Closed Times Like These are Rare

[Nolan Burke]

Get-togethers like these were quite rare in the Burke household these days. Sure they'd have these celebrations yearly, but it was still quite rare. The last few years the Burke siblings had to spend the holidays between the parents, minus Nolan who would spend all his holidays with his dad. However, this year was a little different. Since their mother decided to fly out of the country with her friends last minute, the kids were left with spending the holidays with their father, which they didn't mind. This year was also a little different as their dad's brother and family had decided to move to New Zealand with a new job opportunity that their uncle had picked up on here. Nolan was pleased with the idea. While he did love his dad, having his dad's brother join him made Nolan think it would be good for his dad, especially since the divorce between his parents was quite rough.

Now here they were, the four Burke siblings sitting around the coffee table in the middle of the small living room, all playing a different variety of card and board games. They wouldn't admit it, but they had spent the last hour fighting over what game they all should play. Their father, Patrick had enough of the fighting and had chosen the card game for them. Patrick had chosen the muggle card game, Uno. Though by now he wasn't sure if he regretted that decision or not, as he kept hearing arguments from the kids. Nolan placed a blue block card on top of the ongoing deck, while he was holding five uno cards left in his hands. "Ha! Blocked your turn Molls! It's Conan's turn" Nolan says with a small cackle and a shake of his head as he then hears Molly complain and sees her pout.

 

[Molly Burke]

Molly enjoyed Christmas. It was one of, if not her favourite holiday out of the year. Though the last couple of years, it had been a bit rough spending that holiday between two different households. But this year she was glad it was only being spent at one household, as their mother had decided to spend Christmas with her friends instead. Molly and the rest of her siblings had spent the last hour trying to argue and decide on a game, while their dad had enough of the bickering and decided to pick a game for them. They had only started playing the game of Uno maybe five or ten minutes ago, and already her older brother Nolan had decided to block her tun in the game. "What! That's not fair! You cheated!" Molly complained, before pouting in disappointment. Could you cheat in a game of Uno? Molly wasn't really sure. "Yeah, yeah it's your turn Conan," Molly says sadly, as she shakes her head, as it is now Conan's turn to put down a card.

 

[Conan Burke]

Honestly, Conan was glad to be away from school. Sure he had his friends who he had missed while he was on break, but he was glad to be away from the school work. He wasn't going to admit it but he did in fact miss spending time with his older siblings. They didn't often get together or hang out as much as they used to, as his two older siblings were busy with either work or university. But having them all together like this was fun. Conan clapped when Molly's turn had been blocked by Nolan. "Sweet! It's my turn" Conan cheered. His last few cards leaning against his shoe box filled with his shell collection. Conan looked up from his own deck, looking at his older sister in confusion. "How do you cheat in Uno?" Conan thought aloud. He didn't think that was possible if he was honest, but maybe there was a way. The younger boy looked at his deck of cards, before placing a blue five card onto the deck. "Fiona it's your turn!" Conan calls out to their youngest sister, though it had looked like she had been in her own world for a bit.

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona had been at a loss for a while. Ever since she could remember, her entire family had been close. But before she reached Hogwarts, she had noticed everything between her parents fall apart and she had been confused about it all. She was quite young when her parents had a divorce and honestly, she didn't really understand why it all happened. All she knew was that they bickered and everything. But it seemed no one really told her why. Fiona would zone in and out of the game that she and her siblings were playing, giggling along before going back to her thoughts. She looked up when Conan told her it was her turn. "Oh! Right!" Fiona said quickly, looking at her cards. Fiona smirked at her card option, looking at her brother with mischief. "Plus two!" Fiona says quickly as she places down a blue plus two card onto the ongoing deck. Fiona laughed hysterically as Nolan complained.

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan shook his head and laughed at what Molly had said. "I promise I didn't cheat Molly!" Nolan says with a chuckle, as he places his cards facing down so his siblings didn't see his cards and raises his hands up in defence. He chuckles at Conan's statement. "There are ways, but I don't think we have any cheaters amongst us, do we?" Nolan asked his siblings with a laugh. He was pretty sure none of them were cheaters. They were more competitive than anything.

Nolan watched as it was his youngest sibling's turn to place her card down, but it had seemed that she had been deep about her thoughts, which had concerned him a little. Nolan had his thoughts filled with concern, he had forgotten they were playing the game until he noticed Fiona's troublesome smirk and placed a card down. Nolan quickly looked down at the card she had placed down. "Noooo! I guess that's what happens when I block Molly..." Nolan grumpled, before picking up two cards from the deck, noticing he didn't have any cards to add on. "Surely you guys must be working together?" Nolan teasingly asked his sister, looking between them. "It's your turn Molly" Nolan then says, as he looks at Molly for a split second to let her know it was her turn. "What's on your mind, Fiona?" Nolan asked curiosity out of concern, as he looked between his deck of cards, the ongoing deck and his sister, as the game went on.

 

[Molly Burke]

Molly playfully rolled her eyes at Conan's question and shrugged. She was being salty and competitive about Nolan's block on her. Molly laughed loudly as Fiona added a plus two onto the ongoing deck for Nolan to pick two cards up. "We are not working together Nollie, promise! We're being competitive here!" Molly says with a laugh and a shake of her head. She cheered when it was her turn, but frowned a little, tilting her head to the side when her older brother asked their youngest sibling what she was thinking about, having no idea that Fiona had been in a puzzling mood. Molly looked between her own deck of cards and the ongoing deck, frowning when she didn't have any cards to match it up with. "Boo!" Molly pouted as she picked up a card from the deck. "Your turn," Molly says, as she taps Conan on the shoulder to let him know it was his turn. Molly then faced her other two siblings. "Everything okay?"

 

[Conan Burke]

Conan watched as the game continued on, laughing along with the rest of his siblings as Nolan had to pick two cards up. He nodded in agreement with Molly. Conan didn't think that Molly and Fiona were teaming up or anything. He did think they were all competitive when it came to board games with each other. He nodded when Molly told him it was his turn, looking at his leaning deck of cards. He only had a few left, and he couldn't tell his siblings how many he had. He smiled when he saw a matching card to the blue plus two card. Conan added a blue 3 card, happy that he had a match. "Fiona's turn!" Conan says cheerfully, watching the interaction between his three other siblings, wondering if his little sister was okay. She usually wasn't one to talk about her feelings, but they all knew something was up with her.

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona laughed hysterically as her eldest brother picked two cards up. "Nooo! Molly and I didn't team up! I promise" Fiona says as she continues to laugh and nods along with Molly as her sister also mentioned that the two girls didn't team up. Her laughs quietened down as Nolan asked what she had been thinking about. Well, there was no point in lying right now because Nolan would defiantly will notice something was up. She was hesitant at first, before sighing. "Why did mum and dad get a divorce? What actually happened?" Fiona asked her siblings, as she looked at each of them, completely forgetting about the game they were playing now. She was old enough to know now. She was thirteen, and she would understand perfectly. All she knew was that they argued a lot, and that was why. But it surely had to be deeper than that right?

 

[Nolan Burke]

The question that came out of Fiona's mouth was not one that Nolan was ultimately prepared for if he was being honest. He looked at Fiona with a confused expression as he had hoped that maybe his parents had spoken to her about their divorce to her. But it looked like they hadn't really touched base or told her the actual facts of the divorce. Nolan cleared his throat as he then looked at Molly and Conan. The look of worry on their faces didn't really help him at the moment. Nolan placed his cards face down, the game now completely forgotten to him. The silence between the four of them could be heard. Nolan felt awkward and honestly didn't know where to start. "Um... what exactly do you know or what have you been told?" Nolan asked Fiona nervously with a small smile, though he was sorta wondering what brought the question up.

 

[Molly Burke]

Molly's eyes went wide at Fiona's question, before looking at Nolan. Molly wasn't sure if her parents wanted them to tell Fiona. She knew it was probably best for their parents to talk to her about it, but she knew she would feel bad if she turned her sister's question down. Molly deep down was still mad at their mother for treating Nolan terribly, even though Molly had tried her absolute best to follow what her mum wanted her to do, she could never forgive her mother. Sure she saw her mum from time to time, but she only reluctantly ever saw her mum because her dad convinced her to see her mum. Molly saw her dad a lot more, living with him and Nolan. Molly sighed, itching her eyebrows with a bit of stress and unsurement. Maybe she should grab their dad and have him explain it to Fiona. She looked between all of her siblings, letting Nolan take the lead in everything.

 

[Conan Burke]

Now this was definitely awkward now... The laughs between the siblings had died down a lot, and now it seemed to be a serious chat. He only had recently found out not too long ago as to one of the reasons why they divorced, and honestly, he was shocked by it all, disappointed in his mother for sure. He even found out that their mum hadn't even tried to reconnect with Nolan at all, which made Conan sad for his brother. Conan wouldn't admit it but he did look up to his brother a lot, and learning how his brother had blamed himself for his parents' divorce was sad for Conan to learn. The youngest Burke boy leaned towards Molly. "What do we do Molly? Do we grab dad? I fear this may be awk-waaard" Conan whispers to his sister, thinking of the different scenarios that this could play out. Maybe grabbing dad was a better solution.

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona instantly felt guilty at bringing up that question. She had been curious about it for ages. Sure she knew her parents bickered and argued a lot more leading up to the divorce, but wasn't it silly to be breaking up because of arguments? Her young teenage brain couldn't really comprehend it. Surely it had something really bad, for even Nolan to not be on speaking terms with their mum. Every time she and Conan stayed at their mum's house between the weeks throughout the breaks, Fiona could sense the awkwardness in the air from their mum. "Um... you know what, it's okay, ignore what I said, it's a pretty silly question. Let's continue playing the game" Fiona says quickly, trying her best to dismiss the situation.

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan immediately shook his head as Fiona dismissed everything. "Hey, no, no, we'll talk about it. You're curious about it, and it makes sense to be. We can't really hide you in the dark about it. You have the right to know" Nolan says with a small smile. He was right about what he had said though. Fiona was at that age where she would be curious about things, and at some point in her life, she was going to wanna know what had happened between their parents. He felt Molly's hand on his shoulder, chuckling a little at his younger brother's whispering. "Um... How shall I put this?" Nolan said aloud. Nolan thought for a moment, thinking of a way to explain the entire situation to his youngest sibling. He didn't want to explain it in a way where he might have Fiona not like their mum so much, Molly and Conan already are in that mindset of that. Nolan also still blames himself for the divorce, even though he knows deep down that he wasn't the cause of it. Though he always thought of the what ifs, would his family and parents still be together? "Well-" Nolan starts off to explain but is instantly interrupted by their father.

 

[Patrick Burke]

Patrick was happy to have all the kids together again. It was hard to have them all together, especially when his two eldest kids were busy with work or with uni, so he was always happy and grateful about it. The divorce with Penelope had happened a couple of years ago, and it was still rough on him. While he really loved the woman, seeing how she had been treating their son, Nolan, after he had come out to them, he couldn't forgive her for that. The look on his son's face when Nolan received a negative reaction from his ex-wife had absolutely broken Patrick's heart and he could never forgive Penelope for doing that to Nolan. Since the divorce, he had hardly spoken to Penelope, only speaking to her when necessary. But he still wanted his kids to see and meet up with their mother.

While Patrick had been happy to have all of the kids this year, he was still upset that Penelope had decided to go on vacation with her friends last minute on a family holiday and rather spend it with their children. Having the kids here was nice and very heart-warming. He wasn't going to admit it, but he did miss the chaoticness and the bickering of his children. Hearing it made his home feel lively again. While they had bickered for an hour about what game they wanted to play, he had "enough" and decided to pick the game for them, and off they went, playing the game. The familiar laughter and bickering had reminded him of what it used to be like. Paddy had been in the kitchen preparing meals while all his kids were in the living room. His brother and his own family had moved to New Zealand recently which Patrick was quite happy about. He had invited them over to celebrate the holiday with, which meant they'd be over at any moment.

While he had been in the kitchen, he noticed the laughter and bickering of his children had become dead silent, which caused Paddy to frown in confusion. He thought maybe they were having a serious chat now but that couldn't be it, right? He had become nosy. Patrick turned the stove off before quietly making his way to the living room where all of his children were. He didn't hear what had been said, but the looks on his kids' faces had concerned him a little. "Is everything 'lright?" Paddy asked his kids, as he leaned out of the living room doorway a little.

 

[Molly Burke]

"Conan! Shhhh, not now" Molly hushed her brother, as she kept looking between their eldest and youngest sibling. Molly is wondering what is going through Nolan's head. She tries her best to comfort Nolan. She knew that the wound was still fresh for him, and she didn't blame Nolan for that. She shook her head along with Nolan as their sister had dismissed the question. "Yeah, what he said. You know you can ask us anything aye? We're here for you, you know? We're happy to try and answer any question you have" Molly then adds to what Nolan was saying. Molly wondered how long this was bothering Fiona and she had felt bad for not being there for their youngest sibling like that in a while. But Molly knew she had to try and do better. Molly whipped her head around when she heard the voice of her dad. "Oh hey, dad-" Molly says with a smile unsure smile, before looking around at her younger siblings.

 

[Conan Burke]

"Alright, alright jeez! I was just trying to help!" Conan whispered yelling at his older sister. It was like no one here appreciated his help at all! Conan frowned as Fiona dismissed the situation, confused as to why she changed the topic. Was she not wanting to talk about it anymore? Conan nodded his head along with Molly, agreeing with everything she said. The siblings knew they were always there for each other, even though they hardly saw each other like they used to. They were all mostly busy with their own lives now. Conan's jaw dropped when he heard the voice of their father and saw his head peeking on the side of the living room doorway. "It's like he's got super hearing or something" Conan whispered aloud when he saw his dad. Did his dad hear him asking if they needed dad earlier?

 

[Fiona Burke]

The look on Nolan's face had made Fiona even more guilty for bringing up the question. She guessed it must've been pretty bad. While she tried to dismiss the question and continue playing the game, her siblings didn't let her question go, and she watched as Nolan tried to answer the question. Fiona's eyes went wide as she saw her dad. It was like she had brought everyone to a family meeting. She couldn't change the topic now, as mostly everyone here knew what she had asked, but Fiona guessed it was the right time to ask that question again, now that her father was here. She felt bad for putting pressure on her siblings, as it had looked like they didn't necessarily want to answer her question. Fiona turned to her dad and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, dad. Nolan was just trying to answer a question I had for him is all" Fiona says with a small smile and shrug. "I-I just asked why you and mum divorced is all" Fiona asked her dad slowly, afraid that maybe her question would be turned down.

 

[Nolan Burke]

Nolan looked towards the doorway and saw the head of his dad peek out from the side of the door frame. The eldest Burke was silent for a moment as he let his other siblings speak, chuckling a little at what Conan had said. Nolan sent his dad a small smile as Fiona then spoke, repeating the same question that she had asked him and his other siblings. Nolan was honestly glad that their dad was there. Nolan didn't necessarily know how to answer the question and maybe his dad was a better person to answer it. "Did you wanna answer that dad?" Nolan asked his dad slowly, looking between his dad and his siblings.

 

[Patrick Burke]

Patrick could sense he was interrupting something that was important. He thought he had interrupted a secret sibling-only meeting. But the question his youngest had asked wasn't one he was expecting at this very moment. Sure he had expected Fiona to ask the question, but when she was a little older. However, Fiona was old enough to know the answer to this question, and she did in fact deserve to know the truth. "I knew this day would come, but I honestly didn't expect it to be today of all days," Patrick says with a sigh, before making his way further into the living room and taking a seat on one of the couches.

Patrick nodded at Nolan's question. "Yeah, I'll answer it" Paddy says with a small smile and nods a little more. The father of four thought about it for a bit, thinking of the best way to answer his youngest's question. "As you know, your mum and I have had a lot of disagreements for a while. Way before your mum and I divorced" Patrick starts off as he not only looks at his youngest but also his other children. He knew the kids knew that both of them had been arguing a bit more than usual a little before Nolan had opened up about himself. "Your mum and I were going to try our absolute best to try and fix things between us" Patrick continues. Honestly, at that point, it was more of Patrick wanting to try and make the marriage work instead of Penelope. "Not long after that, your brother Nolan had opened up about something special about him-" Patrick then says, as he remembers that day vividly. His two youngest children were tucked in bed for the night. While he, Penelope and his two eldest were in the living room, they were planning to have a movie night just the four of them before the two eldest kids went to sleep. He remembered how nervous fifteen almost sixteen-year-old Nolan was at that time. He remembered how fidgety Nolan had been that day. Patrick had even commented to his wife earlier that day about Nolan being nervous and fidgety though Penelope had dismissed it and said it was totally normal for Nolan to be fidgety, which Patrick agreed it was.

"Molly and I were very supportive of your brother and we were glad that your brother had opened up and come out to us-" Paddy says with a smile. He was indeed proud of his son and he knew he was going to be supportive of him no matter what. Patrick then frowned at what he knew he was going to have to say next. "However, your mum wasn't really supportive about it. She was not pleased with your brother. Let's just say there was a lot of screaming from her side after that" Patrick said sadly. "After that day, more arguments had happened between your mother and me. I was not pleased with how your mother reacted to Nolan's news. She rarely spoke to your brother after that, which had made me very angry and I tried to convince her, but it had led to more arguments. After a few months, your mum and I were tired of the arguments, both big and small, and we knew it was getting out of hand and there was no way of us fixing it" Paddy then says with a frown and shake of her head. "But I don't want you to blame or hate your brother or your mother for the divorce okay? It had been a mutual agreement between your mum and I" Patrick concluded, with a sad smile. He could see the small frown and sadness on his youngest's face. He then looked at his eldest. Patrick had told Nolan many times not to blame himself for the divorce but Patrick knew deep down the boy still blamed himself for it even with the many amounts of reassurance that Patrick gave to Nolan.

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona watched as her dad walked further into the living and agreed to answer her question. The youngest Burke sat beside her dad on the couch just as he was opening up to her about everything. She nodded from time to time, showing she was listening to what her dad was saying. She frowned for a second, vaguely remembering being in bed, tucked in while she was younger and her two older siblings were still up. She vaguely remembered how she wasn't happy that Nolan and Molly were able to stay up a little longer and she then vaguely remembered a lot of shouting, especially from her mother. She remembered for a little while that Nolan and their mum weren't on speaking terms.

After her dad had explained everything to her, everything had made sense. She could never blame Nolan for opening up about himself. She didn't even think that would be the reason why her parents broke off. She felt it had more to do with her mother's reaction to it. She now understood as to why her other siblings had slowly been distancing themselves from their mother, and she didn't blame them for that. Fiona was even more annoyed at the fact that her mother had decided to spend time with her friends over the holidays instead of her own children. After hearing her father explaining what had happened, she felt her eyes get all watery and slammed herself towards her eldest brother, wrapping her arms around him with a hug.

-fin-