Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

Oneshots pt 3 of 4

"Are you not feeling well? Or, are you getting burnt out? I can take time off from work –"

"I'm fine okay? Just drop it." He snapped and turned leaving her standing there shocked. When she composed herself she went back into the main room and found Tommy putting his Pa's park ranger jacket on by the door.

"TJ could you go wash up? You can help me make dinner." Bailey suggested. TJ loved helping her cook and he looked excited he got a break from homework too. He hopped off the kitchen stool and rushed into the bathroom closing the door behind him. Once he was gone she turned to Tommy. "Going somewhere?"

"I need some air." He said still sounding pissed off as he fixed his jacket.

"There's air in the house." She said her voice a mix of stern and sadness.

"I want a beer with my air." He snapped opening the door, "Don't wait up for me."

The door slammed shut and Bailey was left standing there not sure what had gone wrong. Charlie started to get fussy, probably from the slam, and Bailey started rocking her soothingly.

"Shhh, shhhh. It's okay. Papa's just mad. Everyone gets mad sometimes. It's okay, Papa will be back." She wasn't sure if she even believed her own words but she had two kids who she didn't want to worry. So when TJ came out of the bathroom and dried off his hands she shook away everything else that didn't involve her children, "TJ could you get me a bottle from the fridge for your sister please?"

«»

It was late and Tommy still wasn't home. She'd put both TJ and Charlie to bed ages ago and had kept herself busy by taking out her old notebook and trying to write or doodle. Every now and then she'd look up at the door hoping Tommy would walk through, that they'd talk out whatever he'd been bottling up and they'd be okay. They'd never really fought before in their marriage, there was never time, and the apocalypse was always there to remind you to remember how lucky you were. But something had gotten to Tommy to make him snap at her like that and it killed her a little on the inside that he didn't want to share it with her.

She looked around the room one more time and the pictures on the tables and on the walls seemed to mock her. Some were of Tommy when he was little, they'd gotten those from his old home back before TJ was even born. Others were drawings TJ had done, some photos CZ had taken from his footage of them. There were the ultrasound pictures of both TJ and Charlotte, the blue ribbons Tommy had won at fishing competitions as a child and finally the three polaroid's Addy had taken of the couple way back when. Finally, she'd had enough and got up from the table and headed to the door. She knocked lightly on the one across the hall until Laura opened it up. She agreed to watch TJ and Charlie while Bailey stepped out for a minute, her tee shirt and sweat pants tipping Laura off that wherever she was going was last minute, then she grabbed her coat and headed to the Tavern.

It didn't take her long to find Tommy, he was sitting at a bar height, long table that looked out the glass wall over Altura. There was no one else sitting with him, everyone else who was there that late was either at the bar itself chatting with the bartender Leroy or at a table with their date. She made her way over to him and sat at the high stool beside him not saying a word. She knew he knew she was there as he looked down at the bottle of beer in front of him and ran his finger up and down the tinted glass.

She let a moment pass in quiet before she started to gently interrogate him, keeping her tone soft. "How many of those have you had?"

He brought up his left hand and held up three fingers. It wasn't enough to get him drunk and in all the time he'd been gone he could have downed a lot more.

"I was going to drink more, something harder, but then I remembered that alcohol poisoning I got in Heartland. I really don't want to relive that again."