Time To Live

Chapter 25: Brotherhood

It felt like a full circle moment as Jenna sat in the rocking chair and watched her ex methodically stacking boxes of her clothing in the corner beside the small closet. When the pile had become the Leaning Tower of Pisa Part II, he smirked and gestured at the mess. "Christian's little closet isn't going to fit your shoe collection, so we're going to have to figure something out."

She shrugged at the idea of movement and continued to admire his work ethic. "It is what it is. I'll get a new place as soon as I can, and then there won't be any problems. This is just an interim thing," she sighed with the weight of having to rearrange her entire life again.

Something passed over Chris' expressive brown eyes and he wrung his hands together nervously. "I was kind of hoping that maybe, well, I might have a compromise."

She actually cracked a smile at this, at his sudden stumbling shyness. Whatever he had in mind, he was nervous to voice the thought. "What are you thinking, Mr. Cerulli?" she prodded him, uncrossing her legs and leaning back into the wooden chair. "You have that look at says that you're afraid to say it."

"Well," he cleared his throat lightly and continued to wrench his tattooed fingers together anxiously. "I was thinking that we could maybe look at some houses together." Quickly he added, "Or, you know, just a bigger apartment or a condo."

Jenna considered this for a few moments, tossing the idea over and over in her mind like a dryer on spin. Aware that Chris' eyes were hopefully attuned to her expression, she kept from frowning. "I don't know," she eventually sighed. "I don't want to rush back into this and make everything worse."

At this, Chris actually snorted. "Jen, be serious: can this get worse?" Immediately regretting his words, he winced. "It's better, I know. I'm sorry. But this," he gestured between them and frowned, "this has been all over the place for a long time." He paused, chewed his bottom lip and allowed his gaze to focus downward toward his Vans. "I thought things were improving."

She understood perfectly where he was coming from, so she tried to assure him that, yes, their situation was improving. "It is," she smiled sweetly in agreement. "Please don't think that I'm hesitating because of anything you've done, Christopher," she assured him with another smile. "I just don't think that we should buy a place together because of, well, He Who Shall Not Be Named."

As if he'd anticipated this, Chris spun around, approached her, and dropped down onto his knees in front of the rocker. He immediately gripped her tiny hands in his gently, and gazed up into her soulful brown eyes with hope, so much raw hope. "I would never ask you to move back in just because of what happened, Jen." His voice was that sultry softness that came with seriousness. "I'm asking because I love you and I love Christian, and I want more than anything for us to be a family. A real, proper family. Maybe I didn't want that in the past, maybe I was afraid to admit that, but I'm not afraid anymore: I want this. I will fight for this, for us!"

* * *

Nick sat on the sofa, ankles crossed and propped on the coffee-table as his nephew slept in his arms, his little drooling, candy-covered face pressed into his uncle's chest. Every so often he would stop conversing with his brother and quickly glance down at the little guy, just to make sure that he was still sleeping soundly. How anyone could sleep like this, using his bony body as a pillow, was beyond even his best guesses, but the little dude sure seemed content. Admittedly, this fact warmed his heart: he was kind of a big fan of the kid.