Okay, so this isn't as good as it could have been. I'm sorryyy >< This is also just what they could be like in a couple years, remember. They don't have to have kids and everything >< heheh.
Cove sighed, tired smile on his face as he knocked on his old front door. A moment later, he was greeted by his mother's face, with those same tired eyes. They no longer held the life they once had. Nevertheless, they both grinned to see each other and Kyndal found himself lifted into a tight embrace in Cove's arm. Their relationship had gotten much better since Rhett had passed away several years ago. Cove guessed that was the only benefit of his father's death, although he would gladly be a bit more distant with his mother if it meant having his daddy back once more.
Today, he stood at his old home with Leon, now his husband, on one side, and his own ten year old child by his other.
"He's getting so big." Kyndal cried, reaching out to hug the child. He looked just like Cove. Kyndal was beginning to see that now that Cove was getting older, he looked just like Rhett as well. He was a rough man, just like his father had been, but he was the gentlest father ever and Kyndal adored it. Watching Cove with his son, Campbell, was just like it had been watching Rhett with Cove growing up.
"Hi grammy." The boy smiled sweetly, hugging Kyndal around the neck as Cove grinned softly.
"I missed you too, Leon." Kyndal nodded as Campbell returned to his spot hugging onto Cove's legs.
Leon simply grinned shyly, hugging Kyndal close.
"Well almost everyone is here." Kyndal nodded. "Come on in." He smiled, leading the three of them inside and into the living room where Trever and Toni sat on the couch, along with three little children that were running around the room.
"Don't ya two ever stop poppin' out brats?" Cove snickered as he noticed that Toni had another baby bump.
"Toni's so cute pregnant that I just keep doing it again." Trever smirked, shrugging his shoulders before he was embraced by Cove. He laughed softly, though he held the boy close and kissed the top of his head. Although Cove was a grown man, ever since Rhett died, Trever had been ready to take the father position and he'd done a good job so far. Of course, no one could take Rhett's place in Cove's heart, but it was nice to have an older male figure to look up to.
"Blaine's cuter." Barry smirked as he entered the room, nodding at Cove and Leon. He and Blaine had also had a few more children since Rhett's death. It seemed like everyone had been popping out more children.
"I hate all of you with your babies." Kyndal sighed.
"You know you could always move on. He always said he'd hate it but... those last few days, you know he gave you permission."
"I know he did." Kyndal spoke softly. "But that doesn't change anything." Part of him wanted to move on, while another part knew no one could replace Rhett. And yet another part felt that if he moved on it would be like proving to everyone that he really was that slut they all had thought he was, not good enough for Rhett. He couldn't move on, he knew that, no matter how lonely the nights got lately.
"And you know what he told the two of us about babies." Trever smirked softly and Kyndal laughed lightly, shaking his head.
"Yeah, that's not happening." Kyndal giggled, shaking his head.
"What did heh tell ya about babehs?" Cove arched an eyebrow.
"He said as long as it was okay with Toni, if I wanted another kid, that Trever and I could... you know." Kyndal nodded since there were children in the room and Cove chuckled in response.
"Oh." He smirked, shaking his head.
"Or, I could just give him my... daddy parts and do the artificial stuff." Trever nodded.
"Ah can't imagine you two havin' a babeh." Cove chuckled.
"It'd be sexy, of course. But I'll pass." Kyndal smiled softly as there was another knock on the door. He stood and returned with three people following. "Everyone's here now." Kyndal grinned.
He moved to take his seat once more as Cove looked up to see who had arrived.
Kelly was here, along with his husband, Ian and their five year old son.
Cove stood up and walked over to Kelly. The two of them simply looked at each other for a moment before Cove embraced his younger brother tightly.
Rhett's death had made Cove realize several things. And one of them was that he had to appreciate the family he had. He had to treat Kelly like part of the family even if they had their differences. Kelly appeared shocked but hugged Cove back tightly. He looked happy to be part of the family. Now that Rhett was gone, the two of them rarely saw each other except for these gettogethers. They had gettogethers once every few months, just for Rhett's immediate family and friends to keep them all close.
"Your father would be so happy to see that." Kyndal whispered and brought both of them into a group hug before bounding to kiss Ian's cheek as well.
"Don't you look cute today." Kyndal grinned and Ian laughed softly, hugging his mother in law. "Well!" Kyndal spoke up, turning to the rest of the family. "I guess we're ready to have dinner since everyone's here. Trever, Barry, if you'd help me bring in the other table from the garage, that'd be great." He grinned and Trever and Barry immediately nodded and followed him.
"Hey, Kelleh?" Cove questioned as he looked over to his brother. "Ya mind tellin' mom ah went up ta mah room for a second when heh gets back?"
"Yeah sure." Kelly nodded, smiling softly before speaking up again as Cove was a few feet away. "Wait, Cove?"
"Yeah?"
"I miss you."
"Ah miss ya too, Kelleh." Cove smiled before making his way up the stairs to his old bedroom. He stepped in the door and shut it behind him, looking around the old familiar walls and feeling a pain in his gut.
"Daddeh?" He whispered softly, looking around the room as if Rhett would suddenly appear. "Ah... ah don't know if yar listenin... but-" Cove paused as a sudden gust of wind from out of nowhere shuffled some papers on an old nightstand and sent something crashing to the ground. Cove frowned, kneeling to pick up what had fallen. A pictureframe. He turned it over and saw that it was a picture of his father. He smiled softly then, knowing that his father was indeed watching over him. "God, Daddeh... ah miss ya. A lot actualleh..." Cove sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed and pretending he wasn't already crying. "Soh ya remember when ya were at Treva's house during yar last few days? And ah sang somethin for ya and ya said ah was realleh good and ah should start singin' if ah liked it?" He paused as if waiting for an answer but he knew none was coming so he kept going. "Well, ah've sang for a few people, sang at Brileh's wedding. That was pretty fun." Cove smiled softly. "But ah told ya before ya... well you know... ah told ya ah'd write ya a song. And ah finalleh did it. So ah... ah wanted ta play et for ya. Cove reached into a nearby corner where a dusty acoustic guitar sat that he'd learned to play when he was younger. He picked it up and sat back on the bed, strumming it lightly.
"Do you believe in happy endings?
Or the mendings of human hearts?
Oh I believe in both I'm certain
Because these curtains are state of the art
If you'd occasionally happen to spy on me
You'd think I'm having one sided conversations
But I hear him talking back
You'd think I may even lack some sanity
But maybe I can't let go."
This part was completely true... Leon often asked what he was doing at night, worrying he might be cheating again when truthfully, all he was doing was talking to Rhett in the guestroom. Sometimes, he swore the man spoke back. And those times, he would break down in tears, begging the man to come back to him, just one more day...
"And so I'll say I finally wrote your song at last,
Sorry that this one came out so sad
Every tear I had was shed for the man
That gave me a better sense of life and meaning
To motivate there's no short cuts to success
I'll wait for his guiding hands.
My guardian angel until the very end."
Cove sang the chorus sweetly, trying to keep the tears out of his voice. Rhett truly had made Cove the man he was today and he hoped the man knew that.
"I see a cold seat on the couch where I remember
That just five years ago around December,
You sat me down and held me next to you, so close
How I long for things to be restored
To back when times weren't quite this hard."
Everything was so difficult for Cove now that Rhett was gone. Just seeing the couch downstairs made him remember the very day Rhett had told him he was dying. It was just about Christmas time and Rhett tried to tell him at least he'd be here for Christmas. He'd sat him down on the couch and pulled him into his lap like he hadn't done since the boy was a child and told him the news and proceeded to hold the boy the rest of the evening as he cried.
Cove knew he would give anything in the world, even Leon, if he could just have Rhett back... A world without his father was a world that wasn't worth living to him.
"In the car that song you sang to me
Never rang so loud before
Oh what I'd give, for just another hug from you
You may be gone, but love will never die."
Cove really had to hold back his sobs as he sang now, his shoulders trembling. He remembered the song so vividly. It'd been many years ago, when Rhett was teaching him how to drive. Cove just wasn't getting it and had gotten quite upset. So Rhett had switched seats with him, told Cove to let him drive. And they spent a day that was supposed to be spent teaching Cove with ice cream and singing to the radio. He remembered it so well because Rhett always said he wasn't much of a singer and normally refused to sing. But Cove had been so upset that he'd belted out the first song that came on, even though it was some ridiculous upbeat pop song. Cove missed this the most, just the simple times, goofing around with his father.
"So I'll say I finally wrote your song at last,
Sorry that this one came out so sad
Every tear I had was shed for the man
That gave me a better sense of life and meaning
To motivate and no short cuts to success
I'll wait for his guiding hands.
My guardian angel until the very end
Tears can't run dry, when I start to cry
When I hear people speak of how you'd be so proud of me
And how I hope this song will reach your ears
I battled all my darkest fears
I once was blind but now it's clear,
Wherever I go I know that you'll be near."
Cove remembered a time just several months ago, when he'd been at a gettogether with the whole family, playing with Campbell. Campbell had fallen out back and scraped his knee pretty bad. Some of the other kids had teased him for crying and he'd ran off in tears. Cove had went after him and Kyndal had found them in the bathroom inside, Cove singing a soft song to Campbell as he cleaned his wound and held him tight. Kyndal hadn't said anything until after Cove was done and had tucked Campbell into a bed in the guestroom. After that, Kyndal had hugged his son tight and whispered, "Your father would be so proud of you, Cove. He's going to be proud of the husband and dad you've become."
Cove had broken into tears on the spot. He hoped his father would be proud of him. Almost as much as he hoped his father was listening to his words right now as he finished his song.
"I finally wrote your song at last,
Sorry that this one came out so sad
Any tear I had was shed for the man
That gave me a better sense of life and meaning
To motivate there's no short cuts to success
I'll wait for his guiding hands.
My guardian angel until the very end
Oh, until the very end
My guardian angel until the very end."
As he finished, he put his guitar down and let himself cry, soft sobs shaking his body.
And suddenly he felt as if he was enveloped in warmth, feeling what almost felt like a soft hand on his shoulder, comforting him. And that was enough for him.
"Dad, ah love ya so much... How could ya leave meh?" He whispered softly.
Several minutes later he lay in the bed with the picture of his father clutched to his chest as the door was opened.
"Cove..." Trever sighed, moving into the room and shutting the door behind him. "It's okay." He murmured, laying behind Cove and holding him from behind, gently caressing his hair.
"But et's not, Treva." Cove shook his head, tears in his voice. "Et's not ever gonna be okay..."
"It will be, Cove." Trever whispered. "I promise you. It'll get easier.... I miss him too."
"Why can't heh just come back?" Cove cried softly, turning and hiding his face in the crook of Trever's neck.
Trever frowned, finding that it actually pained him to see Cove this upset.
"I've tried, Cove. I'm working on it, I just..." He sighed. He felt the pressure on him every day. He'd brought back Dustin, so why couldn't he bring back his own brother? That was all everyone asked constantly. No one realized just how difficult it truly was.
"Ah'm not blamin' ya, Treva. Thank ya far tryin..." Cove murmured.
"I love you, Cove."
"Ah love ya too."
"Now how about we go have dinner. It's your dad's favorite."
Cove nodded slowly and got up from the bed, heading back downstairs behind his uncle.
The pain in his heart was never going to truly disappear. But with time, it could heal.
