Fortunately, Darren wasn't caught the following morning. He had gotten up as usual and peaked open his door to make sure it was clear to go to the bathroom, noticing Linnie's wand and jacket were missing from their usual places. After he had hit the bathroom however, Darren had caught a whiff of the air to smell nothing. The usual smell of breakfast being made with a fresh orange juice were missing, and Darren found himself scrapping by with toast and grape jelly, washing it off with some milk (while ironically, noticing his beer was missing. Maybe Linnie had finally decided to go wild?)
As he ate in silence, Darren kept thinking about everything Chelsea had said to him last night; about how ungrateful he was towards his father, and how cold and distant he had become, not only towards Linnie, but to everyone else. Hell, he didn't even remember the last time he visited Cosmo and his family, not that he and Wanda particularly liked each other. The last time he was over there before his arrest, Wanda had kept bringing up how much he and Nora were alike and how she didn't want his influence around their children. Yet, as annoying as that was, Darren admitted to himself that it was better than sitting in the kitchen alone, with only his chewing sounds to keep him company.
Knowing that Linnie usually didn't get home until 5 at the earliest, Darren decided that a little TV wouldn't hurt until he was ready to talk to Linnie, though he was distracted by the pictures still hanging up on the wall. Apart from the ones he had allowed to haunt him last night, Darren also noticed two other photographs; one was a family portrait excluding Nora, where Linnie had kneeled behind the children and smiled gently, hugging them close, while the one next to it really tugged at his heart strings. It was a picture of Linnie swinging Darren on the swing set one last time before Nora had declared a ban on the park trips due to Darren's tantrum that evening, and Linnie being barely able to leave bed due to his pregnancy with Cosmo. Before Linnie's disappearance, it was Darren's favorite place to go to get away from all the yelling and negativity for a while. Running in the sand with Chelsea, burning their butts on the metal slide in the center, and trying to touch the moon and stars on the swings despite Linnie's pleas not to swing too high, Darren felt like that was the only time he was truly allowed to be a child. Otherwise, he was stuck at home, either tending to his mother's demands or taking care of his younger siblings while Linnie was gone and Nora was out bar-hopping.
Scanning through the photographs Linnie had kept of his siblings, Darren was starting to understand Chelsea's point. Although he still believed that there was nothing wrong with enjoying beer every now and then, Darren couldn't say that Linnie didn't at least try to be a parent, even if he wasn't a perfect one. Sure, he was over-protective and his sing-song, overly-sweet voice sounded like screeching chalkboard to Darren, but in the end, he knew he meant well, which was a hell of a lot more than he could say about Nora. At least Linnie fed them three meals a day if he could, at least he made sure they all had their baths taken cared of, and at least he tried to make some fond and warm memories, as Darren looked back at the picture where they had all made Christmas cookies with their Aunt Daisy.
Deciding enough was enough, Darren turned off the TV and put his plate in the dishwasher, before poofing himself into more casual but warm clothes and teleporting to Linnie's workplace at the nursery. He floated into a medium-sized building with pastel lavender walls with paintings of children playing and toys handing, along with a soft, matching carpet. In the center, there was a receptionist office and along the hallways were two corridors of doors, each of them with the teacher's/caregiver's name on the side.
"Can I help you? Are you here for early pick up? I don't think I've seen you around before.", a red-haired, male secretary with the name Pixel on his badge, "Can I get your name?"
"Uhh..Darren Cosma, and no, I'm here to see someone. Is Linnie Cosma working today?"
"Yes. Might I ask your business with him if you don't have a child to pick up? You know we don't allow solicitors at our school.", Pixel raised a brow, feeling suspicious of Darren's intentions. Darren just rolled his eyes back.
"I'm his son. I need to apologize to him."
"Can it wait until after school hours?"
"No, it's really an emergency. Uh..I tried calling him but he hasn't been picking up, so I figured the only way I could talk to him was here."
"Well, if you can give me some form of ID that proves your name, then I'll direct you to Mr Cosma's room, but only for a short while. We don't want to frighten the babies. Do you have a magic license or a valid form of ID."
Trying to keep himself from arguing, Darren gave Pixel his ID, confirming his name, appearance, and basically anything else that gave Darren his identity. After scanning it to make sure the ID was legitimate, Pixel sighed and directed Darren down the right corridor, third door on the left. Upon arrival, Darren knocked on the door gently before letting himself in, catching the attention of some of the children playing with the toys, while other stopped drawing their pictures. Darren smiled awkwardly and waved, as one of the little girls went up to Linnie.
"Mr Cosma?", the girl asked shyly, tugging on his pants, earning Linnie's attention, "There's a stranger."
"Oh…well, don't worry sweetheart. This is my son, Darren. You see I have children of my own too, but they usually don't visit me at work.", Linnie's tone shifted towards the end of his sentence, implying that he didn't expect to see Darren face him, "Darren, what are you doing here? I-I don't think this is the best place to talk right now."
"I know but it really couldn't wait. Uh…geez.", Darren started, "Look, I'm sorry about what I said back at the house. I…might have overreacted about the beer."
"Well.", Linnie started softly, before getting interrupted by the school bell, "Hold on Darren. Time for Recess everyone! Line up in a straight line please! Hands to yourselves!"
Linnie led Darren and the children towards the back of the building, walking them out towards the playground that looked somewhat similar to Darren's childhood park, expect the metal slide was a plastic red, and there were more that just two swings. Once the kids were settled onto the playground, Linnie motioned for Darren to take a seat next to him on the bench, still frowning somewhat at Darren.
"What you said at home was very very hurtful.", Linnie started, "You know how much I don't like alcohol. However, I think I was more upset by the fact that you lied to me and then insulted me when I pointed it out."
"Well I mean, it's not really fair that I can't have a simple drink when I've been in jail for 10,000 years ad almost 40,000! I mean, I'm not violent. I don't use magic drunk, I-"
"I understand all that Darren.", Linnie sighed, "But I just, don't like it in my house, or at all really. If I could get rid of all the bars and liquor stores plaguing out community, I would in a heartbeat. It's just…I don't think I've quite gotten over what your mother has done."
"I get that, but it's not fair to me. Just because mom was irresponsible doesn't mean I would be.", Darren retorted, "And it's not like I bought Vodka! It was literally just a pack of beer. I probably wasn't even going to drink the whole thing in one day anyways."
"I know…I'm sorry.", Linnie apologized, catching Darren off guard, "I know you have every right to drink if you want to, as long as you're not doing anything illegal…again. I'm sorry for overreacting at home, but I really wish you would understand why I will never approve of drinking and alcohol."
Darren looked at his father with a sorrowful glance on his face. Nothing Nora had ever done to him or his siblings compared to all the torture she had delivered her own husband, especially once he came back. The countless times she would throw a vodka bottle in his direction, the drunken beatings, and all the insults she spat at him like chewing gum; all those interactions made Darren's pale in comparison. Although he couldn't say he himself wasn't traumatized, Darren found it a miracle that Linnie hadn't run off with the warden, or locked himself up in the nuthouse after putting up with Nora's torment for so long.
"Darren, do you still want to live with me until we can get your apartment figured out?", Linnie asked, breaking the silence, "If not, I can always see if Cosmo's willing to help out-"
"No, that's ok. Wouldn't want to bother him.", Darren mumbled, "I guess so. I mean, what other option could I possibly have? I'll uh..make sure not to buy any beer the next time I'm at the store."
"Well..", Linnie started, "I guess a few beers would be ok. Again, I know I overreacted and I'm truly sorry. I really want to make this work Darren. Despite what you probably think of me, I do love you. It's just..I think we need to really work on our communication skills."
"And our trust issues", Darren reminded. Linnie snorted.
"And our telling the truth issues.", Linnie spat back, before sighing, "Listen, I'll let you have your little beers as long as you're in control of it, you don't buy any hard liquor, No magic under the influence, AND you're honest with me."
"Yeah ok.", Darren mumbled, embarrassed but somewhat relieved to finally see him and his father on the same page. Darren smirked, "Hey, does that mean I can get you to be my drinking buddy?"
"Oh please don't push your luck", Linnie said, though he laughed gently, "Still as troublesome as when you were a child. I guess I shouldn't have expected any difference from you. I really missed you, you know."
After a while, the two males sat and watched the children play until recess was over. After getting reprimanded by the secretary, Darren hugged Linnie goodbye, who told him he would see him back at home. Crashing on the green sofa at the apartment once more, Darren felt a sudden heaviness lift over him as his previous guilt had been washed cleaned. Even though they still had a lot of work to do in getting Darren's life together, making peace with his father was a start at least.