Love, in Progress

Hullo to you too, dear

A/N: this chapter gets a little angsty, but I promise it won't last forever!

1 o'clock came, but when Tinsley got the call, he wasn't impressed. So in his mind, dragging Ricky Goldsworth, by his tie, into the alley next to the cafe was what he deserved.

Tinsley pushed Ricky against the wall sharply. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" the Detective snapped angrily.
"Oh, so no 'Hullo to you too, dear'?", Ricky asked sarcastically, "Not gonna ask me how my day-"
"Why did you attack Holly?!" Tinsley interrupted angrily.

Ricky laughed, he hadn't expected Horsely to rat him out so quickly. "She was exaggerating, Tintin. We were just chatting" Ricky explained, rolling his eyes.
"Well, the last person seen near her apartment was you, and Francesca just rang me to say that Holly's been taken to Hospital.  So you can shut up with all of the 'just chatting' bullshit."

That stopped Ricky in his tracks, "What?! But I never-"
"I don't want to hear it! If you're going to be a jealous little bitch and start stabbing my friends, then I think we should stop seeing each other!"
"I didn't stab her!" Ricky exclaimed, confused.
"Sure you didn't" Tinsley said sarcastically forcing Ricky into the wall behind him, pressing his arm into the smaller man's throat.

"Listen here Goldsworth", Tinsley hissed, "If Holly doesn't pull through, I will personally arrest everyone in your little 'crime family circle'- and I will make sure to arrest you last so you can watch your Empire crumble. I will personally dig up every single body in your back garden to make sure you can't escape justice. Do you understand?" he concluded with an icy glare.

Ricky was confused, to say the least. He really hadn't hurt Horsely, he had thought about it, momentarily, but he didn't go through with it.

"I asked you a question Ricardo." Tinsley snapped.
"Yes..." Ricky replied, "But I didn't stab h-"

In hindsight, Tinsley hitting Ricky was only a matter of time. It's what Ricky did next that surprised himself- he ran. Ran back to his car and locked the door.

He slumped against the steering wheel. Ricky wasn't entirely sure why his eyes were watering though. The slap didn't hurt, he'd definitely been hit harder before- on purpose and by accident. Then, he realised that he was tearful because it came from Tinsley.

However, Ricky put himself into Tinsley's shoes. He imagined Francesca in the place of Horsely- how would he feel if Tinsley stabbed Francesca and then lied to his face?! That only made him worse, but he understood why the Detective was so upset- he would be too. Except, Ricky wasn't lying to Charlie. Ricky really didn't stab Holly. So if he didn't, who did?

Putting all of his questions aside, he switched the engine on and drove back to the house. Desperately trying to dry his eyes, he blotted at them with his sleeve. Trying to think about anything other than Tinsley, he thought about what he could do to help.

Ricky pulled up onto his drive, to be greeted by the Mayor. He quickly answered all of the typical polite questions, before speeding off to his room and slamming the door. He sat on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands, still quite overcome with emotion.

After a couple of minutes, Ricky heard a quiet knock on the door, before his mom entered the room.
"Mijo are you alright?", Lucy asked softly, "I thought you were supposed to be out for lunch today with the Detective?"

Ricky looked up at her, lip quivering, before openly starting to sob.
"Oh Mijo", she sat down on the bed next to him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, leaning into her shoulder. Lucy softly stroked his head and comforted him.

She was very unhappy to see her son like that, he wasn't easily upset- but when he was, he could cry for days at a time. As a mother it hurt to see her little boy cry. She decided it was probably best to speak to Ricky: to see what the problem was, and to see if she could fix it.

"Mijo, what's upsetting you?" She asked softly. Ricky, taking breaths between sobs, squeezed out a few wobbly phrases, "Charlie.... angry... thinks I stabbed his friend... doesn't want to.. to see me again-", before continuing sobbing.
"He doesn't want to see you again?"

Ricky nodded sadly, he sniffed, "He slapped me too, but he didn't hit me hard at all, it- it just hurts that he doesn't trust me now."
"Did you stab his friend, or not, Mijo?"
"No Mamá! I didn't! But he won't believe me- he says he'll arrest everyone if his friend dies, everyone Mamá."

Lucy paused for a moment. "Well we can't have that now can we, Mijo! I'll make a couple of calls and make sure his friend gets the best of treatment- I think his attitude towards seeing you will change when his friend turns out to be just fine."

Ricky brightened up,"Really?! ¡Eres la mejor, Mamá!"

"Anything for you, Mijo."