Teenage Dream

[Pierre and Strella Richarde]

As the head of the Richarde household sat in his office, drinking his Scotch, his wife, Strella Richarde, prepared her home for a guest. Normally she would go all out, bringing out the House Elves but Strella was having Izaak over and he was family besides her home was never disgusting, just cluttered with items from time to time. It pained her to know what Izaak had gone through at such a young age, to loose two daughters and his fiancée. It was horrendous but she also lost two daughters and a granddaughter. One had to get on with their life and even though she knew that Izaak would get on with his life, would find a new woman to love and have children with, they would always be family. Strella would always open her arms to him because they understood one another and because despite everything that he and her daughter had gone through, they had cherished one another and the person that last saw Alexis would always have a tie to Strella, whether they liked it or not. Her husband had insisted that Izaak killed their daughter but Strella accepted that one could not argue with fate, her twin girls were meant to die but this did not mean she was going to let it happened to her last little girl. Loosing Julia, Alexis and even little Ella, who she had not even made a connection with except through her daughter and Izaak, was heart breaking and there was not a day when her mind did not grieve and mourn for them but Delilah was her last little girl and she would be damned to hell if she ever let anything happened to her last child. Not to mention what it would do to her poor husband, he would surely go insane or drink himself to death, which he seemed to be doing anyway.

Once Strella was satisfied that all was well, she called Delilah down so she could inspect her outfit. Lately the little girl had been wearing clothes that were so dark and bleak, it displeased her mother and with Izaak and his nephew Jay coming over she wanted her daughter to look like she was happy in her life even if Strella wasn’t. However, this meeting between herself and Izaak was not about her and the process she was going through. Instead it was about Izaak and his trial and tribulations with his family and his life. There was not much that she knew about his family except that he and his sister and nephew were only what he had considered them to be his family for a very long time. It ached her heart to know that he lost people that were his family, he was a good person and she wanted the best for him. The last thing she wanted him to do was mourn forever like she and Pierre seemed to be doing but they were older, they had lost two daughters and it was different because no parent should ever outlive their children. But Izaak, he had his entire life ahead of him. He was a sweet boy and deserved happiness.

As Delilah came down, all dressed in black to match her ebony hair, Strella sighed and said, “Come on, Delilah. We have guests.” Taking her daughter’s hand, Strella lead her up the stairs and to the little girl’s bedroom. As Strella opened the doors to the closet she heard her daughter sit down on her bed but paid little attention to this as she looked through the clothes to find each one of the shirts that she knew Delilah would not want to wear with a red ‘x’ on it in permanent marker. She turned towards her daughter who gave her an innocent gaze but stopped it when Strella said, “After today, you are grounded for two weeks and you have to do the laundry with the House Elves.” As Delilah went to interject a complaint, Strella looked at her daughter, daring her to defy what she had said. “The amount of disrespect you have for me and your things is amazing,” she added with a shake of her head, knowing that even if she could fix it with a wave of her wand that she wanted her daughter to feel the punishment and know that she couldn’t disregard and treat people like this. With a final gaze of disappointment, Strella walked back down stairs to find her husband making his way in the opposite direction. “Pierre,” she said, her voice sorrowful because she was not happy in her marriage any longer and he was not happy with his life. There was little she could do about this because even if she loved him, he was drinking his way to death. “Are you going to bed? Izaak is coming over,” she said, with hope in her eyes that he might respond in some way to this but he ignored her and just continued trudging up the stairs.

As Strella fought to not bring tears to her eyes, she knew that giving Izaak any sort of advice would be impossible when her life was in shambles. It would just be hypocritical and she knew that there must be something serious if he needed advice and couldn’t go to his real mother… She couldn’t be a hypocrite when something important was on the boy’s mind.​

 

[Izaak Finch]

“Izaak, how come you still go see Aunty Lexis’ parents?” It was the first question of the many that Jay had already posed that had stopped the twenty-three year old’s frantic search for his keys. No one was ever quite as blunt with him as his nephew, everyone else treaded as carefully around the subject of Alexis’ death as they might shattered glass. His azure eyes peeled away from the suede leather lounge, he yanked his hand out from between the cushions and found that Jay too had ended his pertinent fascination with Kobe’s ears. Izaak took a moment to consider the question, furrowing his brow deep in thought as he did so. How could he possibly explain his connections with the Richarde’s to a nine year old boy? The older Finch wasn’t sure if there had been any drastic changes in the fourteen years since he had been nine but everything he had been told to understand had gone straight through one ear and out the other. Quite frankly, toy cars had been a whole deal more interesting than a code for maturity. How was Jay any different? Pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, Izaak sighed “Because they’re still my family Jay.” Whatever reaction he had been expecting, it was certainly not “No they’re not.” Which his nephew so matter-of-factly declared when Izaak went to resume his search for his keys. Once more, Izaak froze but this time spoke no words, merely arched his eyebrows at his nephew in search of a justification for such a bold statement. “You’re not related to them, families are related.” Well that was rich, coming from a boy with a half-brother and a step father. What ridiculous illusions was his school feeding him? Izaak wasn’t going to half-ass this any longer and promptly sat down on the floor next to Jay and his Border Collie who seemed a hell of a lot more interested in whatever new chew toy he had managed to find. “They don’t have to be. Fletcher’s not related to you, is he? But he’s still your family.” Jay, who had obviously found the lapse in his judgement, seemed more than humbled by this, almost humiliated. Izaak knew just how much his nephew doted upon Fletcher because try as he might have in his teenage years, Izaak had never been a real father figure to Jay. He was more of the awesome uncle, even the ultra cool older brother but never a father-like figure. For a long time he had been far too irresponsible for such a title. And then when maturity had finally found him in the raw years of twenties, Fletcher had already wound himself into each of their lives and grown to be the father that Jay had never had.

In fact, Jay truly did seem embarrassed by unknowingly dismissing Fletcher. For one thing, he had gone completely silent – a first in the two hours that they had already been here for. For another, he had begun furiously twisting his fingers into Kobe’s fur. But the canine didn’t seem to mind at all so Izaak picked up his bushy tail and waved it around before Jay. “And hey. Kobe’s still family and you two aren’t related... Unless you have a tail you aren’t telling me about.” Izaak found what he was looking for in the laughter that Jay returned him with, shattering the self consciousness he had been feeling before. “What about those big teeth, huh?” As if to inspect, Izaak tilted Jay’s head back to glance at the teeth he was baring in his laughter. He performed a similar routine with Kobe, however instead of finding a resemblance between his dog and his nephew, Izaak spied a glimmer of silver peeking out from between the Border Collie’s lips. “Kobes!” He exclaimed and pried the dog’s jaws open to find his keys lodged beneath the slobbering pink tongue. Jay seemed highly amused by all of this and whilst Izaak shoved his fingers into Kobe’s salivated mouth, the nine year old was all but rolling around on the floor laughing. “Thanks Kobe, really.” Izaak’s sarcasm was thick as he wiped his hands down the length of his jeans before turning to Jay who was still robbed of his breath with a giddy smile wide across his face. “Let’s go kiddo.” And once they had put the destructive Border Collie out, the pair of Finches left the house and prepared for the apparition to California.


Jay sucked in a nervous breath and gripped his uncle’s hand tightly, he was extremely wary of magic in a household that barely exercised any of it. Apparition was even worse when you threw nausea into the mix. Slowly but surely he was growing used to it though, especially now that Izaak’s career consisted solely of hitting the surfing hotspots all around the world. The twenty-three year old Finch could relate to the feeling. Not the apparition exactly, although that wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable of experiences, but visiting the house his late fiancée had grown up in had haunted him for the longest of times. After the accident he had barely been able to look at a photo of her without catching the shakes all over again, never mind seeing her parents or setting foot in her old bedroom, the one they had sneakily made out in when Pierre had somehow believed them when they’d insisted they were only friends. After the accident those things had been unbearable, now they had him missing her like crazy. Because not only had Alexis been his lover, his fiancée and the mother of his child but she had also been his very best friend. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t hurting anymore. He hurt, every single day but at the end of it all, it had somehow made him stronger. The pair appeared with a crack just outside of the Richarde household and with an anticipating breath, Izaak climbed the front steps to rap his knuckles across the front door.

 

[Pierre and Strella Richarde]

Strella rubbed her temples as she heard a knock at the door. She did not want anyone to see her in this state, even if it was Izaak because as much as she tried to convince people that she was not vain, she really did care what people saw in her and this had been because of her roll in the media as First Lady Richarde. However, Izaak Finch was not just anybody who could judge her in a second flat, he understood why she was in pain and that she would forever be just like he would always remember little Ella Mae and his other daughter whose name she never actually learnt or cared to. It had made her uncomfortable that he had cheated on her daughter after all. However, that was the past so she brushed it off just as she brushed off a tear that dared to drip down her cheek. She walked down the rest of the steps of her staircase before making her way to the door and opening it and smiling softly to see Izaak. In the confusion of her life, it was nice to see a fresh face and to see that despite everything he looked happy in his life and she wanted that for him and his family so he could have one that hopefully ended up better than hers did. Now all she had was a daughter who did not listen to her and frequently screamed out her hatred for her and a husband who was rarely sober. Yes, she felt like some sad character in a horrible book and she just hoped that something positive would come of this that maybe one day she would be happy again. "Please come in, my boy," she said with a warm smile, hiding the dark thoughts that had plagued her as she looked from the bright blue eyes of Izaak to the set of his nephew's. Strella briefly wondered if Jay remembered her or Delilah as they had met at Alexis' funeral but it had been a somber time so she would not blame him if he had blocked it out of his memory - she sure wished she could. As Strella shuffled out of the way so Izaak and Jay could enter her extravagant, large yet empty home she flicked her eyes up the stairs to see Delilah hovering at the top. It was not a secret to Strella that Pierre had influenced her daughter to believe that Izaak had been the cause of the death of her older sister, Alexis, so she could only sigh when she saw the glare in her forest green eyes. It was hard to explain to a child why both her older sisters were dead and that the car accident had not been anyone’s fault and just a horrible accident when someone they had been taught to trust more than anyone in the entire world contradicted it.

Pushing back her strawberry blonde (and grey) curls behind her ear, Strella looked back at Izaak and opened her arms for an embrace from the young man she considered her son. “Well come on and give me a hug, Izaak,” she said, with a warm smile to the person who had very nearly been her son-in-law for quite some time. And this was when she heard Delilah walked down the steps, now glaring at her like she was consorting with the enemy in some bad suspense and action packed story. The nine year old girl did not join the trio, however, she sat on the final step and looked at them but Strella ignored her daughter for she was quite irate with the girl and her actions towards her things. As they had hugged, Strella said softly, “It’s so good to see you. It’s been so long.” This was when the older woman looked down to the little boy and said, “Why hello there Jay. I’m your Aunty’s mommy. We met before but I’m not sure if you remember.” Strella grinned with a heart that was less heavy to the child because she knew that unlike Izaak he did not need the added tension. He was only a little boy after all. “So I’m Strella and that little girl over there… the one with a sour puss,” she said teasing her daughter’s anger while trying to tell her to lighten up because she knew that Delilah would hear her even if she was making it seem like what she was saying was some sort of secret between herself and Jay. “Is Delilah,” she concluded with a friendly grin, to try and make him comfortable. He looked a little shaky but that could just be that apparition because she was aware that the Finch family did not use magic often. As the former First Lady of the President of Magic it had always been curious to her but that was how Izaak, Leah and Jay lived their life. “Feel free to make yourself at home, if you need anything, Delilah can help you with it,” she added, also telling her daughter that this was part of her punishment but also trying to get her to be comfortable around Jay because he and Izaak were not an enemy to her or their shrinking family.

Strella saw Delilah stand up to object which she shook off before beckoning her over with a hand and suggested to the two children that, "Why don't you two go play? Delilah has a bunch of toys, we even have some of my son;s toys still floating about if you want." She hoped that this would allow Delilah to be comfortable around him because even if she liked to pull off that she was more mature then other children, she was still a child and still had to like playing. She wasn’t sure what Jay liked to do because they had never interacted for a very long time and this meeting was not about herself interacting with the young boy because Izaak seemed to need to talk to her about something and she wished to catch up on all that was missed in each other’s lives.​