SPT; The Anchor to Betweenness (being rewritten)

TBI: Chapter 35

"Daddyyyyy!"

I practically jumped on him the moment I saw him, all decked out in his hoodie and jeans. He stumbled and fell back into the guy who had driven him, apologizing and quickly standing up. He hugged me tightly, our faces buried in the crooks of each other's necks.

He released a huge breath, one of the hands on my back slowly reaching up to my head. I held him tight feeling all my stress dissipate the moment I smelled his cologne. It was the one thing he liked that Mom let him use.

"I missed you," He said softly, voice barely a whisper. I turned and pressed a big kiss to his cheek, pulling him back so I could see him.

A little paler than he was when I last saw him, his cheeks were gaunt and features thin. His eyes matched mine, a deep chocolate brown. His hair was a lot darker than I remembered, but he was who I'd gotten my color from; not black, but more of a brown black.

"I missed you, too," I replied, feeling a genuine smile make its way onto my face. He returned it, leaning down to kiss my forehead before looking behind me. Warmth reached his face, "Hello, Hart. How are you?"

I stepped aside and turned around, watching as Hart hesitated before coming over and hugging him as well. Dad gave me this look of surprise, clearly not expecting the lack of flinching and tension that Hart almost always had, before hugging Hart back. His hair reached his shoulders now, lacking the wave that I'd also inherited from him.

God, I'm so glad I look so much like him.

Hart stepped back after a minute fidgeting as he glanced off to the side, "Uh... good. Pretty good, surprisingly... you?"

Dad shrugged, averting his eyes to the ground. "It's been, uh... okay. She's tasked me with shoveling, so... I'm occupied."

"What's with the night shifts?" I asked, "She never takes those." His face said it all; a mixture of regret, anger, and something completely lost took over his expression. "She's cheating on you, isn't she." He nodded, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. I threw an arm around his shoulders, kissing his cheek before leading him off, "Come on. We don't need the cunt in our bonding time." He gave me a grateful smile, eyes following Hart as the boy walked ahead of us. Hart now walked a lot more confidently, steps still deathly silent but posture showing his lack of fear. Sure, he would always flinch when people touched him--at least for now and years to come--but now, he wasn't glancing around, looking like a doe in headlights. He knew his father couldn't hurt him ever again.

"He seems a lot better than... when I last saw him," He said to me. I gave him a droll stare, rolling my eyes the slightest bit. The last time they saw each other was when Hiram was in the hospital, dying. I couldn't take it anymore and called my dad and he sat with me while the army wrestled Hart out. He was a little amused, having been in the army himself, but also seemed to realize how much strength Hart had to have five army men holding him down. They were sweating by the time Hart got a dose of SPT get him to stop.

Well, his second dose of it. Once I learned that, I vowed to never ever make Hart angry.

"Well, yeah," I said, and instead of continuing what I was going to say, I stopped. I knew full well that Hart could hear us loud and clear if he was paying attention. "Oh, that reminds me... you kinda missed everything that happened today, yeesh. And the past few year, ha." He gave me a small smile, then his full attention shortly after, "So, Stephanie is pregnant."

"Really? Good for her!" He paused, "Uh... still Derek?" He had reservations about Derek, everyone knew. He didn't like that Derek could possibly lash out, given that his anger management was so bad he had a record of fights in school. Like, a big long record, and a reputation of winning every single one purely from angry adrenaline.