Chapter Text
Friday night found Bess lounging alone on the Drew's living room couch, absently thumbing through an old copy of Vogue. It had been a week since Nancy had returned home from the hospital. In that week, Nancy had all but locked herself away in her bedroom.
"I -- I just need some space." She had murmured softly.
In an effort to respect this, Bess, George, Mr. Drew, Ryan, and Ace had begun taking turns holding vigil in the Drew's living room -- just far enough to give her that space but close enough to be there if she really needed them.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Crash.
"Not again." Bess whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
In the past week, Nancy had been plagued by phantom morning sickness. She had spent much of her time racing to the bathroom to throw up what little she had eaten, before hobbling back to her bed to curl up and cry. Bess' heart ached for Nancy. It was a particularly brutal reminder of what had been lost.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Bess hopped up to answer it, grateful for the distraction from the sounds of her friend retching.
"Hello?"
Gil Bobbsey stood on the front stoop. His taut frame and clenched jaw immediately put Bess on edge. "I need to see Nancy."
"I'm sorry. She's not really seeing anyone right now." Bess said, moving to close the door.
Gil shoved his shoe into the gap between the door and its frame.
"She needs to see me. Now." There was a hard edge to Gil's words.
"Not. Right. Now." Bess grunted as she threw her weight against the door in an effort to close it.
"Let me talk to my fucking girlfriend!" Gil snapped, shoving the door so hard that he sent Bess sprawling, her head narrowly missing the corner of the coffee table.
“Bess!” Nancy came racing down the stairs as Bess blinked away stars. “Bess! Are you okay?”
"I — I think so." Bess murmured, though her head pounded and her vision quavered. Gingerly, with the help of the coffee table, she pulled herself up to a seated position.
Assured that Bess was out of immediate danger, Nancy whirled on Gil. ”What the hell, Gil?”
“What do you mean, Nancy? How else am I supposed to get you to talk to me? You haven’t answered my calls all week.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to barge into my house and maim my friends!” Nancy snapped.
”Jesus Nancy! You didn’t even fucking tell me that you were pregnant!” Gil raked a hand through his hair and took a step towards Nancy.
Nancy turned away from him. “You didn’t need to know.” She said tightly.
”Oh right. I didn’t need to know.” Gil replied sardonically. “After all, it wasn’t mine. It was my sister’s boyfriend’s.”
Nancy’s sharp intake of breath told Bess that Nancy had not revealed this detail to Gil herself.
”I’m right, aren’t I?” Gil’s laugh was mirthless. “God I can’t believe Amanda was telling the truth.”
Nancy did not immediately reply. Instead she stood there for a minute, her back to Gil, breathing heavily, trying to get her emotions under control.
Nancy’s silence irked Gil. “Will you fucking look at me?” He growled, grabbing Nancy’s shoulders roughly to turn her towards him.
”Gil! That hurts!” Nancy yelped. Bess could see the obvious pain in her face. When Gil did not let go, Nancy raised her voice. “Get off of me!”
"No, Nancy. You need to tell me the truth. For fucking once." Gil’s grip on Nancy’s shoulders tightened as he spoke.
Bess’ chest tightened in fear. He’s going to really hurt her. Ignoring her still spinning head, Bess unlocked her phone and dialed 911.
“Let go of her.” They all turned to see Ace standing in the front hall. His face was flushed and he was breathing heavily as though he had been running.
When Gil made no move to release Nancy, Ace started walking towards them. “Let. Her. Go.”
Gil dropped Nancy’s shoulders to face him. Ace took a quick step to the right, blocking Nancy with his body. “You asshole." Gil stepped forward, trying to crowd Ace's space and force him to back up. But Ace stood his ground, meeting Gil's snapping brown eyes with his cool grays. "I can’t believe you did that." Gil spat, his face now only inches from Ace's. "To me. To my sister.” And then his fist collided with Ace’s nose.
Ace's hands flew to his nose and he let out a yelp of pain. "Ace!" Bess and Nancy both screamed.
“God Gil! You just -- you need to leave!" Nancy shouted.
"Nancy --" Gil tried to move towards her again, but Ace put out an arm to stop him.
"No. We're done." Nancy said, her voice a little calmer now. She pointed to the open door. "Get out. Before I call the cops."
As if to punctuate her point, sirens wailed outside. Gil's eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to speak, but then seemed to think better of it. Roughly, he pushed past Ace and Nancy to race towards the back door.
The police arrived minutes later, followed shortly by Carson and Ryan. The next hour was filled with worried fathers, rushed witness statements, and thorough paramedic examinations. Ace's nose was bruised not broken, but it was decided that Bess should be taken to emergency room for further evaluation. Ryan volunteered to drive her and George and Nick promised to meet them there. After triple-checking the locks on the front door, Carson vowed to stay up the rest of the night to make sure Gil did not come back.
And yet, twenty minutes later, Carson was snoring quietly on the couch and Ace and Nancy were creeping into the kitchen to give him space.
"I'm so sorry about all of this." Ace said when they were alone, leaning against the kitchen counter side by side. "I should've known that Amanda would tell Gil. I ran over as soon as I realized she had but —“
"It's okay." Nancy replied. When Ace raised his eyebrows at her, she continued, her voice suddenly thick with emotion. "I clearly let everything with Gil go on way longer than I should have." She swiped at her eyes. "God. I feel so stupid."
Ace turned to face her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey. What happened tonight was in no way your fault." He murmured softly. When Nancy continued to cry, he pulled her into his arms. "Mine, maybe. Gil's, definitely. But not yours."
They stood like that for a minute or two -- Nancy with her face buried in his shoulder, Ace with his arms wrapped around her. It felt so comfortable, so right to be in Ace's arms that Nancy never wanted the hug to end. And yet, when her tears had subsided, Nancy carefully disentangled herself from Ace's arms and took a step back. "Ace. How is Amanda?" She asked pointedly.
Ace's eyes grew wide at the question and it took him a moment to answer. "We -- we broke up tonight."
"What?" Nancy needed to make sure that she'd heard him right.
"It -- All of this wasn't fair to her. Especially --" Ace stopped, looking at his feet.
"Especially?" Nancy prompted.
"Especially when I have feelings for someone else." Ace finished in a rush, his cheeks pink.
"Someone else?" Nancy was suddenly breathless.
"You." As he spoke, he continued to stare at his shoes.
"What?"
Ace took a deep breath and tore his eyes away from the ground. His gray eyes met her blue. "You, Nancy. I think I'm falling for you."