By Chance

Disclaimer: These characters are mine.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along with this story. Thank you for all the support and nudges to finish. This was my first original story.


Chapter 23


He hadn’t known where to start, but he knew how. Joe Vic went back to the stop where he first found her. That back alley where rain poured down and a bruised angel had flown into his life.

He could stand here for hours and he still wouldn’t have a cohesive plan of action. Joe Vic wasn’t sure what he’d do anyway, other than the obvious, which was break his promise to Rue.

It was a promise that he just couldn’t keep. Not this time, when the total trespasses against Rue and him were just too great.

There was not a cloud in the sky. Air cool like one’s first breath after eating ice cream. The sky was a perfect match, the hue identical to Rue’s eyes, making his decision all the harder. It seemed like her eyes were hovering above him watching his every move—protecting him, from the one person who could destroy him.

Himself.

She was white from covered toe to the ashen pallor of her skin. Those black curls looped and spilled over the pillow; she was a princess---Snow White and he watched dejectedly, feeling like the failed prince who couldn’t wake her with a kiss.

He closed his eyes against the continuous reel of bruises. His eyes inspected every available spot, searching for signs of change. Any sign that she was moving away from the hurt. The bruises reminded him of a match work quilt, her skin all molten and full of spots of red, greens, yellows, blacks, and blues.

The combination would be beautiful, if not on skin.

Joe Vic rested his head beside Rue’s still hand and the swathed bundle of blankets around her middle. Even here, in the confines of the hospital room, Rue couldn’t be contained. Her smell permeated the sheets and seemed to conquer the stench of antiseptics and the sterile instruments in the hospital.

There was no controlling the shiver that ran down his back or the unexpected jump from the touch that grazed his newly fuzzed scalp. Going between work and hospital hadn’t given him much time for anything other than sleep and time to curse.

“Joe Vic.” He raised his head to meet her eyes.

Rue’s smile was watery and her crystal eyes glistened. The contrast between the clear white and sharp blue and the black and purple rings around her eyes gave Joe Vic pause. His breath caught.

“Joe Vic?” A pair of fingers smoothed over his cheeks. Until that moment, he hadn’t known he’d been crying.
“ Oh, Joe Vic.” Rue whispered.

His big hand wrapped around hers, dwarfing its two halves. His kiss those long slightly too wide fingers. His lips reigning down therapy in his touch.

“Rue…oh god--” Joe Vic half murmured.

Despite the medication and the pain, she managed to snort softly. “Now, don’t go sheddin’ no tears for me. As my Daddy said, ‘tears are just a waste of water and God’s good salt’.”

Joe Vic spared Rue a laugh. Her down-home sarcasm was in unending supply. If one thing were to reassure him that she would be okay, it was that.

It was his turn for his hands to stroke. His big fingers curved over the contours of her face and into the soft inky vines that began her curls. He held his silence, just long enough. His mind absorbed her, catalogued this moment into the archive of memories reserved for her. “—Rue, I swear.”

“Joe Vic, don’t.”

He pressed onward, ready to make his vow. “Rue, I promise….Never again.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with this. You’ve been looking out for me—did a better job than anyone with the job before you. Don’t blame yourself.”

He kissed Rue’s hand again. His mouth nuzzling the soft skin between her thumb and pointer finger. “How can I not?” He sniffed somewhat derisively. “I made you a promise back when you first moved in….You remember, huh?”

Rue remained still. “No one was going to put their hands on you. No one was going to hurt you again. My job was to be your anti-asshole police. And I fucked up, Rue.”

“Joe Vic--” He cut her off with a shake of his head.

“No. I promised and some bastards made me break that promise. I’ll find them, Rue.”

“Listen to yourself!” Her voice was ragged, raspy and rising as he continued to ignore her. Her eyes had the type of sheen that spoke of cold fire. Supreme anger that threatened to boil over. “Will you listen to me! I’m going to get better and you are going to leave this alone. I’ll be damned if I allow them to take you away from me. I’ve fought for too much to have it all slip away.”

Joe Vic shook his head in vehement denial. His large frame rose from his chair and paced the room, his form tight and strained with righteous anger. “You can’t ask me to sit by and do nothing.” His voice changed. Temblor changing, shaking with the micro detectable tremors of true anger. “I refuse to sit back and do nothing.”

“Promise me.”

“Give me a name.”

“No, promise me.”

“I said give me a name.”

Rue’s eyes gazed with unfaltering determination into his. The strength there alone was enough to blockade anymore attempts of his to get an answer from her. “Promise me, Joe Vic, that you’ll let the cops handle this…Think about Old Bill and Mary. You’re the closest thing they have to a son. Do you really want them to lose that?”

Joe Vic sank into his seat, burying hi head in his hands. He allowed her to run hands over his shoulders. “If something happens to you--” Rue began.

His head shook again. “Do you realize you were…” The word escaped his tongue. “R-raped and beaten?”

“Yeah, I know. I feel it in every part of my body. Every moment that I breathe I feel it. When I sleep, I remember…All I’m askin’ is that you don’t do anything stupid.”

He remained silent.

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

So, here he was again. Silently, praying that God would provide him with the opportunity that he needed, even if it was to do wrong. It was a call for action nonetheless.

When the moment came and it seemed like his prayers had been answered, he felt like he was going crazy. The card felt like it weighted a thousand pounds, burning like coal in his pocket. Then, there was Rue’s voice making him promise and his own solemn response that he would obey. It felt like he bound his soul when he swore to her.

What was he going to do? His hands curled into fist, his breath came in short bursts. As he tried to stay calm, in the presence of his enemy, the memories of every smile, every touch, every taste where too hard to ignore. Rue was as much a part of his as his tattoos and scars from drunken nights were etched into his skin.

Every ounce of happiness.

Love.

Passion.

Hope.

Family.

The path all led back to Rue.

Joe Vic clenched his fists and sighed, and walked across the street. Rick Shade and crew were unaware, and maybe that would be the only way he would be able to look himself in the mirror tomorrow.

“Rue.” For her, for her smiles, and because of all the collective shit thrown at them, this time he would be exacting the justice he rightfully deserved.


Just one more part!