Little Gaskarth

Part 15

Rian's POV

"Come on Kiddo, lets go take a break upstairs..." I suggested based of the look Alex gave me. I felt bad for Char but grin to myself knowing Alex and Jack would handle this. I held her hand as we made our way up the stairs and into her room.

It still wasn't a "kid's" room yet but Alex will take care of that. The paint was a neutral tone and just felt like a guest room.  It's one of the exciting parts, making up a room for her.

"Is Alex gonna send me to grandma's house like mommy used to?" Charlotte asked, looking up at me.

"No sweetheart, no ones gonna let that happen. You're stuck with us..." I laughed the last part as I picked her up tickling her and then putting her onto the bed. She giggled at me shenanigans.

"You know, you're always safe with us. No ones going to take you away or separate you and Alex... we're all fighting for you Charlie." She grinned at me when I said that.

Charlie seems to be adjusting well to living with Alex, she was really comfortable around the house. Alex seems to be doing well too, honestly I didn't think he would. It's a big job that he can't walk away from when it gets too hard.

"I wanna get down..."

"Okay," I agreed helping her down from the bed, definitely something that needs to be changed. The bed in her room is a little high for her to be climbing on and off by herself. Charlie started walking across the room when she stumbled over her feet and fell but what was strange about it was she didn't catch herself with her right hand. She pulled it to her chest as she fell, like she was babying it.

"Oh..." I called rushing to her side and picking her up. I expected her to cry honestly but she didn't, I looked her up and down to make sure she wasn't hurt and she seemed fine but her right arm worried me.

"Char does this arm hurt?" I asked holding her right hand up for her to see. She thought for a second.

"It hurt a long time ago..." she answered pulling it towards her. It all made sense in that moment. It was probably an injury that no one treated and that broke my heart.

"I'm sorry Charlie."

"Ri, she's gone now. You two can come down now." Alex called upstairs ending her and I's conversation.

"Okay sweetheart, let's go downstairs and have a snack." I suggested, she nodded and put her head on my shoulder. We walked down stairs and into the den where we were met with Alex and Jack. I looked at Alex as if telling him "I know something" and he nodded back. I felt bad for Charlie, we don't know much about how she lived but we know it must not have been easy.

"Come here kiddo... it's okay. We're not going anywhere, you're staying here with us. Don't worry." Alex smiled softly, attempting to comfort her. He took her from my arms and into his, she put her head on his shoulder.

"How about we do a snack and some coloring, sweet pea?" I asked knowing Alex had gotten her some crayons, she giggled at the nickname.

"Well not to brag but snacks are kinda my... specialty, so I'll handle this." Jack grinned reaching out for Charlie, she smiled at him. Alex pasted her over to Jack and the two of them went into the kitchen.

"Alex, please tell me you told that women where to stick it?" I sighed, bringing my hands to my face.

"In much better word..." He chuckled.

"Who does that? Shows up uninvited and unannounced, thinking you'd just hand her over?"

"That women never liked me to begin with..."

With that Alex and I went into the kitchen, we found Char and Jack sitting at the table with the crayon pack open. They were looking at all the colors, and the names. It was cute. She would pull one out of the box, examine it and the ask him for the name. He would tell her the name on the side and the general color group it was from.

"This one... It's called cornflower? It's blue." Jack spoke fiddling with a dark blue crayon.

"This ones blue too!" She cheered picking up a similar color, we all nodded.

"What's this ones name?" She followed handing him a black crayon.

"Well, it's black... and it's called black..."

"That's not creative." She commented looking at different colors, we laughed. Then she picked up a red colored crayon and investigating it.

"This one is the same color as Alex's tattoo!" She held the crayon like a trophy and pointed to Alex's hand with its rose ink.

"Yes it is Charlie! That's red." I smiled.

Alex then went to grab some paper for her to draw with, I watched as she tried to miniver the colorful wax in her hands. She would pick them up with her right hand but anything needing pressure went to her left hand. Once Lex returned with paper, Jack immediately jumped into drawing. As if he was showing her how to.

"Can you draw a line?" He asked, picking up a red crayon then drawing a line. She thought for a second looking at her choices, she picked a purple one. She studied his work, and then tried her hand at it. It was shaky but not in the way of a "kid's drawing" in the way of drawing with the wrong hand.

"Good job, ever drawn a circle?" He continued, she nodded her head.

"Show me, I don't remember how to." Jack grinned ear to ear, he was loving this.

"Rian, what's your favorite color?" Charlie asked looking over at me, it pulled me from my thoughts, I looked at the pile in front of her and picked a green one.

"What color is this?" I wondered aloud just wanting to see if she knew.

"That's green! We lived with a girl with green hair once... her name was Amy. She was quiet..." she smiled at the memory she must be having. How many people did she live with well her mom was around?

" Charlie did you move around a lot?" I asked, she nodded.

"Yup Mommy and I went on a lot of adventures! We slept on peoples couches, in her car, and sometimes with guys only for one night though... Those guys we never really friendly..." She took her kid on one night stands?

"Really?" Jack asked, she nodded with a smile she doesn't understand now but one day those wouldn't be fond memories... I looked at Alex who had a sad look on his face, if he knew... he would have helped I'm sure of it.

"Hey why don't you try with your other hand kiddo?" I suggested, she looked at her right hand. Almost unsure of it, as she placed a crayon and closed her hand around it. She tried to draw a circle but it looked almost painful. She quickly dropped it and pulled it to her chest.

"Does that hurt?" Alex asked, Charlie looked to both sides and thought but quickly shook her head.

"Does it? It's okay if it does." He comforted standing from his chair and walking over. Alex took her hand into his, lightly squeezing different parts. She flinched and pulled it away, almost getting mad. He looked between Jack and I, we stayed still.

"Did someone hurt this hand, baby?"

"I don't wanna talk about it Alex..." she whimpered.

"It's okay Char... I'm sorry that happened..." He picked her up in an attempt to make her feel better. She cried into his shoulder.

I think we all wanted to cry.

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AND WE'RE BACK BABY!! Sorry it took me so long, but here we are now. Thank you for all the reads, votes, and for saving this to your public libraries. Welcome to all our new friends! It's very nice to meet you.
- Ryet <3