[META] Wrote this with Bill. Thanks again.

Brandon sat quietly at home, mumbling something under her breath as she and Bill had a largely silent dinner, one consisting of yet another round of Chinese takeout and alcohol. She shook her head again, sighing. "Ay yi, Bill, why didn't you tell me you were going out...?" Brandon says, gulping down another helping of whiskey.

Bill is still shoving rice and spicy chicken into his mouth when he hears Brandon ask the question. He swallows one bite, and begins another.

"Mfh, uhhh... I dunno.. I just.." Bill gulps down the ball of chewed food in his mouth "I just didn't want to get you annoyed."

"God dammit..." Brandon grumbled, slamming down the whiskey bottle onto the table. "Dammit, you know I worry about you more than I do for myself! You think I'm going to be annoyed?!" It almost pains her to hear herself yelling at Bill, but a sort of... maternal instinct overrode her.

Bill stops eating, and leaves his fork in his chinese food. "I'm.. Sorry, Mom, I just hadn't seen her in a while.. I barely remember what happened, and I still can't believe it. It couldn't have happened, it must have been a dream." Bill looks at the floor a bit.

"It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a fucking dream-" Brandon is shaking at this point, and it is nearly impossible to tell if she's genuinely angry at Bill or if she's freaking out. She stands up, taking Bill by the shoulders. "You didn't see him?! He had you right there, and he fucking shot you!" Brandon grips him by the collar closely, and it is noticeable at this point that she had been drinking too much in his absence.

Bill is almost shaking in fear, and his face almost loses all of it's color as he hears her yelling at him, and he becomes paralyzed in fear, due to her heavy drinking.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Brandon averts her face away from Bill, shutting her eyes in an attempt to calm down - but it only results in Brandon making a screech as she suddenly lashes out at Bill. A loud smack is heard, bringing Brandon back to her senses.

Bill is recoiling a bit from a pain that surges from his face, a hand print visible in red. The pain puts a tear in his eye, and he doesn't know how to react to it.

Brandon stares in horror at her own hand for a moment - then to Bill. She gulps, and her demeanor changes entirely - she shakes her head, turning away, letting empty bottles clatter to the floor as she staggers out the kitchen, stunned. "Don't... look at me..." Brandon says hollowly as her bedroom door is heard opening, then closing... and locking.

Bill blinks, and the pain goes away, before the feeling of sadness takes over very strongly. He rushes to Brandon's bedroom door, and begins to knock.

"Mom, please. Come out, you were right. I shouldn't have left without telling you. I'm sorry, just please come out." After a few tries, Bill just slumps to the floor, leaning against the door.

Behind the door, Bill can only hear the faint noises of Brandon trying not to cry. And eventually failing. If either of them had noticed, however... they were not the only ones upset.

Cassie lay just outside Brandon's house, and hearing the conflict. she longed to come in and try to tell her sister that it spiraled out of control, everything would have been fine if she hadn't been practically scripted into that godforsaken Russian mafia... but she could do nothing except weep.