Title: Lost but Not Forgotten
Summary: After losing her family, Lauren takes over raising a young boy. With hopes of getting them both out of crime-riddled Detroit, she instills in him the values of kindness and doing the right thing. However, sometimes, doing the right thing comes at a price.
Pairing: Lauren/Tyler
Rating: T
Word Count: 2337
Disclaimer: Twilight and its inclusive material is copyright to Stephenie Meyer. Original creation, including but not limited to plot and characters, is copyright to the respective authors of each story. No copyright infringement is intended.
Lost but Not Forgotten
It was the call that came in at three, ante meridiem, on the evening of April Fifth, 2011 that changed Lauren's life forever. She should have known better than to answer the phone, but she'd thought it was her husband calling from Dublin so their daughter, Ashley, could say good morning or goodnight – Tyler had always been horrible at remembering the time difference.
It hadn't been them... but it had been about them; a call from a police officer in Ireland, informing her that her whole world was gone; dead from a senseless mugging.
Looking back, she wasn't ashamed to admit that she'd completely lost it after it had occurred.
She'd contemplated ending it all more than once during the months that followed.
But when her next-door neighbors, Maria and Raoul, were killed in a car wreck, leaving their eight-year-old son an orphan with nowhere to go, she'd taken him in.
Though it took more effort than she wanted to admit, she finally was able to officially adopt Diego.
Over the course of next seven years, Lauren worked two jobs in an effort to save enough money to get them out of Detroit, wanting nothing more than to move away from the city and the senseless violence that was a constant in it.
The thing was, there was always another bill that had to be paid, another expense which she had to take care of, or another item for Diego.
He wasn't her daughter, wasn't her Ashley, but she still tried to raise him right. Not that it was easy in one of the most violent cities in the US.
…
Lauren looked over the bank spreadsheet again just to make sure her math wasn't off. It had been a long time coming, but she'd finally set aside enough for them to get out of Detroit and move to somewhere better. She still wasn't sure where exactly, but she was sure they'd figure it out – someplace in the Rockies maybe, as she was sure he'd like that.
She got up from her desk and headed into the kitchen to make breakfast for them as Diego would soon have to go to school for the day.
She saw tons of different cooking shows on their tv – which had five hundred channels of nothing – and so she often saw chef so-and-so claiming that making scrambled eggs was one of the hardest things to do, but she didn't get it. She could make them with her eyes closed. Honestly, she tended to have more difficulty with the bacon, which somehow could splatter grease on the ceiling two rooms over while it was cooking it on the stove.
"Breakfast's ready!" she shouted up the stairs once she was done making their food.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." The sound of his grumbled, half-asleep words came down after a moment.
She smiled indulgently as she headed back into the kitchen to wait for him with his plate of food set out on the counter.
He managed to make it down the stairs in one piece, about three minutes later, already wearing a baseball cap with the bill on backward.
"Not in the house, mister," she scolded, reaching out and yanking off the hat.
"But, Mom!" His groan was more pronounced because of the way he pouted his lip out.
It was hardly his first time trying it on her, and six years prior she'd even given in to it a couple of times. But she wasn't about to fall for it anymore.
"You can put it back on when you head to school."
He rolled his eyes, and she arched an eyebrow at him. She'd raised him better than that.
He scowled but managed to mumble, "Sorry."
"So, I've got some big news," she said as he started to dig into his food.
"Oh?"
"Yes, come this summer we're going to be moving; we'll finally be able to get away from Detroit."
He stopped eating, his fork halfway to his mouth. "But what about school? What about my friends? Or Benji and his mom?"
"There will be a new school wherever we move to, and you'll make new friends. As for Benjamin and his mom... I know you're close, and that you think of him as a little brother, but..." She trailed off, not sure how to complete it in a way that wasn't too harsh. The truth was, she cared quite a bit for Benjamin and Tia, but Tia was never going to leave her husband. And no matter how much Lauren would love nothing more than to help the two, she couldn't risk her own life, or Diego's, trying to save the woman from herself when Jared got out of his latest stint in jail.
Diego narrowed his eyes slightly, no doubt guessing exactly where her mind went. "What about our work here?"
She knew he was referring to the fact that they volunteered at the local soup kitchen every Tuesday and Thursday evening. "I'm sure wherever we move to, they'll have something similar that we can do together."
"I don't want to," Diego muttered, looking away as he put down his fork.
"We've been talking about doing this for years."
"I know, but everything that means anything is here. I don't want to leave it." He looked toward the wall before hopping off his stool. "I've got to get going, or I'll be late for classes."
"We'll talk more about this when you get home."
He stopped before getting very far. "Oh. I was planning on visiting Benji."
Lauren sighed but turned toward the cabinets, opening one and pulling out a box of her homemade cookies before turning back around and handing it to him. "Here, take these."
Diego grinned, grabbing them from her. "Thanks, Mom." He snatched his cap off the counter before heading towards the door.
"They're for Benjamin and not you!" she shouted after him.
Diego waved his hand in a dismissive gesture just as he headed out the door. She shook her head and went towards her room to get ready for work at the bank.
…
Diego spent the school bragging to the assholes in school that he was going to be leaving Detroit soon. It seemed like forever before the end of the day came, but it eventually did, and he was finally able to head to Benji's place.
He hadn't told his mom that Benji's dad had been let out on bail two days prior because he knew she wouldn't let him spend time with the little boy if she knew. He'd grown so close to Benji, and he needed to be there in case Jared showed up so he could protect Benji and Tia.
Diego had never met a more toxic man than Jared, who was one of the biggest drug dealers around as well as the leader of the Black Mafia Family – and though the man had been arrested many times, the charges never stuck. Tia swore she was through with him though after the last time, and Diego intended to make sure she had help with keeping Jared out of their lives, though so far he hadn't shown up.
Lauren had raised him to care, to do what was right, and to try, so he intended to do everything he could for his friend. But he also knew Lauren wouldn't want him putting himself in danger.
She never talked about her husband and daughter, but he vaguely remembered both of them, though he'd only been five when they'd passed. He knew it would likely decimate her if something ever happened to him in the same way it had to them.
But he couldn't change the fact that he needed to do what was right.
After a moment, he shook his head and headed into his friend's house, going upstairs to Benji's room.
Benji was only twelve with black hair and brown eyes.
"Mom made you cookies, kid," he said as reached over to mess with his hair.
Benji ducked out of his reach, grabbing the box of cookies as he did so. "Hey... pop... Mine... pop... Thanks."
Benji also had Tourette's, which turned out to be nowhere near as funny as a lot of ignorant people thought it was. After all, Benji had broken his wrist twice because of involuntary movements when he was upset.
"Yes, they're yours, Benji."
Tourette's was an internationally recognized disorder. However, the school deemed Benji to be too detracting to others. While they hadn't officially made him leave, they had singled him out to the point where Tia pulled him from the institution, home-schooling him, instead.
Benji sat in his window seat and opened the box to eat some of the cookies, glancing out the window as he did so. "Bzzzt, he's back. Bzzzt."
The clear agitation in his voice concerned Diego enough that he stepped forward to look out the window and see what Benji had noticed. Immediately, he spotted Jared down on the sidewalk by the street.
Diego barely resisted the urge to curse out loud – as swearing always freaked Benji out – as he turned on his heel, heading outside to deal with the problem.
The instant he was in front of Jared, he crossed his arms and stiffened his body to try to make himself appear larger than he actually was... not that it made much of a difference when he was standing up to the large black man who had to be close to three hundred pounds of solid muscle.
"You aren't wanted here."
"You can't keep me from my family, boy."
"Tia doesn't want you and your drugs in her house anymore, so yes, I can." He sounded braver than he felt. On the inside, he was shaking. Physically, he was no pushover, but he also was well aware he still had at least a few more years before he was full grown.
"I'm no longer doing that kind of stuff."
Even if it were the first time Jared had used that line, Diego wouldn't believe him.
"So why do I see three of your posse standing down on the corner?" He barely avoided snorting at his word usage as he nodded his head in the direction of the men – two of them going to the school at the same place he did.
Jared didn't even glance toward the men. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeah, right. You're still not going anywhere near Benji and Tia. So get out of here before I call the cops on you."
"And tell them what? I can see my wife and my kid in my house if I want to."
He couldn't argue about the spouse part, but he'd seen the property title. "The house isn't in your name, and neither of them wants you here."
Jared stepped even closer and shoved him, causing Diego to take several steps back just to keep from falling.
"Like you could physically stop me."
Diego knew the man was right, physically he just wasn't big or strong enough to stop Jared. He squared his shoulders though and stepped back up to the big man.
"I may not be successful, but I'm still gonna try."
Jared opened his mouth as his eyes narrowed, but just then there was a loud whooping noise from down the street, and they both turned to see what was happening.
He'd heard people say that time would slow or his life would flash before his eyes when death was approaching, but there was no slowing down time as the two dirt bikes rode down the street with two members of the Los Zetas, raising fully automatic guns as they did so.
He could only manage to hope that no stray bullets hit Benji before the bullets tore through both him and Jared.
…
The sound of Lauren's doorbell tore through her planning as she looked at details about the town of Steamboat Spring.
She frowned as she rose because she wasn't expecting anyone other than her son... she supposed he might have forgotten his key.
When she reached the door, her frown deepened as she looked through the peephole to see two police officers. Lauren couldn't imagine why they'd be there as Diego was never one to get in trouble with the law.
Slowly, she opened the door. "May I help you, officers?"
"My name's Emmett, and this is Mike. Are you Lauren Crowley?" the bigger of the two said. When she finally nodded, he continued, "May we come in?"
His words were completely calm and pleasant, but she was immediately put on alert, and so she placed her hands on her hips. "No. What's this about?"
Mike tried this time. "If we can just have a moment of your time..."
"What's. This. About." She repeated through gritted teeth. She didn't like the way they were talking to her.
They looked at each other for a moment before the big one, Emmett, started. "Ms. Crowley, we regret to inform you that there was a shooting and your son was caught in the crossfire, he –"
Lauren shook her head rapidly, stepping backward a few feet before she fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. "We were getting out; he can't be dead. He can't be!"
One of the cops reached forward, touching her shoulder. "I'm sorry –"
She let out a keening wail, unable to accept her loss.
…
Six months later, Lauren said her goodbyes to Tia and Benjamin as they boarded a plane bound for Colorado. She'd used the money she'd saved for all those years to buy a place for them instead of herself.
There was no reason for her to go anymore.
Once they were off, she headed back to the empty house with nothing but memories.