Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT FOUR - PART TWENTY-SEVEN

Cheers for the final part of Act Four. I hope you have enjoyed it. CHEERS!

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Tom Kazansky knew his daughter, which is why he knew that what was waiting for him behind her bedroom door might be the worst part of his entire day and he had spent the last two hours taking precautions and making sure the deal would go down smoothly after his twenty-minute conversation with Cain.

Normally, coming home to his family after such a day would be a sight for sore eyes. The Admiral would come home and get rid of his uniform jacket first right by the door. Kicking off his shoes, before he would wander thought the house when Maverick was home to find the other man. He had done that for decades by now, in the beginning with the children already asleep when he returned home and then the last few years with the kids out of the house, but now when he came home, more often than not he was greeted by music, the moment the opened the door.

Bradley would be found in the living room, sitting by the piano. Sometimes Grace was sitting with him, her back leaned against Bradley's while he played. Just listening, or readying over some files or a book, when she hadn't yet wandered away to find Maverick in the kitchen and help him with cooking dinner.

Now, when he came home, the house was filled with life again. Grace and Bradley were spending most of their time over at their parent's house, just really leaving to go to sleep over at theirs and Tom loved it. He loved coming home to a warm house filled with music, the smell of freshly cooked food and laughter to be heard. This was all he ever wanted, for his family to be happy and safe. All he ever did, he did to take care of the people he loved most, which is why he had also made a deal with Cain that day.

As he came home with Jon Bates right beside him, music was being played, but as expected Bradley had decided to play the most gloomy music that came to his mind, while Maverick forced himself to sit down with Bradley to stop himself from pacing the house, not feeling peaceful enough until Tom would return home and tell him about what went down and how he had attempted to repair what was already broken, while protecting everything else.

The first thing he noticed as he entered the living room that had his heart skip a beat, still wearing his shoes and the jacket at this point, was that Grace was missing. She wasn't sitting with Bradley at the piano and she also wasn't in the kitchen with Maverick. Grace wasn't even laying on the couch drifting off to the gloomy but beautiful played music of her husband. She was somewhere else, pulled away from her family, desiring to be alone.

But knowing his daughter, it might not be so much a desire, as it was what she thought she deserved. A self-inflicted punishment of being separated from the people she loved most.

"Grace." Ice said as he knocked on the door, waiting for an answer, but as nothing was returned, even as he knocked again, Ice opened the door, only to find his daughter laying on her side, facing the window and therefore away from him but the curtains were closed, leaving her in a dark room.

"Cube, I need to talk to you. Now is not the time to hide your head in the sand. We still have things to take care of." Tom said as he finally entered the room, the door closed behind him, as he stepped over to the bed.

Her frame had always been petite especially for her job, but right now, she looked even smaller. Curled in on herself, her legs slightly pulled up, as if she had to protect herself, as if suddenly she wasn't safe in her own home any longer, which told Ice that she very much didn't feel safe right now, not after what Cain had done, not even at home, where she logically had to know she was.

"Grace." He said again, before taking a seat on Bradley's side of the bed and touching his daughter's shoulder, but other than expected she didn't wince away, not bothered by the touch, but her breathing betrayed her, Ice knew that she was awake.