[Les & Corry]

[seas_open]

If there's one thing April doesn't often admit to, it's that she's nervous.

The past several weeks have been exceptional, though, and now she finds herself waiting with Les at his place for Corrine's arrival so that she can tell the woman that they're related. There's a part of her that still doesn't want to say anything, that feels like nothing good can come of this, but Corrine will find out sooner or later. Les knows and Bach knows, and April hadn't asked Bach not to say anything. Besides, Les know and she knows how close he and Corrine are that asking him to keep it a secret is something she can't quite bring herself to do. And even if she was able to ask, she doubts he'd agree to it anyway.

It feels a little bit like everything is unraveling and she's always been in such firm control of her life that this makes her uncomfortable. It makes her want to leave Siren Cove, but at this point she's fairly certain that if she does, she won't make it very far, not with those three sirens looking for their money. She still hasn't decided what to do about them, but she's trying not to think about it right now. Not when she's supposed to be focusing on what she's supposed to say to Corrine.

"I'm not looking forward to this," she admits to Les, looking down at her mother's letter. It had been in her purse at the time the sirens had attacked and she's not sure if she's grateful for that or not. It doesn't really prove anything, it's still just her mother's word, but it's all she has. She's wondering if she shouldn't just let Corrine read the letter and watch everything unfold from there.

Comments

[lesparker]

Good or bad, Les doesn’t know what he expects to happen today. All he knows is that Corry needs to the truth about her father, she needs to hear it from April, and considering everything else going on—the fact that three siren hitmen showed up at April's doorstep to collect money—Corry needs to know the truth, like, now. The letter from April’s mom explaining the details about Corry might’ve led those men here, which means there’s a small chance they know about the relationship between Corry and April. Les isn’t comfortable leaving that up to chance. He can barely contain his worry over April’s role in all of this, to have to worry about Corry’s safety too is nearly more than he can handle. So he’d been quite relieved when April agreed that calling Corry over this afternoon was a good idea.

He knows April is nervous. She actually says as much, and he comes around from the kitchen, gives her a kiss, wrapping his arms around her for a moment. After the past day—maybe it was being in danger—but he really just wants to be close to her. He can’t help it. But he also wants to reassure April that this is the right thing to do. Not just because Les wants it, but Corry deserves to know. And that he’ll be right here when she breaks the news.

There’s a knock on the door just as he pulls away again. He smiles faintly at April. “So. I guess I’ll get that…” He says, giving her just a few seconds longer until he heads down the stairs to grab the door. Pulling it open, he greets Corry with a smile until he sees the look of concern on her face, and she’s on top of him before he can get a word in otherwise. Corry mother-hens over his wounds with an eagle eye and a frown. Considering why he’d called Corry over, he had nearly forgotten about the bruise and the split lip he’d woken up with this morning.

“I swear it looks worse than it is,” Les says, gesturing Corry up towards the stairs. Even his headache had nearly subsided with a few herbal remedies. Corry doesn’t really seem to hear him though as she stomps her way up the stairs, back to the loft, in a fit of righteous anger and concern. They come into the apartment, and he places the bottle down on the kitchen table. He smiles a little, shaking his head. “You don’t have to do anything, Corry. I don’t need you ripping things. I’m okay.”

[starsfallen]

"Okay?! You look like you got hit by a serial killer truck!" Which is an exaggeration, she knows, but to Corry it feels that dire and she has a strong urge to cuddle him close and kiss all of his wounds until she knows he's better. To wait at his side just like he did for her. But April's there. So she refrains. Laced with worry and anger and a trace of hurt that she's only just now finding out he's even hurt.

She turns to April, who seems far less worse for the wear but suffering from a state of discomfort. Corry turns to her. "Do you know what happened to him?" And Corry notes too that his wounds seem well cared for and perhaps she should thank April for ensuring he's okay.

Perhaps.

[seas_open]

It all ties together and for a second April isn't even sure where to begin. The reason Les is hurt is her mother, the reason she knows that she and Corrine are related is her mother, the reason there are sirens in town looking for money is her mother and that puts Corrine in danger, too. If they know they share the same father, April doesn't know what they might do. They have no way of knowing that this is all new to them.

"Sirens," she says. "Three of them. Looking for money my mother owed them." She smiles faintly, though there's no real happiness or humour in it. She hates that Les had been hurt because of her mother, because of a woman she's honestly never known and she hates that this isn't the last of the bad news she has to break. "She died a few weeks ago. I got a letter from her and her will in the mail, so I guess they tracked me here."

[lesparker]

Les uncrosses his arms, interjecting, "But we are safe here now. They broke into April's apartment. That's what happened. I was there to pick her up and they jumped me. We're both fine. And now this place is locked down," he assures them both. The same witch that had done the wards down at Watersong helped him outfit his building with high level security. He would know if a siren other than the two standing here tried to cross the threshold. April's staying with him for the next few days until she finds a new apartment so he knows she'll be safe at home too. Even though it was a little awkward, she had nothing left to go back to there, and he's more than willing to help her out. After this conversation is over, he hopes he can convince Corry to let him put wards up at her house too.

He knows magic wards aren't going to go very far with Corry, but it's the best he can offer. They are safe now. He glances sideways at April letting a look pass between them. He knows that's only half of it anyway, and not even the really shitty part. "Corry, look just sit down---" He sighs gesturing at the couch. "There's something else you need to know."

[starsfallen]

It's a good thing Les speaks before Corry had a chance to respond and it's likely he's spotted the shift in her demeanor from concerned worry and aggravation to redfaced deep-breathed boiling anger and veritable death glares in the direction of April. That someone would hurt her Leslie over something like money. Enraged isn't even a word.

She pulls out her checkbook, having just been sealed and signed for the Waterhouse contracts. "How much do they want? $100 thousand? $200? Just give me a number."

It's not April's fault. She knows this. But Corrine has never had much taste for money by nature, even if she currently has no lack of it on her own. Given her mother's reliance in status and her father's corruption in its name she was honestly far happiest that year in NY she had almost none, living in a group home with 4 other musician/artist/actors all making a break for it. Of course she has the luxury of not worrying about it these days. It's a cruel irony.

With a deep sigh she obliges Les, sitting with her arms and legs crossed tightly, a ball of tense anger. "I will still kill them for hurting you. Thank god you're okay" .... And very slowly, with an airy huff "I'm sorry about your mother, April."

[seas_open]

"It's not about the money. I'll have the money when the life insurance policy goes through," April says and she tries not to let it bother her, but she bristles a little at the suggestion she can't take care of it. That isn't fair, though, she's kept a low profile on purpose, she doesn't like letting anyone know she has money in her name, mostly because much of it has been achieved by less than legal means. And so she tries not to let it show, she swallows down any sense of pride that wants to snap back that she can take care of it. She knows Corrine just wants to protect Les and if there's anything she can understands it's, weirdly, that.

She waves off the apology and says, "I never knew her. I never knew either of my parents." And there's the opportunity she needs to say what has to be said, but the words stick in her throat. While their first meeting had been alright, while she'd liked Corrine well enough, she doesn't know her, not really. They don't know each other at all. The only thing they have in common is Les.

And now a father.

"My father took off when I was a year old. He took off and he more or less philandered his way across the continent," she says, finally looking up.

[lesparker]

Clearly, Les senses the tension in the room, at Corry's anger over his injuries, at April having to share this news that he's sure she doesn't want to share. It's only months after knowing April that he even feels her opening up to him, to suddenly have to do the same with Corry who she barely knows must be difficult. He gets all of that, but it still needs to be done. He takes the cue April leaves hanging in the room, the words Les knows she left hanging unsaid. He takes the envelope she left laying on the couch and shows it to Corry placing it on her lap.

He sighs, shaking his head, not wanting to just blurt it out. But it's much easier for him than either of them. "Corry, April got this in the mail a few days ago. Before those other sirens showed up in town. It's her mother's will." He pauses for a second giving April a quick look. "It has a name in it. Her dad's name."

Maybe that doesn't make sense. He knows this probably doesn't. "That's why we called you," he finishes.

[starsfallen]

Corrine knows what he's implying before Les even hands over the letter. She regards it like a poisoned object, letting it fall to her lap with all efforts not to touch it, like it might sear her if it meets her skin. Corrine feels an angry sea churning inside, boiling, enraged, swallowing her.

She looks from Les to April, body so tense it turns to stone, imprisoning the sea before it breaks through.

"Why are you telling me this." She knows. She knows as soon as the term philandering father is thrown around. But how dare she even imply her father left her after a year?! For all his faults, Corrine was his one and only. The others were unknown casualties. For all his faults he was her father. The one who called her his little star and brought flowers to her performances whenever he was in town and everything else may have been a lie, but not that. Never that. And Les is her Leslie. That one uncomplicated bright spot. Her living breathing hugging laughing kissing pickle-loving home She doesn't even want to hear this. She can't. If it actually forms into words she will...

Corry stands up. "Maybe I should go. I'm really sorry all of this happened but I don't know what I can do. I have a check if you want it. Otherwise, sorry."

Her eyes catch Les' and burn with tears. How dare this come from him. He cannot be a part of the taint that her father has forever left on her life. He was her rescue from it.

[seas_open]

April had known it would be difficult. Whatever relationship anyone else has had with the man who could have been her father, she's not aware of it, and she's been perfectly content in that. Not having a family has always been preferable when the family she did have had fucked her over so completely at such a young age. The fact that she'd survived the foster system untouched, unbeaten, without having stories to tell, without that haunted look in her eyes that so many kids had is a goddamn miracle, and it was her family who put her there.

"I'm telling you this, because if you found out another way... Les knows already and if you found out and knew he knew..." She trails off, because she's sure they can figure out what she means. In truth, it's the only reason she's saying any of this at all. Because the second she'd told Les, she'd put him in a bad position and she hates that she's done that, but there's really no taking it back now.

She can't tell Corrine to stay and she won't, because she knows how it feels. The second she'd realized what the letter meant, she'd run straight into the ocean for some kind of escape because she doesn't want this. She doesn't want any of it. She wants her parents to remain mysterious people who had failed her because that's easy. She doesn't want to know anything about her father. "I'm sorry," she says, words that she's said so rarely, but she actually means them.

[starsfallen]

"You have nothing to be sorry for. My..." She swallows back the bitter rise in her throat, staying rooted to her spot without looking at April, keeping her voice as cool and calm as she can lest she start pouring out the horrible things churning in her head. "...Our asshole father is the one who should be sorry." Corrine's chest rises and falls with deliberate breath, each one holding back a shout or a sob rising within.

"April..." She half glances at the girl. It's all she can muster. She's even prettier than Corry. The genes carry well. No wonder Les wants her. Even Corry can't compare to that. She sees him all over her. Her so close to him. Mouths and bodies entwined. Intimate. So intimate. Her sister... Corrine's world is lurching. Her skin is crawling. And how... how could her father have left April without at one point being there for her? It's too much. It's the betrayal she felt as a girl all over again. But now Les is a part of it and she can't. She can't do this.

It's a final breath to keep from exploding. From wounding April with all the fierce words she wants to throw until they wipe her from existence. But she knows it would instead just leave them both more damaged. "...April, I need to speak with Leslie now."

[lesparker]

Les waits for April to leave. Her heels click all the way down stairs, the receeding sound slow and sad, and he wants to be there with her because he knows none of this has been easy for April either. But he knows that he needs to fix Corry. The look on her face when she saw the envelop, when she realized what they were saying, that settled in a bad place inside his chest. He's never had to be the bearer of bad news, and he didn't like it. He almost wishes April had never told him. So none of this had ever happened.

He turns away from where April left through the door, getting another look at Corry, as he steps nearer to the couch. He would hug her right now, but he's unsure which is hard enough. Because Corry and him are always comfort for each other. But she is furious, he knows, and sad and heartbroken, and he wants to fix things. Except he isn't sure how.

"I'm sorry." Les is sorry her dad's an asshole. He's sorry she needed to hear it this way. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but you were out of town. I just. I'm sorry, Corry." He doesn't know what else to say.

[starsfallen]

Each echoed step of April's heels against the stairs causes a hollow pang in her heart. When Corry was a child, once she figured out her father had been having an affair... affairs, she had recurring nightmares about discovering siblings. Sometimes they'd be like the evil stepsiblings in Cinderella or turn into monsters. But the scariest was when they were just another face on the street. And when it wasn't dreams, it was the thought that he could have other children out there that kep Corry up at night until starry-eyed visions of the stage took over and she could drift into a more pleasant sleep.

She's frozen, listening. Breathing. Trapped in her thoughts and all of the things desperate to escape and when Les speaks, it all breaks. He cracks her stone wall and it comes pouring out angry thought to wretched heartbreak.

"You're screwing my sister!" She doesn't know if she screams it or whispers or if it's lost in a sob. Maybe some of each. Her voice sounds raw and hollow. "You're screwing the thing that tore my family apart!" Thing, it sounds so terrible but dehumanizing helps. The spawn of a cheater. Birthed of lies and betrayal. The same betrayal that took her father from her.

"You can't..." She's looking at him now and if the tears weren't there before they are now, and she stops trying to swallow them down. "I can't deal with this. How could you?!?!? You, of everyone" And she knows. She knows he couldn't have known. Not at first. But her heart is in pieces nonetheless.

[lesparker]

It's funny what she says to him. He doesn't smile, or dare crack a smile, but it's funny nonetheless. It's funny because four months ago Corrine Flynn showed back up in town at the lowest state Les has ever seen her. She told him about drugs and depression and meaningless affairs. He never thought twice about any of it. He just accepted it because it's Corry. There's never been anything that's made him turn his back on her. But....maybe just for a second, a fleeting moment during her tirade of words and outrage, he feels something new, something close to disappointment. He looks at her and feels hurt. It confuses him. Maybe he was too naive about April and that's his fault. But maybe they, he and Corry aren't...

"Really?" He gestures at her with his hand almost like a question too.

His brain had kindly cut off the rest of his previous thought. There is no use. He knows they are better. There's never been much else that he's trusted in more than Corry. That's the only reason he stays put and doesn't walk away in a huff. "Really that's how you're going to talk me?" he asks her in a strangely calm voice even though she's crying harder now. His fingers still itch to cover her in a hug, but he's frozen for a few moments thrown by her rush of uncontrolled anger towards him.

All the times he's been there for her, it's like they suddenly don't count. Her words, her reference to April are aimed to hurt, to knock him down and kick him when he already felt bad he had to be the one to tell her. That this blow comes from Corry, the person he trusts more than anyone actually hurts worse. Where other people just punch, Corry gets to stab because of how much of himself Les lets her have.

He just sighs finally going closer to her, putting his hand on her arm. "What? Do you think I knew? I promise didn't," he says. "I wouldn't. I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you."

[starsfallen]

She doesn't want him near her right now. The hand on her arm. The same hand that's caressed April. Made her squirm and sing. Taken her to bliss and beyond. Comforted her when she found out the news while Corry was away clueless and unaware. The more she thinks about it the more she sees and can never unsee. That he and April have been one in a way that she and Les never have and that they have a bond she can't touch. And it's her Leslie. It's her Leslie, and her father April now has and churning the great angry waters is a jealousy unlike anything she has ever felt before and that she cannot entirely justify.

She whips back and takes a step away. Another time another place she would love nothing more than to bury herself in his arms, the arms that have gotten her through so much, that were the first warm safe things she's found in her life since it all fell apart but she can't. Not now. But his voice is calm and rational, even in the pain twisted on his face, and she owes him that, hates that she's causing him pain but that doesn't quell hers. But she can steady the shouting. She needs a voice. Her lips twinge upwards somewhere between a smile and a sneer as she sniffs the tears to a stop.

"Do you remember my father? Do you remember that day on the boardwalk just before my tenth birthday, when we did that parody of all the townspeople and he surprised me there and brought me that giant bouquet of roses? How he promised we'd be together for the big day? That he'd take me away with him - to Broadway - the real Broadway - and take me backstage to meet the cast - and then we'd go out for cupcakes bigger than my head?" She hadn't thought about this for years. Buried the memory far and away. Not until now. "And my birthday came and he was nowhere to be found. Some stupid excuse in a call I don't even remember. And when he came home, weeks later." The lump in her throat is thick and her voice shakes... "I found tickets. Phantom of the Opera. For the night of my birthday. They smelled like perfume and had a lipstick stain and a phone number on them."

She's crying again and turns her back so Les can't see her. Not the angry tears of before but like the little girl she was. "And you got me through it. You've been the closest thing I have to real family ever since that night."

Corrine looks at him again, tearstained cheeks and swollen eyes. "And now you're a part of it. God, April even has people after her for money like my father! And you're getting hurt. You're a part of the wreckage my father left behind now and whether you knew or not it can't ever be undone." She knows she's monologuing now but she's sifting through so many thoughts and trying to make sense of anything while her heart feels like it's bleeding out and puddling onto the floor.

"I love you Les. But I can't deal with this. I can't ask you to choose between me and her. But I can't do this."

She turns again to walk away. She's not sure if she really wants to. She's not sure if she wants him to let her go or to chase after her. She's not sure of anything except that if she stays here she will completely break.

[lesparker]

Of course, Les remembers her father. He remembers every short-end the both of them ever got because wasn't that the point of them and their friendship? Yes, it was bright and happy and adventurous, but it was borne out of necessity, out of two abandoned children left to console each other. They were joined at the hip because of what was done to them. What her dad and mom did, the lies they told, and the pain they caused. What his mom didn't do. Sometimes her death made Les cherry-pick the good stuff, but if he was forced to tell the truth, parts of his mom were scary, parts of her Les never thinks about or he would be too angry. So, it isn't a question of whether Les remembers that day. He remembers all their bad days because their bad days were also good days. Good because they had each other.

When Corry backs away from him, his stomach drops. This isn't them. Corry's looking at him like she can't stand the sight of him, like she doesn't want him to touch her. And just seconds ago, his own thoughts of disappointment and bitterness at her reaction, at what he knows is legitimate heartache. Because Les understands her pain. He's lived it with her. He knows maybe better than anyone else in her whole life. That's how he sees himself. And this with April has changed it. She's questioning him in this moment, his loyalty to her, and it makes him feel a little sick.

For once, he doesn't know what to do. How to fix any of this if it's possible. And Corry walking away is breaking him, making him think about things he hasn't remembered in forever. How can he possibly relive the friendship they've had in ten seconds. But he nearly does it, and of course he wouldn't just let her walk away from him. Not after everything, not after everything since she's been home. He goes towards her again but keeps his distance and he is a little less steady when he speaks this time.

"I don't want you to deal with it, or deal with her---" Les says gesturing at the stairs. He cares about April. Truly. He does. But he's only known her a few short months. It's hard to even compare the two of them in Les' mind. "You can ask Corry. You can ask me not to be with her and I won't. I get it, okay?" He isn't sure what else there is to say, and he just shrugs with a smile that feels almost helpless. If she needs to go off and be angry at him, at her dad, at April. That's fine. As long as she knows. "You are my family. Not the closest thing. You are the only one. You and me. That's it."

Maybe nothing he can say tonight will make her better, he realizes. He just hopes she's going to come back. "I'm not willing to lose you over this. Or anything. I hope you know that," he says, stepping back reluctantly, but he's willing to let her leave now that he's said his part.

[starsfallen]

She's ready to storm off. To storm off and be broken and shattered in the wake of her family once more. She'd been on her own for so long. Maybe it would have been easier to shed attachments again. To love no one or no thing but performance and the life of celebrity and whim. To go off and travel the world or wherever she needs to be until the hurt stops again.

But it's Les. Her Les. And she's almost to the stairs when his words catch her. Wrap her in a net of assurances and love. He is her family. She and him. If there's one truth, it's that, even after all the years they were apart. She promised she would never leave him again. She promised and she can't go back on that.

At his words, the waves of anger subside. Her shoulders hunch and the tenseness of her stone body melts. Her voice cracks. "I'm not going to ask you to choose." She turns back to face him, but can't bring her eyes from the floor. "As much as I want you to. Really want you to. What if she's your happiness. Your one." She lets out a tearful shaky laugh. "If that's even a thing."

She finally raises her head to look at him. Eyes wide and vulnerable and a little scared. "But you're my one. Maybe not like that. But it's like you said. You and me." She takes a step back to him, shrugging her shoulders in case they might be wrapped in a hug. "I'm sorry..."

It doesn't change how hard this is. That the thought of April, of April and Les, makes her want to run far away. That she's going to need time. But that's not his fault. He's willing to choose her. He would, he's made that clear. How can she make him do that? Maybe the old selfish self-absorbed Corrine would, the celebrity with all the wants of the world at her hand. But she's not that girl anymore. And other people do matter. At least Les. Especially Les.

[lesparker]

What if April's his happiness? That's another part of it, that's hurting Les. Because he knows how unshakable his loyalty is to Corry. He knows he would choose her over anyone else in the world when he's forced to do it. He just can't help himself when it comes to her, they've been through too much together. But it would be a lie to say, having to go tell April they can't see each other anymore wouldn't hurt too. Even through all the drama with the sirens and her mom's money he had asked April to call him. And the idea, that they might become something more, something real, it left him warm and excited. He doesn't want to give her up.

But it doesn't mean he wouldn't if Corry needs him too. If April's connection with her father, changes their friendship. He would because Corry was there before April, before anyone else.

Her change in demeanor is a weight lifted from his chest though. Where it felt like the room was suffocating him, suddenly he takes a breath of air. He would do anything for her, she has to know that. "I'm sorry too---" He really doesn't hestitate to hug her this time, wrapping his arms around her back with a sigh, resting his chin on her shoulder. He understands what she means. Les has lost many things, but she's the one thing he intends to keep forever. No matter what comes along. Ten year gaps. New relationships. Absent fathers. Death. It doesn't matter. He is keeping her.

"You and me," he tells her, and it's a promise. Whatever happens. They have each other. He releases her from his hug and looks back at her holding her shoulders. "We'll get through it. We always do."

[starsfallen]

Corrine doesn't exactly hug him back. She rests her cheek against his head and half-heartedly pats his back. He's quieted the storm of thoughts, the anger threatening to drown them both. But now she's left raw and hollow. As if someone wounded the very core of her soul and left a shadow.

She's still crying, softer now, but the emotion still comes. She can't handle any of this right now. It's too much and even if she knows Les is still really and truly on her side, the ache is there all the same. He's too wrapped up in this. In April. And he'll understand. He'll understand if she needs to step away for a little. Because as much as he means to her, as much as he is so much of all the good she has, it still hurts. In ways she can't fully explain or convey and needs more time to sort through. On her own.

"I know." She sniffs, hanging her head again. "I know, but Les, I need some time. I just - I can't right now." She feels like she's repeating herself. Going around in circles. She can't figure out an end or any direction that can be right now. "We'll get passed it. But I can't. Not right now. I - I need a break, or something. Just give me time."

[lesparker]

He does wish she would have hugged him back, returned the comfort that always been so easy between them. He gets it, but it doesn't mean he has to like it. He knows she needs time, but he still wishes he could help her through this. That's what he's always done. He hates that he won't be able to this time.

He can't help Corry on this one because a piece of the hurt is him. His relationship with April. He knows that Corry is angry about her father, about April being her sister but also about him. Angry that he and April share something different, something intimate that he and Corry don't. Les realizes that then, and he pretty much hates it. It's the first time that he sees it, how the adult version of their friendship has its own vulnerabilities they've never dealt with before. But Corry says they'll get through it. He believes her because he can't fathom anything else.

Nodding, he releases his hold on her, putting back space between them. "A break," he agrees. Even though he's already wondering how good he'll be at that. Since Corry has been back home, they've been just as inseperable as they were as kids. Hell, he lived with her for over a month. Now a break? No Corry time at all? He frowns not at her request but at how hard that will be. "Just. Just stay out of trouble," he says with a half-smile. Well. What else is left to say. Nothing. That's probably the worse he feels, and he glances away. "So. I'll let you..."

Leave. But he doesn't want to watch her do it. He just shakes his head, not expecting the sting. "Bye, Corry," he says, heading for the door and then down the stairs to the first floor, trying to shake off the emotion pressing down on his chest. He isn't sure where April went exactly. But Les goes into the basement, figuring she may have escaped down there. He had given the grand tour when she arrived. Even if she didn't he really wants to be somewhere he won't need to think.

[starsfallen]

"Hey!" She said what she needed to, did what she needed to, but Les turning and leaving breaks the last little piece of her heart and she can actually feel it splinter and drop. She can't leave it like this. Not like this. It's just time. Not an end. Just a break.

"Wait! Les, please."

Her voice is heavy with emotion and raw of the events of the day. She follows him there to the door, to the top of the stairs. She won't chase him. Not when she herself pushed him away. But this is worse. Ending like this, is far worse.

"I don't mean..." She bites her lip, not even sure if he can hear her with the heavy thump of his feet on stairs. "If you need me... you know I'm still there. In a second. No questions. You know that." Her voice cracks again as she nods. "Right. No trouble, got it." A fresh stream of tears finds her cheek. "Can I - we should... Can I at least get a hug first?" As much as she can barely handle the thought of him, right now, in this moment, tangled with everything, leaving this emptiness, this abyss between them and disappearing down the stairs - the moment between them is unbearable. It will be okay. They will be okay and she needs to know it as much as she's assured him this. Even if she doesn't know if she believes it herself.

[lesparker]

Truthfully, Les doesn't want to turn back around. Drawing this out makes it hurt worse. He knows she needs her space and why she's doing this, but just this tiny part of it feels like Corry's pushing him away and that hurts. It reminds him of the time before when she had. This time though Corry is giving him a reason, a promise she'll come back, before it was just Les left wondering what he'd done wrong. It took him awhile to realize he hadn't done anything, Corry just needed time back then too. At that thought, he does go back, heads back to the stairs, and waits for her to come all the way down.

"I know that," he says nodding. He actually feels like he knew that back then too. That's why when she came home a few months ago, ten years later, he hadn't asked any questions. He had just been there for her because that's all he knows how to do. He musters up a rather pathetic smile, trying not to be completely sad. It won't be forever. "Just one--" he says, pathetic smile turning into a more familiar one at her question, but not completely, and he wraps his arms around her into a hug for a few seconds, tucking her close against his chest. Les doesn't linger though. If this is what she wants, if this is a break, he needs it broken. They could stay here all night otherwise.

He pulls away with his hands on her arms. "Okay. No trouble for real," he says, squeezing her biceps then letting go. "I'll see you."

[starsfallen]

She takes each step with heavy feet, each one closer to the reality of saying goodbye. Each one closer to escaping this all.

When his arms find her, she wants to run away and wants to stay forever. She lets out a pathetic sob against his chest before they both mutually pull away, because it's all too much. But it's a final assurance of love, of the connection they share, before the gap and separation.

She needs to leave but it kills her. It kills her that any and all of this has happened. But being around it, around him, around everything now will make it worse.

Corry nods, shifting her feet, preparing herself to walk out the door. "I'll see you, Picklebrain." Her voice cracks again, and she looks away. "So... Bye."

And then she's out the door before she completely shatters all over.