The Ink Family Legacy: Generation 2 Chapter 2
Hey everyone, welcome back! Last chapter the house was reduced to just three people by marriage, legal technicalities, and governmental threats. Can Finn hold it together as our heir? Well, let's see, hmm?
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The house was eerily quiet after Eva and Walter left.
Finn tried the best he could to fill in the gap. He started cooking real food, more than he ever had in his life. He found himself creating five course meals just to keep a little life in the house.
He also inherited Walter's little vegetable garden. He wasn't half as good as Walter was, but he could at least weed and water the wilting plants.
Still it was quiet. Far, far too quiet.
Despite the drama at home, India made her way up the ranks to Pop Icon. She was still singing as strong at 65 that she had at 25, and the records showed it.
Of course, her work would never take her away from her family. Not too long after Eva left, Aidan and Hannah Jones had passed away within a few days of each other. Add in Myron's little brother blaming Noelle and the fact that Noelle was now pregnant, India's oldest daughter was having a very hard time.
"Noelle honey, it's okay. You've done nothing wrong, you know?" India reassured.
"I know Mama." Noelle sighed. "It's these damn pregnancy hormones. We just got done with all the funeral stuff and I haven't even gotten to half my appointments. Myron's siblings must be brainwashed or something because they just keep repeating that it's my fault. And now, with Eva..."
"Noe, listen. What Eva did was her decision. You being home wouldn't have made a difference, I'm afraid. She left Finn, and you know how close they were. And don't worry about the Jones - you have Myron, right?"
"Right."
"And soon you two will have an adorable baby to bring a little life back into this house." India said with a smile. "That's something."
Noelle finally smiled and hugged her mother. "You're right, Mama. It's the hormones, I tell you."
"Don't tell the mother of four about hormones." India replied cheekily.
--- --- --- --- ---
Then, one day an envelope with no return address arrived in the mail. Finn almost threw it out until he noticed a small sunflower in the bottom right corner. Eva had always loved sunflowers.
Of course, he wasn't prepared for the contents.
"Although the house seems too big now, soon it might be too small. This is for that." Enclosed was a check for $50,000.
Well, when Eva sent it, what else could they do? This along with the amount Leo and India had saved was enough to remodel the house for future generations.
Of course, with as expensive as housing is these days, it was hardly a mansion. But it had two floors, a spacious living room, and an expanded kitchen for Finn's new found habit.
Of course a burglar had to break in the new house. Luckily a burglar alarm and a strong police officer put an end to that.
But it might have been a bit much for poor Finn.
"Oh boy. He's going down in three...two...one..."
*whump*
"Wow, excellent timing there Leo."
--- --- --- --- ---
After that frightful experience, Finn immediately invited Star over to the new house.
"Pretty swanky place you guys got here." Star whistled.
Finn laughed. "Your house is the real mansion on the street. Well, next to the Lessen and Shallow estates. Still don't know how we managed to live next to all you rich people..."
Star rolled her eyes. "Well, I hate my house, so even if you lived in a tent I'd be here."
Finn hugged Star before she could continue to think about her family. "And you know you'd still be welcome."
She smiled and hugged him back. "I know."
"So, um, Star. I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
"Um, you know the junior prom's this weekend, right?"
She laughed. "It's only been all over school. What do you take me for?"
"R-right." he laughed nervously. "I was wondering if, um, you wanted to go to that. With me."
"Of course I'll go with you, silly. Who else would I go with?"
Finn grinned shyly. "Kenyon Dubois?"
"Oh not you too! Where do people get the idea that we're going out, anyway?"
Finn shrugged. "Um, rumor has it that he's into you."
Star rolled her eyes. "Even if he was, there's no way that I'd pick him over you anyway."
Finn smiled. "Really?"
"Really."
--- --- --- --- ---
While Finn was out preparing for the prom, Leo decided to go out and visit all of his grandchildren. Including DJ, his step-grandchild, he now had three.
"Finally dropped by, eh Dad? What, is Finn keeping you locked up?" Hunter laughed, inviting him in.
Leo talked for a bit with DJ, who was now a child. He was quite the bright little boy, and didn't seem to be too badly affected by the trauma in his toddler years. In fact, most of his mannerisms took strongly after Hunter.
"Hey there Alice! It's your birthday tomorrow, huh?"
"Yeah!" she giggled. "I'm gonna be a big girl! I'm gonna get bigger than DJ!"
"Not happening Ally!" called DJ from the next room.
Alice whispered. "Don't listen to him Grandpa. I is gonna be smarter than him too."
Leo laughed and hugged his granddaughter before setting her down and heading out again. The next morning he would visit Noelle, who's daughter had recently become a toddler.
"Hey Leo, come on in." Myron said with a smile. "Susie's been waiting to see you all day."
"I'll bet." he said with a smile. "Noelle's still at work?"
"Yeah - the bookstore keeps her busy."
"Gwampa?" called a little voice from the front hall.
Leo walked in and scooped her up. "Hey there Susie!"
Susie had inherited both Myron's hair and eye color, but the little girl still looked a lot like Noelle. Leo could already see the nose and eye shape he gave to Noelle showing up on Susie.
That night, as he handed a sleepy Susie to an equally tired Noelle, Leo smiled.
"You're doing a great job here, honey. Susie's lucky to have you for a mother."
"Thanks Papa." Noelle replied. "That means a lot to me."
When Leo arrived home, Finn had fallen asleep on the porch. He was about to shake his son awake when Finn mumbled something in his sleep.
"D-don't...leave me...all alone..."
Leo sighed and sadly brushed aside his youngest son's hair. Who would be with Finn when he and India were gone? He wasn't sure they had enough time left to even see him reach adulthood. Even at 16, Finn was still a child.
All he could do was sit next to Finn as he slept. Maybe his presence would ward away the nightmares.
--- --- --- --- ---
The night of the junior prom was a warm, sunny one in late May. Finn anxiously rocked on his heels, scanning the crowded room for Star. Several girls had asked him to dance already, but he had already promised his first dance elsewhere...
Star finally showed up, fashionably late as always. She looked a bit nervous at the crowd but smiled when Finn tugged on her arm to dance.
"I walk in the door and am already invited to dance?" she said with a laugh. "I must be popular."
"Took you long enough. I've been standing awkwardly against the wall for an hour. I was starting to think you stood me up."
"Oh please. Even if I didn't show, I know you'd have a few chicks to dance with."
Finn rolled his eyes. "You would say that."
"No, really - check out that girl over there. She's been staring this way for a while."
Finn laughed. "Star, that's Mona. You know, my sister-in-law?"
"That's Myron's snobby little sister?!"
"Snobby is a bit..."
Star interrupted, "Oh, she's a bitch for sure. You know that she only talks to people from 'distinguished families' and shit. She and her older brother are complete-"
"Cut it out, Star!" Finn whined, upset at her language but still fighting a smile. "They're still kind of my family you know."
The gym filled up quickly, and soon there was even a line at the door. With all the dancing, loud music, and the faint trace of cigarette smoke, it was getting too claustrophobic even for the friendly Finn.
"You wanna go outside?" Star yelled over the music.
"Yeah, I'm dying in here." Finn responded.
The cold night air was a welcome difference from inside. Sitting on a bench beneath flickering porch lights, the only indication of the raging party was the faint vibration of bass through the walls.
"The sky's pretty." Finn said, his breath fogging in the air.
"Mmm." Star replied absently.
"Something wrong?"
Star shook her head and kept looking straight ahead.
"Come on Star, you promised you wouldn't do this to me anymore. If you keep bottling up your feelings, you'll freak out like last time."
"I don't need a reminder."
"And I can't forget. You were in the hospital, Star - do you know how bad that scared me?"
Star knew. When she had cut her hair, she had done a lot more than that. When her stepfather tried to move in, Star stood in the door frame with a knife and tears in her eyes, threatening him to get out. He called the police, and somewhere in the resultant scuffle Star got cut pretty badly. She had woken up with Finn sobbing at her bedside, stitches all up and down her right arm.
"...I was late for a reason." Star finally said. "I fought with Solomon again. He was bitching about how much I spent on my prom dress. I used the money that Dad left to me. That bastard was trying to tell me that I should've given that money to my mom. I mean, what the hell does he know? I was the one at my dying father's side, not her. I may have been five but I sure as hell remember him telling me that he left me enough to have fun without him."
"Oh Star." Finn said sympathetically. "You should've called me. I would've ran over and got you out of there before he could start."
Star smiled grimly. "It's because you're like that Finn that I can't."
Finn stood up angrily. "Don't say that!"
"Don't say what?"
"Don't say 'it's because you're like that'. That's exactly what Eva said to me to justify her leaving. Am I not allowed to protect anyone I care about?! What should I say then, that I wouldn't come over? I won't lie to you, Star."
Star stood up defiantly. "No, it is because you're like that. You always want to protect people from what you can't protect them from! I saw it Finn, I saw Solomon hit you."
Finn paled. "When-"
"I know that right after I got out of the hospital you got into a big fight with my mom and him. I could see it from my bedroom window. I heard you call my mom selfish and I saw him slap you. Then you fucking turned around and lied to me about the bruise."
Finn remained silent, unable to deny that one. She continued, "You see? Finn, we're sixteen. There's nothing you nor I can do to change this."
Finn was silent for a long while, so long that all the anger had leeched out of Star. She was about to apologize when he finally said something.
"Move in with me."
It caught her totally off guard. "W-what? Finn, you can't just say-"
"Yes, I can." he replied, oddly authoritative. "You already live at my house five nights of the week anyway. You have most of your stuff there. And since we live on the same road, nothing much would change. After you were hospitalized, my mom and dad toyed with the idea of taking you in, but we never had enough space. Now, since the house got redone, we've got plenty of room. Let's do this."
Star threw herself into Finn's arms. "This is crazy, you know that?"
"Not so crazy."
"Mom would never let me..."
"Who cares? After all the trouble you've had over the years, even city hall wouldn't have much to say about you moving to a more stable home."
Star buried her face into the crook of his neck. "I'll...I'll think about it. But I think I will go home with you tonight, to talk to your parents."
"That's fine." he mumbled, stroking her hair soothingly.
The rest of the dance was pretty unexciting after that. A little more dancing, a little more drinking (punch, of course), and the party was through. When they were on the doorstep of the house, Finn stopped Star.
"Hey Star, wait."
"What? Having second thoughts?"
"No, of course not." he laughed, nervously shifting his weight. "It's just, well, we're on the porch of the girl's house, right?"
Star rolled her eyes. "It's not my house yet. But anyway, what does that have-"
--- --- --- --- ---
After a good night's sleep and a long talk with India and Leo, Star agreed to at least stay for the summer. She hadn't been home since the prom, not even for graduation. They didn't send her a present, but the Inks certainly gave her one.
"What is this?" Star asked when she walked into the largely transformed guest bedroom.
"Well, it's yours!" Finn laughed. "Star's room, star room, get it?"
"You guys are nuts." Star said with tears in her eyes. "Absolutely insane."
India hugged Star. "We wanted you to feel welcome, honey. This is your home."
And Star certainly slept like she was at home too.
Even when she woke up in the morning and walked into the kitchen, she had a hard time believing that this place was hers now. But just for the summer, she amended. She didn't know if she could live here and rely on the Inks full time. Plus, she still had to talk to her mother.
"You're still a child, Star." India had said. "You may not think of yourself as one, but you are. And every child deserves a happy home and a family who loves them. We would be more than happy to offer that to you Star. We've known you eight years now - Leo and I already think of you as a daughter."
Star quietly ate her breakfast, mumbling, "But...I still am that woman's daughter."
"We can't change our biological family, true." India said. "But you've had to put up with that long enough. At least stay with us through the rest of high school - then you can decide where you want to take your life."
And so, at the end of summer, Star finally dragged herself back to her family home. She felt the familiar dread of coming here, intensified by her long absence.
She had to tell them she was moving out.
A very surprised Kiki opened the door. Star noted with some disdain that her mother was still wearing the tight clothes that she had forty years ago, had dyed her hair badly, and wore garish red lipstick.
"May I come in?" Star finally said.
Star hadn't taken two steps inside before she was wrapped up in a huge hug. "Oh honey, you came back! Solomon was right!"
Star gritted her teeth at his name but was determined not to get into a fight this early. "About what?"
"He said that you just needed some time away, like all teenage girls. He said that if I didn't call you, you'd come home soon enough! But goodness, you were gone all summer!"
Star disengaged herself from her mother. "I'm about to be gone a lot longer. Mom, I'm moving out. Permanently this time."
After a pause, Kiki laughed. "Oh, for a minute there I didn't know you were joking! Come on honey, there's still-"
"I'm not kidding, Mom." Star said firmly.
Her mother's face fell. "Don't be silly dear, where would you go?"
"I'm going to live with Finn."
Kiki frowned. "With the Ink family? I don't know Star, they've been in a lot of shady things. That oldest son nearly had a child out of wedlock, there's rumors about the youngest daughter fleeing the country..."
"Better than you." Star snarled back. "You were the twenty year old town slut who somehow got knocked up with the richest bachelor in town. Then you managed to inherit the house when he died, then decided to switch it up and marry someone not much older than me. How's that for a scandal?"
Kiki rubbed her temples. "I am not in the mood for this. Go talk to your stepfather."
"You see!" Star yelled. "You always are like this. Always telling me to fucking work it out with Solomon. Well I'll work it out all right. I'll tell him I'm out of here too, then remind him to pick you up from the bar outside. Have fun with your shot of brandy."
Star stalked off to find her stepfather in the living room. He stood and grinned. "Well, well, if it isn't Star! Cooled off and came home, eh?"
"Don't get used to it. I'm leaving Solomon. You can keep my mom and my father's house, but I'm out of here. I'm not going to sit around and let you hit on me whenever my mom's out of the room."
"That again? I don't know where you're getting this delusion, Star, but I don't have any intention of-"
"Yes you fucking do! I was in your study and I saw that picture, you creep."
"On the far left shelf there is a photo of me from before when you moved in here, Solomon. Not a single picture of my mom, but you've got one of me when I was fucking eight years old."
"I'm sick of you, and I'm sick of the person you made my mom into. I'm nothing like her, I'll never be like her, and I'm not going to stick around to see you ruin everything my father built here."
To Star's surprise, Solomon smiled.
"Okay then. Leave." he said. "But you are your mother, Star. It's more than just looks. You have the same mannerisms, that same fiery temper. You walk like her, talk like her, have the same tastes and habits. You can leave, but you will still become the woman your mother is now."
Star backed away, unnerved. "You're fucking sick, you know that? I'm not coming back."
"Oh, but you will." Solomon said as she ran out the door. "And I'll still be here."
--- --- --- --- ---
All that night Star cried and cried. Finn had come by several times to soothe her, but she had always turned him away. So he was rather surprised when she had showed up red-eyed the next morning, asking if he would come with her somewhere.
"Where are we going, Star?" he asked gently.
"Somewhere I've been meaning to go for a long time."
Her father's grave.
She hadn't been here since his funeral, and she was sure that her mother hadn't either. She was surprised to find it so well tended, but she still couldn't help but break down crying.
What if Solomon was right?
What if she was like her mother, and would ultimately be a miserable woman chasing comfort wherever she could find it, whether in men or in alcohol. She already saw a shadow of her mother's face everytime she looked in the mirror, and her father's features were harder and harder to find these days. She had already lived twice as long without him than she had with him. It was like he never even existed.
And now that horrible man had the house, the last standing thing her father had owned. She felt like she was betraying him my leaving his legacy to a stranger.
"Star, are you okay?" Finn said softly.
"I'm fine." she spat bitterly. "I just got something in my eye."
"Come here." Finn said, holding her close. "Let it all out. I know you miss your dad now most of all."
Star sniffled, "Have you been tending the grave?"
"Only recently." he admitted. "I had a few things I wanted to talk to your dad about."
"You must of looked stupid, talking to a grave..." she murmured. "But thank you. I'm sure he would've liked you, Finn."
He pulled away from her and said, "Hey, come with me. Now I'm going to take you somewhere."
Somewhere happened to be a bridge on the very south edge of town, away from the main road.
Star grumbled, "It's just a bridge."
"Just look at the water, Star. What do you see?"
She looked over the edge and frowned. "My mother's face."
"Really? Because I'm seeing me next to you." he said gently.
When Star looked back, that's what she saw, her focus away from her face.
"Nothing is forever." Finn said quietly. "When I was a kid, I thought that my family was forever. But now my siblings are gone and my parents are elderly. Pretty soon I might be all alone. My forever was only sixteen years."
"But I turned that thinking around. Just because it was short, didn't mean that it was meaningless. The fact that I miss it shows that. That's why I've decided that I want everything to be fun, so much that I'll cry when it's gone. Because that means it was worth it. It doesn't have to be forever. It only has to mean something to me."
Star was silent, wondering when Finn got so philosophical. All her childhood she had always view Finn as her sweet but cowardly best friend, someone she needed to protect. But here he was next to her, taller and stronger than her, probably. The hand that she had always held had gotten bigger than hers without her noticing.
Finn had become a man she could depend on.
"You're right, Finn. Being here with you, like this, has meaning." she said. "So what other meaningful things will we do today?"
He grinned childishly, back to the normal Finn. "Well, there's butterflies over there..."
Star found herself laughing and running around with Finn, chasing the red and silver butterflies that were scattered around.
She caught a large silver one rather easily.
While Finn had a bit more trouble.
But he eventually caught one as well.
"I'm out of breath!" Star laughed, her hand on her chest. "Geez, we're out of shape, huh?"
"More than out of shape." Finn gasped. "I'm a certified shapeless blob."
After catching their breath, Finn looked over at Star and smiled. When she looked quizzically at him, he took her hands.
"Hey Star. Let's...let's make our own kind of forever. This kind won't rely on anything but this promise."
"Which is?"
He blushed. "Let's be together forever, Star."
"After your lecture about how nothing is forever, that kind of sounds like a proposal, Finn."
"Well...maybe I kind of meant for it to sound like one."
"You know, Finn." Star said with a sly smile. "Those kinds of promises are usually sealed with a kiss."
"Oh really? Well..."
"That can be arranged."
The kiss was all at once electric and terrifying for Star. Electric for finally satisfying the craving she had had since Finn kissed her on the front steps of his house all those months ago. Terrifying because, well...
"This is exactly the kind of forever that scares me, Finn." she whispered when they parted.
"Don't be." he replied. "Even though life isn't forever, I've been thinking that memory lives on. I'm going to stay in Riverview, Star, and build the Ink family from the ground up. I'm not going anywhere. And if you'd like, I want you to be with me through that."
She leaned in for another kiss. "Keep talking like that and I really will fall in love with you, you know."
"Good." he murmured against her lips. "Then maybe my love won't be so one sided."
--- --- --- --- ---
That night at dinner, Star had been really quiet, pushing the food around her plate and looking at the far wall blankly.
"Your food's getting cold, Star." Finn laughed as he ate. "What, my cooking's not good enough?"
"No, you get an A+ on your housewife skills."
"Har har. Seriously, what's up?"
"You'll laugh."
"No, I won't." Finn insisted.
"It'll make you rethink your promise."
He rolled his eyes. "Nothing will do that, Star. Didn't I all but proclaim my love to the world? Just tell me."
After a short pause, Star finally said, "Well...I was thinking we should have a baby."
Finn choked on his food.
"WHAT?!"
--- --- --- --- ---
And there ends the chapter! *dramatic music* Yes, the drama starts early in the Ink household for sure. Please comment and tell me what you think!