what came next

twelve - travis

Taylor had to take Bella to a doctor's appointment just for a checkup after daycare so I picked up Olly, which worked perfectly. I'd managed to get my head around this mess with Elena, and I needed to talk to Olly about it, as much as I didn't want to. He'd be crushed.

Elena was adamant. She was filing for full custody unless I got Taylor and Bella out of my life, which wasn't something I could ever do. My lawyers had assured me there was no way she could win, but I still felt awful because if she didn't win, I'd be granted full custody and Elena would no longer see her son. I didn't even know if she cared, and that's what hurt the most.

"Hi dad!" Olly ran out of the gates when he saw me.

"Hey buddy, how was your day?" I smiled at my son. "What have you got there?"

"We did art today and I thought I would paint something for Bella's room because she doesn't have her stuff in there yet." Olly stuck out the painting he'd done and I took it, looking down. "It's all four of us."

"Yeah, I see that." I smiled proudly at my son. "It's amazing buddy, she'll love it. Taylor will love it too."

"I hope so." Olly grinned as I took his bag and we walked off to the car.

It made my heart hurt that I had to ruin his good mood when we got home, but the court date was in two days and I had to tell him. He'd probably have to come so they could ask him about his living situation, and I hated that but it had to be done. 

"Okay buddy, you and I need to have a little talk." I said once he'd eaten something, and Olly immediately sensed the tone of my voice. "You're not in trouble." I assured him, reaching across the table to rub his shoulder. "But something's happening with your mom."

"What?" He whispered.

"Your mom has decided to file for full custody of you against me." I told him. "Do you know what that means?" Olly shook his head. "It means that she wants to change how we take care of you, and that instead of having weeks with mom and weeks with me, you'll only stay with one of us." 

"And..." Olly swallowed. "Only one of you?"

"Yes buddy." I nodded. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want this to happen but mom's decided to do this, and now we have to go and have some meetings to decide."

"But dad I don't want to stay with mom all the time." Olly's lip trembled. "Mom acts funny now and I want to stay here with you and Taylor and Bella."

"What do you mean she acts funny?" I frowned. "Can you tell me how?"

"Umm." Olly fiddled with his fingers. "Sometimes she has weird men over and they make weird noises in mom's room. And sometimes mom falls asleep on the couch when she has drinks from those big bottles she hides, and one time I had a nightmare and I went to see her and she was with a weird man in bed and they had little sticks on fire and it smelled really bad. She told me I wasn't allowed to tell you."

"God." I breathed. "Okay, well thank you for letting me know buddy. If people ask you in these meetings, you need to tell them as well. Just tell them the truth." Olly nodded, looking down. "Hey." I lifted his chin. "If you tell them what you want, they'll probably listen to you. Just be honest, and I promise I am going to do everything I can to keep you safe. I love you so much Olly, and I'll never let anything happen to you."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise." I nodded. 

-

Taylor and Bella got home as I was making dinner with Olly, and we had dinner all together. I helped Olly with his math homework before I got a call, and I ended up having to take so many calls that Olly was asleep by the time I finished. I sighed to myself as I closed his bedroom door when I checked on him, turning to look for Taylor.