"I have a son," Cailen answered with a patient smile, still finding it odd but equally exciting when he told people that, no matter how many times he has told her this.
Mrs. Cruz smiled at this, the wrinkles by her eyes becoming more prominent.
"How old?"
"He's eight," Cailen replied, watching as her eyes lit up with joy from his answer.
"Oh, they're such darlings at that age," she commented but Cailen could tell now that she was lying in her bed, she was getting tired.
"Yeah, he's pretty amazing," Cailen replied, double checking that everything on the monitor was correct. "I'll be back in a couple hours with your dinner before I leave, okay?" Cailen said, heading towards the door.
"Okay, dear," she smiled sleepily at Cailen, her eyes falling shut as she fell asleep.
Cailen shut the door behind him, smiling to himself because he really did enjoy talking to Mrs. Cruz, even if she didn't
"Of course I'm coming back. Even if it's not to stay... I'll always visit," Noahassured. "Look, I don't know what I'm doing yet. You know I'm more of a 'play it by year' kind of guy. We'll see what happens when it happens, yeah?""Yeah," Cailensighed. "Just going to miss you," Cailenadmitted."I'm going to miss you too, but don't act like I'm never going to see you again," Noahsaid, the most stubborn sounding he's ever heard the man sound."Okay. But, I've got to go. Don't just disappear on me. Come say goodbye first," Caileninstructed."Of course," Noahsmiled. "Now get out of here. I'm sure you and Ashhave a special night planned," Noahwinked, nodding towards the door.Cailenchoked out a laugh because they actually didn't. Honestly, they'd probably end up falling asleep on the couch."Yeah, okay. See you, Noah," Cailensaid, backing away from the guy and towards the do
Cailenwas already grabbing the pants off the doorknob and slipping them on, underwear be damned."What's wrong?" Cailenasked, noticing Asherclimbing out of bed as well, going in search of his clothes."Zekehad a nightmare..." Williamsaid, and although it didn't slow his movements any as he searched for his shirt, his heart did calm some because this was something that had happened many times."Yeah... Hegets those. We're coming over," Cailensaid into the phone as Asherhanded him his shirt.Cailenglanced around Asherat the alarm clock and saw that it was nearly two in the morning."Is he still up?I want totalk to him on the phone.""Yeah... he's- he's here, but um, he doesn't want to talk about it. He said not to call you," Williamsaid, his voice turning into a whisper."We're coming,Wil, just try to keep him calm if you can," Cailen
They didn't knock when they arrived at the house.They both climbed out of the car, Asherbarely remembering to lock it and hurried inside.The house was quiet and dark except for the quiet noise of the television and low glow from the screen that was coming from the living room.Cailenand Asherkicked off their shoes and hurried into the living room where Williamsat on an armchair, his attention on the screen though it looked like he was ready to pass out from how tired he was.On the couch that was facing the television,they could see a blonde head poking over the top and as they drew closer,they could see Ezekiel's as well.When they stepped into the living room, Williamturned to them and stood in relief, gesturing to the couch where Ezekielwas."Zeke, look who's here," Williamsaid, smiling softly at the boy.Both Noahand Ezekielturned to see Cailen
"Is everything okay with you and Ash?" Williamasked hesitantly."I thought after tonight-" Noahbegan but he really didn't want to discuss that infront of his father, thank you very much."We're fine... we just-" Cailenwent to explain but then Asherwas coming into the kitchen, a confused expression on his face as he regarded Cailen.Cailenlooked to the ground, suddenly very aware that he sort of did throw a fit when he stormed out of the living room."Cai, I can't-" Asherstarted to say, his eyes taking in the audience they had."Don't," Cailensaid, his blood beginning to boil again because he knew what Asherwas trying to do.He was actually going to try and justify his reasons behind staying a firefighter and Cailenreally didn't want to hear it."How could you do that? How could you sit there and lie to Zeke? Please tell me because I'm going to need a lesson if we're g
"Should we get creamy or original?" Cailenasked, holding up two different boxes of macaroni and cheese to Ezekiel.They were in the supermarket picking up some groceries that they found they were in desperate need of after having gone home from Eden's last night.Cailenhad went to go make lunch and discovered they were quite low on food supplies,so they decided to go out for lunch and go grocery shopping afterwards.Asherwas beside him, leaning on the trolley and looking down at Ezekielas he contemplated the very hard decision."Creamy!" Ezekielfinally decided,so Cailentossed it in the trolley and set the other back on the shelf.They were moving on down the aisle when they heard Ezekiel's name being called.Ezekielturned first, then Asherand Cailen, to see a blonde kid rushing down the aisle after them.It was Tripp, the kid from Ezekiel's school that apparentl
"Okay Mrs. Cruz, get some rest. I'll be back to check on you later," Cailensmiled at the elderly lady lying in the bed, her eyes already falling shut as he closed the door behind him. He made his way down the hall to drop off Mrs. Cruz's information, then he was to head to check on Mr. Bremontbut something told him he wouldn't be going to do that since he saw Madelinewith the Bat Phone pressed to her ear. Cailendoesn't know how he knows, but he does know that something is wrong as he's headed down the hall, just remembering to smile politely at familiar passing faces before meeting Madeline's eyes. He could tell it was something worse than a mild asthma attack or even a broken arm. She was standing behind the desk, the Bat Phone pressed to her ear as she nodded along to whatever she was being told, her eyes never leaving Cailen's. His initial thought was of course that a particularly bad patient was on th
It was all very Hollywood movie like.Everything turned to a blur before his eyes, maybe it was the tears that sprung to his eyes or just the shock messing with his mind, he didn't know.But he couldn't really see much through the blur as Asherwas pushed into the Intensive Care Unit, leaving Cailenstanding with nothing but the wall to hold him up because hislegs certainly weren't doing the trick.He was vaguely aware that he may have screamed, that he had drawn somewhat of a crowd, people all staring at him wondering what his problem was but he didn't care about them.He cared that Asher, his husband, the man he loved, was lying unconscious onagurney in the ICU when he was supposed to be at home, cleaning the flat or watching television.He didn't care if he was making a scene, he didn't care that his knees had given out, buckling underneath him as he slid to the floor, face buried in his hands.He
Cailendecided to lay back on the bed, the sheets cold and scratchy under his skin.He could feel the tears coming again as he thought about all the other possible ways Ashercould have been harmed.There was smoke inhalation to consider, the blow to his head could have caused some serious damage, any injuries from falling debris when he was knocked unconscious...Cailencould come up with a long list if he let himself but he had to stop thinking about it unless he wanted to become a blubbering mess.Tears were already burning his eyes, one escaping and sliding down from the corner of his eye to be soaked up by his hair.Asherhad to be okay, he had to make it out of this.He had to come home with Cailen. He was going to. He was going to be fine. He was going to come home.Cailenkept telling himself this as he laid there but even as he kept repeating those words in his head,he found it har