Closed Difficult Conversations

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn was visibly nervous as he brought Charlie home. It was never a difficult journey but it felt like it took all too long. He let Charlie head into the house and resisted the urge to get that bottle of fire whiskey out and down at least a glass. The man just, despite how it had gone with Cassi knew he had to do this. He was aimlessly stood in his kitchen until he decided better now than ever. "Charlie? Can you come to the kitchen, there's something we gotta talk about," he called out to his son and then sat down. He had prepared a few items he'd bring out to help him with this, though Celestyn had no idea what he might need or how this conversation might go. He knew what he sort of wanted to say but wasn't sure if he'd be able to. And really at the end of the day, he wanted it to go well for Charlie and his own sake. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie liked school, really, but he always loved being home again. Even if it was only for a minute. He had just dropped his bags and fallen onto his bed, letting out a heavy sigh of relief, when he heard his dad call for him. Stretching, he groaned and deflated a moment before getting up. "I'm coming," he called, kicking off his shoes before padding out in his socks to see his dad sitting at the table. He walked over and slid in across from the man, smiling tiredly. "Whats up, dad?" He asked, curious what would have his dad looking like that. "Did you get fired or something? You look tense," Charlie offered up, tilting his head curiously. "You're not taking me back to your moms house, are you?" He asked, feeling nervous at the thought of it.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn knew of course that seeing him be a little more serious would end up with a lot of questions so, he let Charlie ask them and then gave a little smile. "Nothing like that bud," he assured him. Then he took a long breath and gave a little smile. "I love you, okay, you're my son, remember that, and what I say changes nothing about this, but, your birth mother has been in touch," he started, he took a little moment to let that settle before continuing. "I know we haven't often talked about it, but when you were born, she wasn't in a good place to look after you, and I was. We also weren't an item or anything. Now she's in a better place, and she would like to meet you," Celestyn stopped, "How does that make you feel?" he would start slowly, introduce each idea one at a time. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie raised a brow, surprised by how his dad was starting out. Okay, this should be interesting. He thought to himself, then blinked in surprise at his dad's words. His what? He sat there for a minute, stunned, still processing as his dad continued. He listened as his dad went on. He was silent for a few moments as his dad finished talking. "Ohhhhkay...." He started, slowly, trying to piece together what his dad was saying. "So... my mom?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, um... alright," He looked at his dad, and gave a slight smile. "I mean sure, why not?" He tried to explain it. "You don't need to be nervous, dad. I'm not mad or anything. I mean, sure, I'm curious. But I'm... happy, I guess? It's cool that she came back." He got up and moved to the fridge, grabbing a can of soda.

"So what you're saying is, you had a fling with my mom, and she couldn't take care of me, so she gave me to you?" He asked, for clarification. "That was a good idea. Does she travel or something? Have I met her? What's her name? What took her so long to come back? Does she like, hate you or something? If she's mean to you I won't talk to her either," He babbled, settling back in and opening his can.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn nodded and watched with some nerves as Charlie reacted. He was as calm and collected as Celestyn had assumed he would be. Of course he'd worried that this would go horribly, but he knew his son well, had raised him, hopefully well enough for it to not go too badly. He wasn't sure if he should correct it slightly. "She travels a lot for work," he started. Before smiling as he concluded that if she was mean then he wouldn't want to speak to her. Celestyn was lucky to have a loyal son. "Her name is Cassi, she was the one who called you Charlie," Celestyn paused, trying to figure out the best way to continue.

"Honestly, Cassi and I barely knew each other at the time, I didn't even know she was pregnant. A social worker just turned up with a four day old you at my door and I took you in. I'd always wanted to be a dad," Celestyn knew this was a little delicate, that he wanted to make sure Charlie felt wanted and loved. "Cassi reached out to me about you because her nephew's boyfriend spent time in the system, time which I gather was not good, and she wanted to make sure you were okay. She might've reached out one day, but that was her prompt," Celestyn stopped, he hadn't answered if she was nice or not figuring that could follow this. This was a lot of information and some of it wasn't perhaps easy. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was almost amused that her name was Cassi. Cassi, Celestyn, Charlie. He could see the theme. He sipped his drink, smiling as his dad talked about taking him in. His smile faded a little as he talked about why his mom had reached out. "Well, that's cool that I have a cousin. Curious about the boyfriend. It sucks that he had a rough time in the system." He thought over the things his dad had said, sipping his drink.

"She sounds like she cares about things. Like she didn't think she could take care of me, right?" He clarified. "So she gave me to you. And that worked out awesome." He smiled. "And when she found out the system can suck she just what, showed up here? That's cool, that she would check on me like that." He sipped his soda. "You're being kinda dodgy about it though. Do you like her or something?" He asked, curious. It was more of a guess, but that would be cool, if his mom and dad got together. If she was nice, anyway. But he didn't think his dad would like her if she wasn't cool.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn nodded as Charlie took it on more of what he'd said. He didn't want to speak over him as he's going over the different parts that he had said. He didn't want to speculate about the boy or how he was doing. He nodded "Yeah, I think it would've been hard for her," Celestyn agreed, "It did work out amazing," he said fondly looking at his son. It had worked very well for him and he was always thankful for Charlie in his life. "Yeah, she wanted to see how you were, but obviously you were at school...so we started talking...," Celestyn told him and then gave him a little smile. "We've been spending time together, hanging out...as friends...., would you want to meet her?" Celestyn asked with a little nervous expression, he didn't want to add any pressure of his relationship to Cassi, to how Charlie felt about this situation. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie smiled back at his dad. He could tell the man was nervous. Charlie wasn't usually good at showing emotion, but he set his drink down. He leaned forward, setting his hand down closer to his dad, but didn't quite touch him. "Dad. Meeting her should be cool. If you like her, she must be nice." He gave his dad his best smile. "Relax, would you? I'm fine. I don't have anything to be mad about. We have a good life, don't we? I like my room, I like living here. I've never missed having her here because our life is good. I've never had anything to miss. Having her back now, well, if you like her, then that's just more in my life, isn't it?" He asked.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn felt reassured by Charlie, he didn't know why he expected this to go a lot worse than it had, perhaps his own relationship to his mother and her re-introduction into his life as a teen hadn't gone well, but he could admit he hadn't had the same support from his father that Celestyn was always trying to input with his son. "We do have a good life," he agreed with an almost shy smile. "If at any point, when we spend time with her, if you feel...wrong...or unsure around her in a negative way, we'll always be able to leave," he assured him. He wanted to press at this point that no matter what he'd be here for him and would always take his side over hers. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie smiled back and rolled his eyes again. "Let's just get it over with already, jeez," He laughed lightly. "When can she come over? Or are we going somewhere to meet her?" He asked his dad, curious now about meeting the woman. He didn't want to wait too long to do it, thinking it would be interesting if nothing else.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn gave a little smile and had a fond expression. "We're not going to meet her now, the timings haven't lined up well, but I'll have her write and we can then go for lunch or something during your longer break, how does that sound?" Celestyn offered. He wasn't sure he'd find the time now for it, and he wanted Charlie in part to get used to the idea before they did anything else. In case he ended up having more questions or worries. "Now, tell me about your semester? Hows your violin playing coming along?"​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie almost pouted, but nodded at his dad's words. "Sure, sure," he agreed easily. He blushed as his dad brought up the semester, looking away. "Oh, um... it was good," he rubbed the back of his neck, sitting back. "The violin is going well." He blushed and peeked up at his dad. "I, um... actually went to the Yule Ball. With a date... Bern. He's... cute?" Charlie shifted nervously and stared at a tiny hole in the cieling. "And, er... at the beginning of the semester, I thought I liked another one of my friends... Parker?" He looked at his dad. "He's... sweet, but he doesn't pay attention to me at all. And Bern... well, he was sweet and we had fun..." His voice trailed off and he looked down, his ears burning.