The Babysitter - Garycato (Final Space Fanfic)

Chapter 52

Dripping. Somewhere Avocato could hear the echoes of something dripping.

"Dad!" A far away voice called, he knew that voice...

"Dad!" It got louder and the pain so much greater

"Dad! Please wake up!" Little Cato cried, shaking his father desperately.

Once the older ventraxian opened his eyes the small kit stopped, tears falling down his furry cheeks as he smiled in relief

"Dad!" He hugged the other, happy his father was still alive

"Son..." Avocato forced himself up, the burning feeling eating him alive. He softly patted his son's back before looking around.

He sniffed the air, assuming they were in the swers. Both him and Little Cato locked in a rusty cell.
Examining himself, he noticed his wounds had been tended- a very sloppy job but it was better than dying of blood loss.

"Wait-" his ears twitched as he did a double take of the room, there were a few cells but no sign of his human "Where's Gary?"

"I...I don't know" Little Cato's ears dropped along with his smile "when I woke up it was just you and me"

"Shit-" Avocato stood, stumbling slightly as he made his way to the bars that held him in. He gasped them and tried to shake the door open, to no success.
Little Cato joined in, trying his best to bust the cell open so his father wouldn't have to use anymore of his strength but

"It's no use" a voice called from a dark hallway, the sound of high heels clicking along.
From the shadows emerged a woman, she looked fit but older than Avocato. Her hair was a pale blonde and her eyes a light blue. She carried two scars on her jaw and a cocky smirk on her lips.

Besides her, was Gary, not really bound by anything but still walking along side her. His footsteps were surprisingly quiet, had he stayed in the shadows- Avocato would have had no idea he was there.
His hair was messy and he had a few new bruises here and there, his smile none existent and the spark in his eye long gone.

"Off you go, darling" the woman walked forth, opening the jail besides the ventraxians and gesturing towards it. Gary didn't seem happy with her use of words but he had entered the jail without any attempt to run.

They could only watch as Gary sat down on the far corner of the cell, an arm lazily resting on his knee as he stared ahead with dead eyes.

"Sheryl" Mantis came forth, his heavy boots alarming everyone before he appeared. His arm was tended now, wrapped around in cast and hanging lazily in front of his chest.

"You'll get your payment soon enough hotshot" the woman, Sheryl, stepped closer to the man, flicking his arm and smirking as the man hissed in pain "dont think you'll be able to handle me in that condition"

Gary huffed, seeming overly disgusted by the situation. He turned to look anywhere else but them, eyes landing on the two Catos for a second before he decided that the floor was much more interesting.

"Alright" Sheryl turned "I'll come collect you after I decide what to do with the genreal" she purred put the last word which seemed to really anger Gary as his fist had clenched when he clicked his tongue.

Once she left, her swaying hips hiding in the shadows and the clicking of her heels finally faint, Avocato turned back to Gary.
His eyes examined the human close, trying to see if there were any major injuries that might have prevented the human from running away

"Gary" he spoke at last, finding nothing. The human had not looked up, instead looking towards the opposite direction

"Ga-"

"That's my mom"

Those words seemed to echo from wall to wall, making the atmosphere around them much heavier and the air much thicker.

"My mom was the one trying to kill me" the blond finally looked at the two with a pained smile "how fucked up is that?" He chuckled bitterly

Avocato stared at the other, unable to find any words that could comfort the man- how would you even comfort someone that found out his own blood was trying to murder you?
He recalled Gary laying down on the floor, cradling the mug he had gifted him, surrounded by fire. He recalled how the blood seemed to seep through his shirt and drop to the floor outside his burnt down shop. He recalled the day he got kidnapped, he got shot, his blood loss, his fever....
Avocato felt his heart ache as he recalled all the pain Gary had been through the time they spent together...All because of that woman.

She was the cause of it all.

"You know..." Gary started, breaking the silence once again "part of me knew...I knew she hated me- I knew she blamed me for my father's death...for her divorce...for everything" Avocato listened closely, the THUD auditable from Gary bumping his head againt the bars behind him.

"I guess I blamed myself too..." he added quietly "I wanted to blame her, hate her- curse her and heck! I wish I had the drive to even go after her and try kill her...." Gary clenched his fists, knuckles going white "but...Dad loved her right? So surely there's something good about her....surely there's good in her" he relaxed.

"She blames me for things I had no control over...Abandoned me when I needed her most-" Gary continued "And here I was- blaming myself for being forced to live in the streets, to steal so I wouldn't starve or die from the cold..." he shook his head

Avocato could only watch as Gary breathed heavily as if holding back tears, as if trying to hold back his feelings.
How long had the human done this? How long had he endured this?

"I tried so hard, Avocato" Gary looked up at the other, his voice cracking "I tried so damn hard to be a son shed love and she only left me..." his eyes began to tear up, his voice heavy with anguish "I mean- she didn't want to see me again right? That's why she left- that must have been it! So why...." he glared down at the floor "why the heck did she come after me? Why the heck is she trying to kill me?"

"Gary-"

"Why?!" He shouted, his voice ringing before it was replaced with his breathing "why, Avocato?" Gary sobbed, bringing his knees closer and hugging them in a form of self comfort.
He hid his face away from the world, breath hitching in silent sobs as his frame shook.

Avocato felt his heart break all over again, finding the sound of Gary crying the most heart-rending sound in the whole universe.
He felt his son's small hands hold tight to his shirt, tears falling off the small boy's face in empathy.

"I'm sorry"

Avocato couldn't bring himself to say anything else, allowing Gary to finally have his time to cry.

He didn't know how much time had passed, he just knew that his son and Gary had long fallen asleep after their tears.
Turning his gaze away from his son, Avocato looked at Gary with a saddened  expression, wanting to reach out and clean the human's tears away and comfort him with a hug...
But these cells kept them apart and Gary was on the opposite side of it, way to far for Avocato to reach-

Even so....Avocato tried to reach across. Fixing his position so he was layed down with Little Cato on his chest and an arm out the cell, reaching out to Gary's.

He didn't deserve this...
Gary didn't deserve any of this....

When Avocato had opened his eyes again, he felt warmth ontop of his hands. A single tear making it's way down as he interwined his fingers with Gary's.