Work Text:
Nicky was a lifeline.
Agatha and Rio had been together centuries before Nicky came into their life. They had been whole, two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same heart - same soul.
When they had Nicky though… it was as if something healed inside them that was never broken. He polished their coin, he stitched their heart together. He became their life and soul.
Each day with him was better than the last. Everyday, Rio woke up next to Agatha and thought about Nicky, remembering he was real. They had a son together and he was the most perfect being she had ever seen. He had the brightest soul she’d ever seen.
Rio would lean over and press a kiss to Agatha’s cheek. Like usual, Agatha would stir awake for a second, just long enough to kiss Rio properly, before going back to sleep. She had never been the one to wake up early.
Rio tiptoed into Nicky’s room to check on him, making sure not to wake him. It didn’t matter, he was already awake. Apparently he had taken after Rio’s sleeping habits.
“Morning, Nicky.” She whispered, still mindful to not wake her wife in the next room over.
“Mama!” He cried happily. When Nicky started talking, his first word was ‘Mama’ for Rio, much to Agatha’s dismay. He made grabby hands, indicating he wanted to be held.
Rio reached over the guard rails around his bed and picked him up.
“Hey, baby. You get a good sleep?”
“Yeth!” He managed through his tiny incisors. It didn’t really matter if he got a good sleep or not, he said yes either way.
Rio smiled. “You want breakfast?”
He shook his head a few times, as if mesmerised by the sensation. Rio would love to understand what goes on in a toddler’s mind.
“You want to wake up Mommy?” She asked instead.
Nicky loved Agatha, and was proud to get to be the one that wakes her up in the morning. He didn’t need to know that it was actually Rio who she woke up to.
He nodded, making a squeal of excitement.
“Want to walk? Or shall I carry you?”
“Carry, please!” He squealed, although with his baby mouth it sounded more like ‘Cawwy, pweath!’. Rio wasn’t sure where he learned such good manners, she and Agatha barely used them. She wasn’t going to stop encouraging them though.
Rio pushed open the door to her and Agatha’s bedroom with her foot. She was still fast asleep.
Rio put a finger over her mouth to Nicky and made an exaggerated display of sneaking over to the bed.
She placed Nicky on the bed who immediately draped himself over Agatha’s back. He squealed loudly.
Rio winced, it wasn’t loud for her, but she knew from experience that when a toddler squealed right near your ear like that, you’d need a second to recover.
Agatha woke with a start, looking confused. “Huh-?”
Nicky laughed. “Mommy!”
Agatha’s face softened. “Oh, morning, sweetie. You scared me!”
Rio watched fondly as Agatha sat up, Nicky crawling into her lap.
He giggled as Agatha kissed his forehead, then both his cheeks. He burrowed into Agatha’s arms, which she gladly reciprocated.
“You want Mama to join?” Agatha asked, glancing up at her wife.
“Yeth! Mama, come!” Nicky waved Rio over.
Rio shuffled next to Agatha on the bed, and Nicky settled himself between the two of them.
“I’m hungry.” Nicky huffed, falling back into Agatha, his legs going over Rio’s lap.
“I asked if you wanted breakfast before, bud.” Rio chided softly, her hand resting idly over Nicky’s socked feet.
“Mmm. Hungry.”
Agatha smiled fondly. “I think he’s hungry, babe.”
Rio let out an exaggerated groan.
“C’mon, Nicky!” She said, hauling her son up into the air. He squealed and laughed, clearly enjoying his time airborne.
Rio walked out of the room before turning around to face Agatha, gesturing to the door, asking if she wanted it open or closed. Agatha shook her head and shucked the covers off of her legs, joining Rio and Nicky wandering into the kitchen.
The door closed behind her.
-
“Nicky, time for school!” Rio yelled up the stairs, holding her son’s school bag.
“Coming, Mama!” Nicky said, running down the stairs two at a time.
“Don’t do that in front of your mom, you’ll give her a heart attack.” Rio chuckled, handing Nicky his bag.
Nicky grinned up at her. “That’s okay, she’s at work right now.”
“Cheeky much?” Rio ushered him out of the door, locking it behind them.
Nicky giggled as he stepped into the car, Rio closing it behind him as she got into the driver seat.
He chatted the whole drive through like usual - today’s topic was about this new type of dinosaur he read about.
“-they can even grow up to one hundred and thirty feet long which is even bigger than a brontosaurus!” Nicky explained, slightly stumbling over the pronunciations.
Rio hummed, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. “I thought the biggest was the uh- sauro-something you were telling me about yesterday?”
“No, the sauroposeidon is the tallest, but the supersaurus is the longest.” Nicky corrected. How a seven year old knew this she wasn’t sure.
Rio nodded. “I’ll remember that. But you’ll have to tell me the rest later because we’re here.”She opened the car trunk for Nicky as he looked out the car window, looking surprised that they had arrived so quick.
“Have a good day at school, honey.” Rio kissed Nicky’s forehead before he got out of the car.
“Bye, Mama.”
The door closed behind him.
-
Nicky woke up early on his eleventh birthday. Rio knew this because the first thing he did was bound into her bedroom, waking her up as he excitedly jumped onto the bed.
“Mom, Mama, wake up!”
Rio stirred lightly.
“Mama.” Nicky said again, shaking her shoulder.
After a few shakes, Rio opened her eyes.
“Hi, Nicky.” She mumbled groggily. “Happy Birthday, bud.”
“Morning, Mama! Can you wake up, Mom?” Nicky had stopped bouncing, and had now settled himself at the edge of the bed, between Agatha and Rio’s legs.
Rio glanced at the clock. 5:43am. He didn’t even need to be up for school until 7:00am. She wasn’t that mad at being woken up early considering she normally wakes up around six, but Agatha would be. Well, she’d be mad, but she wouldn’t let Nicky know. She would however be in a bad mood all day.
“It’s pretty early, Nicky. Your mom probably wants a bit more sleep.”
“But what about presents?”
Rio laughed. “Of course, um… okay, how about since you’re so full of energy, I’ll come out and make you breakfast now, and then in an hour we can come wake your mom up?”
Nicky frowned at what Rio thought was a generous compromise. “But it doesn’t take an hour to make and eat breakfast.”
“So you don’t want waffles and ice cream?”
Nicky immediately sat up straight. “Okay, we can do that.”
Rio laughed. God, as frustrating as kids can be sometimes, she wouldn’t trade Nicky for the world. “Go on, bud. I’ll be out in a second.”
Rio began getting ready by kissing Agatha on the cheek. Her wife then woke up just enough to kiss her properly before falling back asleep. Some things never change. She quickly got out of bed and threw on a dressing gown over her pyjamas. Then she ducked into the closet to where Agatha had hidden Nicky’s presents last night.
She couldn’t find any wooden models for Nicky’s favourite dinosaur, the amargasaurus. Why did he have to be so smart and like the dinosaurs nobody knew about? Hopefully he’d like the nigersaurus model she got instead. She heard him mention that those two were related.
Exiting the bedroom, Rio neatly arranged Nicky’s presents on the sofa before heading into the kitchen to get started on waffles.
It seems that in his excitement, Nicky had already set the table and was sitting eagerly at his seat, kicking his feet under the table.
As Rio prepared the batter she heard a creak behind her.
“Are you guys trying to have waffles without me?” Agatha asked blearily, stepping out of the bedroom.
Nicky’s face lit up as he ran over to give Agatha a hug. Rio smiled at the sight.
She kissed him on the forehead. “Happy Birthday, hon.”
The door closed behind her.
-
Rio had joined Agatha to pick Nick up after school today. Normally it was just Agatha because Rio took him to school but they had had a call from the school about a fight that occurred between him and a classmate and so had to have a meeting with the vice principal.
Rio opened the door for Agatha, following her in to the office and closing the door behind her. In the room was the aforementioned vice principal, Nick, another boy, and what she assumed to be the boy’s parents. Nick looked like he had been crying earlier.
“Thanks for joining us, Mrs. Harkness and Mrs. Vidal.” The vice principal greeted.
“Yeah, no problem, Mrs. Joseph.” Agatha replied, voice concerned and clearly uncaring about Ms. Joseph. Her eyes were only on Nick.
She took one of the seats next to Nick and Rio took the other.
“So- uh, what happened? Nobody’s told us anything except for ‘there was a fight’.” Agatha asked, setting her bag down on the floor.
“Ah yes,” Mrs. Joseph clasped her hands together over the desk. “Well, from what we gathered, Nicholas here punched poor Chris over h-”
“Don’t do that.” Rio interrupted.
“Sorry, don’t do what?”
“Don’t say ‘poor Chris’, you’re victimising him and making us feel bad before we’ve even heard the full story.” Rio explained. People always did this while trying to tell ‘unbiased’ stories and it rubbed her the wrong way every time.
“Ah, well, from what we’ve heard, Nicholas punched Chris without any provocation. That then escalated into a rough physical altercation between both parties. Am I correct?” She aimed this question at Nick and the other boy - Chris.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Mrs. Joseph’s smile looked incredibly forced, as if one more problem would cause her to punch someone.
“Right, uh, Chris, you go first.”
Rio rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know what happened, Miss, me and Nick was just talking and then he punched me!” Chris explained, while his mom rubbed his back soothingly.
“Well then, I think that gives us all we need to know-”
“What were you talking about?” Agatha asked, losing her previous sound of concern, replacing it with the voice of a seasoned detective.
“Nothi-”
“He called you guys a bad word.” Nick spoke up, talking to Agatha and Rio.
Chris sniffed. “Bad word? Oh grow up-”
“Well excuse me if I don’t want to repeat the word you used.” Nick scoffed.
“Chrissy? What was the word?” Chris’s mom asked, holding his shoulder.
“It wasn’t even that bad-”
“Christopher, what was the word?” His dad asked, voice stern.
He mumbled something quietly.
“Speak up, please, Chris.” Mrs. Joseph rapped her knuckle on her desk.
“I said ‘dyke’.” He muttered.
Rio noticed Nick clench his fists. Rio gently laid her hand on top of his despite her own anger. He seemed to calm slightly. Rio did too.
“Why on earth would you say such a thing, Chris?” His dad asked, voice rough.
“I was just joking! I didn’t realise Nicholas was gonna sp*z out about it!” Chris defended, although in reality he was just digging himself a deeper hole.
Rio felt Nick tense up again. She did too.
“I can see why you punched him.” Rio whispered into his ear, trying to quell his nerves. He gave a small smile.
“Well this changes things then.” Mrs. Joseph said, trying desperately to say civil. “As you know we have a strict no tolerance policy on bullying, of any kind. Obviously, physically bullying is worse than harmful words so - while I’ll have to confer with the board first - Nicholas will be suspended for a week, and Chris for three days.”
“Hold on- the fight wasn’t one sided. Just because Chris didn’t throw the first punch doesn’t mean he should get a lesser sentence.” Rio said, voice strong. “He was the one provoked Nick first!”
“I hope you’re not defending your son for beating somebody up.” Mrs. Joseph sounded aghast.
Agatha was the one who replied.“Beating somebody up? Have you seen his face? Have you seen Chris’s face? They’ve both got bruises, it was not a one sided fight. They should get the same punishment.”
Mrs. Joseph glanced towards Chris’s parents worriedly. “I’m sorry but it’s up to the board-”
“You mean the board who’s probably being paid off by Chris’s parents?” Rio asked somewhat genuinely. She noticed Chris’s dad kept glancing towards Mrs. Joseph when they found out what Chris had said and it made her suspicious. She had no doubt Agatha noticed as well.
“That is a very serious accusation, Ms. Vidal.” Chris’s dad said, running a hand over his poorly kept beard.
“Mrs.” She corrected.
“Okay, Mrs. Vidal, do you have any evidence to support your claim?”
“No, but I’m sure it’s not that hard to find.” She turned to the vice principal who was sweating nervously. “Mrs. Joseph, I assume that because of your strict no tolerance policy on bullying, that you would not solicit a bribe to reduce punishments surrounding bullying incidents, or does money make things different?”
“Uh- well, Chris’s family is a very important asset to-”
“So you don’t want to lose your connections? Is that it? What, will your bake sale never be the same again? Grow up.” Rio borderline yelled.
Nick looked like he was trying to sink into his seat. Rio glanced what she hoped was something apologetic in her eyes.
Mrs. Joseph’s eyes predictably kept flitting to Chris’s parents, specifically his dad-
“Chris’s parents - sorry, I don’t know your names - are you divorced?” Agatha asked. She seemed to catch on at the same time Rio did.
Chris’s mom’s eyes widened. “Uh- yes, but we haven’t announced it yet, how did you know?”
Agatha ignored her. “Mrs. Joseph, you have a husband yes?”
Mrs. Joseph cleared her throat, twisting her wedding band nervously. “Yes, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything?”
“What’s his name?” Rio butted in.
“Arthur.”
“Alright, what would you prefer, give Chris and Nick the same punishment, or I tell Arthur that you’re having an affair with Chris’s dad?”
It was obvious to see what was happening. Chris’s dad and Mrs. Joseph kept looking at each other, but it felt as if Chris’s dad held more power compared to her. As if he was holding something over her - the affair - to get something in return - a lesser sentence for his son. It didn’t seem like he was nervous about possibly getting caught, and neither him or Chris’s mom were wearing wedding rings - because they were separated.
Mrs. Joseph looked like she was about to melt. Chris’s dad looked shocked that Rio and Agatha had figured it out. To be fair, it was hard to hide something from an FBI agent and a decorated detective.
“Nick and Chris will both get three days suspension.” Mrs. Joseph said squeakily.
“Thank you.” Agatha said, standing up. “I suppose we’re done here, then?”
Mrs. Joseph nodded soundlessly.
“Amazing.”
Rio and Nick stood up and followed Agatha out of the room.
“That was really cool.” Nick muttered as they walked down the hall.
Rio smirked. Agatha turned around and pointed a finger at Nick. “Don’t take that as a sign to keep punching people at school, ‘kay? We’re talking about this when we get home.”
Nick looked at the ground. “Okay.”
Rio slung an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we can still get Taco Bell on the way home.” She kissed his temple which he claimed he hated but he smiled anyway.
They walked out into the car park.
The school doors closed behind them.
-
A driver forgot to signal they were turning and there was a huge collision involving three cars. In one of them was Rio and Nicky. He died just shy of his 19th birthday. His airbag hadn’t inflated. He died in the hospital, Agatha beside him, internal bleeding and head trauma the doctor said.
Due to her age, Rio was in a seperate ward, being tended to her own injuries. They were bad, but not as bad as Nicky’s. Agatha had stopped by to see her, but both of them thought it better for her to stay with Nicky. Rio wasn’t able to be with him when he passed. Despite it being out of her control, it was one of her biggest regrets.
They held the funeral when Rio was discharged and able to be walking. It was dreary with few guests. Some obscure relatives Rio didn’t know existed, Nicky’s school friends, and his favourite teachers, Ms. Kale and Mr. Maximoff.
Rio didn’t cry until she was in the car to go home. It was ugly. Agatha held her, having let all of her tears out during the procession. Her wife’s arms felt cold and unwelcoming though. She wasn’t surprised when Agatha dropped her off at their house, without coming in.
Their heart and soul had been shattered by Nicky’s death.
She said some imaginative thing like ‘bye’.
The car door closed behind her.
-
Rio’s back was cold against his gravestone. There was a pack of cigarettes in her pocket digging into her thigh.
She had quit smoking when Agatha fell pregnant, not wanting to affect her or their future child’s health. She had been procrastinating quitting for a while before that and she was glad she finally got the push she needed to stop. She kept a pack in the back of her bedside drawer though. She told herself it was to remind herself of how strong she was to be able to fight cravings and urges every day. She realised now it was actually a fall back. Not fighting urges, but giving in when they got too strong.
It was one of the only packs left that had the original brand packaging instead of those drab olive green ‘smoking kills’ designs.
She contemplated smoking one. There was a lighter in her pocket. She had kept it to light candles - if they ever ended up buying any. That had been a fall back too, she just didn’t know it until now.
She took one out for old times sake. Cupping her hand around the lighter.
The pack was empty by the time she stumbled back into her house the next morning. She didn’t know where her wife was, just that she didn’t want to be near her. Agatha believes his death was Rio’s fault. She couldn’t help but agree.
She shucked her jacket onto the floor, arms too tired to bring it up all the way to the coat hooks.
The door slammed shut behind her.