Modern Love 2: The After Years

Night Party

Night Party

After they got the kitchen cleaned up from their good fight and all got showered, Maggie helps Beth give Van a bath. Beth gets him stripped naked and into the warm bath. Maggie gasps at the sight of him. Beth does too. She thought it was just his back. Down his thighs are cuts like he's cut himself, which is not truly what happened. His chest too has cigarette burns all over and his scars on his back are huge and look like they were bad.

"Oh my Beth. I know you said he was abused, but this."

"I didn't know it was this bad. Oh my god. Daryl!" She calls out the door and pretty much everyone comes to see what Beth's yelling about. Daryl appears in the doorway. "Did you see yer son?"

"Yeah, but... shit what the Hell?" Daryl walks in an kneels beside Beth and Maggie to exam Van.

"Van, buddy, does that hurt?" Daryl asks and gently touches the marks on Van's body.

Van shakes his head no and then starts to cry into Daryl's neck, wrapping his arms around Daryl.

"It's okay. Van. It's alright." Beth feels bad. She knew he was abused, but she didn't know it was this horrible.

"Vannick. It's okay. Mommy and Daddy are here. It's okay, sweetie." Beth gently rubs his bak and Maggie and the others frown in sorrow for the young boy. Van now has an arm around both Beth and Daryl and they hold him close and tight.

"Well let you two bath him. We'll be painting the rest of his room and start laying the floor. Then we can party and decorate." Maggie says as he stands up an shoos the others out the door.

Once they're alone, Beth and Daryl pull Van back and examine him. His front is speckled with cigarette burns and bruises. His legs are lined with small scars, with too many to count, and his back looks like someone took a throny whip and lashed him over a thousand times. Beth wants to cry. Her lil boy is marked up from assholes, who never deserved him.

"Daryl, we have to get him checked out by a doctor."

"Beth, they have checked him. They're scars and they healed already. It's not like they can erase them from him." Beth starts to cry and Van, as cute as he is, wipes her tears away, like she had the day she found him in the closet. "Let's jus get him his bath and then decorate his room for him to sleep in tonight."

"Okay." They wash him up and down. They splash him with water and make him giggle and smile. The whole time, Daryl thinks of how lucky Van is to have them. And how lucky they are to have him.

They dry him off an out him in Winnie the Pooh footy pajamas, with a hood, and walk him to the living room holding his hands on either side. Everyone smiles and claps and woods as Van shyly hides behind Daryl and Beth.

Hershel steps forward. "I have a gift for you lil one. Would you like to see it?"

Van she's away and Hershel just laughs and pulls out a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy. Van smiles and slowly takes it from him.

"Van. What do you say honey?" With a lot of hesitation, Van let's go over Beth and Daryl and slowly makes his way to Hershel and hugs him around the neck. "That's Papa."

"Oh you're gonna be my best lil bud now aren't you?" Van looks up at him and touches his beard. "Yes, it's real, but I swear I'm not Santa."

"Dad I don't think he knows who that is." Beth laughs and Daryl pulls her into his grasp. Van looks at them and then at Maggie and Glenn. Glenn hunches down and Van walks over to him, losing his fear of men pretty quickly and places his thumbs at the edges of Glenn's eyes. Everyone laughs.