Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT ONE - PART FIVE

And Cheers once more! Hope you enjoy.

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Something was off and Maverick knew upon stepping foot into the house. Normally the house was somewhat of a catastrophe every time he came home after two weeks despite the kids' best effort to actually keep things clean, they were two messy teenagers, and plates get forgotten in the sink, dirty clothes pile up by the washing machine and more often than not, a plant had died somewhere in the house.

Things were worse than normal for the last three times he had come home after Ice's last stay. But this time as he returned home, the floor was so clean they could eat off it, there were no dirty plates in the kitchen and all plants have survived. Even the pile of clothes, which were waiting for a wash was relatively small. Have they just not worn clothes for two weeks straight?

But the more pressing question was, where were they? Bradley and Grace were both clever, they knew around what time he got home and even though he knew that they were bending the rules to their will when he was gone for the two-week periods, they always made sure to uphold appearance when he was back home. So where were his messy teenagers who greeted him the last time by insulting each other down to the smallest detail. It was so quiet, it was outright scary.

So, Maverick wandered into the living room after dumping his own clothes by the washing machine, he would take care of it after dinner, only to find two empty classes on the dining room table, but that was about it. The only sign of their existence.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he texted Gracie first, asking where on earth she and her brother were, before sending a similar text to Bradley, only for her to answer that Uncle Slider was in town and that they went out to have dinner. Nodding to himself, he was glad to know that someone was looking out for them a bit when he wasn't home after all. He was also sure that Kerner had forced the children to clean the entire house finding them in any state that wasn't military standard, before taking them out for dinner.

Not really knowing what to do with himself now, after expecting to come home to a mess he had to clean away beforehand, Maverick wandered upstairs, to see if the kids have left any dirty clothes in the basket in the upstairs bathroom and it strangely enough soothed him that they still needed him for something, even though it was just washing their clothes. He just opened the basket, pulling out Grace's jeans and some of Bradley's shirts, just as some socks and underwear of both teenagers, when he dropped a sock. Bending down to pick it up, his gaze fell on a little long purple and pink cardboard box in the bin.

Thinking for a moment that it must be the toothpaste box, he was about to leave the bathroom, but then he took a closer look, feeling that something was off. Only to drop all the clothes on the floor as he realised what it actually was. The cardboard of a pregnancy test. Reaching for it, Maverick nearly died as he opened the cardboard box that had clearly been opened before, only to pick up a handkerchief from where they were keeping them by the sink.

He had never had a pregnancy scare with any of the girls he had gone out with before he more or less settled on Ice, but now he was scared, scared shitless. He had seen the panic in Tom's eyes as he told Maverick about him going to have a baby with some girl he had picked up on a random night in a club, resulting in Grace. But he had also seen the joy in Goose's eyes as he had told him about Bradley. A baby was something lovely all in all, but he was sure his reaction would be close to Tom's if Bradley had knocked up a girl at 18. The thought that the test could have been form Gracie as well, nearly made him throw up.

She was 16 for fucks sake. Okay, nearly 17, but still. Fuck this shit. She had no business needing a pregnancy test. Jesus, Bradley was a baby still, they were both just kids. Since when was sex even a topic to begin with. Maybe he was a terrible father after all, not knowing that his kids, or at least one of them was sexually active.