Charlie found his mother hovering over the stove when he returned later that evening. He growled as his stepbrothers shoved him aside as they raced about the hallway and up the stairs with their boisterous friends. Neither child cut an eye at him during play. He brushed at his shirt and called out to his mother.
"What honey?" She addressed, without turning to face him. "Try this." She held out a spoon over the pot of stew and, completely disregarding whether he was in fact hungry, forced it to his mouth. He gulped it down and nodded his approval.
"That's, um, great mom." She ruffled his hair and picked up some salt. "When will it be ready?"
"Not long."
"I wanted to talk to you when you've the time, y'see." He began awkwardly. "It's about… well, you know what? It's nothing that can't wait till after dinner." As Charlie turned, Casey caught his wrist. If she was too preoccupied to talk to him before, she was certainly interested now.
"What did you do, say or break? Own up now and I promise your punishment will be more lenient," She teased. Charlie rubbed his hands together and held her gaze as long as he could. He didn't want to avert his line of vision because he knew if he did he wouldn't be able to tear himself away from his shoes and then he would start rambling fast, incoherent sentences that made sense to neither his mother nor himself.
"I didn't do, say or break anything and well… I won't run the risk of doing so for a long time either."
Casey looked him up and down curiously. It was then that Colin entered and plopped down onto the chair at the head of the table. "What's cookin', Good Lookin'?" He winked. Charlie turned to him slowly and shook his head with a smirk. "I hope you aren't laughing at me, boy." He stood and took Charlie in a headlock. "Remember I have full authority to ground your ass now."
Casey smiled as they wrestled playfully for a few short seconds and, once done, marched them both down to the table. She turned to the stove, put the stew to simmer, and joined them. "Charlie was trying to tell me something before you made your presence known. It seemed important."
"Oh, it wasn't really that important."
"It seemed that important. Spill." She reinforced with a definite air of impatience clipping in her tone. Colin looked at his stepson with interest.
"I… I want to know about Dad."
Colin sighed heavily and leant back in his chair with his arms folded. Casey bit her bottom lip and cleared her throat with a polite cough. "What do you mean you want to know about him? You already know all there is to know about him."
"I know he's called John and I know he had an affair with you and I know he's a policeman but I don't mean biographical facts. That's not enough! It's just not enough!"
"Charlie, son," Colin cut in, "You want to know about your father or… or you want to know your father?"
"The latter." Charlie answered with quiet ease. "Mom, I want to go see him." Casey reached out for Colin's hand. She shook her head with a resolute 'no'. Charlie frowned. "You can't exactly stop me. He's my father and Colin's not! I have a brother and two sisters I don't even hear about and I live with two step-brothers and a sister that don't really count! I want a family."
"You've got a family. How dare you." Casey hissed, completely out-of-character, Colin tightened his hold on her hand supportively. "How dare you." She repeated with another shake of the head.
Charlie rested his chin onto his folded arms and stretched across the table. His eyes glazed with unshed tears as his mother cracked with emotion. He knew she was crying, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her.
He knew he had won the argument, she knew he had won the argument, even Colin knew he had won the argument. There was never a question of her disallowing him to go because Casey knew her son with his inquisitive mind and family loyalties and if she banned him access with his father on her terms then he would only learn to resent her and may abandon her in years to come. She couldn't run that risk. Next to Colin and his family, Charlie was all she had.
