Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! It feels like forever since I updated this. I've been trying to write lots of different things and here is something a bit new. Like the title suggests, it's about James' father from the anime, Charlie, and him being a grandfather to Jayden most prominently of all. It was interesting to get his character to come out! You can tell that there's little moments of him being a bit of a shady character but being in his grandchildren's life is causing him to move forward. James just needs to get to that place as well :P I hope you enjoy!
Ages:
Jayden: 6
Charlie: 58
James: 30
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned :3
As I lounged on one of the plush seats of the vehicle that smelt fresh and airy and newly cleaned, although the sights outside the window were something to take in also, I focused my attention on what was going on around me. It wasn't much. It wasn't much at all. But still, I watched. I saw the way that the curly haired little boy swung his legs enthusiastically as he sat on one of the seats himself and, unlike me, he was looking out at the window. He was watching the world go by as he was being driven back home from his grandparents mansion.
However, almost as soon as I observed that he wasn't showing the same interests as me, we were then again on the same page. Jayden's head turned from looking out the window and seeing all the trees pass by and the bird Pokémon fly out of them and with a sweet smile on his face, he looked at the person right next to him. He looked at his grandfather, Charlie Morgan.
There and then I took the opportunity to think to myself and smile to myself too about how the vehicle was very, very plush indeed. And there were loads of sofa sized seats, plenty of room for plenty of guests. Plenty of room for just a few guests! But even so, the dual haired little boy had insisted upon sitting right next to the greying lavender haired male. I wasn't sure if he was flattered by it. His moustache had quirked up a little bit and there was an oncoming twinkle in his eye. I couldn't work out if he was touched by one of his grandson's eagerness to be close or he just liked people liking him!
Nevertheless, soon enough I focused on something else. As the staff member of Lord Morgan's muttered something inaudible under his breath while he continued driving us three passengers back home after our time together, I found myself noticing his greying moustache also. And I also couldn't help but observing it was a lot bigger and more flamboyant than even Charlie's! I snickered inwardly but managed to keep my expression level. I wondered if James' father minded that he wasn't the only one with some facial decoration, let alone the much less impressive one.
But I didn't have time to ponder that too hard either. Though Jayden's little legs continued swinging and his gentle smile decorated his youthful face, he finally turned even more towards his grandfather and addressed him properly. He asked curiously, his leg swinging only dying down as he waited for an answer.
"Do you always get driven everywhere, Grandad?" Jayden asked as soon as this question popped into his mind but then following that, he paused for a couple of moments and watched as Charlie's expression just turned to a frown as he listened to the inquiry. After letting out a loud but innocent exhalation of breath, the curly haired little boy added. "Can't you drive a car?"
I turned my head and watched as Charlie's chest pushed out and expanded like he was inhaling the same kind of breath as Jayden had exhaled but he didn't make a sound. And then after that, he was quick to answer, much like the same way that his grandson had been swift to ask.
"I can drive! I can drive, Jayden. It has just been quite a long while, is all." He responded initially with that continuous frown but then after that and after perhaps he saw the way that Jayden's orbs merely rounded as he heard the response – no judgement coming from the six year old – his expression softened. I looked on from the opposite row of seats and saw Charlie smooth down his well-cared for moustache. "Nowadays I do get driven around everywhere."
Jayden nodded his head a couple of times at the same time that his grandfather showed off a conclusive single nod of the head. And not much time at all passed before Charlie added all the more words himself. He leaned slightly closer to the younger male even though their hips were practically touching as they remained the passengers that they were. Curious words slipped out of in between his lips before he could stop them. Needless to say, they were done with a good deal less innocence as Jayden's had.
"Do that Mummy and Daddy of yours drive themselves around, then?" Charlie questioned and even though he tried to airily smile at the young boy, his eyebrows rose along with the pitch in his voice.
I looked down at my lap rather than at the scene and silently assumed that Jayden would come straight out with an answer. After all, his grandfather was interacting with him and asking him a question so why would he try to hide anything?
I was left surprised and a little bit impressed too at the way that Jayden held his breath and resumed swinging his legs but slowly that time as he didn't come out with a worded response right away. Soon enough it seemed to me that even himself at six years old had caught on to the way that Charlie Morgan could be a little probing at times and it wasn't always out of airy intrigue.
The greying lavender haired older male leaned back and was close to frowning all over again when Jayden at last replied, the speed of his little legs swinging revving up.
"Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't." Jayden began and first and I believed that both Charlie and I were in the same boat in thinking that this was all the dual haired little boy was going to say. The greying lavender haired male copied the younger boy's couple of nods from moments before and it was when that his gaze flickered to his member of staff driving him that the second to youngest Morgan son added. "They drive themselves. Then when they have to go somewhere fancy they get picked up. But it's never the same person. Unlike him."
Jayden showed no shame in very obviously pointing to the large moustached driver in the front of the limousine as he referred to him. My stomach lurched right inside of my body as I suddenly worried that Charlie would find this behaviour distasteful but I was left to compose myself when the smaller moustached male merely glanced at his member of staff and nodded again. In response, the man driving the car just looked in the rear view mirror at us all in the back of the car.
He wasn't bothered. Charlie wasn't bothered. Jayden definitely wasn't bothered! So I didn't have to be. I exhaled a long and deep breath to rid myself of the protective instinct that washed over me just a couple of seconds before Lord Morgan exhaled himself.
However unlike me, as soon as he let out this exhalation of breath, he leaned forward in his seat in the car all over again and that time a rather proud smirk caused his moustache to quirk upwards. He appeared to be a child younger than Jayden as he couldn't prevent himself from boasting in response to his grandson's previous words.
"Oh, I have many people who work for me, Jayden, not just that one." Charlie gloated in as a gentlemanly a fashion as he could manage, his hand moving down to tweak at his tie that perfectly matched his handkerchief in his jacket pocket. I could see his manicured and ring-clad fingers itching to smooth down his moustache all over again and add more smug words when Jayden's nose wrinkle said everything without him having to say anything at all.
At that point in the young child's life he was hardly impressed with riches and servants and luxurious cars much at all. Jayden listened to Charlie's words politely enough but he had things that were more interesting to him on his mind. He had another question on his mind.
Mirroring his grandfather, he leaned forward in his own seat. He blurted out a question as soon as it popped into his mind all over. Jayden still smiled sweetly but a bit of a grin was forming on his face also.
"So you can drive? Can you drive us now, then? It's probably only a little bit to go now." The dual haired little boy hurried through his words rather energetically for his usually reserved self and as I turned my head towards those two Morgan males all over, I couldn't help but take notice of the way that his green orbs glinted even further at Charlie's taken aback expression. He tried to add. "I know that you said you haven't in ages but-"
"No, I have not for a very long time." The greying lavender haired male replied promptly and the swiftness of his response caused Jayden to believe that he was going to get his own way. He tried not to show it too much and even purposely leaned back to not come across as overbearing. But little Jayden caught on right away to the way that a frown took back over Charlie's expression, before his head even twitched to shake from side to side. He held his hands up. "I simply can't, little solider. You don't want everything to go haywire, do you?"
Upon hearing this I tilted my head and could see Jayden's little six year old brain ticking and working everything through as himself, Charlie and I remained being passengers in the vehicle. He brushed aside his brow furrow of confusion as he didn't exactly understand what 'haywire' meant! He tilted his own head. He had heard as well as anybody the fact that his grandfather had slipped into calling him a little nickname.
It was evident even to him that the greying lavender haired male must feel regrettable about it if he decided then and there to call him something endearing. For the second time that car journey, I tried to withhold a smirk. It was proved only true that the quiet ones were the ones to watch out for. You couldn't put anything past the second to youngest Morgan son.
He picked up on the things that most little children wouldn't at all. He picked up on his Grandad Charlie's choice of words. And when he saw that greying lavender haired male and the man with the much more impressive moustache were giving each other silent glances to each other through the rear view mirror, Jayden decided to speak up all over again. He decided not to shoot his body forward. He decided to do nothing obvious with his hands apart from clasp both of his hands in his lap. He asked the words as soon as he decided on those particular ones.
"Please, Grandad? It would be a perfect end to the best day." Jayden came out with and even though he was trying to get his own way with the older male, he definitely meant it with a whole lot of his six year old heart also.
It surprised me. No doubt did it surprise Charlie. But no doubt was Lord Morgan smart in the same way as Jayden was, even if he did come across as a bit of a buffoon too!
When it came to the crunch, he could not resist praise from others and he absolutely couldn't resist a speck of sweetness from one of his grandson's. Charlie let out a muffled noise that I hadn't really heard before in my life but I put it down to unexpected flattery. He then merely reached out to ruffle the top of Jayden's curls while the little boy breathed out and Charlie took off his seatbelt.
It seemed to me that the dual haired boy felt as though he wasn't out of the woods yet. And I understood why with what happened next. I understood when the moustache adorned Morgan broke his wordless silence with his own input.
"Hmmm, you just want to sit on your old Grandad's lap, don't you?" Charlie simpered and he reached out to pat the top of Jayden's head all over again and the way that the little boy exhaled like he'd been blowing up bicycle tyres with his mouth made it obvious that he had been preparing to sway his grandfather in making that a reality also. But it was proved that he didn't need to. It was proved that grandfather and grandson were on the same page even though they were only really just getting to know one and other. Jayden had a moment of bashfulness as Charlie's hand left the top of his head and he looked down at his lap, smiling sheepishly to himself and biting his lip while the older male addressed his member of staff with a gesture of his single ring-clad hand. "Let me hop up front, good sir. My little pal and I want to see if we can do this together."
I moved to Jayden's side for only a moment and to nudge my cheek against his leg at the same moment that he stopped looking down at his lap and looked up and smiled gladly for everyone to see as his grandfather spoke about him with yet another name. And after I smiled back even though the young boy had not been smiling directly at me, I glanced to Lord Morgan's member of staff and saw the way that his eyeballs looked as though they were going to pop out of his sockets!
But I figured that it was not because Charlie wanted to drive himself and Jayden, nor being told what to do, oh no. Being referred to as 'good sir" by his employee was such a rare treat that it snapped the grey haired older man into action. He swallowed abruptly like he was trying to rid himself of a frog in his throat and with the whites of his eyes showing – indicating that he was a little worried about his master's driving skills – but he did what he was told anyway.
Because the vehicle had been driven to the bottom of the hill leading up to where everybody lived in their apartments, there was no reason to stop and wait for traffic or for any lights to flash red. Lord Charlie's employee shut off the car and hopped out as soon as he was commanded to and made his way to the plush area of the vehicle where I was still lounging. And as he scooted right next to me and James' father made his way into the front of the car without going outside and round and in very much a school-boy manner, I was left with a decision to make. Would I join them?
There was no doubt that Charlie Morgan was an authoritative man with many accolades to his name and titles bestowed upon him. But did that make him absolutely one hundred percent competent? Unfortunately no. Though he tried his best to hide it and come across as composed, he was known not only for his blunders and his clumsiness also. I was a little worried for Jayden being in his care!
So after a couple of seconds more musing time and after Charlie had reached back for his grandson and hoisted him through to the front of his car and perched him gingerly but compliantly on his knee, I decided that I needed to be a part of their trio instead of the grey haired man's duo. And he looked as though he was going greyer by the second – especially when I abandoned him!
It was easy then for me to withhold my chuckle because when I clambered through myself to the front of the limousine; it dawned on me how clumsy that Charlie was known to be. Granted, it was only about a hundred metres or so uphill but even so, I was a little bit nervous. My apprehensions were not eased when words tumbled out of the moustachioed man's lips.
"Gosh, it has been ages!" Charlie exclaimed like it was the least worrisome thing in the world and I felt alone in my concerns up front when Jayden simply scooted closer to his grandfather on his lap and smiled, holding onto the wheel himself and looking forward to that particular bonding moment with his Grandad Charlie.
I felt as though if a sweet and sensitive boy like Jayden wasn't fussed then I had no reason to be. But it also occurred to me that Charlie's employee was a seemingly composed and fair man and I could have sworn that I heard him whimpering from behind me.
Oh well, I didn't have much more time at all to get my knickers in a twist. Almost as soon as Lord Charlie said his previous words, he found the key in the ignition and twisted it, starting the car. And almost as soon as he did this, he started driving it! He started driving it up the hill. Jayden giggled as soon as he felt the movement but I definitely didn't share his joy. I knew that I wouldn't relax until we were safely in our family building's driveway.
For once Charlie's nonchalant joyful and even mildly encouraging murmurs didn't intrigue me or soothe me at all.
"That's it, comrade. That's it. Slowly does it. Nice motion on the wheel there. Nicely done. I always knew that we were a terribly wonderful team together." Charlie made his way through a barrage of words and he was evidently concentrating so much that he became incomprehensible as he added more and more sentences. Or perhaps he just liked the idea of what he was saying even if no one else could understand.
Charlie's mutters continued to not soothe me. Though it was a slow drive up the hill thank goodness and not very much of a white knuckle ride, I was still on the edge of my seat the entire time. The man in the back of the car felt similarly. Neither of us would relax until the car came to a halt and it was over and done with.
Thankfully there and then and in that moment, the end was in sight. The end was near and we were still alive. There were only a couple of metres to go. While Jayden couldn't stop his young face from being a little disappointed that it was coming to an end while he sat on his grandfather's lap and helped him steer, I felt glad that I was soon to breathe a nice sigh of relief!
Or so I thought. Charlie had just one more metre to drive until he could bring the limousine to a halt and take the key out of the ignition. He was so near. He came so near. He came so near yet so far.
For you see, all of a sudden and out of nowhere, a horrendous crunching noise could be heard. Followed by a very loud popping noise!
Both Jayden and I instantly jumped and Charlie did too while the man in the back of the car let out such a whimper that I wondered if he had actually passed on. The magenta and lavender haired male looked at his grandfather with wide eyes but because for once the greying lavender haired male was being quite composed about it all, Jayden didn't feel as though he needed to worry. I most certainly did when, yet again, Charlie uttered some more words.
"Oh, dash it all. Do you think we've popped a tyre?" the greying lavender haired male mused to himself as much as he was talking to anyone else and it was in that moment that for the first time that car journey, we made eye contact. I found myself looking away. Perhaps I didn't want him to sense my nerves and get mad at me. I had been warned about how he could suddenly turn.
But that instance and that day he seemed surprisingly unbothered. He merely shrugged with his grandson on his lap and proceeded to take the seatbelt off from the both of them and turn to open the door on his right side. Before that, he uttered to the man in the back with grey hair and grey moustache that matched his grey face that he and Jayden would see what the damage was. And the poor man never looked so relieved to have a moment to himself in all of his life.
I breathlessly followed suit when both Charlie and Jayden clambered out of the vehicle and because neither Lord Morgan nor I bothered to shut the car door behind us, I was certain that the poor recovering man was certain to hear more of Charlie's musings.
The three of us that were standing on the driveway took a moment of our time to survey the situation and then when we saw one of Delia's plastic plant pots that she had given to Ash and Misty as a gift with a green and well-loved plant having been tugged out of it and squashed by the wheel along with its pot, it became very obvious what had happened.
Charlie seemed oddly very cheery to explain what had happened! He evidently didn't notice that the door was still open and bellowed to the man who was only just starting to recover.
"'Twas just a plant pot, old bean! It shouldn't be lying carelessly there in the first place! Oh well. Amuse yourself while I take my grandson back inside!" Charlie spoke all of these sentences in quite a bellow and despite the fact that Jayden was wincing as he was standing right close to his grandfather, he chuckled to himself in between it all the same, his shoulders shaking.
The greying lavender haired male grabbed hold of those shaking shoulders of grandson and encouraged him to walk first, his palms still holding onto him as the two of them begun to walk together. The dual haired little boy's shoulders stopped shaking and his laughter died down as he knew that his day with his Grandad Charlie and I was soon coming to an end.
I pondered to myself and I waited until Charlie's poor grey faced staff member shut the door himself before I followed after them both once again. No doubt was the plant pot not just waiting carelessly there but Charlie had probably dragged it onto the driveway with him from a couple of metres back and it had led to its demise.
But like he said - oh well. There were plenty more fish in the sea. And there was plenty more things to observe! I quickened my pace and joined them at the same time that Charlie marched his grandson into the main entrance of his home building after successfully typing the right code into the machine.
Things to observe from that moment onwards were going to be the greying lavender haired male's nose twitching towards the building that his son and his wife lived in with everybody else. It was definitely not to his taste. I just hoped that Jayden wasn't going to catch on. It was true that those two were only just getting to know each other and protectiveness still rattled in my bones at times but I was hoping that nothing was going to ruin the day that we had had together.
As Charlie and Jayden walked wordlessly but comfortably still up the stairs and along the hall to the door where the Morgan residence actually was, I found myself reflecting on how touched I was that I had always been trusted to chaperone those sorts of early meetings.
Understandably, James was protective of his children when it came to his parents after the upbringing that he had and Jessie was too. And in some ways, Jessie was more so! But the both of them were very child-led parents. It had started with the twins taking an interest in their grandfather who they didn't know much about and both Justin and Jazmyn getting to hang out with their Grandad Charlie.
And then following that and seeing his older siblings that were twins getting to have that sort of experience, Jayden decided that he wanted to give it a go. On the whole, it had been successful. There were a few moments to report back and a few instances that made my fur tingle with wariness but even my stubborn self couldn't deny that it had always gone pretty well.
But like I said, I didn't want anything to ruin that. I had no idea that it was going to be the non-greying lavender haired male who was going to put his foot in it when the time came.
I was brought back to the present when the greying lavender haired male and the dual haired younger one knocked at the door of the Morgan residence and after some giggling noises and scuffling noises too, the door was unlocked from the other end.
Being in an apartment and safety precautions being taken, despite the fact that it was known that we would be arriving back at that sort of time of day, the door was on the latch. More giggling could be heard. For a couple of moments, just giggling could be heard. And then faces appeared. Jazmyn and Justin were the ones who had hurried out of their joint bedroom to answer the door and were then poking their child-like gleeful faces through the gap and grinning.
"What's the password?" the deep purple haired boy of the twins was the one to utter in between grinning and it was shown that there was a healthy amount of competition between him and his curly haired younger brother when Jayden just sighed at his antics and broke away from Charlie, managing to push Justin out of the way and slip through the gap. Justin scrunched his face up in annoyance. But he soon let it go. He insisted on their Grandad Charlie playing by the rules. "What's the password?"
The moustachioed male smoothed down his beloved stache and frowned when he heard these words and saw Jayden slip out of sight but when the two of us left on the other side caught Jazmyn's face squashing up against her twin brothers, that seemed to be enough for Charlie to soften. His nose tilted towards the air and he folded his arms over his chest as he asked.
"Should you two be answering the door if you didn't know who was on the other side? Really, I would have thought that your mother taught you better. Your father too." Charlie seemed to try to come across as playful as his twin grandchildren but exasperation was first and foremost on his mind as these words came out.
I watched the scene even further and Justin scrunched his nose up all over again. Jazmyn looked as though she was going to do this as well but she moved her twin brother out of the way so she could have the gap to herself. And the deep purple haired young girl uttered honestly and fairly.
"Our mother trusts us to be grown up about this kind of thing. She knew who it was going to be. She's only in Jaxon's room with him." Jazmyn shrugged her shoulders as she uttered these words and then she removed herself from the gap entirely and so she couldn't be seen by her grandfather anymore.
And as I tilted my head and watched the greying lavender haired male I saw that he responded well to Jazmyn's plain and simple honesty. He stopped frowning and his arms fell from folding over his chest. I was wondering if he was even going to apologise but then the child-like soul that was Justin couldn't stop himself from eagerly pushing his face into the gap all over. He grinned and laughed heartily as he announced.
"She's only in Jaxon's room with him 'cos he's having to do a timeout! Serves him right. Sucker." The deep purple haired twin boy announced with a gleeful shrug and Charlie only had time to rest his palm on the wall next to the door – he didn't have time to gain a twinkle in his eye towards his long haired grandson nor suck his cheeks in with amusement – because Jazmyn took over all over again.
She pulled Justin away from the door but it wasn't to steal his place. You could then hear Jayden make a curious noise in defence of his troublemaker younger brother and slip back through the gap to the side of his grandfather and me only having just done that to drop off his belongings that he had taken with him. And then following that, Jazmyn reached up to take the door off the latch but she informed everyone on the other side.
"Daddy is in his office. He'll probably want to know that you're back as well." She told everybody and with that, I got the feeling that she wasn't going to be surprised at all when her Grandad Charlie changed tactic and decided that it would probably be best if he took Jayden straight to him so he in particular could know that it had gone well. And I wholeheartedly agreed.
We could hear a bit of scuffling and messing about from the other side from Justin who was muttering inviting everyone to witness Jaxon getting reprimanded but after us politely declining and Charlie even retorting somewhat playfully, we went on our way. We went on our way back down the stairs to the main entrance and then a door off that where James Morgan's personal office was.
Unlike the door to the actual house, that didn't have a lock nor latch on it and people could come and go as they pleased. And it was evident that Jayden knew this from the way that, despite the fact that he had quietened down when it was almost time for his day with Charlie to come to an end, he perked up at the idea of seeing his dad all over again.
Jayden broke away for good from his grandfather and opened the door on his own accord and didn't hesitate to burst right in. the little boy almost tripped up with gusto but he knew his father's office like the back of his hand and went sprinting in.
"Daddy! Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy!" the curly haired little boy chanted as he dodged desks full of papers and ideas and strewn about clothes and designs and went running towards his father. I got the impression that it was actually him who was the one to buzz us into the building from the way that he was seemingly waiting for us all. Especially Jayden.
He took a brief moment to run a hand through his hair before he moved away from his hair, crouching and reaching down just in time for his second to youngest son to make a leap at him with one more final exclamation of 'daddy!'. James caught his son and lifted him high into his arms. He gave him a loving squeeze.
"Yeah, that's my name. Don't wear it out." He uttered and smiled at his little boy, brushing his sprigs of curly out of his eyes and though I smiled too, I couldn't help but notice that he didn't hug him or squeeze him or twirl with him as much as he would have normally done. I figured that he was a little bit uneasy in front of his father and this became obvious from the way that James flicked his head towards the elder Morgan but his eyes flickered in all directions as he spoke in a level tone. "Good day you two?"
Needless to say while Charlie simply just nodded his head and prepared to speak, Jayden took the opportunity to be vocal all over again and speak of our day in the Morgan Mansion and especially of the car journey that we had taken at the very end. I didn't blame James for appearing very nervous and concerned when he heard this and perhaps Jayden caught onto his apprehension from the way that he wriggled to be put down.
His curls bounced on the top of his head as he reached into his pocket for a crumpled piece of paper. He only half unfolded it before he handed it over to his father who had taken a seat back in front of his desk and laptop all over, not looking at Charlie for a long length of time also.
"I did this while I was there, too. I did this while I was there. I like it a lot." Jayden uttered these words honestly and enthusiastically but then when the lavender haired male responded with a little playful gasp and took the bit of paper from his son, he grew very bashful indeed and his eyes went round with the hope that his father would approve of it.
I felt a wave of love wash over me for the little boy that was Jayden and then I focused on watching the little moment unfold between the two of them. But I even almost moved closer to Charlie that I was so softened by Jayden's desperation that his father would like his art piece.
It goes without saying that James' own face softened and lit up as soon as the page was handed to him. He unfolded it as carefully as he could and though he didn't take much time to look at it at all, he nodded his head and then handed it back to his curly haired son. While Jayden threatened to blink slightly with confusion, the lavender haired male gestured with a finger for him to come closer.
"Why don't you tell me who it is of first? And please tell me how you came up with the idea." James spoke to his son with a smile and like it was when you are a child, Jayden was very quick to bounce back from his potential disappointment.
After nodding his head enthusiastically and muttering an 'okay!' he moved in between his father's legs as he sat in his chair and held the piece of paper in one hand, pointing with the other. I didn't glance behind me but I wondered if Charlie was going to take the hint or make himself scarce at not being paid attention to. I didn't know that the moustachioed male was observing almost as hard as I was, yet the difference between us two was he had an expression on his face that could have been described as haughty.
We continued watching as the lavender haired male listened to his son about where he was in the gardens of the Morgan Mansion when he got the inspiration to draw and asked his grandfather if he might do that when James' eyes began to flicker and he seemed for once to lose interest in what the little boy was saying.
Jayden didn't notice but I frowned right away and put it down to mentions of his own childhood home and father who he was still a little guarded around but when his eyes continued flickering towards his son and his laptop, I understood that it was something on the screen that was getting his attention. Then when his computer let out a soft pinging noise and James settled his attention on it for good, turning his body away from Jayden and reading what was on there instead, I knew that that was the case indeed.
I didn't know that Charlie was frowning like I was, though. I just knew that James wasn't giving his little son his full attention. And Jayden knew it too soon enough.
"So that's who everyone is and what they're doing! I think I might add a bit more…" the dual haired little boy continued explaining eagerly to his father and then it was there and then that he trailed off, finally noticing that James' eyes were no longer on him – they were on his computer.
And like it was also like with children, he couldn't hide anything on his face at all. A wave of disappointment was quick to gush over his expressions and then it was seeing him swallow a lump in his throat that made my heart ache. It was that moment that I thought about something, lurching forward and asking James what was so important. But I didn't need to. Someone else was in the room and someone else was taking action. But I thought that it was a mere coincidence at first.
Charlie bent down to his grandson's level in a seemingly nonchalant away and after Jayden joined him by his side after he summoned him with a finger gesture also, he wrapped his arm lightly around his shoulders. I couldn't help but scoff when those gestures and those gestures alone made James look up from his computer once again, a frown on his face!
"Why don't you nip on upstairs for a little moment, comrade? That wasn't the only drawing that you did today, was it?" Charlie directed his grandson in a way that was less obvious than he usually would have done and after Jayden initially blinked, he then remembered the folder of papers that he had slipped through the door when he slipped his body through the gap in the door some moments prior.
And in addition to the lavender haired male looking up from his computer and watching his father with his son in between typing something on the key pad, James watched when Jayden's face was filled with realisation and he complied with Charlie's words, sprinting back out of the room.
However, the lavender haired male looked firmly back at his laptop computer when the greying lavender haired male's head turned towards his son that was sitting down and he stood back to his full height. It was Charlie's turn to scoff. But Charlie also did a rare thing while his son was typing – he actually pondered before piping up.
As I moved to stand next to him that time, I caught side of the way that he glanced sideways; making sure that Jayden was not still around. And then he moved forward. He moved his body forward. He approached his adult son who didn't look up at him. He addressed in a level tone and I hoped that he didn't ruin it by the way that he tweaked his suit tie that was matching his pocket handkerchief. He missed a beat and then he spoke at the same time that James tapped his spacebar.
"Don't you think that you could have given Jayden a smidge more of your attention then?" Charlie broke his silence towards his son and the lavender haired male reacted like I expected and looked up as soon as he was addressed. The frown on his face said everything that he needed to say without saying anything at all. But even so, Charlie continued. He started to play with the collar on his shirt instead and this caused James to frown all the more. "He's only going to be little for so long, you know. And I don't believe you have seen him at all today."
"What do you know? What do you know at all? It's just one email one time. Don't bollock me in my own home." James retorted and part of me was surprised by the way that he responded to Charlie but another half was not surprised at all. He had dealt with years of berating which he handled. But he was suddenly having his parenting skills criticised and something pointed out that he felt was a rare instance. The lavender haired male shook his head in irritation and looked as though he was going to resume ignoring Charlie as he typed all over again. But he muttered in between tapping his fingers. "And who are you to talk anyway? You were always properly away when I was Jayden's age. And I don't think you looked at me once."
A cool silence took over the lavender haired male's office and it sent such a chill down my spine that I assumed that James had unwittingly (or perhaps wittingly) clicked something in his father and he was going to react. And he was going to react badly. But I was wrong. The shiver down my spine was wariness of times that had been – not times that we were currently in.
Though as I turned to my side I could see the rigidness growing in Charlie's eyes, I also saw the way that he exhaled and managed to round his orbs all over again. It was potentially that only one of them could be jagged at a time. And because it was James' turn – there was no room left for the moustachioed male to have similar antics.
I wondered if the ex-rocketeer had started to feel the same uneasiness as me as he subtly bit his lip and went back to typing, not looking at his father all over again. He hadn't exactly snapped at his father as directly as an adult and was unsure if he'd live to tell the tale. But evidently he would. Though James winced as Charlie took another step forward, Charlie soon enough said more words so it could be over and done with.
"James, I am sure that you don't want my advice but-"
The lavender haired male surprised me and himself by interrupting his father. And it was evident that parenting was a subject that he felt strongly about from the way that he abandoned his laptop and his typing completely and stood up, frowning and looking dismayed across the room at Lord Charlie.
"No I don't. No I don't at all. In fact, I don't think that I could want anything less." He insisted and the way that though his voice was starting to ever so slightly rise, it was trembling, made it painfully obvious that James felt like it would potentially be a bad idea to bring that sort of subject up with Charlie after all of those years. Even so, he couldn't stop himself from adding. "It's actually insulting, you know? It's actually insulting. For someone to treat me the way that you did to look down at me like I'm a shitty parent for working for my children so they don't have to live like I had to when I ran away from you and Johanna."
For a split second I could have sworn that Charlie's moustache adorned lips were going to whisper that his son was not a bad parent at all. But James definitely didn't catch on to this notion. And I was certain that he didn't catch onto any of the notions from the way that he exhaled loudly and showed a demeanour that he was determined to go back to typing and for good.
And in response, all over again, Charlie took a little bit of a moment before he actually said something. He glanced around the room but didn't seem to focus on it. He ran a hand through his slicked back greying lavender locks and even untangled it a little bit. And it was when it became bordering on unkempt that he had words in response for the younger male. He didn't state anything. Instead, he asked just one thing.
"Why do you think I always get in contact with you to spend time with those offspring of yours, James?" Charlie questioned and took another step forward and before James even had a chance to dryly utter a response and not look up from typing, Lord Morgan had an answer for his son. Or rather, he had a response. And his words actually came out a little breathlessly and like his son's also. "Just ponder for a moment and imagine. Ponder the fact that I might feel disappointed concerning how you were raised and enjoy being around your offspring now to make up for the moments that I didn't have with you. I can see clear as day that you're trying jolly well hard not to be like me and in dramatic ways too. But just maybe you should focus on not copying my decisions in all aspects. It all adds up, after all. And I don't want to have to see the disappointment in any of your children's faces when you don't look back at them when they're looking so divinely at you. They don't deserve it."
It sent a shiver down my spine when although the words weren't uttered at all, the words "like you didn't" whispered through my mind after the way that Charlie decided to conclude his sentences. For once and for a very rare occasion, when I looked at the lavender haired male I couldn't understand or guess or imagine what he was thinking or feeling at all.
His brow remained furrowed. He stayed typing. He stayed not looking at his father. He stayed determined not to look at his father. I couldn't fathom what was running through his mind at all. But maybe that was okay. Perhaps it was deeply, deeply personal things. And he would clue me in at a later time.
I felt uneasy with myself there and then when I started to feel a little bit sorry for Charlie when he let out a sigh and smoothed his hair back into place upon being ignored. But he seemed to take it on the chin well enough. He spoke some more. He spoke a few times more. But it appeared that he actually got the hint - showing that times had indeed moved forward.
"I will be getting out of your hair now. I will show myself out and I will contact you in a little bit for more time with your children." The greying lavender haired male spoke to his son and James actually looked up that time. Though he continued typing he looked right at the older male and directly too before looking away. Charlie's chest extended slightly outwards and his chin tilted upwards. He turned on his heel to go but before he left properly he added just one more thing. "Just… Just take notice."
And with that, the greying lavender haired male gave me a bit of a head tilt which I felt was a salute before Charlie indeed went on his way. I hadn't been feeling that way before but I suddenly felt the need to exhale deeply when that interaction was over and done with and no explosions happened and when James finally stopped typing and let out the same sigh also, I knew that we had been feeling it together.
I had felt sorry for Charlie moments before and then at that point I felt empathy towards James. It wasn't easy to forgive his parents and move forward like they hadn't done wrong to him at all. He didn't take advice from them too kindly after the way that they berated and judged and mocked him all those years before. It would certainly take a lot for him to respect his father enough to listen. He thought it would take a lot for him to actually listen. But he was wrong. It took a small thing. It took a bunch of small things. It took his children.
It seemed that James barely had a minute to think to himself at all and all he could do was sigh and feel the breath of feelings that would come on over the next few days when he was not alone all over again. And it wasn't Charlie who had come back. Of course it was Jayden. The lavender haired male looked up right away when he heard his little son's footsteps. And because James looked right at the curly haired boy, he saw his eyes swivelling around for his moustached relative.
The lavender haired male addressed this straight away, unbeknownst to him already following his own father's advice. James brushed his hair out of his eyes briefly before speaking to little Jayden.
"Charlie had to head off buddy, I'm sorry. He said that he wants to see you again soon, though." The ex-rocketeer explained to his son and though he was looking at him, I got the impression that the older male's words were ringing in his head so he didn't take notice of the way that Jayden's feet tapped in his shoes in disappointment. Despite this, Jayden nodded his head once, trying to focus on the fact that a day like that would happen again soon.
And then as the lavender haired male missed a beat after speaking and his dual haired son nodded on that beat, though it would take him a little while to admit that it was his father's doing also, James did feel as though he owed it to his son to be even more present than ever before. It was true that he was working hard for him so he didn't have the same fate as him but he also needed to be there for the light moments that were in between. And he would miss those if he started to take everything too seriously. Like his own parents.
James swallowed so loudly that I could hear it. Then at the same time that I jumped onto his desk, the lavender haired male held his arms open to his son. He gave him a smile. It was a making up to him smile at first. And then it turned genuine.
"Why don't you come up here and show me your drawing all over again? I don't think that I looked at it properly last time." The lavender haired male kept up that sincere smile and though a bit of sheepishness took over his gaze and he pushed his hair from his eyes all over, the gentleness remained.
And it was indeed so lucky that children were able to bounce back so quickly. After barely even a second at all, Jayden had a massive grin on his face and he nodded his head and went bounding over to his father. He was lifted right onto his lap – like he had been with his grandfather earlier that day. And it felt wonderful. It felt wonderful to be sat there. It felt wonderful to be explaining his art work to the man who often inspired that creative side in him.
And it felt wonderful beyond being able to be explained by words when the lavender haired male quietly decided that there was someone missing from their family photo and took a pencil from his desk and with permission from his second to youngest son – he added a drawing of his father there also. He draw him sleek and dressed to impress and with a moustache of course but he draw him on looking at everyone and smiling at them.
And not only that but he made him so he was smiling towards himself and Jayden most of all. Because perhaps that was how he saw his father really – or at least he would do as time went by and guards came down for good.
Children are miracles, you see. Not only do they teach you and encourage you to see with fresh eyes but they encourage you to make peace with everyone. The past. The future. Mistakes. Downfalls. Past relationships. Past traumas. Past parenting styles.
And not only did children do this for their parents but they did this for their grandparents as well. Their youthfulness and their freshness and their eagerness did wonders for both James Morgan and Charlie Morgan too. And the Morgan children did wonders for both of those two men together.
They finally felt as though they shared something in common. Because they did. Love for those wonderful little offspring. Love for those wonderful little children. And eventually – love for one and other also. For it was always there. But it just needed a little coaxing out and to be expressed in the right way. And of course, the children were there to help with that. As well as other generations of Morgan's.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, James definitely has a reason to be skeptical when it comes to his father in general, let alone around his children after the upbringing he was dealt with. But it's kind of interesting how both Charlie and James wished that each other was different. I think James has more of an excuse! But after Charlie relents and relaxes a bit, his son is able to as well. Of course it's not all happily ever after and there are still bumpy moments between the two of them. But the Morgan children definitely give a whole new perspective of things :3 Just a moment to give a heads up that I might not be uploading as much for the next while. To be honest, I struggled really badly with all the themed ones in November and December and have found myself drained and not writing as much because of it. But what I have been writing about, I've been trying new things. Probably another reason why I'm not writing as frequently. I'll still aim to upload a few times a month though and it will still be both Pikachu Tales and To You Both :3 Thanks again for reading and I will be back soon with another chapter to see you then!
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :P