Rush

Little Extra

Who's Your Daddy?

Ana's POV

I was pulling dinner out of the oven while Alex and our fifteen-year-old son and ten-year-old twin girls did homework at the kitchen table when the front door burst open startling us all and causing Alex to spring to his feet.

We relaxed a bit when we saw it was our oldest  Elijah, back from football practice. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"Eli, what are you doing home so early? I thought practice didn't let out until 6:30."

He was angry. Red in the face angry.

"What's wrong?"

Whatever restraint he had seemed to snap.

"You fucking lied to me!"

"Elijah Rush don't you dare speak to your mother like that!"

He spun around to face Alex.

"Oh go fuck yourself! You're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do!"

I felt my breath catch in my throat. He knew.

Even Alex was stunned speechless as Elijah continued to speak.

He waved around a piece of paper around and slammed it on the counter as he continued on and looked directly at me.

"You lied."

And with that he took off running up the stairs to his bedroom. I heard Alex quietly send the other kids to their own rooms as he assured him that everything would be okay.

I slowly walked over to the paper that Eli had sat on the counter and proceeded to drop the glass dish that I was still holding as I absorbed exactly what was on the paper. It was a DNA test for him and Alex and obviously, it showed that there was no chance that they were biologically related.

Alex did his best to comfort me as he assured me that everything would be okay. I felt sick. I knew that I should have told him at some point but I was afraid of how he would react, I wanted to avoid this moment.

I just followed along as Alex led us to our bedroom where he held me as we sat on our bed.

"He hates me."

Alex made shushing sounds.

"No, he doesn't hate you he's just upset right now."

I sobbed loudly.

"He does and it's my fault. I don't know how to fix it."

"Listen, listen sweetheart you need to calm down. Yes, we should have told him years ago but we didn't and now it has to be dealt with. We'll fix this, I promise."

Alex's POV

I held Ana as she cried herself to sleep. I hadn't seen her this upset in years. It had taken years of healing to truly put her back together but I could see this was something important that we'd never really discussed but we clearly should have and I could almost see Ana crumbling in on herself.

I sighed as I slid from underneath her and tucked the blankets around her shoulders before making my way to Elijah's room.

I knocked gently on the door and opened it when I heard a muffled 'come in'.

He was lying on the couch in his room, throwing a rubberband ball up and catching it in a constant rhythm. I caught the next throw before he could causing him to sit up in frustration.

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to my son."

He scoffed.

I'm not your son.

It hurt to hear him say that. Biological relation or not, he was my son, my little boy and it stung to be rejected.

"I want to meet my real dad."

I made sure to make clear eyec ontact with him before I spoke.

"No."

He jumped up.

"Why not! What right do you have to deny me the right to meet my father."

"Because he's not a good man, wasn't a good man to your mother."

"And what proof do you have of that? Or are you just talking out of your ass?"

I tried to pick my words wisely.

"He hurt your mother. He hurt her for years before you were born and for several weeks after. He has been in prsion for seventeen years for what he did to your mother. So don't you dare try to imply otherwise."

He scoffed.

"But what does that have to do with me? Clearly they liked each other enough to make me it couldn't have been that bad. You just want to claim me as your son to spite him!"

I felt my blood boil at his words.

"That's not true."

"Then what is? You two have been lying to me my entire life! I deserve to know why I've been lied to about where I came from.!"

I sucked in a deep breath. I would have to tell him.

"He raped your mother. She said it was constant from the time she was sixteen until she was an adult and we met. She was pregnant with you when we met while she was hiding from him."

I could tell that I'd stunned him with what I'd said but I continued on.

"She never told you about your biological father for your safety, for her safety. I won't recount every gory detail of the abuse your mother suffered under his hand but i want you to understand that every decision that she made was to keep you safe. She had no malicious intent by not telling you about him. And whether you like it or not, I was the one that was there for you from the moment you were born.

Your uncles Nate and Jacob and your mom and I were in a terrible car accident when we were rushing her to the hospital one night and your mother ened up in a coma and it fell on me to care for you. And from that moment on you were my son, my little boy and I've loved you from that moment until now. And even if you decide that I'm no longer your father, I'll still love you, care for you becuase to me, you'll always be my little boy."

**

The next morning I awoke to an empty bed and I searched worridly for Ana. Even after all these years together I worried something fierce when Ana was out of my sight after having such a rough night.

I ended up finding her and Elijah in the living room both with red eyes but smiling.

Elijah stood and grabbed me in a fierce hug.

"I'm sorry dad."

I wrapped my arms around him tightly and kissed his head.

"It's okay, I love you."

"I love you too dad."

I sighed in relief.

We were okay.