He knew the minute his mother showed up, his quiet life with his niece was going to be ruined, but he wasn't expecting to see the woman he gave up in order to give Mary as normal of a life as he could give her.
Set in the movie Gifted starring Chr...
AN: Hello! This is the first time in a long time that I've written a canon divergent (if that's what you would like to call a story where all I've really done is just added a character to the story) fic. I'm pretty excited about it because the character I'm introducing, Ryn Sterling, is so much fun. OH! This story will update every Wednesday and Friday (because that's important to know). ANYWAYS I hope you enjoy and I can't wait to hear what you all think. Much love!
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There are moments where it seems life is like one of those scenes in a movie where the film pauses and the main character has a voice over explaining the situation before backtracking to tell their story. Ryn Sterling was having one of those moments now. She had been interrupted during her current photo shoot to be served a court summons. She couldn't quite believe that Evelyn Adler was summoning her to a court in Florida to showcase her son in a bad light. The following day, she was on a plane, flying from Boston to Florida and being picked up by Evelyn's lawyer.
The lawyer was just as stuck up as Evelyn which meant Ryn was bored to death during the car ride. He went over what she was supposed to say and how she should paint Evelyn in a more positive light. Ryn just rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this whole situation really. Diane had called her that night and made her promise to help Frank with Mary. Ryn wasn't entirely sure what was going on but she had made the promise to Diane. She would do anything for those three. Without really thinking anything else of it Ryn went back to her gallery showing. At the end of the night she noticed that she had three missed calls from Frank and a text message from him reading: "I forgot you had that gallery thing. Call me when you can."
Of course Ryn did and at the news of Diane's suicide, she raced to her car to get to Frank's apartment. Police, Medic, and Fire were all there. Apparently she arrived not too long after Frank had gotten back from his date. A six month old Mary reached out when she saw the older woman. She squirmed in Frank's arms until he transferred her into Ryn's arms. Mary began babbling, acting as though everything was normal. That just made Ryn hold onto Mary tight. She wouldn't understand the meaning of tonight for so long. Trying her hardest to hold back tears as the meaning behind Diane's promise finally hit her, Ryn reached out and took Frank's hand. They'd be able to get through this together, she was sure of it.
She never left Frank or Mary's side after that; often taking Mary with her to her studio while Frank taught his classes. This also meant that Ryn knew that Frank was going to take Mary and disappear. Hell, Ryn was the one who gave him the idea. Mary was nearly two when she started showing signs that she was going to be just as smart as her mother. Once those started, Evelyn began voicing her opinion more and more, causing Frank to grow frustrated. "Go away somewhere, somewhere Evelyn won't try to follow and you can raise her without anyone else's influence." Ryn suggested, figuring that he'd at least tell her. That wasn't the case. Frank didn't tell her when or where he was going to take Mary and that hurt Ryn the most.
So when she was served the court summons, she was quite surprised that it was Evelyn doing so and not Frank. Then again she was sure that Frank didn't want to drag her into this, especially since when she was called to the witness stand after his initial shock he looked at her apologetically. Ryn wanted to be upset with him, he left her without so much as a goodbye but seeing how tired he looked, all she wanted to do was give him a hug.
