Daniel was the last of the Westley children to find out what happened to his father. What was worse, he found out strictly by accident. His sister, Samantha had called him, looking for help. Their mother was still in Spain and their older brother hadn't come home after the incident. Of all of the Westley kids, it was Nathan who actually held some fondness for their father, so he left the home to grieve, leaving Samantha alone. The girl called Daniel in hopes that he would let her stay with him, and accidentally revealed the fate of Mister Westley.
It was a strange day. Daniel simply continued the phonecall like normal and immediately hopped in his car to pick the girl up. He didn't know how to feel. In truth, he felt bad for his lack of reaction to the news, but he also knew that he had things to do. He wasn't sure if he was just stunned or in shock from the news, or if he really didn't care. Daniel just didn't know. Part of him felt like he saw it coming, from the things his father got into.
When he arrived at his former family home, he was relieved to see that his sister was reacting similarly, in a weird way, but he was even more glad that she was alright. She had been left alone in the house that their father had died in after the police officers left, so it would have been understandable if she had been shaken, but the girl seemed perfectly fine.
"Hey, Sammie." greeted Daniel as his sister answered the door. The man couldn't help but smile, as he hadn't seen the girl in a while. He couldn't help but hug her when he came in. "Ready to go?"
"Almost." Samantha answered. "I need to double check to make sure I got everything."
"Alright. We can always stop by and get stuff if you do, though." the man replied, watching as his sister went up the stairs. "Get your uniform, too." he called after her. "Just 'cause you're staying with me, doesn't mean you're not going to school!"
"Oh, curses!" his sister said back, disappearing into her room. Then, he was left by himself in the living room.
It wasn't in him to sit down on the sofa. He knew that his father most likely sat there, so he didn't want to touch it. The thought irked him. It made him squeamish. Part of him felt as though his father would come back at any moment and wonder why he's there, giving Daniel a sense of urgency. He knew that wasn't the case, however. His father was gone, and with him, all of his irksome behaviour. Daniel found comfort in the thought. His father wasn't around to cause trouble for other people and bring him shame. Yes, Daniel's father embarrassed him. He was ashamed that he was the son of such a horrible, lying, cheating, disgusting man.
Mathew Westley was the same man who paid his own son off to not reveal his affairs to the rest of the family. Samantha knew, and she and Daniel were both pretty certain that their mother knew as well. Missus Westley didn't seem to care. She hated the man as well, although she was not a pleasant person, herself. The only one in the family who held any high regard of Mister Westley was his eldest son, Nathan, who mourned him. Everyone else was mixed.
Daniel had recollection of the few times his father was home and interacted with them positively. When the children were small, the father brought them to the family beach-house, and they had fun time like an ordinary family. They were happy. They were the embodiment of what most families striven to be. It had been ages, however, since they were a happy family. Daniel knew it, and so did Samantha. At this point, the two wondered if it was finally unraveling. It certainly seemed that way. Perhaps it was for the best. Despite those few memories, they knew nothing but ill of their father, and that was scarce as well. They seldom came face to face at all, let alone spoke. There were no phonecalls to wish Daniel a "happy birthday" from either of his parents, and they were seldom impressed with their children. The eldest was the only one who seemed at all impressive, and that was merely because he idolised his father without question. It didn't matter that Daniel could sing or play guitar, and it didn't matter how absolutely brilliant Samantha was at almost everything. The favourite was the one who came home absolutely sloshed on a regular basis and had not ambitions beyond that. The only times the Westley parents seemed to proud of the children was when the toted them all out to some political gathering to show what a big, happy family the politician had. What a farce.
Eventually, Samantha came down stairs with two suitcases and a backpack strapped to her before setting everything down on the floor. She then swiftly turned around and started to head back up the stairs, prompting her brother's attention.
"That's not all of it?" he asked somewhat playfully, smiling as he arched an eyebrow at the girl. "You don't need to pack your whole room, you know."
"I don't plan on coming back for a while." his sister replied, looking back at him from above. "Mum's not going to be back for a while, and I can't stand another second of Nathan."
"That bad, huh?"
"Worse."
"I can see that." Daniel nodded before bending over and grabbing the handle of a suitcase. "I'll start taking these to the car. I'll come back up for the rest."
"Okay." answered the girl, placing a hand on the railing. "Am I going to be staying on the sofa?"
"Until I get that spare room cleaned out." the man stated, tucking a suitcase under his arm and huffing as he tried not to drop it. "I planned on turning it into a workout room, but that didn't work out too well. I can get that fixed this afternoon, 'cause it's not that bad. Problem is, there's not bed in there."
"I can put my stuff in there, at least."
"Yep. Sorry, princess, but I came right away instead of cleaning. Might need to febreze the place a bit."
"Lovely. Boy smell." Samantha rolled her eyes, causing her brother to laugh. The girl then continued climbing the stairs again while Daniel was on his way out to the car with her bags. Thank goodness the building's elevator was operational, or he would have surely expired along the way.
On the second trip, Samantha had gathered everything and helped him carry the rest. Once they were in the car, they discussed other things they needed to get, like hangers for her clothes and something to sleep on. Everything else they would collect as the need arose. They stopped at Daniel's house and dropped everything off before taking a moment to rest and straighten things up.
The girl was impressed with how clean the apartment was. It wasn't nearly as filthy as she thought it would be. There were no empty cans or dirty dishes laying about, but there was a bit of a stack in the sink. Deciding that it would do for now and the rest could be handled later, they went back downstairs to the car and took off once more.
"So how long do you think you'll be staying?" Daniel asked the girl in the passenger seat as he drove down the road. His sister merely shrugged.
"I don't know." she answered. "Preferably until I'm old enough to get my own place. It would probably be easy to get custody, since mum and Nathan are useless."
"So what you're saying is that we need to get you an actual bed?" the man mused, earning a nod.
"Yeah, that would be nice." Samantha replied. "I'm surprised you didn't say anything about that, though."
"About what? Custody? I mean, yeah, it might be inconveinient to get it, but I'd rather you stay somewhere where you're not miserable."
"How do I know it isn't? I've never stayed at your house before." She jested, causing her sibling to scoff.
"Wow, uhm, okay, I guess I'm not offering to buy you something to eat, then." Daniel teased right back.
"No! Pleeeeaaasssseee? I haven't eaten in a while! The chef quit again."
"Again?"
"Yeah, the first one quit after a while, so I hired another one." the girl replied. "I just charged it to mum's card. She didn't notice."
"Damn, how old are you again?"
"That's classified."
"You little shit." Daniel snorted, turning down another street. "I'm sorry to say, but I don't have a chef or a maid, so you're going to have to get used to eating frozen stuff."
"I think I can handle it." answered the younger Westley. "Oh, that reminds me. We need to get the inheritance sorted out before mum gets back or Nathan figures it out."
"Why?"
"You really expect them to be fair about it?"
"Nope." the man replied rather bluntly. "I have a friend who knows about money. He'll probably help us figure it out if I ask."
"The eyepatch guy?"
"Yeah. He's good with this stuff."
"You know some weird people, Dan..." pointed out the younger of the two with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh, yeah? Well, your best friend is actually related to him, so you do too." In response to Daniel's observation, his sister stuck out her tongue at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry? What's that?" he asked. "You wanna sleep on the floor? I guess I'll turn around then!"
"You prick!" Samantha laughed, playfully nudging his shoulder as he grinned.
It hadn't taken long at all for the two to cheer up after the incident, as the only thing they needed right then was each other's company. It felt good to be around someone who loved them, and that's what they really needed. Everything else that had happened thus far didn't seem to matter right then. Daniel wasn't thinking about his breakup with Kristopherson, or how he had been used by Blackwood, or how he had lost his father. He was thinking about his dear little sister, whom he hadn't realised just how much he missed until right then. He had been so distracted that he couldn't see that she was there, too. She was suffering the loss of a parent just as he was, and she had similar feelings toward Mister Westley as well. The support that they needed was in each other, it seemed, and it had taken them a while to find it.
The siblings spent the afternoon shopping for little things they needed for the girl to stay with Daniel, and then one bed. It took several trips to haul the thing up to Daniel's apartment, and they thought they would need to call someone to help! Somehow, the mattress was small enough to fit in the massive elevator, and in the next trip, the box that contained the bedframe did too. Samantha had to reassure the man that anything that he could carry would be under the limit, which Daniel found both comforting, yet insulting. Still, he had to rest for a while in order to recover. In the meantime, Samantha had already moved the box for the frame into her new room before unpacking it. Her methodical mind easily understood the instructions, and she was able to assemble some of it on her own.
Eventually, her brother was rested enough to come in and join her. He grinned with pride at how much she had already managed to piece together. Hearing his footsteps, the girl looked over her shoulder at her brother before scooting over to make room for him to crouch down next to her.
"You've already started without me?" the man stated in the form of a question.
"I figured it's better to get it done now so it's not midnight before we remember I need it." Samantha replied, nudging the folded out instruction sheet to Daniel after he picked up a piece. "That goes there."
"M'kay." Daniel answered, putting the parts together. "Sorry this isn't the classiest of places. It's what I got."
"It's okay. It'll be home eventually." replied the girl. Her words left little room for reply, so the two simply continued to work for a minute. One minute because two, and two minutes became three, but on the third minute, one of them felt as though they had to say something.
"Hey, Dan?" called Samantha, prompting her brother's attention.
"Yeah?" the man answered, but the girl didn't reply right away. Instead, she hesitated, with understandably prompted some concern. She was hesitating while she tried to think of something to say, which was rare for Samantha, who was always well-spoken.
"Is it… Its it weird that I'm not sad?" she questioned, hesitating a moment before looking over to her brother, who simply stared back. His lack of response made her fidget slightly, unsure of how to explain her feelings.
"I never really knew dad that well." The girl continued. "I don't really remember anything about him other than he was kind of creepy and always up to no good. I feel like I should be sad that he's gone because he's my dad, but… It's like I don't really feel anything… I feel like that makes me a bad person..."
"Well..." began Daniel, pausing to put an arm around his sister. "If you're a bad person, then so am I." Samantha turned toward him again in order to read his expression, only to see him smiling in his usually friendly way.
"You just put what I was thinking into words." he said. "I dunno how I'm supposed to feel. I used to like dad when I was little, but I don't remember it really well. What I do remember of him was that he's a bit of an assbag."
"You're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, Dan." Samantha said, but cracked a bit of a smile nonetheless.
"That only counts for people who got into trouble now and again, but were otherwise alright people." snorted the man. "Dad's not one of those people. He's a lying, thieving, slavedriving, pervert! He paid me money to not tell anybody he was seein' hookers!"
"He didn't need to. I already knew, and I think mum suspected it. Now the problem is: where's my money?"
"Sam!"
"What? Cheating a cheating bastard isn't wrong."
"Now you're starting to sound like Ciel and Alois..." Daniel snickered.
"Those your other gay friends? Are they the ones who got married?" questioned his sister, picking up more pieces of bed from the floor and attempting to fit them together as she spoke.
"Yeah, that's them. How'd you know?"
"Alois is Revy's big brother."
"Oh yeah, you went to school together..." the elder mused. "He stopped going, didn't he?"
"Dropped out. Dunno what for, though."
Daniel wasn't sure how to respond to that. He really didn't know what else to talk about. The mention of Ciel and Alois' marriage, however, made his heart flutter a bit, as he thought about himself. He hadn't told Samantha about his relationships with Kristopherson and Blackwood. He hadn't told anyone in his family about his attraction to men in general, as much as he wanted to. Every time the topic came up, it was past before he could build up the courage to say anything.
"What about your friends?" Samantha piped up, conversing for him. "How's Audrey and them?"
"Your crush is still single and ready to mingle." Jested Daniel, earning a punch to the arm. He grinned really big as his sister pouted and pretended to ignore him. "I think he's still not into little girls, though."
"Fuck off."
"Aaanyways," the man continued, moseying right along and ignoring his sibling's swearing. "Travis got a girlfriend. Her name's 'Patricia', and she's pretty cool. Ciel and Alois are still morbid, but lovey-dovey, and Kristopherson has a new friend named 'Logan'."
"Boyfriend?" asked Samantha, nonchalantly continuing her tinkering.
"Not yet. I think Logan might have a thing for him, though."
"Jealous?" the girl prodded further, causing her brother to blush. He faltered, causing her to side-eye him. Samantha was onto him, and he knew it. Still, all he could manage was to answer her question.
"A little..." Daniel begrudgingly answered, looking away. "He's been hanging out with him more than me, and has been since we had that fight…"
"You fought Kristopherson?" his sister asked, arching a brow.
"Bickering, mostly." he said. After a long pause, he hesitantly added: "I got dumped..."
"So you did have a thing with him..." Samantha replied, acting as though she was merely thinking aloud. Her words hit the other like a heavy uppercut to the face. The man's face grew even redder as he floundered for a response, but had nothing. His mind had to catch up with the fact that his sister had been onto him.
"You knew?!" he demanded with disbelief, causing the girl to nod.
"Well, yeah. It wasn't that hard." the girl stated, looking up. "I've figured you liked men for a while."
"I like girls too, you know..."
"Oh. That was harder to tell..."
"Hey!" snapped the man, embarrassed beyond belief.
"What? Your interest in women seemed two-dimensional, at best, thus far." Samantha remarked, smiling a tad as her brother groaned.
"So you think I'm bad with women, too, huh..." lamented Daniel. "Then again, I haven't been having any luck with men, either..."
"I wouldn't worry about it. You've got the rest of your life to figure that out."
"I'd rather find a date before I'm old and grey, thanks."
"Still lots of time." his sister reiterated. "Your biggest problem is that you're immature, so time is what'll fix that."
"HEY!" barked the eldest of the two siblings. "You wanna build this bed yourself!?"
"Oh, living with you is going to be fun..."
A/N: This is a strange chapter, I think...
Before any of you start calling these two heartless, this is a very strange situation, which calls for odd feelings. The chapter is actually called "When Your Gut Feels Frozen" because A: I couldn't come up with a title, but more importantly, B: because I feel like this is the physical response to this situation. I've been through similar ones at a few points in my life. It's a feeling where you're reacting to the death of someone who is close to you, so you're sad, but they're not close enough for you to feel devastated. You feel like you need to be more sad than you are, and that makes you feel guilty. Like you're a horrible, horrible, insensitive person for not feeling something that you just don't, and think you should. It's probably one of the weirdest feelings in the world.
In the Westley's cases, you add in negative memories, which makes it messier. They feel bad for thinking that stuff, which amplifies the guilt. They're sad, of course, but it's a sadness that stays in your gut and doesn't escape your eyes. At least it doesn't, right away. Some people do later when they're alone and able to finally sit down process it all. Others just process it and feel what they're feeling for a while until they get used to the idea. It really depends on the person.
Most people portray death as something that you're supposed to burst into tears about right away. That's not always the case. If Daniel and Samantha had a good relationship with their father, they would have. They certainly would have. But they didn't. Their relationship is more complex, so they have a lot of mixed feelings going on, here. They're not really sure what they're feeling. Mostly, I think they're just happy about seeing each other again and getting to spend lots of time together. Their parents were never really around, and when they were, they weren't the greatest, so they spent most of their time in each other's company. It's kinda like old times, for them. They're trying to focus on the positives and kinda stay calm.
It's a mess. Just a huge mess... I feel like I'm not doing a very good job at explaining it...
I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
Also, I got a question:
"To Miss H the Great: is there any possibility that Alois can be pregnant? You know demon and stuff" by Guest
I've actually answered this question a few times in DLTD back when we were doing questions.
But yeah. He can. He has to shapeshift in order to change his sex, however, since he lacks the appropriate equipment, otherwise. He probably wouldn't be too keen on staying in that shape for too long...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
CHARACTER SHET
Question: "Kristopherson: How are you holding up being a supernatural thus far? Is transforming becoming less painful and easier to do now?" by Melajay
Kristopherson: "It's actually not that bad, but I'm probably saying that because I've only transformed twice. It still hurts. A lot. Other than that, I'm fine. I feel a lot more energetic and I don't get as tired doing stuff. All of the shaving is annoying, though..."
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Question: "to Ceil and Alois who is your favorite character on Call The Midwife? How did you guys get into the show?" by Guest
Ciel: "I quite like Chummy and Sister Evangelina. I actually got into it because it's set in 1950s Britain near London after the war. I forgot how different things were back then... It was dreadful."
Alois: "I got into it because Ciel got into it, pfffttt! It's fun to hear him tell his facts about the era. But, the stories are really great, too. I always utter a sigh of relief when the mother finally gets to hold her baby and everything turns out okay. I like Chummy and Sister Evangelina as well, but I really like it when Sister Monica Joan shows up. I think she might be my favourite."
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Question: "I have a question for Logan, what are your thoughts on Kris?" by Goddess of Geeks
Logan: "Uh... Well... He's cool... Really interesting... He's my friend, I don't know what you want me to say..."
