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

[edcabot]

Ed was angry. He was angry and scared and worried all at once. It was a lot of emotions that he normally wasn't used to dealing with and it made him more jittery than he usually was. Ed never talked about it but the reason that he called and emailed and texted his family so much was so that he knew they were okay. After what happened with Henry he was terrified that he would lose another one.

And then Will had gone off the grid, so to speak. Ed knew he had his reasons and his heart ached for what Corry had done to his brother but Ed was still scared and angry at Will just disappearing. By the time he found his brother on the docks he was properly pissed and scared.

"Hey, asshole!" he shouted, storming over to a naked Will. Will struggled to his feet, drunkenly weaving as he did so. As soon as his brother was standing Ed punched him, right in the jaw. It probably hurt Ed more than it did will, the older Cabot practically being carved out of granite. But Ed was too pissed to care about his throbbing hand.

"Don't you ever, EVER go silent like that again!"

[willcabot]

"Henry?" Struggling to his feet, Will blinked as he wiped his eyes and looked at the figure approaching him. Blinking he stared down at his youngest brother and stared some more when Ed punched him in the face. Barely reacting, the alcohol and cold had pretty much numbed him towards any sort of stimulation, Will took one step closer before swinging at his brother.

Swinging at his brother... missing and falling spectacularly on the jetty. Groaning, Will rolled over and batted his brother away with an ineffectual arm.

"It's been an hour or two. Three at tops," Will said drunkenly slurring his words just a little.

[edcabot]

Ed thanked Poseidon that Will's punch didn't connect because if it had then it probably would have been lights out and he did not have the sort of face that looked better with a black eye. He should have known that Will was too drunk to actually make contact though when he had called out their dead brother's name. Henry would know what to do here, he'd know how to handle the situation to calm Will down and then be there for him. But Henry wasn't there anymore. Just Ed.

"It's been three days," Ed said before reaching down and hauling Will to his feet. Once with brother was standing, Ed stripped off his trench coat and threw it at Will. "Don't you ever, ever disappear like that again. Not- not after Henry. Just- don't. Please."

And if Ed had to wipe away a few years, so what? He was the baby of the family after all and if he wanted to cry at the idea of losing another brother he would damn well do it.

[willcabot]

"No, it hasn't." Will replied with all the unreasonableness of a man who had been drinking for the past three days with very little else passing his lips. Except her name. Her name and not understanding how she loved him and had left him. Or rather made him leave her. She always ran.

Letting Ed help him to his feet, Will took his little brother's trench coat before looking at him confused. He wasn't quite sure what Ed meant for him to do with it, he doubted it would fit him.

"S'okay baby brother," Will said hand patting Ed's shoulder as gently as a drunk giant might. "I won't. Now, let's go get a drunk. A drink."

[edcabot]

"Yes it has been," Ed said, clenching his fists in an attempt to keep from shoving Will. He was being so stupid. The frustrating thing was that Will wasn't stupid, despite how people might perceive him at first. Right now he was being an idiot. When had Ed become the responsible one?

"Just cover yourself with the coat until you get your clothes on. The last thing we need is you appearing naked in the Cove. And you ARE drunk, Will. How about we go get some food and coffee, okay? Please, let me help you."

[willcabot]

"Like I haven't been naked in that rag before. They said she was pregnant, the paper... I think I thought that was what she was going to tell me." Will said laughing at his own stupidity. He'd thought they were on the same page, looking for a new home and she'd seemed happy about it and then- and then she told him she loved him. And he made it easier for her by leaving. "You look so much like Henry sometimes."

Will smiled tiredly, letting his baby brother support him and not arguing as he let Ed dictate where they were going. Which was apparently for food and coffee and probably water. "I don't think I want to be sober. Then I have to start making decisions, filling in paperwork because Corry won't. Corry is going to make me do it. She runs away from problems, I'm the one who comes in and fixes them. That's always been our deal."

[edcabot]

"We'll have the lawyers do that. I'll get them started on it, I promise. Don't worry about that right now," he promised Will. Times like this made him always think about what Henry would do so Will's compliment about how much he looked like Henry was touching. But Ed knew he was a poor substitute for their oldest brother.

"I'm just going to take care of you for a bit, okay?" Ed asked, hugging Will close. It seemed ridiculous that his brother, as big and immovable as a mountain, would need anyone to take care of him. For a moment he hated Corrine Flynn in a way he hadn't hated anyone since that fleeing driver. "Which means coffee and breakfast and then maybe a swim."

[willcabot]

He doesn't want their lawyers to take care of it. He knows what will happen. He knows that his father will make sure that Will is protected from that 'gold digger Flynn', that he drags Corry's name through the muck, that he will financially ruin her if possible. And he doesn't want that, he doesn't want any of that at all. She loves him.

"No, I don't- I don't want to. I don't want to start anything, I don't want to have to do that but if- when I do, I'll do it. Not the family lawyers," Will said, taking a deep breath in to draw in more air and not make it too obvious how close to tears he was. He hadn't cried since Henry. He didn't want to start now. "Sure, you can look after me. And I'll make sure you don't fall in with the Flynn's."

[edcabot]

"Okay, we'll do it later," he said. Because there was no way he was going to let Will handle this stuff on his own. Their parents might insist Will do it all if he was so insistent on not letting the lawyers do it, but Ed couldn't do that. They were Cabot boys, they stuck together and were their for each other.

"I've already been in a Flynn, and it was fun, thank you. But don't worry, I'm not going to get into any sort of relationship. Not with her or anyone. Maybe in a few years I'll marry whichever girl mom keeps trying to set me up with that I can stand and just do that. No offense, but long term relationships are a disaster waiting to happen."

[willcabot]

"I don't need to know how you bedded my wife's little-" Will cut off, remembering that she wasn't going to be his wife not for very much longer. However long it took a divorce or an annulment whichever became the most obvious answer. He doubted they'd let their marriage be annulled, not when their relationship and sex life was constantly splattered all over the pages of the newspapers. "Maybe I should have let her do that for me. Then this wouldn't have happened."

[edcabot]

Normally Ed would have kept pushing with the relationship between himself and Abigail. Not that there was much of a relationship. Mostly it was friends with benefits. Never mind how recently they had become friends. This time though, he hadn't see his brother this hurt since Henry. He wasn't going to tease him right now.

"Would you really have rather had that than the short time you had with her?" he asked instead. "I ask this as someone who has never been in love, not someone trying to be all zen or something. Would you trade the happy bit away because of this?"

[willcabot]

"I don't know. Maybe... No. I love her, I thought she loved me. Her not... doesn't change how I feel." Will said, rubbing his face. It was such a mess. What she'd done, how she'd left it. How she thought buying him a present might make it all better. He didn't know why she'd done it, why she'd made it seem like she loved him back too. Why she kept saying it even as she was telling him she was leaving. She loved him, that's what she had said. "I wouldn't trade a second. I just wish she hadn't... lied."

[edcabot]

Ed nodded, glad that his brother felt that way. At least it meant that the past hadn't been a complete waste, just that the present and future were painful. Once again he wished that there was some magic thing he could do or say that would make Will feel better. There was maybe a spell or something that could help but playing with magic like that was just dumb. The chances were always high that you were going to mess things up even more.

"I'm sorry that she lied. That's- that's pretty messed up that she would do that to you."