#threads.alex

[houseoracastle]

@violenttempest

Lennon was frantic, searching under rocks, umbrellas, blankets, wherever he could look. Not a word to the people he was searching around, only heavy breathing and half-sobs as he tore seating arrangements apart and ripped at his own messy hair. It wasn't often that Lennon put on shows this dramatic, so it wasn't very surprising when someone tried to stop him finally. And he ripped his arm away before turning and realizing who it was.

"Fuck, Alex, I lost him. He was right there, on the blanket, and then he was gone! I looked away, I stepped out for one second, just one minute, and then-" Lennon was rambling, too fast, words falling out of his mouth too fast to even be understood. His story wasn't concrete, either, facts lost in his own panic. "What if he's hurt? What if he's dead? I fucking killed him, I'm the worst fucking parent to ever exist, I can't even keep my own fucking baby alive, Alex," he felt his throat tightening, and he put a hand to his bare chest, shaking his head and pursing his lips. Well, on the plus side, now would be a good time for him to drop dead, anyway.

[houseoracastle]

Lennon watched Penny's hands, grinning as she moved and told him everything and asked her questions, though his smile dissipated as she went on. When she was finished, he glanced up at Alex briefly, and nodded before looking back at Penny. 'I'm glad you're okay. You can hug me whenever you want,' he reassured her, smiling again, though it was a little sad now. He couldn't believe how much he was missing, being stuck here. At least now he had his sister, and his niece, but he hated that they had to be stuck here, too.

'I got huge,' he signed, puffing out his cheeks and crossing his eyes as he said so. Then he pointed up at Liam and nodded. 'Liam is definitely their dad. Salem looks just like him, doesn't she?' He straightened up, standing, and looked at Alex again. "It's okay," he said, signing while he spoke, not wanting to leave Penny out. It was a habit he'd fallen out of at times, being here. Now he wanted to pick it back up, communication accessible for everyone in the room.

"I'm so, so sorry I wasn't there."

"Mmm perhaps but you know you'd be dead meat if Lenny didn't love their babies." She commented back, giving Liam a playful shove.

'I missed you so much! I grew a lot and momma marked it on the wall. We were gonna come looking for you because you missed our visit but then we got hurt and daddy is in heaven now but it's okay because he's safe and I can pray to him every night. Momma says that the person outside at night isn't daddy and he's just pretending so i'm not allowed to let him in because he's a bad man. Have you seen the bad man pretending to be daddy? It's not very nice. I would like to give daddy a hug and I thought I could but I can't because it's not daddy. So I hug momma instead. And you now! I can hug you! You had babies. Did you get fat? Is uncle Liam their daddy? Are they like us?'

Penny rattled off sign after sign, barely stopping to ensure Lennon was following along. She hadn't noticed her mother tense up next to her, too excited by her favourite person being right in front of her.

"...I was going to tell you." Alex murmured. "I didn't want to make our reunion about me."

[houseoracastle]

That was a lot to take in. Lennon stayed silent for a little bit, trying to process everything Alex was telling him. He knew he couldn't take too long, couldn't let Penny see that he was upset, and he also didn't really want Alex to see he was upset, either. How could he make this about him, when they had gone through so much? And he hadn't even been there for them. Instead, he'd been here, because his job had been so important to him he'd been willing to give up everything for one good video.

No, he couldn't have known he and Liam would get stuck here. He never would have done that to Alex, or to Liam. Not deliberately. Without realizing he was doing it, he'd reached over to grab Liam's hand, squeezing it tightly.

Forcing himself to smile, he looked at Penny again, pulling his hand from Liam's and starting to pull Salem out of the wrap he was wearing. 'Would you like to hold her?' He asked, gesturing to the baby he was now holding in his lap. She was wriggling, looking around, wanting to go-go-go the way crawling babies often did.

Alex shook her head not wanting Lennon to apologise for something that wasn't his fault. She moved so everyone could come inside, gently guiding Penny along with her who was now trying her best to get a peek at the babies. "We were coming to look for you." Alex told them, her hands as hesitant as her words.

"Travis was driving. The weather was terrible. I kept asking him to find a motel for us to wait it out in. Said one day wasn't going to stop the whole trip." She stopped, her gaze becoming a little distant as she remembered what happened. "A truck aquaplaned and hit us. Travis he..." Her hands shook a little before she continued. "He died on impact. I lost the pregnancy I was carrying. Woke up two weeks later in a hospital with a crushed pelvis and two broken legs."

She sat herself down, opening her arms for Penny who hurried over and sat herself down with her mom. "Missed the funeral because I was unconscious. Spent the last year or so recovering, helping this one recover, looking for you guys gave me something to keep my mind focused on. I needed my brother."

[houseoracastle]

Lennon was nodding before even thinking through the idea. But then he froze, frowning. No...he couldn't just make that decision for them. Besides, she didn't realize she wasn't just inviting two people, she was inviting four. And the little ones were a whole lot of work. "We can probably stay tonight. But, um, it's gonna be more than me and Liam, if that's cool?" He pulled his hand from hers and took a few steps away, taking Onyx from the person who'd picked him up. Then he was going back to Alex, not wanting to get too far from her. "This is Onyx, and Salem's inside with Liam," he explained, smiling and holding Onyx a little closer so Alex could get a good look.

Alex wiped her eyes as she got to het feet. "We uh, there was a guy from the sheriff's office? He and some woman got Penny and I set up with a place." It wasn't that the offer wasn't appreciated, honestly Alex wanted to hold onto Lennon and never let him go again, at the same time she needed her space and rooming with two boys in their 20s didn't seem like a lot of fun. That and the sheer amount of strangers that would be around her daughter set her on edge.

"Come stay with us. Penny would love to have you around. We have the room. The place is pretty big compared to what we're use to." She countered, squeezing his hand. "Liam can come. I know you two are practically glued together. Can't have Lemon without Lime." She joked though it was obvious she was tired and emotional and trying to keep it together.

[houseoracastle]

Lennon looked at Liam and smiled bashfully, shrugging. "I just missed her. I never would've made it into adulthood without her, so she's, like, important," he explained shortly. There was a lot more to it than that, but Lennon didn't talk about it much, and anyway Liam was one of the only people in his life he'd told almost everything to before.

As soon as he'd hugged Alex, he pulled away and dropped into a squat, one hand grabbing the doorframe to balance himself with the baby strapped to his chest. Then he pulled his hand away to sign, not even bothering to use his voice as he looked excitedly at his niece. 'How did you get so tall?!?!' Hearing Liam's joke, he frowned slightly and glanced upwards, chewing anxiously on his lip for just a moment before he brought his attention back to Penny.

"It has been forever since I've seen you this excited." Liam chuckled, holding onto Onyx as they waited for Alex to open the door. He was so happy for Lennon to get Alex back in his life. Alex was probably the only person who loved Lennon more than he did and he only knew this because if he tried to say it was any other way Alex would probably fight him.

There was a squeal of unbridled joy from inside the house and soon Alex was opening the door with a giddy little girl behind her. "Hey guys. Liam it's good to see you, thank you for keeping my brother alive." She hugged him carefully, making sure not to squish the baby.

"Well we both know losing him would be like losing a leg but I also kind accidentally got him pregnant so I at least owe you that." Liam joked, hands signing along as had become common practice around Alex and Penny.

[houseoracastle]

Lennon leaned in to look at the card, reading the address over a couple of times before nodding and leaning back. "Alright. I can remember that. How about we see you in, like, an hour?" He offered, taking a few steps backwards already. The sooner he could get inside and get an overnight bag packed for the twins, the sooner he could be hugging his niece.

It was probably less than an hour before Lennon was dragging Liam up to Alex's front door, wearing Salem in a wrap around his chest. He knocked impatiently, putting a hand over his daughter's head to keep her from getting startled by the sound.

She wished she could say she was surprised but honestly she knew there'd been something between them a long time ago. "Of course they are." She reached over and gently touched Onyx's cheek before turning her attention back to Lennon. She saw the tears in his eyes and reached out to hug him, arm wrapped around the side Onyx wasn't resting. "I missed you too. So much." She pressed a kiss to his temple before resting her head against his. Pulling back she reached into her pocket. "Uh they gave me this?" The card held an address with a copy of the rune and her key was taped to it. "Yeah we can do that. Penny's tired from the drive and I guess I now have to explain... a lot."

[houseoracastle]

Lennon reached for Alex's arm, gripping her tightly. "I can't mess this up, Alex. I can't lose them, they're the only thing keeping me going," he said, trembling.

As soon as Liam collided with him, Lennon's world started going too fast. He felt like he couldn't keep up, and he sort of wanted to sit down and wait until things weren't moving so quickly. He heard Emrys and Onyx and then words like unhappy and selfish, and there were too many thoughts all colliding in his head. Definitely too many to convey all at once. His own breathing had slowed to something almost normal as he stared at Liam, his expression equal parts confused and horrified. "I...I love you," he replied slowly, brows furrowing together as he tried to figure out where to even start unpacking all of that.

"Where is Onyx? I need my babies," he said after another moment, looking around wildly, as if maybe they'd be crawling along behind Liam. "Where are they?" He asked again, eyes watering but gaze almost distant when he looked back at Liam.

Hearing Lennon panic wasn't helping Alex be able to concentrate. Lennon being scared or worried or panicked was one of her major weaknesses. She had promised to always protect him and so to see him in pain hurt her more than she had words for. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for a sigh of commotion of a familiar face.

She was about to go charging towards people to start asking questions when Liam came into view running down the shore towards them. He looked worried, scared.

"Li-"

"Are you okay?!" Liam practically collided with Lennon. Hands immediately searching for some kind of harm leaving Alex confused and wondering if she should step away from the situation. "Fucking Emrys showed up with Onyx and I was terrified something had happened to you. I kept thinking that you would never leave him alone on purpose so I thought maybe something happened but then the longer I thought the more I thought about how unhappy you've been and I just started spiralling and the thoughts got worse and I honestly thought you'd left me for a moment because I've been so selfish recently but I love you, you know I love you right? Please don't go anywhere, okay? You can't leave."

"Liam, calm down." Alex warned seeing the other wasn't far off of a panic attack.

[houseoracastle]

Lennon blushed and nodded, smiling at her and holding Onyx close to his body. "They're, um," he shrugged. "They're Liam's," he said, wanting to explain but unsure where even to start. It wasn't necessarily complicated, but his feelings as of late really were. And a part of him suddenly realized the one person who had always understood him through those rough childhood years, and had stood behind him even when his parents refused to, was finally in front of him again. And his eyes filled with tears that he did his best to blink back. "I missed you so much, Alex," he said, his voice cracking much like it had when he'd been a pubescent teenager, and in any other situation he would've felt embarrassment about it. Lennon didn't know how to tell her how much he needed her now, especially when he knew he needed to try and be at least a little bit strong for her and Penny as they got used to this new and frightening place. He wiped his face with his free hand, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "What's your address? You and Penny can go get settled, I'll get Liam and Salem and we'll head over as soon as possible, alright?"

"More?" She barely got to question before he was pulling away and collecting a baby from someone nearby. At first she thought that maybe Lennon was caring for the child while the parents were unable to but when he stopped in front of her and she actually looked at the baby she knew instantly what she was looking at. "Oh my god." She stared, slack jawed, unable to fathom for a moment that her brother who had been so dead set on just being the cool uncle was a parent. "Wait I... two? Two babies?" She moved closer, reaching out to touch Onyx's little round cheeks. "Look at you. Oh my god. Lennon..." She looked between him and the baby unsure how to respond but the smile on Lennon's face told her everything she needed to know. "Lenny, they're beautiful." She gushed before looking back down at the chunky bundle of baby rolls. "Hi, baby. Aren't you just gorgeous."

[houseoracastle]

Lennon was only starting to panic more when she asked where he'd been facing, and how long he'd been looking away from Onyx. The truth was, unfortunately, he didn't know. He remembered seeing Onyx playing, the baby having finally calmed down, and then he'd looked away. Maybe he even stepped away. He wracked his brain, but he couldn't remember. The more he thought about it, the more he thought of different things he could have done. Had he stayed in one place, or had he gone for a walk? Had they even been alone? Lennon hadn't been paying attention, which wasn't really like him.

"I don't know," he said finally, his voice shaky. "I don't remember. I don't remember anything," he said, wiping his eyes as the tears finally fell. "Fuck, fuck, I need to find him. I can't lose him, Alex, I need him," he said, wiping his eyes roughly and grinding his teeth together to try and keep himself from falling apart.

"Okay. Okay. That's a good place to start. Think of this like one of your investigations. Our staring point is the blanket." She pulled Lennon back over towards it. "Which way were you facing and for how long? even an estimate will be helpful. Then we can narrow down a search area. Babies can't actually move that fast even when they're crawling so that gives us an idea of how far he could have gone on his own."

Alex had fully switched over to cop mode. Her little brother needed her.

[houseoracastle]

Lennon was glad he was alive, too. Or rather, he was glad that Alex was here to confirm it. Sometimes it was difficult to determine whether or not he'd died and this was some weird afterlife. But if Alex and Penny were both here now, what were the chances of that? It broke his heart that Penny was here, though. He never would've wished that one his niece. Becoming an uncle had been one of the proudest moments of his life, up until he'd become a parent. Which also seemed like news he needed to break to his sister. Carefully, he stood up, pulling her up too before he brushed himself off.

"Where are you guys staying?" He asked, though he was turning to look over his shoulder, seeing if Onyx was safe. The baby was in the arms of the person he'd asked to watch him, and Lennon smiled gratefully before looking back at his sister. He wanted to ask her what she meant about the 'just us' comment, but he also didn't want to push her into a conversation she wasn't ready to have. "Do you want to stay here? Liam and I can make room. Hell, you can have the bed, I'll sleep on the floor if I have to," he said, reaching to grab her hand, not wanting to let her go again.

Alex barely had time to register the sound of Lennon's voice before she was being tackled to the ground and littered with kisses. When Lennon pulled back she knew he was saying something but she wasn't paying attention, just looking at him with her own relief. Her eyes burned with tears as she reached up and touched his face, confirming that he was real. "I am so glad you're alive." She croaked before sitting up and pulling Lennon into another hug. She clung to him, holding him tightly like he might slip through her fingers if she let him go.

She had to eventually though and when she looked at him again she let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry it took so long." Alex blinked away her tears. Wiping her eyes she looked back at the car before nodding. "She's here. I had to bring her. There's no one..." Alex looked down and tried to even out her breathing. "It's just us now. I had to bring her."

[houseoracastle]

It was impossible to breathe, or to relax. Lennon tried to look at her, but he was tense, wanting to pull away. If he was looking at her, how would h see his child? The poor thing wasn't quite a year old, hadn't even taken his first steps, and Lennon had lost him. How was ge supposed to be okay or calm right now? It felt like a chunk of his heart had been ripped out of him and was now sinking into the lake, never to be seen again. Or maybe he was spiraling. Either way, he wasn't breathing or relaxing, or really even paying attention to Alex's words.

"He was over there, on the blanket, playing with his toys. He was fine! He was happy and playing and I just needed a second where I wasn't-" he trailed off, eyes watering, and he shook his head. "Alex, please, please tell me he's okay. I don't know what I'll do if he isn't okay," he said, lower lip trembling. Lennon didn't even care that he was losing control of himself, he just wanted his baby back.

"Lennon. Lenny. Breathe. You have to breathe." Alex held onto his face, keeping his eyes on hers. "Okay. I need you to start at the beginning. Tell me everything that happened. Everything you remember." She stroked his hair hating the look of pure panic on his face. She knew the feeling. It had happened to her before too. When Penny was a toddler someone had walked away with the wrong stroller and she had frantically searched for her child for half an hour before the woman returned. She remembered she had laughed like she'd done nothing wrong and it had taken all of Alex's strength not to slam her fist into the woman's face.

"Take me back to where you were. We'll start there. Then you need to tell me what you were doing and what direction you were facing. Can you do that?"