Thomas González didn't know what he was searching for looking for his mom's old best friend. There had to be a reason they weren't friends anymore before his mother's death but yet he blindly went searching for not knowing what he was looking for or why.
Going there proved he did have questions and she managed to answer them whether he wanted those answers or not was up to him, he left with more questions with a deep desire to flee America the reasons why he didn't was because he wanted to solve this mystery and he didn't want to abandon his friends and whatever Farkle was. Not to mention he had no money.
The inheritance he would receive from his mother wouldn't take play until his eighteenth birthday. At least three years until then and from what he heard he wasn't sure he wanted it but he knew that when it was time his curiosity and love for his mother would once again win.
He looked up to his mother before she even died, his guardian angel who knew him better than anyone and still looked at him with a kind smile, who completely loved his father he used to think it was because they were both deceived but now he wasn't sure.
Dolores Martin, the first time he heard her name he thought all his problems would be solved, that when his mother was alive she was happy because she had a friend who looked like she was always happy but maybe her name should have been the first sign.
In the photo, they both looked like they've been happy for years but that's the thing with photos. You couldn't trust them, one single moment doesn't tell you everything rather it tells you what you want to believe.
Thomas didn't know what he wanted to believe. All he knew now was that he couldn't get up from Milo's bed, that he couldn't hear the noise that he knew his younger siblings were making, the ones who didn't have school yet or the ones who were sick.
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Dolores Dunne sent the kids in her living room a nervous smile after she returned for the second time, a slightly messy and dirty scrapbook in hand.
She noticed the two boys were closer this time, Thomas no longer wearing his jacket, his left wrist completely red and pink, avoiding all contact with either of them.
Ms Dunne not knowing what to do sat in the same couch they were both sat in keeping space between her and Thomas, tenderly holding the scrapbook on her lap.
Thomas scooted closer trying as hard as he can to get rid of his nerves because that's it, he was finally here and she was right there and he had no idea what he was waiting for. He kept some space between them because like August said 'Stranger danger' just because she knew his mom and possibly his dad didn't make her any less of a stranger.
"The last time I saw your mom, I was twenty three in college, about sixteen or fifteen years ago. She said that I should keep this, that we did this together but I did most of the hard work. That we only had this copy." Ms Dunne opened it to the first page which had some childish scribbling, "we started this when we were eight but we never finished it or did anything really. We continued it when we were fifteen."
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One of the last conversations he had with his mother was about a scrapbook and Edelweiss, Thomas told her he wanted one when he was older so he could never forget how amazing he was and his friends, and in the future he'd add how different it was so he told his mom she had to start taking pictures so they never forgot.
That of course never ending up happening, his mother taking her last breath and Thomas being left with his father. His classmates and friends soon forgot him, no longer being the hyperactive shy kid just quiet and alone.
His guardian angel was gone leaving the demons to get to him, years later he still didn't know if they did. Or if his mother was his guardian angel.
Years later he was still clueless, clueless about the world, clueless about his sexuality, clueless about people, clueless about his own life.
Years later he was potentially turning into that quiet alone kid.
His thoughts were keeping him up at night when they decided to return home instead of the next morning, Milo's mom about to give him a shouting until she saw Thomas. Whatever she saw Thomas didn't know.
He stayed in bed staring Milo's wall all night just thinking and in the morning his mind was quiet and he couldn't think but he still couldn't will himself to close his eyes. He was so tired he couldn't really think, still trying to process what that all meaner but not being able to think anymore.
That left Milo to text Thomas' friends except he didn't know what he should tell them. Should he lie and tell them he was fine? Should he tell the truth and he say something was up with Thomas? Should he tell them he was worried? Should he tell them what happened?
He didn't know Thomas' friends, he saw them and Thomas talked about them that it was almost like he did but he didn't. After much thinking he decided to tell them Thomas was tired and feeling sickish, that was the closet he could find to the truth. Thomas was tired and there was a chance he would feel sick from not sleeping.
Right as he hit the send button Thomas finally closed his eyes and his mom decided to text him saying breakfast was ready. Milo took one last look at the boy who finally fell asleep and went to wake his siblings, hoping they won't cause to much noise in their fight to stay asleep.
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Thomas looked through the scrapbook multiple times, just looking at the pictures and trying to figure something out. The tea forgotten, Thomas fully invested in these pictures.
Thomas stopped at a picture of his mother at a beach, wearing a long bright dress and a dark familiar jacket. She was just sitting down and Thomas found himself looking at the flower crown she was wearing. He stopped at every picture so it was nothing new but Dolores Dunne saw him lingering on it.
"She loved flowers." Ms Dunne told him.
"I know." Thomas said still looking at his mother, "Rosemary's, Peony's, and Nasturtium." Thomas looked to the picture beside it, Dolores Dunne was there in a garden full of roses, lilies, sunflowers and daffodils but on her hair was her own flower crown with Yarrow's and Forget-me-nots.
The page after was there graduation. Four pictures. Dolores Martin with her parents and a little boy possibly a brother. Dolores Dunne and Mikayla González trying to look as serious as they can.
The next picture had his attention his mother was next to a man who looked even prouder than she did, Mikayla looked happy but Thomas could only focus on the man wearing formal clothes except for his leather jacket with a pattern. He had forest green eye color and a scar between one of his eyebrows.
He looked like that picture Farkle found but much older. The picture that looked like Thomas but different.
"That's her grandfather, he raised her. Mikayla's parents were young when they had her and her dad died the same way she did before she was born than her mother died when she was five when a thief shot her. All Mikayla knew was her grandfather and he raised her like a daughter, she always wanted him to be proud of her which is why she worked so hard but he was always proud. At least I thought that." Ms Dunne explained than directed him to the picture underneath it, his mom and Ms Martin sitting around a table full of people, "and that right there is your father Leonardo Marin. That day is the day your great grandfather finally accepted him."
Thomas knew that was his father. He recognized him the second his eyes landed on the picture. He was disappointed that he recognized him faster than he did his father.
He saw his father first than Ms Dunne and his mom than the smiling faces next to his dad, "Who are they?"
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Thomas slept for five hours and woke up exhausted feeling horrible, from the clock Milo kept next to his bed Thomas could tell School was still going on.
Thomas took the pajamas he borrowed from Milo-the only thing he forgot to prepare-and put the clothes he was wearing the day before on, hurriedly taking his phone and his backpack, walking down the stairs as carefully and quietly as he could. He could hear Milo's mother talking on the phone and his little siblings fighting over what to watch. Nat Geo Wild, Winx Club, or Ben 10.
He managed to leave the house undetected and made his way. He knew where he was going but he didn't want to say it out loud, if he did it would feel more real.
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Dr Ramsey always forgot his key at home which is why he had extra keys. He had a pot hanging next to the door with multiple fake calendula flowers, two extra keys under them except there weren't any this time.
All Dr Ramsey wanted to do was sleep, the whole week he had to deal with a sexist patient and a lying one. He hadn't dealt with people like that in a long time but he picked the person he was training and these happened to be their patients.
Dr Ramsey knocked on the door, "Thomas?"
From the other side of the door Thomas got up from the couch and walked towards the door, "who is this?"
"Thomas you know who it is."
"I'm not sure I do. Are you Marin or Ramsey?"
"What?"
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"The Marin twins. Leonardo's cousins. Hailee and Gabriel. The three of them were closer were closer than me and Mikayla were. I'm afraid I don't know much about them, they were always a mystery to me but they knew your grandfather and Mikayla but Leonardo knew her better. Better than I do..."
Ms Dunne kept talking but Thomas wasn't listening anymore. He couldn't. He was just starting at the twins.
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"Gabriel Ramsey or Gabriel Marin?" Thomas questioned staring at the door as if Dr Ramsey was the one really in front of him.
"Thomas-"
"I didn't even know your first name and it turns out I didn't know your last name or you." Thomas continued.
"Thomas. Thomas let me in."
"Why?" Thomas asked, "why should I? I thought you were my friend or a better father. A father figure or something when really you were my uncle. You know my parents, you can know where he's hiding. You lied to me, you deceived me."
"I'll explain Thomas, just-just open the door."
And he did.
Dr Ramsey walked in, Thomas locking the door behind him. Dr Ramsey looked at the coffee table filled with newspapers, a scrapbook, a photo, papers, and an ID, "you went through my stuff? That's how you found out?"
"No." Thomas told him, "I wasn't even looking for you, I just found out."
"I was going to tell you." Gabriel Marin started.
"Which part? That your sister is my therapist? That your my dad's cousin? Or that you were in a gang? With your sister. When were you going to tell me?" Thomas questioned. Gabriel Marin was too calm, was he supposed to be calm?
"When the time was right." Gabriel Marin sighed looking through what used to be his, all of them were hidden but were now right in front of his face, "when you grow up, about like eighteen. Like the plan. None of this was like the plan. I don't know if Leonardo would be proud or pissed."
"Proud?!" Thomas echoed.
"You said you don't know me. Well that's true but you don't know your old pops either." Gabriel Marin picked up his old driving license and cringed at the photo, "he's not the monster you make him up to be."
"Fuck you." Thomas cursed at him.
"No, no, no it's easy to judge someone when you don't know them." Gabriel Marin dropped the old card and turned towards Thomas, "Leonardo González is not a monster."
"Leonardo Marin." Thomas corrected, "González is my mother's name not his."
"And Ramsey's mine." Gabriel Marin froze when he heard the police siren, "did you call the police?"
"They already have your sister, turns out she's accused of attempted murder and arson." Thomas shrugged, "she tries to help people with their mental problems but yet she's the one who needs help. Why do you think that is?"
"You spoiled bitch, what do you think is going to happen to you if you hand me to the cops? I'm the only family you have left, they'll send you to an orphanage. You don't want to go there."
"I don't want to stay with you."
Gabriel Marin opened his mouth to speak when the door opened and unlocked, two officers walking in. Not only did Thomas call the police he payed a guy on the floor below him to send the extra key to the police, he wanted to get the timing right, he wanted enough time that Gabriel Marin could be there and Thomas would have the chance to talk to him.
"Fuck you kid."
Thomas weakly smiled at him. He had an even longer night ahead of him. This time he was ready to talk and he wouldn't care for the outcome.