Chapter 10.
- Vaughn -
The weeks sort of bled together from that point on. I still found the travelling back and forth tiring, but there was something to be said about routines – they made the time fly in retrospect. I came back for the last week of November with a new cow for Chels – one I had personally picked out as the happiest lot of the herd we had in the city. She'd called her Alexa and given the weighting that Chels put in her name choices, I'd looked it up on a computer at work. 'Defender of mankind'. I…honestly don't understand why, despite her trying to explain it to me over dinner the next day. Something about her thinking Alexa might help Lola and Mara and if they become a bit cheerier then our mental states will be saved…it all seemed a bit tenuous, but I love the girl too much to contradict her.
Winter Harmony Day was on a Friday, so we celebrated early the day before with Chels making me a chocolate mousse type thing seeing as she knew I can't stand anything as heavy as a cake. That would have been a brilliant day if Tina hadn't appeared trying to give me her shitty cookies. After the time she'd caught me walking to catch my boat, Chels hadn't left my side outside the farm. Tina had also laid off a bit…for all of a day into my return the next week. It was…straining things a bit between Chels and I, but not due to either of our behaviour. We were still solid, but we could do without the annoyance of the journalist. I'd seen how it got Chels down – having a constant negative reminder of her life back in London. I still didn't know what had gone on there, but she seemed to be fallin' slowly into a funk that I'd not really seen her in before and I knew it wouldn't have happened half as fast if not for Tina's presence.
Starry Night was a Monday, so I got the afternoon off work to catch the midday boat out – something which was newly created in order to help with the hordes of tourists that were risking the journey over icy winter seas just to see the snow-globe like island blanketed in white. We had another slightly stilted dinner with Mirabelle – she seemed to be gettin' a bit ahead of herself with mine and Julia's future plans, thinkin' up wedding ideas and though she knew better than to mention it whilst Chels was sat there at the table, we both could see the anticipatory glint in her eye. Chels and I had then lain down in the middle of her field – the only place we felt safe from Tina – and watched the stars for hours. It was a crescent moon that night, so I didn't find it too bad to stare up at the twinkling lights scattered over the black. We'd spent the evening mostly talking about nothing, just enjoying the comfort we felt around each other, but then the conversation had taken a darker turn, enough to cement my worries over Chels's emotional state right now.
"How d'you think the world will end?" she'd asked, and it was innocent enough. I was used to her random questions about shit by now and I knew she had a morbid fascination with life and mortality in general. It had been pretty out of character when she'd first asked months ago if I knew what the difference would be between the time it took someone to bleed out in summer versus winter, but when I'd just shrugged and said it'd probably be faster in summer, she'd smiled at me and moved the topic on. I guess I just didn't find those sorts of things all that weird – I'd grown up seeing a lot of death and hearing a lot of medical and philosophical talk about life. Other people may have run in the opposite direction, worrying about being stabbed and left outside to bleed or somethin', but Chels was just special to me. Even if she did sound a bit like a serial killer sometimes.
"With a war, presumably." I'd replied, indulging her question with an actual answer as always. This time, she didn't smile at me gratefully though. She'd just stared at the sky blankly – reminding me scarily of her breakdown in the summer during the storm.
"I think it'll end with a graveyard." She'd said.
"Is there a difference?" I'd asked and she'd hummed and fallen silent. I'd deemed the topic closed and was about to say something to lighten the mood and soothe my worries when she'd spoken again.
"I wonder if there are other creatures on their planets looking out and seeing Earth as a pale dot in their sky." She'd pondered – eyes tracing The Plough and finding the North Star. "I wonder if they see it and think 'when our world ends, we can move to that planet to survive', but in reality we're faded blue and we're all dead and the planet is dead too."
That's when alarms had rang in my head and I'd reached out to touch her face, turning her head to look at me.
"Well if that happens, it's not going to happen for a long time." I'd said and she'd smiled at me and my heart had lifted back up from my kidneys.
"Do you believe in aliens?" She'd asked and I'd settled back into my old position.
"Definitely." I'd replied. "There're too many things out there we don't know about for it to be impossible." and the conversation had returned to normality.
Drama had only ensued from that point on, but not quite in the way I was expecting.
~.oOo.~
I went back to work at the end of the week to be greeted by a distraught Celia. I felt kind of bad seeing her so upset. I'd been speaking to her less after my fight with Chels and had only just picked the talking thing back up the week previous.
"My mom's left." She told me, scrunching and unscrunching the skirt of her dress. "Hugh's in the kitchen. He's taken it really hard. My family's been fostering him for a few years y'see and even with the support money we've been struggling and now my mom has just up and left." Her voice was lowered to spare Hugh from hearing and I just stood there completely bewildered. "Dad's a wreck, as are our finances, and I'm taking on shifts here left right and center to make up for it. I should have left home years ago, to be honest, but with our income the way it was we thought it'd be easier if I stayed at home and just contributed with my wages rather than having to pay rent on somewhere else as well, but now Dad can't afford to feed three mouths by himself and I'm going to have to move out somewhere and we don't know what to do with Hugh. Dad loves him to pieces, he really does, but I think he's seen how back on track he could get if he only had to worry about himself. Plus Hugh's only a foster child, he's not adopted so I guess Dad's always known there was a chance they'd go their separate ways. So Hugh's coming with me because he still can't go back to his family but I don't know where he's coming because I've not got anywhere to go." I blinked at her, then gestured for her to come through to the kitchen. If there was anything that I knew right now, it was that Hugh shouldn't be alone.
"Howdy, cowboy." I greeted as brightly as I could when I saw the small boy sitting at the table, nursing his racing car mug that was filled with milk. His face lightened slightly at the sight of me, but his smile was weak.
"Howdy, Vaughn." He greeted back, subdued, and I frowned. I took my hat off and put it on his head, making a cup of coffee quickly from the still hot kettle and putting it in front of Celia who had collapsed in the chair next to Hugh.
"What's up, Hugh?" I asked, sending a sideways glance to Celia. I didn't know how much the kid knew.
"Mom left." He sighed, then frowned and kicked the table leg angrily. "Not that she was my real mom or nuthin'." Celia sent the boy a worried glance but didn't berate him his anger. I figured now was as good a time for the kid to be upset as any. "Dad says that I have to move out. Do I have ta?" He asked, turning to Celia. She looked pained.
"It would help Dad a lot if we both did." She agreed. "Do you mind a lot?" Hugh shrugged.
"'Snot like it's that great a place anyway. Mom and Dad are never around neither." He mumbled and Celia sighed heavily.
"We'll find somewhere for the two of us." She reassured. "Somewhere…nice." I think it was obvious to both me and Hugh that she was trying to be kind at the same time as not get his hopes up. Hugh frowned at his sister, worry evident in his face. Damn the kid was too young to be dealing with this kind of crap. "I'm probably going to have to change my job." Celia said to me. "I love working here with the animals, but I always knew it wasn't going to be a lifelong thing. It just doesn't pay enough for me to live around here on my own salary."
"I could be a paper boy or summin'." Hugh said. I glanced at him and saw his determined face. He was young, yeah, but that also meant he was adaptable. He'd be okay, I think. It was Celia who was probably going to struggle the most.
"Not in this city, you won't." She frowned at her brother. "It's not safe."
"Is too." He grumbled. Suddenly inspiration struck and I stood up from the table in one quick movement.
"I may have an idea." I warned them, then went out back to where the animals were grazing, digging out my cell from my pocket with one hand and shielding my eyes with my other. I had to phone her four separate times before Chels heard the phone ringing from wherever she had been on the farm and picked up.
"Hello?" She asked, sounding breathless. The girl should really get a better phone. One with caller ID perhaps. And voicemail capabilities.
"You like takin' in strays right?" I asked, without preamble.
"Vaughn?" She questioned though I knew that by now she could recognise my voice no matter how badly the connection distorted it.
"Yeah." I answered hurriedly, wanting her to get to the point.
"What, have you got another Deimos for me?" She asked, smile in her voice and I snorted slightly as I compared Hugh to Deimos.
"Of a kind, I guess." I changed my tone to serious. "Listen up." I ordered. "I just came in to work today and there's been some bad news with Celia and Hugh."
"Oh God." I heard her breathe out and the creaking of her sitting down in the armchair she kept by the phone.
"They're both alright." I reassured quickly. "Physically, at least. Their mom has walked out on them and their dad is kicking them out." I explained.
"Oh, Vaughn." She sighed, "how're you holding up?" that made me pause. Y'know, with all the worry I had inside me for the two of them, I hadn't even thought to draw up the parallels of their situation to my own.
"I'm fine." I said, surprised at how true it was. "I'm just tryin' to help them out."
"Of course." She agreed. "What can I do?" I smiled. Damn this girl was amazing.
"Well I was thinkin' – you know the cottage by the cinema? No one's moved in there have they?"
"No." She hummed. "But it's awfully small for the two of them. Would they be able to afford to upgrade it?" I shook my head as I verbally denied it.
"No. But you know how you've got that spare room from your last upgrade?" I hinted and she caught on.
"So what, Celia live in the house and Hugh live with me. Won't she get lonely?"
"Well I'd need to talk to them about it." I conceded. "But they've only been livin' together for a couple of years and though they're real close and all, I think she'd probably appreciate the space a little bit, deep down. She's 24 – she wants to be gettin' on with her life." Chelsea hummed in contemplation.
"I suppose. You can get very attached to people in shorter spaces of time than a few years though." Yeah, like I needed convincing of that. 6 months of knowing the girl, 4 months of dating and I was already crazy head over heels for her.
"I know." I said, voice heavy with double meaning and I think she caught it.
"Well it'd be a big change." She said. "Even with his own room we'd get a lot less privacy. No more walking from our room to the bathroom naked."
"It's too cold to do that right now anyway." I waived. "And I'm not saying it'd be forever, he's still in the foster system after all…just for an indefinite period of time." She went silent for a little while.
"You really want this, don't you?" She asked quietly.
"I want to help." I insisted. I wasn't about to let two more kids – though Celia was only two years younger than I am – have their lives fucked up thanks to this god forsaken city.
"Alright." She agreed. "He's a good kid, easy to have around, and Celia would only be a short walk away. He'd have a lot more freedom here too…" she hummed again, thinking of the possibilities. "He'd love it if he could grow up on the farm; no kid should grow up without a space to run and fly kites and play catch. He'll love all the animals and the crops; and he'd get to celebrate the festivals as well which is more than he gets in the city. And there are kids here too, though less than he's used to with school…he could join in the tutoring Chen gives Charlie and Eliza though and he wouldn't be any worse for wear…and there are always family visiting with children he could play with…" I smiled as I heard her planning it all out.
"God, I love you, Chels." I sighed. "You're brilliant, really. Thank you." She laughed.
"That's what I'm here for." She teased. "To remind all you Earthlings what perfection is." I laughed back. "Now go talk it over with them and put them out their misery. Tell me about it tonight."
"Yes ma'am." I replied obediently, preparing to hang up.
"Oh and cowboy?" She called in time for me to hear her before pressing the little red phone button. "I love you, too and you're even more brilliant than I am."
"Not possible." I smiled. "I'll speak t'ya later." and I hung up, walking back inside with a shit eating grin on my face.
I entered the kitchen and had to tame the smile lest I look like I was enjoying their misery. I was kind of excited though, if they said yes. It'd be like having Cass back only not quite. I couldn't ever replace Cass and it wouldn't be fair of me to think of Hugh as a substitute and to ignore the cool little guy he was in his own right, but I liked the kid and I think it'd be fun to have him around.
"Plausible solution found." I greeted as I retook my seat. Celia looked at me quizzically whilst Hugh kept looking down at the table, kicking the leg and pouting over being denied his right to be a paper boy. "There's a one bedroom cottage available in a prime location outside the city." I began and I could feel my eyes twinkling with mirth. Hugh looked up at that and Celia frowned.
"One bedroom?" She asked.
"Well there's another bedroom available in a different building a short walk away." I shrugged, holding up my hand as Celia frowned harder and opened her mouth to refuse. "A certain building on a certain farmland on a certain island." I continued and enjoyed the dawning realisation on both their faces. "One which is just the right size for a little boy to grow up in and help out on the farm. I can assure you the current live-in landlord is sound as is her companion who stays with her 3 days a week."
"I could live on the farm?!" Hugh shouted, jumping out his seat. I looked at Celia who seemed torn between gratitude and worry.
"But, won't that put you and Chelsea out a lot?" She asked. "And I can't afford to buy a cottage and where would I work?" Hugh was sort of prancing around, pretending to ride a horse or something, so I lowered my voice to direct it at her alone.
"Chels is more than fine with it. We think Hugh's a great kid and if you miss him too badly he can move in with you once you're back on your feet and can afford to upgrade the cottage. You might have to fight us for him though." I grinned. I don't think I'd smiled this much around anyone other than Chels, nor talked this openly, but such was my excitement that I couldn't hold it in. "As for the money, well you'd be next door to a cinema and opposite both the café and the restaurant. There's the inn and hotel as well. The island's getting more attention every day and they could all use the extra help with the tourists. It'd be hard work, but you'd probably be able to get enough to get your weekends back."
"And the price of the cottage…?" She asked hesitantly. That gave me pause.
"You know what? I don't think a single person who's moved onto the island has paid for their house." I scratched my head in thought. "A couple of the newer inhabitants had to have Gannon build them theirs, so I guess they paid for it but…I'm pretty sure if you just turned up and told Taro what happened, you'd be able to get the house for free. There's no rent. We're not really established enough for that. Taro, Chen, Gannon and Chels make up the only sort of government we have, and I know Taro and Chels wouldn't have an issue with it. Eliza likes Hugh so she'd have no issue with twisting Charlie's and Gannon's arms if they were to have a problem, and then Charlie could convince Chen. If any of them had any concerns in the first place, which I severely doubt. And it's not like Chels will be charging you rent for Hugh's room – he'll probably help out on the farm anyway."
The worry in her face had melted as I'd spoken and now she looked close to tears.
"So," she confirmed, "I'd get a free house, no rent to pay for me or Hugh, free weekends, the chance to socialise with people my own age and a multitude of jobs to pick from?" I nodded and she kind of collapsed into her hands, crying with relief. Well. So long as she wasn't throwing herself at me. Chels was the only crying woman I'd stand to hold. Maybe Julia or Aunt Bella at a stretch.
"So, so, so?" Hugh cried, jumping up and down and tugging at Celia's skirts. "Are we moving to the island?" Celia wiped her eyes and sniffed heavily, sending a grateful look in my direction.
"Seems like it." She agreed and Hugh let out an almighty 'whoo!' and ran into the shop front on a lap of the store.
"Are you sure you won't be off badly without him?" I asked and she smiled at me sadly.
"Honestly, Vaughn, I think I'll get to see him more often this way. I practically live here I take so many shifts anyway. I don't even get to enjoy weekends with him. This is better for him." She reassured me.
"But for you?" I prodded.
"I'm his sister." She said, looking a bit distant. "Maybe if I were a bit older or a bit more independent, I could act like a parent for him, but I'm just his sister. I don't want to be a parent yet." She looked at me worriedly. "Does that make me a horrible person?" she asked and I shrugged.
"I'd say that makes y'all human." She smiled.
"Y'know," She started, a sly tone entering her voice. "Chelsea forcing you to talk to me was probably the best thing that's ever happened to Hugh and I." I blushed and coughed uncomfortably, not liking to be made aware of how I wouldn't even know her name if it hadn't been for Chels, let alone that Hugh existed. And now the kid was moving in with us.
"Chelsea was the best thing that's ever happened to me." I gruffed out and Celia smiled.
"Thank you, Vaughn." She said, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you guys enough, but if there's ever anything you need that I can help with, it's yours, okay?"
"Repayment not necessary." I said because I knew it's what Chelsea would have said. "But sure. You're welcome." Hugh came running back in at that point and flung himself onto his sister's lap, my hat falling onto the table behind him.
"I just realised that means we won't be living together no more." He said, burying himself into the folds of her clothes. She stroked his head gently.
"It means we'll get to see each other every day and you get two houses to stay in." she replied and he perked up, sliding off her and grabbing my hat back up; plonking it on his head again. He turned to me and scrambled onto my lap next; my arms coming up automatically behind his back to support him.
"So I gets ta live with you sometimes?" He asked, grinning his toothless grin up at me.
"Three nights a week." I confirmed.
"And I can play all I want with the animals?"
"If you're safe about it."
"And I can plant my own vegetables?"
"I'll bet ya Chels will even give you your own little patch to look after."
"And I can go to the beach and the mountain and the jungle?"
"With proper supervision." The kid paused his line of questioning and caught his breath.
"This is going to be awesome." He whispered and I couldn't stop myself from smiling.
Some couples got a song; we got a dog. Some couples give each other keys to their places; we give each other kids.
~.oOo.~
New year's brought in a bunch of new news as well. On a happy note, gossip told that Mark had moved out to live in the church with Alisa and Nathan. Alisa was like a less strict nun but to the Harvest Goddess, so they couldn't get married, but they could live together, and it's not like there was anything sexual between the two of them anyway. I suddenly found myself warming up to Mark a bit more, now I knew for sure he wasn't after my Chels.
On a far more upsetting note – or one that caused a large amount of upheaval at least – Tina had got to Elliot. I guess I was too much hard work with my constant moving and with Chels guarding me like a dog with a bone, so she'd moved on to easier prey. Prey with massive insecurities born from his sister's treatment of him and the fact he felt completely inadequate to his girlfriend in all ways possible. And then Tina had swooped in with her poisonous words and bubbly personality and Elliot had fallen for it hook line and sinker. Idiot.
Julia was hysterical, as was to be expected. Chels had phoned me the moment she found out and told me that she'd taken Julia in into her spare bedroom. She'd reassured me that Julia would be out before Celia and Hugh got there at the beginning of the second week of January – she just needed some time away from home; being neighbours with Taro had been brilliant beforehand, but now all Julia could do was cry whenever she saw Elliot. The guy wasn't dating Tina – yet – but was spending an awful lot of time with her, hanging off her every word, as she fed him praise constantly. It didn't help that Natalie had laid into him something terrible when she'd found out and Tina had jumped in to his defence. Apparently he'd spent the entire fight just staring at her star struck. Jules had never had the chance to do that for him – Natalie respected her too much to lay into her brother when Julia was around, and the relationship between the twins had been improving for it – but now Tina was defending him where Julia hadn't and Elliot was going crazy for it.
That first week of the month had been hell to be in the house for. New Year's Day was a Tuesday and so I'd been there the night before – the day after Elliot had dumped her. Chels and I had been planning on a nice romantic night in, but instead spent it trying to ignore the fact that it was New Year's altogether for Julia's sake. Chels had spent the day before working Julia's ass off in the animal barn so she'd be too tired to greet in the New Year that night. By the time I'd arrived, Jules looked ready to drop and barely had time to give me a half-hearted hug before retiring to the spare room. Chels and I hadn't wanted to risk staying in the living room, so we'd gone to her room – a room I'd only recently noticed her calling our room – and listened to the distant bangs of fireworks as the clock struck midnight. We'd not been planning on going to the show anyway after the fireworks festival went down so badly for me, but there was still a sombre mood to the air that I vowed would be gone this time next year.
The next day had been the worst of the week. Jules could not stop crying her eyes out and though I found it easier to deal with a crying girl than how Chels got when she went all distant and blank, it was still rough to deal with, especially as Chels was still acting all weird because of Tina's presence on the island. Chels went through her work on autopilot as I spent the day indoors with Jules, pouring cup after cup of hot chocolate down her throat and suffering through an inane amount of movies that Chels had encouraged her to bring to watch on her new telly – something she'd bought in preparation for Hugh. It was sweet, actually, looking around the house and seeing all the additions she'd got for the kid. She'd had Gannon redecorate the room Julia was staying in before Julia and Elliot split – it was pretty artistic actually, for such a big guy. She'd got him to draw a wild western scene of a cowboy – coloring suspiciously like what an older Hugh may look like – on a horse rotating his rope about his head in circles.
"Lasso." Chels had corrected me and I'd snorted back at her.
"We call it a rope like any normal person, Chels." I'd replied.
In any case she'd done the walls up like a cowboy scene, the bed was a race car, she'd got a set of shelves for his sports awards, a toy box like a pirate's treasure chest and the rest of the decor including curtains had a definite astronaut theme going on. Well. At least she was letting the kid know he had options. The kitchen had an extra chair in addition to the five at the table already – this one slightly smaller, green and with "Hugh" painted on the back in tiger stripes. She'd not bought any toys, not knowing what he liked and figuring he'd be bringing some stuff with him, but she'd bought a kite and a Frisbee and I'm pretty sure I'd seen a shiny new bike hidden in the horse stable. The farm was doing really well despite the season thanks to the diamond funded greenhouse and it was showing in the amount of care Chels had put into making Hugh feel welcome.
The breakup of Julia and Elliot also provided her the chance to practice her baking skills and she churned out batches of cookies and puddings and other desserts endlessly – shipping the ones the three of us couldn't get through and earning a pretty penny from them as she did. Somehow she was managing to bring things together even as she and Jules fell apart and I couldn't stop admiring – or worrying about – her for it.
I went back to work at the end of the week and spent my downtime helping Celia pack up hers and Hugh's shit from her dad's and pile it into the backroom at the store. Mike had been pretty chill about letting her leave on short notice, and letting her use the backroom even though she was quitting without the standard two weeks. I guess there's not a lot you can say to someone who just got abandoned by their mom and kicked out by their dad. I hired a cheap van to move the stuff from work to the docks and then that Monday night we were going to the island to start their new life.
We were greeted on the beach by a veritable superhero team for all the varying statures the crowd displayed. There was Gannon, of course, and Chels. But she'd also gathered up Charlie, Denny and Pierre to help carry things. A bizarre-r moving team I never did see.
"Hey man!" Denny greeted me as I climbed over board onto the dock. I nodded in his direction but prioritised giving Chels a peck on the lips over going to say hello properly. Hugh jumped off behind me and went tearing down the dock to the beach to start talking a mile a minute at Charlie. Considering that they'd left off in a pretty bad way, they were chattin' like nothing had happened. Kids, huh. Chels leant over and helped Celia get out and I grabbed the first box.
"How's it goin'?" I asked Denny as I got closer to him, passing him the box I was carrying. Gannon had taken my place at the head and it looked like we had some weird conveyor belt thing going on; only half the packages skipped Charlie and Pierre.
"It's going good, man." He replied, turning to put the box on the floor. I received the next one and it got handed to him and then joined the first on the sand. "Better than it's going for Julia and Elliot at least." I frowned.
"I've not seen much of Elliot." I said honestly. I'd been avoiding the twerp until I was sure I'd be able to see him without punching his face in. "But Jules is startin' to do better." That was a half-lie. She was better than she was at the start of the month, but a hell of a long way from okay.
"Hmmm." Denny hummed and staggered a bit in surprise at the weight of the next box. Celia had a lot of books. "She tried it on with me, y'know? Tina." I staggered a bit at that and turned to look at him properly.
"I'm guessin' that didn't go down well with your blond." I phrased carefully. Denny and Pierre weren't out to the whole island yet. It seemed that Denny came from an area where mixed race couples were scorned, let alone homosexual or even worse – both. I didn't think he really had much to worry about on our island, but hey, it's not me that would have to put up with any shit that may happen.
"You kidding?" He laughed. "Like my blond would let anyone intimidate them! I'm no Elliot, man. I didn't waver for a second. I hear Tina can't cook for shit, anyway." He winked at me and I smirked, looking over to see Pierre's disembodied hat floating towards us behind a black sack full of bedding and rugs.
"Is that how it's going to be from now on?" Pierre asked, half throwing the sack at Denny as he laughed at his struggle. "'Elliot' becoming a term for something bad rather than the name of a friend?" Denny shifted guiltily in place. I, for one, couldn't care less. The jerk had broken my cousin's heart and Pierre didn't have anything to hold over me to make me feel remorse. I guess he had a lot more to hold over – or rather, withhold from – Denny 'cause the fisherman sighed and stroked the back of the chef's hand as he took the next box from him.
"Sorry babe." He said lowly and Kuu peeped sorrowfully from his place on his head. Pierre just shook his head and Denny looked even more mournful. The more I saw the two interact, the more I saw who wore the trousers – or should I say, pantaloons – in their relationship. I wonder if there was a power imbalance in mine and Chelsea's relationship as well.
"Alright, everyone!" I heard my girlfriend's voice call out and looked around to see that the boat was sailing off and all of Celia and Hugh's stuff was on the ground and being separated by Hugh and Charlie. "For those who didn't meet them on Hallowe'en, this is Celia and Hugh." She indicated to each in turn. "They've decided to move in and become permanent residents of the island, so play nice!" The last bit was kind of directed at Charlie I think, but the kid was too engrossed in searchin' for packaging labelled with 'Celia' that he didn't notice. "Celia's going to move into Regis's old place, and Hugh's going to move in with me so if we could divide the group to take their stuff to their respective houses we can all get to bed sooner." She clapped her hands and we all migrated towards the two piles of stuff. Pierre, Gannon, Charlie and Celia started picking up stuff from her pile and Chels, Denny and I took stuff from Hugh's as the boy just grabbed his rucksack and zoomed off ahead of us. When we caught up to him, he was hopping up and down on Chelsea's front door step, remembering his manners enough to wait for the owner of the house to arrive before barging in there.
"You want to see your room, then?" Chels asked, smiling and I don't know what it was about her interacting with kids that got me so hot under the collar but I was suddenly jealous of the box in her arms.
"Yes please, yes please, yes please!" Hugh chanted. "I never got my own room before!" I had seen the place they'd been living in back in the city. It wasn't the worst it could be, but it was far from ideal. Two small bedrooms, a cupboard of a toilet and shower and a tiny kitchen. There'd been a TV in his parents' room but there wasn't a living room or anything. Liveable but not preferable.
"Alright well you have to close your eyes!" Chelsea sung in a teasing voice as she opened the door slowly. Denny grunted and I exchanged a look with him – we were both holding two boxes and we were fit guys, but our arms were starting to ache anyway. Chels just grinned at us and slowed her movements as much as possible.
"I swear to all the fish in the ocean, Chelsea if you don't hurry up -" Denny started.
"Such babies." Chels sighed under her breath, then moved into the house at a normal pace again rolling her eyes, allowing us to dump our shit on her kitchen table. She gently placed her box with ours then went to collect Hugh who was still standing on the doorstep, eyes shut tightly. "I'm gonna lead you there so no peeking!" She said as she put her hands on Hugh's shoulders and moved the boy towards his new room. Denny and I stood by the table still, flexing our arms to work out the ache and grunting. We were adult men, not babies.
We started to move back towards the beach to get the last of the few things Hugh had, but before we left the house I heard the door to the spare room creaking – I'd asked Chels if she was gonna oil it, but she'd given me this lecherous grin and said the warning would probably serve us well in the future – followed by her voice saying "Okaaaay…open!". It was quiet for about three seconds before –
"Wow!" Hugh yelled. "This is so cool!" I grinned, knowing Chels had been a bit nervous about showing him his room with its mish-mash of themes.
"I'll never get used to that." Denny said to me as we left the house and walked down the ranch's dirt path. I raised an eyebrow at him before realising it was too dark for him to see.
"What?" I asked instead.
"You. Grinning. I've seen it so often in the past five months or so, but it still takes me by surprise."
"Chelsea." I shrugged in explanation as we walked past Gannon's. "The girl's my world."
~.oOo.~
True to my word, Chels had set aside a little patch for Hugh in the greenhouse for him to grow his own turnips in and he helped her look after the animals every day as well. The latter was where shit got weird. Mara and Lola – remember them? The mopiest sons of bitches the island ever saw? Yeah well, apparently all they were waitin' for was for Hugh to move onto the island because I kid you not, the second they saw him, they were suddenly acting like your average, content livestock. We tried to explain why we were so shocked to him, but it didn't really work because they were so opposite to how they'd always been that he didn't believe us. They were still pretty stand-offish when it came to Chels and I, but they would eat in front of us and moo and bleet in tones cheerier than their usual angst.
"D'you think they were just feeling broody?" Chels asked me the night after Hugh had moved in as we were lying in bed together. The door was shut firmly on the room and one of her bare legs was draped over mine as she lay on my chest with my arm wrapped around her; her fingers tracing over my pectorals and breasts pressed into my side. "Should we take them to Mirabelle's and get them impregnated?" I ran the fingers of my free hand up and down her arm a bit, taken, as always, by how soft her skin was compared to the roughness of her hands.
"Possibly." I hummed. "If you can afford to have them both pregnant at the same time." I didn't think either of them would take kindly to the other one having a child if they didn't have one themselves.
"We'll wait until spring." she said and I realised how pretty much everything she said now included me as part of the equation in a 'we'. I guess the farm was my home now. No longer was I torn between two places – this farm, with its grumpy animals and gorgeous owner, was definitely home to me more than Aunt Bella's. "I need their produce still for the season, unwillingly given as it is." I snorted. "Besides, spring's going to be good this year." I took me all of ten seconds to realise that she meant Tina was leaving in spring. I dropped a kiss on her head.
"Couldn't come fast enough." I agreed.
~.oOo.~
Now I feel kinda guilty admittin' this, but for some reason life on the island became even better when Hugh was around than when it was just Chels and I in her house. I love Chelsea to pieces and I feel bad for the separation of the two siblings, but havin' Hugh buzzing in the background just made the picture feel a bit more…complete. I'd thought I'd feel like an older brother to the guy, or at least like a close uncle or somethin', but instead I found myself feeling kind of paternal. Celia stuck to her word and made sure to come round almost every day, and she had Saturday dinners and Sunday lunches with Chels and Hugh, but I think she was mostly enjoying her freedom. She was working shifts in both the diner and the café and was meeting a ton of new people through doing so and I think she was loving it. That wasn't quite my idea of a good time, and I much preferred coming back to the islands on Monday nights to Chels waitin' for me on the beach and Hugh jumpin' on me in bed in the morning. Hugh was such a bounce-back kid that he didn't even care about not seeing his sister much, but then I suppose this way he was probably actually seeing her more than he had back in the city.
Whereas before Chels and I would have spent my days on the island alone together, going on dates or hanging round the farm, now we would spend them outside with Hugh; havin' snowball fights; ridin' his bike in the meadow (he'd gone freaking nuts over it when he saw it) explorin' the jungle…we actually made it to the top of the mountain one day and I was ashamed to realise I was the least fit of the three of them. Considering he was nine years old, Hugh had a pretty unique take on health and fitness. He wasn't super conscious of it or anything, but he refused to eat too much unhealthy crap – and I'd never seen a kid before that said no if pudding was offered before dinner – and he went on a run around the island every day. Apparently he used to do it with his dad in the city, but Chels and I deemed the island safe enough for him to do it alone. It was that or he'd have to give it up because there definitely wasn't enough time in the mornings to get the farm cared for and go on a run around the entire freakin' island as well.
Hugh seemed to help Julia out a bit as well. He was just such a happy kid – Charlie was cheery but still less boisterous than Hugh and Eliza was well…she was a stuck up brat in my opinion – that it kind of took a lot to be sad around him. Jules came with us to the meadow to fly the kite Chels bought on windy days and the shop had more animals than the farm still – by about two sheep – so he loved to hang out in the barn with them under Julia's supervision. She and Elliot still hadn't spoken by the time mine and Chels's anniversary rolled around again – one which I only caught the evening of as it was a Monday. The last I'd seen him, he'd been lookin' like he'd not slept in a week and was shaking with nerves like he was jumped up on caffeine. Guess his new lady hadn't been payin' as much attention to him as he was expectin' and he was realising what a moron he'd been for breaking things off with Jules.
By the last week of January he cracked and started to tentatively try to talk to my cousin again. I was half pissed at him thinking he even deserved to be in the same room as her after the way he dropped her like a hot rock the moment someone else came along; half impressed at his guts because Natalie had been giving Jules some bolstering 'you're a strong, independent woman who doesn't need a man' talks over the past month and Jules had taken to them pretty fast. She snubbed him the first few times, but when he made it clear he wasn't givin' up, she gave in and made nice with him like she would with a stranger. I couldn't imagine ever making that sort of compromise with Chelsea – we seemed very much like an all or nothing couple – so I didn't really get how she could stand to spend time with him after being hurt as she had been.
The news broke in February that Tina was leaving. She'd apparently got all the winter snaps she needed to complete the brochure, but Chels was sure she was leaving because she was getting sick of Elliot's hurt looks following her around everywhere she went. Chels was pretty sarcastic about the entire thing actually, considering how much it had hurt her best friend, but then I guess she had a right to be. She'd told the truth about the girl and had been proved right by Elliot's actions, as painful as they had been. February 2nd hit and Elliot was as well. By Natalie. She screamed at him until he legitimately cried and Chelsea had to go over there to comfort him. My loyalties were obviously skewed because Jules was my cousin, but I didn't really think he deserved the comfort, despite the fact that Jules was talking to him again. Chels being Chels though remembered him as the guy who had saved her life a couple of times during the bad times the year before and remembered how happy he had made Jules and spent the rest of the week heavy duty counselling him, trying to iron out the insecurities that Tina had picked up on before they caused a repeat of the problem.
He gave Julia a chocolate cake for Valentine's with a blue feather sticking out the top and next thing we know they're engaged. I'd scowled and expected Aunt Bella to be a bit hostile as well, but she'd merely smiled.
"I've seen worse happen in relationships in my life than a young boy become a bit misguided for a month." She'd said like she was 80 fucking years old or something. If Chels left me for another guy for a month I'd never take her back –
Well, crap. Okay that's a barrel of horseshit. I'd probably take her back in a heartbeat, if she were apologetic enough which she would be, knowing my Chels. I guess, I thought very begrudgingly, if Jules feels the same for Elliot that I feel for Chels, I can't blame her.
With Tina gone and Jules and Elliot back together – motherfuckin' engaged – Chelsea came out her funk a bit. She'd been coping admirably well considering she had a full-time housemate now, but it was clear that she'd been acting a fair bit in the previous month; her falsity slipping under the craziness that was getting Hugh settled in and adjusting to him living with us. It was like the old Chels was back and I'd not even realised how much I'd missed her now that I could stop worrying as much. Gone were the morbid existential questions and back were the 'if aliens came here, do you think they'd be able to breathe?' style ones instead.
We'd woken up together on Valentine's Day but after doing all the farm work, we didn't really get to spend much of it together before I was running to the beach to get my Thursday night boat home. It was as I was waving goodbye to Hugh and Chels from the deck that I realised this has got to stop.
How many anniversaries had I missed due to being in the city? How many festivals? How many stressful days on the farm when all Chels wanted was a hug and a hot bath, but instead had to just go to bed alone? How many sobbing fits from Julia in January, how many 'what's sex?' questions from Hugh, how many 'I bumped into Lanna and Shea today' stories? I hated it in the city now. Before, I had just been pretty indifferent, but now it was really like I was leaving paradise to go to jail before breaking free again a few days later. I'd been constantly changing my times as the months had gone on; Wednesday morning boats had become Tuesday evening boats which in turn changed to Monday evening boats. How much longer could I keep pushing my arrival times back and my departure times forward until they met in the middle? Without Celia there at work, I didn't even care that much – because, yes, I'd long accepted that we were friends by now – I'd not even spoken to her replacement, let alone bothered to learn his name.
This has got to stop. I repeated. I had a key to Chelsea's house; her room now held pretty much everything from my old one at Mirabelle's; we had a dog together and hell, technically I guess we had a kid together. It was domestic to have Chels meet me on the beach and wave me off again, but not as domestic as it was waking up in the morning and having a meal – a family meal – around the kitchen table with Hugh; or going to bed at night to wrap her in my arms; or have her slap my hand with a wooden spoon when I tried to sneak cookie dough out the mixture before she baked it; or even to spend my evenings sat on the doorstep, freezing my ass off as I scrape all the animal crap off the soles of mine and Chelsea's shoes. I cringed to think of how baths went with Hugh without me there – Chelsea struggled with the concept of seeing the little guy naked for some reason, so bath times generally always fell to me, as did cooking most dinners and playing soccer on Chels's empty field. The farm was doing well and with the temperatures rising both the field and the greenhouse would be utilised soon, meaning we could do something about Lola and Mara's brooding…and if things got really tough then there was always fishing and mining – though I'd like to keep her away from that as much as possible…but we could cope without two incomes.
What was I waiting for? My life is on that island.
Chapter End.
A/N: I LOVE HUGH, DON'T YOU JUST LOVE HUGH? (ʘ‿ʘ)