Sliding into Home (A Frank Adler AU x MLB)

It Doesn't Stay in Vegas

Empty shelves. 

Missing pictures. 

Half a closet empty.

Frank Adler held his head in his hands, a tumbler of scotch in front of him on the coffee table.  It felt like the slam of the door continued to echo through his house.  The only blessing was that it didn't wake his niece.  She took forever to get back down when she was awakened in the middle of the night.  Frank took another sip of the scotch, letting the burn keep him in reality instead of the blessing of dreaming.  He didn't deserve to dream right now.  

One mistake.  

And he wasn't even sure what happened.  But the photos told the story. He couldn't. Not because he didn't want to but because he couldn't remember.  Fuck, why did he let Mike convince him to go with the team to Vegas.  Sure, in his third year in the league, the Red Soxes won the World Series and the team deserved to celebrate.  He should have stayed home with Abby and Mary, had some champagne and went to bed.  Instead, his best friends, Mike Weiss, his lawyer and Bobby Fuller, his third baseman, organized a celebration in Vegas for the weekend. 

How much did Frank want to go back in time and just stay home.  Then maybe he wouldn't have woken up in bed with a woman who was not his girlfriend of three years.  Maybe pictures wouldn't have been sold to the tabloids.  Maybe he wouldn't be staring at a half empty apartment. 

Maybe Abby would still be home. 

A single tear ran down his face as he thought of Abigail Hernandez.  The one girl who knew Frank better than anyone.  Best friends since high school, it took one magical night right before the baseball draft for their life to change. But three years later, she walked away. She had every right because he made a terrible mistake. 

Draining the tumbler, Frank made his way down to Mary's bedroom.  The four-year old was still sound asleep and Frank wished he had her peace.  Because in the morning, Frank would have to explain how her de facto mother had left them.  How he had screwed up. Mary was going to hate him, and he couldn't blame anyone else but himself.  He curled up on the floor next to her bed, trying to find comfort in her. 

Tomorrow was going to suck but he had right now before the remainder of his world came crumbling down. 

**

He's holding Abby in their living room, dancing to a song on the radio.  She's laughing as he spins her around, a big smile on his face.  He pulls her back to him, her dark hair swinging around as her big green eyes stare into his soul.  He leans down to kiss her and is met with a poke on his cheek.  huh?  He tried again but again met with a poke.  What the fuck? 

"FRANK!"

Frank jolted up to see Mary sitting on his chest, a blue feather in her hand.  "What?"

"Why you sleep on the floor?" 

"Couldn't sleep on my bed so I slept here with you." 

"Where's Abby? It's Saturday.  It's pancake day." 

Frank cursed internally.  How could he forget pancake day? A day where, unless he was on the road, the three of you would sit together with pancakes and make plans for the weekend. He swallowed.  "Uh, ok. Well," he had just had to rip the band aid.  "Mary, I need to tell you something."  Her big blue eyes looked back at him.  God, this was going to suck.  "Abby went back to her mom's house for a while." 

"Why?"

"Well, we had an argument and she decided to leave." 

"What does that mean?"