Author's Note: Hope you enjoy the chapter, have a great holiday!
Chapter Thirty-Six – A New Hope
JT had returned to his parents home a day later to get himself ready for school. Even though, Principal Helmsey given him in-school suspension as way of ensuring he would keep up with his school work and not miss any more material than was necessary as a senior. So when he returned home the following night, he simply put his stuff away and stayed in his room. It was only when he decided that avoiding his parents wasn't the best thing for him to do, that he needed to be honest with them and tell them exactly how he felt about everything that happened of late. With that in mind he asked to speak with his mother and father together to get some things off his chest.
Bo and Hope were sitting at the kitchen table when he walked in. "Good, you're here."
"Well, you did ask to speak with us son. So here we are. Why don't you have a seat and tell us what's on your mind." Bo added gesturing toward the open chair across from himself and Hope.
JT sat down hesitantly clasping his hands together as he tried to gather his thoughts before he spoke.
As if sensing that JT didn't quite know what to say yet, Hope broke the ice. "Honey, if this is about what happened on Friday, with-with John. I want you to know that your father and I are open to hearing anything you have to say about his offer. We realize that this is a difficult situation for you, being in the middle of all this. But, we know that you probably have some feelings about it one way or the other and … we want to know how you feel about it. So just relax, nothing you say will hurt us, you're a young man now you have a right to make decisions about your life."
He took a moment to stew over her words and tried to think of something to say. "This is really hard." JT replied making eye contact with his parents for the first time that night.
"Don't worry about how we feel, just tell us what you think, what you feel is right for you. We're here to listen to you JT, we love you."
He took a deep breath. "Okay … I've been doing some thinking about a lot of things lately. About my father and what he said on Friday. And while I didn't agree with some of the things he said, I did think he was right about my needing a change, for a while, at least." He broke eye contact with Hope, looking down at the not being able to face her.
Hope was shocked to say the least; she hadn't been expecting JT to say that. "Are you saying you want to move in with John?" She had hoped against hope that he would want to stay with them.
"No, I-that's not what I'm saying." He paused. "I think-I mean I know I need a change right now but not to move in with John. I love you too much to completely just move in with him like that. I'd feel like I was betraying you doing that. But, I do want out." He looked up again his eyes begging for his parents to understand what he was asking. "I want to move out for a while. Being here with you guys after finding out that Dad wasn't my real father has been hard. I can't spend time with my real father without feeling like I'm betraying you. I want to be able to spend time with him and things to still be okay here with us. I want to spend time with you and not have to worry that I'm hurting John by not doing things with him. There's too much pressure being here with you and then trying to transition and be with my real Dad. And I just … can't handle it anymore." He paused as he rose from the table looking down at his parents. "It's not that I don't love you guys because I do and I really appreciate what you've been trying to do for me these last couple of months, but it's just too much for me to handle now. It's just too much."
After he turned and left the room going up the stairs, Hope turned to Bo with unshed tears in her eyes, "We've lost him, Bo. We've lost our son."
Bo pulled Hope into his arms as she began to cry. "We haven't lost him yet Hope. We've got a chance to try and fix things." He replied over her head as he pulled her away from him slightly. "We'll figure something out. I promise you we won't lose JT." He declared strongly as he helped her up and they walked up to their room to try and figure out what to do.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning after JT had left for his in-school suspension Hope called John and asked that he and Marlena come to the house because they needed to talk. Although, she hadn't told him what the topic of conversation was going to be, John knew that it had to be about JT. After all lately, he was the only topic of conversation within the family. So promptly at nine o'clock the next morning John and Marlena arrived.
They all gathered together in the living room; John and Marlena on the couch across from them on the loveseat Bo and Hope. "I'm going to assume that you didn't invite Marlena and I her for coffee to chat. So what's going on? Is it about JT?"
Hope glanced over at Bo before replying. "Yes, it's about JT. Yesterday, when JT arrived home he asked to speak with Bo and I. He said-he told us that he would like to move out of the house for a while."
"Well then how soon does he want to move in with me?" John asked erroneously.
"John, I don't think Hope was finished," Marlena interrupted placing her hand on John's jacket-covered arm. "Please continue Hope."
"JT has not said outright where he wants to live but I get the impression he'll tell us in time. Until then however, we should at least try to fix the issues between us so when he has decided we won't have this tension between us. He doesn't want to cause any problems with the four of us and that's he wants to move out with us," she gestured toward herself and Bo. "And why he doesn't want to move in with you. He feels that the current situation is too stressful for him to continue with—," John shot up from his seat.
"Now, wait a minute if he doesn't want to move in with me, then who? Because there's no way he's living on his own."
Bo stood up hands raised. "Calm down, John of course we weren't going to let him move on by himself and get an apartment or something. That's why we called you here to discuss this without JT present so that we decide as his parents what we are going to do before talking to him about it as a whole."
"Yes, the last thing we need is to be separated on this issue when it's so important." Marlena said once again placing her hand on John's arm to pull him down beside her again. Once he sat down, Bo moved back to his seat so she returned her attention to Hope. "So what did you have in mind Hope?"
"Well, Bo and I we thinking of asking someone if they could take JT in for a while."
"Who exactly did you have in mind?"
"Hope and I were thinking maybe Jack and Jen or Roman."
"Roman is out." John declared, although he had no ill feelings for Roman he definitely didn't want his son staying with him. "Since we're making suggestions here how about my cousin, Nicholas Alamain—," Hope interrupted him.
"JT barely knows him. Besides, I thought he lived in Paris."
"Not anymore, he's coming back to Salem to work for me so you see he'd be the perfect choice."
"I don't think so John. Look, we're not going to get anywhere by simply throwing out names left and right. I think we should decide exactly what we want in a guardian for JT and then try to decide whom we could ask. Alright?" Bo asked. Everyone nodded in agreement and began exactly what they wanted for someone to become JT's new guardian.
A couple hours later across town, Belle arrived at the restaurant to find that everyone was already there. "Sorry I'm late, my meeting ran over."
"That's fine. We haven't ordered anything yet." Shawn replied as he and Brady stood up. Belle sat down as Shawn pushed her chair in before taking his own seat again.
After placing the napkin in his lap, Shawn signaled for the waiter to come and take their order. They all placed orders for drinks and meals after the waiter left they began the discussion on JT.
"So what has our dear brother decided? Is he moving in with Dad or staying your parents?" Brady asked as he took a sip of his drink.
"What makes you think he's even thinking of leaving? Did he say anything to you that Belle and I don't know?"
"No, he didn't mention anything when he came by the house on Sunday. I'm just assuming that he'd made some sort of decision. But, don't worry I'm sure when he does you'll be the first to know."
"I'm not even sure they'll be anything to tell. I mean JT knows the best thing for him would be to stay where he is, with our parents—"
"Why is that the best decision? I think it's obvious that things aren't working out. Shawn, he needs a change and maybe moving in with John would be good for him." Mimi interrupted.
"I agree Meems. That's precisely what I've been trying to tell him. But, my dear husband here seems to think that his parents are the only ones who can be there for JT. He can't seem to grasp the fact that maybe JT could want to live with someone else because he never did." She glanced at Shawn with loosely veiled angry. "His real problem is that he doesn't think Dad is a good influence for JT,"
"I never said that, Belle."
"No but you've implied it numerous times."
"Yes, I've made no secret that I think John isn't a good candidate to take on a teenager with parental issues. I mean his track record isn't that great."
Belle pierced Shawn with a side look before responding putting her napkin on the table. "I can't believe you're even bringing that up, that was years ago Shawn. Let's just be honest here your problem isn't about my father possibly being a bad influence. It's about the fact that you won't even consider my proposal, when you know as well as I do that it would be a good solution to everything."
"No I don't know that Belle. What I do know is—,"
"Okay time out," Mimi declared complete with the T signal. "I swear trying to keep up with the two of you is like trying to referee Conrad and Racquel debating sports. Obviously you two are talking about more than just JT here so why don't you fill in the rest of the class so we can follow the conversation."
Belle sighed, plucking her napkin off the table and placing it on her lap again. "I suggested to Shawn that we consider having JT move in with us, if he wants to move out. While, I think it's a good proposition, my husband here seems to think JT will be just fine with his parents." She told them sarcasm evident in her voice.
"Look, it's not that I don't see why JT would want to move out or even that things would be better if he did move out. I just don't think moving in with us would make a big difference." Shawn explained.
"Okay, now before Belle jumps in, I want to offer my two cents, here. I agree with Belle, it's a good idea to consider. I mean JT would technically have the perfect set up. You guys would be able to help him get over his issues without being concerned that he's neglected one of his parents by picking one over the other. Shawn you have to admit the idea does have its merits." Mimi added giving Belle her props for a good idea.
"Thank you Meems. I'm glad that at least one person sees my side."
"Belle, you know I think it's a great idea. I love my brother just as much as the next guy. But, it seems a little underhanded to me to do this to my parents. It's bad enough that JT is having problems, but wanting to move out— it's a complete slap in the face to my parents."
"What about my father, you know JT's father?" Brady asked feeling as if he needed to represent his father's side of the argument. "I mean if we're talking about what right and fair, how fair is it that my father basically had no say on anything in JT's life, until now. Add to that, the one time he offers a suggestion to help JT, it's completely discredited." He paused. "John Black, my father is JT's father not Bo Brady. No matter how much you hate that, whether or not you like it, that's a fact. But, the point that you are missing Shawn, what both Belle and Mimi having been attempting to make you understand is that staying with your parents isn't working out anymore for JT."
"I know that Brady,"
"Do you, do you really, because from where I'm sitting the only thing you seem to be getting is that JT moving out won't be good for your parents, never mind how JT feels."
"I'm not saying that either. But, what about their feelings?"
"What about JT's? How hard is it for you to get that JT needs something more than your parents are providing for him now. He's 17 years old and he's dealing with a boatload of crap that never should have been an issue for him. Instead of having fun and just enjoying his senior year, he has to worry about not upsetting his parents, his mother and his father. Not disregarding one of them or ignoring them, he's got a lot on his plate right now, and letting things remain the way they've been would be a mistake. I may not agree with my father's methods, but I don't fault the logic because he least he was able to take a look at what's going on and realize that it wasn't working for JT. He understands that JT is in a tough place right now and he needs a change of perspective. He seems to be the only one to want to do some for the best interest of JT. It's as simple as that." Mimi placed her hand on Brady's arm in support to let him know that she was right there beside him to back him on up.
"Shawn, we know you love JT and your parents, there's no question that you want to do what's right for both of them. But, honey the problem is you're looking at this from the wrong side, you're looking at this as their son as if we are suggesting that Bo and Hope are bad parents. But, we're not, because they aren't bad parents and JT isn't a bad kid. He's confused, he in a rough spot right now. I'm sure in time that he'll be just like he was before. Until that happens, what harm could there be in a change of scenery to help the matter along?" As she asked her final question, the waiter arrived with the meals.
Everyone ate in silence as if they were thinking about the conversation they just had. After several moments Shawn broke the silence. "I see your point a little better now. But, if you were in my position I do think you'd feel the same way I do because no matter how much I want to be objective, they're my parents and JT is my little brother. They just go together in my mind."
"Shawn, I know you're in a hard position and I really don't want to add anymore pressure to it. I still think having JT move in with us is a good idea to consider and I think it would end some of the tension between my parents and yours. But," she paused briefly to sip some water, "nothing is set in gold, so just think about it."
As if trying to relieve some of the tension that the conversation had brought, Mimi began to relay a funny story about work. Shawn paid attention with one ear as he thought about his brother moving in with him being something to really consider.
Please tell me what you think.