Chapter 10: Harrison O'Reilly.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fosters. I do own the character of Daniel Evans.
AN: Please leave lots of reviews and tell me what you guys think of the rewrite.
Danny's POV:
It's the first day back at Anchor Beach after we were attacked. It's kind of hard to believe it's only been two days, and three nights since it happened, when it seems like it's only been an hour. It's been two days and three nights since I was forced to kill somebody in self defense. I don't actually remember much of Jason and my one on one fight. My mind is blocking out a lot of it. All I can remember is him saying that when he was done with me he was going after Jude and Connor. The next thing I remember is him hitting the ground, and me realizing what I'd just done and chucking the gun across the parking lot.
Connor, Jude and I slept at Jude's house the night it happened, and my place the night after. We slept at Connor's last night. It's almost like we're scared to leave each other's company right now. Kind of makes me glad that Jude and Connor's classes are all the same, and that they are in three of my six classes. I can already tell that I'm gonna have trouble getting to lunch without having a panic attack.
Jude hasn't slept well since it happened. It doesn't take a genius with Einstein's IQ to figure that out. The bags under his eyes are growing. Every night, he woke up from a nightmare and every night, Connor or I comforted him and helped him get back to sleep. Every night, the nightmare got worse. The second night, he dreamt that Jason had killed Connor and I in front of him. The third night he dreamed that neither Connor or I showed up to help him and he was beaten to death. Both times he woke up screaming.
Stef, Lena, Connor's dad, and my parents felt it would be good if we continued our lives as if the ambush never happened, and to let them worry about it. We agreed. They didn't disappoint us when it came to bringing the people responsible for our injuries to justice. They told us this morning before we left for school that every willing participant that went against us in the brawl had been arrested and was being charged with attempted murder. It offered us barely any comfort at all.
We walked to school together. Well, I was limping, but you get the point. We walked into Anchor Beach at 7:00 am, just like we had done countless times, but this time it was different. This time, we were being watched. Everybody was staring at us as if we were time bombs with a timer stuck on one second left. Every time we approached a group of people blocking our path, they parted like waves at the feet of Moses.
"I can tell already, that the fucking staring is gonna get bloody irritating." Connor growled as he noticed.
I looked at him with a strange look because of his wording.
"You're hanging out with me too much," I said, try to make a joke, "You're both starting to sound like me."
Jude snorted, before he returned to his new favorite activity: glaring at everybody.
That's one new thing Connor and I've learned about him recently. When Jude doesn't sleep well, he really IS a ticking time bomb. It isn't just because of the incident, according to Callie. According to Brandon, Jude once threw a punch at him because he tried to wake Jude up after only getting four hours of sleep. Connor joked that it's kind of good to know that after dating him for two years he can still find out new things about him. Jude just rolled his eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
We made it to lunch without me or Jude killing anybody.
Today's surprise was about to unveil itself.
We were all walking along talking. I was walking backwards chatting away with them like I usually do, about a stupid assignment from my French class. I was complaining animatedly about the ridiculousness of the assignment, which was to translate a poem from English to French. I complained about how, being British, I didn't really like the French, and shouldn't be forced to learn their blasted language because the school's curriculum requires one foreign language credit to graduate.
"You didn't have to take French, dummy." Jude deadpanned, "You could have taken Spanish. I think you can take German too. Why didn't you take one of those?"
"Have you seen how hard German is to learn?" I exclaimed, dumbfounded, "DO you want to know what the German word for nurse is?"
"What is it?" Connor asked.
"Krankenschwester."
They both looked at me, eyes wide with alarm.
"Are kidding me?"
"Nope, dead serious." I responded, "If we ever get into a brawl again, you want them to think your deranged, you know what you scream?"
"What?" Jude asked.
"Du wirst eine Krankenschwester brauchen." I said, "You're saying to them: You will need a nurse. Basically telling them you're gonna put them in the hospital while simultaneously sounding like Richtofen from Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies..."
It was at this point that I turned back to look in front of me and I collided with a solid object.
"Really, Danny?" Connor chided exasperatedly as he started gathering together some of the stuff that had been sent flying by our collision.
"Dammit. Why do I always knock people down when I'm not paying attention?" I growl.
I look down at the poor bloke I'd just ran into. He was trying to organize the small stack of papers that I'd accidentally knocked out of his hand. I couldn't see his face, because it was being concealed beneath his long blonde hair. I shook my head and knelt down to help him collect his things.
"That's not always a bad thing." Connor said.
"Yeah, you knocking people over? That's how you met us. That turned out alright." Jude finished his boyfriend's thought, "I mean, you did save our lives."
"And you saved mine..." I said to my best friends before turning back to the stranger.
"I'm so sorry mate." I tell the strange boy. I try to study his face, but his blond hair was covering his face, "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"That's fine." He said, "I wasn't watching where I was going either."
I could hear a slight southern accent in his voice.
"You new?" I asked lightly.
"Yeah, just sent here from Georgia." He responded, a tone of bitterness in his voice.
I handed him his books, and he shook his hair out of his face. I finally looked upon his face.
I froze for a second, and my eyes went wide at what, or just who, I was seeing in front of me.
I leapt back away with a startled yelp at what I was seeing.
Blonde hair.
Pure blue eyes.
Small, goofy smile.
I gasped.
"B-bloody h-hell."
The guy looked at me funny, as if I was about to snap and kill somebody, before turning his attention to Connor and Jude, who were also gawking at him.
The reason I was startled by his appearance, is because this guy looked exactly like Giddy would have looked if he hadn't d-died. The two were completely identical. The only difference I can notice is their voice. I was beginning to have trouble thinking a coherent thought.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"What? Nononono, can't let him think that. DON'T SCARE HIM AWAY DANIEL!" I thought to myself frantically.
"NO!" I yelped, making the poor kid jump,
"Dammit, self. I said NOT TO SCARE HIM!" I thought to myself again.
"Sorry. No, you didn't do anything." I said, this time speaking like a person still in possession of at least a small quantity of sanity, "You just look... you look remarkably like somebody I used to know. It's uh, the resemblance is uncanny actually."
"Oh. Sorry." He said timidly.
"Stop apologizing, mate. You've done nothing wrong. " I tell him softly, before standing up. I reach out a hand to him, "Lets getchya back on your feet, yeah?"
He looked at my hand cautiously, but after a moment he accepts my hand and I pull him to his feet.
Another difference to add to the list. This kid is cautious, and doesn't trust too easily. Gideon wasn't like that.
I offer him a small smile.
"Thanks." He says, offering me a small smile, "It's good to know that, uh, not everybody here is as much of a dick as some of the people on the bus on the way here."
"You'll get used to it, I did." I tell him, "These two were the first two people I spoke to. Ran into them and nearly knocked one of them over, just like I just did you. Worked out good in the end. We saved each other's lives. I love 'em both, even if they do drive me up the wall sometimes..."
He laughed.
I shivered.
Good god. He even laughs like Giddy did.
I couldn't help but smile back.
"Oh, uh sorry." He said, holding his hand out to shake mine, "Forgot to introduce myself. The name's Harrison. Harrison K. O'Reilly. You guys can call me Harry."
"Name's Daniel. Daniel Evans. That's Connor Stevens, and his boyfriend Jude Foster." I tell him, accepting his handshake, pointing to Jude and Connor in turn. He shakes their hands as well, offering them a small smile.
"Adams-Foster." Jude corrects.
"It's nice to meet you, Jude, Connor and Daniel."
"Oh, uh, call me Danny. I feel like I'm about to get chewed out when people call me Daniel." I said sheepishly.
"Danny, then. Okay. Are all three of you..." Harry asked awkwardly, "Gay?"
"Yeah." Jude says defensively.
Harry nods, before he smirks.
Wow. That's a look I've never seen made by that face. Gideon never did that.
"My adopted parent's would be pissed if they knew I was talking to you three." He says, "Good to know I'm among friends."
I nod at him in understanding.
"They homophobic?"
"Huh." Harry snorted, "I don't know. Does sending their adopted son to the other side of the country to live with his reluctant step-uncle so they don't have to deal with him after he came out as pansexual count as homophobic? If so, then yeah. Extremely."
Connor growled irritably, causing Harry to jump.
"Sorry." Connor said to him, "Homophobes are one thing I can't stand."
"I should fly you guys out to Georgia and visit them, then." Harry said viscously, "They would have an aneurism if they met you three. I mean, they go through all the trouble to adopt a baby from Britain, then dump him 15 years later for something so stupid. They deserve everything that comes to him."
"Yeah." I said, smiling at him, "Uh, do you want to sit with us?"
"Yeah, sure."
We all went and sat at our table, Harry sitting next to me.
"So, you said you were born in Britain?"
"Yep, Scotland." Harry commented nonchalantly, "December 3rd, 2000."
"That's the same birthday as me." I said.
"Really? Sweet." Harry said, smiling at me.
"That fucking smile..." I thought to myself, "Is this really happening right now?"
We spent the rest of lunch getting to know him. Harry had a great sense of humor. It was a dirty sense of humor, too. He told us a joke that resulted in Jude inhaling a large quantity of his drink up his nose, and Connor turning an interesting shade of red. None of us had any classes with him, so we made plans to hang out with him after school.
When we met up after school, Harry didn't even bother calling his uncle for permission.
"That fat asshole doesn't give a fuck about me any more than my adopted parents do." He said venomously when asked about it, "He's probably drowning himself in booze right now."
"It's only three o'clock."
"If he's awake, he's got booze in him." Harry deadpanned, "If I wouldn't end up homeless, I'd move the fuck out, I swear to god."
We walked to my house, and I noticed that the place looked empty. We walked inside
"Go ahead inside and wait for us, okay?" I asked Harry, "I gotta talk to them about something really quick."
"Okay." Harry said before heading inside.
As soon as the door closed, I turned around to face Jude and Connor, and the calm friendly mask I had been maintaining for almost the whole day gave way to another expression. A slightly frantic expression that bordered on panic.
"Holy fucking shit." I exclaimed quietly, "Is this really fucking happening?"
"Are you okay?" Jude asked me, his face creased into a worried expression.
"I don't really know!" I whisper-shouted hysterically, "Probably not! I mean, why would I be? I mean, there is only a fucking carbon copy of my beloved dead boyfriend in my house's front parlor, waiting for us to come inside! Same looks, same fucking birthday, same birthplace, same fucking laugh! I'm surprised I'm keeping it together this well?"
"How similar is he? From what we've seen so far?" Connor asked.
"What, personality wise?" I asked, recieving a nod, "Personality wise, he's completely fucking different. He seems sarcastic, cautious, has a dirty sense of humor, and he's pissed the fuck off at his adopted parents. Giddy? He was blunt, didn't get sarcasm at all. He wasn't cautious at all. He hated dirty jokes. He couldn't stay angry for more than twelve seconds..."
"What are we gonna do?" Connor asked.
"We'll get to know him, of course." I said, "He needs friends right now, just like I did when I first met you two."
"All right. If it gets to be too much..." Jude said.
"I know. Trust me, I know." I said, before turning to head into the house.
Harry was standing against the wall waiting for us.
"Nice house." He commented, "Better than the one I used to live in."
"How bad was that?" Connor asked.
"Ha. Run down shack, basically." He deadpanned as we moved to stand in the dining room next to the table, "Wasn't always like that, but it is now. After the parents started drinking and doing other shit, the place fell apart, and so did they. Anyway, enough about me and my miserable life. What about you? You mentioned that they were boyfriends. You're a good looking guy, you have anybody special?"
I froze and stared at him for a second before shaking my head once.
"Um... No. Not anymore." I said stiffly.
Harry immediately looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me to ask..."
"No it's fine. Don't worry about it." I said quickly, "It's funny... That's actually why you startled me so much."
He cocked his head to the side at my confession.
"Whaddya mean." Harry asked curiously.
"It's just... well... you look really similar to him. Actually, you're fricken identical. You look exactly like him." I said with a small laugh.
Harry's eyes flicked to the left for a second, before they widened to gigantic size before looking back at me.
In his eyes, I saw... recognition?
Wait, what?
"Do you have a picture, by any chance?" He asked, a strange tone
I nodded, before reaching into my pocket and pulling out my wallet. I withdrew the photo of Giddy and I together before he got sick. I handed it to Harry, who took it gently.
"See?" I say to him.
He looks at the photo, and gasps.
"ohmygod." He whispers, ghosting his fingers over the picture. His hand starts shaking and he sits the picture down on the table. A single tear falls down his cheek.
"I'd known him since the day I was born. His name was..." I started to say.
But I was cut off... by Harry.
"Gideon?" He whispered, still staring at the photograph sitting on the table.
My head whips around to look at him, my eyes wider than they had probably ever been in my entire existence. Jude and Connor were staring at him, their eyes as wide as mine.
"His name was Gideon Kennedy." He whispered, and another tear fell. He blinked it away.
"How did you know that?" I ask him quietly. He looked me up and down, his eyes widening in further recognition.
"It's you. I knew you looked familiar." He said. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He handed it to me.
It was a picture taken by a Polaroid camera. It was also an exact copy of the photograph I had handed him.
I looked between the photo and Harry quite a few times before I was able to summon the words necessary to speak.
"H-h-how do you have this?" I ask him sharply.
He looks at me cautiously.
"HOW?" I ask him again, starting to panic slightly. He sighed, before sniffing and wiping his tears away.
"The K in my name stands for Kennedy." He whispered, "That's the only picture I have of my twin brother."
I gape at him.
Jude and Connor gape at him too.
I stand up and turn to look out the window. I run a hand through my hair. Connor and Jude moved to stand next to me. They could sense that I was close to a breakdown.
"Twin Brother?" I stutter, "Giddy was your twin brother?"
He nodded slowly.
"J-Jude?" I whimpered.
"Yeah?"
"Get that chair behind me, now. Please?" I asked quickly.
He did as I asked, so that when I started falling backwards, I fell into a nice chair instead of banging my head on the table.
"How the hell did you end up adopted and in Georgia?" I asked. It was the first thing I could think of to ask.
"I've been here since I was three months old. I don't know much, but I was told that my birth parents weren't very financially stable when Gideon and I were born?"
"That's true. They were barely scraping by." I confirmed, "They got better jobs when Giddy and I turned six and things got better for them."
"They could only afford to keep one of us." Harry continued, "So they put me up for adoption. This American family, the O'Reilly's, adopted me within like, a month. Then they moved back to the States."
I sighed, and ran my fingers through my hair.
"I never actually met Gideon." Harry continued, "Hell, I only ever spoke to him once on the phone. Parents found out and beat the crap out of me. He used to write me letters. He sent me this picture. It came with a letter."
He pointed to his copy, and produced a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to me.
I unfolded it, and the first sob escaped me at the sight of Gideon's handwriting.
"Dear Harry, June 3rd, 2013," I read, "I'm sorry to hear that your parents aren't getting any better. It really sucks that they treat you that way. I would talk to my mom and dad about it, but I doubt there would be anything they could do. You asked if anything new was happening on my end. There is! I have a boyfriend now! He was born the same day as us, so I've known him my whole life. I really love him, Harry. He's the best. He asked me out yesterday. He gave me flowers, and asked me to be his boyfriend. Enclosed is a picture that my mom took of us about ten minutes later. I gave him the other one. he carries it in his wallet. It's so cute. I'm writing you this letter before I get ready for our first date. He and his parents are taking me to see a movie, but the stubborn dork won't tell me which one. I may sound ridiculous, but I know I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with him. I've never been happier in my entire life! Love always, Gideon Kennedy."
I shakily handed it back to him.
"He was right." I whimpered, "He did spend the rest of his life with me."
"I was ten when I received the first letter." Harry said quietly, "He wrote continuously for a couple of years. I still have them all. I remembered to bring them with me when I came out here. The last letter he sent, he said he was really sick. He said he probably wouldn't write again for a while. About a year and a half later my step-parents tell me he's dead. 'Good riddance' they said. I'd never cried so hard in my life."
He sat down next to me, and I put my shaking hand over his and squeezed.
"I always wondered who he was always writing to all that time." I said softly, "It was you."
He looked up at me.
"What did he die from?" Harry asks.
I stare at him for a second before answering.
"It was cancer." I tell him, "Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. That's what the doctor's called it."
I reached into my pocket and once again, extracted my wallet. I pulled out the other photo and handed it to him.
"This was taken a week before he... before he died in my arms." I tell him.
"You... you saw him die?" He said, barely choking back a sob.
I nodded, and he reached out and pulled me into a hug. I clung to him tightly.
"I'm so sorry, Danny." He whispered. "Was he in a lot of pain?"
"Yes, but he died in bliss." I tell him, crying softly. Harry pulled back and looks at me questioningly through tear filled eyes.
"What do you mean?" He asked confused.
"He died during our first kiss." I said, still crying softly, "First real one anyway. First one with tongue. I wanted to wait until he was better, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get better, so his last request was to kiss him, properly, once before he died. I couldn't refuse. It would have been cruel to deny him that."
Harry started sobbing harder and pulled me back into a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry." Harry quietly said to me again.
I open my mouth to try to respond, but nothing came out.
"He said in his last letter, that as long as he had you at his side, he'd be okay. He told me that he hoped I would find that someday too." Harry said, barely holding back tears, "He sounded like such a nice guy. I wish I could have met him."
"He would have liked you," I tell him through my own tears, "He would have loved you. I can tell you that much. He was such a great guy. He was so kind, so compassionate. He would give his last scraps of food away if meant somebody else wouldn't starve. He had a light in his eyes, that I can see in yours too. He really didn't deserve to die so young. We can only hope he's up there watching us."
"I hope so too." Harry choked out.
I sat there, just hugging him, trying to comfort him.
"I could tell you more about him, if you'd like." I offered through my, "I've got fourteen years of wonderful memories of him that I could share with you."
Harry looked at me and nodded, smiling through his tears.
"Yeah. I'd love that. I can show you all the letters, too. If you want." Harry offered.
"I'd love that." I said, echoing his response to my offer.
He pulled my into another hug.
"It would make me really happy to have you as a friend." He sobbed into my shoulder, before pulling back to look me in the eyes, "I am really glad that he had you. It sets my heart to rest to know that he somebody so special to look out for him."
I started sobbing too.
"Thank you." I tell him through my sobs, "That means a lot to me."
It was at that moment, that I felt the crushing weight that I had felt on my heart since Gideon's death lift from my chest. With Harry's arrival, I finally am able to get the closure I always needed. I can finally move on.
I will always love Gideon, with all my heart. But I know he's up there, watching over me, and I feel like I can finally fulfill my promise to him.
I can finally allow myself to be truly happy again.
From my grief, I am finally free.
AN#2: Please leave LOTS OF REVIEWS. This story hasn't been getting very many. It's disappointing.