Chapter Text
Frank was scheduled to leave rehab the day before Christmas Eve. His three months of detox and rehab were completed successfully, and it was time for him to go home and put his life back together. Abby was ready.
And so were the members of The Pitt.
They didn’t want Abby to pick up Frank at the hospital, under the harsh lights and with the eyes of strangers on them, didn’t want the children to be afraid, so Robby and Cassie offered to bring him instead.
Besides, Cassie had told her with a twinkle in her eye, she wouldn’t want to touch Frank for the first time in three months with fifty people standing around.
Which was true. She was sure Frank would feel the same way. They had exchanged longing glances and blown kisses for ninety days—the longest they’d ever been apart—and Abby wanted her husband in her arms as much as she wanted her next breath.
There were quite a few people in her house to help her prepare for the homecoming. Abby loved every single one of them. From Mateo and Donnie hoisting Tanner up so he could hang baubles high on the Christmas tree, to Perlah making some spice-laden treats in the kitchen, to Mel and Princess drawing hearts with Grace, to Heather, Samira, Dana, and Dennis making plans to spirit the children away to see Santa if they—or Frank, for that matter—got overwhelmed. A fight nearly broke out over who would take Goldie for the night until Dana said she had dibs. No one ever, ever crossed Dana.
Then there was Jack Abbot.
Abby had always felt a little skittish around him, partly because she didn’t know him well and partly because his stern features reminded her of what God might look like on Judgement Day. Today, though, he was smiling benevolently on everyone. He stayed close to Abby as if offering his strength to her, for which she was intensely grateful.
When he beckoned her to follow him outside, she followed. How could she not? They took seats side by side on the creaky porch swing and Jack began to speak. “I’m going to tell you something that only Robby knows. Not even Dana knows. I need you to keep it quiet, even from your husband. Can you do that?”
Intrigued and a bit worried, Abby nodded.
“I lost my leg to an IED. The pain was...unbelievable.” His face twisted as if reliving the experience. “I saw it come off. Not a yard away from me, my foot, my calf, just blown away, too mangled to reattach. I don’t know how I didn’t bleed out.”
Abby’s eyes filled with sympathetic tears.
Jack continued. “I was sent back home, of course, for whatever passed for rehab at the crappy VA in my hometown. They tried, you know, but they just weren’t prepared for so many men and women coming home without limbs. Mostly they addressed the pain. With pills.” He sighed, rubbing the space below his knee where the prosthetic began. “So fucking many pills.”
A chilly sense of dread ran through Abby’s body. “Pills,” she muttered. “Fucking pills.”
That made Jack throw back his head and laugh. “I knew you’d get it! Anyway, I got hooked. I tried to wean myself off—which was a joke, as Frank can tell you—and then I ran out altogether and went a little insane. I stole from the VA. I stole from the backpacks of the junkies who tried to get straight there. Whatever Frank did, I can guarantee you I did even worse.” He turned the wedding ring around on his finger. “I was married to Janine by then, and let me tell you that if it hadn’t been for her, I’d have stayed a junkie and probably died from it in an alley somewhere.”
Not having any idea what to say, Abby chose to remain silent, but she threaded her fingers through his and gave his hand a sympathetic squeeze.
“Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I know that Cassie McKay has volunteered to be Frank’s sponsor. She’ll be great, and I won’t interfere in that. But I’d like to be around to help you since I understand addiction, sure, but I also understand what it did to you.”
“I’d be honored, Doctor Abbot.”
“Jack, please. I’ve just told you my whole life story; we don’t need to be formal.” He looked at her, scanning her face and seeming to approve of what he found because he started to smile. “He and I don’t usually cross paths at the hospital, but if it’s okay I’d like to check in with one of the residents who always stays late to hand off to the night shift. I can’t remember her name, but she’s here. You know, the blonde who looks like she shits rainbows and can talk to tiny woodland creatures?”
Abby giggled. “That’s Mel, and also the perfect description of her. And I think she’ll be very happy to be found useful.”
“Consider it done.” Jack rose and offered a hand to Abby. “I gotta get to work. I hope Frank knows what a treasure he has in you and the kids. And if he doesn’t,” he added, smirking, “I will kick his ass SO far.”
“Thank you,” Abby said in a small voice. She watched him get into his car and drive off.
She’d never be afraid of him again.
When she went back into the house, it looked like Christmas had exploded all over it and smelled like a dozen different kinds of delectable goodies. Samira was brushing flour off of her nose while Perlah lobbed instructions at her like a drill sergeant. “Good grief, I won’t have to cook for a week!” Abby cried as she opened the refrigerator and found it brimming with food.
“That’s the idea. Keep your energy for other things,” Princess simpered.
“Plenty of time for that.” Heather wrapped her arm around Abby. “I’ll get everyone out of your hair right after Frank gets home, okay?”
“Thank you. For everything.” Abby hugged her.
“No crying! You’ll smear your makeup,” Samira put in, her voice shrill with alarm. She’d spent quite a bit of time getting Abby “ready” and obviously didn’t want her hard work to go to waste.
Abby looked around the room. For a minute she thought her heart would burst with joy. “I can’t tell you what it’s meant to us, having you here these last three months. Honestly, I could never have done it without you.”
“For you, darlin'? Anything,” Dana declared, and suddenly Abby found herself hugging Grace and Tanner with all their friends gathered around and Goldie barking energetically.
When the hubbub died down, Abby felt her phone buzz. She picked it up. Robby.
Merry Christmas. Your present will be delivered in a few minutes.
“Is he on the way?” asked Donnie.
“Any minute.” Abby stared at the phone. “Do I look okay?”
A chorus of “Yes!” rang around the house. People started picking up the leftover decorations and cleaning the kitchen, leaving Abby nothing to do but hold on to her children, her precious babies, and try to calm all three of them.
Then the door opened and Frank stepped through, followed by Robby and Trinity. He was so thin, so pale, but his eyes shone brighter than the lights on the tree. Everyone cheered, slapping him on the back and shouting “welcome home!” but Frank’s attention was only on his beautiful family.
With a shy smile at Abby, Trinity relieved Frank of his backpack. Robby nodded his encouragement to her and even looped an arm over her shoulders.
Frank knelt in front of his children. His voice broke more than once when he said their names and gave them so many hugs and kisses that they were all breathless. Dennis and Mateo stepped forward, each taking a child’s hand, then Frank stood up.
He was still so, so beautiful.
“Can I touch you?” he asked. “Can I really touch you?” He cupped her face in his hands, those warm, talented hands, and kissed her as if his life depended on it.
If their friends were whooping and catcalling around them, Abby didn’t hear a sound other than Frank’s quick breathing and her own heartbeat. “You’re here,” she whispered, disbelieving, against Frank’s lips, then he kissed her again.
“I think that’s our cue,” Heather declared in her best Newly-Minted Attending voice, herding everyone toward the front door. “Kids, are you seeing Santa or staying home with Mommy and Daddy?”
“Santa! Daddy will be here every day from now on, Mommy says so!”
Frank laughed, then gave his son and daughter a dozen more kisses. “I’ll take ‘em for the night once they’ve done the Santa thing,” Dana said briskly, but her eyes were damp. “And the damn dog, of course.”
Someone snickered.
“Enough,” Robby said through his own laughter. “Let’s leave the lovebirds alone.” He and Frank exchanged a long glance: Robby’s was questioning, and Frank’s was grateful. Robby nodded at him, whispering a soft “I’m happy for you, kid” as he closed the door.
“Our friends are wonderful. I love them so much,” Abby whispered. “But I love you more.”
Frank clasped her close to his heart, one hand at the back of her head and the other between her shoulder blades, rubbing in soft circles. “I don’t deserve you.”
“But you’re stuck with me anyway. Better or worse, remember?”
His smile was sad, tinged with guilt. “I’ve given you ‘worse,’ and I’m sorry. For everything I put you through, and what I did to the kids.”
Abby rose on tiptoes and gave him a gentle kiss. “Are you going to make it up to me?”
“For the rest of my life, if you’ll let me. Please, Abby?”
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard such sincere words from him, and these healed wounds she didn’t even know she had suffered.
Abby chose to show her love in touch, in the way she responded to his caresses. Morning found them locked in each other’s arms, warmed by their rekindled love. In the afternoon their children and puppy joined them, and by evening the little family had found its rhythm once more. Frank’s face was losing its haunted look, and despite his thinness he was actually healthy for the first time in over a year.
It wasn’t idyllic, to be sure, and there were many hurdles before Frank went back to the career he nearly lost, but they were together and loved and forgiven. Their world was as full of possibilities as a present that lay under the tree, just waiting to be opened.
And with Frank and her children by her side, Abby knew she was capable of anything.