losttheright | (no subject)

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russell clank

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A few days after New Year's, things go back to normal.

Well, for a given value of the word, anyway. There aren't animals roaming the city, out for blood anymore; she can go to and from work without worrying that she's about to get attacked by something. She might even be able to start getting more than a few hours of sleep every night. Actually normal, though, is still the long way off. Her boss is still in the hospital, and though he'll be fine physically, hasn't been taking well emotionally to the loss of his eye. Two out of six city council members are dead. It's going to be a long time before things are functioning the way they used to, and Molly is acutely aware of it, unbelievably fucking exhausted, barely able to wrap her head around everything going on. She can focus on work while she's doing it, but that's about all she can do, or, at least, all she's been able to do before now. Things are starting to settle. The most they can do from here is try to pick up the pieces.

Part of doing so is thinking ahead, now that she can. Both Phyllis and Amit's funerals will be next week, and as much as she can't stand the thought of it, there's not really any way she can get out of being there for both. And with both in such quick succession, no matter how awful she feels for considering it, she probably can't get away with wearing the same dress to both. Being at least pretty sure that it's safe now, she goes to the mall after work with that in mind, trying to ignore the way her stomach turns. She hates funerals, inevitably winds up thinking about what hers must have been like when the subject comes up, which doesn't help matters any when the deaths themselves are so upsetting. Phyllis had a family, kids who'll grow up now without their mother. Amit may have been kind of a douchebag, but he was smart, and five fucking years younger than her. Regardless, no one deserves to go like that anyway.

She's just headed inside, trying to figure out where she should start looking for a dress, when her phone goes off in her pocket, and the message on the screen makes her go pale. Orrin Fillby has been found dead on the floor of his apartment, the side of his neck bitten out by his myna bird the night before. No one thought to look before now. The very idea of it is so fucked up that for a moment all she can do is stand there, stunned, not even realizing that she's frozen in the middle of a shopping mall.

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"Yeah, I guess he is," Molly says, just the slightest bit sheepish, her head falling to the side. For the most part, that hasn't really come into play at all. Things have been normal, and given what the alternative has usually been for her in this place, she relishes that lack of excitement. She gets the impression that the same is true for him. Still, there's a certain kind of comfort in knowing that next time things get fucking crazy around here, she'll have him on her side. It helps, too, that it means he understands some of that shit. "So that's good. Between all of us, we'll have everything covered."

"Except all the regular life shit, like bein' a dad," Russell says, his eyes widening a little before he laughs. "Trust me, I sure as shit don't have that covered."

It's not that he thinks he's bad at it, he knows Katie wouldn't have agreed to let him officially adopt Jamie if he were and he doubts she'd want to marry him, but at the same time he knows what he's doing now is a pretty big deal. He has to help raise a little person and make him into a good, functional human being.

"Yeah, but you will," Molly says, one shoulder lifting in an easy shrug. "I don't think anyone has that covered right away. And you've obviously been doing fine so far." It speaks for itself, really, in where he and Katie are, when she's got Jamie to think about, too. Molly knows her well enough by now to know that she'd only make decisions with Jamie's best interests in mind, and knows Russell well enough to know that he's probably not giving himself enough credit anyway. "Seriously, Jamie's a lucky kid."

"Well, I haven't fucked it up too bad yet," he agrees with a laugh, rubbing his hand over his face before he shakes his head. "Y'know it's all official now, right? We signed all the paperwork so that he's... y'know mine."

It's crazy to think about. Amazing and scary and just plain crazy, but he loves it.

"It doesn't really feel any different, but it's good knowin' the law isn't gonna get in our way on anything," he says. "If somethin' were to happen, they can call me, too."

"Yeah, it's gotta be nice, knowing you have that," Molly says, nodding. It's not exactly an easy position for her to put herself in, but she imagines for that reassurance alone, it would be more than worth it. Besides, whether or not it feels any different, just the fact of making it official is a big deal. Or maybe it just seems like it to her when she loves all three of them so fucking much. She grins, teasing. "And now all that's left is for you and Katie to tie the knot, right?"

"April," he tells her, then laughs. "Jesus, that seems so much closer than I figured, but yeah, we picked a date. April 16th. It's a Saturday."

Their plans are still small and he's sure they're going to stay that way. There's nothing overwhelming he would want, nothing over the top or too fancy. They're not those people and while he understands and appreciates there are others who want that, it just isn't for them. This is going to be what they want, everything they want, and he's enjoying the planning process more than he had thought he would.

"Oh, my God, that is soon," Molly says, though she's grinning as she does. "How are the plans coming?" She's not sure she's ever been this excited for a wedding before, but it's hard not to be. There's no one here she cares about quite as much as Russell and Katie, and no two people she can imagine being happier for. They both deserve this as much as anyone possibly could. "Starting to freak out yet?"

"Y'know, not really," he says, shaking his head with a grin. "We know what we want and we're stickin' to it and I think it's gonna be real nice. I kinda like the planning part, too, which I never figured, but it's a lot of fun. I like lookin' at the flowers and stuff like that."

He'd never thought himself the kind of guy for that, but here he is, happily planning his wedding. Half the guys back in Ogden Marsh would give him such shit for this, but he doesn't care.

"Okay, that's adorable," Molly says, head tipping to the side. "And good, too. That you're not freaking out, I mean." It wouldn't be a bad thing if he was or they were, but that they're not is probably a good sign. Then again, it doesn't really surprise her. In a way, this seems like it's been a long time coming, something that just makes sense. The wedding planning might well be part of that. "So is there a color scheme or anything? We're gonna need to figure out what I'm wearing. As your best man."

"I think we gotta talk a little bit more about it," Russell says. "But we want people to wear what they're comfortable in."

He gets a little rush of joy when Molly talks about being his best man and he knows he's not always great with expressing his emotions and telling the people who are important to him just how much they mean. He hopes that asking her to do this for him, for wanting her to fulfill this very important role goes at least some of the way toward explaining that. It means so much to him that she'll be there, standing with him.

"So it'll be cool if I show up in jeans and a t-shirt?" Molly asks, clearly teasing. "Not my good jeans, either, the ones with a rip in the knee." Even for a casual wedding, she'd never do that, and she's sure he knows it. The way she looks and presents herself is too important to her under normal circumstances, never mind for the wedding of her two best friends. "Ooh, or I'll just roll out of bed in my pajamas on the day of. I'll get Lee to do the same, too. Won't be weird at all."

"Y'know, I wouldn't even care," Russell answers and even though he's grinning, even though he's mostly joking, he's also not joking at the same time. On that day, the only thing he's going to be thinking about it marrying Katie and what everyone else is wearing is probably going to be the very last of his concerns.

"As long as you make sure I don't fall over and sign your name on the paper at the end of it, you got the job," he teases. "But yeah, I'll talk with Katie some more and I figure maybe we'll have you guys over and can talk about it then."

"Wait, making sure you don't fall over is part of the deal?" Molly asks, expression teasingly dubious. "I'm not sure how good I'll be for that. You've kind of got a few inches on me." She highly doubts it'll come to that, anyway. Still, she plans to do everything in her power to make sure it works out as well as possible for the two of them, and if that means attempting to keep Russell on his feet, then she'll do it. Attempting just might be the operative word there. "But everything else, we should be good to go."

"You gotta, it's all part of the deal," Russell says. "You know my legs are more or less just gonna give out on me when I get to see Katie, right? Maybe I should have a chair ready or somethin' just in case."

He's sort of joking, but also sort of not, because he knows when it hits him that he's really getting to marry Katie, he's going to have a tough time just staying conscious. It's incredible to him that they're here now, something he hopes he never takes for granted.

"Yeah, from the sound of it, maybe you should," Molly says, rolling her eyes, though her expression is nothing but fond. "God, you two are so cute, it's disgusting." It might be a little unconventional, but she'd make sure he had a chair for the ceremony if he really did think he'd need one. She's never been anyone's best man before, but even for all that she might joke about it, it's not something she takes too lightly. Not when these are two people so important to her. "I mean, to be fair, I don't think anyone would hold it against you if your legs did give out."

"I'm just happy," Russell says with a shrug and a grin, looking amused. It's the truth and it's still sometimes weird to think about how much his life has changed. This isn't where he'd be if he'd stayed in Ogden Marsh. Even if it hadn't burned to the ground, even if everything had just gone on as usual, he wouldn't be here.

There's no one in the world like Katie. There's sure as hell no one in Ogden Marsh like her.

"Hey, besides, it's my wedding, I can do the whole thing sittin' down if I want to," he protests with a laugh. "I bet Katie'll have somethin' to say about that, though."

"Yeah, she might," Molly allows, head tipping to the side, though she's still grinning, too, as she does. As understandable as it might be for Russell to get weak in the knees at the sight of Katie on her wedding day, she doesn't think there's any actual possibility of a chair being necessary for the ceremony. It wouldn't be quite so easy to joke about otherwise, even if she would made sure he had one if it came to that. Better he get married while sitting down than fall over when Katie walks down the aisle. "Or, I don't know, it depends on just how traditional you're going. Which can't be that traditional, since I'm your best man."

Russell snorts at that and shakes his head. "C'mon, you know Katie. It's not gonna be traditional." The arrangements they've made already have so much of her influence in them, that flowy, freedom that just seems to come off her in waves sometimes. He used to think it was a product of the time she'd grown up in, but now she's been in Darrow just as long as he has and she hasn't let it change her.

"I'm gonna try and convince her that not bein' traditional means I get to see her dress beforehand," he says. "'Cause I'm gonna lose my fuckin' shit if I have to see her in it for the first time that day."

"Better to be prepared, huh?" Molly asks with a laugh. She's not actually sure how much difference it will make come the day of the wedding, when just seeing Katie in her dress beforehand probably won't begin to compare to that at all, but if he thinks it will help, then it might be worth trying to talk her into. That is, at least, one upside of not doing things the traditional route. Whether or not it has an effect on how he reacts later, it's still a good excuse to bend the rules a little bit. "Well, that's one thing I don't know if you'll be able to convince her of, but it's at least worth a shot."

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