imareporter | Family Reunion

Family Reunion

Who: Anne and Eddie (and possibly Dylan Brock Eddie's apparent son.) and Venom.
What?: Reckonings. realities. Eddie confronts that his partner of so many years isn't telling the whole truth. After 12 years of being bonded to an alien symbiote and having your DNA forcibly altered there's no other way to get it out.
Warnings: These are not happy people period. Possible mentions of death.

[he's been here before.

Not here, on this townhouse. It's a new townhouse and Eddie is fucking terrified of being discovered. Christ she has flowers on the porch and a cat oozes it's way out of the darkness. He's been here before because he feels weak and shaky. It feels like half of him is gone, but when your other half has been lying to you effectively sometimes you have to make the decisions...

And there's something else. Someone else, a pre-teen kid sleeping on his couch. Carl Brock's in the wind which is just as well because if "Edward Brock: Convicted Serial Killer" made the evening news this wouldn't go over well and he has to know.

Standing on the porch staring down at the cat who stares right back he cradles something close. The symbiote - his symbiote - his partner, his friend, hell his lover (and he wasn't proud of that at all) who had apparently been lying to him this whole time.

He'd had a life, or at least tried to make amends and after one of the worst fights against Carnage (their son, no matter how weird that felt.) A woman had been to see him in prison, she'd been there to help him and when he'd gotten out the two of them had fallen into bed together and supposedly that's where Dylan came from.

His son. Not theirs.

The creature in the container twitches and looks at him with a pair of eyes before Eddie coughs into his hand and presses his hand to the door frame. He's felt this weak before, but this is worse. The thing in the tube is dying and he has to find Dylan's mother and...

and what?

It's not important Eddie what's important is what's coming Eddie please please-]

Shut the fuck up.

[The symbiote isn't connected to him but he fancied he could hear the thing's voice even as he leaned against the doorframe and pressed a hand to the wood.]

Shut up. Just...Just shut up.

[Two knocks and the doorbell for good measure. According to the Doctor's at the Life Foundation Reborn (and what the fuck was that?) his heart was atrophied but they could fix it and it was...

He didn't want to go. He wanted to help Dylan but just in case...

Whoever happens to open the door to the San Francisco townhouse will see a man in a faded gray hoodie with a massive tube underneath one arm. He's sporting an unkempt heavy beard and despite looking strong - is pale and shaky out in the dark.

A light rain begins to fall.]

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There's a curtain over the window in the front door.

It's just one of the many changes that Anne has made after ... everything. A hand curls around the fabric and gently pulls it aside far enough for someone to peek out at the visitor.

The door cracks open and Anne stands half in the shadows. She's tired. . Work has become her obsession, her escape, and she's become ruthless in the courtroom and withdrawn outside of it.

"You've got some nerve, Eddie. Both of you." She sighs, the weight of the world in her breath. "What do you want?"

"...I-"

His heart hurts and he can't think of anything else to say. The anger, the rage he feels at the thing in his arms is palpable. He wonders if it can feel that rage. It's pulling away from him in the tube and his eyes narrow. He draws in a shaky breath and then another. Dylan. Think of Dylan.

His son. His son with a broken arm from his father. How the kid liked pineapple on pizza (what the fuck?) and video games. And he drew. Apparently. And-

He did this. He did all of it. His features melt when they meet Anne's.

"Can I come in and sit down? Please? I..." He wobbles slightly, "I'm tired."

There's no We in his voice. No we indicative of a much deeper problem, of their bond, "...I met Dylan. and that-"

No. What if he's wrong? Fuck it.

"We need to talk."

She watches him, expression unreadable and cold. Pity starts to set in, seeing him, how he's weak, how Venom is scared, but then he mentions Dylan and those walls spring right back up. She looks away, then closes the door.

There's the sound of sliding locks, and then the door opens again and she steps aside and motions him in.

Oh God.

He can't tell her that Carl was beating him. That would destroy what fragile moment was brewing between the two of them. His mouth opens and closes before he sets the tube on the nearest surface. The creature inside shifts and Eddie fixes it with a hateful hurtful stare before.

And he wobbles again.

"...Dylan's with me. He's safe. I've been back in San Francisco for awhile now but I..."

He stops.

Looks at her, focused wholly on her. Something visibly changed within him.

"Anne there are no words that can convey how sorry I am for what I did." he licks his lips, "...I need to explain but I gotta know because I -"

Fuck. Fuck.

"I'm doing this wrong. No bullshitting." He twitches, "No Bullshitting. Anne is he ours?"

He knows Dylan is his son. The symbiote was very, painfully, explicitly clear on that.

She doesn't sit, crossing her arms and visibly clenching her jaw at the news Eddie brings.

He's safe. Her son is safe.

She glances away again, her hair a curtain carefully hiding her features.

She's become a woman of extremes. A terrifying bird of prey in the courtroom, circling for that perfect moment and diving in for the kill, while completely incapable of dealing with the demons that have grown and taken root in her own life.

But one thing that has her undone is Dylan. He'd been her perfect little mistake. She hadn't wanted to tarnish him with Venom, or Eddie, he'd been her secret.

But once she'd had him, everything changed.

"I ... Eddie ..." She pulled in a breath and looked at him, looked at Venom, "I was selfish. I didn't want to subject him to either of you, but I fucked up. After he was born, I suffered postpartum psychosis." She stops and swallows, her hands gripping her arms tight, she's not ling at him again, but her voice is steady and clinical.

It's what she needs to do in order to get any words out at all.

"I tried to kill myself. Didn't succeed, obviously, but I lost Dylan. I lost our son."

Eddie had him back now, and she's so relieved, but right now she's struck again with the overwhelming guilt at losing him in the first place.

Edited 2019-02-25 06:58 (UTC)

"No."

He whispered. He moved forward arms outstretched to hold her - and paused. Hands at his sides, "No Anne you didn't lose anything you didn't." Psychosis? He knew a thing or two about that. Of course you do Eddie. And she has the same thing. This thing inside you. It affected everyone around you. It swallowed you all whole, I did it because I need you Eddie...I still need you...

The urge to throw the symbiote into a fire overwhelmed him.

"...I did. This is all my fault and I will never, ever be able to say how...sorry I am." To her and to Dylan. If he'd kept his shit together they would have been together.

What would it have been like? Him writing, either on TV or otherwise. Anne in the court room, career days. My mommy's a lawyer and my daddy's a journalist. It made sense. Would they have dressed in matching halloween costumes? Christmas gifts?

His hand moved to his chest, "We can't think about it now though because Dylan needs the both of us to get our shit together. He can't go back to Carl."

It's so easy to slip into the Venom mindset. To imagine hurting the man who had hurt his son, "But I should-I should-"

He swallowed, "...Can I get you some water? It might take forever but we need...we need to talk I need to explain about-"

Venom stayed put, quiet, an occasionally shifting black mass, "Him."

She watches him, watches the way he holds back from embracing her. She's not sure how she feels about that - there's a part of her that recognizes she needs it, wants it … but everything that she's been through has made her reticent to open up to people. And Eddie - it was always so complicated with Eddie. There was history there, a familiarity that right now part of her is aching for. But the last time they'd given in, well. Her world had imploded in the aftermath.

Additionally, there is nothing he could do or say that would convince her it wasn't her fault that Dylan ended up with Carl Brock. Her therapist had run that circular race track with her already, before she'd stopped going.

Pulling her arms a little tighter around her, she puts her head down again and heads to the kitchen. She's not getting a glass of water, though; pulling out a bottle and pouring herself a shot of bourbon. Self medication. Liquid strength. Trying to recapture a bit of the self confidence she once had. She agreed with him; if Dylan was away from Carl, she didn't want him going back, but she doubted her own abilities to help.

She returns to the living room and finally sits, setting the bottle on the table and dangling the glass while she looks at Eddie, and then looks at Venom.

"What is there to talk about? What did he do?"

Eddie sits. The thing in the glass by the door twitches and he ignores it, his features sincere.

"...There are...memories in my head of people in my family that never existed." He pauses, "Memories of them dying painfully. The symbiote's been erasing my memories and altering my DNA so that I'd be a more..."

He spits, "Suitable host and it..."

The betrayal stung, "...Anne for the longest time I thought you were dead. That you'd killed yourself. That my life was this never-ending spiral of pain and torment and that that-that-"

She's been there. She knows. And he knows she knows.

"That thing was the only thing I could depend on. I didn't know Dylan existed until 3 days ago. I came back thinking that I could ...find some sort of closure with dad because...because..."

God is Coming.

Oh Anne. He wants to say more but how much should he say? She doesn't look well at all.

His lips press together and he wraps his arms around himself, "It's bullshit now. Dylan's alive. There's a lot more but we need to get him away from Carl. Let's leave it at that."

His lips form the ghost of a smile, "...He has your hair. And he's just as stubborn as you are."

Didn't Eddie lead by saying Dylan was safe? With him? And now he's trying to affirm her he's alive. She goes to down her shot but then Eddie's moving on, describing her son - and she's thinking back to those dark days and how everything had fallen apart and she had scant few pictures of him before her incident, before he was confiscated while she was in recovery and losing custody to Carl Fucking Brock, who had no intentions of sharing anything about her son.

And she'd been in this dark place ever since.

She leans forward to set the glass on the table, misses, drops it, hears it shatter and feels and smells the bourbon as it splashes across the floor. Her son is with an abuser and Eddie is suggesting - what? Rescue? How? Eddie thought she was dead - Venom had made him think she was dead - and technically, for a little bit, she was.

Technically a part of her had died. She wasn't coming back like she'd been before. She buries her face in her hands, desperately trying to hold back tears that had been building, building for the past - god, how many years? She hasn't cried. How many years she's been carrying these weights by herself and now Eddie's here and whether or not he realizes it, he's lifting some of that self-imposed burden and she feels almost dizzy.

"I should have told you." Words choked and muffled, but sincere. Maybe Venom was at fault for erasing her, but she was at fault for not giving him the benefit of the doubt in the first place. Dylan had been her world and she tried to carry him on her shoulders and fell.

Eddie slides himself to and nearly falls. He moves like an old man, enfeebled. When he's by her side however he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and lean into her hair. Cheek pressed to hers, body enveloping hers. He holds her and it feels good to be held 100% as himself.

The thing against the wall twitches. The jar rattles and Eddie shoots it a look before holds her.

"I don't know if I'd seen it. If you did. Or how I knew but Venom-That thing." The word is spit out, "...It told me. but it also erased any memory of us together. So."

He grits his teeth, "I'm done with it Anne. I'm done with it. I just want to make sure you're okay and Dylan..."

Holy shit.

His features crinkle.

"He's so beautiful Anne."

It's good to be held again, by him, and despite herself she sags into him and stops trying to hold back the tears. She missed her son, every day, and now she's processing the fact that all those memories she'd had with Eddie, the life they'd had together … doesn't exist by half anymore. Even though they were no longer together, it was an integral part of her personal journey - resulted in her son - and there's a grief knowing these shared moments were no longer shared.

And there's something definitely wrong with Eddie but she's too overwhelmed to voice it quiet yet. He's seen her son and she's in part jealous and relieved. She shifts to hold onto Eddie as well, giving herself a moment to calm, but from her vantage point she can look over at Venom in the glass container.

During her illness, her postpartum psychosis, she'd been plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, seeing Venom, seeing Carnage, feeling like they were stalking her and her son and she'd had to do something. But something had turned into feelings of helplessness and insignificance and in the end her choice had been to try and remove herself from the equation in an attempt to save her son from these imagined horrors.

But they hadn't all been imagined, had they? She'd had her time with Venom. She'd helped to fight Carnage. None of that had left her, had been with her from that moment to Dylan's conception and beyond, and had reared their angry heads in her psyche when she was alone and at her most vulnerable.

Her grip on Eddie tightens for a moment as the grief and sorrow in her blooms into rage, and she stands, grabbing the bottle of bourbon and chucking it at Venom's container.

"Why did I ever feel the need to save you?"

There is a point where evolution devolves. It always happens. For humans and for creatures. For Venom, there's a pair of white eyes in an inky black face, before it vanishes and Eddie can swear to god he feels the pain it took to bring those out and his...his...

He subtly, not so subtly maybe, puts himself between her and the symbiote. Arms around her, his head against her shoulder. She's been just as abused as he has. If not moreso and it's all because of this thing, that thing, which...is still his fault. If he hadn't been so stupid...

Venom's pain is palpable to him. It looks less like a human and more like an animal. The container tips and freezes.

"Ignore it. Ignore it." He can't shush her but instead he hums and winces, his chest fluttering, "Cause I need you okay? And Dylan needs you. My dad broke his arm."

He holds her hands, features serious. This is not the same goofy reporter that she knew. This is a man who's been in combat, who looks it.

"I'm going to support both of you."

He's - why is he blocking her from the symbiote, but she finds herself gripping him back and glaring at Venom. She pulls in a few deep breaths as he advises her to ignore it, and she closes her eyes and buries her face against him.

He needs her. Dylan needs her. She's needed. But then his next words cause another sudden, blinding flare of anger. She grips his hands back.

"Your dad did what?" And there - just there - is a taste of the Old Anne. She focuses on Eddie with a piercing unfaltering gaze, her tone dangerous. It's one thing to live in a vacuum of information, but here he's realized her worst fears and it's doing the job of lighting the fire in her again.

He needs time to sort out his feelings about Venom. He and Anne may have one child, but he and Venom have 7 and like it or not he's...

He buries his head in her shoulder, "I need to sit down. Dylan said Dad hit him. That's enough for you to try and get custody back. I know a guy who can fake - anything you need to get him."

He has no way of getting him back. Between his record, it'd take him an eternity to get to where he could take care of them. Except maybe he should. Maybe he should turn himself in and throw himself on the mercy of the court and get compassionate early release.

The thing behind them twitched and he can practically hear I can fix it Eddie! I can!

"But I'll be here behind the scenes okay? So you won't have to do this by yourself." he swallows, "...I need you with me on this because I swear to god I'll kill Carl and I don't...I don't want to kill people anymore."

She gets Eddie settled on the couch, then distracts herself with cleaning up the glass shards and spilled bourbon. Eddie has given her a lot to unpack, but in bteween the doubt that she's even fit to mother anything right now, and skepticism that she'd even be able to get Dylan back, there's a hope that's sprouting in her chest.

She muses to herself that she may not be the best person to stop anyone from killing Carl Brock; it's been one of the prevailing fantasies of hers when she affords herself the chance to dream. She wordlessly fixes her mess, then disappears into the kitchen and returns with two glasses of water, pressing one into Eddie's hands.

Maybe she'd do alright.

"I'm here." It's something of a struggle for her to say, considering she hasn't felt anywhere since her recovery, not in the sense that she could guarantee she'd be consistently present. But, it's sincere. He's given her reason to at least try.

The water is cool and feels so good in his hands. Settling in on the couch, he looks up at her with love and affection. Unbidden. They could have had a life together if he hadn't fucked it up...the past is past now though and what matters is protecting their son.

"...I'm sick." He pauses, "That-That thing..." Pointing at the symbiote he rises, before weakly falling to the couch, "That thing made me think I had cancer. It changed the tests until it...it...gave me it."

His voice is filled with loathing before he buries himself in her couch, "...This. All of this is because of an experimental fucking...treatment thing. It's a long story." He swallows, "I'll bring Dylan here. Or you can come there. I might actually need a ride back there to be honest."

It's hard keeping up with the emotional whiplash, trying to process everything through the forest of her own demons. She sets her water aside and reaches out to take his shoulders and pull him into her. It's as much a comforting hug as it is an excuse to hide the way her face contorts with unspoken anger, although it's possible he can still feel the resulting tension in her body.

She takes a moment before she replies, "I can drive you. Do you need anything else, any groceries?"

"...If we do we should go with Dylan."

This is slightly selfish of him to ask. It sounds so stupid in his mind, but his mind is clear, "I mean all I've got is chocolate and tater tots and I guess kids need to eat other stuff besides that."

He laughs weakly, "That's a joke."

The thing in the jar.

The thing in the jar twitches and the jar moves with a clunk and Eddie's eyes go wide. He moves himself between Anne and the thing, his body a broad wall between the two of them - but the thing is still.

He's breathing hard and heavy but when the thing doesn't move he swallows, "...Maybe half a joke. Quarter of."

"I'm giving that thing to the New Life Foundation tomorrow." But he sounds so regretful. It's palpable.

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Family Reunion

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