The Ties That Bind (16 page)

For all my weighing as to what the money meant, it really was great news.  We had just become a solid company, with a strong possibility of becoming something more.

“You have a lot of work ahead of you, getting the production line set up,” I said, turning to Marcus.

“Yeah, I know.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We'll  get plans put together, and sit down with you and Ted on Friday.  That should be enough time for me and my guys to get the basic outline of how things are going to work.”

“Sounds good to me.  Let’s get this stuff packed up, and get back to home base.”

Ron took off, saying he had to rejoin his bosses.  The rest of us started packing up and getting everything back to the warehouse where we had built the original prototype.  It took pretty much the rest of the day.  It was a little back breaking at times, but we got everything back before dinnertime and Ted gave me a ride back home.

The rest of the week was pretty packed.  I found myself at our “production” warehouse until late every evening, helping out where I could.  Even though I had been reading pretty aggressively into engineering, I wasn’t up to snuff enough to help on the building of the actual drones, so I was put to work on the more scut work parts of the project.  That was fine with me.  I wanted to get these five drones built every bit as much as Marcus and the other engineers did.  It meant being able to move the company forward to the next project.  

I did spend one long evening with Ted and Marcus going over budgets.  Ron had already managed to talk the general into pushing through a first payment on the test drones.  That was good, since we needed a hefty portion of that payment to get the necessary supplies to build the drones.  While the stealth paneling would take some time, we had already started in on some of the modular component systems.

Before I knew it, New Year’s Eve had arrived.  We let everyone knock off early, and I caught a ride home just after lunch.  I had managed a brief call with Emily earlier in the week, and I arranged for us to get together on New Year’s Eve.  Her parents were going to be out until early in the morning, so she decided to push it, and hang out with me until midnight.  I knew Margaret would be working late, so I had also invited Tina over, since she would be all alone at home otherwise.

Tina showed up first, giving me a hug when I opened the door.

“Hey, Sis, a bit early aren’t you?” I said, considering the sun hadn’t even gone down yet.

“Yeah, but Mom already left. I was going to let you make the snacks for tonight, but I figured Emily might prefer something edible, instead.”

I hip-checked her in response.  She just laughed as she scooted away from me and made her way to the kitchen. I sat at the kitchen table while she started pulling things out of the fridge.

“So, what’s on the agenda for tonight,” she asked as she worked.

“I have no idea.  You will remember planning social events has never really been my thing.  I was kinda hoping I would invite you and Emily, and you two would figure it out from there.”

“Ha!  You are totally spoiled by your girls, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Ok.  Well, I'm sure we will figure something out.”

Tina knew about my work, and had a bunch of questions about the test.  She was very happy for me that it had gone so well.  I did warn her off discussing it with Emily.  Not that I was planning on keeping her in the dark for a long time, but I wanted to ease into it.  News that I am part owner in a company making military hardware, or that I am some sort of genetic aberration, wasn’t something I wanted to drop on her until I was sure the time was right.  Besides, her home situation still left me with a nugget of concern about her, and how she would ultimately fit into our unusual family.

Shortly after dark Emily showed up. As I had with Tina, I was greeted with a hug, although I added a brief kiss on top of that.  Pulling apart, I found Tina behind me, grinning.

“Emily, you’ve met Tina, right?”

“Yeah, she came along on one of the outings with Zoe and everyone else.  It’s good to see you again,” she said smiling at Tina.

Tina didn’t hesitate but came up and gave Emily a hug.  I think many people who get close to my group are surprised by how affectionate we can be, although I knew Tina also felt she was doing her part in helping the girls and their plotting.

“Good to see you, too.  Now, come with me to the kitchen.  Cas is playing 'dumb boy,' and wants to leave all the planning for tonight up to you and me.”

Both girls were laughing, generally at my expense, as they walked off towards the kitchen. I decided to leave to stay out of their line of sight, and their teasing. I moved into the living room and sat on the couch to wait.  Thankfully, it didn’t take too long.

After just a few minutes the two girls returned carrying a bag of chips and what looked like queso, and laughing.

I looked over at the laughing girls and said, “What?” 

That caused even more laughing, never a good sign. I chose just to ignore them.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?”

Tina adopted a weird demure look which hinted to me as to what the conversation in the kitchen was really about, something else I decided it was best to just ignore and move past. Thankfully, Emily decided to answer my question.

“For now we are gonna take it easy, maybe watch some TV and snack.  Then a game, and later, music and dancing.”

“Here?”

“Yep.”

“But there is only the three of us.”

“So?  You have a radio.  You have an open room.  It will be fun.”

'TV' turned out to be a romantic comedy.  I found myself bracketed on the couch between the two girls.  After the conversation the other day, I thought I was back in safe waters with Tina.  But, she was making nearly identical moves to what Emily was doing, and it was clear she wasn’t through with me.  I knew this was going to come to a head at some point.  I just hoped it wouldn’t be tonight, with Emily here; since any conversation about Tina and I, would almost certainly end up in areas Emily wasn’t privy to, yet.

After the movie and double cuddling on the couch we played a game called Taboo.  I hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently Tina had found it in one of the closets.  It was a card game that involved trying to guess words on a card, without using a prohibited list of words.  I think it was meant for an even number of people, but the girls managed to make it work.

After that was the dancing, which frankly, was weird.  We put on music and at first it was fast dancing with the two girls dancing up against me, both a little provocatively.  Then the radio switched to some slower songs.  For the first one, Tina excused herself and Emily danced up close to me, cradling her head on my shoulder.  Even though we were just in my living room, I was enjoying that.  What was weird was when another slow song came on, Emily excused herself, and Tina danced up against me.  Clearly the two had worked out the dancing order beforehand.

Keeping my voice down I said, “Tina, what are you doing?”

She looked up at me with her big brown eyes, “What do you mean.”

I didn’t buy her innocent look for a second. 

“You know what I mean.  You have been putting the moves on me all night.  I thought we were past this.”

“Past it … no.  More like accepting it.”

“Tina, we can’t …”

“I know, Cas.  It’s ok.  Just go with the flow, tonight.  I won’t try to push any more than I have.  We can talk about it when the girls get back.”

I frowned at her, but she just put her head back on my shoulder Emily walked back in the room.  I decided to let it drop for the time being, until I could have a private moment alone with Tina to put my foot down.

It was nearing midnight and Tina had gotten ginger ale in fancy glasses for us.  It looked mildly like champagne, and I guess for a bunch of underage kids it was the best choice for us.

We counted down the final ten seconds along with the TV that showed a scene of Times Square.  I guessed that it was a recording, since they were an hour ahead of us.  As the ball dropped the three of us shouted ‘Happy New Years’ along with the TV at which point Emily laid a big kiss on me.  I was surprised when she stepped clearly out of the way and Tina stepped up.

“Tina, don…” was all I got out before she, too, kissed me.  

She now knew about the effects that kissing me could have.  I knew this would end badly, but done is done.  I still gave her a glowering look when she pulled away, and she had the good sense to look chastened. 

We all sat down to watch the festivities on TV as the world said goodbye to 1996, and hello to 1997.

“Don’t you have to get going pretty soon?” I asked Emily.

“Yeah, in the next thirty minutes; but I just want to just sit here on the couch with you until I have to go, and relax.  This is so nice.  I don’t want it to end.”

I heard a “me too” from the other side of me, which caused me to frown slightly.  However, it's hard to be to upset with two girls pressed up against you.

“Ok.  Just a few minutes, then.”

That was the last thing I remembered, until I opened my eyes against the harsh glare of morning.  I looked down at the two girls nestled against me and smiled for a moment, basking in their affection … and then it hit me!

It was morning!

“Emily, GET UP!  It’s morning!  We feel asleep!”

As Emily pulled herself awake and comprehended the situation, I could see the real fear in her eyes.  I knew for a fact that things were about to get
very
bad.

The words took some time to sink in, as her brain was still fogged with sleep. As they did, Emily began to slip into panic mode.

“Oh my God, Cas!  I am in so much trouble!  What am I going to do?  I can't go home!”

“I don’t think we have a lot of choices. If you don’t go home, they will call report you as missing.”

“You don’t understand … My father …”

I pulled her into a hug, “I know.”

She pushed me away, “No, you don’t know. He gets mad when things aren’t just right. He likes order, and things being the way they should be. And Mom … I just …”

I grabbed onto her tight and pulled her to me. She resisted at first but after a moment of hugging her close to my chest, her muscles relaxed and her panic devolved into sobbing.

“It will be ok. I will go with you.”

She pushed back hard out of my embrace, “You can’t.”

“Yes, I can. Emily, I told you, I know what's happening. I am not going to let you go home by yourself and get hurt.”

"But what can you do?”

"Hopefully, I can talk to your dad, and try and reason with him. If that doesn't work, I make a pretty good human shield. Whatever happens, I cannot let you go home and face him alone. I will not let you get hurt.”

A smile escaped her lips despite her panic. She looked completely conflicted but eventually I saw her start to give in to my arguments. I don't know if it was the fear of going home alone, or my argument that persuaded her, but either way I was glad she was at least accepting my help.

"I need you to promise me one thing though. When we confront your father, I need you to listen to me. If I tell you to do something, I need you to do it.”

She started shaking her head again, "But I can't …”

"Yes, you can. This is important! I need you to trust me.”

She took a deep breath and said, "Ok.”

It was too far to just walk to her house. Maybe I was too wrapped up in my own thing to realize it before now, but she had been riding her bike over to my house every time. I knew I could probably keep up with her at a jog, but since she hadn't been brought fully into the family … or, at least, into our secrets … yet, I decided that wasn't the wisest scenario. I peeked into the garage and discovered that Mom did have her own bike. I figured she wouldn't mind if I borrowed it for a little while.

Our ride to her house took thirty minutes, and was accomplished in complete silence. I knew she was probably still terrified about what was going to happen. For my part, I was lost in my own thoughts about how I was going to deal with the situation.

The door burst open almost as soon as we pulled into the gravel driveway.

"Where the hell have you been?" a tall, rotund man screamed as he stomped towards us.

Emily was off her bike quickly, "I'm sorry, Daddy. I fell asleep watching TV. I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry.”

He had taken what could only be called a menacing step towards her, when he finally noticed me standing slightly behind her.

"Who the hell are you?”

"I'm a friend of Emily's. It's my fault that she is so late coming home. She was with my sister Tina and me, celebrating New Years. We all fell asleep watching a movie.”

He turned back to Emily and asked, "I thought you were going to be with one of your girlfriends?”

"She was, Sir, with my sister Tina. I was kind of an interloper.”

Yes, it was a lie, but the way things were going showed that it was clear he would not take the truth well.

"Go home," he barked at me.

I ignored him and looked over at Emily and said, "Go inside.”

When she walked past her father and towards the house, the look of rage on his face intensified.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he said as he started to step towards her, his hand reaching out to grab her.

I moved quickly to interpose my body between Emily and her father.

"Go … Now!" I said to Emily without turning to look at her, holding eye contact with her father.

Looking at the greasy man in front of me, I recognized the type. He was a bully, plain and simple. He actually reminded me of those kids who were always picking on Sarah, although if I had to guess, I would say he was a more cowardly version of them. When he felt helpless in his own life, he took it out on his daughter, and probably his wife, too. Although I hadn't met Emily's mom yet, it was a pretty safe bet he abused her, the same as he did their daughter.

"Get the hell out of my way," he shouted at me reaching out to push me.

I intercepted his hand, grabbing onto his wrist. I started to squeeze,
hard
. He let out a yelp of pain as his eyes closed.

"Look at me, you piece of shit.”

I squeezed harder and his eyes popped open.

"I know what you have been doing to Emily. Everyone knows. She has been covering for you because she's afraid, but that is going to stop, NOW!  If I see one more bruise on her … if I find out that you have touched, hit or slapped her or done anything else to cause her even the slightest amount of unhappiness … I will make it my mission to destroy you.

"I know that somewhere behind your beady little rat's eyes you're thinking 'what can this kid do to me?'  The answer is, a lot. To start with, there is her history of injuries. It wouldn't take much for the authorities to start looking into that. Then there is what I can personally do to you. I would spend every penny I have … and I have a shit-ton of them … to bury you in private detectives, and attorneys. I care about Emily. She knows it, and she trusts me. At some point I will convince her to come clean to the world about what is happening in this house.”

He was still trying to grasp that last little bit of dignity and winced out, "It's my house dammit, I will do …”

"What you will do, is do right by your daughter. Do you understand me?”

I gave an extra squeeze for emphasis and he gasped out, "Yes.”

"Do you understand that if you lay a hand on her again, I will fucking bury you?”

"Yes.”

I released his wrist, "Good. Let's go see your daughter; she is pretty scared at the moment.”

He paused for a second, and I gave him a dark glare as I growled, "You … first.”

He was still rubbing his wrist, as he wobbled his way back to his house. Emily was standing just inside the front door, where she had been watching everything. She still looked panicked, so as we went through the front door I held out one arm to her. She came to me very skittishly, her eyes on her father.

"I had a nice chat with your dad. I apologized for getting you home so late. He was nice enough to accept.”

I turned to the older woman standing just down the hallway from the front door. I let go of Emily, stepped around her father, and walked towards Emily's mother with my hand extended.

"You must be Mrs. Deakins. You have a lovely home.”

She took my hand out of reflex but was looking past me at her husband. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw he was still staring down at the floor.

"Well, I need to check on my sister, since we rushed out this morning to get Emily home. Again, I am sorry for getting her home so late.”

I leaned down and gave Emily a soft kiss on the cheek, while she just had a 'deer in the headlights' look.

"Call me later, ok?”

I didn't wait for her to respond but instead turned around and made my way out of the house. I did make eye contact with her father, and gave him a hard glare in hopes he would remember our conversation. Once outside, I hopped on my bike and peddled a little way down their long gravel driveway, to a small stand of trees just to one side. I leaned my bike up against the tree and made myself comfortable, watching the house.

Normally, I would be out of hearing distance; but my hearing seemed to have improved, along with everything else. I sat there for almost two hours watching and listening for signs of some kind of confrontation. It was an old house, and far from soundproof.

I was just about to get up and leave, when I noticed Emily's dad coming round the back of the house heading out for the field. He looked pissed and frustrated. I hoped that frustration was from not being able to take out his anger on his favorite outlet, but only time would tell. I couldn't just stroll up to their house now and ask Emily if anything had happened since I walked out the front door, so it would have to wait until the next time I saw her.

I knew I was playing with fire. This could either help her, or cause the situation to get a lot worse. Either way, her home life would be a lot more tense; but as long as she wasn't getting beat up any more, that was a fair trade off in my opinion. Of course, it could go the other way and he could lose it, going after her and her mom harder than ever.

The problem was that I had a serious lack of options. Emily didn't want me to get the authorities involved, but I couldn't just kick the crap out of him. On the other hand, I couldn't let the abuse continue, either.

Once he was out of sight, I moved out of the small stand of trees where I'd been hiding, and pedalled my way home. I found Tina sitting by the front door. It was weird, since when I left she was still inside asleep on the couch.

She stood up when she saw me pull to a stop, "How did it go?”

"I don't know, yet, we will have to wait and see. I hope I did the right thing, and the little confrontation I had with her dad will put a stop to everything, but there's nothing to do now but wait.”

"I'm sure it will work out. I know you, Cas, and I know you did what you thought was best.”

"Yeah," I said not sounding at all convinced. "What are you doing out here?  You were inside when I left.”

"I went home just after you and Emily left. Mom was on a complete rampage. She tore into me about being out with you all night, and then went off about her work. Apparently, there have been more cutbacks, and some other people are getting promotions she thinks she should have. She was being impossible.”

I opened the door and ushered her inside, "I'm sorry we all fell asleep, and you got in trouble with Margret, but cut her a little slack. She works really hard to provide for the two of you, and I really make her life more complicated. Add trouble at work on top of that, and anyone would be upset.”

Tina put a hand against my chest and stopped me, "You don't understand. When I said she went on a rampage, I really mean it. She was going on and on about how people at her office were conspiring against her. She then somehow brought her insane ramble around, and started saying how she was certain you had gotten to them, and were pulling their strings. She said that you were out to destroy her.”

She removed her hand and walked into the living room, flopping down on the couch, "She was throwing dishes around the kitchen, smashing them, and kicking the cabinets. I was actually scared. I came over here to wait for you. I've never seen anything like that.”

I sat down next to her, "Has she done anything like this before?”

"No, not really. I mean she has yelled about you occasionally, but she's never gotten violent like this. And all her crazy conspiracy nonsense about work … I just don't know what to do.”

"For now there's nothing you can do, I think. Maybe it was a one-time thing. Just keep your head down, and come over here when things get bad.”

"I guess  …,” she mumbled.

"Ok, so I don't really believe this is a one-time thing either, but I still think the best thing we can do is, wait and see. I know she's still home and knowing you're over here will just make things worse. You should head home and try and stay out of her way until things calm down.”

"Ok," she said quietly as she stood to leave.

"Hey," I said standing up and pulling her into a hug, "Chin up. Just keep an eye on the situation and let me know what happens. I am sure there is something we can do, but I don't want to jump into anything too rashly. I've already done that once, today. Best if we try to be a little more careful, here.”

"Thanks, Cas," she said hugging me back.

Tina headed out to go home and I sat back on the couch to think. I was still uneasy about the way I had left things with Emily's dad. Now there was the news about Margret's increasing instability. While there was no way to know for sure, I had a strong suspicion her mental state was in some way connected with my influence.

Not that I was blaming myself for causing whatever was going on with her. Knowing what caused her current state of mind would point us … and by us, I of course meant Mom and Alex … in the right direction. She might hate me, but I still felt responsible for Margret. When everyone was back from the holidays, I needed to sit down with them and work out a plan for finding out what was up with Margret and getting her some help.

I was still weighing the events of the holidays, the drone test, Emily and her family, and Margret; when I heard the door open, and what sounded like a small army burst in. I had just stood up from the couch when Zoe came into the room. Seeing me, she dropped the bag she was carrying and headed for me at a dead run.

Even bracing for the impact, her hug nearly took me off my feet.