Re: A very OP Christmas Part 2...

[Cryonix]

Micah: Man...I guess I'm a sucker for a baby....

He picks her up...

[Cruel Britannia]

Natalie giggles and snuggles into Uncle Micah. Amanda cautiously pokes her head around the door.

Amanda: That's a good look for you.....

[Cryonix]

Micah: Heh...you think so, huh?

[Cruel Britannia]

Amanda: I think Natalie agrees with me.

*NatalieCoo*

[Jabberwocky]

Colin shows no expression as he glances over at Ewan

Colin:"No."

[Pockets]

Alexis: I just don't remember your visits ever having been mentioned, Ewan. I didn't know if there was a particular reason for that.

[Jabberwocky]

Colin:"He visited. Many times."

[Cruel Britannia]

Ewan looks confusedly between the two again.

Ewan: ..... right......

He puts Elizabeth down and picks up Connor.

[Jabberwocky]

Colin looks at Connor as he is being picked up

Colin:"Excuse me...I need to get...something to eat."

he heads out the door

[Cruel Britannia]

Ewan sighs.

Ewan: What did I say this time?

[Pockets]

Alexis looks just as confused back at Ewan.

Alexis: Did you... have issues with dad when you came to visit?

[Jabberwocky]

Colin freezes just outside the door at Alexis' question to Ewan.

[Cruel Britannia]

Ewan: No.... not at all.... to be perfectly frank...

He lowers his voice and covers Connor's ears.

...he was usually passed out drunk whenever I actually saw him.

[Jabberwocky]

It's difficult to tell if the sound coming from Colin is a scoff or a bitter laugh. Perhaps a combination of both.

[Pockets]

Alexis glances a little startled at the door.

Alexis: ... right....

[Jabberwocky]

Colin looks over his shoulder at Alexis

Colin:"He's not lying...not giving the full picture perhaps, but not lying...If I'm permitted to elaborate without issue I'll do as such."

[Cruel Britannia]

Ewan puts Connor down

Ewan: Please do you'd be enlightening me too....

[Cryonix]

Micah: Come on kiddies...come play with Auntie Mandy and Uncle Micah....

...this...might take a while...

[Jabberwocky]

Colin re-enters the room, looking Ewan up and down for a moment. He takes one of the chairs spinning it around and sits down on it backwards, resting his arms on the top of the backrest

Colin:"Now, I can't deny dad's drinking problem. The reasons for most of his drinking though...well that came in stages through his life. In the better years they were times of joyfulness. Friendship and all that...However, a lot of it came from more negative situations. His brothers arrest, his mothers passing...things that he deep down pointed the finger at himself for, even though they were out of his control. So what do you think happens when you rely on a crutch like that and something happens that is your fault? With everything else, after a time he realized he could have done nothing in the first place and he would be filled with at least an acceptance of that, and the drinking and self destructive nature would stop.

The situation...what...happened between him, you, Jillian, and your children however...it constantly haunted him that there was many things he could have done. Many better paths he could have taken, and that there was nothing he could do about that.

Now, this could have passed in time, in theory. He could have more quickly accepted that the path he had traveled he could no longer control. But every time he heard that you or Jillian where coming to visit Moira, me, and Alexis (never any mention of him) any step ever so small towards accepting that raw torn apart. When you visited, he would go into hiding. Not because he didn't want to see you. Not because you hated him. Because he didn't feel worthy of being in the same room as you. Not because of your social standing or anything else to do with you, but because his own actions made him feel lesser.
Do you recall the party the year Alexis turned six? You got her that special edition barbie and the dream house...of course not just any dream house, it was custom made because you knew a guy with connections to mattel.

What only I remember, because only I saw it...

he turns his attention towards Alexis

Was a sober Ashley O'Ryan, parking his car in the driveway of our house and pulling out a rather large gift wrapped in pink. I also remembering him walking to the house. It was an exciting moment because well..we had not seen him in ages. I didn't want to spoil the surprise so I said nothing. I said nothing as he caught a peak at Ewan giving you the gifts. I said nothing as I saw his heart sink into his chest as he looked at the gift he held. I had my suspicions...a barbie dream house...I said nothing as I saw him seem to accept that the better father figure had given the gift. And I said nothing as he quietly walked back to his car and drove away.

he looks back and Ewan

What I just said, they are my observations and mine alone. I ask you to not try to defend why you visited, as I am sure for the most part that they were good intentions. I ask that you do not try to explain things that do not need explaining. It was a path. It was walked down, for good or bad and nothing can change that. Not for me anyways."

[Pockets]

Alexis looks almost cross-eyed.

Alexis: Wha....?

[Jabberwocky]

Colin:"I should have just said nothing...Heh if I say anything I say to much. If I walk away then I say too little and I'm closed off...I'm damned if I had, and damned if I had not."

[Cruel Britannia]

Ewan: I see.... well just so you know.... they were all good intentions.... we didn't see Ashley O'Ryan drinking himself into oblivion and think "let's go rub it in". We saw one of our best friends struggling with depression because her marriage was falling apart.... and we saw her two beautiful children.... children we loved dearly slowly being stripped of their childhoods..... and we wanted to help.... to show them that they weren't alone.....

I'm sorry if I made your father insecure Colin.... but I wont apologise for giving my friends little girl a gift on her birthday.....

He pulls a photo out of his wallet and puts it on the table. It's Jilly holding Lexi while Alex looks on intently. Ewan is in the background being robbed blind by Colin at poker.

....I'm going to go check on my son....

[Pockets]

Alexis looks up from the picture and notices Amanda. She leans forward intently.

Alexis: How is he?

[Jabberwocky]

Colin:"...I never thought that you need to apologize..."

He picks up the photo and stares at it. A moment later he is covering his eyes as he rather briskly leaves the room.

[Cruel Britannia]

Amanda: He's fine.... still unconscious.... but he's fine.... he's not going anywhere.....

.... he's going to feel so ashamed when he wakes up though..... I should probably be ready to have a hell of a headache.

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