A loud cough sounds from the back of the house, until a face emerges from the hall. Logan sniffles as he wipes his arm sleeve under his nose. "Morning everyone." No doubt he sounds stuffed up. He sounded like he could barely breathe.
James looks up from his spot on the couch, watching cartons with the kids. He frowns when he sees just how bad Logan was. "You sneezed a few times last night but you look awful..." He stood up and hurried over to Logan, placing a hand to the other's forehead. "Get some medicine and go back to bed..."
"I'm fine, babe. I don't need to go bed." Logan was always one to argue. He started walking towards the kitchen as he continued to talk. "I have to get the kid's breakfast going and make their lunches for school."
"No." James grabbed Logan's wrist and stopped him. "I can take care of them for a few days. You need your rest before it gets any worse."
The brunet turned to look up at his husband. "You don't know what it really takes to take care of them. It's a tough job."
James rolled his eyes. "I don't think they'll kill me. Plus, they'll go easy on me, right?" He directed the question towards the couch though he doubted he'd get an answer when cartoons were on.
"They're too absorbed in morning cartoons, honey. They won't talk to you right now." Logan said with knowing smirk.
"I know. Doesn't mean I can't try," he said with a small chuckle.
"And if you think they'll go easy on you, you have to remember that Isabella is five, and little Anthony is three."
"Hey, Isabella takes after me and Anthony you. She's easy and Tony just needs some brainy stuff for his tiny mind and he'll be good." James smiled broadly. "Come on. I've got this."
Logan was breaking. Maybe James could do it, and in reality it did give him a couple off, so to speak. He could really utilize the time and read a good book or something. He ran a hand through his hair, and sniffled again. "Are you sure?" Can you blame him for still being a little skeptical?
James sighed dramatically and placed his hands on Logan's shoulders, leading the other back to the bedroom. "Very, very sure. Now please, worry about getting better, I've got the kids."
"Fine.." He finally relented and crawled back into their big, fluffy bed.
"That'a boy," he sang. James leaned down and kissed Logan's forehead.
"You think you could possibly get me some soup?"
"Anything for you baby." Turning on his heel, James hurried out of the room.
Logan sighed and snuggled under the welcome warmth of his comforter. "How bad could it be?" He asked himself.
James made some soup quickly, aka heated it up from a can, and brought it to the bedroom. He offered the bowl to Logan with a warm smile.
"Thank you, sweetheart." Logan sat up a little, leaning back against the headboard as he took the soup from James' hands.
"Welcome."
"You know what to do right? You have to take the kids to school, and make sure you pick them up by noon. Oh, and I have a shopping list on the counter that needs to be taken care of. I'm sure you can handle that. And make sure you keep the laundry going too." Logan wasn't trying to be overwhelming, this was just stuff that needed to be done.
It sounded easy. At first. Then Logan kept talking and James felt his head reeling. "Yeah…," he mumbled, putting on a big smile to reassure the other. "Don't worry about a thing. I'm going to get them some breakfast." With that he walked out again.
Isabella was bouncing on the couch, singing along to the ending song of the current show she was watching with her younger brother. She looked over when she heard James come into the living room, and immediately ran over to him, tugging his pant leg. "Daddy, daddy!"
James chuckled when he saw a flash of red run by. "Hey baby girl." He leaned down to pick Isabella up, holding her in his arms. "What's up?"
"Me an' Tony finished the show. But I wan'ta watch it 'gain.." She said putting on her little pout that she did when she wanted her way. "Can you put in the DVD?"
A pouting child had James breaking down almost instantly. Especially when it was his own. He smiled and set Isabella down, running a hand through her hair. "Alright." He could just give them breakfast while the show was on. James got the DVD going before heading back into the kitchen to cook up some toast and eggs, packing them a lunch at the same time.
The little sat happily on the couch, watching the show for a few minutes before something started smelling funny. "Daddy.. Is someting burnin'..?"
James jumped to attention popping the burning toast onto a plate, getting the hard eggs on there as well. "No, of course not. Come get your breakfast. I'll take you to school when you finish and brush your teeth."
Isabella took Anthony's hand and pulled him to the kitchen, helping him get into his chair before sitting down in the chair beside him. They both began to eat as soon as James set the food down in front of them, but they spit the food out just as fast. "Ewwww… Icky…" Anthony pushed his plate away, as the little girl turned to her father. "Daddy, this tastes nasty.."
That's what he got for trying to multi task. Logan always cooked so he wasn't used to it. He smiled sympathetically. "I know." James walked over to the pantry and opened up a pack of poptarts, offering them each one. "Sorry."
They both took a pastry and ate with a small grin on each of their faces. As soon as they were finished, they hopped up and headed back to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Anthony took this opportunity to play in the water and effectively splashed his sister, soaking the front of her shirt. "Daddy! Look what Tony did!"
James came into the bathroom, his mouth dropping open in shock. "You guys weren't even gone two minutes! And look at this mess! You have to be at school in less than thirty minutes. We don't have time for this. Isabella go change your shirt, quickly please. We have to go."
She nodded and did as she was told, walking back to her room for a new shirt.
James turned his head to his son. "Anthony Marc Diamond, you know better than that."
Anthony looked up at him with a tiny pout, and James couldn't possibly stay mad at that. He sighed and picked up the boy. "Come on, let's get your stuff."
Within ten minutes, he had both of his kids loaded up in the car and they were on the way to school. He managed to get them dropped off to their respective classrooms with no problems at all.
When he got back home that was when the real work seemed to start. The shopping list Logan had written had to be at least six pages long, if not more. This would take up most of the morning. It would probably barely leave enough time to get the kids at the time he was expected to pick them up.
He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He could do this. If Logan could do it on a daily basis, surely James Diamond can handle a couple days.
Deciding to tackle the laundry first, the brunet made his way back to the laundry room and switched out the loads, throwing in a new one and adding detergent. He was proud of himself, laundry wasn't that hard. Why was Logan always complaining about it?
After quickly checking on Logan, finding him dead asleep with the soup bowl on the nightstand, he grabbed his wallet, cell phone, and shopping list before leaving and locking the front door behind him.
James had been right. It took him nearly four hours to get everything on that list, including things he had never even heard of. He made it to the preschool at exactly 12:01 to pick up Isabella and Anthony.
"Where's Papa..?" Anthony asked as James buckled him into his car seat. "Papa awways here.."
James kissed his son's forehead after he was fastened in. "Listen baby, Papa is very sick. So, I'm going to be picking you up for a few days, okay?" When Anthony merely nodded his head, the brunet helped Isabella into the car, and buckled her in safely.
The afternoon was a lot harder than morning had been. James was chasing the kids around, doing his best to get them to settle down. Even the Ziggle Zaggle's hadn't worked. That always worked.
When Anthony started wailing that Isabella had put something in his hair, James had come to find that it was bubblegum. "Isabella Nicolette Diamond, how did you manage to get gum in your brother's hair?"
"He wouldn't stop touching me!" She accused with a pointing finger in little Anthony's direction. He sent her to her room before setting the little boy on the countertop.
"I wan' Papa…" Anthony said with a pout as he looked up at James with eyes that could make any parent cave in an instant.
He was trying to stay calm. He really was, but the stress of the day was really getting to James now. He didn't know how Logan did this, day in and day out, plus find time for the two of them to spend together. "I am not cut out for this," he said to himself as worked to get the gum out of his son's hair.
The brunet turned when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. "Isabella, you better not be leaving that room young lady."
Logan peaked his head from around the corner, and James could tell he was already feeling tons better than he did that morning. "I'm not still on house arrest, am I?" He asked with a small chuckle. He walked over to where James was, sighing when he saw the gum in Anthony's hair. "I don't even want to know how this happened."
"Probably not…" James said before pulling on his lower lip with his teeth.
With a sigh, Logan grabbed the jar of peanut butter from the cabinet, and went to work on the boy's hair, working the creamy mess through his blond curls. In a couple of minutes, he had successfully removed all traces of the pink mess. "That's how you handle gum when it gets into hair."
He put Anthony back on the floor and let him run off to play before turning back to face his husband. "I don't know how you do it; do any of this." James said, wrapping his arms around Logan's waist and bringing him close, planting a soft kiss to his forehead. "But you are officially my hero."
