Chapter 26

Time passes by.

It had been just over two years since Ethan's death. It was the 20th of March. A date that had brought dread. It was Ethan's 30th birthday.

Amber slowly made her way through the mud, flowers in one hand, a scrunched up tissue in the other. As she reached Ethan's grave she stood before it staring at his photo "Happy birthday" she smiled sadly and took a seat on a bench that had been placed there especially for Ethan's visitors. "I miss you" she sighed, "every day I miss you, that feeling never goes away, you think it would as you start to move on but it doesn't, every time I think about you, think about the fact I'll never get to see you again it physically hurts my heart...God Ethan I miss you so much" Amber buried her face into her hands as she allowed her tears to fall. "You should be here with us now and we should all be joking about how you're getting old and trying to persuade you to go out and get drunk to celebrate, which of course you would be strongly against, you being you and all...Did you know Cal was planning on getting you a stripper? Imagine that!" Amber laughed before she sighed yet again. "I actually thought I couldn't go on living without you in my life but there was one amazing thing that changed everything-" Amber was cut off.

"Mum!" a distant voice of a child called. Amber looked up to find Cal making his way over to her, hand in hand with a small blonde boy. "Where have you two been?" Amber smiled as the pair approached her, "we went to see Nanny" the boy explained as he let go of Cal's hand and ran towards her. Amber threw a caring glance at Cal whose eyes were bloodshot from crying as he'd just returned from visiting his mother's grave, Cal smiled sadly he placed his hands in his pockets as he continued to make his way over to Ethan's grave. "I picked some flowers!" The boy spoke excitedly holding out blue and purple flowers in front of him, Amber bent down so that she was eye level with the small boy. "Oh they're beautiful!" She smiled as the boy held the flowers under her nose to smell. The boy walked over and gently laid the flowers down on Ethan's grave before turning around and half-standing behind Cal, his arms gripping onto his leg. Cal let out a deep sigh as he looked at the words engraved on the grave in front of him picking out four in particular, "beloved son and brother..." he focused on those words as his eyes blurred over due to the tears building. "How's your mum's looking?" Amber whispered to Cal as she stood to her feet, snapping him out of his thoughts that he himself hadn't even realised he'd gotten lost in, "umm" he hesitated, pulling his hands out of his pockets and wiping away his tears with the back of his hand, "It looks great" he forced out a smile swallowing hard. "We've got loads of flowers on there now haven't we mate?" Cal smiled ruffling the young boy's hair as he still had hold of Cal's leg staring at forward at Ethan's grave "yep" the boy smiled as he looked up at Cal, "I picked pink ones for her" he added. Cal picked up the boy and held him on his hip, "it looks beautiful" Cal concluded.

Silence fell once again as everyone stared blankly ahead at the grave before them, Cal still with the small boy on his hip. Cal thought about every memory ever shared with his little brother. He thought about when they were tiny children, their last talk before Ethan passed and every single moment in between. He was filled with many emotions, the main one being regret. The thing he regretted the most was not appreciating his brother as much as he should have when he was alive. He also regretted leaving his mother in the care of his little brother all those years ago, if he had stayed he wouldn't have lost the connection with his brother that took almost a year to regain. They could have been brothers forever, or at least the length of Ethan's life. Not one day went by when he didn't think about him, not one hour passed when he didn't miss him, not one minute slipped away without Cal being constantly reminded of him no longer being there, not one second has ever ticked by when Cal hasn't had anything but love for his little brother Ethan.

Cal hadn't realised tears had been streaming from his eyes until the boy spoke "don't cry" he whispered and wiped away Cal's tears with his tiny fingers. Cal tried to speak but he couldn't, his emotions had taken over him and he was now stood before his brother's grave sobbing. Amber took her son from his arms and he collapsed down onto the bench holding his head in his hands continuing to weep. The sound of Cal's cry echoed around the grave yard as Amber looked down at him holding onto her son tightly. The wind gently blew through Amber's hair, ruffling through the leaves on the surrounding trees and jingling the wind chimes on Ethan's grave as Cal still sat with his head buried into his hands. The boy got himself down off Amber and slowly made his way over to where Cal was sat. Feeling a light tug on his shirt Cal looked up out of his hands to find the young boy smiling sadly at him, he then held out his hand, of in which held a blue flower that he had picked on his travels with Cal "I picked this one for you" the boy whispered. "Thanks" Cal smiled as he took the flower from the boys hand. He wiped away the last of his tears and picked the boy up sitting him on his lap. The boy buried himself into Cal as he held him tightly, Amber took a seat on the bench next to the pair.

"Tell me the story again?" The boy asked quietly "The super hero one?" Cal smiled, "Yeah that one!" the boy replied excitedly. "Well..." Cal started, the boy looked back giving his mother an excited smile before turning back to Cal "there was a guy, who at first glanced seemed quite geeky, he had huge glasses on his face and read books all the time. To many people he didn't seem like anything special, but to those close to him, they knew-" Cal was cut off by the boy who could no longer contain his excitement, "That he was a super hero!" the boy yelled "shhh, no one can know remember.." Cal whispered causing the boy to lower his voice "oh yeah oops.." he replied awkwardly. "Can you remember what he did that made him a super hero?" Cal asked quietly "Yeah he saved lives!" the boy yelled out again in excitement. "That's right! No matter how sick people were, he would always make them better again, that was his power!-" The boy cut Cal off once again "He saved my mummy's life" the boy stated with a smile, "that's right" Amber smiled as she kissed his blonde hair. "He was an incredible person, he was always there for everyone, even if they couldn't see it, he would always be there...waiting for if they ever needed him" Cal continued, "you remind me a lot of him you know" Cal smiled, "Really?!" the boy asked excitedly as if he'd always longed to hear these words, "yes, everything about you is like him, you have the same smile and the same glasses!" Cal pushed up the boy's glasses with his finger causing him to giggle. "Hmm...what was it they called him again?" Cal pretended to think as the boy's face lit up, "I know! I know! They called him "The safety net"" the boy spoke excitedly. "That's it!" Cal spoke clapping his hands together. The boy got himself down off of Cal's knee and sat on the grass before Ethan's grave stone looking up at his picture admiringly "That was his super hero name though, his real name was Ethan Hardy, just like mine!" the boy smiled as he looked over his shoulder at Cal and Amber. "He's my super hero" little Ethan smiled as he looked back at the picture in front of him. He kneeled up and kissed the picture "I love you daddy" he whispered.

"Come one Ethan, lets go home" Cal smiled as he picked up his nephew, the pair and Amber slowly made their way to their car leaving the wind to gently blow against the wind chimes on the grave they left behind.

I had a request to post a chapter based on after Ethan's death to see how Cal and Amber had been coping and so here it is, I would really really love to know what you think of this chapter. I think this will be the last I ever post on "Ethan's Safety Net" and so I hope I didn't disappoint, thanks for the support throughout this story! Love from Kayxxx