"Kendall?" a soft, timid voice broke through the papable silence in the large room. Kendall tensed a little when he heard the door open and close, but didn't turn to protest, as he knew it would have been a waste of breath. Instead, he pulled the comforter tighter around his body and sunk further into the soft pillow that his head was resting on. After a short while, he heard a sigh and the comforter was removed from his grip as a small body slide into the bed next to him and rested it's head on the pillow next to Kendall's own.
Logan smiled softly as he ran his hand lightly down the side of Kendall's tear soaked cheeks and slide his hand under the blankets until he reached the blonde's hand. The small brunette linked their fingers together and they just lied there in silence as Kendall stared at this amazing being in front of him. His best friend. His soulmate. His angel.
It was April, 7th. The day that, just 10 years ago, two Federal Marshall's walked to the front door of the Knight household and changed every one of their lives. Kendall and Logan were just 7 and had been playing video games in the living room, while Mrs. Knight made dinner and fed a baby Katie.
Kendall had been beating Logan at Mario Cart Racing when the door bell rang. "I'll get it!" yelled Kendall as he hit the 'pause' buttom and leaped to his feet to open the front door for his busy mother. When he opened the door, he was confused. Two men stood in front of him. Both wearing the same kind of uniform that his dad had worn only two weeks ago when we got on a plane to go to this place where their was a lot of sand. Kendall didn't know what it was called, but he knew that their were a lot of things being blown up over there. Every night when his mom would sit down to watch the news, she would send Kendall to his room when they would show videos of cars being blown up, or say something about more people dieing. Kendall really didn't understand all of it, not any more than he understood why these men were here.
One of the men bent down to Kendall's level and smiled softly at the small blonde, "Hi, there. Is your mommy home?" he asked in a calm friendly voice and Kendall nodded quickly, yelling for his mom.
When Mrs. Knight came into the living room she had a smile on her face and Katie on her hip. "What is it Ken-" and just like that the smile was gone and tears were streaking down her face. Kendall looked at his mom confused then back at the men who were standing in the doorway apologizing. None of this was making any sense to Kendall or Logan who had just walked up behind the small family.
Suddenly, Mrs. Knight dropped to her knees and pushed Katie in to Kendall's small arms, "Kendall, take Katie and Logan and go up to your room." she said as her voice shaked and more tears made their way down her face.
Kendall handed Katie to Logan and reached out to his mom, wanting to make whatever was hurting her go away. "Mommy?" he said softly, but she just smiled softly and wiped the tears from her face.
"Just take them upstairs Kendall, I'll be there as soon I'm done talking to these nice men." she patted Kendall on the cheek and stood up. He looked up at her, then at the men, and back at his mom. He didn't want to leave her alone, but he knew he better listen to his mom and go be a big brother for his baby sister who was now starting to cry in Logan's arms.
Kendall sighed and nodded before taking Katie from Logan and walking up the stairs to his bedroom. Once inside Kendall placed Katie on the floor, who immediatly crawled over to Kendall's backpack and started taking things out. But, Kendall didn't care. He needed to know what was upsetting his mom, so he pressed his ear to his door, but could only hear muffled voices.
A small hand landed on the blonde's shoulder and Kendall turned to look at his best friend, "Come on, let's play with your sister." he said and motioned to the 11-month-old who was chewing on Kendall's addition and subtraction tables. Kendall nodded and followed Logan to his bed, where Kendall stayed and watched Logan play with Katie.
After what seemed like forever to Kendall, his mom knocked on his door and opened it a little. She walked in and smiled at the boys, "Hi, boys." she said and sat next to a worried Kendall on his bed, "Logan? Do you think you could watch Katie for a minute?" she asked and sniffled. Logan nodded and she smiled thankfully, before turning to Kendall, "Sweetie? You wanna come with me?" she asked and Kendall nodded, taking his mom's hand as she lead him out of his room and to his parents room down the hall.
She closed the door behind her and lifted Kendall on to the king size bed in the middle of the room. As soon as she sat down next to the little boy, her tears started flowing again, "Mommy?" Kendall reached out a hand to his mom and she instantly pulled him into a hug and cried into his little shoulder.
"Oh, baby. I am so sorry. I don't know how to tell you this." Kendall held his mother as she cried, he too had tears coming to his eyes just watching his mother break down like this. Finally, she pulled away and smiled at the little boy in her arms, "Sweetie, I-I have to tell you something." Kendall tilted his head to the side a little and Mrs. Knight chuckled a bit, "You look just like your daddy when you do that." she said sadly and frowned.
"Kendall, you know you have always been my little helper right? The man of the house when daddy's away?" Kendall nodded enthusiastically, remembering the promise he had made to his daddy to always be there for mommy and Katie and take care of them like he would if he was there. Kendall had always kept that promise and even when his daddy was home, he acted like he was the man of the house. It had always made his daddy smile.
"Well," she breathed and hiccuped a little as more tears spilled down her cheeks, "You're gonna have to be my strong little man now, too." Kendall wrinkled his nose in confusion, "Kendall, baby, your-your daddy. He-he's not coming home, sweetie." Mrs. Knight again broke down into sobs and pulled Kendall's small body tight to her own.
Kendall didn't believe her. His daddy had promised he was coming home, he would be home in only 7 and a half more months. His mommy was lying. His daddy was coming home. "No, mommy." he said and struggled to get out of her grip, "Daddy's coming home soon. He promised."
Mrs. Knight raised her head to look at her innocent little boy and just shook her head, "I'm sorry, baby. He's not coming home." and with those final words Kendall broke down. He sobbed against his mom's chest as she held him and cried herself.
After a while, Kendall had fallen asleep in Mrs. Knight's arms and she smiled down at her little man. He looked just like his daddy, right down to the long eyelashes. She didn't know what she would do without Kendall in her life, or Katie. Katie. She hda forgotten she had let her with Logan in Kendall's room.
When she walked in, Katie was sleeping on the bed next to Logan, who looked like he was going to pass out soon too. She placed Kendall on the bed and told Logan to stay with him and took Katie to her room. Logan got a fuzzy blanket and covered both himself and Kendall up before curling up next to the puffy-eyed blonde.
Kendall stirred as Logan got closer and opened his eyes. Logan smiled at him and wrapped his arms around Kendall, "I'm sorry." was all Logan said and Kendall began to cry again. Logan held the blonde as he sobbed until he put himself back to sleep again. When Kendall was out again, Logan smiled and wiped his face dry, "I love you, Kendall. Nothing will hurt you again, I'll always be here for you. I promise." Logan whispered, knowing that his words were true. Kendall was his best friend and if he needed him he would be there.
And right now, Kendall needed him. Logan raised their linked fingers from underneath the comforter and kissed the blonde's knuckles. Kendall smiled softly and pulled Logan closer to him and wrapped him in his arms. "Thank you." Kendall breathed into the smaller boy's ear and the latter shuttered.
"For what?" Logan asked as he pulled back to look up into Kendall's brilliant green eyes. Kendall smiled and lowered his lips to Logan's, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to his lips and pulling back.
"For everything. For putting up with me like this every year. For being here for me. For loving me." Kendall's voice got softer as he finished and a blush formed across his cheeks. Logan smiled and rested his hand on Kendall's cheek before pulling him in for a deeper kiss.
Once they broke apart, Logan rested his forehead against Kendall's, "I promised." he said and shrugged. Kendall knew what he meant, all those years ago, Logan had thought Kendall was asleep, but really he just had his eyes shut 'cause they hurt from crying so much. That was the first time Logan had told Kendall he loved him-sure they were 7. But, it meant everything to Kendall. Logan meant everything to Kendall.
"I love you." Kendall whispered against Logan's lips as he pulled him closer and they settled into their shared bed.
"I love you, too." Logan said and settled his head against Kendall's shoulder as they laid there.
This was their tradition every year on this day. Stay in bed and talk. It didn't matter what they talked about-school, friends, movies, music-anything to keep Kendall's mind off of what happened that day.
At about 7 that night, Logan had removed himself from Kendall's grip to go make them popcorn and get Kendall's favorite movie. When he returned, he popped in the movie and settled back into bed with Kendall. Kendall rested his back against the headboard and Logan sat in between his legs with the popcorn in front of him.
Halfway through the movie, Kendall looked down at this amazing brunette in his arms, who was laughing about something that had just happened in the movie. Kendall was lucky. He was living in L.A. with his two best friends, his mother, his baby sister, and his boyfriend. He had it all. He was living the life. And he knew, somewhere out there, this was the doing of a guardian angel. Kendall's own personal angel. Not the angel that was sitting in front of him, but a different one. One that watched over him everywhere he went. One that would always be there no matter what. One that Kendall knew he could talk to and the angel would listen. This guardian angel was wearing his dress blues and smiling down at Kendall right now.
"I love you, dad." he whispered lowly.
"What?" Logan asked and turned in Kendall's arms to look up at him questioningly.
"Nothing," Kendall smiled, "Just that I love you."
Logan smiled and pressed his lips to Kendall's softly, "I love you, too." he said and turned back to the movie. Kendall smiled and pulled Logan closer. Silently thanking his dad for bringing him this little angel in his arms now.
