Soo, finally I managed to start a story where Erik is Charles' father. Be nice please. English isn't my first language.
I hope you like the story and if yes then I gonna to continue!
So have fun
CHAPTER 1: NEW BEGINNINGS
As Erik heard the first time that he had a son, he stayed quiet. Then he burst out in laughter.
The social worker, a woman, wasn't pleased. She was one of these people who loved their job and especially these kids she was working with. It looked like she was used to having such conversations but she still looked not older than thirty and was just since 6 years a social worker, so she hadn't expected to hear laughter but life is full of surprises…
You would think in her job she should have already experienced a such situation but no she didn't.
Still, she was a professional. Everything she was able to do to show her dissatisfaction was by raising her right eyebrow.
It turned out one of these 'kids' was his fourteen year old son.
He still laughed.
He and being a father? Having a son? That was really ridiculous! More than ridiculous! That was absurd!
"You're kidding, right?" he asked her under laughter.
For a moment he really thought she would turn her serious mask down and say 'Of course I am joking! Who comes into a house and announces his owner that he has a kid?'
But she didn't laugh. There wasn't even a blinker. Her hands laid on the papers in her lap.
Erik stopped laughing. He wrinkled his forehead and blinked.
It was quiet now in the room.
As this woman, Miss Darcy, called him and asked him if she could come to his house because of urgent case, he didn't protest. She wanted to talk about a child. It was something she couldn't discuss at the phone. So he said her that he was home and that she could come.
Erik thought that she wanted to talk about this abused kid who lived in the front house of his place. The parents of this kid were kind people but also very strict. There were a lot of shouts coming from the house but which parent didn't scream at his kid.
However, as the situation escalated the neighbors called child's services. The parents turned out to be abusive. The kid was taken away.
So Erik thought she was talking about 'this' kid and not about 'his' kid.
After she came to his house he lead her into the living-room- She sat opposite of him and stared at him and he couldn't but just stare back.
Suddenly the room was filled with strain.
'No, that couldn't be true!' He thought as Miss Darcy laid the papers in her hands in front of him on the coffee table.
She opened carefully the file and right in front of him stared a smiling boy in a school-uniform at him. He wore a white shirt and over the shirt was a cream red pullover. The pullover had a school-badge.
Behind him were trees and an old building. Looks like a school. An expensive school.
Yes, the kid was obviously rich… Erik didn't like rich kids. They were too spoilt., have always been and would always be.
Erik couldn't remember any rich woman he went out with. Well… there could one woman be from his past but she wasn't a mother and would never be. If she would have been pregnant then she would have got rid of it before she would kept it.
Erik was sure of it.
"There must be a mistake. I mean… this kid can't be mine. I just can't have a kid…" He took his head in hands and tried to massage it. He turned his eyes away and looked then at the woman.
"Why are you saying that? Aren't you able to procreate yourself… ?" She asked carefully.
"What? No! I mean, yes I am able to have children, but this is to… crazy!" Now Erik looked very desperate.
"Who's the mother anyway. If I don't know her then yeah… but if I know her, what I really don't expect then-" As Erik turned his gaze back down at the file for the mother's name he stocked.
No, this couldn't be.
"Well, sir. Do you know her?" But the question of Miss Darcy was superfluous. The widen eyes told her enough. The kid was obviously the child's father.
Erik couldn't believe his eyes. Sharon Xavier was the mother. The same woman of who he thought would never want to have any children. How is that possible. And next to the mother's was also listed the father's name. The father's name was his name. Erik Lehnsherr.
They met each other years ago in the University. Their relationship was never a good one but it wasn't bad either. They went out for three years until they decided to go apart. Sharon moved back to New York and Erik moved for a while to Heidelberg in Germany and travelled then through Europe. He even stayed for some years in France and Russian until he was offered a job in America.
Erik knew Sharon wouldn't lie and he knew he is the father of this kid. Sharon didn't just sleep around. She was many things: a spoilt woman and she even drank sometimes too much (later he would learn that she started to drink more than a little), but she never was the person for one -nightstands.
He was without a doubt the father. But still… there was left only one question.
"Why did she kept him?" Erik asked.
"Excuse me?" The social worker blinked in disbelief. This question was really unexpected.
"I asked why did she keep him? I mean… Sharon wasn't a mother and she never wanted any children. Her life goal was to stay away from any kind of things which involved them. I… I just do not understand."
"My respect Mr. Lehnsherr but that's not what this is about. It doesn't matter anymore. The main topic is her son. He doesn't have any relatives anymore. You're his only relative and Miss Xavier didn't say anything about who should take custody of her son in the case of her death."
She paused and took one more breath.
"Mr Lehnsherr, I understand that it must be a shock for you and that it is not best situation to learn you have a child but you're his only choice for not getting into the system. Now, it is really important for you to think really good about the choice you are going to make. You have to understand that boy's future life depends on you. It is a really hard decision but you are his father and he is your son. That is not going to change any day. Do you understand?"
Erik looked at her expressionless. Then he turned his gaze again down and looked at the boy.
He had definitely his blue eyes and the rest of the boy's looks was Sharon's.
His eyes wandered to his own name. There stood black on white Erik Lehnsherr.
Erik's hand covered now his mouth. "How did you find me? I mean… you have just my name. The last time I saw Sharon was in London. After London, I travelled through whole Europe and stayed even in Russian. I just… How? How did you find me?"
"Well, it was a hardship, I must admit that. But luckily for us, Miss Xavier left your old address. After that I had just to follow your footsteps and here we are now." She smiled now gently.
Erik chuckled. "Since when does a social worker have that much time for a single kid?"
"I'm young. I'm ambitious."
Erik said nothing. Yes, she was really ambitious. More than ambitious.
He looked back at the photo. Fourteen. The kid must be fourteen now. He didn't look fourteen. Maybe twelve, but not fourteen.
This was really ridiculous.
Unlike Sharon, he wasn't against having a child but he didn't want them either. That was nothing for him. He wasn't a father. He didn't know what to do with them. That was the reason why he still didn't have any children and why he ended always a relationship when one of his girlfriends started talking about having sometime children in the future.
Children just didn't like him. That was all. It was nothing personally.
Well… now it was.
"I can't." Erik pressed finally out.
"What do you want to say by I can't? What is the problem?"
"I'm not a father. I don't know anything about children or even teenagers."
"The most fathers don't know anything about fatherhood at the beginning."
"They don't like me."
"How do you know that?"
"Because…, because… I… "Erik waved with his hand in the air," I just can't. I don't know…"
He sighed frustrated and covered his face in his hands.
Miss Darcy stayed professional not determinate to give up. "Listen," she started carefully and without a doubt in her voice," I know it is a difficult decision but like I said: Not one father is prepared to be one when he becomes one. Do you understand? What would you have done if you knew back in the past that your girlfriend is pregnant?"
Erik looked back up again. "Well, I would have stayed with her. It would have been cowardly to run away. It's also my responsibility." He answered truthfully.
"And today it's not any different. The only difference is that your son is fourteen years old and not a baby anymore."
"Yeah... you're right."
"So are you going to take care of him, Mr Lehnsherr?" Miss Darcy asked.
Erik looked at her blankly. That was really easy for her to ask. She didn't have just found out that she was a parent and this since fourteen years!
He sighed frustrated again. This couldn't just happen!
She expected from him to make a life decision. He could try at least. If it doesn't work out he could just… give the kid back! Nobody said that he had to keep him.
But he knew better. The boy wasn't just some piece of clothes or book which you could give back if you didn't like it.
This was a human being!
He looked back at the photo. The kid had his eyes but they were more, more like… they were just a shade bluer. Just like his mother's eyes. His mother.
What would she have to say if she was still alive? He knew the answer.
She loved children.
She would have loved this boy even Erik didn't know him. She always wanted grandchildren.
But Erik wasn't his mother.
His mother was his role model. She was an unbelievable woman! He loved her very much and still did even she was dead.
The social-worker was right. This boy was his responsibility. He should have known that this would happen one day, really!
How many girlfriends did he had already?
He had a son now and he had to take care of him now.
Actually he knew that he hadn't to decide yet. He could wait and think about this situation. The social-worker wanted obviously just to press him. That was good…
"Okay." Erik finally told her. His glance, firm on hers.
The woman smiled triumphal. He knew she planned it along by pressurizing him!
The she took back the papers and took a photo out of it. It was one of the boy, the same as in front of the file. Of his son…
He put up his eyebrows.
"That's for you." She explained to his question glance. Then she hold out the photo for him to take.
Carefully he took it out of her hand.
Then she began to explain what papers have to be signed and that she would bring him tomorrow.
Since his name was already in the birth certification there weren't that much papers to sign. They were just for the formal case.
Then Miss Darcy said the first time the name of the boy. Charles Francis Xavier
Charles Xavier was his son's name. Very British.
If he had an English accent and liked to drink tea, then his son was a cliché. He betted Sharon would had made him like that. She loved clichés.
Additionally, Miss Darcy explained that Charles was already in his third high school year and that he would have to visit school. Nothing Erik didn't know. Of course the kid went to school. He was fourteen years old after all.
Except the third high school.
So the boy was smart. That was a surprise.
After Miss Darcy finished her speech, said goodbye and was accompanied out by Erik, the first thing he did was to poor himself a glass of scotch and falling on the couch. He stared on his bright white lamp. It was a cold light. A modern light. Not one of this yellow and warm lights.
He took one more sip of his glass scotch.
What a day…
As he woke up in the morning and went jogging for a long session on his free day he really didn't excepted to get to know in the next hours that he had a son with a woman who he last seen fifteen years ago!
He was sure of it that nobody saw that coming when they got to know that they had a kid! What did people normally do when they were suddenly confronted by parenthood?
Maybe the internet had answers for his question…, usually the internet had all answers for weird situations like that.
After one more sip he glanced towards the watch in the kitchen area. It was almost midnight. And as his glance felled on his scotch, his first thought was: How the hell should he get drunk in the future?!
There would be living now a kid in his house. A teenager. Oh boy…
Erik swallowed and drank the rest of the glass scotch.
Teenagers love to experiment and especially they loved drinking alcohol! He should know it! He was once a teenager!
But the boy on the photo looked innocent and he was smart. Smart boys didn't drink alcohol. But otherwise boys like that had it easier to make it a secret when they made stupid things. And nobody would think that they were after all not that innocent human beings like they claimed to be. Especially the rich ones.
Erik's gaze darkened.
As he reached for the bottle to poor himself more scotch, he decided to make rules.
Yes, rules. That was what he needed.
That was what parents did. Making rules.
His father would be proud of him. The guy loved rules. Surprisingly he wasn't a such rough guy like Erik was. And he wasn't strict either.
Actually he was a really kind man. Now Erik wondered if his father never suspected if Erik was following his rules. Erik guessed not. The rules were actually really weird and not real rules. They were just named rules as a joke and the rules themselves were also a joke.
His father loved jokes.
Erik missed him like he missed his mother. His mother.
He betted that if they knew that they were grand-parents they would have took the next flight to America and wouldn't have returned to Germany ever. So happy they would have been.
He smiled of this thought.
But then he dropped his smile. It didn't matter anymore. They were dead. They would never know that they had a grand-child. So he should stop to think about what they would have done now if they knew.
Erik knew better.
So rules…
He took a sip. His gaze fell on the expensive bottle. He should have taken a cheaper one for this drinking.
By the way…
Rule Number 1: No drinking of his scotch or anyone else scotch. And in general no drinking alcohol. It didn't matter if it was an accident (Erik knew these 'accidents').
Sooo… what should be number two? Number two, number two…
Hmm… he was really a great father already. Didn't even know number two.
For today it was enough alcohol. He took the bottle and the glass and brought them back to their place. As he placed the scotch into the cupboard he noticed that he needed a lock for this door where he storage the alcohol.
You never knew what was on a teenager's mind. He needed a shopping list…
He just hoped the boy wasn't one of these 'teenagers'.
Apropos shopping list… oh, and the boy also needed a room!
…
…
Goddammit!
That was too much for a day! He pulled his hair!
He should really go to sleep. Tomorrow is also a day. The woman would bring the kid just by afternoon. So he had a little more time... or not.
But he was too tired after all these information…
At the end he decided to go to bed. It would't help him after all if he would stay awake the whole night.
This night he dreamed the first times after all these years about his parents and Sharon.
Sharon, the woman, who never dared to inform him that he had a son…
I hope you had fun and review if you liked it ;)