This oneshot is for one of my favorite people in this fandom! She is always there for me and I know my life is better, because she is in my life!
Happy Birthday Celine_CooperJones
I hope you have the happiest Birthday!!!❤😊
***
He has been alone his whole life. No one was ever there for him. Growing up at The Sisters Of Quiet Mercy no had ever shown any interrest in his birthday. Some of the sister had at least wished him a happy birthday and one year one of the other kids had brought him a bouqet of daisys, but one of the older sisters immediately took them away from him and threw them into the trash.
Living at the sisters for such a long time made him push back the thought of his birthday further with every year. Also because it was a reminder that his parents had given him up. He knew they probably thought he would find a nice family to be adopted by, yet since this never happend his life was miserable and it was partly his parents fault in his opinion.
After getting out of the Sisters and joining the FBI he occasionally went out for a drink with some other young agents, that practically forced him to celebrate his birthday, when he really wasn't in the mood for it. Getting drunk wouldn't make him forget all the years when no one had cared. And he knew also most of his colleages didn't cared about him, they just needed an excuse to get drunk on a friday night so they won't feel guilty, if they were home late to their fiancés and wifes.
But now everything should be different. He met his family and was part of their lifes. He had understood why everything had happend in the way it did and forgave his parents. He had a family.
He should be the happiest person, yet he wasn't. The relationships with his parents got as close as it could be in the months they had been in each others lifes and he loved that. With his half-siblings it hasn't been quite that easy, but they all knew it would just take some time.
This life was so new to him and he was so insecure about how to act around these knew people in his life that said they would always be there for him if he needed anything or if he just didn't wanted to be alone in his motel. He always had to handle everything on his own before.
Now his 26th birthday was just around the corner and he really wasn't sure if he wanted to celebrate it in any way. He thought he could maybe invite his parent for maybe an hour our something to Pops to drink a coffee, just as long as he wouldn't bother them too much. He was sure his siblings wouldn't care that much.
He though of himself as that big brother, who is also an FBI agent, that just came into his siblings lifes and completely messed them up, that they probably never would accept, when their parents weren't around. He knew it was sad to think about himself like that, but he just never really got the chance to really bond with them beside finding Alice, when she was gone.
About a week before his birthday FP had invited him over to have lunch with him at the station. FP had sensed that Charles had been acting weird over the last weeks everytime that Alice had mentioned his upcoming birthday and wanted to talk about it with him.
"Okay son, there is a reason why I wanted you to come over. Your first birthday with all of us is in about a week and Alice and I both noticed that you were acting weird everytime Alice had mentioned celebrating your birthday with a party, with the whole family. What's going on? You know you can talk with us about anything. And if you aren't comfortable to talk about it with your mom, I am always here for you too."
"It's just...", he wasn't sure how to say what he was about to say without hurting his father. "I just never really had a birthday. No one ever cared about it. And even though I know you all do I just really don't want to bother all of you to have to celebrate that day with me. "
Hearing Charles say that brought tears into FP's eyes. Even though he didn't knew about Charles most of the young mans life he felt guilty, that no one was ever there to celebrate his birthday with him. He missed so many things a father should do with his son and knowing that even now he was still not sure how his family felt about him broke his heart.
"You will never bother us. I promise. We all love you so much. When I found out you were alive it was honestly one of the happiest days of my life. I was so excited to finally have you in my life. Same goes for your mother. And your half-siblings love you dearly. Even if they sometimes have trouble showing it..."
"If I am honest that is one of the reasons, why I wish I could just go to Pops with you and Alice. I really don't know if Jellybean, Jughead and Betty would even want to celebrate with me...", he said sadly.
FP stood up from his chair and pulled his son into a tight hug. He wasn't a child anymore, but a hug could never hurt anyone and his son for sure needed one in this moment.
"I will talk to Alice tonight and than we will talk to your siblings in the morning, but I am pretty sure they would be happy to celebrate your birthday with you. You are their brother after all."
"Thank you, dad", it was the first time he had called FP this and it brought tears into his eyes again.
"Always!"
Later that day he and Alice were laying in bed cuddling, when Alice noticed something was bothering FP. She knew that him and Charles had met for lunch that day, yet since he didn't mention anything further about it, she had just assumed everything went fine.
"Okay FP...what's going on? Is everything okay with Charles? I know you had lunch together today."
FP was hesitant to speak at first. He knew he had told Charles he would talk to Alice, but it still felt weird to tell her about their sons insecurities.
"Charles is fine, but he doesn't know how to feel about celebrating his birthday, especially with his siblings. He still doesn't feel like they accept them as a brother and for who he is. He even suggested just going for a coffee with us two so he wouldn't bother them or us for more time than necessary", tears were piling up in Alice eyes hearing that. It hurted her the same as it did FP, when he heard it from Charles.
"Are we bad parents? I feel responsible for him still being so insecure around them and even us", the tears were now falling from her eyes. FP pulled her closer to himself and wiped them away with his thumb.
"He is gonna be okay, Al. He just needs more time to adjust to the whole situation. If you want to we could try to help him with having a birthday celebration with just him, us and the kids. Like his first family birthday."
A soft smile spread on her face. "I would really like that. You know you are the best thing that ever happend to me, beside Charles and the kids of course. I love you."
"I love you too, Al."
A week later it was Charles birthday. FP had talked to him again and had assured him that all of them wanted to celebrate his birthday with him. That is was important to them, that they all were together on his first birthday that he was part of this family.
Alice had prepared a classic cheesecake and an apple pie after she had offered him several options that she always enjoyed to make for her girls birthdays before. She had bossed around the kids and FP the whole morning giving orders how to decorate the house just right.
It was aroud 3pm when they heard a knock on the front door. They had given Charles a key, so he could come over whenever he wanted, but knew he would only use it in an emergency. They all gathered in front of the door, before Alice opened it to a shyly smiling Charles.
They all started singing 'Happy Birthday' for him, which slightly made him look to the ground. He was no different in not knowing what to do when that happend to him, than most other people. Especially since this was the first time this ever happened to him.
When they were done singing Alice pulled him into a tight hug and wispered a happy birthday and sweet wishes in his ear, before she slightly turned her head around to the others signaling them to join their embrace. They all croweded around him and gave him a family hug.
"We love you, Charles. No matter how annoying I might be sometimes, you are my favorite big brother. Don't tell Jughead I said that", Jellybean carefully wispersed in Charles ear. He smiled down at her. Honestly happy. And gave her a wink. "I won't."
The rest of the day they all spend together as a family. Eating cake and playing silly birthday games, that all of them were to old for, but it was fun anyways.
Charles wasn't able to get the smile from his face the whole day. This was his family, who really cared about him. He couldn't even describe how much he loved each and everyone of them.