Int. Highway (Afternoon) October 25, 2025, 12:30 P.M.
Liz repeatedly tapped the steering wheel in an almost rhythmic pattern, a habit Blake realized she picked up from himself. The silence in the car was quiet, awkward, a different feeling from the almost humorous atmosphere from the hospital. Blake took a quick glance at his daughter, happier that she looks healthier than she has been in the last few months. Her hair finally grew back over the same period of time, losing it during the cancer treatments she underwent over the past year. Blake turned back out the window, not having anything to say. Glancing out the window, Blake caught a glimpse of Chloe waving at him, sending a wink before disappearing in a white mist, the mist itself quickly fading until nothing was left. Blake let out a huge sigh, his mind heavy after everything the past few days.
"Don't worry, Dad, thankfully your captain was able to smooth things over with the hospital, and you won't be getting a trespassing charge today," Liz reassured Blake, her eyes fully on the road as she drove them to his ex-wife's house.
Blake just rubbed his face grumpily, a huge frown at hearing that small tidbit. "Can we not tell ya motha about any of this?" he asked, his Boston accent slipping out in frustration.
Liz tried her best to muffle her laughter, though the sound still made it to Blake's ears. "Which part do you not want her to know about: the fact you fell to the ground weeping like a child or the fact you then decided to trash the room before Drake forcibly escorted you out of the hospital room?"
Blake sighed. "Yeah, let's just skip any of that keepish."
Liz paused as if she was thinking about it, going as far as to stop tapping the steering wheel. "I'm not able to keep that promise, Father. What kind of child would I be if I couldn't be honest with Mother?" she replied with a fake British accent.
"Whatever," Blake mumbled, his tone low.
Blake watched Liz turn down the radio, eyes on the road as she nervously tapped her hands slowly on the steering wheel. "It'll be fun spending the day with Mom and me. When was the last time we all got to spend quality time as a family?" She asked, her tone steady, with a small twitch of excitement.
"We both know your mother doesn't really care to see me," Blake replied, almost pitifully.
Liz admittedly shook her head. "No, she always is asking about you, or wants to know how you're doing. You just never come by to see her, or me for that matter."
A surge of hope went through Blake, but he ultimately decided not to reply. Liz, feeling the conversation was dying, let out a sigh before turning up the music again. Blake turned his head, to look back out the window. There were no more signs of Chloe lingering around him again, though the thought of her maybe being alive is unsettling. Some nights when Blake closed his eyes, he could picture seeing her dead body, mangled, strung up similar to how the bodies in this case had turned up.
Twenty-three years ago, Blake was called to a crime. Similar to the crimes going on today, he saw Chloe's body strung upside down with her blood used to write a message: "One day my child will release me." Captain Drake, who at the time was a lieutenant, pulled him aside, and that's when he was told the truth of the world. That the Devil and God do exist, each with their own respective armies. That the creatures that exist only in the bowels of myths exist in the real world. That it's all kept hushed up because the more people know that they exist, the greater power they could possess. Being from a catholic family, albeit he himself doesn't practice, it was a shock to hear that God truly existed.
Blake also found his partner's body torn apart inside of the house. It was as if a wild animal came and tore him limb from limb. Every time he closed his eyes that scene would haunt his mind; even things he was forced to do to help the city didn't affect him as much. Even worse, having to hold back the truth from everyone, including his ex-wife. Not being able to say why to his wife, the real reason her sister died, eats him alive. Just like life, the world continues to turn, even if the pain in your heart never truly heals.
Int. Blake's Ex-Wife's House October 25, 2025, 1:30 P.M.
Blake dramatically jumped out of the car, pretending to cry as he looked solemnly to the ground. "I promise to never forsake the ground again," he promised, putting his hands together as if he was praying.
"Seriously, Dad," Blake heard Liz mumble as she walked past the stupid antics he was doing. "Acting like he didn't teach me to drive himself, stupid old man."
Blake pretended to not hear her grumbling as he held the prayer pose for a couple more seconds. He was acting like this because he was nervous, his heart pounding at being able to see her once again. It's been a year since they met in person, right around the time Liz started doing chemotherapy. Luckily she wasn't home yet; not seeing her 2016 Ford in the driveway, Blake still felt out of place being back here after so long.
"Come on, let's get inside, I'm starting to feel cold," Liz whined, breaking Blake out of his racing thoughts. He felt his left arm get dragged; Blake, not fighting against her grip, walked quickly to the front door. Blake took a deep breath, doing his best to calm his nerves. "You got this, Blakie, just a normal day," he whispered to himself.
Blake saw Liz look back oddly at him, but ultimately chose not to say anything. He watched as Liz let go of his arm, pulling out the keys from her pocket, quickly finding the right key, letting the door swing fully open as she hurriedly hid inside. "Come on, it's been forever since you've been here, you got to see my laptop that Mom bought me," She spoke before rushing out of the room, down the hallway to the right side of the room.
Blake stepped into the house, clean as always since Ava has always been somewhat of a neat freak. The outside of the house was white with a black roof, a one-floor ranch house with three rooms. The hallway Liz went down was leading to their bedrooms. Staring directly ahead, Blake saw the fireplace with a TV above. Below the mantle were pictures. Blake takes his boots off, setting them next to Liz's (he knew Ava always hated people walking around in regular shoes). He quickly made his way towards the pictures, shocked that one of the pictures she still had was them smiling at the dance in their wedding. Another picture was them smiling over Liz's crib. Blake remembered that day greatly since he fought for hours trying to put the crib together. He was very thankful at the time Liz was such a quiet baby and Ava was mostly laughing at the fact he couldn't put the bed together.
Putting down that picture, he went to look at the next picture when the door opened up. Blake quickly looked at Ava, his heart dropped at how beautiful she still looked, her arms were filled with groceries as she took her shoes off at the door. "Liz, did you go see your fa—" Ava shouted out before trailing off, her eyes landing on Blake as he just stood there awkwardly.
The room went quiet as Ava and Blake both stared at each other, a strange atmosphere in the air. Blake nervously kept clenching and unclenching his hands before awkwardly giving Ava a small wave. "Hi," he said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.
"Hi," she replied back, tucking a piece of hair behind her left ear.
Liz was looking down at her laptop as she walked into the room. "Dad, sorry it took so long, I was looking for this cool..." she trailed off as she saw her parents just staring at each other. "Um, what are you guys doing?"
Liz's question knocked them both out of the impromptu staring contest, as Ava headed into the kitchen to put the groceries up. Blake awkwardly cleared his throat as he walked towards Liz to get a look at her new laptop. "What did you want me to look at on this thing, Lizzy?"
Liz looked between her father, her mouth opening and closing a couple times before finally settling on a tight frown. "Yeah, I just wanted to show you some art designs I've been working on."
"That's nice, Lizzie," Blake replied as he stared down at the screen, his mind not really paying attention to what his daughter was talking about. His mind going back to the case, and how everything is tying back to the choices he made in the past. He knew he'd have to come clean to Gabriel as well, bringing him fully into the fold, explaining the true nature of the world.