"Arabian Nights" | Moon Knight Family Story

03

"Marc?" Tears began to form in Charlotte's eyes.

"...hey, baby," Marc's lips curved into a small smile.

Marc began to lean in to either hug or kiss her, but Charlotte had stopped in with a slap to the face.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Charlotte angrily demanded an answer. Marc was taken a back by the slap, only looking at her with a smile.

"God, I've missed you," he said.

"Oh, well, if you missed me so much, where were your calls?" Charlotte asked through her angry tears. "Where was you telling me that you were never coming home? Or that you ran off to London pretending to be someone else with a weird accent -"

"Ok, I'm sorry, but that's very offensive," Steven fronted. "I can't help that I talk like this. To me, you're the one with the weird accent, missy." Charlotte stared at him bewildered.

"Why do you keep doing this?" Charlotte grew more annoyed.

"Baby, I'm not doing anything," Marc fronted once again, holding his hands up in defense. He sighed, trying to take Charlotte's hand in his, but she pulled away before he could. "Steven is just one of the many things I've hid from you; before and after I left."

"What do you mean hid from me?" Charlotte questioned. "Who's Steven?"

"Steven's been apart of me ever since I was a kid; after a traumatic event in my past," Marc informed. "He's always been there to protect me."

"So..." Charlotte was still a little confused. "You have another person living inside of you?"

"Well, if you put it that way, it just sounds wrong," Steven returned. "We'd prefer to say that we share one body... which was originally just Marc's."

"And... you're Steven?" Charlotte asked. "Not actually Marc?"

"That's correct," Steven stated. "As I've said before, I'm Steven Grant." After reintroducing himself, Steven took the backseat to let Marc take control.

"Does this make a little bit more sense?" Marc asked with an awkward smile.

"A little, I guess," Charlotte's eyebrows were still scrunched together. "So, you have dissociative identity disorder, or something like that?" Marc shrugged, knowing it's probably true, but never getting the proper diagnosis. "But... that still doesn't explain why you left me." Marc frowned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Marc stated, before becoming more serious. "But first, I have one question for you; if you were so upset about me leaving, then how come you had someone else's kid?" Marc pointed out to Coltin who was still enjoying the Egyptian documentary Steven had put on for him.

"You really think I would do something like that?" Charlotte looked at Marc with a saddened expression. "You were my everything, Marc! I waited for what felt like forever for you to come home... so I could give you something special." Charlotte got up from Marc's bee before making her way over to her purse. She brought it back over to the bed and sat back down. She pulled out a small wrapped present that had visibly aged, but she refused to touch it since she wrapped. "I had made this for you, a welcome home present."

Marc was starting to feel terrible for never telling Charlotte about his new life, but wrapped present poked at his curiosity. He gently unwrapped the old paper, opening the box that was inside, his eyes widened as he saw the contents inside of it.

"Holy shit," Steven fronted as he pulled out the old positive pregnancy test as well as the small baby booties. "You were pregnant before Marc left, weren't you?" Steven looked up at Charlotte, a look of empathy spread across his face. Charlotte tried her hardest to choke back her tears. "Oh... oh no. That's why you followed me back to our flat? Why you were so hesitant to let me talk to Coltin at the gift shop?" Charlotte slowly nodded. She then dug through her bag as she pulled out a small envelope, inside contained Coltin's birth certificate. Steven pulled it out; reading it.