𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 ~ 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧

𝐅𝗼𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐎𝐧𝐞

Sebastian was bored out of his mind. Ellie was outside playing with Dodger, so he couldn't have funny conversations with her. Scott and Chris were at school. It was just him and Lisa.

She had disappeared into another room and still had not returned, leaving Sebastian overly lonely. He wanted to go home and get his art supplies, his books. But, Chris was very much against the idea and refused to let Sebastian go. Sebastian understood why, but it still angered him. He could handle his father. He had done that by himself for almost a year. Didn't Chris get that?

"Here we go." Lisa says suddenly, plopping down beside Sebastian with a box in front of her. "Time to shine."

Sebastian giggles. "What?" He asks.

Lisa grins and pulls one of the books, a photo album, from the box and places it into her lap. "Baby pictures, honey."

Sebastian gasps. He snuggles into her side, resting his head on Lisa's shoulder as she begins to flip through the pages. They were absolutely hysterical. All of Scott and Chris, playing, in the bath, covered in food. Sebastian's heart was swooning.

There was one picture that Sebastian couldn't stop staring at. It was a picture of Chris, chocolate cake covering his mouth and chubby hands, and it looked like he was laughing. It reminded Sebastian of his own childhood, before everything went wrong.

They look at photos for hours, Ellie racing inside and joining them, ravishing in all the attention. She loved it when they got onto her album, giggling as Sebastian coos and awes, pinching her chubby cheeks.

"This one." Lisa says, flipping the page and pointing at a picture. "Is my favourite."

It was of Chris, a little older, maybe ten or eleven, chasing Scott around in front of a lake, carrying Ellie in his arms.

"Awww." Sebastian whispers. "That's so cute. They're all so close."

Lisa smiles. "They've always been so close. It's weird, but nice, cause the only fighting we get is play fighting." She responds with a laugh.

Sebastian smiles softly. "That's nice."

Lisa looks over at him. "You okay?" She asks. "I don't mean to be a bother, you just seem a little bit upset."

Sebastian waves her off. "It's okay. I'm just thinking about when I was having a rough time on the trip, Chris told me to think about my happy place." He explains. "At the time, things weren't good at home so I said I didn't have one. He said that was okay and that I could share his. He explained this picture."

Lisa sighs. "Yeah," she says. "Chris always talks about his grandparents lake house like it's his safe place. We are actually heading there this weekend if you would like to join us?"

Sebastian's eyes widen. "R..really? You want me to come?"

Lisa nods. "Of course, honey. Your part of the family."

"Even though Chris and I aren't together anymore?"

"Even though you aren't together anymore." Lisa whispers, kissing his temple and ruffling his hair. "Wanna help me get dinner started?"

Sebastian grins. "Sure."

Ellie leaps up from her seat and races into the kitchen, Lisa following. Sebastian stays on the couch, looking at the very picture that helped him to feel safe in a time of pain and fear.