Author's Note: I promise, this is the last part at 16. It seems he's been 16 ages, doesn't it? Necessary and all, but I promise, we're moving on soon.

Growing Up Chase

By Rebel Yell

Part Thirteen (Age 16)

It was late, nearly ten-thirty, when the doorbell rang. Liz got up, nodding to her mother that she'd get the door. Not that it was a particularly long walk, from the living room sofa to the door. Still, no one ever came round this late, even on a Saturday.

" Danny? What're you doing here at this time of night?"
" Liz, is that Danny?"
" Yeah, Mum."
" Invite him in, at least."
" Come on in, Danny." Liz gestured, and Danny stepped inside, but made no move to go further into the house. "What's going on?"
" Hi, Mrs. Hughes. Uhm, Liz, can you come with me?"
" Where? It's late -- and I've got to be up early tomorrow, for the nursery skit practice before Mass."
" It's important, Liz. I'll tell you on the way."
" Well, this must be about Robert." Mrs. Hughes announced loudly. Danny was usually quite talkative -- he couldn't keep a secret any more than Lizzie could. His avoidance was unusual enough, and to be honest, it had been only a week since Robert's mother was buried. Lizzie had been late home from school every day, a fact her parents were choosing to ignore for the time. "You might as well be honest with her, and me, Danny."
" I just really need to talk to Liz, is all."
" And you can't talk here? You're a bad liar, Danny."
" Well if you and Dad would just let me officially see Robbie, Danny wouldn't need to lie." Lizzie spat quickly, grabbing her jacket from the closet. "I'll be back in a bit, Mum."
" Tell Robert I'm praying for him."
" Yeah, sure." Liz grabbed Danny by the arm, and pulled him back outside. She waited until they were halfway to Danny's house before she started asking questions.

" What's going on? Is something wrong?"
" Rob's at my house. He came round about a half an hour ago. He'll tell you the details."
" He's not run away has he? He always said he'd hate living with his Dad."
" No, he's not run away."
" Good. He's supposed to start back to school on Monday anyway. Is he changing schools? His Dad lives on the other side of the city. How'd he get to your house?"
" Rob'll tell you, Liz." It was his only answer, to all her questions. Luckily, it wasn't a very long walk to Danny's house, or Liz might have been ready to kill her friend by the time they arrived. She was surprised to see Danny's older sister on the front veranda, already holding the door open for them as if she'd been watching and waiting.

"Hi, Mel. What's going on?"
" He's still really upset, Dan. Hi, Liz. You'd best go on in." Melanie tried to smile, but mostly looked sympathetic as they passed by her. Liz was distracted from her thoughts about Melanie's odd behavior, by the sight of Robbie, literally curled up on the Kelleher's living room sofa, hugging his knees to his chest.

" Robbie! What's wrong?" She wrapped her arms around him, and managed to sit next to him on the sofa through a move that made her grateful for those years of ballet her mother forced on her, and her flexibility. There was tea on the table nearby, mostly untouched. Mrs. Kelleher always made tea for people who were upset. No doubt, in about an hour, she'd have made Robbie's favorite chocolate cake as well, even if it would be nearly midnight by then. And Robbie would eat it, despite the late hour.

" He's sending me away." He was crying, not sobbing, just crying steadily.
" Who's sending you away? Where are you going?"
" My dad. He's sending me to a school, to live. He's made all the arrangements, my train leaves tomorrow afternoon."
"Where? When? I mean, when did he decide all this?" She was so confused, it seemed impossible that all of this could have happened so quickly.

" Months ago, when Mum called him to tell him she wouldn't live to Christmas. He didn't even try. He didn't even try to live with me. He just…he doesn't want me."
" Oh, Robbie." There wasn't much she could say to that, so she just pulled him into another hug, looking to Danny as if to find some answer about how to handle all this there. He just shrugged, looking nearly as distraught as she felt. It had been scary enough thinking Robbie might have to switch to a school closer to his Dad's house, that they wouldn't see each other every day just like always. A few minutes later, Robbie had calmed down a bit again, and he pulled away from her.

" Where are you going? What sort of school is it?" Liz asked, trying not to look like she was about to cry herself.

" It's a seminary school, in Victoria, someplace outside Melbourne."
" Melbourne's not so far." Danny tried to sound like this wasn't the end of the world. "It isn't Perth or something at any rate."
" He hates me. He couldn't even try. Mum made him promise, and she's not been dead a fortnight and he was planning to get rid of me from the start."
" Maybe…" Liz tried to think of some other reason for Dr. Chase's actions, but she couldn't. Robbie needed to be with people he loved right now, and people who would take care of him and make sure he was eating and sleeping and doing his school work. The people at this school wouldn't know when he was lying about eating right, or about his nightmares. They wouldn't know that he did stupid things when he got scared, and he acted outrageously horrid sometimes just so people would react to him and worry about him and pay attention. She finally decided on something she could say truthfully, "Well, I hate him."

" I don't understand. I haven't done anything. I didn't break any rules." Robbie was crying again, and Liz just caught sight of Danny's two younger sisters peeking into the room. It was far too late for them to be up, but this was probably the biggest news around the house in a bit. Robbie was nearly as much their big brother as Danny, he was round Danny's so much of the time when they were younger.

" Your dad's just an ass, Rob." Danny answered quickly. "It's not about you at all. It's about him being an ass. Mum and Dad would let you live you here, you know."
" My dad says I need structure and discipline and hard work. He thinks I'm lazy because my marks aren't perfect. I'm undisciplined. The truth is he just doesn't want me. He never did. I just thought…if I was good, and quiet and stayed out of his way, he'd let me stay round. So I could stay in school here and…I just thought if I was good enough…"
" Robbie, please." Liz was crying now, as Robbie curled in on himself further.
" I'm just not good enough, am I? I can't be good enough. I tried and I must've done something wrong, but I can't think what."
" Don't pay any attention to your dad, Rob. He's a good doctor. Doesn't make him a good man -- or a good father." Danny replied quickly. It was exactly what he'd heard his own father say about Dr. Chase more than once -- but he wasn't going to tell that bit to Rob just yet.

" I'm not lazy. I just…Mum needed me, and I couldn't tell her not to be sick because I had schoolwork. I tried to tell him I could do better, but he never listens. He doesn't want me, just like he didn't want Mum anymore. He says this school will be good for me, with the structure and the rules and keeping me away from trouble. He says it's not about him, it's about me. It's never about me. It's all about him and his work and his life."

" Will you…will you be home soon?" Liz asked, thinking of the approaching holidays. It just wouldn't be Christmas without Robbie dropping round in the afternoon after Christmas dinner, doing his best not to let on that it was the closest he got to a proper Christmas since his mum was always too drunk to do anything.

" I'm not allowed to leave the school for the first eight weeks. Not even for the holidays. It sounds like prison, not a school. He's sending me away so he can right back to pretending I don't exist because I'm inconvenient."

" Liz, are you staying a bit?" Mrs. Kelleher appeared from the direction of the kitchen, and Liz looked at the clock in dismay.

" It's getting late, I'd better be heading home."
" I'll walk you home." Danny volunteered quickly. It was a nice neighborhood, but it was late on a Saturday night.

"Nonsense, Daniel. Your father can drive Liz home, you and Robbie come in here and have something to eat."

" I don't want to be a bother-" Liz began, when Dr. Kelleher came into the room as if magically summoned by his wife's words. More likely, Mrs. Kelleher had already decided on what was happening, and simply told Dr. Kelleher he was driving Liz home.

" It's not a bother at all, Liz." Dr. Kelleher assured her, smiling warmly. He was very nice, but very busy. Privately, Liz often thought he spent too much time at work, but Danny never complained. Of course, when compared to Robbie's family, neither of them ever felt they had much to complain about. "You'd best say your goodbyes to Rob, though."
" I…I can't even think what to say." Liz stumbled over her words, pulling Robbie into another hug. She didn't ever want to let go, as if somehow she could prevent his leaving if she could just hug him long enough. "I can't believe you're leaving."

" Thanks for…everything. For being my best friend, you and Danny…you're my family now. All I've got."

" Oooh, please don't make me cry again, Robbie. If I start, I may not ever stop. I love you so much. Take care of yourself at that school. I'll know if you don't. I'll just know."

" I love you too. I'll write to you as soon as I get there. So you can know where to hunt me down if you think I'm not taking care of myself."
" Good, it'll save me the time of searching for you. I'd do it if I had to. You aren't ever getting away from me permanently Robert Chase."

" Time to go, Liz. Your parents are probably worried as it is." Dr. Kelleher reminded, sounding reluctant. Liz contemplated calling her parents and explaining that she was staying the night at Kellehers', but she wasn't sure Robbie would even be staying the night, and besides her parents weren't likely to let her spend the night anywhere in the same house as Robbie. They were still ridiculously mad at him about the whole mess last year.

Her question about whether or not Robbie was staying the night at the Kellehers' was answered when they stepped out the front door to see Dr. Chase walking towards them. If Liz had had any doubts about Dr. Kelleher's feelings about his former colleague, they were answered when he pointedly refused to shake Dr. Chase's hand and didn't reply to his quiet, "Good to see you again, Andrew."

" Is Robert here?"
" He's inside. Diane's just made a cake -- and if I were you, Rowan, I'd not try to make Rob leave before he's had at least one piece."

" It's late. He shouldn't be here."
" You're sending him away from everyone who loves him just because you can't be bothered to give a damn about him! The least you can do is let him say goodbye!" Liz had never said anything so disrespectful to an adult in her life, but she'd been angry at Dr. Chase for years now. "He's so wonderful, and he'd walk the world for a moment of your time, but you can't see that because he's less important to you than some dumb medical trials!"
" Miss Hughes-"
" Rowan, if you're going in there for Robert -- what she just said is the most polite thing you're going to hear all night. And if she weren't standing right here, I'd give you a fair idea of my thoughts on the subject. Let's get you home, Liz."

She followed Dr. Kelleher to the car, managing to abstain from the sudden to desire to turn round and say something truly nasty to Dr. Chase. She'd never hated anyone until this night -- he'd been horrid before but now he was just being cruel. Robbie need to be here, where he was comfortable and loved. Even if everyone at this school was perfectly lovely, they wouldn't really know him. He'd never talk to them like he talked to Danny and her.