Who→ Estevan & Stella
When→ Early-Mid 2016
Words→ 1,007
What→ **Reposted from here, polished up with some minor editing** One of many mornings in Stella's attempt to work through the grieving process while navigating as a single first time parent
Prompt→ no. 17 - It Hurt to See You Cry
Nobody paid much attention to Estevan after a while. He was able to go about his business in peace unless he had a smart remark or had to comment on something one of his friends did. He wasn’t the youngest of his group of friends but he seemed to be the least mature (nobody was more mature than Hazel; she was wise beyond her years and kept everything bottled up). But it didn’t mean that he wasn’t caught off guard anytime he heard the familiar sniffs of crying that came from one of his friends. The first time he caught any of them crying he approached it immediately. That’s what he learned to do with the women in his family and with his friends it shouldn’t have been any different. Didn’t women like comfort when they were upset? Unfortunately for Estevan, none of his friends were like the women in his family.
Stella immediately denied she was upset about anything, even as she wiped the tracks that ran down her cheeks. He would find out later that she had been worried about her significant other—a man he had only heard about but never met—and shortly after he discovered her crying, she had received a phone call, and all was well. He decided to let Finnegan handle her anytime she cried.
Estevan had caught Stella crying several more times throughout their friendship, silently watching as she sought comfort with one of the girls or Finnegan, never him. It never bothered him though, he figured she saw him as more of an annoying little brother than a friend. He would have liked it if she opened up to him once in a while, beyond little tidbits he caught when the group would come together. He still never understood how he always managed to catch her somewhere in the middle of letting her tears fall, but it never failed that he immediately turned to find someone else to comfort her since she refused him any other time.
What he didn’t expect was for her to show up on his doorstep, eyes red and puffy from the fact that she had been crying. He was confused and looked behind her to see if there had been anybody else behind her or any reason for her to be crying. Estevan didn’t get a chance to get any words out before Stella stammered an apology; the thickness in her voice was enough to give him the idea that she didn’t choose to come to him by accident. Gingerly, he wrapped Stella into the same comforting hug that he had seen her get pulled into over the past year or so. He rubbed her back in small circles standing in his doorway, watching the crown of her head as she fell apart where they stood. He wasn’t going to ask why she had come or what had happened, figuring that it would come out sooner or later like it always did whenever she was upset.
After a few more minutes of acting as a human snot rag, Estevan managed to usher Stella into the front room and park her on his couch. She sniffled and grabbed the roll of toilet paper he had to offer to blow her nose, slowly starting to calm herself down. Stella apologized again, wiping at her eyes as she stared at the wet patch on Este’s shirt, hands folded into her lap as she took a couple of steadying breaths.
“You okay, Stella?” he asked, continuing to study her. Stella hadn’t been as put together in a long time and anytime he saw her in recent days, she wasn’t the bubbly personality she had put on for the television cameras. It hurt him to see one of his friends upset, knowing deep down that there was nothing he could do for them but sit there and let them get it all out. Stella sniffled in response, the words ‘I’m fine’ coming from her even though she was not fine or anywhere near being okay. “I mean, you don’t have to talk or anything but if you’re crying like this something’s upsetting you.” It didn’t take a genius to figure that out and he was half expecting Stella to tell him so.
“Sorry,” she spoke finally after silence had fallen over them. “I’m just..stressed. With work, handling Scott's problems…” Stella trailed off, wringing her hands as she gathered her thoughts. “I’ll be fine. I just needed to get it out and you were the closest place.” Este wondered how much of that was true, feeling that even if Stella was in the neighborhood, she would have run to Finnegan or, at the very least, Logan or Haze,l but not him.
“No it’s fine, you can come over any time you need a shoulder to cry on. I’m as useful as the others, you know,” he replied, reaching to muss her hair. “I mean, I’d rather not see you cry, it’s like watching my ma cry. I don’t like to see it but if you gotta get it out, get it out. I’m not going to stop you.” Stella laughed and fixed him with a watery smile, leaning forward to pat Este on the cheek.
“Thank you, I’ll try not to cry so much around you.” Stella sat for another moment before she stood up with a small groan. “I have to get back to work. Really though, thank you for letting me cry on you. I needed it.”
“Anytime, Space Cadet. I’m happy to be of service.” She pulled Estevan into a hug, squeezing him tightly for a moment before pulling back.
“Anytime, Stells. I’m happy to be of service.”
“By the way, we’re proud of you for finally getting to graduating. Even if none of us have said anything to you about it, just know that we’re proud of you.” She told him. “So maybe the next time I cry in front of you might be your graduation.”
who→ Estevan, Stella
when→ The first Nerdsgiving after Scott comes back, so like Rigel is two? Or close to it.
what→ Estevan takes a drunken Stella and Rigel home, only to discover the truth about the one man in Stella’s life he never met.
words→ 1,481
@infinitelonging @pretendsweetly, for your reading pleasure
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Estevan couldn't help but let out the laugh at the picture in his car. Here he was, playing designated driver for his friends when he was the one that hosted Nerdsgiving. Stella was hunched slightly in the backseat next to Rigel's car seat, half asleep and whispering something to her son, who, for what he could only assume, was taking in every drunken word. Este chose to mind his own business, not wanting to interrupt the tender moment between mother and son.
"I can carry him, can you bring the car seat up?" Stella's voice broke the silence as she reached forward to hand him her house keys.
"We're not even home yet, Stella. And to err on the side of caution you're probably not in the best of shape to carry your child upstairs." He could almost see the frown that had appeared on her face at his gentle reasoning. He had a feeling while Stella was most likely stable enough to get herself up the stairs, he would be hanging onto her with one hand while clutching the car seat carrying Rigel in the other.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve had to carry Rigel up with groceries or Rigel and Tycho or come down with the garbage - that’s the nightmare right there.” Stella settled back against the seat, her attention back onto the child who had seemed to fall fast asleep at the lack of attention.
“You were also dead-ass sober, so don’t think I’m going to let you carry Rigel up the stairs. It’s my duty as his favorite Uncle.” It was a bold assumption, but if things were going the way Estevan was assuming, Rigel was only going to have the one uncle in Estevan and Finnegan would become his father figure. Hell, the way Finnegan looked at the kid was enough for anybody to assume that Rigel belonged to him and not to Stella’s husband, who had somehow risen from the dead, but even then Este didn’t ask too many questions and refused to believe it until he saw it. “And you can’t tell me I won’t be his favorite uncle, I see the way he plays with me.” It was nothing compared to the way Este played with Noah, but then again, Hazel’s son was older than Rigel and therefore could play a little bit rougher - not that he would try. There was no way he was going to incur the wrath of Hazel if something ended up happening in their roughhousing.
Stella didn’t protest, a quick glance told him that Stella had dozed off and the rest of their conversation had fallen on deaf ears. It left him to his thoughts and what exactly his role would be with each of his friends as they expanded their own families. The girls all had their own roles thrust upon them upon the conception of their children and it fell easily off of their tongues if one of them was referred to as an aunt when pressed. Finnegan had become Rigel’s father in a sense and as many times as he had been called Hot Dad by Stella before, Este knew that those words had a lot more weight on them now as he stepped up cautiously to the plate to help her. He himself could fall into the Uncle role, although his connection with Logan and her baby were on a completely different level and he wondered, even lamented to his mother some nights, that if he were to be called ‘dada’ if he’d be able to handle it or if Logan would correct that immediately. Then again, he and Logan were about as platonic as they could get and it killed him every single time he overthought a secret smile or touch. Logan didn’t see him as nothing more than a friend and if anything, he was probably the annoying little brother type and all he knew was that she already had a sister, she didn’t need a brother.
“Just park in front of the dumpster, it’s not like you’re staying the night.” came Stella’s muffled words as she stirred from her sleep upon feeling the chill from the night air as Estevan punched in the gate code. “All you're doing is bringing Rigel up, nobody’s going to tow your car.” Este grunted in response, giving Stella some sort of response as she seemingly dozed back off once the car started moving again.
He parked where she suggested, turning his hazard lights on so that if anybody was coming around they could at least see the car was there and that he intended to be right back. Although, he did have an inkling that he’d be the one tucking both mother and son into their respective beds and leaving Stella with some water and an aspirin for the morning when she woke up. “C’mon, Space Cadet,” he uttered softly, coming around the other side so he could get Rigel out first and worry about Stella later, “you’re home, I got Riguy, you gonna be able to get up the stairs?” Stella’s movements were slow and clumsy as she managed to get out of the backseat and Este stayed next to her, his free hand on her elbow as he guided her up the stairs.
“Fuck my keys.” Stella pat down the pockets of her jacket and pants, not finding where she had left them, forgetting that she had all but tossed them at Este when he didn’t take them right away.
“They might still be in the car,” Estevan set Rigel down by the front door and moved Stella to where she wasn’t standing directly near the top of the stairs in case she decided to topple down them in an attempt to find the keys herself, “I’ll go get them.”
“Nononononono,” Stella’s hand smacked against the wood of the front door before she straightened up and turned her hand into a fist, knocking almost too politely for someone who looked like they were about to pound on the door. “Scott’s home, he’ll let me in.” Este opened his mouth to tell her to just wait and he’d make sure she’d have her keys as well but the apartment door opened a crack before closing again, the sounds of the chain sliding in order to open it all the way. “Baby,” Stella drawled, her voice higher than it should have been upon seeing the man at the door. “See, Este, I told you he was real.” Estevan held up a hand, admitting that Stella was right all along and that he could now tell the group chat that whomever this man was, was Stella’s zombie husband,
“Jesus, Stella, how much did you drink?” he asked, grabbing Rigel in his carseat while Estevan helped Stella inside.
“I think the most she’s had since she’s had the little sunspot.”
“Rigel is a star, Delgado. Not a sunspot, we don’t name sunspots, we name craters on the moon.” Stella hung onto Este as he eased her onto the couch, helping her settle there. “Scott, this is Estevan,” Este ignored the particular emphasis and accent she managed to put on his name at the time being, “he didn’t believe you existed and now he knows you do! Now he can stop trying to-”
“Nice to meet you.” Este cut her off, extending his hand for Scott to take, although hesitant because this guy still looked like he could break a couple of bones if he was able to infer anything more from Stella’s stupor.
“Thanks for bringing them home. I wouldn’t have been able to get them considering the circumstances…” Scott trailed off, implying that it had to do with his prosthetic limb more than anything.
“No problem, When she’s up for it, I’ll swing by tomorrow and take her to come get her car.” Rigel’s small coughs cut through the silence that fell between the two before either of them realized that there still was one more person that had to be put to bed. “I’ll...I’ll leave you to it. If you need anything, my number’s in her phone. Have a good night.” Este didn’t wait for Scott to bid him farewell or any other sort of way to thank him for making sure that his wife and son made it home safe.
Estevan made his way down the stairs and into his waiting car where Stella’s keys and her cell phone were sitting prominently on the passenger’s side seat, prime for the taking. He gathered them in his hands and glanced back up at the apartment, where he saw the living room light click off and sighed. He’d make sure that he came by bright and early to drop off the phone and keys, for now, he wanted to get back to the comfort of his own home and blow up the group chat with his discovery.
