to the end (Chance)

The Del Rossi family was seriously and hopefully not irreparably screwed up. Chance's entire life was so far away from all of it. He never forgot his family, or pretended that they weren't as important as they were to him. They stayed on his mind and he thought of them often enough when he was away. For the past year, he'd thought heavily on them, month after month. With all of the torn up and destroyed families he saw, burned from disease, war and genocide, however, this family wasn't past saving. He'd seen things that were one hundred times worse. Only problem was that this warranted a more emotional and invested response. Not to say that his time in foreign countries hadn't been emotional some of the time, this had his heart even fuller in it. For the first time in a long time, Chance needed to be home. There was more playing underneath the surface than he'd ever give away though.

He was an adult. A mature, successful adult. Those were the words he repeated to himself all the time. The young male knew it wasn't completely true. Mature, successful-- Yeah, he had those down and legally, he was definitely an adult. But, not a kid? Well, not quite. He still had those defining characteristics of a kid. The mental structure of someone young-- Someone as he was supposed to be. Strangely for three months now, all he wanted to do was run home, curl up in bed and pretend he'd been there all along. It was a strange feeling, one he hadn't had since he was twelve. So far, he really hadn't seen all his siblings at all, but he heard plenty of stories and things that made him want to shudder.

That night, he actually was looking for Megan. She wasn't at the house, so he crossed that off the list. Given what he imagined she was like from what he heard, his deductions actually led him straight to the Ravine. He'd walked there, not about to take that stupid rental car anywhere near a place of rowdy, drunk teenagers. Fines weren't friendly, not one bit. Quietly, he walked into the ravine. No one paid him any mind, but there was no reason to. His eyes skimmed the unfamiliar faces and when he saw Megan, he slowly approached. The fact that she had a beer in her hand really didn't faze him, or bother him in the least. He wasn't a father figure, he was a brother and if she wanted a drink; hell, who was he to say no? He didn't even take a stance against it. It wouldn't help, he knew that.

"Crazy. You know, I haven't been home for even a visit in a year and I already found you." He commented, stepping up to her side. Time between visits became longer and longer for Chance. A year wasn't strange, however. He'd done that before when he was 17. But, after that, he tried to get home a few times out of the year. And he kept contact-- Letters, phone calls and anything he could to make it known he hadn't disappeared or forgotten where he came from.

How did he know? That was the big question, wasn't it? A couple of years ago, Chance wouldn't have imagined that his sister would step foot in the Ravine, let alone hang out and drink there. But, given circumstances and other underlying factors, he analysed that she would be there. Nobody liked to hear that they were being worked up that way, however. How many friends and exgirlfriends had given him that exact information. He started to use his head a little too much and it threw people off. For some reason, they wanted more of an emotionally driven conversation rather than hearing him give logic. It wasn't his fault, it was just simply the way his mind worked through problems.

The young man wasn't even taken aback by what Megan said. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders. "People change. Circumstances change. It wasn't that hard, not when you think about it." He didn't mean to make her sound predictable. Although, with Chance, he was doing everything by the textbook. It was like psych 101 all over again and he was back in his freshman year of college. Already the microbiologist was missing viewing particles through a microscope. "But, I didn't get nosey and ask around, if that's what you think." Chance wouldn't dig around in her personal life like that. It wasn't his place and he didn't want someone to think that he was trying to crush them with his curiosity. Frankly, all he wanted was to see how his sister was doing, albeit he knew the answer already. Her actions spoke louder than her words.

Any moron could see that. Chance didn't need his doctorates to figure it out. But, apparently the rest of the world did. What he didn't want was to act like he planned to stop it or help physically. There was only one person that could help her, he thought. Whether she knew it or not was another thing altogether. But, the only person that could actually help her and make a change was herself. No one could do it for her and no one would ever have the right words or action to give. There were certain areas in life where you had to do it yourself, despite how hard it was. Now, that didn't mean alone-- It simply meant that there was nothing he could do to turn her around, even if he wanted to.

The whole family could probably use an evaluation. Well, not counting himself, at least. He was perfectly sane and without baggage. There were secrets, yes. There was plenty of that going on in the man's head, but nothing that he thought he needed to share with someone else.

"I did." Chance couldn't speak for everyone, but he didn't think that that's what she needed. He couldn't say that people noticed, because he didn't think that they did. It was amazing what one person could miss, and what several could. There always was, he knew, the chance that people did notice but didn't know how to handle it. That was more common than people seemed to think. Sometimes people downplayed what they knew, simply because they didn't know what to do with the information. It was silly, and in this case destructive. "Everyone does stupid things. You ever open a tabloid? Filled with stupid people doing stupid things. And those are from your supposed perfect people. Just imagine what us normal people get ourselves into. You can't see it, because it's not public, but it'll never be you and you alone."

Quiet for a moment, he looked at the ground thoughtfully before he looked back at her. "It'll be okay." He said all of a sudden. "I don't know what happened, barely half of it. But, I do remember this little girl I used to know. She was strong and smart enough to get through anything." He nudged her shoulder gently with his own, to let her know he was talking about her. "It might be bad, real bad. But you're wrong. There's people that'll listen. I'll listen." He explained, but did go ahead and glance around the ravine. "Everyone's screwed up somehow. That's impossible. Plus, I like you better."

"I don't think it makes you any less strong. You put on that front, but it starts becoming real. You're not the only one out there that's gone through something as a kid. You're looking at thousands of adoption cases. You're not alone." Not every adopted kid had a tragic past. That'd be a terrible misconception, but some did. Chance himself, had one, but the only two people that had to know about where he came from was Ben and Marco. For the last 13 years, they stayed the only people that knew anything about him before they saved him. It wasn't going to influence him any more than it had to. He wasn't defined by his past and Megan shouldn't have to think that she was either. As she mentioned the alcohol, he shrugged. "It's just beer. Really, no big deal." Even harder liquor wasn't so bad, as long as she wasn't reaching need for rehab levels. In that case, they would have a problem.

"I heard. Too late, unfortunately." Chance frowned. That bothered him, although he knew how difficult it was to contact him when he was in Africa. To come back to hear that his dad had tried to kill himself wasn't a happy homecoming he hoped for. Everything was screwed up beyond belief. But, it was still his family and as she continued, he listened. "They found something." Was all he said. She didn't say it, but to say that there was more surgery to be had, he figured that was exactly what happened. Chance didn't ever need something spelled out to him.

It took a lot to throw Chance off. The level-headed young man was used to hearing shockers, especially when someone was this emotionally twisted and hurt. "I can't even believe that I went so far with Matt, sexually." The dark haired boy choked on the very oxygen that he inhaled. "--What?" It didn't need any repeating, it was just something that threw him right off and onto something else. The two had slept together? That was just-- Well, they weren't biologically related, but was still seven different kinds of wrong. He rubbed his temple, but continued listening. He didn't want her to think he was suddenly going to stop. She just surprised him. Megan deserved to feel safe in telling Chance anything that came to mind. It was true that he wouldn't judge her. Even after that statement, there wasn't one judgement passing his mind. It was all shock.

"You haven't turned out like anything yet. Time hasn't stopped. You've got time to grow, to get through it. It feels like you did now, but who knows how you'll turn out?" Chance couldn't call his siblings screwed up. They were going through a hard time; one that made his head pound, but he didn't show it. You leave for a while and this was what happened! "No, I've heard." He replied, a frown crossing his expression. Jonathan was somebody that Chance was more than prepared to go after. It wasn't natural for him to feel that way, but that man brought out a side of him that he really never showed. Even now, he hadn't shown it yet, but the man would get a taste of it, just as soon as they met. Which, he figured wouldn't be too long now.

"No, but I'm here to listen." Chance admitted; of course he had no idea. But, it didn't matter to him if he had details or not. While it was often important to have them to help, Chance wasn't going to say that it was the most important part. Helping someone didn't have to rely on details if the person wasn't comfortable in giving them. Hopefully, he was correct in his own understanding. If there was anything at all that she wanted to tell him, he believed it should come out on her own. It shouldn't come from a series of questions that he came up with or his own prodding and interest. It wasn't about him at all. It was about her. He kept that in mind, and it worked out okay. As the younger girl took his hand, Chance squeezed it comfortingly and nodded to let her know that they could.

"Do you have a place in mind?" While it was her idea, Chance thought it best if she found somewhere that she was comfortable talking in. While he knew plenty of places they could go, he wasn't going to bring her anywhere that would potentially make her uncomfortable to talk. She should be somewhere where she felt safe to just say whatever came to mind, without any judgement what-so-ever.

Once they reached the park, Chance listened to her. He was there for her, to listen and to be whatever she needed him to be. Chance would just let her talk and say whatever she needed to get out. Chance would think no less of her. He thought better of her, really. Talking would make her stronger. Hiding from the problems made you weak, and scared. And Chance really didn't want to consider her that and he didn't want to see the problem continue to fester and hurt her more. Listening to her talk about sex, he shook his head. "No, just makes you mixed up and human. It's just sex. You don't need to be ashamed of it." He offered, trying to make her feel better. Because, frankly, he didn't understand the negative connotations with sex. It could reflect a problem, and he remembered that. He just didn't want to call his sister a tramp. That was a stupid word anyway.

As far as their dad went, Chance didn't really have a question in his mind about what the answer should be. "I don't think he'd choose him. He loves you, Megan. He wouldn't let some guy force him to make that kind of choice. You're his daughter. He's not going to get rid of you for some worthless prick--" What? The opinionated Chance wasn't supposed to come out right there. Already, he hated Jonathan. He hadn't met the man, but he hated him.