Author's Note: Here you have it. The final chapter of Dark Nights. Thank you again for reading! Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
Kellie, Jason, Max, and Milo, continued to sort through the odds and ends that Charles had left behind over the next few days. Eventually, Kellie found herself alone in the entry way as she got ready to lock up the house and return home to Port Charles.
Max and Milo opened the front door and looked in.
"Johnny and Jason are getting the vehicles," Max said, "Are you ready to go?"
Kellie was lost in thought and didn't reply. Max and Milo walked slowly up to Kellie. Milo gently touched her shoulder to get her attention.
"Are you okay?" Max asked, softly.
"I don't know," Kellie said, "Coming back here was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Once I walk out this door, it feels like it'll make Charles being gone real. I know that doesn't make sense when I watched him… But this feels like I'm saying goodbye and I'm not ready for that. What I want is to walk into the next room and find him, rattling around in this house. This house that was always felt way too big for him and Tyler."
"As long as Charles had a place to sleep, work, and eat, I never got the impression he cared much about his accomodations," Max said, "Aside from having space for the kids to come over in California, all of his places there and in Port Charles were sparse. The Quartermaine Mansion had to be a serious change of pace for him."
"Tyler was a lot of the same," Milo said, "Aside from having housekeepers, you were the only reason they weren't complete bachelors."
"What are you talking about?" Kellie asked.
"We had to clean up your penthouse," Max said, "Do you know how much garbage we had to take out and cleaning we had to do after Tyler lived there for months on his own after you left him and tried to divorce him before he finally went after you?"
"What happened to the housekeeper?" Kellie asked.
"Pretty sure he fired her or she quit," Milo said, "But yeah, I think Tyler just rattled around in whatever place he lived in like his father when left on his own."
"Seriously," Kellie said, "He helped out around our house and I saw the apartment he lived in here back when he still thought I was dead. It was decently clean."
"Hadn't his fiancée or girlfriend just moved out and left him before you showed back up in his life," Max asked.
"Not to mention we heard from Roy, Lorenzo, and Jason that Tyler was a jerk to when you first came back into his life even though he didn't know who you were," Milo said, "It took Ric telling him that you'd been assaulted in the past to get him to stop being an entitled rich boy with you."
"And Ric still told Jason to deal with him if he couldn't get his act together," Max said, "Jason already wasn't happy with him following you on his own to where you met up with Jason and Roy here in Miami and then coming here to Port Charles when Roy told him to take time off."
"Wait, what?" Kellie asked, "You realize Tyler just couldn't put two and two together that I was his dead fiancée and I didn't correct him. He knew I looked like her, not that I was her. I was not exactly warm and friendly."
"Still no excuse for having that behavior towards anyone," Milo said, "In all honesty, we all initially thought Tyler would figure out whatever he needed to figure out about you being alive and move on because he couldn't handle our lives."
"Sure, he worked for Roy as a lawyer," Max said, "But honestly I don't know how long he would have lasted. Never seemed like his thing."
"Not to mention, Tyler passed out when Jason shot whoever Luis sent after the two of you," Milo said, "We couldn't figure out what you saw in him at first."
"Why are we even talking about this?" Kellie replied, "Tyler was different than me, way different. He could always make me see the good in the world and so much was possible. That's some of what I loved about him."
"We are doing a really poor job of trying to make a point," Max said, "We know you seem to think that you somehow took away from the fullness of Tyler and Charles's lives because of risks the business brings. But the truth is you made both their lives better, made them better people."
"It's like you said, they probably just rattled around this place," Milo said, "You made wherever you all were home. You made Tyler want to be more than just a rich kid lawyer, following in his family's footsteps. I don't know to describe it, but Tyler was more who he was meant to be because of you and not stuck in the upper class family tradition."
"I will give you I probably made things more interesting," Kellie said, "I slapped Tyler's mother and threatened to have my father that I supposedly didn't know the identity of destroy her social status at the funeral for Charles's mom. Not exactly what anyone would…"
"Deep down, though Charles would never admit it to you," Max said, interrupting her, "Secretly part of him cheered you on and was proud of you for that."
"Mainly because Chantelle was annoying and conniving, but vapid version of her mother, Helena Cassadine," Milo said.
"And watching you give Chantelle what she had coming to her was almost as good as being able to do it himself," Max said, "But he couldn't as it just wasn't done or proper as he put it."
"I don't believe Charles would ever admit that to anyone," Kellie said.
"We might have intentionally got him drunk," Milo said, "Uncle Charles was always so strait-laced for most part. After we found out he was our uncle, we went to see if he was okay since that secret came out not that long after Tyler died and the whole idea of you marrying Jason for protection was part of it."
"It wasn't that hard to encourage an extra drink or two and see if he let loose," Max said, "We had a lot of great conversations that night and that was one of them."
"Yet I ended up more hungover than Uncle Charles," Milo said, trying to placate Kellie's annoyed glare to no success.
Kellie shoved both Max and Milo hard enough to throw them slightly off balance.
"If Charles were still alive, I'd tell you never to do that to him again," Kellie said, "He probably would have answered anything you wanted to ask without the alcohol and you wouldn't have been as hung over."
"Right," Max said. Milo nodded. They were sheepish, but not really apologetic.
"But you did make Charles's life better too," Milo said, "When you created Crossing Into Dawn, you gave Charles the resources to help foster kids and other kids that needed help on a bigger scale than he could taking cases pro bono as a lawyer. He loved doing that."
"After Tyler passed away, he needed you and the kids just as much you needed him," Max said, "He would have been alone otherwise."
"We know Charles would have kept the secret about our Grandpa being his biological father forever," Milo said, "He only told it for yours and the kid's sake."
"Or maybe he would have decided to seek out your family on his own," Kellie said, "We know your dad knew somehow Charles was his brother. He might have reached out still."
"Maybe," Max said.
"It still wouldn't have been the same," Milo said.
Neither Kellie, Max, or Milo said anything for several moments.
"Now if I stay here any longer," Kellie said, "I feel like we'll just be rattling around in this house."
"Only if you're ready," Max said, "We'll wait as long you need to."
"I'm not ready," Kellie said, looking around the house, "But I can't put it off either."
Max nodded and walked towards the front door, ahead of Kellie and Milo.
"Do you have any idea what you plan to do with the house?" Milo asked as they walked towards the door.
"Not a clue," Kellie said, "I was pretty surprised Charles left me the house. I figured it would just be sold or part of the kids trusts."
"I keep thinking it would make a great safe house," Milo said, "It would need some work and some updates. Not that you have to do that."
"The thought's crossed my mind too," Kellie said, "The truth is I'll need a back-up to the island especially since my enemies have gotten to me twice now there."
"The boys and Alyssa would have a place to spend time where their dad grew up," Max said, opening the door.
"Yeah," Kellie said, pausing and taking a breath before she walked out the door.
Milo and Max followed Kellie outside.
Max was about to close the door when Kellie stepped beside him.
"Wait," Kellie said, "I need to be the one to close the door."
Max nodded. He and Milo stepped back. Meanwhile, Jason was walking towards them as Kellie slowly shut the door.
Kellie pulled the house key out of her pocket and locked the door. She put the keys back in her pocket. Max and Milo began to walk to the car as Kellie turned around to see Jason standing behind her.
Jason stepped toward her and gently grabbed Kellie's hand. He wiped away a few stray tears that had trickled down her cheek with his other hand.
"I miss them," Kellie said, "Both Charles and Tyler."
"I know" Jason said, "You're always going to."
Kellie looked back at house for a moment. Then she gripped Jason's hand a little tighter.
"I think I'm ready to go now," Kellie said, "At least as ready as I can be."
Jason pulled Kellie close to his side as they walked down the pathway away from the house to the vehicles where Max, Milo, and Johnny were waiting to take them back to Port Charles.
"You leave home, you move on
And you do the best you can
I got lost in this whole world
And forgot who I am
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here, it's like I'm someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around, I swear I'll leave
Won't take nothin' but a memory
From the house that built me"
~ The House That Built Me, Miranda Lambert~