Chapter 32: The fear in his eyes

Chapter 32

I handed Timmy the napkins, and picked up the tray from the counter. We'd woken up early and had gone downstairs to make breakfast for Jason, who was still asleep. We were going to treat him to a nice breakfast in bed, and Timmy was excited. He hopped up and down impatiently as he watched me moved across the room carefully with the full tray in hand.

"Go up first Timmy." I instructed, and waited for him to begin slowly climbing up the stairs on his short legs. When we got to the top, he took off down the short hallway and pushed open the door to my room.

"Daddy no seeping Micha." He announced when I got there. I set the tray on the bed, just as Jason stepped out of the bathroom; a towel slung over his shoulders and his cropped hair dripping wet.

"We were going to give you breakfast in bed." I told him with a smile. Timmy watched him in devastation; as though Jason had committed some great crime, and I laughed. I noticed how Jason's eyes softened when he looked at me and I felt the familiar warmth pool in me chest.

"It's okay. I can just go back to bed." Jason said; and true to his words, he crawled right back in, careful not to jar his arm, which the doctor had put in a sling.

He patted the bed beside him when he was finally seated under the covers, but Timmy climbed up and crawled into his lap. I set the tray down before him, and sat on the bed to watch them. The moment was surreal and I was still somehow trying to wrap my head around the fact that Jason was home.

It had been only a few short hours and I felt like I couldn't get enough of him, and Timmy was no different. I handed him Timmy his milk; in a sippy cup this time because he was sure to spill it otherwise.

Jason glanced at me. "Aren't you guys gonna eat too?"

"We already ate."

"I don't think I can finish all of this. Pretty sure my stomach's smaller than before..." he trailed off, and took a bite out of his blueberry pancakes. "I was missing this too."

Timmy picked up one of Jason's grapes and squashed it between his fingers.

"Timmy." I said, and he looked at me with a pout. "I no hungee Micha."

"Yeah, but daddy's hungry, so maybe we should let him eat right?"

"I no know."

Jason glanced up at me with a chuckle. "I never thought I woulda missed Timmy being rude."

I smiled, and for a few minutes Timmy and I watched him eat his meal in peace, but despite my joy at knowing that he was finally safe, I still felt the uncomfortable niggling in the back of my mind that was pushing to know what had happened to him in that warehouse.

"Jace?" I said softly, and he looked up at me with those wide beautiful eyes that were almost identical to Timmy's. There had been many days during his absence when I'd stared into Timmy's eyes just so I could catch of glimpse of Jason. Those days had been the hardest.

"What happened after Ronnie took you?"

He frowned as he placed his fork on the tray. "Not much of anything."

He must have seen something in my expression because he continued. "I'm serious. After I got..." he glanced at Timmy, then back at me. "...hurt. After I got hurt, I woke up in some creepy hospital room at the warehouse after they patched me up and then they put me in a bedroom and that's pretty much where I was the whole time."

"They didn't say anything to you? They didn't do anything?"

"They let me shower everyday, then some old bad guy told me I got potential and said he wanted me to help them with something, but I never found out what 'cause you came and got me."

"He said he wanted you to help him. Do you remember his exact words?"

"Not really. He made me sit out in the main room where they had the wall of gu—" he looked at Timmy again, and censored his words. "The wall of weapons. Then the old man came back and asked me what I saw, like some kind of weird spy movie, and when I told him what I saw, he pretty much told me I was useful."

"What did he look like?" I asked him.

"It's the guy you hurt." He said. "They guy who was holding me. I think maybe he was important or something; he bossed the others around but I got the feeling that he was just working for somebody else or something."

"What else do you remember?"

"They brought me to Timmy's school one day and let me see you and Timmy. They put something over my eyes so I couldn't see where I was going." He closed his eyes and hugged Timmy, and when he reopened them, they were filled with tears. "They know shit about us. They know where his school is and I bet they know where you live and they got people in the FBI and they got connections and I don't think we're safe here. I want us to go somewhere else."

"We'll get to the bottom of it." I told him gently. "Only a select few agents vetted my me and my dad are allowed to go anywhere near the people we captured at the warehouse. We're being careful and we'll figure all this out."

Jason was shaking his head. "I don't wanna stay here when I know they could come back anytime. I don't want Timmy here and I don't want you here. I think we gotta just go somewhere else for a while because this whole thing feels really big Michael. It feels bigger than we can take."

"We can put people we trust to watch the house, and Timmy was never in any danger at school, there were always people I trust keeping an eye on him there."

"Well I don't trust 'em. I don't trust nobody except the three of us."

"We can't just run from this Jace. You know I'll never put us in danger, and I'm even more vigilant now after what happened. We're going to be okay."

He was quiet for a long time after that; just holding his son, who was talking to Bunny. When he looked up again and his eyes met mine, there was a determination in them that wasn't there before.

"After everything... after missing you like I did. I just want all of us to be together, but not here. Not where they can get to us. They said they wanted me for something and they could use you guys to get to me." he said. "This is all bigger than you and me. I can feel it."

"Jace—"

"Don't make me go without you. I don't want to go without you." His voice shook as he said the words, and I finally understood what he was trying to say; he was going with or without me. I felt a ball of fear settle deep inside my chest.

"I just got you back." I said quietly, and as I watched him, the tears in his eyes spilled over onto his cheeks.

"I gotta protect Timmy." He said. "Right now I wish you were just a kid so I could force you to come with me and keep you safe too, but you're a man, and I can't make you do anything."

I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. "Last night you said... you made it seem like we were starting over together. You said you missed it here; me, Timmy, the house. You said—"

"I said I loved you. That don't mean I gotta live in a cloud. That don't mean I shouldn't think of the safest way for us to be together. That don't mean I gotta be stupid."

"Daddy no say stupid." Timmy reprimanded him with a frown, and Jason wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"You don't trust that I can protect you." I said. "Is it because of what happened at the Bureau? Is it because I didn't protect you before?" I asked because I needed to know his answer, but he was shaking his head before I even finished my sentence.

"It's because I got a bad feeling. I always trusted my gut. Your gut's your best friend when you're out there living the way I did, and my gut says we gotta go be somewhere else because this is bigger than we think."

I nodded slowly. "Just give me some time then. Let me question them. Let me—"

"You don't gotta be the one to do it. Let's just go and when they figure it out we can come back. Please."

"I've been out on leave for months because of my injury and I just got back. If I leave now I might not have a job when I get back. Since you're so worried, let's go stay with my parents for a while then. Or I'll rent somewhere else for a a few weeks."

"You think they don't know about your parents too? They know about where we'd go here. They know shit Michael." He sounded paranoid, and he also sounded very afraid.

"Do you think they can't follow us if we go out of state? If you really think they're planning to get to us here, then what makes you think they can't get to us somewhere else? At least here I have people who can keep you and Timmy safe, but out there...out there you're unprotected."

"I just got a bad feeling about here." He mumbled.

I tried to see it from his perspective. He had been shot and held for weeks against his will. He was traumatized. I imagined that he might even be suffering from a slight case of PTSD. It didn't mean that he couldn't be right about all this. I knew it was bigger than a few guys playing criminals in a warehouse. We all knew, but running away wouldn't solve anything.

When I looked into his eyes I saw his fear and I wondered if he might just need a break from everything. Maybe he did need this, but what if for him, a short term solution didn't help? What if he took his little break and he decided he never wanted to come back?

"Where would you go?" I asked him, and I could see that my words scared him because he thought it meant I was going to let them go without me. As if there was any way I was going to be apart from either of them after everything that had happened.

"Doesn't matter. Anywhere but here."

"It could take months to take them down." I said. "It could take a year. It could take many years."

He nodded, then buried his chin in Timmy's hair.

"If I stay here it means it could be years before we could be together. You're okay with that?" my voice cracked on the last word, and it was only then that I realized that I was scared too; scared that this might end up changing something for us, and not for the better.

"Timmy, can you do something for me?" he said to his son who had somehow remained oblivious to the stifling atmosphere around him. He glanced up at Jason. "Can you go to your room and find all your favorite toys and bring them in here so we can play?" he asked.

Timmy's face lit up like Christmas morning, and he was off the bed in record time. Jason watched as he ran from the room, and I watched Jason.

"It's gonna take him forever to figure out which toys are his favorite 'cause he loves all of them." Jason said with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I figure we got about fifteen minutes before he comes back."

I could only look at him. Fifteen minutes to find out if we were really about to turn our entire lives upside down. Fifteen minutes to see if what we'd been building was about to amount to nothing.

"Of course I ain't okay with it." Jace said finally, picking up where we'd left off. "I ain't never loved nobody except you before. If it was just me I had to be thinking 'bout, I would stay here and deal with it, but I'm a dad and I gotta think about Timmy." He dashed the tears away with the tips of his fingers. "They said his name. They know how old he is and everything. They know what he means to me and they want me for something."

"Jace. I don't think they're after you at all though. Ronnie took you because the opportunity presented itself. He probably told them about your skills on the street and they decided they could use your help, but I can't see them going out of their way to try to get you back."

"But you don't know. I only came back yesterday and now I feel like I'm suffocating. I feel like any minute now the doors are gonna bust open and I'll be right back there." His hands shook and he clenched them together. Then, as if his own words had finally registered in his head, he was sliding off the bed. "I'm gonna go get Timmy."

I grabbed his wrist before he could get much further.

"Relax. Timmy is fine." I told him, and pulled him back onto the bad and wrapped him in my arms; his back pressed against my chest. "You're shaking. You were fine last night." I murmured against his ear.

He shook his head. "Last night I was just happy to be back home with you and Timmy. I didn't have time to think last night." He glanced toward to door worriedly. Everything was hitting him all at once. He would probably need therapy, or maybe what he needed really was to get away for a little while. Maybe some time away would help to calm his nerves and help him to think clearly.

He sniffled. "I know you'd have to leave your mom and dad behind. I'm not ever gonna ask you to choose between us and your family but...but we can be your family too, and...and..." he trailed off and went silent, as though he'd simply run out of words, but after a deep breath, he continued;

"I could take care of us. I took care of me and Timmy just fine. It might not be perfect and it's not gonna be in a fancy house like this, but you don't gotta do nothin' if that's what you're worried about. I can take care of all of us. The street's the same everywhere you go and I know how to get by." He was saying the words, but his slumped shoulders and the uncertainty in his tone told me he didn't think his words would make a difference.

"I have a friend who lives out of state. His name's Damion and he's been asking me to come visit for a while now." I said. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we stayed with him for a couple of weeks." I said.

He went rigid in my arms, then he spun around to face me with wide, hopeful eyes.

"We can't just pick up and leave indefinitely, but we can take a break if that will help." I continued. "And we wouldn't be able to leave right away. You still need to go to the hospital for a thorough checkup and an X-Ray like the doctor said. The Bureau also needs your statement and we'd have to contact Timmy's school to let them know he won't be in for a couple of weeks. These things take some amount of planning."

His eyes searched mine but I couldn't tell if he found what he was looking for.

"How long?" he asked. "How long before we can leave?"

"Maybe a week or so."

Jason shook his head, looking miserable. "No Michael that's too long."

I took a moment to consider it. "Then five days. That's the best I can do Jace."

Finally, he nodded slowly. "What will your dad say?"

I shook my head. "My dad's unpredictable. I won't know until I tell him."

"I think he'll be mad, but you can call and they can visit."

I frowned. "We'll only be gone for about two weeks or so Jace. I told you, we can't just—"

"We'll see when we get there." He interrupted, and the determination in his voice told me that when we did, he'd be fighting tooth and nail to stay there. I sighed.

"Daddy, I no know to cawwy ah my toys." Timmy entered the room with his hands filled with stuffed animals.

Jason moved out of my arms the moment he heard Timmy's voice, and plastered a bright smile on his tear-stained face.

"That's okay. We can just play with these." He said, pulling them from Timmy's arms and depositing them onto the sheets. I reached over to help Timmy up, and he immediately made his way once again onto Jason's lap.

For a long while I sat watching them play, feeling unsettled.

"Micha why you no pay?" Timmy eventually asked when I climbed off the bed. I reached over and ruffled his curls.

"I'll play later." I promised, and as I made my way to the bathroom, I could feel Jason's eyes on me.

I hopped into the shower, turned on the water and let it run as hot as I could take it, then I let my mind drift to simpler things. Things like what we'd be having for dinner later, but of course it inevitably went back to our conversation. It had left a bad taste in my mouth; that he'd be willing to leave with or without me, after the hell we'd all been through.

I tried to look at it from his perspective, but no matter how much I thought about it, it unsettled me just the same. It made me question, for perhaps the first time since I'd fallen for him, whether I could feel secure about their presence in my life. It made me start to worry that after all this, fear could one day scare him away, leaving me to pick up the pieces of my life...alone.

"He's been through a lot. It's understandable." I whispered to myself as the hot water cascaded down the back if my neck. I should focus on the present; he was here now.

I couldn't say how long I stayed there under the spray, but when I finally turned off the tap, the water was frigid. When I stepped out of the shower, Jason was standing by the sink; arms crossed before him.

"You're mad." He said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I'm not mad." I told him honestly, and ran the towel through my hair a few times.

"You seem mad."

"I'm not. I'm just...processing."

"Processing what?' he asked with furrowed brows. I reached out and used a finger to smooth them.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here now." I cupped his face in my hands and leaned in to kiss his lips. "What do you want to do today?" I whispered when I pulled away, and he blinked up at me with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Don't matter. We can do whatever."

I grinned, and he batted my hands away when I set them on his waist.

"Not that." He whispered with a cute glare. "Timmy doesn't leave my side for more than a couple minutes. So you gotta be normal."

"This isn't normal?" I grinned, and when I reached for him again he laughed. I'd missed the sound of it.

"Daddy Timmy haf some?" Timmy called from the bedroom, and I wrapped the towel around my waist.

"Have what?" Jason called back with a grin.

"Dis!"

When I moved to take his wrist, he side stepped me with a chuckle, and popped his head around the bathroom door to talk to Timmy.

"Yeah you can eat it." He said.

"And dis?"

I came up behind him and wrapped my hand around his waist, then kissed the back of his neck. He shivered.

"Y-Yeah you can eat anything you want."

When he pulled his head back in and pushed the door shut, I kissed his neck again. He turned around, face flushed.

"You can't." he hissed, pushing at my chest with his good arm.

"I can't touch you?" I asked with a smile and his eyes narrowed.

"Timmy's in the other room."

"We're not doing anything. I'm holding my boyfriend and I'm kissing him. That's what parents do all the time." I teased.

"Parents?" his asked with a raised brow, though he blushed scarlet.

"Eventually." I said, watching his face for cues. He tried and failed to hide his small smile, and the gentleness in his gaze when he looked at me was unmistakable. As I watched him, the uneasiness in me from before slowly began to ease. His reaction was a good sign.

I kissed his lips again; this time lingering for a moment. He didn't push me away.

..............................

It was the middle of the week but the day felt as relaxing as a sunny Sunday. We didn't do much of anything really; just sat around, played with Timmy, ate way too many snacks and talked endlessly about everything.

I couldn't reconcile the quiet Jason with the one sitting before me talking about a mile a minute. He was no longer teary-eyes and stressed as he had been early that morning, though every now and again, he'd get this fearful look in his eyes that passed just as quickly as it came.

He told me a little bit about his life on the streets; the things he'd never told me before. He also briefly mentioned his childhood, which brought back memories of his father sitting across from me in the interrogation room. I knew I would have to tell him that his old man was back, but it was too soon.

Timmy was of course also a world-class chatterbox. Everything he'd been unable to say to Jason for the past couple of weeks just spilled easily from his mouth, and half the time Jason and I were cracking up with laughter at his antics.

This was my family.

At around one in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. We were downstairs in the living room putting together a puzzle, and when Timmy shot up to go answer it, I wrapped my arm around his waist and sat him right back down on the couch.

He pouted at me and sent the most adorable glare in my direction, that caused me to laugh. I glanced through the peephole and groaned.

"What?"

I looked at Jason, who was standing right behind me.

"I completely forgot I'd organized a playdate with one of Jason's classmates after school. I thought it would have been a good way to take his mind off things, but now it's not even necessary."

Jason glanced at the door and bit his lip. "Which classmate?"

"You remember Hannah, who I met at the library?"

"The lady you went on that play date with last time?"

"Yeah."

"Mawcy come Micha?" Timmy was jumping up at down on the couch; his little face bright with excitement. Jason glanced back at him, then at the door.

"You should let her in. Let them play."

"We don't have to." I said. "You just got back. We should spend this time together, just the three of us."

He glanced at Timmy again and shook his head. "It's okay, let her in. It's not gonna be forever right?"

"Maybe an hour." I said and he nodded.

I pulled open the door, and there stood Hannah and Marcy, but the moment he laid eyes on her, I felt the change in his mood. He shifted closer to me and his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, come on in." I stepped aside to let them in, and when they stood just inside the threshold, I gestured to Jason.

"Hannah, meet Jason. He's Timmy's da—"

"Oh hi, nice to meet you." She interrupted, taking hold of Jason's hand and shaking it enthusiastically. She looked at me. "Michael I didn't realize you had a room mate." The moment she patted my chest, Jason frowned.

"He's not my roommate."

"Marcy don't touch that sweetie." Hannah took hold of Marcy's hand and pulled her into the room. Jason and I exchanged a look, and it was Timmy who ran over and pushed the door shut, then stood on his tip toes to turn the lock.

When she released Marcy, the little girl may a beeline for Timmy's toys. Timmy watched with a frown as she neared them and knelt on the carpet beside the unfinished puzzle.

"Play nice Timmy." I said.

"Where's your kitchen? Is it this way?" Hannah asked, then left us to trail behind her as she found her way there. She deposited the bag she was carrying on the counter and began to dig through it.

"What's all this?" I asked her when she removed the first item; some kind of strange silicone container of some sort.

"These are silicone soap molds. We're going to be making soaps. I through it would be a fun little activity for us to do today. I want to give some of them to the kids' teachers wen we're done."

Jason frowned, and folded his arms before him. "Isn't that too advanced for two-year olds?"

"It's just the melt and pour method, but yes, I was actually think Michael and I would make these while the kids play. You know, just a way to past the time." She said with a warm smile.

"That's not a bad idea" I told her. "Jason can join too." I said, and Hannah's smile fell ever so slightly. I figured it had something to do with his attitude. I watched as Hannah began pulling the ingredients out of the bag.

I was thinking we could make French Vanilla and Cotton Candy scented soaps." She was saying. "I think that will be a nice scent for the ladies."

Jason came to stand beside me and I gave his arm a slight squeeze. In the living room, I could already hear the kids arguing over Timmy's toys.

"How did you manage to get your hands on a cotton candy scent?" I asked her when I picked up the bottle of fragrance oil clearly marked Cotton candy.

Hannah grinned. "It's crazy the things people can bottle these days. I get all my scents online. Go ahead and smell it. You'll be surprised just how much like the real thing it is."

I brought it to my nose and the sugary scent of fresh cotton candy was unmistakable. It reminded me of my childhood days that I'd spent roaming the carnival with my friends. I offered the bottle to Jason, despite his sour mood, he smiled when he smelled it.

"Timmy come here!" he called, and not a moment later, little feet were slapping against the tiles and soon Timmy was by Jason's side. He placed to bottle close to Timmy's face and told him to smell it. "What does that smell like?" he asked him, and Timmy tried to take the bottle from his hand.

"No don't touch, just tell me what it smells like."

"Sweet." He said. "Timmy haf some?" he held out his hand and Jason laughed; the sweetest sound in the room.

"It's not for eating. It's just for smelling." He said, and Timmy frowned as Jason handed the bottle back to Hannah. Hannah and I shared a smile.

"I wan pay too." Timmy said, pulling at Jason's pant leg.

"No you can watch, but you can't touch okay?" he said.

"No." and displeased with Jason's declaration, Timmy ran away again. I laughed.

"I heard he didn't come to school today. I thought he might have been sick or something." Hannah said as she pulled a medium-sized white block out of the bag. She handed me a knife.; our fingers brushing.

"No, the three of us just needed a day to ourselves." I told her, and though her expression was one of confusion, I didn't offer any more information.

"What do I do now?" I asked when she pushed the white block towards me.

"Now you're just going to cut it into small squares to help it melt easier."

When I touched it, I realized it was pretty much just a giant block of soap. The knife slid through it easily, and they both watched in silence as I cut it up into pieces.

"Where'd you learn to do this anyway?" I asked.

"The internet is my best friend." She said, and this time when she touched my arm, Jason cleared his throat. I looked at him with a raised brow and he snorted. Hannah glanced at him with a frown and I held back a sigh. This wasn't going very well.

"Jason would you be a dear and check on Marcy for me please? Sometimes her curiosity gets the best of her" Hannah asked with a wide smile.

"She's your kid." He shot back and I set down the knife.

"I'll go." I said, but before I could move, Jason latched onto my arm.

"She likes you Michael. That's why she's here." He said, and it took me a second to comprehend his words. He was staring at Hannah, and I looked back and forth between them with a frown.

Hannah laughed. "Well of course I like him. I haven't met one of Marcy's friend's parents that I don't like."

"No." Jason was shaking his head. "I mean you—"

"Jace can I talk to you for a minute?' I took hold of his arm before he could reply and pulled him with me into the hallway. When we came to a stop he was glaring at me.

"She's trying to get into your pants. She ain't here for no play date."

I chuckled. "She's been here all of two seconds Jason."

"Yeah and it's been obvious since the second she walked in here. Don't you see the way she's looking at you and touching you but making it look all normal?"

"You've been frowning since you laid eyes on her."

He took a deep breath. "She's very pretty, what's there to be frowning about?" he said, yet he kept on frowning.

"You've got this all wrong Jason. I'm the one who even suggested the play date, not her."

"Doesn't change the fact that she wants to hop on your dick though, does it?"

I chuckled. "I love that you're so jealous right now but even if she does like me, and I don't think she does, what does it matter when I've already got you?"

He seemed to think on it for a second, and when I leaned in to place a quick kiss on his lips, he smiled. "I guess."

I gestured with my head to the kitchen. "Let's go make some soaps and send them home. I want you all to myself."

"Everything alright?" she asked when he returned to the room.

"Great."

"Just peachy." Jason said with the biggest fake smile he could muster. I cleared my throat to keep from chuckling.

"I popped it in the microwave while you were gone. It's nice and melted now." She said.

She was mixing the soap in the measuring cup. I watched as he carefully poured half of it into another container, then she handed the packets of powdered dye to us. A caramel color for Jason and the pink for me.

"Now just mix it in. We'll go with brown for the French Vanilla and pink for the Cotton Candy."

We followed her directions and watched as the two solutions changed color. Then we watched as she added the scents to each.

"And now we just pour them into the molds, pop them into the fridge and when they're dry they'll be beautiful.

"That was easy." I said as she poured the colored melts into the patterned soap molds. The entire process had taken about twenty minutes.

"I know right. They make great gifts because they're so small and cute, and ridiculously easy to make."

"I know. My mom buys them and uses them for bathroom décor."

"Does she put them in little jars and set them on top of the bathroom counter?" she asked with a knowing smile and I laughed.

"How'd you know?"

"Because my mom does the same thing and if you make the mistake of using one to wash your hands, she flips."

When I laughed again Jason leaned into me.

"Here Mike." She handed me a filled soap mold., and carried the other to the fridge.

'Mike?' Jason mouthed when I glanced his way and I grinned.

Jealous Jason was probably my favorite.

"How long before they're hard?" This from Jason.

"About fifteen minutes to half an hour." Hannah propped her hands on her hips and looked around the kitchen. "I should whip you boys up some dinner. I've got this amazing chicken recipe that'll make your mouth water."

"We're going out to eat." Jason said before I could open my mouth.

"Oh. Well where are you going? Maybe Marcy and I can tag along. I bet Timmy would love the company."

Just then, a shout came from living room, and not a second later, Timmy and Marcy were at it again; they'd been arguing since the first day they'd met.

"We're going to Michael's parents house for dinner." Jason was telling Hannah. "It's a family thing."

"Ah." She nodded slowly. "Well you should bring her a batch of the soaps Mike. I'm sure she'll love them."

"I will, thanks."

Rather than leave us alone to clean up, since he couldn't do much with his one good arm, Jason sat on the stool and watched our progress. He listened to our chatter without commentary; seething over there in his corner. Was my head a little swollen from the attention? Absolutely.

Fifteen minutes later when the kitchen was once again sparkling clean, he followed us into the living room to check on the kids.

"You should give me a tour Michael. It's a really nice place that you've got here."

"Thanks. It's a long term project of mine just turning this place into a home."

"It's very manly. All you need now is a bit of a woman's touch." She joked. Across from me Jason rolled his eyes.

"You know what? I'll let Jason lead the tour. It's as much his place as it is mine." I swept Timmy up in my arms and Hannah took Marcy's hand. After staring at me for a few minutes as though I'd committed some grave sin, Jason began the tour with a sigh.

What he lacked in creativity, he made up for in sarcasm, that was for sure.

"Down here just has all the normal stuff that houses have downstairs." he began. He stood right where he was and pointed in the direction everything was. "You already found the kitchen yourself with no help from us. This is the living room. Bathroom's down that way, laundry room's across there and that door over there leads to a closet, and the other one in the kitchen leads to the back porch that me and Michael built together." He looked pointedly at Hannah while Timmy pushed his nose into my ear.

We followed him up the stairs, but this time, after a gentle nudge from me, he lead us into actual rooms. The first door he opened at one end of the hall was Timmy's and Hannah oohed and aahed as she walked around. Jason stood watching her with a blank expression. "That's his bathroom in there." He pointed to the door.

We spent a maximum of two minutes in the room before he was once again moving on. I loved the man. I'd missed him and his snarky attitude.

This is a linen closet. We keep towels and sh—stuff in here." He pointed to the other end of the hall. "That's Michael's room."

"Aren't we going to go in?" she questioned, and Jason shook his head.

"A man's room is personal."

She nodded slowly, but looked at me with a raised brow.

"Where's your room Jason?" she asked him.

"Down the hall, and that's the end of the tour. There's nothing else here except all the normal stuff you have in a normal house."

There was an uncomfortable silence that settled around us then, and Hannah was the first to break it.

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

Jason looked from her to me and back. "I don't know you. That's all." He mumbled, looking properly chastised as he turned his face away from the both of us.

I dropped a hand onto his shoulder. "We've all just had a bit of a rough week which is making us all grumpier than we usually are." I told Hannah with a smile that she returned easily.

"That's understandable. I hope it was nothing too serious."

Jason and I looked at each other but it was Timmy who gave a reply.

"Daddy come back yestuday and seep ah day and Timmy eat fwies and pay wif Bunny and sit on daddy."

"Oh, is that so?" Hannah asked and Timmy nodded.

"An Timmy eat some fwom daddy."

"Wow that sounds like one crazy week."

Timmy nodded seriously. "An Gwammy say Timmy haf wed Bunny." He swallowed. "An Liam say Timmy no cwy, so Timmy no cwy."

"Ah." Hannah's expression told me that she was lost. Not so long ago I would have been just as confused by his gibberish, but most of the time now he made sense to me.

"Why did Liam say that?" I asked him. "Did you cry at school?"

Timmy nodded. "Yeah an Liam say Timmy no cwy."

"And then you stopped crying?" Jason asked, and again Timmy nodded.

Marcy didn't say much; caught up in her own world as two-year-old girls tended to be. She was brushing her doll's hair and humming to herself.

When I glanced at Jason, I recognized the look in his eyes almost immediately. He'd been zoning out a lot today. Sometimes I'd look at him and he'd have this faraway look in his eyes and I had a hunch that he was back in that warehouse; going through those memories that I couldn't wait for him to put behind him.

"Do you think the soaps are dry by now?" I asked Hannah.

"Oh...ah." She glanced down at her phone. "Yeah they might be. Do you want to check on it?"

"Yeah I think so. We should be getting ready for that family dinner soon." I lied for Jason's benefit, and when his eyes met mine, I could see his relief.

...................

In the kitchen Hannah popped the patterned soaps easily out of the molds. I watched as she placed half of them in a small container she had carried with her.

"Your mom's going to love them." She said, and I couldn't help but agree. I picked up one of each scent and inhaled, before replacing them on the counter.

"Go get your shoes Marcy. It's time to go." She said, and the little princess took off across the room.

"Thanks for coming Hannah, I really appreciate it. I'm sure Timmy had fun."

She touched my arm. "Of course, anytime. We should do this more often." She smiled. "And next time I'll treat you guys to some good home cooking."

"Looking forward to it." Jason and I followed her out into the living room where I helped little Marcy find her left shoe, and moments later they were walking down the driveway.

"Oh by the way Hannah." Jason called and she turned to face us. "Michael's gay." He said, and when she registered his words, and her eyes widened in surprise, Jason waved at Marcy and the little princess waved back. He closed the door before Hannah could utter another word.

"You're something else you know that?" I folded my arms before me and leaned against the door.

"I just got back yesterday, and I already gotta deal with shit like this." He said in good humor. The moment I opened my mouth to counter, he froze and sucked in a breath. His eyes grew wide as he looked at me.

"What?" I asked, stepping closer to him.

"Holy shit Michael, there's something I forgot to tell you."

"What?" I frowned.

"Do you remember the day I met your mom for the first time at your house and you were taking me to the lake and we saw those teenagers in the woods with the guns?"

"Yeah?" I asked, curious as to where this was going.

"I saw them." he said; eyes wild with excitement.

I frowned. "I don't understand. You saw the kids?"

He nodded.

"Where? When?"

"At the warehouse. They were there. It was just two of them but I remembered their faces."

There was no way it was all connected. It was too much of a coincidence.

"Are you sure?" I questioned him and he nodded; eyes filled with certainty.

"They weren't among the people who took in yesterday."

He shrugged. "I saw them two days in a row, then I didn't see them again."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. "I'm calling Eddie over." I told him and he nodded; though his eyes grew apprehensive.

"Eddie." I said when he picked up. "I might have some information on a case you're working on. You free to stop by my place today?"

When Eddie confirmed that he would stop by, I led Jason to the couch and we sat. Timmy crawled into his lap.

"Tell me everything." I told him, and so he began.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Thanks for reading!

If you want to learn how to make the french vanilla and cotton candy scented soaps mentioned in this chapter feel free to visit my website: Pulledfromhercarriage.com (you can also find to link to it on my wattpad profile)

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-DoUbLe.A

-unedited