A/N:... So I know I promised an update... a while ago. I am so sorry! I honestly expected to have so much time to write after I came back from my holiday a few months back, but this summer has so far turned out to be very busy for me.
So, in order to make up for my three month absence, Chapter Eleven is the longest one so far! You'll be happy to hear that Chapter Twelve is also done (and even longer than Chapter Eleven), so it will be posted very shortly.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 11: Being Human
Darkness engulfed him as a tall wave crashed overhead. Its strength pushed him under and the powerful water currents tossed him around until he was unable to tell which direction was up and which one was down.
His lungs strained for air, and he briefly panicked until he felt a familiar, sharp tug at his ankle pulling him back diagonally through the water. Knowing now in which direction the surface lay, Vlad turned around in the water and swam rapidly until his head broke the surface.
Gasping, he sucked in greedy mouthfuls of precious air. Once his racing heart had calmed slightly and he had gotten his breathing under control, he looked around at the choppy, blue waves all around him.
Fantastic, this is how I die, Vlad thought miserably to himself.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic Vlad! I wouldn't have taken you out today if I didn't think you could handle these waves."
Vlad flushed, realizing that he had said that out loud (he really had to stop doing that). He looked over to where he had heard the voice and saw Maddie sitting on her surfboard a few metres away, bobbing up and down in the water.
"I think you may have overestimated my abilities," Vlad grumbled as he clambered back onto his own board.
"You're fine," Maddie reassured. "These waves are relatively small — perfect for beginners like you!"
"Alright, but if I drown here today, I am warning you — I will come back as a ghost to haunt you," Vlad said, feigning seriousness.
Maddie laughed. "I'll take my chances. Come on now, let's catch some waves! We only have a few hours before we have to go back." She lay down on her board and began to paddle away, and Vlad made haste to do the same.
Today was Christmas Eve. Vlad and Maddie had woken up that morning to Maddie's mother cooking up a storm, but when the two came into the kitchen to offer their help, Elizabeth had promptly kicked them out, telling them to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day. Maddie and Vlad debated on what to do until Jonathan, having overheard their conversation, asked if Vlad had ever had the chance to learn to surf. When it was established that no, Vlad had definitely not, it was decided that he and Maddie would drive up to the nearby Jensen Beach for the afternoon.
As it turned out, Maddie and her father used to occasionally head to the beach to surf back when Maddie still lived with her parents. It was a recreational hobby that the father-daughter duo had taken up together soon after moving to Florida. They were hardly surfer professionals, but Maddie knew enough to give Vlad a brief but adequate lesson on the basics of how to ride a wave before they headed out into the water — Maddie on her own board, and Vlad on one that he had borrowed from Maddie's father.
And that's how Vlad found himself in the cool, Atlantic Ocean on a beautiful, sunny December day, paddling farther and farther out from shore as he followed Maddie's lead.
After a few more minutes, Maddie stopped paddling and sat up on her board, evidently having deemed that they had come out far enough. A moment later, Vlad caught up to her, panting slightly from the effort of swimming out so far. Maddie noticed this.
"Not as easy as swimming a few laps in a calm pool, is it?" she teased lightly.
Vlad chuckled as he sat up on his board. "I'll admit, it's certainly a bit of a workout."
The two bobbed up and down in the waves as they took a moment to catch their breath before Maddie turned to Vlad. "Do you remember the lesson I gave you on the beach before we got in the water?"
Vlad nodded. "Paddle hard towards the shore as the wave approaches. Then, when it's time to stand, grab the sides of the board, push your body up with your arms, place your back foot, place your front foot, and finally, stand up. Or, at least, attempt to."
'That's the gist of it! Today's goal for you is just to stand up and ride the wave straight in towards the shore, so that's all you really need to know for now," Maddie said.
"That sounds fine to me."
"Also, don't forget to bend your knees once you stand up," Maddie suggested. "Holding your arms out and looking straight ahead in the direction that you're going will also help you to keep your balance."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. I have one question, though."
"What is it?"
"How do I know when to stand up?" Vlad asked.
Maddie opened her mouth to tell him, but then she hesitated. "You know what?" she said after thinking it over for a moment. "Let's make this a bit easier. You just focus on paddling and standing up for now — I'll shout at you when it's the right moment to stand."
"Whatever you think will work best, oh wise teacher," Vlad smirked playfully.
Maddie whacked him on the arm. "Alright, that's enough out of you and your smart mouth," she scolded, but Vlad caught her small smile. "Now, turn your board around and point it towards the shore, then lie down."
Vlad did as he was instructed. "Alright, what now?"
"Now we wait for the perfect wave."
A few minutes passed in silence as Maddie observed the water behind them. Vlad wasn't sure what signs she was looking for or how she could tell whether or not a good wave was coming, but he trusted her judgment and experience.
Suddenly, Maddie perked up. "Get ready Vlad, here comes a good one! Look forward and start paddling… now!" she urged.
Vlad paddled forward as hard and as fast as he could, scooping his arms deep into the water and pushing back hard with the palms of his hands. Though he could not see the wave behind him, he heard it as it raced towards him, its roar filling his ears until that was all that he could hear.
And then suddenly, he felt himself rise up as the rushing water caught up to him. He panicked briefly when he felt the strength of the wave building up under his board, and his mind blanked until he heard a faint voice call urgently over the thunderous noise of the racing water.
"Stand up, Vlad! Stand up, now!"
In an instant it all came back to him — he remembered what he was supposed to do. He gave one final, hard paddle before grabbing the sides of his board firmly with his hands. He popped his chest up off the board, and then placed his right foot steadily at the back of the board before swinging his left foot up near his hands. He wobbled slightly, fighting for balance, but then he shifted his foot, found his centre, pushed up hard with his hands, straightened his knees…
And he was up.
He was doing it.
Vlad stood balanced on the board in disbelief as the wave drove him towards the shore. He wobbled again slightly as the wave shifted underneath him, but Maddie's advice reverberated through his mind and he remembered to hold out his arms and bend his knees.
As he regained his balance, an incredulous laugh burst out of his chest. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and the raw power of the tumultuous wave that thundered beneath his feet amazed him. It made him feel so utterly alive.
That's when Vlad made the mistake of looking back to see if Maddie was watching. Before he could even catch sight of her, the wave shifted beneath him, Vlad's board wobbled, and his grin quickly turned into an expression of panic. He yelled out as he was thrown off his board, and he hit the water hard before the wave crashed over him.
His head broke the surface a moment later, and he spat out a mouthful of salty water just as Maddie came riding in on the wave behind him. However, unlike Vlad, she didn't wipe out miserably — instead, as she reached him, Maddie gracefully hopped off her board into the water.
Maddie's violet eyes were sparkling with excitement as her head broke the surface. "Vlad, that was amazing!" she exclaimed in congratulations.
But Vlad shook his head, huffing. "I had it at first, but then I completely lost my head and crashed."
Maddie shook her head in slight exasperation. "Stop being so hard on yourself! The point is that you managed to stand up and ride a wave halfway to shore on your first try. It took me half a day before I was even able to keep my balance for more than a few seconds."
"To be fair, you were a lot younger when you first learned how to surf," Vlad pointed out.
"I have no idea where this false modesty of yours is suddenly coming from, because it certainly didn't exist before you came here to Florida with me," Maddie wondered out loud, rolling her eyes.
"Har-har."
"Seriously, though, Vlad, admit it — that felt amazing, didn't it?"
Vlad feigned deliberation for a moment. "Hmm, I don't know…"
Maddie splashed him with the ocean water in response, and Vlad burst out laughing. "Alright, I'm just pulling your leg," he said slyly. "That felt utterly incredible."
Maddie smiled back broadly. "In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's go catch some more waves!"
And catch some waves they did. Some they crashed, some they caught and rode all the way to the shore, and the whole time the salty air rang with the sounds of their laughter.
It was only after many hours had passed and their arms had grown numb from the effort of paddling through the strong waves that Maddie and Vlad decided to call it a day and return home.
"We'll leave the boards in the car," Maddie was saying as she pulled into the driveway of her parents' house.
"You won't find me arguing against that. I can't remember the last time my arms were this sore. I'm not sure that I could even lift the board out of the car at this point," Vlad joked, though his slight wince when he lifted his arm to open the car door showed that his joke held some truth.
"Just wait until tomorrow — that's when you'll really feel it," Maddie laughed as Vlad pulled a face of mock distress in response to her words.
The two stumbled out of the car (it clearly wasn't just Vlad who was stiff and sore from their afternoon surf) and made their way to the front door, where Maddie rang the doorbell.
"I didn't take the house keys when we left," Maddie explained at Vlad's questioning look. "I figured that someone would be home to open the door once we got back."
But judging by Maddie's gasp that came as the front door opened, she hadn't been expecting this specific 'someone'.
"Alicia!" Maddie exclaimed as she pulled her sister into a hug. "I thought you weren't getting in until later tonight!"
As Maddie and Alicia pulled apart, Vlad got the chance to get a good look at Maddie's older sister. Though she and her sister shared the same hair colour and last name, that was about all that they had in common. Compared to Maddie's slim frame, Alicia was built more strongly and sturdily. Her eyes were an unusual shade of blue-green, and she had her father's square-set jaw and long nose. In all honestly, if he hadn't heard Maddie call her by name, Vlad would never have taken this person to be Maddie's sister.
"It turned out that I was able to get the mornin' off, so I was able to leave earlier than I had planned," Alicia was explaining to her sister as Vlad shook himself out of his thoughts.
Maddie smiled. "That's wonderful! It's been so long since you've visited. When were you here last? Early last spring?"
"You'd just finished writing your exams," Alicia nodded in confirmation.
"It's too bad you can't visit more often," Maddie sighed. "Are you not able to get more vacation time from work?"
Alicia smiled ruefully. "Sorry Maddie, but with the wedding coming up next summer, I need to work as many hours as I can so that we can afford to pay for everything. Holiday pay's extra, too, so if they offer me one of those shifts, I ain't about to say no."
"Wedding?" Vlad interrupted, surprised. "Maddie never mentioned that you were engaged. I suppose that my congratulations are in order!"
Alicia stopped and turned around to face Vlad. At her blank stare, Vlad realized that she probably had no idea who he was.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself," Vlad shook his head, mentally chiding himself for his lapse in judgment. He held out his right hand. "I'm a friend of Maddie's from the univ—"
"You're Vlad Masters."
Vlad flinched, surprised at the interruption. "Er yes, I am," he replied, feeling uncharacteristically wrong-footed. "I venture that Maddie has told you about me before?"
"She has." Alicia's stare was hard, her face a blank mask.
"Well, in that case, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Vlad said, though his tone now betrayed a note of uncertainty.
Alicia blinked in response, then turned back to her sister. "I'm going inside to help our mum set the table. Go ahead and get changed out of your beach clothes, and then come and join us. Dinner'll be ready in fifteen." And with that she left, completely ignoring Vlad and his still-outstretched arm.
Once Alicia had disappeared into the house, Vlad let his right hand fall awkwardly to his side. He turned to Maddie, a puzzled expression on his face that became an expression of deeply set confusion when he saw that Maddie was trying to stifle a giggle. "I'm sorry, what did I — did I say something wrong?"
Maddie shook her head in amusement. "No, that's just Alicia for you."
"I don't understand. Why does she dislike me so much?"
"What?" Maddie asked in surprise. "Don't be silly! Trust me, if she didn't like you, she would have let you know."
"Well, if that's how she expresses friendliness, I'd hate to see how she expresses distaste," Vlad muttered as he and Maddie entered the house. "Be honest with me, though — did I do something to merit her mistrust?"
"No, it's really nothing like that. Alicia… she just likes to play the intimidating older sister," she chuckled. "Don't worry about her, just be yourself and everything will be fine."
"Uh huh…" Vlad said slowly, making a mental note not to sit beside Maddie's older sister at dinner.
Christmas Eve dinner was a cheerful affair at the Foster household. Now that Alicia was home, the whole family was finally together again. When it was time for the main course and Elizabeth came in with the roast duck, everyone paused to take in the delicious smell that wafted from the piping-hot dish. Elizabeth placed it in the centre of the table and Jonathan took to carving it.
To Vlad's surprise, he received the first plate.
"My wife was going on all day about how delicious this bird was going to be," Jonathan said as he passed the plate to Vlad. "I think it's only fair for our guest to be the judge of that."
Vlad chuckled. "After eating dinner here for the last week, I have a feeling that it will be just as delicious as she says." Nevertheless, he picked up his fork and knife, cut himself a piece of the steaming roast, and took a bite. A burst of flavours exploded in his mouth and he took his time chewing, savouring the taste.
"Well?" Elizabeth asked as Vlad finally swallowed. "What's the verdict?"
Vlad flashed her a charming smile. "Elizabeth, you could open up your own restaurant."
Elizabeth's eyes crinkled in delight. "Oh, you're too sweet!" She then looked to her husband. "What did I tell you?" she said smugly. "My duck is delicious."
Jonathan laughed and began to serve the rest of the roast around the table. "Alright, now that we know that the bird hasn't been poisoned—" Elizabeth smacked her husband lightly on the arm as he gave her a teasing grin, "—everybody, dig in!"
As they ate, Jonathan turned to Vlad. "I suppose between surfing at the beach and eating dinner here in warm, sunny Florida with our family, this has been a very unusual Christmas Eve for you, hasn't it?"
"Unusual, certainly," Vlad agreed, "But in the best way. Christmas Eve was typically a quiet affair back in Maryland. It was only on Christmas Day that the celebrations took place at the annual Christmas benefit that my fath–" Vlad froze suddenly as the word died in his mouth. His heart thudded hard.
Not again.
"That your father…?" Jonathan prompted after a moment, a look of mixed concern and confusion on his face at Vlad's sudden silence.
Vlad cleared his throat and shook his head. "Yes, sorry, that… we hosted at the Maryland estate."
"A Christmas benefit? As in a ball? That sounds amazing — you must have had a wonderful Christmas every year!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
Against his will, images of the past flash through Vlad's mind. He remembered his excitement as a little boy when his eyes fell upon the grandeur of the ballroom the first time that he had been allowed to attend his father's benefit. Christmas trees bedecked in gold, silver, blue and royal purple were placed all around the hall. Delicate, fine china lay on tables covered in silky linens white as snow. The instruments of the orchestra gleamed under the twinkling lights coming from the dazzling chandeliers hanging overhead, and the music they played was soft and rich and warm.
He remembered women dressed in their most splendid gowns and men in their smartest tuxedos. He remembered watching his mother - the most beautifully dressed of all the ladies - dancing with his father, seeing her smile radiantly as her husband whispered sweet words into her ear as the two of them glided together across the floor.
He remembered his father proudly presenting Vlad to every family member, friend, and business associate who had attended that night. And when the night grew late and young Vlad could hardly keep his eyes open, he remembered his mother bending down to kiss and hug her little boy goodnight, and his father clasping his shoulder and saying how proud he was of his "little man" that night.
Against his will, he remembered one of the few nights in his childhood that his family had been together and happy.
Vlad swallowed hard. "It was nice," he said, not trusting himself to say more.
Then, to his relief, Maddie diverted her father's attention to another topic. "Speaking of surfing, dad, you should have seen the waves today — they were perfect!"
As Maddie and her father talked about that day's trip to the beach, Vlad felt Maddie put her hand on his knee under the table and give it a comforting squeeze before pulling her hand away again.
From there, the conversation at the dinner table moved on to other topics. While Vlad joined in here and there, he found himself distracted. Since the fallout with his father last winter, Vlad had tried his hardest to stop his thoughts from ever straying back to his family. During the summer, he had had Maddie and his work in Professor Larson's genetics lab to keep him busy, and once the school year had started up again, he had had more than enough work to keep him distracted.
But now, he had none of those things keeping his mind busy, and seeing Maddie's family, so kind and happy, had been the key to opening up the floodgate of memories.
Of course, he didn't blame the Foster family for that. How could he? How could he be angry or resentful towards a family that was so welcoming and caring? Besides, it's not like they had any knowledge of Vlad's history with his family. Those were skeletons in the closet that Vlad had decided not to share with Maddie's parents, and Maddie had also agreed not to share that particular bit of information about Vlad's past. When Maddie had called home asking if she could invite Vlad over for the holidays, she had simply told her parents that Vlad's mother and father had gone abroad for work and wouldn't be back in time for Christmas.
In all honesty, there was no point in telling Maddie's parents the truth — it wouldn't fix anything, and Vlad certainly did not want to see the pity that he knew he would see in their eyes if he told them.
No, any anger that Vlad felt was towards his father, and he cursed himself for it. He cursed himself for letting the words and actions of one man plague his thoughts and blacken his mood, so many months after the… incident.
He had tried to suppress these feelings. He didn't want this burning anger tainting the wonderful time he was having here in Florida, but over the course of the last week, the smallest familial gestures between Maddie and her family seemed to spark a memory in Vlad's mind and bring forth that awful, burning feeling in his chest.
When he saw Jonathan fondly ruffle Maddie's hair and call her "little princess" — as was his pet name for his daughter —, Vlad couldn't help but feel a rush of resentment towards his own father's refusal to show Vlad any sort of fatherly affection past the age of six.
When the Foster family had looked through their albums of old family photos together, Vlad couldn't help but remember the hurt that he had felt when his parents hadn't been with him during those important moments of his life: countless birthdays; his first piano recital as a boy; the time in boarding school when he had placed first at the inter-school fencing championship; the award ceremony when he had proudly placed top of his class for the first time; his high school graduation… Vlad had the photos from all of these events, but his parents' faces were painfully absent from all of them.
And when Maddie's family would sit down together and eat, laugh and exchange stories every night at the dinner table, Vlad couldn't help but remember with a stab of loneliness all the dinners that he had eaten alone in the cold dining room in the Maryland estate. Even when his family did perchance happen to eat together, Vlad might as well have been alone, as the painful silence was only occasionally punctuated by stiff and stilted conversation.
Resentment, hurt, loneliness… Vlad hated these feelings, he hated having them stain his happiness, and most of all, he hated the man that was the root and cause of these feelings.
And yet, underneath all of that hatred…. he felt something else, something that he had been trying his hardest to bury, something he loathed to admit to himself.
Because in truth, beneath all of his anger, he really just m—
No, Vlad thought in frustration. No I don't. It's not right. I don't.
…
I can't.
"Vlad?"
Vlad jerked his head up at the sound of his name to see Maddie looking over at him questioningly, and he realized that he had been staring down at his nearly empty plate, clutching his fork and knife so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He forced himself to ease up on his grip and he plastered on a pleasant smile that he hoped would be convincing before he replied.
"Yes? Sorry, I spaced out for a moment. All of this good food must have gone straight to my head," he joked lightly.
Maddie frowned slightly, and Vlad knew at once that she hadn't bought his act for a second, but she evidently decided to let it slide for the moment as she instead simply repeated the question that she had asked him: "We're trying to decide what to play tonight, and mom suggested Scrabble. Are you alright with that?"
Since Vlad and Maddie had arrived at the house a week ago, the Foster family plus Vlad had held a board game night every evening, as was apparently tradition at the Foster household during the Christmas holidays. They played a large variety of games ranging from Parcheesi, to backgammon, to poker and other card games, to Monopoly, and to chess (which they had hastily decided not to continue playing after Vlad had — albeit apologetically — trounced Jonathan in their first game after a mere three minutes of play). Tonight, it seemed like the family had decided upon Scrabble.
"Sure, that sounds perfect!" Vlad said, and this time his smile was slightly more genuine. He really did enjoy their board game nights, and tonight's game would serve as the perfect distraction from his angry, muddled thoughts.
"Have you ever played before?" Elizabeth asked kindly from across the dining room table.
Vlad shook his head. "I understand the gist of the game, though."
"Hmm, well if you've never played before, why don't we play in teams tonight?" Jonathan suggested.
"But we're an odd number," Maddie pointed out, and Vlad noticed that she was right; with Alicia here, they were now five instead of four.
But Alicia shook her head. "No, you four go for it. Scrabble's never really been my game, so I'll pass for tonight and I'll watch instead."
"Are you sure?" Jonathan asked his eldest daughter, who nodded.
"Yup, you four knock yourselves out," Alicia replied.
"Alright, in that case, we can play in teams of two," Jonathan said. "How about… me and Vlad against Maddie and Elizabeth." He turned to Vlad and gave him a sly grin. "We can take them, right?"
"Hah! You two are on!" Maddie accepted the challenge with a gleam in her eye.
"Alright, but be warned, we won't go easy on you two," Vlad smirked and Jonathan voiced his agreement.
Maddie snorted. "Me and my brilliant mother versus my goof of a father and somebody who has never played the game before?" she teased. "I don't know Vlad; I'm liking my chances."
"Chances? What chances? I'm afraid your math skills are slipping, my dear Maddie, because by my calculations, you two have absolutely no shot at beating us tonight," Vlad retorted, grinning wickedly.
"Alright, that's enough smack talk out of you two!" Elizabeth laughed at the banter being thrown across the dinner table.
"You're right, dear," Jonathan said. "There's only one way to settle this — let's go play!"
"Ready to put your money where your mouth is?" Maddie asked in challenge as the whole family moved to the living room after they quickly put the dirty dishes from dinner into the dishwasher.
"Maddie, I was born ready," Vlad said, winking at her. Maddie giggled and he smiled when he saw her smiling. However, the smile quickly slid off his face when he caught the hard stare that Alicia was giving him from across the room.
"Who wants to go get the board?" Jonathan asked right then.
"I'll go!" Vlad volunteered quickly, though even as he slipped out of the living room, he was acutely aware of Alicia's stare burning holes into his retreating back. Maddie had told him not to worry about her older sister, but the looks she kept giving him… for some reason they made him feel guilty, even though he knew he hadn't done anything wrong…
Or had he?
Vlad raked his thoughts for what that might have been, but his mind drew an oh-so-helpful blank. Vlad sighed as he reached the closet where the Fosters kept their board games. Why women have to be so cryptic sometimes is beyond me, he thought wryly as he spotted the Scrabble box amidst the pile of board games and carefully pulled it out.
By the time Vlad got back to the living room, Maddie and her parents had already taken their seats around the coffee table — an empty space beside Jonathan awaited Vlad. However, what caught Vlad's attention was Alicia, who had curled up in a nearby armchair with a book. He bristled when he noticed that she was still giving him that same, hard look, and out of spite, he pinned her with his own, exaggerated stare. Alicia's eyes narrowed in response, and Vlad couldn't stop the smirk that tugged at his lips, a small (and rather immature) part of him satisfied at getting some sort of reaction out of her.
However, when Vlad sat down at the table on Jonathan's right-hand side, he noticed Maddie's unimpressed expression and realized that she had caught his and Alicia's little exchange. He blushed lightly and averted his gaze, quickly making to help Elizabeth set up the board instead.
Jonathan then pulled a coin out of his back pocket. "Alright, whoever calls it starts the game!" He gave the coin a flip and covered it with his palm as it fell. Maddie rightly called it heads, and after picking out their seven tiles, she and Elizabeth immediately put their heads together and began deliberating what their first word would be.
To Vlad's pleasant surprise, it turned out that he was rather good at the game (likely thanks to the vast amount of reading that he did). However, to his and Jonathan's dismay, Maddie and Elizabeth made for formidable opponents. Forty-five minutes into the game, the two women led the game by thirty points.
Vlad and Jonathan studied the letters in front of them, trying to come up with a good word that would help bridge the point gap between the two teams.
"Any ideas, Vlad?" Jonathan asked, hopefully.
Vlad shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. "Not yet… give me another minute."
"Time's ticking, Vlad," Maddie teased, clearly enjoying the comfortable lead that she and her mother were holding.
In an unusually out-of-character gesture, Vlad simply stuck his tongue out at her (immaturity: 2, maturity: 0 – boy, what was wrong with him today?) before glancing back at the letters in front of him:
DIEERNS
Vlad looked back up at the board, and noticed that the triple word score at the top-centre was still free. If only he could come up with a word to reach it….
He analyzed the right-hand side of the board and frowned at the four-letter word that was stretched horizontally across the top right-hand corner, covering that corner's triple-word score space: PITY.
Just what I need — a board game mocking me, Vlad thought in irritation.
And then it hit him.
Jonathan looked over at the sound of Vlad's quiet gasp. "You have a word?" Maddie's father asked in excitement.
A pleased smirk formed slowly on Vlad's face, and his eyes gleamed triumphantly. "No, I have the word."
The Foster family watched as Vlad began to arrange his letters, and when the last letter was placed on the board, Vlad said off-handedly, "If this was chess, I believe that this would be 'checkmate'."
Jonathan, Maddie and Elizabeth stared at the word that now stretched across the top of the board:
SERENDIPITY
Then Jonathan burst into loud laughter. "A triple word score and all seven letters used!" he exclaimed gleefully. "You really are a genius, Vlad! That's…" Jonathan did a quick calculation in his head. "… one hundred and one points!"
Elizabeth looked over at her speechless daughter. "I think the boys may have us beat with that," she said wryly as her husband continued to laugh with mirth.
After a moment, Maddie gave a soft laugh. "I hate to admit it, but you might be right," she acknowledged, shaking her head. "Alright, we admit defeat — you two win!"
Jonathan clapped Vlad on the shoulder. "I wasn't sure how we were going to come back from that thirty-point deficit, but I never should have underestimated the brains of my brilliant partner," Jonathan said victoriously, his laughter having quieted down to chuckles. "It's all thanks to you that we won the game, son!"
Vlad froze, stiffening under Jonathan's hand.
His father glared coldly at his son on the ground, and then turned his back on him. "Get out."
Vlad's mother burst into tears, but she did not leave her seat.
Shaking, Vlad slowly got up to his feet and tried not to notice the smear of blood on his palm when he removed it from his cheek. He looked at his father's back and in his desperation he tried one last time: "F-father, please—"
His father's voice cut through his son's words like a knife:
"Do not call me 'father'. You're not my son."
Son.
And once again it was back, that familiar burn in his chest and that painful ache that squeezed his insides so hard that he couldn't stand it anymore.
He had to leave.
Vlad stood up suddenly, Jonathan's hand slipping off his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I just — I have — a headache. I need some air," he heard himself say rather curtly before walking out of the room as quickly as he could without running.
Once he reached the back patio door, he wretched it open and threw himself outside. The night was quiet and the wind blew gently, but it did nothing to calm the turmoil in his mind. He walked over to the porch's handrail and gripped it tightly. Small, wooden splinters dug angrily into the skin of his palms.
"Damn it," he cursed quietly, squeezing his eyes shut as his head fell forward. He kicked the porch in frustration. What was wrong with him? The anger he understood, the anger he could deal with, but this? This other feeling?
He felt disgusted with himself.
He stayed like that for a minute, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Soon after, however, he heard the patio door slide open quietly, and a faint light spilled from the house onto the back porch.
"Vlad?" came a soft voice behind him. The sound of delicate footsteps approached him, and a moment later he felt the presence of someone at his shoulder. "Talk to me, what happened in there?"
Vlad took a deep breath and looked straight ahead into the darkness of the backyard. "I should hate him," he said, slowly. "I should hate him, right, Maddie? For what he did to me. For what he said to me. For how he treated me."
"You're talking about your father, aren't you?" Maddie asked soberly, but it wasn't really a question. "I'm really sorry about what my father said, he really has no idea—"
"No, no, don't apologize," Vlad interrupted, shaking his head. "Your father is an incredible man. Both of your parents are incredible people, and they have been nothing but kind and welcoming to me ever since I walked through their front door. In fact, they've made me feel more welcomed and appreciated than my own parents ever did. You have a truly amazing family, Maddie… I'm lucky to have gotten to know them. But —" Vlad hesitated before he continued, "— but it's hard to be around any family without being reminded of your own, particularly at this time of year."
It was silent for a moment.
"You miss them, don't you?" Maddie asked, quietly.
Vlad's eyes flashed darkly and he looked away with a grimace. "No, I don't."
"Vlad, it's alright to admit it, it's —"
Vlad spun around to face her, his eyebrows furrowed darkly. "It's what, natural?" he spat angrily. "It's normal to miss a man who put me down for twenty-one years? A man who used me, who never once cared about my happiness or my well-being or frankly anything about what I said or did unless it directly impacted the family name or the business? A man who hit his own son, disowned him and threw him out of his house in the middle of a blizzard? No!" Vlad suddenly realized that he was shouting, and he forced himself to lower his voice. "How could I miss a man like that?" he hissed in frustration. "What kind of person would that make me?"
He felt Maddie cover his hand gently with her own. "Human," she said, simply.
Vlad scoffed, but didn't pull away.
"Vlad, I'm not denying that your father is a cruel man," Maddie continued firmly. "He is. What he did and said was appalling and unforgivable. But that does not change the fact that he was still your father for twenty-one years. Twenty-one years can't be erased or forgotten in eight months, Vlad…"
Vlad sighed bitterly. "I've been trying to convince myself otherwise. It just feels so wrong to say that I miss…" He trailed off, and contemplated something for a moment before continuing. "I don't want to say 'to miss my father', because that's not quite it. I don't miss him, not as a person. And I certainly don't regret my choice — I've never felt more free in my life. I'm just not sure how to explain it…"
"Try," Maddie encouraged softly.
Vlad pondered his words before speaking. "Before I confronted him last winter, I suppose there was always the hope that he would change," Vlad started slowly. "That he would one day stop and listen to what I had to say. That he'd understand. That he'd, well, become the father that I had always wanted him to be. And that's what I miss. I miss the hope that I had of one day having a normal, happy father-son relationship. And then coming here, meeting your parents, especially your father… it brought back those feelings and reminded me of what I never had, and the hope that I had lost."
Maddie opened her mouth, but Vlad caught the apologetic look in her eyes and cut her off before she could say a word.
"No, none of this is your fault!" Vlad exclaimed, shaking his head. "Don't think that, please. I'm grateful for your invitation to spend Christmas with your family! I've had an amazing time here." He then gave her a small smile. "If anything, I want to thank you. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for letting me experience what having a true family is like."
Maddie squeezed his hand. "There's no need to thank me. You're my best friend, Vlad — it's the least I could do. I'm just glad you've enjoyed your time here. And Vlad?" she added, after a thought.
"Hmm?"
"I know it will never make up for the family that you've lost, but if you ever need anything, my family's doors will always be open to you."
"Thank you Maddie… that means a lot to me," Vlad said, touched, and pulled Maddie into a warm embrace.
After a minute, the two stepped apart. "Are you alright to come back into the house?" Maddie asked. "We can make hot chocolate, if you'd like, or some warm tea."
"That sounds perfect," Vlad smiled. "Go on ahead. I just need another minute, and I'll be in to help you."
"Alright," Maddie nodded, and with a smile of her own she walked over to the porch door and slid inside the house.
Vlad sighed as he looked up at the inky black of the night sky, but to his relief, his thoughts were now much calmer. I don't know what I'd do without her, he thought, thinking of his best friend who had just gone inside.
Just then, he heard the back door slide open again. Vlad turned around to tell Maddie that he was coming, but he was startled to see that it was not Maddie who had stepped through the patio door.
"Alicia?" Vlad asked, warily. "Can I help you with something?"
Maddie's older sister simply closed the door behind her and fixed Vlad with her hard stare, saying nothing.
After a moment of silence, Vlad frowned. "Listen, it's obvious to me that you do not like me. I don't know what I've done to offend you, but this silence is getting ridiculous. If you have something you wanted to say to me, just say it and set the record straight."
Alicia narrowed her eyes. "You've done nothing. Yet."
"Excuse me?" Vlad asked, taken aback. "If I've done nothing, then why are you treating me with such hostility?"
"Because I want to make sure that you take me seriously when I warn you that if you hurt my sister in any way, you'll sorely regret it," she threatened with a hint of malice in her voice.
"Hurt your sister?" Vlad exclaimed, bristling in indignation. "She's one of my closest friends! How could you even suggest that I would do anything to hurt her?"
Alicia shook her head. "Friend? Don't kid yourself. I see the way you look at my sister, the way you talk to her, the way you act around her. There's more than friendship on your mind, and you'd be a fool to try to deny it in front of me."
Vlad opened his mouth to defend himself but Alicia cut him off.
"Listen closely, Vlad Masters. I've heard all about you from my sister, and it's clear to me what your feelings are towards her. It's time for you to make it clear to her. If you just want to be friends, then be clear about that. If you want something more from her, then be straight with her. But my sister ain't a plaything, so don't you dare string her along if you've got no real intention of getting serious. So make your choice, Masters, and make it soon. And whatever choice you make, you'd better treat my sister with the utmost kindness and respect, because as her sister, let me tell you something — you're lucky to have someone like Maddie as your friend."
And with that, Alicia turned around, opened the back patio door and strode inside the house, leaving Vlad standing alone outside, slightly shell-shocked, wondering what the hell had just happened.
A/N: I know that this chapter had a little bit of filler and fluff, but I wanted to slow things down and get some more important character interactions in before the end of the first arc. Also, I had to throw in some scenes between Alicia and Vlad. This was the perfect opportunity. Not many people can wrong-foot Vlad, but I think Alicia definitely managed to by the end of this chapter.
The next update, like I said, will be up sometime during the next week. Chapter Twelve was one of the first chapters that I actually planned when I started writing this story, and I have a feeling that this pivotal chapter has the scene that a lot of you have probably been waiting for, so keep your eyes peeled for my next update!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Please leave your feedback in a review - as always, I love to hear what you all think!
See you next week!
- DreamsTH