Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 84 ||

A long time was spend chatting between the four. Getting to know Alex and the other way around. A big part of it was also spend asking into Maisie's whole experience. Not much was said from Maisie about it though. Replying most of the times, that she wasn't really ready to talk about whatever they asked about. Everyone understood and went back to Alex. Leaning more about her.

About where she was from, when she started at Maisie's school and so on. Finding out that Alex was from the other side of the country and had to move, because her father got transferred. They found out that she had a mother as well, who was a doctor and a younger sister, who was adopted just like Maisie. Alex praised Claire and Owen multiple times for the way they had taken the whole thing. Which got Claire to ask into Alex' coming out, making sure to tell her that it was perfectly fine and understandable, if she didn't want to talk about it. Alex didn't have a problem with it, since her coming out was much like Maisie's. Her whole family was okay with it and she had been just as nervous and scared as Maisie.

After a lot of talking, Claire seemed to sense that Maisie wanted to go upstairs. That she wanted to get away from her parents and to just be alone with her girlfriend. Which made Claire's lips tuck into a smile when she thought about it.

"Why don't you two go upstairs?" Claire suggested softly. Maisie nodded thankfully to her mom, thanking the lucky stars once again, for her mom coming into her life. "Hey Alex, are you staying for dinner?" Claire was quick to ask before the girls disappeared up the stairs. Both of them stopping in their tracks. "Oh eh...I don't know" Alex said, looking between Maisie and Claire. "You're more than welcome" Claire said, glancing over to Maisie quickly, to see how she felt about it. She wasn't really able to tell though. The girl didn't really seem either excited or disappointed. Alex looked up at Maisie as well, to check how she felt. She noticed both their eyes on her and started to panic a bit, but composed herself quickly. "You can if you want to" Maisie told Alex who didn't really seem convinced. She narrowed her eyes at Maisie who quickly realized that it probably sounded like she didn't want Alex to stay. She really did though, she never wanted to let her go. "No really, stay" Maisie said and added a smile, before looking down to send one her mom's way. Grabbing Alex' hand to continue up the stairs, dragging Alex closely behind her, into her room.

Down in the living room, Owen was still sitting on the couch, just as Claire left him. Not the same expression though. When she turned around, she found him with a shit eating grin on his face, while slightly shaking his head. She narrowed her eyes at him and put a hand up to rest on her hip. She didn't need to say anything, before he spat out what was on his mind. "Well I have to give her that. I did not see that coming" He said and burst out laughing. It took Claire a second but she quickly started biting her lips together in a smile, before joining him in laughter and walking over to him. He put out his arm out again for her, and she sat back down and rested her body against his. Both of them still laughing a bit.

Claire put her hand on Owen's thigh and let her thumb stroke across is slowly. "How did we not know though?" She then asked and swallowed. "You saw how terrified she was when they walked around that corner. We did sense that she was a bit stressed and I guess most of her energy went into this. Not being able to stop thinking about it ever since the first thought popped into her mind. A lot of the energy probably also went into hiding it from us. Doing her best to seem like she was fine and we weren't to worry...I'm glad it's off her shoulders" Owen said, sighing softly at the last part and turning his head to give Claire's a kiss. She nodded against his shoulder and sighed as well. Claire didn't say anything for a bit. Owen just rubbed her shoulder slightly, while their thoughts made attempt at gathering themselves.

Suddenly Claire said "I'm such a bad mom". It wasn't a cry or in a sad tone. But in the time it took Owen to turn himself around and look at her, tears were already streaming down her face. Quickly grabbing a hold of both her shoulders, forcing her to look in his direction. "Claire baby no no no, don't start this honey. You're not! You're the best, you hear me? The absolute best. Not realizing that something this big was going on with Maisie, does not make you any less of a good mom. Things like this are often hard for parents to spot. I've both read, heard and experienced it with Derek. Claire do you hear me?" She sniffled a bit and exhaled. He looked at her for a brief second. Her hair dangling down her face, cheeks red and eyes looking down. He quickly shuffled a bit and pulled her closer, whispering "Baby come here, come here". Hugging her as close to him as possible.

"Claire baby, did you even hear a word of what I said?" Owen asked after she had calmed down enough to be able to put together a coherent sentence. She nodded instead and slowly looked up at him. "I just...my poor girl" She said. He reached up and wiped one of her cheeks, letting his hand run down to her jaw, resting it there. "Good...Now Alex is still here, Maisie is most likely still extremely nervous. Perhaps she's still scared how we will take it when Alex goes home. All we have to do right now, is make sure that Maisie is comfortable as well as Alex. Claire nodded and sniffled again, but didn't get to speak before Charlie spoke up from her little playground on the floor. "Mama mama mama" Shrieking loud enough to make both her parents turn around and even put a smile on her mom's face.

Owen stood up and went over to pick up the little redhead, walking back to the same spot on the couch and sitting down with her in his lap. "Is mom the best mom ever?" He asked Charlie, who reached out towards his face and clapped, as she broke into laughter. "Can you tell her that?" He asked Charlie, turning her towards Claire. The smaller redhead was quick to reach out for the bigger one, making Claire smile even more. She took her daughter into her arms and kissed her forehead, wiping it with her finger, after having left some remaining tears there. "Tell her" Owen said, staring right into Claire's green eyes, which looked upwards towards him and locked. "Tell her" He whispered. Claire sniffled again and leaned forward, automatically making Owen to the same thing. Their lips met in the middle and Owen couldn't tell if it was old or new tears on her lips. "The best" He whispered after they pulled apart slightly. Claire swallowed thickly. "I love you" She whispered, followed by a sniffle. "I love you too...so does Charlie...and so does Maisie" He said, making her lean in for another kiss.

Yes, this took two weeks and yes, I wrote it just before I uploaded it.

I would apologize but if I remember correctly – I'm pretty sure I warned you guys that there would be no consistent uploading any longer.

I also recall, promising that there would be more Clawen seeing as the past chapters have been lacking exactly that.

Hope you enjoyed it though.

Please forgive me, for being an unmotivated lazy bugger.