Participants:
Scene Title | Dr. Beauchamp, Relationship Counsellor |
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Synopsis | Sonny visits Abby to tell her his big plan and to bring her more fruits and spirulina for her swamp sluge. He also comes to Abby for Teo relationship advice. He doesn't hear what he was hoping and leaves a little dejected. |
Date | May 13, 2009 |
Village Renaissance Building - Abigail & Alexander's Apartment
An average middle class apartment, it's populated with decidedly not middle class furniture. A solitary red suede couch occupies the immediate living room, with a battered coffee table and side tables as it's companion. A decent sized TV sits on a cupboard with a stereo, DVD player. The kitchen sports a relic from the 70's, with matching chairs that still seem to be in decent condition. The two bedrooms off the hall are distinguishable from the other, one bearing a gold cross nailed above the door, the other not.
In the corner of the living room is an ornate cage on a bird stand, a blue budgie within it's depths. In another corner is a massive cat tree house, and often occupied by a black cat with a red suede collar. It looks barely lived in, like the owners are not yet investing their effort quite yet to move in.
Seeing as it's no secret that Abby healed Sonny after his attack, he can come to the healer's apartment as himself. He comes bearing a bottle of wine and a grocery bag full of what looks to be fruit. He's dressed in a pair of neat slacks and a collared shirt. He rings the bell.
The door is opened, a tired, bleary eye'd Abigail. Late night, early morning phone calls. The blue eye looking through the crack in the door to make sure it really is sonny looks up and down, then disappears as the door is closed and the night chain retracted. "Come in Sonny. How's your parents? I miss anything from healing you that needs fixing?" She's still in PJ's in the afternoon. No classes or doctor's appointments. Nothing. No work even till later.
"No, no I'm fine. How are you?" Sonny steps inwards and hands the bag out to her. "I brought you some bananas and fruit and things. And some spirulina powder." The stuff that makes the whole mix green. "And a bottle of wine. I heard your folks were in town. It's…uh, technically from my father." He grins a little. The bottle of wine is probably worth about two hundred bucks. Not that someone who doesn't know wine would realize that.
'they're gone. They were here over the weekend and left Tuesday. But I'll save the wine, for, you know, ever we have a dinner. I'm good just late night phone calls and.. I had nightmares after. But I don't work till this evening so" The bag of fruit is taken, the wine too, heading off to the kitchen. "I'm guessing from the bottle of wine, that your parents still think i'm … the reason you were in Chinatown"
"Y..yeah. Well, not my mom." Sonny rubs his neck and glances back to make sure the door is closed. "My mom knows the truth. My dad…well. You met him. He hears what he wants to hear." He tosses up a hand and says, "Uh. Can we…sit down? And talk for a minute?"
"Yeah.. we can" Abigail shuffles back from the kitchen, a gesture to the red couch for Sonny to take a seat in. This was probably the first time that he'd been here. "You can tell your father that I broke up with you. Make me the bad person. That I can't take the publicity it would bring"
"Yeah, yeah. He…wouldn't question that. That's how all my relationships end, honestly. Too much secrecy, too much publicity. That's…part of the reason I'm here." Sonny has a seat on the couch. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye. But I consider you a friend. And you saved my life. So. Well. I wanted to tell you that I'm…uh. Well." He tries to think of how to say this.
Abigail pulls her feet up, folding them underneath her, palms in her lap, waiting expectantly. "That your going to marry Teo? Tell your father that your homosexual? That your going to … run off to Japan?"
"Yes Abby, that's exactly it. You've got it." Sonny's sarcasm is thick, but not unkind. He rests an elbow on the arm of the couch, hand to his hair. "He nearly broke up with me. Because this split between my obligations and my life with him."
She had meant it like teasing but his retort no matter how not unkind it is, sobers her up. This again. Her palm comes up to her head rubbing at the front of her forehead. "you want me to talk to him? Tell him to stop being chicken?"
"No, it's…I understand where he's coming from. Like I said, everyone I've ever dated gets to this point sooner or later." Sonny inhales slowly. "I'm…taking on a new identity. Telling my dad I'm going to South America. So I don't have to worry about what I'm doing hurting my father's career. Or living two lives. Or…juggling charity dinners and plots to save the world."
'Guess as your girlfriend, that'd be good to know. So that if your dad comes asking I can corroborate" She knows full well about haven to hide what one does from their parents. "I had to lie. Like nuts. To my Dah and even more to my momma Sonny. I couldn't tell them I worked in a bar, or that… some friend was footing nearly all my medical bills, or that in my spare time I'm running around and healing the good and the bad people of the city. What can do to help you?"
"I hate lying to my father. But half the time I think he'd rather be lied to than know the truth. Plausible deniability." Ah, politicians. "My father is a good leader. And I've spent most of my adult life protecting his reputation. I have to do something for me now." Sonny lattices his fingers together. "I figure our 'break-up' would make a good excuse for me leaving for a vacation. Both my parents will think I'm at the family beach house in the Bahamas. Then after I get back, I'm going to have to tell my mother I lied and tell her she has to lie to my father."
"I can do that" Abigail answers back, understanding on her face. "You can tell him that I broke it off, That I don't want the publicity and that I blame myself for you being in Chinatown. Let him focus his.. dislike on me. That my healing you was a parting gift. Are you telling Teo what your doing?"
"Abby, I'm not going to vilify you. My dad won't need a long explanation. He's heard it before. He won't be happy about all of this, but my dad's seen something like this coming. He just doesn't know it's because I've been shacking up with a terrorist." Sonny grins, but it's a bit of a strained expression. "Yeah. Teo knows everything. He asked me to go underground with him. It's the only way we can stay together."
'Sonny, I don't think you dad could vilify me in the first place for breaking up with you, it's pretty hard to vilify someone whom everyone calls a living saint. But.. you do this. It'll be good for you. Better a full life than a half life. Sometimes you need to take that step to make the other person see how much you love them?"
"Teo thinks this is going to be harder for me than it is. Sure, it's money and security. But it's also a hell of a lot of pressure and it's full of obligations. I'll be happy to be anonymous for awhile. And try to help with the things Phoenix is doing." Sonny glances away, then shifts his gaze back to her. "Can I…ask you something? About Teo and…and Al."
"I have faith that you can get by on really little money. Everyone else does. I Do" But then there's a question about Al. "I don't know, if I can answer it, but i'll try"
"That's what offshore accounts are for, Abby," says Sonny with a bit of a wry grin. "Trust me. I know how to push cash around. And my accounts are still mine." Then he clears his throat. "Teo never talks about him. But I know there was something between them. The first night I met him he was drunk and angry at Al for sleeping with his aunt. Jealous-angry, not just…because it was his aunt."
"Romeo and Juliet" Abigail offers up. "Think of them like.. that. Sorta, but, you know. not. They tried, just.. they fought, worse than you. And I guess they called it quits and then he was with someone else and Al was.. with Teo's aunt. They kept things pretty quiet when they lived with me.
"I just wanna know…if Al comes back, and Teo sounds pretty sure that he is going to. A vision from the Pastor or something. So, if that's the case, when he does…" Sonny pulls fingers through his hair. It's hard for him to get the words out.
"Whether Teo's going to leave you and the sacrifice your making for him" Abigail answers back.
"No, no. I don't think he'd leave me like that. He might leave me because of other problems. We fight a lot, god knows." Sonny pulls both hands through his hair, elbows butterflied outwards. "M'worried he's going to feel obligated towards me if I do this. And that's what's gonna keep him with me. When he might rather be with Al."
"Is he expecting Al home soon?" The red head inquires from her perch. "Oh. I forgot to ask you if you want something to drink. I'm so.. frazzled today"
"No, no I'm fine, Abby. Really." Sonny gives her a small smile. "I don't know. He's expecting Al to come back at some point. And Helena. And his aunt." His lips crease into a frown. "He lost…a lot. And I can't really know how much, because I didn't really know any of them."
"Tell me this Sonny, honestly. What if Alexander comes back. What if Teo.. goes to Alexander and they make whatever it was that they had work, and Teo leaves you. Will you regret having taken this pause in your life, to become someone else, and to not be Sonny Bianco"
Sonny looks down at the floor. He bites the edge of his lip. "No. I won't regret it. That's why I'm doing this one way or another. And even if…Teo and I aren't meant to last, we need each other right now." His words are quiet and he stares at his own fingers as they lace together. "What did they have, Abby? Was it…" He stops himself. "…I shouldn't ask you this. Even if you can tell me, I don't think I want to know."
"I don't think it was love Sonny. I don't think they had that. I think it was lust, and it was close quarters and… need" Abigail reaches out, settling her own skinny pale fingers over his. "So long as you do this for yourself, and not for him. If it's meant to be then.. it'll find a way. You just.. enjoy what you have while you have it yes?" That very fragile moment of voluntary physical contact from the other woman that isn't the herald of healing, but just her. "Your only young once right? When Al returns, who knows, he might still be with his aunt. it might be years from now, it could be tomorrow.. Just.. "
There's tension across his shoulders as Sonny listens to what Abby has to say. His olive skin is warm underneath her touch - perhaps a little too warm. "I just don't like feeling like I'm a bench warmer, you know? Like he'll come back and Teo will feel things for him he doesn't for me. And I don't know if that's all in my head or if it's a legitimate concern. It wouldn't change things either way. I'd still be doing this. It's a relief to think of leaving all of my obligations behind for awhile. To really help with the Phoenix and the Ferrymen instead of a token effort, instead of one toe in the water. I could never really help because I couldn't explain it if I showed up with a broken nose to a charity function, or got hurt while wearing another face and suddenly the cavalry's out looking for me. I can relax this way. And maybe it'll make things easier for Teo and me. I don't know."
He stands. "I should go. I just wanted to say thank you again for what you did for me." And he doesn't just mean the healing. He starts for the door.
"Sonny" Abby stands up, unfolding from the couch. "Just.. follow your heart, and if it gets broken.. it'll heal again. But, make sure he knows that you love him. I can see it, I saw it all the time. And no thank you's. Please. You do so much for me. The.. doctor and the tests and.. making me better. The powders.. " She follows him to the door though. "Just, you know, let your father down easy, and if you need me to fake.. letting him know where you are, you know how to get a hold of me"
Sonny isn't sure if he loves Teo, or if he loves being with him, loves having someone to be himself with. The self-doubt might just be a protective mechanism, though. If he can think he doesn't feel deeply for Teo, then it will hurt less if the Italian does leave him for Al. This conflict shows on his face.
"Do me a favour? Don't…tell him that I came by?" He looks back to Abby and stands for a moment with his hand on the door.
"I never usually do Sonny, cause you ask me that all the time" Up on tip toes the redhead goes, a careful hug offered and given if it's took. "Just.. enjoy your freedom huh? No matter how long it lasts. You know where to come if you get your arse handed to you by some Flying Dragons again"
It worries Sonny that Abby isn't reassuring him that Teo cares for him, that he won't leave him for Al. Abby knows Teo best, and she's not saying that. It tells him that he's not imagining that the shadow of one Mr. Knight looms over his relationship with Teo.
He smiles a bit sadly, accepts the hug with some stiffness, then he steps into the hallway. "Got you on speed dial," he says, as he heads off down the hall.
Abby doesn't close the door right away behind Sonny, lingering at the door to watch, wait for him to get on the elevator. But he's right, she's not reassuring him. Because even Abigail doesn't know the reign that Alexander has on Teo's heart and she won't lie. Dance around it, but not lie.
Sonny walks down the hallway with shoulders slumped. He looks dejected, even from behind. The elevator dings and he steps onto it. She gets a brief wave before the doors close and he rides down to street level.