Chapter 12 part 2

Samuel

He glanced over at Matias who was sitting stiffly. For the first time Samuel really realized how people would do awful thinks and just get away with it while Matias took all the blame. They probably didn't even feel guilty for pinning all the blame on the villain.

"One of the victims, James Daniel, has agreed to talk to us. In the attack he suffered a broken leg and finger."

The lady finally stopped talking as it cut to a man who was standing in front of some brick wall.

"James.." Samuel just barely heard Matias whisper.

He looked back over at him to see him leaning forward to the tv with an eager look on his face.

"Do you know him?" Samuel asked without thinking

Matias only nodded, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"I was attacked right here by the villain around 4am this morning. He broke my leg and one of my fingers." The man, James Daniel, spoke.

His voice was stern, not an ounce of fear in it. He couldn't be older than thirty and he honestly could pull off being a teenager if he wanted to.

"He told me to watch my back. That he wouldn't hesitate to do much worse. The whole thing was confusing, he just beat me up a bit, threatened me, and left. I've never even encountered him before" he continued

Samuel looked over at Matias, debating what he could say. He was clearly trying to pretend that everything was fine, but his breakdown earlier proved otherwise.

"How do you know him?" He settled for asking

Matias looked back at him, leaning back a bit. His eyes were red and the expression on his face was completely blank.

"He's an old friend" Matias mumbled, looking away from Samuel and back at the tv.

Samuel sighed quietly. He was happy that Matias was opening up to him much more than before, but it was clear he was still trying not to.

"It truly is awful how people can just pin this stuff on you. I mean, they've been doing it for years and nobody questions it" Samuel tried to comfort Matias, but he was running out of things to say.

He glued his eyes to Matias who was looking everywhere but back at him.

"This is different" Matias stated "they aren't just blaming me for a crime they committed"

Samuel became aware of how fast his heart was beating when Matias finally looked back at him. He seemed to stare right past his eyes and into his soul. He shivered, waiting for Matias to continue.

"They committed a crime just so they could blame it on me." His voice seemed distant, both quiet and loud at once.

"What?" Samuel mumbled without realizing. He mentally face palmed.

Matias sighed. He didn't really seem upset, but what else could he possibly be feeling? Samuel just couldn't put a finger on Matias's emotions.

"Usually the crimes that I get blamed for are just people fucking around. They do whatever they want knowing that they can just say it was the villain and get away with it. But this time it wasn't like that. They specifically went out and caused trouble purely so they could say it was me. They had no other motive"

Samuel nodded slowly. He sat wordless as his brain pieced everything together. After he was sure he understood, he spoke up.

"So they have something personally against you? That's why they did it?" He questioned

Matias nodded in response, but he didn't seem like he was really listening to the words coming out of Samuels mouth.

He searched his brain for something else to say, but a door opening and closing interrupted. Slow, lazy footsteps came out of the bedroom, tired eyes staring at the floor.

Ellie wasn't usually this tired in the mornings, but the last few days have been hectic. Though he wasn't sure how much of his chaos affected his daughter.

Ellie climbed up on the couch, slumping down beside Samuel. She leaned onto his arm and closed her eyes, ready to go back to bed even though she just got dressed.

"What're you gonna do with her when you go back to work" Matias asked, his voice not having a trace of stress from what they just watched.

Samuel only looked back at him. He wasn't really sure either. He couldn't take her to daycare and babysitters were hard to find during the day. Not to mention it was hard enough finding someone like Amanda, Ellie's afternoon babysitter, who would come in every day like that.

"I don't know when I'll even go back to work" Samuel said solemnly.

Matias looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I know with everything going on that I should go back. It's just.." his mind trailed off for a moment "..I just don't think I can right now"

There were so many reasons and details of why he wasn't sure if he'd ever go back to that police station. Sure, he was needed as a hero because of his powers, but for anything else it was just too much.

"That's fair" Matias stated, not bothering to push or pry for more information, which Samuel was grateful for.

"But you still need to make money somehow" Matias continued right when Samuel was sure he was done.

Samuel fidgeted with his hands subconsciously. He knew this was true, but he hasn't had much time to think about it.

"I'll figure something out"

Matias glanced over at Samuel with a doubtful look on his face.

"Well you better figure it out soon, you may not believe me but you're going to realize too late how urgently you need a job" Matias stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

Samuel debated responding, but chose not to. In all reality he knew Matias was right. He had money in savings and just in general since he was paid well as the hero, but between him and Ellie it may not last long.

He glanced over to see Ellie knocked out beside him. Her mouth was open slightly and there was a long strand of hair falling into her face.

Samuel couldn't help but smile. No matter how hard and annoying things get, Ellie will always make him happy.

"You could've just let her sleep you know?" Matias asked from the other side of the couch.

Samuel was still staring at his daughter when he responded, not bothering to look back at Matias.

"I don't like her to get into the habits of sleeping in, it makes things hard when she has to get up early"

The care was clear in his voice. Anybody could tell how much he loved his daughter from a mile away.

"Fair" Matias responded "but its pointless if you just stare at her while she sleeps"

Samuel chuckled. He lightly shook her shoulder, waking her up slowly. Her eyes fluttered open, not opening any more than half way.

"Mmm" Ellie hummed in annoyance

"It's time to get up, I'll make you some cereal" Samuel suggested sweetly

Ellie didn't respond, but her eyes opened a bit more and her spine straitened.

Samuel stood slowly, his knees cracking as he did so.

"Alright old man, slow it down" Matias joked as Samuel walked toward the kitchen.

"I'm not old" Samuel gasped sarcastically "I'm only 25"

Matias followed not far behind and Ellie eventually followed suit.

Samuel hadn't thought about it before, but neither of them knew how old the other was.

"25? Then you had Ellie awful young" Matias spoke, not thinking about his words.

Samuel tensed a bit, but tried to hide it. It was no secret that he was a young parent, but he didn't like thinking about it.

"Yep. I was 19" Samuel tried to say casually, but had a quiver in his voice.

Matias hummed in response.

"y'know it's really none of my business but I've been meaning to ask" Matias almost whispered so Ellie couldn't hear "what happened to her mom? Surely she's not adopted, y'all look identical"

Samuel stiffened again, much more visibly. Ellie's mom was something he knew he should be over, but he wasn't. He didn't think he'd ever be over it.

"She uh.." Samuel searched for an excuse, trying to hide his hesitation.

"You ain't gotta tell me anything, if it's a tough topic it's no big deal" Matias continued.

He was shockingly chill about it. Samuel only had a few people ask about Ellie's mom and all of them acted like they'd die if they didn't know what happened. It was surprising how much they didn't care about how Samuel felt about it.

Samuel turned around after grabbing a box of cereal out of the cabinet. He looked Matias in the eyes, the two sharing a unintentionally serious look.

"No it's alright.. just not while she's here" Samuel explained, gesturing to the tired girl behind them.

Even with babysitters and daycare staff Samuel always lied about Ellie's mom, but he just didn't have the heart to lie to Matias. Besides, he had already pried into Matias's life multiple times.

Matias smiled slightly before turning to Ellie. He led her to the table, leaving Samuel on the other side of the kitchen to make her cereal.

Once the cereal was made he grabbed himself a granola bar and joined the other two at the table.

"You want anything? We've got plenty of things" Samuel asked as he unwrapped his bar.

"Nah, I'm not really a breakfast person. Working at a cafe will do that to you" Matias joked.

The three chatted for a bit, Ellie waking up enough to tell Mat all about one of her daycare friends. Once she had finished she retreated to her room, only after announcing that she was going to play with Spots.

Samuel laughed quietly. There was nothing that could change how much the adored his daughter.

Matias looked over at Samuel curiously. It took Samuel a moment to realize, but Matias had no problem watching him giggle to himself.

Once Samuel saw the look Matias was giving him he finally explained.

"Spots is her stuffed dog. She's crazy about that thing" He said, causing him to laugh a bit more.

Matias and Samuel sat for a moment, each smiling at Ellies excitement over a stuffed dog. Samuel only stopped smiling when he remembered he had told Matias he would explain Ellie's mom. He had never talked about her to anyone before and even after 5 years he didn't know if he was ready, but he was about to find out.

"About Ellie's mom," Samuel started, catching Matias's attention.

The two looked at each other for multiple seconds while Samuel tried to gather his courage.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know where to start" He finally spoke up.

Matias looked at him with caring eyes before blinking it away, his usual expression taking over his face.

"You don't have to tell me. I honestly only asked out of curiosity, I can live with not knowing" Matias whispered, his voice being comfortingly low.

"No" Samuel interrupted "you told me all about you even though you didn't want to"

"That's different" Matias stated quickly

"I want to tell you" Samuel said bluntly, ending the debate.

The two sat in silence once again. Samuel regret his choice of wording, but it was true. He did want to tell Matias. Even if Matias hadn't opened up to him at all, he would still want to tell him about Ellie's mom.

"We were just young and stupid, we weren't planning on having a kid" Samuel finally interrupted the silence.

Matias looked at him in intently. Samuel had to fight not to get lost in his gorgeous grey eyes.

"We had been dating for nearly three years, so when I found out she was pregnant I told her if she wanted to keep it I'd be there for her. She told me she was going to keep it and we were at peace with that decision but.." Samuel paused for an uncomfortably long time.

Matias never broke the silence, and his eyes never looked away from Samuel. It took a while for Samuel to look back, but when he did he finally continued.

"Three months before Ellie was due she disappeared. I asked her parents, her sister, friends, anyone if they knew where she had went. Nobody had a clue and the police just determined that she had ran away."

Matias let out a sudden quick breath that Samuel barely heard. When he snapped out of his story and back into reality Matias had an oddly expressive look on his face. His lips were parted slightly, his eyes were wide and his eyebrows knitted together in thought.

Samuel considered stopping and even thought that maybe Matias would tell him to stop, but he made himself keep telling the story.

"Almost half a year later someone came beating on my door. When I opened it there Ellie was in a stroller like in some Disney movie. But her mother was nowhere to be seen"

Samuel stopped once again, only for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled, his voice breaking.

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Ty for reading 😚😚