Noah watched the female and shook his head at her statement. "You know, Ave.... you can protect yourself, but you don't need to do all this frigging fighting alone all the time... that's the whole idea of a pack... and whether that's a crescent pack, or the family pack... we're there to help you... even if you don't always want it." Noah stated.
Adam had gotten the sense knocked into him, to say the least.
"Smoke?"
Avery had shook her head, muttering a "no". Adam had shrugged. "More for me."
"Adam, you need to stop this."
"Stop what?" Adam asked, looking sideways at the girl sitting on the couch next to him. Lately, he'd looked at girls differently, especially his friends. And Avery was pretty, very pretty.
"This.... whole situation. Your mother called earlier - not that you noticed - and we talked, and we don't think you're in a good place right now. Maybe you should - "
Without thinking, Adam removed the cigarette from his mouth and basically jumped on Avery, silencing her with a deep, unexpected kiss. But Avery was having none of it, and her hands flew up to shove him off and slap him across his face.
"Ow, what the - " Adam started, looking at her in shock, but Avery was on her feet.
"ADAM! Stop it! You're so fucked up! You don't realize what you're doing! You're hurting everyone! You're hurting everyone because you refuse to get help!" Avery was screaming at this point, and Ava began crying. Adam opened his mouth to say something, but Avery stepped closer, her face dangerously angry. "You are fucked up, Adam Fuller. You are hurting everyone who loves you. Everyone who needs you. You think you're happy, but you're not. I can fucking see you're not. You're smoking, you're drinking, you're sleeping around, you're hurting yourself - you're hurting people around you. Ava deserves a better father than you. A STABLE ONE."
Now, Adam stared down at the concrete floor several stories below him. It would be so easy to end it all. All his pain and suffering, all the times he'd lost loved ones... it had come crashing down on him, and Adam felt like it wasn't worth it anymore. He'd lost Jessica, and he was slowly losing everybody else.
He'd written a note. It was addressed to several people; Ava, his mother, Avery, Caela, Anneliese. It lay on the kitchen counter of his apartment, waiting patiently for someone to pick it up. It was several pages long, but he supposed that was all his built-up emotions. By the time anyone came home, it'd be over with anyways. He'd be nothing but a body.
The only one he hadn't written a letter for was Piper. He'd recorded a video for her, one that he'd e-mailed to her and her mother earlier. They were bound to see it soon enough. He'd titled it "urgent - please don't ignore".
He still recalled Avery's harsh words; "Ava deserves a better father than you. A STABLE ONE."
And she'd been right. But Adam couldn't be stable, and he certainly couldn't be a stable father.
Who needed him? No one, really. He'd ruined it for himself. He was sure everyone hated him now.. even he hated him. Piper, probably despised him.
He hadn't even gotten the chance to tell her how he'd been feeling lately. He hadn't been able to tell her he was feeling something, something he'd only felt once before; with Jessica when their relationship first began. It was an emotion that scared the shit out of him, especially since Piper was so prone to getting injured and nearly killed (be was sure if he lost someone else like he did Jessica, he woudn't hesitate to throw himself off a building) but he'd felt it for a long time, even when Jessica was alive. He'd lashed out, slept with anyone who came near him, because he was afraid. He was afraid, he hated himself.. he gave up, and he hurt her more than he'd wanted to.
As his feet moved over the edge more, he shut his eyes. He'd planned the whole thing out. Adam felt deja vu - he recalled when Jessica had been standing on the edge of a building and he'd assumed the worst. Both had promised never to go there. Jessica was gone, so why did it matter?
Adam counted down the seconds. All he had to do was jump, and within seconds it'd be done. It almost seemed too easy.
5, 4, 3, 2...
"Adam!"
There it was. A voice, one he'd been almost expecting. He tried to call out her name, but the lump in his throat was too great. He didn't even turn around to meet Avery's eyes, didn't even notice that Ava watched in confusion from her aunt's arms.
"Adam, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Avery said, setting the baby down and gesturing for her to stay put. The baby did, too terrified to tear her eyes away. She knew what was happening. "Adam, there's three messages on the machine and you're going to fall off! What the hell, man?!"
"I can't, Avery," Adam said, shaking. "I can't do this anymore. I've lost everyone. I lost my fiancee. I'm losing Piper. Caela. Even Anneliese. I'm a terrible father. And it's all my fault."
Avery sighed. "Adam, I know how you feel. And don't pretend I don't, because you know full well that I do. I was suicidal once, too. For a long time, that was all I knew. But look at me now. I have a family. I have a life. I'm happy. And damn it, Adam, it'll happen to you, too!"
"It did," Adam said, turning to face Avery who had finally reached him. "It did, but it slipped away. Because of me. It's all gone because of me. Jessica was right. I'm not suited for this. I'm not suited for family, for friends, for fatherhood, not even for life."
"You can't keep this going, Adam, you have to come down before you do something you'll regret!"
"Who says I'll regret it?"
There was stunned silence for a few moments before Avery spoke again. "People need you, Adam."
He snorted, his eyes focusing on the ground several stories below them again. "Oh yeah? Like who?"
"Well, for starters, there's Piper - "
Adam shook his head. "Piper doesn't need me. Even if she did, she shouldn't need me. I'm just hurting her."
Avery let out a desperate breath. "The girl is in love with you, of course she needs you!"
Adam's eye twitched. "You're just saying that to get me down."
"Damn right I am, doesn't mean it's not true."
"Piper doesn't need me, Avery! I'm not any help to her anymore! She's been raped, she's hurt herself, she's probably considered suicide, she's depressed and angry and hurt - and what did I do? Worry about my goddamn self and my goddamn fucked-up emotions! I've been selfish and all my attention hasn't been on her, which it should've been, maybe I could've helped her - she needed me, Avery, and I've been letting her down and letting her cry and just being an all-around piece of shit. She'll find someone better." Adam swallowed. "Hopefully someone who loves her as much as I do."
Avery's lip quivered. "She loves you, Adam. She really does. And she needs you. I need you! We all need you!"
"I'm a kid," Adam whispered. "I can't handle this. I fucked this up for myself." Adam was quiet, and Avery watched him desperately, silently begging him to come down.
After several long moments, Adam's face twitched, and he turned to face her and step down. "Okay. I'll come down. But you have to help me, Avery. You have to help me make things right," he said, deciding to get off, but as he did his foot began to slip, and before long he was falling backwards, terror in his eyes.
Avery couldn't reach him on time, and her eyes widened at the sight of Adam on the ground several stories below them. Part of his wings had popped out, enough to cushion his fall a bit - he'd forgotten that he'd stapped them down - but even Avery couldn't not notice the blood.
She grabbed Ava, and they ran downstairs. She set the girl down, whispering words of reassurance, and approached Adam. She opened her mouth to speak, ask if he was okay, but another voice spoke instead.
"Daddy?"
Adam tensed, and slowly his eyes opened. Ava had moved forward, clutching her teddy bear. The baby was so young, she could barely support herself on her two feet. Avery immediately moved behind her and held her up, and the baby held her stuffed animal out for Adam. Adam looked at it, completely speechless, as tears fell down his face.
Adam slowly pushed himself up a little bit, ignoring the searing pain as he moved, and held a weak hand out for his daughter. Ava broke away from Avery and stumbled towards him, taking her first steps of life to her daddy, the one who needed her most.
"Daddy," she repeated, pushing herself against Adam as she tried to hug him. Adam groaned in pain, and began to pass out, but Avery was there in seconds, slowly lying him down and lifting Ava off him. "Shhh, it's okay," she whispered to the baby who began to cry.
Adam sputtered the blood out of his mouth, looking up at Avery with scared eyes. "I don't... d-don't wanna d-die," he stuttered out, but Avery hushed him.
Avery turned, calling for someone to hand her a phone. "Adam, stay awake," she muttered, putting an arm under her head, ignoring the blood that was on her arms as a result. "Yeah, 911? There's been an accident." Ava reached a small hand out, clutching one of Adam's. It was like some form of hug. The hug of a broken family, trying desperately to save each other from themselves.
