 Elder Quad
"What was that?" Axel said suddenly, interrupting the small chit chat his cousins were having about Ashton. Was someone yelling from inside? He stood quickly and walked to the back door, closely followed by Chloe and Finn. He opened the door and looked in, noticing that yet another body had been added to the large crowd they were forming.
Frowning slightly, the young man looked from Nik to Emmy then back again, and quite a few times. His wife had been crying, he knew that much. Her face was not normally that red, and Nik just looked plain worried. Or was he mad as well? Ax greeted him by giving him a firm hug; a hug that was a bit tighter than normal. That should have been a dead giveaway that something was wrong.
"Oh hey Nik," Finnegan said as he walked through the back door, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Another person was here to help their situation; thank the lord. He then walked up behind Eli and whispered a few words of comfort, knowing that she was a bit tense at the moment, but weren't they all? Finally noticing that Ben's sister's were here, he gave a slight frown. Didn't one of them have a problem with Emmy? He couldn't remember.
"Nikolas, ya made it!" Chloe said happily, well, as happy as she could. She gave him a gentle one-armed hug, seeing as the other was occupied with Ashton. She then sat down at the kitchen table and began to rock the baby slowly. "Eli, ya want me to give Ash his bottle?" she asked sweetly. Yeah, Ash was going to be spoiled by his aunt Chloe, there was no doubt about that.
After releasing Nik, which obviously he had because Chloe had made her way to him, Axel too sat down at the kitchen table. Finally, he met his wife's gaze, but only for a second. His sea green eyes were sad, they were worried, and they were scared to death that she would leave him for her first husband.
His gaze then landed on Lainie, his step-daughter. Yet, she no longer felt like his anymore. Well, she hadn't of been his in the first place, but he had adopted her so that he and Emmy shared custody. Now what was to become of them? She would absolutely be happy to see her real dad, even though she probably had no idea who he was.
Feeling his cousin's pain, Finn moved from his wife to Axel and stood behind the chair he was occupying. He rubbed his shoulders, a small way of telling him everything would work out. Even though it was a long-shot, he knew that somehow they would work everything out, even if it involved Axel or not. How are they gonna break it to Benji? This has to be one of the hardest things I've eva' seen him 'ave to do. I bet he'd take those tortures instead of this righ' 'bout now.
Still rocking the sleeping baby, Chloe's honey colored eyes scanned the room and noticed that Jenny and Jodie had arrived. Now, which was the one tha' didn't get along with Ems? Oh righ', it was Jenny. Well, if she 'as a problem with Ems, does she also 'ave the same problem with Axel? This thought made her scowl. Just another problem for them to deal with when already they had so much on their plate. This was going to be interesting.
Axel nodded gratefully up to Finn then made him sit beside him at the table. This, clearly, was tearing him up inside. He couldn't stand it any longer. he had to just...shout. But he held it in. Instead, his hands shook in his lap, even more than they had before. More and more people to see him fall into a pit of shame. Wonderful. |