Sorry that this chapter took so long, but I made it longer to make up for the wait.
Thanks to Linny, my wonderful beta, this chapter has been edited and made pretty darn good.
ForeverEmrys: (gives cookie) He may or he may not. He's definitely not going to start in Hogwarts, though. Perhaps later on, as I have plans concerning some of the characters there.
HappeeGoLuckee: I'm glad you like it. Have a cookie.
Sweet-single: Thank you. Here's a cookie.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but cookies, Justin, Taylor, and their families.
Chapter Two: Strange Memories
A forest green Range Rover bounced along on the winding, snow-covered road, traveling up the mountain. The man sitting in the passenger's seat kept turning his deep brown eyes to the back seat.
"Justin. Stop it. He's fine." the blonde driver snapped quietly, even though he himself was checking the rearview mirror frequently.
The object of their distraction slept soundly on, strapped securely into his car seat. Evan was wrapped snugly in a woolen sweater, handmade by his Grandma Fi, Justin's mother. She, along with Taylor's parents, was waiting back at the house to meet their grandson. Justin's sister would be joining them in a few days with her husband. No one wanted Evan to be overwhelmed, so they had toned down the usual Levey- Benson Christmas Extravaganza. Other years, they would have had Taylor's cousins, Lydia and Claire, join them with their families, and Justin's Aunt Aggie and company, but the whole group decided that this would be far too much for a two-year-old still adjusting to his new home.
The car pulled up to a large house. The snow covered front yard lined both sides of the driveway. They drove into the spacious 3-car garage that was connected to the 2 story deep red house. Taylor turned off the car and hopped out. Justin followed, and grabbed the bags from the back as his partner unbuckled the sleeping toddler.
"Evan, sweetie. Time to wake up. We're home." he spoke softly, hating to disturb him. Evan stirred, opening his fist and yawning. He blinked sleepily.
"Taywer whew Justin?" he asked, confused, in his adorable baby British accent.
"I'm right here honey. I just had to grab our stuff." Taylor looked over at him, and had to struggle to keep from laughing. Justin was laden down with his messenger bag, Taylor's backpack, the diaper bag (they had only started potty training last week), and the rolling suitcase with Evan's things. "Do you want to go in now? I know there are some people who really want to meet you." Evan shrunk back in his car seat, away from the looming threat of strangers. "Its okay hon. Your new grandparents want to meet you. They're really nice." he struggled to save his attempt.
Taylor's comment, however, did the trick. "They brought you presents for Christmas, and Fi made cookies just for you."
Evan squealed and nearly jumped out of the car. Taylor caught him just in time and set him down gently. As Taylor opened the door into the house, the scent of chocolate and cookie dough wafted out into the garage. With Evan clinging tightly to Taylor's hand, the three boys walked into the warm house.
Things in the Levey-Benson home started off tense. Evan, naturally, was scared by all the new people and things. Once he met Taylor's beloved dog, however, the situation improved drastically. The big black Labrador instantly took a liking to Evan, and he to the dog. 'Wolfie' Wolfgang Mozart could barely ever be separated from his new favorite person, who liked to follow him around attached to his tail. Once, Justin even caught Evan riding poor Wolfie like he was a horse.
Christmas flew by. Evan was seen around the house with Wolfie, often babbling nonsensically to him. This being normal behavior for a child of two, Taylor and Justin thought nothing of it. Although, they were slightly concerned when he called the dog 'Unca Siri'.
The winter passed calmly. Evan got used to the house, and was ecstatic to play in the snow every day. He loved the horses, the goats, and of course the dog. When spring came, Evan was sad to see the snow leave, but forgot about it when he learned he would help his Papa (Justin) in the garden.
One beautiful day in May, Justin was getting his horse Ardeth ready for a trail ride. Grandma Fi was in the house taking care of Evan, so that he could actually leave the house. The calm gelding was the perfect horse for Justin, as he often stopped to snap pictures of the wildlife and foliage. His plans, however, changed when Evan got away from Fi and found him in the barn.
"Papa? Wewe you goin'?" the boy asked, blowing his bangs off of his scarred forehead.
"For a ride." He knelt next to his son. His son. That still sent a swell of pride and joy through the photographer. "Did you want to come with me?" He was more than willing to sacrifice the serenity of one afternoon to be with Evan.
His face lit up. "Yeah yeah yeah yeah!" He started jumping up and down. "Gonna wide a weal horsie!" he chanted exuberantly. Justin chuckled, happy that with one simple sentence, he had made Evan this excited.
Later that afternoon, after their reluctant return and Fi had gone home, Evan was coloring quietly in a book in a corner of the living room. Justin was sketching in his special pad, the one full of drawings of Evan. His light was interrupted by a shadow looming over him. "Hey," he objected childishly, looking up and pouting. He was reconciled by a quick kiss. "Welcome home. Have a good day at work?"
Taylor snorted as he plopped himself down on the couch next to his partner. "Depends on your definition of 'good'. Sweet, adorable kids, but bratty, paranoid parents." he sighed, leaning on Justin's shoulder. "How was your day?"
Justin grinned. "Awesome. I took him for a ride." Taylor shot up, jaw dropped.
"What?! On a horse?!" He started at Justin like he had three heads. His look was returned with a 'what do you think I meant'.
"I put a helmet on him, we only walked, and I was on Ardeth." He tried to console Taylor, and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer. The doctor relaxed slightly.
"Did he have fun?"
Justin grinned. "He threw a tantrum when I made him get off."
Taylor gave him the bug-eyed look again. They both knew by this point that it was very rare for Evan to throw a tantrum. It had only happened once before, right after they had taken the broom away from him. He had tried to 'fly' down the stairs with it, and they were extremely lucky that Taylor has amazing reflexes, and caught Evan as he jumped.
"He seriously threw a tantrum? Better or worse than the other one?"
"Much better." Justin reassured him. "I don't know how he gets all these crazy ideas." Taylor smiled, and relaxed into Justin, shutting his eyes for a moment. Their cute mushy-gushy moment was ruined by Evan screaming. They scrambled off the couch and sprinted to his corner, where he was staring out the window, face pressed against the glass. Taylor had left his motorcycle in the driveway, but nothing else was in sight.
Evan turned away from the window, his face shining with pure joy, babbling in excitement. The only words they could pick out were 'cycle cycle cycle', 'fly', and 'Paddy'.
Taylor and Justin refused to let the 2 and a half year old ride on the bike, even if it was just in the driveway. This, of course, prompted the third tantrum of Evan. The screaming fit lasted for nearly two hours, and only stopped because he fell asleep. Taylor did, later on in the week of course, show Evan him on his bike, and did a few tricks for him. For a week, Taylor was Paddy, and occasionally Paddyfoo, whatever that meant. Paddy turned to Daddy, and Taylor didn't stop smiling for days.
Before they knew it, June had come and gone, and it was nearing the end of July. Since it was going to be Evan's first birthday with Taylor and Justin, they decided to make it special. What Justin wanted to do was have a petting zoo, but Taylor and his sensible mind vetoed the idea instantly. The pair weren't exactly well liked in the community, and as such, their guest list was severely limited. It would be a big party, composed of relatives and far away friends. Taylor gave in to Justin's pleading, and agreed to pony rides and goat petting.
In the end, they invited 24 people. Unfortunately, a lot of their friends were busy and couldn't come. Only 14 people were going to be there, but they were both ecstatic that Taylor's cousin Lydia could come with her three young children. Both he and Justin were worried that since he was rather isolated from others his age, be would be antisocial when he went to kindergarten in two years.
On July 31, Evan woke up at his usual early hour of six. His dream was already slipping away from his 3-year-old mind, and all he knew was that he had been on a motorcycle like his Daddy's, high, high above the ground. Evan got out of his big boy bed, not realizing that today was a special day, one that marked his birth, both as Evan Jameson and as Harry Potter. When the birthday boy ran down to the kitchen in his cowboy pajamas, he was greeted by his Daddy and his Papa. They, as usual, were up before him and had his breakfast ready. But Evan knew today was something new, because they didn't have his favorite raisiny crunchy cereal out for him. "Doughnut!" he cheered, running to his tall seat. He tried to climb up the tall chair himself, but his Daddy picked him up put him down in his chair. Evan happily grabbed the nearest chocolate covered treat.
His Papa and his Daddy smiled at him. "Happy birthday Evan," his Papa said.
Evan stopped eating for a moment, head tilted to one side much like a little puppy. "Today my bithday?" He bore a look of pure confusion only a three-year-old could pull off.
Justin nodded. "You're three today. And exactly a year ago, you met me and your Daddy."
The boy scrunched his face up. "That was fowevew ago Papa!"
Taylor chuckled as Evan moved past his confusion and began eating again. Justin stood and poured milk into a bright red sippy cup.
Evan munched on happily, oblivious to the fact that in a few hours, the house would be swarming with overwhelming relatives.
"What do you want to do today, hon?" Taylor asked, finished with his doughnuts already.
His son thought about this, swallowing the last bit of his chocolate, and began licking his sticky fingers. "Wanna ride Daddy's cycle!" he crowed, face lit up in mischief.
They both slapped their faces in exasperation. "We should have expected that," the biker murmured. He looked at his partner, silently asking him to forgive him for what he was about to say. Justin rolled his eyes and smiled- just enough for Taylor to know he was already forgiven. "Okay. But we stay in the driveway, we don't go very fast, and you are going to wear a helmet."
No sooner had he said this, then Evan was running in circles around the room, shrieking in joy. The pair just stared at him, confused. The same question was embedded in each of their minds: how had he gotten from his chair, where he was when he made his request, to the living room, in the ten seconds it had taken for him to get his answer?
Evan couldn't wait to get on his Daddy's motorcycle and 'fly'. Although they hadn't even gone above 10 mph, the small child was still babbling about his ride when the guests started arriving at noon. 'Gramma Fi' was the first to arrive, as always. When she introduced her grandson to the woman with her, who looked very similar to the plump, energetic woman, he barely blinked before he was ranting to 'Auntie Aggie' about 'flying'.
He was so caught up with telling his adventure that he didn't realize how many people were around him in the porch until there were far more around him than he could count. Although, since he could only count to ten, and he skipped four and seven, this is hardly a fair assessment. As Taylor was pointing out Evan's new family and introducing them, Evan clutched Justin's leg and hid behind him. His wide emerald eyes gave him a deer-in-headlights look.
When Taylor introduced him to his father, Christopher, the old man crouched down next to Evan and smiled at him. "Hello there, Evan. I'm your new Grandfather." His calm voice was booming to the three-year-old, and he tried to hid further behind his Papa, who put a hand on his head soothingly. His grandfather frowned, and reached out to grab Evan-perhaps for a forced hug or handshake.
Evan squeaked, and abandoned Justin in favor of Taylor, who was further away from the strange man with the white hair and beard.
Taylor knelt next to his son; Justin tried to clear the immediate area around his frightened child.
"Evan, sweetie," Taylor began, holding him at arms length. He wasn't looking at his Daddy, but at the floor. "Look at me. I'm not mad at you or anything. I just want to know why you're running from your Grampa."
He sniffed, teary eyes looking back at concerned blue ones. "He smells funny. And I don't like his beard." The beard in question was, indeed, rather long. It reminded some of Santa Clause's beard, but it clearly held some bad memory for Evan.
Once he had calmed down from the incident, which had angered his grandfather considerably, Evan was coached into joining his cousins, who had gone into the living room to play. Taylor's older cousin, Lydia Jefferson, had been married to her husband Russ for nearly ten years. The eldest of their three children, Jamie, had already run off to show Grandpa Christopher his new rocket, so only Elizabeth (who was six) and Charlie (who was only a year older than Evan) were playing.
Evan, seeing Charlie's clothes, started to giggle quietly. His cousin was adorned with an eye patch, a plastic sword, and a stuffed parrot. He had a ship made of Legos that was sailing through the hardwood floor towards the dark blue rug.
Elizabeth, seated on the rug, let out a shriek as the pirates landed on the 'island'. "Charlie no! My dollies are playing here!" Indeed, she had a slew of Barbies, all in pink princess dresses, laid out on the floor.
Any crisis which may have arisen between the siblings was averted by Evan abruptly joining Charlie on the floor. "Dollies can be pirates too!" His quick hands snagged the closest doll, and he placed her next to the pirate ship.
"Arrg!" the doll said, trying to be as tough as a Barbie doll can be in a pink sparkly dress.
Elizabeth snatched up her toys, pulling the kidnaped one away, and fled the room. The living room was now empty except for the two boys, although the adults could easily see them if they glanced over at them through the glass doors linking one part of the living room to the farmer's porch off the side of the house.
It was half an hour later, when dinner was ready, that Taylor glanced over at the living room (which had contained two boys five minutes ago) and his heart sunk through the floorboards. His face went ashen. Justin looked at him and immediately swivelled to check on Evan.
They were gone. Charlie and Evan had left the building. Well, more accurately, the room. The adults were at every entrance, so they knew that the boys had to be somewhere in the house. Key word being 'somewhere'.
It was nearly twenty minutes into the search when Taylor had an epiphany. He stopped dead in his tracks, and whispered "the basement."
Justin almost didn't catch it, with pretty much the entire family around them, but he caught on immediately. "Of course!" Evan loved playing in the basement. That was where Justin kept the model planes that he had painstakingly built with his father as a child, and Evan loved looking at them on their tall shelves, even though he couldn't touch them. Both Justin and Taylor knew that Evan was down there- but Justin knew he had locked the door that morning. The stairs weren't solid, and were dangerous for small children.
Once the pair reached the door, Taylor reached forward and grasped the knob. His heart sank in dread as it turned easily in his hand. Opening the door, they saw that the light was, in fact, on. Taylor sprinted down the stairs, Justin close behind. They spotted the missing children easily, giggling in a corner.
Evan and Charlie were surrounded by several paint cans. Open paint cans. Evan's arms were streaked with bright blue, and the wall in front of him had several hand prints and drawings of this same color amidst the other artwork. Black and red and brown splattered his clothes. Charlie was in a similar state, but was instead sporting yellow, green, and purple.
Evan looked up at the stairs, having heard the footsteps. "Hi Daddy! Hi Papa! Wanna see ouw picthur?"
Many hours later, after the party had ended and the miscreants had been properly reprimanded, Justin and Taylor fell, exhausted, onto the couch to watch reruns of their favorite show, NCIS. The artist was snuggled into his partner, head resting on his chest. The pediatrician played with Justin's long hair absently as they stared at the television.
"How the hell did he do it?" the brunette said out of the blue.
Taylor stopped his hand and looked down at the top of Justin's head, knowing that he wasn't referring to how Gibbs and Tony had caught the latest criminal, but not exactly knowing what Justin was referring to. "Who?"
"Evan. How did he open the paint? They're low enough for him to get, but we both know how difficult it is to open one." The artist was sulking. Taylor knew this without even having to look at his face. Justin hated having a mystery he couldn't solve.
"I suppose it's just another thing about Evan we'll never really know." The doctor murmured, running his fingers through brown locks.
"Like his obsession with flying?"
"Exactly."