fade away (Marco)

[Deleted]

He stood outside the hospital room, watching his sister sleep. How could this have happened when he was gone? How could he have let this happen? Matt hadn't thought about the consequences when he threw that fire cracker in Jack's house. Well, aside from the hope that Jack would die. Matt had never felt so much hatred for one person. But he knew. He knew. Hannah couldn't remember who had tried to kill her. But she had written his name in pages of her diary. Over and over Jack.. Even if she didn't understand why, he did. It was obvious. When he found her diary, he hadn't even been snooping. He was looking for a cd he had lent her. He stumbled upon it. And he had ripped the pages out and took them with him when he got the fireworks from Jonathan's attic. All he wanted was to hurt the guy who had hurt his sister. And when he got caught, he had been asked by the police if he was a danger to anyone. He should have fucking lied. Why did he think that by saying "I'm going to kill Jack Basely," they would ask why and look into it? Why did he think he could get him put in jail? Because, that was what Marco would have done. Instead, the boy had spent a week in juvenile hall. The entire week had been spent in terror. Matt had never been to juvenile hall, and he was scared of getting killed or something.

He had been out for a few days, though, and so far, had been doing pretty well avoiding the topic with both parents. Ben was never a talker, anyway. He was more of a strict disciplinarian. Marco would have been trickier, had the men not been separated. He simply refused to call his dad. He missed him, though. Matt was carrying a pretty heavy burden. Jack had made it pretty clear that it was up to the sixteen year old to protect his brothers and sisters. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish that. There were so many of them. The only one he really didn't worry about was Chance, and that was because he was in Africa.

It wasn't just from Jack, either. It had been over a week since Matt made the terrifying discovery that Jonathan was not, singling him out like he thought he was. They all thought they were alone. Even the Ryker kids thought they were alone. How could Matt protect them from him? Megan was in the hospital. But Hayleigh? And what about Christina and her siblings? Sure, they weren't family. But shouldn't he do something?

Matt had left school early. He didn't care about scary stories, anyway. As soon as the bell rang for lunch, he left Degrassi, going to the hospital to see his sister. Megan was asleep, and he wasn't about to wake her. So, after watching her for a few minutes, the teenager left. He thought he was going to just go home. Play his flute, hold onto Buzzy. Pretend he was a little boy again, like he very much felt. When he got there though, Jonathan was there. He stopped in his tracks in the living room when he made this realization. He swallowed. He didn't want to be there. No way, not without Ben. But the man saw him

"Hey, pretty boy" he said, grabbing his arm.

"No!" he growled and threw a punch at Jonathan, running out of the house. Wasn't he leaving? He probably lucked out and walked in as the man was packing. What did he think, he could have a quickie wit him? No way in hell. He spotted a bus and flagged it down, getting on it and sitting down with a sigh.

He dug his head in his hands. "God, help me," he whimpered. He didn't even know where the bus was going. He just got on to avoid the bastard. He would probably pay for that punch when he got back. Matt's stomach churned at the thought of it.

"Tenth street, next stop" Matt heard the bus driver and looked out the window. Instantly, he grabbed the call line and pulled on it. He might have been avoiding Marco up until now, but Marco was the only person he wanted to see right now. He got off the bus, looking at his watch. It was 1:00. School wouldn't be out for another hour. Ah, well. He might as well go in anyway. He knew the chances of his father being in his office were slim, but he hoped he would be.

He took the elevator to his floor and walked in. Folding his arms, he approached the desk. "Hi. Is Mr. Del Rossi in?"

"I'm sorry, but unless you have an appointment, then he can't see you" she said. He looked up. He didn't recognize this one. It was probably why she didn't know who he was.

"I don't need an appointment. I'm his son." he answered, looking down.

She gave the boy a look of scepticism, but nodded. "Have a seat. I'll let him know you're here."

"Right. Sure." he said and slunked in a seat. He figured his dad was probably in the middle of a meeting or something. Was this a mistake, coming into his work? Matt wasn't sure.

[Marco Del Rossi]

Unfortunately,when he was called about his son waiting, it wasn't one that was recognized and hence, he didn't know which it was. He could assume that it wasn't Aidan, because he had been there countless times recently. But the others hadn't and so whenever he got new staff it took time for them to get used to faces of his kids. He had a lot of them, after all. But, apparently a name wasn't given, so he had to wonder which one it was. A part of him hoped it was Matt, if only because he had been trying to get a hold of his son for the last week with no success. Eventually, he was going to go find him, because he might be able to avoid his calls but he wouldn't be able to avoid him completely. He'd been stuck in a meeting when he received the text telling him his son was at the front desk. Lucky for him, it was almost over and he left without lingering and walked out. It took him only a second to see Matt and there was some relief that swept over him.

"Matt, come on." He said gently, not about to have a conversation in the lobby. Naturally, Marco wanted to talk to him. It was how he handled situations, because talking honestly worked better than simple discipline sometimes. And really, he wanted his kids to be able to talk to him. And of course that wasn't always possible. He remembered what it was like to be a teenager and to not want to tell his parents every detail of his life. He hadn't. And he didn't expect them to, but he wanted those doors to always be open and when it was serious, he was going to talk to them whether they liked it or not. Currently, he beckoned his son to follow him back towards his office, so that they could at least have privacy.

[Deleted]

Matt looked up when he heard his dad's voice and swallowed, nodding. He stood up, sticking his hands in his back pockets, but they didn't stay there for long. As soon as he approached Marco in order to pass him up, the boy reached over and wrapped his arms around his dad's neck, closing his eyes. He usually wasn't one for public shows of affection, but he had missed his father. And with all the trouble he had gotten himself into, Matt missed having his dad there for him.

He didn't keep the hug long before he pulled away and stepped into his office. He scuffed his shoe at the carpet, staring down. "I didn't want to bug you. But I didn't want to go home, either" he admitted. Of course, he should have been at home. But Matt couldn't stay there, knowing that he had to be in the same damned class as that psycho, and knowing he couldn't do a thing about it. Well, except for transfer to Lakehurst. Matt had been thinking about that more and more, but he didn't know what good it would do. Especially when the very siblings he was supposed to protect were at Degrassi. "Sorry" he added, raising his eyes to look at Marco.

He probably thinks I'm crazy. With the stunt he had pulled at Jack's house, Matt was honestly afraid of what his dad would think of him. He was sure he had to know, especially when he had a stupid court date the following month. He wouldn't blame him for thinking he was psycho, either. Matt was beginning to wonder if he was. He had managed to do some pretty bad stuff this year. That knife fight with JJ last month wasn't even the worst of it. He was starting to feel miserable over what he had paid Jessica to do. God, what was wrong with him?

[Marco Del Rossi]

Honestly, knowing his son, he didn't quite accept the public hug, but he accepted it without even a second's hesitation. He hugged him back tightly, because regardless of whatever he was going through and whatever he had done, he was still his son. And he loved him, no matter what was going on, that hadn't changed. He didn't see him as often anymore and of course he hated that. Marco didn't like the arrangement as it was, but there wasn't a lot to do about it either right now. He didn't want his kids split up, nor did he want to be apart from them. For crying out loud, he didn't want to be apart from Ben, but that was more complicated and not as easy to understand as his love for his kids.

Once they were in his office, he shook his head. "You're not bugging me, Matt." He reminded him. This didn't bother him, although he wondered why he wasn't at home or in school. But, he was sure he would get to that. He wasn't in trouble for showing up. By no means was Marco about to make him feel unwelcoming about it. He didn't want to push him away. "What's going on? You've gotten yourself into some pretty bad trouble," he said, not sounding accusatory although he was concerned and not at all proud of what he was doing. But, at the same time, if there were reasons behind it or something that he was going through, he wanted to hear it. He wanted him to be able to talk to him, even when he was messing up, he didn't want that door to be closed.

[Deleted]

Matt's eyes shot down to the floor. He had to admit, he liked that he wasn't bugging him. That was what it felt like with Ben. He looked up to the man, wanted so much to be like him. But anytime he addressed him, Ben was irritated. Like he had better things to do than talk to him. Matt never considered himself to be a punk-ass kid who acted up for daddy's attention. And yet, since he had been home, part of him wanted it. It wasn't the reason he had done it, and Matt knew full well what was. Still, it would have been nice to have some attention paid to him. Nobody ever showed up that night at the police station. Back then, Matt would have jumped at the chance to tell them what Jack had done. He would have done anything for one of his fathers to have been there, for them to have helped. But nobody showed up. He knew why Marco hadn't. The man hadn't been notified that his son was arrested. Matt didn't know why he hadn't given them Marco's cell phone number. Maybe it was because Marco was less violent. Maybe he felt like Ben could do more. He didn't know. But Ben had never bothered to show up. And now, now he understood how dangerous knowing who had hurt Hannah really was. Because now Megan was in the hospital. And Jack and Ben both made it very clear that Matt was responsible for it.

He heard him ask what was going on and he shrugged. He couldn't tell. Jack's words echoed in his mind. "You have quite a bit more brothers and sisters. I'd hate to see anything happen to them because you don't know how to keep quiet." But he had to say something. He knew Marco wouldn't accept a shrug. "I screwed up. It's what I do. Story of my life." Was it? Well, this year it had been. Matt had been making one major mistake after another. "When'd you find out?" he questioned, his tone almost bitter. He knew it wasn't Marco's fault that he had spent a week in Juvenile hall without his knowledge. At least, he didn't think he knew. The man had never visited, so Matt assumed he didn't know. Otherwise, he'd be there. Matt knew he would. And if he didn't know, then that would have been Ben's fault. Damned jackass. Just once, Matt wished he could stand up to Jonathan. He knew the man hated even Marco's name being mentioned. He had watched his dad get beaten plenty of times for saying it. But this should have been important enough to stand up to Jonathan for, he thought.