Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Holding Us Together

Bruno looked directly into Charlotte's eyes.

"Come on, Charlotte. Don't cry, sweetie. It's all up to you."

Charlotte nodded and sniffled.

"Whatever you want to call Kim is up to you. No one else gets to make that decision, alright?"

"Alright..." she sighed.

"And I can't think of anyone else who could make a better decision. You're so smart...and you're growing up so much...ya know that little voice in your head that tells you what you should do sometimes?"

Charlotte nodded, smiling.

"Well that's you," Bruno winked. "You gotta listen to it. Madison calls me Dad because the little voice in her head told her that it would be better for her, but that doesn't mean it's the same for you. You know what I mean? You gotta trust yourself, Char."

Charlotte nodded again, lunging into him. "I will, Dad. You're the best."

Without a verbal response, Bruno just held onto her for a while. There would be many more times when Bruno would have to stabilize her, many more times to make her feel like she belonged. It would grow to be more and more difficult as his love for music clashed with his love and responsibility of being a father.

In the blink of an eye, the twins were starting to walk. Charlotte and Madison chipped in a lot, mostly playing with the boys and making sure they didn't get into anything they shouldn't have. With the "terrible twos" in full force before they actually turned two, Bruno and Kim had a lot on their plate. Bruno got called into the school one day. He took care of the school-related tasks the best he could while Kim focused more on the babies.

Rushing into the school, to the front desk, and into the conference room, Bruno grew quickly tired and out of breath. Charlotte's teacher was the only one in the room.

"Sorry I'm late," Bruno apologized. "Is this about Charlotte's report card? I didn't get anything."

"No, no," the teacher said, "grades aren't done yet, and she's doing well, so don't worry."

"Oh," Bruno sighed. "Good. So what's this about?"

"In a couple of weeks we're having an awards ceremony, and it would mean a lot to Charlotte if you came."

"Oh yeah. Of course. Tell me when and I'll be there."

"Oh good," she smiled in relief.

"Wait...why did you call me in for this? You could've called me."

"I'm sorry if you missed something for work by coming here, but..."

"No, no, no I always put Charlotte before my work."

"Oh...really?" She asked, seeming surprised. "Because I told her that you should come to the spelling bee...because I had a feeling she'd do well."

"Spelling bee? I didn't even know about it..."

"I think you should talk to Charlotte," she smiled.

When Bruno got home, he went right into her room to find her sitting on her hammock, writing something down. He stood there for a while, watching her pulling a book out of her backpack. He heard a lot of papers crunching and crinkling, which was when Bruno decided to knock on the door. She was usually organized. Charlotte looked up and smiled.

"Hey Dad."

"Hey," he said, sitting at the foot of her bed, leaning over to look at what she was writing. "What are you writing?"