“No Raelin, don’t make me sleep. I don’t want to have the dreams again.” Del mumbled, struggling to stay awake under the soothing strokes of Raelin’s fingers. She felt the tears spill over and cursed her inability to keep her emotions under control.
“There will be no dreams tonight Delaney. Just a restful sleep. I promise,” Raelin whispered. She knew that she could keep this promise and muttered a spell underneath her breath.
“Please don’t leave me. Promise you’ll stay,” she begged, struggling to stay awake long enough hear the words.
“Shhh, go to sleep Darlin’. You need your rest,” Raelin whispered, unable to promise her wife. There was something that she needed to do and she had to go into town as soon as possible.
Unable to fight any longer, Del slipped into sleep, cheeks still wet with her tears.
Raelin stayed where she was for almost an hour running her fingers through Del’s hair and rubbing her back. Closing her eyes she spoke another spell to make sure that the blonde wouldn’t wake and then she carefully got out of bed, got dressed and went downstairs. She was about to walk out the back door when Rori came in.
“Hey, there is something I need to do and I want you to watch over Del until I get back,” the brunette pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
“I’ll keep an eye on her. Please tell me whatever you planning won’t get you in trouble?” He sighed, whiskers twitching in amusement.
“No, and it may help out Delaney in the long run. I don’t know, but it’s something that must be done. Please stay with her.” And with that, Raelin was out the door and getting into her truck to drive to the department.
Parking in front, she got out and went into the lobby to tap on the door. Deputy Michaels looked up in surprise and came to open the door.
“Mrs. Delacroix, it’s awfully late to see you out this way,” he said surprised, as he opened the door and let her in. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to see Duke Delacroix please.” Raelin knew that this was out of the ordinary but she hoped that the Deputy would allow her to see her father-in-law.
“It’s a bit late for visits, but he’s in holding cell three. Do you know where it is or would you like me to take you there?” He hadn’t been here long, but from what he’d heard about Raelin since that afternoon, he figured she wouldn’t have come all the way out here without a good reason.
“Would you mind going in and making sure that he’s awake and presentable? I just need to talk to him for a few moments,” she asked as she smiled at the young man.
Michaels nearly swooned at the sweet smile Raelin flashed him and nodded as he led her to the holding cells. He opened the door and woke the man up making sure he was mostly roused and totally dressed. Walking back out, he addressed Raelin, “He’s up and presentable, I’ll be right over here. He tries to pull anything, you just yell for me and I’ll take care of him for you. Okay?”
Raelin thanked the young man and stepped into the doorway. Duke was wiping his face, trying to wake up a bit more. “Mr. Delacroix, do you remember who I am?”
The older man looked up and blinked at her blearily, trying to open his eyes against the headache that was throbbing between his eyes. “Why sure, you’re Delaney’s wife. Raelin I believe it was. I heard that you arranged to have me picked up tomorrow for rehab. Thank you for that,” he answered, sobriety making him far more respectful.
The witch wasn’t going to beat around the bush. “I know why you hate Delaney so much. You wanted a son, but you and Grace were told that she shouldn’t have kids. But you wanted a son so much that you talked her into it. Didn’t you?”
“How would you know that? Not even Delaney’s ever been told that,” he asked warily, standing from his cot.
“Grace told me...she also told me that you weren’t there when she went into labor. That you were at a ballgame and no one could find you. She went through the delivery with Fiona by her side, not you. And when you found out that she had died and Delaney was a girl, you blamed her. Somewhere in your mixed up mind you thought that since you had a daughter instead of a son, that it was her fault when it was your own. You thought that your own needs were above your wife’s life, and then when Fiona died you were forced to take care of Delaney.” Raelin stood in the doorway with her hands fisted.
“What do you know? You certainly were not there. Besides, by the looks of things Delaney is close enough to a son anyway, she married a woman and she’s the Chief, isn’t she? And what do you mean Grace told you?” he asked defensively. He couldn’t deny any of the woman’s words, but he found it highly doubtful she got the information out of his dead wife.
“I am a lot like your mother Fiona was. I am a witch, and Grace and your mother are here with us now, and they are not happy with you at all,” Raelin growled out.
“Oh God, the witch thing again. Look, I’m not sure what they have to complain about. She turned out just fine, don’t you think? She’s successful and happy. Sure, I made a few mistakes and I’d probably do a few things differently, but that’s why I want the rehab. Yeah, I wanted a son, but what man doesn’t,” he responded, rubbing his forehead.
“She’s not just fine. She thinks that you never loved her. That she wasn’t good enough for you. You told her that you hated her and she knows that you tried to cut off her life support when she was in the coma. What was the matter? Was the hospital using the money that you wanted to buy your booze with?” Raelin was trying to keep her temper in check, but it was proving to be very hard.
“You have no right to judge me. You don’t know me and you don’t know my life,” he said angrily. He’d known he’d made mistakes, especially in the way of raising his daughter but he didn’t need them continually shoved down his throat. “I’d lost my wife, my mother, and nearly my only child. I was beyond depressed. I still regret ever even thinking of cutting her off. “
“I have every right to judge you. Your daughter is terrified of sleeping because of the nightmares that she has. However, you are right; I don’t know your life. And I won’t have you hurting Delaney anymore, so go to your rehab. Fix yourself. It’s always been about you anyway. Never anyone else.” Raelin took a step back to leave.
“What do you want from me? I’m trying to make it as right as I can. I know I failed her; I’m reminded every day when she shuts me out. I was young, and stupid. Why did you really come here, it couldn’t have been just to ram my failures down my throat,” he said, sinking back onto the bed.
“You’re going to have to admit your failures in rehab and take responsibility for them, and that’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. You have to be man enough to admit them to yourself...I came here because it needed to be said and Delaney couldn’t say it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wants your love and approval. It’s too bad that you couldn’t walk in Delaney’s shoes so you could know what she’s gone through. Have a good night sleep Mr. Delacroix,” Raelin muttered something underneath her breath and flicked her wrist at the man before walking off.
Duke watched the witch walk off and crawled back into bed as the Deputy silently clanged his door shut. He closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep full of his daughter and the hurt and anguish she suffered trying to live up so something she could never be. Then the agonizing helplessness, shame, and sense of failure, when she gave up trying. He would get no rest this night.
Raelin thanked Deputy Michaels and went outside to get into her truck. She sat in front of the department for a long time, feeling a little bit guilty about what she did, but prayed to her Goddess that she would be forgiven. Starting up the engine, she pulled out of the parking spot and headed home.
Once she was home she went inside and opened the fridge to pour a glass of juice and turned to see Rori sitting on his bench. “Did she wake up?”
“No, she hasn’t stirred, but for the few minutes I laid with her, she kept reaching out for you. That and I don’t think she’s ever frowned so deeply since I’ve met
her.” He sighed, shaking his head.
Shaking her head, Raelin sipped her juice. “Her father came into town, got drunk at the bar, and made a little scene. Then he comes out here and...I don’t know Rori. He says that he’s been told that if he doesn’t straighten up his life, that he’s gonna die and now he wants to go into rehab and spend time with her, but after talking to him, I don’t know what to believe.”
“Well, what does Delaney think?” he asked, jumping up to sit next to his witch on the counter.
“She believes that he hates her. I don’t think she wants to spend time with him, but it is her decision that matters. I can only stand by her when she makes it,” she reached out to scratch him behind his ears. “How did your meeting with the new field cat go?”
“I well uh...she’s very nice. She was grateful I showed her around and would like to help the brigade anyway she can,” he replied carefully.
Carefully hiding the smile while taking another sip, Raelin muttered, “Well, that’s good. Invite her over for dinner if you want. I picked up some fresh tuna at the market that I thought that you might like to share with her.”
“Perhaps I will. Thank you. Now it’s late and I know a certain Chief who is probably missing her witch. Head up to bed child, it was a long day for you both.” He purred, rubbing against the witch’s chin.
“Night Rori.” Raelin put the glass in the sink and quietly made her way upstairs. Once there, she got undressed and slid into bed next to her wife.
Del felt Raelin’s presence even in sleep and pressed into to her usual place against Raelin’s front, her face relaxing as Raelin held her close. Letting out a deep breath the blonde cuddled in seeking the extra warmth from her wife.
Running her hand over Del’s hair soothed Raelin’s nerves as she laid there and thought about their day. She hoped that the blonde wouldn’t be too upset once she heard about her visit to the department, but wasn’t going to hold her breath. Closing her eyes, she soon was sound asleep.
~ Chapter 2 ~
It was around lunchtime and Raelin was putting up some new books that had come in when she happened to glance out the window to see her wife striding in her direction. “Oh Goddess protect me,” she could feel the anger rolling off the blonde and briefly considered locking the door and turning on the closed sign, but swiftly rid herself of that thought. Might as well face the music now.
Pulling the door open, Del scowled at her wife, who’d frozen in place with a book halfway to a shelf. “You have a minute?” she asked evenly, trying her best to keep her temper in check. She’d been having an okay day until she’d read the logs from that night and had discovered Raelin’s visit.
“For you, I have all the time in the world. Did you want me to close up for a bit?” The witch asked evenly.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Del shot over her shoulder, heading to Raelin’s back office, where she waited for Raelin to join her, leaning against the large oak desk, arms crossed tightly across her chest.
Closing her eyes briefly, Raelin put away the book, walked to the front of the store to throw the lock and to turn the sign before heading towards the back office. Walking through the door, she was almost slammed back three feet by the anger she could feel from her wife.
“Mind telling me what the hell you thought you would accomplish by paying my father a visit in the middle of the night?” Del asked, carefully trying to keep her voice from cracking under the force of her anger.
“I needed to talk to him.” Keeping it simple, Raelin knew that she didn’t want to say anything that could be taken the wrong way.
“You needed to talk to him? For what exactly? He’s my father and I don’t even have a reason to talk to him. Let alone at what the fuck o’clock in the morning,” the blonde growled.
Taking a deep breath, Raelin answered honestly, “Grace and Fiona asked me to go talk with him. Hoping that if he was confronted with what he did, he would admit that he was wrong.”
“So what, you always do what the spirits tell you? They ask you to jump a cliff you going to do it?” Distantly Del knew that was a cheap dig, but she was far too angry at this point to care. “First of all, he’s my issue and I’ll deal with it myself. Second of all, I shouldn’t have to find out that my wife is sneaking out at random hours of the morning to visit my father’s jail cell from a man who has only worked for me less than a day.
“No, I don’t always do what they ask, but in this instance I thought that it was a good idea. And he’s just not your issue, he’s our issue. We’re married and we deal with things together,” Raelin calmly answered back.
“Don’t you dare throw the fucking married card at me. You had no right to interfere the way you did. What good did it do huh? Let me guess, he threw you some sob story about how depressed he was and didn’t mean it. Because that’s the same damn story I get every time I have to clean up his shit. Now my fucking rookie deputy knows more about my personal life than I’d care for him to,” Del snapped, her voice quickly rising. “I don’t need my entire fucking work force to know the grim details of my childhood.”
“I don’t believe that Deputy Michaels heard anything, but if he did I’m sure that he wouldn’t say anything,” Raelin responded.
“That’s not the fucking point. The point is that you stuck your nose into something I didn’t need it into. I can deal with this myself; I’ve been doing just that my entire life,” Del growled, her posture rigid.
“Fine...it’s all yours. Anything else you want to go over,” the witch stared at her wife
“Anything else you need to tell me?” Del threw back, her hands fisted tightly at her sides.
Shaking her head, Raelin calmly answered, “No, nothing at all.”
The fact that Raelin was being so calm about everything and not rising to take her bait was just pissing Del off even more. She turned to lean over the desk, resting her weight on her hands. “Why couldn’t you have just left well enough alone? Just once, left him to suffer. Let him feel everything I did. Knowing you were never going to measure up. God damn it Raelin, he doesn’t deserve what you did for him.” Del needed an outlet for the irrational anger pouring over her and slammed her fist into desk, hissing in pain when bone met solid oak. She quickly pulled it back and cradled it against her chest, angry tears burning at the back of her eyes, already feeling the knuckles starting to swell. “Damn it.”
“Do you want me to heal that?” Raelin asked, barely able to stand still wanting to go and comfort her wife, but thinking that it would be better if she were asked.
Del stayed where she was, her back to Raelin. She’d known she’d been harsh and that Raelin hadn’t deserved most of what she’d just dished out. She whimpered both at the pain in her right hand and the sudden realization that she’d done the exact same thing to her wife that her father had done to her all her life. She’d lashed out simply because she was angry at herself and was too proud to admit it.
Raelin stayed where she was hoping that Delaney would at least let her keep the swelling down in her hand. She knew that she might have overstepped her boundaries a little but felt that Del would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.
“Rae, I’m sorry,” Del said around a small sob. She was still a bit too raw to admit to needing help but she knew Raelin would either get the hint, or at least know that she was sorry for how she’d just treated her.
Walking up behind the blonde Raelin placed a hand on her shoulder to turn her around to face her. “Let me see your hand please.”
Unable to bring herself to look Raelin in the face the blonde held her hand out, wincing when she saw the damage she’d done.
Grimacing at the damage the witch leaned over to kiss it gently before she blew a healing breath across it as she touched it with her right hand. She didn’t look up into Delaney’s eyes knowing that she was mentally kicking herself and not wanting to see pity coming from Raelin.
Feeling the pain start to recede, Del let the tears fall over her che
eks at the tenderness the witch showed her, even after the way she’d just been treated. “I’m so sorry. That was totally uncalled for,” Del cried, her gaze fixed on her feet. “I don’t know why I blew up like that, but I shouldn’t have lashed out the way I did.”
“No, I stepped out of bounds into something I had no right to. He’s your father and you should deal with him the way that you want. I just didn’t want you to have any regrets. I have enough for the both of us,” she reached out to wipe away the tears. Raelin gently kissed the blonde’s fist. “The swelling should go down in a bit, but I would try and avoid hitting anything for a while.” The witch smiled at her wife.
“Thank you,” Del said simply. She used her free hand to wipe at her eyes and straightened up. She felt terrible. Not only had she just reamed out her wife for trying to help, but also she’d done it at her place of business and to Del, that was inexcusable. “I guess I should let you get back to work,” she said quietly.
“Can I interest you in glass of iced tea? I got your favorite in,” Raelin quietly asked.
Surprised that Raelin didn’t want to throw her out, she nodded. “Yeah sure, I’d like that.”
Going back up to the front, Raelin unlocked the door and turned the sign around before going over to the tearoom and fixing Del a tall glass of raspberry tea. Grabbing a chocolate chip cookie she walked back into the office and handed everything to the blonde. “Here you go hun.”
“Thank you,” Del acknowledged, nibbling on the cookie. She took a sip of the tea before finally looking into Raelin’s face, mildly confused. “You aren’t angry?”
“No, I knew that there was a chance that you would get upset, but I felt that I had to do it. Your mother and Fiona wanted me to know the entire situation, and for me to speak up.” The brunette shrugged her shoulders. “I would do it again, if I felt that it was the right thing to do.”
“Even so, I’m sorry for blowing up on you like that. I should have handled it like an adult, or at the very least, waited until we were home,” Del said, flexing the fingers of her sore hand. It still ached, but the swelling had gone down noticeably. She took another long sip of her tea washing down the bite of cookie she’d taken as she thought about Raelin’s words. “Wait, what do you mean the whole situation? What else is there to know?” Del asked suddenly.
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