Disclaimers: Not mine, don't sue.
Author's note: I've been forgetting to update here. Not sure if anyone's still interested in it, but here it is. Frighteningly enough, I can almost see the end of this one. Disturbingly enough, it's not that close. Thanks for hanging in there. I promise along with the story as a whole, Jolie will be progressing. I haven't forgotten which fandom I'm in.
Recap: Rhiannon was in an accident with Cole, both were intoxicated, each says the other was driving.
Natalie sat at the kitchen table at Llanfair with her fifth cup of coffee, fighting the urge to go upstairs and check on her daughter. She glanced at the clock; it was only 9:30, no reason she should be up yet. Natalie, on the other hand, had been up early talking to her lawyer, trying to find the best solution to their current situation. There really only seemed to be one option, and she knew it wasn't going to go over well.
The knock at the kitchen door nearly made her drop the cup and made her question whether it was possible she'd had too much caffeine. Opening the door Natalie was surprised to see Matthew looking pale and clutching a newspaper. "Matthew?" she said, stepping aside to let him enter, "what are you doing here?"
"I saw this," he said holding up a copy of The Sun which Natalie took from him. The headline read Long Lost Heiress in near Fatal Crash with Junkie. In the center of the page was an image of the crash; even knowing Rhiannon was upstairs and alright, Natalie's heart jumped at the sight. The front of the car was crumpled like an accordion and a large tree, splintered at the base lie across the top. The EMTs had said it already, but Natalie could have done without the visual confirmation of how lucky her daughter was.
"Are they okay?" Matthew asked, bringing her back to her surroundings.
"What?" she asked blankly.
"Rhiannon and Cole," he said, "are they okay?"
"Yeah," Natalie said, "Rhiannon's upstairs asleep. I didn't see Cole, but from what I heard at the hospital he only had minor injuries. This is Todd exaggerating again."
"Thank God!" Matthew said, "I feel like it's all my fault, you know?"
"No, I don't know," she said slowly, "why would this be your fault?"
Matthew who had started to relax a moment ago now looked nervous. "Um… what did they tell you?"
"Not much," she said, "just that they met last night and… Matthew, what do you know?"
Matthew shifted uncomfortably. "Just promise you won't tell my dad," he said. Natalie nodded mutely and waited for him to continue. "Cole and a couple of other people I know who went away to school were back on Spring Break," he explained, "We were going to get together to hang out and I thought maybe I would invite Rhiannon. I know she's new in town and figured she might have a good time."
"That was nice of you," Natalie said.
"Yeah," he said turning away, "Look how it turned out."
"You didn't know that was going to happen," Natalie assured him, "but Matthew, I do need you to tell me everything you do know."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Where were you all hanging out?" she asked.
Matthew looked down. "At Asa's cabin," he said.
"Okay," Natalie nodded knowing that scolding him would only make him clam up, "Were they drinking there?"
Matthew nodded. "This sounds stupid now, but I thought we were being safe. I mean it's out in the middle of nowhere and there was room for everyone to crash there, so no one should have been driving."
"That explains why they were out in the middle of nowhere," Natalie said out loud to herself.
"They didn't tell me they were leaving," Matthew said, "If they had I would have told them not to."
"So you didn't see them leave?" she said, feeling disappointed to have lost a potential witness.
"Just as they were walking out the door," he said, "I thought maybe they were just taking a walk, but then someone said they were driving down to the gas station for more beer."
"Matthew," she said solemnly, "this is very important. Did you see who was driving?"
Matthew shook his head. "I saw them walk out the door and then I saw the tail lights through the window, but that's all."
"Okay," she said, trying not to let her frustration show in her voice.
"But-" Matthew started to add something then cut himself off.
"But what?" Natalie asked, not about to let this go.
"But Cole had the keys in his hand if that's any help," he said, clearly unsure whether he should have said that or not.
"It might," she said, though she knew it was doubtful. Cole having the keys was circumstantial at best. All he had to do was swear he'd handed them off to Rhiannon after they'd gotten in the car. "Did anyone else see them get in the car?"
He shrugged. "I think everyone was inside."
"Okay," Natalie said tapping her foot as she tried to figure out what to do with this information.
"You promise you aren't going to tell my dad?" he asked anxiously.
Natalie took a swallow of coffee and looked somberly at her cousin. She knew all to well the anxiety over letting your father down, but she also knew that if there was any chance Matthew's information could help, she couldn't just let it go. "I'm not going to tell him, Matthew. But you need to."
Matthew's eyes widened in horror. "But you said-"
"And I wasn't lying," she said, "but Matthew, you've been around police investigations your whole life. You have to realize this is going to come out. There's an investigation going on into the accident-"
"Why are they investigating it?" he asked, the anxiety clear in his voice, "It was an accident. All they hit was a tree."
"Which doesn't change the fact that somebody could have been killed," she reminded him, "Come on, you know that. Besides…" she hesitated about the next part, not wanting to put Matthew in the middle of family and a friend, "There's a dispute over who was driving at the time of the accident."
"Oh," he said looking confused. He looked as though he was about to ask something but at that moment there was a clomping sound of someone coming down the back stairs. Rhiannon came into view a second later, bleary eyed and moving slowly.
"Good morning," Natalie said, "how are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a truck. Or a tree or something," she groaned as she eased herself down into a chair.
"They said to expect that," Natalie reminded her.
Rhiannon gave her a look that was half glare, half pout. "Where's the drugs they gave me?"
"On the table," Natalie said, "but it says not to take them on an empty stomach. What do you want for breakfast?"
"Coffee," Rhiannon said.
Natalie got a mug down from the cabinet and started to fill it. "What else?"
"I don't know," she said sullenly, "I'm not hungry." Noticing Matthew for seemingly the first time she straightened up slightly in her chair. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see how you were doing," he said, "I read about the accident in the paper. I'm so sorry. I-"
Rhiannon cut him off by clearing her throat and nodded at Natalie.
"It's okay," Natalie said, "I already know he was the one hosting the party."
"You told her?" Rhiannon asked sounding more shocked than angry. Turning to Natalie without waiting for Matthew to answer she said, "You're not going to tell the cops, are you?"
"No, I'm not," Natalie assured her, but knowing that anything less than complete honesty would likely cause more problems in the long run she said, "But he's going to."
Rhiannon looked earnestly at Matthew. "You don't have to," she said.
"Yeah, I do," he said with a sigh, "Natalie's right. My dad's going to find out anyway. It'll be better if I tell him myself."
"But you didn't do anything wrong," Rhiannon argued.
"Yeah… I don't know if he's going to agree," Matthew said. "But I'll live. Don't worry about it." Catching a meaningful look from Natalie, he said, "I'm actually going to go see if I can catch him now. I don't want him finding out from someone else that I was the one hosting the party. I hope you feel better, Rhiannon. I'm glad you're okay."
As he left Rhiannon buried her head in her hands. "I didn't want him to get in trouble. This is just sucking more and more."
"Bo's pretty understanding," Natalie reassured her, "He'll be all right."
John sat at his desk reminding himself that screaming at the forensics techs wouldn't get him test results any faster. He looked up hopefully when there was a knock on his office door, but it was just his brother holding a copy of that morning's Sun. He'd already seen the headlines, which reminded him of all the reasons he hated Todd Manning. As if balancing the impact of this accident with Marty and Natalie wasn't nasty enough, he now had a tabloid fanning the flames.
"So I guess I don't have to ask why you look like you haven't slept," Michael said sitting down.
"What do you want?" John grumbled, not in the mood for his brother's commentary.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing," he said.
"I'm busy," John said.
"I heard there was a scene at the hospital last night," Michael said pointedly.
John nodded. "Though all things considered, the parties involved, it could have been worse."
"Well I didn't hear they had to call security," he said, "so yeah, sounds that way." Michael sat studying his brother for a moment before asking, "So how long have you known Natalie had a teenaged daughter?"
"Since about the time she came back," he said, skipping over the details deliberately.
"So that whole time you were together, she never told you?" Michael asked in amazement.
"To be fair I kept my fair share of secrets from her," John said not making eye contact, trying to look busy, hoping Michael would take the hint and leave.
"Wow," Michael said looking at the paper and shaking his head, "like mother, like daughter I guess."
"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked looking up, unclear on why he felt so offended by the implication.
"Well, you know, Natalie came to town about the same age, got into a bunch of trouble, messed with people's lives. Looks like this…" he looked down at the article to read the name, "Rhiannon is doing the same."
"I think there's a lot more to it than that," John said, his irritation showing in his voice.
Michael gave his brother a knowing look. "So how's Marty doing with all of this?"
John shrugged. "I don't know. I mean her kid was just in a car accident, I'd imagine she's upset, grateful he's okay. I haven't really talked to her that much."
"How much have you talked to Natalie?" he asked pointedly.
Fed up with Michael's not so subtle implications he finally snapped, "Is there a point to all this?"
"You and Marty were good together," Michael said.
"Obviously we weren't," John corrected, "seeing as how we only lasted a couple of months. Four years ago. Why are you still stuck on this?"
"Because you let Natalie come between the two of you and-"
"Natalie wasn't even around," John corrected.
Michael leaned forward and said, "There are no secrets in this town, Johnny. The two of you broke up because you were still hung up on Natalie. Marty could have been good for you, but instead she got hurt. And I'd hate to see her get hurt again because after all this time, you still haven't gotten over your Natalie obsession."
"Mike," John said in a voice laced with anger, "This isn't about Natalie and Marty. This is about two kids getting into a wreck."
"And one of those kids looks up to you almost like a father," his brother reminded him, "why aren't you standing up for him. Trying to clear his name."
"I'll do everything I can to help Cole," John said, "but my job is to find the truth. And I can't swear I believe he's telling the truth."
"And Natalie's kid is?"
"I don't know!" John said louder than he meant to.
"Easy," Michael said holding up his hands.
"Look," John said regaining some control, "This situation sucks. For a lot of reasons in a lot of ways. And you're not making it any easier."
"Okay," Michael said standing up, "I just thought you might want to talk."
"I can't talk about an open investigation," John said in a tone that was more professional than brotherly.
"Okay," Michael said walking to the door, "I'll let you get back to it then. Just… be careful Johnny."
John rolled his eyes at Michael's final words. He wasn't in any danger on this case, particularly compared with a lot of cases he worked. But Michael hadn't been talking about physical danger and they both knew it. Someone was going to hate him when this investigation was all over and that was making it very hard to stay neutral.
As Natalie put away the breakfast dishes Rhiannon eyed her suspiciously. Admittedly, she didn't know her mother very well, but she could tell she was anxious about something. She was avoiding eye contact seemed antsy. "What's going on?" she finally asked.
"What do you mean?" Natalie asked blankly.
"Did the police find something?" she asked.
"Not that I know of," Natalie said.
"Then what are you not telling me?"
Natalie put down the rag she was using to wipe down the counters and said, "Okay, I need to talk to you about something. And I have a feeling you're not going to like it."
"This is about the accident?" she asked.
"Sort of," Natalie said, "It's related but…"
"Just tell me," Rhiannon said her body already assuming a defensive posture.
"Like we've talked about, you're technically listed as a runaway and even if I can prove I'm biologically your mother that gives me no legal authority over you. Officially the state of California has custody of you," she explained.
"Yeah, and our deal was that if I stuck around you'd help me fix that," Rhiannon said, sensing there was about to be a catch.
"And I don't want you to think I'm backing down on that promise," Natalie said.
"But…?" Rhiannon prodded warily.
"But what happened last night changes things," Natalie explained, "our arrangement hinged on the fact that Family Services in California didn't know where you were and realistically wasn't going to go through the effort of tracking you down. They know where you are now."
Rhiannon blinked, trying to hide the anxiety she felt instantly hearing this. "So what does that mean?"
"I spent all morning on the phone with my lawyer," she said, "I'm still willing to help you pursue emancipation, but from what he said, until these charges are resolved they aren't likely to grant it."
"So in the meantime?"
Natalie took a deep breath. "He says that if I can prove maternity and you're willing, then I can probably persuade them to grant me custody."
Rhiannon's jaw dropped. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"
"How would I have planned this?" Natalie asked.
"I don't know," she said, "but the DNA test… this is why you wanted to have that done."
"You were the one who asked for that," Natalie reminded her.
"But you suddenly cooperated once you figured out you could do this!"
"I didn't want this to happen," she insisted, "this wasn't even my idea. John told me at the hospital last night that I should do something about this and I let the lawyer come up with the solution."
"Yeah right," Rhiannon said sullenly, "Was Cole in on it too? Did you ask him to set me up?"
Natalie's eyes widened-she'd taken a lot of accusations from her daughter, but none so outlandish. None so hurtful. "You think I would have set up my own daughter to be in an accident that could have killed her? You saw me at the hospital last night, did you think I was acting?"
Rhiannon shifted uncomfortably, but didn't drop her glare. If she was honest with herself, no, she couldn't believe her mother would do that. But she wasn't quite willing to admit it yet.
"Besides," Natalie continued, hating to be so harsh, but knowing it needed to be said, "You were the one who decided to get drunk and get in a car with a guy you didn't know. So while you're blaming me for everything, at least accept a little responsibility."
The younger girl was willing to back down a little, but not that much. "What are my other options?" she asked, "There have to be other options."
"The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can also place you in a group home until the charges are resolved and you can be transferred back to California. Look I know how you feel about me, but is that really a better option?"
"I don't know," Rhiannon said in a low voice standing up and making her way to the stairs, "I have to think about it."
Natalie watched her make the exit, no doubt intended to be dramatic and rubbed her temples. Truth be told, she had actually expected her daughter's reaction to be more violent-perhaps it was the pain killers or muscle relaxants. She knew Rhiannon didn't like the possibility of falling legally under her mother's care, but she'd agreed to think about it, something she probably wouldn't have done a few days ago. Natalie indulged herself in half a smile; maybe she was making progress after all.
To be continued…
"Dulce ante omnia musae"
