AUTHORS NOTE:

Hi anyone

Here is my first fan fiction story. Please be patient while I understand the uploading of chapters. I have been working on this story for the last year and a half and it is finally fully completed.

I promise to regularly update, possibly daily, depending on circumstances and sizing of chapters. Sometimes I may even upload a few chapters at one time.

This is a long story which I hope will provide a good read for at least someone out there. (Please let me know if it is difficult to read with not enough spaces etc.)

Thanks and enjoy :)

Shattered realities, broken homes

Basic info: Brax and Heath 5years difference, Heath and Casey 7years difference, Heath and Kyle 3years difference, Kyle ad Casey 4years difference, Brax and Casey 12years difference.

Chapter 1: Braxton beginnings Part 1-

Cheryl and Danny Braxton had just gotten married after being together for six months and falling pregnant. They were due to have their first child any day now. "Have you set up the cot and room for the baby?" Twenty-two year old Cheryl called out to her husband, twenty-five year old, Danny Braxton. Danny walked down the hallway to his wife who sat on the lounge. "All's done and ready for our little one." Danny sat down next to his wife. "Having this baby will be so wonderful." Cheryl cooed. Even though they didn't plan on this baby, they were still eager for its arrival and had their own ideas on how life with a baby would be like.

Cheryl woke up at 3am in the morning. Her water had broken. Shoving Danny she gasped. "It's time!" Danny got out of bed and groaned as helped his wife to the car and drove to the hospital. "Me woman's having a baby!" "Alright sir. Right this way." The nurse helped Cheryl into a bed and called for the doctor to take her to the delivery room. "What is your wife's name?" "Cheryl Braxton." The nurse took down some details and ushered Danny into the waiting room. Danny waited, yawning, it reached 4am in the morning, and he had not heard any news. Danny got up and walked to the reception desk. "What's takin' so long?" He asked, clearly agitated. "The doctor will let you know about your wife's progress as soon as they are finished." Danny grunted and sat back down.

In the delivery room, after hours of pushing, the nurse held up a small baby boy. "You have a son, Mrs. Braxton." Cheryl groaned and rested her head down. "Finally!" The doctor ushered Danny into the delivery room. "At 5:15am your wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy." The nurse handed the small baby to Danny, who looked at it. "This is what we've been waitin' for?" He didn't sound too impressed, holding the baby didn't give him the same reaction he thought it would. The baby started to cry. "What's wrong with it?" Danny asked the nurse. "He's just hungry. Here let me show you how to feed him." The nurse took the baby from Danny's arms and ushered him out of the room.

The next day, Cheryl woke to see her husband by her bedside. The nurse walked in shortly after holding their newborn son. The nurse handed the baby to Cheryl. "It's our son, hey." Danny smiled at his wife. Cheryl held the baby in her arms. "Darryl should be his name. Darryl Braxton." The nurse showed Cheryl and Danny how to feed, change, and bath Brax, before they were discharged from the hospital.

It didn't take long for the arrival of little Brax to cause chaos in the Braxton house. Brax woke up crying in the night. Cheryl and Danny groaned. They had barely gotten enough sleep since he had been born, he would be up for several hours at a time at night, and they just could not get him to settle. This was not how they pictured having a baby to be like, now they had to think of someone other than their own needs and it was not sitting well. Cheryl got up to attend to Brax's feed, then placed him back to sleep. A few hours later Brax woke crying again. "Arg! What is it this time?" Danny groaned. "You see to him. I went last time." Cheryl groaned. Danny picked up the crying baby. "You're doing my head in ya know." Danny took Brax to the bathroom and changed his dirty nappy. "There. Now stay asleep." Danny then went back to bed. Brax didn't wake up again that night and so Cheryl and Danny managed to get a few hours sleep, before having to get up and Danny having to go to work.

As the months passed looking after a baby was taking its toll on the married couple. They never had time for themselves, could never go out like they used to and were drained from the constant demands of their son. Danny finished work for the week and was exhausted. Brax had kept him awake all night with his constant crying and screaming, he had developed a fever from a gastrointestinal bug and the amount of dirty nappies and mess they had to clean up was unimaginable. Danny walked through the door carrying the groceries. "What took ya so long? Did ya get the babies' nappies and meds?" Cheryl snapped. She too was sick of dealing with her sick son. "Yeah, 'ang on. I only got home woman!" "Don't snap at me Danny! You ain't been the one at home with Darryl all day! I've had to clean up his vomit three times today! Not to mention numerous nappies! You take 'im!" Cheryl yelled and handed Brax to Danny.

With the yelling it unsettled Brax and as he was roughly passed to his father he vomited all over his jump-suit and on Danny. "Uck!" Danny held Brax away from him as he looked at the mess. Brax screamed again and his fever had not settled. Danny gave Brax a bath and got him cleaned up. The bath managed to get his fever down and Danny gave him his medicine and put him to bed. "You're a lot of trouble Darryl." Danny told him as he watched him lay in his cot then walked out into the kitchen where he met with Cheryl. "He's finally asleep. Why did we get into all this?" "I done it because I thought we loved each other." Cheryl walked over to her husband. "You're me woman, course I love ya." Danny wrapped his arm around Cheryl. "Let's go sit down. I got a little something for us." Danny and Cheryl walked to the lounge and Danny grabbed out the bottle of alcohol he bought on the way home from work. "I think we need this." Cheryl smiled. "You couldn't be more right." Danny and Cheryl drank the entire bottle within an hour. It felt great to escape their reality like this after so long unaware of how much of dependence it would now lead to.

Little Brax squealed at the big cake and the two presents that sat in front of him. It was his second birthday. It wasn't much seeing as Cheryl and Danny could not afford it with bills and spending their money on alcohol. "You're a big boy now Darryl." Cheryl spoke. "Sanks Mum, Sanks Dad." Brax smiled. "He still needs to work on his speaking skills. Danny grunted. Cheryl poked him. "He's only still a baby, give him time." Brax opened one of his presents it was a stuffed dog toy. "Yay!" Brax squealed and hugged it. Brax placed it aside and opened the remaining present, which contained a small train set. Brax smiled happily and ran up to his parents and hugged them. "Arg! Darryl grow up. None of this hugging business." Danny pushed his son away. "Sowrry." Brax pulled away and took his toys to play with in his room. Cheryl and Danny sat down and sipped their bottle of alcohol. They were now going through two bottles a week with the stress of looking after baby Brax.

Cheryl was home with Brax again and desperately wanted a drink. Although he had been quietly playing with his new train set in the living room, hearing him making his train noises to himself was doing her head in. She had a headache from not getting much sleep and lack of alcohol. She looked into the cupboard to see all alcohol bottles empty. "Arg!" She slammed the cupboard. Brax looked up towards the noise. "Mum?" He called. Cheryl ignored him but walked back into the living room. "Would you stop that noise!" Brax was confused. The tone of her voice made him unsettled and he started to cry. "Oh don't start that! I've got a headache! Go play somewhere else, will ya!"

Brax went to pick up his toy, but was stopped at the loud slamming of the front door where Danny stormed in. "What a day. I need a drink!" Danny walked into the kitchen, only to see the same as Cheryl, no alcohol. "Where's all the alcohol woman?" Cheryl walked into the kitchen. "We drank it all! And you haven't gotten your lazy butt to get some more!" "Me? What do you think I'm made of? Money? I seem to remember I'm the only one workin' here. Tryin' to support this family!" "Support?" Cheryl scoffed. "You're barely ever here with your work to even look after our son! I'm the one that has to deal with all his demands!" "I look after him too!" Brax had crawled towards the kitchen. Cheryl and Danny turned to see their son staring at them. "What do you want?" Danny yelled. "Get out of here!" Brax sat staring, his toy train on the floor. "Take your stupid toy and go!" He yelled, kicking Brax's toy train across the floor. Brax watched his toy travel across the room and started to wail. "Now look what you did! I've got a headache. I don't need him screamin'" Danny glared at his wife. "Fine! You want me to look after him. I'll look after him!" Danny stormed over to Brax and picked him up around the waist. "Come on." Brax held out his hands to reach for his toy. Danny bent down and grabbed it off the floor and carried Brax into his bedroom.

Danny dropped Brax into his cot. "You gotta learn to stop that annoyin' crying, ya mother, and I only argue cause of you." Brax couldn't understand a word his father was saying and continued to cry. Danny ran his hands through his hair. "Will you stop!" He shouted and gripped the sides of the cot, shaking it. The loudness of his voice startled Brax and he stopped crying and looked at his father in fright. Danny gripped the cot so tightly his knuckles turned white. He looked at his son and before he took his anger any further he tossed Brax's train into the cot and stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Brax was too young to understand why his parents were irritated all the time and how when he was a baby he remembered feeling some sense of love.