#roarkexa

It had been awkward standing at the door when one of his dads answered and that just kept running through her mind. Though as she stood in the living room she smiled when she saw Brody. “Hi, I uh, sorry I came over to give you this. To thank you for coming out and being witness to my crazy that day.” She held out the bag, just a small paperweight inside but she had made it. That was the important thing. “Sorry if I interrupted something.”

It honestly hurt that he was going to have to have this conversation but Lucas was glad that the time was here. It had been killing him keeping a secret like this from his kids but it had been up to Julian to tell them. That was what he had kept telling himself. But the text had come through that morning, Julian was finally telling someone else and Lucas gave his son space. Though that night it was time for him to now speak. Knocking on Brody’s door he opened it slightly, just looking at his son. “So... he told you.”

"I need a drink.” The words were all that came out of Eric’s mouth as he shrugged off his jacket, taking a seat in front of his friend at one of the bar tables. He loved his job and his life but today had been a particularly stressful day and he was ready for it to be over. That hadn’t stopped him from accepting an invitation to hang out with his best friend for the night. “Strong one.”

The best thing about the holiday season was having all of his kids home. As much as they were all growing up they would always be his babies and Lucas liked to protect them from whatever he could. Which was why it was hard for him to keep things from them. Though he and Julian had decided that they needed to tell the kids together. Instead he had thrown himself into cooking and getting ready for the holidays. He’d been in the middle of unpacking some of the groceries when he heard the door open, doing the calculations of who he had seen recently and coming to a conclusion of who was coming home. “Brody? That you, bud?”

It had been a while since he had properly spoken to Donnie and he felt bad for that. Some of it had been about giving the man space, Lucas really had no idea what he was going through. He invited Donnie in, moving around the kitchen with practised ease as he put some coffee on. “I’ve been baking up a storm so please feel free to eat anything or even take some stuff home.” He spoke, pushing down the puppy jumping up at him. “Excuse the mess though, please?”

There was a part of Lena that knew that she should have called someone to pick her up once she had arrived back home in Ashcroft but the bigger part of her just wanted to savour the last ten minutes or so she would have alone. As soon as the cab arrived she was out, sliding her key into the front door and hearing it click. Well at least that still worked, they hadn’t changed the locks on her (though she was sure it sounded like something one of her brothers would have done). Lena was quick to drop her bags at the door, stopping in the kitchen when she saw the other woman. “Oh. Hi.” Her voice was awkward and she shook her head, “Sorry. I just thought that my dad or something might be home.”

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