Get It Together
Aislynn died and Chase fell apart. August fell apart, too. Vivian came to remind her cousin that he still had other kids to take care of.
A Chase/Viv drabble for @ofviolentdeath
When it became apparent that Chase wouldn’t be shooting his fiance any time soon, Vivian started dropping by more regularly. Not often. She still had her own life and her own friends and her own shit to handle. But they’d been close once. They’d grown up together. She’d babysat him before she’d really been old enough to babysit, more siblings than cousins despite what lineage might claim. Their relationship had fractured when she’d left the life, but it hadn’t been damaged beyond repair.
He let the shifter live, so she let him back into her life. He visited her once or twice, though she refused to let him anywhere near her home, and she dropped by for his birthday and Christmas.
She dropped by more when Aislynn came into the picture. The girl wasn’t her niece, because Chase wasn’t her brother, but she might as well have been. And when Hawk came along, he might as well have been her nephew. They were good, sweet kids. Hawk was jumpy, but she knew what that was like. So did Chase.
He loved the kids. She could see that.
She could see that he was devastated when they lost one. It broke August. It broke Chase, too. She babysat for the first few days to give one of them time to pull together. Hawk didn’t need a sitter, not really. But he needed a functioning adult because he was grieving too. She remembered what her dad had been like when her mom had died. She tried to be a more stable influence than that for Hawk and Milay.
She wasn’t sure Milay would even remember Aislynn when she got older and that thought broke her heart.
She doubted Hawk could ever forget her and that hurt too.
Chase needed help to pick himself up again and even then it was on unsteady feet. He’d had too much to drink. She sobered him up, reminded him he had kids to take care of, that they needed at least one functioning parent. Hawk had taken Milay to the park. They were alone.
“I can’t do it without August,” he told her.
“Then do it with him.” It wasn’t exactly rocket science.
“He’s not…”
“He needs your support too. Neither one of you can do this alone.” It still wouldn’t be easy. It would be messy and complicated, but if they pulled together, they could manage to raise the other two without messing them up too much more. “Are you ever going to tell him you love him?”
“What?” His attention snapped to her, remarkably focused given that he was still at least a little drunk.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. The only one who doesn’t seem to know is August,” she answered flatly. It had been obvious to her for years. It was… different than the last time she’d seen Chase in love. But it was still there in the small ways. Aislynn had known, she was sure of it.
“I…” he faltered and fell silent, which wasn’t an admission but it wasn’t a denial either.
“When did you realize it? I noticed it during Aislynn’s first Christmas.” It wasn’t fair for her to expect August to see it. She’d had decades of practice reading Chase’s emotions and even she’d had doubts at first.
He was quiet for a long moment before he said, “The day he brought her home. I… tried to ignore it, but… it was there. I tried to get him to take her somewhere else, wanted to protect her as much as possible immediately. God, I was so angry at him for bringing her to us but I also knew I’d die to protect both of them when I saw him with her.”
“I’m not the person who needs to hear this,” she answered. It was nice to hear him say it, to know that he wasn’t oblivious to his own feelings. But this was a story that would do August more good than her.
“I don’t think he’d believe me even if I tried to tell him.”
“He’d know if you were lying,” she pointed out. “You don’t have to tell him, but you’ve gotta do something. I can’t take the kids-- my place is too much trouble-- but I can take them to Maddy if you need. I mean, that’s still trouble, so pick your battles, I guess.”
He sighed. “I… I think it’ll be fine just… can you give me two more days? I’m still--”
“I know. But just remember the longer you’re like this, the more likely Hawk and Milay are to remember it. Don’t turn into my dad, dude. You’re heading in that direction.”
“God, if I can help it, I won’t turn into any of our relatives,” he muttered, more to himself than to her, but she certainly echoed the sentiments.
“Sort out your shit with August. You’ve got me for a few more days.”
“Thanks, Viv.”
“That’s what family’s for.”