Author's Note: To those who are wondering... Tess' friend Evan was supposed to be Evan all the way through the story... and if you look now it should be fixed. Thanks for pointing that out kursk!
By the way I own nothing except the kids that you don't recognize.
"What does my god-father want?" Tess asks as she lets her boyfriend take in what was just said.
"He wants you at the house, as soon as possible," Charlie answers.
"Do I need to pack?"
"For a few days, everyone is coming in. And we're probably going to end up in New Hampshire. Zoë, Liz, Ellie, and kids and the other husbands are already there," Charlie says as his eyes well up with tears.
"Is it bad?"
"We're not sure yet Tink," Toby responds as he sits down in the club chair in the living room. With the use of her baby name from her gruff Uncle Toby, Tess' eyes begin to well up with tears.
"Okay," Tess says as she walks off to her bed room, leaving Evan in the living room with Toby and Charlie.
Charlie smirks at the young man sitting wide eyed staring into the distance.
"Um, do you need a glass of water?" Charlie asks.
"No," Evan says waving Charlie off. "It's just that things are beginning to make sense."
"You're delusional, with that child," Toby says as he waves in the direction Tess went off in, "Nothing EVER makes sense. She's just like her parents in that way."
"No, I mean," Evan starts with a smile. "Last week we went to a café and were seated outside, and every now and then paparazzi would stop and take her picture, and I couldn't figure out why, I figured that it had something to due with the fact that we were wearing baseball caps and sunglasses, like an incognito look for a famous person. I never imagined that it was because she was famous. It must be scary being her."
"Yea, she and Ten tend to get their pictures taken when they go out together, and now the paparazzi tend to follow both of them. They don't like it but they have to deal with it," Toby says as he looks at his watch.
Tess finally emerges from her bed room. She looks at the three men around her and smiles weakly at Evan. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she says quietly.
"It's okay," Evan says as he looks at her. "It's not something I'd go waving around town."
"Yea," she says as he comes over and hugs her and then kisses her. "Thank you for understanding."
"No problem," he whispers into her hair. "Can I call you this week?"
"Yea, I'll have my cell phone, and if I need to give you another number I'll call you okay?"
"Yea."
As Evan leaves the apartment, Tess looks at Toby and Charlie.
"How bad is it?" she asks again.
"Bad, he can't move his arms," Toby says.
"And you're sure it's not like China, or Easter, or that summer?" Tess asks tentatively.
"No Tink," Charlie says pulling her into a hug and smoothing her hair. "It's bad, he's asking for us."
"Okay," she says with a sniffle. "Let's go."
