The Long Lost Brother - Dan Howell {On Hiatus}

Chapter 2

'You too, Dan.'  Alexa calmed herself down before asking 'So, why are you in my living room?'
Dan glanced over at Candace looking slightly nervous, Alexa watched him with growing curiosity.  She had only ever seen him through a screen and seeing him here, in her living room, was pretty overwhelming. Alexa followed his gaze to her mother and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

'Dan - Dan is your brother, Alexa.' Alexa's breath caught in her throat. It took a moment to register what her mother had said. 'What?' She whispered.

'Well-' Candace started, 'It's a long story,' She took a breath as she began, 'Your father and I both got really drunk on my 18th birthday and I d-don't remember much except waking up in bed with him. It turns out I got pregnant at the age of 18. Your grandmother wanted me to have an abortion when I told her, she said we were too young for a child. But your father and I, we couldn't get rid of the baby like that. Your father was still at university studying for his teaching qualification, which meant he was away most of the time. Your grandmother didn't help, and she despised me. Alex, y-you know how close me and mother are, it broke me to-to see her hate m-me like she did. I had f-failed h-her' Her shoulders shook with the quiet sobs. Neither Dan nor Alexa knew what to say so Alexa walked over and hugged her. Her eyes glistening with tears at the sight of her upset mother, and they both waited for her to continue. 'We both, your f-father and I, managed everything. And you were born in June, you were beautiful. You had your fathers hazel eyes and light brown hair.' A small smile flickered on her face.

'I kept you a-and wanted to keep you, see my child grow up. As did your father, but we couldn't. We couldn't handle everything, I didn't have a job and Scott was still a student. We tried, and it wasn't easy, we started ta-talking about what to do for hours on end, how we could manage everything. A-and then one day you woke up at about 3am crying and I couldn't get you to settle, I felt ho-horrible. I had no idea how to care for a baby and I just sat, with you in my arms, for an hour maybe longer, I have no idea but that's ho-how your grandmother found us. She walked in and looked at us. She s-said that it was my fault, I was careless, I should've been more c-careful. B-but she said I could put you, Dan, up for adoption, restart my life. And I thought about it, I couldn't follow my dreams to have my own business and neither could your father. I hated myself thinking like this, I loved you so much Dan. Eventually though, we didn't have a choice. Your father and I agreed it would be-be best to put you up for adopt-adoption. We thought that you would be adopted into a loving family and live ha-happily.' Her sobs filled the room and her two children's hazel eyes glistened with tears. Dan moved to the his mothers side and there they sat for about 5 minutes. As a family for the first time in their lives, together.

'I was adopted as a baby you know,' Said Dan after a while, causing both women to look up. 'I didn't know until I was 21, 3 years ago. At first I didn't believe them, my adoptive parents, I was always told I look like them so that's what I believed.  It took me a while to process, Phil was there for me.  And now it's different. Everything's different, and everything has changed.' He looked out the window, at the sunny street.

'Things are changing, that's life.' Concluded Candace
'Thats true, sometimes it's for better, other times it's for worse but we still always learn.' Said her daughter.
They wiped away their tears and Dan let out a small chuckle 'You live your life thinking you know the people you live with yet it turns out they have this big secret and it changes everything'
'Yeah, life has a way of changing things.' Alexa said, wiping her tears with a small giggle. 'Are you staying for dinner?'
'Um, if you don't mind?'
'You're my brother silly, you are a part of this family.' The thought of a brother made her feel warm inside. It sort of felt like the hole in her life that she was left with when her father passed, was slowly filling itself. She smiled, and Dan thought she looked beautiful with the way she smiled. So alike to their mother.
'I'll start cooking, pasta and bolognese sauce?' Candace said as she got up and started walking from the room.
'Yeah! That's my favourite.' Dan smirked.
'Mine too!' Alexa said, smirking in reply.
Candace chuckled 'Okay you guys wait here, I'll call you when it's ready.' She winked, and walked through to the kitchen.

There was a slightly awkward tension in the room.
'So how was your day Alexa?' Asked Dan, slightly nervously.
'You can call me Alex or Lexa if you want. And it was pretty good, last day before the holidays, you know' She replied, 'What about yours?'
'Well it's all pretty overwhelming I must admit, meeting your-our mother for the first time and meeting you. I got a call at about 2 this afternoon asking me to come here so I came and-' He took a look around the room, noticing the pictures of his family, he let out another small chuckle, 'It seems pretty great.'

'Its home.'