Note: C-chan96, Banksiesbabe99, crazy4nc128 and anne918 thank you all for
reviewing last chapter. I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I was in the mood to
right something cheery so I decided to make a happy reunion even if it
wasn't exactly 100% realistic. Well, here's how Gordon takes the news.
Gordon's POV:
Seeing Casey, Charlie and Alex sitting on the coach was the last thing I expected when I came home from the grocery store. I had expected Casey to be somewhere in the house unpacking. I could've dealt with Charlie being around. It was his house now after all. Seeing Alex was a surprise. Seeing Casey hugging the two of them though was a little much. 'What the hell was going on' I though to myself. I wanted to say it loud but I restrained myself. I'm sure there was some kind of explanation. Before I could figure out what to say though Casey stood up and walked toward me.
"Hello, honey," she said sweetly coming toward me. "Let me help you with that," she said taking one of the grocery bags from me. I looked from her to the kids still sitting on the couch. They both looked like they weren't sure what to say.
"Hi," I said. "Is there something someone would like to tell me?" I asked. I knew something was going on, I just had no idea what so ever what it was.
"Let's take the stuff in the kitchen and I'll try to explain everything while we put this stuff away," Casey said not giving me much of a choice as she started walking toward the kitchen.
"Mom, we're going to head back to the dorms," Charlie said as he and Alex stood up. "We still have homework to do."
"Okay," Casey said. "Be careful," she told them as they started for the door.
"We will," Charlie said over his shoulder as he opened the door for Alex. "Bye Coach," Charlie said.
"Bye Charlie," I told him as he shut the door behind him and Alex. I headed toward the kitchen wanting some answers.
I walked into the kitchen to find Casey already putting groceries away. I sat my bag down on the counter next to the one she had brought in.
"Casey, what's going on?" I asked. I was quickly losing patience. I wanted to know what was going on. What could possibly be so bad that she didn't want to tell me. She picked up something from the counter in front of her and handed it to me.
I looked down to see that I was holding an envelope with a picture sitting on top of the envelope. I looked at the picture. I could tell the picture was of Casey, probably when she was about eighteen. She was holding a baby and I knew the baby was not Charlie. I had seen Charlie's baby pictures before.
I looked up at Casey questionly. What was it that she was so resistant to tell me?
"I had a baby before Charlie," she said quietly. "I was still in high school at the time. I had tried to keep the baby but I soon realized I was too young. The father wanted nothing to do with the baby and neither he or his family would help out in any way. My mother helped me out as much as we could. She loved the baby girl as much as I did. But it was too much for us. I wanted to finish school and she had a full time job trying to support us. I decided to give the baby up for adoption so she could be a part of a family that could give her everything that I couldn't provide at the time."
"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked her. It was part of the past. I never thought that Casey was perfect. Never expected it because my past wasn't exactly perfection itself. After all I had met her because of being sentenced to community service because of being arrested for driving under the influence. There were still other things about my past that I had never told her. Things that I really didn't think made a difference. Just like I couldn't see what this had to do with us now. I didn't care if she had three or four kids I didn't know about. I knew she was faithful to me and that was all I cared about.
"I didn't tell you before because I figured it was a part of my past," Casey said quietly. "I never thought I would ever see my baby girl again but I have."
All of a sudden it dawned on me. That was why the three of them had been so close when I walked in. I had walked in on a family reunion. Alex was the baby girl that Casey had given up for adoption sixteen years ago. That was what had been bothering me since I met her. It hadn't just been that I recognized her from the Hawks. She had Casey's red hair and she and Charlie shared a certain resemblance to each other. I just hadn't been able to put my finger on that earlier.
"Alex is your daughter?" I asked wanting actually confirmation to what I already knew to be true.
Casey nodded. "When I heard her last name this past weekend it didn't even dawn on me that it was the same name as the couple who adopted my baby. Kathy and Thomas Paris. I had never actually met them. I wanted it that way. There were a few letters exchanged during the process between us but that was it."
"Her mother recently died didn't she?" I asked trying to recall things I had read when I had looked into her school file. I had looked into both her and Scooter. I wanted to know what kind of kids I was working with. I also had been curious as to why she hadn't been playing hockey last season. I had found out that she had done a lot of last semester as an independent study because her mother had been ill.
"Yes," Casey said. "Just before Christmas. That's when Kathy told Alex she had been adopted. The kids were sorting through her stuff this afternoon that Alex had stored in the Larson's attic and found that and the other papers about the adoption." Casey paused for a second. "Gordon she's all alone and she is my daughter. I told her she could come live with us if she wanted to. I know its another inconvenience for you..."
"Hold it. Stop right there. Its not an inconvenience. She's your daughter just like Charlie's you son. She's welcome in this house. We have the extra room. It won't be any problem at all."
"But what about if we have another child..."
"Then we figure that out when we come to it," I told her taking the couple of steps I needed in order to take her in my arms and hold her close. I knew there was going to be some papers and stuff to fill out with Alex coming here. Casey had to be given back custody of her daughter which I couldn't see being a problem given the circumstances and Alex was actually old enough that she had a lot of say in who became her legal guardian. But I didn't think we needed to bring that up right now. We could sort it out the next meeting we had with the lawyer we had gotten to handle my adoption of Charlie. Since Casey and I were getting married I had told her that I wanted to officially adopt Charlie something her last husband had never wanted to do. In fact, I'd wait till then to mention the topic about adopting Alex too. I wanted us to be a family. I was going to make this work. Charlie's POV:
Alex drove us back to campus and after parking her car she walked with me to my dorm building. Adam was waiting outside on the steps for us.
"How did it go?" He asked as soon as we were withing talking distance.
"Pretty well," Alex said. "At least I know now that she didn't give me away because she didn't want me. She had given me up for adoption because she felt she was too young to provide for me. She thought I would be better off with someone else."
"The reunion got cut kind of short though. Coach came home and we sort of made ourselves scarce why my mom broke the news to him."
"I hope he takes it well," Alex said. She sounded worried. I wondered if maybe she was scared she would lose the family she had just found.
"He will," I told her confidently. "Look he took Adam in didn't he."
"Thanks a lot," Adam said as Alex laughed. I was glad to see her laughing. I wanted her to be happy. I had the sibling I had always wanted and there was no way I was going to lose her.
"Besides you'll always have me," I told her. "I'm not going anywhere."
"That might not be a good thing," Adam said with a grin. I punched him playfully on the arm.
"Thanks, Charlie," Alex said giving me a hug. "That means a lot to me."
"Hey Conway, I thought you didn't have a crush on her," I heard Portman call out from behind us. Alex quickly took a step back from me. Telling the Ducks about what we had found out today was going to be interesting but I knew we couldn't keep it a secret nor did I want to.
"I don't," I told him. "Portman, Fulton, meet my sister," I told them. I enjoyed watching Portman's smirk disappear. Fulton just stared in disbelief.
"Very funny, Conway," Portman said finally convinced that I was joking around.
"Are you serious?" Fulton asked not sure whether or not to believe me. I expected most of the Ducks to react that way at first. "How?"
"Why don't we go inside and find the others and then I'll explain everything to everyone at the same time," I said.
"I still say it's a trick," I heard Portman mutter. I saw Fulton elbow him in the side but I chose to ignore the remark. It wasn't worth commenting on.
"I got to go," Alex said. "I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow," she told me and Adam.
"Okay," Adam and I both replied. Then the four of us headed inside to round up the other Ducks. Within twenty minutes we were all gathered in the common room. No one else was around so we were all lounging on the couch and on the floor around the couch.
"Okay, Charlie so what's the big news?" Luis asked sounding a little irritated. From what I understood Portman had sort of forced him off the phone with his girlfriend Mindy so I guess I could understand him being just a little bit irritated.
"Well I think all of you know by now that Alex was adopted by the Paris'," I began. The subject had come up a few times when we were altogether. "Well Alex has found her birth mom."
I could see realization starting to dawn on people faces. Most of my friends knew where this was going. Averman and Dwayne both looked a little lost though.
"But what does that have to do with you Charlie?" Averman asked. I saw Dwayne look gratefully over toward Averman. I think he had probably wanted to ask the question but was afraid of looking stupid again not that I thought Dwayne was stupid. He was very bright. It just took him a little longer to catch onto things than most others.
"It concerns me because my mom is also her birth mother. Alex is my older sister." I told them.
Everyone started talking at once. Guy, Jesse and Connie were genuinely happy for me. I had been the closest to them growing up and they knew how much I had always wanted a sibling. After the intial surprise wore off things got a little calmer. My friends started asking me questions. Some of them I could answer and some I couldn't. Some of them were questions that I should have thought of myself. I was happy to see that my friends, even those who didn't particularly care for Alex, were happy for me.
I have no idea when Adam left the room. I hadn't seen him slip out. I didn't even realize he had left until I saw Jesse leaving the room. I didn't really give it much thought though. I was to excited about sharing this moment with my other friends to really worry about it.
Jesse's POV:
I saw Adam slip quietly out of the room not long after Charlie had told us his news. I was happy for Charlie and I wanted to stay with the others and find out more about what was going on but I was also worried about Adam. I had thought he would be happy for Charlie. The two of them had grown close over the last few months. So close in fact that sometimes I felt like the third wheel when I was around them. But I had seen the look on Adam's face as he left the room. Something had been bothering him.
Without saying anything to anyone I got up from my seat on the end of the couch and left the common room to follow Adam. I figured he had probably headed up to our room so that was where I went first. As I opened the door to our room I found Adam laying on his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Penny for your thoughts," I said quietly pulling out the desk chair near by and sitting in it backwards. I rested my arms on the back of the chair waiting for Adam to say something. When he didn't volunteer anything I tried again. "Come on Adam. What's bugging you? I thought you would be happy for Charlie."
"I am," Adam finally said still staring at the ceiling. "I guess I'm just also feeling sorry for myself. I miss my family Jesse. I mean my Dad is a jerk but I still want him to be proud of me. I lost count of the nights I have spent trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why my dad can't love me for who I am not, love me as his son and not some hockey star that will become famous."
I didn't know what to say to him. I had never liked his father and as much as I hated to admit it, the fact that he had disowned Adam hadn't been any great surprise to me. I had been waiting for it to happen simply because from what I saw Adam could never be what Mr. Banks had wanted. Mr. Banks wanted perfection. No one was perfect. He wanted something that Adam, as hard as he had tried, could never give him. The way I saw it Mr. Banks didn't deserve to be a father, especially not to someone as sensitive and caring as Adam was. But I knew saying that wouldn't help. It would only make things worse.
"Its kind of ironic that Charlie is getting the family he's always wanted just after I lost the family I grew up with."
"So your mad at Charlie?" I asked trying to get Adam to talk about what he was feeling. I knew he wouldn't unless I pried so that was what I was going to do.
"No its not that," Adam said quickly finally looking away from the ceiling. He slowly sat up on the side of his bed and faced me. "I guess I'm just feeling left out. Like I don't really belong anywhere."
"Because now that Charlie has a real sister he might not see you like a brother anymore when Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay get married?" When Adam didn't say anything I knew that I had hit on it. "Adam that isn't going to change anything. From what I've heard from you and Charlie both Bombay and Mrs. Conway want you to feel like you're a part of that family. Just because Alex is in the picture now isn't going to change that. The only thing that is going to stop you from being a part of that family is going to be you."
"I don't understand," Adam said looking at me questionly.
"You can't distance yourself from them Adam. It can't be easy being away from your family but there isn't much you can do about that but don't let your father ruin the rest of your life. You have people who care about you Adam and just because you don't share blood with them doesn't mean that they can't be family or that by letting yourself become part of a new family you care for your other family any less."
Adam didn't say anything but I could tell he was at least considering my words. I decided to try a little humor to lighten the mood some.
"Besides you're going to be a part of their family at some point anyway when you and Alex get married."
"That's not funny," Adam told me.
"Oh come on. I've seen the two of you together. You both like each other. Its obvious to everyone except maybe the two of you because you're both still playing the we're just friends role. Come on Adam, ask the girl out already."
"And what if she's says no. If she goes back with Mrs. Conway then I'm going to have to live in the same house with her or go back to my house."
"She won't say no," I told him. "Besides most guys would love to be in your position."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Adam asked quickly.
"You figure it out," I told him with a grin. "I'm going to see if they're still downstairs," I told Adam. "You coming?"
"No, I really need to start my homework."
"Okay, but if you want to talk don't hesitate. I mean that," I told him. He nodded and then I left the room. I could hear the Ducks still downstairs so I headed back downstairs to join them.
Gordon's POV:
Seeing Casey, Charlie and Alex sitting on the coach was the last thing I expected when I came home from the grocery store. I had expected Casey to be somewhere in the house unpacking. I could've dealt with Charlie being around. It was his house now after all. Seeing Alex was a surprise. Seeing Casey hugging the two of them though was a little much. 'What the hell was going on' I though to myself. I wanted to say it loud but I restrained myself. I'm sure there was some kind of explanation. Before I could figure out what to say though Casey stood up and walked toward me.
"Hello, honey," she said sweetly coming toward me. "Let me help you with that," she said taking one of the grocery bags from me. I looked from her to the kids still sitting on the couch. They both looked like they weren't sure what to say.
"Hi," I said. "Is there something someone would like to tell me?" I asked. I knew something was going on, I just had no idea what so ever what it was.
"Let's take the stuff in the kitchen and I'll try to explain everything while we put this stuff away," Casey said not giving me much of a choice as she started walking toward the kitchen.
"Mom, we're going to head back to the dorms," Charlie said as he and Alex stood up. "We still have homework to do."
"Okay," Casey said. "Be careful," she told them as they started for the door.
"We will," Charlie said over his shoulder as he opened the door for Alex. "Bye Coach," Charlie said.
"Bye Charlie," I told him as he shut the door behind him and Alex. I headed toward the kitchen wanting some answers.
I walked into the kitchen to find Casey already putting groceries away. I sat my bag down on the counter next to the one she had brought in.
"Casey, what's going on?" I asked. I was quickly losing patience. I wanted to know what was going on. What could possibly be so bad that she didn't want to tell me. She picked up something from the counter in front of her and handed it to me.
I looked down to see that I was holding an envelope with a picture sitting on top of the envelope. I looked at the picture. I could tell the picture was of Casey, probably when she was about eighteen. She was holding a baby and I knew the baby was not Charlie. I had seen Charlie's baby pictures before.
I looked up at Casey questionly. What was it that she was so resistant to tell me?
"I had a baby before Charlie," she said quietly. "I was still in high school at the time. I had tried to keep the baby but I soon realized I was too young. The father wanted nothing to do with the baby and neither he or his family would help out in any way. My mother helped me out as much as we could. She loved the baby girl as much as I did. But it was too much for us. I wanted to finish school and she had a full time job trying to support us. I decided to give the baby up for adoption so she could be a part of a family that could give her everything that I couldn't provide at the time."
"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked her. It was part of the past. I never thought that Casey was perfect. Never expected it because my past wasn't exactly perfection itself. After all I had met her because of being sentenced to community service because of being arrested for driving under the influence. There were still other things about my past that I had never told her. Things that I really didn't think made a difference. Just like I couldn't see what this had to do with us now. I didn't care if she had three or four kids I didn't know about. I knew she was faithful to me and that was all I cared about.
"I didn't tell you before because I figured it was a part of my past," Casey said quietly. "I never thought I would ever see my baby girl again but I have."
All of a sudden it dawned on me. That was why the three of them had been so close when I walked in. I had walked in on a family reunion. Alex was the baby girl that Casey had given up for adoption sixteen years ago. That was what had been bothering me since I met her. It hadn't just been that I recognized her from the Hawks. She had Casey's red hair and she and Charlie shared a certain resemblance to each other. I just hadn't been able to put my finger on that earlier.
"Alex is your daughter?" I asked wanting actually confirmation to what I already knew to be true.
Casey nodded. "When I heard her last name this past weekend it didn't even dawn on me that it was the same name as the couple who adopted my baby. Kathy and Thomas Paris. I had never actually met them. I wanted it that way. There were a few letters exchanged during the process between us but that was it."
"Her mother recently died didn't she?" I asked trying to recall things I had read when I had looked into her school file. I had looked into both her and Scooter. I wanted to know what kind of kids I was working with. I also had been curious as to why she hadn't been playing hockey last season. I had found out that she had done a lot of last semester as an independent study because her mother had been ill.
"Yes," Casey said. "Just before Christmas. That's when Kathy told Alex she had been adopted. The kids were sorting through her stuff this afternoon that Alex had stored in the Larson's attic and found that and the other papers about the adoption." Casey paused for a second. "Gordon she's all alone and she is my daughter. I told her she could come live with us if she wanted to. I know its another inconvenience for you..."
"Hold it. Stop right there. Its not an inconvenience. She's your daughter just like Charlie's you son. She's welcome in this house. We have the extra room. It won't be any problem at all."
"But what about if we have another child..."
"Then we figure that out when we come to it," I told her taking the couple of steps I needed in order to take her in my arms and hold her close. I knew there was going to be some papers and stuff to fill out with Alex coming here. Casey had to be given back custody of her daughter which I couldn't see being a problem given the circumstances and Alex was actually old enough that she had a lot of say in who became her legal guardian. But I didn't think we needed to bring that up right now. We could sort it out the next meeting we had with the lawyer we had gotten to handle my adoption of Charlie. Since Casey and I were getting married I had told her that I wanted to officially adopt Charlie something her last husband had never wanted to do. In fact, I'd wait till then to mention the topic about adopting Alex too. I wanted us to be a family. I was going to make this work. Charlie's POV:
Alex drove us back to campus and after parking her car she walked with me to my dorm building. Adam was waiting outside on the steps for us.
"How did it go?" He asked as soon as we were withing talking distance.
"Pretty well," Alex said. "At least I know now that she didn't give me away because she didn't want me. She had given me up for adoption because she felt she was too young to provide for me. She thought I would be better off with someone else."
"The reunion got cut kind of short though. Coach came home and we sort of made ourselves scarce why my mom broke the news to him."
"I hope he takes it well," Alex said. She sounded worried. I wondered if maybe she was scared she would lose the family she had just found.
"He will," I told her confidently. "Look he took Adam in didn't he."
"Thanks a lot," Adam said as Alex laughed. I was glad to see her laughing. I wanted her to be happy. I had the sibling I had always wanted and there was no way I was going to lose her.
"Besides you'll always have me," I told her. "I'm not going anywhere."
"That might not be a good thing," Adam said with a grin. I punched him playfully on the arm.
"Thanks, Charlie," Alex said giving me a hug. "That means a lot to me."
"Hey Conway, I thought you didn't have a crush on her," I heard Portman call out from behind us. Alex quickly took a step back from me. Telling the Ducks about what we had found out today was going to be interesting but I knew we couldn't keep it a secret nor did I want to.
"I don't," I told him. "Portman, Fulton, meet my sister," I told them. I enjoyed watching Portman's smirk disappear. Fulton just stared in disbelief.
"Very funny, Conway," Portman said finally convinced that I was joking around.
"Are you serious?" Fulton asked not sure whether or not to believe me. I expected most of the Ducks to react that way at first. "How?"
"Why don't we go inside and find the others and then I'll explain everything to everyone at the same time," I said.
"I still say it's a trick," I heard Portman mutter. I saw Fulton elbow him in the side but I chose to ignore the remark. It wasn't worth commenting on.
"I got to go," Alex said. "I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow," she told me and Adam.
"Okay," Adam and I both replied. Then the four of us headed inside to round up the other Ducks. Within twenty minutes we were all gathered in the common room. No one else was around so we were all lounging on the couch and on the floor around the couch.
"Okay, Charlie so what's the big news?" Luis asked sounding a little irritated. From what I understood Portman had sort of forced him off the phone with his girlfriend Mindy so I guess I could understand him being just a little bit irritated.
"Well I think all of you know by now that Alex was adopted by the Paris'," I began. The subject had come up a few times when we were altogether. "Well Alex has found her birth mom."
I could see realization starting to dawn on people faces. Most of my friends knew where this was going. Averman and Dwayne both looked a little lost though.
"But what does that have to do with you Charlie?" Averman asked. I saw Dwayne look gratefully over toward Averman. I think he had probably wanted to ask the question but was afraid of looking stupid again not that I thought Dwayne was stupid. He was very bright. It just took him a little longer to catch onto things than most others.
"It concerns me because my mom is also her birth mother. Alex is my older sister." I told them.
Everyone started talking at once. Guy, Jesse and Connie were genuinely happy for me. I had been the closest to them growing up and they knew how much I had always wanted a sibling. After the intial surprise wore off things got a little calmer. My friends started asking me questions. Some of them I could answer and some I couldn't. Some of them were questions that I should have thought of myself. I was happy to see that my friends, even those who didn't particularly care for Alex, were happy for me.
I have no idea when Adam left the room. I hadn't seen him slip out. I didn't even realize he had left until I saw Jesse leaving the room. I didn't really give it much thought though. I was to excited about sharing this moment with my other friends to really worry about it.
Jesse's POV:
I saw Adam slip quietly out of the room not long after Charlie had told us his news. I was happy for Charlie and I wanted to stay with the others and find out more about what was going on but I was also worried about Adam. I had thought he would be happy for Charlie. The two of them had grown close over the last few months. So close in fact that sometimes I felt like the third wheel when I was around them. But I had seen the look on Adam's face as he left the room. Something had been bothering him.
Without saying anything to anyone I got up from my seat on the end of the couch and left the common room to follow Adam. I figured he had probably headed up to our room so that was where I went first. As I opened the door to our room I found Adam laying on his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Penny for your thoughts," I said quietly pulling out the desk chair near by and sitting in it backwards. I rested my arms on the back of the chair waiting for Adam to say something. When he didn't volunteer anything I tried again. "Come on Adam. What's bugging you? I thought you would be happy for Charlie."
"I am," Adam finally said still staring at the ceiling. "I guess I'm just also feeling sorry for myself. I miss my family Jesse. I mean my Dad is a jerk but I still want him to be proud of me. I lost count of the nights I have spent trying to figure out what I did wrong. Why my dad can't love me for who I am not, love me as his son and not some hockey star that will become famous."
I didn't know what to say to him. I had never liked his father and as much as I hated to admit it, the fact that he had disowned Adam hadn't been any great surprise to me. I had been waiting for it to happen simply because from what I saw Adam could never be what Mr. Banks had wanted. Mr. Banks wanted perfection. No one was perfect. He wanted something that Adam, as hard as he had tried, could never give him. The way I saw it Mr. Banks didn't deserve to be a father, especially not to someone as sensitive and caring as Adam was. But I knew saying that wouldn't help. It would only make things worse.
"Its kind of ironic that Charlie is getting the family he's always wanted just after I lost the family I grew up with."
"So your mad at Charlie?" I asked trying to get Adam to talk about what he was feeling. I knew he wouldn't unless I pried so that was what I was going to do.
"No its not that," Adam said quickly finally looking away from the ceiling. He slowly sat up on the side of his bed and faced me. "I guess I'm just feeling left out. Like I don't really belong anywhere."
"Because now that Charlie has a real sister he might not see you like a brother anymore when Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay get married?" When Adam didn't say anything I knew that I had hit on it. "Adam that isn't going to change anything. From what I've heard from you and Charlie both Bombay and Mrs. Conway want you to feel like you're a part of that family. Just because Alex is in the picture now isn't going to change that. The only thing that is going to stop you from being a part of that family is going to be you."
"I don't understand," Adam said looking at me questionly.
"You can't distance yourself from them Adam. It can't be easy being away from your family but there isn't much you can do about that but don't let your father ruin the rest of your life. You have people who care about you Adam and just because you don't share blood with them doesn't mean that they can't be family or that by letting yourself become part of a new family you care for your other family any less."
Adam didn't say anything but I could tell he was at least considering my words. I decided to try a little humor to lighten the mood some.
"Besides you're going to be a part of their family at some point anyway when you and Alex get married."
"That's not funny," Adam told me.
"Oh come on. I've seen the two of you together. You both like each other. Its obvious to everyone except maybe the two of you because you're both still playing the we're just friends role. Come on Adam, ask the girl out already."
"And what if she's says no. If she goes back with Mrs. Conway then I'm going to have to live in the same house with her or go back to my house."
"She won't say no," I told him. "Besides most guys would love to be in your position."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Adam asked quickly.
"You figure it out," I told him with a grin. "I'm going to see if they're still downstairs," I told Adam. "You coming?"
"No, I really need to start my homework."
"Okay, but if you want to talk don't hesitate. I mean that," I told him. He nodded and then I left the room. I could hear the Ducks still downstairs so I headed back downstairs to join them.