by Toni Aleo
“Lucas is leaving?”
Fallon nodded as she smiled compassionately at Aiden. “Yes baby, that’s his job. He’ll be gone for a little bit, but he’ll be back.”
“Oh,” Aiden sat for a moment and then got up. “I’m gonna go take a bath and get ready for bed.”
As Aiden disappeared upstairs, Fallon knew something was wrong. Not only did Aiden not eat all his food, but he never wanted to take a bath and go to bed.
After cleaning up downstairs and doing the dishes, Fallon heading to her room to change into some pajamas before going to Aiden’s room. Aiden lay in his bed playing his DS and looked up when Fallon came in.
“Hey,” he said quietly before going back to his game.
“Hey babe, can I sleep with you tonight?” Fallon asked with a silly grin.
“Sure!” Aiden giggled as he scooted over and pulled the blankets up for her. Fallon climbed into bed with him and snuggled close, rubbing her nose against his cheek. Aiden’s giggles filled Fallon with all the love in the world and she closed her eyes as she basked in it. “Mom?”
Fallon opened her eyes to Aiden looking at her. “Yeah?”
“Lucas doesn’t have a wife.”
Fallon smiled. “I know.”
“Do you think he is handsome?”
Fallon giggled, her cheeks warming. “What kind of question is that?”
“A good one. Do you?”
Fallon shrugged her shoulders. “I mean he isn’t ugly.”
Aiden laughed out loud as he snuggled closer to Fallon. “He’s really nice Mommy, and he likes me a lot.”
“I know, honey,” Fallon whispered as he yawned.
“And he likes you, he says you’re beautiful.”
“Did he now?” Fallon asked with a smile.
“He did,” Aiden said as he yawned again.
Fallon knew what Aiden was doing. He wanted Lucas as his daddy, and since Lucas was, Fallon paid it no mind as she snuggled closer to her baby. She didn’t have to be with Lucas for Aiden and Lucas to have a relationship, and he would soon know that.
When she felt Aiden’s hand come up under her cheek, she smiled as she closed her eyes.
Being in bed with her baby boy was pure heaven.
**********************************
“How does that feel bud?” Lucas asked as he backed away from Aiden.
“Tight,” Aiden complained. Lucas chuckled as he smiled down at his little guy. Lucas was convinced that Aiden was the cutest little hockey player in the world. After an hour of picking out all the equipment in the Aiden’s favorite color, blue, Lucas and Levi got him dressed to make sure everything fit. The equipment was a perfect fit in some places and then too big in others, but Aiden would grow into it all. Lucas never felt such pride as he did when he was looking down at Aiden in his gear.
“You’ll break it in, bud,” Lucas reassured him before bending down beside him. “Hey Levi, take our picture.”
Levi pulled his phone out as Lucas and Aiden put big grins on their face. “Good one guys.”
Aiden smiled over at Lucas and he could see the excitement in Aiden’s eyes through the caged helmet.
“You look awesome, kid,” Lucas said as he stood. “Okay, let’s take it off and go shopping.”
“Do we have to? Can’t we can skate instead?” Aiden asked as Lucas undid his helmet.
Lucas smiled as Levi laughed. “We’ll skate all day tomorrow. I wanted to go pick some stuff up at the mall today. It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t think you are right on that one,” Aiden said. Lucas pulled his practice jersey up and over his head.
“I’m always right, kid,” Lucas said with a grin as they continued to undress him.
After getting everything packed up in Aiden’s new hockey bag and loaded up the truck, the three guys left for the mall. When Lucas pulled into the parking lot for the Green Hills mall, he heard Aiden sigh. Lucas chuckled as he got out the car, thinking that Fallon and Audrey had traumatized the poor kid from going shopping. Lucas waited for Aiden to get out and noticed the kid was moving extra slow. Levi walked ahead of them and Lucas stayed back, watching Aiden out the corner of his eye.
“You can’t hate shopping this much,” Lucas teased as he put his arms around Aiden’s shoulders. Aiden shrugged his shoulders and didn’t say anything as they entered the mall. “You’ve been quiet all day bud, everything okay?”
Aiden didn’t say anything again as he shrugged. When Lucas had picked Aiden up that morning, Aiden wasn’t his normal, happy self but Lucas didn’t think anything of it. Even during the fitting for the equipment, Aiden wasn’t being his usual self and that was when Lucas started to worry. Something wasn’t right. He stopped, bending down so he was at Aiden’s level.
“What’s up?” Lucas asked. Aiden shrugged his shoulder for a third time and Lucas shook his head. “No, something’s up, what’s wrong?”
“You are leaving next week,” Aiden whispered.
Lucas’ heart broke at the sound of his kid’s pathetic little whisper. “Aiden I told you I leave a lot. I’ll call you.”
“I just got used to having you around me all the time and now you’re leaving and I don’t want you to go,” Aiden said in a rush as he talked with his hands.
“I don’t want to leave either, bud, but I got to. It’s my job.”
“I know,” Aiden said kicking the ground. “I just wish you could stay all the time.”
Lucas bit his lip because he wished the exact same thing. He took Aiden’s hand in his and Aiden looked up at him. They shared a long sad look before Lucas couldn’t take it anymore and looked down at Aiden’s Nikes. He hated that Aiden was upset and he hated that he was the reason. He wanted to wrap Aiden up in his arms and hold him as he tried to reassure him that he would be back. They might be getting close but even he would be a little weirded out by some guy hugging him that wasn’t his dad.
“Me too, bud,” he said quietly. He stood up, Aiden’s hand still in his as he started walking into the mall. Levi leaned against a wall on his phone when Lucas and Aiden reached him. Lucas looked up and saw that Levi leaned up against the Apple store’s wall. The windows were full of advertising for the iPad 2 and when Lucas focused on the sign, a slow grin came across his face.
“Doesn’t that iPad have video chat or something like that?” Lucas asked. He remembered seeing a commercial for it and the more he thought about it, the more he needed an iPad.
“Yeah,” Levi answered without looking up at him.
“Come on, Aiden.”
Lucas had just found a way to make his son happy.
*********************************
After buying two iPads and all the accessories, Lucas walked out of the Apple store feeling pretty damn good. Aiden was walking with a little more pep in his step after being told that he was going to be able to talk to Lucas pretty much whenever he wanted.
“It will be like he never left,” the guy told Aiden and the biggest smile came across Aiden’s face.
“That’s so cool!” Aiden gushed as he skipped beside Lucas out the store. “We can talk all the time while you’re gone.”
“Yup, no reason to be upset, right?”
“Nope!” Aiden gushed as he ran ahead towards a crane machine. Lucas dug a quarter out of his pocket and handed it to Aiden as he switched the bags around in his hand.
“That was a lot of money you just spent, Lucas,” Levi said quietly beside him when Aiden had ran back to the machine.
“Yeah, and the day is still young.”
“The paternity papers haven’t even came in yet. Stop blowing your money on him.”
Lucas cut Levi a look that shut him up. “We’ve discussed this Levi. Drop it.”
Levi shook his head before walking away and leaving Lucas alone with Aiden, something Lucas was starting to think he liked better. He used to be extremely close to Levi, but lately Levi hadn’t been Lucas’ favorite person. He didn’t like that Levi didn’t believe that Aiden
was his. Couldn’t he just look at him and tell?
Lucas knew from first glance.
“Where are we going next?” Aiden asked, bringing Lucas’ attention to him.
“Clothes stores. What kind of clothes do you like?”
Aiden shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, Mom just buys them. I like what you’re wearing.”
Lucas looked down at his bright blue Billabong shirt and ripped up jeans. “Well I don’t think they have kids Billabong here. You’ll have to come out to my house in California; we’ll go shopping out there for clothes like these.”
“Cool! Can my mom come?”
Lucas smiled. “I’d love for her too. She used to love it out there.”
“Awesome, we’ll have to talk her into it.”
“Will do buddy, so come on, let’s go get some clothes.”
They started off towards the Gap when Aiden pointed towards Tiffany’s. “That’s my mom’s favorite store. We always go in there and look but she never buys anything.”
“Why not?”
Aiden shrugged his shoulders. “Too expensive.”
“Hmm,” Lucas said before smiling down at Aiden. “Wanna go look for something for her?”
“I don’t have any money,” Aiden laughed as he bounced beside Lucas.
“Well I do. Come on.”
**********************************
“You spent a lot of money Lucas,” Aiden said as they made their way back to the truck.
Lucas shrugged his shoulder as Levi said, “He always does, bud.”
Lucas glared over at Levi before smiling down at Aiden. “That’s not a bad thing, bud.”
“I guess not since we got something for everyone, not just you and me,” Aiden said with a grin.
“Smart kid,” Lucas stated as he threw the millions of bags in the back of the truck. After they all were in the car and buckled up, Lucas pulled off and headed towards his house to drop Levi off. They rode listening to one of Aiden’s CDs when Levi let out a long sigh and reached for the CD player, ejecting the CD that played.
“Hey!” Aiden complained from the back.
“Sorry kid, I can’t listen to that crap,” Levi said as he put in one of Lucas’ mix CDs and turned it up.
Lucas looked over at Levi. “Fallon doesn’t want him listen to this, put something else on.”
“The kid has no clue what they are saying. If they say something bad, I’ll turn it off, but I can’t do Nickelodeon all day.”
Neither could Lucas, but he had been dealing with it because of Fallon. Levi was right though, Aiden had no clue what these guys were saying.
Aiden would be okay.
At least Lucas hoped so.
“Hey Mom is home!” Aiden gushed when Lucas pulled in behind her car. “She was supposed to be late, maybe there’s food!”
Aiden was out the car before Lucas was, bouncing as he waited. Lucas laughed as he followed behind his bouncing kid to the trunk to grab the bags. Levi had taken the iPads home with him to set them up, so all they had to grab was all the clothes bags and the Tiffany’s bag that held gifts for Audrey and Fallon.
“Can I stay the night at your house?” Aiden asked as they walked side by side up the walkway.
“Not tonight, bud, they are still fixing my floors. I’ll come first thing in the morning to get you, and we’ll go back.”
Aiden didn’t say anything until they reached the door. “Can you stay here?”
“Uh, um, I don’t think so buddy. Your mom probably won’t like that.”
“Sure she will, I’ll ask her. We’ll give her the gift first, butter her up.”
Lucas had to smile at that. Every day that passed, Lucas became more and more confident that Aiden was his. The kid was just like him. Everything Lucas did, Aiden did, and Lucas had never been so proud of anyone in his life the way he was of Aiden.
He loved Aiden.
Aiden threw the door open and yelled for Fallon as he threw the bags he held on the couch. Fallon came down the stairs in a pair of shorts and a large tee, her wet hair was up and she wore no makeup.
Jeez, she was a wet dream waiting to happen.
“Y’all are late, I was starting to worry,” she said as she hugged Aiden close to her. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, Mommy!” Aiden gushed as he kissed her cheek. Lucas admired the pair as they greeted each other, and when Fallon looked up at him, he gave her a small smile. They hadn’t talked since he left the day before and even though he knew he should be mad at her and hate how immature she was acting, he couldn’t. She had her reasons and all he could do was hope that one day she would get over them all.
“We got you presents Mom, is AA here? We got her one too,” Aiden gushed as looked back at Lucas, his hand held out to him.
“What? No AA, isn’t here, she left a little while ago.”
“Oh,” Aiden said as Lucas handed her the little blue bag that held Fallon’s present. “This is for you, from us. I helped pick it out, and Lucas bought it, he bought a lot of things. Like the whole mall!”
Lucas chuckled from behind Aiden as Fallon held the little bag in her hand, staring at it as if it was a bomb. “You can open it, Fallon.”
**********************************
Fallon had had the worst day ever.
She couldn’t sleep for nothing the night before, the meetings she had that day were tiring and she was just plain worn out. She had thought the whole Lucas thing to death for the past two nights, and even with sleeping beside her perfect little guy, she still felt restless. She was already confused about what she was gonna do when it came to Lucas, and now he was getting her gifts?
She eyed the little blue bag that had Tiffany & Co. writing on the bag in black. “What is it?”
“A gift!” Aiden gushed as he bounced beside her.
She glanced over at Lucas and he was giving her that sexy damn smirk of his. As Fallon’s girlie parts screamed something fierce, she opened the bag, and pulled out the little black box, dropping the bag. She loved Tiffany & Co. and was excited to see what it was, she just hated that Lucas was the one to buy her something from Tiffany’s.
How was she supposed to be mad at a guy that buys her Tiffany’s?
When she pulled back the top of the box and saw the two little diamond encrusted hearts, her heartbeat raced. They were stunning. Her hand came over her mouth as she glanced down at the beautiful earrings. “Oh my, thank you,” she gushed before looking down at Aiden.
“You like ‘em?”
“Yes! They are beautiful,” she said as she wrapped an arm around him, kissing him sweetly against his cheek.
“Cool!” Aiden gushed as she moved to Lucas and wrapped an arm around him awkwardly to hug him. When she glanced up at him, he was smiling down at her.
“Thank you.”
Lucas put his other arm around her, so she stood in front of him, close to his chest. He took the box from her fingers, and opened it before taking the earrings out. His fingers brushed her cheek as he put one of the earrings in her ear, “Aiden’s heart,” he whispered, causing her to look up at him. He smiled as he moved to the other ear, putting it in as he whispered, “My heart.”
Fallon was speechless as Lucas backed up some while Aiden ran around them, throwing things out of all the bags that lined the couch. Fallon tore her gaze away from Lucas’ and looked down at all the things that lined the couch. “Goodness me,” she gasped as Aiden pulled outfit after outfit out of each bag. Fallon watched and listened as Aiden went on and on about all the things he got and how Lucas spent so much money. Fallon couldn’t believe the amount of bags that were on her couch. How much did Lucas spend? And why? Was he trying to show her up? She knew the earrings she wore were expensive and he had to have dropped a pretty penny on all the clothes he got for Aiden, all the bags were name brands. Every time she glanced at Lucas, he looked embarrassed as he smiled over at Aiden. Lucas was spoiling Aiden, something she just couldn’t afford to do.
“He bought me an iPad too, so when he’s gone we can talk, oh yeah!” Aiden yelled, causing Fallon to jump. “Can Lucas stay the night?”
Fallon took a step back, trying to control her breathing.
Lucas in her house? At night?!
Um, no.
“I wanted to stay at his house but it’s getting new floors and we are going to his house early in the morning to practice hockey and since he is leaving next week I wanted to spend time with him before he left. I’m gonna miss him a lot, Mommy, so please, I promise we won’t stay up all night and we’ll be quiet. Please.”
Aiden wanted to stay with Lucas?
Fallon couldn’t breathe as Aiden begged and begged for Lucas to stay. When she glanced over at Lucas, he was just smiling, looking like the most innocent guy in the world. Shit! If she said no, she would be the bad guy. She had already kept them apart long enough and he was leaving next week.
Oh God, this sucked!
“Please Mommy!”
“Ah, Aiden! Goodness me, if Lucas’ wants, I don’t care,” Fallon said as she moved away from them. She felt like she was gonna start crying. How did this happen? Aiden used to only want Fallon and now it was all about Lucas. Aiden didn’t even know that Lucas was his dad and he already wanted to spend all his time with him. What was going to happen when they told him? Was he going to want to live with Lucas? Completely leave Fallon all by herself?
Tears threatened to fall, so Fallon headed for the stairs. “Aiden James, leave all them clothes on the couch, I’ll get ‘em later. There’s dinner on the stove.”
“Where are you going Mom?”
“To bed, I have a headache,” she said as she quickly climbed the stairs. She figured Lucas could take care of Aiden and didn’t bother saying anything to him. When she reached her room, she shut the door before falling into the bed face first. She wrapped herself up in the sheets just as the sobs started ripping out of her.
She hated crying over this, but she was just so jealous. Why did Lucas have to come into their lives? He had already ruined her and here he was again, taking the only thing she had left after he took her heart. What if he left again? Fallon knew he said he wasn’t going anywhere but what if he did? Then what? Aiden basically thought Lucas hung the moon and the stars, he could do no wrong so what was Fallon going to do if he left? Not only would it break Aiden’s heart but it would break Fallon all over again. She still loved him and seeing him day after day only made it worse. No matter how much she didn’t want Lucas, her body craved him and it was getting harder and harder with each passing day to resist him.