Fighting for Her

Oh shit.

Riley stepped to Tommy's side and kept her gaze on her feet. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking, so she stuffed them into her jacket pockets. Tommy stood in the living room frozen and glaring at Brendan. Riley didn't know what else to do or if she should say something so she stood by his side frozen too. The tension in the room was almost unbearable. Luckily, Paddy broke the silence first.

"Tommy," He cleared his throat. "Brendan came to see you."

Riley glanced over at Tess who was holding Brendan's hand, her eyes fixed on Tommy. Riley contemplated grabbing Tommy's hand for support but they were stuck at his sides balled into fists. He didn't say a word, just heaved his chest up and down with a heavy breath.

"Pop told me you were back from Iraq." Brendan said with a steady voice. He was probably the most calm out of everyone in the room. His blue eyes were lighter than Tommy's and stared at his brother with remorse.

Tommy's jaw was clenched shut, his eyes burning with anger. He flexed his hands open, standing rigid beside Riley. She took the opportunity and grabbed his hand and laced her fingers in between his own. He glanced quickly at her, then back at Brendan who spoke again.

"He tells me you guys are training together for SPARTA. Looks like it'll be like old times. You and me in the ring." Brendan gave Tommy a small smile, hoping Riley's presence calmed his younger brother down a bit.

"Old times?" Tommy's muscles tensed up again. "You wanna talk about old times?"

The smile on Brendan's face fell. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Tommy, how was I supposed to know I was never going to see you again... or Ma."

"You had a choice. And you chose not to come." Tommy's words stung Brendan.

"Jesus, Tommy. I was 16. What the hell did I know?" Brendan dropped his hands, clearly agitated.

"You were supposed to come with us. Mom needed you. I needed you. You were my big brother and
you bailed on me. You bailed on us. And for what?" Tommy glared at his brother. Riley kept a tight grip on Tommy's hand. She didn't want to let go in fear that he might take a swing at his brother at any moment.

"I didn't know Tommy! I didn't even know she was sick. I never even got the chance to say goodbye to my own mother. You had no right to keep that from me! That was not your decision to make!" Brendan's arms tightened and his jaw tense.

Tommy was like a wall, not budging, the blaze in his eyes set to stone.

"I fell in love Tommy. What was I supposed to do?" Brendan let out a sigh.

"Yeah. You chose the old man and the girl." Tommy nodded his head towards Paddy and then at Tess.

"She's my wife Tommy." Brendan walked closer to Tommy. Riley figured this would be a good time to get Tess out of the line of fire. She spoke before Tommy could give his rebuttal.

"Tess. Let's go in the kitchen." Riley felt Tommy loosen his grip on her hand before he dropped it with a little more force than normal. She looked at him with an arched eye brow.

"You know her?" He spat the words, in shock.

Oh shit.

"Um..." Riley chewed on the inside of her cheek, not knowing what to say. Tess stepped forward and filled in the blanks.

"I asked her to bring you here so you and Brendan could work this out." She was fearless, and spoke without a hitch.

Tommy didn't even turn to face her, he just stared at Riley. "You knew about this?" He pointed a large finger at Brendan.

She nodded, knowing he felt more than anger right now. He felt betrayed. He dropped his arms to his side.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you..." Her voice was tiny, shaking and cracked. She wasn't afraid. She was embarrassed and disappointed in her self.

"You're supposed to have my back. Not go behind it and plot against me." His eyes were full of hurt but his voice was still harsh.

"Tommy, I just thought..."

"Thought what? That this would be one happy family, getting back together? You don't know anything Riley!" Tommy heard Riley suck in a gasp of breath and suddenly felt a pang of remorse. She dropped her gaze down to his chest, unable to meet his eyes.

"Ri..." He reached out to put a hand on her arm but she tugged back, snapping her head up and staring into his deep blue eyes.

"Don't fucking yell at me Tommy! You needed this push. You're so damn stubborn sometimes. You're the only one who is still holding this grudge." Riley probably should have shut her mouth after that but she was so mad that Tommy had yelled at her, that she couldn't help this rampage.

"Your brother is here to make amends and you're still holding on to something that happened ten years ago! Your mom died, get over it!" Riley cupped her mouth with her hands.

Fuck.

Tommy's eyes grew wide. Riley wished with every fiber of her being that she really didn't say that out loud.

"Oh my god. Tommy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." She reached for him but he backed up into the wall before she could touch him. He looked at her with complete and utter betrayal. The shame Riley felt was oppressive.

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Dammit."

Tommy kept his eyes on her as he stood against the wall. He banged his fists on the wall and yanked the front door open. He gave Riley one last look and left, slamming the front door behind him.

_________________________________________

"You really need to eat something." Anna sat on the side of Riley's bed, holding a plate with a turkey sandwich on it.

"Ugh." Riley rolled over to face her best friend. "What time is it?" She took the plate and nibbled on the crust of the bread.

Anna got up and pulled the curtains open. The sunlight flooded the dark room. "Its four in the afternoon. On Saturday."

"Ugh." Riley said again, this time with a mouth full of turkey sandwich.

"You've been in here for three days. I think its time to get up." Anna walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"I was out yesterday." Riley said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, only to drive by the gym and Tommy's house ten times." Anna pulled the sheets off of Riley. "Get up and in the shower."

"But I thought you said I had to eat this." Riley pouted.

"And you aren't done yet? Chop chop. The water's getting cold." Anna walked out of the room, leaving Riley there to stuff the rest of the sandwich in her mouth and hobble over to the shower.

She hadn't seen Tommy since she exploded on him Wednesday night. She felt terrible. He wasn't answering her texts, or returning her phone calls and whenever she went by the gym he wasn't there. Yesterday she had gone by his house and Paddy had told her that he hadn't seen him since Wednesday night either.

After her shower, she sulked into the living room wearing her fluffy bathrobe. She slipped into the couch and flipped on the TV. Her mind was racing with thoughts on where Tommy could be, if he would forgive her and why she was so stupid in saying what she did. She didn't realize that she had flipped through all 300 something channels. She sighed and settled on reruns of Freaks and Geeks.

"Feeling better?" Anna flopped next to Riley on the couch.

"I don't know." Riley rested her head on Anna's shoulder.

Anna braided a piece of Riley's wet hair while turning her gaze to the TV. "Oh I love this one. It's where Lindsay kisses Nick. They're so awkwardly cute. I love it."

Riley let out a grunt and changed the channel.

"Okay. You can't avoid love and kisses and all that mushy stuff just because you're fighting with your boyfriend." Anna undid the braid and smoothed Riley's hair out again.

"Why not?" Riley mumbled.

"Because its part of life." She sat up and pushed Riley over so she was sitting upright as well. "Get ready."

"For what?"

"Um. My bachelorette? Hello. Just because you cant, and I quote, get over it, doesn't mean you can back out of my party." Anna smiled with her head cocked to the side.

"Ouch." Riley rolled her eyes. She rubbed her face with her hands and took in a deep breath. "Fine."

"Good. Val and the girls will be here in thirty minutes." Anna hopped up and clapped her hands quickly.

Riley dragged her feet to her closet and pulled out the first dress she saw. The little black dress she wore for her birthday. She closed her eyes, remembering that night. When her and Tommy had their first kiss. She smiled at the memory and pulled the dress on.

The girls were fashionably late of course, which was fine with Riley since she got a late start to begin with. Valerie was unexpectedly nice, greeting Riley with a hug. She made Anna promise not to say anything about her and Tommy, and Anna was all too wiling to oblige. She didn't want Riley to be bothered by such a solemn topic on a night that was supposed to be majorly epic.

"Okay so!" Anna said once they were all in the limo. "First we eat, then we drink!" She smiled, wearing a flashing tiara that read "BACHELORETTE".

"Or we can just drink!" One of their college friends, Leah, said pouring champagne into each of the girls' glasses.

Riley toasted to that and drank her whole glass in on sip.

"Yeah! Riley!" Leah laughed and hugged Riley's shoulders. "If I remember college correctly, tonight is going to be amazing!"

Riley couldn't help but laugh. Anna leaned over and whispered in Riley's ear.

"Please have fun tonight." She leaned back and gave Riley a small smile. Riley looked at all the girls, dressed to the nines, all wearing pins that said "Bride's Bitches". She looked back at Anna and smiled.

"I will. I promise."

______________________________________

After dinner, the girls took to the streets. They walked from the restaurant to a crowded Irish pub, where everyone cheered as they entered.

"Oh yeah. This is what I'm talkin' about!" Leah hopped on a bar stool and motioned for the bartender. She ordered a round of Irish car bombs and passed them around.

"This is not going to be good." Riley said as she took the shot and the glass of Guinness. She dropped the shot in the glass and hammered it back. The girls all laughed as they each finished their shot.

"See, fun!" Anna said to Riley as they both giggled at the bar. Three shots later, Riley asked for a pint of Guinness, sipping on it while the other girls drank martinis and cosmos. Her eyes floated around the pub, and stopped when she got a glance of familiarity. She wasn't sure why she knew him, but she had definitely seen him before. Damn the alcohol, she thought. The man had walked to the rear of the pub and disappeared in the crowd.

"Oh Em Gee!" Val cried into Riley's ear.

"What?" She asked.

"You can't be without him for two minutes can you?" Valerie laughed. "Its supposed to be girls only!"

"What are you talking about Val?" She spun her bar stool to where Valerie was pointing and froze when she saw Tommy sitting at the other side of the bar. He obviously hadn't seen her since he seemed to be in deep conversation with someone. She couldn't see who though, there were too many people standing around. Her heart was beating fast. She spun back around and looked at Anna who smirked.

"You look hot as hell. If you don't go and talk to him, it'll be a waste." She smoothed the smudge of eyeliner out of the corner of Riley's eye and pinched her cheeks. "Go get 'em tiger." She let out a growl and smacked Riley's butt as she got off the stool.

Riley straightened her dress out and walked slowly to his side of the bar. She felt silly, after not seeing him for three days she was taken away by how gorgeous he looked. His brown hair was tousled in an orchestrated mess and his long sleeve black shirt was tight around his chest. Perfection. As she clicked her boots closer, she could see who he was talking to. She didn't stop when she saw her long red hair. And she didn't stop when she saw him smile. But she did stop when she saw the woman put her long, pale arm out and lay a hand on Tommy's forearm.

Riley couldn't believe it. It had been three days. She shook her head and laughed angrily, grabbing Tommy's attention. "Seriously?"