Boarded

A/N:

Chapter 35 (The Love of a Family)

Charlotte Gibson sat at the dinner table with her husband, David, and her two sons. It had been a month and Jeremy had only talked to Gibby. He said he was doing a lot of thinking and that he was afraid. David peered down at the family dog, a toy beagle. It wanted table scraps. Sandy, that was the dog's name. Sandy was not allowed table scraps, but that didn't stop the boys from feeding her anyway. Charlotte forked her food on the plate, staring aimlessly at it. Something she'd been doing a lot of lately. All this drama was really irritating to David. "What could we do to make him feel welcome?"

"Just be our usual old selves, Mom." Gibby smiled and Guppy shifted in his seat. He really wanted to meet his oldest brother, he'd heard so much about him. David tapped his fingers on the table as the family ate their food slowly. "He's afraid of how everyone's going to take him." They all knew of Jeremy's past, obviously, and they all knew the things he had done. David was growing weary of this drama. All he knew was his wife wanted her son, the boys wanted their brother, and the dog still wanted table scraps. Nobody was getting any younger and life just wasn't going to wait. They were going to be old by the time Jeremy sucked up his pride and came to them!

"That's it, enough is enough." The family looked at him with bemused expressions as he stood up from the table. He was going to get Jeremy into this family even if he had to drag him in kicking and screaming. He walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his jacket. He threw it on and placed a fedora cap on his head. "Get dressed, start packing. If he won't come to us, then damn it, we're going to go to him!"

"David, isn't it a bit sudden?" Charlotte stood up suddenly, half joy and half nervousness clear on her face.

"You've waited long enough, Gibby and Guppy have waited long enough, and I intend on making sure you don't have to wait another second." Charlotte smiled at her husband's determination, he seemed so sure. "While you get ready, I'm going to drop Sandy off with grandpa. Try to have everything you need for this trip so we can go when we get back." Gibby smiled and nodded as Charlotte nearly jumped for joy. Guppy looked around with confusion, but soon realized that they were going to go see Jeremy. "Come on, Sandy." David took the dog and started gathering all of the pup's stuff needed for a short stay at the grandpa's home. As he did all of this, the rest of the family started their packing. Charlotte was nearly overcome with tears. Gibby saw this and hugged her, he felt the same.

"It won't be long mom, now we get to see Jeremy." She still needed to do the dishes and everything, nobody really ate, so they probably would be hungry when they got to Texas. Perhaps it was a good time to make talk to Jeremy, over a family dinner. She rushed to make sure Gibby and Guppy were ready for everything, she cleaned the house in a hurry and did the dishes, but making sure to preserve the food for another time. It took a little over an hour, but everything was perfect. David made it home just in time. He opened the front door and everyone was waiting in the living room.

"Everyone ready?" He stepped in and sniffed the air. The warm scent of pine and oak met his nose with pleasure, he hadn't expected Charlotte to clean the house up. He looked around and smiled as he hugged her and kissed her. "Great job honey, I have to say, I'm impressed."

"I needed something to do about my excitement…" She chuckled nervously and he smiled at her. Damn he loved this woman.

"Okay then, the car's ready." He looked to his sons and they grinned back at him. "Let's get a move on, boys. I hope you've packed for a couple days. We'll be staying there for a bit, I've already reserved a hotel and everything." One would think Guppy would be the first to race out of the house, but it was in fact Gibby who went running first. Guppy laughed and ran after him. Charlotte watched her sons and wiped her eye, then kissed David on the cheek.

"Thank you, David." David smiled at her and placed his hand on the small of her back. They walked out of the house together and he made sure to flick the lights off and close the locked door.

It was not a long plane ride, but it felt like eternity. Guppy became bored rather quickly and kept whining about how long it was taking. This became a constant problem until Gibby traded his window seat with Guppy. Guppy had then become so fascinated and entranced by the fluffy clouds, it made Gibby happy and let him go back to reading his book. Charlotte spent a long time calming herself down and chatting up the stewardess. David spent the majority of the plane ride in thought, trying to figure out what his next step was going to be.

When they made it to the hotel, David instructed them to meet him at Outback Steakhouse by six o'clock. It was only five, so it left enough time for them to get situated and for David to find Jeremy. He then drove to Chestnut and made his way on campus, he would normally have stopped to look around at the scenery, but he was a man on a mission. The first person he ran into was Melanie, he recognized her as Sam Puckett's twin sister. "Hey, you're Miss Puckett, right?" Melanie was sitting on a bench, putting books in her backpack. She looked up and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Melanie. I have to go to my boyfriend's ball game, classes made me run a bit late. Is there something you need?"

"I'm looking for Jeremy Elliot. I'm his father, well…sort of." Realization flashed before her eyes and she let out a gasp. This was beyond perfect! Jeremy and Freddie were actually becoming friendly with each other, so she talked to him often. Jeremy actually had a very good respect for Freddie as a baseball player, so it was good common ground for them.

"Oh my god, his family's here? He's playing in the game with Freddie and Kevin. You should see him, he's the star pitcher!" David's face softened and a smile graced his lips. This was something to be proud of.

"Would you take me to him?"

"Of course!" Melanie threw her backpack over her shoulder and headed in the direction of the ball game. When they arrived, they saw Jeremy on the mound, ready to strike out a member of the opposing team. "This is really just practice." David nodded and watched with immense pride as Jeremy threw the pitch. His ball-playing had become much better since the air had been cleared. He didn't have any more anger to focus on and could put full focus on the sport.

He struck the batter out and David cheered him on. Jeremy lifted his head up and looked over in surprise, this was very unexpected. The game came to an end and Freddie was the first to come out. Freddie embraced his girlfriend and kissed her lips. "Good to see class didn't keep you too long."

"Yeah, you were great. Jeremy did well too." Freddie nodded and looked over as Jeremy walked in his direction.

"Hey man, good pitching out there!"

"Thanks." Jeremy stared at David, who had his arms crossed. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the watch on his wrist. It was still in perfect condition, he wore it as a good luck charm. He pressed his lips together and looked to Melanie. "Have you heard from Jessica today?"

"Yes, she's doing well." Jessica was coping well with Shane's death and moving on. She and her mother moved to Seattle just a week ago and she was already showing herself to be adjusting very well. She and Jeremy had exchanged letters on occasion, they kept every letter. Their friendship had really been blossoming.

"That's great to hear. Now who's this guy you brought to the game with you?" He jerked his thumb to David. Melanie smiled brightly and Jeremy's eyebrows rose. He knew that smile, it meant she knew something big and wasn't about to reveal it. "Uh oh...what do you know?" Freddie laughed and Melanie ran her fingers over her lips in a zipper motion. Defeated, he sighed and glanced at David. "Okay, so she's not going to tell me who you are and I really don't want to play guessing games, so uh…who are you?"

"Your dad." Jeremy's eyes widened and his jaw fell, the color instantly began draining from his face. Here? Now? His family? He looked around rapidly, trying to see if Gibby was anywhere to be found. David smiled at him and placed his hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "They're all waiting for you at the Outback Steakhouse. I don't want to sound harsh or anything, but skipping out on your family is not an option."

"F-Family?"

"Yes. Enough with all this drama, Jeremy, no more of it. You're a part of this family whether you like it or not. Do you understand me?" David looked him seriously in the eyes and Jeremy's face softened up remarkably. A smile graced his lips as his watch reflected in the sun.

"Yeah, I understand. I'll come along."

"Glad you agreed to that, because if you didn't want to come along, I might have to tie you up and throw you in the car." David smirked and Jeremy laughed.

"You would have had to catch me first."

"Oh don't think I couldn't do that." Jeremy laughed again as David glanced at his watch. They needed to get a move on now. Freddie and Melanie watched and laughed as David started hurrying Jeremy to the car. Once in the passenger seat, Jeremy leaned back and sighed. David entered the driver's side and started up the engine. Soon, they were on the road.

"You guys came all the way out here for me?" David stared ahead at the road as Jeremy looked curiously to him.

"Your mother cries herself to sleep at night. Your brother stays up late thinking about when he's going to get to talk to you again and he sometimes spends his spare time talking to you on the phone rather than doing his homework or even talking to his girlfriend…" Jeremy looked to the ground as David pulled to a stop at a red light. "Guppy can only dream of the older brother that he has never met. You may think this is all about you and you're the only person in this whole messed up situation that's affected, but I come bearing some breaking news." Jeremy slowly lifted his eyes to David. The light turned green and David took a left turn. "You're not."

"It's hard…" He didn't know everyone was so affected, he honestly didn't. He knew they had to be thinking something, but he was always so afraid. Leave it to his stepdad to come get him, though.

"It's odd, I'm surprised you just simply came with me." Jeremy laughed and gave David a small smile. "You'd think through all you've been through, you wouldn't have gotten in the car with anybody." He shrugged as David turned into the parking lot of the restaurant. His heart began slamming in his chest, he thought he was going to have a heart attack.

"To be honest, I knew what you looked like. Jessica managed to email me a picture of you, Gibby says he doesn't have a scanner."

"We don't." David parked the car and shut it off. His eyebrows rose and fell momentarily as he slowly looked over to Jeremy. "Jessica? As in Jessica Trent? Gibby told us that you were starting to get a little closer to her."

"She's…" He smiled and looked down at the watch. "She is a great woman."

"You sound very happy with her, to be honest."

"We're putting the bad stuff behind us, moving on from that. I want to show her that I wouldn't hurt her…and I wouldn't. Now that I know the truth, I keep kicking myself, and she constantly reminds me that I shouldn't. I made a horrible mistake and nothing can ever justify what I did to her."

"There are far worse things that you could have done to her, Jeremy." Jeremy paled and swallowed hard. True, there were a number of worse things that could have happened between the two, thank god nothing ever did. "Now, are you ready?" Jeremy lifted his head and nodded.

"Scared as hell, though."

"It will be okay. Everyone wants to see you. So badly…"

"I'm sorry it took so long…" David chuckled and placed his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, giving him a fatherly squeeze. Jeremy looked up and saw that the man's eyes were a little misty. David looked in the rearview mirror, and there they stood. In the middle of the parking lot, Gibby stood behind Guppy while Charlotte stood next to him, looking ready to break down and cry if she didn't see her son in the next five seconds.

"Let's get out, I don't want your mother having a panic attack. She's been so long without you that she's almost afraid she's never going to see you." Jeremy nodded and adjusted his baseball cap, part of him wished that he had more warning and could have actually changed clothes.

The men exited the car and Jeremy's eyes locked onto his mother's. His breath went away and his eyes went wide. It was really her, really, truly her. His hands shook and he took a small step forward. Slowly he lifted his hand up. Was it a dream? She was smiling at him, her eyes red from the tears she wept. She was so beautiful, his mother. She didn't look any different at all. "M-Mom, is that really you?"

"Jeremy…" Charlotte walked towards her son, slowly, but surely. It was a miracle, a true miracle. Jeremy was also eighteen by now, no longer bound by any custodial laws. That meant, if he wanted to live with them, he could. "My son!" Jeremy and Charlotte practically fell into each other's arms. She gripped him tightly in her arms and his hat fell to the ground. Sobbing loudly, she swore to never let him go.

"Mom, I'm here. I'm here." He wept. Never before had he been so grateful for a second chance at life, a second chance to see his mom again. He tightened his hug and choked back his sobs. "I'm sorry mom, I'm so sorry. Don't hate me."

"I love you baby, you're my son, I'll always love you." She rubbed her hands up his back and closed her fingers on his shirt. She was so proud of him, a young aspiring baseball player. She was proud of the man he was becoming, proud of the man he would become. Jeremy's heart pulsated and his chest began doing flips. Jessica was right, a mother's love overlooked everything.

Charlotte looked at him and started grooming his hair with her hand. She couldn't express in words just how happy she was to have him back. "I was so afraid that I wouldn't be accepted. I was afraid…"

"Don't be afraid anymore. All that matters…is you are with us and we're with you."

"Mom, I'm a Christian now. I'm saved." Charlotte smiled and cupped her hands over her mouth, she was so glad to hear that. She knew he'd been talking to Jessica a lot more lately, the girl must be having a positive effect on him. She was grateful to her, then. Jeremy felt someone tug at his shirt and he looked down to see Guppy peering up at him with an inquisitive look. He smiled and rubbed Guppy's head. "Hey there, I'm your older brother, Jeremy." Guppy grinned and quickly hugged Jeremy's legs.

"Yay!" Jeremy smiled and met Gibby's eyes. Gibby smirked knowingly and tilted his head. He almost wanted to say 'I told you so' but refrained. He joined in the family hug and everybody wept. David smiled and wrapped his arms around them, as though protecting them all from harm. Jeremy lifted his eyes to the sky and smiled widely. To have a family, it felt good, it felt special. They actually came to get him, it meant a lot to know that his family would come to him. He knew they would respect his desire to finish school there first, it would end in early May and he'd be able to move in with them then. After that, he wasn't sure when he'd start college. Now that he'd found them, he sure as hell wasn't going to lose them. They loved him, he loved them, his family.

I hope you liked this chapter. I rather enjoyed the drive that the dad had, sort of a 'get things done' kind of person, a real good role model and father figure. You're going to see this a lot later on in someone that has only been mentioned once, Daddy Trent. You will be amazed, but we won't see him for about ten more chapters. You will see a lot of similarities between that man and Jeremy. Anyway, again, hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know your thoughts about it.