Chapter Text
“I’ll get a taxi, kids. Let’s get you home.”
These words didn’t mean much to the two children at the time, their trust in their uncle Felix was too strong, they would’ve let him drive them home anyway. Oh, what a bullet they dodged.
All three of them piled into the backseat of the vehicle, and the driver gave Felix a solemn nod, the stench of alcohol hitting his square in the face. In the car on the way back, all Felix could think about was his wife, no, ex-wife’s letter. Things had always been a bit tense between them, but she left him with almost no notice, and he had no idea what he’d done wrong. Well, he knew, but he couldn’t stop. Drinking was how he coped, and he had no idea what he would do without alcohol to numb everything a bit.
Street lamps illuminated his face for brief intervals, and the road jostled the trio around in the backseat. Ed and Molly were bickering about something or other, and Felix, as much as he loved those kids, couldn’t bring himself to intervene.
He was dragged from his thoughts by a grubby hand tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. Oh, they were at Jack’s house. Molly tugged again, before sighing and clambering over Felix to get out of the car door. Sitting there, still not quite with it, it took the driver snapping his fingers in Felix’s face to get him to pay and get out of the car.
Stumbling up the footpath and almost tripping on the front steps, he was greeted with Molly and Ed knocking on the door excitedly (frantically?), ready to call the day over and get into bed. Rosemary opened the door, and both children leapt into her arms, she spun them around once and set them down in the hallway, inside. Felix vaguely noticed Sophie peering at him from around the corner of the hall, before retreating back to her room.
“Thanks again for bringing the kids home,” Rosemary started, only now just meeting his eyes. “Oh, Felix, you look terrible! What’s happened dear?” Without waiting for a response, she ushered him inside, with a forlorn look on her face. “I’ll get you some tea and put the kids to bed. Then we can have a talk when Jack gets home, okay?” Felix nodded, not trusting his hoarse throat to give out on him if he answered verbally.
At some point, there was a blanket thrown over him, and the untouched tea grew lukewarm in his clammy hands. He was sitting in an armchair, close to the unlit fireplace, smouldering coals still shades of red inside the brick casing. Vaguely, Felix registered the sound of keys jingling in the front door, and he heard Jack call out for Rose, before their voices grew hushed as they spoke in secrecy about what Felix could only assume to be him.
It took Felix a few minutes to look up, but when he did, he was greeted with Jack crouching just less than a metre in front of him. Felix croaked out an apology, but Jack quickly shushed him, and put his arm on Felix’s shoulder, caressing in comforting circles.
“Felix, my friend, what’s happening with you? You’re drunk and Rosemary said you’ve been crying since you got here. What’s wrong?” Felix was about to protest the last statement, until he gingerly brought his hand up to his face and felt tears there.
“Linda left me. It’s all my fault,” he sobbed, hiccuping and hiding his face in the crook of Jack’s arm.
“Oh, I’m so sorry Felix. Please, stay here as long as you need to.” Jack returned, placing his other hand in his best friend’s hair.
Normally, Felix would protest, insisting Jack needn’t worry about little old him, Jack has a family of his own to worry about, but he was a mess. A drunk, depressed mess. He needed Jack and Rosemary to be there for him. He needed help. Before he knew it, he was nodding along to Jack’s words, and then they were hugging.
When Felix woke the next morning, he had a debilitating headache. He groaned, and fumbled for his glasses on his bedside table, but he was met with thin air on the other side of the bed. Confused, he sat up slowly, and took the scene in, with what he could see. Sunlight poured through the slightly drawn blinds, and the walls were plain, rather than his patterned wallpaper. Turning to his other side, he saw the outline of his glasses on the bedside table, which was on his right, rather than his left.
Oh, that’s right.
He was in Jack’s guest bedroom. And he could hear somebody coming up the hall.