The Docks [OPEN, tw: marriage break up, drunken behaviour, violent tempers]

[willcabot]

Sitting at the end of the dock, Will's legs draped into the cold water as he finished the last mouthful of the bottle. Turning the bottle in his hand, the amber glow made him for one awful moment think of Corry's hair in the fading sunlight- throwing the bottle impulsively at the wall, he let it smash satisfyingly before pulling another bottle towards him.

He couldn't feel his toes any more, he couldn't remember how long he'd been sat here for like this. He hadn't been home yet, hadn't been to the boat just in case she was there. Everywhere he looked it reminded him of her, of the life that they'd promised each other and the life that was now in ruins. Because she loved him. Ha!

Glancing at the ring on his finger, he pressed his forehead to the rim of his drink and took a gulping breath in. Her smile as she said I do. Pulling the ring off he stumbled up and backwards before throwing it into the deep waters of the cove. Turning his back on the water, he took another few mouthfuls and heading towards the shore.

"Shit," Will swore, dropping the bottle to the floor before he turned and ran towards the end of the dock. Tearing off his shirt, he jumped into the water and dived into the deep, ice cold waters. Shifting, he swam deeper and deeper until he found the band of metal down in the dark bottom. Clutching it in his hand, he swam back to the surface before pulling himself onto the docks. Collapsing on the wooden planks, he stretched out his hand and ignored the feet of someone else standing there. "Pass me a drink, will you?"

His hand curled round his wedding ring, letting the metal bite into his palm as he stared up at empty grey skies.

Comments

[willcabot]

Will takes the bottle, sitting up enough to drink but not enough to look Lara in the eyes. He had found his one, or so he thought and now, now she was gone. Just like that. Because she loved him.

"What day is it?" Will asked, his voice rough from the amount he'd drunk. He hadn't been home since she'd told him, he hadn't been anywhere but the bottom of a bottle. And another after that.

[asharpertongue]

"It's Saturday." Lara said taking the bottle from him and swigging the cheap booze. "And I take it you've been drinking since Christmas if you're scraping the bottom of the barrel with this shit." She took another sip and winced through the burn of the cheap booze. "God, Will. This shit is horrendous."

[willcabot]

"Huh, thought it was still Thursday." Will muttered. Looking bereft as the bottle was removed forcibly from his hand, narrowing his eyes at Lara he held out his hand for the return of his drink. "Well, that's what Christmas is about right? Drinking with loved ones."

And here he was drinking alone. He'd already tossed his phone into the garbage after his father's sixth call to ask why the hell he and Corrine weren't at dinner. Why Ed was trying to cover with their grandmother.

[asharpertongue]

"You really think you need more of this?" Lara said, setting the bottle down on her far side away from him. Letting him drink one night away was fine, but three days was more than enough. His liver needed a break. If he wanted it, he'd have to fight for it and she doubted he was in any state to do that. "And yeah, drinking is traditional. But it's normally done inside, in the warm, not on the docks half naked while swimming about in a freezing ocean. I know we don't feel the cold as much as humans but this is hyperthermia waiting to happen, Will."

[willcabot]

Will let out a grunt of irritation, slumping back onto the wooden boards. He wouldn't fight her, not a woman and not when the person he wanted to hit probably wouldn't even know why he was doing it.

"I dropped something, had to get it back." Will murmured, fist tightening around his ring as he bit back the urge to cry. Like a kid- like a child- he was a Cabot and they didn't let things like this bother them. "S'alright, I'm warm really."

[asharpertongue]

She saw his fist tighten but she didn't pry. She had a fair idea of what was in it. "You're freezing." Lara said, touching his arm. He really was freezing. "The yacht is around here somewhere, right? Can we at least go there before you get frostbite on bits that should never get frostbite?"

[willcabot]

"No, the yacht is at the house. I'm not at the house." Will said perfectly reasonably. Rolling over onto his front, he pushed the ring into his pocket and tried to ignore the tan line where his ring should be. Bending down, he stumbled as he grabbed a bottle- the last bottle and shook it to see if there was anything left. "You've got alcohol at the club, right? The good stuff. We should go there."

Will would've normally helped Lara up, been a gentleman about it- been charming but he didn't feel like being charming. He felt like drinking a whole bunch. And then maybe drinking some more at Henry's grave. Yeah, he'd do that.

[asharpertongue]

"Fine." Lara said, standing and dusting herself off. "It's closed tonight but I've got my keys." At least he'd be warm there and she could water down his drinks. "Come on then." She said, taking a few steps to see how steady he was on his feet.

[willcabot]

Scratching his bare ass, Will tottered down the jetty towards land. Picking up his shirt, he wavered in one place as he made sure the ring was secure in his pocket before he put on his shirt. He looked ridiculous but shifting, especially when drunk, could be a haphazard thing and the rest of his clothes were somewhere in the water no doubt.

"You are a good thing- should have married you. You might have stuck around," Will said draping his heavy arm over Lara's shoulders as he drunkenly stumbled forwards.

[asharpertongue]

Lara rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh, taking his practically naked weight and letting him lean on her heavily. "You had your chance when we were teenagers, Cabot. We both know I'm too much woman for you anyway." She said, helping him through the streets towards the bar. It wasn't like they were going to be seen by many people at this time but she did her best to put out 'you don't see this' vibes to anyone they did pass.

[willcabot]

Will looked down at Lara, wishing her hair was red like amber and fire and wishing she smelled like Corry did when they just woke up and she just fit in his arms. Lara didn't fit anywhere, she was just Lara.

"That you are, don't know how Levi is able to sit down half the time." Will replied, laughing at the idea of poor Levi just being abused by his matriarch. It was clear out of the two of them who was the power in their relationship, who wore the pants so to speak. "She told you to look after me, didn't she?"

[asharpertongue]

Grinning, Lara elbowed him in the ribs. "Levi doesn't object. Even when he does walk with a limp." She said, smiling up at Will until his question made the smile fall away some. "You know she did." Lara said, propping him up against the side of the bar's entrance and fishing out her keys. She pushed open the doors and ducked under his arm again, leading him inside and kicking the door shut so it latched behind them. "Come on. My office has a couch." Maybe she should say more but in this state he wasn't really listening. And she wasn't going to give him the usual platitudes. Corry had hurt him and he deserved to have the chance to feel it without someone trying to rationalise it or apologise for it.

[willcabot]

"Because she loves me." Will replied bitterly, laughing at that. Even if it felt like he would never laugh again, even if it felt like there was something missing where his love had been.

Stumbling in to her office Will dropped onto her couch and threw his arm across his face as he stretched out along it.

"I'll pay for the dry- dry cleaning," Will muttered about his very bare ass being pressed against her nice couch. Holding his hand out for a drink, Will swallowed down the hurt about Corry's concern. She loved him, she loved him.

[asharpertongue]

"Because she loves you, despite everything." Lara said quietly, moving around the room to get a bottle of scotch and a bottle a of highland water. She made up two glasses, one whiskey and water and the other water and a splash of whiskey.

Handing the watered down drink to Will, she settled on the floor beside his head. As much as she loved Will, she didn't want to be looking directly at his junk. "The couch is scotch guarded. Don't worry about it."

[willcabot]

"Despite everything. The everything being her telling me she loves me and wants to marry me, lying to my face and our friends and my family, embarrassing me in front of all of them because she loves me. No, not me. She doesn't love me, she loves Les. She just never worked it out," Will said, taking the drink and settling it against his chest. He liked Les, he loved Corry. He didn't blame it, he just- he wanted to be happy but he'd thought that happiness was with him. He was happy with her after all. Happier than he'd been in a long time, comfortable in his own skin with someone. "She just had to marry me first to figure it out. And then he'll figure it out because who wouldn't love her? And I'll get to watch her be happy with him."

And the stupid thing was he'd be happy about it. He'd be happy she'd found someone who made her as happy as she made him.

Pressing the glass to his lips he drained the glass dry in two seconds before holding it out to Lara. He was going to be happy for them. But maybe first he might punch Les. That might be satisfying.

"Another." Will murmured, indicating the glass in his hand.

[asharpertongue]

Shaking her head, Lara filled the glass again and handed it to him.

"She never could do things the easy way." Lara said, running a hand up and down his arm. "And you always ran headfirst into everything." It wasn't an admonishment. She said it fondly. "It's a shitty situation."

[willcabot]

"Henry would've known, Henry always knew. He was always the smart- the smart one," Will said, taking the drink from her hands and swallowing half of it. Henry would've known that she didn't love Will, not the way Will loved her. That the way he looked at her was the way she looked at Les. "He was the one to keep me from running into everything. I don't know why she didn't tell me. She just... left. Just like her father."

[asharpertongue]

A familiar pang of sadness went through Lara at the mention of Henry's name. "He could barely keep up. And you ran all the way to another country to marry Corry. Even Henry couldn't have seen that coming." She said watching him balance the drink on his chest. "She didn't know herself, Will. I think if you believe anything, you should believe that."

[willcabot]

"I was going to marry her before that, I knew she was the one for years. Alex stopped me buying a ring before," Will said. Alex stopped him but Henry would have told him why it wasn't a good idea. All he wanted was her to be happy. "Yeah, but she did know. She didn't just wake up on Christmas day and think today is the day I'm going to end my marriage. She made plans. She knew and she didn't tell me."

She lied. She left. He was alone. Because she loved him.

[asharpertongue]

"You know better than that, Will." Lara said quietly, filling his glass with watered whiskey again. "There's a difference between knowing and accepting it. Maybe she knew but she couldn't face it. It was wrong, Will, but I don't think she planned anything."

[willcabot]

"She planned a trip away, she decided to leave. She just made me do the leaving," Will said wondering when in that morning. When they were in bed together, when his mother had rung about the afternoon's arrangements, when exactly it was that his wife thought she was just going to quietly slip away. Except she'd wanted to give him a present, one last meaningless thing. He'd never cared about presents, not from her. The only thing he'd ever wanted was her in his life and happy. Apparently he couldn't even give her that.

[asharpertongue]

Lara shook her head but she couldn't dispute it. The flights might have been booked at the last minute but Corry would have run the scenario over and over in her head a million times before she acted on it. That's how she worked.

Making a drink for herself, she watched Will for a second. "Would you rather not have know? Waited years and years and maybe had kids or something before she figured it out?" She asked quietly.

[willcabot]

"I don't know. I think I'd rather she just- told me. How she was feeling. Instead of just hiding it. She never used to do that," Will said. He had always been there for her, wherever they were if she needed him then he'd be there. Because even back then he'd always loved her, even if he was dating one or two of several models. He'd always drop everything for her. He wasn't sure what to do now that she didn't want him especially when she told him she loved him.

[asharpertongue]

"She's more guarded when she's sober, you know that." Lara said, sipping her drink. "I think maybe she hid it all from herself. It's not fair or right but I can see how she might."