"Prompt: Maybe a fic where Cal gets into trouble after taking some dodgy loans trying to pay Ethan back, and he ends up in hospital - maybe Ethan could go and see him" - Anon.
AN: Hello, so I saw this prompt a while ago and have finally got round to posting the first chapter, I should update every week. I hope you enjoy and feedback would be much appreciated! :)

CHAPTER ONE

Terrible. Guilty. Bad. Ashamed.

There were hundreds of adjectives that represented how Cal felt as he reflected back on his actions. Why, he thought to himself as he sat there in his empty flat, why was he so stupid to believe Taylor and all her lies - and more importantly why did he use Ethan's money to feed into them.
Previously, Cal had winced when Ethan called him a thief, but in reality that was the truth. He deserved to be locked up for what he had done. But no, his kind, loving, understanding brother had insisted that no authorities were to get involved. However, despite their agreement that he would pay Ethan back in stages, it wasn't good enough for Cal. As guilt consumed him he came to the decision that he would give him the lump sum upfront, in an attempt to shake off this overwhelming feeling that paralysed him day in and day out.
Starting up his laptop he opened the search engine and spent the next two hours filling out loan applications with banks only to no avail; each and every one had been declined. Part of Cal was relieved, he knew that getting himself into even more debt would not solve the problem, yet a larger part of him just wanted to pay back Ethan. After all, he thought to himself, it was Cal's mess and Ethan shouldn't have to be the one in debt.
"Come on Cal, think." He spoke to aloud to himself, "there must be a way around this." But alas, he had exhausted almost every possibility. He couldn't sell his house and downsize; it was Ethan's house. He couldn't get a bank loan; he was too much of an idiot and got into too much debt previously to be granted that sum of money.
Sighing, Cal surrendered and went into the kitchen to make a coffee. He came to the conclusion that he would leave it a few days for inspiration to strike and instead chose to finally check through the numerous e-mails that had been building up on his phone. There was nothing interesting as per; the usual spam messages and advertisements from websites that he didn't even remember signing up for. He was going through and deleting them all in a monotonous fashion when noticed a familiar name. Charles Hardy. The very name disgusted Cal, to the extent that he went through the trouble of changing his surname to disassociate himself from the man.

That man being his father.

Well, in Cal's view he shouldn't even be allowed to call himself that. No, Cal couldn't stand him, he despised him to no end and hadn't made any contact with him for many many years. Which is why he was confused as to why there was an e-mail from him. Realistically, Cal knew that he should just delete the message without reading it and not give it a seconds thought, however curiosity got the better of him and he soon found himself reading.#

"Dear Cal
I found your e-mail online, I hope you don't mind me messaging you. I've just heard the news of your mother's passing and I honestly cannot comprehend how much I regret not being there to see you and Ethan grow up into the brilliant men that I'm sure you are. You have to understand that I tried contacting your mother before, so I could get to know you boys, but she wouldn't let me. I tried and tried before eventually I had no choice but to give up. I would love to be able to perhaps meet up with you one day, just for a drink. I could perhaps answer any questions that I'm sure you have.
Dad
Charles Hardy
Manager
Hardy and Co.
Holby."

Anger filled Cal as he read this. Who did this man think he was, taking advantage of his mother's death to try and get closer to Cal and Ethan. And he even had the audacity to call himself 'dad'. Cal was an adult and if Charles wanted to be a dad to Cal without his mother's say-so, he easily had ten years to do that.
However, at the end of his e-mail, there was a signature. A quick google search showed that 'Hardy and Co' was in fact a rather successful business. This gave Cal a devious idea. He was sure that this man would have contacts that would enable him to get enough money to pay Ethan back, and at this point in time he was desperate to pay him back. Cal got his phone back out again and proceeded to reply to the email with a short but efficient message of 'Bay Cafe 12:30 tomorrow.'

Just then, Ethan walked into the kitchen after his shift at work, causing Cal to jump up and forcefully shove his phone into his pocket.
"Oh hi Eth, didn't expect you to be here" He said, feeling as if he had been caught red handed despite not actually doing anything wrong.
"Well, I do live here and my shift has finished.. what have you done, you have a suspicious look on your face" Ethan inquired, sensing something was up.
"No no, nothing. Nothing at all, everything's great. I'm - nothing, I'm doing nothing." Cal babbled, before pushing past Ethan and going upstairs to his room to get ready for his shift. At this, Ethan was further assured that Cal was in fact up to something but he knew better than to try and get involved, it wasn't worth it, and frankly he had more important things on his mind, such as how he just wanted to go straight to bed after working for twelve hours; and so he did just that, forgetting about Cal's suspicious behaviour.