Hello everyone! Here is the final one shot of "Facing reality" where Cal has to face the reality of his background. I hope you enjoy, I'll be back shortly with many more stories which I have been writing over the last few weeks/months, it's figuring out which I should post first that takes the time :') I hope you enjoyed these two one shots, please let me know your thoughts as always, thanks, Kayxxx :)
Facing reality – Part two
"What's gotten into you Caleb? She wasn't yours, you put her into care - it was the right thing to do, we can just carry on as normal now okay? Yeah I know it's going to take time and yeah you're not a dad anymore but you're my brother and I don't like seeing my family like this, drinking doesn't solve anything. If you're struggling this badly with coping that you can't get through a day without alcohol then maybe it's best to get you some professional help-" Cal cut his younger brother off.
"You don't get it!" He shouted as he pushed off his brother's hands as he guided him out of the pub.
"Get what? What is there to get?!" Ethan shouted back, now finding it harder than ever to hide the anger he had building up inside of him, caused by no one but Cal.
Cal looked at Ethan who waited impatiently for a valid answer to why he had been acting so off lately. He could blame his attitude on the loss of Matilda as everyone figured, or, he could tell the truth...but then the thought of breaking that news to Ethan ached his heart, he didn't want any of this to be real yet reality was powering over him more suddenly than ever.
Ethan looked at him uneasily, "Cal you're scaring me now...what's happened?" he asked seeing the glimmer of tears in his brother's eyes, there was obviously more to this story he had been kept in the dark about.
Cal took in a deep breath and closed his eyes tight hoping to god he would just disappear from this situation, but something he had learned during the past few months was that there was no such thing as miracles, "I'm adopted Ethan!" he roared the thing that he had used up every ounce of energy in his body to keep hidden away and rested his drunken body against the wall as he allowed his tears to trace his cheeks, he visibly deflated right before Ethan's eyes.
"What?" Ethan asked in complete and utter shock, he then paused to think, "how-how did you find out?" he asked confused.
"I got my paternity test results back and my blood group doesn't match up with mums...I'm adopted" Cal whimpered in reply, his whimpering soon stopped when he noticed Ethan suddenly find the ground interesting, "you don't seems so shocked" Cal stated as he examined him.
"No, I am, it's just, a lot to take in..." Ethan replied still with his eyes fixed on the ground.
"Ethan..." Cal spoke warily, "Ethan look at me" he demanded, but this only caused Ethan to look away from him even more, "Ethan!" Cal roared as he grabbed Ethan by the shoulders and pinned him up hard against the wall forcing him to look at him, "I know when you can't make we contact with me you're hiding something now spill!" he spat out.
"I'm sorry" Ethan mumbled, fighting his older brother's grasp.
"Sorry?" Cal asked confused, "...you knew didn't you?" he whispered as reality hit in. Ethan didn't reply, "You knew?!" Cal yelled as he released his grip on Ethan causing him to stumble slightly as his feet hit the ground firmly once more.
Ethan nodded slowly as he looked up at Cal holding up his hands in defeat.
"All my life you knew, you let me live a lie for my entire life?!" Cal shouted as he pushed him back against the wall causing him to wince slightly.
Ethan slowly made his way towards him once more, "Caleb please, mum made me promise I'd never tell you" he explained.
"What so you were just never going to tell me? Ever?!" Cal roared as tears traced his cheeks.
"No-" Ethan was cut off.
"What?!" Cal asked in disbelief.
"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Ethan roared now, his impatience building up inside of him finally exploding from him.
Cal shook his head frantically, "I don't believe this, I can't believe this I've been living a lie my entire life and everyone knew about it...what did you all laugh behind my back every time I called mum my mum? Or dad my dad? Or you my brother for that matter?" he asked as he wiped his tears away with the back of his hand.
Ethan started once more "No of course not, Caleb you are still my older brother, nothing has changed-" but of course it wasn't long before he was cut off once more.
"Everything has changed! I don't even know who I am!" Cal whimpered as he held his head in his shaking hands, never had he felt so betrayed, or so lost.
A moment of silence overpowered them for a few seconds before Ethan looked up, "...I can tell you if you want" he told him worry evidence in his voice.
"What?" Cal asked confused.
"About your family, your birth family if you want me to" he proposed.
"You know about them?" he asked in amazement.
"Yes, mum had told me about them before, mainly on her deathbed, the past seemed to be all she could remember towards the end...I also have the records, mum left them to me in her will" Ethan explained
"How didn't I know about this?" Cal asked bewildered.
"After you stormed out when you found out I was in charge of your inheritance, I got called back in privately to get them" he explained.
After a moment of thought Cal managed to mumble the words, "Tell me..."
"Are you sure?" Ethan checked.
"Yes" Cal replied along with a nod of determination.
Ethan took a deep breath and began, "Your mum was in a relationship with your dad but, he, he wasn't a very nice person. He used to drink a lot and they'd fight, but they loved each other they really did. One day she fell pregnant and straight away she knew she couldn't bring up a child in a house with such violence and so she-" "oh Caleb does it really matter? You are who you are, and who you are is my brother, the only family I have left" Ethan pleaded to leave the story lying in the unknown.
"Tell me Ethan" Cal looked toward him sheepishly, "tell me everything, no matter how much it will hurt" he spoke as he prepared himself. Ethan took a seat on the bench outside the pub and gestured Cal to do the same, which he did so more reluctantly.
Ethan looked at him carefully and began, "...she went to get an abortion, she didn't want to, obviously, it killed her to get on the bus to the hospital but she knew she couldn't bring a child up in a house of abuse. She sat on the bus alone and crying when a lady sat next to her and asked her what was wrong, your mother told her everything, tears streaming down her face saying she wouldn't want to bring a child into this world if she couldn't give it the best life because she believed that's what every child deserved. Now this lady who sat next to her was heartbroken when they got talking because this poor lady got told she couldn't have kids, although all her life all she ever wanted to do was to bring a child into this world and love the bones of it, yet she sat next to a pregnant woman about to kill her baby and she just couldn't let her do it. She talked your mum into taking her for a cup of tea in a café nearby and they spoke, they got on well, they both told each other's stories and they made a deal, she shouldn't abort the baby, she should put it up for adoption instead and the lady who spoke to her promised she and her husband would always keep trying for a baby because she would make such a wonderful mother, they said their goodbyes and the lady wrote her name and house phone number on a napkin for them to stay in touch and maybe one day they could meet again..."Matilda Knight..."" Ethan paused for a moment.
"Mum" Cal spoke in realisation, his eyes brimming with tears; he clung to Ethan's every word.
"Yes, mum and dad kept trying for a baby, but mum had a miscarriage and was just about to give up on the idea of having kids all together when the phone rang, it was your mum saying she'd had the baby, a little boy, she put him up for adoption straight away before she fell too much in love with him but she asked Matilda to adopt him because she knew how much she wanted a baby and she knew how much of a wonderful person she was...she jumped at the opportunity and after a week she finally got her baby and she named him Caleb Hardy, Matilda and her husband fell in love with him instantly, forgetting completely that he wasn't theirs, that didn't matter; he was now. Two and a bit years later and Matilda fell pregnant again, she was convinced she was going to have another miscarriage like the last time but, this time was different, she gave birth to her second son, Ethan Hardy...Matilda stayed in touch with your mum for a while, to check she was okay more than anything, she finally got out from your dad and moved country when unfortunately they lost contact and that's all I know..." Ethan's voice awkwardly trailed off leaving Cal sat speechless.
"Matilda saved my life" he mumbled to which Ethan gave an awkward smile in reply as he watched his brother get lost within his own thoughts, "God, even when I'm given a second family, a second chance...I still get a useless dad" Cal scoffed, "life just isn't meant to work out for me is it?" he asked then held his head in his hands once more.
"How can you say that Caleb? How can you be so selfish?" Ethan almost shouted, his outburst startling his brother slightly, "Cal, if life "just wasn't meant to work out" for you then your mum would have been left to abort you, just think how amazing it was the fact your mum and Matilda got on the same bus, at the same time, in the same place and got talking...God Cal if you weren't born then I probably wouldn't have been either, Matilda was about to give up the idea of being a mum just as she got the call about adopting you, Cal don't say your life wasn't meant to work out for you because I owe my life to you" Ethan concluded.
"And I owe mine to Matilda" Cal managed to smile slightly. He put his arm around Ethan and pulled him into his embrace, "thanks for telling me the truth" he said.
"Thanks for taking it much better than I had built up in my head for years, if things had gone that way you would be far far away by now, leaving me to pick up the pieces as always" Ethan joked, his voice muffled by his brother's body, "and I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want to break my promise to mum but you needed to know how important you are Caleb" he spoke as he pulled away from him.
"Thank you" Cal smiled, "now come on Nibbles, let's go drink some tequila shots of semi naked women then" he stated with a smirk as they stood to their feet, Ethan gave him daggers, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding how about...an early night in, some pizza and a few beers?" Cal suggested.
"That idea sounds much more amicable" Ethan grinned as they left the pub and head home together.