country roads

take me home to the place i belong blog for jack & declan

[eveerpsyoo]

It is broken. Absolutely not going anywhere. The only choice was to shove the beast toward an auto shop, and to hope that they would take some form of payment that the American government hadn’t caught up with yet. Her credit card was easily traceable, and she would be damned if her father knew where she was. The last thing she wants is for him to find her and drag her home, kicking and screaming. Her brother does well for himself, and he can tolerate the man on his own. But his replacement family, she could never stomach them before, and now is no different.

The shop isn’t too far, and the car began to glide across the road. It is either that, or she has just gotten used to the weight of shoving it toward a hopeful direction. Thank god she knows how to set a car in neutral to push it without the brakes kicking in. Some would call her an idiot rich girl to have a car break down on her like this, only to sit and call someone else for help rather than handle it herself. Again, she would be damned to ask for more help from anyone who could tell her father her new location.

Stopping a few miles off, she slides down the side and looks over at the shop. She takes a deep breath and walks toward the shop, her dignity safely hides behind her. “Good morning,” she calls out, hoping it isn’t too early for anyone to be working. Dawn has only just broken over the horizon, and she doesn’t intend to stay often. Her eyes fall on a man coming around the corner. “Good morning, sir. I was wondering if you could help me. My car, it just died. A couple miles back. I got it this far, but I don’t think I could push it anymore without taking a break. Could you take a look at me? A look at it for me. Sorry, hella tired here.”

[fullblocm]

Her eyes sting despite how hard she’s fighting to keep her tears from falling. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It’s a mantra she repeats over and over again in her head as she quickly disappears down the hospital hallways, and out into the snowy weather. The chill in the air nips at her cheeks until they turn pink, but she trudges on through the snow. Her stomach is tied in knots. A few tears dare slip down her cheeks, but Laura angrily rubs them away.

Is it anger? It’s everything. Profound sadness, anger, understanding, sympathy, confusion, all of it. She’s feeling all of it bundled up inside of her, and it’s a miracle she hasn’t succumbed to it by now. Maybe she’s too stuck to do anything.

Laura can’t go back to the hospital. She doesn’t want to go home to an empty bed, either. She only allows one quiet sob to escape her throat as she presses her back up against a tree and tries to regain her composure. 

How could he do it? He had been so cruel when he told her to get out, told her to leave him to die and never look back. It’s his illness, she knows it. It’s him knowing he doesn’t have a lot of time left, and how unfair that is. It’s him knowing that she’s pregnant, and he won’t be there for any of it. He’s angry. She gets it.

But it doesn’t stop her tears. Her wet cheeks grow numb in the winter air.

What will she do? What can she do?

[eveerpsyoo]

Forty-five minutes ago, Declan had found himself careening through the sky, destroying clouds and laughing as he dropped from the air, only to pick speed right back up again. His superiors had screamed into his headphones, but the laughing man couldn’t hear. It was quite funny to him, that he even still had rank, much less a job. After a few hours of these antics, he landed his plane with grace to find himself hopping into his truck with a bit more of a spring in his step than he perhaps realized.

His eyes fall on Laura as he enters the halls of the hospital, knowing that his good mood would quickly vanish. His friend had dealt with her husband’s passing far earlier than it really began. Her heart had been broken so beyond repair, he knew it was no use to try. All he could do was be there, and that is his plan in these moments. His hand ran through his hair as he draws close. “Hey,” he mumbles with a soft voice to not startle the surely weeping woman. At the sight of tears, he pulls her into a hug. “I’m sorry, Laura. How can I help?”