And it's only us (A Dear Evan Hansen single parent au)

Chapter 2

There are five stages of grief: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Connor was in isolation.

He had moved on from denial, boy, was Connor well aware of the life he and Tilly shared now, but he could barely bring himself to interact with anybody outside his family or the girls who lived next door.

He knew that to recover he needed to take small steps. Text his therapist, schedule an appointment, go back to work, anything.

At least, that's what they had made him think.

"Connor, sweetie, I know what you're going through, it's one of the hardest things to deal with, but you need to take care of yourself. Staying cooped up inside all day is not healthy for you or Tilly,"

Connor was at Charlotte and Cordelia's home for the afternoon. They had coaxed him to leave his bedroom and come for tea while Tilly spent time with Cynthia and Larry.

"I know, Dee, I know, but you don't get it! It's just... it's so hard and I can't-"

Before Connor could finish his statement, a weight fell onto his shoulders. He felt the edges of a pink throw blanket on the back of his neck.

The touch was welcome and warm. As he coiled the fabric around himself, the tension in his body seeped away and he could himself exhaling his frustration.

Looking up, he saw a gentle smirk on Charlotte's face as she watched him quickly relax. Of course, only she would know the best grounding techniques.

"I understand, Connor. I've got you. You're safe with me and Dee, okay? You don't need to do anything you feel you can't right now, but, at least try to reach out to someone." Too drained to argue back, Connor nodded.

"Have you talked to your therapist since the accident? Dr. Sherman?" Charlotte inquired, raising an eyebrow. The answer was clear, anyone could know that, but she was praying her intuition was wrong.

A soft, low mumble of the word 'no' came from the figure trapped within the comforts of the wool blanket. "I want to, but... I just can't seem to do it. And I know that I'll have to if I want to start recovering and judge me all you want-"

"Connor sweetie, neither of us would ever judge you for that. It's a long path to healing and you need to go at your own pace, that's all that matters. Tilly can't afford to lose another one,"

Connor's head snapped up when he heard the familiar name, confused by what she had meant. "What do you mean she can't lose another one?"

Cordelia sighed and took her friend's hand into her own. "I mean that she already lost Evan, if you never recover from this she's going to lose you too, and this girl has already lost one father. You need to be there for her,"

It took a minute of silence for the words to truly sink into Connor's mind. They were right, he had to stop moping around and try and help himself move forward on the path to recovery.

"Shit," he muttered, glancing at the clock on the wall in front of him, "I need to pick up Tilly from my mothers, I still have to get dinner ready and all that too,"

"Oh, yeah of course honey," Cordelia lifted the fabric off of Connor's shoulder and helped him to his feet, "go take care of her and tell her DeDe and Charlotte say hello! And if you need absolutely anything just call one of us, all right? We're right next door after all,"

After his second shoe was tied, he went up to Charlotte and hugged her as tightly as he possibly could, doing the same with Cordelia and receiving a kiss on top of his head.

Once outside, he shut the door behind him and stopped. He dug around in his pocket until he had a grip on his phone and took it out, opening his contacts and clicking on a certain one.

It rang twice before a man answered, his chipper voice coming through the speakers.

"Dr. Sherman? It's Connor. Is there any way we could schedule an appointment for this week?"

"Hello, Connor! Sure thing, I can take you tomorrow afternoon during your regular time if you'd like,"

For the first time in a while, Connor genuinely grinned. "That would be great. Thank you, Dr. Sherman."

Maybe this was the start of recovery the girls were talking about. Hopefully, it was, and maybe, just maybe Connor thought, he could do this, one step at a time.