Gutless
Yep, the chapter of Nathaniel in Ecofinisher, the school psycologist gave me this idea, while the headcanon already existed in the Super Nathan franchise, but wasn't ever highlighted.
On the highway along with other vehicles drove a gray sedan along the lane following a sign, which had listed two Luxembourger cities along with its German-speaking neighboring state with its name written in capital letters, making the traveler know it would also lead out of the current country. On the driving seat sat a man around the 25 with short red hair and a horse-shoe like mustache coming down his chin. Behind the car sat a raven-haired woman looking above the middle of the road with a half-bored expression from the car ride and beside her was a toddler's car seat with a sleeping toddler in it. The woman yawned, then looked at the baby lying comfortably in the chair with his eyes closed and she tickled the baby on the back of the hand, observing it open his eyes to reveal its turquoise eyes.
"Just like you, our Nathaniel has one of the most enchanting eyes I have ever seen," Commented the woman looking at the driver, which was focused on the road. The woman chuckled as her boyfriend didn't seem to have heard her and she began to tickle the baby on the belly making him coo. The woman lied her face against the boy's belly trying to pick up a scent from the baby, then looked up at the baby, which glimpsed at her curiously.
"When is our next stop?" Questioned the woman. "I need to check Nathaniel's diapers and switch them,"
"In ten minutes there is one service area," Commented the boyfriend. "Eventually I could refuel the tank. It's cheaper here for now,"
"Sure, while you do that I take Nathaniel with me into the restrooms there,"
"Good, good. Eventually, we could stand on the outside for a while and rest. We don't have to force ourselves to stick the entire time inside the car,"
"That's a good idea," Commented the girlfriend, then grabbed her son by his hand. "When we stop we're going to check your little diapers there and maybe have you drink a bit of milk. Doesn't this sound good?" Questioned the woman and at the front of the driver's seat, the father looked into the inside mirror to observe the two together, then sank his head down with a sigh and moved his head back at the road to check, when he could switch to the next lane.
The family reached the service area to spot all gas pumps occupied and Nathaniel's father stopped behind a small car, where the driver had just stuck the gas pistol into the tank hole.
Inside the car, the father looked back at his girlfriend, which was searching through the rucksack for the utensils of the baby.
"You're going to leave the car while I wait here?" Questioned the man making the woman nod.
"I can wait if you want," Suggested the mother. "There are plenty of cars here, I believe if I wait more people will aline at the restrooms, eventually,"
"Perhaps you're right, go on," Commented the man watching the woman take out the backpack, followed by the man stepping out of the car to watch her take it out. The father got around the car to open the door to the baby and gazed at him with a little sad face. The boy chuckled by looking at the father, then the mother got beside the boyfriend to look at the toddler.
"Are you going to take him out?" Questioned the woman watching her boyfriend shrug his shoulders, then she moved her head at their son signaling the man to help Nathaniel out. The father removed the seat belts and took Nathaniel out carefully of the seat, then hold him in front of his eyes noticing Nathaniel glugging at the adult, making him feel a little tensed.
"Aww look how he looks at you," Stated the woman making the man fake a grin. "I can see you still have this odd feeling, that you won't be good enough for him, but you will do well with the time. I promise with the months passing by you'll be a good or a decent father. I know it," Said Ms. Kurtzberg making the man nod, which handed out the baby back to his girlfriend.
"Here get in and check him up. I'll wait here for my turn," Commented the man making the mother nod, which placed the rucksack over one arm and walked across the road towards the gas station building to spot an arrow signaling, that the restrooms were located behind the building and she went around it.
Meanwhile, by the car, the boyfriend sighed and opened the trunk of the vehicle to look at the three suitcases, that were in it.
"I'm sorry, I can't anymore," Apologized the man and placed his hands on one of the suitcases.
At the back of the building the woman encountered three different doors and watched the one in the middle open up and see a woman come out with a toddler in her arms, then saw Ms. Kurtzberg with her son, then held the door open making the mother smile and enter into the small room to see another woman in there undressing her toddler. Nathaniel's mother took place on the free exchange bed and lied Nathaniel down there and placed beside on the free table the bag, so she could take out the diapers followed by a pack of wipes.
"Ok my darling, let's pull down your pants and see if you have needed it," Commented the mother pull down the pants of the boy making him cackle. "I'm tickling you, aren't I?" Questioned Ms. Kurtzberg, then heard the other mother chuckling as well from seeing the redhead.
"A pretty catching laughter," Confessed the foreign mother making the raven-haired woman smile. "What's his name?"
"Nathaniel Kurtzberg," Responded the mother. "How about your little girl there?"
"Annika Antwerpen," Responded the woman. "This is her first ride, we're heading towards the Netherlands,"
"You're from here or from?"
"Yes, Strassen to be correct," Responded the woman.
"We're coming from Paris. We're going to meet my boyfriend's parents. They live in Germany,"
"Great, my older brother lives with his wife in Hannover. Which part are you heading to, if I may ask?"
"Frankfurt," Answered the raven-haired woman, then opened on the sides the diaper of her son and pulled it down to reveal the wet area of the diaper, which would cover his intimate area. "Wow, is that all the milk you've drank from before?" Questioned the mother making the baby chuckle, then she took out a tissue from the wet wipes package and used it to clean her son gently. The baby dropped the mouth while watching his mother wipe him, then chuckled as the mother pulled a funny facial expression that caused the boy to laugh. "We're almost done, my beautiful boy," Commented the woman holding the boy by his legs up gently, while she folded with her free hand the diaper and used her foot to open the trash bin between the two changing tables to drop the diaper into it. Ms. Kurtzberg took another wipe to clean Nathaniel around his genitals carefully, then Nathaniel moved his eyes at the other woman, which disposed a used diaper as well, and glimpsed at the redheaded boy.
"Did something happen to your son there?" Questioned the woman curious, then the mother of Nathaniel shook his head.
"We're actually Jewish. My Nathaniel is just circumcised," Explained Nathaniel's mother making the woman nod.
"Oh I had no idea," Responded the woman making Nathaniel's mom smile.
"It's no problem. No need to apologize," Responded the mother, then disposed of the diapers and changed hands to use the other one she used to hold Nathaniel to grab a paste which she dropped a bit of the cream on the skin of the baby, then rubbed it around him to prevent it to get red. Afterward, she grabbed a new diaper and opened it. She placed it under Nathaniel's bottom and adjusted it around his waist, then fixed the velcro fastener on the sides tight, then adjusted the diaper on the sides. After it was done, she held up Nathaniel to take a look at him, which cooed at her mother, then she rubbed her forehead on the baby making him laugh.
"My beautiful, beautiful boy," Commented the woman and pecked him on the forehead, afterward sat him down and pulled the pants up carefully. Afterward, the other woman left the room, seconds later Nathaniel's mother was done and took a look at her boy, which sat on the changing bed. The mother with a smile placed the backpack over her bag and took her son into the arms to leave the room, passing by a blonde man carrying a toddler in his arms to head into the changing room as well.
"Thank you," Said the man as Ms. Kurtzberg held the door open and she walked around the other side of the building to go around it to appear from the other side of the gas station. As she got out, she spotted from the gas station had fewer cars parked for filling up, then moved along the area to look for her boyfriend and noticed he wasn't there.
"He sure must have parked on the parks on the other side," The mother said returning to the back of the building and moved across the road to a lot filled with parked vehicles from various neighboring countries and spotted near the exit a car, that resembled hers driving to the exit of the highway, then accelerate up short as it entered. The woman shook her head at how quick it went for that vehicle to drive off, then walked across the parks to look for the boyfriend.
"I think I better call him. There are so many cars," Commented Ms. Kurtzberg then took out her cellphone and searched for her boyfriend's number. She initiated the call, then waited for him to attend it.
"The mobile number you tried to reach is unavailable. Please try again later,"
"Okay, that's strange," Commented Ms. Kurtzberg, then moved on along the parking spots to look for him. While walking she spotted a familiar car drive out of a park, making her smile afterward it turned out it was just a car with a dutch license plate, making the woman sigh and glimpse above the park, then walked between two cars to head to the next line and look for the other parks. She looked aroud the area, then moved along the road to pass by every single car, that was there parked, yet she was unable to spot her boyfriend anywhere. A little tensed, the woman picked up her cellphone to initiate another call, which again was not attended, notable by the mobile network informing her about the number being unable to reach.
"Where could he have go?" Questioned the woman, then looked back at the gas station, then rolled her eyes at the toddler, which remained in her arms neutrally. The woman held her baby against her body and made her way towards the gas station, then spotted by a gas pump a familiar suitcase, which was being observed by a man with a large beard. Ms. Kurtzberg approached the suitcase, then dropped her mouth as she saw her name was on it. "Why is my suitcase here?" Questioned the raven-haired woman, then the man looked at the woman, which held the baby.
"I went in there for cigars and as I was paying I had seen a man put there this and out of curiosity I came to see it,"
"Uh do you know where this man went? Did he have red hair?" Questioned the woman making the adult man nod.
"He got into the car and moved out of the area here. I couldn't see, where exactly he went, but I assume he left the area," Commented the man, then Ms. Kurtzberg looked into the building and glimpsed back at the man.
"Are you sure about that? My boyfriend was here. He was going to fuel his car. This suitcase was in his car. It's kind of strange to find it out here," Explained the woman making the man nod.
"Well, look if you want I can accompany you into the store and ask them, if there are other cameras around the area. Eventually, we can see, where he went?"
"Okay, we can check it out. It's kind of strange. He doesn't attend my phone calls, it's as if his cellphone was turned off or something," Commented the woman making the man nod, which accompanied her into the store to encounter at the register counter a staff member grab a pack filled with vodka bottles to refill the shelf behind him.
Together they approached the counter and got the attention of the man, that had given out the bottles.
"Can we help you?"
"Yes, is there a way we can look into the surveillance cameras of the outside? This woman can't find her boyfriend anywhere and we would like to know if something happened," Explained the man, then the cashier nodded and took out his phone.
"I'll call the boss. He will lead you to the surveillance room," Commented the cashier making the duo nod, which watched the young man use the business phone to call the head of their local. After a short talk, the cashier moved his hand to call the duo to follow him and they disappeared behind a door, which was labeled as private and they went upstairs to a smaller location in the building and at the end of the corridor from another room came out a man in a gray suit and a mustache, then came to meet the duo.
"Follow me, the surveillance camera is right here," Stated the leader, then opened a door to reveal a small room with three persons sitting in there watching the available screens from all the surveillance cameras. Two were discussing together something suspicious, while the third one remained with his eyes on the other screens.
"Good afternoon," Greeted the boss. "I have two civilians here, that have a concern to solve,"
One guard, which was a woman looked up at the boss, then smiled at the two citizens.
"Has it do do anything with a suitcase, that was dropped out by a man with red hair and about 170cm tall?" Questioned the woman making Ms. Kurtzberg tilt her head, then Nathaniel placed his hand in front of the woman's face. "We're analyzing that scene, cause it looked suspicious,"
"Can I take a look at it? That might be my boyfriend," Commented the woman, then the woman reversed the scene to show from the start the man from behind taking out the suitcase and place it on the side beside the gas pump, while the man from the other car was refilling. The boyfriend closed the trunk's door and looked at the man refilling the car, then shook his head and entered into the driver seat and reversed back to be able to leave the place and disappear.
"But, where did he go?" Questioned Ms. Kurtzberg, then she used her mouse to switch from cameras and found one on the back of the building, that showed the parking fields and watched the car appear after a minute, then she paused and zoomed into the car to show her the license plate.
"Is it still your boyfriend?" Questioned the woman making Nathaniel's mother nod. "The woman unpaused it to show the car drive along the road towards the exit, then watched it go faster after entering the highway to disappear from the camera's sight. "Why did he leave?" Questioned the security guard, then the mother took out her phone again to try to call the man. After a while, the same message from the hotline replied to the woman, which felt now insecure about it. The man with the beard took out his cellphone and typed down the phone number of the boyfriend and gave it a try. He happened to receive the same message as the woman and put it back in his jacket.
"I received the same message. He must have turned it off," Commented the man, then the security guard exchanged looks with the chef, which felt about that issue a little hurt.
"I…..this is a little strange. Did this man just abandon her?" Questioned the man, then looked at the woman caressing her son on his cheek.
"He said before he wasn't ready to be a father. Now even since our son is here, it's like he feels he's unable to look for him or for us. I'm not sure…..I don't know…..what I should do," Spoke the woman becoming emotional, then the security guard got up to place her hands on the woman's arms to comfort her.
"I think I'm going to call the police and see, what they can do," Commented the boss. "If he left for good it doesn't matter, but at least it would be a good thing to know, what happened," Said the boss looking at the foreign man, that accompanied the woman.
"It was figured out your father left us because he initially didn't want to have anything to do with us. His parents heard about, what happened and apologized for it. They said, he didn't want to hurt me and it was hard for him to say in words, what exactly was in his mind and he…..just did that out as an impulse. He didn't want to keep his role as a father, so I didn't force him into anything, just left things as they are," Ms. Kurtzberg said as she sat on the bed facing the entrance of the room and behind her, her now 13-year-old son Nathaniel sat with his arms crossed looking towards the window sad. "I can't nor couldn't I change your father. He never felt ready for this and just did, what he did. I never told you that before, because I know you wouldn't be able to understand or you would think, that it would be your fault,"
"But it was. If I wasn't born, you two would still be together and he wouldn't have done that," Commented Nathaniel.
"You know, when I knew you were inside me I was ready for everything the world would have brought me. Any challenges surrounded us. This with your father happened to me and I was taken later at night home by your grandparents. Knowing I couldn't always count on their help I fought for myself to educate myself and get a new job. And you know this wasn't my only fight. We've been through a lot together, your custody, your well-being, grandma's loss….,"
"I know, Maman. Sometimes I'm angry, that all could lead such a normal life with both parents and then there was me, that had to be all alone on father's day or father-son day. Excusing everyone, that he was dead, but in reality, he was alive after all, just left us out of egoism,"
"Real egoism would be if I had forced him to come back and be around us. I can assure you our lives wouldn't be fulfilled as now," Commented the mother. "You're still a boy. You will understand, what I mean when you're older. Many things will come with the time," Said Ms. Kurtzberg looking back at her son, which looked at the window.
"Maman, I've become a man for a few hours. You can't call me boy anymore," Stated Nathaniel turning his head back, making the mother chuckle and place her hand on her son's cheek.
"I know. You're my little man," Corrected the woman making Nathaniel frown, then she kissed the boy on his forehead. "The most fascinating thing about you, is that you've turned out fine and well-educated…..Well your grandparents were part of your life too, but still, I'm quite glad after all that we've been through, that you're….you," Commented Ms. Kurtzberg making Nathaniel smile a little.
"Thank you," Responded Nathaniel, then his mother leaned her forehead on his.
"I'm sorry if I haven't been so often around you and hiding the past. I just …."
"You wanted the best for me. Yes, I know, Maman," Commented Nathaniel making the mother smile, then the redhead embraced the woman. "Thanks for everything you've done for me, despite all that happened," Thanked the son making the woman smile and close her eyes while holding her son in her arms.