Connor Kent

“My mom and I never went at it because I had a fear that should we, then I might not have a life left to live. My family can love you enough to kill you. That’s an actual thing.” Nat shrugged. “I mean I’m upset. I feel like a fucking Drake song. Or even Lil Wayne at this point. Like I wish I could pick the world up and drop it on someone’s fucking head. I was in this mindset that maybe Chloe and I would get to a point this year to start talking about starting a family. But instead, I might be canceled, my career down the drain and my wife…I don’t even know what she’s doing most days. I don’t even know if I want to know, and what if they took her away from me? What if they still take her away from me? What do I do when the love of my life is set on this path and I can’t follow her? And then don’t even get me fucking started on Mitchell which is another story altogether unrelated to this one.” 

“I know. Cass was human, but... her family was similar,” Connor admitted. Listening quietly as Nat let everything off her chest. “I don’t know. But, I guess that’s what make them what if’s, right? And support her from the sidelines? I know it’s not an ideal answer or maybe even a good one, but sometimes, you just have to take a step back and trust that your partner will find their way. You mean Mitchell and the leaving the family coven thing? Because about that- I was actually thinking about maybe starting my own? But, we can save that conversation for another time.”

“Why, so I can go re-livin’ my glory days of not even succeedin’ right? We can but my game might be a little lackluster considerin’ the fact that I’m in the middle of a scandal and all. And I might lose the second career I kinda liked.” Damien felt like his life was spiraling again. He’d felt it three times now, the sad thing about it was it was almost like he was used to it. Seeing the good life within reach and then having it slip away. 

“Not ever succeedin’? Are we talkin’ about the same glory days here, cause last time I checked you made it, brother. You were part of the NFL. You played for the damn Patriots for cryin’ out loud. I mean you know how talented you gotta be for that? Most of us will live our whole lives never even knowin’ what it’s like to step foot on that field. I was out before I could even play the game. But, you? You did it. And I get it, I do. I get how that might not have been enough for you, but you did what I can only dream of. What I have been dreamin’ of since I was five years old, so, for the love of god, please don’t act like that was nothin’. You’re one of the freakin’ coolest people I know for cryin’ out loud,” Connor sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he looked over at his little brother. “Let me ask you a question, okay? Do you love it? Do you love throwin’ around a ball? Do you love bein’ out there in front of the camera? Cause I know, crowds cheerin’ from the stands or not, there isn’t anythin’ in this world that will stop me from playin’ the game that I love. Even if it is just with the guys in some worn down park on the weekends. So, if you like bein’ out there as much as you say you do, then stop worryin’ about what people think of you and let’s go play around like we used to when we were kids. I know the scandal is still gonna be there and I’m not tryin’ to diminish that either. I just- I know a thing or two about scandals, Damien. You know I do.” He was the cocky senior who slept around, the guy who knocked up a freshman he barely even knew in high school, the fallen football star, the deadbeat husband, the man who ran off with a twenty-something year old actress after his wife cheated on him while he was still in the eyes of god and the state married. Connor knew what his brother was going through and he know he probably sounded like he was giving him tough love right about now, but he just wanted to help him through this. “So, trust me on this? After today, I promise, I’m gonna do everythin’ I can do to help make sure that this scandal breezes past you. Rocky’s got a whole team and I’ll put all my effort behind it. I promise. But, for today? I mean don’t you want to toss a ball around and go back to when we were kids? Just the two of us without the pressure from mom or dad or recruiters or college scholarships or agents? Just sing some silly happy birthday song and pat each other on the back as you try to blow out those candles that keep on re-lightin’ themselves? You don’t have to. I mean it’s your birthday after all, but don’t you want to? Even a little bit?”

“I am absolutely sure,” she said, reaching up to caress his cheek. “I love you and I think about you completely ravishing me every day, more times than I care to admit actually. We won’t lose that fiery passion and you with those magic hands. That magic…well everything else. Besides, you keep sweet talking me like this and the prospect of me letting you leave this house for a couple of days may be slim to none. I will pounce on you every chance I get.” She smirked. She loved that man, him calling her thin, even when they both knew the truth made her heart flutter and caused her smile to grow even brighter. “Much, much later.” Truth be told, she was already forgetting what she wanted to talk to him about as his lips touching hers caused her mind to muddle. Rocky tugged at his shirt, lifting it up and over his head. “Shirts in the house for you, Mister, should be fucking illegal.” Her hands roamed over his chest and down his abs. It didn’t matter just how many times they’d made that trail, she was mesmerized wotj each and every journey her hands took. 

“I love you too, baby girl,” Connor whispered back, kissing the palm that caress his cheek. His arms lacing around her waist as he pulled her closer towards him. “Is that a promise?” He asked, his grin only growing wider at every word. Dear god, did he love her. He had never loved anyone more than he did with his breathtaking wife in his arms. He loved how she made him feel strong and needed. He loved how she never ceased to amaze him and how he couldn’t imagine anyone more suited for him. He loved every bit about her right down to her adorable dimples that she’d probably get embarrassed about if he ever drew much attention to. “Clothes in the house for the both of us should be fuckin’ illegal. But, what lessons would we be teachin’ our kids if we ban them? How to join a nudist colony?” He pointed out. A deep laugh escaping his throat as he lifted his shirt up off his head and tossed it to the side before pulling himself back on top of her.

“I don’t do well with together when my wife is in trouble. I’m more of a I need to fix it for her type person. So that she doesn’t have to go through this. That’s the part of marriage and partnership I’m working on. I’m more of a spring into action kind of a person, to be honest.” Natalia heaved a sigh. “I don’t think I can get off my chest how I feel. When I’m angry and upset, things come out wrong. In the Burgess house, when you’re angry and upset, it’s prime time to start saying things to hurt each other. You’ve never seen me and Mitch in a fight. We love each other to death, but because we do, we go for the gut. And I can’t tell her how upset I am, how mad I am. No. No one can handle how I really feel. Yes there was a reason I didn’t sign up. This was the reason. I never trusted it from the second they came in trying to be all pro-supernatural. And now look. They’re just puppet masters. Manipulating people.” 

“I’ve noticed,” Connor said, giving Nat a small nudge. “I know the feelin’. Except instead of sayin’ things to intentionally hurt each other, us Kents fight with our fists. You don’t know how many times my old man and I went at it. And okay. Well how about you start with tellin’ me? You can let it all out to me and anythin’ you say will stay between the two of us. Promise. You say no one can handle how you really feel, but maybe give me some credit? What else?”

Connor was drunk. He had downed one two many drinks and wasn’t thinking straight. Or at least that how he tried to rationalized it in his head as he turned towards Mitch and asked, “So on a scale of one to ten how bad of an idea is it for me to start a dark coven? And follow up question- but if I do, would you join?”

“I will never stop being intimate with you. I love you, and I worked very hard to be Mrs. Kent. That spark isn’t going anywhere. Besides, I’ve got the sweetest husband ever, who talks me down from obsessing, and lies to me about being thin when he knows I was a whale carrying the twins. I do really want baby number three, but I’m also really enjoying just having lots and lots of sex with my man. Especially now that the babies sleep through the night.” She leaned in to press her lips against his. “So many things I want to talk to you about right now, but your lips keep attracting me to them,” she said as she kissed him once then twice. She did have so many things to say. She wanted to ask him how all of his friends were that decided to sign up for the homeland, and what he thought about it. And about his brother. But she would get to that, after many more kisses. 

“Okay. As long as you’re sure,” He said, despite the bit of apprehension in his voice. “You were thin. Just like you’re thin now,” Connor couldn’t help but chuckle. Rolling his eyes lightly over as Rocky accused him of lying. “Eh- they’ll be time to talk later. Now come here, Darlin,” Connor grinned into the kiss, looping his arm around his girl’s waist as he guided her back towards the bed.

“Hey, Kallie,” Connor said giving his baby brother a nudge as he did. The Kent men had never been very good at expressing their emotions to each other, but he did know one way to help Damien get his mind off of things and show his brother that he was here for him. “What do you say we go toss the ol' pigskin around like old times?”

“Please you are the most handsome man on the planet and in all the dimensions I’ve ever been to. George Clooney could never.” Rocky grinned when he said that they could do something fun in each other’s arms. “Oh?” she asked feigning innocence. “What did you have in mind?” She felt her cheeks heating as she chuckled at his antics.” She had never been happier than she was in that moment. “We get to share many incredible good nights and even more incredible good mornings. I get excited to go to bed because I get to be in bed with all this,” she said as her hands roamed over his abs, her lips touching his.

“Just take my fucking ‘miss you’ like a man.” Iz replied, glad he’d paused in his eating to laugh thoroughly at his best friend’s bullshit. “Down the hall, up the street, living in the fucking faerie realm. It doesn’t matter. You were missed.” Broad shoulders shrugged. “I dunno. This is a change for you just like it is for me. A good change though. I like Rocky. She’s a good woman.” And yeah, like any friend Isaiah was skeptical when Connor when he heard about her at first. But she, and those bum ass Biore commercials, wore Iz down and he quickly saw that Rocky was enamored with Connor as he was with her.

“I’m not fucking lazy. If acting’s not taking my time. Leading folks on and off the screen damn sure is. If not all of that, then I got a few people catching my attention and keeping me up from a full 8 hour night. Or whatever the doc tells you to get nowadays.” Iz snorted. “Shit, I forgot. You’re a suit now. How’s that feel?” He rolled his eyes. “This don’t count ‘cause this a free ass lunch from crafts. Oh-ho-ho shiiit.” He chuckled. “We starting Whisky Wednesdays back up?”

“I miss you too, man,” Connor laughed, grinning over at his best friend as he did. “Even if I didn’t go anywhere. So, what have you been doin’ with all your new found free time without me anyhow? And yeah. She really is,” Connor couldn’t help, but smile at the thought. He knew what it looked like at first. He knew that he seemed like a man going through a midlife crisis and not a man who had just met the love of his life, but now- it was hard to imagine a world where Rocky hadn’t been a part of it.

“Oh yeah? Do these few people got any names?” Connor practically snorted. “Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t go that far. But, it feels fine? I don’t know. I like what I do. You know that. But, it just feels like any other job, you know? I guess it hasn’t really set in. And yeah we are or will be. Stoppin’ Whiskey Wednesdays was a mistake from the getgo and you know it.”

“So let me ask you this. If she had been a stranger, if you’d given up everything and only married her because of the baby, why’d you stay so long? Did you grow to love her? What happened?” he wondered. Toni had a couple of married friends, but in that bunch he had two divorced friends and it actually made him wonder sometimes what could go wrong if you’re with the person you love. Except the story Connor was telling, it didn’t sound like it started out as one filled with love to start.” Toni grinned when he talked about his kids being healthy and having a second chance. “I think you do plus you’ve got a lot of life to live and apparently so does your wife. So you’ve got way more of a second chance than most. I’m just worried about when Isa starts back acting again. You know it’s long hours and by the time we’re home some nights the kids should be asleep already so we miss a whole day with them. I don’t know how she’s going to adjust.” 

“Cause marriage means somethin’ to me. I made vows, not just to be there for Cass in sickness and health and to death do us part, but to god as well. And I may be a lot of things, but I am a man of my word and I would have kept it too if... if things hadn’t blown up the way they did,” Connor explained with a deep sigh. “I thought I did. I thought we both had grown to love one another, but now? Now I think I always loved Cass and a part of me always will, but as for bein’ in love with one another? I’m not sure we ever were? We had the utmost respect for one another and wanted to make it work- I mean we were all we had for the most part. But, compared to what I have now with Rocky, I don’t really know if Cass and I ever had much more than that? We were each other’s best friends and each other’s family, but we weren’t soulmates. We were more forcing it than anythin’. And... she cheated on me and it broke me,” He said quietly, even though he knew it was more than that. It was the weight they carried not being able to have another baby. The blame Cassie put on herself feeling like it was all her fault. It was the empty silences and forced smiles that clung in the air around the dinner table. It was the way she pulled away from him and refused to let him touch her except for the few days she was ovulating. It was the sounds of her crying through the bathroom wall, muffled by the sounds of the shower, and knowing that there was nothing he could say or do to take that pain away. They had stopped talking. They had stopped communicating long before his ex-wife had crawled into another man’s bed. She had needed an escape from reality. An escape from the unbearable pressure of feeling like a disappointment to her own gender. And she had given them both a way out. A way out that he had never wanted, but was probably better off for in the end. “That’s true. A lot of life to constantly be referred to as an old man for,” He chuckled at the thought. “It’s going to be hard on her. I know it was for Rock. But, you’ll be there for her and you two will figure it out. Ya’ll thinkin’ about getting a nanny then?”

“See with Quinn I was a teenager and I was ready. I was reading books. I was fearless and just ready. I don’t know why it didn’t really scare me. It was just like the next phase of life. Then with Ivy, I was just excited. I’m probably more nervous to be someone’s husband than being a dad. That’s what I came to realize about my past relationships. Because I was even engaged once. But I’m very sure that that relationship even if we had moved to marriage would have ended just like it had. It was like the universe knew that there was one woman that would be perfect for me. I get it I mean Isa didn’t act this fall to be with Ivy and I didn’t take on any acting jobs just storyboarding so I could be with them too. When we get to the stage where Ivy knows we leave…that’s going to be rough. I’m more worried about Isa though. I don’t know how she’d handle that stage. How did Rocky handle it? Though I already know I saw her with both the babies on set a lot so I’m probably answering my own question.” 

“I know and it’s cause you’ve always been ready. Not me though. When Cassie and I... when we... let’s just say, I was an idiot back then. We um... we weren’t together at the time. Back then she was just some pretty freshman I had hooked up with a few times who had tracked me down during first period. I had been skippin’ class to go make out with Lana Troy. She practically busted down the damn the door when she found us. Man, she was fumin’ and then it slipped out. She hadn’t been jealous that I was screwin’ around. She was pissed cause she was pregnant. And as she rambled on about how unreliable I was and how the hell a guy like me was ever gonna be a father and I just stood there like a dumb jock, tryin’ to wrap my head around all of it. For a split second, I think I even smiled. It seemed excitin’ and good, somehow? But, then the panic set it. The how were we gonna do this? And suddenly this news that was suppose to be good, made me feel like I was about to lose everythin’. It made me feel like I had made a huge mistake and when I told my dad, he kicked me out the very next day. When I became a husband, I... I didn’t really feel nervousness as much as dread? I was promisin’ the rest of my life to a complete stranger. Givin’ up my football career and college to find a job to support the two, soon to be three of us, while Cassie still had three more years left of school. It felt like a bad dream that I just couldn’t seem to wake up from. It got better at times. Sometimes we were real good, but marriage had always felt more like an obligation than anything? And with Rocky and the twins, I had already read all the books and taken all the classes a long time back, but I guess a part of me couldn’t help, but be afraid that I might loose them like Cass and I did way back when. It feels good now though. Great even. I mean I have two perfectly healthy little kids and a beautiful wife who I’d do just about anything for and I can’t help, but feel like I’m gettin’ a second chance, ya know? I feel nervous, but excited. It almost feels like I’m that eighteen year old kid all over again. And not well. No,” Connor chuckled at the thought of Rocky when it got to that time. “I swear if I hadn’t forced her to leave the house without them, she would be trying to find a way to smuggle them every where we go still.”

“Look at you with all the compliments. I’m not a blushing man but you got me out here with the heated cheeks. She’s the best. She’s just quiet and sweet like her mom. She;s got my dimples that’s a recipe for me never saying no to her. I am. I don’t know I love kids. I was in heaven and prepared as hell when Quinn was a baby. Now I’m a little more experienced. Still prepared I think being a dad is probably my favorite thing. That and a husband. How’s my boy Pete doing? And my girl Scar? What are they up to these days? Besides probably outgrowing their clothes.” 

“This? This is nothin’ man. I could amp it up a whole lot more if you’d like? That’s funny, cause I’ve felt like I’ve been horribly unprepared both times. First with Cassie and then with Rocky. But, I don’t know. I’ve been thinkin’ recently that maybe the universe knew I wasn’t ready first time? Which is maybe why it didn’t work out? I don’t know. It’s just those twins are the best things that could have possibly happened to me, ya know? Them and Rocky. But, sometimes I can’t help, but wonder what if with the first time... And Pete and Scarlet are great. Better than great. I mean Scarlet’s already my little Princess. The way she looks at me and reaches up for me whenever I step into the room and Pete, I’m hopin’, is gonna be my little football man. But, we’ve still got some time for that. They’re both gettin’ so big though so fast. Makes me want to be at home with them and not here, but don’t tell Rocky. I think we might be finally gettin’ over the kids and her separation anxiety and I don’t want start it all back up again. Ya know? ”

“I mean yes. It is because I’d be willing to bet that you were a lot different than you are now. So your life probably wouldn’t have brought you here. Which would be a shame because I don’t know what I’d do without you. A dark musical would probably be fun. Yeah I don’t know I like the ups and downs of my career being unpredictable whether I’m acting or dancing depending on the given day.” Rocky nodded knowing that yes he’d definitely want to ask his wife because she’d definitely not want to teach a class where one party hates it. “Oh you know I’ve had my fair share of line dancing nights too I even have a cowboy had somewhere. College was an interesting time of trying really anything.” She couldn’t fight the smile she was wearing. “Like is probably an understatement. I’m pretty sure that I love him.” She hid her face in her hands. 

“Yeah. You can definitely say that and no... probably not. And yeah? I don’t know what I’d do without you, Ron, either and that it could be. At least the special effects would be fun. And I get that. That’s kinda what I loved about doing a whole bunch of odd jobs before I got here. Each day was different and typically very unexpected. That and I picked up a whole bunch of random life skills. And do you? Now that I gotta see. And yeah... I wouldn’t know. I missed out on college unfortunately,” Connor said with a slight frown as he thought back to where he had been at in his life back when he was eighteen. “Wait- love? Get outta here. You’re serious, Baker, aren’t ya? You really love him? Wow. You know I hate to say I told you so, but I vaguely remember tellin’ ya that there might just be some grant love out there for you someday and look at ya now. You’re practically glowin’,” He told her with a big smile of his own.