Who: Gavin and Mila When: Afternoon,Thursday June 7 Where: Gavin and Charlie’s Status: Complete
It took a lot for Mila to work up the courage to drive over to Charlie Harris’s house. Or rather, Charlie and Gavin’s. Aaron was at work and she knew from some casual, flippant questions that morning, that Gavin was closing the bar. So… he was likely to be home. She drove there on her lunch break, grateful to have a legit reason to simply pop in and pop out. His truck was in the driveway so Mila pulled up to the curb and parked. After taking a few deep breaths, she got out of the car and walked up to the porch. She wasn’t sure if Aaron had told Gavin about their doctor appointment the day before, but Mila was guessing he was waiting until he saw Gavin at the bar later that night. Either way, that wasn’t why Mila was there.
She opened the storm door and knocked, listening to the dogs inside immediately start to bark. Who needed a security system when you had a few incredibly intimidating, but sweet, dogs?
Gavin loved his dogs, he did, and Baxter too, but god damn if he didn't wish sometimes they could be trained to stop their barking. Max was easy, his bark was more of a 'boof' but Rude got loud and so did Baxter. "Alright, alright, settle down," he grumbled, snapping his fingers at them as he shoved through the throng of their wiggly bodies. How were there only three of them? Sometimes it felt like a stampede. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he opened the door but seeing Mila's face made his stomach drop. It was something he needed to get used to, Aaron loved his girl and she wasn't going anywhere. Admittedly it was hard to get used to her when he hardly ever saw her anymore - and never, ever alone. Until now.
"Mila," he said in greeting or acknowledgement that she was there. He half expected her to be there to confront him, that she knew all about what he had done to her. Would she stab him too? Fuck, he wished Charlie was home, or the kids, but no it was just him and the dogs. "What brings you around?" he muttered, not opening the door more and the dogs made for a good excuse there as they kept trying to push past him to sniff at her.
He looked about how she expected him to look when he opened the door. Wary. That was okay, she was wary too. But she was there for Aaron so Mila pushed past that and gave him what she hoped was a friendly smile. "I was hoping we could talk for a minute. I don't have a lot of time, I have to get back to work, but... can I come in?" The dogs seemed more eager to get at her than Gavin was, and that was fine. But Mila couldn't leave until she did what she came here to do. Hopefully he wouldn't mind. It would have been nice if Charlie was home for a buffer but Mila hadn't seen her car in the drive.
It was ridiculous to be scared of such a small thing but Gavin knew all too well that she was capable of damage and her tiny body had been a host to something so much bigger, something so evil. It wasn't now though, he had to remind himself of that as he grumbled orders at the dogs to back off and behave and reluctantly opened the door to her. If he was honest with himself he wasn't as afraid of a physical confrontation as he was of her telling him she knew everything, that she was going to tell Aaron what he and Caden had done to her. It would rip the family apart and he didn't think anyone he loved would be able to forgive him for that. He had no reason to think Mila knew the truth, but guilt had a funny way of coloring things and he felt a pang of shame every time she so much as glanced his way these days - and right now she was looking right at him. "You want coffee or something?" he asked and that at least would give him something to do.
Mila stepped inside and provided the obligatory attention to the dogs who were sniffing at her hands and clothes excitedly. "No, thank you. I'm supposed to cut back on the caffeine." She also hadn't been lying when she said she couldn't stay long and waiting on, and drinking, coffee meant she would be there longer than she really wanted to be. Mila tore her focus away from the dogs and smiled faintly at Gavin. Manners told her to make small talk, ask how he was, or Jasper and Amelia. But just being there in the house made her feel a bit restless, so it felt like self-preservation to just get to the point. "I just came by to talk to you about something. Aaron and I decided on July 21st... to get married. I know it's really soon, but..." Mila made a vague gesture to her stomach. "We're still deciding on a few things but one thing I know for sure is Aaron wants you to be his best man. The thing is, he's not sure you would want to do it. So I just... I'm here to ask you to please say yes when he asks you."
That wasn't quite as awful as the reasons Gavin had thought she had for coming over but he still felt appropriately bowled over by the news. "Oh-" he started and god did he not feel worthy of being anyone's best man, least of all Aaron's. The silence that followed his one uttered not-quite-word dragged on a little as he watched Mila, wondering if she was okay with that. Even if she might not know what he'd done, he'd been unsupportive and awful to her when she announced her first pregnancy and while he had felt like it was justified, well, time had shown he'd been wrong about a lot of things. "Of course I'd- I mean if that's what he wants." He shook his head slowly as he spoke, still processing. "So you're not eloping, huh?"
As the silence grew between them, Mila was positive he was trying to find a way out of it. So when he agreed, so to speak, Mila felt a rush of relief that helped ease the tension she was carrying in her shoulders. His question about eloping drew the faintest smile from her and Mila shook her head. "Honestly, I would love to just go to Vegas or something, but I think it's important to Aaron to have family and friends there. And your... approval and blessing are important to him too. He's been through a lot..." Yes, she knew a lot of that was brought upon by her, but Gavin knew it too so she didn't feel like it was necessary to say so.
Gavin eyed her for a moment, his brows drawn together as he tried to read her expression beyond what she was showing him. As if he was ever any good at that in the first place. "You've got my approval and my blessing," he said after a moment of silence that probably stretched out a little too long. "And I'm uh- I'm sorry." He couldn't even tell her how sorry he was and the words didn't come easy so he cleared his throat and scratched his neck, glancing down at the dogs who were still just a little too excited to have a guest in the house. "For, you know, I uh- I didn't react well to you guys. At first." When she'd been pregnant the first time around. Just thinking of it made his chest ache.
Mila wanted to tell him that she didn't need Gavin's approval, but she knew it was probably difficult to say such a thing to her. Hopefully he would tell Aaron and things would be smooth between now and the wedding. She didn't want his brothers making a joyous occasion miserable. The apology that followed prompted Mila to raise a brow, her body tensing as she realized she wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for. But as he spoke, Mila breathed out again and tried not to fidget. Was she supposed to say that she forgave him? Or that it was okay? Neither felt right to her and Mila had trouble forming the words on her tongue. "I appreciate that," she murmured finally. "I just don't want him to go through all of that again." Pausing, Mila took another quick breath before her hands moved to her slightly rounded stomach. "It's a girl. We found out yesterday."
"Oh," Gavin said, eyebrows quirking up a bit. Well, that made it all the more real, didn't it and the guilt lashed out at him again as he wondered what her first pregnancy would have resulted in. "Well, that's good. Congratulations." He felt like the Lucas girls tended to be a little less messed up than the boys, or maybe they were just messed up differently. They certainly seemed stronger judging by both his sister and daughter and cousins he'd met through the years. The men all seemed cursed. He had no way of explaining that though and it was likely he was just being melodramatic and this wasn't the case at all. "I'm guessing you're having a traditional church wedding. Have you thought about a location?" He knew a lot of people had driven out of town to attend services in catholic churches, it just wasn't the same to attend the services with the Redeemer Fellowship fellow.
Traditional church wedding. Mila winced instinctively before shaking her head. "No. I mean, yes, we've talked about a location, but I don't think we're going get married in a church. Since it's going to be in July, we talked about getting married outside. We haven't decided anything concrete yet..." St. Dismas was gone and honestly, Mila felt oddly uncomfortable at the thought of getting married inside a church. Mila managed another faint smile. "I'm sure Aaron will keep you up to date with all of the details. We don't need anything big or fancy. But I think Aaron will be a lot happier with your help and support."
An outdoor wedding could be nice and Gavin nodded his approval though his mind was already grinding through questions and ideas. His bachelor party had consisted of driving around with his friend, drunk off his ass with his arm in a sling and he hadn't exactly been a part of any weddings since so coming up with ideas now seemed a little daunting. What the hell did people even do before the internet? "You have my support," he said with a faint smile. "Sounds like you can need all the help you can get with such a short notice." He had the fleeting thought that Amelia would make an adorable flower girl, before remembering she wasn't nine years old anymore and there was a small pang of grief there for the little girl he'd lost. "You just let me know what you need."
Maybe they did need help to put a wedding together in a month and a half, but Mila knew they could pull it off. She just wanted to be married to Aaron, even if it was driving to a Justice of the Peace. "Thanks, Gavin." Mila dropped her hands away from her stomach and crouched down to give the dogs some more love before she left. "I should get going," she said after a moment, straightening away from the dogs who were still licking at her hands. "Um, I hope it's okay if I ask you to keep this conversation between us. I didn't tell Aaron I was coming here."
That didn't really surprise Gavin. Women were always scheming something, weren't they, pulling the strings behind the curtains. He huffed softly and nodded his understanding. So she'd really thought he'd say no? He had misunderstood her purpose for being here entirely then, under the impression that she was here to make sure he said yes so she could encourage Aaron to ask him. But no, she'd been afraid he'd say no too. Gavin knew they were a dysfunctional lot, but there were certain types of honor even the Lucas boys upheld with each other. Considering the things they were willing to do for each other and their women, being a best man was pretty tame. "So I'm guessing I don't know about the wedding."
"Um, no, you don't," Mila said, and the accompanying smile was brief, but genuine. If Gavin told Aaron that they had spoken, Aaron would be curious. It wasn't like Gavin and Mila were chatty with each other. Hell, Gavin wasn't really chatty with anyone. "I think he'll be excited to tell you about all of it, so... I just know how unsure he was about whether or not you would want to be his best man, considering how things went before." Mila wanted to leave now, get in her car and drive back to work. But her feet felt like lead as she hovered near the door. "And I think maybe it's important for everyone, especially Aaron, if we forget everything that happened before. Maybe... not forget it, but just... leave it in the past."
Gavin wondered if she would be willing to do that if she knew the extent of what had happened and he was quiet for a moment, studying her face with a small frown. "For what it's worth, I am sorry for how it all went down," he mumbled and the words felt like gravel in his mouth. "It'll be better this time. I'm happy for you." Happy was perhaps not the right word, not when his stomach felt like a bowling ball every time he thought about Mila's first pregnancy, but he supported them this time around and that was all he could do to start to make up for what he and Caden had done.
Mila wasn't entirely sure she believed that he was happy for them, but he was content enough to let Aaron make his own decisions and that was the important thing. "Thank you," Mila said, hovering near the door with her hand on the knob. "Just... make sure there's no crisis of conscience. Aaron doesn't need to know anything that might destroy him." She didn't want to be specific, didn't want to say the words out loud. Mila was fairly certain she wouldn't have to, but since she was wanting to protect Aaron now, she just wanted to make sure she covered all of her bases.
Gavin paled a little at the words and in his mind there was no room for doubt about what she was referring to. Maybe there was, he thought, maybe his guilt just wasn't letting him see what else she could be on about, but no, he was fairly certain she Knew. "I just want him to be happy," he said quietly when he found his voice again and now he wished she would leave because it felt like she was looking right into his brain and seeing all the horrible shit he'd done. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he is."
"Me too." And she meant that. Mila was well aware she was holding a grenade in her hand and all it would take was pulling the pin to destroy Gavin's happiness. And Caden's. But she loved Aaron and family meant everything to him. She loved him more than she hated what his brothers had done. And she would protect him from getting hurt for as long as she could. Exhaling slowly, Mila decided it was time to go. "Thank you for talking to me," she murmured before opening the door. "Bye, Gavin."
"Bye, Mila," Gavin said and he was relieved she was going, a thousand apologies stuck in his throat, choked down by a thousand excuses that he knew he didn't really have. He knew he would never be able to fix this and really the only thing he could hope for here was that she meant what she said, that she was willing to leave it in the past. Maybe he'd make it up to her somehow one day, being Aaron's best man was but a tiny step in the right direction. The dogs wanted to go with her and he had to grab Rude by the collar to keep him inside, grumbling slightly at the other dogs as he nudged them to back in. "I'll take you for a walk," he told them for some peace of mind, knowing that Max at least would run to get his leash so that was a start.