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The night after the incident with the Phantom Voyager, Kade crawled into Charlie’s bed.
“Wha– Kade?” Charlie lifted the sheets, looking down at where the redhead’s face pressed into his side. Kade’s nose was very cold. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Pop,” Kade mumbled, looking up. “I just… You looked… It was… Ugh.” Kade tightened his arms around his father’s waist, hiding his eyes.
Charlie let the blankets settle as his son breathed deeply through his mouth. Something was very wrong, but Kade appeared to be healthy. The slight increase in carbon dioxide would help put him to sleep.
Which Kade knew. Why come here when he could just as easily rebreathe himself to sleep in his own bed?
Sometimes Charlie forgot how sensitive Kade was. His oldest wasn’t sweet like Cody, or shy like Graham, or romantic like Dani, but he saw the world clearly and empathetically. In fact, the young man spent quite a lot of time distancing himself from that instinct. He’d go crazy if he took everyone’s pain for his own. As a result, Kade often came across callous or rude.
Tonight, something had stripped all that away.
Probably something he had seen on that ship.
The blankets pulled down suddenly, revealing Kade’s head. His fist tightened convulsively in the fabric as he spoke. “It was awful. He was so old and broken and lonely. I almost stayed with him.”
“Captain Ambrose?” Charlie asked, quite confused about Kade’s sudden attachment to such a brief acquaintance.
“You.”
Charlie’s breath seized. For a moment, he simply watched Kade watch his fingers dimple the sheets. Cody had been quite forthcoming about the story. Charlie didn’t even want to imagine himself, ten years after his family had been ripped away, the steel band of hope around his chest ripped off only to be tightened again as he said goodbye. Forcing in breath with great effort, Charlie pushed the panic he’d felt when the ship disappeared away.
“I’m okay, son,” he promised, not entirely sure it was true. He was terrified of losing any one of his children and today it had almost happened. He’d almost lost them all. And the bots. Frankly, he’s a little surprised that his unlucky future self had survived the experience. “You’re all safe. Everything’s back to normal.”
Kade made a grumbly noise, snuggling closer.
Charlie imagined the man would be quite embarrassed come morning, but honestly, he would never deny his son comfort, even on Kade’s worst day. Even more honestly, Charlie was desperately glad he didn’t need to admit his own weakness to cling to one of his children for a few hours. He’d probably wake up alone, and panic; and Kade would probably avoid him all day, but things were definitely looking sunny. Even if it rained.