A/n: This is a bit further into the future. Ellie had kids from a previous relationship. She's about 25-26 in this. Probably in between.
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Title Name - Clarity
"Harley! Skyler! Can you two come down here please?"
The woman waited by the staircase as she wrung her hands together, an anxious habit she picked up on a few years back after she had her second kid. The sounds of their stomping and quiet laughter brought a slight ease to their mother. But it wasn't enough to quell the anxiety she was feeling. She had to do it again, which meant one if not both of her kids are going to blame her.
Once they were standing on the third to last step, their mother smiled at them. Harley already knew without even being told because this was the only time her mother ever looked terrified of talking to them. The little girl's shoulders dropped and so did her smile.
"He canceled again..."
The woman frowned before nodding her head. "I'm afraid so, baby girl."
Skyler looked between his mother and sister before returning to his mother. "Mama?"
Hearing his confused voice brought a sense of dread to the woman's heart. She reached down and scooped both of her kids up before sitting down on the step and letting them take one leg. They weren't yelling at her, to which she was thankful for, but she wasn't about to let this opportunity pass to try and get her kids to understand their father was a dead beat.
"I am really sorry that your daddy canceled again."
Skyler jerked his head back and glared at his mother, there was the look she was dreading.
"wat?? wat do mama?" the little boy demanded as he pushed his moms shoulder.
"Sky, stop it." Harley stated, her voice barely holding any emotion.
The little boy looked to his sister and noticed that she wasn't partaking in abusing their mother so he stopped and kept his eyes on her. The girl turned to her mother and gave her a straight look, one that held back so many emotions. And if Ellie were to say the wrong thing, it would break this little girl.
"Does he not love us?"
How do you answer that? Especially to an 8 year old. Ellie took her eyes off her daughter to look at the floor. She took a second to think of what to say without making the man out to be a bad guy. She sighed.
"He does love you, both of you." Ellie started, she then turned to her daughter again. "But he works so much that he doesn't have time for you."
"Aren't you supposed to make time for the people you love?" Harley asked. Ellie loved how smart she was, and sometimes also hated it. Like now.
With a smile, the woman leans in and presses a kiss to her daughter's brow. "Yes sweetie, yes you are."
The little girl turns her head and buries her face into her mothers neck while mumbling some words before sniffling softly. Ellie rubbed her back softly and asked her what she had said.
Skyler watched his sister lift her head away from their mothers neck and give her a pouty look. "Please don't stop loving us."
Ellie felt her heart ache as she pulled her kids in for a tight hug, kissing each head before promising that she would never ever lose her love for her two most favorite little runts in the world. The three had their own moment as Ellie basked in the happiness that this time, she wasn't painted as the bad guy, her sorry excuse of an ex was.
