you can't save her.

.

He hadn’t expected her to simply nod and leave without throwing a fit about it– if his time owning this shop in this town had taught him anything, it was that– so he wasn’t all that surprised when she took several steps towards him rather than the door. But his hard eyes remained fixed on hers as she held a phone in his face. First, it had been simply out of irritation; he was currently in the middle of a war, he didn’t give a single fuck what was on her phone. Then, as she spoke again, and the words slipped through the cracks in his armor right through to the marrow in his bones, he stared at her in defiance.

No. 

The word ricocheted off every corner of his mind like a stray bullet, searching for a weakness to sink itself into. No. Matteo was careful the same way Dominic was careful. No cellphones, no proof, no attachments. 

But his traitorous eyes slid to the device just before she flipped to a new picture and Matteo stared back at him. It cleaved him in two seeing proof that his brother had once lived, that he’d occupied space in this god forsaken place. Except it didn’t look like the version of his brother he knew so well. He was smiling, hand proudly settled over the swell of her stomach. 

Pain lanced through Dominic’s middle as his eyes swept over the picture and his mind scrambled to understand. It just wasn’t possible. He was Matteo’s family. His brother wouldn’t have gone behind his back like this. He wouldn’t have fallen in love, started a family, and never told him. That wasn’t who they were. They were all they’d ever had. He wouldn’t.

But he did, a quiet voice in the back of his mind seemed to urge him as the image burned itself into psyche forevermore. 

His fist clenched tightly at his side, the fresh injury protesting at the movement as he finally managed to drag his eyes from the photo to the woman standing before him once more. Instinctively, his eyes fell to her flat stomach before settling on her face. Son. She’d said son. Was a small part of Matteo smiling, laughing, existing somewhere just out of his reach? 

The thought of that made him ache in ways he hadn’t even realized were possible.

His jaw set hard against the emotions that threatened to drown him, his mind moving through thoughts faster than he could keep up. What did this mean for him? Would they be in danger now because of what he’d done? What did she know? And most of all… why, Matteo? Why keep it all from him? He wanted to drive his fist into the wall again, wanted to drown out the thoughts with pain of it. He wanted to scream at the heavens until Matteo found a way to explain himself. He wanted to know where he went from here. 

He refocused on her, took in the set of her mouth and the arch of her brows. Every plane and valley of a face his brother had loved. He wanted to hate her because he couldn’t hate him. Setting his jaw, he folded his arms tightly across his chest. “Why are you here? What do you want?”

.

she had sensed the pain in his voice, even his expressions as guarded as they might have been. it was clear that this was a complete shock, and for some reason, she understood his anger. matteo had left them both with a task that neither asked for. they were the ones left behind to pick up the pieces and make something work. meredith wanted to hate him for it, but she didn’t. she couldn’t.

time stood still once more as she showed him the final picture, a picture of her baby boy. it was a picture of luca in his bassinet in their new home. he had even been smiling. he had always looked like matteo from birth, and it would have been something the two joked about had he been there for it. but while he had his looks, meredith proudly let all who asked know that luca had her fiery personality. when he wasn’t smiling, he was screaming his head off.

quickly tucking the phone back into her pocket, she looked to the man for direction in the conversation. his response had been unfeeling, his body language unapproachable. in return it had angered her. how was he to shut her out after she’d given him with the knowledge of matteo’s other life. surely he would have questions, demand an explanation. 

“if you think i’m here for something like money from you, it’s not that. we’re fine.” a partial truth, the move hadn’t been entirely kind to meredith and luca. she had relied more on her parents than she wanted to and used the very last of her savings to purchase a small home in bighorn hills. 

the brunette continued, “i’m here for my son, luca. he deserves to know his family.” she felt the tears swell in her eyes and immediately shifted her gaze to the tile floor. “I know this is somewhat unwanted, but I refuse to let him grow up feeling that he’s missing out on anything.” her mind traveled back to her own childhood. not knowing her father, his family. the pain she endured when losing her own mother as a teenager. the world hadn’t been kind to meredith during those years and she would do absolutely anything to protect her own son from a similar fate.

regaining composure, she looked back to dominic. it was obvious that there were other more pressing issues at hand, given the state of his shop and his somewhat disheveled appearance. but she was selfish, simply not caring about anything else but that moment. 

Once she had caught her breath a bit, Kat was back up to her feet so she didn’t seem totally rude in talking to the other woman. Bending down, she selected a handful of other rocks that she could use to toss out into the water. It was an easy thing to do and growing up by the water had made it a skill she’d learned early on. Not the most useful of skills, but it looked impressive every time she was able to get it to hop out there a good ways. Her next rock skipped six or seven times before sinking down, Kat flicking it out there with a practiced ease.

“Yeah, you want to make sure you get your thumb up top, middle finger on the bottom, and then index finger you want to wrap around the edge there, like this,” she explained, holding another one in the right spot to show off the positioning. “But, oh my god, not at all. I was ready to be done, trust me. I love working out in nature, but it’s a lot more practical stuff for my job, which is always tough.” Kat’s nose wrinkled up a bit as she said it, but the smile never once left her lips. “Meredith, though, nice to meet you and welcome. I’m Kat. I’ve been here…basically forever. Kind of. Mostly.” Reaching over, Kat shook the woman’s hand, dropping it back to her side after a beat. “Are you liking it here so far?”

.

it was nice to meet someone friendly and so familiar with the area. while she had a handful of connections in the area, the ever-present feeling of loneliness had been in the forefront of her mind. perhaps that was why she had found herself approaching the unknown woman at the lake, in a desperate attempt to connect with another. she had come to providence for a reason, but needed more if she was going to call that place home.

meredith watched as the other explained the proper hand-positioning, mimicking her movements carefully. “what do you do for work? it must keep you incredibly busy.” the brunette nodded in response to her question. “it’s definitely a change of scenery from denver and my parent’s farm. but yeah, i’ve really been enjoying the area. lots to explore, which is what i was doing tonight if it wasn’t glaringly obvious to you.” 

.

It was unusual for Carla to head out to Summit Lake. The place was far from her home, and she always felt like a fish out of water in the midst of all that luxury, all those massive mansions and expensive cars that doted the roads. Yet out here by the lake, there was a kind of peace like no other. Ollie was busy off the leash, running around along the lake shore and getting excited at every stick he came across. The woman approaching her, on the other hand, seemed to be busy collecting rocks instead. “Depends on how many times you’re aiming to  get to skip. If it’s just once or twice, it should be easy.”

“see that’s what i thought too but...” meredith went on to show the stranger how miserable her skillset was, laughing as it skipped one time before sinking into the deep blue water. “i’ve got probably a good five or six years till my kid starts begging me to teach him. hopefully by then i’ll have perfected the craft. where i grew up we didn’t have anything as beautiful as this place to hang around at.” in fact, the small town she’d grown up in hadn’t much other than a few outdated parks. “is this place always so busy? or did i just choose a bad time?”

Time alone was taken seriously. With the way her work schedule typically panned out (see: meetings, phone calls, emails, internally crying), Safiyah was big on savouring whatever peace and quiet she could get her hands on. Accompanied by Sid, she was immediately comforted by the lack of any crowd present, hand loose around his leash, taking in the scenery before the question brought her back into reality in an instant.

“I don’t think it is?” A quick look to the rocks that littered the ground pretty much confirmed the fact she had no idea what was talking about. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too obvious. “I think you just need to have a special technique to get it to work, but there’s only one way to find out, right?” Here, Sid had chosen to bark, tail waving, looking ready to jump on whatever would go flying through the air. Safiyah could only laugh, nodding towards her companion. “Or this dude might just beat you to it.” Just a matter of time.

.

meredith admired the person’s furry companion, a soft chuckle emerging from her lips. perhaps once life settled down a bit and luca was older she would make a dog part of their little family. it was days like that one that made her wish for one. knowing she’d never be alone was a persuasive thought, but she tabled it for the time being. the brunette was just barely keeping her head above water being a single mother, adding a second dependent would prove to be too much.

“is he friendly?” the brunette questioned the dog’s owner whilst looking down at the pet with a soft smile. with the rock in hand, she surveyed the water to ensure she wouldn’t be whipping the object anywhere near another person. meredith sighed deeply before softly exclaiming, “here goes nothing.” careful intentions led her next physical movement, practically tossing the rock into the lake. she couldn’t help but laugh at herself and continued, “maybe it’s just not meant to be for me!”

The shop lay in ruins. Busted out windshields had decorated the oil-stained floor in shards of glass that glittered and winked beneath the lights overhead, as though they too mocked him. Rage rose like an inferno, its hungry flames flickering and dancing beneath his skin as if they might burn the whole fucking place to the ground. The cars, the tools, the damage was all fixed easily enough– and hell, he’d use some of that Crane money to do it– but it was the pried open cabinet that had him shaking with barely restrained fury.

Matteo’s keys were gone, his Ducati right along with it. The last tangible piece of his brother. Gone.

Dominic wasn’t sure how long he’d stared at the empty hook that once held the keys, but it was long enough that he was sure he was looking right through them now. Into a future where he’d strung up the Cranes by their fucking dicks until they screamed and begged and pleaded for mercy. He hadn’t even realized he’d rammed his fist into the wall until the pain finally found him. He blinked, looking down at his bloodied knuckles with a frown. 

As he marched towards the front of the shop to grab a cloth to use as a makeshift bandage until he could get home and really survey the damage, each echoing footfall was its own mantra. The Cranes will pay, the Cranes will pay, the Cranes will pay.

He stopped short, however, at the sight of a slight brunette slipping in through the front door, his nostrils flaring in irritation as he realized he hadn’t locked up. He opened his mouth to tell her to fuck off, but she beat him to it, his arms folding tightly over his chest as she uttered his name. Mistrust shot up like an impenetrable wall and he eyed her suspiciously. He’d never seen her before, would have remembered if he did, and he didn’t appreciate being the one caught unawares. 

And then she said the last thing he’d expected, the sound of Matteo’s name echoing through the hollowed out husk of him. He flinched– only subtly and only for a moment– before he schooled his features into something hard and unwelcoming. “He’s dead,” he spat, his tone lethal even as it cut him to hear aloud, and moved to turn his back on her in dismissal. “Nothing to talk about. We’re closed.”

.

there could have been a million different outcomes to the interaction that meredith was about to lay at this stranger’s feet. she’d convinced herself to be content with the worst—the baccari brother would want nothing to do with her or his brother’s child. but yet, there was a small glimmer of hope buried inside her somewhere. It whispered to her, ‘you need him, luca needs him’. and it was that small whisper that propelled her to unearth everything she’d known for the sake of her infant son. 

there was no doubt in her mind that she would be entirely unknown to whatever remained of the baccari family. up until a month ago, she herself had no knowledge of their existence. what she would say next would most likely be received as mad. meredith was an unknown variable in matteo’s life while on earth. he had done it to keep her safe and in the end, it only screwed her. how was she to explain to this stranger the life they lived, and the reason she was standing in his place of business on a random weekday night?

oh, how she ached for matteo’s guidance in that very moment. if she had only known more about his brother. what was the right approach with him? careful conversation, or should she just lay all her cards out on the workshop table right then and there? 

meredith had expected the not so warm welcome. but she’d be a liar if she were to say that his angry tone threw her in the slightest. the brunette had rehearsed this conversation a dozen times and still somehow found herself speechless for a brief moment. chocolate brown eyes shifted away from the man’s gaze for several seconds, almost as if to avoid what she was about to say and do next.

“i can see you’re closed, again i’m really sorry about coming in so late like this.” without hesitation she unlocked her phone. several quick taps and she had turned the device around to face him. a picture of matteo and her at the apartment they shared briefly was displayed on the screen. “i know he’s dead. i’m his girlfriend.” meredith paused for a brief moment, realizing the statement she made was no longer correct. “or, i guess was.” her fingers slid across the screen once more, showing dominic yet another memory captured through photograph— their baby shower. it was now only a moment frozen in time. meredith continued once more, “and as you can see, he is the father of my son.” her eyes returned to meet his and she stated, “my name is meredith. now would you say we have something to discuss?”

In attempts of trying to get rid of her hangover, Ximena found herself wandering around the shoreline; she always found sources of water soothing; the sound of ducks, the elegant breeze and the fact that water fountains looks similar in every part of the world was enough to calm her nerves and make her and her troubles feel insignificant for a little while. When she accidentally kept too close to another person, she was going to ignore her before she came up with a question. “No, it’s not hard, just takes practice.” She advised her. “You ever skip a rock before?” She raised her eyebrow; as a kid, it was her favorite game, so she was ready to show the woman how it’s done.

.

meredith shook her head in response to the stranger’s question. her childhood had been far from normal, and in light of recent events, she’d discovered all the simple pleasures she had missed out on. “believe it or not, never. i guess you could say i was a little sheltered.” sheltered was a term that sounded much better than child neglect. the brunette held out the rock she’d just collected and questioned, “does this meet the criteria for a good skipping rock? i’d love to see how it’s done.” meredith surveyed the water for a moment before stating, “i’m meredith, by the way. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

.

Working out at a gym had never much appealed to Kat. She did it to stay fit, but on days where the weather was nice she simply refused to be stuck inside for any length of time. Packing up her at-home workout equipment, Kat had made her way to the lake to set up and get a workout in by the lake instead. Being out at the lake, she was taking full advantage of the space and, to her delight, the water. It took about an hour to get through everything, ending with a long distance swim that took her way farther out than was probably safe. 

When she got back to shore, her arms were burning a bit, throat desperate for cold water. Flopping down to her mat, Kat quickly started to down some water, head lifting when she heard an unfamiliar voice call out her way. “Skipping rocks? Not hard at all. Give me a half second here to catch me breath and I’d be happy to come teach you,” Kat offered. Her eyes scanned around the sand by her, picking up a rock that looked flat enough to work with herself. Flipping it in her hand, Kat adjusted it to the right position before tossing it out to the water from where she was sitting, watching as it skipped along the water seamlessly out quite a ways.

.

realizing then that interrupting someone clearly in the midst of an intensive workout, was not the best way to make a good impression. she waited silently for the other woman to prepare herself. meredith observed carefully the way she positioned the rock in her hand, the way her wrist moved. while some would see the task mundane, it was a skill she was determined to master. she had never had the opportunity herself to learn the technique growing up, and wanted to be fully prepared if her son would ever want to learn.

“okay, let me give it a go. i don’t think the way i was holding it before was right at all!” meredith turned the rock over in a similar fashion to the stranger. with cautious effort, she flicked it out into the water and watched with excitement. it hopped twice before returning to the depths it had most likely originated from. “i really hope i didn’t interrupt you, by the way.” the brunette stuck out a hand and continued, “i’m meredith. just moved out here a few weeks back. clearly failing miserably at the whole ‘effectively meeting new people’ thing.”

     Elijah had been sitting by the lake with a notebook in his lap, attempting to jot words on paper to no avail — though the edges were filled with doodles. As someone with absolutely zero artistic ability, it was a marvel that little scratches of pen managed to keep his attention more than what he was actually supposed to be doing. Though he would chalk it up to the fact that he was distracted … sure, he’d come here to stop being distracted, but the success of that was besides the point. There were a lot more people here today than there were a few days prior. Some walking their dogs. Some with children. And one person collecting rocks.

When they called out to him — or anyone, really, he just appeared to be the only one currently within earshot — he officially gave up with the notebook and tucked it safely away in the bag he brought with him, and scrambled to his feet. He took a few steps closer, picking up an interesting rock of his own along the way. “I’ve never tried either, but hey, it can’t be that hard. I think it’s all about the momentum rather than skill or something.” He inspected the rock in his hands, finger smoothing over the surface before he abruptly chucked it into the water. It made a singular skip before ultimately sinking, which he would consider better than nothing. “See? Look at that. I’m a natural — like … if it only skipped a few more times, then I’d be a pro.” With a smile, he pointed at the rock in her hands. “Go on, then. Try it.”

she’d known that picking up her entire life and moving to a new city wouldn’t be easy. while she had an illustrious career in denver, childbirth and being out of work for nearly two months had taken its tolls on her finances. being in summit lake outside of work was a rarity for the woman. meredith much rather preferred the stillness of bighorn hills. she’d bought a small cabin on a quaint property with the little cash she had left over. and while she’d never admit it to a single soul, times were proving to be incredibly challenging financially. the brunette was lucky to find a young babysitter who didn’t charge much, allowing her to work the hours she needed to survive. outside of work she was trying to branch out and approaching strangers at the lake seemed like the logical pursuit.

meredith watched the man flick the rock carefully. she couldn’t help but chuckle when his rock ultimately failed at gliding across the water more than once. “i’m relieved to see that there’s two amateurs here tonight.” the woman looked down at her rock, inspecting it one final time before tossing it sideways with force. unsuccessfully she watched it hop once in similar fashion to the figure beside her before commenting, “i’m attempting to develop hobbies outside of baking and bar-hopping. maybe this is my sign to give up.” meredith has observed him writing in the notebook in the moments prior to approaching and commented, “is this a good spot to come for peace and quiet? outside my distraction, of course.”

location: baccari garage

she had thought this day over in her head at least a dozen times. what would she say, how she would approach him. it hadn’t taken her long to find matteo’s brother. they had never met when the man was alive, meredith never pushing him to delve into his clearly dysfunctional family affairs. but now that he was gone, she had done her research and found enough evidence of a baccari sibling leading her to providence peak. while her family had discouraged her from picking up her life again, she was committed to providing the best for her son. and she was convinced that matteo’s family had a role to play in that somehow. 

the brunette had waited till the shop was closed to make her plea. through casual inquiries about town, she knew that the brother, dominic, would most likely be alone. meredith approached the door, inhaling deeply before pushing through the threshold. her eyes took in the interior of the garage, only refocusing on the male before her that was so clearly a relation of her now deceased partner. for a mere moment, time froze. she took in his features and found herself finding similarities that only siblings could share. realizing she had yet to speak, she stepped forward.

“dominic baccari, right?” her question hung in the air, rather stupidly she thought to herself. meredith had done enough research to know who it was before her. she continued, “i’m sorry to come in here like this, but i needed to speak with you. i’m meredith donovan.” the woman paused briefly then exhaled quietly. “i’m here to talk about matteo.”

location: shoreline, summit lake

in her limited free time, meredith enjoyed exploring her new home. providence peak had an abundance of recreational locations to offer, but her favorite so far had been summit lake. it offered her the opportunity to observe the locals in their natural habitat, without looking like too much of a creep. she’d walk the shoreline several times already, picking up skipping rocks and remnants of objects lost in the lake ages before she’d arrived in town. 

too distracted by her own thoughts, she’d hardly noticed how close she came to approaching another person. bending over to pick up an interesting rock, she called out, “you know, I keep collecting these flat rocks to try and skip, but i’ve never actually done it before. you reckon it’s hard?”

look who just strolled into town, if it isn’t meredith donovan, the glass onion’s own renowned pastry chef. having only been in providence peak for three weeks, the thirty-one year old has already gathered quite the reputation. known for her sweet desserts and quick wit, meredith has made a noticeable entrance in the short time she’s been in providence peak. care to discover more? 

trigger warning: death, drug use, pregnancy