As Much As Things Change
Author:Lolly4Holly
Pairings:Nick/Greg - Mpreg
Summary: Maybe things would have been easier if Nick had never come back. Can things seriously get any crazier than they already have?
Prologue
Cautiously lying back on the cold metal table, the nervous patient adjusted the itchy hospital gown he was dressed in, realising that exposing himself was the least of his problems as the device started to move him backwards into the machine. He closed his eyes before he was underneath it, thinking of anything but being stuck in a small space. But at that precise moment, it was the only thing he could think about. It got worse as the noise started up, stopping any happy thoughts from entering his panicked mind. He tried to stay as still as possible, but he could already feeling the familiar tremors of nervous shakes rushing through his arms.
"Okay, all done, Mr Stokes. You can go ahead and get dressed now." The technician smiled at him from behind her glass booth.
Pushing himself to a sitting position, Nick rubbed the blinding light from his eyes, before he made his way towards the doorway. He hated waiting a whole two weeks for the results from these scans, but that was the way that his doctor planned it. He'd have to wait in suspense for a whole two weeks, just waiting around, hoping that the news was good news.
He quickly got himself dressed, deciding to get on with the rest of his day. He didn't have time to dwell on whether his results would be good news or bad news, he had a soccer game to attend at his son's school.
Driving straight over to his son's school, Nick hurried towards the main building, giving the receptionist a smile as she handed him the sign in sheet. "They haven't started yet. You're just on time." She assured him.
"Thanks." Giving her a wave, Nick hurried through the familiar corridors towards the open door that lead to the school field. He shielded his eyes from the sun, searching the crowd of children in blue t-shirts, until he spotted his son. He gave him a wave as he looked his way, wishing he could see that bright smile on his son's face all the time. "Hi, Poppy." He caught up to the kids babysitter.
"Hi, Mr Stokes." She handed him the diaper bag from her shoulder. "Greg said you'd be here to take them back to the house. I changed him after I picked him up from day care. He's been sleeping since."
"Thank you." Crouching down in front of the stroller, Nick checked on his sleeping baby boy, finally feeling the tension of the day beginning to drain away. He gently brushed his hand across the top of the toddler's head, admiring the sleeping beauty as he softly snoozed in the comfort of his stroller.
"Daddy!" His eldest jumped onto his back, throwing his little arms around his shoulders.
"Hey, darlin'." Loosening his son's grip from around his shoulders, Nick pulled him to his side, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "What'd you do in school today?"
"I did a drawing of Jack from Jack and the beanstalk. Mrs Townsley said mine was the best one. And I coloured in all the lines." Colt proudly stated, touching his fingertips to the patient wristband around his father's wrist. "What's that for? Did you go to the doctors? Are you sick?"
"No, I'm not sick." Nick still hadn't figured out a way to tell his son that he was in remission from cancer. The seven year old didn't even know what cancer was and he was too afraid to explain it to him, in case his son started to fear that he was going to lose him because of it. "I was just havin' some blood tests and things done. Shouldn't you be gettin' ready for your game?"
"I need you to tie my shoes, Daddy." He waved his sneaker around, with the laces dangling either side of it. "I can't do it."
"Seven years old and you still can't tie your own shoelaces. Hold still then." Kneeling down in front of his son, Nick untangled the mud soaked laces, tying them into a neat knot for him. "Papa tell you he's pullin' a double shift today?" He received a nod from his nervous child. "Hey, don't look so worried. Look, your friend, Max isn't worried."
"I'm not very good." Colt anxiously bit his lower lip, noticing that the other team were a lot taller than his own team. "I wonna go home."
"No you don't. Just pretend you're playin' in the backyard with your friends. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's just a game. C'mon, you better get over there." He tucked his son's blue team jersey into his shorts for him, before he finally let him go to join the rest of his team. He grabbed the stroller from beside him, wheeling it across the bumpy field, towards the stands where the parents were sat. "Hi, Evelyn." He noticed his neighbour right away. "I didn't know the twins were on the on the team."
"Hi, Brooklyn is. Brittany isn't into sports though." Evelyn moved her bag from beside her, giving him some room to sit down. She smiled as she looked at the stroller beside him, seeing his baby boy, Jackson fast asleep after a long day at day care. "I suppose he'll be starting Pre-K soon, won't he?"
"Yeah, won't be long." Nick looked at his toddler, remembering the day they brought him home from the hospital like it was yesterday.
"No Greg, today? I haven't seen him in a while."
"He's busy workin'. He applied for the assistant supervisor position at the lab. Since the actual supervisor is away on vacation, he's pickin' up all the slack of the shift. He's been pullin' doubles ever since." Nick adjusted a little baseball cap on his son's head, keeping the sun off him while he slept. He was tempted to remove the pacifier from his mouth, so the toddler could finally start to let go of it, but he feared that he might wake him if he even attempted to remove it.
He glanced up to watch his son as the game started, giving him a smile as he nervously looked in his direction for some support. Colt had already quit the little league baseball team and swim club, deciding to join the soccer team that his best friend, Max was on instead. He hadn't been on the team for very long, but he already wanted to give that up too.
Colt lethargically followed his team from one end of the field to the other, getting the ball passed to him once when he was near the goal. He swung his foot to kick it towards the goal, getting struck in the leg by a kid almost twice his size.
The seven year old toppled backwards onto the dirty grass, holding his knee as he watched the other team taking the ball up the other end to score another goal. He climbed to his feet as the whistle blew, wishing that it was the end of the match already, so he could go home.
"You did really good. You passed it to Max clear across the field." Nick complimented him, walking him to his truck in the parking lot, once it was all over. "I couldn't even do that. I was never very good at soccer. Or football. That's why I took up baseball."
"I don't want to do it anymore." Colt dragged his bag across the concrete behind him, scuffing his sneakers all the way to his father's truck. He waited beside it as the man lifted his baby brother from his stroller, buckling the sleeping toddler into his seat in the back.
"Don't kick the ground. We just bought those sneakers."
Colt gave up with a sigh, brushing his fingers through the dirt on the back of his father's truck instead. "Daddy, if I don't do soccer anymore, what can I do instead?"
"I don't know." Nick gave him a shrug, opening up the boot to his truck. "Depends what you wonna do." He lifted Colt onto the back, removing his muddy sneakers for him. "You used to enjoy swimmin' when you were a little older than Jacks is now. Your Papa and I used to take you all the time."
Colt shook his head from side to side, pulling off his muddy socks, while his father got his clean sneakers from the front of the car. "I don't want to do anything after school anymore. Do I have to? It's so boring."
"No." His father handed him his clean socks, resting his hands either side of his son's legs. "You better talk to your Papa about it first though. He might not be able to find you a sitter for after school." He pointed out to him, noticing the graze on his son's knee. "That kid kicked you pretty hard, didn't he?"
"It doesn't hurt." Colt slid further back into the car, watching his father grabbing his first aid kit to clean the graze for him. "Did you know your heart beats around a hundred thousand times a day?"
"That's pretty amazin' isn't it?" Nick gave him a wide smile, gently sticking a plaster on his knee. He loved the expression on his son's face when he found out something new. It reminded him of how Greg used to get when he discovered something at the lab.
"It beats even faster if you do sports or anything that gets you out of breath."
"Yeah? How fast is yours goin' right now?" His father slid a clean pair of socks and sneakers onto his feet, watching as his son placed his palm over his little wrist, feeling his heart beating through it.
"Like this... bom, bom, bom, bom, bom..."
"That's pretty fast."
"It would have been faster when I was running." Colt reached for his father's wrist, so he could feel his heart beating beneath his skin. "Mrs Townsley says that police men can use heart beats as a lie detector. Do you, Daddy?"
"I'm not a policeman. I work in a science lab."
"Papa works in the lab too."
"That's right. C'mon then, I gotta get you back home."
Sliding off the back of his father's truck, Colt made his way round the other side of the car, pulling open the side door, so he could climb in. He buckled himself in, waving to his friend, Max out the window as his friend made his way over to his Mom's car.
Max was an only child, but both his mother and father attended all of his games and drove him home in the same car. He was always complaining that he didn't have a brother or a sister to play with, but he didn't know how lucky he was to have what he did.
"Here you go." His father handed him a juice box through the seats. "Don't get any on my seats. We'll be home soon." He gave him a smile, buckling himself in, before he took off.
He was glad that his neighbour hadn't noticed anything else going on at their house. He couldn't even explain the awkwardness of their situation to himself, let alone his children.
Pulling up outside the house, Nick searched through the glove compartment for his keys, finding them tucked under his flashlight. "You alright to get out by yourself?" He glanced over his shoulder, hearing his door clicking shut, as his son had already climbed out. He gave out a sigh, climbing out the car himself to get his baby boy out of the car. "Here's the keys." He handed them to Colt.
"Papa's home." Colt hurried up the driveway, running around his father's car, towards the front door. He banged his fist against the door, jumping into his father's arms as soon as he opened the door. "Papa."
"Hey Buckaroo," Greg playfully ruffled his hand through his son's hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he leant down to his level. "How was your soccer game? I would have come to watch you, but I just got back from the lab just now."
"I lost." Colt told him the truth, stepping around him into the house. "I'm hungry."
"You know where the kitchen is. Hey, don't pig out. Dinners soon." He warned him, pulling his sneakers on, so he could fetch his youngest from outside. "I'm back on days after the weekend. You okay to take the boys?"
"Yeah, sure." Nick pressed a kiss to Jacks little cheek, before he handed him over to Greg. "Colt wants to quit the soccer team now. He didn't have such a good game." He fetched the boys bags from the back of his truck, taking them to the doorway. "Am I havin' them this weekend?"
"Nope, my folks are coming down from Cali. You can come over..."
"So we can pretend to play happy families again?" Nick interrupted him, taking a step out of the door. "Because that worked out so well last time." He reminded him of their little Christmas charade. "No Greg, I think it's about time that you told your folks the truth. We can't keep lyin' to them like this. I gotta go."
Greg clutched his baby boy tightly against his chest, watching Nick walking down the driveway. He never meant for things to turn out like this, but it was too late now, the damage was already done. It had been seven months since he moved out and away from them, but it wasn't getting any easier.
Without looking back, Nick returned home to his apartment building, still feeling as though he was out of place here. He grabbed his mail from his assigned box, before he hurried up the three flights of stairs, towards his apartment. It wasn't overly big, but it was just him now.
He ditched his keys on the side, collapsing onto the sofa, where he could look out the window. He had thought about leaving again, finding a new city where he could just try and forget it all, but he couldn't leave his boys behind this time. He didn't even want to leave them this time, Greg saw to that after it became too unbearable to face each other every morning.
Nick thought that they could face anything together, but he never thought that they would have to go through the process of losing two baby's.
Thanks for reading, please review.
~ Holly