Bring The Bad News

Who: Dodge and Maddy
When: Early Afternoon
Where: Fontaine Park

Having gone to bed rather early the night before, Maddy had woken up early that morning. Not quite dawn, but certainly around the seven o’clock hour, which wasn’t very normal for her. She’d still been a little troubled by everything that had gone on the night before, but was certainly feeling better all around. She hadn’t slept well either. Nightmares had plagued her through the night, and Maddy was visibly tired as she headed out into the warm afternoon light to go to the park. She had her sketchbook in her bag along with a few pencils to do some sketching.

Despite having gone shopping for new clothes the day before, Maddy had pulled out a red cotton sundress dotted with little yellow flowers that swished just above her knees. She’d taken the time to cover up the bruise on her arm with makeup, disliking how easily her pale skin bruised. Hair twisted up with a spare paintbrush, Maddy set out into Fontaine, having found the perfect spot to sketch from. She’d climbed one of the big trees near the fountain, a bright red robin settled up among the winter-dead branches and casually observed the picnicking families around the fountain.

The little girl he’d sent looking for Dodge had found him after a little while, tugging at his coat and pointing him in the direction of the park. He’d swiped her an apple from a cart and patted her on the head before sending her on her way. Setting out for the park he squared his shoulders, ready to deliver the bad news.

He spotted Maddy in the tree easily as she stood out against the sky in her red dress. Once he was close, he pulled the fedora off his head, twirling it in his hands as he watched the ground below the tree instead of the girl in it. “Hey pretty girl,” he called though his voice lacked the light sound it normally had when he referred to her like that.

“I thought we’d settled on ‘beautiful’,” Maddy replied, finishing sketching the outline of the fountain. She looked from her book down to Dodge, noting the tired appearance and the fact that he’d taken his hat off. Dodge did not take his hat off often and from the sound of his voice and that, it got her concerned. Maddy stretched out against the limb like a jungle cat and leaned off a little bit to peer down at him. She was quiet for a little while, studying him. “You okay?” She wondered what got him so riled up and she reached down, allowing her red gloved hand to hang down, fingertips skimming the top of his hair.

“Right beautiful, I’m sorry,” he apologized, knowing as soon as it left his mouth that he never apologized that quickly for anything. “Been better,” he admitted, pushing up on his toes a little so it was easier for her to play with his hair. “You got a minute? I got news.” News he didn’t want to deliver because she looked amused there in the tree, like she might be enjoying her day, a day he was about to ruin.

Her frowned deepened and she tugged on his hair gently, leaning over a bit more so it was easier on him. “What kind of news?” She wondered if she should climb out of the tree for this, because Dodge had apologized, in a half-distracted way, but apologized nonetheless and it had left her with the inability to come back at him with a snappy retort. “What’s happened?” There was a nervous, vulnerable kind of tone to her voice. One that Maddy didn’t have very often. Ideas started running through her head. He’d found her brother, but he was dead. He was leaving. Something happened to one of the boys. Something happened to Roach. Something happened to Roy. Pepper? She knew Pepper had been having spot troubles, had something happened with that?

Dodge didn’t answer, just gave her a look that conveyed that it wasn’t good news and then he stepped out of her touch. Dropping the fedora back on his head he moved back enough to be ready to catch her when she dropped from the tree, or take whatever she had up there with her.

With that, now Maddy wasn’t very sure if she wanted to leave the now obvious safety of her tree perch and as he moved back, she sat back up, watching him with wary eyes. She looked at her sketchbook and reluctantly put it in her bag before lowering it down and letting it drop. She flipped her leg over so she was no longer straddling the branch, but she still looked back at him hesitantly, not quite sure if she wanted to slide down.

“Come on beautiful,” Dodge coaxed, motioning for her to jump down. It was hardly news he wanted to call up into a tree, nor did he imagine it was news she wanted to hear when she was sitting a few feet off the ground.

Maddy still looked down at him with a frown but she did jump down, lowering herself because she was wearing a skirt and didn’t particularly want to flash everyone. She landed on the ground gracefully, crouching to keep her balance. She grabbed the strap of her bag before straightening up to look up at him. Still nervous. Still wary. “Dodge?” The nervousness was more pronounced but now it was unsure, that same voice she had used on him in the early hours of the morning when she’d apologized to him. It was not one that was often heard from heard and she did not like sounding that way.

Out of habit Dodge reached for her, hand brushing across her forehead and pushing her hair back. “Bad news Maddy,” he said softly, eyes full of hurt beneath the brim of the fedora. “It’s Pepper Mads, she’s gone.” That wasn’t entirely specific, but it would relay the message that he had to relay. Street kids didn’t ‘pass away’ they were just ‘gone.’

“That’s ridiculous. I saw her just a couple days ago.” Maddy’s frown turned a little angry, but the anger didn’t quite reach her eyes. Pepper gone? That... Maddy had known kids who’d ‘gone’. It had been awhile since the last one but Maddy was very well aware of that fact of life for a street kid. And she’d gotten in plenty of positions where she had nearly been gone. “Why would you say something like that?” Pepper lived where she could so very easily be taken out. That’s why Maddy didn’t hang down there much. Why she’d try to get Pepper to stay with her from time to time. But logic was warring with the sheer fact that she’d spoken to Pepper just a few days ago. That Pepper, one of the longer fixtures in her life, could be gone.’’

“Just happened this morning,” Dodge explained taking her hand in his. “You know full well I wouldn’t kid about something like this. Had to find you so I could tell you myself.” It was obvious from his face that Dodge wasn’t kidding, that what had happened had actually happened.

Maddy was shaking her head though, her face scrunching up for a second like she was going to start crying, but it smoothed quickly back into her frown. She let him hold her hand and her eyes flicked down to him holding it. His hands were bigger than hers, even with the gloves on. And there was a bit of dirt under his fingernails. It was the most insignificant detail but that what her mind focused on. “I just saw her the other day,” she repeated. She wasn’t looking at him. She was still looking at their hands. There were still little scrapes on his knuckles from his fights. Like the little scrapes and yellow and green bruises still on his face. “Pepper had a bruise,” she mumbled, now thinking about them. The ones on her arm was blackish-purple. Not deep, but still vivid against her arm that made it difficult to cover up with make-up.

“I did too,” he told her, ducking his head so he could see her face. “Just a couple of days ago, when I got her space back. The bruise was from the guy who took it. We gave him a few more of his own, but apparently this morning he came back and grabbed her. He wasn’t alone. We’re already looking, if I find him he won’t walk away.” Dodge was serious, his eyes dark with the levity of it. He still felt that he should have been there to protect Pepper in the first place, but he’d see to it that no one else tried to hurt one of his again.

She shook her head as he spoke, ticking her eyes up to look at him. Now she looked confused amidst her anger. “No, I saw her after that. She had her spot back already.” Pepper had her spot and they’d talked about setting traps. “We were going to deck the spot out with alarms and stuff. Alligator pits...” There was a detachment there. Maddy’s mind was frantically trying to sort this out and her head ached. “Other people live there too... How can she be gone.” Her hand clenched around his and her knees felt a little weak but she was still standing somehow. Pepper was gone. It didn’t make sense. Pepper couldn’t be gone.

Dodge dropped to his knees, still tall enough that his head came up to her chin. “I know, I know.” Letting go of her hand to turn her face towards his. “The other people didn’t do anything, they just let it happen. Let her get carted off. I already made an embarrassing scene over there, yelling like it might change something.” He hated this, he hated that angry look on her face, hated the the pain on her face was probably echoed on his.

Her eyes stung as tears started welling up in the corners. Her blue eyes went dark and glassy and she looked down at him when he got to his knees. “That’s not right. That doesn’t make sense.” She blinked rapidly and inhaled sharply in an effort to calm herself. Crying wouldn’t do. How could she allow that? “She must be in the tunnels.” Her voice was quite sure with no hint of tears or upsetness in it anymore. “She must’ve gone into the tunnels to hide out.” That was simple. She’d just go look for Pepper in the tunnels like she was going to look for Jack.

“She’s not, I swear it she’s not.” He stroked the edges of her cheeks lightly with his thumbs. “They carried her off. Those people were useless to help but they did fill in the gaps here and there.” When her voice went clear, so did his. He could almost see her planning the search into the tunnels for Pepper and he wouldn’t let that happen.

Maddy let him stroke her cheeks, the tears not quite falling yet but they were still there, making her vision kind of blurry. The tunnels... would Pepper have used the entrance near the bridge? That would make the most sense. She’d need a flashlight. There was one in her attic, but that would take time. She had a lighter. She could make a torch. She didn’t know how to make a torch. Roy might know. Roy... she needed to tell Roy about this. Roy was friends with Pepper too. Did Roy know yet? “Should burn them for being useless,” she murmured, frowning at a point over his left shoulder. “Should punish them for not watching out for Pepper. Shameful of them.” Maddy frowned, confused as to where her train of thought was going. She’d heard things like that before but she couldn’t remember where and Maddy shook her head, blinking and the tears ran down her face but they didn’t keep coming. “Did you look for her there? She can’t be gone, Dodge.” Maddy still stared at the point over his shoulder, biting her lip to keep herself focused.

“You should punish me then as well. Burn down my whole building,” he told her, cursing himself because it sounded as if he was pleading with her. He brushed away her tears, wishing to make them go away rather than bring them. “I should have protected her, and I fell short, just like always. But I’ll take care of it, I promise you I will. I’m so sorry princess.”

She shook her head a little, letting him wipe away her tears but she was running ideas through her head. “No, now, I won’t punish you.” She still frowned there and then finally looked at him. “Don’t you dare try kidnap me again, Dodge.” Her jaw was set, her eyes glossy still and her hands lifted up and grabbed his wrists to gently push his hands away.

“No, Maddy, no.” His voice was firm as she pushed him away. “Don’t do what you’re thinking. She’s gone Maddy. Gone. I won’t let you go down there. I will not lose you too.”

Maddy wasn’t listening anymore to him though and she looked away from Dodge to start digging in her bag, making sure that this time? She had her switchblade. “I’m going to go find Pepper. She’s not dead. Stop saying that.” Pepper wasn’t dead. She was gone and gone didn’t have to mean dead. No. No, she couldn’t be dead and Maddy couldn’t accept that. Not until she saw the body.

Dodge stood and grabbed Maddy’s arm, harder than he ever had before. “Maddy. Look at me. You know she’s dead. You know it just as well as I do. Stop.” He was angry now. He’d come assuming he’d have to cheer her up and now he was yelling at her.

She winced. There was no hiding that the grip he had on her arm hurt and she looked at him, mouth open to protest but she couldn’t. She just looked up at him with her eyes still glossy with tears. He was snapping at her. He’d grabbed her. “Gone doesn’t mean dead,” she said desperately.

“Today it does Maddy,” he told her voice still harsh. He hated seeing her wince, but she wasn’t listening. He hated when she didn’t listen. “Today it does. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid. Swear it on us.”

“Us?” she asked, a bit derailed by that statement. Was there a ‘them’? Pepper hadn’t thought there should be a ‘Dodge and Maddy’ and she remembered that conversation. Of saying how Dodge made her felt, how Pepper is an enemy of the color pink. And how Pepper wanted her to be happy. Her lower lip started trembling as she thought more and more about that conversation and the tip of her nose started to get a little red as the tears really started to come. “Pepper hated the color pink,” she whispered.

Dodge frowned. He didn't understand why she asked that question. She’d been the one who pushed it, who’d suggested that there was something more between them. Maybe he didn't have to worry about what Roach had said, about using Maddy. When she started to cry he loosened his grip on her arm, pulling her close to him, holding on to her. “I know she did. She hated me calling her pretty too.”

“She didn’t want there to be an us,” she said, her voice thick even though the tears still weren’t really falling. Her arm hurt a bit where he grabbed it but then he was holding her and she could listen to his heartbeat. He was still alive. “She said I was being stupid or something but she promised not to be an enemy of the color pink for awhile when I told her that this made me pretty happy and she was there and she was okay and we were going to rig her spot with traps and she can’t be gone.” She was babbling, but despite the tears in her voice, she was still audible. “She told me how stupid I was for going to that whore house and how I was better than that and she was right and I was stupid and she can’t be gone.” A little sob ripped from her throat and she sucked in a breath to hold the rest in. Pepper couldn’t be gone. That wasn’t allowed.

Dodge ran his hand through her hair, still holding on to her. He didn’t comment on what she saying, knowing she was just going through whatever she and Pepper had talked about last. “I know,” he mumbled, trying to sound reassuring.

“Then why are you saying she’s gone? she asked, looking up at him. Tears were streaking down her face now and she sniffled. Her hands were fisting in his shirt and there was that anger back on her face, but it wasn’t wholly angry. Maddy was clearly panicked. Clearly upset. “There’s no body. She could still be alive. What if she needs help?” She still very much wanted to go into those tunnels. To see for herself. Pepper just couldn’t be gone. It wasn’t fair.

“Because she is Maddy, you know full well what it means.” Dodge knew she should understand, she knew what it was like. “I’ve got the whole city full of street kids on alert, if she’s there we’ll find her. I don’t think she will be though. I’m not getting my hopes up.” Instead he was getting his hopes up to find the guys who hurt her, to exact his revenge.

Maddy’s face screwed up a little bit and she held back in another sob. She swallowed it down with an intake of breath and looked away, not wanting Dodge to see her face like that, even though he already had. She wiped her face with a hand and got dusty pencil streaks across the blotchy skin. “It’s my fault. I should’ve tried harder to get her to move in with me. I should’ve told Roy about the traps idea. He’s good at stuff like that. I was so selfish.” She shook her head, their last few conversations playing with stark clarity in her head. “We had just talked about us being girls on the street. Why did I let her stay there?” She was rocking back and forth on her heels, like she was going to pull away from Dodge, but then kept coming back. Her hands were still gripping his shirt tightly.

“It’s my fault too, I should have set up people to watch her even if she hated it. You did like I did, Pepper was her own gal, she didn’t want us taking care of her.” Dodge hadn’t understood that but he’d respected it. He’d tried as hard as the rest of them to get her to let him take care of her like he did the others, but she fought it, she always had. Leaning down he kissed Maddy’s forehead gently. “I shouldn’t have let her stay there either, but she wouldn’t have listened even if we tried.”

She wouldn’t have. Logically, Maddy knew this. People didn’t tell Pepper to do anything, even more so than how people didn’t tell Maddy to do things either. But she could’ve at least tried. She could’ve tried harder. She was Doll Girl. She was Maddy. She could do whatever she put her mind to. She could’ve made Pepper move had she just tried harder. “I need to put a lock on my door,” she mumbled distractedly. Pepper had gotten pulled out of bed in the middle of the night. That was absolutely terrifying and Maddy was reminded how that stupid, flimsy door had no lock. “They just went in and took her, you said?”

Dodge didn’t comment on the lock. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Maddy locking her door. Yes it would be good for her safety, but it meant she could lock him out. Plus he knew more than one guy who was good enough to pick a standard lock. If someone wanted in, a lock was hardly going to keep them away. “Yes, they grabbed her while she was sleeping,” Dodge said pushing her hair back off her face. “Can you do me a favor princess? Go home, stay there, stay safe? Just for the day?” He had enough on his mind and the last thing he needed was Maddy running around town.

Maddy reached back to pull the paint brush from her hair, where it was in danger of falling out. “I need to find Roy,” she said hoarsely. Her tears were subsiding as she got her wits back around her. Crying wasn’t going to help her do anything. “Him and Pepper were friends too. I need to see if he’s okay.” And considering how easily his moods changed, she wanted to make sure Roy wasn’t doing anything drastic. She took in a shuddering breath, slow and steady. Having a course of action in her head was making her feel better.

Roy. Of course. It always came back to Roy didn’t it. Though if Roy was friends with Pepper, Dodge did remember that much, then it was best that someone told him what had happened. “Better plan, how about you just stay with Roy today?” Dodge couldn’t believe he’d said it after the words tumbled out of his mouth. It was a good idea except for the part where it was Roy and Dodge was sending Maddy straight for him. Flinching a little he stilled himself from taking the comment back. Roy would take care of Maddy, keep her safe and whatever poisoned ideas he put in her head about Dodge he could work past later.

The fact that Dodge was telling her to hang out with Roy for the rest of the day was odd. That did occur to Maddy, but it was something that she wasn’t going to point out with or worry about. “Yeah, maybe,” she said. The idea of locking herself up in Roy’s vault for the time being actually sounded appealing and she looked over her shoulder in both directions, suddenly feeling exposed. All her vulnerabilities glaring in her mind. Unacceptable. Maddy clutched her bag tighter, liking the comfort of it by her side. “Don’t grab me like that again,” she told Dodge, finally looking back at him. Her voice was quiet, but there was a definite firmness of the regular Maddy there. “It hurt.” And it had been the already bruised arm too and Maddy wasn’t thinking of how she’d been acting stupid. What was the problem was that he’d grabbed her arm that way in the first place.

Dodge flinched again at her comment, but he didn’t answer. He’d had reason to do it, but he wasn’t exactly proud of grabbing her like that. Instead he stepped back, putting space between them. “Stay out of trouble Maddy. Please,” he said, cursing the fact that he still sounded like he was pleading with her. “I gotta go. I’ll check on you later.” Reaching up he righted the fedora, tugging it down a little lower so his face was shaded.

Maddy felt a definite satisfaction at his flinch. She knew he didn’t mean it maliciously, but she was glad that she told him that she didn’t like it. “Yeah, I’ll work on it.” In regards to the staying out of trouble. She couldn’t control if anything happened outside of her control. Instead of walking away though, she stepped forward. Reaching up, she kissed him gently, and pushed his fedora down even more on his face, the way he wore it usually even if she thought it was stupid. “You be careful too,” she murmured, backing away with some hesitance. She didn’t know if she should walk away first or if she should wait for him to walk away first and they were standing there in the open and she had kissed him in public just then. So... weird. Awkward.

He was surprised at the kiss, but it didn’t show on his face when she stepped back. Instead the grin was there, that sly playful grin that fit his features naturally. “Always am,” he told her with a nod. Turning he strode out of the park, hands tucked in his pockets. His step lacked it’s normal grace and the happenings of the day were obviously wearing on him, but only to someone who knew him well enough to notice. To the rest of the world he still looked the picture of the persona he’d been longer than he’d been anything else.