Skyfall
Chapter Twenty-Seven
"You knew about Marcus gambling and drinking?" Harvey yelled, storming into the room later that day and pointing his finger at Lily.
"What?" Rebecca scoffed. She wasn't sure why he was coming in here and yelling at Lily like that without any warning. "Harvey what are you talking about?"
"Marcus claims she knew about the gambling and the drinking…that she was trying to help him." He said, pointing at his mom. "Is that true?"
"He told me about the gambling after Katie died." Lily admitted. "But I wasn't aware of the drinking until a few days ago."
"And you didn't stop for one second and think that maybe we should have been told about it?" Harvey yelled.
"I was trying to handle it myself." Lily explained. "I thought I could help him."
"Well you certainly did a shitty job of it. But then again, you never were a very good mother to begin with."
"Harvey!" She chided her husband in a harsh tone. "Stop it."
"No." Lily shook her head. "Let him say what he needs to say. At this point, having him yell at me is better than silence."
"I don't understand why you thought you should be trying to handle Marcus by yourself." Harvey sighed.
"Was I supposed to call you to help?" Lily asked. "Because until you met Rebecca you were hardly even a real part of this family and you have no idea what Marcus or any of us went through while you were off having your pity party."
"Pity party?" He scoffed. "You can't be serious."
"I'm sorry if the truth hurts." Lily sighed.
"How about this truth?" He asked. "You are a shitty mother and we'd be much better off without your so called help."
"Harvey, stop it." She glared at him and stood in between him and his mother. She could tell that Lily was barely holding it together at this point and she felt like she needed to protect the woman. Harvey was being unreasonable and he needed to stop.
"I can't stop. I'm just getting started." He told her. "You wanted me to talk to her."
"Yeah. Talk to her." She pointed out. "What you are doing right now is verbally abusing her."
"I am not." He scoffed.
"Yes you are and I'm serious. Stop it right now." She told him.
"Why should I?" He asked. "She let Marcus get deeper into his gambling addiction instead of getting him the professional help he needed. And maybe if she had called us we could have gotten him into a program instead of letting him go off on his own. Maybe then he wouldn't have gotten drunk and almost killed his little girl. Marcus is guilty of that but she had a part to play in this whole thing too and she needs to take responsibility for it."
"Harvey, I swear…just shut the fuck up right now." She told her, shaking her head. She realized she was being harsh with him but he needed to stop attacking his mother and she didn't know any other way to do it.
"Fine. Go ahead and take her side again. I shouldn't be surprised by that at this point." He scoffed. He turned around and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Anywhere but here." He told her, slamming the door behind him.
"You didn't have to do that." Lily told her after Harvey left.
"I couldn't let him attack you like that." She turned to face Lily. "Especially after…He had no right to attack you like that."
"But he is allowed his opinions." Lily pointed out. "And now you've put yourself in the middle of this. I'm sorry."
"I have always been in the middle of this. It's nothing new and nothing I can't handle." She sighed. "But you know I have to tell him what you just told me, right?"
"I know." Lily nodded. "It's time he knows and he certainly won't listen to me now. Besides, I think it will be better coming from you."
Rebecca waited up for Harvey to come back, but it was getting late and he still wasn't there. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was almost midnight.
"I'm going to bed." Lily announced from the other side of the couch.
She had been sitting with Lily in the living room, watching random television shows for the past couple of hours ever since Ethan and Olivia went to bed.
"Can you think of anywhere Harvey may have gone?" She asked. "I'm starting to get worried about him."
She watched as Lily seemed to be deep in thought.
"He used to go to the baseball field at his high school a lot as a teenager when he wanted to escape the house. It might be worth checking out."
"Thanks." She gave Lily a small smile.
"Goodnight."
As soon as Lily was upstairs, she grabbed her purse and keys. It didn't take her long to drive over to his old high school because it wasn't that far away. She parked and walked to the baseball field, relieved to see his figure sitting on the bleachers.
"Hey." She said quietly as she sat down next to him.
"How'd you find me?" He asked quietly, looking over at her.
"I asked your mom where she thought you might be and she suggested you might be here." She admitted. They sat there in silence for a moment. "Harvey, I'm sorry for yelling at you like that."
"No. I'm sorry for walking out like I did." He sighed.
"You were really mad when you came back from dealing with Marcus." She pointed out. "What happened?"
He sighed again and looked out at the field. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Harvey…c'mon. Tell me, please?"
"Fine." He looked over at her. "Marcus said some things that I didn't think were fair at the time. I thought he was just being an asshole, but then I started to realize he had a point about some of it."
"That's kind of vague." She chuckled. "You want to clarify that for me a little?"
"Do you think if you made some kind of mistake with our relationship that I would cut you out of my life like I did with my mom?"
She was caught completely off guard with that question and wasn't sure how to respond.
"Um…Where is that coming from?" She finally asked, hoping to stall for time before having to answer that question.
"Marcus told me that my reaction to family members who make a mistake is to cut them out of my life. Then he said he hoped you never made a mistake because he didn't want me to cut you out of my life." He explained. "Is that something you think I would do?"
She looked at him and then out to the field. "I would like to think that I would never make a big enough mistake with our relationship to make you think that was an option. I'm certainly never going to cheat on you, which I know would definitely make you cut me out of your life. But I can't guarantee that I won't do something to piss you off." She chuckled. "Though I'm sure I already have done things to piss you off and you haven't cut me out of your life yet. So I'm probably pretty safe."
"That's not really an answer." He chuckled.
She looked over, deciding to be completely honest with him. "Harvey, I don't know what to tell you other than I have worried about that. You cut your family out of your life for a long time. You cut your own mother completely out of your life, which is harsh. And you did it rather easily. So I want to believe that you wouldn't do that to me if something were to happen. I want to believe that you've changed. And to be honest, it's not a thought that pops into my mind very often anymore. But yeah. I've worried about that in the past."
"I'm so sorry that you have ever thought that." He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "I'd never do that to you. You have to believe me."
"Deep down, I know that." She assured him. "It's just that sometimes my mind goes there. What else did Marcus say to have such an impact on you?"
"He said I was selfish. He said I had no clue what has happened in their lives. Maybe he's right. Maybe I am selfish."
"I think it's more appropriate to say you have been hurting and taking it out on them."
"Isn't that the same thing?" He laughed.
"I think my version sounds better. Look, everyone has been a victim of this feud between you and your mother. It's only natural that Marcus would have his own opinion about it. Though I would imagine part of the reason he lashed out was because he's scared."
"That makes sense." Harvey nodded. "I'd be scared if I was in his position."
She looped her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to fight with you. Are we ok?"
He turned to kiss the top of her head. "Of course we are."
She was glad they were ok, but she still needed to talk to him about his mother and he wasn't going to like what she had to say. "I'm sorry you felt like I was taking her side. Can I explain why I wanted you to stop talking to her like that?"
"I know why." He sighed. "You think I should be forgiving her and moving on. But it's not that simple to me. It's never been that simple to me."
"I do think that, but it's not the reason." She told him, moving so that she could look him in the eyes. "Right before you came in, she told me something that you really need to know."
"Did she keep something else a secret about Marcus?"
"No." She shook her head and pulled away to look at him. "She kept a secret about herself. Harvey, she's sick."
"What?" He looked at her questioningly.
"Six years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through the treatments and the surgeries. The doctors thought she was going to be fine. But the cancer is back and it has spread this time."
"No." He shook his head. "That can't be. Marcus would have told me about that six years ago."
"You weren't speaking to him much back then." She pointed out.
"But still…that's the type of thing that you still tell people about…"
"She asked Marcus not to tell you because she didn't want that to be the reason why you started talking to her again. I'm so sorry."
"How bad is it?" He whispered.
"Pretty bad." She whispered back. "The doctors have given her a year at the most."
"Shit." He closed his eyes.
She put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him towards her for a hug.
"So that is why you got so mad when I came in and told her that we would be better off without her." He stated.
"Yeah." She nodded.
"Well now I feel like the world's biggest asshole."
"It's ok. It's not like you knew what was going on."
"Does Marcus know?"
"Yeah. Katie was the only one she told originally. After Katie died, she had to tell Marcus. I honestly think he is drowning right now. Between Katie's death and now your mom's illness…it's no wonder he went back to gambling and then drinking."
"It definitely makes sense." He sighed. "Marcus told me I had no clue what had been going on. He sure was right. I didn't have any clue about what was happening in my own family."
"I really hate to pile more on you right now, but…"
"I'm not sure I can handle anymore." He scoffed, pulling away from her.
"Your mom only told me about her health after I asked if she would be able to take care of the kids while Marcus is in rehab. She doesn't feel like she can take care of them by herself for that long."
"Shit." He sighed. "That just leaves two options…us or foster care."
"Yeah."
"And we can't send them to foster care."
"No." She agreed. "We can't."
"This situation just keeps getting worse and worse."
"I know." She nodded.
"At least I don't think it could get any worse right now." He chuckled.
A few moments later, it started to rain. At first it was a soft, gentle rain. Then it turned into a downpour.
She laughed. "You jinxed us!"
He laughed heartily. "Come here." He grabbed her hand and led her off of the bleachers. They ran into the dugout area where they could get some cover from the rain.
"Do you ever feel cursed?" He asked as they huddled together and tried to stay dry. "Because I'm feeling a little cursed right now."
"Harvey, I know things are crazy right now. We barely get enough time to just sit and breathe from one thing happening before another thing happens. But it's going to be ok as long as we stick together."
"I don't know what I would ever do without you." He turned to face her.
"Luckily you won't have to find out." She promised. "You're kind of stuck with me."
"There's no one else I'd rather be stuck with than you." He cupped her face in his hands before placing soft kisses on her lips. After a few kisses he moved his hands to her hips, gently pulling her closer to him.
She ran her fingers through his hair before letting her arms wrap around his neck. She let him pull her onto his lap and started to moan softly when he began to kiss her neck.
"You know we shouldn't do this here, right?" She giggled.
"It's late, dark, raining and we are all alone. The way this dugout is designed, no one would be able to see anything." He reasoned.
"You're crazy." She grinned.
"Crazy about you." He smirked.
She thought about it for a moment. "Was this the dugout for your team when you played?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Did you ever have a fantasy about having sex in here?"
He chuckled. "There may have been a couple of fantasies."
"Did you ever make them a reality?" She asked.
"No." He shook his head. "I never did."
She took a deep breath. "Ok. But let's make this brief. The last thing we need is to be cited for public indecency."