Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:20 am Post subject: Just a Slave to my Blood (Tessa AU)
Tessa always had her suspicions about her father's line of work. She could remember being very small and waking up to the sound of his late night arrivals, catching passing glimpses of him looking worn out and scuffed up before he could get himself taken care of by her mother. There were some times, she recalled, that she could hear her mother scolding her father, crying and begging for him to just quit and come home. She'd always had her suspicions, but it wasn't until she was much older did she realize her suspicions were justified and that her suspicions came much too late when her her brothers all found themselves wrapped up in the dangerous web their father's work "weaved".
She realized her father was in some sort of gang business, that was obvious when all the pieces were laid into place. Between all of his frequent injuries and the money he'd send home regardless of his then-undetermined occupation, it wasn't hard to figure out. Of course, no one ever really asked about it or spoke of it, not even when it had all hit the fan, but it was still clear.
Tessa knew it was dangerous firsthand as not only had her brothers all been heavily wounded in their own incidents, but their father had, come to find out, been in more frequent harried situations (i.e. all those near death incidents). But still...she knew it had to be lucrative as well. Why else would Griffith have chosen to do it for so long?
Which was why, when the family bills started piling and the going got rough...she decided that maybe, just maybe, there was something she could do. Something that was in her blood.
She'd barely been seventeen when she decided to leave home, just short of her high school graduation even. She expected to live off her meager savings a few months while she looked for a place in the expected "line of work", however, she barely had time to get settled in the hole of a motel she found when someone offered her exactly what she was looking for.
As it turned out, the Fitz name was a hell of a legacy in the underground world she decided to occupy. It didn't take long for her to begin making a name for herself. After only a few months, she was able to send her parents several grand, though it was just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.
She carried on like for quite some time, three years to be exact, "working" and sending money back to her family, but when she found herself pregnant after a certain predicament she knew it was time for her to bow out like her father (and mother) had done before her.
She made the same ride her father did so often when she and her brothers were all small at the back of a Greyhound bus, and after a few days travel she rolled into a local station.
And after a long walk through town...she was home.
It was dark when she got in and it took quite a bit of stumbling to find the house key the family kept hidden in a small side garden, but once she found the key, she let herself inside and immediately took a heavy breath of relief.
She quietly made her way upstairs towards her old room, not wanting to wake anyone, though, the floorboards lightly creaking under her weight betrayed her. When she finally made it upstairs, she found her room made up, as if she'd never left, and while she would surely appreciate the sentiment when she woke up, she was dead tired and barely made it to the bed before her entire body slumped with sleep.
Harper frowned as she heard the floorboards shift and something in the room just... change in general and shoved at Griffith's arm. "Griff.. Griffith, baby.. go check around the house...something's moving around."
"Mm, it's probably just Charlotte. She's a late night pee-er like me." Griffith grumbled with a frown as he proceeded to try and collect Harper into his arms. "Just go back to sleep, baby."
"Dammit...fine...fine." Griffith whined tiredly as he pulled away to get up then. He sat on the bed's edge for a moment, rubbing his eyes open, before stiffly getting up and staggering out of the room.
He looked towards the bathroom first, noting there was no light on before heading further down the hall to check on Charlotte in her room. However, before he could make it to her bedroom, he found something out of the ordinary.
Tessa's bedroom door was skewed open.
He tiredly furrowed his brows before going over to look inside and as soon as he did, he was completely sobered of sleep.
Tessa was in her bed, face pinched with sleepy stress and her clothes and shoes still on. At first, Griff thought it was a dream, after all, his little girl hadn't been home in years, but there was no mistaking that gently upturned nose, the freckles dotting her cheeks, and that long mess of blond hair. Though she looked older and so much more fatigued than Griffith had ever seen her, it was undeniably Tessa and she was undeniably home.
He went into the room and resisted his initial urge to shake her awake, mostly to make sure that he was awake. Instead, he gently pushed the hair from her face before reaching down to unlace her shoes and pluck them from her feet. She adjusted in her sleep, comfortably tucking her legs up towards herself and Griffith waited for her to settle again before he grabbed one of the blankets at the foot of the bed (despite her being gone for so long, Harper still washed everything like clockwork) and draping it over her.
Once again, he reached out to gently brush at her hair, his heart thudding giddily in his chest as her hair smoothed beneath his palm. He continued like that for a few minutes, petting her hair and listening to her gentle snores, before managing to pry himself away so he could go back to his and Harper's bedroom.
Once he returned, he climbed back into bed and leaned over.
"Harp...Harp, you...you won't believe it. Harp are you listening?" He whispered with a slight sputter, absolutely beside himself.
Harper let out a quiet breath in response, obviously already back asleep with the blanket tucked under her chin.
Harlow, however, trailed out of his room upon hearing all the noise (or well footsteps), eyes tired from not being able to sleep very well and confused as he looked around for what was going on.
"Mm, Griff, no. M'not in the mood." Harper mumbled, half asleep as she swatted at his hand.
Harlow looked around for a moment before noticing Tessa's door and gave a sad little sigh, trailing over to it to go hang out in it for a little, as he often did on bad nights. He paused just before going to turn on the light, thankfully stopping before he did and blinked at what he saw.
It took a moment for the shock to wear off and as soon as it did, his jaw and lip shook and tears welled up in his eyes, giving a silent little sob as he went over to go curl up on the bed beside her.
"That's fine, but just let her rest. I...I've never seen her so tired, honey." Griffith said, reaching out to cup at Harper's face, ready to brush away her tears.
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