Screaming. Ciaras appearance upon the Watson household was met with instant screaming. Arlo was currently in the process of carrying his uncle over his shoulder as he screams poetic words such as-
"IM GONNA FUCKING KILL HER THE FUCKING RAPIST" and "WHAT DID I SAY WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU SHOWED YOUR FACE HERE AGAIN. DONT YOU DARE TOUCH THE KID"
Normally calm Quigley was also filled with rage, Arlo was confused. He had never saw his father look so numb, he had never seen his uncles so angry. His eyes met with Ciaras who had the same colour, an ice blue, he silently wondered who she was and why on earth his family had such a strong reaction to her existence. He had never saw her in his life. The young boy would be lying if he said he didn't slightly fear her.
Joe was confused. He recognised Arlo but not enough to remember his name "Uh. Girl i thought these were your friends."
"I told you. We ended on bad terms" Ciara said nonchalantly with a roll of the eyes "So none of you are dead. i can leave now."
"YEAH. YEAH YOU BETTER FUCKI- wait what" Robin was silenced, he promptly climbed off of his nephews back, he was much smaller than he was so nobody was harmed. "You're just gonna…leave?"
"Yeah. Just wanted to see if Jake died. Was hoping he didn't." She's staring Arlo down while speaking. She knows exactly who he is. No they've never met, never seen one another, but she knows that look. She knows that messy dog like hair and scared expression.
Arlo was scared of Ciara.
Ciara loved it.
"Boo." She said as she raised her fist with a bubbly tone and a toothy smile. This made Arlo flinch, but equally put him in a fit of giggling. It was funny, an innocent lighthearted moment.
Robin quickly stopped this joy "Arlo move back don't speak to her." He's put himself in a fatherly role, He assumes jake is in shock and he can see that Quigleys too angry to think rationally. He is in full protection mode of his brothers son.
Arlo was eventually dragged back with a strength he didn't think his dad even had and then his view of any of this was instantly blocked by nothing but the back of his dad's head and the back of the far too expensive Irvin flight jacket that Jake wore every day of his life as proud as if he'd personally worn it in World War Two.
Not being able to see anything past his dad, Arlo turned his attention to the two lads he'd seen before, the brunette ran an assembly once for year ten on LGBTQ history month that he didn't pay much attention to and the ginger one was basically infamous for hallway fights last year but now does photography for the schools social media, huh, guess people can change
He wanted to talk to them, but he was too scared.
This is unlike Arlo, he's a social butterfly, at the age of 7 he somehow acquired 4 girlfriends and dumped them all just so he could have a boyfriend. He then cried to his dad about it because he didn't actually like Taron, he just didn't want to be homophobic and stop the 'tradition' of same sex relationships in his family.
Right.
Let's run that back a little.
What a weird thing for a child to think right? Well, not really.
Imagine. You're a child, you have an openly bisexual father, a transgender uncle, two lesbian grandmas, and on top of that every single family friend is somehow on the LGBTQ+ spectrum? Of course he's going to be scared that he's ruining his family by being straight. Funny plot twist right. An even bigger one is that he himself is bisexual, when he told his dad his love life issues at the age of 7 he laughed and gently explained that he could be or be with whoever he wants and just to make sure they don't hurt him.
And that was that.
But anyway, he had the confidence at 7 years old to say he had a boyfriend and was met with some hate, but eventually people just decided "Well. That's still Arlo and he's great" So he kept most of his friends.
That's the type of confident kid he's always been. Just to now be stood infront of two older boys, having no idea what to say. He wants to be their friend, but is too scared to even try.
"Hey.. your house got burned down right?" No, no no, Arlo what are you doing, "Sorry, i'm Arlo. Same thing happened to me. Look" Before he could stop himself he points behind him at the ruined remains of his house. He knows how horrible this is. He is begging himself to shut the fuck up. "I mean, i don't have any clothes anymore and i'm down two grandparents but hey, new house right?! that was a piece of shit anyway, it was…uh….old and stuff...…" He gulped. silence.
That was the worst interaction he's ever taken part in, and he was the only one speaking.
He didn't mean to glare at him, honestly he didn't, be knew he was just a kid, one he'd even seen around before, kicked a football back to once in year 11 but Devin just couldn't bring himself to smile at the person that's just used the destruction of his own family home as a conversation opener.
"Right." Is all he says squeezing his boyfriend's hand a little bit too tightly which joe recognised as both a 'get me the hell out of here' and a 'I'm about to lose my shit' hand squeeze and promptly stepped in.
"Yeah hi sorry, uh, Andy is it?"
"Uhh it doesn't matter"
"Okay yeah, fires a pretty touchy subject right now you know that right" Arlo nodded, Joe continued "So could you like. not?"
"Yeah no for sure so sorry dude" He wanted to die. In that moment. He wanted to find a match, douse himself on gasoline, and light himself on fire. Arlo would be content with if he died in the fire instead of Jen and Heidi.
Jesus christ. What was he thinking.
As if satan himself heard the call, loudness with one statement erupted from infront of Jake. Ciara had yelled for the first time in a while.
"What the fuck dude?! I know you aren't saying i'm not even allowed to say HELLO to MY CHILD?! What?! 14 years wasn't enough for you?! i cant say hello to my baby?! Court gave you custody cause you LIED on the stand and now a bitch can't even say hello?! What have you been telling him about me Jake?!"
Arlo paused. All embarrassment was suddenly lost and he felt normal again, his head spun around "WHAT?!"
Ciara was oblivious to the fact that he could hear and carried on "God FORBIDD a bitch wants to meet her son"
"Get…the FUCK away from my house and _my_ son before I call the fucking police" Jake snapped both his face and tone stone cold as he kept one unmoving hand tightly around arlos wrist behind his back.
The police are quite literally in their house.
"I bet you caused the fire whore! i'll put a bomb through your letter box see how you like it then!!" Robin spat out at her, Ciara was confused. She quite literally just wanted to be nosy and check to see if anyone died and is now being accused of arson? what?
"Dude. i just wanna know who died. You guys are acting like someone died"
"My nan died" Arlo speaks to her again despite his families anger, he's going to give her a chance until he has a reason not to. He has no idea who this woman is, but she's his mom right? That means that at some point, Jake would've had to have loved her… Right? Maybe. Right. So if his dad thought that once, he's willing to give her a chance because, well, he always trusts his dad.
"Which one?" Ciara asked, her interest peaked, i mean she hated them both but she liked them at some point. She silently hoped her favourite was still alive.
"Both"
"FUCK"
"This is ridiculous" Jake starts, "and it's *not* happening, you need to leave and take your-…" he trails off as he meets Devin's gaze which is still less than pleasant. He looks the poor boy up and down but Devin doesn't falter. Disgusted, Jake turns back to the woman,
"you're sick."
"What?! what have i done now- i am quite literally just-"
She stops. She realises what he means and takes a long pause, looking between Jake and Devin shaking her head quickly "No. No NO. This is not what this is- he's a fucking kid for fucksake!!! Jesus Jake what the fuck man?! We are 7 years apart do NOT paint me out as someone who dates 16 year olds at 50. You can cry and scream what you want but dont FUCKING cry rape cause the court says different."
Sadly. What she said was true. The things she did to Jake were never counted under rape, just assault and battery charges, that's why she was let out so quickly.
We all hate this argument. However, this truly stands in this situation. If the roles had been reversed. If a 23 year old teaching assistant drugged and impregnated a 16 year old girl at a party then proceeded to abuse and manipulate her and other people around her for a year. That man would be jailed for life.
But she wasn't.
And she's proud of that. She's not remorseful, Ciara just doesn't want to spend another day in prison. That is the one reason she doesn't hit the people she abuses anymore. She sticks to manipulation.
"I didn't rape you. We were drunk. It was a PARTY. You're the one. That didn't wear protection. Did you tell Arlo that? Since you want to paint me out as some evil wicked bitch let's share our sex life with our kid. True family bonding. If you want to get into it we can"
Her words are cruel. That's not what happened, Jake wasn't "drunk", he was a 5'9 fat kid that didn't really party. He was maybe tipsy. What did happen though, is that Ciara had spiked/roofied his drink. Then. The rest is history.
Robin scowled, he couldn't believe that she was lying this much and putting Jake in such an uncomfortable situation and confusing Arlo. He couldn't just stand there and watch this happen
"You're a liar that's not what happened-"
Ciara cut him off "You can't just cry rape when you cheat on your boyfriend or get cheated on Robin!!" A small smile crept on her face "You get cheated on enough i thought you'd know that by now"
"You fucking bitch" he said calmly before he promptly charged at her, he had reached her this time. Nobody stopped him. Since they're around the same height and both physically the same strength it wasn't that much of a fight really. Just screaming, slapping, hair pulling.
Arlo's soft expression turned to a blank cold one, his eyes looked like his mothers. He now didn't care for this woman at all. Knowing that he laughed with her, smiled at her, wanted to give her a chance after knowing all of this now, he wanted himself and her dead.
The boy gently tugged on his fathers sleeve and looked up at him with an awkward white boy smile, he was so angry, but, he couldn't let his dad think it was his fault.
"I love you, and i believe you, just please don't tell me about your sex life." He silently hoped that was enough to calm his fathers nerves, he silently hoped his dad still loved him. It's just crazy, all these years, all these clues about his mother, about how his dad didn't want to ever mention her because she just wasn't a good person, Arlo just accepted that. He didn't need a mom, he already had everyone he needed. But just to actually see the woman, to know that he only exists because his dad was sexually assaulted, is haunting.
Looking at Ciara makes him feel sick. He doesn't want to look at her anymore.Arlo doesn't want anyone to look at her again.
The 14 year old picked up a brick and walked towards his uncle and his mother, she was on the floor and Robin has her pinned down. Arlo tapped Robin on the shoulder and he looked back slightly, looking at the brick and seeing Arlo's expression, he looked empty. Like the youth inside of him was gone. Robin was now looking up at a young man, and one question flooded his mind. What the fuck is he going to do with that brick.
"Hey bud, you…alright? what you got there little guy." He spoke nervously. Arlo just stared at him "Get off her."
Robin knew Arlo wasn't going to hit him, that's why he was scared. He did not want ciara to fuck up another young boy, even if that means that young boy being jailed for being the one killing her. Robin whisper yelled at his nephew, who was being unreasonable. Robin knew it was his fault for being a bad influence so he tried his best to stop the inevitable.
"Psst dude, put the brick down, not infront of the cops okay? You wanna be a nobody like her?"
Arlo dropped the brick. Robin had guessed right about what he was about to do.
Jake gently took the brick from his hand, it wasn't hard, all it took was a simple "c'mere baby" to have him crumbling back into his fathers arms, it was a welcome whole site for all four people stood watching….hang on….four?
"Dev?" Asked Joe when the other was no where to be seen
Arlo simply just melted into his fathers arms, he was shaking, he was terrified. He was truly about to kill a woman. He's never felt horrible emotions that strongly and he was scared.
"Am i like her now?" He asked with a small voice, from what Arlo's saw, he absolutely does not want to be like her "I still want to kill her dad" he squeezed onto him tightly.
Arlo always feels emotions too strongly, the difference is, those emotions are usually happy. He's often told by his peers that he's hurting them when he squeezes them for too long in a hug. His strong emotions have never been a flaw, until now.
"I-i-i don't wanna be like her dad- how can i stop it- i don't wanna hurt people- i don't wanna hurt you- what if i hurt you- fuck….fuck sorry i'm not allowed to swear- i'm sorry….i'm so sorry.... i'll leave you alone and move out when i'm 18 i promise i'm so sorry you're stuck with me-"
As soon as Robin heard Arlos little 'Am i like her now' he had jumped off of the woman and was at his side "Hey, hey kid, look at me"
Arlo didn't look. So Robin held his face gently to make him "The fact that you feel bad, means you're nothing like her okay?" That calmed Arlo down. He gave his uncle a small nod.
Ciara was still on the floor, staring at the scene in horror, she was shaking, her legs scooting herself away. She saw Arlo as a baby, as her baby, no different to when she held him in the hospital room.
Seeing a literal child she's never met, terrified, clinging onto his dad begging for his forgiveness, not hers, after him attempting to murder her, humbled her in ways she could never describe. Ciara had no intention to harm the boy, she was being friendly, she wanted to meet him, seeing the generational destruction she's caused to one singular family was almost enough to make her become an entirely new woman. It wasn't enough though.
Because after all of that, she still. Only felt sorry for herself. A silent tear from her fell onto the pavement, nobody noticed, nobody cared.
"Baby," Jake wiped a tear from his sons cheek softly, "I'm sorry." He said sincerely, sitting back on the wall so he and Arlo were eye to eye, "you shouldn't have heard about any of this especially not like this, but your hearts in the right place yeah? Remember what we talked about, we're allowed to feel angry and we're allowed to be protective over people we care about but it's my job to protect you, not the other way around, yeah?"
Jake pulls his boy into another graciously accepted hug and arlo nuzzled his face against the slightly rough sheep fur of that infamous flying jacket. Jake stroked and softly kissed the top of his head, "it's you and me baby, you'll be okay, I promise."