Hey readers! Sorry for the long wait, I had major writers block. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review :)
Seventeen year old Charlie walked into the house, dumping her bag down before the door she heard the running of footsteps. For once Charlie could actually feel herself wanting to smile at the chance of seeing her daughter.
"Char Char!" The toddler exclaimed, flinging herself into Charlie's arms. Charlie could feel herself stiffen up, did her daughter just call her Char Char? Not mummy?
"Charlie, you're home." Elsie said warmly before she saw Charlie's look of shock.
"Why did she just call me Char Char?" Charlie questioned.
Elsie sighed. "Come into the kitchen, your dad and I wanted to talk to you about it. Ruby, do you wanna watch Spongebob?"
"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, squirming out of Charlie's grip. She ran into the lounge, leaving Charlie to follow Elsie into the kitchen, where Ross was stirring a pot on the stove.
"Charlotte." Ross greeted, walking over and hugging Charlie.
"She wants to know why Ruby didn't call her mum." Elsie said as she grabbed a glass and filled it with orange juice, handing it to Charlie.
"It's been two years since you left, honey."
"She doesn't know who I am?" Charlie's voice cracked as she set the untouched glass of orange juice on the counter. "She doesn't know that I'm her mum?"
"She thinks you're her sister," Elsie said. "You were gone for so long, your father and I thought it would be best if we raised Ruby and told her that you were her older sister."
"And lie to her?" Charlie exclaimed.
"Charlie. She's two and a half." Ross said.
"It's still a lie!" Charlie yelled, slamming her fist down on the counter. "I can't lie to my daughter like that. How long do you expect me to keep this up?"
"Charlotte, we're doing this so you can have a life," Elsie said. "Be a normal teenager."
Charlie shook her head. "This is not normal."
"Charlotte, what your mother means is that we want you to be able to do everything you want to do. We're quite happy to raise Ruby."
"But what if I wanted to raise Ruby?" Charlie asked in a soft voice.
"You left for two years, what were we supposed to do Char?" Elsie asked. "Ruby started calling us mum and dad and we didn't know what to do. You were gone for a long time."
"You should have had faith in me that I would come back! That I would come back for my daughter!" Charlie exclaimed hysterically. "Now I won't even be able to raise my daughter as my own? What if she hates me when she's older and finds out about this? That we lied to her!"
"She won't."
"You don't know that! I'm not okay with this. I hate this. How could you do this to me? I'm your daughter!"
Ross sighed. "We just want you to have a future."
Charlie shook her head. "No dad, you were selfish."
^..^
Seventeen year old Brax was lying on his bed trying to conserve some energy before cooking dinner. He had just arrived home from his labouring job, and he would have time to chill for a little bit and cook dinner for the family before he had to head off to his dishwashing job.
"Hey Brax."
Brax sat up to see his girlfriend of three months, Erica Sharpe, standing in the doorway of his room. "Hey Rick. I wasn't expecting ya."
"Heath let me in," Ricky said of the 15 year old as she sat down next to him on the bed and brushed some hair out of his face. "How are you doing?"
"Not too bad, how about yourself?" Brax asked as he lay down again. He pulled Ricky into his arms, holding her close.
"I'm not too bad." Ricky breathed out as she snuggled in closer to Brax.
"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Brax asked.
Ricky bit her lip as she looked up at Brax. "I don't know, I'm not too sure that your mum likes me."
"Rick, you'll be fine." Brax tried to reassure his girlfriend. "And anyway, I was planning on feeding the grommets sausage rolls, I promised Case because he kept asking."
"And of course you caved in." Ricky smiled as she traced a line up his chest with a finger. Brax loved his little brothers, and he would give them everything if he could. He was more like a parent to the two boys ever since Danny had left and Cheryl had started gambling and drinking more and more.
Brax grinned as he kissed the top of Ricky's forehead. "Can't say no to them aye."
^..^
Brax groaned as he looked at Heath, who was sitting on the couch across from him, a sullen look on his face. He had a cut lip and there was bruising around his eye.
"Heath, what have I told you about fighting?" Brax sighed. It wasn't the first time he had to talk to his brother about fighting, he always seemed to be in a scrap and Brax was left to plead to the principal not to expel Heath. He wanted his brothers to have an education and not have to leave school like he did.
"He started it!" Heath exclaimed.
Brax rubbed his forehead. "So? Heath, I've told you that you can't get involved in this sort of stuff. You have to stop fighting with this Nick kid."
"He said horrible things about us!" Heath protested.
Brax raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"That mum would rather gamble and drink than look after us and that Dad didn't want us and that's why he left." Heath answered as he looked down.
Brax sighed, he hated seeing his brother like this. "You know that's not true."
"Yeah?" Heath asked angrily. "Then why did dad leave? Why is Mum never home for us any more?"
Brax rubbed his hand over his forehead, he never knew how to answer this question because he didn't know himself. He didn't know what caused his mum to go off the rails like she had. "I don't know, Heath."
Please review! Next chapter we'll fast-forward to Brax and Charlie being adults :)