A Smile Can Hide Anything

Chapter 65

~Phil's POV~

I stoked Brendon's hair softly as he sat on my lap watching Winnie The Pooh, our family tradition that would be the last. Elinna placed on Dan's lap made me think of when we first met her. How shy she was, the terrified daze in her eyes, her lip quivering, her dainty shoulders shaking quickly and her heartbeat speeding rapidly. Now, shes got meat on her bones, breathing easy and looking at us with Dan's heart eyes. Soon she won't look at us with heart eyes, but with disbelief that we are abandoning her with her baby brother.
"Daddy?" Elinna snapped me out of my daze. "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing sugar bear." I rub my thumb across her plump, red cheek. {My uncle used to call me "sugar bear" so, yeah.}
Dan removed his eyes from the TV screen and looked at me with his dazzling brown eyes sending me a message telepathically saying that we need to tell the kids that they are leaving tomorrow evening. I shook my head no meaning that we should wait, and that's what we did.
~·
I studied Elinna as she packed her belongings in her trunk.
"Where are we going Pooh?" Elinna questioned Dan, glancing up at Dan and I smiling as if we're taking her to a wonderful surprise.
"You'll see, sweetie." I interrupt Dan, allowing him to stare intensely at Brendon, memorizing everyone of his features before we depart.
I drag the heavy trunk down the steep stairs to our Uber car. I and the driver drop Elinna's trunk carelessly into the car trunk. I dust my hands off after I buckle my seatbelt. I turn my head and see Brendon to the far left in his plaid car seat, Elinna to the far right and Dan in the middle looking miserable by the fact that he has to sit on the bump in the middle and that we are about to leave our children to a terrible place that will never treat them like the treasure they are. I look at the road and all of the cars ahead of us as we sit in uncomfortable silence. {Sømetimes queit is viølent.}
The car comes to a halt sending my head flying against the seat head rest with a muffled thump. I drag Elinna's trunk pulling with two hands on one handle that's on the metal side.
Dan opens the door for me pushing the trunk inside of the building that started this family and that will end this family. I sit Elinna on the trunk next to the service desk as Dan holds Brendon in one hand, standing at the desk with me.
"Umm, hello." I murmur.
"Hello! How may I help you?" The same woman as last time greets us. "Oh, its just you two." She sighs, looking at us up and down. "What do you want?"
"May we please see Louise?" I ask, recalling her name like it was yesterday.
"Here to return the kids?" The woman smiles joyfully at our pain in our eyes.
"Just let us speak to Louise." Dan pounds his fist on the desk. The woman stares at us than picking up the phone quickly as if she will win the lottery if she does pick up the phone.
"Hello, Louise? Its those two gay men that I doubted on raising kids. They want to see you." She hangs the phone up quickly and smiles at us mischievously. Moments later we are greeted by the blonde haired lady; Louise.
"Hello Mr. Howell and Mr. Lester." Louise smiles. "Please, come in." we step in to the office for the last time and the place that will forever be in my nightmares. "What are you two doing here?" She asks.
"Well, we have a abdication that will forever pain both Dan and I." I tell her, looking at Elinna and Brendon in Dan's arms. "We're giving the kids back." Elinna grabs my waist and hugs me staring at Dan and I with the same eyes that we stared into when we met her; fear.
"What do you mean?" Elinna cries into my waist. "Daddy? Pooh?"
"Sweetie," Dan hands Elinna Brendon, Elinna shifting back in front of Louise. "We should've told you this..." Dan stared into my eyes as he bent down to Elinna and Brendon's level. "We have to leave you here." I bent down into the style that Dan is in.
"W-w-what do you m-mean?" Elinna asks, her eyes filling up with tears.
"We are giving you back to this place." I explain.
"B-but why?" Elinna stares at me, wondering our reason for this abandonment.
"Well, Pooh and I can't afford living right now and it would just be wrong if kept you and Brendon in this mess of a life when it isn't your fault." Dan sniffles his tears, trying to hold back a waterfall forming in his broken eyes.
"But, we can help!" Elinna pleads.
"No honey." Dan chimes in. "It would just be better if you stayed here." Elinna strokes Brendon's back in a slow rhythm.
"But, we want to leave you with a message that we want you to never ever forget." I place a hand on her shoulder. "Elinna, one day you'll just be a memory to some people. Do your best to be a good one. And someday you'll meet someone who is going to hug you so tight that, all your broken pieces will stick right back together. And you are that person who will stick people's broken pieces back together. I let you into my world, than you became it. Elinna I will miss you and Brendon more than anything or anyone could miss anything. I know you will do great things someday and I can't wait until you make someone as happy as you have made me and Pooh. But, people will take advantage of people that are kind and will do anything to make them happy, just do not fear to lose what needs to be lost because sometimes its for the better, and if someone passes you up a good person like you because they're too busy having fun they're a fool because one day they're gonna wish they had someone like you that cared more about them then they ever did about you. But, you should always tell people how important they are to you. Always. Because they will know never to hurt your or leave you. If someone really does love you, they will never hurt you. And if they do, you'll see that in their eyes, their hurting too." I looked at the windows behind Louise's desk that as the rain fell my tears began to also. "It doesn't matter where Pooh and I are, or who we're with; you're always in our hearts and on our mind." I wrapped my arms around Elinna's neck grabbing her into our last hug. I place a dry kiss on her forehead ending with a Eskimo kiss. I kiss Brendon softly, I see his lips curve into a frown as if he knows what's going on. Dan breaks down into tears, gasping for needed air putting his hands on his face.
"Its okay Pooh." Elinna comforts him. "Brendon and I are going to be alright thanks to you too." I study Elinna's braids
how perfect and manageable they look, soon the braids will be gone and her hair will be back to untameable and a mess
and soon her dress will turn into old rags that will never be washed. At least if she is never again in me and Dan's care. I stand up and wave my final goodbyes as Dan closes the door to a new way of life.

//A/N: Salutations muggles and beans! Sorry for the shitty chapter... but, there's only four chapters left so get ready! Also, you guys can always talk to me about anything! I need new friends so that would be cool too. Remember: "Stay Strong, Live On, And Power To The Local Dreamer."//