LOYALTY AND SEDITION by TM
Part 31

Rating: PG

Summary: Merry Christmas to all...the Frohike tradition of holiday disasters continues.

Spoilers: Nope.
 

They tell Kelly and Langly to keep me awake and talking, but mostly it seems like Langly's yapping. His sister says she doesn't remember him ever shutting up when he was little.

I can believe this. He's 37 and he hasn't shut up yet.

"Jesus, Junior, you can't go anywhere and stay out of trouble, can you?"

"Listen, you fuckrag, I didn't do anything."

"All he did was stick up for me." Oh God. Kelly's sticking up for me.

"You didn't swing at him?"

"Listen, asshole, he's about twice my size. Do I look stupid?"

"Don't make me answer that."

"You're such a fuckrag, Langly."

"Look, all he did was tell the guy to quit bothering me." Kelly doesn't understand what's going on here. This is guy stuff. And she doesn't have any brothers, so she doesn't know how it works.

Langly may be giving me shit, and I may be blind, but he's worried, and you can tell. For one thing, he's giving his nails a run for their money, which he does big time when he's nervous about something. I can hear him peeling off pieces of them.

I wish he'd stop. Every sound is like an elephant blowing in my ear and standing on my head.

I want painkillers.

Kelly knows I'm hurting, and she's trying her best in her own way to be comforting. She's not a crooner like my dad, but she's so cool and so strong, and she tells me I'm going to be fine, just hang in there.

God, where did this girl get this kind of spine?

She's so fucking young, and she's so together.

I think about her waste-case family, and I would really like to know how she overcame DNA and a shitty environment, something I have yet to discover the secret of.

If I ever do.

Langly's making quips about how maybe this head injury will improve my IQ and my sex life. I'd like to kill him right now.

Somebody please just shut him up. That whine is going to make me crazy. How does Ally put up with it?

Kelly asks what time it is. Langly says it's 6:15-and he'd better call Ally and tell her we're gonna be late, or she'll kill him.

That I want to be around to see. It's so fun to watch Ally bust on him. She's about half his size, and she can just about get him on his knees with not too much effort.

Why do women have this much power over us?

"Your mom's gonna have a cow," I tell Kelly.

"Tough. If she picked her boyfriends a little more carefully, I wouldn't have these problems."

"Maybe you oughta call her."

"Later. I don't feel like dealing with her right now. She'll make me feel like shit, and I don't need that right now."

Nobody should be this hard at 18.

I'm trying to think about how I was at 18.

I was mostly a basket case.

Kelly's so different when she's around me and even around my friends. She's like so nice and everything. Put her with her only family, and that girl is just hard and bitter and angry.

I don't like this side of her, and I bet she doesn't like it either. Why would she be trying so hard to get out, aside from the obvious?

She's way stronger than I'll ever be. God, things were shitty for me...and my idea of dealing with it was to blame everybody and not do anything.

Not Kelly. She's just gotten tough and determined.

How did this happen?

"You know who I miss at Christmas time?" she asks me.

Not her old boyfriend, I hope.

"I miss my auntie. She was so great. She's my mom's big sister, and she didn't get to finish high school, but she was determined she'd get a good job. She went to work as a file clerk in this law firm through work study before she dropped out, and she worked real hard, and she went at nights and got her GED, and then she became the receptionist, and then she was good enough to be a secretary for the junior associates, then the senior ones, then she worked for the senior partner. She moved away, she did good by herself. She always told me to stay in school, I could be anything I wanted to be. I wish she was still around."

"What happened to her?"

"She got killed by a drunk driver when I was seven. A year later we moved out of Beckley and to Warrenton. But she used to spend a lot of time with me, and we'd talk about her work and she had nice clothes and she was just so different from my uncle and my grandma and my mom. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up."

"Sounds like you are."

"I'm trying. I mean, the family didn't get on her so much because she stayed in Beckley and worked there and she helped out, with money and stuff. But she told me just before she got killed she'd gotten a job at a big firm in Charlottesville, and she was gonna move soon, and I could come and visit her in the city and we'd have really fun times. That's my aunt Patty. I miss her so much."

"Three days after she told me this, she got killed in Beckley by a drunk coming home from the bars. I thought I'd die along with her. I wanted to. I didn't want to do anything with Aunt Patty gone.

"But she'd told me enough times, and the only way I could keep her around was to think about her and remember everything she told me. And I promised at her funeral I was going to be the best student in the world and I'd grow up and do great things.

"So I always got real good grades, I studied all the time. And when I was little it was okay, because I didn't have to work. And Warrenton wasn't so bad then. People thought I was kind of weird because I studied all the time, and I didn't have any friends in grade school, but it was okay.

"But then I turned fourteen and I went to work in my mom's and my uncle's diner. My uncle's not there anymore. He's got a feed business now, down the road, but he still owns part of the place."

"Doesn't sound like he did so bad."

"Yeah, well, he's in trouble for tax evasion right now. I think that's how he gets most of his money. Just doesn't pay taxes. And he's into the weekend militia thing. Likes to play soldier on the weekends.

"I hate him. He's such a creep. He's got four kids, he cheats on his wife all the time, and he tried to come after me when I was twelve."

Oh God. This makes my head hurt harder.

"I told him I'd never tell anybody if he left me alone, but if he came near me again, I'd tell everybody in the world and he'd be in such trouble, and I'd tell my teachers and my mom and everybody I could find. I'd call the Warrenton Press."

"He told me nobody'd believe me, but he did leave me alone. And I kept my word. You're the first person I ever told."

"I won't tell anybody."

"I know you won't. I trust you."

Oh God. I may feel like dying, but I'm also delirious with this.

"You know what's weird? I'm sort of glad it happened in a way. Because I learned that I had power and I could use it."

"You are woman, hear you roar," I try to make a joke.

"No, really. I figured if he ever tried anything hinky ever again, I'd just expose him all over the place. And somebody out there had to believe me. I knew if Aunt Patty was alive she'd believe me. And that made me believe that I could do what I wanted to do, and nobody could stop me if I made up my mind. Like now. I'm going to start working for Dr. Shalad next week. My mom is like so upset. She says she needs me there, and yeah, I'm gonna start training two people day after tomorrow, but it's not the same...she's trying to guilt me half to death. And it's working. She just always manages to make me feel bad. I don't think she even tries to half the time, she just does. And I'm telling her, look, I'll make decent money and stuff, and I'll have more time to study...she thinks I should do something I could
learn faster if I want to go to college."
 

"I think you should do what you want."

"I'm going to do what I want. And nobody will get in my way. Nobody."

Kelly can be scary, I decide.

I've gotta do this right. Because if I don't, I'm out the door. She won't have it if I'm not there for her a hundred and ten percent.

"I was lucky because I was always kind of a teacher's pet, and they helped me a lot. So I had good people to help me out. I wished I had friends and stuff, but I didn't feel alone all the time.

"But it really helps to have somebody smart who's your friend. Like you."

If I could blush, I would.

I squeeze her hand, and she doesn't push me away.

"I mean, where I come from, guys think you're either a virgin or a whore. They don't just treat you like a friend. You do."

That was a compliment. I think.

Langly better not be eavesdropping.
 

ALLY:

People are starting to arrive. It's Christmas Eve, and for once, my house is semi-cleaned up, candlelit, there are wrapped packages, we even have a tree. Langly and Miranda and Shelby got it and decorated it. We could pass for any non-Jewish family right now, save for the Stars of David ornaments all over the tree. I have no idea where they found them, but I like them-it's weird.

I could start to like this holiday.

I'd like it a hell of a lot better if my husband would show up!

He said he and Michael would be late. That was an hour and a half ago.

I have no idea where they are or what they're up to, but I'm starting to get that weird feeling in the pit of one's stomach when irritation and worry merge.

And I've got about an hour before dinner will be ruined if I don't serve it. I realize that's trivial, considering what might have happened to them, but Langly didn't sound too upset when he called...

I may have to kill them.

Where the fuck are they, already?
 

MICHAEL:

Okay. They say I can go, but I have to stay awake for six more hours, and I can't be alone for at least 24, and if anything starts to go south, I've got to come back right away...

I feel like shit.

My dad's gonna freak when he finds out what happened. And even if it's not my fault, Langly and me are probably gonna get our asses chewed.

Well, okay if he wants to chew Langly's ass out. It's always good to chew Langly out, because usually he deserves it.

And plus, his wife will probably get on his case, which is always fun.

At least I hope she does.

I feel bad for my dad. I think he's been worrying a lot lately. I don't think he needs this right now...

And I really feel bad about Kelly, but mostly, I feel bad about myself.

I've been pissed off most of my life, and all I've done is piss and moan about it.

She took her anger and fueled it and sharpened it and made it work for her.

I'm pathetic and weak next to her.

She doesn't deserve this. She deserves a lot better than she gets.

Maybe she feels sorry for me.

I'll take it any way I can get it.

Which proves how totally pathetic I truly am.
 

ALLY:

I'm mixing drinks in the kitchen and on my way to a nice tequila buzz, which would have been nicer had I not been worrying about my husband and Michael, when I think I hear my car pull in.

This is good, because we were about to start dinner without them.

I'm pissed off at both of them, but I'm also relieved...

Until they walk in my kitchen, and I see Michael.

Who looks as though a backhoe ran over him.

Langly kisses me, tells me they're sorry they're late, he'll tell me everything later.

This ought to be good.

I notice Kelly is with them. Kelly wasn't expected tonight, but we've got plenty of food. We're running a little low on seating space, but we can make do.

Kid looks like she's had a very long day.

She and Michael sit down at the kitchen table, I ask Michael and Kelly if I can get them something. I don't think Michael should probably have anything alcoholic right now, but he surely looks as if he could use it. Kelly, too, but I won't serve underage.

I think Langly went to get Frohike.

Oh fuck. Don't let him have another heart attack, please. Michael's not even my kid, and when I saw him, I just about had an infarction of my own. I think I stopped breathing for about ten seconds, at any rate.

I just say, "Michael, this is getting to be a tradition here."

He's not amused.

I guess I don't blame him. And if he's been with Langly, he's been getting busted on for a while now.

Still, I couldn't resist.

I pour them each some Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix-it's virgin, no alcohol, you have to add the tequila and the Triple Sec, and I pull an ice pack from the freezer and hand it to Michael. This was purchased shortly before our wedding, when Langly's ex-brother-in-law saw fit to rearrange his nose. Our wedding photos are a kick, what with Langly sporting a broken nose and me with my hair that is screaming red.

This seems to be symbolic of our lives together. Flawed, but happy. We're smiling in every shot.

Actually, in the photos, the red looked okay...I'm thinking of doing it again...maybe not so red this time, but I've got more and more grey trying to sneak its way in and maybe some coverage wouldn't be a bad thing...

Kelly tells me that Michael got into his current condition by sticking up for her. He'd apparently gone down to Kelly's place to give her a Christmas gift, and when she went to give him his, they'd had a close encounter with Mom's boyfriend, who, from Kelly's description, personifies 'loser' pretty well. Their interrupting boyfriend's talk show fiesta was apparently enough to piss him off on its own, and Michael's admonition to him to leave her alone was all it took to make hamburger out of his face.

What kind of world is this child Kelly from?

And she is a child. She and I have talked a bit, and while she's got a spine of stainless steel, she's so vulnerable still. She's got a long road ahead of her. I'd like to see her get down it.

And I'm strangely heartened to hear that Michael would defend a lady. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. His father will always come to the defense of a lady, and maybe that's rubbing off on his son...

A few months ago, this never would have happened. Michael came to us a surly, unpleasant, self-centered child.

He's still surly and he can be unpleasant, but I'm getting the idea that he's beginning to leave the child part behind.

I start putting out dinner, and I'm listening to them talk. Mostly it's Kelly talking-I think speech is an effort right now for Michael, and he's just hanging on her every word.

And I realize: she likes him. A lot.

And he likes her. A lot.

I'm not sure they realize what's happening between them, but it's almost impossible to see when you're the subject of the study.

But take it from one who's been there.

I can see rapport building here, tentative, halting steps towards one another, and more than a little fear mixed in, but there's a lot of warmth and tenderness there. I'm seeing a side of Michael previously unknown to me.

It looks good on him.

He looks pretty terrible, though.

Hopefully, Langly's preparing Dad really good for this one, because if it were Miranda and I saw her like this, I know how I'd react.

I grab a pan of chicken Bernaise from the oven, and I damn near drop it when I hear a shriek from behind me.

"Aiiiiieeee!"

Oh God. Dad is freaking.

Langly's standing behind him, hands on his shoulders, but Frohike breaks free and rushes over to his son, who looks just miserable at this point.

And Frohike wraps his arms around the kid, and murmurs something unintelligible to him, just holding on to him for dear life.

And his son responds back.

I'm stunned. Michael, previously untouchable, in his father's arms.

I'm not sure, but I think I hear some muffled sobbing coming from Junior, but I'm not sure. And maybe from Dad, too.

Kelly stands back for a few, explaining to "Mr. Frohike" that Michael got hurt standing up for her, but she wanders over to them, and Frohike extends one arm to her, and gives her a quick hug.

I tell Kelly to go and get a plate and eat up before all the vultures get to it.

I'll leave Dad and baby to hash it out on their own.
 

MICHAEL:

"I'm sorry," I tell my dad. I've got my face buried in his shoulder, and he's just rubbing my back and crooning to me that it's okay.

And I'm crying.

I am such a mess.

But what really freaks me is he's crying, too.

God, I have put him through so much, and he's still here, and he's worrying about me.

Kelly gave him the Cliff's Notes version of what happened, and all the medical details-I noticed she paid close attention to that-so I don't have to go through that again.

Dad asks if I want to go home. I tell him no. I've got to stay awake anyway, and it'll be easier to do it here than at home, where I'd probably flip on the tube and fall asleep watching the Christmas specials.

He's skeptical of my decision, but then he says it's okay, he'd feel better if Jo was around to watch me, but she's in Richmond with her brother's family, and Dr. Scully's at her mom's, so we've got no medical personnel on board tonight.

He makes me promise to tell him if I really start to feel bad, and I promise him I will.

I tell him my glasses got broken. This almost upsets me more than anything, because I'm like Atom Ant, I have no power without my glasses.

He laughs, very gently. "Well, I was going to give you some money for your books next quarter, but I guess we can get you a new pair of glasses."

I'm laughing and crying all at once.

I'm such a mess.

He asks me if I think I can eat something.

My stomach's not too good right now, but I say I'll try. He tells me to go sit down, he'll fix me a plate and bring it over.

Kelly's sitting on the floor, talking to Miranda. They're laughing about some girly stuff, I think. She motions for me to come sit down by her.

Miranda makes a face at me. "Guess Langly wasn't kidding when he said you got your face rearranged."

"Miranda, shut up," I'm not in the mood for her. But Kelly motions me to lay off, Miranda's just trying to show her concern in her own bitchy princess way.

I guess I'm gonna have to get better at seeing when people care about me. With Miranda, it's hard.

I guess it would've been hard when I was her age, too.

Not that I would've been concerned for anybody but myself.

This thought makes me so embarrassed.

Byers and Juliet come over to me and ask me if I'm okay, can they do anything for me.

God. I've never asked them.

Even as blind as I am, they look so happy tonight.

They must be doing the deed again.

And it's Christmas.

When I was little, I loved Christmas.

I haven't for a long time.

But as rotten as I feel, I like being here. Kelly's here. My dad's here. Lots of friends here. I feel cared for.

It's a new sensation.

And I like it.

I'm gonna try and eat something.

END OF PART 31