Haunted

Mudshovel

"Hey," Justin was sitting on Maddox's hotel bed when they got back from the Markham Center, looking just as exhausted as Maddox felt. It was like someone had twisted the knife that was already in Maddox's stomach. "Tim says you're cutting again and you don't remember it."

"I don't," Maddox couldn't even get himself to form a sentence before he started sobbing. Justin wrapped his arms around Maddox and let him cry.

"I believe you," Justin whispered, rubbing Maddox's back. "I love you, Dax, we'll get through this."

"I wanna go home," Maddox begged, knowing he sounded like he was about 6 years old. "Take me home."

"Why don't you take a nap and then we'll talk about that."

"No, let's go get on our plane and go home," Maddox argued. "Please, Dad, just take me home."

"Okay," Justin took a deep breath. "I'll talk to Tim."

Maddox nodded and watched as Justin left the room. He lay down and managed to stop crying and hoped his face wouldn't be all red when he had to walk out in front of whoever was waiting outside - fans, paparazzi, it didn't matter anymore. All Maddox could think about was crawling into his bed at home and maybe snuggling with his little brother and sister. There was no way he wanted anything to do with being on tour and performing or even being Maddox Bieber anymore.

He fell asleep and wasn't even embarrassed when he woke up snuggled against his dad. It was too comforting. For the first time in a really long time Maddox felt like Justin was only there for him - not to prove to everyone around them that he was the best dad in the world, not to boost either one of their careers - he was just taking care of Maddox.

"Hey," Justin brushed a piece of hair off Maddox's face. "We cancelled tonight. And, uh, I had a little something delivered."

"Mom," Maddox sat up. His parents were so predictable but right that second he didn't care.

Seeing his mom was harder than seeing Justin. She looked worried at first but after she'd given Maddox a long hug he could tell she was looking him over, like maybe she thought he was on drugs or something. The good news was that Scarlett and Aiden were right there, demanding hugs, and Maddox didn't have to fight to get away from Clara.

If only he could have just slept through the next day too Maddox wouldn't have had to have the awful talk with his parents.

"I'm going to stay with you for a little while," Justin announced the next morning.

"I don't need you to," Maddox insisted. Clara shook her head.

"You can't go if he doesn't go," she told him. "At least for a few weeks so we can be sure you're okay."

"I just need to stop drinking quite so much so I remember to take my pills. It's gonna be fine," Maddox insisted.

"Tim says you're out of control," Justin stepped in.

"Tim's an idiot," Maddox huffed. Hadn't he and Tim just had this exact same conversation? Why couldn't they just give him a chance to prove he was okay?

"Do you mean that? Should we fire him?" Clara asked. "Because you could work with my old manager, he might look old but he won't take shit from you."

"No, don't fire him," Maddox sighed."I'm not really out of control. I'm fine."

"Then it won't be a big deal having me around for a little while," Justin shrugged. "As soon as we're all sure you're okay I'll leave."

Maddox was supposed to have the night off but he had make up the show he cancelled the night before. It seemed to go okay and they moved back into the steady pattern of life on tour.