Open Heart AU

Tristful Truths

Ethan had made his decision. He was going to hear Louise out. Not for her, not for Marcus, but for himself. He wanted to know the truth.

No, he needed to know the truth.

They sit around Louise's hospital bed, the awkward tension surrounding them.

"I owe you both the truth" Louise says, breaking the silence.

The two brothers stay silent, waiting for her to continue.

"The truth is" Louise turns her head to look at Ethan, knowing the truth is more for Ethan that it is for Marcus. "The reason I left you and your father was because I found out I was pregnant with Marcus".

Anger begins to rise within Ethan. She had left him because of Marcus. She left her eleven year old son behind to raise another.

Somehow, Marcus feels guilty. His mom had left his brother for him. He knows it's not his fault, but he cannot help but feel the weight of guilt.

"I had to leave. I couldn't allow your father to raise another man's child. I couldn't hurt him like that". Louise said casually, as though she had not affected people's lives with what she had done.

But she had.

The anger within Ethan kept growing, rising like a glass being overfilled. Not only had she betrayed him by leaving when he was a child but she also betrayed his father. And his father stilled loved, even after everything she had done. Ethan wonders if his father knows the whole story. If he even knows about Marcus.

Ethan had tried to bite his tongue, but this was the final straw.

"So you decided to walk out on my father, your husband? That was suppose to be less painful for him? You really expect me to believe that what you did was an act of mercy?" Ethan scoffed at the very thought. "He never stopped looking for you, that night he didn't come home. He drove like a madman throughout the city looking for you. And even after that, over twenty years later he still loves you and Lord know why! But you just... No, I'm not doing this right now. I've listened to what you have to say and I'm done now. I was going to pay for you to go to a rehabilitation facility so you could get clean, but I suppose you have him for that".

He meant every drop of venom that had dripped from his words. She had hurt him. She had betrayed nim. She had betrayed his father. She deserved nothing from him.

Without looking back at them, he gets up and leaves.

Ethan's words hurt Marcus. He could not deny that. But Marcus is determined to not let him walk away. Determined to not let his newfound brother walk away from him.

Marcus got up and followed Ethan out the door, chasing after him.