This is placed just moments after the opening we see to 1x11, All Good. Too Sweet has found his way home- on her porch, and Nova has some reservations. She reaches out to a surprising source for reassurance and realizes some truths.
Nova Bordelon, Devonte Bonclair (AKA Too Sweet), Charley Bordelon, and mentions of Micah Bordelon
Thanks to @studgenius for the conversation that inspired this and to both you and @youngerdrgrey for talking me through some tough spots, This is un-beta’s so please forgive any errors I may have missed. Also posted on my [AO3]
Nova couldn’t resist peeking in one more time on Too Sweet.
She’d called Rid while Too Sweet was in the shower, and was glad he’d shown up right away with some clothes, but decided not to stay. Nova didn’t wanna overwhelm Vonte tonight. Rid would be the first to bombard him with one hundred questions about where he’d been and what he’d been up to while they were out here looking for him, and she didn’t have the patience for that no more than she for fact knew Too Sweet wouldn’t. Nova made sure he filled his belly with the leftover gumbo she and Chantal had shared just a few nights before. Thankfully, she kept herself busy making up the couch to think too much about that. Nova spent the time soon after watching him as he fitfully slept. He’d eaten so fast and was curled up next to her passed out before she could even ask him if he wanted to talk. If he needed to release anything he’d been carrying inside on these streets since he’d been gone. Nova knew it had to be plenty. Her hands rested on his back for the first fifteen minutes until he settled and his breaths finally evened; so, she worked her way off the couch and to her room.
But she was back just thirty minutes later.
She takes a moment to thank the Gods that he somehow found his way on her porch tonight. She watches the mound of blankets he’s buried himself under rise and fall for a moment before tipping on bare feet past him through the kitchen to her wash room. Who knows what one more night on the downtown streets would have done to him. It made her heart ache just to imagine. Nova can’t help but think of Micah as she pulls Too Sweets damp clothes, hoodie, and bookbag from inside the washing machine and places them inside the dryer.
The urge to see him suddenly tightens Nova’s chest and she grabs her phone from the top of the machine. Tapping the icon, her photo album fills the screen and she’s struck right away by a picture she’d forgotten she’d taken. It was during the crawfish boil. Before everything went silent and heavy hearted. She’d caught Micah and Charley in a moment. Resting she’d guessed with full bellies of home cooking Charley probably had long forgotten- or tried too, and Micah never even imagined. They were side by side at the picnic tables set up in the yard. Micah with a face was full of laughter. He was no doubt watching the old heads dance at the far end of the yard, while Charley sat leaned right into him, her arm bowed just inside his, staring off to someplace else entirely.
They’d clearly not been in a place to talk that night, but Nova couldn’t resist (she remembers now) from grabbing the moment. The sight of her nephew’s smile always struck her with a joy she couldn’t quite explain, and seeing Charley- still for once, face almost stoic but soft reminded her just in that moment that her little sister and nephew were home. Looking at it now she sees Charley the mother, barely keeping herself together, but holding just a bit tighter to her child.
Nova knows he’s not hers. Her head knows it, but her heart still pulls anyway. The chills that spread through her while spotting Too Sweet’s limp frame on her porch two hours earlier wash over her again. The text is sent before she even gives a thought to the time or the circumstance that might suggest this wasn’t the best idea.
/Nova to Charley 12:30AM/
Hey..I know it’s late but are you up? Can we talk a minute? Well text I mean..
And Nova waits. Things have calmed down to civil between them since the fight- or fights shall she say but, it’s no doubt a touchy subject. The storm aftermath and land revelations did serve to center and shake them back to seeing what- who mattered most, but the money she still didn’t feel as sorry as she probably should for taking was no longer talked about. The reasons still outweighed any other thought in her mind about it. The weight of lingering guilt and responsibility left unresolved had finally lifted just a bit from her shoulders. A new one however came creeping up her spine this evening. That child out there on her couch had her nerves on edge, and reaching out to her sister in the middle of the night.
“Small miracles.” Nova thought, just as her phone buzzed in her hands.
/Charley to Nova 12:38 AM/
Hey yeah. Are you alright?
/Nova to Charley 12:40 AM/
No..well yeah but it’s just
I found Too Sweet tonight. Or he found his way on my porch passed out sleep
I have never been more upset terrified and thankful all at once to see him like that but I
His mama is M. I. A Charley
Nova can only imagine what Charley must be thinking or planning to say next. Something smart assed no doubt because that’s just how they’ve been about all this- right? Nova glances down at her phone. No typing happening yet. Sighing heavily, Nova heads out from the back. The hum from the dryer provides no comfort. The gentle snore from her couch as she passes stills her feet for just a moment more at the threshold of her room. The buzz of her phone almost startles this time. Nova tightens her grip and heads toward her bed. Her blankets would provide her some comfort, if nothing else.
/Charley to Nova 12:50 AM/
You remember what daddy used to say to us when Ra would get in trouble right before he’d take him in the back room? A hard head make, a soft behind! I couldn’t help but think of that when I first read this.
But I remembered it was always me and you right outside that door. He’d come out eyes all full of tears and lip stuck out and we’d take him to the spot and love him up. He’d try and fight us off at first to save face but he couldn’t resist but so long
Do that. You can do that.
You’ve been doing it already.
Nova didn’t know what to say. This was not the Charley response she expected. She was ready for a fight. A reason to roll her eyes, or smack her teeth, and regret she let her feelings get the best of her to even text her sister like this.
But Ernest had found his way back to them. A spirit that sat with both sisters during this night. Made Nova miss him more at the thought. He’d loved Too Sweet. Just like he loved Ra, Blue, and Micah. At that, Nova did what she’d often do- deflect.
/Nova to Charley 12:53 AM/
How’s Micah?
A question for beyond this moment. Nova hoped Charley felt it.
/Charley to Nova 12:55 AM/
Better. Adjusting finally. I’m glad he’s found some friends. Even if I think she might be becoming more than that. He’s smiling again so it’s something. A relief.
Nova smiles herself at that, and scoots a little deeper under her covers. She was proud of her nephew for getting through all this. Even prouder of her sister, though she never really told her so, Nova was.
/Nova to Charley 12:58 AM/
Hope you start doing so too, sister. See you in the morning. And thanks.
/Charley to Nova 1:00AM/
Welcome N. Goodnight.
The fight Charley put up for Micah and herself was never ending and unapologetic. Nova knew that feeling. It was just like her own. For her community in the Ninth and for Too Sweet. She knew she could do this for him. She had made a promise and Nova intended to keep it.
