The Center (Houdini and Nurse_K)

"What!?" Carlos shouted, letting her wrist go as he pushed it away, forcing her to stumble a little bit. "So he comin' in here telling you how you should live? What right he got?" Carlos demanded. He had to admit that Elsa had balls, or whatever it should be called, to tell that truth to his face. His first instinct was to defend himself. "You.. you do what you want while you stayin' here. I don't tell you what to do all day while I'm gone." But suddenly, all his anger was directed towards Brendan. He was the one who was manipulating Elsa here, it seemed. She was just being honest with him. "He had his chance, didn't he? So now he lost you, he want to come and fuck with me..." Carlos then stopped and punctuated his statement by letting out an angry yell. "You stay here, I gotta go talk with him," Carlos finally said, putting on his shoes by the door.
 
"No!" Elsa screamed when he let her go and made his way towards the door. She ran after him and grabbed on to his arm, pulling on him until he turned towards her and she was in front of him. She put her hands on his chest and looked up at him, tears in her eyes. If Carlos went to go talk to Brendan, Brendan wasn't going to make it out of that talk in one piece. Elsa had to try to talk Carlos out of it. She didn't think she'd be able to do it, but she had to try. "Carlos, please. Please. I'm begging you, don't go. I don't want you to fight with him."
 
It was obvious to Carlos that Elsa was determined about this. She wasn't going to let him leave unless he hit her again, too, which he didn't want to do. "Come on," he tried to plead with her, trying to push her away from him. "I just need to go talk with him. I won't hurt him, I promise," he said, trying another angle with her. He tried not to look directly at her, at her pleading tearful eyes. She felt something for Brendan, he knew it, and everything inside him told him that he had to do something about it. "Let me go, okay?"
 
"No, no." she persisted, grabbing hold of both his hands so that he couldn't just slip passed her. "If you want to talk to him, we should do it in a public place. And I should be there. That way you both will have to keep your cool. Okay? Carlos, please?" she went up on her tiptoes and ran her hands up his chest and cupped his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. Elsa didn't love Carlos. Not at all. But she was willing to make him think she might if it would save Brendan.
 
Carlos didn't like what Elsa was suggesting. That wasn't the way he liked to talk to people. "This don't make sense," he protested angrily. "He gets to sneak around my house, tryin' to get with my girl, and I can't even go talk to him?" Carlos fumed. Her look was tender, and it almost got to him. But he wasn't going to be intimidated or forced to act a certain way with anyone. Elsa was forcing his hand. Grabbing both her shoulders, he walked her back towards the couch. "You gonna wait here 'til I do what I gotta do," Carlos said very firmly, finally shoving her down to a seated position the couch, holding her there for a moment and looking her in the eye. "This your last warning." Once he let go of her, he turned around and headed for the door, wondering where he might find Brendan.
 
She jumped when he grabbed both of her shoulders. She thought he was going to do something bad to her, but thankful all her did was walk her backwards to the couch. He did shove her down onto it, but he could've shoved her into a wall or into a table. She held his gaze as long as he held hers, hoping that she'd be able to change his mind with the look she had there. But it seemed like she couldn't. When he finally let go of her and turned around she started to cry. At first it was silent, the tears just rolling down her face. But then she sniffled and she had to wipe at her eyes. She was convinced that Carlos was going to hurt Brendan.
 
Carlos called up Luis once he was out in his car and asked him where Brendan lived. He'd ordered Luis to find that out while he was in the Center, among other important things. Driving to Brendan's place armed with this knowledge, he banged on the door, but no one answered. And it appeared no one was home. It was only noon on a Friday, after all. Walking outside the building, he called Luis again, and asked him to bring Alex with him and come by Brendan's building, to wait for him to come home. That was his backup plan, but Carlos was far too angry to wait until the end of the day. Climbing back into the car, he slammed his palms hard on the steering wheel, letting out a loud, incomprehensible scream. He had to find Brendan now, he thought to himself. But he couldn't think of anything, as hard as he tried. So he went back to his favorite hangout, waiting for the call from Luis when Brendan was to show up.

Brendan wondered that day why Elsa never called him back; in fact, he thought about it the rest of the day. But he'd left a message for her after he missed the call, so he didn't really think there was much else he could do, although he was a little worried about her. After work, he headed home, having decided that he'd call Elsa again the next day if he hadn't heard from her, but not before then. As he turned his key in the door, he was suddenly tackled from behind. After he fell inside the doorway to his apartment, he looked up and saw that the man on top of him was one of the same thugs who'd held him hostage on the street with Elsa once. This was not good. He knew immediately that it had something to do with the visit with Elsa the previous day. How had Carlos found out? Elsa couldn't have told him, could she have? The thought crossed his mind, but he didn't think it could be true. "Don't try anything," Luis sneered at him, pulling a gun out of his waistline as he kicked the door shut. The next fifteen minutes passed by in slow motion for Brendan. He didn't try to foolishly fight back against a man with a gun, and Luis had been told not to do anything until Carlos got there. (Alex had called Carlos from outside to let him know what was going down.)

Sitting on the kitchen floor, Brendan gasped when the man himself strolled in. Luis immediately retreated to the background, and Carlos took center stage, kicking Brendan on the side of his stomach before he even said a word. "Who the fuck you think you are, sneaking around with my woman. In my house?" he demanded, raising his voice at the end. "Look," Brendan pleaded. "I wasn't stepping on your auth.." he started before being interrputed by another kick, letting out a loud, pained grunt. Carlos lifted Brendan up off the ground and popped Brendan with a hard punch on the eye. The room seemed to spin for Brendan, turning black and then to color again. A few more to the stomach, and Carlos dropped him back to the ground. Brendan at least knew better than to fight back. "This'll be nothin' if I ever catch you near my house, my baby, or my woman again," he sneered, before leaving with his goon. Twenty minutes later, he was back at home, walking through the front door in a much better mood now that he felt justice had been meted out.
 
Elsa almost called Brendan a hundred times. But she didn't. She didn't want Brendan to fight with Carlos and she thought if she called him he might. She also didn't want to get caught calling Brendan when Carlos was with him and she had no idea how to know when they were together or not. She brought the baby downstairs and fed him and then took a tiny nap with him on the chair. She put him in his crib and realized she was starving. She started to cook some food, Spanish obviously. Carlos wouldn't really let her make anything else.

When she heard the door open she spun around in the kitchen. She had just been in the middle of putting some arroz con salchichas on a plate. She'd made extra for Carlos, knowing he would probably want to be fed when he came home. Her right cheek was bruised from his slap earlier, and it looked nastier than it was. When Elsa saw the smug look on Carlos' face, she knew he'd hurt Brendan.

"I..." she started, swallowing uneasily, "I made you dinner."
 
Carlos smiled a sort of sick smile when Elsa turned towards him. He crept up to her, patting her softly on her bruised cheek. "That was nice of you," he commended her. "I'm damn hungry by now, and it smells nice and good." He felt like things were right now, and didn't harbor any negative feelings towards Elsa now. He'd completely convinced himself that Brendan was the culprit with what happened. In fact, he felt a little bad for hitting Elsa earlier now. He reached up and touched the cheek softly again, tracning his fingers down it. "How you feelin' sugar?" he asked gently.
 
Carlos' sick smile sealed the deal for Elsa. He'd hit Brendan. More than that. He'd hurt him. A lot. Carlos never smiled like that unless he'd done some kind of violence. She'd seen that same smile after he'd raped her all those months ago. After he'd kicked her and slapped her. It made her incredibly fearful of him. Carlos was dangerous. Elsa'd always known that, but now she knew it even more. She winced when he patted her bruise. She wasn't sure if he did that out of tenderness or to remind her that he'd hit her. She turned her face away and picked up the plates, walking them to the table. She sat down and began to poke at her food with her fork, suddenly not wanting it anymore. "I'm fine," she said absently.
 
Carlos sat down and dug into the rice and meat. It wasn't bad, he thought; Elsa was beginning to become a decent Spanish cook. She could definitely fit in here in time, despite what she'd said. She seemed down; and no doubt she knew that he hadn't been gentle with Brendan. But that was no concern to him, Brendan deserved everything he got. "I suppose you wondering what me and Brendan talked about," he commented to Elsa as he looked over the table at her poking her food around. "It went nice and good," he informed her with a grin. "He told me he wasn't really interested in you, mainly. So I don't think you gotta worry about him coming 'round no more... So what you think about checking out the neighborhood with me tomorrow?" he asked, changing the subject quickly. He assumed she's be staying with him now that Brendan seemed out of the picture, so why not get to know the area?
 
She knew Carlos was lying through his teeth. Elsa and Brendan were in love. Their love hadn't faded since she'd been with Carlos, it'd just been pushed to a back burner. But now that she'd talked to him and seen him she couldn't stop thinking about him. Carlos was lying to her to try to get her focused back on him. She ate a couple mouthfuls of the rice she'd made, satisfied with the way it tasted but no longer interested in eating it. She shook her head and kept her head down, not wanting to look at his smug face at the moment. "No, I don't want to."
 
Carlos grimaced when she said she didn't want to explore her new neighborhood with him. To him, that meant that she still wasn't set on living with him. The way he saw it, he'd taken care of her by teaching her a mild lesson, and then he took care of Brendan a little more forcefully. That should have been enough to seal the deal of Elsa staying with him, so why didn't it? "I know you a little upset about what happened," he told her, not quite as gently as he'd just been talking with her. "But you gonna get over it. You gonna be happy here, mama, okay?" he insisted, cleaning off his plate completely. "That was good. You gettin' to be a good cook." He got up and moved behind her, giving her a little rub on the shoulder. "Why don't you and me stay in tonight? We can watch a movie together, okay?"
 
The thing she hated about Carlos was the finality with which he spoke. She "would" get over it. She "would" change her mind. She "would" live with him. He never gave her a choice, despite all the times he seemed to convince himself that he did. He said that he didn't control what she did during the day but she knew that if she didn't something even a little bit on edge he would get angry and hit her. That was control. That was why she never did anything, because she never wanted to make him angry enough to hit her. She squirmed when he came behind her and started to rub her shoulders. She wasn't happy here, and she knew that wasn't going to change. She pulled her shoulder away from him and stood up. She picked up his empty plate and her mostly full one, taking them to the counter. She scraped the rest of her food into a bowl and put it in the fridge and then started to wash the dishes. "I don't want to. I'm tired." she mumbled.
 
Carlos shrugged his shoulders when she refused. Normally, he would have been angry with her, but he still had that little bit of remorse that came back every time he saw the nasty bruise on her face. "Okay, sugar, you had a tough day," he conceded. He sauntered into the living room, plopping down on the couch and flipping on a spanish movie channel. "If you change your mind, you come in, we can watch something English. But if you go to sleep, I'ma probably go out," he informed her, just in case she wondered where he was when she didn't see him in bed late at night. He wasn't going to bother himself with worry over Elsa. He figured she'd be fine. Brendan wasn't going to be seen again, and she didn't have any other incentive to leave him as far as he knew.
 
Elsa tried hard to be crabby and resistant. But when he didn't even fight her on watching the movie she felt a little bad. If he'd gotten angry and pushed her around she would've felt justified in repeatedly refusing him. But he did. He just said okay, she'd had a hard day. She sighed and washed the dishes slowly to prolong the time it took until she gave in. As soon as he was sweet with her she knew she was going to give in. She hated that he could do that too. Brendan could do the same thing. Maybe that was just an all around weakness she had. She also didn't want him to go out and get drunk with Erica. Then he'd screw her and that would make her feel even worse. So once she'd finished the dishes she padded over to the couch and sat down next to him. She swung her legs up onto the couch and laid down, resting her head on his arm silently.
 
Carlos nodded at Elsa as she came in, giving her a little rub on her scalp when she laid on him. He lifted up the remote and flipped around until he found an English movie, although it didn't seem like Elsa was really watching. It seemed to him like everything had falled into place now. It didn't even take as long for Elsa to come around as he thought it would, the way she was acting initially. He just laid there in peace with her, rubbing her head and neck gently, until she was lulled to sleep right on the couch. Carlos wasn't far behind, dozing off shortly thereafter, and waking only when Gui began shrieking at the top of his lungs sometime past midnight. He prodded Elsa with his arm and got up, walking slowly up to bed once he saw Elsa taking care of the problem. He laid in bed, waiting for Elsa to join him there for the rest of the night's sleep once she took care of their son.
 
Elsa fell asleep there in Carlos' arms fairly quickly. It soothed her the way he was rubbing her scalp and neck. She was awoken by Gui's shrieks and Carlos' prodding at her. She sighed, thinking about how Carlos had never once taken care of Gui when he was upset about it. The fact was, though, Gui probably wouldn't stop being upset until Elsa was there. She went over to Gui to see what the matter was. He was hungry and needed a change. She took care of those things and then padded upstairs to their bedroom. She laid Gui in the crib and then shimmied out of her pants and bra. She climbed into the bed and laid down near Carlos, but not quite against him.
 
Brendan laid there on the floor groaning for quite some time after Carlos had left him. He knew better than to go to the police. Carlos would hurt Elsa in some way if he couldn't get back at Brendan himself. He really didn't want to go to the hospital, either. He didn't think anything was broken, so he just laid there, before eventually crawling to his feet and getting some ice on his face. Sprawling out on the couch, he just sat and thought for the rest of the night. This was only going to make him more determined to help Elsa, he thought. He couldn't bear the thought of her living with that thug. If he got himself hurt again, or worse, it would just have to be accepted as a worthwhile risk.

Carlos woke gradually, reaching out and placing a hand softly on Elsa's shoulder. "Hey, morning, sugar," he grunted once he saw her stirring a little. "How you feelin' today?" he asked, interested not only in the state of her ugly bruise, but her feelings on staying together. "You wanna do somethin' today?"
 
Elsa rolled over in the bed and opened her eyes. She stretched and yawned, feeling sort of rested. Sort of. And it was just because Gui had woken her up during the night, it was because all night she'd been thinking about Carlos and Brendan and trying to choose. That was more difficult than she ever thought it would be. "I'm alright," she murmured softly as she turned to look at him. He looked like he regretted hitting her. But he didn't look like he regretted doing whatever he did to Brendan. "Yeah, sure." she said as she thought for a moment, "I really need new clothes. All the stuff I have is from when I was pregnant,"
 
Carlos smiled at Elsa as she turned and looked at him, reaching up and stroking her brown hair. "Okay, whatever you want," he agreed. "You the princess today," he promised, doing his best to erase memories of the rocky day yesterday. "We go get you the nicest clothes they got today. Everybody 'round here gonna be jealous of you," he predicted. It would be nice to show her that he could be decent to her, he thought. They could probably even get some clothes for Gui, he didn't have much now, just a couple outfits Carlos bought and some hand-me-downs from his sister's boys.
 
She laughed, surprised at his generosity. He was probably just trying to butter her up so that she wouldn't question him about staying here anymore, but she might be able to let him think he was doing just that if it meant new clothes. "Just promise you won't make me look like a ghetto princess," she grinned and laughed again, leaning over and kissing his lips softly. When he was good, he was good. It was just sad that when he was bad, he was really bad.
 
Carlos laughed at her remark, pulling her shoulder in and kissing her in return. "Okay, mama," he agreed. "You can look like one of them movie stars, whatever you want. You the princess today." He actually didn't mind the "ghetto princess" look, but he knew that although Elsa had been raised in a rough area, she wasn't really ghetto inside. He didn't mind too much, though. She could be tough and act the part when she wanted to, and she was sexy no matter how you looked at it. Besides, today he was giving Elsa her way, sort of his offer of appeasement from the way he came down on her yesterday.

After showering and dressing, they had a nice day of shopping together. They went to a mall on the better side of town so she'd have more of a selection, and picked up some outfits for Gui as well. Brendan, for his part, thought of calling Elsa so many times, but didn't want to risk Carlos being there and getting him angry at Elsa. Halfway through the day, he even drove by Carlos' house, wearing dark glasses (both for discretion and to hide his black eye) and a hat, but the whole place looked shut up, so he just kept driving and went home. He wasn't giving up on her, though.
 
Elsa had a good day with Carlos. She got some new jeans (two pairs, one was regular and one was ungodly tight, she hadn't wanted the second pair but Carlos asked 'just for him'), several tops, a skirt (which was a little on the short side for Elsa's tastes), a dress, and new sneakers. She got some panties too, thankfully she was able to sneak away with only a couple ridiculously sexy ones and the rest were just regular. She was pleased with what they got for Gui too. Gui deserved to look nice even if all he cared about was eating and sleeping and pooping.

By the time they were finished at the mall Elsa was gladly holding hands with Carlos. When she held hands with him it didn't feel anything like when she held hands with Brendan, but it was still nice. Once they got back home she turned in her seat and looked at him, "Thanks, Carlos. I had a good day."
 
Carlos hadn't had a bad day himself. An afternoon at the mall wasn't exactly his idea of a fun time, but he was coming to terms with being a father, and this was part of the deal. Besides, he'd even convinced Elsa to get some amazingly sexy clothes and panties. Getting up from his seat, he opened up a bottle of red wine, and poured them each a glass. "Here you go, mama," he said with a grin as he offered one to her, taking his seat again. "For a nice end to a nice day, baby."

As he squeezed in next to her on the big chair, he took a little sip of his wine, and then set it down on the table. Turning to her and pushing his nose up against her neck sideways, he reached around Elsa and rubbed his hand up and down on her back. What he really wanted was to see Elsa in some of her new underwear tonight. "I had a good time with you and Gui too."
 
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