Dogs, Bats & Monkeys Series: EXTRAS

ALEC'S CHILDHOOD: VISITING

The child in front of Everett sat with his head turned away from the man. At five years old, Alec had already adopted a formidable pout, his little arms crossed over his chest. His hair, eyes - even his bone structure - reminded Everett of his son's Dayer heritage, the appearance bringing on the emotions of sadness and shame over being fooled by Anastasiya, but not regret. Everett could never bring himself to feel that way about being a part of the boy's creation, not after he'd realized he'd been used, not even after he'd been forbidden from seeing his own child.

That was the only thing the twenty-one-year-old was sorry for: not being there for Alec as often as he wanted to.

But today was one of his rarely allowed visitation days and his son was at Everett's newly-built home.

"Would you like some sweets?" The young man offered the tiny pale boy a plate of cookies by lifting it from the kitchen table. "Lisa put a lot of effort to make them especially for you."

"Don't like sweets." The boy's pout deepened further and he still refused to look at his father.

Suppressing a sigh, Everett returned the plate to its original place and sat on one of the empty chairs.

His young wife had purposefully left them on their own, hoping the two of them would bond without her being there to further annoy Alec.

The boy had not greeted his father when one of Bolek's drivers had brought him here; he'd not greeted his father when he'd walked inside the house, nor when he'd plopped into one of the kitchen chairs.

Not even a glance, let alone the hug Everett so desperately hoped for. It had been a good two years since Alec had let Everett hold him.

"Son..."

Before he could say anything else, the child snorted, that lone, low sound shooting an arrow through the shapeshifter's heart.

Won't you at least look at me?

Everett wanted to scream.

It's not me who doesn't want to see you, it's that monster of a mother you have that won't let me! Her, and her army of lawyers, and that awful judge!

But Everett's conscience didn't allow him to give voice to his thoughts.

He didn't want to startle his son or even worse: scare him off.

And even though Anastasiya and her whole family had been cruel to him, he didn't want to create a rift between the Dayers and Alec, especially not when the boy didn't seem to be able to connect to his shifter side.

All Everett could do was swallow his pain and lament, and desperately hope that the vile woman would treat their son better than she'd treated him.

"Would you like to go to the living room?" Everett suggested in his best attempt to sound cheerful. "We can turn on the TV and..."

"No."

Another brief sound, another wound in Everett's already pained heart.

"What about..."

"Don't want to."

This time the man couldn't hold back his heavy sigh. His head drooped and he covered his face with his cold, sweaty hands. Taking deep breaths to regain his composure, he stayed in that slumped position for a minute, before straightening up and speaking again:

"Then what do you want, Alec?"

"To leave."

Everett's eyes began to sting, his words coming out really soft:

"You only just came. There's still an hour and a half before you have to..."

"You asked me, I replied." The child's expression was perfectly blank.

"So you... You really want to go now?" His voice trembled. "Even though we won't be able to see each other until next month?"

"Yes." For the first time since he was brought there, Alec looked him straight in the eyes.

Everett's whole body sunk deeper into the chair and it took him a while to assure himself he was strong enough to stand.

"Alright." His throat felt scratchy. "Let's go then."

The words had barely left his mouth before Alec had hopped off the chair and made his way to the door with a speed no human child would be able to match. Listless, Everett followed behind the precious little boy.

Just like there had been no greeting, Alec didn't bother with a goodbye, simply climbing inside the car.

Everett watched it start, watched it take away this treasured person who he loved with all his bleeding heart, but who seemed to despise him in turn.

He watched until he couldn't see the cold contraption anymore, then stared at the empty space where it had been before finally turning around and slowly trudging towards his empty house.

Only after he heard the low click of the lock, did he allow himself to fall to the floor and begin to sob.

Somewhere, not too far away, inside a shiny new car, a little boy lifted his tiny hands and brushed them against the moist corners of his reddened eyes.

*****

A/N: This is really heavy, but I had the sudden urge to write it and decided to share it with you. It's an important moment from Alec's past that reveals a lot about the relationship he has with his father. It will also shed some light on Everett's feelings, and I really wanted to show his perspective on the matter.

And yes, Everett is only twenty-one years old here when Alec is already five; Anastasiya - Alec's mother, really seduced an underage boy and got away with it... Which only tells us how much influence Alec's Dayer relatives have and why they think they can get away with pretty much anything. I hope you can now better understand where Everett is coming from.

Anyway, if there's anything you'd like to say or ask about the relationship between them, drop me a comment!