Stephanie’s P.O.V.
“You sure you want to do this?” Harry asked me a few days later.
“Yes. I need to,” I answered, not turning around from packing.
Eli had called us that morning and said that my father’s doing well and I can finally come visit. Since the message, I was shaking the entire time I gathered my stuff. I don’t know what to say, what to do, even what to think. Harry and Eli were right; there was so much going on that they knew I wasn’t going to be ready. And now that we’re finally going, I felt nauseous, nervous, unprepared. But I needed to do this. If my dad was ready, then I was too.
“I’ll be with you the whole time, love,” Harry assured.
“Thanks,” I replied, shoving the last few things in my bag.
“Steph, we’re only going to be there for a few hours,” he chuckled, watching me.
“I know. I just don’t exactly know what to bring,” I answered. Harry just shook his head and laughed.
“Eli should be here soon,” he added.
“Okay,” I said.
“Are you alright? You look a little…”
“I’m fine. Just a bit nervous, that’s all,” I responded.
“I know, I can tell,” he smiled.
A few minutes later, Elijah pulled up in the driveway and we climbed in. Everyone waved as we departed from the house and drove away.
“I heard that Helen told you,” Eli began, breaking the silence.
“Not much,” I replied.
“Dad’s in the best mood he’s been all week, so that’s a plus,” Eli continued.
“How’s he doing?” Harry asked.
Eli sighed. “Alright, it hasn’t been too bad.”
“That’s good,” Harry commented. Eli gave him a look and Harry understood, unlike me. Was I missing something?
Soon, Elijah drove up to a normal looking house. I wasn’t even sure what to expect, but at least I wasn’t expecting too much. The plants in the front yard could use a little watering, though, but that wasn’t my job. Other than that, the house didn’t look too bad. Eli led us to the front door and entered inside.
There was a horrendous stench that got to me as soon as we stepped in. What can you expect from a house with only 2 boys living in it? But it wasn’t just a man smell. It was like a mix of a whole bunch of different stinky smells.
“Honestly, do you clean this place?” I questioned Eli.
“I try,” he shrugged. “Sorry about the smell.” He accompanied us further into the house and we ended up in the kitchen.
“Dad! I’m home!” Eli shouted.
“Where the hell were ya?” a voice boomed through the house, causing me to jump. Harry gripped my waist and pulled me close.
“Stay here,” Elijah told us. He stepped into the living room where our dad was sitting and all I could hear were muffled tones.
“I’m scared,” I whispered.
“I haven’t met your dad, but I know a lot, and yes, it’s pretty scary,” Harry mumbled.
“Wait, what? What else do you know?” I asked. But before we could say anything else, Elijah came back.
“Sorry about that. He’s better now,” he apologized. “You ready?” I looked at Harry and he nodded.
“Let’s go,” I answered, moving forward a bit. Elijah escorted us into the living room where the TV was on and a guy was slouched over on the couch.
“Dad, this is Stephanie,” Elijah introduced, stepping in front of the TV. My dad turned his attention towards me and I swallowed.
“Is she your girlfriend? She’s a keeper,” he said. Ouch.
“No. She’s your daughter,” Elijah tried.
“M-my daughter?” He looked back at Eli with a confused expression.
“Yes, your daughter. I know you don’t remember, but she is here to meet you.”
My dad eyed me again, this time squinting. My heartbeat quickened and I squeezed Harry’s hand.
“Lucy?” he whispered. Elijah’s eyes widened so fast that he couldn’t even believe the word that left my dad’s lips. “Is that really you?”
“No, it-it’s Stephanie,” I said, finding my voice.
“Stephanie…” he pondered, staring into space. I swallowed again, not sure what was going to happen next. Did he really remember me? Is there still hope?
Suddenly, his face turned red and he looked as if he was about to attack someone. He frantically searched for something and ended up finding the remote, throwing it as hard as he could against the opposite wall.
“Go to the kitchen! Now!” Elijah warned us. I didn’t think twice before running back into the kitchen, hot tears staining my face. Harry held me close as I cried into his chest. What the heck is happening?!
All I heard were a couple more things smashing around before it went silent for a few moments. Slowly padding into the kitchen, Elijah silently led us outside on the front porch away from our dad. I was shaking so much that I had a hard time walking and was so relieved when we sat down on the rickety wooden swing.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Elijah spoke.
“I am so sorry for what you just witnessed. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What did just happen?” I quietly voiced.
“You’ve gotta tell her mate,” Harry told Eli.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“There’s so much more that you don’t know and we should have told you,” Eli began.
“We didn’t want to tell you because we knew you had a right to come see him and we didn’t want to take that away from you. You were so full of joy whenever we mentioned him that we didn’t feel like killing your happiness,” Harry continued.
“So instead you bring me here without telling me whatever it is you’re about to and cause me to fear my own father?” I raged.
“Well, when you put it that way…” Harry replied.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like that. We didn’t mean for any of that to happen,” Elijah explained. “I didn’t think he was going to recognize you as our mother but now that he did, I see it now.”
“See what?” I questioned.
“You look so much like our mum, Steph,” Eli admitted, pulling out a locket from his pocket. He opened it up and passed it to me. One glance and that was all it took for me to believe him. I really did look like my mum.
“After our mum died, our dad didn’t know what to do. You know this part, but he gave you up and kept me. I never understood why he decided to keep me, since he never treated me right. Anyways, he started drinking to cover up the pain of our mum and it wasn’t good. He began beating me at times for many reasons and I was so young that I couldn’t really do anything about it. I was about 7 years old when I was getting tired of it, so I ran to our neighbors whenever he was drinking so much that it caused him to be like that. Eventually, they called the police and he was checked in to the hospital immediately. A few days later, we found out he has dementia. I guess all that drinking helped him ease the pain enough to almost forget about it. Well, he was in the hospital for a good 3 years before he became healthy enough to be released. I was staying with our neighbors for those 3 years and moved back here when dad also did. I was only 10 when that happened, so our neighbors checked up on us every day to make sure things were going alright. Now that I’ve graduated school, I’ve taken on full responsibility of him. Our neighbors still check up on us but not as frequently; maybe once a week. I know I should probably check him into rehab or something, but it’s been hard because he’s so stubborn. I can’t do anything about that.”
I take in his words and I’m shocked to find out how bad my family has gotten. I never wanted a family like this, one that’s troubled and falling apart. And now that I understood it’s my reality, I can’t handle it.
“I know it’s so much for you to hear and I’m truly sorry I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t think he was going to get this bad because he was fine earlier,” Elijah adds.
“You knew all of this too?” I asked Harry. He nodded.
“I’m really sorry, love,” he whispered, holding me tight.
I inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly, the pain entering me instead. Why did I even try to get involved in my family’s history?
“I wanna go back home,” I said.
“Alright,” Elijah agreed. “Let me just get my keys. I’ll be back.” He stood up and reentered the house, leaving Harry and I alone for a second.
“I feel horrible,” he sighed.
“It’s not your fault. Let’s just go home and get our minds off of this,” I suggested.
“Movie night?” Harry asked.
“Sure,” I answered.
Elijah came back out of the house and we piled into his car once again, driving back to our house. The ride was completely silent as no one had any words to say. I just stared out the window the entire time, wishing that somehow, some way, that wasn’t my real dad. But all the facts are there: Elijah, the locket, the neighbors. He’s my biological dad, whether I like it or not.
Elijah dropped us off and I was relieved to be back in the vicinity I’m comfortable in. Everyone seemed happy and enthusiastic when I entered inside and it angered me. Calm down. They don’t know what just happened, my thoughts were telling me.
Even though it was only 3 in the afternoon, Harry popped in one of my favorite comedy movies and snuggled with me on the couch. Although his efforts were sweet, it didn’t help. I couldn't get my family off of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. Why couldn’t I have amazing families like the other boys? Why did I get stuck with the drunk, dementia-diseased father who doesn’t give a shit about his kids because he doesn’t remember them?

Notes

Ok so I just moved into college this past week so life's been crazy with that and also, WE JUST SAW THE BOYS THIS PAST WEEKEND AT THE CONCERT IN CHICAGO! This isn't real life! It also feels weird to be writing again now that I've finally seen the boys...

Also, I apologize if this chapter brings some uneasy feelings/memories. I also apologize if it feels like one of those cliche stories where the father is always the drunk one, but in my defense, this fanfic is completely different from those other ones.

Rachel and Stephanie :)