Family's a tenuous term

This chapter has been prompted by LawyerlyBrunette and Luis and their combined request was Darren finds himself spending the week at the Roscoe's house, and if that's not bad enough, he has to share a room with one of his brothers. But are his new-found family really as bad as they seem?

To clear this up timescale wise, this prompt is set when Darren is living in Browning and Mercedes' flat, and is before he and Nancy get back together, so around mid February.

"Oh for Christ's sake!" Darren found himself crying out as he entered his flat, only for his feet to become instantly soaked through. He had gone downstairs to get milk from Price Slice, had been gone for ten minutes maximum, but that had been more than enough time for his flat to well and truly flood.

The water leaking at a steady rate from one of the kitchen cupboards indicated what could have possibly caused all this, and it took only a minute for Darren to confirm that yes, the sink pipe had burst, cause devastation everywhere. The water was already soaked through the carpet and was slowly spreading, moving out of the flat's small kitchen area at an alarming rate.

The father of one knew he had to act fast before the water flooded out of the flat into the corridor outside, no doubt his landlord would have a stern word to say if Darren managed to not only ruin his own living space, but everyone else's, though it wasn't him that Darren was fearing most. If he managed to get water into Cindy's flat, life really wouldn't be worth living.

The water main wasn't too hard too locate (and Darren was thanking all the Gods for that small mercy), once he had switched it off, the landlord was left standing in silence in the middle of his tiny flat, as he assessed the damage that had been caused.

It could have been worse he guessed, but it would take a while for the flat to be cleared completely, and Darren doubted he'd be able to stay there whilst people were working on it. Would his luck ever clear up?

"What the?" The sound of Cindy's voice as she no doubt came in contact with the sizeable puddle of water now formed outside of his door, showed Darren that no, no his luck wasn't going to get any better. "Darren are you okay in there?"

"Just dandy," he yelled back, wincing at the damage he was looking at, frown growing when Cindy pushed open the front door and had to physically restrain herself from laughing out loud.

"What happened in here?" she asked, looking around curiously, though not willing to venture into the flat, in case she ruined her shoes.

"Burst pipe, now if you don't mind," Darren said tiredly, shooing Cindy away before sighing loudly. He had a phone call to the insurance company to make.

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"Just let yourself in Darren, no need to knock," Cindy said icily as Darren entered her flat and collapsed on the sofa with a sigh. Seeing that her former flame really wasn't in the mood to be teased, she grabbed a couple of cups and put the kettle on. "What did the insurance company say?"

"Well they'll fork out some money, and that should cover what I need to do get it all repaired," Darren sighed, not sounding as happy about not having to pay a penny for damages as he should.

"But?" Cindy asked, arching a brow as she waited for Darren to spill.

"But whilst they work on it, I obviously can't stay there. So I was thinking-"

"No," Cindy interrupted, ignoring the shocked look on Darren's face.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"You were going to ask to stay here with me. And the answer is no. This place is tiny enough as it is, I'm sorry Darren but it's not going to happen. Why don't you go back to the Dog, I mean, they are your family and that place is huge."

"But me and Nancy agreed that we were going to give each other some space. After the fuckfest that was last year with Sienna, we have a chance to try and sort out our relationship again, and I don't want to risk that by being in her face for the next week or so."

"Men," Cindy muttered under her breath, but before Darren could formulate a reply, she was already talking. "What about at Tony's?"

"Even less room there, what with him, Diane, two newborn babies and a moody teenager to contend with. There wouldn't be room to swing a cat up there, never mind let a devilishly handsome single father of one stay over."

"Well there has to be somewhere?" Cindy said, completely ignoring the last part of her friend's comment, choosing instead to pass over his cup of steaming tea with a frown.

"Yeah there is. It's here, on this sofa, which I don't mind sleeping on."

"Oh don't be so ridiculous, you're not sleeping on the sofa... Wait a second, I know exactly where you can stay."

"Where?" Darren asked, a wave of nerves hitting him as he saw the devilish smirk gracing Cindy's features.

"I can't believe I didn't think about it sooner, it's perfect!"

"Are you going to tell me about this place, or am I going to have to gain the art of telepathy?"

"You can go stay at the Roscoe's! I'm sure they'll love to have you stay for a few days."

"Don't even joke about that Cinds," Darren moaned. Despite finding out Sandy was his birth-mother almost six months ago now, the whole subject was still a bit touchy, with not only the older blonde, but every single one of his brothers.

"Who says I am? That was a serious suggestion."

"Well it's one I'm going to ignore then."

"Why? You've said it yourself that you need somewhere to stay, and their house is massive. Also, I can't imagine Sandy turning you away. I've seen how desperately she wants to talk to you."

"It's been months since I found out she was my secret long-lost mother, she probably doesn't want to talk anymore, not after the way I treated her," Darren scoffed.

"You obviously haven't seen the way she looks at you then. She misses you Darren, wants nothing more than to properly talk to you, because small talk over the bar is nowhere near enough. And you two may be okay to not cause a load of drama when you're in the same room as one another, but your relationship with your family isn't a good one. This is the perfect chance to fix that Darren, I mean they're not likely to turn you away are they? They're good people despite what you want to think."

"Well how would I even ask, because I'm not going to go begging. They'll think even worse of me."

"We ask the soft touch," Cindy said simply, placing her now empty mug on the coffee table like that answered all of Darren's questions. When he just gave her a confused look, the brunette woman sighed loudly. "Why do I know your family more than you do? Don't bother answering that one, it'll give me a headache. I'm just saying, if you go straight to Sandy, then all of your over-protective brothers are going to think the worst of you, and will no doubt rough you up.

"If you haven't noticed, they don't like it when people take advantage of their... your mum, remember what happened to Dodger when they found out she was dating him? You need to be clever about this Darren. Go to one of your brothers instead, they'll then bring it up with Sandy, and she'll be so upset with the thought of you with no place to go to, she'll practically roll out the red carpet to welcome you in."

"Okay, well I who could I even ask? I was probably closest to Joe, but he's gone of to God knows where, so that's out of the picture." Darren sighed, quickly giving up what little hope he had left about having a bed to sleep in that night.

"And you wouldn't be asking him anyway, Joe would see straight through you in a second, as would most of the family. Use your brain Darren! Go to the one that Sandy has a soft spot for, the angel boy who gets everything he wants."

"And that is?"

"Let's hope Oscar got Nancy's brains shall we? Otherwise that lad has no hope," Cindy deadpanned, ignoring the glare Darren shot her way. "Go to Jason, he'll be the one to get you a bed for the night, and he'll be too naïve to even realise that that's your primary goal."

"This whole thing feels incredibly deceitful, I still don't get why I don't just go up and ask if they've got a bed going spare."

"Because that won't get you anywhere with actually securing a somewhat healthy relationship with any of them. This way, you may actually start off on a good footing."

"Right okay, so say I do it your way-"

"You will be doing it my way if you want to get anywhere."

"If I do it your way," Darren continued, silencing Cindy with one disapproving look. "How would I even find Jason. I don't know anything about the kid, where he hangs out, who his mates are. And it's a Saturday, so it's not like I can grab him after school."

"Now this is where I come into use. Or rather, Holly, who you've seem to forgotten is Jason's girlfriend, no matter how many times I've tried to stop them from seeing each other. Because since ten minutes ago, Jason has been in my daughter's bedroom, having snuck in through the window. And if he doesn't want his delicates to become my next pair of earrings, I'd suggest he'd come out here in the next ten seconds, fully clothed."

The flat was silent for a few moments as Cindy only glared at Holly's door, though just as Darren was ready to ask if she was going senile, the bedroom door was pulled open to reveal a very sheepish Holly and Jason, both still straightening their clothes, but there was no hiding the slight swelling of their lips, or the way that their hair was still messy.

"Ah Jason, what a pleasant surprise," Cindy said tartly, though before either teen could speak up (and it looked like they were both more than ready to), she cut them both off with a single glance. "Now your dear darling brother over here has unfortunately been the victim of a tragic accident, and he's been made temporarily homeless.

"He'd really appreciate it if you'd talk to your mum about potentially letting him sleep on the sofa for the next week or so, just until his place has been sorted out. And if you don't, I'll be going straight over to Sandy myself, to tell her just exactly what you've been doing with my daughter."

"Mum!" Holly hissed, cheeks flushing a bright red as she shot a Jason an apologetic look.

"Not now darling, mummy's blackmailing. So are we clear Jason?" Cindy asked, arching an eyebrow as she knew that all the balls were in her court.

"You do know we heard everything you just said to Darren. I'm not naïve you know."

"Of course you're not. But that's good actually, because it means I shouldn't have to tell you to act like this is your own idea should I?"

"No you don't," Jason grumbled, knowing at this stage it was just better to go along with what Cindy wanted then trying to fight it.

"Good boy," Cindy smirked, opening the flat door and pointedly staring at Jason till he scurried out, though he still had the nerve to kiss Holly goodbye and promise to catch up with her later. Maybe he was more similar to the rest of his brothers than Darren had first thought.

"Now what?" he found himself asking once Holly had made her way back into her bedroom, though not before throwing a heavy glare towards Cindy.

"Now you grab your stuff, because I promise you that you're going to be settling down for the week, at the Roscoe's within the next two hours."

Oddly enough, Darren really didn't believe that, but he didn't have the energy to argue with Cindy anymore, though he couldn't wait to wipe the smug smirk of her face when his family no doubt said no about offering him a place to stay, because there was no way they would. It just wasn't feasible.

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Cindy had to be a witch or something... had to have the power of mind control at the very least, because there was no other explanation as to why Darren was currently sat in the Roscoe's kitchen, a small bag of his stuff at his feet as took a nervous sip from his tea.

When Jason had told Sandy about Darren's current situation, the blonde had jumped at the chance to have her eldest son around the house for a few days, grateful for the chance to finally spend some time with him.

He even got a proper bed, which was completely unexpected. But there was a spare one going free after Freddie had moved out to live with Sinead, and Darren would rather have that than the sofa, even though it meant he had to share a room with Ziggy.

It left him in a rather awkward position though, as Darren found himself unsure on what to do as he sat at the kitchen table, awkwardly twiddling his thumbs whilst the rest of the family were all gathered at the edges of the room, unsure of what to say themselves.

"Well this is nice," Robbie commented dryly when the silence got too much for him to handle. "Is the rest of this week going to be just as entertaining?"

"Robbie," Sandy hissed, willing for the teen to keep his mouth shut. The whole family's relationship with Darren was shaky at best, what it really didn't need was more poking and prodding by one of the most destructive teens in all of Chester.

"He has a point," Darren found himself saying, hating that he was agreeing with Robbie Roscoe of all people, but if it got rid of the awkward atmosphere that was currently suffocating the family home, then so be it. "I know I'm not exactly your biggest fan and vice versa, but we are family. I can't express how grateful I am about you letting me stay here for the next few days, it really does mean a lot."

"Aww, he's bringing a tear to my eye and everything," Ziggy teased, wiping a mock tear away before a bright grin shone through. "That was really sweet mate, no really it was. In fact, something that deep needs a hug."
"I'm okay," Darren said, sharing an amused look with Freddie, who was only laughing because he knew Ziggy wouldn't let it drop that easy, and he couldn't wait to see Darren's face when he realised that too.

"No, you've had a difficult day and you need a Ziggy hug, it'll make everything a lot easier," Ziggy laughed, taking a step forward with outstretched arms, though Darren moved back almost instantly. "Now don't be like that Dazza."

"I'll be however I want, especially if it means I don't get a Ziggy hug, because that sounds sordid," Darren grinned, ducking around the kitchen counter as Ziggy tried to get ever closer.

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of brother love," Ziggy replied easily, fully enjoying the chance to wind someone new up. "And you've missed out bro, we've got to make up for lost time." At that, Darren ducked out of the kitchen, Ziggy hot on his heels, causing the rest of the family to laugh, as the two men thundered up the stairs. "Don't be like that Dazza, we're roomies now! We've got to share the love!"

"Don't call me Dazza!"

"Big D then? Daz? You can pick roomie."

"Oh my God Ziggy!"

"I can tell this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I'm going to be the best roomie you'll ever have, I promise you that Darry!"

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Ziggy's promise of being the best room-mate ever lasted till 2am that very morning. He had gone out for the night, like he did every Saturday night, but before leaving, the mechanic had promised that he was very quiet when getting home. Hell, he had years of experience due to having shared a room with Freddie since they were knee high, and that Darren had nothing to worry about.

So after ending his facetime chat with Oscar (and partly Nancy, okay, mainly Nancy), Darren made his way to bed and got himself settled for the night, pleasantly surprised by how comfy the bed he was now lying actually was.

He had drifted off fairly quickly, ready for a night of pure restful sleep, though that was not meant to be, as shortly after 2am, he was woken up by someone crashing into the bedroom door. The fear of it being an axe wielding murderer was quickly dissipated when Ziggy stumbled into the bedroom, almost tripping over Darren's bed in the quest to get to his own.

He luckily didn't try to get changed (Darren imagined death would have occurred if Ziggy had attempted that), and instead, the mechanic flopped onto his bed and fairly quickly passed out. But if Darren had thought the entertainment was going to end there, he was sorely mistaken, because not even a minute later, did incredibly loud snores begin to fill the air.

And they didn't stop either, leaving Darren to stare blankly up at the ceiling and wonder where he had gone wrong in his life.

One thing he was certain of though, was that Ziggy was a god awful room-mate, and the only reason Freddie had ever managed to sleep the whole night through was because he was secretly deaf, or because he had bought earplugs at some point in his life.

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Despite how annoyed he was at Ziggy for being loudest sleeper to ever sleep, Darren found he couldn't stay angry at his younger brother (and that would never stop being weird), simply because it was completely impossible to stay angry at Ziggy Roscoe. He was like a small puppy who had been wronged, and the downtrodden looks he kept sending Darren across the other side of the room the next morning were enough to send the landlord into a crippling feeling of guilt.

"He'll be moping all day if you don't say anything," Robbie said as he caught Darren on his way to the kitchen.

"He does know I'm not actually angry at him right?" Darren asked, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see Ziggy blankly staring at his phone screen.

"What you don't know about Zig is that he likes to milk everything, biggest drama queen I think I've ever met, but," Robbie continued, when it looked like Darren was going to interrupt, because yes he knew Ziggy was dramatic, everyone knew that he was dramatic. "But he can also get worried about stuff, like really worried. He'll pretend he isn't, which is what he's doing now, but he's bad at hiding the fact that he's truly upset."

"But why would he? I mean, I don't get it?"

"You staying here is important to mum okay. She's wanted to spend time with you a lot, but she's never had the bottle to actually say anything. So this week is pretty big for us all, Zig's just worried he's fucked it up by keeping you up last night. He thinks you might leave, and then Mum will get all down too. You being here had made her smile for the first time since Joe left."

Darren said nothing for a few moments, milling over the advice Robbie had just shared with him, before he made his mind up, turning on his heel and entering the living room, to sit next to Ziggy with an inelegant oomph.

"You're going to have to give me some warning if your snoring is that deafening every night, because if it is, I still have time to run out and get some ear plugs."

His teasing tone was apparently enough, because although Ziggy didn't say anything, his whole posture relaxed and he tore his eyes away from his Facebook newsfeed. "Nah, it was just the alcohol, you should be safe tonight."

And although no more was said on the matter, Darren knew it was okay, that Ziggy was okay.

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"Thanks for doing this," Sandy said softly as she and Darren walked through the Dog doors a couple of days later, the rest of the family having already entered and at the bar.

"Doing what?" Darren asked, genuinely confused by what Sandy meant. It had been a fairly smooth couple of days, Ziggy's snoring was a lot quieter and no fights had broken out like Darren had initially feared.

He had found himself getting closer with not only his brothers, but also Sandy too, able to hold perfectly normal conversations with them all. It felt good being at the Roscoe household, he had no intention of staying there once his flat was sorted out, but Darren would be a lot more willing to pop over every now and again, to see how everyone was doing and to catch up.

He had never known he was missing out on a whole other family, but now he did, well Darren found himself a hell of a lot happier, and he just wished he had manned up and spoken to them all before this week.

"For staying with us this week. It's meant a lot to the boys too, they might not say it, but I think they've liked having another person around the house. And well, you've slotted in perfectly, it's like you were always here with us."

"Well it's been good spending time with you all as well. I didn't realise how much I've been missing out before-hand, and I'm glad we're getting to spend some time together now."

At his words, Sandy began beaming brightly, unable to mask just how happy she was to hear those words.

"I'm not going anywhere you know," Darren continued, picking a large enough table to accommodate the whole family. "I mean, I'll move back out when my flat's finished, but I'll be over all the time. That is, if it's okay with you?"

"Oh love, that's more than okay," Sandy beamed, for over thirty years she had longed to hear just that, and now she could. She had all her boys around her and for once, life seemed to be going somewhat smoothly and she couldn't be happier.

I hope you all enjoyed!

Next Chapter - Drunken antics can lead to the funniest of games, this time is no different when the Roscoe boys find themselves playing a game of Truth or Dare after one to many beers - tasha