That Beautiful Miracle

Red's Got A Question

Location: The Forman's Kitchen

3rd POV

"Red, please may I speak with you?" Angel tried to speak clearly as she approached the older man, but it was clear to all in the room how genuinely angry she was. Her small body shook, and her hands were clenched into fists so tight that she was sure her palms were bleeding from where her nails dug in. "Kitty, you will want to be present for some of this too." Angel added. She plopped down into Fez' lap at the dining table and waited for the adults to get done sharing eye contact and take pews themselves.

"What is it, dear?" Kitty asked.

"My father arrived home late last night with news, President Ford is coming to Point Place. I thought you'd like to know so that you could prepare Kitty." Angel began. "And you, Red, my father is a bastard. He came home telling me to look around for losers, like you, to ask questions for the town committee at the Presidential Q&A. He gave me a question for you, should you accept, but I'm not going to give it to you and if he asks, you can tell him that."

"Why aren't you giving me the question?" Red asked, blistering with rage at the thought of being called a loser by some posh knob behind his back.

"Because," Angel slammed a fist down on the table, wincing and knowing that it would soon begin to bruise she withdrew it to her chest and began to rub it. "No one on God's green earth should give a flying fuck what the President's favourite parade was. Besides, Nixon and Ford have made a God awful mess of this country, and the only person in town who will say anything about it is you." Angel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing against Fez, who took the opportunity to cage her against him and begin to rub her hand himself. Massaging it gently in hopes that he could prevent a decent amount of the bruising that might appear. "I know this is a lot of pressure, Red, but you can really voice our issues to someone who has to listen here, and I need you to take this chance."

It grew silent as Red thought over what she'd said. He nodded and then stood from the table with a sinister grin growing on his face.

"Don't you worry, Angel," he nodded to her as he made his way out of the room. "I'll have a question to ask." He swelled with pride at the evil glint that he saw in the girl's eye, Red had, after all, been a better and more regularly seen father than her own.

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Location: The Forman's Basement

3rd POV

Angel sat silently in the corner of the basement. The lights were off, the music was off, she was just thinking.

She was thinking about what Red would ask the President and what her father would do to her before he left, how long after he left, would she be able to leave her house again? Angel had realised, shortly after she had calmed down from her initial rage at her father, that she would be given a harsh beating if her father felt embarrassed by whatever it was that Red chose to ask.

Today, instead of going to school, she had hidden in the corner of the basement across from the outside entrance. She didn't know how long she'd been there, but she had heard Kitty and Red go to work, Laurie go wherever she went during the day when she wasn't at college and Eric leave for school. Kitty had returned from work, and by the sounds from the kitchen, she was starting on dinner.

Angel was glad that Kitty hadn't come down to do laundry. She needed this time to be alone. To dwell on the fact that she was going to be in a horrendous amount of pain soon. To cry in peace.

Her shoulders shook once again as she cried for the umpteenth time, curled up in a ball she buried her face into her knees. She was wearing a black sweater and black bell bottoms to match her mood. She hugged herself tighter as her sobs grew in volume.

Angel had always hated crying when the boys were around. They got so protective over her, and they got really clingy. She liked when they were clingy, but it sucked when she was trying to be alone. Sometimes, it was good for her health to just cry it out for a while. That's what she was doing.

She started as the door across from her burst open, and the light was flicked on. Eric came in first, walking backwards as he spoke to the other three.

"Have any of you heard from, Cupid? I'm worried about her, she was very upset yesterday." Eric climbed over the back of the sofa and slumped down on it, looking at his shoes. Hyde took the deck chair next to him and patted his knee.

"She'll come see us if she needs us, man. Don't worry so much, she's a smart one." He comforted the other boys.

"Yeah, she's probably fine." Kelso slapped his shoulder as he sat on the couch next to him. Fez silently took the other deck chair. He sighed thoughtfully as he settled into the seat.

"Angie is very capable." He acknowledged.

Angel was frozen where she sat, then she sniffled, and the cat was out of the bag. Hyde, Eric, and Kelso's heads snapped to look at her, and Fez turned slowly as though expecting to see something he didn't like. Remembering why she had been hiding in the first place, Angel wiped her face with her sleeves and dried her eyes and nose.

"What's up, guys?" Angel rose to her feet and stretched out her cramped muscles.

"What's up? What's up? You missed school, Angel baby, we come back here and you're sitting  in a dark corner crying. What's going on?" Hyde asked.

He stood from the deck chair where he sat and gathered the small girl up. When he sat down again, he held Angel against him. She curled up tighter thinking about why she had been there, and she started to cry again.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed, gripping his shoulders and pressing her face into his chest.

"Don't be," Hyde stroked her hair. "It's okay to cry."