Second Chances Part 4 - The Holly and the Ivy

Second Chances Part 4 – The Holly and the Ivy by Bethhawke.


Hawke was worried about Beth, afraid to leave her alone for fear she would try to harm herself. She was sobbing uncontrollably one minute, the next she was dangerously quiet and calm; her mood swings rivalled even his own and his were pretty bad. She really did believe their baby was dead, she was holding out no hope for her safe return. Hawke couldn't understand it. He had to have hope, it was all that kept him going, that and the knowledge that Beth needed him now more than ever before.

Tonight had been another dead end, the woman and baby they had found had been joined by her husband by the time they had arrived and they were very upset at the disturbance, especially since Hawke had practically knocked down the door to get to them. If the woman hadn't taken pity on Hawke after Dominic had quickly explained the reason for their visit and stopped her husband from calling the cops, he would probably be locked up by now.

Hawke hesitated outside Dom's front door, not wanting to break the bad news to Beth; not that she had been expecting good news anyway.
Dom, however, just wanted to get inside to bed and he pushed the reluctant Hawke to one side and unlocked the door. It was late and they didn't expect anyone to be awake and were surprised when Le ran headlong into his uncle's arms, clinging onto him. They could see Beth through the open kitchen door, she was sitting at the table, her head resting on her folded arms and Le dragged Hawke along the hall out of her hearing.
“What's wrong Half-Pint?” Hawke asked, wondering what had happened while they were out.
“It's Beth, she won't move or talk or anything. She's just sat there since you left and when she does lift her head, her eyes are blank and kinda glassy.”
Hawke groaned but tried to stay calm so as not than frighten Le more than he already was, “Has she taken anything, pills, alcohol....” He sighed with relief when Le shook his head, but his relief was short lived as he added that he hadn't been with her the whole time.
“I tried to stay with her, but I had to go to the bathroom and when I got back she had a glass of water in front of her. I'm sorry, Uncle String.”
“Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. I should have asked Marella or Cait to stay over. Go phone Marella now for me, ask her to come over. And then go to bed. Okay?”
Le nodded and picked up the phone while Hawke went to the kitchen, closely followed by Dom.
“Go to bed Dom,” he didn't want Dom around while he tried to talk to Beth. He didn't know about her last overdose and Hawke didn't want him finding out now.
“Will you be okay kid?” Dom asked him gently, a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“I'll be fine,” but as Dom left the room he added under his breath, “what choice do I have?”
Hawke waited until he heard Le and Dom go upstairs before sitting next to Beth and gently lifting her head to look into her eyes. Le had been right, her eyes were red from crying and definitely had a glazed look about them. He sighed and gathered her into his arms, “Beth?” she didn't respond. He repeated her name more firmly, “Beth! What have you taken?”
She raised her head and sighed. He smelled her breath. Vodka! It wasn't a glass of water, it was neat vodka.
A sudden rage overtook him and he picked up the glass and hurled it across the room. It smashed against the sink, glass flying in all directions from the force of the impact. “Damn you Beth, you're not the only one hurting!” His voice shook with the anger and pain he was feeling and she instinctively pulled way from him, frightened by the sudden sounds penetrating her drunken haze.
“Well? Did you find her?” her slurred and sarcastic words only fuelled his anger.
“No, but I was going to break it to you gently.”
“No need. I knew you wouldn't find her. She's dead. Dead. Dead. DEAD!” she was screaming now and Hawke looked up to see Dom standing in the doorway, looking like his heart was breaking.
“String......”
“Go away Dom. This is between me and Beth!” He didn't want to upset the older man but neither did he want him to witness this scene. When he made no move to go, Hawke struggled to control himself so he could speak more calmly, “Dom, please. Le could probably use some company right now.”
Dom saw the sense in this, if he could hear Beth screaming then so could the boy and he hauled his weary body back upstairs.
Left alone with Beth again, Hawke tried to reason with her, “Don't do this to yourself,” he told her, realising ironically that Dom had said the same thing to him on many occasions when his search for St. John had proved fruitless.
“Why not? Just let me grieve!”
“There's nothing to grieve for! She's not dead. I'd know if she was dead,” his voice cracked as he realised that it may not be true. He loved his daughter but hadn't had a lot of time to bond with her and wasn't sure if he would be able to tell if she was alive or not. But it was all he had to go on, this feeling that she was still alive and if he let go of that then he let go of all sanity.
Beth, however, had no such belief in his feelings and the drink had clouded her judgement. Her voice was sarcastic, bitter and nasty as she verbally attacked him, “Oh, you'd know would you? Just like you know that St. John is still alive? So you're going to waste another 15 years of your life searching for another dead relative? Well count me out. St. John is dead and so is our baby so get over it and get on with your fuckin' life!”
As soon as the word were out of her mouth, Beth realised the mistake she had made. She sat perfectly still, afraid to move, waiting for his reaction. The drink had made her vision blurry and the room appeared to be tilting slightly but she could see well enough to recognise the pain that crossed his features.
Everything happened in slow motion then as she felt herself being pushed off the chair onto the floor and strong hands tightened around her neck, blurring her vision even more. She barely recognised the man pinning her to the ground, his face was so twisted with pain and anger as he shouted in her face.
“Don't say that! Don't ever say that!” He was shaking her and she couldn't move, didn't even try to. It just wasn't worth the effort. She was taken back in time to a year ago and Hawke's face became Hunter's as she started to lose conciousness.

Then suddenly she was free and turning onto her side she vomited on the floor. The sound of the blood pumping in her ears was replaced by the sound of men fighting; deep grunts, fists hitting flesh and a child sobbing and a doorbell ringing and Marella's voice in the distance.
She wanted to ask someone to answer the door but she couldn't speak, all that came out was a croak.
She tried to get up but the effort caused her stomach to heave again, purging her of the vodka sitting in her otherwise empty stomach.

Dom had heard Beth screaming and couldn't leave it alone. Coming down the stairs he had seen her pinned to the floor by Hawke who had his hands around her throat, shaking her violently. Grabbing the younger man by his shirt he had lifted him off her and slammed him into the wall. Hawke, fuelled by anger fought back, punching Dom in the stomach and if he hadn't been recently injured he may have done some damage but the blow lacked power.
Le had followed Dom downstairs and foolishly approached Hawke, not understanding what was happening and Dom looked up to see Hawke poised to hit his nephew. Knowing that Hawke would never forgive himself if he hurt Le, Dom hurled himself between them taking the punch himself, then followed it up with a blow to the younger man's jaw.
As Dom's fist connected with his face Hawke lost his balance and put his hand out to steady himself. He felt a sharp pain as his palm came into contact with the broken glass. Ignoring the pain he lunged at Dom who saw him coming and sidestepped to avoid him.
Le ran into the hallway, crying, and after a few minutes realised that the ringing he could hear was not in his head but the doorbell. He let Marella into the house and she rushed into the kitchen just as Dom blocked another blow, grabbing Hawke's arm and following it with a fist into his face. Hawke's head jerked back, banging into the wall, knocking him unconscious. He slumped to the floor his injured hand bleeding heavily, forming a pool of blood around him.
Marella took in the scene in front of her and her medical training kicked in. She checked Beth first, gently lifting her head and checking her for injuries. Satisfied that she was just drunk and bruised she turned her attention to Hawke.
“Dom, get me a medical kit.”
The old man stood in front of her, his arm around Le, and seemed to be in shock.
“Dom!” she tried again, not having time to deal with him as well. Le pulled away from him and walked unsteadily towards the stairs.
“I'll get it Marella,” he said, his voice hoarse from crying. He was back downstairs in a couple of minutes and crouched down next to Marella, “How can I help?”
“You don't mind blood?” she asked the boy, unsure if she should let him help.
Le shook his head, “Nah! No problem. Shall I clean the cut for you?” He was still shaken from what he had witnessed but having something to do was helping.
“I'd better do that. It may have glass in it. You can get me a bandage ready and some tape to stick the skin back together.”
“Shouldn't he go to hospital?” Dom had pulled himself together and was helping Beth to sit up.
“He'll only make a fuss. Best to fix him up while he's unconscious,” Marella answered knowing how much Hawke hated hospitals, “how are you doing Beth?”
“S...sorry. My fault. I upset him,” her voice was still a little rough and slurred.
“Tell me what happened later. Are you hurt?”
“I don't think so.”
Marella bandaged Hawke's hand and had Dom move him to the sofa with instructions to keep an eye on him in case he was concussed.
She took Beth upstairs to the bathroom and undressed her while running her a bath. Marella stayed with her, helping her to get clean and checking her for injuries. The finger marks around her throat were now a livid red and she had various other bruises from when she had hit the floor. However it was her mental state that Marella was worried about. In a croaky voice Beth tried to tell her what happened but it was obvious that she was confused, probably due to the drink.
After putting her to bed and leaving a glass of water by the bed, Marella phoned Andrea, the Firm's counsellor. She needed someone to talk with Beth and keep an eye on her but she also needed to check on the others downstairs. Andrea promised to be there within 20 minutes and Marella stayed with Beth until she arrived.


Downstairs Dom was sitting in a chair near to Hawke. He had his head in his hands and Le's arm around his shoulders. The last few days had been as hard on him as it had been on String and Beth but he had tried to stay strong for them, and for Le. Now his emotions had finally caught up with him and he was unable to stop them from rising to the surface. Le was trying to comfort him but he just needed to cry it out. Dom blamed himself for Symphony's disappearance. He should never have allowed Holly to stay but his love for his niece had clouded his judgement and now he may have lost his only granddaughter because of it.
“Dom? Dominic?” Marella's voice penetrated his thoughts and he finally lifted his head, “are you okay?”
Shaking his head, Dom took a deep breath and tried to get control of himself. He felt bad about losing it in front of Le and wasn't thrilled to have Marella see him like this.
Marella went to the kitchen and made hot chocolate, giving Dom time to compose himself.
When she returned he was more like his old self and while they drank their chocolate she questioned him.
“Tell me what happened?”
Dom shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands in a 'I don't know' gesture, “String just lost it,” he said, hating to admit it, still not able to believe it himself.
“Lost it how?”
“He attacked her. She was on the floor and he was strangling her,” he knew there was no point in denying it, they had both seen the ugly marks around Beth's neck, “We had another sighting tonight. It wasn't them of course but we had to check. Beth has given up and String can't understand that. He's convinced that Symphony is still alive.”
“What do you think?”
Dom glanced at Le. The poor boy had had to grow up a lot in the last few days and he loved Symphony just as much as they did. Dom decided to be honest, “I'm not sure. All I know is that String is convinced that she's alive, just as he's convinced St. John is alive. I tend to believe him, I just wish that sometimes he would doubt it, it might save him some pain.”
Marella nodded, understanding, “I would trust his gut instinct any day though, it has proved right too often to ignore it.”
Le looked at them with a confused expression, “What do you mean?”
Marella answered, “Hawke had been known to have 'feelings' about things, gut instincts if you like. He won't admit that it's anything unusual but I think it may be. He's been right too many times to call it lucky.”
“So.....he can sort of feel that Symphony and St. John, my dad, are still alive?” Le still sounded confused and a little hopeful.
“I really don't know Le. I just know that I trust his instincts,” Marella sounded tired now and wished she had more to reassure the boy with.
“String's been sick since Symphony went.”
“That's probably a result of the anaesthetic,” Marella told him.
Dom looked sharply at the boy, “No,” he told Marella, “it started before that, in Airwolf, remember? He thought it was just a result of his injury or a reaction to the painkillers. Le are you saying he's still feeling sick?”
“Yes, he tries to hide it but he's up every three or four hours in the night.” Beth had chosen to sleep in Le's room, refusing Hawke's comfort since their daughter went missing, so Le had stayed on the camp bed in Hawke's room. “It's like when Symphony used to wake in the night for her feeds......” Le's voice trailed off as a thought occurred to him, “I think Symphony's sick and String's feeling it. He's in the bathroom every three or four hours during the day too. We know Holly was feeding her normal milk which she's too young for and probably sensitive to, just like Beth is.”
Dom started to protest but Marella interrupted, “Le don't get your hopes up but it has been known to happen. It's usually the mother who can sense if their child is sick but it's not unknown for the father to have that sort of connection. If you're right, and I say 'if', then it means that Symphony is still alive but we need to find her soon. I'll get in touch with Michael, get him to increase the search.”