Title: And I Claw for Solid Ground
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Collapsing in tears, Landry catches her. She thinks she let herself fall because she trusted him to do just that.
Disclaimer: I do not own FNL. At all. I wish but alas...
Author's Note: This is my very first Friday Night Lights fic, set during quite possibly my favorite episode, 'Mud Bowl'. So, even though I’m horribly far behind the rest of you, so you probably already know, spoilers for that episode.



Stay strong. Stay hard. Pick up. Move on.

Her papers, books, scatter on the ground. She can’t seem to keep a hold on them for more than a few seconds. Her hands are shaking, but she ignores them, tries to get a grip, to hold on. The rain lashes at her, and soaks through all of her hard work, making it useless. But still she clutches at it, because she needs to clutch at something. She needs to hold on to something.

She barely registers the squealing of tires at all, but the next thing she knows, Landry is standing in front of her, stumbling all over himself trying to apologize for being late. It takes a second of looking at him, of registering his kind apologies and his guilty face, before her tenuous hold over herself crumbles around her feet.

Collapsing in tears, Landry catches her. She thinks she let herself fall because she trusted him to do just that.

“He tried to rape me,” she cries, and suddenly, it’s true. It really happened. She said it. He asks ‘who’ just once, looks around as if he’s lurking in the shadows watching them. She can barely hear the rain over the sound of her own sobs.

There are no more questions after that. He just holds her in his arms, and she clutches at him, holds onto him, tight. He’s steady, solid, and she doesn’t feel like she’s slipping away anymore. She isn’t. Because he’s holding her up, holding her still, waiting for her to let him guide her back to solid ground.

She clings to him, just as tight, holds on with all the remaining strength in her body. Because he is her solid ground, and she needs him now more than she has ever needed anyone before.