Relapse (Michael De Santa x OC)

Love and War Part II

It was a night that was supposed to be perfect. A new movie by his favorite producer, him finally doing something he loved. Michael was over the moon. He had sent Laura a text and despite not being too hopeful that she would show up, he still desperately needed her to come.

Amanda had kept asking questions about her ever since that day, it has been a total bother and Michael chose not to humor her. It was argument after argument until his children decided to mediate. His relationship with Laura was a passive topic in the house and it only calmed because of how dismissive she was about Michael. Tracey kept convincing her mother that she was a nobody and even Jimmy decided to contribute to lie on Michael's behalf after a group trip to his therapist. Things were calm and he had extended a casual invite to his family to show at the premiere. The only thing that had soothed him was the fact that the kids seemed happy.

Getting that text from Devin Weston was only the beginning on the nightmare, he was determined to save both but he had chosen his children. The reality was that he couldn't save both, he was only one man. He couldn't get in touch with Franklin and his pride prevented him from calling Trevor. Here he stood, behind police lines. He watched the firemen try to put out the raging fire coming from the warehouse where Laura was supposed to be. They told him that nobody was inside but that was a lie. He knew that was a lie. She was in there and she needed help.

"Let me in!" He screamed at the police officer who got in front of him.

"Sir, you're not supposed to be here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave--"

He was interrupted by a punch to the face. Michael gets past him but not far as the other officers grab him.

"Hey, hey, hey-- what is going on here?" Dave moves underneath the line to walk over, his face grows dark when he sees Michael.

"You-- what are you doing here?"

Dave doesn't answer him, instead he just speaks to one of the officers.

"What's going on?"

"He punched Jackson. We're taking him to get booked."

Dave raised his brows and places his hands on his hips. He doesn't say anything.

"In that case, can I have a word with him?"

"Sure, right after we handcuff him."

The other officer moves behind Michael to put him in cuffs. Michael was too astonished to even resist, he gets shoved towards Dave who grabs him by the elbow.

"5 minutes and that's it. You're a guest here, agent. We don't want to be here all night, those reports won't write themselves."

"That's all I need."

He leads Michael behind a few of the police cars and he pulls back from his grip.

"What are you doing here? Pretty suspicious that I find you here, Davey. Where's Laura?! What did you do to her?"

"What are you on about?"

"Me? It was your boy who introduced me to Weston!"

"Steve Haines and I are two very different people. I thought you'd know that by now."

"I don't care about that, Laura was in that warehouse! Tell one of your boys back there to go back in there to check. Weston's insane, he tried to kill my family--"

He was interrupted by a solid punch to the face which effectively dazed him. He leaned against the car but eventually slides down to the ground.

"You almost got her killed. You won't rest until she's dead. You bastard."

Dave still has his fist up and he inhales sharply, Michael could see a brief expression of remorse on his face. The other officers run over.

"He tried to get away."

Dave explains and walks away as Michael was shoved into a car to take him back to the police station where he spends most of the night. He doesn't use his own phone call, he doesn't ask for a lawyer. He just sits and stares at the wall. Nothing made sense anymore. Not even Dave's reaction. Was she really gone?

****

Laura had gotten a taxi to the one place she could go where she thought she couldn't be touched. The FIB building headquarters. She tells the receptionist that she had an appointment with Dave Norton. She didn't mind if he was out, it would give her an excuse to sit here. She gets informed that he wasn't in the building and asks if she would like to wait. Laura does and retreats to the seats and sits. A few hours pass and it begins to get late. She hears her name and she turns. It was Dave. She abruptly gets up and frowns, all the frustration from the past few hours threatening to spill in that very moment.

"Dave..."

"Laura. Are you okay?"

She shakes her head and her fingertips reach for him without moving from her side. He nears her to lead her to the elevator then to his office. He closes the door and she immediately hugs him and begins to sob. Dave lets out a breath he didn't know that he was holding and hugs her back, he squeezes her and tries his best to calm her. He didn't even know if that was possible.

"I'm sorry I turned up like this. I had nowhere to go. I can't go back home. I can't, Dave. Dave, I'm scared. Please..."

"Can I take you back to my place? You can sleep there. You need to rest."

He pulls back to hold her face in his hands. She nods, she would like some sleep. Laura hoped that she'd be able to after everything. Perhaps things can feel okay at least for an hour. Even for a few minutes.

***

Michael is allowed to leave the next morning after posting bail but is told that he needed to get a lawyer and they'd be in touch regarding a court date. He didn't care about that. He gets a cab and gives the address for Laura's house. The door was ajar and he gently pushes it, the lights were still on. He looks around the house and the knot in the pit of his stomach only got tighter. She wasn't here. Michael notices her phone, it was mostly calls from him but none from Dave. He scoffed to himself but then found it a bit odd. Why was he there? Where she was held? The location Devin sent to him? Michael slowly put down the phone and walked out. He stood out on the doorway and looked around. Suddenly something caught his attention as a few cars passed. Something shone in the bushes across the street. Michael took a deep breath and he made his way to the other side to inspect that. He reaches into the plants and touches something small. He moves the leaves to look at it properly and realizes it was a small camera that was directed at Laura's house. What did this mean? He felt rage and he knew where he was going to direct it.