Work Text:
Ben woke up startled as his phone vibrated on the bedside table. He squinted at the time.
2:24AM
Annoyed, he grabbed his phone and jumped up when he saw who was calling.
"Lynn?" he answered slightly worried. If Kristen's daughter was calling him at this hour then that meant something had to be wrong.
"Ben? Could you come over?" Lila whispered back.
"Is everything okay? What's wrong? Where's your mom?"
"She's - she's downstairs. Something's wrong and -," she cut off and Ben could hear the whispers of the other girls on the other end. Ben had already gotten out of bed and was trying to get dressed while still holding the phone to his head.
"Dad's here too," Lynn finally said. The oldest sibling had gotten her phone back from her younger sister. "He's - there's something not right," she said.
"I'm on my way, okay? I'm going to stay on the phone the whole time. Are your sisters okay?" Ben's mind was racing as he grabbed his keys and dashed out the door. He quickly texted David while he still had Lynn on the line.
Kristen's kids called saying they need help. Heading over there.
He then texted a couple of more times hoping David would wake up to the sound. As he drove over he asked the 4 L's about what exactly they had saw. Apparently Laura had woken up to the sound of Kristen and Andy arguing. She then proceeded to wake up her other sisters and they all crept near the stairs to hear what the fighting was about.
"Tell him it was like there was another voice coming out of Dad," he heard Lexis say to Lynn.
"And that mom was saying dad had lost his mind," Lila hissed.
"I heard all of that," Ben said and then added, "does anyone know you girls are awake?"
"No," Lynn whispered back, "we don't think so." It was when he got to the house that he started to doubt whether he should go in. What if this was just an ordinary spousal argument that had simply upset the girls? Was it really a good idea for Ben to intrude? What gave him any right?
"Are you here?" Lynn asked. The worry in her voice was enough for Ben to push his doubts aside.
"Yeah," Ben said. "I'm going to hang up now and ring the doorbell okay?"
"Okay," Lynn said with relief. Ben quickly ended the call and proceeded to call David. Before he could even answer, the front door opened. Andy stood in the doorway and stared over to Ben. "What are you doing here Ben?" Andy asked coolly.
"Uhh," Ben said stupidly. The calm in Andy's demeanor threw him off and he realized he hadn't had a real game plan for getting into the house. "There's a work emergency," Ben quickly said.
"This late?"
"Well, you know, ghouls and ghosts and the witching hour and all that," Ben said nervously laughing. "Surprised you were awake at this hour! Is Kristen awake?"
Andy narrowed his eyes and smiled. Ben understood what the girls meant about how their father didn't seem like himself. Even though he hadn't interacted with him that much, Ben could even tell that there was just something...off. He peered into the door but Andy blocked his view.
"I'm just dealing with some insomnia. Kristen's fast asleep actually, do you really need a psychologist at this hour? She can come by in the morning for her consultation right?" Andy said. Ben couldn't help but wonder if Andy was acting smug.
"Uh, okay. But the person seems to be in a mental health crisis which is why I'm here. To get the psychologist," he said pushing past Andy and walking into the house. He peered up the stairs and he could see 4 little shadows at the top of the stairs. He plopped himself down onto the couch and looked at Andy who was glowering. "I am sorry, it's just," Ben shrugged, "duty calls, you know?" He had hoped that parking himself on the couch was enough to convince Andy he wasn't going anywhere without seeing Kristen. Andy took a deep breath and then gave an uncanny valley smile.
"She's in the back. I'll go grab her." He then walked to the back and opened the door that led to the shed out back. As soon as the back door closed, Ben rushed upstairs to see the four girls huddled at the top landing. "You guys okay?" he whispered. The girls nodded as he ushered them to their room. "You girls stay in here and don't come out until your mom comes and gets you." He quickly closed their door and rushed back downstairs. He heard Andy opening the door and Kristen walked in after him. She looked confused and then shocked when she saw Ben sitting on their couch, trying to catch his breath from moving so quickly.
"Ben? What happened?" she asked as she rushed over to him. Ben could see Andy slightly twitch behind her.
"Hey, uh, you remember that case? With the Christmas gift and the drawing?" Kristen tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Is this about the artists?" she asked, quickly catching on.
Ben nodded. "The artists, they're hearing voices that they don't recognize and they wanted to see you. They couldn't get a hold of you so they called me instead." Kristen nodded and Ben knew she understood what had happened. She looked up and smiled softly, seeing the worry in Ben's face.
"It's okay. It'll be okay. I'm fine and they'll be fine too," she said.
Ben continued to nod because he had no idea what else to do. He quickly glanced at Andy and said "Well, while you were out David called and you were right." He then looked back at Kristen and said, "you won't need to come out until tomorrow morning. I'll see you then." He hoped she understood what he was trying to imply and then turned around to leave. "Sorry for stopping by so late again," he said with a fake laugh to Andy and then a small, tense nod to Kristen. He got in his truck and looked up at the window. Four shadows were crowded around it and he wasn't surprised when his phone started vibrating. But it wasn't the 4 L's that were calling. "David, hey, sorry to bother you." He explained what had happened to the priest and assured him that Kristen and the girls were okay - at least as far as he could tell. "I'm gonna stay in the area, just in case. Come by tomorrow morning and we can ask Kristen what really happened then." After getting off the call with David, Ben decided he was going to do a lap around the block and then park down the street so that he was nearby in case the girls needed him. If the Bouchards were having a spousal spat, he knew that he should not be getting involved. He believed Kristen when she said they were fine. Maybe they really did have a small argument that the girls had misunderstood. But this felt different. There was an uneasiness he felt at the pit of his stomach when Andy was nearby.
Maybe it was jealousy.
Maybe it was fear.
He didn't know anymore. One thing he did know was that a troublesome thought kept racing through his mind. A thought he absolutely had no right to have.
He was going to protect his girls.