Chocolate Eyes

"Bri, are you for real?" Zack asked as the guys slid out of the pool and gathered around their lead guitarist.

Brian nodded his head and glanced back to Michelle. Michelle was staring at nothing, looking off into space like she couldn't believe her ears.

"When did you find out you had a son?" Matt asked as he sat down onto the chair next to his wife, staring up at Brian with huge eyes.

Brian ducked his head to the ground. When he spoke he looked up at his wife. "Five years ago."

Michelle seemed to choke on the air that was feeding her lungs. She stared up at Brian with shock written all over her face. "Five years ago, Brian?" she confirmed, disbelieve coating her words. "How old is this kid?"

"Four," Brian said simply. "He's four."

"You've known all along?" Michelle asked as she started to shake her head. "You've know about your child for five years and you never told me? Never told any of us!" Michelle just shook her head and bit her lip, trying not to scream and show exactly how angry she was.

Valary sighed for her sister and questioned, "How'd you find out?"

Brian crossed his arms. "I signed off my rights to him when he was born," he said, "As requested by his mother."

Everyone was looking at Brian. Michelle's eyes softened when she heard his words.

"Where's the kid's mom now?" Zack asked as he fiddled with the pocket of his swim trunks.

Brian sighed. He remembered her, but not from when he had sex with her, only from when she showed up on his doorstep claiming that she was pregnant with his baby. "She died," Brian said, not feeling a connection with the woman who passed. "She was hit by a semi three days ago."

Matt was about to apologize for her death, console Brian, but he stopped himself. "That's rough, man," he said instead, shaking his head at the circumstances and what had happened.

"Yeah," Brian agreed lamely.

"What are you going to do about the kid?" Johnny asked as he sat down on a chair, looking up to his friend. "I mean, are you going to take him?"

Brian looked at Michelle then. "I don't know," he stated, "But I have an hour to decide."

"What happens in an hour?"

"They sign custody over to his grandparents and he gets put on a plane to Oklahoma," Brian answered, looking at everyone's faces and trying to meet Michelle's eyes.

More questions came to everyone's minds but Matt was the first to speak up, "Where is he now?"

Brian shrugged his shoulders because I didn't know exactly. "Somewhere in Cali, I think."

Zacky questioned, "Who is he with right now?"

Brian sighed and replied, "He's been living with his step-father for the last few days. But he can't stay there any longer. There's some law in place." Brian ran his fingers through his hair and sighed audibly. "I don't know to do," he said, "I've never met this child before and his mother obviously didn't want me in his life."

"If he goes to live with his grandparents he won't have either of his parents, Bri," Valary defended, "A child needs a parent."

"But maybe he lived a completely different lifestyle with his mother," Zack said, "What if taking him from his grandparents completely changes everything? At least he's met them before."

Brian looked at Zack blankly. Zacky had a good point that made Brian wonder, "What if he hasn't? They live pretty far away."

"Can't you call the social worker and ask?" Matt questioned, his fingers clasping with Val's. "You have a right to know these kind of things before you decide to take a little child into your life."

Brian nodded his head. He wanted to talk to Michelle, for her to listen to him, but she barely looked at him as he discussed this with his brothers and Val. "You guys think I should call her back?" Brian asked, "She'll be expecting a yes or no answer, though."

"This is a big responsibility, Syn," Johnny said as he walked over to the grill to check on the burgers for Brian, "The bottom line is, do you think you could actually raise a kid?"

Brian stopped worrying for a moment and just thought about that simple question. Would he be able to take a little boy into his life and raise him to be a decent person? Then Brian had an idea so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on the comforting and familiar number.

"Hey Dad," he greeted when his father answered the phone with a cheery hello, "Can you come over now? There's something I really need to talk to you about."

Brian hung up when his father, Papa Gates, said he'd be right there, sensing the tone of his son's voice and importance of the call. Papa Gates was at his son's house within five minutes. He came strolling through the house, calling out for his son.

"Brian," Papa Gates sighed, his hand going to his chest. "What's wrong? What do you want to talk about?"

Brian bit his lip for a second then decided just to put it out there. "I got a call about my son," he said, watching as Papa Gates' eyes grew a little bit wider.

"The same boy?" he asked his son, his heart beat quickening.

Brian Junior nodded his head. "The only one."

Brian's friends didn't question why Papa Gates knew about Brian's son and they didn't. They knew that Brian told his father everything, no matter what it was. Papa Gates was always there for Brian, ready with money for prison bail or a gun to hunt someone down if they had done anything to his son. Although it had never came to either of those situations.

"His mother died," Brian Junior told his father, "Three days ago."

"So soon?" Papa Gates asked, referring to the fact that the death of his mother would still be a bloody gash on the child's heart.

Brian nodded his head and let out a huge sigh. It was easy to tell that he was stressed. He was about to make a decision that would impact a child's life. His child's life. And while he knew there was a child out there who shared his DNA, he was never asked to change anything about the boy's life. Better yet, he'd been asked flat out to stay as far away from Claudia Kent's son as was possible while still living in the same state.

Brian closed his eyes. "What should I do, Dad?" he asked, desperate for any advice that his father could give him.

Papa Gates could hear the fear in his son's voice. "Are you ready to be a Dad, Brian?" Papa Gates asked seriously, "Are you ready to bring that little boy into your life whole-heartedly, forever?"

Brian thought about it and it scared him that he didn't know the answer.

"Don't answer that," Papa stated a minute later, "I have a better question."

Everyone turned their attention to Brian's father. He was a goof-ball for most of his life, but when it came to family and love, Papa Gates was usually the one who had all the answers.

Papa Gates walked closer to his son and rested his hand on Brian's shoulder, squeezing it tightly as he asked, "Can you really push your son out of your life, knowing that this time around you have the chance for him to know you? Are you going to take away both of this child's parents because you're too scared to make a mistake?"

Brian shut his eyes as his father asked him nearly impossible questions. Brian was scared. He was terrified, actually. He didn't know how to raise a little boy. He didn't know how to bring a kid into his life and explain that he was his father. Why he hadn't been around for four years.

"I haven't been there, Dad. I don't know how I would explain that to him," Brian told his father, looking for the answers in his dad's eyes.

Papa Gates smiled a miniscule smile and said, "You're going to be there when he really needs you, Brian. And right now, he really needs you."