[November 20th] [The Rockford Files-related] Chronicles of a Friendship, 20

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Chronicles of a Friendship, scene 20
Day/Theme: November 20th - The Good Doctor
Series: The Rockford Files (using characters from The Queen of Peru episode)
Character/Pairing: Ginger Townsend, Lou Trevino
Rating: PG-13/T

Another stand-alone entry. I'm not sure whether to trigger-warning for this or not, but a character is forcibly stripped and there's some concern over whether he was raped. He wasn't, and the actual cruelty isn't shown, only talked about after the fact.

Tomorrow's entry will be a lot lighter.


By Lucky_Ladybug

Lou was on the porch when a strange black limousine drove up to the house. He frowned, alert and hopeful. The mysterious caller had said they were returning Ginger to him, now that he had paid their ransom. Was this them now?

The back door opened and a blond form was pushed out. He crashed on the lawn outside the gate with a pained grunt, only able to use his shoulder as a support. He was bound by both his wrists and his ankles.

Worse, he had been completely stripped of his clothes.

Lou’s jaw dropped. “Ginger!” he cried in a mixture of relief, astonishment, and outrage. Ginger was alive and conscious; he was lying on his left side and looking to Lou as he struggled to balance himself on an elbow in the grass. He refused to lie back down.

The limo door slammed shut and the vehicle sped off. Lou looked to it with a start, hoping to read the license plate. But it was obscured by mud. The police, who had been hiding in wait, took off after it.

Lou barely glanced their way. Instead he knelt down by Ginger, removing his suit coat in the process. “Ginger! Ginger, are you okay?” He looked his friend over worriedly. Ginger was bruised and scraped, but seemed mostly intact. His eyes, however, flashed mortification at his state.

“What a sight for anyone who was watching,” he said bitterly. “Yes, I’m alright.”

Lou laid his coat over Ginger’s hips and worked to untie the ropes. “What the heck . . . why did they do this to you?” he cried, unable to mask his disbelief and anger.

“They just wanted to humiliate me,” Ginger answered. “I put up quite a fight when they were tearing my clothes off.” He finally smirked a bit. “They haven’t departed entirely unmarked.”

Lou allowed a ghost of a smirk. Ginger wasn’t good at hand-to-hand combat, but that didn’t mean he was helpless or not formidable. Quite the contrary. Although he could be beaten down by cruel and merciless hands, he never went down without a battle.

But he still felt vulnerable without his guns, and Lou knew how he hated being vulnerable. He could only imagine how much worse Ginger felt right now.

Finishing with Ginger’s wrists, Lou started on the ropes around Ginger’s ankles. Ginger watched, not speaking, grateful that Lou was here to help him but frustrated that he needed such help.

“Ginger . . .” Lou swallowed hard. There was a nagging question he wanted to ask, but at the same time he hated to ask it. He didn’t want to believe those people could have gone even further than they had, but he had never expected this much.

What if they were absolute monsters?

“What.”

Lou leaned back as he freed Ginger’s legs from the bonds, studying the older man, searching for some sign, some indication of what he now worried. Ginger was calm as he massaged his aching wrists and ankles and moved to tie Lou’s coat around him. He hadn’t shied away from Lou or his touch, as he might have if . . .

“Nevermind,” Lou said, shaking his head. “Let’s just get you inside. Can you walk?”

“I think so.” Finished with tying the coat, the sleeves hanging down his left hip, Ginger leaned back. It was the best he could do for modesty under the circumstances. He started to rise, slowly, wobbling a bit as he tried to get his legs under him.

Lou hurried to help. Drawing Ginger upright, he kept a firm arm around Ginger’s back as they moved towards the sidewalk and through the gate.

“I feel like the whole world is watching,” Ginger muttered.

“I don’t see anyone, even Mrs. Oreck,” Lou said honestly. But they both knew that didn’t mean no one was there.

Reaching the porch, Lou opened the front door and stepped inside with Ginger, who noticeably relaxed to be back in familiar territory and in private. Lou shut and locked the door as Ginger advanced into the room, slowly, and headed for the stairs.

“I’ll wash up and find something to wear. What shall I do with your coat?” he asked.

“Huh? Oh. Just leave it on a chair in the bathroom,” Lou said. “I’ll take care of it.”

Ginger nodded.

“Do you need any help?” Lou wondered in concern. Now that Ginger had been standing for a bit, he seemed to be doing better at staying up, but Lou wanted to ask anyway.

“No,” Ginger answered—too quickly to suit Lou.

Lou shifted his weight, worried again. “Ginger . . .”

“I’ll be alright,” Ginger cut in. “But I’ll let you know if I need anything.” He started up the stairs, moving slowly and a bit painfully, but overall steady. He vanished into the bathroom and Lou sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Lou ascended the stairs as well, wanting to be close at hand, and went to sit in his room and fret. He would have to manage to ask Ginger what he was afraid of once Ginger considered himself presentable; Ginger might be more in a mood to answer him then.

He wondered if he was prepared to hear the answer.
****
Ginger stayed in the bathroom for what seemed a long time to Lou. When he emerged wrapped in a heavy towel, he quickly went across the hall and into his room, only briefly glancing to Lou in the open doorway as if to silently acknowledge he was alright.

Several minutes later he came out in a dress shirt and pants, drying at his hair with a smaller towel. Seeing Lou still sitting on the edge of his bed, his hands clasped, Ginger frowned. “Have you done nothing but sit there this entire time?”

Lou nodded. “Well, that and think. Ginger, I . . . I’m worried about you.” He stood, coming to the doorway. “Are you . . . really okay?”

“Yes,” Ginger insisted.

“Would you tell me if you weren’t?” Lou retorted.

Ginger paused. “Even if I didn’t, you would know something was wrong. What would be the point in concealing it?”

“Maybe if it was too awful to talk about. . . .” Lou swallowed hard. “Ginger, did they really just rip your clothes off? Or did they . . .”

“Molest me?” Ginger supplied, not afraid to get right to the heart of Lou’s concerns. “No. They didn’t. I don’t think such a thought would have even occurred to them. All they wanted was to humiliate me, to try to destroy my dignity in a very basic way. They were all juvenile, really. They thought they were being very clever to bind me and throw me out of the car the way you saw it happen.” He looked hard at Lou. “Do you believe me?”

Lou considered Ginger’s words and finally nodded in relief. “Yeah. Yeah, Ginger, I believe you. I don’t know if the police will, though. They might want you to have an examination or something.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake.” Ginger scowled. “If they insist, I’ll have it. I have nothing to hide. But I swear to you that what you’re suggesting did not happen.”

“I believe you, Ginger,” Lou insisted, and he did. Ginger had never lied to him.

Ginger nodded. “Good.” He softened. “Thank you, for doing what you could to get me back. I’m grateful to be home.”

“I’m just glad they kept their word,” Lou said. “I hope the police get them.”

“So do I. Abduction is a very serious offense.” Ginger looked pleased at the thought of his captors having to suffer the consequences of it.

“Are you hungry, Ginger?” Lou blurted. It was a stupid question, really. Of course Ginger would be hungry. But what he really meant, he supposed, was whether Ginger felt like eating.

Ginger understood. “Yes,” he said. “I’d like something decent to eat. They fed me, but nothing that substantial.”

“Okay.” Lou came out of his room. “Let’s go down and I’ll fix something.”

Ginger went with him, agreeably.
****
Ginger still seemed more quiet than even usual. And as Lou prepared the meal, he couldn’t help but continue to worry. He fully believed Ginger’s words, that the abomination Lou feared had not happened. But . . . what if they had tried to do it or threatened to do it?

He sighed, shaking his head. He was letting his imagination run away with him. Ginger had never been abducted for ransom before. He was probably just naturally shaken from that, and from the unceremonious way they had delivered him back to Lou.

“Blast,” Ginger muttered while the food was cooking.

Lou looked up. “What is it?”

Ginger leaned back in the chair. “I feel like such a fool. They were trying to mortify me, and they succeeded. I’ve never felt so humiliated and vulnerable in my life.” He propped his elbow on the table and dug his hand into his hair.

Lou stayed quiet, watching Ginger, worried. Ginger would open up and tell him now. He just wanted Lou to listen.

“After they relieved me of my clothing, they just left me there on the floor, laughing at me. One of them put his foot on my chest, forcing me to hold still. I could only lie there, glaring up at him, still struggling to be defiant. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of knowing how badly they had shaken me.

“They bound me while I was being held down. Then they dragged me up and out to the car, throwing me in on the back seat. They forced me to sit up so I’d be visible to anyone passing by.”

“But the whole county knew you’d been taken,” Lou exclaimed. “They were leaving themselves wide open to be noticed.”

“As I said, they were juvenile.” Ginger slammed his hand on the table. “They were nothing more than delinquent twits. I shouldn’t give them the time of day. I should just be grateful they didn’t do as you feared. Which I am. And I should shrug off what they did do and not let it bother me.

“But it does bother me. Even as a child, when I was bullied and picked on nearly every day, no one did such a thing to me. No one made me feel so absolutely exposed to the world, with no way to defend myself against it. Now, I’m 47 years old and it’s happened.” He covered his eyes with his hand. “I feel like a frightened child again. And it will all come out. The bloody story will be in every newspaper in the state.”

“I’ll keep the details out of the papers,” Lou insisted. “Nobody has to know they tossed you out like that.”

“It’ll come out in court and then in the papers at that time. There’s no way to keep it silent.” Ginger looked up. “So I’ll just have to face it and get on with life. There is no other way. None.”

The oven timer dinged and Lou got up to take the food out. “I guess that’s true,” he admitted. “But Ginger, you did have a defense against what they did to you. You had it and you used it. You’re using it now, with what you just said.” He opened the cupboard and got out some plates.

Ginger stood and came to help by getting glasses and silverware. “Oh really?” he said dryly.

Lou nodded. “You felt like you were completely vulnerable, but you didn’t show that to them. You kept your dignity. Even when they threw you out of the car, you started to rise up and wouldn’t be humiliated and bullied into just lying down.” He set the plates on the table and Ginger brought the utensils. Lou rested a hand on Ginger’s shoulder. “They’re going to remember that. They’ll remember that they couldn’t break you. If the story has to come out in detail, that’s going to be in there too. And that part of it is something to be proud of.”

Ginger considered Lou’s words and at last nodded. “You’re right. It’ll take me a while to fully see it that way, but you’re right.” He watched as Lou brought their dinner to the table and set it on two oven mitts. “Forget any bloody doctor. Your words are the best prescription I could have.”

Lou smiled. Ginger would be alright. He was upset, but he would get past this. And Lou would be right with him, as always.