Everyone's Got Problems

[Taniya_K]

Awwwww! That's so sweet! But at the same time...

Ooooh, something tells me that this chapter isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows

Update whenever you can. 'Stuff' is always time consuming, we know. Well, not really, but yeah...

xoxo

[xknomex]

OMG that last line actually made me shed a tear!!! that was brilliant!! cant wait to read the rest!

Dont worry about it! update when you can!

ahahah "stuff" :lol:

xxx

[wrongturntaken]

I am sooooo sorry about the delay in updating. But i'm afraid it's still going to be quite irregular like this for a while. I'm really trying to concentrate on uni at the moment. But a found a few spare minutes to finish this off. I'm not completely sure about the plot of it and how it happens but i hope you like it anyway. Thanks for the comments once again!

Chapter 35.

His father, who he hadn't seen or spoken to in twenty years, was now stood at his front door. He gaped in silence, mouth slightly open and a look of absolute shock plastered across his face with a hint of worry evident in his eyes. Larry looked oddly better than the last time Aden had seen him; some twenty or so years ago. Though his hair was now white, he looked cleaner somehow, more tidy. "Pleased to see me?" Larry asked nervously.

"Uh," Aden breathed out, unsure his voice was actually working. He coughed to regain it, "What are you doing here?"

Larry shrugged, "I got out," he explained simply.

"I know," Aden replied, narrowing his eyes, "…but what are you doing here?"

Larry sighed nervously, "It's been twenty years Aden… I was hoping that maybe you might consider us speaking and seeing each other again."

Aden sighed, finding this unexpected situation hard to deal with, especially considering he had had no warning, "I… I…"

"Aden, I don't know anything about you. You've kept me out for twenty years… you have no idea how hard that has been…"

Aden's eyes widened at his father's words, "Don't you dare guilt trip me," he answered; relatively calmly for the anger that had just riled up inside him.

Larry's eyes copied his son's in shock at the realisation of what his words had implied, "No son, I didn't mean…"

"…and don't call me son," Aden added with distaste. "You can't just turn up here after twenty years and expect me to say hi, how are you, would you like a cup of tea? Do you have any idea how unfair this is?"

"Yes," Larry answered him firmly. "Yes I do …because believe it or not, it wasn't easy for me to come here Aden. It would have been easier to stay away, yes. But that's not what I want, I want my son back. I want all of my sons back. And I know there's a part of you that wants a father too."

"I had a father and his name was Roman Harris."

A slightly hurt expression appeared on Larry's face that caused no twinge of guilt from Aden, he was not ashamed to admit that he felt that way about the man who had been practically a saviour to him. "No matter what I've done, I'm always going to be your father, Aden," Larry begged him and then a look of confusion appeared on his face, "What do you mean… Had?"

"Roman died last year," Aden told him plainly, not wanting to get into it any more than he had to.

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry… he was a good man," Larry condoled him.

"Yeah, he was," Aden said; pursing his lips and crossing his arms, taking the defensive stance for some form of emotional protection.

"Aden, all I'm asking for is five minutes. Please? I just want to know how you're doing…" his biological father practically begged.

Aden sighed and looked to the ceiling as though asking it for an answer, "Okay, five minutes."

Larry breathed a sigh of relief, "That's fine, thank you," he said hurriedly.

"Come in then," Aden said, moving his body to the side to let his father pass. Surprisingly; he didn't.

"Ah," Larry said nervously. "There's something else."

"What?" Aden answered him sharply; the sight of his father had put him on a short fuse and he was becoming increasingly impatient.

"There are a couple of other people here who want to see you."

"Who…?" Aden asked; unable to think who could possibly want to see him that knew his father. A sense of curiosity was fighting his will power to stay defensive towards his father as he unfolded his arms.

Larry paused, "Your brothers."

"…my… my brothers?" Aden exclaimed, emotion draining from his face as he didn't know how to take this new information. "They're here?" Larry nodded, "I've rebuilt a connection with them and we were hoping you might want to try and get a relationship back with us," he explained hopefully. "We could be a family again…"

"We were never a family, not without Mum…" Aden told him in a low voice. "…I haven't seen Justin in twenty five years, Dad," the noun sounded strange on his tongue, he hadn't realised he's said the word until it was floating around the air. A smile lit up on Larry's face, obviously from the address he had just received. "…and I didn't even know Sean was out of prison."

"Well, Sean was in and out and then we ended up in the same prison a few years ago, I told him about you, how you dealt with everything and it inspired him. He turned his life around. I told him to come and see you when he got out but he said he wanted to wait for me."

Aden was unsure why a sudden overwhelming sadness had overcome him. Perhaps it was the fact that as much as he wanted to pretend his biological family didn't exist, they did and he had just been struck by the thought he had missed out on twenty years, "…and Justin?"

"Sean couldn't face you but he apparently found Justin," Larry explained. "They came to see me and visited a lot. We got back some kind of relationship, it's not great… but it's good…," he smiled gratefully at his youngest son.

Aden nodded slightly, unable to quite believe what he was hearing.

"So you want to meet them?" Larry asked tentatively.

Aden hesitated before offering a curt nod once more, a little more determinedly this time, and even added a small smile to the concoction of actions he was doing to portray his confused emotions, "Okay."

"I'll go and get them."

Less than a minute later and there were three men stood at Aden's door, he wouldn't have recognised them at all had he not been able to look into their eyes. Justin's were baby blue, he looked a lot like Aden apart from the brown hair compared to Aden's fair. In fact, it was like Aden was looking at an older version of his own son.

"Aden, you look great," Justin smiled as he saw his younger brother and held out his hand to shake.

Aden was speechless but held out his hand to his older brother mindlessly, feeling him squeeze it slightly.

"Hey little bro," Sean spoke nervously as Justin stood back again. He looked basically as Aden remembered, just older. With curly and mildly long hair. He was thinner than before and seemed a little off balance with himself. Less of the arrogant forward attitude that he'd posessed when Aden was a teenager.

"Not so little anymore, am I?" Aden let a small smile appear on his lips. There was an awkward silence before he coughed and broke it. "Would you like tea… or coffee?"

"Coffee would be great, thanks," Justin answered and Aden nodded before turning his attention to the others.

"Yeah same please," Sean smiled.

"Tea for me thanks," Larry said, a little more enthusiastically now Aden had let them in the house.

"Okay, come through to the kitchen," he gestured for them to follow him.

They took seats at the stool as Aden pottered around with the kettle.

"So…" Justin was the first to speak. "What do you do?"

Aden put his coffee in front of him before answering shortly, "I'm a counsellor."

"Really…?" his older brother responded in surprise.

Aden just about saw the proud smile on his father's face as he put his tea in front of him.

"That's amazing son," Larry commented.

"Thanks," Aden said modestly.

Yet another silence hung between them as they all took prolonged sips of their drinks. Justin was apparently the one who couldn't stand it, "…do you work at that… um," he faltered as he tried to remember. "…the Drop In Centre I think it's called?"

Aden nodded.

"Didn't that say In memory of someone called Jamie Taylor-Jefferies, is that something to do with you?" Sean recalled and spoke to Aden cautiously.

"Yeah," Aden said quietly with another nod of his head.

"Taylor-Jefferies?" Larry said as a slow smile grew on his face, "You married Belle?"

A genuine smile appeared on his face as he nodded at his dad.

"She's one hell of a girl, you did well mate."

"I know."

"So you knew this 'Belle'?" Justin asked Larry.

"Aden's been with her since he was eighteen, well as far as I know anyway…" he looked to Aden for confirmation.

"Yeah, we've had our up and downs, but we've always got through," Aden told them with an on and off smile.

"That sign said 'in memory of Jamie', who was Jamie?" Sean asked inquisitively.

Aden's smile completely disappeared, "It's what we called the baby of Belle's first pregnancy… it was ectopic," he explained slowly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sean apologised. "I should have been more sensitive."

"Don't worry about it… anyway, what about you guys, I don't know anything about you. Married? Kids? Job?"

"One at a time!" Justin laughed slightly.

Aden let out a light laugh, "Okay, so what do you do?"

"I'm a real estate agent," Justin told him. "And I was married, but we're separated now," Aden noticed he looked a little down about that. "...and I have two kids."

Aden smiled, "What are their names?" he asked with genuine interest.

"Toby and Natalie," Justin answered with a bright smile on his face, "Toby's 10 and Natalie's 6."

"That's really great," Aden told him sincerely. "What about you Sean?"

Sean shrugged awkwardly, "I'm sure Dad told you I've been in and out of prison. But I've been to anger management classes and I've been legit for a good couple of years now."

"That's great," Aden reassured him. "So what do you do?"

"Whatever I can get really, I don't have any qualifications so it's a bit hard to get a proper salary job, but I'm thinking of going back to school."

Aden smiled at him before turning his attention to Larry, "…and Dad, what are you going to do now?"

"Any job that'll have me and that doesn't involve going anywhere near alcohol. I've been clean for fifteen years but I'm not risking it."

"Fifteen years?" Aden asked him in shock. "That's… really good. You all seem like you're doing well anyway. So when you finished your drinks can you leave?"

"What?" Larry asked; almost spluttering out his tea in confusion.

"I invited you in so I could find out more about you, I missed out on twenty," he looked at Justin, "twenty five years, and I was curious. But I'm not ready to forgive you yet… …any of you. So please just leave."

"You said yet," Sean caught on to the word. "Does that mean you might talk to us once you've had a chance to think?"

Aden shrugged, "I don't know Sean."

Justin narrowed his eyes as he tried to think what to say, "I just realised we didn't talk about it before but you said your wife's 'first' pregnancy, does that mean you have more kids?"

Aden sighed before responding, "Yes."

"Then maybe our kids could get to know one another. We missed out on twenty years, but they don't have to; whether they know each other or not, they're still family. Maybe we should give them the chance to be?" he pleaded.

Aden looked at his brother contemplatively, "I don't know. I just need time to think, please?" he added politely but the sound of the door opening interrupted them.

"Dad I'm home!" Tess called as Aden heard the door open and close.

"Dad?" Larry said quietly; looking at him with a proud smile.

"In here Tess!" Aden yelled back. "Are Mark and Tyler with you?"

"Your memory really sucks," she called back. "Mark has footy practice and you asked Tyler to wait and drive him home cos you were gonna be busy and Mum…" she paused; somewhat confused. "Why did you say Mum couldn't do it?"

Aden rolled his eyes as a very small smile appeared on his lips, "Because it's her last week at work so she has to go in everyday."

"Oh yeah," Tess sighed in realisation.

"Can you come in here please?" Aden asked; wondering what she was doing out there that was taking so long. The family that were stood in the kitchen looked at him gratefully as they realised that they were going to get to meet her.

"One sec, I'm just going to take my bag up to my room… so you don't yell at me for leaving it where everyone can trip over it."

Aden smiled, "Good, but hurry up."

The four men heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs before Justin spoke, "You have a daughter?"

"Seems like it doesn't it, otherwise a random stranger just walked into the house," he said sarcastically.

"You don't have to be spiteful Aden," Justin said as though slightly offended.

"I don't have to be anything," Aden answered him harshly. "I don't even have to talk to you if I don't want to. Especially considering this is my house," he sighed before relenting. "Yes, she's my daughter and you'll meet her any second when she comes down here," he informed them as he heard the footsteps coming back down the stairs.

"So, what did you want?" Tess said as she walked into the room, her eyes on the floor so she didn't immediately see they had company. "Oh… sorry, hello," she greeted them politely as she looked up.

"Tess," Aden started nervously. "This is my dad, and my brother's Sean and Justin," he gestured to them as he introduced them. "This is my daughter; Tess."

"I thought you didn't talk to them," Tess said in a quiet and surprised tone to Aden; ignoring their presence.

"I don't," Aden brushed off the comment with a light laugh. "They showed up here out of the blue."

"Are you alright?" she asked her father; lowering her voice further.

He laughed lightly again, "Thanks Tess," he said, but she wasn't deaf to the fact he hadn't answered her question. "Anyway, they were just about to leave," he looked back to Justin who was looking at Tess oddly.

"She doesn't look like you Aden… at all," he said rather rudely.

"I'm adopted," Tess answered for him.

"So you don't actually have a daughter?" he directed the question at Aden as though it was the most normal thing to ask.

"She is my daughter," Aden said; a look of anger now clearly on his face directed at Justin. "Now get out."

Justin hesitated awkwardly before offering an apology, "Aden, I'm sorry."

"I don't want those kinds of attitudes in my house, so leave," he ordered firmly.

The older man nodded, aware that they had overstayed their welcome as all three started towards the door, looking apologetically over their shoulders.

They heard the door close and Aden turned to Tess, "I'm sorry."

"It doesn't bother me," she answered with a shrug. "I know that you're my dad. That's what's important."

Aden smiled and pulled her into a hug, "Thank you… I love you."

"I love you too… …Dad," she smiled at him.

Please comment! x

P.s. Sorry for the cheesiness of the ending!

[MrsL]

I loved that chapter, it was really well written.

Wonder what they are all doing back? Hmm up to no good?

Loved the fact that Tess checked Aden was OK so cute and the fact that Aden was so defensive about Tess.

Really good. Looking forward to the next update whenever you get the time.

[xknomex]

firstly.. That was the best surprise!!! I had the biggest grin on my face when i saw you updated!!!!!

That was such an amazing chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved how it wasn't just Larry, how it was everyone. so good! I liked how you explained where they had all been.

I really thought Aden had randomly forgiven them all for a minuet but sooo clever the way you showed he just wanted to find out what they had all been up to.

at Justin saying that about Tess!! Of course she's his daughter!!!!!

Cant wait for the next update!!

dont worry about irregular updates, uni is important and its getting to that point of the year where its all exams lol were just happy we get updates

that was sooooooooooooooooooo good!!!

eek

xxx

[Taniya_K]

Ooooooh, update! So glad you did, too. What a fantastic chapter! Not only Larry being back ,but Justin and Sean too! Whoa!

Loved the way you wrote all their feelings and thoughts, esp Aden's and Tess', through their actions and words. That was brilliant.

Don't worry about the updates. I get excited whenever you update! And uni defo comes first so yeah..

Cannot wait for more, when you do get the time to write!

xoxo

[LAURZY!]

BRILLIANT!

Loved that you brought all three of them back

Not impressed with him saying that Tess isn't Aden's daughter

You wrote them all so well!

Dont worry about when you can update, Your updates are totally worth the wait

Really looking forward to reading more, no matter when that is!

[Inactive User]

Loved the chapter-Good work

Can't believe Justin's comment about Tess.

Update soon

[Lise]

Nice chapter!

I like that you've bought all three of them back. Tess coming home was a nice touch, although Justin's outburst was a bit rude.

Tess is such a sweetie worrying about Aden.

[Jody]

This was certainly an interesting chapter.

I would have been happy with Aden if he had reacted in so many ways. Stay mad and refuse to deal with them at all, let them in but still stay a bit shaken up throughout, or be civil but not ready to plan outtings and family diners just yet. Any one of those would be understandable and fine. But you do not invite someone into your house, act civil like you're actually willing to make an effort, make them feel like they are actually welcomed and then once you got the imformation you want basically say 'okay I got what I want now leave'. What an arrogant little thing he acted like with that line and after. Any sympathy I had for him went straight out the window with that. At that point he wasn't still in shock, he wasn't provoked, he just decided to be petty and childish. Aden's 'I don't want that kind of attitude in my house' had me rolling my eyes. He was the one turned what was a civilised conversation into what it became. And not just with his 'now leave' line, to think after that they were still grateful to him for letting them meet his daughter, but with his sarcastic comment after Justin asked the simple question 'You have a daughter?' before they met Tess and his comments after Justin told him he didn't have to be spiteful. It's a shame that Tess had to hear Justin's questions about her but at the same time I like how blunt he became when dealing with Aden. It was definitely mean and insensitive of him but I'm glad he stopped bothering to show any respect for Aden or care if he was being rude or not to him(it's just sad that Tess had to hear it as well) because it's not like being civilised was getting him (Sean and Larry) anywhere. And it was certainly wasted on Aden.

I liked Tess here for a bit when she came into the house. Her non stop talking was fun to read. She seemed very teen-like there. It was a nice change from how she usually is.

I also liked Larry here. He seemed like how I would have imagined him. I like his line about coming here was hard for him as well.

I don't feel we got enough information about Justin and Sean yet to make me decide whether I actually like them or not. But bringing them in (as well as Larry) was definitely a good thing. I'm interested to see how this plays out. I do hope that even though they want to be apart of Aden's life they aren't going to just take whatever he throws at them and let him treat them which ever he likes. I love Aden but one of my biggest issues with him is when people treat him like a saint, whether he is in the wrong or not.

Aden's 'Roman was my father' nonsense was laughable. But then again I always find those kind of things laughable. Theres only a few occasions where I find someone saying that to their parent warranted. Most of the time it just comes of as bratty, childish and a naive thing to say. In this situation Larry may have been a failure has a father when it counted but it was always clear that he loved Aden with everything he had. And the only reason he ended up the way he did is because, unlike Aden, he didn't have a Roman and Belle to save him and support him. IMO, unless you're parent is a monster who never showed any love for you, and treated like dirt, you don't just decide that you don't consider them your real father/mother because they aren't some perfect being. Not saying that Roman wasn't an important adult figure in his life but that doesn't make his father.

Don't worry about the delay this story is always worth the wait. Even though this review probably makes it sound like I didn't like this chapter I actually really enjoyed it. It gave me lots to look forwrad to. I can't wait to see how all this plays out. And what Belle's take on this is going to be.

Please update soon.