Begin Again || AHS

Chapter Eight

"Did you find her?" Vivien asked worriedly as she saw her husband walk into the kitchen. Violet had been missing for days and nobody in the house had seen her. Even though Vivien had her new baby, she was still concerned about her older baby.

"Not exactly" Ben replied as he sat at the island. His wife took a set next to him, still worried. 'Not exactly' was never a good answer.

"Not exactly?" She repeated

"I found her body" He clarified "In the crawlspace"

"What?"

"Someone had put makeup on her and smart clothes. There was a note there too - someone had given her a funeral or something"

Tears started to roll down Vivien's face. Violet had never gotten a proper funeral, like her, or a memorial. Vivien didn't even know where the body was or when she died. It was so dreadfully unorganized.

"Who did it?" Viv sniffed

"I don't know"

"What about Tate? Did he do it?"

"If he touched her" Ben fumed. He hated his former patient with every inch of his body "If he even looked at her, I swear to God, I'll-"

"He's not a bad guy, Ben!" Vivien objected, standing up. Ben was clearly surprised by her statement "He didn't do anything to us out of fun!"

"He raped you!"

"For Nora! Nora wanted a baby and he was being kind!"

"He tried to kill me, Viv!"

"You were going to send Violet away!" Vivien shouted "He loves her so much, Ben and he didn't want that to happen!"

"Why are you trying to justify what he did to you? To our family!"

"Because he makes our daughter happy!"

"No, he doesn't!"

"Yes, he does and you know it! Why can't you move on? Violet comes first, she always did, and she deserves to be happy!"

Silence fell in the room. Ben knew Viv was right. Violet had always come first and Ben was blinded by rage. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"You know, I remember my parents having the exact same argument when I was her age" Vivien sighed, sitting back down.

"Oh yeah, how did that turn out?" Ben asked, smiling weakly.

"We're married, aren't we?"

-

The house seemed bigger and brighter to Violet as Tate carried her out of the basement. She was currently too weak to move but she would regain strength soon.

Not that she was complaining.

To be curled in Tate's chest was all Violet had wanted since she told him to go away, all that time ago. Being there made her feel safe and loved. He held her so tightly and protected her from anything and everything.

He opened the door to Violet's room and carefully laid her on her bed. She was so exhausted and was already half asleep. After being tied to the chair for days and then bound to a table and cut open, Violet willingly crawled into bed.

"Thanks" She mumbled, closing her eyes and still shaking from shock. Tate, noticing her shivers, took a blanket from one of her drawers and placed it over her fragile body "You don't have to stay here, you know"

"I do" He replied as he sat on the floor by Violet's head. He looked up into her caramel eyes. They were filled with weariness and relief "She'll come back otherwise"

"Then don't stay on the floor" She insisted, propping herself up on her elbows and looking down at him.

Obeying orders, Tate made his way to the other side and climbed in. Violet turned over and wriggled closer, buring her head in his chest.

"I've missed you so much, Tate" Violet whispered as he kissed her forehead and pulled her closer. She tried her best not to cry, so did he. All those emotions that the both of them had pent up for ages finally came out "Promise me something?"

"Anything"

"Don't ever go away again - even if I tell you"

"I promise"

-

"Are you shitting me?" Hayden screamed as she shoved Charles hard in the chest, making him stumble a bit.

"You were already getting a beating" Charles growled back as he inhaled some more ether. He spend most of his days high to block out the other ghosts. Being in his fantasy world was easier than conversing with the ghosts younger than him "I was not going to let myself stand in the way of that homicidal an  his true love any longer!"

"She didn't want him, you asshole!" Hayden raged back, tugging on her hair in anger. She was unbelievably mad at the antique addict for letting her punchbag get away "Just like that psychotic wife of yours didn't want you!"

"She did want me!" Charles shouted back at her, throwing a bottle at Hayden's head. She ducked quickly and laughed, intent on teasing the doctor more.

"But you don't want her, not fully at least" Hayden chuckled antagonizingly "That's right, I know about you and that queer who lived here before the Harmons - Patrick, was it?"

"You leave him out of this!"

"You know, Dr Montgomery, I always suspected you were bi-curious" Hayden sat on the table where Violet had lay prior to her escape, swinging her legs to piss off Charles even more "Might have started a little bit of a wager with the others if I wasn't so sure I was right and they had anything off value"

"I demand you be quiet this instant!"

"Demand? Is that what you say to your boy toy?" She got up and walked around the angered first owner "Oh Patrick, I demand you place your lips on-"

"Don't be vulgar, you whore!"

"Whatever you say. I just wonder how your wife will react when I go and tell her that her husband homosexual"

"Go away!"

Hayden disappeared but her laughter echoed, leaving Charles fretting about the extent of her knowledge.

"It's you" Someone choked as they appeared next to him. Chad - Patrick's partner "You're Pat's secret lover"

"Yes" Charles confessed quietly, not making eye contact "I am"

"Let me get one thing straight" Chad exploded "You might have built this house and you might please him in ways that I can't but I share my man with nobody! If you see him again, then I will make your life into something ugly"

Chad walked away, carelessly pushing a jar of the table. It smashed into ugly shards on the hard ground.

"I suggest you use the shards as a reflective surface so you can look at yourself without crying, you pathetic man-stealer"