Thoreau - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Archer
"Mom Evie! Dad Nathan!" Reau shouted as he hugged Spring's neck. "Come on! I'll show everyone the secret in the backyard before it gets dark! Then I'll show you the one in the study!"
"Dude! Don't invite them," Wayne grumbled.
"Don't you like your mom and dad?" he asked with big, innocent eyes.
"Sure, but they're cutting in on our time with you," Wayne griped. "We came over to hang out with you. We see them every day."
"But I already asked them to come along. They will be mad at me if I tell them not to now."
Reau's eyes began to dart around as he sank his fingers into his curls and tugged on them, and I punched Wayne's bicep. Hard.
"Chill, Arch!"
"No, you chill," I hissed.
Before they brought us over here, Mom and Dad sat down with Wayne and me to talk about Reau. One of their suggestions, and Wayne and I agreed it was a good one, was to make a list of signs that our baby showed when he was struggling. It could help us identify what was triggering him and shut down whatever was causing the issue.
It was something both Wayne and I had done for ourselves, too - me to help with my anger and Wayne with his anxiety - again at Mom and Dad's suggestion.
Guess they know what they're talking about, I reluctantly admitted to Firth.
Guess that's why they're parents, my wolf retorted with an eye roll.
And right now I could clearly see that our baby was dysregulating fast. Too much had happened today and messed with his whole vibe, so he was probably going to be more susceptible to a meltdown.
"Hey, Reau, Mom and Dad can come with us," I said quietly. "Wayne and I are okay with it, and they'll enjoy seeing your surprises, too."
You're making him choose between two sets of people he likes, I told Wayne. Plus, he's always worried someone's going to be mad at him, or that he's being a bad boy. Don't give him unnecessary stress. You can suffer through an hour with Mom and Dad before we shoo them out of here.
You're right, dude. My bad.
"Yeah, Curls," Wayne said, and Reau stopped fidgeting to listen to him. "You don't have to choose between them and us, and none of us are mad or anything. I just missed you and want you and Arch all to myself."
"Really?" Reau squealed. "You really want me all to yourself?"
"Hey! He said me, too!" I chuckled.
"Of course, you, too. ChiChi and WayWay are always together. Like peabutter and jelly on a sammich!"
"And you're the bread of our sandwich," Wayne laughed.
"We are a peabutter jelly sammich?" Reau tilted his head to the side and blinked up at us.
And I knew, just knew, what was going through Wayne's mind at that innocent comment.
Stop thinking what you're thinking! I growled in the link.
You don't know what I'm—
Of course I do, rattle brain, so stop thinking it! A boner in front of Dad and Mom is not something I want to deal with right now! Nor do I want to freak Reau out.
Yeah, I'm sure it would freak him out. He's not allowed to see anyone's dicky until he's eighteen, Wayne giggled.
Dude, I am going to slap some sense into you if you don't—
"ChiChi is not peabutter and you are not jelly, WayWay. Plus, I am not made of bread." Reau shook his head, making his curls bounce wildly. "I am made of whatever a boy is made of. That is why we cannot be a sammich."
"Why can't you eat a sandwich?" Mom asked as she and Dad joined us. "I'll have to see what Emerson has in the fridge first, but sandwiches for dinner sound fine to me."
I shook my head. Between her misunderstanding and Reau's little literal self, they'd agree on 'peabutter jelly sammiches' in a second if I didn't intervene, and I wasn't feeling PB and Js tonight.
"No, Mom. We do not want sandwiches for supper."
"Bubba was going to make hot dogs and mac cheese." Reau hopped up and down like a bunny. "You make hot dogs and mac cheese for us, please?"
"Okay, sure! Does Emerson usually make the hot dogs so they're crispy with black lines or so they're soft and squishy?"
"Babe, why are you saying it like that?" Dad laughed as he wrapped his arm around Mom's waist.
"Emerson said Reau has sensory issues with food. It's about the texture of what he's eating, so I want to make sure the hot dogs are cooked right for him."
"Oh. Sorry, Reau," Dad said, suddenly somber. "I didn't know that."
"I didn't know that, either." Reau stopped hopping around and blinked at Mom. "What are treasury issues?"
"Sensory issues." I said slowly enough for him to hear the syllables while the rest of them, even Spring, chuckled. "It just means you like things to feel or look a certain way."
"Is that bad?" he leaned over and whispered in Wayne's ear, but I was standing right there and could hear every word.
"No, it's not bad," Wayne was quick to assure him. "It's you. You do you, baby boy, and don't worry about it."
Good job, WayWay.
Thanks, ChiChi.
"Well, Mom Evie, ever since he 'sploded one in the microwave, Bubba cooks them in a pot on the stove," Reau said with such an earnest little face that my heart flipped over. "He puts water in the pot, then the hot dogs. The water gets all bubbly and the hot dogs get smooth and fat!"
"Does he let you help with that?" she asked.
"No, no. I am not allowed near the stove when it is turned on. I burned my fingers three times trying to help cook, so Gelo said no more until I am a bigger boy. I am also not allowed to touch any of Gelo's guns or go in his weapons room. Never, never, never!"
"Okay. Thank you for telling us." Dad nodded with a smile. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear you know not to do those things, even if he isn't here to remind you. Is there anything else you aren't allowed to do that we should know about?"
"Hmm. Not really. Bubba said there are no rules here, only routines. Not touching things that could hurt me is a safety routine. My favorite routine, though, is hygiene!"
"What's the hygiene routine?" Wayne asked with narrowed eyes, almost like he was afraid to hear the answer, but couldn't help wanting to know.
"Every day, I take a shower, use deodorant, brush teethies, and check fingernails and toenails. I love being clean and smelling nice!"
"You always smell nice," I complimented him with a smile.
It was the truth. His hair always smelled like coconut, which I figured was his shampoo, and he had the same natural scent Wayne did. I couldn't really describe it. I just thought of it as boy smell and figured I had it, too.
"Thank you, ChiChi. You usually do, too."
"Usually?!" I squawked as Mom and Dad chuckled and Wayne fell on the grass laughing.
"Sorry, ChiChi, but sometimes you are a little smelly. I think it is your feet. Do you wash between your toes?"
That made the others laugh even harder.
Dude! Wayne linked me between giggles. Don't ask him a question if you don't want a brutally honest answer!
Like the mature guy I was, I blew a raspberry at him.
Wayne
The hidden garden had tons of possibilities, and Reau said beta agreed to us building a fort on the concrete slab in the center of it.
"You know, boys," Dad said, looking around, "you could buy a ready-made shed and set it up here very easily. Like we did at our place for the gardening tools."
"Oh, yeah! I loved that log cabin she shed we looked at!" I grinned. "And it would look sweet in this setting, right, Arch?"
"She shed?" Reau crossed his arms and scowled before Arch could answer. "What is a she shed?"
"Link Reau an image of what you mean so he understands," Arch said, "but yeah, a little log cabin out here would be fire!"
"That one we saw was more of a playhouse," Mom said as I linked Reau a picture of it. "You'd need something bigger for all three of you."
"Sure, but that could be our model." Getting hyped now, I waited to see what Reau thought of the idea.
"It is very pretty!" he squealed. "I will feel like one of those people who went west back in the old days!"
A pioneer, little one, Spring told him.
"A barking deer?"
Pi-o-neer, Spring said slower, and Reau tried to copy him.
As the two of them went back and forth a few times, Mom's worried eyes bounced from Dad's to mine to Arch's.
Did Emerson and Gelo ever get this poor baby's hearing checked?
Yeah, and beta said there's nothing physically wrong with his ears or anything, I told her. Now he thinks it might be something with how he processes what he hears.
Like his brain doesn't always 'hear' beginning syllables of words, Arch chimed in, or fills in with another word if he doesn't know the one he's hearing.
Oh, my, Mom murmured with tears glittering in her eyes.
Dr. York is here to help him now, Dad assured her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Don't cry, babe, or Reau will think something's wrong.
"WayWay? Can we build a log cabin for our secret fort?" Reau tugged on my shirt sleeve.
"Sure, we can! We'll have to save up our paychecks from the Busted Knuckle to get the plans and supplies, but I'm sure we can figure it out."
"I will get some money, too!" He grabbed one of my hands and one of Arch's and swung them back and forth almost violently. "Bubba and Gelo will help me get some!"
He stopped swinging our hands and looked at Arch, then me.
"Wait. What is the Busted Knuckle?"
"That's Dad's garage," I told him. "Arch and I work there a few days a week and Saturday mornings."
"Can I come along and see it sometime? Please? I will be a good boy and not touch anything. You will not have to bust my knuckles, I promise!"
Damn, his eyes are killer! Arch groaned as Dad explained the name of the garage to our baby.
I know, I sighed. I can't say no to him for anything when he looks at me like that.
"But yeah, bud," Dad was saying, "come along to work with the boys anytime Emerson says it's okay."
"Yay! Thank you, Dad Nathan!" Reau gave him a big grin.
"Sweetie, it's almost supper time. Do you want to show us the last secret before or after we eat?"
"Mom, you're always the killjoy. You know that, right?" I rolled my eyes.
"It's part of the Mom contract," She wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug.
"Mom! Get off!" I put my hands on her shoulders and leaned back, knowing a kiss was just seconds away if I didn't defend myself.
"Nope. It's your punishment for sassing me. Now give me a hug while Reau makes up his mind."
"Make up your mind quick, Reau!" My voice was a breathless gasp as Mom squeezed the life out of me. "Before I die!"
"No, don't die, WayWay! I will show you the last secret, then we will eat!"
Glancing over at him, my eyes kept going as Dad prowled up behind Arch and caught him in his big, tattooed arms.
"You can't escape without one, too, Arch!" Dad laughed as he swung Arch around in a bear hug, which was funny as hell because Arch was a big guy and getting bigger every day.
I wasn't so scrawny myself, and I could have pushed Mom off me with ease, but what kind of son would I be if I did that? Besides, she was pregnant and it would make her cry, which would make Dad growl at me, and I wasn't trying to get grounded when summer break was in full swing.
Besides, Preggie Mom, as Wyatt's wolf Granite called her, was hella creative, and whatever she chose to do to me in revenge would probably look like something from a horror movie.
No thanks to all of that, so I just waited for her sadist self to get tired of hugging all the air out of me.
"Me, too! Me, too!" Reau scampered around our dying bodies, and I rolled my eyes to hear him begging our parents to do the same to him.
Clearly, he has no sense of self-preservation, Ocean chuckled as Mom and Dad released us and attacked him.
Arch and I will preserve his little self, I assured him over Reau's gleeful squeals.
After all, we had beta blood. Protecting others was what we were designed to do. If Curls couldn't - or wouldn't - take care of himself, we'd gladly do it for him.
And we'd do it forever, if it were up to me.
Everyone was so shocked by the hidden door in the study!
Mom Evie said she never would have guessed the secret stairs were there, or that there was a room hidden at the top in the turret.
Dad Nathan was interested in how the hidden door opened and closed and wondered why the original owner of the house even built any of it.
"Probably for storage," Mom Evie said with a shrug.
"Then why hide it?" he countered.
"Maybe they were hiding someone or something important," Wayne suggested.
"No," Arch disagreed, "because any shifter could smell their way to the bookcase and bust their way through it. This old wood may be solid, but it wouldn't stop an angry wolf intent on eating someone."
"Well, it's not like anyone will ever know what it was for," Wayne said as he tested out the funny light switch with the two buttons. "The story's lost in time now."
I thought they all had good ideas, so I only nodded since I didn't have an opinion on it. I didn't really care how or why the secret stairs and hidden room were made. I was just proud of myself for finding it and excited for my order to come tomorrow so I could decorate it.
After we ate hot dogs and mac cheese, Mom Evie and Dad Nathan stayed in the kitchen to clean up while my besties and I secretly set pranks up everywhere for Bubba, Gelo, Zio Leo, and Zia Poppy. I was so excited to see their reactions that I couldn't stop hopping around the living room while we were building our blanket fort for the night!
Then Bubba, Leo, and Poppy came home and told us luna was okay and the alphas were with her. I 'spected Bubba linked more details to Dad Nathan and Mom Evie, but hearing she was safe and okay again was good enough for me.
Plus, Bubba said we could go see her tomorrow, and I planned to give her all the hugs she needed to be happy again.
As soon as Bubba came home, Dad Nathan and Mom Evie left and Leo and Poppy went up to their room after saying good night. Bubba made sure we'd had something to eat and that I wasn't stressed or anything, but I was too happy to be stressed! In fact, I was so excited, I almost gave away one of the pranks we set up, but thankfully, Spring distracted me by asking for a belly rub.
So Bubba told us if we needed anything to come knock on his bedroom door and reminded us that Gelo would be home late, so not to be scared if we heard someone coming in the house. Then he gave me a forehead kiss as I hugged him, said good night, and left us to pile into our fort with Spring curled up at our feet.
My besties and I talked for a while about what school would be like this fall, their friends, and football. Practice would be starting soon, and they wanted me to try out for the team with them, even though I told them I didn't know anything about football. Arch said that didn't matter because I could learn, and Wayne said it would be a lot of fun, so I said sure!
Finally, my little eyes wouldn't stay open any more, and I snuggled in between Wayne and Arch with a big smile.
"WayWay, I love you," I told him as I turned my head to look at him.
"Aw, I love you, too, baby boy!" He blinked really fast, then lifted the front of his t-shirt and wiped his eyes. Was he crying? Did I make him sad? "I'm so happy you told me that!"
Oh. Whew. Good. Happy tears. The only kind I like!
"ChiChi?" I rolled my head on the pillow to look at him. "I love you."
"Love you, too, Curls." He reached up and laid his palm on the side of my face, and his thumb stroked up and down my cheek in that nice, slow rhythm I liked.
Humming, I closed my eyes and smiled.
"Are you going to tell each other I love you?" I whispered.
"Wayne already knows I love him, don't you, baby?" Arch chuckled.
"Yep! Arch, you know I love you, right?"
"Of course."
"We all love each other." My heart felt so warm that I thought about lifting the blanket to see if it was glowing, but I was too comfortable and sleepy to move. "And we'll always be together, right?"
"Of course." Arch kept rubbing his thumb over my cheek, making me fall asleep even faster. "I love you both and want to be with you for the rest of my life."
"Me, too. The three of us are forever now." Wayne laid his head on my shoulder. "Right, baby boy?"
"Right," I whispered. "The three of us forever."
And I drifted off to sleep with a happy smile.