Richie was amazed at how loud silence could be. He had always thought silence was, well, silent. But not this time. The unspoken words that hung in the air were almost deafening. It was so unbearable that he surely would have broken it at some point throughout the ride, had he only known what to say. But what, exactly, Duncan wanted was so unclear to him that he didn't even know where to begin.
Was this it? Was Duncan so annoyed that he hadn't gone to the park that he had changed his mind about letting the teen come back after their trip to France? And how had the Immortal found out to begin with? Looking at the dash, it was very clearly 7:23 p.m. Richie had more than a half an hour before the Immortal had told him to be in. Had Duncan looked for him at the park or did he just happen to be at the docks when he spotted the teen? These questions were the only ones Richie could focus on throughout the entire ride to the loft.
And Duncan was far from volunteering answers. Driving in complete silence, the Immortal never even looked over at his young passenger. It was not until he had parked the car and went over to open the passenger side door that Richie was even sure the man remembered that the teen was in the car to begin with.
As Richie slowly climbed out of the car, he wasn't sure whether he should feel afraid or relieved by the hand the Scotsman placed on his shoulder to guide him to the door. Walking up the shop steps to the loft, Richie kept waiting for the impending blow up. But the Immortal just kept silently leading him. Through the kitchen. Across the living room. To the large armchair.
When the Immortal gently guided the teen to the chair, and then settled himself on the nearby couch, Richie knew that the time had come. He was finally going to be privy to exactly what the Immortal was thinking. He was more than ready for that moment. The imposing lack of knowledge was driving him crazy.
"You gave us your word, Richie." Duncan finally said.
Thoroughly confusing the teen. "What?"
"That you would be truthful about where you were." The Immortal told him.
The comment angered Richie, which was something the teen himself had never expected. "Give me a break."
"The dock is no place for you to be, especially by yourself." Duncan told him flatly.
But Richie couldn't quite shake the anger that was building over the Immortal's nerve. "What right do you have to tell me where to go?"
"I have every right." Duncan told him calmly, glad to see that he was successfully drawing the teen's emotions out. He needed Richie to open the floodgates that he had built as soon as he thought he was being abandoned. There was no other way he could think of to really get the teen to let him see how much he was hurting. "Besides, you gave me your word."
"Yeah?" Riche shot back, now completely enraged. "Well, you gave me your word, too. The way I figure, the minute you went back on yours it made any promises I made to you null and void."
"I've never gone back on my word to you, Richie." Duncan told him calmly.
The calm, cool manner in which the Immortal lied to his face simply infuriated the teen. "You said you wouldn't leave me. You promised."
"I'm not leaving you." The man told him quietly, making sure to hold the teen's gaze as he spoke.
Richie wasn't getting the point, however. "What do you call your trip to France?"
"A family vacation." Duncan told him seriously.
The one word totally melted Richie's anger. And turned it into grief. 'Family.' Duncan was going with his family: Tessa. Of course the Immortal didn't consider that abandonment. He was, after all, coming back. Taking a 'family' trip was perfectly normal.
His next question came out in just above a whisper. "So I'll see you again when you get back?"
"Of course you will. You'll see me while we're in France, too." Duncan told him.
The reply completely confused the teen. "What?"
"Oh, God, Richie." Despite knowing it had been necessary, Duncan could no longer stand seeing Richie so lost. Sliding off the couch, the Immortal righted himself on his knees directly in front of the teen. Looking up at the boy, he firmly grasped each side of Richie's waist before continuing. "Don't you know I would NEVER leave you here by yourself?"
"What?" Richie asked, slowly beginning to process what the man was telling him.
Duncan spoke with total urgency. "How could you even question that you are coming with us?"
"You want me to come to France with you?" Richie asked, totally overwhelmed by the idea.
The Immortal's eyes were filled with emotion. "You don't have any choice, partner. You're coming with us if I have to carry you kicking and screaming."
"You mean it?" Richie asked, tears of relief welling up in his eyes.
Duncan continued to clutch him. "When are you going to get it, Richie? You're stuck with me. Forever. No matter what. That means, where I go you go. There's nothing you or anyone else can say or do to change that."
"But the concert..." Richie started.
Duncan looked up at him. "What about it?"
"I was bugging you about it. I made you angry." The teen told him seriously.
The serious response draw out a laugh from the man. "Richie, it was just a silly concert."
"But I was pestering you about it." Richie replied.
Duncan looked at him blankly. "So?"
"So I thought I was bothering you; that you had gotten tired of me." The teen confessed.
Duncan sighed. "Rich, you're going to want things that I'm going to say no to. That's the nature of our relationship. But just because we have disagreements over what you can and can't do doesn't mean I'm going to get sick of you or get rid of you. Parents argue with their kids."
"That's different, though." Richie replied.
Duncan tightened his grip slightly on the teen. "No, Richie, it isn't. You're my kid. As much as if you'd been with me your whole life. How can I make you understand that? Do I have to tell you that you're my son every night when I tuck you in? Do I have to remind you every morning when I get you up?"
"You don't wake me up or put me to bed." Richie told him with a slight smile.
Duncan replied quickly. "From now on I do. It's quite clear to me that you need reassured how much you're loved."
"Thanks, Mac." The teen told him simply.
But Duncan wasn't having it. He shook his head. "That right there is half the problem, I suspect."
"What?" Richie asked, worry once again beginning to creep through him.
The Immortal's clarification was hardly what he expected. "Mac. It's a nickname. Something you call your boss or your friend."
"So?" Richie questioned.
"So I am not your boss." The Immortal told him, reaching out and gripping Richie under the arms.
"And I am not your friend." He said as he firmly pulled the teen down into his lap.
"I am your father." He tightly wrapped his arms around the boy's back and held him close. "And you need to remember that."
"What are you saying?" Richie asked, suspecting where the man was going but not wanting to presume too much.
"I'm saying," The Immortal told him. "That from now on, calling me 'Mac' is not allowed."
"What do you want called?" The teen asked, allowing his arms to wrap around the man's neck.
"Papa, pa, pap, dad, daddy. Whatever you want to call me. As long as it in some way means father, you can use it." The Immortal told him.
"Got it." Richie replied, resting his head on the Scotsman's shoulder.
And that is just how they stayed. Duncan was still sitting there, resting on the backs of his legs, propped up on the floor with Richie in his arms, when Tessa, weighted down with packages, walked through the door.
