Stay Together For The Kids - Michael Clifford Fanfiction

Arriving.

The drive was quiet, Ruby peacefully sleeping in the back, and the streets desolate.
I had text April, telling her that she could stop manning the door to Michael's bedroom now.
I wondered how long it would take Michael to realise we were gone. Not long, I imagine.
I imagined him pacing through the house, upturning the furniture, and using his vocabulary of swear words to his full advantage.
I arrive at the house I had planned to run to if I ever had the guts to do this.
I pick Ruby out from the car, careful not to wake her. I knock twice on the door, and see a light come one immediately. My mother's warm smile greets me at the door.
"This is a lovely surprise." She whispers, as she lets me in.
She doesn't look surprised at all.
I walk inside, giving her a fleeting hug. I'm in no mood to talk.
"I'll make you a cup of tea before going to bed." Mum offers. She is looking at me with a knowing expression, and increasing concern. "No doubt Ruby will be needing her rest."
I'm thankful she doesn't try to coax me out of a conversation right now.
I merely nod, taking Ruby down the small hall to a bedroom that's already been set up for us both. There is a single bed in the corner, laid out for me, and a cot on the right hand side for Ruby.
I tuck her in, and she squirms for a few seconds before settling down. Thank god she's a good sleeper.
I lay myself down, and hear mum slowly come in, resting the tea on my bedside table. I slowly relax as the smell of tea and warmth fills the room, and I feel myself falling asleep.

I find myself dreaming of my wedding day. Michael had look so handsome. I remember everything. All the smiles, the laughs, the promises. But something nagged at me as the memory filled my mind.
I remember a bottle in Michael's hands at all times. I remember him disappearing into the night with the other boys. I remember parts of my wedding wondering where he was. I remember the large group of screaming girls that awaited at our hotel.
And for the first time, I analyse how he looks at them. He doesn't put his arm around me and protect me from the venom pouring out of their mouths. He smirks at them, a gleam in his eye knowing that they are all screaming for him. How did I not see that before?
My mind flashes and suddenly I am in our first apartment. We are having one of our first fights to do with alcohol.
The band had just called it quits. Michael hadn't wanted to, but the other boys were ready to settle down. He was never ready for that.
A memory of fights in that time period flashes before me. He never really was the same.
Not since the band broke up. Since the days when he was no longer popular. When they weren't screaming for him anymore. The drinking had been around a lot longer. The depression hadn't.
As I watched him fall into the bitterness, I tried to get him to get help. But denial set over him, and our marriage had never become rockier. But then I became pregnant. And he promised to change. And I sat and I waited. And waited. And watched as nothing changed.
I woke with my heart hurting. The dream was slowly fading from my mind, and I didn't fight to keep it there.
It's daylight, and I quickly look up to see Ruby missing from her cot. I start to panic, before noticing a note resting on my untouched tea.
'Have taken Ruby out shopping with me. Thought you would need some time. Mum.'
I sigh in relief. I had been worried Michael had somehow taken her from me.
I lay back down, wondering if time was really what I needed. With no Ruby to distract me, I was by myself with my own thoughts.
I was alone.