'Cause I'd Find You In Any World (Nick and Charlie - Alternate Universe)

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Seven.

Nick:
Although I am so happy that Charlie is out and we can just be a normal couple, my heart is really aching for him. I know that he's not going to be fully happy until things are resolved with his Mum, one way or another. We get inside my house and see Mum in the living room.

"Hey boys. Charlie, how are you?" She asks, clearly concerned about the events that played out yesterday.

Charlie looks up at her with a slight smile.

"I'm doing better today, thanks."
"Just know you are always welcome here. I know you have your Dad and your brother, but if you ever feel unsafe or unwanted in your home, you come straight here, okay?"

I see Charlie fighting back tears. It must be hard to hear my mother be so supportive of him when his is not. He runs to my Mum and wraps his arms around her before quickly letting go.

"Thank you. It means a lot."

She smiles at him and we walk upstairs to my room. 

"Text messages from James and Mia," Charlie says as he looks down at his phone.

Mia: Good choice going to Nick's. Your Mum was just leaving as we got there.
James: Cursed her out real good before she left though LOL
Charlie: You just went over to the car screaming?
James: No, she rolled down the window and tried to apologize to me and then said "this isn't easy for her either"
Nick: And that's obviously when you lost it
James: I love that you know me so well already (:
Charlie: I wonder how that conversation with Mum and Dad are going right now..
James: Well, she left crying so hopefully she's gotten some sense knocked into her.

Charlie throws himself onto my bed and lets out a loud sigh.

"How is it that all of the Mums that I know are treating me better than my actual mother?"

I walk over to my bed, sit next to him and place my hand on his leg.

"I'm so sorry you're going through this. I wish I could take all your pain away. I feel like I'm not doing enough to help but I don't know how to help."

He sits up and looks at me.

"Having you by my side, is enough. You're one of the reasons I'm not completely falling apart."

Sebastian:
Once the the boys and Mia leave, I find myself uneasy. I can't sit still; I start pacing back and forth, nervous about the confrontation that is about to happen. The last interaction that I had with Sandra was anything but pleasant and I really doubt that in twelve hours she is all of a sudden a new person. The door opens and my heart immediately sinks into my stomach. She walks into the kitchen and I see that she's been crying.

"You're crying?" I ask.
"James just had words with me before I started to drive here."

I sigh.

"I want nothing more than to run over to you right now and wipe those tears away but honestly Sandra, what did you expect? You thought you could say all the things that you said and we were all just going to accept it? Charlie is heartbroken, James is livid and I'm in disbelief; and all of our feelings are valid. I can't say the same about yours."
"I'm allowed to be taken back by this.." she says as her voice drifts off.

I scoff.

"Is that what you call taken back? Telling your son that he can't see the person who has been there for him the last two months, probably more than we have?  Telling him that you LOST A SON?! Being okay with the fact that your other son said you lost him? You can stop me at any point."

Silence.

"I'm not sure why you came here if you aren't speaking. I was hoping that the night away at Richard and Jane's, who can accept and love Charlie even when his mother can't, would have helped but clearly not. How did it feel to have everyone be okay with this except you? ONE OF THE TWO PEOPLE THAT ARE SUPPOSE TO LOVE HIM UNCONDITIONALLY."
"They definitely weren't happy with me," she whispers.
"So now imagine how Charlie, James, and I must feel. Charlie is great kid. He gets good grades, he is nice to everyone he meets and he deserves to be happy. Nick is also a great kid, and we should be happy that Charlie has found someone like him. You were allowed to be taken back by the news but that's not what I saw. I saw someone that was so in denial that she didn't care who she hurt with the words she said. Do you know Charlie refused to go to Mia's this morning because he didn't want to run into you. Your own son was afraid to see you."
"Is he at Nick's?"

I slam my hands on the table in frustration.

"DOES THAT EVEN MATTER?! Yes. He's at Nick's. And yesterday, guess what? Nick and Mia both spent the night here. Your son was so distraught and hysterically crying that he couldn't even breathe. He was rocking back and forth for thirty minutes before Nick got there. Nick was the only person that was able to get him to stop. You completely broke him last night."
"I'm sorry," she says as tears swell in her eyes.
"I wish I believed you. If you asked me how Charlie was instead of asking me if he was at Nick's, I might have believed you. This isn't something that is just going to go away, Sandra. Charlie is gay and you were horrible to him. I think maybe you should stay a hotel or something for the rest of the week while I figure out what we're going to do here."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think I want to be with someone who treats my sons this way."
"They're my sons too."
"Are they? You told Charlie that he wasn't your son and walked out when James said he lost a mother. I think maybe we need to go to therapy or something because the way this is going, we're going to be getting a divorce and I will be filing for full custody."

Her tears are now pouring down her face as she begins to sob.

"I wish things were different. I thought they were going to be when you asked to talk, but I see that they aren't."
"We can go to therapy. All of us?"
"I don't think Charlie needs to hear you tell another person how you don't accept him. You and I can go; maybe this will be the wake up call you need. Once you hear another person, a stranger who doesn't even know a thing about Charlie, tell you how wrong you are, maybe that'll clear things up for you."

Sandra quietly goes upstairs to pack some things. As I hear her walking back down, I walk over to the door and open it, indicating to her that I want her to leave. She walks out the door and looks back at me.

"I love you."
"I don't love this version of you," I say as I close the door.