A Way Back To You

14| Duty

Definition: A task or action that one is required to perform, regardless of choice. 

~~~~~~

Trigger warning: This book deals with mentions and implications of abuse, mainly physical but potentially sexual. While the latter is never descript, reader discretion is still advised.

With Maddy. Tuesday, 9:30 am.

~~~~~~

Work days, Maddy decided, were the absolute worst. They were boring, generally exhausting, and she never got the amusement out of pissing people off that she usually got from a day in college.

But at least she could avoid her brother, and Ant. 

The young woman had awoken with the strangest feeling of loss on Monday morning. Ariana was laying beside her and Teddy was snuggled at their feet. But somehow, Maddy knew that something had changed. It was not until Alpheus asked how she'd slept that Maddy recalled, Ant had been on that couch when she'd fallen asleep. 

"Why do you care?" Maddy asked her older brother/the biggest pain in the ass who ever existed. 

"Oh, no reason." He shrugged. "You just never came home, and I was waiting for you. Do you make it a habit to sleep at your ex's house? Cause if so-" 

"Al, come on. You know me better than that." Maddy laughed it off. 

"It wasn't a criticism. I trust you implicitly and I don't care what you choose to do because to me you are always in the right." Alpheus said honestly. "I was just curious." 

Maddy felt her heart swell and gave him a hug as Mina walked out of her room. "By yourself in there?" Maddy teased, noting her hair was a complete mess and her clothes were oversized. "He must be a real catch-" 

"Shut up." Mina whined, tossing her hair up and pouting at her friend. "Babes I could ask you the same thing, you never came home Monday night. Finn stormed in furious and woke me up." 

Maddy shrugged. Her brother wasn't her problem, he could do what he liked so long as she wasn't there. "I didn't come home Monday night, cause I fell asleep with Ari." 

"Just Ari?" Mina frowned. "I thought-" 

"That's adorable." Alpheus cut Mina off. "Ari loves you so much." 

"Yeah, and you after all those presents last night. Come on Al, an indoor playhouse? That thing was huge." Maddy snorted. "Ari doesn't need all that stuff, she just needs love and attention." 

"Maddy, Ariana deserves lots of good things. I saw her file because I nearly got placed as her care worker before Kaiko and Will made Ant her legal guardian. For someone so young to be so brave is incredible. She reminds me of you in more ways than one." Alpheus explained. 

"I wasn't ever brave. I did whatever I thought was necessary to survive after my first stint." Maddy mumbled. "Why do you think my brother hates me so much?" Her question was rhetorical, and Maddy remembered the other half of what she'd meant to say as Alpheus opened his mouth to respond. "If you knew that Ant was gonna get dumped with an under the table guardianship, why didn't you stop it?" 

"When I abandoned my search for Lemuria, Kaiko spoke with your Mom, Mina, to get me a job until I got accustomed to life above the water again. She'd offered to be my reference and told Pyrosome that I needed help to get back on my feet." Alpheus began. 

"She did?" Mina asked. Maddy nodded, she'd known some of this. 

"Apparently, she owed Kaiko a favor and trusted that I would be good at my job if I was recommended by Kaiko. I started working as a consultant, I would advise on how to catch a criminal best due to my knowledge of evading the authorities. Kaiko helped me in a very rough place, so I wouldn't sell her out. Besides, Ant seems happy, doesn't he?" Alpheus wiggled his eyebrows.