Jude said, "He's already acting differently too. He's acting cold. What are we gonna do?"
"I... I have no idea." I admit, "I don't know how to help him. I mean, I've never had a friend try to kill themselves before."
"Neither have I." Jude said.
Jude sighed and ran a hand through his recently cut short hair.
"I'm worried about what he's gonna do to them." He said, "The ones responsible."
"You don't think he'd try to take one of our guns, do you?" I asked.
"No." Jude said quickly, "He doesn't know where we keep the safe, and even if he did, he doesn't know the combination to it anyway."
"Do you think maybe we should pull him from Anchor Beach?" I asked, "I mean, we could always do home schooling."
"It's an idea." Jude admitted, "But we should wait and see how things go down first."
I rubbed my forehead, and could feel a headache coming on.
"I'm gonna take a nap on the couch, okay?" I told Jude.
"Okay, babe." Jude said before leaning forward to kiss my forehead, "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours."
I rose from my chair and lumbered into the living room. I fetched a blanket, and curled up on the couch. Minion hopped up and plopped down imperiously, cuddling up to my chest and giving me a look that clearly said: I am going to cuddle, and you won't stop me.
I laughed and scratched his head affectionately.
"Silly creature." I said quietly as I dozed off to sleep.
I was awoke several hours later to Jude shaking my shoulder.
"Connor, wake up." He said, "I just got a text from Momma. It's about Wally."
I was immediately awake.
"What about him? What's going on?" I asked.
"Apparently one of the kids who went after Tim fell down the stairs." Jude said, "In the only stairwell without a camera. They have no proof, but Wally wasn't in class when it happened, and he she said he looked satisfied with himself when she saw him in the cafeteria at lunch. Momma's worried he might have done it."
"They think Wally pushed somebody down the stairs?" I exclaimed.
Jude nodded.
"Is the kid alright?" I asked.
"Broken arm and dislocated shoulder."
"Fuck." I muttered, "Do you think Wally did it? Or is it coincidence?"
"I want to believe it wasn't him..." Jude said worriedly, "But a kid can only take so much. With all the things he's been through already, to add Tim trying to kill himself because of bullying to the mix? If it had happened to me and you back when we were kids, I would have lost it too. Wally's said a thousand times that he would die to protect the people he loves, and do anything to avenge us. What if this is it?"
"What do you think we should do?" I asked.
"I would suggest snooping, but..." He started to say.
"But nothing." I cut in, "These are extreme circumstances Jude."
With that, we rose from our seats and headed down the hallway to Wally's room.
We searched his dresser and found nothing, taking care to return everything to its original position. We searched his closet, and again found nothing. It wasn't until we went through his desk that we got somewhere.
A notebook. It was a black leather bound journal.
"Should we?" Jude asked.
"Might as well." I said nervously, afraid of what I might find.
I had reason to be afraid, it turned out.
It was Wally's journal. Jude and I skipped over everything up until the most recent pages, and what we found was terrifying. Wally had written that he blamed himself for not stopping the bullying before it had reached the level it had reached. He was overcome with grief, and he was hell bent on revenge on the group that was responsible. He intended to exact revenge on all of them as the last page revealed.
"It's a list of names..." He whispered.
"The names of the kids responsible." Jude observed uneasily, "With what he plans to do to each of them. He's literally on the warpath."
"That last name has Glock written next to it!" I exclaimed, "Jesus Christ, he really has lost it..."
"What are we gonna do?"
"We need to talk to him!" I said adamantly, "Before this gets worse than it already is. We have to intervene."
"He gets home in two hours." Jude said, "We'll talk to him then."
We sat down and tried to relax until Wally got home.
We heard the front door open and close, and Wally walked in, a hard mask of cold indifference painting his features.
"Hey dads." He said simply.
"Hey, Wally." I said in greeting.
"So, Lena called today." Jude said by way of a greeting.
Wally ignored us, heading straight into the kitchen.
"She said, that one of Tim's harassers fell down the stairs. Broke their arm. Dislocated their shoulder." I said, continuing from where Jude started.
"Yeah they did. Delicious, isn't it?" Wally said, a note of satisfaction in his voice.
"How did it feel, Wally?" I asked.
"How did what feel?" He asked.
"Pushing him down the stairs."
He froze, and turned back to us.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
"Don't try to hide it, Wally." Jude interrupted, "We found the damn journal."
He extracted it from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.
"You snooped through my room?" He asked, scandalized.
"Yeah, we did. And right now, frankly, I'm glad we did." I answered, "What the hell are you doing Wally?"
"The school isn't punishing them." Wally said venomously, "None of the teachers witnessed any bullying, so as far as they're concerned, it didn't happen."
"So you're going to punish them instead?" Jude asked.
"You're damn right I am!"
"Wally, you're going too far..." I started to say, but Wally snapped.
"THE HELL I AM! THEY DESERVE TO DIE!" Wally exploded, "THOSE EVIL BASTARDS ALMOST KILLED MY BROTHER! THEY. WILL. PAY!"
"THIS ISN'T THE WAY!" Jude exploded back, "I get that you're angry. I get that you're upset! But this is going too far, Wally! YOU'RE PLANNING TO KILL THEM! IN A VARIETY OF WAYS!"
"AND I'LL LAUGH WHILE I DO IT!" Wally screamed, looking deranged.
"You'd never forgive yourself if you actually killed somebody!" I shouted coldly.
"Oh, what do you know? It's not like you've ever done it!" Wally shot back venomously.
"YES, WE HAVE!" I erupted.
Absolute silence.
Wally stared at the two of us, horrified, his mouth agate. He seemed to be doing an impression of a goldfish.
"W-what?" Wally whispered.
"When we were in high school, there was a school shooting." I explained coldly, "Twenty people were killed. We would have been two of them, if Jude hadn't knocked out one of the shooters. We took his guns and fought our way out. We were firing blindly behind us. We didn't know until days later that our shots had actually landed. And you know something? To this day, I still hate myself for it."
Jude and Wally looked at me, slightly alarmed at my wording.
"The two we killed?" I continued, "They were swine. Racists. Homophobes. Bigots. Bigots that had wives. Children of their own. Children that would never see their fathers again. They may have deserved to die... but taking their lives yourself? It changes you. It's far too easy. Living with yourself afterwards? Knowing that you, yourself, caused another human being's life to come to an end? It's something that'll haunt you for the rest of your life. It was seven years ago, and I still have nightmares about it sometimes. Both of us do. We know you, Wally. You would never be able to live with yourself if you actually did it. The guilt, it would eat at you, until it drives you mad."
"They deserve to be punished..." Wally protested feebly.
"We know they do, buddy." Jude said softly, "But this isn't the way. Violence only breeds more violence. It doesn't solve anything."
Wally looked at Jude, unsure about what to think, when Jude went in for the kill.
"Ask yourself what Tim would want. This isn't what Tim what want, and you know it."
As Jude finished speaking with that final point, Wally's eyes widened as he recoiled violently as if he'd been physically struck. He fell against the wall of the kitchen and sunk to the floor. He didn't say a word. I sat down in front of him, crossing my legs, and Jude quickly followed him. We could see that he was shaking. He made no move to speak, so we simply sat in silence.
After ten minutes, he finally broke the silence.
"I did it."
Jude and I looked at Wally.
"I pushed him..." Wally said, shakily, "I just... I love Tim. He's my brother. In all but blood. And they almost took him from me."
I reached out and put a hand on Wally's knee, giving it a squeeze.
"We never go a week without talking to each other, Tim and I." Wally said, "It's only a day and a half and it's already driving me crazy."
Jude and I shifted so that we sat on either side of Wally. We put our arms around him and hugged him.
"I feel empty. I feel perpetually angry. I want them to bleed." He continued, "But you're both right. Tim would be furious with me if he knew what I was doing. Everything I see reminds me of what happened."
He looked between us for a couple of seconds.
"I... I need help, Dads." He said brokenly, "I can't handle this. Not by myself. I-I-I m-m-miss h-him. I-I m-miss h-h-him s-so m-m-much!"
Jude and I held Wally, as he finally broke down completely. We shared a look, and we knew what each other was thinking.
After we calmed Wally down, we put him to bed and sat down in our bedroom for a discussion.
"We need to pull him from Anchor Beach." I said immediately, "Sending him back there is like sending a coyote into a chicken coop."
"Agreed... but it might not be enough." Jude said simply.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"This whole city. It holds nothing but misery for him. The only good memories he has of San Diego are of us." Jude explained.
"What are you saying?" I asked.
"Maybe... maybe it's time we leave." Jude said hesitantly, "Take Wally, and leave California."
"What about Tim?" I asked, "Wally would hate us for separating them."
"Then we'll take him with us." Jude said, "You heard the doctors. He's been abused. His parents haven't even shown up yet to see him, and they won't be for a while. They'll be arrested as soon as they set foot in his room. We could take him in, and take him with us."
"We couldn't leave the state with him as just a foster son."
"Then we'll adopt him."
I looked at Jude sharply.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked him carefully, "I mean... they were boyfriends, Jude. Wally and Tim. Do you want a repeat of what happened with Brandon and Callie?"
Jude frowned at the mention of that extremely sore subject.
"It won't." He said, slightly irritated, "Besides, Tim and Wally broke up because they both knew that they loved each other like brothers rather than as boyfriends. If they still had romantic feelings for each other, they wouldn't have broken up."
"I guess you're right..." I said, "We'll discuss it more later, okay?"
After the conclusion of our discussion, we cuddled up together in bed.
We both knew, deep down, that by year's end we would not be living in San Diego.
This city has given us a lot. It gave me Jude back. It gave him his family. It brought us together.
But San Diego had taken so much from us.
It would not take our son from us too.
We would not allow it.
AN#2: Second new chapter in two days. Finally feeling like I'm back in the groove of things writing wise. Any prompts are welcome. Please leave lots of reviews, and tell me what you think.