Electron + Proton = Attraction
Author: degrassi
Type: Slash. M/M.
Pairing: Marco Del Rossi/Craig Manning.
Rating: PG-13.
Genre: Angst/Romance/Drama.
Characters: Are in tenth grade. Emma & Co. a year behind.
Chapter: I dig a little deeper. Into Craig's childhood, and how it still affects him, even today. Why did Craig's mother leave, anyway? Why did she re-marry?
I. Some wounds don't heal
[Flashback]
Mrs. Manning had never been one to raise her voice let alone yell furiously. She was the woman of her household, and she knew it. A spicy thick-haired redhead, with almond shaped hazel-green eyes, hailing from the United states of America. A distinct, pretty woman with a core made out of velvety steel. Little Craig Manning admired his mother, and when he thought of her, he thought of strawberries, and the feel of her baby-soft and caressing his cheek before he was tucked into bed. Often once or twice, she'd sing to him, saying it was a way to keep away all bad dreams.
Five year old Craig Manning had just been put to sleep, his mother singing him a church hymn just a short time before. Curled up in off-white sheets, the young child abruptly awoke to the sound of a door being slammed. Craig's eyes snapped wild open, and he sat up, listening to footsteps across the second floor.
"I'm tired of this! You're always so jealous!" He heard his mother short.
"That's because your eye is always wondering!" His father roared back at her.
The tiny child carefully removed himself from his bed, tip-toeing over to the door, just so he could listen. Even at this age, he knew that if his mother was yelling, his father had to do something to really provoke it. His father had always been a different case. Prone to anger very quickly. A short fuse that could sometimes prove to be dangerous.
"This isn't working out.." She continued, her voice dropping with her patience.
"What do you mean it's not working out?" His tone was all the more intense.
"We have a family! I treat you well! So you want to give that all up?"
Craig reached up, and quietly cracked open his door, wide, hazel-green eyes peering out into the hallway, spying his parents shadows. He watched his father grab his mother's arm, in a furious attempt to make peace. This hadn't been the first time they had argued. It always made Craig frown in displeasure, for he hated yelling and fighting amid his household. At school, while everyone talked about how loving their parents were, Craig only spoke of his mother. The true light in his life. Not his father.
"I'm taking Craig with me, if I leave." She continued firmly.
"You'll do no such thing. He is my son, as well."
"And I'm not letting him stay in this household with you--" She cut off, Mr. Manning shoving the delicate woman into the wall of the hallway. Craig slinked back, growing a bit more frightened. He had a clear view of her now, and could tell by her profile that she too, was alarmed. Craig sat down on the floor, briefly looking around his dim room, before back out in the hallway, where his father stood proudly, majestically, towering over his mother. He wasn't about to have his father torn apart, that was for sure.
"We're not going to become some broken home!"
His mother brave heartedly inhaled. "I don't love you anymore!"
There was a pause.
A thickness in the atmosphere that made the small child want to whimper. However, he was wise enough not to. Small hands clasped to his mouth, and all he could do was helplessly watch as his father, trembling with an unspeakable rage, raised his hand and struck his mother clear across her unflawed face. She stumbled from the force, and fell off to the right side, against her knees. Instantly a hand flew to her newly bruised cheek, a look of horror painted across her features.
"Look I'm s--" She cut him off with her free hand.
"I'm leaving.." She echoed through her teeth. "I'm leaving and that's all there is to it! I'm tired of us constantly fighting, you never taking me out anymore. When we do go out, it never seems like we're a couple, anyway. You're always so busy with your job. Sometimes I think it means more to you then I do, and Craig! I'm leaving!" She slowly rose to her feet, that stare of a young, courageous woman glaring up at the taller, and much stronger man she called her husband. "There's nothing you can do anymore."
She swiftly turned on her heel, and begun to head towards the staircase, only to have him trail behind her. He grabbed at her left arm, trying to reason with her once more.
"There is nothing left, here! Get off! I'm leaving you!"
They disappeared out of sight, but still Craig could hear his mother's yells, and his father's even louder yells. He shut his door, and crawled back into bed, pulling the sheets over his head, and trying to get back to sleep.
His mother did keep her promise. She walked out on him that very night, staying with a nearby neighbor. Where the next day she came by to pick up her belongings. She had knelt down beside him, and explained that everything will be alright. She'd come back and get him really soon. She left little Craig with a soft hug, and a kiss to his forehead, before turning and walking out the door forever, wearing a dress of red that matched the deep hue of her hair.
That was the last night Craig had ever knew complete and total happiness.
Since that day, his father seemed to shut himself out of the world completely. Working around the clock, and keeping his little son busy by keeping him upstairs in his room. Not one play date did he ever attend. He was too busy being watched over by a nanny, while his father ran off to and fro. At times, as Craig grew older, his father did blame his mother's walking out on them, on him. Still in a childish mentality, he would believe every word he said. That's why he got hit. Because he made his mother go away.
Then, to keep him quiet, he'd always tell him how sorry he was for hurting him. Take him out for ice cream, or lavish him with gifts. It was the some pattern. The same repetition for years.
She never did come back.
She tried, though. She remarried to a fellow named Joey Jeremiah. Craig had seen him a few times. With him, she begun to battle for rights to her young son, but Mr. Manning wasn't planning to give the young boy up. Already pregnant with her second child shortly after marriage, the battling of the courts had to wait for a while, due to the stress of pregnancy.
She never did come back.
She gave birth to a daughter, Angela Jeremiah. It was a difficult labor, one that took it's toll on her body. The once, vivid redhead fragile, and weak. She stayed in the hospital shortly after birth, where she died in the arms of her second husband. Angela would grow up, never knowing her mother, but having pictures of her, to remind her that she had been there. She'd always have a loving father to keep the memories alive. Joey even told little Angela that she had a half-brother, named Craig. When she got older, she'd be able to play with him.
Craig knew about Angela, through the bitter mouth of his father. Whom had pushed him down a flight of stairs, and then promptly followed down them with his hand raised to his only son.
"You are NEVER to see that girl. Or that man. I forbid it!"
[/Flashback]
The words rung like daggers in his mind. Fifteen year old Craig Manning jolted awake in the darkness of his room, to a door in the distance of the Jeremiah household, slamming.