After Hours

28. Error

"I'm sure it's not that bad, let me see."

Elijah Banks had royally fucked up.

The twenty one year old had never been the one to abide by the rules, he was a troublemaker at best. He had never finished high school, he started smoking and drinking early and he definitely had a problem with keeping his mouth shut. He wasn't what many people would call a role model, and it was far from what he wanted to be.

He was used to fucking up regularly.

But even he knew, what he had done was unfixable.

There was no coming back from his mistake this time.

"-Shit, shit, shit." The cusses kept pouring out of his mouth as he stared down at the black and white picture with wide eyes. He could barely make out what he was looking at, however, just the thought alone of what the image indicated was enough to create the feeling of fear and anxiety.

Shoving his head into his hands, he let out a loud groan. He was sitting in his uncle's living room, faint sounds of the television on in the background filled the air. "I fucked up so bad."

The professor rolled his tired eyes, setting the cup of coffee down onto the table, he moved over to join his nephew on the sofa. He had been busy marking papers when Elijah had knocked on the door; urgent to talk. Of course, that was all that was needed to be said for the door to be pulled open and there they currently were sitting in his living room at almost midnight.

Taking a seat on the plush sofa, he cleared his throat snatching the pictures that Elijah had disregarded on the table and looked down at them.

That was when his mouth went dry.

"Gianni Elijah Banks, what the fuck is this."

By the drastic change of atmosphere in the room, Elijah knew his uncle would fail to console him. And by the mention of his full name, he knew he was in trouble. He took his head out of his hands, and angled his head over to stare at the fuzzy image.

Thick tension rippled through the air.

"It isn't yours is it?" Silver muttered, finally tearing his eyes away.

He received a weak nod as his reply, and his eyes only darkened with more disappointment.

"How many weeks?" He asked calmly.

"6."

"I guess now would be the wrong time to tell you to use protection huh?"

Elijah grunted at the sound of the untimely sarcasm, he squeezed his eyes shut before raking his hands through his hair, and tugging at the strands roughly. If it was possible, the walls felt like they were caving in on him. "What should I do?"

Silver pursed his lips, with an awkward chin scratch, he placed the sonogram back down onto the glass table and knitted his eyebrows together in bewilderment. He thought about his failing student, and for some reason he felt his palms begin to sweat at the thought of her being pregnant.

Rainy Love was pregnant.

With his nephew's child.

That thought alone made him clench his jaw, a burst of emotion hitting him. He wasn't sure what he felt, but he was certain that it wasn't joy. It was hard for him to comfort his own blood when he wanted to do anything but that.

He pushed his racing thoughts aside, knowing that he was the responsible adult. At the end of the day, family was more important to him than pesky feelings.

"I'll never tell you what to do in this situation Eli, this is your ultimately decision. However, what I can do is make sure you know what all of this entails." Silver said, a frown sketched onto his face as he continued on. "Have you thought about everything properly? Like how you're going to provide for the baby? A steady income? You'll need to get a real job Elijah."

His authoritative side was coming out, and he found the deadpan expression back on his face relaying the obvious yet easily forgettable information. "Your parents won't be happy about this either, they'll freak out. You'll need to grow up, and start thinking about your actions. Are you even ready to raise a child?"

Elijah swallowed at all the endless questions, feeling completely overwhelmed. The nerves were eating him alive. "I know, that's why I came to you first. I thought you could give me some advice."

Silver held back the blunt response he was itching to say, and gritted his teeth.

How could he give advice when he didn't even have a fucking child, he thought to himself.

It was definitely the lack of sleep that was causing him react like a bigger asshole than usual.

"I'm only telling you all of this because I care."

"I know."

His uncle sighed deeply, biting down on his bottom lip. He was aware of the fact that he was being hard on him, but it was difficult not to be realistic. "Eli... I'm always going to be there for you, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want. Yeah, it's a lot to take in, but I know you'll do the right thing. You're a good kid, you know right from wrong."

Elijah listened carefully, nodding every now and then. "A real man will be there every step of the way." He reminded no one in particular, it was as if he was trying to force himself to believe what he was saying. Feeling a hand press down onto his back, slow, rubbing motions made him feel temporarily better, and he was able to relax his tense shoulders.

It was a struggle for the next few words to leave Silver's mouth, but he fought back the bitter taste with a scowl.

"How does Rainy feel about all of this?"

The silence was deafening, they sat there for what felt like the longest time before Elijah finally answered.

And the answer was nothing remotely similar to what the professor had in mind.

"I told you I fucked up badly didn't I? This is where the bad part comes in."

Nothing could prepare him for it.

"It's not Rainy's."