Safe at Last--a HTGAWM fanfic

Safe at Last, Part 7

3:09 p.m.

Annalise was at home now, and she was furious. She had just returned from Renee Attwood's office. Annalise had tried to play nice for once, but she wasn't sure if that plan had worked. Attwood had sworn that she was no longer after her or the people working for her. "The new case has nothing to you", Attwood assured her. But Annalise had sensed that it was a lie. Maybe it was paranoia, or maybe it was another one of her famous gut instincts. Either way, though, she knew she was in trouble. They all were. The career she spent so many years on could be blown to bits because of one very ambitious ex-student.

Abstaining from alcohol was one of the conditions of her license reinstatement. Over the past few weeks, Annalise felt a strong urge to dive back into the bottle. But she had done so well! But that was before this year. Before losing her license because of a slap, though the client deserved it. Before starting this clinic, which only happened because she needed to keep an eye on the Keating 5. And the urge to drink was stronger than usual. Bonnie was right, Annalise pondered as she went to her secret stash. She hid a bottle of vodka in one of her old case files. Nobody knew about this location, not even Bonnie or Frank. She needed it right now. Probation be damned. She needed to think, and she thought much better with her vodka than without it.

After that first rush of alcohol and fruit flavor hit her tongue, Annalise was in ecstasy. She missed it so much, and she felt like her old self again for a moment. Big and bad. Strong, like she can take over the world. Her vodka's helped her through some tough times, including years of manipulation she suffered at the hands of Sam. She was glad he was dead, and she had Wes to thank for that.

With that first rush came the thinking and ideas that Annalise was desperately looking for. What were her instincts and the vodka telling her to do? Destroy any and all evidence of the Mahoney cases. They were the thorns in her side that she thought she'd gotten rid of long ago. But they came back, when she told Wes the truth about his parentage. It can't be easy learning that you were a product of rape, Annalise thought as she ripped open box after box. Everything regarding the Mahoneys went into the fireplace. She wanted nothing to do with those people anymore. Annalise pulled a box of matches from a box and struck the match. She stared at the flame until it nearly reached her skin. Then she threw it on the pile. For some reason, she felt something cold and hard as she reached in another container. Oh shit. That's not what I think it is. But it was. She pulled out the trophy. The same one that had killed Sam. The same one that was awarded to numerous students in the past. It hasn't been awarded to another student since the incident with Sam.

Annalise could no longer stand the sight of it. All it did was bring back memories of him, of her screwed-up Keating 5 students. Mostly of Michaela, because she brought the damn thing into the house by stealing it. If she weren't a sore loser, none of this would've happened! She felt angry. She'd never felt more angry than she did in the past year. She eventually took it out on the laptop because there was evidence on it. By then, she had drained that bottle of vodka. She had called someone on her cell, but couldn't remember who. Annalise needed to see Bonnie right now. She was in such a stupor, that she didn't notice that the door was still open when she left the house.

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4:38 p.m.

Wes was in a major daze by the time he reached his apartment. For hours now, he'd experienced a tornado of emotions. They were so intense that they caused him to be physically weak. Wes was normally in tight control of his feelings.....or so he believed. He maintained that in his life by keeping to himself most of the time. It was like he became someone he didn't recognize once he came to Middleton. The man he was before, he wanted him back.