All I Ask Of You

Chapter 1

    Anastasia sat beside Malcolm that morning, whispering words of comfort not just to him, but his young son, Tommy, who sat on his other side. It was obvious the man between herself and the boy wasn't hearing a word that was said. He was staring in silence at his wife's coffin, stiff as a statue and the slight rise and fall of his chest indicating he hadn't join her yet. The sight of him like this worried Ana. Of course, telling him she was was the last thing she would even dream of doing. He was numb to the world around him, including his son, and no amount of pity or empathy or whispers of “I'm sorry for your loss” were going to bring Rebecca back to him.
   The funeral felt like an eternity, but only because everyone in attendance was a friend of the Merlyns and nobody wanted to say goodbye to Rebecca. So after it was over, everyone sat in silence, slowly dispersing as the minutes slipped by until it was only the Queens, the Merlyn duo and Ms. Valentine. And then the Queens stood to leave and Tommy ran off to talk to the Queens’ son, Oliver. Leaving Anastasia alone with Malcolm for the time being, which she took advantage of to speak to her closest friend in private.
    “Rebecca loved you so, so much, Malcolm. And she will still love you in death. As much as you loved her, she loves you twice that in return. Remember that love. Remember all of the good times. Remember every happy moment you shared. That's what will get you through the hardest of times,” she murmured, knowing he wasn't listening, judging by his blank stare at the coffin. She hoped maybe something she said would get through the haze and the numb and the anger and sadness underneath. “Please don't forget you can call me anytime things get to be too much. I'll always be here to help you.” She squeezed his arm gently before standing, touching his shoulder and then walking away.
   Poor Tommy, she thought, walking to a pair of eight year old boys just a few feet from where the dark-haired boy's father was sitting. She knelt down in front of him with a soft, sad smile. “How are you holding up, Tommy?” she asked, earning a shrug from the little boy as he looked over her shoulder at his father. Ana followed his gaze and then sighed, looking back at the boy. “Give him time. It's still so fresh and I don't think he knows what to do. But I get why you're worried. So, if anything happens, call me, okay? I'll make sure you're doing okay while he tries to sort through his emotions.”
   Tommy nodded, looking down at the ground for a moment before sniffling slightly. And, in that moment, he found himself in the arms of his parents’ friend, receiving a much needed hug he should be getting from his father. He ended up hugging her back, glad to know somebody was there for him. His dad didn't seem to want anything to do with him and his mom was gone and he just needed to know an adult cared. “I miss my mom,” he said, shutting his eyes and just thinking about his mother's face. One that he'll never forget.
   A few minutes later, Ana let him go and stood, looking back over to Malcolm, still sitting there with another one of his friends sitting beside him. She only sighed before walking away from the grave and to her car, signalling for the driver to take her home.

   Hours later, the woman woke to her phone ringing, causing her to scramble to find out who would be calling her so early in the morning. Her vision was too blurred with sleep for her to see the caller ID clearly, so she just answered her phone. And, to her surprise, Malcolm’s voice was on the other end of the line, sounding panicked and petrified. The tone caused her to sit up. “Malcolm, honey, calm down,” she told him, trying to use a comforting tone despite being annoyed that she was woken from a deep sleep. “Slow down and take a deep breath.”
    “I killed him, Ana. I killed the man who murdered Rebecca,” the man told her breathlessly, almost sounding like he was running. That really set her on edge. Not only was Malcolm claiming to have committed the same crime that took his wife from him, but he was also running from the law that he didn't give the time to find the killer. “I have to leave for a while. Take care of Tommy for me. Please.” She had never heard this tone in his voice. A mixture of fear and anger and pure desperation that made a knot form in the pit of her stomach.
   His begging was scaring her. She didn't know how this even happened. Ana saw how deeply Malcolm had loved Rebecca, but she never thought he'd go so far as to commit MURDER. He was too good to do something so heinous. Too kind. There was no way Malcolm Merlyn could ever do anything like this. “Where are you going to go? You can't just up and leave your son, especially while you're both grieving.” She was trying to appeal to his paternal instincts, hoping that maybe reminding him of Tommy’s pain would snap him out of whatever asinine plan he was trying to go through with. There was no way this was going to happen. Not now.
   She could hear him sigh, whether it was frustration or defeat, she couldn't tell. But it was clear he wasn't going to change his mind and she hated it. “Ana, promise me you'll take care of him. That's all I ask of you,” he murmured, probably so his voice wouldn't crack. He was trusting her with the boy he had been so lucky to have with the woman he loved. She was the only person in the city he could trust. She'd make sure everything was okay while he was gone. He trusted her.
    It took her a moment to answer. “I promise, Malcolm.” She ran a hand through her hair, staring at the wall in front of her. How was she supposed to take care of Tommy when he needed his father in his life? Of course, she loved the kid to death, but there was no way she could replace his parents. “But you have to promise you won't be gone too long. Tommy needs his father. Stay safe. That's all I ask of you.”
   “Thank you so much. I owe you my life.” The relief in his voice was nearly palpable, even through the static of the cell phone. It was almost enough to make her smile. Almost. If he wasn't running away from a murder he shouldn't have committed in the first goddamn place. He didn't seem like he had time to sit through an entire lecture, so she decided not to keep him from whatever the hell he was doing or where he was going. And before she could even tell him goodbye, the line went dead, leaving her sitting there in the darkness before she got up and started getting ready to head to the Merlyn mansion.
   She wasn't sure what exactly to tell Tommy. How to explain that his dad went off to god knows where to do who knows what. All she knew is that she was going to have to care for the eight year old boy. Of course, nobody told her how long she would be watching over the boy.

   Days turned to weeks. Turned to months. A year. At two years, Tommy and Ana had fallen into a routine that worked for the both of them. He had a parental figure in his life who would keep him safe and make sure he was fed and went to school and made sure he didn't have nightmares. But as grateful as he was for her being around, he still missed his parents and wondered every day where his dad was. And asking Ana didn't help anything, either. He believed her when she said that she wasn't told where his dad was going. Just that she was asked to watch over him for the time being.
   But two years? Ana thought that was unfair to Tommy more than anyone else involved. She had assumed Malcolm might come back after a few months, but that obviously hadn't been the case. And, honestly, she didn't mind having to step up basically take the place of Tommy’s parent, because he still needed one. But she would've liked to have some kind of warning before having to semi-move into the goddamn place when she had a home of her own. Being here for so long, though, she knew exactly where she was going when she left a now ten year old Tommy to do his homework.
    As she walked down the stairs to the first floor, she noticed the front door was wide open when she knew she had closed and locked it long before now. And when she reached the last set of stairs, she stopped on her tracks. Maybe she was just hallucinating or something because something about the man in front of her was off. So she approached him slowly, never taking her eyes off of him. And when he caught her watching him warily, he smiled. But it wasn't the warm, inviting smile she was used to seeing on the man's face. It was like whatever light that was behind his eyes was replaced with something cold and hard, like wherever he went and whatever he did replaced it with steel. And when he spoke, her heart nearly stopped.
    “Hello, Anastasia.”
    Whoever this man was was not the Malcolm Merlyn who left his whole life behind two years before.
    This man was someone else.
    This man was something else.
    And the realization saddened her.