Title: For The Longest Time
Author: sarcasticsra
Summary: Hate begets hate.
Pairing: n/a
Claim: Conrad Ecklie
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Theme: Set one, theme #6: hate.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Yes. They’re all mine. Oh, look—the Easter bunny just hopped by.
Author's Notes: Thanks for the beta, Kelly.

For the longest time, he hated his mother.

His father had been the one who abused him, yelled at him, and made him feel worthless, but he didn’t hate him half as much as he’d hated his mother. With everything his father had done, his mother had done something ten times worse.

She hadn’t stopped him. She hadn’t cared.

Perhaps this was being unfair—maybe his mother really had loved him—but Conrad didn’t care. She’d rarely came to his defense, and not once had she tried to stop his father from beating him—not once. Who did that to someone they cared about—loved, even? Who let that person’s suffering continue?

It hurt, most of all, because at the time, he’d worshiped her. He’d have done anything for her.

And for this, he’d hated her. He’d been short with her, didn’t bother calling or sending her Christmas cards—they were nearly completely estranged. He never went to his father’s funeral, had talked to her maybe twice in ten years. He was intent on never forgiving her.

When he learned of her death, though, it was like the air being let of a balloon—his anger, hatred, resentment just evaporated, dissipated into the air, and all he was left with was a weary, hollow feeling.

An empty feeling.

And for the longest time, he hated himself.

-End