Open : Well, isn't this a relief?

[venusvandam]

There had been more than a few moments when Venus had threatened to lose hope. She is strong: she knows that. She showed that. It's just that things were so very grim for a while there: no power, food that was difficult to come by, things that chewed other things, all of it could get a lady down.

But, now that things are looking better, well, so is Venus. Now that the sky is back (and as strange as that is and things are just ... better. Showers are so very nice, and so is being able to cook. Between helping Derek to get the fitness center back into order and getting her apartment back into order (though she misses having a reason to sleep with Derek every night), Venus is busy. But when she has a bag of homemade food (chicken and potato salad), she ventures toward the garage where she knows Adam works. She wants to see him! She's missed him! She's worried. So, she hopes he's there. She hopes he's all right.

She hopes they've all come out the other side of all this insanity all right.

Comments

[venusvandam]

Really, were Adam to tell Venus that he wills her to stay, she would be quite flattered and very touched. She has no intention of leaving as she has nothing waiting for her of note back in Charming and here, she has Derek and Adam - people who legitimately care about her: a kind of family, really, in a place that, despite recent events, is and can be quite nice.

"I would like to see that," she says, making sure the food is in a state that it can be moved and saved for Adam to eat more of later.

[adamparrish]

Adam pushes up off the couch and moves across the expansive space. There's a dirty tarp covering something in the corner. Adam carefully peels it away so as not to mess anything up. Underneath, a nearly completed motorcycle is there. There's nothing shiny or new about it, which is very much an Adam thing.

He looks back to Venus and shoves his hands in his pockets. "He likes to drive really fast and... this barely weighs anything so it'll go really fast."

[venusvandam]

"Oh, my," she says, coming closer. While she may not be an expert on motorcycles, some of her time with SAMCRO has to have rubbed off or been transferred by osmosis. She reaches out carefully, respectfully, to touch, tracing along the seat. "This looks like it will go very face and I'm sure you'll do what you can to make it safe," she says, gaze flicking back to Adam. To control what can be controlled.

They both know, after all, that they can only control so much, but what they can should be controlled, if at all possible.

[adamparrish]

Up until this point, when she's walking over to the motorcycle and touching it, Adam hadn't known how much he'd wanted her approval. He doesn't know why it's important to him. But he's never gotten praise anywhere before, not from any adults. Just Venus. And he wants her to be proud of him on some very basic level instinct.

He realizes then that Venus is slowly but surely helping him to let go of whatever broken bits and pieces he's been holding onto of his parents. That realization surprises him. He's been subconsciously putting Venus in that empty space where he's been letting go of his hopes that his parents would someday love and accept him. He finds himself taking a step backward from her and the bike, giving himself some space to analyze that.

He's not sure he's ready to let go, or capable. Maybe that makes him a masochist. He has no idea.

[venusvandam]

Perhaps it does make him a masochist, and yet, Venus knows all to well how easy it is to hold to the familiar, be it bad or good. In their case, of course, it's bad. It's why she didn't trust telling her son about who she was: hate runs deep in their family; she would rather live a lie where her son loves her as a beloved aunt than risk him hating her as his father.

"You are very skilled," she tells Adam, turning her head to see where he now stands, fingertips still resting on the bike's seat. "I imagine Ronan will love this." For any number of reasons.

[adamparrish]

"I hope he does." Adam says with a shrug. He's never sure with Ronan. Ronan is rich, could have anything he wants at the drop of a hat. He drives a gleaming BMW, after all. This bike is all different colored parts, none of the shinned, everything mismatched and nothing like brand name bikes out there.

Adam made this.

"He's used to expensive, new things." Not like Gansey. But almost like Gansey.

[venusvandam]

"Well," Venus says, moving to face Adam more directly. "If he doesn't like it, he's a fool and if there's one thing he didn't strike me as, it's a fool." No, Ronan, in the brief time they talked, struck Venus as viciously smart. "Why, you put part of yourself in this, sweetheart. That makes it even better than something new and shiny."

Of course, the boys at SAMCRO would both agree and disagree all at once: sometimes she misses them. "New things aren't always what they're cracked up to be anyway."