What a healthy relationship looks like

Aftermath

Caroline woke up to knocking on the door. She didn't feel like getting up. The knocking continued, a bit louder, and Mick stirred, "What's that?", "The door." Caroline grumped. He got up, but she did not, choosing to stay wrapped up under the covers. Mick got dressed, walking out, and she heard him open the door. He said, "Hello officers." and whichever cop that was outside replied, "Good morning, is this the residence of Miss Caroline Sweeney?" She sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She really didn't want to talk to anyone- especially the feds, but she got up anyway and got decent just as Mick came back in, "The cops are out here to see you." He gave her a look with a meaning she couldn't decipher, and she took in a big breath, letting it out before plastering on a big smile. She forced herself to move with confidence she didn't feel and walked into the main room where two officers were standing, hats off. The older one she recognized as the same cop from a few nights before. She tried to play it cool, "Good morning, officers! We haven't had any more noise complaints, have we?", "No ma'am." The cop said, a bit stiffly. Caroline swallowed the lump trying to crawl up her throat as Mick moved by her side and rested his hand on her waist. She said, "I don't know what else I did wrong then, hopefully nothing bad enough to get arrested!" She laughed, but it was awkward. The officers looked between each other before the one said, "You didn't do anything wrong, Miss Sweeney, but... we have some bad news.", "Oh?" She asked calmly, but she could feel her pulse speeding up. Mick squeezed her waist for support and Caroline gestured to the seats, "Why don't we sit down then? My dad always said- he always said 'never take bad news standing up'. Probably because- because you're pulse- uh, spikes and then... Blood pressure..." She had to take a deep breath, "I need to sit down..." Mick led her over to the couch while the cops sat in the two seats facing them. She forced the smile back on her face and tried to joke, "So, what's the news? The blues new- bad- bad news... news?" The cops shared another look that Caroline wished they'd stop sharing before the one started, "We were called to a crime scene this morning at your fathers house..." She let her face fall, "Is- w-what happened?" She wished they would just get fucking on with it. He continued, "Well... There's no easy way to say this, ma'am... We found your father and your aunt, deceased.", "...W-what?" She wobbled, letting that lump in her throat come back. From beside her Mick asked, "Do you know what happened?" The cops looked at Caroline, then shared another look before the younger cop said, "We think it was a murder-suicide." The older cop shot a nasty look at the younger one and Caroline forced herself to cry, leaning into Mick's shoulder. It was a bit over the top, but regardless, the cops got up. The older one mumbled, "We're so sorry for your loss. We'll be going now..." then they left out the door. After a moment to make sure they were really gone, Caroline dropped the theatrics. She was still crying, but silently now as she wiped her face with the heel of her hand. Mick held her tighter and said, "Well, at least that part's over with.", "At least..." she grumbled, "When do you have to go in today?", "I'm off today and tomorrow, so you have me all to yourself." He smiled at her, but she creased her brow, "You didn't have to do that on my account...", "Darlin', it's okay. You've just been through something tramatic. I ain't gonna leave you here alone to let your thoughts eat you alive." She ducked her head, "But now I feel guilty for getting between you and your work...", "You ain't." He soothed, caressing her back, "I'm doing this out of my own free will, I promise you. It's my choice...", "...Is it really a choice if you're concerned about me?" He kissed the side of her head, "Not really, no... Because I would choose you every time." She sat up, "Then isn't that me manipulating you?" He paused, "Hold on- Where did that come from?" Caroline held herself and looked away, "I- I don't want to hurt you, Micky.", "No, wait. Hold on-" He pulled her chin toward him, "Where is that coming from? Because I know it ain't from you..." Another tear rolled down her cheek and she swiped at it before saying, "...My aunt always called me 'manipulative' when I cried...", "...Oh, darlin'." He hugged her tightly, "I wish I could resurrect that bitch just so I could liquify her brain again." Caroline barked a laugh, "I mean- I guess you weren't kidding when you said you'd kill anyone who laid a finger on me." He pulled back to look at her with an intense gaze, "No, I wasn't." She blushed and ducked her head, "How'd you even know I was there?", " I didn't. I got back early, but you weren't home yet... Then I got a bad feeling and went to check your dad's place and I saw your aunt slap you and then I- I saw red.", "Wait, were you scoping out my dad's house?", "Well, yeah. I'd like to know what I'm walking into before I go chargin' in.", "...Do you- do you ever scope me out?", "No, I just come inside and see you up close.", "Mm." She mused, not knowing how that made her feel. He laughed, "Are you upset I don't spy on you?", "What? Noo...", "You totally are!", "Am not!", "Am too!", "Am not-!" He kissed her, "Well I could if you really wanted me too, but then I couldn't touch you..." He ran a hand down to her butt and she giggled. He smiled at that and brushed her face with his other hand, "It's nice to see your real smile..." Caroline sighed and leaned into his touch, "Sorry... You probably won't see very much of it for a while...", "That's alright. It just makes it more special." She grinned despite herself, then said, "Well... You could always make me smile...", "Oh yeah? Don't I do that already?", "I mean like- distract me or something." He leaned in real close to her, "Distract you? Distract you how?" She blushed, "You know...", "Do I?" She shoved him with a laugh, "Yes you do!" He jumped on her and pinned her to the couch, "You mean, something like this?" Her breath caught in her throat, "M-maybe..." He grinned slyly at her, "I mean, I guess I could if you really wanted me to...", "Now you're just being a tease-", "and don't you fuckin' love it?", "...Yeah, I do." They laughed and he bent down, catching her mouth and kissing her deeply. Just as they were getting into the rhythm of it, the phone rang. "Fuck..." Caroline cursed and Mick sat up to answer the phone, "What?"... "Yeah, why?"... His face fell and he looked at her. She sighed and sat up, offering her hand for the phone. He handed it over and she put the receiver to her ear, "Hello?", "Caroline?", "Oh... Hi Jimmy...", "So... You heard?", "...Yeah.", "Well, if you got time, I got all the paperwork down here ready for you to sign.", "What? What do you mean?", "My brother's an estate lawyer. I called him down and he got you all your- your property rights and shit- stuff... He fixed everything up. All you gotta do is come down and sign. I'm still waiting for the hospital to get back to me on those death certificates, but-", "Wait, wait- Have you been working all morning?", "Caroline, I got three funerals I gotta reorganize-just for today- two entire coolers full of bodies, and now I'm the only mortician this side of the county! I don't have time to grieve." Caroline blinked- and she thought she was taking it bad. She nodded to herself, "Okay, I'll be there shortly.", "Alright. See you soon..." She handed the phone back to Mick and he hung it up for her as she stood. He asked, "Where are we going?", "To the mortuary." She said moving into her bedroom and getting property dressed. Mick asked, "The mortuary? Isn't that-", "Right in front of my dad's house? Yep." He nodded and opened up the top drawer of her dresser, pulling out a clean shirt for himself and putting it on, "Alright then." They left together, and Mick drove them back to the mortuary. The path to Caroline's father's house was blocked off, but she could see flashing lights. They walked into the funeral home and someone she'd never seen before was sitting behind the receptionist desk. He looked up as they approached and asked, "Are you Miss Sweeney?" She nodded and he picked up the phone, "Jim... Yeah, she's here..." A moment later, Jimmy ran up the stairs, "Oh, thank God..." He moved over and hugged her and she gave him an awkward pat on the back. He smelled like death and embalming fluid and it made her ache for her father. Jimmy let go of her and offered his hand to Mick, "I'm Jim. Jimmy- whatever, that's Tony. He's my brother." He pointed to Tony, who waved a greeting and gestured towards the chairs in front of him. Caroline and Mick sat down and she looked around the place, "Wow... I've gotta admit, it's weird being on this side of the desk..." Jimmy pulled up another chair to sit next to them and Tony flinched back, "God, you stink!" Jimmy shrugged, "What do you expect?", "This is why you should have gone to law school..." Tony grumbled before pulling out a stack of papers and two little packets, which he opened up to reveal as wills, "Luckily, for all of us, this particular case is easy. Your aunt willed everything to your father, and your father willed everything to you. As for the business, since you're part of the Estate, all the shared assets now fall directly under your ownership. Very clean, very easy. It's never usually that simple." He showed her the wills and she paged through them, asking, "So... What's the catch?" Tony sat back, "The catch is, you are now the proud owner of a failing mortuary and a crime scene. Take your pick which is worse-" Jimmy punched him in the arm and Tony yelped in pain before glaring at him. Caroline furrowed her brow and turned to Jimmy, "Failing?" Jimmy scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah... We've kinda been bleedin' money for a while now... Metaphorically speaking." Tony pinched Jimmy's cheek, "and little Jimmy here's been getting run ragged by this apprenticeship." Jimmy flinched away and Tony looked at Caroline, "I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not really impressed with your father, right now." Caroline had had it. She shrugged, "Well, he's dead so you'd have to take it up with a medium." Everyone stopped, then Tony turned to Jimmy, "The family resemblance is uncanny..." Jimmy glared at him, "Would you stop bein' a dick for a second and get on with it?!", "I don't have to help, you know!", "Ey!" Mick shouted and they looked at him, "Do you think this is appropriate?" He eyed down Tony, who eyed him back. Caroline touched Mick's arm, "It's okay.", "No, it ain't," He said to her, holding her hand before turning to Tony, "I don't care how you feel about any of this. Her family just died and you're here crackin' jokes! Do you think this is funny?" Tony blinked at him, taken aback, before ducking his head, "Sorry.", "Don't apologize to me." He said and Tony turned to Caroline, "I'm sorry... This all must be very hard for you." She slouched, "It's... Whatever..." They were all quiet for a moment, then Tony pulled out a few papers and set them in front of her with a pen, "I just need you to sign these documents so you can claim ownership. Then I need a witness to sign, either you or him-" He pointed to Mick, then Jimmy, respectively, "Then I'll notarize it and send it where it needs to go. Like I said, easy case." He gestured to the papers, "This one's for the land, this one's for the mortuary, and this one's for the house. You'll have to talk to your bank about the accounts." Caroline signed the papers, then Jimmy did, then Tony stamped them and put them away. He stood up and Caroline asked, "So, are you gonna send a bill through the mail?" Tony shook his head, "Lucky for you, unlucky for me, I owed Jim a favor, but that's it." He said that last part to Jimmy. His brother got up and went to hug him, but Tony ducked away, "You don't get any hugs smelling like that." Jimmy laughed and offered his hand, "Fair enough." They shook and Tony said, "Well, I'll see you at Thanksgiving.", "If I can make it this year..." Tony barked a laugh, "Now you're starting to sound like me... See ya, Jim.", "Bye Tony. Thank you.", "Don't mention it." He said, and then he left. Jimmy watched him go, then turned to Mick and Caroline, who were looking at him. He sat behind the desk and folded his hands awkwardly as he said, "So... I guess we should talk options." Caroline hesitated, "Is- is my dad... here?", "No. I sent him and Heidi to the hospital. I'm still at full capacity, but even if I weren't..." He trailed off and she nodded, "So... Did you- Were you the one that found them?" Jimmy flicked his gaze at Mick and seeing this, Caroline turned to him, "Could we speak in private, please?" Mick nodded, leaning over to kiss her before standing up, "I'll just be outside.", "Thank you, Micky..." He left and Caroline turned her attention back to Jimmy. He sighed and rubbed his hands together, "I- I had a long night last night, in fact- I haven't even slept yet, so it hasn't- You know, hit me yet. I came back here around, like three, and then I worked for a while. Rich didn't come in early like he normally does- did... But- but I figured I'd just let the old man sleep. Then around six I was gettin' concerned so I went over to wake him up, but then the door was unlocked and I walked in and..." He gestured, "They're both dead on the floor." She nodded looking at the desk, "The police said they think it was a murder-suicide...", "Murder, yeah- You should have seen the hole Rich blasted through Heidi- my God. " He shook his head, "But suicide? I don't think so..." A chill ran up her spine as he continued, "He was all cut open through his stomach like-" He mimicked the movement on his abdomen before seeming to realize who exactly he was talking to, "S-sorry." She shook her head, pushing down the woozy feeling she was getting, "It's fine... What do you think happened, then?" He scratched his chin, "I guess suicide's not completely impossible, it's just- with the way he was all- you know... That'd be more pain than anyone could do to themselves- and It's also like, why?" Caroline shrugged, "Maybe aunt Heidi finally got to him..." She wanted to laugh at that, but she also wanted to cry so instead she did neither and pushed that shit down. Jimmy nodded to himself, "Maybe... They did have a big fight yesterday.", "They did?", "Yeah... Heidi came down to yell at him, and then he started yellin' back- and she ended up runnin' out, which was so weird, because I have never seen that happen before.", "What were they arguing about?" Jimmy went to speak, then stopped himself. She ducked her head, "It was about me, wasn't it?", "No- not all of it. They were mostly arguing about the broken locker and then- something, something, Heidi doesn't do shit- something, something, she's doin' her best, which is fuckin' bullshit, by the way- then somethin' like 'If you were tryin' your best Caroline wouldn't have left'." She felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Jimmy looked away, "Or somethin' like that. I kinda tune out most of their screamin' matches..." Caroline was reeling. She had to take a moment before she could respond, "I'm- I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Jimmy.", "You're apologizing to me? I'm sorry you had to deal with that!" She shook her head, "It's fine..." He gave her a look, "You're taking all this all a little too well. What's up?" She didn't feel like she was taking it too well. She shrugged, "I guess I just skipped to the 'acceptance' part." He sat back, "Ah, you're that type of griever...", "What?", "The repressive type." She was indignant, "What? I am not repressive!", "You know, it's okay to be sad-", "Don't you- fuckin' psychoanalylise me, Jimmy!" He held up his hands, "Yeesh. I'm just trying to tell you, I get it.", "Whatever..." She grumped and they sat there for a moment before he asked, "So...What- what do you... You wanna bury him or-", "Cremate. Please.", "Thank God..." Jimmy mumbled before asking, "What about Heidi?", "I don't care. Throw her in a ditch if I'd make you happy." He shrugged, "I can do that... Now if we're talking cremation, we'd have to wait to do a service, but I think-", "I'm not going.", "...What?" She shook her head, "If you want to do a funeral, go for it- but I'm not going.", "But- but it's your father.", "I've gone to enough funerals with my dad. I don't want to attend one for my dad.", "...I guess I get that.", "Just- I don't know... Cremate him, then dump his ashes over Jodi Moore's grave.", "Jodi Moore? Why? Who's that?" She paused, "...She was- you could say she was close to the family. A long time ago, I mean." He nodded, "Do you wanna do that yourself?", "No. I don't want to go to the cemetery either.", "You don't wanna see him off?" She remembered the form of her father's body; How his blood drained from his lifeless corpse, and she felt sick. She shook her head and stood up, "No.", "You sure?" He asked, standing up himself and moving around. "Yeah," She said, and gave him a hug. He still smelled like death and embalming fluid and he apologized, "Sorry for the smell.", "It's okay..." She said, closing her eyes and picturing for a moment that it wasn't Jimmy with that familiar smell, but her dad. Then she felt that shit she pushed down earlier start to come back up and she removed herself from the embrace, waving quickly before moving out the door, "Thank you, Jimmy. Sorry about... All this." She didn't hear if he responded because she was walking quickly back to her car, hoping she could get inside before she started crying. Mick, who had been standing by the entrance, caught up to her and asked, "Hey, are you- Caroline?" She stopped walking and he touched her shoulder, "Caroline?" Her lip trembled and she was trying really hard not to cry as she said, "Get me home, pl-please." He nodded and put an arm around her shoulder, ushering her into her Vauxhall before getting behind the wheel and driving away. They didn't even make it past the parking lot before she started bawling. He grabbed her hand and she held it tightly as she sobbed out, "They had- they had a big fight- right- right before she- she killed- she..." Caroline covered her face and fucking cried, remembering what Jimmy said. It was her fault. Her fault. This was all her fault. If she just hadn't left the dinner that night, her aunt wouldn't have had a reason to kill him- Mick pulled over on the side of the road and unbuckled himself, moving over the console to hug her. She held onto him and sobbed, "It's my fault! It's my fault! It's my fault-!", "No, it's not. It's not Caroline!", "It is! If I hadn't- If I didn't- If we didn't leave, she wouldn't have-", "If we didn't leave, you would have been in danger. I was not gonna have that.", "But now he's dead and I could have-", "There is nothing you could have done. You didn't kill him Caroline. She did. This is not your fault, it's her's..." Caroline hiccuped and gripped onto him tighter. He held her head gently to his shoulder and shushed her, like you would a baby. She just cried and clung to him, heartbroken. He cooed, "Sh sh sh, it's okay. It's alright- it's not your fault.", "It is! It's my fault-", "It's not. It's not. It's okay. You're okay, darlin'." She started hyperventilating and he pressed his mouth to hers, forcing her to breathe through her nose for a second. When she had calmed down a bit, he pulled back and said, "Darlin', I know it hurts. I know, but blamin' yourself won't bring him back..." Her diaphragm spazzed, but she nodded her head, "I know... I know- I just... If it weren't for me, he'd still be here...", "...Is that really what you think?" She hiccuped again and nodded, hot tears burning tracks down her cheeks. He looked at her for a moment with concerned, compassionate eyes, then he pulled the little sticky note out of his pocket, "...Then I think... Maybe it's time for some intervention..." He handed the sticky note to her and she wiped her eyes, taking it, "You took this from my desk?", "I did. I figured it might be useful." She took in a shaky breath, calming down a little, "... I don't know... I was thinking about it before- but I've never been to counseling. I don't know what to expect.", "It ain't bad." He said, sitting back in the driver's seat, "It's just you and a professional talkin' about your problems, then they give you advice, or some coping skills, and you pay 'em.", "So, have you been to therapy?" She asked as he buckled up and got back on the road, "Yeah, quite a bit actually.", "Really?", "Yeah. Remember that girl I was with before?", "The bitch?", "Yeah, her. After we broke up, I took a while to recover from... From everything, and I saw a counselor for a bit." She nodded, thinking about that, then she asked, "Do you think... Could you- Do you wanna come with me?", "Of course, if you want me to.", "Please..." she said and he squeezed her hand as he drove them home.