"What Am I To You?"

Isolate

Maverick locked himself in his room for days.

He only came out when no one was at the house, he barely ate anything, hardly drank anything, and just didn't feel alive.

The kids would come over and try to talk to him but he didn't come out.

One night he walked out of his room and saw a picture of him and ice being married. He held the picture and stared at it blankly.

They looked so happy. He then grabbed their last picture they took that they had framed. He held it and saw ice and him sitting next to each other.

Ice was holding Mavericks hand and his head was against his head. Ice was in a wheelchair and wasn't doing good.

He just lowered the pictures so he didn't see the picture.

He looked out the window as he suddenly heard the front door open. He turned and saw Rooster walking into the kitchen with takeout.
He turned the light on and then saw Maverick

"Dad..." rooster said.

Maverick placed the pictures back on the mantle and cleared his throat. "Hey..." he said quietly.

Rooster walked over to him and looked at him worryingly. "Wanna talk ?"

Maverick rubbed his neck and thought. "Well... tomorrow is your fathers funeral." He said painfully. He looked down and then looked up taking a deep breath.

"It's so hard thinking that tomorrow I have to bury your father." He said as he felt tears well in his eyes.

"I can't see your father again as of tomorrow." Maverick said as he sat down on the couch and held his head.

"Ive had to say goodbye to Goose, your mother, and now Ice... it hurts so bad. I don't know if I'll be able to handle this funeral tomorrow." He said as Rooster sat next to him.

Rooster held his fathers hand and teared up. "I know... it's hard, really hard to deal with something like this. It's been hurting you a lot, but dad..." Maverick looked at his son

"We're all here for you. We all love and want to help you. But, you locking yourself in your home and torturing yourself isn't going to help you." Rooster said as Maverick looked down at the ground.

"I don't want to stress you all..." Maverick said.

"We all are already, not because of you, but because our family is missing someone. So, please don't feel like you're alone. Especially around this Christmas." He sighed as he stood up.

"I'm taking Hangman and Nicole are in the car. We're going to have dinner tonight . You're invited. We will wait ten minutes and then afterwards we'll go if you don't want to come out. See yah." He waved slightly and walked out of the house and got into the car.

Nicole was asleep in the back. Hangman looked at Rooster. "Ready to go?"

"Wait 10 minutes." Rooster said. Hangman nodded and parked the car.

"Do you think he will come out?" Hangman asked. Rooster looked at the clock and shrugged. "No idea..."

As rooster was starting to give up, he saw Maverick come out dressed properly. Roosters eyes widened.

Maverick got into the back seat with Nicole. "Hey.. sorry I took forever. Couldn't find my jacket." He said.

"Hey! We're just glad to see you!" Hangman said as he put the car in reverse and headed out to get dinner.

Maverick nodded slightly. "Nice seeing you guys as well." He said as he sat back. "Where are you guys going to eat?"

"We are going to eat at this fancy restaurant that we all discovered we liked." Rooster said.

"Sounds fun."

Phoenix sat in her room nursing the twins. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy from. Thing and her hair was a mess.  Exhaustion was becoming her good good friend.

Bob came in with two cups of tea. "Hey hun..." he said quietly and carefully. She looked at him and then back down. He knew she was distraught, and sad.

He knew she just wasn't happy. He walked over to her and sat by her. "Hun... talk to me. I haven't heard you say anything in the past few days." He said worryingly.

She finished nursing and placed the babies in their respective cribs. She leaned against the cribs and looked down over her beautiful  babies.

Bob watched her and saw tears fall down her face. He sighed and got up. He walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. She cried into his shoulder.

"I just need something good to happen for once!" She said as she tried to calm herself down. Bob looked at her. He did have good news for her actually.

"Do you want good news?" He asked her. She just nodded. Bob motioned for her to sit down. He cleared his throat and looked at her.

"Remember how I said I was offered a job on the east coast?" He said. She nodded.

"That job was the Secretary of Education for the United States of America, and my employer is the President." Bob said. Phoenixes eyes widened. She hugged him and kissed him.

"Congrats my love." She says tiredly. "What does this mean though?" She asked as he picked her up carefully and took her over to their bed.

"It means, that we will be moving to DC. But, I'll only do it if you want me to." He said as he placed her on the bed.

"Take the job." She said. She sat up and reached into her backpack and pulled out a file. She opened it and showed him orders.

"Im being sent to DC." She said with a tired chuckle. She couldn't believe the perfect timing.

Bob chuckled softly and looked at her and sighed. "Perfect timing huh." He said with a chuckle. She nodded slightly as she looked at the calendar.

"We have to go to bed. Ice's funeral is tomorrow." She said sadly.

He helped her hand and nodded slightly.

"I know..."