Work Text:
Bobby woke up with a start, a few hours after he'd fallen asleep. He had this gut feeling that something was wrong, but Harry was staying with his dad, and they would have called if something was wrong. May was in her new apartment, on the third floor and with all the protective measures her mom set up for her. And again, they would have gotten a call if something was wrong. And he lightly patted Athena's side of the bed, feeling her sleeping form next to him, as she lightly snored and put her hand on his in her sleep. Everything was fine. His family was fine.
With that thought, he drifted back asleep, falling into a dream where his 118 family, the family he lost to the fire he caused, and his family with Athena were all sitting at one table, having a dinner of some form. He had no idea how it was possible, in this dream, by what logic both his wives were by his side, but he didn’t question it in this dream. Only sat, beaming, at the head of the table and looking upon his chosen family.
Bobby was awoken by sudden pain in his head, crying out and sitting up suddenly and looked around wildly. And turned to loook at Athena by his side, but came face to face with a shotgun barrel. Bobby winced and put a hand to his head, then looked up further to see the wielder of the weapon.
In front of him was a disheveled looking man with greasy hair hanging in front of his face. The man grinned and his teeth were rotting in his head. Bobby reached to the side of his bed, grabbing for the bat that he kept by the side of his bed, only to find nothing there.
The disgusting man in his bedroom laughed, a mirthless horrible sound, before saying, “Looking for this?” Bobby didn’t need to turn to look at the man to know he was holding the bat and basically taunting him with it.
Bobby grimaced before turning back to look at the man. The reality of his situation seemed to settle in his chest and he tried not to panic. “My wife - where is she?”
The trespasser laughed again, before sneering and responding, “Why don’t you come with me?”
Bobby frowned before climbing out of bed and letting his feet hit the carpet. The man grabbed Bobby’s arm and yanked him upright before grabbing his other arm and tying it behind his back.
Bobby didn’t fight the intruder, instead opting to just go with him and try to catch him unaware as soon as he could. He let him be walked out into the living room of the house he lived in with Athena, and stifled a gasp when he saw her tied to a chair, still in the silk nightgown that she went to bed wearing. The truly shocking thing was the state of her face. Her eyes had already swollen shut and her cheeks both had large cuts on them. Bobby felt his heart sink as he looked at her. Bobby was going to kill this man if it was the last thing he did.
Sitting in front of Athena was an empty chair. The man shoved Bobby into it before beginning to tie him up.
“So here’s how this is going to go. You’re going to watch me fuck your wife. You won’t say anything, you won’t try to pull some hero bullshit, and you’ll keep your eyes open. You follow my rules, and you and the mrs. will make it out of this alive and mostly intact. You pull some bullshit, and one of you will pay. Got it?”
Bobby didn’t speak, merely nodded in response. So much for catching the man unaware, he thought bitterly. He looked over to the front door, seeing the silent alarm had still been armed and probably tripped by this asshole. But despite Athena being a police officer herself, their house was a good distance from any police department. If the alarm tripped, it could take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes for someone to come out here…and a lot could happen in that time.
Athena didn’t even open her eyes or acknowledge Bobby since he came out into the living room with the man who broke into their home and hurt her.
Just for safe measures, the man shoved a cloth of some form in Bobby’s mouth to gag him, and pat him on the top of the head condescendingly before making his way back over to Athena.
Bobby did as the man said - kept his eyes open, kept his mouth shut - but there was no way he was going to watch this man rape his wife. He stared just past them, unfocusing his eyes and just waiting for it to all be over. Hell, he focused more on the clock above the mantle than he did what the monster was doing to his wife.
And at exactly 20 minutes from when Bobby was sat down and tied up, a loud banging on the door started. “LAPD, OPEN UP!”
And at that point, a lot happened at once. Bobby began screaming through his gag, the man swiveled on Bobby before taking out a knife and slamming it point down into Athena’s leg, and the police managed to bring the door down with a battering ram. He and Athena were saved. The man didn’t manage to run out the patio door before the police swarmed into the house, taking stock of the situation by looking over Athena and Bobby.
Bobby refused to be looked at before Athena. He was practically untouched, just his head wound from when the guy woke him up. Between the fact that she was beat to shit before he was dragged into the living room, any internal damage done by his intrusion of her, and the wound in her leg, Athena was much worse for wear than he was.
Bobby watched as the police dragged the piece of shit out of his house, restraining his desire to ask the officer who was gripping him to stop, to let him knee him in the balls with all the force he could, but it was a close thing.
* * *
The weeks after the event were harder than the event itself. Bobby became consumed by guilt, no matter how many therapy sessions both solo and with Athena he had.
He had been asleep when his wife had been torn out of bed, tied up, and beaten so bad he could barely recognize her. He did nothing when the man woke him up and dragged him out of bed. He instead waited for the opportunity to catch the man off guard - a chance that never fucking came. And then, he did nothing as the man brutally assaulted her right in front of him.
How could he feel anything but guilty?
Bobby found himself in the seedier sides of town, or in front of liquor stores, more times than he cared to admit. But this time, this particular night, he couldn’t find reasons not to.
He had been sober for so long at this point, the relapse he had during Buck’s first year - because of the plane accident causing him to relive past memories - was nearly ten years ago at this point - that he was afraid he’d snap and drink himself dead. But still, he found himself inside a liquor store on the way home from work one night, staring down a bottle of the cheapest, strongest vodka in the place.
He had no idea how long he’d been in the store, but it was long enough for one of the workers in the liquor store to approach him, lightly tapping on his shoulder.
“Sir? Can I help you find anything? You’ve been standing in this aisle, in this exact spot, for like ten minutes.”
Bobby spun to stare at them, a blonde girl with bright green eyes who looked barely old enough to work here. He shook his head, before stepping around her and walking toward the door. “Sorry, I shouldn’t even be in here, I’m sorry. I have to go.”
He hopped back in his car and sped his way home, throwing his arms around Athena as soon as he got inside.
“I think we need to talk.” He sat her down on the couch, and told her about tonight, about how close he came to throwing away almost a decade of sobriety. About how he didn’t want to be that person again. He had to stop occasionally, as he was crying and struggling to speak coherently.
Athena held him tightly, soothing him as she did so.
“Thank you for telling me. I know it must have been hard. We can get through this together, I swear we can. We’ve been through so much, Bobby.”
He pulled out of her arms and nodded, knowing she was right. They could get through this. They got through COVID, they got through that monster Jeffrey Hudson, they got through her ex fiancée coming back to haunt her. They’d get through this.
Athena cupped his face in her hands, staring into his eyes for a moment, before bringing his face to her, so she could kiss his forehead, his cheeks, and then finally his lips.
They’d get through this together. They always did.