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"Harlan, do you have everything packed?" Pomni called from downstairs.
"Yeah." Harlan replied, zipping up his suitcase.
"Mom! I can't find my sketchpad!" Marionette's voice.
Harlan heard Pomni sigh.
"Sweetie, can you help your other sisters pack?" She requested.
"Alright." He mumbled.
He trudged out of his room with his bag and went downstairs to help with his sisters' luggage. As he did, he turned to look at the wall along the stairwell. Faded sports where pictures used to be of all seven of them. Laughing.
Happy.
Together.
Now each memory had, at best, a bittersweet tinge to it. He looked down at the living room. There was Jillian, sitting upside-down on the couch, lackadaisically swinging her legs as she read her book. Eostre sat on the floor, gently cradling her doll that she and Auntie Ragatha made together. Daisy busied herself by playing with her pet toad. And finally, Marionette ran in, having finally found her sketchbook as Pomni followed close behind, chuckling.
Oh how he yearned to be 5 years old and innocent again. And to be a heavy sleeper.
He just had to wake up in the middle of night.
All he wanted was a midnight snack.
He had very quickly lost his appetite when he heard the screaming.
The unbridled rage that poured from his parents' mouth.
The swears.
The insults.
But what especially haunted his mind was the bitter, tearful question that his mother had uttered that night:
"What would you do if I died tomorrow?"
The silence of his dad was deafening.
The following few weeks were an entire bottle of pill, each one harder to swallow than the last. Being 11 years old, he knew what divorce was and the severity of such a thing. All the events seemed to blur together in his memory as he tried to hide the pain.
The court hearings. The CPS visits. Staying with Grandpa Kinger and Grandma Queenie for a while. It was all barely discernable from each other.
No amount of hugs and kisses from either parents could numb the emptiness in his chest.
"Harlan!" Pomni called, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I told you to help your sisters pack."
"On it!" He complied.
The feeling of the car ride on the way there honestly felt like death row.
For Harlan anyway.
His sisters were still preoccupied with their own little things. Harlan, meanwhile, attempted to drown on the world by, putting an earbud in one hear and playing some music. Gilbert and Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore' was always a favorite for him and Marionette. Although the fact that the play centered around a couple was made bittersweet by the current circumstances. Still, the music was catchy enough to sort of take his mind off it.
"Mother, do you and father still love each other?" Eostre innocently blurted out.
Harlan looked at Pomni and he could see it.
Her knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel.
The shaky breaths and the tears glistening in her eyes as she tried to calm herself down.
Harlan quickly paused the music, having already lost his mood for it. Instead, he opted to lean on the window and mindlessly stare at the passing scenery. Though, that was easier said than done.
"Dad!" Daisy cried as she ran out of the car and into her father's arms.
"Hey! I missed to guys." Jax laughed, catching her and twirling her around.
Soon, they were joined by the other girls, whom Jax eagerly hugged and pecked on their heads. Finally, Harlan came up.
"Hey, Dad." He flatly greeted, while the hug he gave him communicated something else entirely.
"Nice to see you too, Sport." He replied.
As father and son embraced, the former's eyes locked on the Pomni's tearful one. After staring at each other for at least ten seconds...
"Hey, Harley." Jax whispered to his son. "Why don't you help the girls with their bags, eh?"
With a nod, he left his father's embrace and went to assist the quadruplets.
With him occupied, Pomni and Jax stared at each other. Unmoving. Unsure of what to do in this situation.
It was honestly amazing. How they could spend all these years building something so beautiful.
And so fragile.
All for one screw up.
All because of a few words they could never take back.
All because they were...
Selfish? Invasive? Simply too much?
Hard to say.
Looking back at the kids piling through the door, Jax glanced back at Pomni and nodded, assuring her that he would care for them to the best of his ability during his six months.
Pomni, in turn, said nothing. Instead, rolling up the windows and driving away.
Jax didn't even wave. Seeing as there was no point standing out here any longer, he walked back inside to join his children and get lunch ready.