As Much as You {completed}

Carmen: 23.

                “Don’t worry; Ezra will be here in a minute.”

                “Well where is he, Kevin?” Carmen hissed, her eyes red from crying. “How could he just get up and take our son, without as much as a note. They could be anywhere. Knowing that man’s new sick, twisted mind, he could—” Carmen cut herself off, letting her mouth form an O. She fell down onto the kitchen chair, her face going white. “Oh, God.”

                “Now, Carmen,” Kevin rushed, “don’t think like that.”

                “We need to call the police.”

                “No, we don’t. I’m sure everything is OK. Everything’s going to be fine. They’ve probably gone for a walk.”

                “What would a young boy barely five want to do going out for a walk in the middle of the night, and why would he pick Ezra to go with him? Obviously this is Ezra’s doing.”

                “Maybe Ezra wants to get to know him?” Kevin suggested meekly, taking a seat in the chair opposite. He should be sitting in the chair next to her, he should be comforting her, but something was stopping him. Although Harrison was like his son, Harrison wasn’t actually – biologically – his son. Ezra was Harrison’s biological father. He was smart enough; he probably had worked this all out. Kevin knew that. This was a family moment, and although Kevin and Carmen were family, he suddenly felt like he shouldn’t be here.

                He was selfish to look after Carmen, to help her, because he was attracted to her.

                He was foolish to bring Harrison here, to the boy’s real father’s home.

                And he knew that if that accident hadn’t happened, Ezra, Carmen and Harrison would be one happy family.

                “Don’t be so ridiculous,” Carmen snapped, looking her husband in the eye. “He believes that Harrison is yours. So why would he want to get to know him? He probably detests him.”

                Suddenly, conversations that Carmen had had with him about Joel ran through his mind, and he grinned. All those dark thoughts he’d just had, all that guilt and blame, was subsided. There was so much to be happy about in the future, once they found Harrison.

                “Look, I’ll go and look for him.”

                “Why are you smiling?”

                “No reason,” the Doctor replied, kissing Carmen on the head. “I’ll grab my coat and—”

                Suddenly, the door opened, and a giggling Harrison ran in.

                “I’m gunna get you!”

                “No, Mr. Crocodile! Please, I’ve been good.”

                “I know you have,” Ezra walked in, crouched over with his hands beside his face. His face was twisted into a funny expression.

                Yelling out in hysterics, Harrison turned around to his mother just as she stood up, letting her chair scrap against the floor.      

                “Mommy! We’ve had so much fun!”

                “Harrison,” Carmen said coolly, “go in the living room. I shall deal with you later.”