she snuggled into her dads side , well as much as she could with one hand still surrendered to her daughter . ❝ is that the sleep depravation of now talking ? or then ? ❞ she teased , ears pricking up slightly at the mention of pictures . ❝ i think i need to get my hands on some of those , see if there’s any moments to recreate ❞ it was moments like this , just her and some of the many people she loved, that carla’s life felt perfect . ❝ i have a feeling erin’s always going to be a handful , whether its words or wails ❞
“i haven’t slept for eight hours in a row since before you were born. you’ll wake up in twenty years in a panic because you don’t know where the baby is.” sam snorted. one of his arms went around his daughter, and then the other went into his granddaughter’s stroller, gently wiggling the little girl’s foot around. “three years and nine months until you can start t-ball. your mom timed you out perfectly. right at the start of the season.” there might have been a goofy voice, but there was no joke. one of the things sam had always found time for was to help out with carla’s extra-curriculars, and sports had been in there until it had been her idea to stop.
one thing that charlie wasn’t used to walking into when he got home from work was quiet. there was always some sort of music, or activity, or show on when he came through the door. but today seem to be an exception. the first thought, of course, was that elijah wasn’t home, but they’d only texted half an hour ago, and elijah would have told him. “babe?” he called, following the light down to the end of the hallway, and entering their spare room. “what are you doing?” @impervicus
it’d been an early rise for carla on her day off . a busy day full of doing nothing was ahead of her and it was only right to start with a post breakfast walk in the park , just her and her daughter . it didn’t take her long to make her way to one of the many benches , content to just watch the world for a while . ❝ sometimes i wish she’d just stay like this forever ❞ she cooed as little baby erin clung to her finger from her pram. ❝ but then i think about everything i’d miss ❞
“i don’t even remember you being this small,” sam commented, early to this little spot, having agreed to meet his daughter as he was getting off of his night shift. “that’s... probably the sleep deprivation talking. there are pictures.” he watched his granddaughter for a minute before he turned to carla. “see, you say that, but wait until she starts walking. but it all also gets... a million times easier when she can tell you what she needs.”
when charlie had met aaron, he was lucky if they had had ten hours a week to spare each other. and charlie was self-aware enough to know that more than half of that had been his fault. but now he was settled into his career, having enough time for the people in his life. and, even years later, that still included aaron. he showed up at the university with the boxes of takeout, knowing that mondays were tight for him, and he was stuck in office hours. he plopped himself down into his seat informally. “i’m not gonna have to skedaddle if some freshman comes in here looking for extra tutoring, am i?” @heartsfm
[jake gyllenhaal, bisexual, he/him, cis man] who was that walking around manhattan? it was CHARLIE WEBER. they’re THIRTY-NINE, and originally come from SAN FRANCISCO. they’re known as THE DIVORCÉ, and they are a FAMILY DOCTOR. when i hear their name, i think of A STORY FOR EVERY SITUATION, A STACK OF WEDDING RINGS, TEN MISSED CALLS, GIVING YOUR LOVED ONES EVERYTHING. i hear they’re HARD-WORKING & ROMANTIC, but i wouldn’t mess with them, because people say they’re JUDGMENTAL & ARROGANT , too. {brenn, 25, cst, they/them}
charlie weber, for better or worse, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. the only child of a doctor and a lawyer, what his parents lacked for in time they made up for in experiences and material goods.
he was born and raised in san francisco, often with a nanny and, as he go older, more often by himself. he was a bookish kid who had problems making friends and would sometimes get stories confused with reality.
while friends didn’t come very easy to him, as he grew up, he found that romantic partners were much more willing to overlook his eccentricities, and he learned a lot about the world through them, his first real portal to it outside of his books.
charlie had a high school sweetheart, and the two couldn’t bare to part when they were going to leave for college. rather than doing the sensible thing, attending the same school, and seeing if they could make it work, they eloped so that they could spend every second together. that was 1999. before they finished undergrad in 2003, they’d be divorced. one marriage down.
charlie actually got through a semester of med school before he realized that he needed to defer, to get out there and see the world, or at least get his hands dirty and see if this was what he wanted to do. he spent eighteen months in the peace corps, where he met and married spouse #2, roughly 2004.
he followed them back to new york city, the only reason why he ever came here, readmitting to med school and going through with it. med school passes, he and spouse #2 get a divorce right around 2007 or 2008, right before he was set to graduate
2008, maybe coincidentally and maybe not, charlie weber meets who he is sure is the man of his dreams, aaron wright, while aaron is working at a bar. he offers one night to walk him back to his apartment, one thing leads to another, and they get married in 2010.
aaron and charlie stay together through his residency and the first year of him practicing fully, up through 2014. it’s an amicable divorce-- the two just don’t see enough of each other, and are at different places in their lives.
charlie is single for the longest period of his life after he and aaron divorce, nearly three years. he says that he’s going to take it slow, that three divorces is enough of a red flag even for him, and that he needs to learn about himself, and focus on his work. he’s still miserable.
that all comes to a screeching halt when charlie meets elijah. he’ll take the ridicule of a fourth marriage in twenty years. this is what it’s all been leading up to, every moment of his life has just been coming down to this. it feels ridiculous, but it’s true. and charlie does his due diligence this time. they date for years. their loves grows and changes, but stays strong. he proposes, and the two are only recently married when we launch back into the present day.
charlie is a family practice doctor. if you see him, that usually means he’s your regular doctor, and you can bring just about anyone in your household. he isn’t the frantic new doctor that he was ten years ago. he’s well-settled into his practice, making his own hours, outside of the few days of the month he has to spend working in the hospital. he takes a lot of joy in his work, and has good relationships with most of his patients.
[tyler hoechlin, bisexual, he/him, cis man] who was that walking around manhattan? it was SAM SCOTT-SIMON. they’re THIRTY-FIVE, and originally come from SUGAR HILL. they’re known as THE STEADY HAND, and they are a patient care assistant. when i hear their name, i think of PHOTOS THAT HAVE ALMOST MADE IT INTO ALBUMS, COLLAPSING INTO BED AT THE END OF THE DAY, A COMFORTING ARM AROUND YOUR SHOULDER, THE CRACK OF A BAT HITTING A BALL. i hear they’re WARM-HEARTED & ALWAYS WILLING, but i wouldn’t mess with them, because people say they’re MARTYRED & IMPULSIVE, too. {brenn, 25, cst, they/them}
sam scott-simon, born samuel simon, is an all-american boy that was raised the heart of harlem’s sugar hill neighborhood. he, his parents, and his two brothers spent his childhood in a two-bedroom walk-up. they may not have had a lot, but they had each other, and that’s one of the most important vales that sam was raised with.
sam can count on his fingers the number of times that he’s left new york city. whether it was a school trip to albany or an impromptu weekend away to atlantic city, he’s still never been far, and he definitely hasn’t been on a plane. he wouldn’t know what to do away from the sights and sounds that he’s accostomed to.
sam was a solid b- student, but was always well-liked among his peers for his generous and gregarious attitude. his real talent was in sports, specifically baseball. he made the high school’s junior varsity team when he was in eighth grade, and there were people expecting big things from him.
things changed when sam was sixteen. he learned that he was going to be a father. wanting to do the right thing, and encouraged by family, he stepped into the parent role immediately. baseball was traded out for a part-time job as he worked to finish high school and give his child the best start possible.
it’s hard out there as a parent, especially when, as well-meaning as your family is, there isn’t a lot of room for economic support. but sam wasn’t the only young person solely in charge of children at his high school. he’d only spoke to ethan scott in passing a few times, but he started to go to him when he needed advice.
this blossomed into a friendship, and the two started living together after high school, splitting the rent and working different shifts so that someone was always home to watch the kids.
sam got a job at the hospital as an orderly, which is generally the same position that he holds today. as orderly jobs have been phased out, he’s gotten the training to be a patient care assistant, and has been considering getting his cna for about five years now, though he’s yet to take the plunge.
sam never really had time to date, between fifty or sixty hour workweeks and spending time with his family. it might have been why the agreement was so appealing at first-- if sam and ethan were both still single at thirty, they would just get married. sam laughed about it at first. he liked women, for starters, and he’d never looked at ethan that way.
over years, those reasons faded away: he was, in fact, bisexual, and the longer he looked at ethan, the more he liked what he saw. he still didn’t make a move, terrified that a wrong step would blow up the family they had formed.
but thirty came, and neither of them had forgotten. long talks behind closed doors. and then everyone who knew them, even those who wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that they were dating, were surprised to learn that they were engaged. they’re married now, together and thriving even as the kids make their way into adulthood.
