Bonds Of Blood Ch.1 NEW

"Damian? Are you ready, honey?" 16-year-old Damian turned his head to find his foster mother of the last eight months standing in the doorway. He could see that even though she was trying to keep her expression cheerful, she was sad to see him go. He'd been shuffled around from foster home to foster home for ten years now and thought that with how well things were going here that he would finally be able to call some place home. They had already talked about adopting him but before the process could be completed, the state had found his father. So he was being forced to leave the first set of foster parents that he had truly cared for.

"I think so, Claire." He replied quietly, looking around to see if he'd forgotten anything. They'd given him so much and insisted that he take it with him. Turning, he walked towards her, trying to give her a smile but it wobbled off and tears began to fill his intensely blue eyes. He dropped his bags and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm going to miss you both, so much."

He felt her hand stroke his soft burgundy hair and a drop of wetness landed on his cheek. She held him tightly for a long moment before pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek and stepping back. "Mrs. Hawthorne is waiting downstairs."

Bleakly, he followed her down the stairs, repeating the same hug and saying goodbye to his foster father, Charlie. "If you need anything at all, call us. We'll be there in a flash for you." Charlie said after giving him a bear hug and ruffling his hair.

Damian straightened his locks and nodded slowly. He gave them both another smile before following the tall, thin lady out to the waiting taxi. His bags were already in the trunk and in seconds, they were on their way to the airport. The neighborhood that had become so familiar flashed by the windows until it blended in with the highway and was no more. Sadness enveloped him and he sighed heavily, his heart clenching with trepidation. What was his father like? Would he care about him? Why hadn't he been there for his mother? "Damian?" He heard Mrs. Hawthorne call his name and he turned his head to look at her.

She gave him a comforting smile and patted his hand that rested on the seat beside him. "Everything will be all right, honey. He's so excited to meet you. He was devastated when he learned that he'd missed out on so much of your life."

"Is he married?" Damian asked softly, his palms sweating with how nervous he was feeling at meeting this stranger that claimed to be his father.

"Yes. His wife's name is Sabrina and they have a fourteen-year-old named James, an eighteen-year-old named Jeremy, and a nineteen-year-old Zack. Zack and Jeremy are from Sabrina's first marriage so they're you're step-brothers. I'm sure you'll love living there, Damian." Mrs. Hawthorne tried to comfort him with the idea of having other boys close to his age there. She had been his social worker for almost the entire ten years and she'd been very distraught to have to take him from his most recent foster home. The boy had adjusted so well to living there and she hoped he could do so again since this would finally be the last time he'd be moved. It always broke her heart when she had to move him from one home to another. If she had been given a choice, she would have left him with his most recent foster parents.

Damian leaned back against the seat and just gazed out the window as the taxi drew closer and closer to the airport. The little bit that he knew about the man named Eddy Yarussi raced through his mind. Supposedly he hadn't known anything about his existence before two weeks ago. Was that true? Had his father really known nothing about him? His stomach twisted at the memory of losing his mother ten years ago. Just before his seventh birthday. She'd had a form of terminal cancer and it had been inoperable. So she had died, leaving him alone and before long he'd been enveloped in the system. There had been different foster parents throughout the ten years but Claire and Charlie were the only ones he had felt as though they could be like his real mom and dad.

They reached the airport ten minutes later and in an hour were boarding the flight to Washington. His father was a contractor and owned his own business up there. Mrs. Hawthorne had told him that he was quite a wealthy man and his business was thriving. Damian pulled his backpack up into his lap and opened the zipper compartment in the front to slip out a picture. Turning it over, he stared with longing at the woman who'd been his mother. It had been taken six months before she became ill and it was his prized possession, easily noticeable by how dogeared the picture was. He'd inherited her eyes and her slight build. He was only five foot nine and not in the least muscular. Slim and slender with what could only be considered a more feminine form than male. It had made him an easy target for any bullies in his life over the past ten years.

The plane taxied down the runway, the sun shining brightly through the windows and illuminating the inside of the plane as the stewardesses made sure that everyone was buckled in before doing so themselves. Seconds later, the wheels of the plane left the concrete and the landing gear was pulled up into the belly of the plane. Damian grit his teeth and closed his eyes, his stomach dropped down into his feet. He had never flown before and it added to the nervousness he was already feeling. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead and he gripped the chair arms tightly until finally the plane evened out. He released the breath he had been holding on a deep sigh and opened his eyes. There was a teenage boy across the aisle staring at him with mild concern. Bright silver eyes watched him intently, black bangs hung down into those eyes, shadowing them slightly. A frown marred the boy's beautiful face. "Are you all right?" The boy's voice was deep and husky, like a smoke filled Fourth of July evening.

Damian gave him a shaky smile and nodded. "I've never flown before."

"Ah. I remember I felt the same way the first time I flew. But now, I love it. I'm Aiden."

"Damian."

"Where you flying to?"

"Washington."

"Really? I live in Washington myself. What part?"

"Tacoma." Damian shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't one for a lot of attention and the boy's eyes seemed to burn straight through him.

"Great! That's where I live! Are you moving there or just visiting?" Aiden's eyes shined with excitement and the teenager leaned a little closer to him.

Damian wasn't quite sure how to handle the eager teenager. He was relatively shy after being tossed around so much over the years. "Moving there. My d...dad lives there." He stumbled over the word dad. It felt strange to say it since he'd never known the man.

Aiden grinned broadly. "Then we definitely need to hang out sometime. Are you going to be going to Wilson High or Henry Foss High?"

He turned to Mrs. Hawthorne with a questioning look and she started shuffling through her paperwork. "Let's see here. It says that you'll be in the district for Wilson High."

"Then we're in the same school, too! So we'll be seeing each other for sure then. Oh and they have some of the hottest cheerleaders around in that school." Aiden winked at Damian who flushed a bright shade of red. Damian had never had much experience with the opposite sex before, or even with his own for that matter.

The rest of the flight was spent talking with the outgoing teenager who seemed intent on befriending him. It left Damian's head spinning with how easily the other boy had struck up a conversation with him. By the time the plane landed in Washington, he knew almost everything there was to know about Aiden. And Aiden had asked all kinds of questions, some of which he hadn't wanted to answer and just brushed off. It wasn't anyone's business about his past. Aiden gave him his phone number and address, telling him to call him or drop by soon so he could show him around his new home and then the whirlwind was gone. Damian sighed with relief and almost slumped down to the ground. But he had to admit that the other boy had taken his mind off how anxious and nervous he was. "Damian, your father is going to be meeting us by the luggage carousel and then I'll be catching my return flight in an hour. Let's go grab your bags, ok?" Mrs. Hawthorne took him from his thoughts and brought him back down to earth with a thud.

"You're leaving right away?" Damian asked anxiously, his obvious fear written on his face.

Mrs. Hawthorne smiled and hugged him tightly. "It's going to be ok, Damian. I promise. You're father is a good man. I spoke with him at length several times over the phone and I have visited his home before to ensure that it's a proper environment for you to live. And you're going to do great here. I have such high hopes for you. And the school you'll be going to is reputated to have one of the best music programs around this area. So I expect to hear great things from you." She smiled softly and stepped back. "Come now, let's go get your luggage."

He trailed behind her reluctantly. He still wasn't sure he wanted to be here but he knew he really didn't have a choice. He never had. The luggage carousel came into sight and he saw his bags just dropping down the conveyour onto the carousel and rushed forward to grab them. As he was hefting them off, he heard Mrs. Hawthorne greeting someone behind him and his back stiffened. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to find her standing with a man who could be his twin, only he was older with graying hair and lines on his weathered face. The man was only in his forties but it appeared that the sun hadn't been kind to his features. He was also taller and huskier than him. "Damian?" The man saw him standing there and questioned slowly.

Without a word, he nodded and to his utter shock, tears filled the other man's eyes and then he was being held in a tight embrace. His own arms stayed slackened at his side in his surprise and he felt the older man shudder against him. "You look so much like your mother." Eddy breathed as he stepped back and gave him a watery smile, his hands still on Damian's arms.

Silence was Damian's only answer and the other man released him and took his bags from him. "Come. Sabrina and the kids are waiting at home to meet you. Well James and Jeremy are anyway. Zack is away at college and only comes home on the weekends, so you'll meet him a little later." He stopped and turned to the social worker. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Hawthorne. Feel free to call me anytime if you have any questions in regards to Damian's well being."

Mrs. Hawthorne gave Damian an encouraging smile and a light squeeze of his shoulder. "He's a bright young man and I'm sure he'll be just fine. It's great to find that he has a home after so long. I'll call you in a couple of weeks, Damian. Eddy has my number if you need anything at all. Good luck." With that, she turned and walked towards the lounge to wait for her return flight, leaving Damian alone with his father.

"Come on. It's rush hour traffic, so it's going to be a long ride home." Eddy grinned and indicated Damian should follow him. Damian scurried after the other man, keeping his eyes trained on the man's broad back and his grip tightened on his backpack and the other bag in his hand. Eddy lead him to a big blue truck that had Yarussi's Construction blazoned across the side of it. "I came straight from work to pick you up. I didn't want to be late, so you'll have to forgive the mess." His father stated quietly, opening the passenger door for him.

The inside of the truck had blueprints and contracts scattered about but it wasn't as messy as he'd expected, Damian thought as he hefted himself into the passenger side. Eddy shut the door and jogged around to the driver's side, slipping into the seat and starting up the truck immediately. "Sabrina is making a huge pan of her fantastic lasagna so I hope you like it."

"Yeah." Damian responded softly, his heart beating against his thin chest painfully. It was so weird to be sitting next to the man who'd helped create him but yet they were relative strangers to one another. He kept glancing surreptiously out of the corner of his eye at the man who was his father. It appeared the man was down to earth and his eyes seemed to indicate he was kind but Damian was wary of that look. He'd been placed in a few foster homes that hadn't been so nice. Granted he hadn't been in them long but it had left a lasting impression.

"Good. Good. You'll have your own room. We had an extra bedroom that was our guest room but now it's yours. So you won't have to share. And the bathroom adjoins with James's, so you'll have to share that. How was your flight?"

"It was ok."

Eddy fell silent for a moment before speaking again, his eyes trained on the road ahead and his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "Listen, Damian. I want you to know that if I had only known about you, I would have been there. I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger and I let your mother get away from me because I was stupid. I loved her very much and if she had only told me about you, I would have stopped being so darn pig-headed and been there for you. I can't tell you how it broke my heart to know that I had missed out on so much of your life."

Damian remained quiet. How did he respond to that? He was telling him that his mother had kept his birth a secret. Whenever he'd asked after his father, his mother would always tell him that he was a good man and that she had loved him very much. Only he'd been unable to stay around. She had never told him why but he remembered whenever he would ask her, her eyes would darken with pain. At the time, he hadn't understood that but now he did and he wished he'd stopped asking so much. "Damian?" He turned to look at his father, his gaze watchful. "I know that it's going to take some time for you to come to trust me and see me as your father but I want you to know that you are my son and you're place is here, with me and with our family."

"Okay."

"Until then you can call me Eddy. Sabrina is looking forward to meeting you. She had wanted to have more children but unfortunately after James, she'd been unable to carry to full term. We have a two story, five bedroom house with a huge backyard. So if you like to play football or baseball there's plenty of room."

"I'm not much for sports." Damian interjected, looking out the window at his new home. There were so many different buildings and he could smell the salty sea air as it rushed past the truck windows. It was a beautiful city and so different from where he'd always lived.

"What do you like to do? Mrs. Hawthorne mentioned you like to play the guitar?" Eddy asked curiously, dying to know so much more about the quiet boy beside him.

"Yeah. I used to use the ones the schools loaned to us but when I moved in with Claire and Charlie, they bought me one." Damian explained abstractedly, still gazing out at the people walking the streets and the other cars whizzing by.

"Were they nice people?"

"Great people. One of the nicest foster parents I'd ever had. They were talking about adopting me. That is until the state....." Damian trailed off, not wanting the older man to feel badly about taking him away from his foster home.

Eddy was silent, drawing Damian's gaze to him. But before anymore words could be said, Eddy was pulling up to a beautiful house and there were three people as well as a dog standing out in the front yard. Nervousness struck him again and he took a deep breath before opening the door and sliding down out of the truck. A woman, about his height with bright red hair and sparkling green eyes stood with two taller boys. The first boy was about an inch or so taller than him with darker red hair and brown eyes. He was lanky but muscular at the same time. The other boy was taller than both of them, towering over them by a good half a foot with dark chestnut brown hair that hung to just above his shoulders, sea foam green eyes, and a more muscular, defined body. "You look so much like Eddy!" The woman squealed, rushing forward and enveloping him in a hug.

Damian stood there, unsure what to do. He'd been hugged more in the last half an hour than in his entire life. Sabrina pulled back and smiled encouragingly at him. She ran her fingers through his hair. "Same bright blue eyes, and luscious hair. Look at you. I couldn't believe it when Eddy told me about you. Your picture doesn't do you justice, Damian. I'm Sabrina. The tall sullen one there is Jeremy." She pointed at the boy with the sea foam green eyes before pointing to the other boy. "And that's James. We've all been anxiously waiting to meet you."

A slightly trembling smile pushed at Damian's lips, but he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. It was all so much in the space of a few hours. He nodded at the two boys and then looked down at the ground. "Let's get you settled and then we can see about talking hmm? I hope you like lasagna. I made such a huge pan of it that we'll be eating it for weeks." She laughed lightly and it rolled over Damian's spine. It reminded him a lot of his mother. Is that why Eddy had married her? Because she was so much like his mother?

Damian went to grab two of his bags from the back of the truck but a hand covered his before he could pull it from the truck. "Let me get that for you." The one named Jeremy said softly and Damian pulled back quickly, looking away from the other boy.

"Come on, you two!" Sabrina called and Damian trailed behind Jeremy into the house.

His eyes widened at how beautiful the inside was. He looked around in awe, his mouth slightly agape at the hardwood floors, big fluffy couches, and even a fireplace. There was a set of stairs leading to the upstairs and Jeremy had stopped halfway up them to turn around with a questioning look. "Are you coming?"

Nodding, he hurried up the stairs after the taller boy and followed him into the room that he assumed would be his own. Even this was bigger than any of the rooms he had stayed in before. "Wow." He said softly, his blue eyes taking in everything. "It's huge."

Jeremy gave him a small smile as he set his bags down by the closet. "It's actually smaller than most of the other rooms in the house. Since it was designated the guest room, they made the others bigger."

"But it's bigger than any of the other rooms I've ever been in!" Damian exclaimed.

Jeremy laughed and shook his head. "The bathroom is through that door. You'll be sharing with James. He's a pig, so you'll have to ignore his mess."

"I heard that." James said grouchily as he walked in the room and set down the bags that Eddy had carried into the house. He walked over to the bed and sat down against the headboard, leaning back lazily. "So I bet you were happy to hear that your dad was loaded, huh?"

Damian stiffened at the other boy's words and he turned his head to glare at the other boy that was his actual half brother. "I had no idea my father was even still alive. And I don't need his money. I was happy where I was and didn't ask to be brought here." Anger at James's words burned in his stomach.

"James!" Jeremy berated the other boy harshly.

James laughed. "Just messing with him. Wanted to see what his reaction would be. Ya never know in this world."

That didn't sit well with Damian and he made it a plan to avoid this boy as much as possible. Even though only fourteen, he had a good several pounds on him. And he was slightly taller as well. Before he could say anything more, Sabrina came into the room then. "So how do you like it? It's a little small but it's a great room."

Damian almost laughed at her words but decided against it and just smiled. "It's beautiful. I love it."

"Great. I'm glad to hear that. Now, are you hungry? Because dinner is ready."

"Actually, I'm a little tired from everything. Would it be all right if I just lay down?" Damian asked softly.

"Sure. Of course. I'm sure the flight was tiring and all. We'll get out of your hair so that you can relax and all." Sabrina shooed the two boys out of the room and before shutting the door, said, "Welcome to your new home, Damian. We're all glad that you're here."

Giving her a small nod and a tired smile, Damian watched as she closed the door. He stood there for a brief moment before turning and walking over to the bed. He sat down on the edge and looked down at his hands. James's words echoed in his mind and he felt his heart twist painfully. He didn't want money, or a big room. He just wanted someone to love him. Someone to want him. Sighing, he kicked off his shoes and lay down on the bed, his hands underneath his head. It started to rain outside, drops pelting the windows softly. It seemed to understand his inner turmoil. He rolled to his side, curling up and pulling his knees into his chest. Lightening streaked across the sky just as his eyelids began to droop and the gentle rumble of thunder was his soothing lullaby as he gave into the exhaustion he was feeling.