Time warp: Returning home (open)

[Craven Grimley]

[January 2022]

Some places stay in your memories for so very very long that when you had to return. In the year 2014, Craven Dilan Grimley Graduated from Hammel with his friends and those he considered as family beside him. Craven then moved on to do his degree in law, as per wishes of his beloved father. Against his father's wishes, Craven married his best childhood friend and high school sweetheart, Gia Elliot and she too joined the ranks of Grimleys.

A year after their wedding a little baby girl was born to them. They called her Dylan Diana Grimley. The three years after Dylan's birth had been spent in bliss and happiness until Diane took a turn for the worst. The more time Gia began spending with her mother, the less time she had with Dyl and Craven and soon their marriage began falling apart. Divorce preceedings were to follow through shortly after Feb but right now... these morbid thoughts could wait.

Craven had Dylan and they were spending some time together today. He'd decided to bring his beautiful daughter to the place he'd once upon a time called home. She of course, had her tiny dog with her, though Pip seemed more like a rat on a leash to him then an actual dog. He agreed it suited his princess. She seemed just as delicate as the dog right then.

Craven sat on a park bench watching them play across the green grass. He was glad that Dylan had Gia as a mother. Despite how spoilt she was, she wasn't a brat. She did have her odd days of tantrums but it seemed that she was generally a sweet sweet girl. Craven slowly lowered his head and let his eyes fall closed. The tight business suite, a lawyer's armour, was a tad constricting but he was rarely seen these days without it.

His eyes snapped open the moment he felt a sense of nostalgia surface. Blue eyes flicked to the crow circling above him. Jet was growing old now but she didn't have a bad memory at all. She'd recognized someone and Craven was desprately searching for the familiar face.

[Rhett Goddard]

"The one and only, Craven Grimley." Rhett smiled slightly behind his sunglasses as he took a seat next to Craven.

He sported a sparkling clean long white coat that almost completely covered pale yellow cardigans and light khaki pants. His clothing style surely had matured with the years, but it sure was just the same. The same went for his hair, which although looked unkempt, under closer examination was clearly and carefully taken care of. He was also taller, yes, but much of his physical attributes weren't that different from the year he graduated, which is when the many gym sessions finally started to pay off with detailed abs and rather strong arms. All in all, he was not unrecognizable at all, specially if you could notice his gray eyes behind his sunglasses. Rhett knew, however, that he didn't need to take them off for the crowboy to recognize him. After all, if he failed, Jet would surely help him right away.

"How long has it been?" Questions were useless, but it didn't mean Rhett wouldn't use them. It was all an act. "Nine years?"

Craven was just one of the many people Rhett did not kept contact with after graduating Hammel. In all honesty, there were only two other students he kept contact with. Funny thing, they were both redheads and neither was completely aware that Rhett maintained contact with the other. It was tricky, but Rhett was good. He had always been good keeping secrets, even if, and this is another funny thing, his job was to sell them.

"I heard you became a lawyer, congratulations on that." Let the games begin.

[Craven Grimley]

Craven nearly jumped at the familiar sound of a voice that had grown.. deeper as the years had gone by. Craven still saw Rhett. The subtle maturity was there and yet... it was still Rhett. Craven let out a shrugged laugh when he saw the blonde sitting beside him and he smiled at the blonde. Wow. Nine years? Nine years? That's an awefully long time. Nine years. It felt longer... probably because of Dylan and Diane. His eyes glanced over to his little girl making sure she was okay but she was keeping herself busy by plucking flowers from the garden and attempting to string them into a crown like her uncle Gabriel had showed her.

Her stubby fingers couldn't get the hand of it and Pip found it more amusing to pull flowers from the crown then chasing butterflies. It was an unnaturally warm day. The snow had left early this year and had also become early. The world was changing. It was definitely noticible. To those who watched and paid attention. His attention returned to Rhett. He could hardly believe what he saw though he imagined Rhett was still his shady self. Craven relaxed, waited till he could pick up any expected sarcasm from the other main then sighed.

"I became much more then a lawyer but thanks. Appreciated and you are? Let me guess. A relic hunter? A pawn brooker? A private detective? How do you show up when I least expect you. You've always done that..."
He so badly wanted to hug Rhett but he reminded himself that he was an mature adult now and mature adults don't hug each other unless they happen to be best friends like he and Adrianna...

Urgh... Adrianna was an entirely diffrent topic of conversation which he really did not want to go into. Craven leaned forward to peek past Rhett then raised an eyebrow at him.
"No way. You're still a loner? You don't have a wife or husband? Odion? I have so many questions. I'm sorry. I guess it comes with the territory."
Craven shrugged a little, bouncing inside at the idea of playing catch up with someone he'd always admired at school.

The one friend he didn't have a crush on and who didn't have a crush on him. Someone that gave him confidence and advice each time they had been together and who most importantly, forgave the mishaps that happened around them.
"Did you wanna have coffee or lunch? It will be good to catch up. We haven't eaten yet so we're kinda hungry as well. "

[Rhett Goddard]

"Hmm." Rhett sighed lightly at Craven's first bunch of question. "Yeah, something like that."

He couldn't really go ahead and answer that in complete honesty. At least not yet. Craven had been close, though. Private detective was not that far from the truth, but spy was probably more accurate, even if Rhett didn't actually liked the word. No, he was no international spy for the government, of course not. He was hired by a selective group of people who didn't reference them to just anyone they didn't trust enough.

"No, not really." Taking his glasses off with one hand, he showed his other hand to the brunette, showing off a silver ring in his fourth finger. "Married." He said rather slowly while looking at Craven, now finally eye to eye. "Not Odion though, but we're still good friends."

They lasted through high-school, but after that, one thing after the other started to happen and they both decided to finish it. It had been a mature decision that they both regretted for some months, but time was kind enough to let them get over it as the years passed.

"You did stay with Gia, right? Is that your daughter?" Rhett looked at the little girl playing in the park. Again, the question's objective had nothing to do with listening to it's answer, the blonde already knew it, it was about keeping the conversation up, something Craven was actually facilitating. "Lunch sounds fantastic, then." He nodded and stood up, beckoning Craven to follow him. He took his keys from his pockets and pressed the alarm button, making a white Ferrari California beep twice and start its engine. He opened the door and arranged the seat so Craven's girl, and pup, could seat in the bag. "Come'on, I know a great restaurant."

[Craven Grimley]

Craven smirked when he heard the lack of commitment to the question that Craven had asked Rhett about his job and such, deciding not to push it. It was Rhett's business and Rhett's choice to fess up or not so Craven wouldn't push it. Craven simply nodded and darted his eyes back to Dylan, making sure his little girl was safe and okay. Rhett pulled of his glasses and then showed the silver band making Craven gasp. The Crow meta quickly snatched Rhett's hand and twisted the hand from side to side to watch the ring glisten in the wintery sun.

"Well. well..."
Craven was a little disappointed at the fact that Rhett had married. Not the fact that he was married but rather the fact that it was Odion. He could think of no one else untill Rhett mentioned it wasn't Odion. Craven visably slumped without realizing it then frowned and straightened up again.

"I'm sorry. Odion just... didn't seem... well... good enough for you Rhett. He was quite the moody sort wasn't he?"
Craven said trying to not sound like a bastard while he commented on Rhett's highschool sweetheart. Craven let go of Rhett's hand and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I stayed with Gia..."
Craven's voice held regret in it.

Ever since he'd been advised to divorce Gia by both Cooper and Tanner because she was never home to look after Dylan or otherwise she always had Dylan at Diane's bedside, Craven had been feeling guilty about it. Like he was ... selfish. It was hellishly selfish. Her mom was dying and he was acting like a spoiled brat seeking attention. Then again with his father shoving him into divorce lawyer's offices and making arrangements to see advisors Craven didn't have much say. He was still the Grimley door mat.

Somethings never changed. His eyes flicked to Dylan and he smirked.
"What gave it away..."
Craven teased lightly. Just like that Rhett was on his feet and Craven quickly got up to follow motioning for Jet to get Dylan. The black swooped down on the girl and whizzed around her before flying past Craven and right into the back of Rhett's car. Craven winced at the Crow's actions and sighed softly at Rhett.

"She's okay in there? She's old now... she can't fly far anymore. "
Dylan ran up to Craven and took his hand tugging at it so he dropped to a crouch beside her.
"Daddy. I made you a pressent."
And she popped the crown on his head before eyeing Rhett with curious eyes.
"Thank you Dyl. This is my friend, Rhett. We're going to have lunch with him. Wanna get in? "

Dylan eyed the car then Rhett before scooping up her puppy and getting into the back seat. Craven leaned in and told her to put her safety belt on before he pushed the seat back.
"Nice Ride. At least you and Mrs Goddard can afford luxury right?"
Craven slid into the passengers seat and glanced back at his sapphire blue Jaguar parked just down the road and whispered a 'sorry' to it before putting on his own safety belt.

[Rhett Goddard]

"You have it backwards." Rhett said initially, remembering a bit about the high-school times. Odion was most definitely too good for Rhett. "He was just jealous of you. Hard to blame him, though, you had half the school behind you." He stopped for a moment. "And with good reason."

Even if Rhett didn't actually agree with Craven, it was nice to find someone who supported the decision of them not being together anymore. Somehow, it seemed that pretty much everyone else sort of thought of them too as a perfect couple. And they were, but that was one of the reasons it couldn't last forever. They were living together, they knew each other from head to toe, they were perfectly comfortable with each other, they were settled. It was too pristine and harmonious, which probably silently bothered the both of them for some time. This was also why Rhett entered his line of work. He needed action, danger, something different and exotic. Odion's solution to the problem was unfortunately more drastic.

"And how's that going?" Rhett asked about Gia when he mentioned her. This was another pro-conversation questions as well. Rhett knew they were divorced and the situation was very bad between the two. "Really?" Rhett asked, hoping it was sarcasm what came from Craven's mouth. "Aside from the fact that you haven't let her out of his sight for one second, you know knowing is my specialty."

Rhett shrugged as Jet got herself in the car. He never quite learned to feel comfortable around the bird, but at least she was not antagonizing him this time. He could barely remember another occasion in which this had happened. He couldn't help but laugh a little with a faint smile as Craven's daughter brought him the flowery crown. He then smiled at the little girl as they were introduced by Craven.

"Nice to meet you, Dylan." Rhett graciously smiled at Craven's girl before they all got themselves in the car. "It's mister, Craven." The car's engine started making almost no sound. "Did you think that after six years of being with Odion I would end up marrying a woman?" Almost immediately, they were on the road. "But yeah, work is good. Really good."

He didn't imagine he would end up getting married, even less with someone different than Odion. At least Rhett didn't love him and he will probably never will. The marriage had been something closer to a business agreement than anything else.

"We're here." Rhett said as he stopped the car in front of rather old building in the outskirts of Downtown, right were the residential zone started. He helped Dylan get out of the car and beeped the car's alarm when everyone was off after taking some shopping bags from the trunk. "There's no better place to eat in all Pilot Ridge, I assure."

Rhett used a set of keys to open the building's front door and led the party towards the elevator. He pushed top floor. Soon they were there and the blonde opened one of the doors in the hall. In case Craven hadn't recognize it at first, it was Rhett's old loft with he shared with Odion for quite a long time. Its decoration, however, had improved much more than just the mattress in the floor and some plastic chairs for dining room. He hadn't changed a thing in it since the day they both moved out. He hadn't come back ever since either, though.

"Make yourself at home." He invited everyone in and placed the shopping bags in a counter, opening them one by one to re-check what was inside. "Let's see, Italian, French or Arab?" He had taken cooking as a hobby a few years back. He wasn't probably the best one, but he could show off some quite good dishes. "If I were you I'd choose French. We're delightful you know."

[Craven Grimley]

Craven frowned and lifted surprised blue eyes at Rhett when he mentioned Odion being jealous. Of him? Really? He'd never thought that anyone was jealous of him. Craven tried very much, and very often, to simply fade into the back ground. He'd had friends around him that were more then happy to steal the spot light so he could fall back into the lime light, his place of choice, like Robbie, Thyme and of course, his beloved Adrianna and her many admirers. Once upon a time, he'd been one of those admirers.

She was beautiful. The kind of graceful beauty that shouldn't be had by a girl like her. Craven found it surprising that Rhett thought so many of the school were behind him. He was no leader. He might have barely grown into his own skin lately but that was only because he was influenced by leaders, like his father and Tanner. Craven shook his head dismissively but decided not to argue and then a soft blush grew on his cheeks. The kind that was normally brought on by compliments.

At least he thought those words that had been spoken by the French Blonde were complimentry. Craven smiled softly at Rhett, appreciatively he hoped. Craven didn't feel like making this particular piece of conversation when the blonde asked about Gia. Craven knew he didn't need to say anything. Craven knew that Rhett knew. Always so knowing and often the dark head would pretend that Rhett was just an ordinary person who didn't know much and needed to be told everything.

That was why they were friends. They more or less understood one another. Rhett mentioned the fact that he was hawk eyeing his little girl and Craven gave a soft laugh.
"Naturally. She's the reason I live and breath."
Craven smiled from his little Dylan to Rhett beside him. It was nice to have someone to talk to. It felt like he truely was home but everything was diffrent. Everything had changed. Rhett was a completely diffrent person.

As Jet nestled herself on the seat, Craven knew Rhett wasn't too fond of the idea but Craven seemed to have a way with Rhett. They'd been through some... challenging times together, himself and Rhett. From the very first encounter. How strange to find the blonde with him now. How life took such funny turns. His daughter muttered the same thing back to Rhett reapeating his words back to him in a shy, almost withdrawn way when she'd gotten into the car. The beautiful car whispered when it started up.

It was the sort of car he imagined Tanner would go out and buy, the moment he took it for a spin. For Craven being a father and an animal lover, family cars were much more important then sporty ones though he had to admit, he'd have loved to own one of these. Dylan started to hum to herself in the back seat and Craven slowly took down the flower crown as Rhett mentioned being married to a man and work being good.

"Anyone I know? It's not fair that I have to do all the asking because I'm curious and not just attempting to pretend to have a normal conversation like you do. "
Craven picked at the flowers, weaving and fixing his daughters handy work as they made their way through town. In no time at all they'd arrived at their destination and Craven's eyes searched the area feeling uncertain about the old building already. He raised a curious eyebrow at Rhett before getting out of the car.

Leaning in, he fixed a lead on the hand bag dog and scooped his daughter into his arms making the dog walk. Jet flew from the car and landed on Craven's shoulder to examine the building with Craven.
"Here?"
Craven didn't want to be here. He had visions of bumping into Odion here. Dylan was humming again, a song he sung to her often when she was scared of something.

Craven smiled and met her eyes as they followed Rhett into the elevator then leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"Can I tell you a secret? I love you."
Dylan rubbed at her eye and kissed his cheek before flopping her head on his shoulder. The elevator let then on the floor where the loft was and Craven entered the loft glancing around it. Once they were inside Craven lowered Dylan to the ground who shot off with the rat on a leash to the first window she could find.

Jet remained faithfully on his shoulder as Rhett told him what was on offer. A soft smile twisted Craven's lips up.
"French it is then and I'll take your word for it. Never really had French... I mean the food yes..."
Craven dropped his head and rubbed the back of his head. He still had that habbit of messing up.

"Moving along swiftly. Let me help you."
He raised his hand so Jet could hop onto it and gently set the old bird on the counter, shrugging out of his coat and then his jacket.
"Daddy, it smells like Granma's room in here. "
Craven shot his eyes to his little girl and smiled then shook his head at Rhett.

"Pretend you didn't hear that either?"
Craven asked softly sliding his coat and jacket over the back of a chair.

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett could understand what Craven met about his daughter being the reason he breathes and lives. He could understand it ever since he owned his dog, Trouble. That necessity of having them near and that necessity of being there for them. It was strong and partly amazing. But Rhett could understand it even better now, and he didn't have a dog anymore.

"Yes," He said initially, letting out a soft sigh while his mind wandered a bit. "mine's around that age too. A year younger, actually." Knowing exactly that Craven was going to be rather shocked about that, Rhett went on and answered the questions he probably was going to ask. After all, Craven had apparently given him permission to allow themselves to skip parts of their conversation anyway. "Odion got full custody when we divorced. I only get every other weekend." It was hard, but there was really little to nothing he could do about it. "Work keeps me busy anyway."

It was indeed unfair that Rhett had several conversational advantages over Craven, but how was that Rhett's fault? If anything, Rhett considered himself the victim. Being able to willingly pick into several amounts of information about someone else was not fun all the time, and even though Rhett had learned to turn it off, he unusually wanted to. He was too curious. He was an addict. Not prying made him feel weak and vulnerable, it made him feel like people could, would, and were taking advantage of him. Prying, however, made people uninteresting, boring and predictable, it took all the fun away from having a conversation, so he could only suffer through them. Being a loner was something he could no longer afford, and prying was his job this time.

"Doubt it." He didn't. He never doubts. "Kocher meta. We met before Hammel and got re-acquainted several years later."

It was the summed up version. A version he hoped would satisfy Craven as Rhett, just like the crow-boy, wasn't really interested in talking much about his "life-partner". After they were in apartment, Rhett couldn't help himself from grinning and laughing softly with Craven's answer to his question about choice of cuisine. He had inserted the double entendre in his question on purpose, but he didn't expect Craven to reply with such an obvious innuendo and then be awkward about it instead of just going with it. People did never change much, Rhett should have known.

"Then truffade it is." Rhett said as he finished unloading the shopping bags while putting away anything that was not going to be part of his dish. "Well Dylan, that's because it's a very old place." Rhett said out loud as he started washing some potatoes. "Your dad used to come here. Not often, though." He turned around to face the little girl with a very serious expression. "See, an evil time-wizard used to live here." He turned back around smiling. "You should be very proud of your dad. He wasn't afraid of said big bad wizard." He stopped for a moment "Well, sometimes anyway." Finally done with potatoes washing, Rhett started to shred them and place them in a clean bowl. "So what brings you back to Pilot, Craven?"

[Craven Grimley]

Craven was utterly surprised when he heard what Rhett had said about having his own, a year younger. Rhett had a child? One that he'd adopted with Odion? Craven quirked a brow. He knew that back in the day they had shared Trouble but wouldn't the dog be old now. Not really a year younger or anything. Maybe it was a dog he was talking about and not a child. After all Rhett had mentioned that he had not found a girl but a guy to marry. It was strange now to hear him talk about custody with Odion.

Craven cleared his throat and leaned against the counter watching Rhett unpack the groceries.
"Wait a second. You adopted what? A Dog or a child or did you have a little rendez vous with a girl or something? Rhett You've always been this annoyingly cryptic. "
Craven complained and ran a hand through his hair. He felt stupid for not understanding everything that Rhett was saying and not being able to put the pieces of his puzzle back together so they made more sense.

Truffade. He'd never even heard of Truffade but he was certain it would be good. He watched Rhett take out some potatoes to wash and peel. When his little girl mentioned the place smelling old he was surprised to have Rhett buy into it. She wandered over to listen to Rhett as he spoke and Craven scooped her up to sit her in one of the chairs by the kitchen counter so she could watch what Rhett was doing. Craven didn't cook. Craven had cooks. This cooke had come in when Gia's mother went down hill.

Craven hadn't bothered learning to cook either. Really, he needed Gia. Gia had been his life since he was six years old and they knew one another so well but Cooper and Tanner were just poison. They'd started talking about how Gia was never there for Craven and as his wife she should be supportive and eventually Craven had cracked and those dreaded words had fallen from his lips. 'What am I supposed to do about it? Diane is ill and dying!' What he should have said was just the last sentence.

His father and brother took it as a request for help and had taken full control of Craven's life from there on in. Craven pushed the thoughts aside and wrapped his arms around his girl watching Rhett as the story unfolded. Craven began to smile and dropped his eyes to his little girl who kept glancing to him in surprise at the story. At the end of the story, Dylan was brimming.

"Daddy and Mommy have always been brave."
Dylan came to the conclusion before playing with Craven's wedding ring that he hadn't been able to take off yet. Craven shrugged at the question and licked his lips.
"I wanted to go back into the past when things were simple I guess. We're only here for the weekend. We've gotta go get a hotel room up in Vermont at some point today. I wanted Dylan to see where her mommy and daddy spent their teenage years. "

Craven lay a kiss on Dylan's forehead before flicking his eyes back up at Rhett.
"Are you happy?"
Craven asked abruptly. He was under the impression that no one was happy once childhood ended...

[Rhett Goddard]

"A child, Craven, a child." Rhett couldn't really blame the brunette. He was right, Rhett indeed was far too cryptic for this not to happen far too usually. "A boy." Rhett stopped his cooking, took his white leather wallet from his pocket and showed Craven what were the first things that you could see as soon as you opened it: several pics of a blue-eyed blonde boy smiling to the camera. "Achille." He left the wallet in Craven's hands and returned to the counter, continuing his work on the potatoes. "Really intelligent, far too hyperactive."

Rhett remembered the last time he saw his boy. Exactly five days ago and he already missed him. If there were any weaknesses Rhett had had through his life, they were Trouble, Odion, and finally Achille, which was the reason Rhett had chosen the name, much to Odion's dismay. But Rhett had always been Odion's weakness, and he couldn't say no to him, not after Rhett had finally accepted to adopt, something he had been trying to convince Rhett to for years, and only managed to do so after Trouble died of a heart disease. You could say the time-controller took advantage of Rhett's state, and he did. The blonde was emotionally destroyed for weeks. He was actually so bad, he couldn't even control his power's side-effects at all, making him physically sick as well. Only after the adoption process was finally over was that rejoice and normality came back to their household, which by then was in Germany, where later he would end up meeting his current husband.

"Well you could stay here." Rhett emphasized continued with his potatoes. "It's a small place but I think there's room for everybody." Even though there was just one bedroom, there were enough mattresses, covers and a sofa-bed to house about ten people comfortably. All leftovers of Odion buying and buying things for their little loft every-time he had the chance. "Pip can even take Trouble's house and oh-so-many toys." Rhett was not used with, nor liked that much, as a matter of fact, inviting people over and offering them shelter in his house, but maybe this time it was a good idea. About half hour had passed since they met in the park and still he didn't appear to be near completing his mission. Time was of the essence. "You know what, I insist."

Happy... It was a strange question. What was stranger, was that he actually had to think about it for a bit. What really meant being happy? He was comfortable. He was relaxed. He was good. Could he be better? Yes, probably, but did that meant he wasn't actually happy? Had he been better before? Also very probably, but he didn't regret anything. Not one thing yet. Not one thing ever. Did that mean he had chosen to not be happy and was happy with this decision? This proved to be too complicated for casual conversation.

"I like where I am." He said as he finally finished with the potatoes, taking the bacon out of his bag. "And what I am, and who I am, and who I am with, as a matter of fact." Though he probably meant more Craven than his husband with that last part, he let the crowboy take it whichever way he wanted. "Are you happy?"

[Craven Grimley]

To say that this news surprised Craven was an understatement. A child? There had been a child involved between Odion and Rhett? There must have been more going on then met the eye then. His eyes skimmed across the dark haired girl in his arms. His little princess. A child born from love. A blessing as every child was. And he was throwing it all away because he was under the influence of Grimleys again. Craven couldn't imagine not seeing much of his little girl. He found it hard enough already.

He could hear the pain in Rhett's voice when he spoke of the little boy he was father to with Odion.
"I'm sorry, Rhett. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you not to be around him. "
Craven took the wallet carefully smiling at the young boy in the picture. It felt strange to ask or even wonder how this little miracle had come to be. Craven felt awkward for his curiosity.

"Achille, such a unique name and he looks so much like you. How curious."
Yup, sufficient hinting. He prayed it would tweak Rhett into sharing a bit more on this little gem child. Craven shifted uncertainly when he was told he could stay and glanced from Jet to the dog Jet seemed to be hawk eyeing. Pip was always being dominated by Jet and it was amusing most of the time. Craven simply allowed it to happen. Dylan also enjoyed watching the crow mother the dog so she never told Jet off either.

Craven set the wallet down on the counter at the mention of staying.
"I don't know. I don't wanna intrude or anything. "
Dylan became preoccupied with the pictures having finally found a suitable distraction now and Craven couldn't help but smile when Rhett insisted.
"If you insist, We'll stay. "
Craven nodded quickly.

His eyes shot over to Pip. He remembered seeing Trouble a hand full of times and the size of that dog compared to Pip was alarming. He imagined the tea cup toy terrier with a huge Trouble sized chew toy in his tiny mouth and couldn't help but snort at the very idea. Craven smiled when he heard all the things that Rhett liked. So he had a good life right now. A Good home and job and a good husband then? Craven knew the question would richochette back to him and he was prepared for it.

Dylan was moved to the floor again and she bounced back to her puppy to play tug of war with the lead and Craven moved around the counter to lean his back against it, closer to where Rhett was busy fixing the bacon. He'd hoped he could lower his voice then and have his little girl not hear anything.

"I don't know really. Do you ever think that maybe if you chose someone else... chose to be with someone else when you were presented with the choice, that you'd know what happiness was?"
Craven frowned at Rhett's hands trying to form the words in his head so they would sound better.

"What if you ended up with Talen instead of Odion? A different path. Do you think that there's a chance you could have been happier? "
Craven asked softly pressing his palms behind him against the counter so his hands turned white. The question made him nervous and uncertain even though it was asked to Rhett and it would most certainly not have a chance of being bounced back to him.

[Rhett Goddard]

As Craven said it, it was indeed hard for Rhett to be far from Achille. Very, actually. He saved several pictures of him in his wallet and cellphone, along with several videos as well. You could even say it was the only thing Rhett lived for. Everyday he'd wake up and diminish the quantities of days left for him to knock at Odion's apartment and get their son for the weekend. Just to see him smile and spoil him as much as he could for three very short days.

"Well," Rhett decided not to say anything about Craven's first comment, jumping straight into the second one. "that may be because there's a very curious story behind that." He took a small breath, thinking he shouldn't really be telling Craven this story, but he decided to risk it anyway. "When we were looking for a child for adopt, we stumbled across an old... acquaintance of us from Kocher." He started cutting the bacon into thin strips. "She was a DNA manipulator who had a rather... under-the-law business. She acts as a sort-of-surrogate mother, but splices the embryo's DNA from the very beginning to be only a combination of the parent's genes." He was talking in a low tone, knowing that Craven was a full-fledged lawyer with a conservative family and might frown upon what Rhett and Odion did. "After the kid is born, the parents pay a considerate fee and it transforms into a normal adoption process to the public eye."

There. Craven was probably the first person to learn the real story behind Achille. Probably the worst person to tell about it for reasons stated above, but it was a sort of test as well. He wanted to know just how much he could trust Craven after so many years, and he hoped he could. Or at least he hoped the story didn't make Craven dislike Rhett or feel uncomfortable.

Watching Craven walk around the counter, closer to him, made Rhett wonder what was going on. He eyed Craven's child for a second and then returned his eyes back to the brunette. What he said made the blonde feel rather ticklish around his stomach. Strange. He hadn't quite thought about. A different path... He stopped his cooking and looked up for a moment before looking at Craven silence. He could think of so many paths, as Craven called them, he could have chosen.

"Talen is out of the question." He said, still looking at Craven.

Talen wouldn't have made him anywhere happier. True fact was that at least to Rhett's eyes, Talen was indeed far better looking than Odion. His... sex-appeal was otherworldly and it was what made Rhett behave so strangely around him. A path with him, however, would have been disastrous. It would have been a merely physical relationship and in all honestly, chances were Rhett would have bounced unto someone else when it would have ended. Probably Odion, as a matter of fact.

"There were these... two times things happened with someone else..." He said, retiring his eyes to the bacon, continuing to cut it into strips.

The second path that immediately struck Rhett was an even worse one. He had those two "one time things" with Zachary in the past, and as good as they were, out of the bedroom they had way too much of a... rivalry relationship. Both were constantly trying to prove themselves over the other timeless times. A path from that stage of their life was out of question, and even though the two of them had stayed in contact after graduation, and their relationship had matured out of so-immature behaviors, you could even say they were actual friends... sort of, it was perhaps that what made it so unlikely that anything else was going to happen between the two of them. Plus, the Asian constantly hired Rhett for commercial spying, and Rhett was not the type that mixed business with pleasure.

"It was through that time me and Odion took a break, I'm not sure you remember." He said rather slowly, careful not to mention the Korean's name anywhere. "But that was it, nothing more could have happened there, so I doubt there was a chance of being happier or even happy."

And then there was a third path that never happened either...

"It only happened because Odion was hooking up with someone else," He was careful to talk softly so Dylan wouldn't listen. "and I stumbled upon him while I was looking for someone else to..." He decided not to complete that sentence. In all honesty he wasn't quite sure what completed it anyway. "I was looking for you." He said as calmly as if it meant nothing. Eyes in the bacon he was preparing. "But I've always thought I didn't find you that day for a reason. So I could go back with Odion safely afterwards." While Zac had meant nothing, he doubted it would have been the same with Craven, if only because they were actually friends. "He's my one and only." He raised his face and looked at Dylan again. "Can you look at Dylan and tell me something else could have made you happier?" He turned to face Craven. "Because I can't look at Achille and say that."

[Craven Grimley]

Craven listened to the story that was conveyed to him. He tried very hard to keep his face from revealing how shocked he was but at times during the confession he slipped up. At one point he winced. Another, his face fell into slight shock. Once the confession was over Craven slowly nodded caught between the code of conduct as a lawyer and his loyalties as a friend. Looking at it from a technical perspective, there was really not much that could be done about the little wonder child that had been created with the help of meta powers.

Craven sighed and lifted a hand to run through his brown hair letting his blue eyes fall to the ground instead.
"Well, that's some remarkable little miracle you just told me. "
His blue eyes flicked briefly over Rhett. One thing he could admit was that Rhett had a way of dropping bomb shells like they were feathers though the effect was the same. The careless way he'd told Craven the story said something else to Craven.

Rhett trusted him and Craven smiled at the thought.
"You do remember I'm in the field of law right? Just checking."
Craven said but his words were lighthearted and warm. Craven shook his head finally.
"Your secret is safe with me. This happened for a reason. "
Everything happened for a reason and Craven strongly believed that to get safely through life you needed to pay attention to every precise detail.

You had to read into everything and watch everything and notice everything. Maybe he overthought some things but with others it paid to be overly thoughtful. The next bombshell to be dropped on Craven was most definitely bigger then the first and maybe Craven should not have heard or would have been better off in blissfull ignorance but the next serious topic of conversation entered dangerous territory. Despite that, Craven paid attention to each word, action and tone that was presented to him.

Craven nodded during those brief intervals, when appropriate but the bombshell made his lips part in shock. At one point Rhett had considered him for a hookup? Craven was horrified, hurt and.... strangely intrigued by the thought. He was amazed that Rhett had even found him attractive enough for a hookup. Rhett, to Craven, was like a ferarri to a bum, a complete and utter dream not even worth dreaming about. Even entertaining the thought would have been a waste of time on Craven's part.

Which was why he never did entertain such thoughts. Then there was also the fact that Rhett was completely taken with Odion. Craven had Gia of course as well. Rhett was James Dean and James Dean was not even in the same catagory as him. That's when Craven realized that Rhett had only been interested in sex. A hook up right? The hurt and horror took over and Craven couldn't help but sigh softly before the question was posed to him about Dylan. His eyes danced across the way to his daughter.

He slowly and softly smiled at her. She looked so much like Gia, it was funny really. Craven nodded.
"No, you're absolutely right. Nothing will make me any happier then my little family."
There it was. His reality and once again Rhett had pointed out to him that he belonged with Gia. There was just no one else. There was Gia and that was it, like the Heroine and the hero of a old classic lovestory.

No matter what happens in between, they were meant to be together.
"It gets tiresome to fight though. I just wish we were warned that love isn't easy and most certainly isn't fun. "
No, the fun things were the quick little pieces you got in between that were both very very wrong and oh so very right.

[Event !]

This event is now closed. Thank you for your participation!