Work Text:
Here’s the thing despite Aiden’s young age, he was incredibly smart.
He’d started learning to swim when he was just a few months old, and he could communicate perfectly well without saying a single word. He didn’t like to talk much, not to anyone outside his family anyway. But even without words, he was observant and aware of far more than people gave him credit for.
At seven years old, Aiden already knew his family’s life wasn’t like anyone else’s. He knew what his father and uncles did was dangerous. He knew they saved people every day, and sometimes came back hurt mostly his dad or Uncle Gordon, sometimes Uncle Alan or Virgil, and rarely Uncle John, but still sometimes.
He knew what death was too.
He’d heard it once, a call that went wrong, a scream that went silent. Grandpa had cut the comms right after, but it was too late. He’d heard enough.
He also knew that normal kids didn’t live on an island in the middle of the ocean. And that most kids had both a mommy and a daddy.
He only had a daddy.
He didn’t have any pictures of his mama. No stories. No memories. Just silences, like she’d never existed at all. No one ever brought her up, and he never asked. But now, almost eight, he wanted to know.
He waited for the right time and it finally came.
---
Scott had been injured when on a rescue a few days earlier. Nothing too serious, but enough that he was grounded and stuck resting on the couch in the lounge. It was the perfect moment, Aiden thought.
Quietly, he climbed the stairs, hands tucked behind his back, watching his father reclined with one leg up and a tablet propped on his knee.
Scott looked up and smiled softly. “Hey, Guppy. What’re you up to?”
Aiden shrugged and wandered over, climbing right into his father’s lap like he always did. Scott didn’t mind in fact, he shifted to make room.
The boy leaned against his chest, fiddling with his fingers for a long moment before asking in a small voice,
“Daddy… What was my mama like?”
Scott blinked. He hadn’t expected that.
Aiden looked up, curious. “What was my mama’s name? Why don’t I have a mama? Other kids do.”
Scott froze. His shoulders went tense.
He sighed softly. “I figured you’d ask one day,” he said quietly. “I just never knew when.”
Aiden tilted his head, waiting patiently.
Scott’s eyes drifted far away, to a time long before Aiden was born. Then, slowly, he began.
“Your mama’s name was Kimberly,” he said. “She had light brown hair and dark brown eyes.”
“Do you have a picture of her?” Aiden asked hopefully.
“No,” Scott admitted, “but I can get one for you.”
He took a slow breath before continuing. “Your mom was a reporter, when I met her she was trying to get the scoop on the Tracy family.” A soft smile tugged at his lips. “One thing led to another, and then we became good friends. Then…” he paused, his throat tightening, “…then she disappeared. Stopped talking to me completely.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” Scott said honestly. “I tried reaching out, but she was just… gone. Then your Aunt Penny called me one day and told me to come to her house. That’s when I found out about you.”
Aiden’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t know I was born?”
Scott shook his head. “No, baby. I didn’t know you existed. You were a surprise, a big one. But the best kind.” He wrapped his arms around his son. “You became my whole world the second I met you.”
Aiden’s voice went small. “Did you want me?”
Scott’s heart cracked. “Oh, guppy, it’s not like that. I just didn’t know about you. But once I did… I never wanted anything more.”
Aiden leaned against him again, quiet for a long time before asking softly, “What happened to Mama?”
Scott swallowed. His eyes dropped to the floor. “Your mama had written Aunt Penny a letter, before she gave you to some nice people who found Aunt Penny. That was the last time anyone saw her.”
“So… she’s gone?”
Scott nodded slowly. “Yeah, baby. Your mama’s been gone for seven years.”
Aiden stared at his hands. He’d always known, deep down, but hearing it still hurt.
Scott hesitated, thinking about how to explain something like that to a seven-year-old even one who was smart enough to understand.
“Do you know how sometimes people get really, really sad?” Scott asked.
Aiden nodded “like you and uncle Gordon get sometimes.
“Yeah like me and Gordon, well… your mama got that sad. So sad she didn’t want to be here anymore.” Scott took a shaky breath. “Your mama took her own life, Guppy. Do you… understand what that means?”
Aiden looked up, his blue eyes bright but steady. “You mean… Mama killed herself?”
Scott nodded. “Yeah, baby. That’s what I’m saying.”
“Did Mama not love me? Did I make her sad?”
“Oh, no, sweetheart.” Scott’s voice broke. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Your mama loved you so, so much. She just wasn’t okay in her head. She had problems none of us could fix.”
Aiden sat there, quiet again. He didn’t really understand why she’d done it, but he understood enough to know she loved him.
After a moment, Scott brushed his hair back. “Are you okay, Guppy?”
Aiden nodded and curled closer. “Do I have grandparents?”
Scott sighed. “Yes, you do.”
“Can I meet them?”
“No,” Scott said softly.
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know. But they… they didn’t want to be part of this. When your mama died, they told me they were sorry, but they couldn’t be around you. I think it was too hard for them.”
“Oh.” Aiden thought about that quietly. “Is Mama buried somewhere?”
“She is.”
“Do you think we could visit her?”
Scott smiled faintly. “Yeah, I think we can.”
Aiden was silent for a while. Then he looked up again, voice small but all so steady.
“Did you love Mama? Is that why you never married or dated anyone?”
Scott blinked at him, surprised by the question though he shouldn’t have been.
“I did,” he said finally. “I loved your mama with my whole heart. And yeah, maybe that’s part of it. She was… my person, even if it was just for a little while.”
Aiden nodded against him. “I’m okay with it just being us, Daddy.”
Scott chuckled softly, his voice thick. “Yeah,” he whispered, hugging his son close. “Me too, Guppy. Me too.”