Abby had let go of him when those poisonous words came spilling from his lips. From what she'd felt inside his head, he really meant them. She wasn't taking offence from outbursts like that because of how he said it. It was because he'd felt the most vile stew of emotions bubbling in him and she was just so overwhelmed at the damage that she'd inflicted on his heart.
A one month fling. Oh, God, I didn't want this to end. I never wanted this to end.
She remained silent through his outburst, trying her best to take the blows, her stress and her depression creeping back faster and faster. She refused to look at him; she looked down, her vision shifting from one object to another in the room. "I can't do it." Yet another blow to her face as she continued on with the agonizing moment. She clutched her heart, the pain stinging more and more as she held in her tears.
What is it with you Barnetts, huh? That completely set her off the edge. Abby succumbed to her accumulating anger as well, the old Abby having been shoved to one corner to watch the potential damage her darker half would inflict on the one she loved.
"You know what, screw you!" she said, pushing him away. "I never wanted a month with you. I wanted what you wanted! If I had more time to spend with you, I would. But you know what... Face it, Larkin. Years have passed. It was my mistake of not coming to you, I fucking know that, but to compensate I had a family. A family I love, and a family I cherish. Do you know how hard it is to try and bring up your child in a proper environment, to raise her to be 'normal'? I've gone so long wishing that Keller would never find out about my curse and that Dana wouldn't have to have the same curse! Do you know how hard it is to juggle you and them and work? Huh? Because you're so fucking free, and you're off with those loose women, is that right? You're off drinking yourself silly. You're off ruining your life while I watch."
"You know what, forget that we ever felt like this. Forget the time we spent together. I've had it with you! Oh, God, how I wish I hadn't."
She angrily shoved the man out of the bathroom, and to the front door. CJ got up, enraged that he'd broken whatever truce they had, and shoved him out the door himself, following him and throwing a punch right in the kisser. "Fuck you, Sam! I thought we agreed!"
"N-no, CJ! Just leave him alone," she said, her tone of voice getting weaker and weaker. She retreated inside, hoping to find some solace in the silence, when she felt a trickle of some sort under her nose. She put a finger to it to find out what it was something... Something red.
GET OUT! CJ yelled telepathically, pushing him in the direction of the fire exit stairs.
Her heartbeats grew faster, faster, until she couldn't take the pain, the rush. Her whole world yet again had fallen into black, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. She convulsed on the floor, no longer aware that she was even aware.
"Abby!" was the last muffled thing she heard before completely blacking out.
"Abby. Abby, are you there?" called out a voice. A man's voice. She followed where the voice came from until she found herself under that tree. That familiar tree. Wait, she visited this place every month. She saw last week's bouquet still on the plot near the tree.
"Abby, come here," said a man sitting atop the tree's giant root, his appearance shifting from a healthy-looking man, noticeably sharp-dressed and having a significant amount of colour on his right arm for her to call absurd, to him, weak and worn out, in a hospital gown. "Abby."
"D-daddy?"
"My little Abigail," he said, outstretching his arms. She ran to him throwing herself into his familiar arms. "Daddy, oh my God..."
"Abs, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Don't you still have life?"
"I don't know if I want it anymore," she said, sitting next to him, leaning on his shoulder. "I love my fiancé, and I love my daughter, but I don't... I don't think it's enough. And... And I'm afraid they'll find out about what... What curse I have."
The man's face grew sad. He wrapped his arm around her, offering a warm hug to keep her from breaking down. "It isn't a curse," he said. "But if you put it that way... Your old man has two."
"Two?"
"Yeah. Two."
"What were they?"
"Well. The first was... I was an empath, much like the second curse you have. And I could see when it was other peoples' time."
Her eyes widened as she listened.
"And now is not your time, Abby."
"But I want it to be. I just want to spend some more time away from my worries. Here with you."
"You're forgetting mom," a woman's voice said out of the blue. It was a lovely young woman, tan skin, long brown waves and those eyes... CJ's eyes! "My God, how you've grown. My baby, a woman."
Abby couldn't have been more happy here.
Her vitals were dropping, very, very slowly. CJ sat by Abby's side as she went through treatment, holding her hand all throughout.
"Flora," he said, acknowledging the nurse who came in. The woman was startled; it was almost as if she'd seen a ghost. She recovered from the shock just moments after.
"You look too much like your father for your own good," she said, shaking her head and laughing.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but it's genetics."
