True Smiles [Draven]

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell was sitting at the dining room table, flipping through a photo album. Lots of memories were in this book, all were happy full of smiles. But everyone says behind those smiles are the true stories.

She sighs, finally getting to Draven and Shells' wedding, biting her lip as she continued to watch the photos of them dancing around and Draven shoving cake in her face were in motion. She smiled at that, but it quickly fades, glancing over at a photo of her previous wedding day, watching Jay and herself dance around slowly then Briar running into the scene pulling them apart because of how they were dancing. She laughs remembering a time when they were in the kitchen... and she wasn't going to mention that to Draven.

Shell looks at her or technically Jay's pocketwatch that was dangling from her neck seeing that it was almost eleven at night while Draven wasn't back from work. Maybe he went out for dinner with some co-workers and then some drinks but she was getting worried. She had to talk to him and she couldn't wait anymore to postpone this.

Sighing she rests her head onto the book, watching the photo of a much younger Draven and Shell in their school days just waving at the camera as they went on to cook their marshmallows before falling asleep with a couple tears sliding down her face.

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[Draven Slayter]

The wind was whipping his face as his black hair twisted in the moonlight, curving around his face and making it difficult to see. His hands gripped steadily to his broom as it flashed through the night; it was about ten more minutes and he would be home, wrapping his arms around his wife and pressing his lips to hers again and... His thoughts stopped cold in his mind and shifted to the watch dangling on his wrist. '...Shit, shit, shit.' Drave thought angrily to himself.

Really, he didn't mean to be out this late (late meaning three in the morning, of course) but this was important. Shell knew that a few weeks back his father had passed (and his mother had gone into a coma, no less) but what she didn't know is that he recently found out he had a half brother. And one that was without a home. Even though the little squirt didn't like Drave all too much, he couldn't just let him wander off on his own.

Well, that was what he had gone to do now. As soon as he got off work, he headed off to meet Keegan, help him pack his bags, and navigate him back to Draven and Shell's house. Although he truly felt like he had done something good, there was this odd feeling at the pit of his stomach that was telling him something was not going right.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small necklace that had a silver crescent charm hanging from it. He ran his thumb over it smoothly, watching it catching the moon's glow. It was something small, but sentimental that he had picked up for her. Obviously he knew it wasn't going to bail him out of coming home this late, but hopefully she'd understand the circumstances. Returning focus to the skyway, he flitted his way down into his driveway, signaling for Keegan to follow him. Drave touched ground, pulled out his keys, opened the door, and carefully eased inside.

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[Shelby Crescent]

Shell stirs slightly, wiping her tears away as she heard the door lock being fiddled with and with that her feet took control and walked to the middle of the entrance way, her arms crossed over her chest with a frown appearing on her lips.

She sighs, seeing his face peak around the door just biting her lip. "About time you're back Slayter. We need to talk about a few things. Right now." she says sternly a bit loud for her usual tone of voice before turning around, swinging her hips as she stormed into the living room but as she was walking though she had a cheesy grin on her face, glad that he was okay but it quickly fades away, knowing their talk wasn't going to be exactly what either of them were hoping.

Most likely it wasn't going to be a happy reunion, Shell knew that after a couple weeks with him gone and nothing was going to bail him out of this. Leaving her with the children, only to struggle with the bills and lose her sanity a handful of times to Rubalyn. Hell she could take over whenever she wanted now.

Grabbing a blue blanket from a huge wicker basket, she wraps it around herself and sits down on the couch, just staring down at the coffeetable waiting for him to follow her into the room and talk like she asked, no told him to do with her right now. She knew it was late, as the clock was ringing fifteen past three and sighs, knowing that he was probably sleeping on this very couch after their discussion on why he disappeared for so long without a word.

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[Draven Slayter]

Obviously the way he was trying to quietly enter the house didn't work, because as soon as he opened the door he was eye to eye with a very mad face. Well, maybe not technically eye to eye. Drave stood a good foot or so above Shell, but that was besides the point. Her words had a very sharp edge to them, one that he certainly didn't like, but that he probably should have seen coming. Before he could even bother to respond, she had already turned a heel and walked away back into the living room.

A sigh broke out from his chest. He could already tell this was going to be very difficult explaining his disappearance, and not to mention Keegan's appearance. Putting away his keys, he took off his coat, told Keeg to hang his up, and motioned for him to step inside. "Hello..." Keegan gave a very small wave as he saw Shell in the room. Drave waited for her to turn around and see him before turning to his brother. "The kitchen is through that door there, feel free to fix yourself something." He watched his brother shrug and walk away.

Running his fingers through his hair with one hand, his other hand was tucked inside his coat pocket, his thumb still rubbing over the little crescent charm that was there. "Before we start anything," Draven began, meaning any type of arguement they were going to get into (because by the looks of it, that's where this was heading), "I wanna tell you that yes, I should have called and there was no excuse for my being gone so long without hearing hide nor tail from me." He began to follow her back into the living room.

"Shell I want you to know that I never meant to be gone so long. You know I was just out of town visiting my parents. Well... that isn't exactly how the trip went." He sighed and held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index fingers. "A lot of shit went on when i was there. Things beyond my control. That's why he's here." Drave pointed back toward the kitchen door, "That's Keegan. My half brother." No, he didn't keep talking because he didn't want to start a fight, but to hopefully explain all of this to her, and mayhaps avoid a dispute all together.

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[Shelby Crescent]

Shell sighs a bit, just listening to his story but she couldn't help but shake her head and drown out what he was saying. Draven left her alone with eleven kids to look after for a few months, almost lost the house, and discovered that she was a grandmother. Not to mention the fact that Rubalyn came back for a while... but still.

She looks up at him for a few seconds after he was finished before letting out a deep sigh. "You've been gone because your got a half brother and a few things happened... A few things have happened around here as well you know. Good and mostly bad. But of course that doesn't matter seeing as you can't even drop a line to your family Draven." Shell mutters before pulling the blanket around her closer and staring back at the coffeetable.

"Do you have anything else to say Slayter? Like I know I'll be sleeping on the couch for the next hundred years or something else perhaps?" she adds slightly bitter before averting her glare back up at her 'husband.'

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[Draven Slayter]

'...Shit, shit, shit.' His mind sang to him again. Apparently he hadn't really exactly thought about how much time had actually passed since he had been gone. Had it really been over a month? He supposed it didn't matter now, since he had severely underestimated the situation at hand. All he could do was sit back and insistantly gnaw at his bottom lip. Every few moments he attempted to get words in edgewise, but that point was moot. Whenever he went to try and open his mouth, he was cut off by Shelby's frantic ranting. Drave waited until it was clear Shell had stopped talking.

"Shell, stop, right now." Draven said sternly, but not in a demanding way. He grabbed at her hands gently and dared to pop a squat on the couch next to her. "Look, I know I've been gone for a really long time. And you're right, I should have picked up the phone and called or sent an owl or something. I just got so wrapped up in everything that was going on there that I lost track of everything wonderful that I left at home." At this point he flashed a weak smile, praying to whatever god there was that she would take his words seriously.

Draven sighed to himself, already knowing that however true his statements might have been, it didn't make up for all the time he had lost here. "Please, I need you right now. I don't need us fighting while everything is already so hectic around here. To be honest I don't even know what I'm going to do about that kid," He paused a moment to point a finger toward the kitchen, "And you know how much I hate sleeping on the couch. It's all lumpy." Drave made a puppy-dog pout, perhaps trying to brighten up this raincloud of a conversation.

No, he didn't want to just change the subject and forget about it. That was not what he was trying to do. Draven knew that he couldn't make up for the time lost, and that Shelby was right about him not making contact. He knew all this and just didn't want to be mad about it. The point was he was home now and didn't have to go back for any reason.

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell sighs, just staring at him before pulling her blanket closer around herself. "If it was so wonderful you wouldn't have been gone for so long Slayter. I'm done talking about this." she mutters before getting up and walking into the kitchen noticing the 'boy' that Draven was talking about still in the kitchen making something to eat.

Rolling her eyes a bit, she walked stomped over to the fridge and opened it sending some of the items on the inside door to fall over as she pulled out a plastic cup of chocolate pudding and sitting on the counter, just using her finger instead of a spoon seeing as Keegan was in the way of the drawer.

"You can tell your brother that I don't care if the couch is lumpy or not, he's sleeping there or outside under the porch." she mutters darkly, jamming her finger into the pudding before placing it back into her mouth, just glaring at the archway where she could still see Draven sitting on the couch. There was no way he was going to get out of this one, that was for sure.

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