How He Broke

Can't Keep Doing This (Tate's POV)

I shut the door behind me, making my way to the stairs.

It's not that I was necessarily afraid of Nora, because I wasn't. She had been there for me as a child when my mother never was, but if she had plans of either harming Sage or Indigo in any way, I wanted to make sure she had no opportunity to do so.

Once down the stairs, I made my way towards the basement door.

Once I had reached the door, I paused. I hadn't seen Nora in years. I wasn't sure if she would even recognize me now.

I took a deep breath, twisting the door knob before pushing it open, revealing the stairs down into the basement.

"Nora?" I called for her before I began the descent down. "Nora are you down there?"

There was no response.

"Nora, It's me.. Tate." I spoke as I continued to make my way down the stairs. "Nora I just want to talk to you, please come out."

I sighed once I had reached the bottom of the steps, taking a seat.

"Okay, Nora, look," I sighed, resting my arms on my knees and my chin in the palm of my hand. "I just really need to talk to you. I have no problem sitting here and waiting for you to come out if that's what it's going to take." I stated. 

"W-Who's there?" I finally heard her voice echo throughout the basement.

"It's me, Tate." I answered. "Life's too short for so much sorrow." I spoke, knowing that was the one thing to help and jog her memory.

With a sad sigh, Nora Montgomery emerged from hiding, standing in front of me with a guilty smile. "Hello, Tate." She greeted me. "Look at how much you've grown!"

I shook my head, not letting her get me off track from the reason I came down here in the first place. "My girlfriend saw you in her dreams." I said.

"Oh? How strange." Nora said, her hands behind her back as she crossed her right foot behind the left. 

"What are you planning to do, Nora?" I asked, getting straight to the point. 

Nora scoffed, putting a hand over her heart as she gave me a look of shock. "What ever would lead you to believe I was planning something, Tate?"

"Sage said that in her dream, you were holding our baby, Indigo." I answered.

"So holding a baby is a crime then?" Nora laughed, "Well, I don't exactly know what the laws are nowadays, but back in my day you had the right to hold a baby if you so pleased."

I frowned, "It's not a crime to hold a baby, Nora." I tilted my head to better look up at her, "But it's definitely not okay to claim a baby as yours when you know rightfully it's not."

Nora looked away sheepishly. 

"I love that baby, Nora," I explained, "And I love that baby's mother even more, and as much as I care about you as well, I don't want to have to something I'll regret." 

Her eyes widened. "You aren't implying that you'd..."

I nodded, "If it came down to it, Nora, I would."

"It's as if you've forgotten who you wished was your mother as a child!" She turned away from me. "You should know me well enough Tate, to know that I would never hurt that baby nor the baby's mother!" 

I stood with a sigh, walking over to her. "I know you wouldn't do anything deliberately to hurt her, Nora, but Sage doesn't know that." I explained, "And she's had it really hard lately so she's kind of on edge."