Page 224 of Assassin

He knew it would.

“Let it out,” he said to him.

And miracle of miracles, he did.

“I hate her so much.”

This was a start.

“Then, tell her goodbye. You can do it, Gamble. Say the words out loud. Tell Storm to fuck off, and that you hate her for being a coward and not staying to fight. She was a coward and left you alone to carry this horrible, unimaginable burden.”

He cried.

He sobbed.

He wept.

But he didn’t say the words.

“Tell her she destroyed you, but you’re going to rebuild and be a new man. That you’re going to survive. That’s the ultimate ‘fuck off’. Survival.”

Poe held him against his body, and Gamble just wept. He was holding onto his shirt with tightly clenched fists.

With gentle fingers, Poe brushed his hair from his face, and kept talking to him.

He was honest.

“She didn’t deserve you, and your child deserved a better mother. Put the anger where it needs to be. Not on you, and not on me. On her.”

That dam broke.

Gamble raged.

“Fuck you, Storm,” he whispered.

Then, he got louder.

“Fuck you!” he screamed over and over again until he was hoarse.

He raged, his body shaking. The whole time, Poe held him, and didn’t let go.

“Tell her goodbye. Trust me, Gamble. I know how to fix you, but I can’t if you don’t trust me. Tell her goodbye. Tell her it’s done. You’re done.”

Those words hit him hard.

“I can’t yet,” he whispered. “I’m not strong enough to let go. It’s all I have. I’m all alone.”

Poe’s heart broke for him.

“That’s okay. You will be able to at some point. I promise. Eventually, you’ll be able to say the words.”

They stayed there.

Poe didn’t know how long they were there, but it was when Gamble’s breathing slowed that Poe looked down at him against his chest.

He was falling asleep.

While he didn’t mind playing pillow for the man, and that was a whole other issue, he knew that the floor was not comfortable when you were all bones.

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