Waiting game

SAL RICHARDS NEVER FELT LIKE HE WAS APART OF the Romano family, even when he was married to Estella. He loved some of them, and he figured sometimes they loved him back, but that was as far as the relationship went with them all. He realized that good and well as he sat in the corner, watching them all talk about their old memories, their lives before him.

In their story, he was only one little chapter, and he realized he was only one chapter in many people's stories. Not his daughter though, no. He would be apart of every chapter, and so would his ex wife, no matter the consequences.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Avery asked quietly, stepping away from the conversation before she placed herself on his lap.

She wasn't apart of any of those memories either, so she didn't care to watch everyone reminisce.

"Course I am, kiddo." Sal smiled lightly, placing his hand on his daughters shoulder. "What about you? Have you seen your friend at all?"

Avery frowned and uttered a simple no, and the blonde man knew she was upset about that.

"Let's do that, sound like a plan?" The Richards man picked his daughter up, and started to carry her toward Carl's room.

"Where are you going?" Estella quickly turned around to face them, the Richards pair looking back and forth between each other.

"A is hungry, we're gonna try to get some food from these people." Sal didn't wait for any type of response, because if he knew one thing, it was that his ex wife knew him.

... and knew when he was lying.

He didn't tell anyone, because he knew the whole family would go on some rant about not letting Avery get close with Carl. If she did, they would feel guilty for leaving him, and the rest of the group if they felt like they needed to. He understood, but he also understood his daughter hadn't seen a kid her age in months.

So, her feelings outweighed anything they said to him.

Sal knocked lightly on the open door, making Rick and Lori look up from where they were standing. It was obvious there was a tense air in the room, and part of the Richards man kinda wished he would have waited awhile, or come earlier. Then again, he cared more about Avery's feelings than the ones of some strangers he met two days ago.

"She wanted to check on him, make sure he's okay." The blonde man voiced, setting his daughter down on the ground. "I hope that's okay with the both of you."

"I—"

"It'll be good for him to know he had a friend looking out for him." Rick spoke, cutting off Lori completely.

... and then, Sal recognized the issue. Rick and Lori were acting how him and Stella were before the divorce.

  AURORA MADE HER WAY OUTSIDE TO LOOK at the stars in the sky. She knew her brother would be okay, as long as Shane got the medicine they needed to properly stitch him up. That meant this was the first time in a long time she had to just... look up and admire the things she used to.

When times were simpler.

"It's really pretty up there, isn't it?" Glenn spoke up, making the girl jump slightly. "Sorry."

"Warn me before you try to scare me next time." Rory commented, the words coming out of her mouth making them both laugh.

"You do realize what you just said makes no sense, right?" The Rhee boy asked as he shook his head.

"Right after I said it." The Romano girl sat on top of the railing that was wrapped around the porch. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"Praying." Glenn shrugged his shoulders, and there was a silence between the two that made him continue. "Do you think it works?"

"Praying?" Aurora sat up straighter, nodding her head yes. "But if someone sits on their ass waiting for a handout, it doesn't. You have to work for it."

"This was my first time trying, I figured everyone in that house could use it." The Rhee boy explained with a frown on his face.

"Well, I don't think you should beat yourself up worrying about it all." Rory sighed, still looking up at the sky. "Me and my family? We've all been shot before, that's what landed Joseph in the hospital, why we never found him."

"Did you pray for him to come back?" Glenn questioned sincerely.

"Yeah, but then we all just sat on our asses." Aurora shook her head. "Guess we know why he never did."

That was enough to render the conversation over.

LUCA BIT ONTO HIS FINGER NAIL AS HE WROTE THE events of his day down in his diary. His whole family always made fun of him for doing it, but it was therapeutic in a way that none of them would ever understand. If he couldn't talk to somebody about something, he simply wrote it down to help him release whatever he was feeling.

"Need anything to drink?" The Romano man looked up to see the woman from earlier standing over him, a smile on her face that made him smile right back at her.

"Got coffee? I haven't had coffee in months." He let out a laugh, shutting his diary closed before he stuffed it into his bag.

"Of course, anything else?" Maggie raised a slight brow, her eyes shifting back and forth from him to the bag.

"No." Luca paused, shaking his head. "You can ask about it, I can tell you're wondering."

"I've just never seen a man carry a diary before." The Greene girl held her hand over her mouth in order not to laugh, but it still escaped her lips making the man in front of her blush.

"I've heard all the jokes before, my family is full of assholes." Luca shrugged his shoulders. "It just helps me cope, i've been doing it for years."

"Why did you start?" Maggie's question hit home for the man, making him look down to his feet.

"Needed an escape from my family." The reason was much much deeper than that, but, he had no intention of telling the family who welcomed the Romano's in their home that they were all ex-cons.

Well, technically all but him, he was never exactly caught.

"I hear that one." Maggie sighed, folding her arms off her chest.

Then, without saying much else, she spun on her heel and walked off to get the mans coffee.

  SAL DIDN'T WANT TO BE INSIDE WHILE CARL was getting his surgery. He couldn't bare to hear a little boy in so much pain while he was completely fine. So, he watched outside, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he stared at the road.

Hoping Shane would come in time to help save the little boy.

"He's gonna die." Felix commented, settling himself next to the other man. "That kid Carl, he's not surviving that, he doesn't have thick skin like my family."

"Yeah, well, part of your family is my daughter who wants him alive." Sal scoffed lightly, shaking his head. "Try not to be an asshole for once, okay?"

"It's not about being an asshole, it's about being realistic. He's a little boy about to get surgery done by a damn veterinarian without the right equipment." The Romano man now narrowed his eyes onto the road. "Unless those guys get back with the supplies in the next five minutes, he's dead."

Felix pat his ex son in law on the back before turning to walk away.

Before he heard the sound of a truck speeding down the road.

"Well, i'll be damned." He spoke in disbelief.

"I told you that he'd be fine." Sal smiled as he ran over to the closed gate, opening it up to allow the truck to come in the yard.

When it had past him, he quickly locked it up once more before running back as fast as he could.

"You need help?" The Richards man questioned as Shane breathed in and out heavily, his hands fumbling around the trunk.

"Yeah, just grab that bag." He instructed, Sal nodding his head as he took it into his hands and threw it over his shoulder. "Carl."

"There's still a chance." Rick reassured his best friend as Sal walked passed them, wanting to get the bag into the house as soon as possible.

Being right about things felt so much better than being wrong.

AUTHORS NOTE—
I'm an avid Shane hater so naturally, the Romano's will be later lmao.

Opinions on Sal?

Hope you enjoyed.