Something New (Afterward universe)
A/N: Everyone comes up with such creative prompts! Answering a few more this time, namely from @githarington and @iwatchforscofields. Plus, I can’t find who asked for it, but someone requested Michael feeling uncomfortable in the house Sara shared with Jacob, and if it was you, thank you because I agreed completely and wanted to address that head-on. This fic takes place after the last one I posted, during the summer Mike is eight and Henry is almost two. And I know I say this a lot, but this fic is long.
Michael had a confession to make. Some days, he truly hated this house. He hated the need to climb the stairs to the second floor anytime his kids needed him at night, he hated using an office he knew had belonged to Jacob, he hated pulling into his driveway to see the damned drain that had once harbored all his paper cranes. He hated having to note the faint rectangular outlines of slightly darker paint along the wall where framed photos of Jacob with his son had once graced it, evidence he acknowledged no one else probably noticed, and which Sara, to her credit, had taken care to cover.
He told himself it didn’t matter: he had his family back. He was here with them, a father to his sons, a husband to his wife. Not so very long ago, he’d never dared imagine they’d ever live under the same roof again, that he’d ever know his firstborn, let alone have a second child. He’d never in his wildest dreams let himself imagine such things as vacations to Mexico, sailboats, friends, a fulfilling career, any of it. What sort of person got all that back, and whined about living in a perfectly comfortable, completely adequate home his wife had happened to share with her ex?
Agreeing to live here had been an easy concession to make, in the face of the upheaval of Michael’s return. He hadn’t had to think twice about it: if making this work included staying in this house, he’d told himself, then by God, they’d stay in this house, and Michael would deal with it. And so he had. For over two and a half years. He put up with it because he knew how much it mattered to Sara that she remain rooted during the storm that had been Michael’s return and Jacob’s exit. She’d needed to plant a flag here, claim this space, show the world that she was not afraid, would not run, would not retreat.
But maybe, hadn’t her point been made?
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