A/N: This is about six weeks, give or take after the Prologue. Keep in mind that there are still a lot of unfilled details you are yet to find out. Just keep with me, I promise many questions will be answered in the next chapter which is about to be started by me. Don't count on a really quick update, things have been busy, but maybe a quicker than usual one if things go as planned.
Steve's POV
"Hyde! Get down here! You have five minutes…and I'm not giving you a ride again!" I yelled from the kitchen.
He trudged out from his room, pulling on a shirt. He came down the stairs from the hall and sat down at the dining room table. It was the typical fourteen year old, I'm too cool for you dad, attitude. I remembered being that age, having been quite a few years, and even remembered feeling that way. Of course, my dad was a little different but…I stopped myself, not wanting to go further.
"You want turkey or ham today, Hyde?"
He didn't look my way, just grunted. He had been like that for two weeks, not talking to me. He barely acknowledged me, and even ignored most everyone else. Very rarely did a word come out of his mouth, and since his mothers death, a smile hadn't peaked his lips.
"That don't tell me shit." I sighed. "The boys up yet?" I tried to act as normal as I could without getting angry with him.
He shrugged; again indifference.
"Fine, you get ham, it'll go bad if not. Go put on your shoes. Tammy will be by in two minutes. You better run your ass out there too. She's sick of you playing games with her. Understand?" He had been late for the last two weeks, me driving him, or making Tammy, a nice neighbor and family friend, wait out in her car while making her fourteen year old late also.
Hyde grunted and walked down into the living room, finding his shoes in the shoe basket. I was amazed that he listened to anything said with the way he acted. But I was counting my blessings. Just taking care of the family had been hard on top of work, and with him like that, it was harder. He refused to watch the boys, and he didn't do homework unless I stood over him. I wondered what transformation had taken place in the last six weeks that I missed out on.
I went up the stairs and checked on the kids. Cole was out playing with his toys in his night shorts and Luke sat playing in his crib. I had to love those little boys. They were the only ones in the house that still went with a smile. Playing was still fun for them, and there was still a reason for them to get up each day with the sun.
"Daddy!" Cole jumped up from his spot on the floor and ran over to hug my legs.
I smiled at him, "You ready for a bath, little man?"
"YAY!" He jumped up and down but ran straight to the bathroom down the hall.
"Well then," I muttered, shaking my head laughing and going over to pick up Luke. "You too, Luke. Bath time, buddy."
He babbled some and reached up as I picked him up. Then he hugged me, as best a one year old can at least. Luke was small, smaller that most one and a half year olds would be, he looked like he was maybe nine months old. But that was all due to him being born seven weeks early when Tessa met up with complications. She went into early labor after getting an infection, and they didn't have a choice. He had to be delivered. Luckily, Luke was a strong one, and he ended up being fine, if weak.
"Happy this morning, are we?" I grinned at him. But no sooner had I picked him up then I heard Tammy's horn.
I walked out to the hallway, looking down to Hyde. "Hyde…get out there. And don't forget your lunch."
He grabbed his lunch and left for the door. "Be careful, Hyde! See ya after school!" I called. He didn't say anything back.
I sighed, "Grumpy brother you have, huh?" I asked to Luke. I didn't want an answer to it, so it worked.
Turning, I went back into the bathroom to start the water. I knew that Cole was anxious to get in. Like all little ones, he loved the tub more than anything but playing in mud. He was a classic mischief maker too, just like Soda must have been when he was little. I wondered where he got it, but I figured that Tessa had always been a wild one. That's why I loved her so much.
"Daddy! Bath!" Cole jumped up and down, already naked, "I play!" he exclaimed with joy.
"No…you take a bath. No toys this time, little man. Just soap." I set Luke down on the floor and reached over to start the water. Cole stood next to me, trying for the life of him to muster up the most pity forming look he could.
I chuckled, "I know you wanna play, Cole. But daddy has work to get to."
He whimpered in response but went on to getting his brother once he noticed that it was making no difference. I smiled to myself, knowing I couldn't have asked for better kids, and I sure as hell never thought they would be the only thing that could make me smile.
Once the water was warm and filled, Cole climbed over the tub wall and splashed in. Even Luke was getting excited as I pulled off his pajamas and put him in. If nothing more, he just loved being with his older brother.
I cleaned off Luke first, knowing I couldn't leave him in the tub alone when Soda and Trina got up and wanted to see what was on for the day.
They moved in with me about three weeks ago; when Soda got married to Trina, and they decided it would be good for us to have some company. It turned out he was right, and his new wife was just as sweet as they came. She loved the boys, and helped out whenever she had a day off work.
Luckily, our house was big, three stories with easily five bedrooms. Darry had designed and built it for us before we had Cole, Tess's dream house. See, the Curtis's were our only family. I moved out as soon as 18 came around, and never saw my drunk parents again. And Tessa…well…she had been kicked out of her home at fifteen when she found herself pregnant with Hyde. Then she moved here to live with her now deceased, Aunt.
Cole started splashing water around, a little too close to the face for comfort, "Cole, you stop that. You know that's not allowed." I softly scolded. He was a good kid. Three years old, a blond disaster waiting to happen. He was sweet, listened to us and never wanted to do anything but make us all smile.
"Steve! You all up?" Soda called from the kitchen.
I pulled Luke out of the tub, wrapping him in his hoody towel and pulling him close. "Morning. We're on our way." I walked out of the bathroom and looked down to Soda who was hugging his wife from behind. It was something I missed so much about the day, something as simple as a hug. It stung to see it, but I was happy that Soda finally had what I had had for nearly ten years.
He looked up and smiled at me, "Can I help you with the kids before I leave for the shop?"
"Yeah, sure. Come get the Luke boy." Soda nodded and stopped to grab a banana or some such before coming up, "And you better hurry, Uncle Soda, or your nephew might freeze to death."
He laughed, "Yeah, sure. No breakfast for the uncle, he might starve to death." He put down whatever it was he had picked up and ran up the stairs, taking a shivering boy from me.
"Steve, what do you want for breakfast?" Trina called from the kitchen as Soda left.
"What are you making? Ill eat anything, ya know."
I looked up at the clock from the car I was fiddling with. It was three o'clock, Hyde should have been there ten minutes before. The worry was there, but I figured he had stopped to talk to a few friends. He did that every once in a while, although I somehow doubted he was being any more social at school than he was at home.
"Soda?" I stopped him as he walked past.
"Yeah?" He tapped a pen on his clipboard and sauntered over towards me.
"You seen Hyde? He was supposed to be here by now."
Soda pointed to the open garage doors, where Hyde came shuffling through, "Just a bit late. Don't worry so much, Steve."
I shrugged and called Hyde over. He looked up and walked over silently, almost disgruntled.
"How was school?" I asked him as he stared at the cement floor of the garage that Soda, Tess, and I had opened nine years ago.
He shrugged, still refusing to talk. It was no surprise to me, with everything that had happened in the last few months. None the less, I was worried, and it wasn't going away as I first thought it might.
"Alright, I'll assume it was fine, just a normal day." I looked around and then put my hand on his shoulder, "Homework?" I asked.
He turned and went into where Tess had once sat all day, behind her nice big, cleaned off and untouched desk. Everyday Hyde went in there and either sat or did his homework. It was a place he liked, and he was the only one who went in there for the time being.
I went back to working on the car, it had to be done by five before I went home for the night and it was going to be close. Soda came back soon, leaning on the side of the car next to me, as I gazed down at the engine. He was looking into Tess's office from where we were, trying to figure out Hyde's behavior. He seemed to be just as confused as me.
"How long has he been doing this, Steve?" Soda spoke up after a minute.
I looked up and leaned on my elbows over the engine, taking a deep breath I said the thing that I knew was the answer to why he was doing it, "Since he got back from Darry's."
Soda turned around and leaned down to his elbows to look me in the eyes, "He didn't do it the weeks before that?"
I shook my head, "He was quiet, but he was talking."
"Maybe you should ask Darry, Steve. Maybe he knows "
I cut him off, "I know why, Soda."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Then why? If you know… why haven't you "
"Why haven't I done something about it? It's my fault, Soda. Damn it, I cant do anything."
"Wait…but why is he doing this then?" He asked, finally pushing me in the area he had chosen to avoid for weeks.
I shook my head, getting ready to explain how stupid and weak I had been, but didn't get that far.
"Steve?" One of the mechanics, Phil, came into the garage from the front waiting room.
I turned, "What can I do for ya, Phil?"
"Um…your sister-in-law Mckell?" He paused questioningly for a split second and then continued, "She's on the phone, said she's needs to talk to you…now."
"Oh…okay." I walked out of the garage, wiping off my hands in a clean rag and wondering what the big deal was. Mckell watched the kids everyday for us, unless I had a day off, or Trina or Soda did. It happened very rarely.
"Hello?" I picked up the phone. Mckell continued to explain that she had gotten Luke up form his nap early because he wouldnt stop screaming. When it went on, she checked is temperature and it was really high. This wasn't any new story to me; we had gotten used to Luke being sick a lot, and always being more sick than a normal baby would be since he was born early. He didn't have a great immune system and had Tess's tendency to have higher fevers anyway.
I assured Mckell that I would come pick him up in the next half hour, that way if he needed to go to the doctor soon, I could just take him. We found early that that was best.
I walked into Tess's office, something I likes to avoid, "Hyde, gather your things, we need to go." I shut the door, wondering why I told him to gather his things, considering he had nothing out, just sat there.
"Soda!" I called him over from a car he was looking at a few stalls down.
He ran over, "What did Kel need?" He asked, slightly concerned.
"Luke has a high fever again. I have to go pick the boys up and go home, or to the doctor. We'll see how he is when I get there." I commented dryly.
"Oh, okay. I'll take care of things then." Soda patted my back and started to walk away.
"Soda? Make sure the car in stall one gets taken care of." He nodded.
I walked out to the truck, knowing that Hyde was out there already. He rarely took long to get out of the shop. Sometimes it was hard to drag him out of his mom's office, but most the time he had had his peace and wanting nothing more than to go home and eat.
Sure enough, Hyde was in the truck waiting for me. I hopped in and started the engine. "We have to go get your brothers. Luke is sick again, so I might have you watch Cole while I take him to the doctor, okay?"
Hyde didn't respond, for the hundredth time that day, why was I not surprised? "Okay, sounds good. There are plenty of left-overs in the fridge, meat, mac and cheese, spaghetti. You and Cole can have whatever if you are hungry, but Soda might try and whip something up."
I left it at that, told him everything he needed to know, and let him sit there starting out the window like a mime with no expressions to get him through. Soon, we were to Darry's. It was a nice, big home, newly built just the way they had wanted it. It amazed me how well off everyone had turned out. From dirt poor to well off, no one in the family was hurting. I still hadn't figured out how that had happened; I guess we got lucky.
I stopped the truck and pulled the emergency break up, "I'll be back in a minute. If Luke is really bad, I might just have you stay here for the night. Okay?" I was almost out of the truck when I got the shock of my life.
"No, its not okay." Hydes voice was icy, mad, full of a hate I hadn't heard since the night we found out Tessa was dead.
I whipped around, not mad, but confused, "What?"
"Its always about them, isn't it? Luke this, Cole that, Luke this, Luke that. You don't even give a damn about me."
I searched Hyde's face, hoping somehow that I could find where he had gotten that idea, "No, Hyde, that's not true."
He jumped out of the truck and slammed the door hard.
"What makes you think that?" I crossed to the other end of the truck and pinned him with my eyes, still three feet away.
"Poor baby Luke is sick. You don't jump every time I'm sick or hurting. If you cared you would have noticed…"
I knew what he was talking about, but wasn't ready to discuss that, so I aimed the topic a little differently. Looking back, maybe I just should have talked to him then.
"Luke was born early, he doesn't have the immune system that the rest of us do. He gets sick, very sick." I tried to explain. Of course he knew that, but knowing and understanding are different.
"Yeah, well, maybe you should have let him go full term, huh, Steve?" He bit my name like he wanted to hurt me. And he did, he had always called me dad…until now.
I ignored the hurt, went on like I knew I had to, "You know he had to come early. Your mom would have died if he didn't." I said, almost too confused to realize where the conversation was going.
"Yeah, well, she died anyway, didn't she?" He had tears in his eyes, but turned and ran from me before I could do anything.
Did he blame me for Tess's death?
Sorry…seemed like a good ending place. Hope you all enjoyed. Have a great weekend!
Reviews:
NittanyLizard: Thanks soo much. I cant tell you how much I appreciate your feedback and love hearing from you! Thanks soo much! Have a good few days till I get a chance to get back to you!
Tessie26: Im so happy to hear you like this story, I was a little afraid of the reaction I might get. Yeah, I, Rock, am a huge fan of Steve. I don't know that I could say he was my favorite because singling out one of the characters an all time favorite is a crime in my mind, but I do think he deserves more than he gets. Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter also. It has a lot of info and little action, but it will heat up later. Thanks for your feedback!
Keira: You think I wouldn't stick to it? Its about Steve…man…who do you think I am? The one who has neglected BE? wink wink No, I am more than excited about this story right now. Im gald you are liking it and like the title…that was on a whim. Anyway, see ya later and thanks!
Tensleep: Ah, I feel soo special now. The master? Im not so sure, but thanks anyway! I guess I relate to him a little too much, which is scary…but you know me. I hope this continues to please you! Thanks a ton Tens!
Oblivious Misconception: Nice to hear from you again! Im glad to hear you enjoyed the prologue. Here is a little more. You will get a better glimpse into Steves life in the next chapter if things go as planned (cant say they will, but I try). Thanks and hope you enjoy!
Ale Curtis-Carter: Thanks! Hope this was soon enough, probably not, but faster than most. I hope you enjoy this chapter also!
Okay, that's me signing out. See ya on the other side of the moon.
Rock
