Alex
I froze. "He knows?! What do you mean he knows?!" I shout. My little boy figured out what his daddies do for work and now he's hiding and terrified! I look at Ethan. He's not happy either. He looks pissed. I just take off my boots. "Ethan, let's just go change into less messy clothes and go check on him." He nods and we both go upstairs silently. We get dressed and go to our little boys door. I knock first. "Little one...can me and Dada come in?" We hear some shuffling in the room. Just shuffling. No answer. "Baby? Can me and Daddy come in and see you?" Ethan asked. No shuffling this time. "Little one, we need to talk. I need you to let us in kiddo. It's okay, I promise." A few moments of silence go by and the lock on the door clicks open and there's loud scurrying inside the room. He's probably hiding again. "Alright baby... we're coming in now, okay?" There was no response but I pushed the door open and slipped in, Ethan following behind me. We see him hiding in the empty space under his crib the blankets at the bottom that hang over the base were supposed to be hiding him ..but made it much more obvious where he was. I can see all his stuffies piled up around my baby. My shaking, crying, horribly distressed baby. "Oh baby....."Â I went to step closer to see him but he flinched away from me quickly. "Baby.... it's just daddy, it's okay..." He shakes his head no. "No! Not my daddies!" He screamed. Ethan and I look at each other. How do we fix this? Is he really going to be scared of us forever? "Baby...what changed that you're scared of us now?" Ethan asked. He sat down on the floor and motioned me to sit down too. I follow, sitting down.
Ethan
I look over at our sweet boy. I can tell he's thinking hard. "You...kill people..." He mumbled quietly from behind his blanket that he was chewing on. Apparently he couldn't find a paci. "Sweetie, me and your daddy have killed people. But we would NEVER hurt you. You know that, right?" It took him a moment but he nodded. "Y'ah..." I smile. "So do you want to come see me and Dada?" Alex chimed in. Lucca shook his head. "Why not kiddo?" He just whined and turned away. "Do you want us to leave the room?" He shook his head no quickly. "Okay, okay. We'll stay." He smiled slightly, adjusting and letting his guard down SLIGHTLY. "Little one, do you want me to explain what we do for work?" He took another moment before eventually nodding at me. I smile and reach into my pocket, I had grabbed a few candies from our room before I came to see him. "Want a candy little one?" I hold up a lollipop. He nodded and I gently slid it to him. "There you go baby." I watch as he opens it and looks it over like a detective. "Whatcha doing little lovely?" He keeps looking. "Poison?" I freeze. I shake my head quickly. "No! No baby, of course not! It's a normal candy dada brought for you." He side eyes me. But eventually licks it then pops it into his mouth. "See? Perfectly normal sweetie. Right?" He nodded at me before taking it out of his mouth and inspecting it one last time before putting it back in his mouth. "Good boy! You are so smart to trust Dada, huh?" He giggled and nodded. "Okay baby, so...the work you daddy and I do..." It takes me a moment to find the words. "Yes. I'm gonna be honest. We DO kill people baby. We've done it many times. But we would never hurt our baby boy, or Rose, or Kayden or anyone in our circle. Okay?" He contemplates for a few moments but he nods. "Okay sweetie...I'm gonna let your Daddy take over." I turn to Alex, he thinks for a second or two before he finds the words to explain without scaring our little boy. "Baby, you know how coos sometimes hurt people to protect themselves and others?" He nodded. "Well... sometimes Dada and I have to hurt people who do bad things to protect our business and us. Does that make sense?" He nods. "Good. But you understand that if you ever have questions you can ask, yes?" He nods again. "Good, that's a good little one." I watch as our little one yawns. "Want us to tuck you in?" He sat up quickly, shaking his head. "No!" I pause, looking at the tear steaks on his cheeks. "Sweetie...are you still scared?" He shrugs. "Maybe just a little bit?" Alex asked. He nods. "Do you want me and Daddy to leave so you can sleep? We'll stay out of your room honey." We get up to leave.
Lucca
I watch them leave. As they do I climb up into my crib and grab a paci, my sheets to use as more blankets and a few hard cushion things to set at the opening so I can be hidden and in the darkness. And I fall asleep.
Maybe I can still trust them...?