Better off Broken

[Amorentia]

Blaise POV

Tori was curled up in Reg's lap on the porch of Peni's house. Seeing me coming, she left his lap. I took the opportunity to tell him frankly, "We need to talk."

Reg looked up at me, standing up with a sigh, "I know I messed up, I'll work it out with her when she calms down."

All his apologize were always shallow. There was no learning his lesson. As soon as he was forgiven, he felt it was a free pass to start all over again. This was not going to be that easy. My goal was to lay down the law like what was done with me. It irked me to be pulling a Marcus. But when he and Peni drew the line with me when I came back, when they stood as a force together against me, I had to back down. Hopefully that would work with Reg.

"No, your days manipulating her are over." I stood firm. "You can deal with me now. This constant mess you're putting Sara through is done. If your too much of an asshole to stop what your doing, you won't be coming here anymore. It doesn't matter what you feel for her, your not good for her. You destroy her a bit at a time for you own fun. I'm not letting it happen anymore. I've tried to deal with this shit from the start because I know you're history. But just like Sara, I'm done."

Reg looked arrogant, "We both know you're no better than I am Zabini..I didn't leave Sara a bleeding mess in need of medical care, and we both know when she calms down, we'll work it out.  I know I went to far, I know I messed up, I'm owning that. But neither of us should pretend there wasn't some truth to my words."

Some truth. That's the way it was with him. Only a little semblance of truth in all he said.How casually he brushed off the extend of how far he pushed things was classic - "when she calms down, we'll work it out" - meant "when she calms down, I'm steam roller to get her back where I want her." 

"I am a hundred times better than you because I don't take the things I know about Sara to bend her to put her where I want her for my own selfish gratification." I stepped onto the porch. "I try to build her up where you tear her down. From the moment you first cheated on her, to treating her like shit because she was carrying your child, and all the affairs inbetween, you have done your best to destroy her. Now you're using those same tastics to destory she and I. Guess what, I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. I'm Sara's life now. We have our own family. Just because you've never been man enough to stick by really creating a family of our own, doesn't mean I'll let you interfere with mine. It's time for you to back off, completely."

"Part of your family is mine, I'm not going anywhere either." Reg stood his ground. "And no, you might not use your tactics on Sara, but let's talk about Peni for a minute...pushing her buttons, calling her names, dogging Marcus to try to come between them, dogging Sara to get to Marcus, maybe you've forgotten but I remember how happily you would have pushed Sara in Marcus' direction if it meant you could get your hands back on Peni.  Your shit didn't calm down until you knew there was no way you could get Peni and then you settled for what you could make with Sara.  She'll never forget she wasn't your fist choice, just your back-up plan.  And it's not like your this great man now Zabini, you need someone to remind you all the ways you stepped all over Peni after the attack?  That you used her ties to you to make yourself feel better, no matter how it made her feel.  How you take advantage of everything she does for you, her and her family, and what do you give them in return?  A hard time,,,your a prize Zabini.  Really."

My blood boiled. Reg was a master at taking portions of truth and then methodically twisting them into artful renditions that suit his purposes. I wasn't going to let myself be baited, even when he continued, "And, I know Sara and I are over, on most days that doesn't bother me, but don't you wonder why your not married yet?  Maybe some small part of her knows you two aren't ever gonna work.  Your 3 peice suits to her jeans, reasoning to her sponiety..."

Rubbing my face, I quieted my anger. He was pushing. If he could get me to overreact he could use that to his advantage. I came here for one reason. I remained on task, "The way your mind works is completely absurd. Unlike you, I let go. Peni and my life is ancient history. I'm not going to discuss any part that Peni plays in my life with you. It's between Peni, Flint, myself, and Sara. You wouldn't know the first thing about emotional relationship and how they change because you can't pull your head out of your dick long enough to think about anything but what you can get out of a situation. Nice try to get me pissed with your manipulative thinking but I know you. Sara is not your family. Sara is not anything to you that she doesn't decide to be. Right now that's nothing. You're Brailee's father. We both respect that. If it comes down to it, we'll have Kelsey be the go between for your visitation if you can't."

Pulling out Sara's original threat when we first started dating of having Kelsey be the intermediary between Reg and Sara's custody transitions with Brailee was something I felt needed to be revisited. At least until Reg could get a handle on his interferance in our life.

Obvious I hit a chord with that. Reg looked furious, "What time I have with my daughter, that's between me and Sara.  Your still just the live in boyfriend Zabini, don't try to give yourself more pull than you actually have."

"Until you can understand that this life is Sara and mine, together," I laid it all out. "You can deal with me from now on. If you can't respect her, or us, or the family we have together, you have no place with us."

"I'm telling you now, just once, to back off Zabini." Reg threatened. "You don't get to place threats where my life with my daughter is concerned.  If Sara wants to talk to me about that, the two of us will deal with it.  Push me Zabini...your place in her life isn't as fixed as you seem to think it is and just because my daughter calls you Baba doesn't mean your are."

That was a sore spot for him. It has been since Brailee picked up the name from my own kids. Again, Reg wasn't listening. He was hearing what he wanted it to try to justify actions he wanted to take.

I clarified, "Brailee will always be your daughter. That's not something that has ever come into question. But this is my family. Sara, Brailee, and our twins are a family. You're the Ex husband. And Brailee's Dad. The only person confused on the roles here, is you. I'm not backing off when it comes to my family, Black."

"I like how when I mess up, I'm confusing the lines," Reg tried to defend himself using sympathy now. "But when she's hurt, she's broken, she needs something, it's me you look to.  So, the line where I am an active part of her life, someone that she needs, that loves her, that's there when the rest of you can't be, that's okwhen it suits your purposes?" Reg shook his head. "You stop needing me to do your job as the man that takes care of her and maybe I'll stop forgetting it's not my role anymore."

I had to conceed he had a point. Of course a partial one. I called him on it. "You're right. As someone who loves Sara, I tried to make a place for you in our lives. That's done. We will figure it out ourselves. It will be much easier when you're not causing half the problems yourself."

Reg smirked, "Your gonna take care of it all without me, huh?  I'd love to see how that works.  Where is she now Blaise?  What's she doing? Say what you want, if you knew her, you'd know this will blow over just like everything else.  She knows me as much as I know her." Reg looked away taking a deep breath. I used the moment to restrengthen my own goal to remained calm myself. He continued, "She knows the why's behind me being a dick and when she calms down, we'll talk about it. But, so you can feel like the big man, feel better knowing I'm backing off anyway.  Not because you said so, but because I know it's what she needs, what I need.  I know I'm not good for her and what I do to her isn't good for me."

All day long we could sit here going tit for tat about who did what and how. We could argue the minuet details passing the blame game till it came to blows or hexes. That did no one any good.  Hearing him say he was going to back off was good enough. From there I could in force it. Refusing to waste my time anymore, I turned to walk back to the house leaving him to return to my family.

Sara POV

Walking into the house, I held my hand tight against me, peaking around the corner into the kitchen where I could hear Peni moving, "Hey Peni...can you tell me where the Rez doctor is?"

Her eyes flickered to me, "How is it? I heard."

With a groan, I walked into the kitchen, my red, swollen, slightly blackened mess of hand on display for her to see,"It stings a bit" I downplayed.

She looked it over with a laugh, "I'm sure it does. Did you use the Skelegrow? Why do you want the Rez doc? We can take you to a healer."

Sighing again, I explained, "I know it makes me sound mental, but I think it's better off broken.  It's a good reminder that I'm mad...pain I can handle, Reg I can not, ya know?"

Leaning aginast the counter in her cute little Alice in Wonderland dress, she nodded, "I can get that. Are you okay though? Is Blaise?"

I gave her a grin, "You know me, I'm good.  Blaise...he seems good.  He's not hexing anyone...yet...I have my fingers crossed..or I would but I kinda need the one good hand to do things with."

We laughed at my recurring babbling and bad phrasing, two things I was becming known for, and Peni glanced towards the porch where the guys were gathered,  "Hopefully it won't come to that. Marcus is so concerned the house is like a mind field ready to explode."

Shaking my head, I felt bad for bringing this on them, "Poor Marcus, he knows Reg is a walking time bomb on a good day."

"Blaise is the same. We're all just here waiting to jump the granade." she gave me a smile, "But I'm glad you're here! I like having you all so close."

I couldn't help but laugh about the drama that just followed me everywhere, "Yes, it's great fun the way we keep your life and house in constant turmoil.  But I'm glad we're here too.  It's like having a whole family...right down to the annoying brother you want to kill.  Granted" I laughed again, "We'd be one seriously messed up, incestuous family, but hey, whatever works right?"

"Whatever works." she agreed, walking over to give me a hug, "Messy never bothered me. It's the closeness I love to feel." she leaned back with a giggle, "That sounds so wrong when I'm hugging you." she laughed. "If I apparte you to the Clinic can you get back or do you want me to stay with you? I can postpone our tea party. Or put Marcus in a dress and he can be Alice. Maybe we should just do that - put Marucs in the dress and then go to the doctor later!"

The mental image alone was enough to make me giggle, "Tempting as that is, I got me, really, I just need to know how to get me there.  If you can take care of that, I can handle the rest." I told her with a smile.

"I'll take you," she kissed my cheek. "Call me if you need help coming back. I'll send Marcus in the Alice dress."

Jalil POV

It had been a long night. I was still pulling twelve hour patrol shifts on the Rez. All i wanted was my pillow to rest my head. Seeing Reg sitting outside, I threw my hand up in greeting. It wasn't usual to see him outside. I wans't sure if he was waiting for someone.

"Hey J, rough night?" Reg smiled. "Leave any for the rest of the pack?"

"It would have been more fun that way." I answerd. "Basically just a night of laps around the Rez and some put hoodlems to get in line." Then I had to smile seeing the bruise on his jaw. "Have a run in with Scrappy? Is her hand okay?"

"Why is it when I get a bruise, you all automatically assume it's Sara?" Reg asked.

"Cause Scrappy's the big hitter here that could leave that,"I explained. "If it was anyone else, it would be much worse I'm sure."

Reg laughed, "Yeah, okay, it was Sara.  Her hand....ummmm....you know that crunching sound that bones aren't supposed to make?  I'm pretty sure I heard that."

I cringed. After bruising it trying to slap me last night, a new injury to her right hand wouldn't bode well. I shook my head at him asking, "Man... why do you always go at her? I know you have history and it's none of my business. I'm just saying..."

"Does it make me sound like a complete ass to say I do it cause she makes it easy?" Reg asked honestly.

Chuckling, I had mised feelings. I knew exactly what he was saying. We both spoke dog. But it was different for me with Scrappy. "It's one of those things. I get it. She's just... a really good girl..."

We both shrugged as Reg told me, "Everyone has that person that becomes thier punching bag I guess...every dog at least. Blaise uses Peni...you dogged out Little Bit...I have Sara.  We each run them into the ground in our way, I guess, but we each still do it..or did."

Nodding I knew there was some truth in that. Pressing my lips together I looked off a deciding to press a point for both girls, "Did is a good word."

Reg nudged me making a point of his own, "Did is right.  Little Bit's off limits now."

Interesting. He was staking a claim to her. I laughed, "I get that. And not just because she'd try to disconnect my neither regions if I tried to come close to her."

"She's fiery, she would too." Reg laughed along with me.

Then I got serious for a second. My concern for Little Bit had deepened recently. We all were concerned about her. The deep wound from losing Justin, along with her other issues, were making for a unstability everyone was watching closely. Around those of us who knew here, the intense sadness was unmistakable. I explained what I safely could without giving away things Little Bit would kill me for revealing, "There are a lot of layers to her."

"I see more than you think, more than most people." Reg told me. "Don't worry."

"For all I did, I'm protective." I looked at him needing to make sure we understood each other. Little Bit wasn't my girl. But I told him clearly, "She's part of my Pack."

"Not saying any expectations or anything." Reg replied. "I think we understand the way the game is played. I'm just saying that I have her interests in mind."

Did he? We'd have to see. How much did he actually know about her interests? Behind the fronts Little Bit put up was a very damaged little girl that needed nurturing. I didn't do that. From what we're learning, Justin tried. Tori even only let him so deep.

"I do too. Honestly." He answered my unspoke question looking sideways at me, "And for all I do to Sara, she knows I love her, maybe not like I did, but I still do.  Its one of those things, ya know?  I can dog her, but no one else is allowed"

It was funny how I felt the same way for Little Bit. But I didn't want to see him hurt her. "Isn't that how it is?" I asked. My mind turned back to Little Bit. When he was done with her, she would still be my Pack Sister. If we both continued Shape Shifting, we'd outlive Reg and even his children. My future with Little Bit was a long one. Then I told him, "I don't want Little Bit. I know what I'd do all over again. But yeah...."

"I've had Sara more then once, different story, same ending.  The thing is, she's the perfect person when I want to self destruct.  I know no matter how hard I push, she won't let me."

That I didn't like. Something in me growled at the thought of him tearing her down to build himself up. I looked at him saying, "If you want to push, feel free to push me. I'm pretty protective of her too, now."

"Your too big to push," Reg grinned honestly. "Plus, I think you'd push back.  And my bruises wouldn't heal in a day or two." Automatically his hands rubbed his bruise, "And your protectiveness...I noticed that. Little Bit and I were just discussing that."

My eyes cut at him wondering what they were discussing.

"Think exploding heads...." Reg laughed.

"If you're half as evil as Little Bit can be, I'm terrified," I responded.

"If your half as attached as you look, you should be happy." Reg said, "If not, you should just enjoy the ride.  Any chance to watch Zabini squirm is good times had by all."

"That's true."

Reg sized me up, "Guys like us, we have codes some people don't get that." His head turned to look at the house with a bit of a scowl. "With that in mind, I'll tell you, and only you and if you repeat this, I will know, I'm not scamming Little Bit, ok?  Something about her intrigues me.  That doesn't happen often."

Nodding I took that information in, looking back to the house where his glance told me she was in. "I won't say anything." I assured him. "That wouldn't be fair - there are guy rules afterall. She's expecting a lot less than that so anything else you bring will be a surprise."

"We all know I'm full of surprises" Reg appeared pleased. "I won't ask what your doing, I respect the game to much for that, just tell me it won't hurt her...I do enough of that for the whole group.  She only needs one dog around."

"I have no intention of hurting her." I told him about Little Bit. "I've done enough of that. I just don't want to see her become more complicated than she already is."

Reg looked confused, "Sara?  Complicated?  Please, not if your looking, she's an open book.  Some people... are a whole other story."

"Oh," I saw our crossed signals. "I thought you were talking about Little Bit. Scrappy? I'm not gaming her. She's in the zone."

"I told you Little Bit was off limits," Reg laid out. I supressed my urge to smile as he laid his claim on her again. He hardly knew her. Uncrossing messages I explained, "I'm not worried about you hurting her.  That's done.  As for..Scrappy," I rolled me eyes not even being able to put into words the irony of his lecturing me about her.

"We'll see...," Reg tossed out. "Just remember what I said."

Nodding, I knew I needed to go to bed before I used anymore words. All I did was chuckled to myself about the hypocracy of him trying to protect all that he destroys.

"Okay," Reg took the out in the conversation. "I have more fun things to do then talk to you." Before he entered the house he stopped for a second adding, "Hey...if you talk to her, make sure she's okay...no matter how much I ask, no one seems to be answering that question and I'm not allowed." He rolled his eyes hard, "To talk to her to let her know I'm sorry.  Maybe you could tell her that for me too?"

As I laughed hard, Reg shook his head, "You know you suck... us dogs gotta stick together."

Sara Black written by shtteredprncess. Reg Black written by shtteredprncess. Blaise Zabini written by Amorentia. Tori "Little Bit" Young written by Amorentia. Peni Flint written by Amorentia.