Family Stories - the Sequel

chapter 36

still Saturday, 1st October -> Katie's birthday

Owen: 58; Amelia: 52; Luca: 23; Leo: 16; Lily: 16

Ryan: 27; Katie: 27; Riley: 10; Ian&Connor: 8

Liam: 25; Robin: 24; Victoria: 6; Audrey Blake: 4; Madelyn: 10 months

Finn: 25; Dennis: 24; Mason-Anthony: 2

Ruby: 25; Ethan: 25

Mira: 20; Harriet: 21; Eva-Maeve: 3

---

"Hey, I'm sorry for calling you up here.", Robin sobbed after she had opened the door for her ex-boyfriend. He had a spare key, but whenever his best friend was home, he would wait for her to actually let him in instead of just intruding.

"Hi, it's okay.", Liam insisted, wrapping his arms around the brunette, and gently stroking her head. "Go lie down, I'll take care of Victoria.", he promised. "And then I'll take care of you."

"You really don't have to do the second thing you named. Calming down our daughter is what I need you to do.", the twenty-four-year-old replied. She was experiencing a major headache right now and that coupled with their oldest child not cooperating made her reach her limit.

"I am already here and not leaving overnight, so I might as well make sure you're getting better, Robin.", the young redhead pointed out and offered his ex-girlfriend a smile before he walked straight towards their six-year-old's room.

"Daddy, what are you doing here?", Victoria's eyes widened upon seeing her father. He raised his eyebrows, signaling her that he wasn't amused by her behavior towards her mother.

"Making sure you're finally going to bed since it's way past your bedtime, Angel.", Liam answered firmly. He sighed as he sat down next to her on the edge of her bed. "What's going on, Vicky?"

"What do you mean?", the small brunette questioned, playing innocent, not aware of the fact that she couldn't fool her dad until he patiently looked at her, waiting for a real response. "I'm angry...", she mumbled. "And sad."

"And why is that?", the twenty-five-year-old urged his kid on to continue and share her fears. "I think you're kind enough to let your words speak rather than your actions. Mama is really sad too, you know? And she isn't feeling well, which isn't your fault, but it makes it harder for her to be as patient with you guys today as she usually is.", he explained softly.

"I didn't mean to make her sad, but you did too, Daddy. And you're acting like it's okay that you did. Like it doesn't matter. When we were a happy family like everyone else, everything was great. But then you made mama sad, and I don't understand why. Why don't you love her anymore?", Victoria wondered, finally bursting into tears the same way her mother had earlier.

Little did they know that Robin was standing behind the door, listening in. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she wanted to find out what was wrong with her daughter. And now that the topic had shifted to Victoria blaming Liam for leaving her, she couldn't just go to bed.

"I do, Vicky. I love your mom very much and I keep falling in love with her every single day since she and I met. But sometimes, two people loving each other is not enough. Relationships require work, understanding, and compromises. There's one major thing that we simply cannot agree on. And trust me, we tried. I want to tell you that things are different and that we can be the happy family you so badly desire and deserve, but it's just not that simple.", the young redhead answered, sounding very sincere in his sadness.

"But it was simple with Lydia for you.", the six-year-old kept arguing, sniffling in the meantime. "I don't understand why you moved on so fast and loved her then instead of mama."

"Lydia...was a distraction. That is the only reason why it was so simple with her.", her father tried to explain his actions and scooted closer to his daughter to wipe her tears off her cheeks. "Look Honey, I also want it to work between your mother and me. But I need a little more time to figure this situation out by myself. Getting back together would mean that one of us has to choose to give up their will and while I am trying to get ready to do so, I cannot just snap my fingers and make it work."

"Okay Daddy, but please try as hard as you can.", the little brunette finally gave in. "Will you stay here until I fall asleep?", she begged. Her dad nodded and smiled at her, lying down next to her to snuggle Victoria.

Robin stepped away from the door and did what she had been told. After listening to her ex-boyfriend open up to their child, she had newfound hope. She knew that Liam would never lie to their kids to get them to calm down.

He always took as much time as it needed to explain everything to them from a young age on and she really admired him for his patience. He was the best father the twenty-four-year-old could ever have imagined for her children.

And now, after hearing him talk so lovingly about her still, she was beginning to hope that after all, maybe there was a chance for them. That they could fix their family and become a happy couple again.

---

Owen: 58; Amelia: 52; Luca: 23; Leo: 16; Lily: 16

---

"Mom?", Lily walked into her parent's bedroom, where she knew her mother would be working on her desk. Owen was at the hospital since he had been paged earlier. Luca and Leo were in the older one's room next door, waiting there in case their sister needed them.

"Yeah, Baby?", Amelia said, turning around to her daughter to grant her her full attention. She noticed how the sixteen-year-old was nervously fiddling with her fingers and staring at the floor. "Let's go sit on the bed.", she suggested softly, realizing that this seemed to be serious.

"I...uhm...when...when you were already gone yesterday...", the young brunette began with tears in her eyes and swallowed heavily, feeling a lump form in her throat. "Can Luca tell you?", she sniffled.

"Honey, you're worrying me. What happened?", the neurosurgeon questioned, scanning her daughter's body before she locked eyes with her. "Are you hurt?", she asked, but Lily just shook her head. "LUCA!", she called for her son.

Both her sons came into the room and while Luca rolled to sit in front of his two family members, Leo immediately sat down next to his sister to embrace her. Amelia's heart broke at the sight, because now she was very sure that something had happened.

"What happened yesterday?", their mother asked. "Lily cannot tell me, so she wants you to do so.", she shared, looking at her twenty-three-year-old. All three of her kids seemed to be super sad.

"Robert tried to seduce her and touched her against her will.", her son informed her and noticed the way his mom was starting to shake. "Ethan's brother had seen the way Lily didn't want to be in the situation and talked to him, so he and Liam ended up saving her."

"Where did he touch you?", Amelia wondered, focusing on her daughter again. "Not that it matters because he shouldn't have done it anywhere without consent, but I just need to know. Where did he touch you? And what else did he do to you that you didn't want to happen?"

"Cheek, back, hips, butt.", Lily sobbed, not able to currently form any coherent sentence. Her mother wrapped her arms around the sixteen-year-old and comforted the teenager until she had calmed down a bit. "Nothing worse happened, he just flirted with me other than the touching, because Liam and Ethan were there."

"Thank you for trusting me enough that you told me. Do you need anything?", the brunette asked. Her daughter shook her head. "Am I allowed to speak to your father about it? Maybe you want to do it yourself?"

"You can.", her child mumbled, wiping her tears. "I didn't want to tell you at first because of...because of you know who.", she shyly admitted. "I didn't want you to get reminded of him."

"Baby, you can always tell me anything. All of you can.", Amelia emphasized, also taking her sons' hands in hers. "What happened to me should not influence what you want to tell me. I need to know such things.", she let them know. "I'll never let him take over my life the way he did back then."