Authors Note: This was a story I wrote back in December for a friend. Thank you very much to Aisielynn who graciously offered to proofread this story for me. Thank you once again to everyone who leaves comments and feedback as well as votes on my writing, it is much appreciated. I hope you enjoy it. ~ellie
*****
Mike held his head in his hands. The blood had long ceased pouring from his nose and a gash across his cheekbone. The blood-soaked cloth that held the ice he had been given eased the blinding pain that lanced through his brain just enough to catch snippets of the conversation happening a few feet away from him. He winced as he turned his head, trying to make out the man who was talking to the officer in charge with the one eye that wasn't swollen shut.
Friggin' case worker. Fuck he hadn't seen him since he turned eighteen and had finally been able to start living his own life. What the fuck was he doing here? He felt a knot in the pit of his gut as he thought of the foster sister he had left behind when he had been pulled from her half dead ex-boyfriend's prone form. "Nah, it wouldn't be her. She ran when the police showed up," he told himself. Guilt at not telling her to run as soon as the fight started kept the knot tightly bound in his gut.
"Hey slugger," Paul Lawton smiled easily as he came and sat adjacent to Mike. "Seems you still can't take a joke, according to Officer McDermott over there," he jerked his head indicating the figure hovering behind them.
Mike pulled the ice away from his face and glared at Paul saying nothing.
"You wanna tell me what happened?" Paul continued ignoring the baleful stare. "You put a guy in the hospital, Mike. You have to talk to someone."
"Is he pressing charges?" Mike spat the question feeling that this guy showing up and acting like he cared was just another kick in the guts.
"He's not conscious, Mike!" Paul was shocked by the aggressiveness in the young man's posture and voice. He knew he shouldn't have been, but it was as if a rage boiled within the young man fuelling unquenchable hate for the world and everyone in it. He had always been difficult to help, bouncing from one foster home to the next until the last place, for some reason that one had worked. At least for the short time he was there.
Paul considered the young man before him for a long time in silence. "So, I guess you'll just talk to a lawyer then?"
"It was just a fight. If he isn't pressing charges, you have to let me go. I know my rights," Mike said belligerently.
"I don't think it's gonna be that simple. You've got quite a list of charges as well as aggravated assault. There's destruction of property and public nuisance to name just two."
"Bullshit charges, and you know it," Mike sat back in his chair, his anger surfacing again as he clenched his fists. "Why the fuck do you care? I'm not your problem anymore. I don't even know why you're fucking bugging me with this bullshit. Fuck off back to where ever you came from and leave me the hell alone."
Paul had heard it before, the same speech. He was so tired of seeing the young men he had once watched over destroying themselves at a rate of two to one. Mostly drugs and booze but Mike seemed determined to get beaten to death judging by his criminal history. Still he sat looking at the young man saying nothing and gauging what his next move would be.
Ten uncomfortably silent moments later, the officer in charge came and tapped Paul on the shoulder. Looking up, he nodded and without a word walked away leaving Mike to ice his wounds again.
*****
Mike had been given bail and walked from the courthouse with his foster sister, Tara, and a business card his useless public lawyer had forced him to take from her. She had said that it would go a long way in his defence if he started an anger management program or at least found an outlet for his stress and aggression.
"Promise me, no more trouble until after the court date," Tara had begun to nag at him before they had even got home.
"It's not like I went and picked a fight for no reason, Tara. That asshole knew what would happen if he laid a finger on you," Mike felt the rage surge back into him. He'd gone back to the foster home the day Tara had turned eighteen and taken her to live with him. She was the only person in the world he cared about enough to consider family. Fuck, if he was honest about it, she was quite possibly the only person in the world he cared about full stop.
He dumped his wallet and keys on the table as they walked into the small apartment. The card his lawyer had pressed on him flipped up as it fell to show the name of a local mixed martial arts dojo and the instructor's name, "Tiffany Hall: Pink Ninja". He smiled when he saw that the owner was a woman and thought, "What the hell, punching people there was bound to land him in less trouble than street fighting." Plus he thought to himself laughing, it had to be a joke. A pink ninja called Tiffany.
"Yeah alright, I promise," he grumbled picking the card up off the table. "Tell you what. Just to make you happy, I will even go check out this anger management stuff the lawyer told us about."
"Really?" Tara asked sceptically.
"Yeah really," He rolled his eyes at her, "You can come too. Be good to know you knew how to defend yourself if shit-for-brains ever shows up again."
"There's something else, since you seem to be in a good mood for a change," Tara said hesitantly.