The Family We Choose

Chapter 29

Emelia isn't all too into the Halloween spirit this year and decided early on that she would be using her Scarlet Witch costume again. Carla has offered to take her shopping but in the end only tagged along with Chris when they went to grab his costume. She stuck around to help them get ready before heading home to her own kids.

This year she was also in charge of taking him trick or treating as Eddie was working late and she was sure he was off doing his own thing that night as well.

Chris loved every second of it, soaking up every complement and taking pride in the fact that he didn't need a single piggy back ride from his older sister. After collecting two pillow cases filled with candy, they head home.

"Did you have fun, huh?" She ruffled the hair as they walked up to their house. His crutches clicked loudly against the concrete when he squirmed away.

"The best fun!" He beams, Emelia holding his bag of candy and she can tell he's itching to go through it. So excited to sort through it all, knowing with the right eyes he can get all of Emelia's suckers.

"Me too," she replied, it had been way too long since they hung out just the two of them. She would be lying if she said she didn't miss when he was super little and hung onto every word she said. Constantly knocking on her bedroom door to get her to play with legos. This Halloween sure had been special for her.

By some surprise Eddie was home when they walked through the door.

"Daddy your home." he beams, running as fast as his tired legs will allow to show him his collection. Emelia is dragged across the living room behind him.

"You guys did some major damage." he took in the loads of candy in front of him. "How about you get ready for bed and I will let you have two pieces of candy before you brush your teeth?"

"Deal." Chris lifts his arms, signalling for his dad to pick him up, but as soon as Eddie leans down to grab him he groans in pain.

Emelia wishes she could be more shocked at the display but she hid her own emotions before Chris could catch on.

"I got you buddy, Dad just getting super old." Emelia crouched down in front of him and hoisted him higher on her back before taking him for a ride down the hall. Eliciting giggles from the younger boy.

Once Chris was finally settled and his two pieces of candy were long gone Emelia looked up at Eddie.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she crossed her arms over her chest, following him to the kitchen with a kitkat in hand.

"You've been asking me that a lot lately." He tries to lighten the mood but it doesn't work by a long shot.

Emelia was scared and when he finally turned away from the sink to look at her he could see it written all over his face.

"You can't even pick up Chris right now. That isn't normal work pains. This is different and I know it. ." she pointed out a simple explanation for this not so simple explanation. Her voice is so quiet that Eddie barely hears her.

This wasn't really the conversation you were supposed to have with your dad but here she was.

"What the hell is going on?" she snapped, not only from the exhaustion but the anger that has been building up over the past few weeks. His silence frustrating her beyond belief.

He's pulling away and it's scaring her. He's done it before, ran away to join the military with the excuse that they needed money. Only this time he wasn't running to the military and she had no clue where he was running to.

She couldn't afford to lose anyone else right now and his behavior is doing nothing to help with that.

"Do not use that language with me." he shot back, taken aback by her disrespectful attitude. "I'm the adult here and I do not have to tell you about everything that goes on in my life."

"I was adult enough for you and mom to treat me like a co-parent for the last 9 years but now suddenly you want to treat me like a child." She threw right back in his face, knowing damn well there wasn't a single thing he could say about it.

What she said was true, ever since Chris was born she was treated as the third parent. Either helping her mom when Eddie was away or vice versa. But not once has she ever thrown it in his face before.

Eddie looked guilty as hell and bowed his head, he never wanted that for her nor did he ever intent to treat her that way. Even though she said it, stuff like that never really bothered her.

She was fine to help out, they still managed to let her live her own life through it all. And Chris was her whole world but for him to suddenly throw that all away just made her angry.

Emelia sighed, trying to wash away her guilt.

"I don't need to know everything but the least you could do is not lie to my face." she was beggin at this point. "I'm scared, Eddie. I'm really scared. I already lost mom and Buck... but I guess one more person wouldn't be too hard to take right?"

Eddie nearly flinches at her worlds. Emelia hadn't called him Eddie in months and frankly he was getting used to it.

She was shutting down, he knew the signs. He's seen them all before, right before she attempted suicide. When her mom came back. When Buck left. It was her own defence mechanism she uses when she's scared of losing someone.

"Emelia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. There are just some things in life that are hard for you to understand." he softens his touch but it doesn't hit with her. She is still scared and tired and angry and it's all balled up into one big emotion that neither of them can explain.

"What do you want me to say to that?" she was exhausted now and maybe that was worse than the attitude. Because now he could see the sleeplessness on her face. He could feel the fear and uncertainty radiating off her body. And it was all because of him.

"For the past two months you've been pulling away and lying. You come home late every night, covered in bruises. What do you expect me to think?" Maybe if she pulled away first then it wouldn't hurt as much when she would inevitably lose him. Of course that isn't healthy but what else is she supposed to do when it feels like he is already gone.

"I'm okay I promise."

Emelia swears if she hears him say that one more time she might burst. Like actually explode right in front of him. He wasn't okay, he hasn't been okay since her mom died and it wasn't fun for any parties involved.

"The least you could do is get better at lying." There's that attitude again, only this time it was mixed in the exhaustion and frustration.

"Emelia, you need to see that there are some things you can't understand." At this point she couldn't even tell if he was being truthful or not. Everything is a blur right now.

"You know up until now, you've never lied to me. Through everything, you've always been so honest. I guess maybe that was all in my head then." That has always been their relationship. Honesty. She was honest with him and he was honest with her. It took her 3 whole years before she fully let him into her life and even more than that to fully feel like he was her father.

The only time that was ever broken was with her attempt. And neither of them blamed the other for that.

"You have to know that isn't true Mija. I'm only keeping this from you to protect you. You have to trust me on this." Eddie says and makes a move to wrap her in a hug but she flinches away. Immediately he pulls away, letting her have her space.

"Every night I'm waiting up for you, is a night that I expect you to not come home. But sure, I'll trust you." she walks away without another word. Crawling under her covers, trying her damnedest to get her mind off her seemingly deteriorating relationship with Eddie.