nextgenerationmarvel | I Know It Took A While... (Rose)

Entry tags:

I Know It Took A While... (Rose)

Tommy Templeton pulled up to his motel at the edge of town and killed the engine on his bike. Between helping the others on the semi-team he was on and his own personal business for The Boss, he hadn't a lot of time to himself in the last few months. The situation down in New Orleans was a nice break and Kassi helped out, but Tommy still wasn't in a good place.

He loped up the steps to the room and closed the door behind him, dropping his bag on the floor. He set the 24-pack of beer on the small table to his right, determined to get started as soon as he laid down for a moment. A wave of fatigue hit him just then, the result of pushing too hard for too long. He needed to call Joe. He needed to call Roxanne about Joe. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and a slip of paper fell to the floor. Probably another receipt. Need to keep those for when I file...

He bent down and picked up the slip of paper and turned it over.

Rose: XXX-XXX-XXXX

"Oh man. How did you forget to call her?" he said to no one in particular.

We have no time to indulge in petty fantasy.

"Yeah, I know." Tommy said, pulling his phone from his pocket. He dialed the number.

He hoped she'd pick up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rose stared at her cell-phone for a moment, trying to remember whose number that was supposed to be. ...Wait a minute.

She thumbed the answer key. "Hello?"

"Hey, Manhattan Rose." Tommy drawled, Missouri accent crawling across the line.

"Remember me?" he asked. "The guy with the bike and that...control problem."

In spite of herself, Rose started to smirk. "Hard ta ferget a thing like that, Tommy."

"Well, that part of our evenin' was unfortunate but I feel like it ended better." he said.

"You haven't hung up yet. Good. I'm sorry I didn't call. The other guy had the reins for a while. Longer than I'm used to." he said, an odd note in his voice. In truth, Tommy spent several weeks waking up in one city or another with little clue as to how he got there.

"Anyway...how are you? You're kinda hard to forget, too."

"I been... I been better, honestly," Rose said. Then, to her surprise, she went on, "I found out some stuff about myself I ain't been real happy about."

"Hey, I'm sorry you got bad news. Anything you can talk about? I just got back into town. Maybe we can catch up?" he asked.

Despite herself, Rose felt a grin spread across her face. "I could definitely go fer catchin' up."

"Am I pickin' you up or do we want to meet somewhere? No bar this time. I'd like to treat you like a lady." he said.

"For a little bit at least." he grinned.

"We can meet up," she told him. "Not sure if I'm technically allowed off grounds right now, so I'll do a little sneakin'."

"Sounds good. I'll meet you at Chili's down on 8th Street in one hour." he said.

Tommy showered, dressed in blue jeans, a black t-shirt and black boots. He ran a hand through his wet hair to slick it back and then hopped on his bike and headed out. He arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early.

He'd grab a table near the door so she could see him. He stood up when she showed up and pulled out her chair.

"Long time no see, Manhattan Rose. You look great."

Rose had managed to make herself presentable, which was somewhat difficult considering she was half-living in the woods right now.

But she grinned. "And you're fulla it. ...But I like hearin' it anyway."

Tommy waited for her to sit down and then took his own seat. A waitress arrived just then and made eyes at Tommy while she took their drink orders. Tommy smiled but he looked sightly uncomfortable at the woman's obvious attentions, preferring to focus on Rose.

"Well, I'm pretty good at b.s. but I'm not jokin'. You look great." he said.

"You said you got some bad news, though. Want to talk about it? I listen almost as well as I get into fights with strangers. And I'm a master at that." he said, grinning.

Rose took in a breath. She genuinely liked Tommy, felt a kinship with him, not to mention a good deal of attraction.

And she had to talk to somebody...

"Long story," she said. "But the short of it is, I found out I'm adopted, and that my biological father might be... well, the worst person who ever lived is probably puttin' it mildly."

Tommy listened quietly as Rose explained the nature of her dilemma. When she explained that her bio dad was a monster and that she was adopted...a shadow of sadness crossed his features.

"This probably isn't a comfort to you, but I know what you're going through. Kinda. I learned I was adopted a few years ago. But it was my step-dad who was the biggest piece of crap who ever lived. And my mom wasn't much better." Tommy said.

"Did bio-dad call you and drop the news? Or did your adopted dad have to tell you because somethin' happened?" Tommy asked.

Rose would have almost laughed, but she controlled herself. "Nah. That'd been the easy version. Me and some of the other girls were campin' up in Canada, and he somehow managed to come across out campsite. He... he had the same eyes as me. And I just kinda... knew it. He told me I smelled like somebody he used ta know..."

She looked down. "He hurt a friend of mine. She coulda died. And that's how I hadta find out...?"

"Hey, I'm sorry to hear that." Tommy said, reaching out to gently place his hand over Rose's.

"Is your friend okay?" he asked her.

Rose gave him a small smile. "She's fine. Tough kid. But it coulda been a lot worse."

"An'... it's not like I'm questionin' my family. My Pops is my Pops, my sister's my sister, and my brothers are my brothers, dorks they might be. I just... I wanna know more. An' I wanna know why they were keepin' this from me."

"No, of course not. They love you and you love them. Now, this ain't none of my business and you can tell me to shut up...but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they did it to protect you." Tommy said gently.

"I know, I know...people toss out that kind of reasonin' when they're doin' somethin' they don't want someone to know about. But if your bio-dad is really as bad you say he is, and it sounds like he is, then they didn't want you to look him and judge yourself by his life." Tommy said.

"You're your own woman, Rose. The people who love you make you, even if the people who make you don't love you, as my old man used to say."

"Sounds like yer old man was pretty clever," Rose told him. She shook her head. "They probably did. But now I got way more questions than I ever wanted."

"What would it take to get those answers?" Tommy asked as the waitress came back with drinks.

"Logan-ing up and talking to Pops about it," Rose said. "I been, ah, I been kinda avoiding him... avoiding everybody, really, since we got back."

"If he hid it from you, sounds like he had a good reason. I bet the last thing he wanted was for you to shut down and shut everyone out." Tommy said.

"Your friends that were with you...are you talkin' to them about it?" he asked.

"Little bit," Rose said. "Couple of m' other friends too..."

She shook her head again. "I come by broodin' natural-like. Or close enough to it. Pops is the same way sometimes."

"Well, closed mouths don't get fed, Rose. Bite the bullet and talk to your old man. No matter what he tells you, at least you'll know. Isn't that better than imaginin' the worst all the time?" he asked.

Tommy felt like a hypocrite telling Rose to find out about her father when he didn't have the courage to do the same about his. Maybe if it turned out well for her, he'd think about it.

She nodded. "Yeah. I know. Used ta think I was pretty fearless... but this scares th' heck outta me."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject