What's a Girl to Do? (Season 7)

Chapter Five: Never Tear Us Apart

After I was discharged from the hospital, I refused to take any time off from work, and something in Tommy seemed to shift then. While he wanted me to be on my back or in the kitchen preparing meals for him, like he thought a good fiancée should, he didn't say much about me going back to Patsy's so quickly. I continued to wear the bulky clothes and found that my stubborn streak was slowly but surely bubbling just beneath the surface, wanting more than anything to escape from the prison I'd sentenced it to. I felt rage bubble within me whenever Tommy thought that I needed to be punished—which was only typically a punch somewhere on the surface of my body—and, for the first time, I was beginning to think that, perhaps, I didn't deserve such treatment afforded to me.

A week after my release from the hospital, I arrived home early from work and noticed that Tommy's car was not yet parked in the driveway. I hadn't had to go grocery shopping that afternoon, so I decided that I would take the opportunity to attempt to set certain things to rights within my family. Pulling up to the curb, I parked and locked my car before I slid out from inside it, slamming and locking the door before crossing the street and opening the gate of my former dwelling, and stood there for a moment, gripping the metal. Pushing past my fears, I walked up the stairs and let myself inside, looking around.

"Liam took the kids out."

I very nearly started at Ian's voice, coming from the kitchen. I crossed the living room and stood in the doorway, watching as Ian lit up a cigarette and leaned back in the chair. "Good, because I came here to see you."

Ian sighed, deliberately not looking at me as I crossed the kitchen towards him, and took a seat without asking. "Look, Murph, I don't know why you're here," he said quietly as I folded my hands on the tabletop, but nevertheless was pleased when he offered me the cigarette, which I readily took. "After the shit that went down in the hospital..."

"I hope you realize that that was all bullshit," I said quietly, and Ian's eyes snapped immediately to mine.

"Which part?"

"The part where Tommy banned you from seeing me, giving the reason that I didn't want to see you in the first place," I replied. "I always want to see you guys, even if you don't want to see me, and, believe me, I'm sure none of you do..."

Ian sighed, taking the cigarette back. "We're mad at you, Murph, believe it—all of us—but we're worried as fuck for you..."

I nodded, deflating a little in my chair. "I know."

"So, what brings you here, Murph?"

"Well, first of all, besides all the bullshit Tommy put you through, I want you to know that I flat-out don't believe him."

Ian raised his eyebrows. "About?"

"About you being the one that hit me."

He narrowed his eyes. "That son of a bitch said what?"

I sighed. "Please... Please don't call him that, Ian."

"Murphy, the sick bastard has been using you as his personal punching bag for over a year now, and framed me for hitting you on Thanksgiving! This situation is serious!"

I shake my head at him. "Ian, please. I won't have you talking that way about Tommy..."

"Murphy, he said you guys set a wedding date, and you looked and acted like you didn't know what the fuck he was talking about! Did he just say that in front of all of us to placate you into agreeing with him?!"

"Ian, you don't even know him—"

"I know him better than you think I do, Murph," Ian replied darkly. "Mandy, Mickey's sister, had an abusive boyfriend after her and Lip stopped seeing each other. It was more open—the abuse—but she was in denial about the whole thing, too. Said she fell, or walked into a door, and, at first, was willing to leave him, but then she moved away. Managed to get away from him by becoming an escort, but I'll never forget the hell she went through with him..."