Brandon sat with his legs splayed open, elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. The anger was very evident on his face, and the entire situation made the young man so nauseous. He could clearly hear the scraping of wood against the floor in the kitchen and the angry clanging of dishes against one another. But the sounds fell on seemingly deaf ears. For the young mans mind was thousands of miles away, in a cramped one bedroom apartment, where his son had never even thought to ask if he was good enough.
The father shook with anger at the thought that he caused this somehow, that he was the reason his wife was having to explain this fucked up situation to their almost two year old son. And that thought pissed him off further, causing him to emit a low growl of anger at his mother. At the situation she had thrown them in when she uttered the words "she's not good enough for you."
And that one sentence couldn't be further from the truth, if anything Brandon wasn't good enough for Callie. He was the one that pushed his feelings onto her, knowing the trouble it would cause. Knowing that there was only two endings to the tragic situation they had precariously found themselves in. But they both knowingly chose the path that led them to each other, to happiness. He let out the breath he had seemed to be holding for the last twenty minutes, lifting his head, and slapping his hands on his knees. His mother stood across from him, an apology formed on the tip of her tongue, but the man held up his hand before she could speak.
"Not now, mom." He spoke, sounding years older than he should, defeated even. "Callie, Avery, and I are going to go stay in a hotel. Since we clearly still aren't welcome here." He stood on shaky legs, brushed past his mother and up the stairs to his childhood bedroom. There he found his wife clutching their sleeping son to her chest in the middle of his bed. She nodded her head, brushing Avery's hair from his forehead, and smiled sadly at him.
"I packed our bags already." She spoke. Knowing him so well, that she could anticipate the fact that he wouldn't want to stay here a moment longer than they needed to. He sighed, kissing both members of his tiny family, and moving to pick up their luggage including Avery's small suitcase of toys.
"I'm sorry." His wife called once his back was turned to her. He sighed, placing their luggage at his feet, before crawling onto the bed and clutching his wife and son to his chest.
"You have nothing to be sorry about." He said while kissing her forehead.
"She's the one that should be sorry, because you're more than good enough for me. It's me that's not good enough for you."
Jesus and Mariana pulled their rented Honda Civic to a stop behind the red car they all schlepped in back in Massachusetts, wondering how things were going behind the wooden door of their childhood home. From where they were parked they could see Brandon and Callie, and their gorgeous nephew Avery in the living room. Brandon had Lena gathered into a hug, while Jude was clutching Callie and Avery to his chest. Mariana turned her head to Jesus, and let out a sigh, before picking her purse up off of the passenger seat floor, and climbing out of the car.
"This isn't going to be good." She said to her twin brother, looping her arms into his and approaching their home. With each step forward the dread settled deeper and deeper over her. Mariana could plainly see the anger on her older brothers face, and the sadness that had washed over a once hopeful Callie. She paused, staring into her home from the front porch, already rethinking her decision to give the newlywed couple the okay to return home. Clearly she could see now, that that was not the right decision and the guilt crept up on her, grabbing a hold of her subconscious. The twins entered their childhood home unannounced and unnoticed. It was only when Jesus cleared his throat that the harsh whispers between their mother and brother stopped.
"Uncle Hey-Juice!" Yelled Avery, wiggling himself out of his father's grasp to run over to his other favorite person. Jesus leaned down to wrap his arms around the small child, pressing a kiss quickly to his cheek.
"What's up little man?" Jesus said, while standing with Avery now on his shoulders. The small child shrugged.
"Aunt Mari, hi." He then spoke, the laughter leaving his voice as he noticed his parents still whispering with his grandmothers.
"What's the matter, Ave?" Mariana asked her nephew, reaching up to pluck the child from his dangerously high height. Avery in turn snuggled into his aunt's grasp, wrapping his small arms around her neck.
"Gamma said that we weren't good." He spoke, tears already filling his hazel eyes. "Mommy and daddy always tell me that I'm good. Gamma played Legos with me. Then she told me I was not good. Why?" Avery asked his aunt, looking into her dark brown eyes with such sadness. His bottom lip jutted out, and before Mariana knew what was happening the boy was sobbing into her arms. Callie reached out for him, but Mariana had already taken Avery into the kitchen for a glass of chocolate milk, and just one cookie.
"This is what I didn't want to happen." Brandon spoke to Callie, turning his back on his mother. Callie nodded to her husband, her heart breaking at the sight of her child crying. In their six years together Callie had taken a back seat, glad for once to have someone to fight her battles for her. Glad to be able to wear her heart on her sleeve, but looking at her son cry the way Jude used to do, lit a fire in her that she had long since exhausted. The young woman pulled her hair back into a pony tail, turning her back on the other inhabitants of the room, and closed her eyes. She had always been one to think before she spoke, even if she never thought before she acted. As impulsivity led her to the greatest things she had ever had the pleasure to call her own. But this, this was too far...even for the subdued Callie. She turned back to her family.
"My son is crying because he feels like he is not good. He feels like he is not good enough for you Stef. When we told him he was coming to meet his grandmother, and that she would love him no matter what, he was so excited. He talked about you for weeks leading up to our journey here. And we had the discussion with him that no matter what anybody said, he came from love. That Brandon and I loved each other and him enough to drown out all the bad in the world. We told him that he was good, that he was the best thing to ever come in our lives. And with one sentence you shattered that in our son.
"How dare you? He's a child, one that loves you even though he never met you. Who decided he wanted to be a police officer to be just like you. Because he thought you were good enough. I love your son, so much, and I always have. I may have been the foster child who came to you from Juvie, I may have run away breaking your heart, I may have declined to be adopted and hurt your feelings..." Callie said, her voice getting higher with each sentence she uttered, she stepped closer to her mother in law.
"But that does not, ever, give you a reason to take your frustrations from me, out on my son. He is an innocent who has done nothing to you, but shower you with love. Wether you like it or not Stef, Brandon and I are married, we have a child, we have one more on the way, and we are moving back to California.
"It was easy enough to ignore us when we were thousands of miles away, but sooner or later, you're going to have to accept us. And it's going to take a lot to get back in our good graces. But I won't ever, keep you from seeing your grandchildren. I may not be good enough in your eyes, but I'm woman enough to know when I'd be doing something stupid, and childish, and hurtful to other people." Callie huffed, walking out of the living room and out of the front door, slamming it shut behind her. She ran back in a few minutes later, a look of sheer panic on her face.
"Brandon." She called weakly, the fight completely gone from her body now.
Her arms had encircled her body, clutching at her stomach, her eyes were wide with fear. Brandon was immediately at her side, calling out for Jesus to call an ambulance, and when he decided that that would take too long he crouched down and lifted his wife with ease. He settled her into the back seat of their car, before calling out to Mariana to watch Avery, and speeding off down the street.
"Don't worry, Callie. Everything is going to be okay." He said to her, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "I promise."
A/N: You all were so great with reviews today, and it's my day off. So I was sitting around doing laundry and decided to get a head start on filling in the timeline for chapter six. I want to thank you all so much for your continued support. For those of you who read Happily Ever After, that will be updated within the next few days. I've hit a snafoo with how I want to reach the last arc of the story. So bare with me please. Happy reading. I've rambled enough.