Leon Urie (Adopted By The Uries) ~COMPLETE~

Chapter Seventeen (Epilogue)

Leon sat on his bed, cross-legged, watching the glowing yellow numbers of the alarm clock on his dresser slowly tick away the minutes. 1:45 a.m. 1:46 a.m. 1:47….
  He couldn't sleep. He couldn't really do anything but sit and watch the numbers and try to let his brain process what had happened just under twelve hours ago.
  1:56 a.m. Leon suddenly noticed how dry his mouth was. The last thing he'd had to drink was the tea that his dad had made for him, that he'd drank half of and let the rest get cold on the coffee table. He stretched his legs and got up, swaying slightly in the dark.
  The small light over the counter was on in the kitchen, and somehow, Leon wasn't surprised to find his dad sitting at the table, a glass of water, half empty, in front of him. Brendon's phone was on the table, facedown, ignored.
 “Hey, dad,” Leon tried to say, but his voice, unused for hours, cracked, so all that came out was a small, “Dad.” He cleared his throat and tried again, this time more successful.
 Brendon looked up at him. “Hey, kiddo. Can't sleep?”
  Leon nodded, and crossed to the sink and filled a glass with water. He didn't know what to say when he'd sat down, so he stayed quiet.
 “How are you holding up?”
 “I don't… I'm not sure. I'm not… I'm not scared anymore.” Leon mumbled. It was true, the sense of dread in the pit of his stomach that he'd lived with ever since the first letter from his biological father was gone. Now it was replaced by a sort of hollow ache.
 He couldn't seem to look his dad in the face, instead looking at his hands. There was a long silence, and Leon had the terrible feeling that his dad didn't know what to say, didn't know the way anymore. Leon couldn't blame him.
  “You were really brave, Leon. You were incredible,” Brendon said finally.
 Leon pressed his lips together. “I- I didn't feel brave. I was terrified.”
  “So was I,” Brendon admitted.
 Leon looked up at him, and finally voiced what he had been asking himself all along. “I’m glad that he's gone. It feels terrible, but it's true. He's my father, but he's also a manipulative, violent asshole.”
  “He put you through a lot, Leon,” Brendon gently took Leon's cold hand in his slightly warmer one, and Leon felt a little better. “You didn't deserve what he did to you.”
  Leon bit his lip. Finally, he said, “No, I really didn't.” Somehow, admitting that made a world of difference. Leon remembered his mom coming home an hour after the police had cleared away, the way he'd felt safe in her arms, and the boiling mix of residual sadness, fear, and anger at his birth father subsided a little. Everything seemed a lot simpler.
 “I think…” he looked up at his dad. “I think, as long as I have you and mom, and Frankie, I think it's gonna be fine. I'm gonna be fine,” he said, and smiled.

The End.