Chapter Text
Robert barely spoke all morning.
Usually, even in a bad mood, he had something to say — some sarcastic comment, some complaint, some way to fill the silence. Today he just drifted around Butler’s Farm distracted, losing track of jobs halfway through and staring into space whenever Mackenzie or Matty tried talking to him.
“You alright?” Matty asked eventually, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Fine,” Robert muttered automatically.
Mackenzie exchanged a look with Matty. “You’ve been ‘fine’ for about three hours now.”
Robert rubbed a hand across his face, clearly exhausted. “I’m just tired.”
That wasn’t entirely a lie, but he was extremely tense.
Every time a car slowed outside the farm, his stomach twisted. Moira knew what he’d done with the ID’s, working with Joe Tate of all people was criminal to the dingles didn’t matter if it was willingly or not. and if she told Cain—
He pushed the thought away before it could settle.
By lunchtime, Mackenzie had had enough of the awkward atmosphere. “Right,” he sighed, grabbing his jacket. “You’re clearly not in the mood for company.”
Matty nodded. “We’ll head off. You can lock up the barns?”
Robert looked almost relieved. “Yeah. Thanks.”
The farmhouse fell silent after they left. An hour later, robert was still stood alone in the kitchen. He listened to the quiet yet irritating hum of the fridge and the rain tapping faintly against the windows. Slowly, he started to relax. Maybe Moira hadn’t said anything after all. Maybe he’d worked himself up over nothing.
Besides, that’s what Aaron suggested and he was usually right.
Aaron had been in and out, came in that morning to talk to Mackenzie, and back out again to meet Chas. He was supposed to be back by now though. At that thought, Robert’s phone blared, making his heart flip from the change in atmosphere. It was Aaron.
“You’re a hard man to get hold of.. still at the farm?” Aaron practically shouted down the phone, Robert could hear kammy and belle laughing loudly in the background. Bet it was driving Aaron nuts.
“Oh.. uh yeah, Mack and Matty left a bit over an hour ago.”
A pause, Robert could practically feel Aaron’s frown.
“You sound weird.. what’s up?”
“I’m fine.”
”okay so you’re not fine. You always say that like I’m miraculously going to start believing you.”
Robert let out a deep sigh, Aaron knew him well. Sometimes too well.
“it’s been a long day, im just tired.”
There was a pause before Aaron spoke again. “Cain’s got me covering some random shift at the garage tonight.”
Robert frowned.
“Since when does Cain care about the rota. He’s always closing up when it suits him?”
That’s what I said.” Aaron laughed lightly, though it sounded uncertain. “He was weird about it an’ all. Basically told me I had no choice.”
Robert’s stomach tightened slightly. “Weird how?”
“I dunno. Just…” Aaron lowered his voice. “Proper off with me, Said he had something more important to do.”
Robert went silent, his paranoia creeping up on him again. Obviously Aaron sensed it.
”He probably wanted someone competent in, considerin’ Kammy is preoccupied with belle 24/7.”
silence
“Look, I’ll be back later and we can get a takeaway or something.. okay?”
Robert smiled faintly, feeling more reassured.
”okay. Sounds good”
”just do me a favour and try not to brood till then?”
”I can’t promise anything”
Aaron snorts and Robert can feel his smile from the end of the phone.
”I’ve gotta go but I love you.”
”..I love you too Aaron.”
As soon as the line clicks the irritating buzz of the fridge enters Robert’s ears. After five minutes he decides it’d be best for his mental health to get away from it. Robert grabs his coat and heads outside.
He makes his way to the barns to lock up. Really he should’ve done this when it was lighter outside and people were still on the farm, but Robert had a history of making things harder for himself. The barns were lit only by the weak light spilling from the kitchen window. Rain drizzled steadily, soaking into the gravel beneath his boots as he moved between the barns.
The first lock clicked easily.
Then the second.
By the time he reached the last barn, the uneasy feeling had settled heavily in his stomach again. The farm felt too quiet.
Robert tugged the barn door shut and reached for the padlock—
A crunch of footsteps sounded behind him.
He froze.
Slow. Deliberate. Getting closer.
Robert turned sharply, heart hammering. “Who’s there?”
———
Aaron had rang Cain atleast 5 times since getting off the phone with Robert. Nothing.
”what’s up bro? you seem on edge?” Kammy swaggered over to Aaron after belle had left, clearly not reading the room.
”maybe that’s because I’ve been the only one working on these cars for the past 3 hours with no help?”
”oh.”
Aaron sighed as he wiped his eyes, rain dropped on his lashes from his hair and it had been irritating him.
”sorry.. I’m just in a mood, this wasn’t even my shift, now Cain isn’t answering and neither is Robert.”
Kammy looked at his feet then back up again, a smile on his face.
”hey you never know! maybe they’re together?”
Kammy meant well, Aaron knew that, but the thought of Cain and Robert in the same room didn’t bring him much comfort.
——-
A voice called across the darkness.
“Robert!”
He turned sharply.
Sam came jogging through the rain, hood up, shoulders hunched awkwardly.
“Sam?” Robert cocked his head, out of all the people to randomly appear on the farm, Sam wasn’t the first to come to mind.
Sam slowed to a stop a few feet away, clearly trying to remember whatever excuse he’d rehearsed. “Er— there’s someone by t’ back field.”
Robert frowned immediately. “What someone?”
“I dunno, do I? That’s why I’m tellin’ you.”
Robert sighed heavily. “You could’ve called.”
“Phone died.”
“Convenient.”
Sam shifted nervously. Too nervously.
Robert noticed too late.
”hold on.. what were you even doing in the back field?”
A shape moved behind him.
Then—
Crack.
White-hot pain exploded across the back of his skull.
Robert stumbled forward with a sharp gasp, one hand flying instinctively toward the injury before his knees buckled beneath him.
The last thing he heard was Sam shuffling toward whoever had just appeared.
——-
Voices dragged him back.
“…think he’s waking up.”
“He’d better be.”
The first thing Robert became aware of was the ache.
Head. Neck. Shoulders.
Then the fact his arms wouldn’t move.
His eyes snapped open.
Kitchen light.
His kitchen?
He was tied to one of the dining chairs, wrists bound behind the backrest with rope. Rope from his own barns?
No. Someone else’s.
Ankles tied too. The ropes bit into his skin every time he shifted.
Robert blinked once slowly
“Well,” he rasped. “This feels excessive.”
For a second he just stared, disoriented.
Then he looked up.
Cain stood near the table, jaw tight, fury written across every inch of him.
Sam hovered by the doorway looking deeply uncomfortable.
Robert blinked once. “You brought me home?”
His voice came out rougher than intended.
Cain folded his arms. “You planted those IDs.”
Robert closed his eyes briefly
Sam shifted awkwardly. “He woke up calmer than I thought he would.”
“That’s because I think I’ve got concussion,” Robert muttered.
Cain stepped forward. “Moira lost everything because of you!.”
The anger in his voice cracked slightly around Moira’s name.
That caught Robert’s attention more than the accusation itself.
”Cain-“
Robert swallowed carefully against the dryness in his throat. “I didn’t think it’d get that far.”
Cain laughed harshly and grabbed Robert by the front of his jacket, dragging the chair forward again so violently the legs screeched across the floor.
“No? You just happened to stash a bunch of IDs on her property, and the cops get coincidentally tipped off straight after you do?!”
Robert looked away for a second. “I know what I did but-“
”but NOTHING."
Cain let’s go of the jacket collar and shoves robert back, the chair legs screech against the floor and Pain seers through Robert’s skull.
"Joe Tate- he had something on me I had to do it!”
”Yeah not good enough pal.”
Robert hissed as the ropes cut deeper into his wrists. “Cain—”
A fist crashed into his mouth before he could finish.
Robert’s head snapped sideways with the force of it.
Blood flooded warm across his tongue instantly.
Sam stepped forward. “Cain calm down a bit.”
Cain ignored him completely.
“You go after me, fine,” Cain said furiously. “But you leave her out of it.”
Robert spat blood onto the floor, breathing hard now.
”I didn’t want to go after her at all. I was protecting Victoria.”
Cain grabbed his jaw viciously, forcing him to look up. “But you did.”
For a second neither of them moved.
Robert could feel Cain’s hand shaking slightly against his face.
Not from fear.
From rage.
And suddenly Robert understood this wasn’t really about the IDs anymore.
This was Cain terrified of somebody he loved getting dragged under.
Again.
Some of the fight drained out of Robert then.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely.
Cain’s expression twisted angrily, like the apology only made things worse.
“You don’t get to say sorry after this.”
“I know.”
The quietness of the answer seemed to throw him.
Sam looked between them both uncertainly. “Cain…”
Cain let go of Robert hard enough for his head to knock against the chair again.
Robert winced sharply.
Blood dripped slowly from his split lip onto his shirt.
“You’ve got no idea what she’s been like,” Cain said, voice rough now. “Stressing herself sick trying hold everything together, trying to hold me together. She went to prison Robert!”
Robert looked at him tiredly through one swollen eye.
“I know what that looks like.”
Cain scoffed. “Don’t pretend you care.”
“I do.”
That landed heavily.
Because Robert sounded honest.
He sagged slightly against the ropes, exhaustion overtaking whatever sharp edges he usually hid behind.
“I wasn’t thinking properly,” he admitted quietly. “I just wanted to protect my sister.”
Cain stared at him, tears in his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.
Then suddenly lashed out again.
This time the punch landed in Robert’s stomach.
The air tore from his lungs in a broken gasp as the chair rocked violently beneath him.
Sam stepped forward quickly. “Cain, maybe ease off a bit?!”
“He framed Moira!”
“And you cracked his skull open!”
Robert doubled forward as much as the ropes allowed, coughing painfully.
For one horrible second he thought he might actually throw up.
Sam moved closer, Cain stepped back breathing hard.
The kitchen fell silent except for Robert trying to catch his breath.
”Cain I’m sorry.. okay I didn’t know what else to do. I had to protect my family.”
”I’m protecting mine.”
sam interjects.
”Cain.. you’ve said what you needed to say.”
”have I?”
Cain steps closer.
”He’s always been like this Sammy, a cruel businessman who takes and takes, does whatever he wants to satisfy his needs. I see no difference between him and Tate.”
Sam exhales and Robert scowls, sympathy slowly draining from his eyes.
”cain that isn’t fair-“
”you took our home, my wife, and the mother of my children away from me.”
Cain stepped closer until Robert could smell the rain and engine oil soaked into his clothes.
“You know what your problem is?” he spat.
“You walk around acting like every rotten thing you do’s got some clever excuse behind it. Every lie, every betrayal, every person you throw under t’bus — there’s always a reason, ain’t there?”
Robert shifts in the chair, his eyes meeting Cain as he crouched infront of him.
”Joe Tate, Victoria, your childhood, your temper. But at some point, Robert, it stops being bad luck and starts being you. You poison everything you touch and then stand there looking wounded when people finally stop trusting you. Moira’s breaking her back trying keep her life together while you’re planting evidence like some pathetic little coward because you couldn’t handle your own mess. And the worst part is, you still think you’re the victim in all this. You always do.”
And in the midst of all this, nobody notices the door open and Aaron emerge in the doorway.. but Sam.
”Cain-“
”shut it Sammy.”
Cain scoffs, clearly losing himself in his anger, losing your house and wife whilst battling cancer will do that to a guy.
“You leave destruction behind you everywhere you go and then act shocked when people stop believing there’s anything good left underneath it. Your own dad spent years trying to knock some sense into you because even he knew what you were.. what you were capable of.
The mention of Jack Sugden made Aaron’s eye twitch, while Robert sat there caught between breaking free to batter a cancer patient, or finally just giving in to the mental breakdown he’d been heading for since returning to emmerdale.
“And Andy — Christ, Andy were your brother and you still spent half your life trying to ruin him. You cheated him, lied to him.. killed his wife. You drove wedges through your own family every chance you got because you couldn’t stand not being the one people chose. Couldn’t stand being the one everyone despised.”
His voice sharpened viciously.
“Aaron nearly destroyed himself loving you, and your own son got taken away. Then prison — same story all over again. Everybody else left picking up the pieces while you sit there with that wounded look like life’s always happening to you.”
Cain jabbed a finger hard into Robert’s chest.
“You call what you did protecting Victoria? Maybe part of it were. I’m not saying Joe Tate ain’t twisted enough to threaten your family. But you know what separates decent people from people like you? Decent people don’t throw somebody else’s family into the fire to save their own. Moira’s been breaking herself trying to keep that farm standing and you decided she were expendable because you were scared.”
Robert’s lip curled slightly.
“And the worst part is, you probably do feel guilty. That’s what makes you so exhausting. You’re not evil, Robert — you’re just selfish enough to hurt anybody if it means surviving another day. Then afterwards you hate yourself for it and expect everybody else to pity you too.”
Robert stared, his eyes full with tears yet also housing a darkness. Sam flinched when he saw Aaron stare Cain down.
“You hypocrite.”
and everybody turned to the door.