heart beats under the floor (Danny!)

[Deleted]

"Oh my god. Seriously? And that's on the islands?" Tara spoke into the phone, giggling away with Neveah on the other line in her room. "I'll ask. Dad will probably say yes easier than mom will. So I'll corner him first.....Yeah, I'll ask right now. Yeah, good luck with your dad too. Bye" she hung up and sat up. Craig Manning was throwing a concert? Tara thought she would die. Craig was her absolute favorite singer. Staring up at the poster, Tara thought how unreal it was. Neveah had won backstage passes! That was so cool.

Now, how to approach it. Tara paced back and forth in her room, practicing her speech on why she should be allowed to go. "I have straight A's, I never miss a day of school. I'm always around to watch Chris when you want me...ok. I can do this." Taking a deep breath, she opened her door and made her way to her parents' bedroom. Last she had heard, her dad was moving something around or something. She didn't know. She had been on the phone. But, she figured it was a good place to start.

"Hey, dad?" she called, knocking on the bedroom before opening the door. She peeked inside, oblivious that her world was crashing down. "Daaaddd" she called out in a sing-song tone and a giggle. That is, until she saw the paper on the bed.

Danny,

There's no easy way to say this. By now, I'm sure you've noticed the problems we've been having. I want you to know that I love you. But there comes a time when a woman has to make a decision. I'm not happy. I haven't been for a long time. And I don't think I will be while I'm here with you. So I'm leaving. I admit, I've been having an affair for some time, and it wasn't fair to either of us. I'll be at Zack's if you need me.

Maggie.

Tara swallowed. "M-mom?" she was stunned. Her mother had left? No. No, it had to be a joke. A big, cruel joke. Setting the note back on the bed, she went to the closet, but all of her mother's clothes were gone. She couldn't believe it. How could her mother do that to them? To her dad?

She needed to get out of the house. She closed the door behind her and gunned it outside "I'm going for a walk!" she called out, not stopping to make sure Danny heard her. As soon as she was out of the house, her arms folded and she cursed her mother out in her thoughts.

"Tara!" She looked up. Tim Yates was her closest friend from school. They led the student voice club together. But today, she just wasn't in the mood.

"Not now, Tim" she growled.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Nothing. I'm just pissed at some family stuff" she explained

"Is it serious?"

"Yup."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Okay. So how about doing something? You need an outlet" he said with a grin.

Tara looked up. She knew all too well that he had something up his sleeve. Biting her lip, she tilted her head. "What did you have in mind?"

So that was how, a half an hour later, Tara, as well as Tim and two other of their friends were mixing buckets of baby formula right outside the abortion clinic. Hey, if anti-abortionists could protest abortion there, then why couldn't people who were pro-choice protest the protest? Each kid had a small bucket, and they were hiding behind the stairway that led inside the clinic.

"Ok. On three. One, two--"

And all at once, the buckets were tossed onto the people protesting. One girl dropped her sign and lunged at Tara, and the two commenced a fight. Tara didn't mind. Normally, she didn't fight, but she was pissed today. Everything was different.

Though, had Tara not been on the ground, fighting the girl and getting formula on herself as well, she would have noticed it when the police showed up. Instead, she focused on the Lakehurst girl who thought it was a good idea to mess with her. Tara was able to throw one last punch in before she was separated by a policeman.

Her name was asked, and she was told to sit in the back of the car while they looked it up. She knew they wouldn't find anything. She had never been in trouble with the cops before. And when they didn't find anything, they decided to simply take her home and let her parents deal with it.

The sun was setting by the time the police car pulled into the driveway. The police officer who had broken up the fight escorted Tara and rang the doorbell. Her eyes were on the ground. She was not looking forward to this in the least.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny felt like his entire world had crumbled without warning. The note barely made sense at first; it was as if he was reading in a foreign language that he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Sure, his marriage wasn't always perfect. There were times he thought that Maggie worked a little too much or that something felt off. But, it was never anything that he thought he should be overly concerned with. They were happy, weren't they? Apparently not. He didn't know how long he had stared at that note, confused first, startled next and completely numb for several minutes. It was too much to take in at once. First, his wife had been having an affair--for some reason, he must not have been up to par for her anymore. And second, she was leaving, just like that. No warning, no face-to-face, she was just walking out on him easy as that. Didn't he deserve a conversation at the very least? What he never expected was to walk into his bedroom, half cleaned out and with his wife off with someone else. And not someone else... Zack? Her boss. Somewhere in the midst of the silence, he caught himself getting more angry, the emotion flooding him at once and it resulted in an alarm clock being thrown across the room. The alarm clock hadn't done anything wrong, but it was within reach and hit the floor only to be left there. Unable to stand there, he dropped the note to the bed and left his room, slipping out the backdoor into the yard. He couldn't be this way right now. And not with the kids inside. He wasn't going to completely break down in front of them.

But, that was precisely what he felt like he was doing. It wasn't long before he heard Tara's yell and he didn't mind. He didn't call back or figure that she'd seen the note. How was he supposed to tell her? How was he supposed to tell Chris? He could barely deal with the news himself and he had to tell his kids that their mother just walked out on them? And what about their kids? Wouldn't she have stuck around to work that out? He didn't get it. He couldn't understand any of it. What he wanted to do was to march over to Zack's, punch the bastard in the face a couple dozen times then find Maggie and shake her until she said something that resembled logic. He wanted to scream and rage and possibly cry pathetically because he was sure he left his heart on the floor somewhere before. He stayed outside for a long time. He's managed to sit himself on the patio against the wall, giving attention to the dog when she joined him. And at some point, he broke down. He cried and cursed his wife's name and luckily the only listener happened to be Mitzy. Eventually though, he gathered himself up and walked inside. Before any of this had happened, Chris had been gated off in the living room, watching a DVD loop of Yo Gabba Gabba and at some point had fallen asleep in the middle of the floor on a blanket. So, letting him sleep, Danny escaped to the bathroom, cleaned himself up and tried to be somewhat refreshed before he gathered up his son and brought him to his room and put him to bed without waking him. He didn't know how he'd tell him yet, but he absolutely wasn't waking him up to do it. Then, back to the living room, he changed the DVD for something less suited for four year olds and sat there, unable to focus because his wife was suddenly gone.

The sun was setting, so he was sure that Tara should have been getting back. And when he heard the doorbell ring, he walked to the front and opened up. What he didn't expect to see there was Tara and a police officer. Naturally, he looked a little more tired than usual; emotionally worn to be honest. "Officer." He greeted, concern lining his face. "Did something happen?" Obviously, it had and he looked to Tara briefly. This was the last thing he expected. Tara wasn't the type of kid to get escorted home by the police! He couldn't for the life of him think up something she could have done.

[Deleted]

The officer looked at Tara. "Do you want to explain?"

Tara looked up at her dad and looked back down. She was struggling for words. She was sure she was about to get into serious trouble. After all, the police were involved. "I was just protesting," was all she could think of to say. And hey, maybe her dad would understand. Didn't stuff like this happen when he was younger? She had no idea. But maybe he would understand.

The officer looked back at Danny. "Your daughter was involved in some vandalism today. Not to mention getting into a fight."

"Vandalism? It was baby formula! How the hell is that vandalism?" she asked the officer. And if she wasn't so upset, she would have watched the language. But her mother was gone. She felt like it constituted a curse word or two.

The officer paused when Tara interrupted, before continuing. "Since she doesn't have any police reports on her from the past, we're going to let you handle this one. But if something like this happens again, she could be facing criminal charges." he wanted to make sure Danny was aware of the seriousness.

Criminal charges? Tara looked down again. She had never done anything like this before. Who knew baby formula on a couple of people and a fight with one of them could lead to charges? Didn't you have to go to court and all that when you had criminal charges? Tara did not think that sounded fun in the least. She knew how lucky she was this time.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny looked at Tara, waiting for an explanation. While he was sure a protest could have been involved, he knew there had to be more to it for her to wind up being escorted home by the police. He looked back at the officer and nodded as he spoke. "Yes, sir, thank you. It won't happen again." He assured him, completely polite, only after shooting Tara a warning look for interrupting that way. The best thing at this point was to keep the situation from getting out of hand. Whether or not he agreed that baby formula wasn't vandalism didn't matter. What mattered was politely accepting what the officer said and having him leave. This wasn't what he wanted to deal with tonight. Well, he didn't want it to happen at any point in time, but especially not tonight, not after what he had already been through today. Still, he took a breath and then looked at Tara.

"Come on, get inside." He opened the door wider to let her get in, and nodded to the cop once more. He figured that was all he needed to say. He understood the seriousness of the allegations and he was grateful that it was one of those cases where they just dropped the kid off at home. And he wasn't going to let her wind up in jail for anything. Though, at the same time, he knew that she couldn't have done anything so outrageous that people got hurt. At least, he hoped that wasn't what happened. He supposed he was about to find out. Once inside, he stopped. "All right, explain."

[Deleted]

Tara didn't even look at the cop before going inside and sitting on the couch. Once back in the house, all of her emotions from earlier came rushing back. She wanted to go back and finish the fight with that girl. Or at the very least, beat up a wall. But she couldn't, and she knew that. Her cheeks burned as she heard her dad demand an explanation. Looking up at him, she fought back tears. She probably wasn't even supposed to know yet.

"Those damned anti-abortionists. Who do they think they are, trying to tell girls what they can and cannot do with their bodies? It's not right! They want babies around so badly, we thought they should have some formula. We didn't break anything. There was no spray paint involved, and the building is perfectly fine. We just..kind of poured it on them. And the fight? That wouldn't have happened if she hadn't jumped me first" she wanted to make that very clear. She had been defending herself...and then some. She had probably given the girl a black eye. And she was glad. Tara was not one to be messed with today.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny was doing his best to focus right now; to think about dealing with the problem his daughter had started rather than about his wife that was off at some other man's house tonight, completely careless of the family she decided to up and leave. She kept coming back to his head. He didn't know how he was supposed to deal with this; except that he couldn't call her. He couldn't go after her, even though he felt like he deserved an explanation and a conversation that was more than just a note. He didn't deserve this and neither did the kids. Even if their marriage had sucked (which he didn't think it had), their kids deserved better than their mom taking off. And it didn't even sound like she'd be back soon for them or that she was thinking about the kids in the least bit. He didn't understand it and now he had to deal with this formula incident.

As he listened to her, he couldn't help but groan. "Tara Rae, what the hell? Regardless of what you think, they have just as much of a right to protest as you do!" He reminded her, and he knew that he probably should react a little calmer. But tonight, it was a bit of a shorter leash. "You protest with signs, with words, not with throwing formula on them. Those tactics are low. You know that." He said, although really there were worse things she could have done. Dumping baby formula on them wasn't the worst thing he had ever heard of. "You're supposed to walk away. If things get violent, you pull out of the situation. You don't fight back. You're lucky they didn't throw you in a cell for the night." After that, he took a breath, realizing that he'd gone off probably a little more than he would usually at the initial explanation. "I'm sorry," he commented. "But you can't do things like this."

[Deleted]

Tara stared down at the floor, listening to him lecture her. She knew it wasn't right from the second she agreed to it. But it had felt so good. She had needed to get her anger out, and it was a good outlet, she had thought. So what if it was low? Didn't she have the right to do something low for once? Her mother had.

Mom. Why was he even still here? She wanted her dad to go get her. Go fight for her. Why wasn't he doing something? Looking up at him, she stood up. "Signs and words? Since when do they ever work in the real world, dad? Is that what you're gonna do, go to that jackass's house with signs and words? It won't bring her back! It won't do anything! At least I have the guts to take a stand and do something about it!" by the time she was finished yelling at him, Tara was crying. She didn't mean it. She wasn't blaming him, she was just upset. She never thought her parents would split up in a million years. Other kids' parents did that, not hers.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny didn't know how he was going to tell Tara; especially not after this. He didn't want to have to lecture her one minute, then tell her he was splitting up with her mom in the next. Well, it wasn't his idea to initially split; she just left. If this had been a slow progression or something that Maggie stuck around and talked about, then it might have been easier. He wouldn't have to break the news to his kids that their mom just walked out on him and them. Which, he couldn't understand the second. Not that he knew why she had to walk out on him either, but to walk out on her kids that way? It just felt even worse, lower than what she was doing to him. Although, he had to say what she did to him was extremely low.

It was when she suddenly got after him about not going after Maggie that he stared at her, confused. How did she even know that? He was taken aback, not only by her knowing but at her opinion of what he should do. He didn't counter right away though, he just stepped forward and grabbed his daughter, pulling her into a hug because she was crying. "Fighting won't do anything either. She's an adult, she made a choice, I can't force it out of her hands." He said, and of course the urge was there, but he couldn't. He wouldn't do that. "How'd you find out?"

[Deleted]

When he pulled her into a hug, Tara let go and allowed herself to sob, pressing her face into his chest. And once she started, she couldn't stop. "She didn't even say goodbye. She could have at least said goodbye." She didn't want her mother leaving at all. But a stupid note? It was so childish. Tara felt that if her mother was going to leave, then she had a right to demand why and say goodbye at least. She hadn't even given any of them a choice in anything. It wasn't like Tara would have left her dad, but couldn't her mother have at least offered?

She listened to him saying that there wasn't anything he could do, and in her heart, Tara knew he was right. But it didn't keep her from wanting him to fight. "You could at least try," she whimpered out. She would have watched Chris for him, if he wanted to go kick some editorial ass. Once she had composed herself to tell him how she knew, though, she looked up at him with a guilty expression. "The note on your bed." She hadn't meant to go snooping in her parents' bedroom. She just wanted to go to a concert. A concert that she now had no desire to attend. Not that she'd be allowed to, anyways, since she had dumped formula on people and gotten in a fight. But if she was, she wouldn't want to.

[Danny Maxwell]

Honestly, at this point, Danny didn't know if his heart was broken because he had just been left by the woman he'd spent the last fifteen years of his life with or more because of his kids, who suddenly had their mother walking out on them. When Tara spoke, he squeezed her a little tighter. "I know and I'm sorry. She should have. But, I didn't know. I promise, I had no idea." He had no clue that she was about to walk away and he thought that at the least she could have said goodbye to her kids or even put up a fight to have them. Not that Danny would have been willing to let them go. He didn't want them over at some asshole's house. He wanted them right here, where they were home. He didn't want his family to suddenly become severed.

"I can't. You have no idea how much I'd love to just go over there and beat him senseless, but I can't." And he hoped she understood. It was wrong and wouldn't do any good. Of course, no one had suggested he go beat anyone senseless, but he was thinking it and didn't shy away from the comment right now. When she said it was the note, he pulled back and sighed. "You shouldn't have had to see that." He should have hid it, though he wasn't sure why she was in his bedroom to begin with. Not that she was barred from going in there, but usually she had a reason to walk in. "Tara, I'm sorry."

[Deleted]

It wasn't fair. Those were the words that kept resonating in her mind. It wasn't fair. Why did her mother get to go out and abandon the entire family like this? Her dad had lectured her on taking matters into her own hands the wrong way, was this right in the least? She understood why he wouldn't fight. But shouldn't something be done? Couldn't they at least go slap her mother or something? She would love to do that, and spit in her face, she was so angry. She just didn't get why there weren't consequences for what she did.

"So she just gets to leave like that?" she asked, shaking her head. It wasn't right. " We had Zack over for dinner and she left him for us!" it was really that simple, in her mind. Her mother had left everything behind and gone to Zack's. And it wasn't a simple business thing that she had. Her mom was gone for good. When he apologized, she looked at him. "I never want to see her again" and she meant it. She hated her mother for what she did.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny didn't find the situation fair in the least bit, but what the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn't just march up and fight, or steal Maggie back. He wasn't going to steal at all. That was his wife, he shouldn't have been at risk of losing her without even knowing it. He didn't think that they had a horrible marriage and it wasn't as if he knew that she had been cheating. If he had, he would have confronted her. But she didn't give room for confrontation. She left him for another man and left only a note behind. He wasn't going to lower himself to fight for her at this point. He couldn't. She hurt him and he wasn't going to chase her.

"Your mother is a grown woman, I can't stop her if she wants to leave." He said, and he wanted to, but he couldn't. And he wished it hadn't come to this. He didn't see how it progressed to this point and he didn't think she was acting adult about it in the least, but it didn't change that he had no say when it came down to what she decided. "I know. I opened the door to him too many times..." And he regretted it now. It made him sick to think that the man he let over for dinner, that he was cordial and polite to had been sleeping with his wife behind his back. And not even behind his back, but knowing she had kids and a family. "Don't say that, Tara. She's still your mother."

[Deleted]

Tara shook her head. She knew that her dad had no say in the matter. She knew that, just like her and Chris, he hadn't seen this coming. There was no way he could. She couldn't think of a single time when Tara was worried over her parents' marriage. She would have spoken up if there was. "Bastard. I should go dump something on him" she muttered, folding her arms with a scowl.

But when he said she was still her mother, she looked up. "What kind of mother does this? Who decides that we're not worth her time and just leaves? She doesn't want to be a mother, so don't make her. I don't need a mom. Neveah gets along just fine without one, and so can I." Although, Maggie wasn't dead. Neveah's mom was. But honestly, Tara felt like it would have been easier if she was. Because then, it wouldn't be that she was rejected.

[Danny Maxwell]

"Let's not pour anything on anyone." Oh, Danny would have honestly liked to. There were a lot of things he wanted to do right now. For the most part he was still in shock. He felt like his heart had fallen out somewhere and he hadn't yet picked it up yet. When he did, he was sure it would be in several pieces. He barely knew what to do with himself. He thought his marriage was fine, he thought that it was going to last. Not once did he expect a letter like this. And if there ever were problems, he trusted that she would bring them up to him, rather than just cheat and write a letter telling him there were problems and that she had been seeing her boss. Not only that but she was going to move in with him and leave her family behind without a word. And what about their kids? They deserved a goodbye. Chris didn't even know yet, but Danny wasn't looking forward to that, not even a little.

"Your mom isn't dead." Danny reminded her, and he had a lot of criticism for the way it was handled. But, he couldn't change that and he wasn't going to tell her that her mom was being a bitch and that she should be angry. "And don't say that, she loves you." But he couldn't defend her on how she left either. "I wish I knew what was going through her head, but I don't." Danny barely knew what to say here. "I don't know what I did, but it doesn't have to change your relationship with her."

[Deleted]

Tara bit her lip and looked down. "What about Chris?" She was worried about her little brother. He was just a little kid! How was he going to understand that his mommy left a note and ran away? That she was never coming back? He was four years old. Tara would rather be grounded for life than have her brother have to know that he was abandoned by their mom. She loved that little boy, more than anything in the world. She hated to see him hurt, in any form.

"I don't know what I did"

Tara's head jerked up. He was blaming himself? God, no! Tara didn't see how he was at fault at all! "Don't you dare talk like that!" she hissed at him. "God, dad! You're like the best guy in the world! Even Tim's mom said that she wished you were her husband! Don't ever blame yourself! It's their fault! She was a skank, and he was an asshole! You didn't do anything" Again, she hugged him tight, this time doing it for him. God, poor guy. If she could, she would go slap Maggie for hurting him like that. But, she didn't think he'd be too happy with him if she did.

"Maybe we should go somewhere. Pick up my schoolwork for the next week or two and go...somewhere. I don't know. Anywhere that's not here. Just the three of us. I mean...we're still a family, right?" she thought it was a good idea. She didn't want to be in this house at the moment, and she was sure that he probably didn't, either. Plus, it would be a good remedy for Chris. She knew that they couldn't just run away from their problems. But taking a vacation from them wouldn't hurt...right?