Standing Still (Rodney, Open)

Today just wasn’t Rodney’s day. Okay, no it was more like this week just wasn’t his week. His knee had been in more pain now than when he first screwed up the damn thing. But that was the least of his issues. Well, no, it was actually the issue he should probably be thinking about the most because it could screw up the rest of football season for him and possibly the rest of football period. But at this point, all he could think about was Marina. The last time he had spoken to her, he was dropping her off at her house telling her he’d be back to pick her up in an hour to come live with him for a while to get away from her father. When he had gone back to her place, she was nowhere to be seen. While he was there, he had looked through her things, which he did feel a tad uncomfortable with, just to find some sort of rhyme or reason to explain where she had disappeared too. And since he hadn’t found anything, she was the only thing that was in his head. Too many things were going through his mind, her father being the first. He could have beat to her a bloody pulp to the point of death. And to save himself from someone possibly finding the body, he could have dumped it somewhere or had one of his henchmen get rid of her. And that wasn’t even the worst thing that could have happened to her. Maybe her father had nothing to do with it. Maybe some creeper came followed her up after he left and killed her in ways Rodney didn’t even want to think about. The possibilities were endless which just thinking about yet again were making him uneasy.

At first he thought that maybe something happened where she had to run out or something, but when Rodney had gone to school the next day and expected to see her in the library, he started to get a bit worried when she wasn’t there. He didn’t think he’d feel so responsible for something like this until it actually happened. There were ‘If’s’ that he just couldn’t get out of his mind. If he had only followed her up those stairs. If he had told her that they could just both come back the next day and get her things. If he had only just faced her father to begin with the moment he found out about his mistreatment of Mari. So many ifs. So many mistakes. He was normally so calm about situations. He had always been that way. Being able to blend like a chameleon into any different circumstance. But Marina’s circumstance was not what he was used to. For once in his life he felt responsible for someone. He wasn’t sure what that meant right now, but he knew that he wanted more than anything to protect her from her father.

And just as Rodney was headed towards the x ray room, he heard that familiar voice of the girl he had just been thinking of for the past week and a half. “Marina,” he whispered to himself quickly turning around and limping as fast as he could to where he heard her voice. The door was open and the plaque on the wall next to it read Room 14. He peered inside and there she was sitting on the stupid poor excuse for a bed the doctor made you sit on to examine you. Without any hesitation, Rodney walked in. There was so much he had to say but had no clue where to start. He wanted to scream at her for not letting him know where she had been. She looked fine on the outside from where he was standing so why the hell hadn’t she contacted him to at least put him out of his misery of thinking something had happened to her. Just as he was about to start raising his voice unintentionally again, he noticed a bruise along her neck. He swallowed hard knowing exactly who and how that person had made those marks. “Marina,” he said softly as he stood a little in the doorway his eyes glazed over with wetness. Rodney wasn’t one to cry in front of people. It wasn’t because he cared what people thought of his emotions. In fact, he was a very emotional person, but crying was never really something that happened often with Rodney. It was strange how close someone could get to someone else just through experiences.

It didn’t take long for Marina to go from sitting on the hospital checkup bed to throwing her arms around him. Rodney didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her. Normally to hug anyone, he’d be a bit timid, but being shy about things with Marina was the furthest thing from his mind. All he could do was hold her tight and bask in the realization that she was still alive, breathing, and standing before him.

When Marina started trying to explain herself, all Rodney could do was feel horrible for even being mad at her to begin with. How completely wrong of him to find it in his heart to hate Marina for not getting a hold of him. How could he when he knew full well that her father would be the one to make that not possible. And when she pulled away and looked at him, her eyes puffy and red from crying so much, Rodney wanted so much to be the one apologizing to her. Apologizing for not going into the apartment with her to get her belongings. Apologizing for not being there for her when her father decided to rip her right from his grasp.

Rodney could see that she was getting too worked up. She was having a hard time breathing, and she needed to sit down. She must have thought the same thing because it didn’t take long for her to be tugging at him as she walked backwards towards the hospital checkup bed once again. She sat down grabbing her inhaler and using it. Rodney watched her, sadness showing clearly on his face. “Hey,” he began as he moved the damp tear filled hair away from her face, “stop saying sorry. You have no reason to be sorry. You did nothing wrong.” He stared at her. “I’m not mad, okay. I was worried about you. I thought you were…” he paused deciding against using that one word that would make him most likely start crying himself. “…I just thought something really bad happened to you. But I’m here now, and I know who is responsible for this. He isn’t coming near you again. No matter what happens, I will not let him touch you.” It probably wasn’t what she needed to hear right now, but he needed to make sure she understood this. It was the last time that Marina would have to succumb to her father’s actions. She was going to live with him now. And if he needed to, he would just move out of his own dorm and get himself an apartment away from here just so he could take care of her. If that was what needed to be done, then it would be. At this point, he was willing to do anything.

He listened to her intently as Marina spoke about her father and how broken he was. He still didn’t understand why she protected him. She had said that he was broken, but that was no excuse for what he had been doing to her no matter how many times she tried to convince him that she wasn’t making excuses for him. He knew that Marina felt completely stuck where she was, with her father, but why was she so scared of him. She had said that he had money, but his parents had money, and a whole lot of people had money. It didn’t mean they were invincible. But he decided not to push that issue. When he had first discussed it with Marina in his car, he had begun to raise his voice which scared her and upset him as well. He needed to stay calm and collective like every other situation he faced.

When Marina mentioned the man that her father had hired, he wasn’t sure how to respond. It had sounded like he meant well. Apparently he was there for Marina to talk to about everything, which made Rodney wonder why the heck her father had hired him in the first place if he was on Marina’s side. Maybe he had already known Marina and thought that the best way to protect her was to work for her father. Rodney thought it was a brilliant idea. That way Rodney was sure that when he wasn’t able to be there for Marina this Trenton guy would be. And if he seemed to be able to keep her father calmer, than he seemed to be doing a good job at that.

But when Marina started asking him questions about her moving in with him, he wondered if it was the best idea now. After talking about Trenton, Rodney wasn’t sure that getting her out right away was the best idea. If he could talk to this Trenton guy, maybe he could really see if his intentions were in the same place as his own. If that was the case, then maybe they could gradually work together to get Marina out. He smiled at her. “Everything is fine. Yeah it’s my dorm, and yeah I have a roommate. Axel is his name, remember?” He swore he had told her that before, but that was totally cool. He couldn’t blame her. He was sure she was still a bit hazy. He sighed. “I’ll talk to Axel about it, but I’m positive he won’t have a problem with it. But are you sure you want to do this? With everything going the way it is, I’m thinking maybe if Trenton is who you say he is, he might be able to help me figure something out that may be even better than you just moving in with me. Not that I don’t want you with me. I would love to have you stay with me for a while. But I’m thinking maybe if I can talk to Trenton first, we can both figure something out. You said you were afraid of what he will do, right? Well, if we are both working together and him not even knowing it, maybe that would be the best way to keep you safe. That way no one gets hurt.” As much as he didn’t believe that her father could really even hurt him, it would probably make Marina feel much better about the situation for him to be thinking about everyone’s fait and not just hers."What do you think? Do you think you can some how get this Trenton guy to talk to me? Would he be willing too? If not, then we will just go ahead with our plan as figure it out as we go. I just want to make sure this is going to have a happy ending for everyone."

”Good, the hospital seems like the best place to talk to him. At least that way we are both here anyways.” Rodney liked this idea. If he could work something out with Trenton, things would work for the better. If Reginald was as powerful as Marina kept saying he was, he was going to need all the help he could get.

Rodney was too busy trying to think of ways to tackle the whole talking to Trenton dilemma that he completely missed the fact that Marina had just told him that she needed to have surgery. ”Wait, surgery? Why are you having surgery?” Rodney had no clue about any surgery she might need. He hadn’t seen her in a week. He swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know why it was needed. It was probably something her dad did to her while she was away for a week. While her father probably ripped her from her apartment because he was lonely and needed someone to treat like shit. He couldn’t wait to see Reginald Sinclaire. The minute he saw him, he was going to show him a piece of what he’d be getting if he hurt Marina again. He wanted so much to just beat his face in. He had never hated someone so much in his life, and he’d never even met the guy.

Rodney watched her as she took out a brush and began to brush through her hair. He wanted to tell her that she looked perfectly fine but that was a lie. She looked horrible in the sense that she looked drained, bruised, and in a lot of pain. Rodney was almost positive that the scarring she was talking about came from her father. Where else would it have come from. Come to think of it, there was probably a lot that Rodney still didn’t know about Marina’s condition. Things that her father did to her that put her in the hospital so often. Sometimes it seemed like Marina didn’t want to tell Rodney everything just because she knew how he would react, but this was serious to Rodney. And when Marina said that it wasn’t worth worrying about, it bothered him. Everything that happened to her from her father was worth worrying about. It was only a matter of time before her next hospital visit was her being carried in in a body bag.

Rodney knew that the chart at the bottom of the bed would tell him everything, and at this point, he felt that he had a right to know. He reached down and picked it up. He knew she would probably protest, but he didn’t care. As he looked over the chart, he breathed in slowly and exhaled softly just to calm himself. It was a complete mess. Marina hadn’t just gone through a few bruises here and there, no. There were broken bones, sprains, cracked ribs, scarring, concussions, and surgeries after surgeries to fix the problems that he had caused. He had only skimmed it, but had seen enough. He slowly dropped the clip board back into the holder at the bottom of the bed.

Rodney moved over to Marina, and without even asking he lifted up the back of her shirt just enough to see the scar that would be removed during her surgery. He wanted to see what weapon a father could use on his own daughter. How could anyone do something like this to someone they loved? He knew right away that it was the indentation of a whip. He could see Marina cowering as her father beat her with a whip like a helpless animal. He wished he was superman so he could pick Marina up into his arms and fly her out of there and out of this city where she could live away from the man that had broken her. Right then. Right there in that hospital room. He made a vow to himself that he would get rid of Reginald. Whatever he had to do, he would be the one to kill him.