Lets rest for a while 'til our souls catch us up

Who: Dodge and Maddy
Where: Maddy's place
When: Morning

Dodge wasn't happy. He'd dropped Roach's metal bits down a storm drain somewhere and he'd managed to swipe a clean shirt off someone's laundry line on his way through town. The route was round about but he was buttoning the new shirt as he climbed the stairs to the theater. He wasn't even sure what brought him here, but he was here nonetheless. Maybe he'd sneak in before Maddy woke up and score a few extra hours of sleep. He put his hand on the door to turn it and...the door was locked.

Looking down he spotted the new deadbolt. Unsure of what to do for a moment or two he just stared at it. Frowning he opted for knocking on the door instead. Loudly.

Maddy had been restless through the night. She'd gotten drunk yesterday, spending the day locked in her attic with her shiny, brand new lock, safe in the feeling that she could get drunk and sob and cry and no one would decide to burst in and bother her. She'd painted. Black, angry pictures streaked with red and purple and showing the anger inside of her that she couldn't get out. She'd passed out probably around midnight before waking up only a few hours later to munch on stale bread and stare at the picture she'd drawn of Pepper.

And she was still sitting there, dressed in just a plain white slip due to the weather when she heard the knock on hte door. There was something nice about it, no matter how loud it was. A real, actual knock. Padding over to the door, bedheaded and bruises vivid on her pale skin, Maddy hesitated in opening the locks. "Who is it?" she called, voice thick a little from lack of sleep.

"Why the fuck is there a lock on the door?" Dodge asked angrily through to door. There really was no good reason for there to be a lock. Looking at it again he had an idea. "Better question, why did Roy put a lock on your fucking door?"

Maddy sighed, rolling her eyes and undid the deadbolt and swung the door open. "Because it's a birthday present." It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the stairwell and when they did, she gasped. It was a genuinely surprised, horrified sound and her hands actually flew to her mouth as she took in the state of his face. Her eyes went to his hands, the bruised up knuckles, the droplets of blood on the shirt from where he'd buttoned it. "Oh, my god, Dodge!" She reached for him -- twin sets of handprints on the arm -- and grabbed his arm to pull him in. "Oh, my god!"

"Fantastic, his birthday present to you is to lock me out? That's just lovely. Fucker. I should bash his head in." Dodge was leaning hard on the door frame. He was tired, he was pissed to hell and back and hurting. And fucking Roy was seeing to it that he couldn't get in where he belonged. When she pulled on him he let her pulled him reaching out to pull the door behind him. He really was in a foul mood, enough that he didn't say anything in reaction to her concern.

"It wasn't to lock you out," Maddy said because yeah, it was so not hard to miss the mood he was in. With the door closed, she locked it again and nudged him over to the bed, concern written all over her face. "Call me a wimp but I don't want to be taken in the middle of the night or come back to find someone here," she pointed out. It was easier to see the damage in the light spilling over the blankets and she gave him another nudge. "Sit down, let me clean you up." She was too tired to argue and feed into his mood. The argument with Roy had left a bitter taste in her mouth and she knew she had to see him that day.

She was aching to ask Dodge if he'd found Pepper's killers, if that's why he was so banged up, and she filled the prop basin with water and grabbed some old rags and brought it back, setting it on the nightstand.

"If Roy put it in, there's a good chance he put it in to lock me out. It was like an added bonus in Roy-world." Dodge was grumbling but he gladly sat down on her bed, falling backward against it. "If you want protection you could have told me. I would have taken care of that. You didn't have to let that fuckhead lock me out." Dodge was in a name calling mood. Everyone deserved a name, all of them.

Funny because he said if I needed protection, you'd give it to me without hesitation. And Maddy was sorely tempted to say it but she didn't. She took Dodge's hat and hung it off of one of the bed posts and went to work gently cleaning the blood off of his forehead. "I'd rather you worried about taking care of Pepper's attackers than worry about me," she said softly, looking at him but clearly focused on her task. Her messy blonde hair glowed in the sunlight streaming through the window as she sat on the bed beside him, tending to the mess of his face. "And I'd just like to point out that I don't have anyone watching my back when I walk home from work at three in the morning." Just putting that out there.

At the softer tone in her voice and the sweet way she was mopping blood that wasn't his off his face he couldn't help but lighten up a little. "Honey, do you think I'd be here looking like shit if we hadn't been doing just that?" He flinched a little as she hit the spot on his cheek that was already bruising. "You're contradicting yourself, saying you'd rather I worry about one thing and then pointing out another. But, if you want someone to watch your back you'll have someone. You just ask."

Maddy noticed his flinch and reached up with her other hand to stroke his hair before being more careful about cleaning him off. "It's not what I mean. But are you saying you're respecting my boundaries now and I don't have any tails on me snitching to you? Because I got the lock on my door so random people don't come in. It wasn't against you -- although now I have warning when someone's coming up. I don't live in an apartment like you. Before that, anyone could barge in and take things." She paused in cleaning him off and rinsed the rag off before looking back at him. He called her honey. That was new. She kind of liked that. "Is everyone okay?"

"Then do I get a key? Because you know if you don't give me one I'll steal one. I'd just feel better if you actually gave it to me. Or something." Dodge enjoyed the sweet attention and he closed his eyes lightly too it. He knew she meant him about the coming in and taking something. That he'd come in and stolen her bed. In his defense though he'd brought it back. Something he couldn't do with a lock on the door. "For the most part, yes. Roach is...well...fuck."

Anything Maddy had been about to say suddenly halted when he mentioned Ethan and her hand paused in it's ministrations. "What happened to him? Is he okay?" There was definite worry in her voice because that had sounded too ominous for her liking.

Dodge opened his eye when she stopped, seeing her concern and hearing it. "He's fine," Dodge said, sitting up. "Busted nose, busted knuckles, but that wasn't it. He got...god, he got so fucking angry. He...fuck we had to drag him off the guy. For a moment there...God I thought he was going to kill him. And he wouldn't listen to me. He always listens to me, but he couldn't hear me or something. And then Corey, she didn't know and she got too close and..." Dodge groaned, covering his face with his hands. "He hit her." He sounded defeated, lost.

"What?" Maddy yelped, a million thoughts careening through her head as Dodge had recounted what happened. "You never approach him when he gets like that! You drag him off and run! And Corey thought she could get in there?" She was clearly upset and astonished that it had happened and she wasn't blaming Dodge. "He isn't himself when he's like that! Only I--"

Maddy stopped suddenly and shut her mouth. The sentence was left unfinished. Only I can get in when he's like that was unsaid but implied, although Dodge probably wouldn't pick up on that. It had been that way for years, always. Either he was pulled off of someone and they locked him in a room or Maddy got in there. He'd become protective if she was there, from offense to defense. People were less likely to get hurt that way. "Where is he now?" Maddy asked after a moment of regaining her equilibrium. She hadn't talked to Ethan in weeks. Today looked like a good day. Maddy knew exactly what would be going on there in his head.

"Corey's tough, and she and Roach...I dunno, their friends or something." Dodge's face was buried in his hands until she trailed off. "Only you what Maddy?" he asked. That was curious. He had a reasonable guess as to what it was she'd been about to say, but he wanted to hear it. "Only you what?"

Ethan had friends. He had a life outside of her. That's what started this all, those weeks ago. She didn't want to ruin what he had. Had she, though? She hadn't seen him except in passing and he seemed to be avoiding her and she knew, now, that she had gone about everything the wrong way. Especially since things with Dodge were... she had no idea what they were.

But Corey and Roach being freeinds didn't mean Corey could get Ethan back from the brink he'd obviously reached that morning. "I can calm him down," she explained, looking away and at the bloodstained rag in her hands. She shrugged her slim shoulders and looked at the bruises on her arm. One was new, fresh. The other fading. She still wasn't sure how she felt about that. "Was anyone else hurt? Corey doing okay?"

Dodge got up, he couldn't help it. He didn't want to be there, not hearing that. That Maddy could control his boy. His right hand man. "You? You? Fuck." Had his life really come to this? A collection of women all in line to fuck him over. "She's fine enough. You know how she is, she wanted nothing to do with me when I wanted to help. I'll send someone to check on her later. But...just. Fuck. You? It has to be you doesn't it? Goddamnit, why am I even here?" Reaching past her Dodge grabbed his fedora off the bed post and headed towards the door.

Maddy looked bewildered, listening to him say 'you' over and over again. "What are you talking about?" Was he jealous or something? What on earth...? "I've known him since I was eight years old. You get to know someone pretty well when it's just the two of you stuck together but I'm not it, not anymore." She didn't think she was. Had she really lost her best friend? But Dodge was now leaving and Maddy was after him, skidding around in front of him. "You don't need to be angry." Why was he angry? Ethan had been the one to introduce the two of them after all. "I'm glad you're here." There was a desperate, scared look in her eyes as she kept herself between him and the door. Don't leave me please. He had no idea why he was there? He'd just shown up. "And I want to take care of you. Always come back?" He'd come back when his head hadn't, hadn't he?

Dodge had been on mission out the door, back on the streets. He'd blend in there, he'd forget this entire fucking week happened. But she was there standing in his way, reminding him of why he was there. Not sure what else to do he punched the door frame above her, wincing again at his already hurt hand. "God. I just..." Dodge rubbed his hand over his face again. He just wasn't sure anymore. "Why you? Why do I have to share you with everyone?"

Maddy had flinched when he raised his hand, the idea that he was going to hit her had definitely corssed her mind but he hit the door instead. She'd flinched and shrank down, startled by the outburst of anger. She reached for his hand and took it in hers. Her bare hands. No gloves, just soft skin over his.

"Hey," she crooned, trying to push him back towards the bed. "I'm not a toy that you own, Dodge," she whispered, kissing his bloody knuckles and stepping close to him, trying to comfort him. "I'm a real girl. With feelings and friends. People I care about a lot." Her eyes, big and blue in her tired face ticked up at him. "I care about you. I've told you that, haven't I? I'm not leaving." She swore she could hear Roy yelling at her in her head, that this was stupid, but Maddy didn't care. Dodge wanted her so much, right? He was upset about it. "But I gotta share you, don't I?" she said quietly, a sad look on her face despite the vague smile there. God, it hurt to share him. That the only way she could have him was to let him run wild. "But I'm always going to be here. I'm always going to be here for you to come back to." Unless you decided to stay all the time?

In that moment Dodge wasn't sure what he wanted. Part of him wanted to fall to his knees, press his head against her and let her comfort him back to normal. Another part of him heard every word she was saying. "What do you mean share me? No, don't answer that. I don't wanna know." Dodge tugged his hand away from her, moving to the other side of her room, not wanting to be as close to her as he'd been. It was easier to think when she wasn't so close. He knew what she meant, she meant what Roach had meant, in the bathroom. The divides he'd put up were crumbling and he was having trouble focusing on thing, which was what kept him falling back on just how damn angry he was. That was easier to focus on. "There's no one else," he said softly but not gently, with his back to her, thinking of Jessie yelling at him in the streets and Evelyn ushering him out of her boarding house.

Maddy held in her flinch when he walked away from her and she stood there, next to the door, watching him and wondering what was going on through his mind. She watched him stand there and she wrapped her arms around herself, wanting to go find something to put on and cover up with so she wasn't standing there half-dressed like she was. She wondered if she'd said something wrong when he first stepped away, and she thought of what Pepper would say to her if she could see Maddy now. Standing there waiting for some boy she liked to finally like her back.

She barely heard him say that there was no one else and Maddy could hear the pain and anger in it. She took a step forward, barefeet sending the floor board creaking. "I'm here," she said quietly, but her tone was gentle. She had no idea what he meant, but he was in pain and first and foremost he was her friend.

Dodge found himself sitting, hard on the bench she had in front of her vanity. Where they'd been sitting when he first kissed her. It seemed unsettling yet comforting at the same time. Leaning forward he rested his elbows on his knees, head in his hands again. "There's no one else," he repeated. "You aren't...sharing me or whatever."

She took a few more steps forward, slow and more careful than that first one so no more floorboards squeaked. The defeated slump in his shoulders, his head in his hands, it had Maddy coming even closer until she hesitantly perched on the end of the bench and reached out to rest her hand on the nape of his neck. She honestly had no idea what to say to what he said. She had no idea what to think of that. If she was simply the last resort or what. So she was quiet for once, and merely sat there stroking the hair at the nape of his neck. Bringing him the comfort that she thought was okay to offer. Letting him have control of the situation. Giving him his power.

For a long few moments Dodge didn't do anything. He just sat there, knowing full well she was less than an arm's length away. He just sat there, waiting. After the few moments he'd relaxed some, anger starting to fade, breathing less labored. He was confused, he was tired, he was worried and damnit he hurt everywhere. Sitting up he glanced over at Maddy, noticing for the first time she was barely dressed, and just waiting for him to do something. Getting up he grabbed the blanket off the bed, bringing it back to her, wrapping it around her while he knelt at her feet. "I can't have you freezing on me."

She was going to remind him that the weather was still unusually warm, hence the reason she was wearing the slip, not a flannel nightgown but she didn't because he was trying to take care of her. Maddy reached out and stroked his cheek carefully and studied the redness growing around his eye and on his cheekbone. What does it mean now that I'm not sharing you? she wanted to ask him but it'd break the silence, the peace that she'd fought to help him get back. "Need to finish cleaning you up, your majesty," she murmured, cupping his cheek carefully and rubbing away flakes of dried blood. She never called him that, his ego so big, but he was in pain and he would know that she knew that. "You can stay here if you'd like. For as long as you need." Let him hide, find some solitude. And she wanted to lean forward and kiss away the frown lines on his face, but she just kept stroking his cheek and looking at him with her big blue eyes.

Dodge sighed, rocking back so he was resting on his heels. Your majesty. It wasn't lost on him the moniker and for the briefest of instances it felt stupid. It was accurate but for an instant he felt stupid thinking it was. "Hardly any of it's mine," he promised knowing that with the pipe in his hands he'd thwarted off most of the damage. "Just for a little while, 'till things blow over and I feel less like I want to drown Roach myself."

She shrugged, scraping at some more of it. "Doesn't mean I want to take care of you any less, Dodge," she pointed out quiet, his name soft on her lips and stood up, still not much of a height difference from sitting down. "Let me finish cleaning you up and we can try find some sleep?" Because she was tired as hell from barely sleeping and she was hoping that the idea of them both hitting the pillows might be more inviting to him.

"Glad to hear it doesn't," Dodge said, voice softer. When she stood he arched his head back a little, watching her for a moment. Letting out another sigh he stood, finding his way to the bed in a few steps where he fell against it in the original heap he'd been in before. "Sleep sounds better. I feel like I haven't slept in days." It wasn't too far from off. The past few nights sleep had been minimal at best.

Maddy crawled onto the bed beside him and took up the washcloth again to finish getting all the blood off of his face. "Join the club," she told him quietly, focused on her task with the uptmost care. Besides the bruising and some little scrapes, he'd been right. The blood really wasn't his. But the blood on his knuckles were and Maddy took his hand carefully in her lap and carefully started wiping away the blood. It was swelling a bit already but Maddy didn't have any ice. But the cool water had to feel nice on it. "Do you want me to join you?" she asked, because suddenly it felt like she should.

"Join me where princess?" Dodge asked, voice heavy with the sleep that threatened to take him over before he even had a chance to move into a proper sleeping position. His arms ached from wielding the pipe, his hands ached from hitting too many things and his face hurt if he tried to smile. He could only imagine how bad Corey felt, how bad Roach felt, but at the moment he felt pretty miserable.

His knuckles were definitely going to turn black and blue by that evening. The redness and swelling were obvious and Maddy discarded the bloody rag for the clean, damp one, and carefully wrapped it around his hand. "Bed," she clarified, smiling at how thick his voice had gotten. She reached down and lifted one foot up and worked off one shoe, then the other, tossing them aside.

"Have I ever turned you down?" Dodge asked curiously, not able to come up with a moment where he had at his point. Once his shoes were off he managed to drag himself onto the bed properly, leaving space for Maddy to curl against him if she wanted. Already he was drifting, eyes closed and breathing starting to even off.

Maddy watched him fall asleep, laying there still clothed with the early morning sunlight streaming down, casting long shadows and shafts of light across the bad. And Maddy felt her throat close up and she wanted to cry. What was this? What was she doing? What was he doing? Was this another level of the game? She took a shuddering breath and let it out slowly, watching him making a sound of discontentment before she crawled over, discarding the blanket in exchange for his warmth. She curled up against him and his arms came around her and Maddy shut her eyes, pushing her feelings down into her soul and let herself fall asleep for just a little while.