Daddy's Home To Stay
The hands on the clock seemed to either stuck or moving at a snail's pace.
Drew would be home tonight. Or technically early the next morning. At three a.m.. That was way too late for Rick to take the children to the airport. To keep Davey and Shaye from bouncing off the walls and asking about Drew all day Rick hadn't told the twosome about Drew's impending return. He would let Drew wake them in the morning, or find him next to Rick in their bed when they came to wake up Rick. The reunited couple didn't have time to make love; they didn't expect to, Drew was exhausted after his flights, but that didn't stop them from making out and caressing each other's bodies for an hour before falling asleep wrapped in each other's arms.
At 5:45, Drew woke up to the sound of two pairs of little feet and two little voices, arguing.
"C'mon! I seed a oniform on da door. 'Aybe daddy's home!"
Davey.
"No! Daddy 'ould 'ave tolded us."
Shaye.
It torn Drew up that he missed both the children's third birthdays. The family planned one huge party to celebrate both and Drew's return, even though Rick with their friends and family had given the siblings separate parties on their respective birthdays as planned.
"We're both decent, right?" Rick murmured sleepily, hearing the kids too.
Both men were in boxer shorts. Good enough to leave the door unlocked. Rick hadn't locked the bedroom in Drew's absence, in case Shaye and Davey needed him. Drew smiled at the sound of the doorknob turning.
"It's daddy! He's 'ere!" Davey shrieked, running to the bed, his sister on his heels.
Drew scooped both children up on the bed at the same time, one in each arm. He held them to his chest, not ever wanting to let go.
For the six months Drew was deployed his children was prone to meltdowns out of nowhere and moments of regression in their speech (which was way above average) and toilet-training. Rick knew that was solely because they missed their other dad and didn't understand why he was gone so long and so far away. They were sheltered from knowing just how dangerous Afghanistan was-and the fact Drew might not come back.
Thankfully, he did.
And with Drew back home, Shaye and Davey were back to being the happy, chatty kids they were before. They knew that once daddy was home from "far away" this time, he was not going away again. He would go back to working at the hospital like before and he would be home every morning. Even if they had to be reminded of that every day for a few weeks.