Open Case File [COMPLETED]

Parting Words

As always someone asked for a moment between Donovan's father and Donovan and I was curious about it that I wrote it.

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Donovan folded his white shirt in half, pressing his hand along the edge, making a neat crease before folding it in half again and tucking it into his duffle bag.

"Nervous?" his mother said.

Donovan didn't look at her and reached for another shirt. "No."

They both knew he was lying. He was aware that his mother could tell the state of his nerves by the way he was packing his bag. It was all neat edges and control because right then he didn't feel control. He felt on the edge of an unknown that was too great for him. Not wanting to deal with it, Donovan turned his mother's focus away from him.

"What do you think I should expect with Link?" he asked.

His mother sat in a chair beside his bed, legs crossed, posture comfortable. The sight of her sitting there was a familiar one. When she wasn't in the main part of the house or her office, she could often be found in her sons' rooms, talking to them, listening to all that they would share with her.

"He has only just learned who his father is. For anyone that would set their whole world on its head. It's harder for him since now his world is truly set on its head, he's had to move schools, change his appearance, and have you in his life."

A tinge of sadness entered his mother's eyes and Donovan paused in his work, unsure what the look meant.

"He will hate you," she said.

"I figured."

His mother leaned forward, resting a hand on Donovan's stilling his work.

"No, I don't think you do. It's not you that he will hate, it's his father, it's a life that he didn't ask for, it's the change that he now has to deal with, it's his mother lying to him. All of that will be put on you."

Donovan looked down at the pair of pants he was folding, already feeling the burden of so many emotions aimed at him. "Why me?"

"Because he can't hate his father because his father won't be there often enough, his mother is someone he has always loved so he won't want to take out his hurt on her. But you. You are the symbol of everything that is different in his world. For him, you will embody all the hurt he feels and since he doesn't know you, doesn't have a connection with you, he will hate you and take out his hurt on you."

Already weary, Donovan sank onto his bed and rested his face in his hands.

"How do I handle all of that?"

His mother dropped onto the floor before him, holding onto his wrists. "You take it one day at a time. And you build a connection. It won't happen right away and it won't be easy, but knowing how stubborn and determined you are, I have no doubt you can do it."

Wearing a small smile, Donovan pulled his hands away and met his mother's eyes. She stared back at him and brushed her hand on his face. It was such a tender touch that Donovan felt like a little boy again. He knew if his brothers saw how he let himself be comforted they won't let him forget it, but right then he needed it.

He was leaving everything he knew. For all sixteen years of his life this house, this base, this coast had been his whole world. Now he was going to a world he had never experienced. His world was being turned on its head.

In the moment, he knew a little about how Link was feeling.

Donovan swallowed. "I'm going to miss you."