(no subject)

[is_the_motion]

"You nearly done there, Ted?"

Ted pauses as he cleans the front of the shop window. He'd just seen something across the street that caught his attention. But it's late, and Shark wants to lock up.

"Yeah, sorry." he turns around to his boss and goes to put the cleaning stuff away. Shark has just finished counting the day's takings, setting some aside in an envelope but putting the rest in the safe. Ted's mood lifts slightly. It's not well paid, working in the comic book store a couple evenings a week, just tidying up and restocking the shelves; but it's good to have a bit of spending money without having to ask Aunt Bonnie and Shark gives him a hefty discount on the comics.

"Here, you did good work this week, kid." Shark says, handing him the envelope. "You keep working on those math skills and I'll find you some Saturday work."

Ted thanks him. Funny how things work out, he figures, as he gets his coat. He'd got this job in secret, thinking he could find a way to quit high school, but turned out Shark thinks he'd be better off getting his diploma too. The coat is too short in the sleeves, he realises as he puts it on. He makes a mental note to take it off as soon as he gets home, before Aunt Bonnie sees. It's not like he needs a coat most of the year in this part of the country.

But first, there's a more pressing issue.

He's pretty sure he won't be allowed to linger in the bar opposite the street, but he goes in anyway. It's not like he's going to buy alcohol. He looks around until he spots the person he was looking for.

There are a number of ways that he can approach this situation. But Ted isn't someone who spends a lot of time thinking of plans, which is why he just walks up to Turtle and the blonde woman and sits at their table.

"Oh excuse me ma'am." he says to the blonde woman, as Turtle jumps in alarm. "I'm Ted. Could I please borrow my guardian's husband for a minute?"

The woman looks at him, then at Turtle. Ted watches her face. Okay, she looks worried, but she doesn't look surprised.

Turtle puts a firm hand on his shoulder. "Outside." he says. "You're not twenty-one, you can't be in here anyway."

Ted shrugs him off, and they step out into the alley at the side of the bar.

"This better be good." Ted says. "What are you doing in a bar with a strange woman?"

"She's not a strange woman." Turtle says. "She goes to my AA group. We were just talking. We weren't drinking alcohol neither."

"Does Aunt Bonnie know about her?" Ted asks.

"No, she doesn't." Turtle says. "Keep the noise down. I didn't cheat on Bonnie."

"You 'didn't', huh?" Ted retorts. "So you're gonna, you mean. She freakin' trusted you, man! She's a fuckin' widow."

"Ted, you don't understand..."

"I saved your life, the least you can do is tell me the truth!" Ted yells.

"I didn't cheat on Bonnie!" Turtle yells back. "I cheated with Bonnie. That woman in there was my fiancee when yer aunt seduced me."

Ted stops and blinks. Turtle leans back against a wall and runs a hand down his face.

"Look, you're sixteen, you're not a little kid." Turtle says. "So let me tell you like an adult. When Bonnie and I were young, we all slept around. Half the Iron Scorpions our age have slept with each other some time or another. When I was young, I fell in love with Bonnie. But she fell in love with Bill, and when she started going with Bill officially, she was faithful only to him. I told myself it was over and I had to move on. I married Cassandra, but she knew deep down I still carried a torch for Bonnie. I never cheated on Cassandra, but she always believed I did."

He sighs. "But over time, the torch went out. I learned to love Bonnie as a friend. I loved her, but I wasn't in love with her any more. I moved on. A couple years ago, I met Celia at AA, and we fell in love. We were going to get married. I was just about to introduce her to Bonnie when I took Bonnie to AA, as a friend, to try and help her get off alcohol. But when Bonnie came onto me, all those feelings from the old days came back. I betrayed Celia, thinking that Bonnie and I would fall in love with each other.

"But she didn't want more. And I soon realised I didn't either. I realised I'd made a mistake. I decided to come clean to Bonnie and break it off. Before I could tell her, she told me she was pregnant." He shakes his head. "Some freakin' luck. She tried for decades to have a baby with Bill, we make one mistake and she gets pregnant first time."

He looks back at Ted just in time for the fist to make contact with his face. He falls to the floor, with Ted standing over him, trembling with anger.

"Your kid is not a mistake." Ted says. "You're a mistake."

"I know. Don't touch me again." Turtle says, getting up. "I don't want you winding up back in jail."

"Why would you care?" Ted says.

"I do care, I just don't know what to do." Turtle says. "I think it might actually hurt Bonnie more to tell her the truth."

"Yeah, well..." Ted massages his fist. "At least that'll only hurt her once."

Ted slopes off down the alleyway, before pausing and calling back.

"You've got a week to figure out what you're going to do. But if you don't tell her, I will."