Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 83 ||

Before any of them knew it, the day had come. The day that Maisie had dreaded. She might have told Alex that she was ready, but the closer the day came, the less she believed it. She went to school and found Alex waiting in the hallway. Maisie dragged her to a far end corner and greeted her properly with a kiss. After being held by Alex for a minute, swaying left and right, the bell rang and they started moving towards their classroom.

"So how are you doing, ready for later?" Alex asked with an arm around Maisie's shoulders, keeping her close to give her as much comfort as possible. Only god knew, she needed it. The stress filled sigh that left Maisie's lips, wasn't the first that day. "I'll be fine...I think" Maisie said, followed by another sigh.

Later on, in the day, both Claire and Owen were at home. They were expecting Maisie and Alex any moment now. Owen was on the floor with Charlie, playing around with her, as Claire watched from the couch. She wore a confused and concerned look. Even though it wasn't that obvious, Owen noticed. With his eyes still on their three-year-old daughter, he asked "What's on your mind?". Claire was taken by surprise and quickly sat up straight. A quick exhale squeezed through her lips before she answered. "Just Maisie..." Owen nodded, understanding why Claire would be nervous for their girl. "Why do you think she is so stressed about this? I mean it doesn't seem normal" Claire then said standing up to go join them on the floor. Owen shrugged and looked up at his wife. "Maybe there's more behind it than she's letting on" He said while keeping his eyes on her. "There must be" Claire said and reached out to stroke some loose hairs out of Charlie's face. "Well...whatever it is, they're supposed to arrive any minute now...I guess we will find out soon enough" Owen said and reached a hand over to caress her knee with his thumb.

Five minutes later, the front door could be heard opening. No voices were heard but there were more than one pair of footsteps. Claire quickly stood up and brushed her hands over her thighs before bending down to pick up Charlie. The toddler was looking around confused, trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. "Maisie home?" She then asked. Claire smiled at her little girl "Yes and a friend" She said, not bothering to go into details with a three-year-old.

Owen planted himself half behind Claire, in front of the entrance from the hallway to the living room.

Maisie appeared from behind the wall the next second with Alex right behind her. Maisie wasn't sure where to look. At her mom, at her dad...at Alex maybe? Perhaps the floor was a better solution. She ended up looking between her parents with the speed of light and with a terrified look on her face. She tried to hide it, at least a bit but it was impossible now that the time had come.

She tried to figure out the look on her parents faces, what they meant and if they were good or bad. The surprise was very clear but she couldn't figure out the rest, which scared the life out of her. She quickly cleared her throat, as her eyes dropped to the floor. "Mom, dad...This is Alex" She said and gestured with her hand, while her eyes came to look up. She quickly looked up at her parents for a brief second, to see if their expression had changed, which they hadn't. She swallowed quickly and took in a deep breath. "My girlfriend"

The silence that followed, only lasted half a second but Maisie could have sworn the world restarted about five times. It was like she lost all hearing, lost all her senses. Like she got swallowed whole by earth itself. When she finally came back to it after what felt like five years, her mom reached a hand out for Alex to shake. It took Maisie by surprise, in a good way. "I'm Claire and this is Charlie" She said and looked at the three-year-old who was currently chewing on her hand with a bubbling smile on her face. "I'm Owen" Was the next thing Maisie heard, followed by her dad and girlfriend shaking hands. "It's nice to meet you" Alex said with a genuine smile on her face.

Maisie looked between the three with shock. Feeling like she was daydreaming, because of the trauma of being kicked out of the house. But she didn't get kicked out. Everything went better than she could have ever dreamt of. She was thrown out of her endless chain of thoughts, by her mom. "Maisie sweetie, are you okay?" She asked concerned and Maisie could see on her mom's face, that she felt sorry for her and all the stress this had caused. The nightmare of thoughts that had showered her brain over the past week.

She smiled up at her mom and a small giggle left her throat. "I'm more than okay" She said and couldn't help the rest of the giggles that came out.

Claire felt like Maisie had had enough and perhaps needed a break. "You two can go upstairs if you want to. I feel like you need it, Maisie" She said with a concerned smile and a tilted head. Maisie smiled back with a nod, before she spoke. "No, you said you wanted to get to know Alex...so I'm not dragging her upstairs yet" Maisie could feel Alex eyeing her from her left with that adorable smile of hers, which she was pretty sure was turning into a smirk but she couldn't quite see unless she turned. Owen shrugged and nodded with a smile. "True story" He said and put a hand on Claire's back to lead her to the couch.

Maisie and Alex were left standing in the middle of the room for a second, before following them to the couch. Maisie ran her hand through her hair on the way and licked her lips, as she exhaled and took in a deep breath. A lot happened in the few seconds it took to walk to the couch and Alex clearly heard and saw it all. Because when they sat down, she put a hand on her back and send her a quick reassuring smile.

"I don't know if you know this Alex, but we weren't exactly expecting a girl" Claire said jokingly. Owen chuckled next to her and Maisie looked down at her hands, trying to hide her smile. "Oh, I knew" Alex said with a smile. "Sorry" was the next thing that was said. Maisie looked up at her parents. "I really am" Claire and Owen looked at each other quickly to confirm that they were thinking the same. "For what though?" Owen asked, having at least two reasons why Maisie would be sorry, but not knowing which and if either. "For not saying" Maisie then said, biting her lips together. Claire tilted her head at her daughter with a sympathetic look. "Sweetie don't be, we understand" Claire said and saw Owen nod, out of the corner of her eye.

I guess this chapter answered the comment on the last chapter, asking if Alex was a girl. Well here you go.

If I offended anyone or lost readers or what not because of this, I'm sorry to say it, but I don't care.

This is my story, I write what I want to! And what some people consider as 'wrong', I don't.

I hope the people who don't find anything wrong with all of this, enjoyed! <3

Sorry for the long wait as well! My apologies

Side note – I know there hasn't been much Clawen recently, no worries though – It will be back soon enough.