Chapter Text
Alison had always had a feeling that her husband wasn’t the most… faithful man. When they first started dating she would often find him staring just a little too long at the girls by them at the movies, or the waitress at a restaurant, or even on one god forbidden instance, at a family reunion she had to coerce him into going to. She just never expected him to do anything about it, and she was certainly not expecting the previously mentioned ‘anything’ to be the boy he was locked into a bathroom with all those years ago.
At first, she didn’t even know it was him. She had been coming home from a long shift at the office (whoever said the customer knows best was clearly on something stronger than her 3 cups of coffee throughout the day,) and was very ready to just take a shower and go to bed, but as she stepped through the front door she heard Lawrence and someone she didn’t recognize laughing.
“Lawrence? Who’s this?” Alison said, stepping over the living room threshold into the kitchen, seeing a scrawny, dark haired young man sitting at the dining table.
The man jumped a little, apparently not having heard the front door open.
Lawrence gestured to her and said, “Ah, Adam, care to introduce yourself? This is my wife, Alison.”
“Oh… hi. I’m Adam, I met Larry a few years ago and he invited me to stay for a bit at your place while mine gets fixed. Someone tried to kidnap me a few weeks ago, so my house is a tiny bit unlivable in right now,” Adam said, giving a self-deprecating smile.
Alison was dumbstruck. Surely Lawrence would’ve brought up someone staying at their house for however long it takes for Adam to get a new place, right? And Larry? She hasn’t anybody call him that since his grandmother passed, and even then he complained of his dislike of the name.
“Lawrence? A word?”
“Of course my dear,” he said, pushing his chair away from the table to stand up.
She walked into the living room, guiding Lawrence by hand (maybe a bit too harshly.)
“Lawrence! Why didn’t you tell me you invited someone to stay with us!?” Alison whisper-shouted at him.
He looked down at the floor, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Alison… there’s something I haven’t told you yet. Do you remember what happened when I was taken?”
“Well, not all of it, it was almost a decade ago now,” she said, lowering her tone and giving him a confused look. “What does that have to do with this?”
“I don’t know if you remember, but I wasn’t the only one taken that night. There was another man trapped in there with me. That man was Adam. Earlier this month, someone almost took him again, and I’m fairly certain I know who it was. How horrible would I be if I didn’t offer him a place to stay?”
Alison didn’t know what to say. It was horrible of course, that the man who had taken Lawrence’s right foot and Diana’s childlike wonder away from them had tried to kidnap the only other person in the world who really knew what Lawrence had gone through (which, she had to admit, she was a little jealous of. There’s only so much she can go through without wishing she just knew what really happened.) But, she was still a little upset with Lawrence. She settled on a gentle inbetween.
“I guess… but next time something like this happens, you better tell me, so I at least know nobody broke into our house. Imagine what would’ve happened if I came home late and found a random man sleeping in our guestroom?”
“Of course love, I’ll make sure to tell if someone stays over again. Now, why don’t you get back in the kitchen and give Adam a real welcome?” He walked back to Adam, sitting down and putting an arm around his shoulder. He whispered something in his ear and Adam nodded. If Alison squinted, it almost looked like he turned a few shades pinker.
Alison rubbed her neck and said, “I’m sorry Adam. Lawrence just explained the situation to me, I’d be happy to let you stay as long as you need. Our daughter moved out a month or two ago so we actually have a guest room now. It should have everything you need to stay for a bit.”
“Thank you so much, I really needed a safe place to stay,” Adam beamed.
Alison smiled back at him and sighed, “Well I’d better head to bed. I’ve got work in the morning. Let me know if you need anything, alright?” Adam nodded and she went to go take a shower.