All by Chance {Brollins}

/ Chapter 20 \

Surprisingly after only a few minutes, Colby was done with his interview. He strolled downstairs, and Rebecca was called up shortly thereafter.

His parents noticed his uneasy state as he sat across from them. Colby's foot tapped restlessly, and his eyes wouldn't move away from his untouched coffee mug.

"Alright, what's wrong, boy?" Ron questioned him after getting a nudge from Holly. "Other than the obvious."

"What?" He looked up confused, consciously dialling back the amount of leg bouncing his body had been involuntarily doing. "Nothing."

"You've been a terrible liar from the moment you first opened your mouth." Ron stated, "Now what's got you so upset?"

"Nothing, dad." He ran a hand over his face, trying not to get agitated.

Holly looked over at Ron before scanning her son. "Colby-"

"He asked her about her baby, dammit!" He took a deep breath and stood up, pacing around. "And I know it's gonna happen again. Then she's gonna act all fine and shut down and disappear later."

He placed his hands on his sides, "And when it is in fact brought up again, I don't know what extent she's going to go to, to get away."

Holly frowned, "Honey-"

"Mr. and Mrs. Lopez, may I speak with you both now?" The interviewer came down to get them, which made Colby even more nervous.

He watched his parents walk up and didn't see Rebecca come down. Colby quickly and quietly snuck upstairs, looking for her, knowing she couldn't be far.

She wasn't in the washroom, so he moved through the other rooms, finally stumbling upon the redhead in his room. She was washing her hands in the master bathroom attached to his room.

"Hey, Becks." He spoke slightly hesitantly, "How'd it go?"

"Good." She nodded with a smile as she dried her hands.

He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "How you feeling?"

"Good." She looked at him through the mirror and nodded, placing a hand on his arm.

He didn't want to pry, but if she didn't speak about her issues, he knew that they had a habit of consuming her. "You sure?"

"Yup." Rebecca replied, not a crack of doubt in her words. "Just came in here because I didn't wanna hog up the guest bathroom."

"Okay..." He nodded, rubbing her arms gently. "Okay."

They went downstairs and kept the conversations light. When Colby's parents reemerged, the interviewer was close behind.

"There's not a doubt in my mind that the two of you are responsible in the presence of Danielle." He began, "But for the sake of an honest and professionally done interview, I'll need to do one final assessment with all four of you."

They all sat down at the kitchen table since no privacy was needed, and the police were waiting outside. "So just a brief overview. The three of you have known Rebecca since she was a child?"

"Yes." Colby responded as they all nodded in agreement.

The interviewer looked up from his notebook. "And Danielle was born on May thirty first, but she was left on your doorstep on September twelfth correct?"

Colby smiled, looking over at his baby, "That's correct."

"And you have no idea about Danielle's history?" He read over his previous notes and looked back at Colby.

"No." Colby shook his head, "All I was told was that she had no family on record, and she was born prematurely."

"Okay." Mr. Ewen nodded, "And the relationship between you and Rebecca... is it platonic?"

Rebecca swallowed hard and looked directly at the table in front of her stiffly. Meanwhile, Colby could practically feel his parent's eyes burning into him.

"No..." Rebecca answered before she had a chance to spin a web of lies.

"No?" Mr. Ewen questioned, making sure he didn't mishear anything.

"No." Colby said more confidently, seeing his parent's wide eyes from his peripheral vision. "We're dating."

"Okay." He scribbled down a few things, quickly dismissing it. "Colby, are you the only one with guardianship over Danielle?"

"Right now, yes." He responded, trying not to make eye contact with either of his parents.

For the rest of the interview, Rebecca was pretty much zoned out. Within the past few hours she'd been through an emotional roller coaster, and she was still feeling the buzz afterwards. It was that strange stage where one was adrenaline-filled, and their serotonin was boosted, yet there's also a slight part of them that's glad it's over.

Ultimately she was shocked but ecstatic about Colby's confession, even if it was mostly for simplicity, it still felt right to hear those words leave his lips. But, dealing with a whole investigation because of Sarah, her planted fake interviewer boyfriend and having to re-open unhealed wounds were far from exciting.

The interview ended, and everyone was more than drained. Even Danielle was snoozing contently, curled up in a little ball against Rebecca. She gently ran her thumb across Danielle's cheek as she gripped onto Rebecca's shirt in her sleep.

"Rebecca, why didn't you tell me you two were dating?!" Holly scolded her jokingly after walking the interviewer out.

"To be fair, the officiality of it is all new." Colby interjected, watching Rebecca just smile.

Ron chuckled, "So you've been seeing each other for a while?"

"Yes." Rebecca answered freely, glad she didn't exactly have to be secretive around them anymore.

After some more talking, Holly and Ron decided to get going because it was evident everyone was tired. They stood up and gave each other some hugs, mindful of Danielle and giving some extra congratulations to the couple.

When Rebecca sat back down on the couch, watching Danielle carefully, Colby started to walk his parents out. Ron stopped just shy of the doorway and smiled at his son.

"What?" Colby laughed while Holly quietly shuffled over to her husband.

Ron patted his boy on the shoulder, smiling brightly and placing his other hand on Holly's back. "We told you so."