Rabbot met in med school before Jack left for war. Jack was studying to be a field medic alongside med school and Robby was studying ER medicine. They started dating. Jack didn’t tell Robby he’d be leaving. But the time came and he did. The breakup was loud and messy. A lot of harsh words. A lot of tears.. but Jack left. And Robby stayed behind.
Jack met Elizabeth in California when he was on a break with his corp. She was sweet, funny, had a mouth like a sailor and was weirdly pessimistic. She was amazing. Jack fell head over heels and married her. She was never a second choice to him. Robby had a place in his heart. But Lizzy ALWAYS came first. No matter what.
And then they moved to pittsburgh after Jack lost his leg. Hoping some new scenery might help aid in his long and depressing recovery. Lizzy met some guy at the grocery store and apparently bonded over some weird favoured flood that was Lizzy’s favourite and was apparently this guys as well. She started talking about this grocery store man and even began arranging her grocery store trips around when he would be there. They became genuine friends, exchanged numbers and hung out on a few occasions.
“I want you to meet him,” Lizzy had said whilst they were waiting for his physical therapist.
Jack frowned and whispered “I don’t know if im in the mood for meeting people Liz. I’m half a man right now”
Elizabeth looked at him with the furry only a wife could muster and smacked him right upside the head “don’t you ever say that again… you should meet him. I think the two of you would get along.”
So she had taken him to a bar. A chance to try out his new prosthetic in a new place with new people. But not so many people that Jack felt like fleeing. She sat him down and waited. And then he walked in. Jack turned his head, Robby looked the same. A little older with a beard and shorter hair. Wrinkles around his eyes, but still tall as ever. When Lizzy jumped up and began waving to him Jack knew. Robby was her grocery store friend.
Robby and Jack exchanged looks. Gauging what to say and what to do in this situation until Jack blurted it out.
“We used to date in college.”
But Lizzy, as she always did, smiled and nodded “well. It sounds like its fate then right?”
And from then on. It was the three of them. They were best friends. Robby and Jack were platonic. And the two of them were happy with that. Jack was married and Lizzy was still his top priority. And Robby quickly came to love Lizzy as much as he loved Jack. He could never hurt either of them. They were three peas in a pod.
If Robby was going to the supermarket he’d call lizzy or Jack and tell them to come with. They started going to pride festivals together all three of them. Bi flags painted on their cheeks.
Robby was always there for them when they needed him, he was there for them when Lizzy’s parents passed. And then when Jacks went.
He was there for them when Lizzy and Jack found out that they couldn’t have children. He was there at physical therapy appointments, at IVF attempts. And they were there for him, there when his grandmother died. When he got his heartbroken. When he was at his worst. It was the three of them. Always. And they all loved one another. More than a friend should. But they were nothing if not pussies.
Lizzy was a ray of sunshines in their life. Even if she was a bit pessimistic herself she was always there reminding them to look at the positive. She was smart, she was kind. She stopped on the streets to ask homeless people what they wanted to eat or if they needed blankets before she gave them fifty dollars and then went to the nearest store. She volunteered with veterans and sat with Jack after his nightmares. She had an amazing career and the most beautiful smile.
And then Lizzy died. It was sudden. A car crash, they rushed her to Mercy, but by the time she was there she had already died. Jack got the call, and he called Robby. The two of them ran to the hospital, clutching one another like they could save themselves from the truth.
The viewing room was freezing… she was covered head to toe. Her left arm poking out from under the covers, Robby could see a small cut on her arm that they had cleaned up. Jack was dead silent. Staring at his wife’s hand.
“Why… why is she covered,” Robby asked his lips quivering.
“Um she… her face. In the crash…”
Robby nodded, covering his eyes and willing away tears before he reached out to grab her hand. He flipped her hand slowly and found the tattoo that was there. A small pair of angel wings she got after she had a miscarriage two years ago. He heard Jack’s breathing stall. Getting stuck in his throat and turning into a gag. Robby turned around to look at him.
“Jesus Christ just fucking move it!”
The nurse nodded slowly, scrambling over and grabbing the top of the bed sheet to carefully move down. Robby couldn’t bring himself to look, gripping Lizzy’s hand tight instead, feeling a distinct lack of warmth. Jack’s eyes were zeroed in on her face. He could tell that they had tried to clean her up. But even with that. The sight was gruesome. His breath stalled again and he shook his head.
“Mm’ gonna be sick.” He gasped and turned trying to find a trashcan.
Robby was on him in seconds. Leading him out of the room as he gagged and gasped into his hand. Spewing as soon as Robby placed him in front of a trash can.
Robby sunk down next to him, rubbing a hand up and down his back whilst Jack hurled into a trashcan. Stomach bile and food escaping him and the thought nearly killed him. The last meal Lizzy made for him. In the trash. Sobs began to wrack his body. Robby sat behind him, his arms outstretched for jack who fell into him. Grasping his friend’s arms and sobbing hard into the blue hoodie he knew Lizzy had bought for robby when they were doing that stupid beer tour.
Robby cradled him, wrapping an arm around his chest and placing a hand on his head. Cradling in his arms whilst he tried not to cry. Letting Jack’s sobs shake his body. Echoing through the hospital hallway like a sick song.
Robby took care of Jack. He helped him sign papers, helped him home and took off his leg. Tucked him in and laid in the bed, holding him tight and letting him cry until the sadness took him under and he fell asleep. Robby cried alone in the living room. Quiet as to not wake up, crying like a child and wondering why it was so cruel.
Robby didn’t leave Jack’s side, he dragged him out of bed, he washed him. Shaved his beard. Brushed his teeth. Trimmed his hair. For days. He went with jack to buy burial plots — two. One for Lizzy and one for Jack. — couple burial plots that Jack didn’t think they’d need so soon. He held Jack when he broke down in the funeral home looking for caskets and wondering which colour she’d like to be laid to rest in. Robby covered all of it.
When the funeral came Robby did the same. Got him in the shower. Shaved his beard. Brushed his teeth. Did his hair. Helped him with his leg and clothes. Got himself ready.
The funeral was full, people of all worlds coming together to celebrate a woman that helped so many. Jack could barely stand to look at any of them. People from the PTMC came in support. They all loved Liz. Especially Adamson who knew how kind she was. Jack and Robby stood in front of the casket. She looked better now, the funeral cosmetics had done a wonderful job.
Jack reached out to brush her hair back and Robby held her hand. “Im only 36… we were… it was meant to be us. For the-“ his words got caught and he had to will his emotions back down “for the rest of forever…” he whispered. His vows reminiscing in the back of his mind. “She’s only 34 robby-“ jack’s sob was broken. He looked slowly to Robby, his eyes big and scared like the 20 year old Robby had met all those years ago. “What. What do I do?” Jack was sobbing again. One hand clinging to Robby as his legs failed him.
Robby followed him, holding him and nodding “I know… you… you have to rely on people you- you just have…” Robby didn’t even know what to say. He just held onto Jack. For the rest of the funeral he held him, his hand, his arm, his shoulders.
They buried her together with flowers and photos of the three of them, of her and Jack, a copy of their wedding photo. They sat by her grave for hours. Jack fell asleep there.
The first five years were the hardest. Their foundation had been rocked beyond belief. They were two sides of the same coin, mourning the same woman they had loved. Mourning the past and the present they would no longer be able to have. Her birthdays were spent in a bittersweet manner. Visiting her grave and celebrating. And then remembering she was no longer here to celebrate. Jack brought the bottle of whiskey she had requested to open on her 40th birthday. He poured some on her tombstone.
Her death day was spent together. A solemn and quiet remembrance. A year after she passed Jack moved in with Robby and sold the house. Unable to live in the quiet halls. He stayed with Robby until he found a new place. But he didn’t go far. Moving practically down the street. And spending most days on Robby’s couch.
Robby and Jack’s relationship was strained. Not in the way that they fought and got angry. But they were both distraught. Trying to navigate what their friendship looked like without her. This wasn’t med school anymore. Jack pretty much stopped taking care of himself. He stopped working out. Stopped watching what he ate. Around two years after she died. Jack was showering in Robby’s bathroom. Like he had been since she died.
“Michael!” Jack was yelling, robby was in the kitchen but was in the bathroom in five seconds flat. “What! What? What what!”
He looked at Jack’s face. Slightly pudgy, all red and puffy, crying. “It doesn’t f-fit. My.. my ring. My ring doesn’t fit anymore!” Jack cried. Holding the metal in his hands.
Robby looked down. Jack was still swollen from his shower and probably more so from crying and freaking out. “Shhh shh sh sh,” Robby reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. Soothing him gently “its okay. No its okay, your just worked up and puffy from your shower.”
Jack shook his head. Crying nervously “what i-if i cant get it back on?”
“You will. We can always have it resized.”
“No! No i don’t want it resized.”
Robby nodded and grabbed the ring gently. Holding it as he hugged Jack. Trying to soothe him.
Jack was able to get the ring back on but he stopped eating as well. Started working out for hours a day. Trying to look how he had before Lizzy died. Nervous the ring wouldn’t fit.
As year three rolled around things felt like that might be getting easier. Robby convinced Jack to finally go to therapy to start properly processing. And it was getting easier. Jack was able to accept change a bit easier without her. Robby felt a little lost. But Jack was getting better. So it was okay.
Year four was when they finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. The guilt that felt around feeling happy began to lessen. Instead turning into something calmer. They could he happy whilst holding Lizzy in their hearts. But they still weren’t entirely themselves. But. Then again, they never would be without her. So many memories lost with her life.
Around the fifth year anniversary Jack and Robby visited their grave. Finally feeling a bit more happy, and a but less like their foundation had been shaken from the inside out.
“It’s been five years…” Jack murmured. Rolling the flowers for her grave in his hand.
Robby nodded. Rubbing the neck of his beer bottle. “Yeah.”
“Yeah. Me too,” Robby took a long slug of his beer. Biting his inner cheek as it slid down his throat.
“Uh… how. Would we feel if I started dating again?” Jack seemed so afraid to ask the question. Like it might haunt him if he said it wrong.
“We? Thats up to you Brother. You lost her.”
“No. We lost her…” Jack dipped his head to catch robby’s eyes “she was your best friend Robby.”
“Yeah well… she was your wife,” Robby shrugged. “Look man if your ready to start dating again. Im here to support you. Im happy for you… but. No ones ever gonna be her.”
Jack sighed, looking at her tombstone that read 1978-2012. Five years without her.
The first few dates Jack went on were trial dates. Seeing how he felt about the whole thing. It was weird. Learning about a new person. How they worked. What made them who they were. They definitely weren’t Lizzy. The first year was rather uneventful and he was happy with that. He didn’t quite get into it yet.
The seventh year of being without Lizzy felt… easier. The grief never went away, but he could finally breathe again. He wasn’t sure he’d ever stop sleeping and eating in Robby’s house. Then again he didn’t want to. Robby was his constant in a world of violent title waves. He went on more dates. And some were… definitely undesired.
He met a woman. Maybe a year younger than him. She was divorced and had a son. They went to a restaurant and sat down. She had questions.
“Why do you wear a wedding ring?”
“Look. I want to be upfront about this, I lost my wife. On my profile it says single, but I’ve been widowed for seven years.”
She nodded slowly, biting her inner cheek “thats fine. But you would take off the ring if we started dating right? Especially if we got married.”
Jack wrapped two fingers around the band of metal protectively. And shook his head slowly. “No. Im sorry we… were married for twelve years before she died… she takes up a decade and some of my life?”
“Yeah but like… what about whoever comes next? Don’t you want them to feel secure?”
Jack’s face flamed with anger and he got up. Grabbing out his wallet and putting some cash on the table to cover his drink “I hope you find someone who hated their last partner as much as you hate your ex husband.”
When he got home he shut the door behind him and fell against it. Sighing and covering his face. Robby was in the kitchen.
“Bad… she asked me to take off my ring.”
“That we were married for twelve years. How she’s my wife.”
Jack toed off his shoes and wandered into the kitchen and sitting at the island. “Its okay I just. Wish people would stop asking me to forget her…”
Robby nodded whilst stirring something together in a bowl. “I understand. I’d never ask you to take your ring off if I was them. Not to say we’d date again. Ever.”
Jack knew it was a joke. But from then on it weighed on his mind. Him and Robby had dated before, Robby had known Lizzy and understood the weight of her. And Robby would never ask him to forget. He already loved every part of Jack. Not to mention they were basically already living together.
Jack had to help out at the hospital a few days later on day shift. And he kept finding himself looking at Robby. Missing him like he usually had. But suddenly it was like a big hammer on his heart. Remembering how Robby’s arms felt around him, how beautiful his smile was.
“Oi. Don’t you got work to do?” Dana asked, gently tapping him with a clipboard.
“I think I have a crush on Robby,” Jack whispered.
Dana’s eyes went big, she lowered her glasses to look over them at him “didn’t you two used to be a thing?”
“Yeah. Ages ago, in med school.”
“You sure this isn’t a… deceased wife’s beat friend who knows her best kind of situation?”
“I know her best,” Jack whispered. “I don’t think so… it’s been seven years… wouldn’t that have already happened?”
“I guess so… maybe you should talk to him?”
Jack shook his head “no. No its fine. I’ll… i’ll get over it.”
Jack could in fact not get over it. It was all he could think about now. Overanalysing everything in his life and everything he did around Robby and wondering what it meant. Would Lizzy hate them if they did this? Did Robby even have feelings for him? Maybe. Robby touched him a lot. Which he doesn’t do with a lot of other people. Robby had been housing him for the last seven years and didn’t even ask for money. And how long had this been festering? And the thought was so scary when he realised. He had been in love with robby for at least two years. “Im an idiot.”
Jack ended up in front of Lizzy’s grave. Staring absently at the dates on it as he picked at the grass. Making a whistle to toot at the grave before he finally said it out loud.
“I think i’m in love with robby…” he said it slowly. The words were foreign in his mouth. Sure he loved robby. But this was loved Robby with a capital L. This was. In love. The tears were pouring down his face. A mix of relief. absolute confusion and anger at himself. “I don’t know what to do.” Jack rubbed his jaw, watching the sun set just across the trees. “Please i need you to tell me what to do.”
When Jack fell asleep that night he felt a little warmer. He dreamt of her from time to time. But this one was weird. She was there. Like really there. And he could hug her and hold her. And she spoke to him.
Jack told Robby the next morning that he was in love with him. Like truly in love with him. And they talked. And Robby expressed a fear that if Lizzy could see them now that she would be angry. But deep down they knew that wasn’t true. They began dating in 2019 and went into lockdown together.
They lost Adamson and Robby was in shambles. Jack sacrificed his grief to make space for robby’s just like Robby had done when Lizzy died. But even then they were together. Their relationship felt as natural as breathing. Just like their trio had. When Jack was with Robby he felt like he was living. Not just alive. Even if something always felt a little off. Shifted to the right and rubbing wrong. It was never big enough to feel scary or bad.
They got married fast. Really fast. It was near the end of 2020, and they could only have a four person gathering in the city hall, masking and socially distanced, only allowed to take off their masks for the kiss. But before they had gone, Robby had visited her grave with her favourite flowers. “I never got to say this… before you died. And I think I put it off for a long time. But… I love you, for all that you were and all that you still are… thank you. For always being there. I forgive you, for being the worst person to do karaoke with… and… please forgive me. I promise. I’ll take care of him, and when we’re gone. You can have him back. I promise.”
They had a small wedding. So small it was just the two of them, an officiant and Dana. They never got to go on their honeymoon. But that was also okay. But in their vows had the most important thing.
Jack held Robby’s hand tight, looking at a piece of paper as he read. Talking about how long him and robby had known one another. They weren’t saying these vows for anyone but each other. And Dana was filming like a proud mother. And then the two of them are reduced to happy tears as Jack says.
“In 2004 I came back to Pittsburgh scared and sad. With my wife, I think that in the end. When we met again in that bar, and she introduced us to one another again, she was my angel bringing home the second most important person in my life. And now my first.”
Robby sniffled. Shaking his head happily.
Robby and Jack remained happily married. With every trial and tribulation they worked through. They came out stronger and happier. They weren’t sure they could get anymore happy. And then they met their third, and it was like everything shifted back into place. And everything felt just right in a way they didn’t even know had felt wrong.
(Author: i might do a second part. Spoilers their third will NAWT be dennis. This is not a hucklerabbot ship. I saw a post the other day about Rabbot and it was where Abbot cheated on his wife with robby and i really truly hate that headcannon with SUCH a passion that i word vomited this beast. I think Jack’s wife means more to him then what people realise and i hate when they turn her into a meek woman with no thoughts or feelings. I love jack abbots dead wife in a way no one will get. I also talked to @son-of-the-sun23 about this and he also beta read this and made me go back and capitolize all the names and I’s so thank you to him and i hope u enjoyed.)
