The Ties That Bind Us

One week later

On New Year's Eve, even the gloomy mental health facility Katie called home couldn't escape the festive mood. But the cheery atmosphere was lost on the blonde, who had spent most of the last week going from some of her highest of highs to the lowest of lows. When Katie heard footsteps outside her room door, she buried her head under a pillow like a moody teenager, blocking out even the dim light in relief. Nothing she did could erase the grim faces of the doctors and nurses on her sister's case. How quickly the professionals had given up on Melissa's recovery made Katie's blood boil. Dwelling on her anger only made Katie's thoughts shift to the most infuriating person in her life: Kevin and his smug power trip.

September 2010 – Eight Years Earlier

"Marry me." Kevin's proposal reached Melissa's ears through the delirious haze of having just given birth, the crook of her arm still warm from nursing Bobby to sleep moments ago. Her boyfriend had missed the birth, much to her younger sister Katie's disgust, but now he was smiling at her as if she were the center of his universe. Much as she hated being away from her gem of a newborn, Melissa was suddenly glad Bobby was safely in the hospital nursery. She suspected an accident if she had been holding him; considering how abruptly her sleepy eyes widened, she jerked upright and stared at the newly appointed detective.

"What did you say?" she asked warily, hardly daring to believe her ears.

"I asked you to marry me, Lissa, not kill someone. Relax!" His dark eyes twinkled with amusement, and it was enough to erase all the desperation and fear she'd felt going through labor with only Katie by her side. "Good Lord, woman, are you seriously crying right now? I thought this was what you wanted."

"Haven't you ever heard of hormones?" Melissa pointed out, laughing despite the tears she couldn't seem to stop. "This is just a natural progression. We have a baby; can you believe it?"

"We certainly do." With her gaze fixed in awe on the newborn, Melissa failed to notice the storm brewing in Kevin's eyes. When she reached for his hand, his resentment of the baby was expertly masked. Melissa's idea of natural progression had turned his life plans upside down, but Kevin would do the right thing anyway.

"That son of a bitch wouldn't know the right thing to do if it punched him in the face," Katie muttered to herself, sitting up restlessly, agitated by the memory that had bonded her sister with the detective. Her thoughts on the proposal story she had heard from Melissa countless times never turned any more positive, no matter how she tried to re-frame her thinking. "Natural progression, my ass!"

"Everything okay in here?" Katie looked up as the door to her room creaked open, scowling at the interruption to her brooding. Nurse Amy stood there, an annoyingly sympathetic look on her face. Thanks to Katie spilling her guts, the woman almost knew too much now, and there was no taking it back.

"Just perfect," she said bitterly. "My psycho brother-in-law has the upper hand and bloody well knows it; my sister could die, and I'm still stuck in this place!"

"Nobody's making you stay, Katie," the redhead pointed out for the umpteenth time. "Residence here has always been and will always be voluntary after a certain point." She inched her way into the room as if approaching a wounded animal. "That's what I came to tell you." The bipolar woman looked up at Nurse Miller's suspiciously cheerful tone. "We just had word from the hospital. Your sister regained consciousness briefly half an hour ago."

At that, Katie's head snapped up, her lips quivering against her will. "What?" she asked hoarsely. "Melissa's awake? Are you serious?"

"Looks like you won't have to face heading into the new year without her after all," said Amy brightly. "You can breathe again; in fact, I insist on it as your caretaker. Didn't I tell you everything would be alright?"

"I thought it was in your nursing contracts to say positive shit like that," Katie grimaced, but the relief made her eyes glow with life for the first time in days. "Is it okay if I visit her?"

"Considering the alternative option has been you barely eating and spending hours on this bed staring into space every day, I highly recommend you do exactly that." Nurse Amy had moved closer to Katie with every word and now laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hope and positivity do pay off sometimes, see?"

"That hasn't been my experience," said Katie darkly, but a faint smile tugged at her thin lips. "I have to go!" She had grabbed a coat and dashed for the exit before Nurse Amy could warn the woman against letting her hope shoot to unreasonable heights. The healthcare professional shuddered, hoping her optimistic nature hadn't just set her patient up for a blow to her fragile mental health.

Meanwhile, Kevin stood at his wife's bedside at the hospital, scowling at her prone figure. The infuriating beeps of the machines surrounding her transported the detective back to when he had last stood over her in a hospital bed, on the precipice of a life path he increasingly resented.

September 2010 – Eight Years Earlier

"I asked you to marry me, Lissa, not kill someone. Relax!" Kevin's dark eyes twinkled with amusement, enough to drain all the desperation and fear from Melissa's expression. "Good Lord, woman, are you seriously crying right now? I thought this was what you wanted."

"What did you expect?" Melissa demanded; "You can't ask a girl who gave birth a few hours ago to get married without a few tears. It's part of the deal."

"Babe, that doesn't answer the question," Kevin reminded her with his most charming smile. "Will you marry me?" He reached into the breast pocket of his police uniform and pulled out a small blue velvet ring box. "This might not be how either of us planned our engagement to go, but I don't really want to leave here without you as my wife. I'm very good at my job, you know. I'll climb the law enforcement ladder and keep you safe by default. What do you say?"

"I say I love you," Melissa whispered, wincing slightly as leaning forward to kiss him stretched her stitches. "Yes, Kevin Riley, I will marry you!" The policeman grinned and kissed her lips firmly, holding her puffy cheeks between his strong hands. Not even the mewling cry of his newborn son being brought back into the room for a feed could dampen Kevin's spirits. He would have it all, starting with successfully claiming Melissa Ryan's heart.

Kevin's rage began to simmer when he was left alone with his wife after another nurse came and went. It was all the kid's fault; that was it. Bobby's birth had changed everything about a perfectly good time, his devoted wife's attention divided and another unnecessary mouth to feed. The detective clenched and unclenched his fists in rhythm with the beeping machine monitoring Melissa's stats. Why couldn't she see that? If the boy hadn't needed to see that insane aunt of his, Melissa wouldn't have been on the icy highway today. What the hell would he do if she died and left him alone with a brat he couldn't stand? If she did recover, these injuries would serve her right for trying to abandon him, the detective mused angrily.

The sound of the room door slamming wrenched Kevin from his thoughts, and he spun around to glare at the intruder to his brooding. "You," he snarled in a low voice at the sight of his sister-in-law. "How dare you show your face in here? Didn't I tell you to stay the hell away from my family?"

"That's not up to you, Riley," Katie snapped, straightening her spine to face him as menacingly as possible. "She's been my sister for much longer than you've been a part of her life, and soon you won't have any right to be around her at all; mark my words!"

"It's cute that you really think that decision is in your hands," Kevin mocked her, thoroughly enjoying Katie's inconsequential anger. "One statement from me and you'll be locked up for good. In case you've forgotten, there's proof of your trigger-happy escapades a few years ago." This time the fury in Katie's eyes didn't fade, and Kevin changed tack smugly. "I'm surprised you left the kid alone at all. Didn't you claim to be his big protector?"

"Someone has to be," Katie scowled. "Maybe you were right to say I won't ever have my own kids, but I can sure as hell protect Bobby from you! You do not want to mess with me, asshole; I'm warning you." Kevin's smug grimace was making her blood boil, but before Katie could find the adequate words to express her anger, a weak moan eclipsed the beeping of Melissa's heart monitor. The detective and she spun towards the bed simultaneously, watching in silence as the battered woman stirred feebly.

"Lissa," Kevin whispered, swooping towards the bed before Katie could move. The way he grasped Melissa's hand would seem tender to an outsider, but Katie could see the possessiveness in his grip. Her sister was screwed. The detective glared at Katie again. "No one wants you here, bitch. Get out!" The relief that her sister had reacted at all gave Katie the strength to depart, even if not to give Kevin the satisfaction of heeding his demand. She might not have been capable of much, but one thing she could do was ease Bobby's terror with the news that his mother could awaken soon.

With Katie out of the room again, Kevin saw a golden opportunity in his wife's dazed confusion. He perched on the edge of the bed, carefully gripping her hand as her eyes opened slowly. The detective watched Melissa's mouth open and shut a few times as if testing the motion. His fingers brushed a cut on her forehead, and she flinched slightly. "Welcome back," he said as if he hadn't been internally cursing both sisters for hours already. "If you wanted me to get off work that badly, there was no need to be this dramatic, Lissa. That was some storm you were driving in; haven't I warned you about that? Crazy woman!"

"A storm?" Melissa echoed thickly, her tongue feeling heavy and unnatural in her mouth. "I don't…I can't remember."

"You were out looking for a Christmas tree, remember?" Kevin lied smoothly. "Our old one fell off its pedestal and is a holy mess. We should have replaced it years ago, clearly. There's your lesson never to listen to me about these things; you're the Christmas fanatic." He squeezed her fingers lightly, applauding himself internally as belief shone in her eyes. "I'm sorry, baby. You're going to be fine now, okay? I'll take care of you, I promise."

Before Melissa could muster the energy to speak, the door to her room slammed open suddenly. When she flinched at the disturbance, her hand slipped from Kevin's grasp, and he whipped around to glare at the intruder.

"That's enough of your lies, Riley!" Katie took a deep breath to quell her rage before shifting her assessing gaze to her sister. "Mel, I'm begging you, don't fall for his crap again. This guy has put you and Bobby through hell for years, enough is enough."

Kevin glanced back at his wife for long enough to see the desperate confusion intensify in her eyes before she spoke again, the greatest thing he'd ever heard come out of her mouth. "What are you talking about, Kate? Who is Bobby?"

"Oh God," Katie whispered, stumbling backwards out of the room. The triumphant glint in Kevin's eyes intensified the nausea her sister's question had triggered. Pressing her hand to her mouth, Katie fled down the hall, the pressure of how much Bobby depended on her driving her demons ever closer to the surface.

A/N Life kind of took the energy out of this plot bunny for so many years; grateful for anyone still interested xx