A Second Chance at a Family – Chapter 2
[Reeds POV]
I still haven't given Mac an answer yet, as I still haven't decided on one. He's clearly nervous and my brain tries to wrap itself around the situation. I can't figure this guy out. Why would he want anything to do with me? What's in it for him? I'm unsure what his angle is in all of this. Besides my adoptive mother; no adult has had much of an interest in me or my life, and although I'm a little weary of the whole scenario, the fact is I'm pretty hungry, and am not in a situation to pass up a free meal. Besides, I'm rather intrigued to hear any information he can offer me about my mother.
"Fine, whatever" I finally comply, trying not to sound too interested. I take a step into the hallway and close the door behind me.
"It's getting a little chilly out, you should grab a jacket." Mac tells me. Who does he think he is? First he says he wants to be my friend, now he's trying to order me around like my father? I can only manage a slight glare in his direction, and to my surprise he instantly raises his hands in the air in defeat.
"Sorry, never mind, forget I said anything. Let's just go" He tells me as he starts walking towards the exit.
I just shake my head and follow after him.
[Mac's POV]
I can't believe I almost blew it already. He's old enough to know if he needs a jacket or not. I have to be careful of my boundaries, as I know the slightest slip up could cause him to walk away from me for good.
We walk to my truck in silence, and as we climb inside I see his eyes slightly light up as he looks around the interior of the Avalanche. It's far from a luxury vehicle, but clearly he's not used to anything even remotely lavish, don't have to be a detective to figure that out. He listens carefully to ever muffled voices that come over the police scanner. I hardly notice it anymore, but he seems fascinated by it.
"Cool..." he beams as he reaches for the siren on the dash. "You can just put this on whenever you want?"
"Well, whenever an emergency arises, yes." I tell him and he puts it back on the dashboard.
"Hmm" he replies with a frown.
We sit in silence a few moments longer, as I drive in no particular direction, as I don't know where I'm going yet.
"So, you hungry?" I finally ask him, hoping he says yes, as I have no other ideas in mind.
"I guess, sure..." he replies with a sigh.
He's not giving me much to work with, but it's a start. I know I've got a long tough road ahead of me, but I'm up for the challenge.
We head to a nearby restaurant, nothing fancy, kids don't like fancy. Stella gave me a few pointers earlier on how to handle tonight. She knows I'm nervous and don't have the first clue what I'm doing.
"This place okay?" I ask him as we pull into the parking lot.
"Sure" is all he offers me. I'm starting to wonder if this kid is capable of anything more than one or two word answers. Just nerves I tell myself. Stella told me he would be standoff-ish, at least at first.
As we head into the restaurant he wastes no time in quickly finding a table for us and sits down. I make my way over and sit down across from him. A young waitress comes over and hands us menus and he is quick to grab one and start scanning it with his eyes. Poor kid, I think to myself. Probably starving. Guilt consumes me more and more as I watch the boy reading the menu.
"Whatever you want" I tell him, "It's on me."
"Thanks" he replies with a slight nod.
The waitress returns with our drinks and asks if we are ready to order. I look up at Reed and tell him to go ahead. Surprisingly he doesn't order the entire menu, as I almost anticipated he might have. He just asks for a cheeseburger and french fries. Trying not to take advantage of my generosity I assume, which although I wouldn't mind, I can't help but be pleased that he is trying to be polite.
"Sounds good" I reply. "I'll have the same."
The waitress offers us a smile, collects our menus and leaves our table once again. Not having our menus to hide behind any longer, I decide it's time to take the opportunity to get to know Reed a little better.
"So..." I begin, "was that your place back there?"
He shakes his head "Nah, my friend Bobby. He lets me crash there. After I left my last foster home last year, I didn't really have a place to stay."
I feel that familiar hard lump in my throat once again, that's no way for a young boy to be living. A kid should have a home, and be able to feel secure. I've had more than a few calls out to that neighbourhood, never a pretty sight. A lot of drug deals gone awry, and other equally horrible scenes. God only knows what this 'Bobby' character is like. I hate the fact that he is subjected to have to live like this. I don't ask about his last foster home, as it is clear to me that living in a shady apartment is more bearable for him than his last home. A subject I'm sure he doesn't want to get into with me, at least not yet.
"Oh." Is all I can offer; again, not wanting to sound like an overbearing protector. "So, what do you like to do?" I ask, trying to lighten the conversation a bit.
"I don't know, nothing."
Sadly, it's pretty much the answer I was expecting from him. I'm nervous and wish this kid would offer me something, other than a rope to hang myself with.
I decide to change the subject to Claire. It's hard for me to talk about her, but I'm hoping it will give us some common ground to stand on, and he might actually have an interest in keeping up a conversation with me until our dinner arrives.
"I brought you some pictures." I tell him as I reach into my pocket of my jacket. "She looked a lot like you, you know." I tell him as I hand him the few photographs of Claire that I kept.
A smile instantly comes across his face, and I can't help but do the same, as it's the first time I've seen him with anything other than a scowl on his face.
"She was really pretty huh?"
"She was." I agree with a nod. "You know Reed," I begin. "She thought she was doing what was best for you. Your father wanted her to have an abortion, but the she would never let the thought cross her mind. She was too young to offer you much of anything herself, and she thought she was giving you a better chance at a good life by giving you up. If she would have known..." my voice just trails off and I hang my head slightly.
Reed lets out a soft sigh. "It's okay. I'm not blaming her for anything." He assures me. "I just wish I could have gotten to know her a little."
"She would have liked that." I tell him in truth. "She talked about you all the time. She always talked about how she wanted to find you when you were 18. As to her knowledge, she thought you were with a loving adoptive family, and didn't want to overstep any boundaries." I let out a heavy sigh. I can't help but wonder how different things would have been if she had found out about Reed earlier.
Reed offers only a slight nod, and goes to hand me back the pictures.
"Why don't you hang on to those" I tell him and his face lights up.
"Really? Are you sure?" he asks.
"Yeah, I want you to have them."
"Thanks." He replies with a smile, and I feel the tension ease off my shoulders slightly as our dinner begins to arrive.
Reed devours his food, barely coming up for air, and I can hardly eat, as I'm too distracted watching him tear through his meal like he's in some sort of eating contest. A few minutes after our food had arrived he was finished his plate, and wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"If you're still hungry, by all means" I tell him "get something else"
"No, I'm full." He tells me, and I'm not convinced, but again, watching my boundaries I offer nothing but a nod and a smile.
[Reed's POV]
I think Mac's a little thrown at how quickly I finished my dinner, but I was starving. I'm still kind of hungry, but because of the fact that I can already feel him looking at me like I have two heads or something, I tell him I'm full as to not draw further attention on myself.
I can feel somewhat at ease now that I know he's not going to bombard me with questions that I don't want to answer. He's alright. Different than I thought he'd be. Certainly not like the kinds of cops I'm used to. I'm sure he's still judging me, but I can't say much about that, as I'm doing the same with him.
I wonder to myself how long we're going to have to sit here and make awkward small talk, truth be told I kinda just want to go home. This is all a little 'too much too soon' for me.
"Well, thanks for dinner detec—I mean, Mac."
"You're welcome." He nods. "Anytime. Like I said, I'd like us to get to know each other, but I'm not going to rush you into anything." His voice drops slightly and I know the serious talk is about to come out.
"I know I'm not what you came looking for, and I know you're disappointed, but I'm hoping you'll give me a chance to try and make it up to you, at least whatever I can make up to you. And please don't think that I think of you as a charity case, or that it's my own guilty conscience that's putting me up to this. It's not. The truth is, it's Claire. She wanted nothing more than to get to know you, and I know she would have wanted us to be friends. I'd like to give that to her."
I can only manage a nod as I feel my heart wrenching, thinking about my mother. My eyes are slightly stinging as I try and hold back a tear. I've been waiting to find my mom since I was 5 years old, and I've missed my chance. Now here's this guy that has no biological bond to me whatsoever, having a vested interest in me. Nobody's every really given a damn about me since my adoptive mother, and I can only feel a little hesitant to trust in anyone at this point, let alone the stranger that sits before me. I don't know what to think or feel, I just want to get out of here to be alone with my thoughts. I shift uncomfortably in my chair and finally look up at him. "Well, I should probably get back."
[Mac's POV]
"Sure" I tell him as I drop some cash on the table and push myself up from my chair. I wish he would at least try and open up to me a little, but I wouldn't dare push anything. I'm lucky he even stayed this long I tell myself.
We exit the restaurant and the streets are black by the time we are headed out. I start towards my truck, but notice Reed walking towards the sidewalk.
"Reed! Where are you going?" I ask him.
"It's not that far, I can walk. You don't have to drive me."
This boy is going to be the death of me, I think to myself. No way I'm letting him walk home from here at this time of night, I don't care how many times he's done it before. Worried that I might just push him away further if I insist that I drive him, an idea pops into my head.
"Come on, I can get you home in a flash. You need to get home, that could constitute an emergency" I tell him with a wink as a smile comes across his face.
"Alright." He complies as he joins me in the truck.
"What I do?" He asks in haste as he picks up the siren from the dash.
"Open your window, and put it on the roof." I instruct, and he follows. "Now, see that switch? Flick that up."
"This one?" He asks as he points to the switch.
"Yeah, that one" I tell him.
He flicks the switch upwards and the loud roar of the siren makes him laugh, making me smile to see him enjoying himself.
I slightly speed down the otherwise abandoned streets. There are no other cars around, so I'm not worried about abusing my siren privileges for Reed's benefit. We reach his building in a matter of minutes and I pull up in front of the doors and stop the truck, and he turns off the siren. A smile still on his face as he glances up at me.
"Next time maybe I can drive." He says with a smirk and my eyes just widen.
"Relax Mac, just kidding" he laughs and I can't help but grin and offer a slight chuckle. "Thanks again for dinner" he tells me as he climbs out of the truck.
"Remember what I said" I tell him before he's out of earshot "Anytime."
He nods without looking back at me and I wait till he is safely inside before I pull away from the building.
This evening may not have been a happy family reunion, but in truth it was all I could have hoped for, and went maybe even better than I could have expected. Again, I'm thankful he actually stayed through dinner without running for the door. Baby steps, I tell myself. He'll come around eventually.
I reach home and feel slightly more relieved than I did last night, although I'm still a bit anxious, as I wonder what the future has in store for Reed and myself. I crawl into bed and reach for my phone on the nightstand: "Stella, thanks for the push. I needed it. – Mac" I type into my phone and hit send, assuming she'll be asleep by now, but am sure she'll appreciate the message when she gets it in the morning. I close my eyes only for a moment when I hear my phone buzzing its way across the nightstand. I reach for it and smile as I read the message: "I knew you would've ;) Hope everything went well. I expect full details in the morning! Goodnight. – Stella" I return my phone to the nightstand and close my eyes to get some much needed rest, a smile still lingering on my face.
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**So, what do you think so far? Things are about to get a bit heated as Reed might find himself in some trouble ;) This isn't the Brady Bunch we're talking about here... Their relationship will see its share of ups and downs. What will happen when Mac is forced to choose between his stepson and following protocol? And what's in store for SMacked? Would you like to see more of them?**
Reviews are always appreciated! XD