ZOEY WASHINGTON
Human
Posts: 54
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 20, 2024 14:17:26 GMT
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Post by ZOEY WASHINGTON on Jul 26, 2023 17:16:38 GMT
 ━ nothing good is born from lies ━
Zoey immediately took a few personal days and flew back to New York, where her father was undergoing a rigorous investigation at work. The investigation spiralled into a review of how fit he was for the job. Zoey was there to help him get dressed each day as he went in just to sit around a table and get asked questions by men he’d known his entire time on the force.
She could see it happen before it did. They were going to find a way to stuff him out of the police compassionately. Zoey was more willing to accept it than her father was. She tried to gently tell him while doing up his tie the day they’d make their decision, “Maybe it’s better to retire a little early. You’ve served for a long time, and you were a great officer, but━”
“I am a great officer, Zoey. It was one mistake.” And she didn’t push him anymore that day. Especially not when he trailed out of the conference room, his shoulders slumped, unwilling to say anything until they got into the car. They’d done exactly what she’d thought they would, and when Zoey got her hands on her dad’s copy of the review, she could understand why. It wasn’t his first incident, it was just the worst, like everything had snowballed to that moment on the street. To make matters worse, the civilian was pressing charges on the NYPD, and she prayed it wouldn’t spiral into something her dad had to face himself, because getting him to agree to a mental assessment wouldn’t be easy.
The rest of her days in New York were spent organizing her dad’s belongings, helping him handle his work-related responsibilities, and cleaning up the state he’d made of her childhood home. God, he was getting worse and worse every day, and she kept trying to pretend it wasn’t happening, but that was so much easier to do when he wasn’t with her twenty-four-seven.
She only had two weeks of leave before the bureau reminded her that she was expected back at work on Monday. Zoey kept trying to convince her dad that she should send someone over to help him while she was away, or he could come live with her, and his response, at one point, was, “Why would I need someone to visit? Your mom should be home soon.” And, in lieu of a response, she’d gone to her childhood bedroom to cry. More than once, her finger had hovered over Will’s contact page on her phone, or she’d stared at their text conversation (it was old and usually brief) and contemplated sending something. She didn’t, though. This wasn’t Will’s burden, and she wouldn’t put him through listening to her cry about it. Instead, she researched tactics for dealing with someone with dementia, and went hunting for the best personal support workers in the area. Her dad still hadn’t agreed to one by the time she left, but she had narrowed down her choices to two separate companies.
She’d call him every day. In the morning, then at lunch, and again around dinner. Her dad, at the very least, agreed to this schedule.
When she got back to work, she’d stared longingly at Will’s office door before dumping everything on Jill instead. She hadn’t wanted to, but Jill asked, and she’d looked at her with those big, bright eyes that reminded Zoey so much of Addy. By the time Will swung by her office, she’d compartmentalized enough to give him the Cliff’s Notes version. Her dad had a couple of mishaps at work, most of which he’d kept hidden from her, until this one. They let him go. She had to figure out what to do now. But she wasn’t interested in a full discussion, not while they were stuck in the office, and she’d made an excuse about getting back to work to cut it short.
Not until that night, after she called her dad around dinner time and he hadn’t picked up. Zoey called three more times, already starting to panic, when her dad finally picked up on the third. After her frantic “Hello?!” He’d said,
“Ami? When are you gonna be home, darling? It’s late. The kids are still out. How about we order from Uncle Tony’s tonight, hm? Let’s get the garlic knots, too.”
Zoey had frozen, unsure of what to say, what to do. Finally, after he called her by her mom’s name again, Zoey choked out, “Dad, it’s me. Zoey.” Instead of responding with irritation like he often did when she corrected him, he chuckled and continued, clearly still stuck in a different time.
“Whoops! You sound so much like your mom on the phone. Guess you’re comin’ home now that you know we’re gettin’ Tony’s, huh?”
She didn’t know what to do. You weren’t supposed to make them remember who you were. You were supposed to be gentle, not forceful, but she couldn’t be patient while she was all the way in Virginia. He was alone, and she was terrified for him. “Mom can’t… she isn’t going to join you for dinner, Dad, neither is Addy.” And after he’d asked her why not, and she’d had to remind him again, he started grumbling until just staying silent. That was the worst of it. “I’ll order you some pizza and garlic knots. You want the Bakers pie, right? Mozzarella, pepperoni, fresh basil?”
Somehow, Zoey survived the rest of the conversation. She kept her voice level while her entire body trembled, and her vision went in and out. She ordered his pizza before going to Will’s, almost on autopilot. She knew where she’d be safe━where she could collapse into his arms and feel okay enough to let it all out, even if she didn’t say a word. She needed him, and she didn’t have the energy to keep pretending otherwise. Not now.
Zoey wasn’t sure how exactly she’d gotten to his apartment, but she was knocking on the door anyway, and had brief snippets of driving here, trying not to crash as she sobbed. She’d barely been able to hold onto the steering wheel. Zoey very nearly took a turn and drove to New York, but it would be useless. It’d take nearly seven hours as a straight shot, though there was no way she’d get there in that time alone. It was no use.
As soon as the door opened, Zoey tossed her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his broad chest, feeling so fragile and soft and all the things she hated. She’d given up showing him this part of herself, had actively blocked herself from doing it, but clearly this was what she needed.
“I’m sorry,” She whispered, “I should’ve called. But I━I just got off the phone with my dad. He’s… he’s so sick. He can’t be alone, but he won’t leave, and I can’t go there, and he doesn’t want someone to come help him. I’m sorry I brushed you off today, I couldn’t━at work━I just couldn’t talk about it anymore.” Zoey squeezed her eyes closed, not ready to let go of him yet. He’d always been her safe place. Her happy place, but this wasn’t their home. “I wanted to call you when I was there, but I didn’t want to bug you. I don’t━I don’t want to be a burden on you now. I know this isn’t… your responsibility anymore.” But she couldn’t go to anyone else.
Jill was amazing; she was Zoey’s best friend, like another little sister all wrapped up into one, but if Zoey went to her, Jill would open a bottle of wine and let Zoey talk all night. And while that was so sweet, and still empathetic and healing, it wasn’t what Zoey wanted. She wanted Will.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE |  |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Aug 1, 2023 22:03:01 GMT
”A family emergency? That was all she said?”
Forbes’ lips pinched into a thin line. No, that hadn’t been all of it. Will dipped his chin, trying to hold onto patience that could run paper thin when it came to Zoey. When he looked back up, his hand was dragging over the lower half of his face – his left hand, the ring he had never taken off visible on his finger.
The woman hadn’t become Sheriff by being soft, but he saw something shift in her expression. He’d heard the rumours around the station and knew that the Sheriff’s marriage had crumbled. She got it.
”I didn’t ask for details,” Forbes told him firmly. ”Agent Washington did say that her father’s health had declined though.”
Anything more the Sheriff had said hadn’t pierced the buzz of grief that filled his ears like a cloud of angry hornets. Zoey’s father's decline had been obvious – to him at least – the Christmas before last. He’d held on to the job for those eighteen months afterwards, had continued to live life on his own. A miracle in his book, although he knew it was one that would eventually crumble the same way his mind was. The weight of each piece would shift onto his remaining daughter’s shoulders, the weight slowly bearing down more and more on Zoey, adding to the grief of already losing her mom, her sister.
Each morning had dawned with Zoey the first thing on his mind. Laying there at dawn, his thumb hovering over the screen of his phone before he’d set it down on his chest. He had been a weight on her too, each lie adding up until it had crushed the life out of their marriage. No matter how much he still loved her, how much of that burden he’d have tried to take from her now, it wasn’t fair for him to add to what she was coping with. Still, a week in he’d almost driven out of town to go to her, catching himself as the radio in his car had gone off just as he reached the town border – the leash around his neck pulling tight, a reminder of what wasn’t supposed to be his problem now. Dalton had never had a problem with slipping out of his when it came to any of his marriages, but he’d willingly remained shackled to his, long after his signature had legally put an end to it.
Without Zoey there between them Will had found himself gravitating towards Jill when he spotted her around the station, as though both of them felt that vacuum between them that she’d occupied. Mute shakes of their heads fending off questions about whether or not either one of them had heard. The silence, despite her attempts – and his partners’ – to fill it, had been deafening, his ears ringing with the strain of it as he left the station each night, shedding the shell that covered his fears for them both as he went.
The first week became a second and those cracks were widening, his temper growing short enough that he’d snapped at the Peril sharply enough to have the Sheriff’s office door opening. The bark of Carnegie had stopped it in his tracks, the call slip that Forbes shoved at him cutting him off from any chance of the argument reigniting. It put the Peril out on the road to take charge of the scene and left him coordinating from the office, eventually settling in with the victim’s wife as she was brought into the station. Gentle coaxing wrung the story of her husband’s death in the garden of their large house – unsurprisingly bordering the woods that surrounded like town like a particularly noxious beard around the beauty of a poet’s mouth – but it took hours. By the time Mrs. Connolly had left in the care of her son, it felt like what he’d had left him had been hollowed out further.
’Pass it to Agent Washington…’
Like the hollow shell of him had been struck with a hammer, Will felt himself ring with the sound of her name at all. He’d plucked the file from the FBI underling’s hand, offering the young man a sharp smile that cut off complaint and headed straight to Zoey’s office. Before he wouldn’t have cared about who saw. He would have folded his wife into his arms there, behind the flimsy cover of the office door or nothing at all. Now he had to restrain himself to a hand reaching out for hers across the stretch of her desk as Zoey had filled him in briefly about what had happened.
He’d imagined the sort of mistake that might have his superiors looking twice at him, but this … how Dalton had resisted getting on the phone to gleefully tell his son that his former father-in-law had pulled his service weapon on an innocent man and destroyed his career he had no idea. This was the sort of thing that certainly would’ve crossed the police commissioner’s desk and if Dalton was anything, it was a gloater. No amount of talking to his father would change things for Zoey’s father now. Will listened patiently, knew he would reach out to the doctor he’d spoken to in New York before. There was no reversing the slide, but if it could be slowed it would be something. He saw Zoey’s excuse for what it was, but didn’t push. Will stood slowly, squeezing his ex-wife’s hand in a silent sign of support and slipped out.
His partners returned a half an hour later, the investigation into Jimmy Connolly’s death sweeping him for the rest of the afternoon. Often he’d carry cases home with him, but tonight the case was left behind at the station door. It was his sadness over the slow loss of a good man that travelled home in the car with him instead. Brow still furrowed Will threw himself into cooking – his one path through almost every troubled situation he’d ever had in his life. Mincing, sauteing, deglazing the bottom of the pan with a good glug of Sauvignon Blanc, pouring in the stock to let it simmer while he went to work on the bread.
An hour later he was peeling back the cloth from the top of the bread to check the proving. Perfect. He slid the tray into the stove, the thinner tray with it half inch of water in the bottom already in place. The knock came as he closed the stove door and stood. Will brushed his hands off on the towel, already feeling that dull ring through himself again. There was no way his partners would’ve stopped by tonight. It had to be Zoey, the restrictions of the station and the eyes that would’ve been on her and her grief shed here.
Will opened the door, catching her as Zoey threw herself at him. He hadn’t had a chance to even breath a greeting, or get a good look at her glassy dark eyes, but that didn’t matter. Folding her into his chest, he held on tightly, nudging the door shut with one foot behind her before he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. ”You never have to apologise,” Will murmured softly, any other assurances lost as Zoey began to explain. His hand smoothed over her back, the weight settling like lead in the pit of his stomach as the story played out.
One hand found the back of her neck, his lips skimming her temple. ”I’m so sorry,” he breathed, his lips lingering there. ”We’ll find some way to get him help. He’s … you’re not going to go through this alone.” The call he’d planned on making to the doctor was certainly happening in the morning. There had to be some way of going about this, some process that had helped others to access the nightmare of a diagnosis like this.
Frowning faintly, Will shook his head even though her eyes were closed and she couldn’t see it. ”It wasn’t a brush off. You did what you needed to and there’s nothing wrong with that. I wouldn’t push…” Especially not when his mind was already filling in those gaps. In not saying a word to stop the end of his marriage he knew he’d sacrificed any right to be a part of this now, but there was no chance he would leave Zoey in this alone. ”It’s never bugging. I’m here whenever you need me. Zoey, you are never a burden.” The hand on her neck slid to her cheek and he drew back just far enough to lift her chin with a light brush of his thumb beneath it. ”I want to be there for you and him through this, my responsibility or not. I love you both and that means I want to help you shoulder this. Come on in.”
Curling his arm around her, Will started to guide her back towards the sofa. He drew Zoey down with him, his arm going around her to bring her in close to his chest, his hand curling around her bicep, rubbing lightly. ”Did the department have any recommendations on getting him help? Have you spoken to anybody there?” That Christmas dinner had given him a taste of Zoey’s father’s stubbornness, a first glimpse at the cracks running through his memory and the strain that put on her. There was no easy path through it, but whatever one she wanted to take, he would be there, holding her hand, steadying her if he could.
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ZOEY WASHINGTON
Human
Posts: 54
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 20, 2024 14:17:26 GMT
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Post by ZOEY WASHINGTON on Sept 1, 2023 19:00:00 GMT
━ nothing good is born from lies ━
Now she needed him. She could begin to admit as much━it was how she got herself here, after all━but it was harder to really live with that fact. It wouldn’t go away at the end of the day (not that it ever had), and she would never live this down. And Will knew her well enough that he would see it, too━he would know just how much she still relied on him.
He wasn’t there when her mom and Addy died, and that had tortured her, but she knew he might be with her through… this. If she could stomach it for long enough. But, God, what other choices did she have? He was all she had left.
His immediate assurance had her melting further, as though she needed an excuse. Zoey breathed out slowly and curled her fingers around his shirt, leaning her head into his lips the moment she felt them. “But he’s determined to.” She nearly whimpered, squeezing her eyes together like she thought this would all go away if she did it hard enough. “He doesn’t think he’s going through anything. He thinks… I don’t know,” Zoey shook her head. Part of him must’ve understood that he hadn’t lost his job over one small incident, right? She assumed as much. But Zoey had gotten her stubbornness from somewhere, and Peter Washington was not going to accept any of this without a fight.
Of course Will wouldn’t push. She knew that. He was patient, and loving, and so calm; her rock against almost every storm. Almost. Until he was too calm in the wake of their separation, their crumbling marriage, and it ended them. He hadn’t pushed then, either━hadn’t confirmed or denied Zoey’s accusations, just stayed silent while she begged him for answers. She was grateful for his nature now, though, when she could fall apart in the safety of his arms instead of her office.
She let him guide her head back and stared into his eyes, finding that single drop of brown amongst the sea of blue━the spot that was hers. He promised that she was never a burden, that he wasn’t irritated by this, and Zoey did believe him. Part of her, at least. Their divorce would perhaps always leave her worried that he didn’t want her━no matter what he said.
There it was again. The I love you━softer this time, not as definite, but still there. How could he love them after he chose to leave them? “Why do you…” keep saying that? Zoey whispered as they walked inside, cutting herself off partway through. It wasn’t meant to sound ungrateful, but she couldn’t help it. She almost apologized for it, but then decided not to on principle alone, only shaking her head and letting Will guide her wherever.
She glanced toward where heat was radiating from the oven, and smelled fresh bread, breathing it in as they settled on the couch. He guided her in, and she settled on his chest again, arms curling around his waist. “No,” She sighed, shaking her head slowly. “I━They gave him a few pamphlets and offered counselling, but he refused; threw them out before we got home. I had to fish them out of the trash.” And, thankfully, he hadn’t seen. “The civilian…” Zoey began, but then realized she hadn’t shared the full story with him yet, “When my dad was working, he pulled his gun on an innocent civilian; got the clothing ID mixed up.” She sighed heavily, “He had the man on the ground in seconds, his weapon drawn, p-pressed to this guy’s head.” She slowly began to lose composure as she retold the story, “And that’s bad enough, but it turns out it isn’t the first time something like this has happened. So they let him go.”
Her eyes squeezed shut again, as though she was feeling all this emotional pain physically, like someone had a knife in her gut and kept twisting. “The civilian is pressing charges against the NYPD. If it becomes my dad’s problem, then I don’t know h-how I’ll get him to do a mental assessment. I told him he needed someone there to take care of him, but he… my whole time there was just fighting with him. I don’t know what to do.”
Zoey shook her head and slowly shifted back, raising herself up somewhat to look into his eyes again. “I called him before I came here. He wouldn’t pick up, and I was so scared, and then he finally did, and instead of an explanation, he just… he talked to me like I was my mom.” Tears filled her eyes and quickly began spilling down her cheeks. The loss of both her mom and (the impending one of) her dad hurt, but so did the empathetic pain of knowing what it was like to not have your person anymore. She’d never seen two people more in love than her parents, and her dad had to go without that. “I know you’re not supposed to c-correct them,” People with dementia, but it was still almost impossible to say, “But I couldn’t help it. I was so mad at him for not picking up, and then he was talking about pizza, and I…” She sniffled, raising one hand to wipe her tears. “I told him they were dead. That they weren’t coming home for pizza. He just argued with me, and then I came here. I don’t know what to do,” She said again, truly lost in terms of her options. She felt like she was floating in the ocean with nothing to hold onto, except for her little raft in Will’s eye.
“Why do you keep saying that?” Zoey asked suddenly, her palm moving from her cheeks to his chest, then sliding up to cup his face. “That you love me. I don’t get it. I don’t understand.” Not that she ever did, especially when he promised her there was nobody else, but, apparently, still had to keep his secret even when it would end their marriage. And it had been twice now that he’d said it, and while this time could’ve been brushed off as platonic, it wasn’t. Nothing was after the night of the auction.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Sept 24, 2023 20:58:09 GMT
Zoey had held herself together at the station earlier. Clutching at the pieces he was already sure had been crumbling the same way she clutched at his shirt now. It had been the same when their marriage had been breaking down, never coming onto the job with them, despite the whispers that circulated like a breeze through the bullpen. Behind closed doors were where you allowed yourself to fall apart, behind his closed door was where he would be allowed to help hold her together.
Had grief filled the halls of Zoey’s parents’ home the same way after her mother and Addy had been taken? Zoey and her father holding each other up. If he’d given up all that he’d thought had mattered before her, he would have been there for them both. He’d have been there when Zoey had started to notice the first signs of her father’s mind being nibbled away. She wouldn’t have had to come and look for him now, because he would have been there beside her.
Guilt stung in his chest, but Will knew that this wasn’t the time to stand regretting it. He had been the architect of his own distance from what was going on with his father-in-law. Now all that he could do was offer to close it and he had as he’d wrapped his arms around Zoey and drawn her in. Not a hair’s breadth between them as he felt the press of her against his kiss.
Peter Washington was the sort of man he’d wished Dalton could be as a child. A genuine hero who had worked to make New York a safer place for years. A man who loved his family fiercely, who cared deeply for his two daughters instead of venting his disappointment with almost every breath. Now the man that he’d known was slowly disappearing. ”We won’t let him,” Will promised. ”It’s the disease.” And perhaps that stubbornness bleeding into denial. How many could stand and accept that the life they thought they had known was dribbling through their fingers like water and they weren’t even aware that it was happening much of the time.
Stubbornness – echoes of her father rolling through her – might have driven Zoey to clasp her hands around her father’s life, doing anything she could to help him hold onto it longer. Without him she would have done it alone, but he was right here, no matter how everything else lay between them. His hands were gentle on her, his thumb trailed along her jaw, settling beneath her ear, his fingers still cradling her neck as he shook his head at her. He knew what she was asking, but that wasn’t the important part, not now.
As soon as they were settled on the sofa, Will gathered her in, guiding the conversation away from him and back to Zoey’s dad. His heart ached for them both, the pain spreading through his chest, down to where her arms slipped around his waist, anchoring the two of them together. ”Maybe he just needs a little time,” he breathed, knowing that it was probably so much more than that. Her dad probably knew it too. The frown filtered over his features, sweeping in on a wave of sympathy. ”He didn’t mention an investigation before?” Will asked hoarsely, feeling his heart pound at the thought of the tension. That wasn’t Zoey’s father and the department had to have known it. ”Did they give you details of the previous incidents?” He dropped his cheek to the top of her head as Zoey began to tumble again.
Despite his distance from the department now, he still had connections of his own that he’d fostered over the years – ones that were unconnected with his father. Dalton was probably sitting in his ivory tower, just waiting for him to call so that he could rub his nose in it. Peter didn’t deserve to have his career end with this sort of tarnish on it. ”The department will stand by him,” Will promised, wondering how many strings he’d have to pull to make it happen. ”There are specialists that can help. I’ve got a friend at Mount Sinai, a neurologist. Maybe coming from a friend it’ll be easier on him. Is there anybody that can stay with him in the mean time? A friend?” He wasn’t about to ask if there was family – the family that mattered was sitting here devastated.
His heart broke for her afresh as she looked up at him, tears filling her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. It had been hard seeing the effect her father’s forgetfulness had on her the Christmas before last, but this was worse. It wasn’t just their relationship he was taking back to that better time before, it was his entire life. ”He terrified you. You needed to say something, I know it isn’t what you’re supposed to do, but you did what was right in that moment … and you were right to come here. We can make a call tonight, see if we can get someone to stay with him. We’ll work out some way that you know he’s safe.” They could go tonight, if that was what she wanted. Forbes could handle a few weeks without both of them and nothing else mattered in comparison to this.
Will’s other hand found her hip, sliding up to gather her in as Zoey laid a hand on his chest, trailed it up to his face. He shook his head gently, not to disturb that point of contact between the two of them. Maybe he’d put permanent cracks in her love for him when he’d destroyed their marriage, but his had always remained strong. Everything he had in his heart hers, his feelings unshakable. ”Because I’ve never stopped loving you,” Will said hoarsely, his hand spanning her ribs, feeling the thud of her heartbeat, the rise of her breathing through them. ”That wasn’t why it all happened. I’ve always loved you. That’s never going to change. I know that what I did might have changed that for you and I’m sorry for it. I’m sorry for what’s happening with your father. I wish it could all be different, that I could turn back the clock and take all the pain away. I wish I could fix it all for you.”
A slow brush of his hand settled his palm over the spot where her heart beat strongest, his head lowering slowly so that his lips were an inch from hers. Will eyes settled on hers, unsure whether to close that last gap between the two of them. Zoey hadn’t come to him for this, she’d come to him for understanding, for help with her father, and he wanted to give her both. He wanted to do as he’d promised and melt the heartache and grief away. God, he wanted her mom and sister to be back with her, their marriage back to where it had been best. He wanted a miracle for her.
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ZOEY WASHINGTON
Human
Posts: 54
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 20, 2024 14:17:26 GMT
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Post by ZOEY WASHINGTON on Oct 30, 2023 21:25:08 GMT
━ nothing good is born from lies ━
“No, he kept brushing me off. But I read the files after he went to bed━none of it was good. I mean, of course it wouldn’t be, but…” Zoey choked back another sob. It was just more proof that her father was deteriorating more and more each day, and she was thousands of miles away and unable to do anything to stop it. “... He’s getting so much worse.” She whispered, trying her best to explain.
Will seemed so certain that the department would stand with her dad, and she wondered what made him feel that way. Was he planning to call his own father? That seemed like it would do more harm than good. She couldn’t imagine Dalton wanting to do anything to support her or her family, especially not for nothing. Whatever Will had up his sleeve, though… well, she’d pray for a miracle, but she wouldn’t hold her breath. She knew his intentions were pure, but what could any of them really do?
A friend at Mount Sinai? Zoey didn’t want to pass up the opportunity, but she couldn’t see a way to get her dad to agree. It seemed futile. “My aunts and uncles are all too old, they have their own shit going on, and I wouldn’t want to bother them.” She sighed, “It doesn’t matter who it comes from━he’s so stubborn. I wanted to hire a nurse or someone to come check on him at least once a day, but he keeps fighting me. And it makes no sense to pay someone to come just for him to turn them away.” He wasn’t ready to accept that anyone needed to come to the house, even if they didn’t have to take care of him at all, and Zoey couldn’t move back to New York without quitting her job.
There was no right answer. She was at another one of those dead ends, clinging to Will for dear life, even if he didn’t have any answers, either. But he was here for her, and that was all she needed━someone to listen. “I don’t know,” She whispered, shaking her head, her face buried in his chest. It wouldn’t work for reasons she’d already explained━he’d never allow someone to come into his house like that. But surely the personal support workers or nurses or whoever had to have some training with that, right?
Zoey pulled back to look at his face, cupping it in her hands, and she asked the next question that was burning in her mind, in her chest━the one she’d been desperate for an answer to for what felt like forever. Everything in her life seemed fragile and confusing, and she didn’t need this to be another thing she couldn’t explain. At least she could ask Will why he acted the way he did; she couldn’t wave a magic wand and fix her dad’s brain.
His words caused her to suck in a sharp breath, dark eyes widening as she stared at him. This time, though, she didn’t search for the lie━she knew it was true. But it seemed so… strange, that a man who’d “never stopped loving her” would’ve let their marriage crumble over something he could’ve explained. If he wasn’t out sleeping around, then what the hell was he doing?
It didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that she wasn’t alone when she was with him. He might not have been her husband, but he wouldn’t let her shoulder this burden alone━he was with Zoey for as long as she needed him. And she’d always wished that would be forever.
Nothing had changed.
Zoey heard the love radiating from his words, too, from his touch, the way it spanned her ribs and then higher, and she watched him hesitate. A man who was taking━who didn’t care what she felt and only wanted to manipulate her━wouldn’t have considered her feelings.
Her eyes ticked up to his, to that little spot that was hers, and she kissed him, opening her mouth, her heart, her soul to Will, allowing him to do what he wanted. She trusted him. It’d taken a lot to win that back, but never once had she felt an absence of love for him.
Zoey shifted onto his lap, her arms slipping around his shoulders, fingers burying themselves in his loose curls. It was what she’d come here for, in a way. He was showing her love and comfort in one of the best ways he knew how, and Zoey was more than happy to meet him halfway. She wanted to be close to Will, to pull that beacon of light into her, and she knew that this was the best way, too.
“I love you,” Zoey whispered into his lips, her hands roaming his chest slowly like she wanted to savour every moment of this━as though she didn’t know his body like the back of her hand. She began to pull at his shirt, stripping him with extreme patience, as if every move she made would make or break this moment.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Nov 26, 2023 18:13:09 GMT
After last Christmas Will had done his homework. Dalton had never spoken enough about his family to get any impression of a ticking timebomb in their DNA and his mother was an even bigger blank in his life. He doubted Zoey or her father had suspected it was coming either. There’d been no preparation until the ground had opened up beneath her feet for a second time and by then the worst was already happening. The expert he’d found at Mount Sinai had assured him that there were some things that could be done to try and slow the progress of the disease and new trials were being developed all the time. Without Zoey’s father admitting that there was a problem could they really force him into it all?
Will felt the ache settle in his chest, shards of it sharp in his throat as he swallowed. He knew what it was like to live in denial, and to finally have to swallow a truth you didn’t want to accept. The difference between him and his father in law was that he would eventually embrace his daughter’s help when the wall of denial finally broke. ”You couldn’t have known,” he assured her. The department should have done though, they would have had a duty to protect Peter’s privacy, but in its own way this was as bad as if he had been shot on the job, someone should have been safeguarding him and reaching out to his daughter before the situation had reached a head.
He'd have asked if she thought her father was aware of the changes, but Peter Washington was a man who wouldn’t have knowingly risked another’s life or broken his daughter’s heart. Whatever was going on in his mind was hiding the worst of this from him, the confusion lending justification to what it was he’d been doing.
The reluctance would likely kick in mule hard when the subject of a specialist was brought up, but telling Peter they were going to see a friend? Perhaps. The specialists knew how to negotiate this in a way neither one of them could. Would be let a relative in now? Zoey seemed reluctant to put this on family as he brought up someone staying with him now. He frowned faintly at her sigh, his lips pressing to her hair as she explained what she tried. ”The department has people,” he said softly. Most would probably be hedging their bets between supporting Peter now and making sure they were somewhat distanced from the investigation into his behaviour that would undoubtedly come.
”We could reach out to the chaplain, perhaps knowing that it’s someone on his side will make it easier.” Wariness and confusion might still lead to Peter slamming the door on them, but there was a chance. Men of the cloth, no matter what variety, tended towards patience and compassion and the chaplain’s knowledge of the department would only be another benefit.
Tomorrow, he’d reach out to the doc again, giving her as much of an update as Zoey would allow. They’d make a plan, trying to working their way through all the roadblocks the disease was throwing up around them. Tonight he’d make a call to the chaplain, a short term solution that he hoped would make it better in the long run. ”We’ll find some way,” Will promised in a whisper. His thumb smoothed lightly over her skin, his hold on her tightening. Together. He’d call in every favour he was owed, he’d crawl to Dalton if he had to. Anything for them.
So many of the cracks that already ran through Zoey were there because of him. He had lied to her, he refused to open up to let her see such a huge part of his life. It didn’t matter that it was to stop breaking her heart in a different way. Out of love he’d hurt her, leaving her so vulnerable for the tragedies that struck afterwards. Will knew that she was looking for reassurance now, for some of those cracks to be closed, even if it was just temporary.
Her hands were soft on his face, the plea right there on her face. Will lowered the shields that had held back his feelings for her for so long, letting all that he’d ever felt shine in his eyes. Hers widened, a breath sucked in sharply as his words struck and he hoped to God that she wouldn’t pull away now that he’d got as close to telling her everything as he ever had. His hand curved against her chest, shielding the heart he was supposed to have been protecting then. Warm, soft, his thumb brushing slowly over her clothes.
She looked deep into his eyes, as though the truth would be there in them – he hoped it was, enough of it that she would trust him tonight, even if she pushed him away again in the morning when she found her strength. As her name burned on his tongue, a plea unspoken, Zoey was the one to close the gap between them. Will poured the love that had never dimmed into the kiss, offering up to Zoey all he could as she opened herself up to him.
Will gathered her in as she slipped onto his lap, one arm banding around her waist, the other hand flattening on her back to press her in to his chest. Like he could shield her from everything in a way he hadn’t before. Her love whispered out over his lips, striking his heart blade sharp, leaving a warmth behind he thought he’d never feel again. ”I love you too, always,” he promised. Maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t want to hear it again, but for now he wanted her to feel it, to know it in every word, touch and kiss.
He drew himself up slowly, allowing Zoey to undress him. Clothes were peeled away like the pain between them. For tonight there was nothing to separate them – the pain over her father had stripped most of that away. The last time he had carried her from the bath to his bed, imprinting memories there that he hadn’t disappeared with the changing of the sheets. This time he laid Zoey down in front of the fire, worshiping every inch of her in the glow and warmth of the flames, pressing his hands, his mouth to spot over her heart, inching down with infinite slowness, like he could erase every scar tragedy had cut into her. Trying to draw the pain out with the tenderness that had only ever been for her – the only woman he was ever capable of loving. Rising up when the time came, wrapping her legs around him, trying to give her the release that would chase the rest of the world away. Breathing his words of love in her throat again and again, hoping she would never forget them.
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