vanillajello | Room 324, Saturday Morning

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Room 324, Saturday Morning

Kate had... kind of intended to spend the night alone. That had been the original plan, at least, before a miniature freakout and being a fabulous fake and having to stand the sight of Caroline and ugh. Yet another plan of Kate's that had not gone quite as she'd originally thought it would.

She'd figure out how she felt about that later, maybe. Because right now she was still asleep, clinging to Nathan with an arm and a leg over him, pressed close against him despite the blankets spread over them. That was just her thing, minor neediness slipping out when she wasn't conscious enough to control it. It was a lot like another morning a month or so ago, probably, except they were presently decidedly more lacking in clothes and knew each other better in whole new ways.

And Fandom was being Fandom again, but that was not for them to know yet. They'd find out soon enough.

[ooc: Just for that one guy, and for that other smaller guy who'll cause a whole lot of emo despite being adorbs, and then probably that third guy with some more emo.]

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"'Kay," Dorian said, sitting down and swinging his legs. "What questions? I got answers!"

"I'm sure you do, darling," she replied, trying for a smile as she kneeled down before him. "Now, I'm feeling really fuzzy, so could you maybe tell me your name? Like, Dorian what?"

Please don't say anything that'll hurt, please don't say anything that'll hurt, please don't --

"I have a lot of names." He was kind of proud of all those names. "Dorian Silas Mitchell Owens! It's loooong, isn't it? Longest name ever!"

Fuck.

"It's a..." Kate had to clear her throat, to hide whatever devastation-like thing wanted to bubble up and make itself obvious on her face. She'd excelled at faking yesterday, she could keep doing it. "It's a very long name, yeah. It's a good name. Have you, uh, have you seen your... dad, yet?"

"Nope," he said, oblivious to the reaction his name had caused. "Your room was closer so I stopped here first. Dad's not here?"

"No, no your dad's not here, Dorian," she muttered, looking around, trying to locate her phone and get her head in order.

That was about when she realized why that first name had been so familiar. She understood why they would have chosen that but seriously, that was a pretty morbid pileup of names from dead people, right there.

"I think I should call him, get him to come here."

"Why's he not here?" Dorian asked, fixing her with a questioning look. "He doesn't stay here wif you like a daddy's supposed ta?"

This was one of those situations where it was okay to silently curse that your child wasn't dumb as a rock, right?

"Oh, well, sometimes he goes off and does his own thing," Kate replied, smoothly enough. "It's good to not always be together."

Especially if you had broken up a few months before.

"Does he come back?" Dorian asked, biting his finger nervously. "He doesn't go off to get hurt, right? Sometimes that happens and I'm sad!"

"Oh, no no no," Kate replied immediately, reaching out to take his hand. These mothering instincts of hers were amazing if you considered how little an inclination she felt to ever be one.

"No, he goes off to... to buy books and walk and do other boring daddy stuff like that. I promise, he doesn't go get himself hurt, and of course he comes back."

Edited 2011-02-12 21:52 (UTC)

"Make him come back?" Dorian asked her quietly, tightening his grip on her hand. "Please? I miss him! And you do too! Please?"

This was horrible. He was adorable and breaking her heart, and she had no idea how she was supposed to make it through this mess without crying in front of anyone.

"Yes, okay, I will," Kate said, keeping her voice calm. Keeping her hand in his, she reached for her bag, then rummaged around in it for her bag for a moment before finding her phone. "See? I'll call him and he'll come."

She picked the right number and held the phone up to her ear without having the faintest clue about what exactly she was supposed to say.

Up a few floors, Bod's phone started ringing. When he saw the name staring at him, he considering just ignoring it but something made him answer it.

"Yes?" he asked, tone clipped.

And just like that, this got a couple of times worse. Awesome.

"Hi. Could you come by?" She was trying to keep her tone neutral and light all at the same time, mostly for poor Dorian's sake. "I have a little guy who's really missing his dad, here. Like the day after prom came a little early this year."

Bod didn't immediately reply, too busy taking that in and wondering what to do with it. Eventually, there was only one thing to do.

"Yes. I'll be there shortly," he said and hung up the phone. He rubbed his face, his eyes and then headed down a few floors so his heart could broken again, he guessed.

It probably wouldn't be too far off, as far as guesses went. Kate was feeling it already.

"He'll be here soon," she told Dorian with what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she was putting her phone away. "He's not far."

And now the open door was getting expectant looks, and she was just a little terrified although she was trying to stomp on that feeling as hard as she could.

It didn't take Bod long to arrive and when he did, he looked a little skittish when he appeared in the door. He didn't know if he wanted to come in and deal with this or come in and meet the kid and then leave or just...something.

He didn't say anything though and his eyes weren't on Kate either. They were on the child in the room.

And that child was going to bounce right off the bed upon seeing him, and run to him, because a daddy was a joyous thing and deserved to have his legs hugged.

"Daddy! Hi hi hi! Hullo! I missed you!"

Meanwhile, in the background, Kate straightened up and... stood there by her bed, awkwardly. Yes.

At some point she was finally going to realize she wasn't wearing her own shirt.

"Hullo there," he said, leaning down to scoop the child up and smiling despite himself. He could definitely see the resemble even if that just made his heart lurch painfully in his chest.

"I've missed you too," he said, since it seemed like the thing that would make him feel better. "I apologize for not being here when you arrived. That wasn't very nice of me."

He still didn't look at Kate. Not yet.

Kate was just fine not being looked at. Juuust fine. She was looking at them, though, trying to ignore what an adorable picture they made together. "You should tell dad your name," she said softly, keeping her tone mild. "Maybe he's a little fuzzy too."

"Are you fuzzy, daddy?" Dorian wondered, beaming at him. "Did you just wake up? I can tell you my name!"

He had absolutely no problem with that. It was the best name ever, his parents said so. His creepy uncles-of-a-sort probably thought too.

"I'm definitely a little fuzzy," Bod said, nodding and bouncing Dorian around in his arms a little. He hadn't had a child last time so this was all completely new to him. He was trying though.

And he made sure to hold the boy gently, keep Dorian close to his own body so he'd know he was protected and wanted. He did remember that from his own childhood.

"I haven't just woken up but it's been a long few months for daddy so a reminder would be very polite," Bod told him, nodding. "What's your name?"

"Dorian Silas Mitchell Owens!" the boy declared with great joy, happy to be held. "It's a good name!"

Kate offered no commentary, just watched Bod's face, trying to be discrete about it. She couldn't help being curious about his reaction.

"It's a very good name," Bod said though the way his face crumpled for a moment or two before he could stop it might have shown that he was lying. Luckily, he managed to wipe away that reaction and smile at the boy.

"Those are excellent names and I'm pleased to hear your parents were so good about that," he said, sounding sincere. "Thank you for helping me out there, Dorian. Yours won't be a name I'll ever forget again."

"Good!" Dorian decided. "Cuz you can't forget my name, daddy, that'd be bad. How would you call me if you forgot my name? And mum would just call you dummy, because only dummies forget names."

Kate was just going to pretend she was invisible, now.

"Maybe she would," Bod said, rubbing his back gently and smiling sadly. "I suppose I'd deserve it then, wouldn't I? I won't forget your name, I promise. I don't think your mum will either but I can't really speak for her."

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