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scarletlegarski · 2 years

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Broken Pieces (rough draft)

This is an unfinished story I started writing before the episode “A Good Boy” aired. I intended to finish it before that Thursday but eventually I decided to just wait for the episode to see what actually happens, and then go from there (which means that the events here clearly don’t match up with the show).

This also works as a sort of preview for the other stories I plan to write, namely that they will mainly feature Scarlet & Wolf; while I don’t plan to finish this specific story, the basic intended premise (Wolf and Scarlet discussing their relationship) will be reworked into a new fic—starting with changing Wolf’s fate from the most recent episode, unless he somehow ends up not being dead but I doubt that will happen.

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With tears streaming down her face Scarlet fled the doctor's home, yelling and the sounds of gunshots thundering in her wake. Leaving a wounded Ronald alone (though with the gun, and having been partially tended to by the doctor) in that house with the Marshal and the PI ripped her heart in two, but the situation had become extremely life-threatening...and Phoebe would not be left without her mother.

Her daughter was forcibly held to the front of Scarlet’s mind, to block out the horrible thoughts of what could be happening to Ronald right that very minute, as she rushed to the truck and wrenched open the driver side door.

"Phoebe we have to go, we—Phoebe?!"

Phoebe was gone.

Searching under the seats, the truck bed, and under the truck were in vain; there was no sign of Phoebe.

"They must've taken her, they must've taken her," Scarlet's words came out in breathy, panicked gasps. Her hand covered her pounding heart; she thought it was going to beat right out of her chest. "This can't be happening..."

She just couldn't have lost her true love and her daughter in one fell swoop, that wasn't fair—it wasn't fair!

Before Scarlet suffered a major panic attack, pounding on glass and muffled shouts caught her attention. Whipping around, she let out a choked cry of relief at what she saw: Phoebe inside of another car, a jeep, desperate to get her mother's attention. Scarlet wasted no time in rushing over to her little girl.

"Phoebe!" Scarlet pressed her hands and face up against the window, tears streaking down the clear glass as she gazed upon her daughter who mere minutes ago she had thought whisked far away from her.

Phoebe, also with tears in her eyes, placed one small hand up against the window, so that her palm was against her mother's, only the glass between them. She looked scared—and this fear melted Scarlet's panic away into pure protective maternal anger.

"I'll get us out of here, sweetie," she promised, pressing a kiss to the glass before rushing around to the driver's side door, where she immediately set to work at jimmying open the locked door. Once successful, she quickly slid in and slammed the door shut.

"Hello, Scarlet."

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The scream that came from her throat could have woken the dead—if the dead hadn't already been awakened, Wolf noted sardonically.

"You're...you're not dead," her voice trembled, blue eyes wide with shock.

"Indeed. You and Ronald came pretty close, though," he said wryly, indicating with his non-restrained hand the bandage on his head.

Phoebe, leaning forward slightly from the backseat, glanced at Wolf, then looked at Scarlet with a frown. "Mom?"

Her daughter's voice seemed to set Scarlet back on her determined track. Facing forward, she rubbed a hand down her tear-stained face, then in record time had hotwired the jeep, and the engine roared. All things considered this was not the worst thing she could do, so Wolf kept quiet—for now—and then they were off.

When the house faded from view in the rear view mirror, more tears gathered in Scarlet's eyes—tears for Ronald, he angrily presumed—but she did not slow down and she did not turn back. This surprised Wolf...and apparently, also Phoebe.

"Mom wait, Ronald's back there," Phoebe protested, twisting against the bind of her seatbelt to back in the direction they came.

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I know, sweetie."

"Are we going to leave him behind?"

Scarlet suppressed a sob—and Wolf decided to speak.

"I would have assumed the woman who fought tooth and nail to protect her man wouldn't just leave him—in a terribly wounded state, mind you—at the mercy of law enforcement officials who would love nothing more than to see him dead...or at least, locked away in a cold dark cell for the rest of his miserable existence," Wolf said; his tone was casual, but the underlying hostility was clear, culminating in the last words coming out as a growl.

His words hung in the air, left uncontested for a few silent minutes...until Scarlet swallowed, adjusted the rear view mirror, and told Phoebe, "Put your headphones on."

"But Mom—"

"Please do it, right now," Scarlet insisted.

Reluctantly, Phoebe pulled her headphones from her backpack and placed them on her head.

After double checking in the mirror that Phoebe's ears were properly covered, Scarlet straightened her spine.

"What do you want to say, Wolf?"

≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡

It takes Wolf mere seconds to launch into his tirade.

"You...and Ronald," he seethed through clenched teeth, his restrained hand clenched into a fist while the other lay tensely flat on top of the closed laptop she just noticed he had with him. "Beat me nearly to death...released all of my animals—killed some of my animals!"

That had been all Ronald; Scarlet had been more focused on getting Phoebe tucked into the truck before she saw either of the bodies, and when she went to collect Ronald she found him standing above the lifeless body of a goat. It had bothered her, especially since that specific goat had been one of her favorites on Wolf's ranch, such a sweet animal...

"And worst of all," Wolf's voice broke, sorrow combined with rage. "You killed my wife, my Aggie...how could you, Scarlet?!"

Scarlet felt his eyes trying to burn a hole through her skull; she kept her own eyes on the road.

That question was one she could easily answer.

"She was going to kill me."

A simple reply, delivered in an even tone, relaying a calmness that was only a fragile facade for the torrents of despair, fear, and fury that were crashing against her soul like ocean waves in a vicious storm. If not kept in check, these emotions would threaten the stability she needed to maintain for Phoebe's sake—and her own sanity.

Her answer wasn't enough for Wolf. He slammed his hand down hard on the lid of the laptop; knowing how strong he was, Scarlet was certain it had to have cracked, if not outright broken completely.

"She was a good woman!"

...with those five words, the storm was let loose.

"She called me an unfit mother!"

#big sky abc #big sky fanfiction #scarlet leyendecker #wolf legarski #my stories

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