Title: Tragedy
Author: SneetchesToo
Rating: PGish
Pairing: Ethan/Rox and Leanne/Ed, mentions to past Ethan/Leanne
Summary: Ethan was used to thinking on his feet, but this, this was a surprise of new proportions.
Author's Note: This story took a turn in a direction I wasn't anticipating, but alas, here we have it.
Ethan had been shocked when he heard Rox admit to him that she was pregnant.
But he had been happy and excited and even elated.
And then Ariel had interrupted and told them there was someone at the door looking for him and he had felt his heart start to race in his chest.
For some reason he knew that something was definitely wrong and he just prayed it didn't involve his dad or Leanne.
When he got downstairs there was a young woman dressed in business attire next to a LAPD officer and he held his breath as he opened the screen door and stepped out.
"Colonel Willis?" The cop spoke first and he swallowed as he shifted his gaze between them.
"Yes." He didn't want to deal with any more drama right now, not after he had just received such amazing news.
"This is Rachel, she's from Child and Family Services." The cop gestured toward the younger woman and then stepped back, giving her the chance to speak.
"Colonel…" He held his hand up, watching as she stopped speaking and turned toward the cop.
"It's Doctor." He said softly. "Or Ethan."
It's not that he minded being referred to by his rank, but he preferred to not have the military involved in whatever they were about to tell him.
"Okay, Doctor Willis," She smiled softly and he wondered how the hell she was able to stay so calm, "I'm here about your son, Levi."
"Is he okay?" He felt a sense of panic wash over him and he all of a sudden couldn't breathe.
He had only known the boy a little bit of time but he was already so special to him.
"Yes sir, he's fine." She reached into her bag and pulled out a file, holding it tightly as she took a deep breath. "His file says that you are to get custody of him."
"Yeah." He didn't know where this was going but he was scared.
"Well…" She seemed uncertain of how to proceed and instead she turned to the cop beside her.
"Colonel, sir, we're here because Levi's mother is dead." He wanted to slap the cop for calling him Colonel but he saw the tattoo on his arm signify that he had, at some point, been a soldier himself, and he understood.
But then the young man's words sank in and he shook himself out of his daze.
"She's what?!" She had been in relatively good condition when he had left this morning and her doctors had even moved her back down to the regular rooms and out of the ICU.
"It appears that she committed suicide." He felt every fiber of his being ignite.
He couldn't believe that she would be so selfish, that she would do this to him, to Levi, to her family.
She had plenty of time left with them and he couldn't understand what would have made her go off the deep end so fast.
"What? When? I was just with her this morning! She was fine!" He heard footsteps on the stairs and he figured that Rox and Ariel must have heard him shouting.
"This morning, around 10:00am." The woman spoke this time and he snapped his head toward her with a huff.
"I… I don't understand." He whispered. "I saw her before I left. She was fine!"
He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned Rox was standing behind him, a soft look on her face as she tried to will him to calm down.
"We're still investigating." The cop said softly.
"We came to drop Levi off with you." He turned his head in the direction of the black SUV parked in his driveway and he let out a breath.
"He's here?" He still had two weeks before he was supposed to arrive.
He didn't have his room ready.
He didn't have anything for him.
He watched as another woman stepped out of the vehicle and opened the back door, revealing a scared looking Levi, his shark tucked against his chest tightly.
"Daddy!" The boy screamed for him as he was unbuckled from his seat and placed on the ground. "Daddy!"
He ran toward him at surprising speed and Ethan fell to his knees on the porch, his arms reaching out to wrap around the boy as tightly as possible.
"It's okay buddy." He whispered against his curls.
"We have a bag for him." He watched as the one woman handed the other a duffle bag and a pillow before moving back to the SUV and undoing the booster seat from the back. "And we'll need some signatures."
Ethan stood, the boy still wrapped around him tightly, and he simply nodded his head before turning toward Rox.
She held her arms out instantly, smiling softly at Levi as the boy scrambled in her arms, tears streaming down his cheeks as he buried his face into her shoulder.
Ariel reached out then, taking the bag from the woman in front of her and he felt his heart swell at the instant support form his girls.
"Go inside girls." He whispered. "I'll be right there."
Rox and Ariel both nodded their heads before heading inside, Levi still clinging tightly to the older woman.
—
After signing all the documents and giving the cop his phone number and asking him to give him a call the second he knew anything he had made his way back inside, a sigh escaping his lips as he stopped just inside the door.
"Rox?" He didn't hear the group of them anywhere downstairs so he waited for an answer from the woman.
"Upstairs." She called softly, her head poking around the doorframe to his room.
He nodded his head before shutting and locking the big door behind him, making his way upstairs quickly.
When he got to his room he saw Levi sitting on the bed, his shark tucked under one arm as the other hand pointed to something on the screen of Ariel's phone.
"He okay?" He whispered his question to Rox, eyeing her softly as he stopped just inside the door.
"He's scared." She whispered back, her arm linking through his as she rested her head on his shoulder. "He has no clue what's going on."
"Does he know about his mother?" He really, really didn't want to be the one to have that conversation with the boy, but he would do it if he had too.
"I don't think so." She pulled back from him then, offering him a solemn look as she spoke. "Why don't Ariel and I go pick up some ice-cream?"
That was when he noticed the time on the clock, almost 8:00pm, and he was sure the boy was bound to be exhausted.
"Okay." But he would indulge their desire for ice cream in this case.
"Ariel," Rox called the girl's name softly, the teen's head popping up as she smiled back at them, "let's go get ice-cream."
"Okay." Ethan watched as Levi turned his attention toward her, a glint in his eye that reminded him all too much of his brother. "We'll be right back okay?"
Levi nodded his head before pulling his shark even closer with a quiet sigh.
"Be safe." Ethan whispered as the girls walked past him and toward the stairs.
He heard the front door shut a minute later and he turned his attention back to the boy in front of him.
"Daddy?" Levi's voice was so soft and quiet and it ripped right through Ethan's heart with a force he didn't expect.
"Yeah buddy?" He made his way toward the boy slowly, stopping to kneel in front of him as he reached out and gripped his arms gently.
"Is mama dead?" The question knocked the wind out of his body and he couldn't think straight all of a sudden. "She's dead isn't she? I heard them say she was but they wouldn't tell me."
He let out a giant sob as tears came pouring down his cheeks and Ethan pulled him into arms as tightly as he possibly could, wrapping him up tight and pressing a kiss to his head.
"I'm so sorry buddy." He whispered the words but it just didn't feel right.
He knew it wouldn't help, that it wouldn't make him feel any better, but he had to say something and those words seemed like the only good ones.
"Do you think she's happier now?" Those were not words that belonged in the mouth of a six year old, and yet, he sounded like he knew what he was asking.
"I don't know pal." He pulled back from the boy and offered him a soft smile as he reached out and pushed his curls away from his eyes. "But your mommy loved you very much, so don't you forget that, okay?"
But Levi just shook his head back and forth and sniffled.
"She didn't love me daddy." He didn't sound sad or heartbroken or even upset, instead, he sounded disappointed, and it broke Ethan's heart.
"Yes she did Levi." He didn't know anything about their relationship, but he did know that Megan would never have let anything happen to the boy and that while they may not have been as close as he and his mother were, they were still mother and son and that was a special bond.
"It's okay." The boy nodded his head before standing up straight and letting out a sigh. "Does this mean I get to live with you now?"
He didn't skip a beat in his questioning and Ethan let out a soft sigh that mirrored his.
"Yeah. You're gonna live with me and Rox now." He smiled back at his son as he did his best to calm his breathing.
He had been devastated when his mother had died.
And while he had been fourteen and had had eight years to prepare for it, it didn't change the fact that he had lost her.
But to realize that his son, who was only six, simply understood the fact that his mother was dead in that context and that context alone was hard for him to wrap his head around.
He didn't seem like he was grieving for her at all.
And maybe it's because he was so young.
Or maybe it was because it was still so fresh in his mind.
But either way, it was hard for Ethan to understand how he couldn't be devastated at the loss of the woman who gave birth to him.
"I'm sleepy daddy." He rubbed at his little eyes before letting out a yawn and Ethan offered him a big smile as he pulled him back into his arms.
"Do you wanna stay awake and have ice cream first?" He wouldn't make the child stay up and he certainly wouldn't deny him of it either, but rather, he wanted him to have the choice.
"Let's have ice cream first." And then Levi was pulling from his arms and skipping out the bedroom door, his sock covered feet echoing on the hardwood of the steps before he heard him stop at the bottom. "Come on daddy!"
And just like that, he had moved on and started his new life with them.
Not a single hesitation or anything.
And Ethan thought that maybe that made his heart break for Megan and the boy even more.
*Don't forget to comment!