CHAPTER 27

      The airplane bound to Los Angeles took off some minutes after Carly and her son Teddy had boarded together with the rest of the passengers. It was the first time Teddy had been on a plane and his excitement made her heart melt and smile with joy, for a moment forgetting what was awaiting her back home. She was a grown up now but that didn't mean that she wasn't scared of what her parents would say to her and her son. 'We told you so or you are rebellious' were some of the statements she knew would definitely pass around. The second one had every truth in it but she hated when the first one occurred. She didn't like being reminded of some of the terrible decisions she had made.Being in the wrong was not something she liked,ever since the first time she had broken up with Dylan. Oh yeah,the name opened a new window of questions in her head.Where was she now?Did she continue with the graphics and design course she had taken back in college. Was she some famous artist with overflowing contracts to decorate people's houses and everything? Was she married? 'No,no,don't go there.You broke her heart and that marked the end of the line for you.' She pushed the thought away,then,was she even in Los Angeles anymore? She has been some years back when her brother Carl still agreed to talk about her.He had stopped over the years,he had actually refused to discuss her and Carly knew he had been mad at her for breaking up with her.She didn't consider that talking about her with him felt like betrayal especially because Dylan had gotten closer to Carl during college.Now she knew he must have been annoyed because at times it felt like she was still holding on to her despite being married to Gavin.Yeah,she had asked about her several times during the first years of her marriage.

          "Mommy,how long will the flight take?" Teddy asked excitedly.

           "I'm not sure sweet pea.It might take a while. You will fall asleep even."

           "No I won't, I wanna see everything from up here."

         "You can't, we are so high in and we are not allowed to open the windows," she replied and he frowned in disappointment. His little mind must have been working the whys and she smiled. "You can play video games on the little computer though. You love them,they will keep you occupied and the flight will not be boring."

   His face lit up with excitement immediately.He shifted his attention to the computer but only concentrated for a few minutes then turned to her.

       "Will uncle Carl be waiting for us at the airport? I can't wait to see him." Perhaps this wasn't the day to try and distract him with video games. She knew she better be prepared to answer every one of his curious questions. It was a good thing because she would not have much time to have unnecessary thoughts.

      "Yes,he will be there." He settled down for a while with a contented smile. Carly observed him.If not for the blue eyes and blonde hair he had gotten from Gavin,he really looked like her brother, especially the smile which tended to come out like a small grin.She used to make fun of it when they were younger but it became his most iconic attractive feature when they became teenagers.Her son would probably be the same way. 

         "Hey,we are now leaving Australia forever, are you gonna miss it?"

  He pretended to think as if considering the question then shook his head,"No,I will only miss going to the park with you and visiting aunt Carol.She's always so nice to me."

       "I'm gonna miss her too.What about Allie,you had a lot of fun together these last two days."

      "We are going to call all the time. You promised that, didn't you?"

       "YesI did," she replied then another question came to her.She however hesitated before asking fearing that she might awaken emotions in his son's mind.It was a topic they rarely touched and at times she felt like it was unhealthy, like they were supposed to be able to talk about it without much pain.At least for her there wasn't any but she wasn't sure it was the same with Teddy. She had divorced his father out of anger and hatred and that must have affected him especially when he stopped seeing him and it name like he forgot about his son.Up until this moment, she hadn't asked him how he felt about the leaving, specifically how he felt about leaving his father behind.

          "Sweet pea?" she called him softly. Teddy turned to her and gave her an innocent look, "Are you going to miss him?Your dad I mean."

   Teddy shrugged, "Not really. He left me and now I am leaving him.He doesn't miss me,why should I miss him?"

    Carly hadn't expected such a question from him.She was right,he carried much more than it seemed he was capable of carrying. It wasn't the first time he had asked a very heavy and unanswerable question such as this. He was really intelligent for his age which only made her prouder of him.

         "Will you miss him?" he asked when she seemed lost in thoughts.

         "No I won't." She answered truthfully. The question seemed to have toned down his excitement a bit because he pulled his head phones over his head and went back to his game without another word.Carly observed him for a while but he didn't look up,not even once to celebrate completing a certain level of the game like he always did.That bothered her and she wondered if he was really being truthful about his father's situation. No kid ever took his of her parent's divorce lightly and her son was no exception.Except that his attitude was a little alarming and much different from any she had ever seen. She almost wished she hadn't brought it up because Teddy remained silent for the rest of the flight but she knew it had to come up at some point. She might have avoided it for much longer but then that would make her a bad parent.

      She sat back and closed her eyes and the soft whirring of the plane carried her away from the present world.She travelled deep down and back to where it all began. Back to grandpa Carl,back to her middle school years when she was nobody then slowly forward to where she jumped from being  innocent and bullied to a mean cheerleader and to breaking hearts.The more she grew,the more her terrible person part increased even without realizing it.Now in her late twenties,she felt like what had happened to her in Australia was some kind of punishment for all the bad things she did to hurt people in her younger years.Whether physically or emotionally, payback was coming.Deep down she heard her mother's voice warning her,‘If you go with him you will be preparing your own grave site.He's a bully and has a history of violence. He has no empathy, why can't you see that?’

    She remembered thinking that her mother was just being the pain in the ass she had been with Dylan at first and she had not listened.

       ‘If he has no empathy,then how comes he manages to love me and treat me well?’ she had argued.

       ‘Do you have any idea where he comes from?Who his parents are? ’

       ‘It doesn't matter, they are dead and he's only here for a break from his normal life back in Australia. His parents' death was a major blow to him and he needed some time away.He's now going back and I'm going with him,whether you like it or not.He loves me and I love him.I'm going to marry him!"

      Carly woke up abruptly, or rather snapped out of her string of memories quickly as a hostess serving soft drinks in a cart tapped her a little bit firmly.

       "What?" she snapped then gained her composure and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, I was spacing out."

 The hostess smiled sweetly, "It's okay,I noticed.What will you have?We have wine and fresh fruit juice."

         "A glass of wine for me and one of orange juice for the man please," Carly said and pointed to his son.

        "He already ordered for himself while you were sleeping."

         "Oh," Carly turned to him and found him smiling with his juice box next to his mouth.She turned and smiled, " I guess I slept on parenting duty.Thank you."

          "No problem," the hostess replied and made as if to leave.

         "Excuse me,how far are we now?" Teddy asked innocently and Carly looked down in embarrassment.

         "Thirsty more minutes until we land," she replied then walked away to attend to the other passengers.

          "Sweet!" Teddy said excitedly and Carly shook her head.At least his sour mood had blown over.

               ★★★

    It was just a normal day back in Los Angeles and just as normal at the Los Angeles Police department. Well,if you could call reporting multiple number of murder cases in the same town normal, then you are there.The place was a beehive of activities as the officers and detectives tried to keep up with everything, files,reports and investigations.

      Dylan Lewis walked confidently into the room with her usual cup of coffee in her hands and a bag of bagels. Even though she was still just an officer,several of her workmates still feared her for her no nonsense,keep it business every second appearance. Or maybe because she had grown to become the chief's favorite.No one thought that it was unfair, she did worked  hard and closed her cases on or before time, properly and thoroughly investigated before submitting but still,she was intimidating despite being a mere twenty nine years old.

     As usual, she headed to her desk and pulled her chair. She always had her breakfast while working on a case,never took the time to eat first.She considered that a waste of time. Today though didn't seem like a normal day like the others.The person she found waiting at her desk meant there would be a slight change in her usual schedule, whether she liked it or not.What made her question the visit though as the timing.Carl always came to do what he called,'rescue her from her miserable life' in the evenings, not early mornings.

        "What are you doing here?" she asked as soon as she sat down. "I'm beginning to think it's becoming much worse."

       "Relax,I'm not here to whisk you away from your work even though I wish I was.You are overworking your pretty head."

  Dylan smiled, "Don't be cocky with me.You know I can now blow your head away in a matter of seconds."

         "Tough,just  threats," Carl replied in the usual playful manner they had gotten used to. 

         "Seriously though, what's up?"

Carl sighed and held her gaze,"It's my sister." He paused to see her reaction but her face remained the same.Just a slight questioning look.

         "What about her?" Dylan asked.

        "Don't be mad,I know I should have told you earlier about this but I didn't know how to."

        "Is she okay?" She asked trying not to sound alarmed.

        "Yes she is," he replied and hesitated for a moment before adding, "And she's coming back to Los Angeles."

         "You mean will be coming back soon?" she asked after a while.

       "I mean like, she's probably on a plane heading here as we speak.I'm supposed to pick her up later at the airport."

   Dylan thought for a while. Her heart had skipped the moment he mentioned Carly.They had stopped talking about her years back and now,out if nowhere here he was with these shocking news.Seven years since she had last seen her .She however pretended they hadn't affected her.She shifted slightly then asked the only question that came from her head.

       "With her husband?"

       "No,they are no longer together but she's coming with her son."

  She looked away from him for a moment then nodded and shrugged, "Then it is what it is." She knew she was lying to herself about it but she didn't want to show that she wasn't okay with it.How could she prevent it from happening anyway?

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