Tw: Mentions Of Doug Kendall - Tumblr Posts
AMAZING!!! đâ¤ď¸ I was literally just thinking about what if Doug had survived, and then found this, even if itâs not something huge. But Crazy.
Hey! I love your fics and I've enjoyed reading them ever since I fell in love with Madney. Could you do an AU where Doug doesn't die but gets arrested & Maddie, Chimney and Buck have to testify and Maddie's really scared about having to relive it all and facing Doug again but Chimney comforts her and the rest of the Firefam stand behind her in support as she testified?
âI donât think I can do this.â
They had all been silent up until then, everyone gathered outside of the courthouse, just breathing in the intensity of the last few days. Buck had taken to the stand first, talking about how he had found Chimney lying on the floor outside of her apartment building and then how he had found her in Big Bear. Athena had been next, stoic and professional, going through every step they had taken to find her and what they had found when they had gotten there. And then had come Chimneyâs turn and he had spoken of Jason and of what little memory he had of that night and Maddie had been in awe of how brave he had been throughout.
She was last. She couldnât do what everyone else had done. The panic was starting to set in, she had barely slept for weeks, so terrified of the court day that had been looming over her for almost a year since everything had happened. It was a miracle Doug had survived, she had fought so hard to survive and she had. But at what cost? Because heâs still here and thereâs still a chance he could get out in ten years, maybe even less because she doesnât think she can say anything that she needs to.
When Maddie had walked away from him as he laid in the snow that day, she had truly thought he was dead. A sense of freedom had washed over her, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could have a future one day, one that didnât involve looking over her shoulder. Dougâs death, as temporary as it had been, had felt like a relief. For just a moment, she had felt as though maybe it could be possible to breathe again. She had been suffocating for so long, sheâs not sure she knows how to breathe now.
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Maddie was on the brink of turning the car around right when the welcome to Los Angeles sign came into view. Her whole body is shaking with nerves from both leaving her abusive husband behind in Pennsylvania and going to see a brother she hasnât seen or talked to in 3 years, all while her son happily sat in his car seat in the back, headphones on, smiling as he watched Toy Story 3 on his portable DVD player she bought him for his birthday.
Jamie is enjoying his time away from home because to a 4 year old this all feels like going on a vacation. Maddie wants to feel just as free and light as her son, but she doesnât think she knows how to. Not when sheâs almost positive Doug is close behind them, or at least he has to realize by now they are gone. It will take him some time to find her because he has no clue where Buck lives. Maddie knows though.
Her little brother is a firefighter now. Has been for almost two years. Maddie found out through a christmas postcard he sent last year with him in front of a truck that read 118. Heâs smiling proudly in the photo with his arms crossed and a santa hat on, and it has been a long time since Maddie saw her brother genuinely that happy and excited.
Maddie has half a mind to turn around and come back to the cemetery tomorrow, or maybe sometime in the middle of the week, when California doesnât feel like itâs trying to burn her alive.
Sheâs already committed though and drove the 2 hours it takes to get from Los Angeles to San Diego, so turning around would only be a waste of time. Besides, today is his day, and the visit wouldnât mean as much on another day of the week as it will today. So Maddie grabs at her bag laying on the passenger seat and steps out of her car, heading towards her destination. It isnât that far from the entrance, just a few rows down, when she comes to a stop to read the headstone sheâs so familiar with.