Chapter Text
Theo has just returned from work when Mabel bursts into the studio. He is so surprised to see her that he actually drops the bottle of water he’s been holding. It rolls on the floor, thankfully with the cap on.
Mabel takes a step back, and her surprise almost borders on shock.
I’m sorry, she says quickly. I didn’t think you were here. I would have texted first.
She still has his spare keys, even though she spends more time at that awful apartment she’s squatting at. He insisted she kept them - most of her things are still here anyway. He dreads the day she’ll ask him to move all her things in the west wing of the Arconia. Even worse, he worries one day he’ll return to his studio and every trace of her will be gone without warning.
My shift got changed. Went in early, he explains, and tries not to flinch at the implication of her words. Did she hope to come in when he wasn’t here? Is she avoiding him?
I just need to grab some things, she says quickly and rushes past him to get to the boxes still piled in a corner of the living room area.
Something is up, he knows it. He can feel it in the hairs at the back of his neck, now standing up. Mabel looks panicky, her movements tense and erratic as she’s rifling through the boxes, like she can’t concentrate on what she’s doing.
He taps her on the arm. She jerks her head towards him, her eyes wide, a little frantic.
What’s wrong? he asks.
Nothing, she says, but it’s a lie and he knows it.
It is a sickening feeling to know she doesn’t want to share things with him, and normally he would drop it, but right now something tells him to insist.
What happened? he asks again, his heart rate already rising.
She winces, and seems to deflate just a little.
We were at the photoshoot for the film today. There were gunshots.
He can feel the blood draining from his face. He feels faint.
Are you ok? Did you get hurt? he asks immediately.
I’m fine, she says quickly, and maybe she’s not hurt but he’s not convinced she’s ok.
The olds? He asks then, his stomach in a knot.
They’re fine too.
Who was the shooter - did they find them?
She shakes her head. Through sloppy signs and fingerspelling she explains to him that Ben Glenroy’s stunt double got shot but is stable. That later in the day when they were investigating, they all received camera footage from their apartments, and an ominous message: I’m watching you.
Theo feels his skin crawling with discomfort. He can’t think of anything more disturbing than being watched in his private space without his knowledge or consent.
Do you know who it is? he asks, still reeling from the information.
No. I need to sit down and think, but there was no time, we had to leave the Arconia immediately, Mabel says between pulling articles of clothing from different boxes.
You can’t stay there - it’s too dangerous! he says, his brain still trying to catch up.
She was present in a shooting. Some creep is watching her. Warning - no, threatening her. She is not safe. Fuck that squatting plan, she needs to come back here, away from that cursed building.
Suddenly it strikes him as odd that she’s looking for clothes at a time like this.
What are you doing?
Packing. I need to get out of town for a while. It’s not safe.
Out of town - where? He feels like he’s scrambling, always playing catch-up, and she’s a million miles ahead.
Charles has a sister in Long Island. We are going there.
We - all three of you?
She nods. She checks her phone then - he guesses it buzzed.
They are waiting for me. We’ve got Oliver’s car and they can’t find any parking spot.
She finds a travel bag and starts stuffing clothes inside. She heads for the bathroom, presumably to grab her toiletries, but he steps in the way.
Wait. Wait, he says. His head is spinning, trying to make it all make sense.
I need to hurry, she says, not quite looking him in the eyes. She checks her phone again. They’re waiting for me, she says once she puts it back in her pocket.
Stay here, he says then. He realizes that Mabel wasn’t really looking, so instead of waiting for her eyes to focus again, he actually turns her head to face him. The touch seems to arrest her for a few moments at least.
Stay here, he repeats.
He wants to say, I will protect you, but it seems silly somehow, something that a small boy would say. Instead he says, I will make sure nothing happens to you.
Sadness tinges now the urgency in her eyes, and she shakes her head.
It’s not safe. I can’t be in New York right now, she insists.
He shakes his head too, his panic rising. He can’t just let her go either. Something happened today - something almost happened to her . He could have lost her, and probably no one would think to tell him. Mabel herself might not have told him any of it if he didn’t happen to be here right now. He feels terrified for her and frustration starts rising in the pit of his stomach, piercing through the panic.
He knows she owes him nothing, just because they’re friends, just because they sort of live together. He’s not her family, he’s not her boyfriend. He’s the afterthought. And yet, he cares too much about her to just let her go, to say nothing at all.
Does Charles’ sister have space for all three of you? he asks.
Mabel hesitates. Maybe she expected him to insist more about her staying here.
I… don’t know, she admits eventually.
It’s one of their usual plans, he realizes with a rising degree of horror, just flail and scramble and hope you’ll land on your feet. It usually works out in the end, so they’ve never had to consider the actual risk.
If you’re going to Long Island, at least go to your mom, he says firmly. You’ll still be close enough to Charles and Oliver.
She looks at him like he’s insane. He’s not surprised.
I can’t tell her about all this! She will freak out!
She makes a move forward, but he’s still blocking the way to the bathroom.
You have to tell her, he insists. He’s trembling, he feels the adrenaline rising. Things are going off the rails, he can feel it.
Now? Why? Mabel asks, exasperated.
Because it’s cruel not to, he says.
She looks at him like he’s just slapped her. Maybe he’s the cruel one, bringing up a sore subject at a time like this. But it feels important. Maybe she owes him nothing, but she owes something to her mother.
She gets distracted by her phone again.
They can’t keep driving around the block forever, she says. A lame excuse to leave, but he won’t budge.
Tell them to go then. I’ll drive you to Long Island. To your mother’s place.
“Theo,” she mouths then, and it looks like a plea.
I can’t do this to her - or you. What if - she stops, but she doesn’t need to say anything else, it’s all written plainly on her face.
What if something happens to you?
He feels the air getting knocked out of him. So he matters to her too. She doesn’t want him and her mother involved in this to protect them. She’d rather keep them in the dark than risk hurting them. Because that’s what love is to her. Her parents didn’t tell her about her father’s illness - out of love. Tim didn’t tell her of Oscar’s innocence - out of love. Charles didn’t contact his step-daughter Lucy for years - out of love. Oliver didn’t tell anyone about his first heart attack - out of love.
Don’t be a burden, don’t bother people, don’t weigh them down with your problems. That’s what she’s learned from everyone around her. If you share your troubles with people, you hurt them. So she’ll choose the lesser evil - shut them out, keep them safe, and control the hurt. It has to be less, if she’s the one inflicting it, if it’s done out of love.
He breathes again, in, out. He didn’t know relief could feel like pain.
You don’t have to do this alone, he says. The Olds are not the only ones that care about you. And if they can handle this, so can me and your mother. Please, let us help.
She hesitates. He has the feeling that she wants to say yes, but she’s still worried, she still struggles with asking for help in this way.
It’s not safe, I can’t do this to her, or you, she says and she looks strained, her eyes wild.
Is it safe for Charles’ sister, then? he retorts, unrelenting.
Her husband is a cop, apparently. It’s as safe as it gets.
He wants to remind her of her own investigation, of that corrupt creep of a cop that attacked her in the subway and chased them around Coney Island, but she is distracted. Her hand goes to her pocket, Charles and Oliver are calling again.
All he wants is to be useful to her - to help in any way he can. To be a part of her life, to add to her happiness in some small way. But if she chooses to go with them, he won’t stop her. He will go mad with worry not knowing what she’s doing, not knowing if she’s safe, but he won’t stop her.
She picks up the phone. He can’t make out what she’s saying - she’s half-turned away from him, facing down.
There’s a killer on the loose who’s targeting her and her friends and they just want to drive off in Oliver’s ridiculous car. There’s a creep who watches their every move and their plan is to go stay with some old woman in Long Island. There is someone psychotic who seems to always be one step ahead, and maybe this time the three of them might be in over their heads, but if Mabel wants to do things herself he has to trust that she’s made the right decision, even if it scares him to death.
Mabel puts the phone back in her pocket.
Theo, I’m going now, she says firmly. She looks tired, done in, and it’s breaking his heart.
He steps aside, defeated, and lets her finish her rushed packing. But when she’s about to step out the door, he holds her gently by the arm, and asks for one last moment from her time. Under his fingertips she feels like a live wire despite her exhaustion.
Promise me that if you need anything, if there’s anything that I can do to help, you’ll tell me, he almost pleads.
I promise, she says, and all he can do is hope that she’s not just trying to shake him off.
When she turns in the hallway, he feels like a piece of his heart has gone missing.
He doesn't rest that night. Sleep comes in fits and starts, and in the morning he wakes up with the sour taste of disturbing dreams already dissolving under his tongue.
He sleepwalks through his shift at work, his mind stuck on Mabel. He wants to text her and check if she’s alright, but he forces himself not to. He doesn’t want to be overbearing. She owes him nothing. But before lunchtime his phone buzzes.
Please get me out of here.
But don’t panic, I’m safe.
Just can’t stay in the valley of the dolls anymore.
The last text makes no sense to him, but it doesn’t matter. She’s asking for his help. He’s barely read the last line and he’s already off to ask for an emergency half-day. He doesn’t even care if they’ll give it to him, he’ll just walk out if he has to. Wild horses couldn’t stop him from reaching Mabel.
Theo arrives in Patchogue in the early afternoon - quite sooner than Mabel has dared to hope for.
She’s sitting at the curb of Doreen’s driveway, with her travel bag next to her. The street is quiet in the way that only the suburbs can be. From the top floor of the house, she can hear Doreen shouting at Charles. Music is coming from the ground floor - Oliver and Loretta are sitting at the piano. She thinks she can hear the actors rifling through Doreen’s cupboards looking for snacks, or maybe the sound is just etched on her eardrums forever, she’s heard it so often throughout the day.
When Theo gets out of the car dressed in what she privately thinks of as mortician chic, she ridiculously chokes a little. It’s good to see him - the once graverobber, the hand grenade that blew her circle of friends to smithereens, is now consistently the most reassuring presence in the chaos of her life.
As he approaches, she feels the puzzle pieces of the previous day rattling at the back of her mind, ready to flip the right side up, but she holds them down firmly. She is not ready to face her memories of the shooting, or the thoughts that crossed her mind right after it.
Thank god you’re here, she signs after he’s helped her get up.
Theo’s hand is warm, steady. She’d like to keep holding it. He smells faintly of the chemicals he uses at work - eau de morgue, she’s called it teasingly before. He must have left work early and come straight here. The thought he dropped everything to come to her sends a shiver down her spine.
Is everyone ok? You? he asks, the concern plain on his handsome face.
Everyone’s fine, it’s just so noisy in there! she complains.
Theo’s expression shifts from concern to confusion to amusement in a matter of seconds. He actually guffaws.
“Not funny, I can’t concentrate! I’ve got a case to solve!” she says and throws in the signs that she knows. “And I’m the only one who’s actually trying to work this out,” she grumbles to herself.
Theo sobers up at that. She rubs her temples. It had been a terrible mistake to tell Howard where they’d gone. Throughout the morning an endless parade of people had started coming through Doreen’s door, each of them a distraction and an obstacle to solving the case. She explains that to Theo, but she leaves out the part that after hearing Doreen’s ridiculous doorbell ring so many times, she had started hoping that the next person who would inexplicably show up at the door would be Theo. In the end she had to make good on her promise from last night, and ask for his help.
Where do you want to go? he asks her now.
She has the errant thought that if she asked him to take her to Mars, he’d somehow find the way to make it happen. It makes her feel a little lightheaded, and it’s the last thing she needs to have on her mind right now.
Not back to New York. I need to be close to the others just in case.
In case she makes some progress with their disturbing puzzle. In case something bad happens.
Theo, arms crossed on his chest, raises an eyebrow. It very eloquently makes the point that Bayport is only a short drive from Patchogue, making it an ideal place to stay for the next couple of days. Annoyingly, he has been right from the start.
Ok, you can drive me to my mom’s, she says. She’s not thrilled, but she knows there’s the ghost of a smile on her lips and she can’t help it.
He smiles and nods, but has the good sense to not rub it in her face. Instead he opens the passenger door of the car for her. She climbs in, already dreading facing her mother.
Theo must have caught the look in her eyes, because he doesn’t start the car immediately, but rather turns to face her.
It’s going to be alright, he says with a reassuring smile.
Mabel pulls a face - she doesn’t like it when people make promises they can’t keep.
And if anything happens, you know for a fact I can land a punch, Theo adds.
She snorts at that, always amused by his dark sense of humor.
Yeah, I know you can punch seniors, she says quickly. Not that impressive.
He gives her a look as if to say, there she is, and it makes her stomach twist.
Still, it’s almost 20% of the population, he insists, and finally starts the engine.
She has to bite the inside of her cheek to fight back her smile.