Chapter 7
After their small conversation Chris fell asleep again. Wyatt guessed it was due to the exhaustion the young teenager felt. The father was there the whole night watching and guarding his son's dreams. At about three o'clock in the morning his son started trashing on the bed. The man fast recognized it as the bad dream. He started smoothing his son but it wouldn't work, so he had no other choice as to wake him up. As Chris' eyes opened they were frantic but as soon as he remembered where he was he calmed down a little bit, the worry was still in the green eyes. He looked at his father. He didn't know how to react he was sure that previous conversation was his dream.
"Chris, how are you? Was it a nightmare?" Wyatt wondered with concern. All the boy did was nodding his head. After that the father knew they were back to the square one, his baby boy closed himself from him again. "Chris, I'm here to help. I'm your dad."
'I'm your dad? I don't understand why he says it. Why does he care, he never did before?' were the teenager's thoughts. Obviously his confusion reflected on his face as his father said.
"Chris, I'm sorry. I know I wasn't the best parent ever. And I know that I had no right to blame you for your mum's death especially as you were just a little kid. I have no idea how justify my actions, but I love you and will do everything I can to help you go through it." With that Wyatt gave his baby boy a smile and ruffled his hair.
The father was upset because Chris said nothing he just stared at him. Wyatt understood it was probably strange for his son to hear such things but he was sure that he needed to know it. Also Wyatt wanted Chris to know he wasn't alone at that and he had a support system intact.
Chris on the other hand observed his father with so many thought in his mind. Was he serious about what he had said? Or was he saying it because they were in hospital? Why did his father stayed with him almost the whole night? And how did he even end in the hospital in the first place? The boy didn't remember how he got there. Only memories he had was that Sam left and that was it.
"Um…" Chris didn't know how to address to the man. And that brought the attention to him even if it never even left him. "How did I get here?"
"The librarian from your school found you. They wanted to call me but I was already at school." Wyatt was silent for a moment. "I found your diaries." At that the boy looked away. Now he was sure when he was discharged he would pay dearly for that. "Why didn't you tell anybody? Chris your brother and sister love you and they would have believed you. And I would do too. Chris, I'm your father and I know that I wasn't a good one for ten years, but no matter what you are my son and I believe you first."
The teenager still stayed quiet. Wyatt was good with it. At least his son was here and alive and he listened to him. The man got that the insecurities would chase the boy for a very long time, but now he would do anything to prove them wrong. So he wanted to bring his son and himself to talk to the psychotherapist. They had a lot to talk about and many problems to solve.
"Father, how much did you read?" came the soft question. Wyatt smiled at his son. It was the first question he talked.
"Not the whole first diary, but the whole second." When the father finished the fear appeared on his baby's face. "Chris, When this morning I saw you flinched from the pain in the kitchen I thought that was my imagination, but then I remembered that you did it quite a lot lately, and I noticed how you were scared with Sam around and his possessiveness of you. I knew that I had to do something, I had to know what was going on. So I decided to find the only thing you would most probably have. I can't forgive myself for not seeing it earlier." Wyatt paused for a moment. "Chris, why did he become that violent today?"
"He said you were watching us and he thought I told you something." A tear slipped down his face. The pain crept into the father's heart. He was the reason his son was in this bed now. If only he disguised his worry maybe they wouldn't have been here but at home and tried to find the way to heal from there. He leaned and kissed his son's forehead and took the tear from his cheek. Then he looked at his son he saw that the boy fell asleep again. He needed his strength and he deserved a break.
For the next hours Wyatt closely monitored his son's breathing and heart beating. Now after his small talk with his baby boy he was even more determent to make amends with him and lead him through the pain and bring back to normal life. At about eight o'clock in the morning the door opened and the doctor Jackson came into the room. She gave the father a soft smile.
"Good morning, Mr. Halliwell. I heard young Chris here woke up a few times. And according to this notes everything is alright."
"How long is he going to stay here?"
"For about a week maybe more. We still need to watch his arm closely, but as there's no problem so far I guess there won't be at all. But we can't be sure." She looked over Chris' scar and turned back to Wyatt. "We got back the results of the rape kits and handed it to the police. And as far as I know they got the match. So, I'd better go."
With that Dr Jackson left the room. For the next hour there wasn't anyone when somebody knocked the door again. When it opened he saw his eldest children. They both looked a little rested, but mostly they gave the impression that they didn't catch a lot of sleep. They both came to the bed and kissed their brother's forehead. And then turned to their dad.
"How is he?" was the first words Wyatt heard from his daughter.
"He woke up a couple times, but due to the painkillers he was ok. But I don't know how he feels and how he understands what's going on."
"So, you talked to him. What did he say about the bastard?" Ryan wondered.
"Nothing, only that the last attack was the result of the shown concern from me. I don't know how we missed it. He had been abused for so long. That I don't even want to think about it, but I have to."
"Dad, you aren't the only one who failed him. We did too. We swore that we protect him no matter what but we didn't. We never questioned why Samuel wanted to spend so much time with Chris, why he always was so eager to babysit. So, I do..don't think that you're the one to blame." Paula was crying again. Wyatt stood up and hugged his daughter.
"I agree with Paula. We trusted him and he betrayed us, we were stupid not to see it." After that they heard a soft cough coming from the bed. They all turned to the boy and saw that Chris started to wake up.
"Hey, there, baby." Paula said as the boy finally opened his eyes.
He didn't get a chance to say anything as there was a knock again and as soon as it was opened two other people came in. The first Wyatt recognized was Detective Whiter and the second was a new woman, he never saw before.
"Hello, Mr. Halliwell. I'm here to tell that we got the match from the rape kit and also present you your case social worker from Child Service, Ms Blay."
