Tara waited by the school buses and watched as a brown-haired, with brown doe eyes, boy jumped off with his friends. Lagging his pack back behind him, his smirk meant trouble, not that his mother would have noticed.
She smiled, "Ethan Gabrielle Adam's! My baby!" She teased grabbing her little five-year old in her arms and hugging him, spinning him around.
"Mom! Put me down! How embarrassing! You know my middle name is girly!" He cried, but smiled back at her, "I missed you too!" he whispered so his friends wouldn't hear. She put him down with a grin.
He was too smart for his own good as he looked casually around him, as if he wasn't unhappy or happy to see her.
"Sorry, I forgot." she said, ruffling his hair as he gave her a grin, "How was your field trip with the boys?"
"Great, but Hilary Swan tried to give me cooties! It was disgusting. . .So I-I pushed her. . ." he gulped, looking away as if he thought it would help his case to act like he'd said nothing.
Tara's gasped, she held him back to make sure she'd heard him right, her eyes bulging out "What?! You did what?!"
"She was all over me, ma! So I decided to push her! You'd totally understand, if you were there! She wouldn't leave me alone, ma! All the guys laughed at me and called me a baby! I don't like being called a baby, those jerks!" he said, his big teary eyes staring into hers.
She groaned and closed her eyes in frustration, as she tried to think of what to say.
Why was her son always getting into so much trouble lately?
"Ethan, How many times do we have to go to the principles office before you realize you need to control your temper and let things slide when they annoy you?"
Crossing his arms in a moody way, he blew his bangs out of his face, and scrunched his nose up as if smelling something gross, "I didn't do nothin' though!"
She sighed, feeling a headache coming on, "Really, Ethan? Because it seems Mr. Terrence disagrees-"
"Well, you can't please everyone, ma!" he said stubbornly as she grabbed his hand, walking over to his teacher.
"We will talk about this later, got that, we do not behave this way young man!" She said in a firm tone.
He rolled his eyes, a blew out a sigh, "Just great."
Gabe smirked, lifting his head to watch as Gavin came tumbling over drunkenly towards him, "Just great. I have to take care of the smelly Gavin? Where the heck is Tara? It's way to early in the morning for this. . ." Gabe yawned, trying to grab Gavin to take him over to Tara's.
After a few knocks it was obvious that either 1. she was dead or 2. she was dead asleep or 3. she was out for a morning jog, or 4, she was abducted by aliens"That can't be it? She hates exercise. . . but aliens. . .maybe-"
Gavin told him where she was in a slur of words that Gabe could barely put together, "So she's out to get some sun. . .Hm, that's nice. . ." But that wasn't the Tara he quite remembered.
"Hey, Gavin?!" A voice cried, walking up the stairs to Gabe's floor.
"Audrey, are you the reason he is knocking on my door?"
Audrey nodded, "He called me from a party of his, supposedly there were two different punches. One with booze and one without." she said, grabbing Gavin by his collar, "And by the smell of his breath, I'm guessing you may know which one he had, which he claims was by accident."
Gabe chuckled, and patted her on the back, "Sure it was! Just as much as it was our freshman night of college. . .hm?"
"It twas!" Gavin declared, throwing both hands up in the air.
Gabe was exiting when he stopped in tracks to what Audrey said next to Gavin.
"Now, now! You know Tara's sons gonna be here any-" Audrey gasped, clamping her hand against her mouth, her eyes shooting to Gabe's back, hoping he hadn't heard her.
Gabe's turned to face her in utter surprise "Son? Tara has a son? That was the "Son" that Gavin meant?"
Audrey looked surprised, "You don't know about Ethan?"
"When? When did this happen?" Gabe demanded, looking at her in as calm a way as he could, "How-how old is he?"
It all seemed to click to Audrey in the instance, "You, you didn't know. . .?"
"He's five. . .isn't he?" Gabe asked, feeling his whole world spinning as he leaned against the wall.
" Yeah. . . he is. . ." Audrey shuffled and looked over at Gabe curiously, "You mean you didn't get Tara's message left on your phone?"
"I thought it got ruined the day I got to Japan and so I decided to get new service there, changed my phone number. I-I was going to message her about it. . . but things didn't go very well with my internet. . ."
"But she left a message on your phone. How could she leave a message if you canceled that plan?"
"My ma got rid of it for me. . .She said a couple of days later that it was working after I'd already gotten my new one, so I loaned it to her. . .Crap. . ."
"Well, then the text message break up over her phone makes a lot more sense now. . ."
"That's why I never got a word from her? Why she blocked and deleted me from everything? She thought I didn't want the-the baby? The baby I didn't even know I had because my mother kept it from me?!"
Audrey's features filled with pain, "Gabe, she had tried calling you a million times over the phone. She didn't feel comfortable talking over the internet. She got your mom. . .Your mom told her to stop trying to contact you, that you didn't want to talk to her. That you needed to get into college and you couldn't have any distractions. . ."
Gabe felt anger flare, as he held his keys tightly in the fist of his hand, "Really? So that's what happened. . ."
They heard a sound of little feet and bigger running up the stairs together, as they got to the top, Gabe turned around with a heart stopping realization on his face.
A boy? His boy? A boy who was his son? His hair. Her eyes. The little smile. Her nose. His mischievous gleaming eyes. . .
Gabe's breathe hitched. . .This was all too real way too fast. . .
Tara met his gaze, her face turned from happy to pain,"Gabe?"
One word. How could her saying one word make him so upset.
"Whose that, ma?" asked the boy curiously, looking back and forth between the two pale faces.
"This-this is Gabe, Ethan, our new next door neighbour."
"Lucky! I have a middle name! It's Gabrielle! I wish It was short like Gabe!" he said, talking quickly to him with shiny eyes, "Do you like macaroni and cheese with hot dog? It's my most favourite food in the world! What's your most favourite food, Gabe?"
Gabe just stared for a second, than changed to a nervous half grin, "Well, I like pretty much everything. . ."
"Yeah, me too, but what's your favourite?!"
"Ham cheese sandwiches. . .I like ham cheese sandwiches." he told him, "So, your name is Ethan, huh? Ethan, I need to talk to your mom for a minute, would that be okay with you?"
Ethan shrugged, "It'll cost ya."
Gabe chuckled, "Here, take this." he handed his a pen and note-book, "Draw a story."
Ethan groaned, "I'm only a kid, you really think I could be much of a story-teller." he said with a shake of his head, "I want candy."
Gabe blinked, "Candy?"
"Yeah, I figure cash will become more appealing once I'm older, ya know."
Gabe blinked once more, "Uh, here, have this." he said, grabbing the sucker the post office lady had given him that he stuffed in his pocket, "Tis chocolate."
"Cool! Thanks!" He said, taking off the wrapper as Gabe grabbed Tara's arm and took her into his apartment, "Stay with aunt Audrey till we're done talking, okay Ethan?" Tara said in her protective mama voice.
"Kay, I will." he said, looking over at Audrey, "Why is uncle Gavin passed out? Hey, do you have anything we can throw in his mouth while he's sleeping?"
Gabe shut the door behind them, turning to her, his eyes flashing confusion, "You-I. . .Why didn't I? I. . ."
"What do you need? Can this hurry? I need to make my son his dinner." she said sternly, tucking her hair behind her ear, and pulling her arm out of his grasp.
He felt angry, "I never knew I had a son. . ."
Tara seemed to catch his confusion, "What? What do you mean you didn't know?"
"I mean. . . I only figured out about this from Audrey. . . "
Tara paused, something in her stance showed she was angry with him, "How could you not possibly know? I left you dozens of messages. I wrote to you. I even sent you a message through e-mail. . .So explain to me how you couldn't possibly know?"
"I don't have an e-mail, Tara." Gabe said heatedly, pacing back and forth.
"I don't understand?" Tara said, seeing in his face that he was telling her the truth, "How could you not have known?! You still could've contacted me!" she screamed, tears welling in her eyes, "You never tried! Never!"
He looked back at her, needles of pain settling in his stomach, "Tara, you broke up with me. I remember. You told me, through a letter that you sent to Japan."
"What? I did no such thing Gabe!" she said, pointing her finger at him, shaking as though her heart was breaking all over again, "You never called, you never wrote me! You never texted me, except for to tell me it was over! You cad! You broke my heart and made me feel completely alone without any help for five years! I have sworn to hate you all these five years! I have sworn never to think of you ever again, and then you just had to come back, didn't you, you selfish ass! Saying that you have no idea what I'm talking about! That it was someone else entirely! That you never knew about Ethan!"
Gabe watch her as she wiped away her tears, wrapping her arms around herself as though to protect her heart as he inched closer " You've got to believe me, Tara, I never knew!" he said, taking her and, and wiping the tear rolling down her cheek, "I'm so sorry." he said softly, caressing her face, "If I had, I would have come back. If I knew everything, I would have been there when you had needed me!" he soothed as he scooped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head, "I'm so sorry. I should have known, Damn it! I shoulda known!"
She laid her head against his chest, absorbing his warmth, and inhaling the smell of peppermint and coffee that tickled under her nose.
She gently pushed him away, staring up at him. She'd missed gazing at him. Missed his embrace. Missed his sarcastic behaviour. Missed his nicknames. Missed his lips gently pressing against hers. Missed the longing of his eyes. Missed everything.
But as his face inched closer to hers she moved back, getting away before he could kiss her, "I've got to go. . .We'll talk about this later, okay?"
He nodded, looking like he was embarrassed, "Yeah. . ." he was speechless as she walked away.
Couple of minutes ago outside in the hall.
"Hey, why did Gabe take her into there? That's not her there!" Gavin pouted, pointing a accusatory finger, "Jow will I know which room fifteen to open? There are three and they're all spinning. Sigh, woe is me!"
Audrey rolled her eyes "And they say I'm the drama queen.", settling down beside him as Ethan played with her gameboy, she bumped her arm against Gavin's, "I don't think you should, since you can't even stand." she chuckled, handing him a cup of coffee, "Remember that I was going to give you this to help with your drunkenness?"
He stared at it, then glared at her, "Then stop swirling two of them in my face. . .that's just mean Audrey" he sighed, laying his head against her shoulder.
She laughed, "Just drink it silly boy!" She said, steadying his hand, putting the cup there for him to hold.
"Thanks." he murmured, as she helped him drink from it.
"You are truly the first man-child that I never expected to be a man-child!" she laughed,slapping his back and leaning back against the wall, "Gabe, Gabe I expected, but Gavin, saint Gavin? Now that's just a riot."
Both of them jumped to Tara yelling, which soon calmed down.
"Wonder wat's going on in there?" he pondered, starting to steadily stand an wobble back and forth.
Audrey grabbed his arm, "No, no, no! You. Sit."
"What? Nah, I'm good!" he said stumbling back down, "I'm just gonna check on Tara-" he mumbled before he fell asleep against her again.
Audrey shook her head and smiled at him, "You do that crazy good boy." she said, wrapping her coat around him, then standing up as Tara came out.
She saw Tara's face and knew what she needed next, "Hey, I got some cookies and nutella out in my car, I'll be right in."
Tara thanked her.
"Hey mom, I got a Charzard!" Ethan giggled, coming up beside her, "Look, it's so cool!"
"It really is, isn't it. Now let's get inside and get ready." She said.
"Hey, Gabe, you want some of the moms awesome pancakes? We make it from scratch!" Ethan said in excitement.
Tara turned back to see Gabe standing in the door way, watching them, "Um, some other time. . .I've got a lot of things to do. . ." Gabe said, giving Ethan a smile, and holding out his hand for Ethan to take, "It's nice meeting you, kid. You're lucky to have such a cool mom." he said.
Ethan grinned and ran over to him, giving him a hug instead, "It's good to meet you too! Ma told me about how you and her use to be friends. You're the reason for my horrible middle name. " he grinned, running back to his mom.
"Oh," he said turning to a blank faced Gabe, "And if you hurt my ma, I'll hurt your face!" then he giggled, running into the open door of Tara's apartment.
Tara gasped, "ETHAN ADAMS!" she shouted, going in, then turning with sympathy on her face to an amused Gabe, "S-sorry. . ." she sighed, than shut the door behind her .
"If I had needed anymore proof he is my son, that should do it. . ." he laughed, but still felt mildly annoyed and upset, "Damn."
Audrey stood beside him and nodded, "defiantly, your son, no doubt about it."
Gabe looked over at Gavin, "So, what are we gonna do about that drunken idiot?"
Gavin laid on the floor with his mouth open, snorting and mumbling things in his sleep.
"Can I leave him with you?" Audrey asked with a pleading look, seeming like she'd already had enough of drunk Gavin for a day, "Please?!"
"Sorry, can't. I've got to head to the office today for my latest assignment so he's all yours." Gabe chuckled, heading into his apartment before she could complain and shutting the door behind him.
"I've got a mother to deal with anyway." he growled, sitting down on his apartment couch and grabbing his phone, he grabbed a box from under where he was sitting. Setting it on his lap he opened the lid and grabbing Tara's letter that his hands had crumbled and un-crumpled about a thousand times in the hopes of a different result of words, "Who would've sent me this than?" he pondered, pulling up his leg to rest on the other one, "I'll get down to the bottom of this, even if it kills me."
Later that night Tara opened the door for Audrey to come in, "Hey."
"So you told him you knew, right?" Audrey asked, holding a bowl of cookies in her arms.
"No. . . I didn't think now was the right time, not after today."
"You'll have to tell him eventually."
"I know."
"You figured out what your mom did."
"Lets just not talk and pop in the movie. I already set the popcorn and licorice out."
"It just makes more sense now, that's all. . .How could she-"
"Audrey, stop."
Audrey sighed, and put in pillow talk, and sat down beside her,"Fine."
"Rock Hudson really is the man of my dreams."
"Yeah, in your dreams." Tara joked, throwing a mini butter finger at her.
"Hey, it is so on!" she laughed, throwing so licorice back at Tara.
"Shut it you two, I've got school tomorrow!"
"No hon, it's Sunday tomorrow, meaning church with Grams and Gramps."
"Well, then what am I doin' in my room?"
"Go to sleep."
"Fi-ne." He huffed, heading back to his room.
"Thank you sweetie."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Night ma!" She heard him grumble back.
Tara sighed with a grin towards Audrey, "Fine, you can watch the movie with us. But you gotta be laying down, and only two pieces of candy and no popcorn."
"YAY!" Ethan yelled, running out to join them.
"Silly kid." Tara chuckled, making sure he was laying down properly and had only the exact amount of candy she given him, "You're too much like your dad."
A/N:
Woot woot, I finished. Sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
I enjoyed writing it.
Now for Awesome reviewer time:
Chemical-Rayne:
LOL, no worries, sorry I haven't written a chapter in a while but I will be trying to become better with updating, lol! I'm so happy you felt the same as me about Gabe. One of the main reasons I wanted them to happen was because of how totally opposites they are and how awesome of chemistry I think they'd have, haha. Don't worry, I like pickles, especially dill. :D ;)Thanks for your awesome review! You're right, Audrey's the only sane one at the moment! :)
Saloni98: Honestly I don't know why they're is always food being mentioned or made, it just kinda became a almost traditional thing for me to write for this fanfic. I guess to me it the only way I could see Gabe open up to Tara, about part of who he was, is somewhere he's comfortable, and somewhere comfortable for him turned out to be a kitchen for my story, lol. Or maybe I could only see him showing his vulnerable sides to her where he could just be himself and it escalated from there, lol!
Hope you enjoy this chapter even though it took so long to put up. Sorry 'bout that! :D
Amspraz: I cannot tell you, but I'm guessing you may already know. :D
I'm glad you were surprised, I was wanting that kind of reaction, lol. :)
I'm kinda hoping this one will be the same as well, lol!
EmmALewisS:
I think I know which chapter you're referring to. :) Sorry if it freaked you out. If I ever have that happen again, which I probably won't, but just in case, I will leave a warning, lol! I'm glad you came back, hopefully you come back again! XD
To all readers:
I like to know what people think it helps my brain to think through everything and opinions coming from different people really help me get creative, so thank you all for your reviews!
R&R if you don't mind! Love Blue eye beast 93 :D
Have a beautiful day, week and life.