"Gabriel where are your glasses?" Lindsay asked her son as he sat in the back of the SUV and gazed out the window. She frowned as she looked up and saw him drop his gaze to his hands.
"I forgot them at school." He said "Sorry Mommy."
"It's okay." She said confused by his behavior. She returned her eyes back to the road, she stopped at the red light and looked back up in the rear view mirror at DJ Flack, who had a split lip and she gasped as she watched DJ flinch. "DJ what happened?" she asked as she watched DJ turn and look at her son for permission. She watched as Gabriel begged DJ not to tell with just his eyes, his blue eyes silently pleading with his best friend to keep quiet.
"Soccer was rough, that's all Aunt L." DJ said nodding his head in confirmation to Lindsay's question as they entered the parking lot of the crime lab.
"Okay." Lindsay said parking the car and getting out, while the boys did the same. "Other than that how was school?" she asked as the three of them entered the elevator, she smiled as she picked Gabriel up and waited for his answer. "Huh?"
"Okay." He said playing with his mother's earring. His voice was soft like usual but his eyes never looked this sad, the blue was always sparkling with mischief just like his father's.
"Really nothing special happened? No Dragons or Unicorns or anything?" she asked as she tickled the little boy and he squirmed giggling.
"No Mommy, that's silly." He said as he tried to catch his breath.
The elevator doors opened and the three of them stepped out slightly laughing as they walked through the crime lab. Lindsay set Gabriel down and took DJ's hand.
"Daddy's in his office, okay sweetie, I'm gonna take DJ to his dad. Okay?" she said ruffling her son's hair as she watched him walk to her shared office with her husband. She walked with DJ towards the AV lab but stopped just outside and kneeled down in front of DJ. "What happened DJ?"
"Aunt Lindsay…" he started, avoiding looking at her.
"Something has been wrong all week, what happened?" Lindsay pleaded as she finally locked eyes with the little boy; he soon dropped her gaze and looked down at his feet. "DJ please."
"They make fun of him," he started looking up into his aunt's eyes just in time to see her heart break. "Cause he's small, and quiet, and has glasses, and he stutters sometimes. He doesn't really do anything and they just push him and stuff. I try to make them stop, but."
"But they hit you?" Lindsay finished running her hand down the little boy's cheek as he nodded his head in agreement to her last question.
"Today his glasses fell off," he started again looking around the lab for his friend. "And they stomped them." He watched as a tear rolled down his aunt's face and he didn't know what to do to help. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's not you fault, okay?" she said looking back up at DJ. "Sometimes kids are just mean."
"Hey kiddo." Flack said as he stepped out of the AV lab and looked between Lindsay and his son. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah." DJ answered looking up at his father and smiling as he leaned in against Flack's legs and hip. "Aunt Lindsay." He called as she started to walk away. "Please don't tell him I told you."
"I won't." she said and headed towards her office.
Gabriel knew exactly where his parent's office was by heart, but without his glasses and having glass walls it made it more difficult to find exactly what was glass and what was open. He could see his father sitting at his desk so he guessed and turned into what he thought was a door, but banged his head as he ran into half glass and half air. He could hear his father laugh at him as he slid to the ground.
"Hey Tino, what's up, where are your glasses?" Danny asked as he squatted in front of his son and stroked his hair, a small smile on his face.
"Leave me alone." He practically hissed at his father as he pushed away from Danny and ran down the hallway, running practically straight into his mother.
Danny hung his head in defeat then turned his head when he heard his wife whispering to his son. Something was wrong with Gabriel and it was really starting to eat away at him. He wasn't acting like he usually did, he was always emotional, that was a given, he was indeed a Messer, but he never had hissed at Danny. Danny stood and headed over to his wife who had already gathered their son in her arms.
"Hey babe." He said placing a sweet kiss on her lips not daring to touch Gabriel.
"Hey, you almost ready to go?" she asked as she walked with him back towards their office and they each sat down in their respective chairs.
"Almost." He said as he focused his attention on his son who was laying his head on Lindsay's desk and watching his father. "You can go, I'll take the subway or somen."
"No, we'll wait, right baby?" Lindsay asked stroking the boy's back.
"Yeah." Gabriel said as he studied his father, blue eyes locking with mirroring blue eyes.
Danny's shift hadn't lasted much longer, but by the time they left it was dinner time, so they decided to stop at a pizza joint close to the apartment and that seemed to bring Gabriel out of his funk.
"Gabe, come on man time for bed." Danny said as he plucked his son off the couch and slung him over his shoulder and carried him down the hallway into his bedroom and tickled him on the way down. Danny smirked at his son's attempts to get him to stop. Danny finally stopped his attacks and laid him down on his bed. Danny pulled back the Batman comforter and helped him settle in before replacing the cover over his son's body. He leaned down and kissed his son's forehead before turning his nightlight on. "Goodnight, love you."
"Love you Daddy." Gabriel whispered as he watched his father smile before turning to leave the room. "Daddy?"
"Yeah Tino?" Danny asked turning around to look at his son. He watched as he struggled to get the words out, so he sat on the edge of his boy's bed and waited.
"Wh Wh Why are kids mean?" he asked his baby blues searching his father's for answers. Danny frowned and stroked his son's blonde hair affectionately.
"I don't know buddy, I wish I did." Danny said hoping his son would continue into what was truly bothering him.
"I didn't for for forget my glasses, they stomped 'em." He whispered his voice broken as his eyes filled with tears. "Daddy, I didn't even do anything, they just pick on me, cause I stut stutter and have glasses and I'm small. I didn't even do anything." He cried as Danny gathered him in arms, his head against his chest, arms around his neck, and his little legs wrapped around his father's waist. He just stroked his son's back trying to calm him as he cried into his shoulder. Danny had his own tears in his eyes as he rested his chin on his son's shoulder as he started to calm down and hiccup just like his mother does when she's done crying.
"I know baby, they were mean to me too, when I was your age." Danny said as Gabriel pulled back to look at him. Danny gave his son a weak smile and kissed his nose. "I know it hurts, but those kids, they do it, well most because it's all they know, sometimes their parents pick on them." Danny said as he wiped a tear from his son's eyes.
"You laugh at me." He said resting his forehead against Danny's cheek and Danny finally understood why he freaked earlier today. Danny moved his head and kissed his son's temple.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to hurt you though. I wouldn't do that." Danny said into the boy's ear. He heard his son whisper an 'I know' then he removed his head from his cheek and rested it against his shoulder, cuddling into his neck. Danny smiled, since the day he was born he had done that, nuzzled into the same spot on his neck when he was tried, his ear always pressed up against Danny's heart. Danny smiled and untangled Gabriel from him and replaced him back into his bed and watched him sleep.
"Danny?" he heard Lindsay whisper as she entered the room and sat next to her husband watching their son sleep.
"They make fun him at school." Danny stated running his knuckle along Gabriel's cheek before he stood and placed another kiss to his boy's forehead, whispered his love for him then lead his wife out of the Batman themed room and into their master bedroom. He laid down next to her on his side and propped himself up on his elbow looking down at her. "Sometimes I wish he'd take after you more."
"Why?" Lindsay asked knowing Danny prided himself on the fact that his genes dominated hers when it came to their child.
"Well, you're what 35 and only barely need reading glasses, and he has had them since he was what 4?" Danny said closing his eyes in frustration. "They picked on me, just like they pick on him."
"DJ told me about it, he defended him and got a busted up lip for it." Lindsay reaching up to take her husband's glasses off laying them on her nightstand before turning back over to kiss him lightly.
"Yeah? That's good, my friends were always too scared to step up." Danny admitted kissing his wife again, deeply this time.
"I'd stick up for you." She smirked as he pulled away to nuzzle her neck.
"Thanks Montana, that'd get me beaten even more." He smirked as he kissed her nose.
"But I'd be there." She said as she played with his dog tag, pulling on them bringing him back down to her.
"And that's all I ever want." Danny said licking his lips before kissing his wife.