Every New Beginning... (Chris Evans AU)

.154.

Flashback

  Chris phone buzzed from the coffee table while he was working on building Opal's blanket fort in the living room. Scooping up the phone he hears the shower turn on down the hall. "Hey, Ma. Everything alright?"

  "I just wanted to check on Opal. After that confrontation with her father and all, I was just more concerned than I was before," Lisa informs her son. "She never went into grand detail with me, but I never could've imagined it was that bad."

  "I meant what I said. She's better off because he left her. I'm just worried about him trying to show up again now that he knows she's here." Chris puts the call on speaker so he can return to building their makeshift getaway for the evening. "I don't know if Pops had a will or if Phillip will try and take things for Opal." He tucks a blanket between the couch cushions, resting one end on the coffee table.

  Lisa exhales a short sigh. "Well, we need to just pray he doesn't. Has she been able to go through his stuff yet? I can't imagine how difficult that will be for her."

  "She couldn't even go in the house to get his clothes for the burial. I don't know how she's going to manage it. It could be weeks or months before she tackles it."

  He grabs the phone, trotting down the hall to gather the blankets and pillows from Opal's bed. "You're quiet, Ma. What wheels are turning?"

  "I was thinking maybe there's some way we could help with it? Tonight, I mean?" she suggests.

  "I'm not about to take her over there tonight, not after today."

  "No, sweetie. I mean your dad, Scott and I. We could go and maybe at least do some of it?" she mentions hesitantly.

  Chris takes a deep breath, sucking against his teeth. "I think you could maybe do the kitchen. Dishes and that kind of thing. Don't touch anything else."

  "We can definitely do that."

  He hears the shower cut off. "I mean it, Ma. Don't go through anything personal. Dishes, silverware, that's it."

  "You have my word, Chris," she promises. 

  "There's a key hidden in the statue of the gnome. It's the one that's dressed in a Jaguar jersey."

End Flashback

Chris POV

  "So, see it wasn't actually me," I admit to all three women as they stare back at me in disbelief through the Facetime call. 

  "You were an accessory to a breaking and entering, Sergeant," Rae tells me with a smirk.

  "You'll be hard pressed to find a cooperating witness, ma'am," I tease as I work my way around my own kitchen trying to fix dinner. 

  I'm well aware that Lily and Rae have been the main conversationalists in this call, considering the call itself came from Lily. Opal has taken up residence in the background, a look of uncertainty sitting across her features. In fact I don't think she's stopped chewing on the corner of her lip through the entire call. 

  I set the phone up against my coffee pot, allowing me the ability to grab the items I need from the fridge to start cooking. "Where's my Godson, Rae? You leave him with his postman father? Or have you decided to put a big stamp across his forehead and ship him here to me?"

  If I hadn't looked up from the hamburger patties I'm kneading I would've missed the slightest glint of laughter flash through Opal's eyes. 

  "You'd have to fight her for him," she jokes, tossing her thumb up to point at Ope. "They kind of have an ongoing date at 3 AM about four times a week."

  "Really?" I try and watch my expression, not wanting the concern I feel over that comment to become evident across my face. Why on earth is Opal with Giovanni so often and so early?

  "Godmother duties," Opal pipes up from the back at the same time I hear the soft sound of him crying. "Speaking of which." And she ducks out of the kitchen, down the short hall way. 

  Lily grabs her phone and walks outside quickly, shutting the door behind her. "She's refusing to come next week, Chris."

  I lay the patties down in the frying pan carefully. "That's her choice, Lily. You shouldn't make her do anything she doesn't want to do." 

  "She told Laura it was because she needed to go through Pop's stuff. That's why we're here today. She didn't have any intention of doing this any time soon. I could read it all over her face when we pulled up."

  I rest my fists on the counter in front of the phone, annoyed. "You didn't tell her where you were going? That was the first problem."

  "I don't really care what you think about that. I know what I have to do to get through to her. You're not around to do it your way. If you were here then you could coax her into it or however you'd go about getting her to do it. But just sitting around, knowing it needs to be done, isn't helping her work through this."

  I lean down now, resting my forearms on the counter. "You can't put a timetable on grief, Lily. Opal's got work through it in her own way, at her own pace. Give her that respect." I notice the door behind her open again to reveal Rae with Giovanni. Lily rolls her eyes at me, whether that be from my comment or because I want to see the baby, and passes Rae the phone before walking back into the house.

  "Hey buddy!" I exclaim with a bright smile. "You gonna come see Papa Chris next week?" He gives me a sleepy smile before tucking his head into his mother's shoulder. 

  "Tell Papa Chris, yes! You are gonna come see him next week."

  "Hey, Rae?" I start. She looks back at the phone, eyebrows raised. "Think you can move away from the house a bit for this conversation?" She gives a nod and walks over by her car, moving under the shade of a nearby tree. 

  "What's up, Chris?"

  "You said Opal's been with G a few times a week, early in the morning. Why is that?" I ask, moving to flip the burgers before putting my attention back on the call. 

  She looks over the phone, out in front of her. "She says it's to help us, but I know better. She's not sleeping well, Chris. Like, at all. If she crashes by midnight, she's up at 2 or 3 and comes to our house. When she can't fall asleep at all until 4, she's getting up at 7 and going to Magnolia. I suggested melatonin."

  My eyes go wide and I shake my head, interrupting her. "Yeah, no. She doesn't need to go the melatonin route again. She had a nightmare and woke up in a severe anxiety attack over it. That was the last time she called me actually." 

  "I don't know how to help her. She wasn't like this until after you left from the funeral. I thought it would've calmed down by now."

  "I'll tell you like I told Lily, although I think you'll take it better than her, she has to grieve her own way. And if that's by taking her time going through his stuff, or not speaking to me, then that's what we have to let her do. I appreciate the effort you and Anthony made that night, but all it really did was make things more final, gave closure I guess," I admit hesitantly. 

  "You're not really giving up on her, are you?" she says, her voice filled with worry. 

  "I'll choose her a thousand times over, but I can't make her choose me. She's got to work through all of it. If she decides she wants me at the end of it, I'll be here."

  "You shouldn't have to put your life on hold, Chris."

  I swallow the lump that sits in my throat. "She may not realize it right now, but she's put her life on hold right now too. The least I can do is wait for her to start living it again."

*AN- unedited because it flowed so quickly after I finally managed to get the last one out.

**AN- 2 in one day?? Don't get use to it ;)