Sorry guys, crazy busy work.
Double Update.
Will update again next week.
Have a lovely weekend.
33.
Just before they left the waterfall Piper typed out a quick text to Braydon letting him know that she will be home in about half an hour so he can bring Cameron around. Even though she didn't have any signal she knew it would deliver some time when they are on the road when the phone picks up a signal again.
Alex mentioned to Piper that she would like to spend a day with Cameron before she leaves so she can try and make it up to him that she would not be there for his birthday. To Alex's surprise Piper had no objection to keeping Cameron out of school to spend time with her. They decided on tomorrow, which is Monday. Alex will come over to the house to tell Cameron that she will be leaving. They both thought it might be better for Piper to be present. After they told him and if he still wants to hang with Alex the two of them will go do whatever they decide to do while Piper goes back to set.
When they got back to Pipers house they did not make it a lengthy goodbye. Piper knows Alex was serious when she said that nothing changes between them after what happened. She also knew she had no right to try and change her mind. She made her bed and now she needed to sleep in it.
Piper got a bit annoyed with Alex when they got home and the brunette took out her phone to call a cab company. Piper told her not to be stupid and that she can take any one of the vehicles. If her and Cameron were going to go out tomorrow, is she expecting to call cabs the whole day.
With the promise to be extra careful, Alex took the bike. She will swop it for which ever one of the cars in the morning.
It's an hour after she got home when there was a knock at the door. Not expecting any company and if she is being honest, not wanting any company she decided to just ignore it. About a minute later another knock came and again she ignored it.
"Alex, I saw the bike. I know you are here." Comes the voice from the other side of the door and to say it was a voice she was not at all expecting was an understatement, but it was also a voice she wasn't going to ignore.
Jumping up from the couch she hastily opens the door "Braydon, what are you doing here. Is Cameron and Piper okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, sorry they are fine." He pauses for a second waiting for Alex to relax. "Can I come in?"
"Sure, sorry." Alex says as she steps back opening the door wider for Braydon to step into the apartment. She motions for him to go into the living room. "Take a seat. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Maybe a bit later, thank you."
"So what brings you by Braydon." Alex asks. She is not sure what he knows and what he doesn't know so it is a valid question and not just her trying to make conversation.
"My son." Comes the simple short answer. Alex nods and motions with his hand as to tell him to continue. "When I got to Pipers house to drop Cameron off, she was nowhere to be found. After looking around for a couple of minutes I found her in her studio just staring at the wall of pictures. Now I know Piper well enough to know this is her go to place when something is bothering her or if she just needs to forget about the outside world for a while, so I asked questions."
"Okay. Lay it on me then." Alex only half-heartedly laughs.
"Well Piper told me that you are going back home and I don't know if this makes me a fool or what, but I am here to beg you to stay. I am not here for me, I am not here for Piper, I am here for Cameron. My son loves you Alex. He doesn't stop talking about you. I know it is going to break his heart if you leave." Alex notices Braydon getting a bit emotional and she also has to wipe away some unshed tears before they start to fall. Braydon takes a deep breath before he continues. "I know I have no right to ask anything of you Alex, but this is my boy, and maybe you were right, maybe I am a shit father but I am trying…"
Alex knows he is referring to what she said to him in the hospital and immediately feels a pang of guild so she is quick to interrupt. "If you are talking about what I said at the hospital, I am sorry Braydon. I didn't mean it. I was scared and angry and had to many emotions running through me at the same time. I know it is no excuse, but I am sorry. You really are a good dad and I can see you are trying. I know it wasn't your fault that you were absent from his life."
Nodding in acknowledgement he continues "Thank you Alex. I appreciate it. I also understand that you were scared and angry. You really care about Cameron. I know that and maybe I am selfish because I am trying to use that to my advantage when asking you to reconsider."
"I do Braydon, I really do care about him, but I am not going to change my mind. I will skype him, I will call him and I will even visit from time to time and if you and Piper agree he can even come and visit me, but I am not changing my mind and staying."
"Is it because of you and Piper?" Alex gives him a confused look because she is not about to confirm what is going on between them or what is not going on between them. She doesn't know what Piper has told him and she is not about to burn the blond if she hasn't told him a whole lot. Braydon notices her hesitation so he clears the air for her. "I know what happened between you and Piper today Alex. I also know that she was going to give me a second change at a relationship, but then she started having doubts when you two were spending time together today. She said she told you this, but you told her to go ahead and give me another chance otherwise we will never know."
"I did," Alex confirms. "and I really do think that is the right decision to make. You both need closure. You need to know if a happy family was what you were meant to be. As for me, I will never know if she just chose me because she was scared to loose me when I go back home and I don't want to find out 5 year down the line when we have one and a half children and two dogs that she regrets her decision. I don't ever want to be someone's regret, especially not hers."
Braydon shakes his head in disagreement "Alex, I love Piper, I do, very much in fact and I know she loves me as well and that probably makes me the biggest idiot in love to get you to stay because you are the only person that can take her away from me, don't think for a second that she does not care for you Alex. Because she does, very deeply."
"I know she does. I do, I know she does." Alex confirms "and the feeling is mutual, but right now, like you and Piper are trying to do the right thing for Cameron, I am going to do the right thing for me and that is to get on that plane this coming weekend."
"I can see that I am not going to convince you otherwise."
"I'm stubborn like that." Alex laughs.
"You are." Braydon agrees. "Definitely something you, Piper and Cameron have in common."
Silence filled the room for a bit after that. Braydon leaning forward with his elbows on his knees staring down at the floor. He didn't know Alex was this stubborn but also thinks that maybe stubborn is not the best word to describe it. Maybe she is just careful and trying to protect her heart. Nothing in life is a given and she is right, she doesn't know if down the line Piper would start to wonder 'what if' and regret the decisions she has made. He supports the brunettes decision and will not push her any further. She just has to promise to keep in touch with Cameron. "And just so you know" he breaks the silence "Earlier when you said if Piper and I will allow it, you would want Cameron to come and visit you." Alex nods letting him know she remembers "I have no objection," He continues "In my books, even though you have only known him for a couple of months, he is a third yours."
"As long as I don't start getting medical bills and bills for hotel rooms he has destroyed, thank you." Alex jokes, both of them laughing at the thought. "So are you and Piper, you know?"
Shaking his head no, Braydon explains "No, we both decided to take it day for day and see what happens. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't, well it doesn't. She is clearly confused as to what she wants at this stage and to rush into something is just not the best decision at this stage. There is a lot of hearts involved here."
"Definitely, and it would be the worst thing in the world for Cameron to get used to having a family just to be taken away from him again." Alex agrees.
"True. I want to be a very involved parent and now with you leaving I will probably get even more involved. For now that is good enough for me, you know, the way it was. Me spending time with him during the week and then on weekends the three of us can spend time together." Pausing a second to think about it, he continues "We would probably sometime start looking into a nanny. I really want to get out there again and start doing something, so the sooner the better because that way maybe for the first month or so she can be under supervision. You know how Piper gets."
"How do you think I ended up here." Alex laughs. Braydon hums in acknowledgement with a chuckle of his own. "What did you do, you know, before…."
"Showbiz of course. Film Editor"
"So you are looking at going back to that." The brunette woman enquires.
"No, I don't think so. I don't want my son and possible future children to be raised by nannies. The film industry can be very demanding and to have two parents both in the industry is not ideal. Well not in my books, Everyone has their own opinion."
"We share the same opinion there." Alex interrupts.
"Maybe I will go into real estate or something. I am not sure. I just need to do something. Sitting around will drive me crazy." And Alex nods in agreement, because she feels exactly the same. Cameron has managed to keep her busy these last couple of months and when Braydon came back into the picture and she had more time on her hands she went exploring, discovering hidden treasures like the waterfall but that would eventually also grow boring and she would want to get back to doing some work. When she gets back home that would be the first thing she would be looking into. Maybe starting something small on her own or looking into and existing business for partnership.
"Well I won't keep you any longer." Braydon breaks her out of her thoughts.
"Thanks for stopping by and for trying," Alex says as they both stand up and moves towards the door. "I am sorry you didn't get what you came for."
He just waves of her apology "I tried but I understand your reasoning. I am not holding it against you….. So good luck for tomorrow. I didn't offer to be present, because I know you and Piper can handle it just fine, but if for some reason you want me to come over, I am just a phone call away."
"I am sure we will be fine, but thank you."
"So I guess I won't be seeing you again before you leave."
"Probably not. Tomorrow I will be spending the day with Cameron, well hopefully and the next couple of days I will be saying goodbye to friends I have made and sorting out all the other nitty gritty like getting out of my lease and so forth."
"It really was a pleasure meeting you Alex. I am sorry for the way things worked out." He turns and opens the door before turning back to the woman. "I know you'll probably want to slap me because of my male cooties, but I am going to hug you now."
Alex can't help but laugh "Cooties, Really?" she shakes her head. "I would feel offended if you didn't." She goes in to hug him "Bye Braydon." She pauses for a second to keep the tears away "Look after them for me okay."
"I will, I promise." They pull away "Bye Alex" Braydon says as he offers her one last smile before he walks away and she closes the door behind him.
