And The Trials Of Parenthood
AU. After a tragedy, Flynn and Eve take on the challenge of adopting 4 year old Ezekiel Jones while their other children Cassie and Jake struggle to adapt to the changes around them. Evlynn and theirlittle Lits.
I own nothing.
Cassie walked to school with her mother and Jake, it had been a few weeks since Ezekiel's arrival. She was in the second grade in spite of being just six years old.
Truth be told, she'd be far more advanced than that but Flynn and Eve didn't want her to miss on the opportunity of making friends as Jake had so they kept her not too far ahead but she'd inherited her father's difficulty to socialize.
"Mommy?" Cassie asked. "Where's Ezekiel going to go to school?"
"Well, he's starting here in a few days. We just need him to adjust to us a bit more." Eve said. Jake wasn't sure that was possible. The little boy had barely spoken to them since arriving.
"What if he's sick or something?" Jake asked. Eve shot him a look and Cassie looked worried.
"There's nothing wrong with him Jake. He just needs time adjusting." Eve said as they arrived to the gate. "Have a great day. Learn a lot." She watched as Cassie made her way inside, before pulling Jake to the side.
"Hey, what's going on with you? You've been over Ezekiel ever since he got here. I thought we'd agreed on trying our best?" Jake looked down but she wouldn't allow him to divert his gaze. "Jake?"
"I'm going to be late." He told her. She knew he was avoiding her.
"Will you please talk to me?" She begged but Jake wouldn't budge. "Jake, please."
"Eve?"A voice said behind her. It was Laurel Worth. Her daughter was in the same grade as Cassie. "I thought that was you." Jake slipped away as soon as he could. Eve called after him to no avail. "Everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine." Eve said. Laurel stared at her for a moment.
"I heard you and Flynn became foster parents. How's that working out?"
Where had she heard that? Eve brushed it off. "It can't be easy for your kids to share a home with a complete stranger."
"He's just a little boy who needs to be able to feel safe again." Eve said. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"No, of course not. I'm just saying with all that you and Flynn work..."
"We're all working parents. That's not a crime." Eve answered back. "Speaking of which, I should go."
She sighed and brushed off the annoying feeling of that woman grilling her. She made it back into her run in record time and slipped into the Annex. "Jenkins?"
"Yes?" The older man appeared in the kitchen where she had just found Ezekiel with a bowl of cereal. She smiled at the little boy. "I was just going to check on you. Sleep okay?" Ezekiel looked at her but didn't speak. "Well I have to go to work, my job isn't as close as Flynn's but if you need anything sweetie, you can ask Jenkins okay?"
Again, the little boy didn't say utter a word. "Jenkins."
"Of course, don't you worry about a thing Miss Eve. We could go to the park."
"That sounds like a plan." Eve smiled making her way over to her bedroom."Thank you."
She took a deep breath, sitting on the bed. Her head was pounding and her heart felt constricted in her chest.
Could they really make this work?
"What are you doing there Librarian?" Eve sneaked over her husband's fixated face on a book. She was already dressed and ready for work.
"Hey." Flynn said softly. "Is everything okay?" Oh crap, he could read her like a book. "Jake?"
"He's just struggling with all of this Flynn, I don't know how to get through to him, I have always been able to." Flynn closed his book.
"I'll pick him up from school, maybe go for a walk?" She knew he worried too, but he didn't want to add up to her doubts, even though he could easily be freaking out, in the last few years he'd been her rock through all of it.
"He loves those." Eve said.
"And Ice cream." Flynn perked up.
"Well you love ice cream more than he does." Eve smiled. "Okay, now I really have to go, I'm going to be late." She leaned to kiss him softly. "I love you."
And that she did.
Eve remembered first meeting Flynn Carsen fresh from college. He was a teacher there, not that she knew at first he was her age. He hadn't asked her out.
Flynn was too awkward for that. She understood rather quickly that Flynn struggled socially so she took a lead and asked him out. She wished she could have taken a picture of his face when it happened.
And so she went out with him and loved it. Flynn was so different from her usual boyfriends, mostly bad boys. She knew just how much his mother loved her.
She loved the fact that she'd gotten through his armor too, but she understood him and most importantly didn't judge his brilliant mind, didn't insult his intelligence, actually it was one of the most endearing things she'd loved about Flynn.
When it didn't annoy the hell out of her.
Eve took a deep breath and walked into work. Carla, one of her closest friends at the center greeted her. "Who spilled your coffee?" She asked as soon as she saw her.
"What?" Eve asked.
"Is Ezekiel still not talking?"
"No, and Jake is just not having any of it." Eve said. Carla smiled.
"Well, he's your first, is it possible he's jealous?" Her friend inquired. Eve hadn't thought of that at all. Jake wasn't the jealous kind, he was her perfect little boy, he loved Cassie and did his chores; most times; loved doing homework and helping Flynn down at the library on weekends. He had a temper, sure, but that he'd gotten from her and mostly she made him channel it with sports.
"I honestly don't know." Eve had been working at the rehab center for almost ten years, longer than Flynn had been a Librarian and she loved her job, right after Jake was born she understood being a Nato agent medic wasn't an option anymore so she opted for volunteer work at first and now she was a floor supervisor, she still got to work with patients but her hours weren't as long and she could go home spend time with her kids.
"He's still not speaking, but he hasn't been with us long enough, after all he's been through I'm not surprised." Eve said. "Flynn called it selective mutism, which it's something I've heard off but never actually seen."
"Do you think that's what's wrong?" Her friend asked again.
"I honestly don't know, it's taking me a while to figure Ezekiel out."
"Has Flynn had better luck?"
"No, and I know it's driving him crazy, with Cassie is math and Jake, they can go and on talking about history but Ezekiel? He hasn't had the chance."
"And knowing him he's going through all the logicals huh?" Carla laughed. Eve sighed.
Let see if Flynn's logic was enough to get Ezekiel to open up. "Oh girl, he's just a scared little boy, that's the only logic about it."
And so Eve had an idea.
"Where's Cassie again?" Jake asked as he and Flynn walked away from the school's gate.
"Jenkins is taking her and Ezekiel to see mom at the center and we're meeting them there."
"What for?" Jake asked. Flynn shrugged.
"No idea, she said she wants it to be a surprise." His father said.
"But you hate them and so does she." Jale pointed out.
"True, but..." Flynn babbled in. "Jake we just want to understand."
"This is about Ezekiel, isn't it?" Jake asked. He stopped cold in his tracks to face him. "All of it, Jenkins picking up Cassie and you coming to get me. Even the ice cream."
"So I can't take you out for ice cream now?" Flynn smiled softly but Jake's expression didn't change.
"It's not about the ice cream, it's about him." Jake threw his bag down.
"Jake, pick that up, come on." He simply walked away, then turned back.
"No." Flynn wasn't too inpatient, not when it came to his children anyway. He picked the bag up and walking behind his son as he paced himself a bit faster.
"Jake, where are you going?" Flynn called as he crossed fast enough to catch him. "Jake!"
Oh, this wasn't going well.
Eve was surprised when she saw her boys arrive earlier than she anticipated. She worried the moment Flynn waved his head and she understood the sugar imposed intervention had been a disaster.
"That bad huh?" She asked. Flynn nodded.
"Worst than the first day of hour honeymoon and that's putting it mildly" Flynn whispered as he put down Jake's bag and watched as Jenkins called for him to sit down with Cassie and Ezekiel.
Eve winced. "Oh, okay. Can I try?" She walked over to the kids, they were down at the peeds room where usually they tended to cases where little kids were involved. It was easier for them to deal with the hardships and pains of rehab if they were colors and toys in the room.
"So they lend you the pediatric area? What are you going to do Eve?"
"You'll see." She smiled. "So Cassie, now that Daddy and Jake are here, you want to tell them what we're doing?"
"It's called expressive drawing." The little girl said, voice perking up as she explained. "Mommy wants us to draw what is it that we are feeling." Jake rolled his eyes.
"Can I pass?"
"No, no one can pass, not even me and I'm not as good as you with those works of art you do." Eve said.
"They are just drawings," Jake said.
"No, they are not. They help you express who you are Jake, like books do." Flynn added in.
"I thought we could do this as a family, see how everyone is adjusting to being more of us now."
"It's just him, and he doesn't care, He doesn't even say thank you." Jake said crossing his arms on his chest. "This is just dumb."
Cassie tensed up and Ezekiel looked around at Jenkins. "Jake...I'm really trying here, please do it for me, okay?" Eve asked.
Jake sighed.
"Okay, let's start shall we?" Eve offered Flynn a seat next to her as Jenkins began to hand out crayons. "Here Ezekiel, you go first." Cassie said offering him the orange crayon which he'd seemed interested a moment ago. "Then we can switch."
Eve watched as Cassie got right to the task at hand, her actions mirroring Flynn's as she went. He looked at her rolling his eyes a little. "Will you just humor me?"
"You don't believe in Phycology, remember?" Flynn said knowingly.
"Well, in recent years it hasn't done either of us any harm and I'm willing to try anything." Eve said, picking up a purple crayon. "Anything."
Here's chapter two! How do you like it? What do you think they're drawings will be of? Sorry if my phycology or medicine are off. I'm not really a doctor but they used to do this in the center where I spent time as a child.
So how will Jake connect with Ezekiel?