Working Hard, or Hardly Working? (Gareth and Evan)

Willow looked at her daddy and thought about what he had asked. She couldn't really remember the last time she had an actual conversation with Evan. And she knew something was wrong with her big brother...she just didn't know what. She wished that she could help, but she didn't even know where to start. She just shrugged her small shoulders and shook her head.

"Daddy, I don't really know. I've seen him at school with Jocelyn, but she seems really nice and he seems happy. But I haven't talked to him. Do you want me to?"

Willow knew that if Evan was angry, he wouldn't want to talk to their daddy, or her brother or sister. But she might be able to have a chance with him. She supposed Cami and Gar just annoyed him or something. Willow had promised herself never to become so annoying that her brother couldn't talk to her. She was just glad her daddy hadn't asked about her own happenings yet. It was always so hard to lie to him, and she hadn't quite mastered keeping secrets yet.

She yawned and rested back against the bed. Boy, cleaning really took the energy out of a person. She heard some type of crash from one of the other bedrooms upstairs, but she didn't pay much attention. Max was always trying to experiment with something. She looked up at her daddy again.

"I don't mind going to see Evan. I think he still likes me," she smiled.

Cambria had helped clean the family room, like she had been asked to do. But then she just couldn't resist taking a break to text Saber for a little while. She had to be careful when she would do this, or she would get caught. So usually she would lock herself up in the bathroom so that she didn't have to worry. But she had almost run out of battery life for her cell phone, so she had to go to her room to get the charger.

She hopped quickly upstairs and got to her bedroom. She took two steps in before realizing that it was not just Willow in there. She tried to back away quietly without being seen, but she was worried that it was already too late. So her thumb coasted over the 'off' buttonon her phone and she quickly pressed it down. She knew this action would kill any further battery life, so even if he suspected something was up, he wouldn't be able to turn on her phone. She would be screwed if he asked Gareth to turn it on with a charm, but there really wasn't any reason for him to suspect her. She slid the phone in her back pocket and tried to look as innocent as possible. That never really worked for her, though. Maybe today it would.

She turned around and started walking faster. She prayed that the only thing he would catch her at was skipping out on cleaning her room.

Jeffrey looked at his daughter and felt his temper rising. Again...she and her brother were once again sharing emotions. Going up to her he reached into her pocket and took her cell phone. Just like Evan she would receive the same punishment for slacking off. Putting the phone in his pants pocket he pinched the bridge of his nose and glared.

"Cambria Winter," he sighed. "What have you done all day?"

He knew that she had cleaned that one room, but none of the rooms were so messy that it would take her several hours to finish! She could have been done and in her room cleaning before the day had even ended. Jeffrey just didn't know what to do anymore! His youngest and oldest seemed to behave, weren't looking for trouble or to throw attitudes left and right! But his middle children just seemed to want to cause him heart attacks and headaches whenever he came near!

"You will get your phone back when I think you deserve it," he continued. "And right now judging by how your side of the room is, how your homework is not done, and how guilty you look I think you already know that you won't be getting it back anytime soon, young lady."

He went to turn the phone off only to find that it was already off to begin with. The theme song to her phone played, but then quickly died after. He looked up at her suspiciously.

"Where's the charger?" he sighed. "You had this thing plugged in all night, I know it should not be dead."

Jeffrey knew that he could sound paranoid, but never without good reason. And right now he had good reason. He looked and found it by the bed, carefully taking it from the outlet he slipped it into his jacket pocket and looked back to his daughter.

"If what I think is happening IS happening...it better not be."

Cambria gulped and looked up at him. So this is what it felt like to know you were about to die. It was funny, she would have thought it would be a bit more dramatic, rather than just death because of illegal texting. But she supposed it didn't really matter now. He would find the texts soon enough, and she would be lectured into the ground. And her Saber would be a distant memory. She prayed that he would still love her after all the drama she had caused him. But for now, all she could do was clean her room and try not to go into a full panic attack. She opted for the feigning innocent route again.

"Daddy, I think I just forgot to keep it plugged in all night, that's all. Can't we just plug it in and I won't use it?"

She looked pleadingly up at him, but she knew he was not that stupid. So she sighed and started cleaning. She looked at Willow, trying to get her to understand that she would still not rat her out, even though she was about to get caught. She would just have to live vicariously off of her sister's love life.

Jeffrey raised an eyebrow at his daughter and couldn't decide whether to laugh or smack her backside. Did she really think he would fall for something so transparent? He sighed and shook his head.

"You are up to something, my girl. And I will find out what it is before the day is out," he said, holding up her phone to illustrate his point.

And in truth, as he had mentioned before, he was suspicious already about what was happening. And if she had actually gone behind his back to date Saber, she would be severely upset about the resulting consequences. But he didn't want to deal with anymore of Cambria's drama today. She would finish her room, and have some time to think about her actions. Hopefully she would at least attempt honesty. He had taught her to do so, but he couldn't be sure that she would remember.

"Willow, since your half of the room is clean, you are free to do whatever you wish tonight. Cambria, my office when you are finished. And Gar," he said smirking, "You get to babysit your little sisters while I talk to Evan."

He knew it was cruel, but the look on his oldest son's face was priceless. And now it seemed that he was just on time to go and talk to Evan. He heard the shower shut off and he waited in his son's room to finally come to some sort of understanding as to what was going on with the boy.

Evan wasn't sure how long he had been in that shower for, or how long he had washed and rewashed his hair...but he knew that after a shower like that there wasn't going to be any hot water in the tri-city area. Closing his eyes as he ruffled his hair a bit he sighed. He wished that he could tell his father why he was acting this way, it was just that the man could not see past his own nose to see him. Evan was never seen or heard, only on brief occasion. Lo-Lo was the baby, Cambria the boy chaser, and Gareth...Gareth the one that...that grew up. What was Evan? Evan was the horrible brother that swore at his sister, he was the only one that Lo-Lo could penetrate (yes, he had heard his father), he was the bland son that had no future and wouldn't accomplish anything in life...that was how he looked at himself through his father's eyes.

Walking from the bathroom, now dressed in a pair of boxer shorts, he moved to his own room and was severely upset to find it no longer empty. Completely ignoring his father he moved past him and tried to find something that would preoccupy him while the man sat on his bed or in the same room as him. He went to his desk and taking out an extra set of headphones he had he put them on, well technically they had been Gareth's...breaking off he felt tears fill his eyes. Closing them he took a deep breath and cranked the music louder. His brother thought that he hated him...that he never needed him...but he had been wrong!

His father and mother lost a son, his sister's lost a brother, but Evan had lost his best friend! He had lost his best friend to a girl, and his brother didn't even care! No one cared! Everyone was so damn concerned with themselves that no one cared or noticed that he was hurting and he wasn't so self involved that he would bring it up either! So he would sit there, drowning in his own emotions and sorrow until it took his life...until nothing would bring him back...until the pain of Gareth leaving him completely disappeared.

Jeff quietly watched his son sitting at his desk, listening to his music. This was one of those moments where he just felt completely lost as a father. He wanted to know what was going on in Evan's head, and he desperately wanted to help him. But if Evan didn't want to speak to him, there wasn't much he could do. He could be there for him, and let him know that he loved him more than life itself. But he didn't know if Evan would believe him.

Jeff sighed and stood, moving to his son and placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned the boy to look at him and he saw the tears that sat in his eyes. And it made Jeff's own eyes moisten, thinking that his child was in pain. He felt his throat tighten and he reached out a tentative hand and stroked his son's cheek.

"Baby boy...what's wrong? I'm here son. Please talk to me."

He needed to beg and plead for his son to reach out to him. He would not lose him without even knowing what was wrong.

"Did I do something? Is it Jocelyn? Please, Evan...I want to help you."

Evan blinked and it caused the tears to roll down his face in a sudden torrent, and as if that was all it took he stood up...his words know just begging to be released. He began to walk around, the only sound coming from him gasps as he tried to keep his tears from coming out anymore. But the more he tried to push them down the more they just kept coming back to haunt him. Turning to his father, tears sliding madly down his face, he clenched his fists.

"No one in this house ever," he began, just to break off. "NO one in this house ever asked me...how...how I felt about Gareth leaving!"

The words left him in such a rush that he could hardly believe it himself. And soon more tears began to pour from his eyes and his breaths became more rapid and closer together. He found himself digging his nails so far into his palms that the flesh was ripping at the seams. He just could not look at this man! Could not believe that out of all the people in the house he had been the last one noticed!

"You NEVER think of me!" he roared. "NEVER! All you ever think about is Cambria and her stupid boyfriend problems, Gareth leaving and moving in with his GIRLFRIEND, or Willow because she is your baby! I don't FIT anywhere in those categories! You LEFT me out there to deal with Gareth leaving all on my own!"

He stomped his foot, the anger compelling him to do something before he hurt himself! He let out a lose sob as his throat became tighter and tighter and he tried to keep himself from losing anymore of his dignity.

"You cuddled Lo-Lo and Cam when they cried and just LEFT me to deal with it all on my own!" he roared. "You don't care about me! You don't even know I fucking exist!"

Jeff stared at his son in utter and complete shock, and he wasn't even aware that his cheeks were wet with his own tears. There was no pain on earth greater than knowing that you are the cause of your child's pain. And so it turned out, there was something he could have been doing to get through to Evan. He could have been actually paying attention, rather than just forgetting about his baby boy. He had assumed that everything was fine, and it turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes he could have ever made.

"My God, Evan. I am so sorry. I never intended to make you feel like I don't care, lad. I do care, very much so. I just assumed that you were alright. But that was wrong of me, and I wish I could take it back."

He felt a pain in his chest that was becoming more and more common. He didn't know what it was, but he felt it was easier to just ignore it, as he had been doing for the past few months. He knew it was just stress-induced, and he damn well deserved to feel so now.

He moved closer to his son and placed his hands firmly on both shoulders, looking directly into his eyes.

"Evan Joseff, I love you so much. And if I ever made you feel that I didn't, I beg for your forgiveness. Evan, if anything were to ever happen to you, I would not survive. And I know the same goes for your brother. He loves you so much, son. And no matter what you might think, you have not lost him. He is still your brother. And he is hurting too. He misses you, probably more than I can explain. And knowing that I...that I am the reason you are both...in pain..."

His voice caught in his throat, and he looked down for a moment as more tears fell down his face.

"I am more sorry than you will ever know."

He pulled his boy into his arms and cried, hoping to God that Evan did not pull away from him. They needed each other more than ever right now.

Evan wanted to fight it, wanted to fight the warmth he felt while in his father's embrace. He wanted to fight it with everything in his being, but it just did not last and before he knew it he was curling up into his chest and sobbing loudly. Why had it had to come to this?! Why had his father ignored him for so long, how could he have not seen how much needed him?!

Squeezing him tighter he closed his eyes against the fabric of his shirt and just continued to cry. He never wanted it to get to this point again, he wanted his father to notice and remember him. What was he going to have to do to make sure this was assured.

"Don't...don't let me...me disappear again..." he cried. "Please...please don't ignore me anymore...what do I have to do daddy? What do I have to do for your attention?"

Daddy. Evan had called him daddy, and it just tore him up inside. Jeff held Evan close to his chest and he continued to cry, as did his son. After a few minutes, he moved them over to Evan's bed where he sat and pulled Evan to sit next to him. He never wanted any of his children to ever feel neglected or forgotten again. He looked into Evan's eyes and wiped his tears with his thumbs.

"You don't have to so anything, son. You listen to me, it is not your job to get me to love you, I do that unconditionally. But being aloof or unaware, now that was my fault. And I promise you, I will never be out of the loop again. But Evan, there is a catch."

He placed a hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"I asked you to help me with the lights so I could talk to you about stuff like this. I gave you the opportunity, son, and you turned it down. Now I know I still should have spoken to you specifically when Gareth left, but I also need you to promise me that you will be more open with me. Got it?"

He gave Evan a half smile and then pulled him in for another hug.


"I cannot believe I let myself hurt you so badly. Tell me how I can make up for it."  

(OOC: Sorry it's so short, I'm still on my phone and I'm exhausted.)

Evan shrugged, mostly because he did not know what to say. He did not know how this could be fixed, or how he would ever be able to let his father in the way he had before. Too much had been done and his father had just sat by like it had been nothing, and even though he claimed to not know Evan could not get past the hurt.

Closing his eyes tight once more as more tears threatened to roll down his cheeks he gripped his father tightly. He just wanted to disappear and never be seen again, he did not want to think about Gareth or his father or how he had lost the two male role models in his life...he just did not want to think about that.

"I...I don't know daddy," he whispered. "I don't know."

He held on tighter to his father and just sobbed. He wanted to fix it, he really did. But he did not want to risk things just going back to the way they were before this had happened. He knew that his father would promise that it wouldn't, but he never really could keep it. If he had not noticed this time, would have notice any other time?