It was official. Sam's worst nightmare was happening right before his eyes and it was happening way too early and he didn't know what to do. He'd showed up with Mercedes to pick up Lilliana at school as they usually did. He'd never get tired of seeing the smile bloom on her face when she saw them for the first time after being gone from them all day. His heart always felt so full when she took off at a sprint toward them.
But today was different. Today, she emerged from the building with her hand attached to that of another classmate—a little curly-haired boy named Oliver. She'd marched right up to her parents, Oliver trailing behind her, and introduced him as her boyfriend.
Sam could literally feel the blood draining from his face as he processed Lilliana's words and he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He could hear Mercedes speaking next to him, and then Lilliana and the boy answered back, but he couldn't bring make his voice work as he stared at his daughter. His only response was a feverish chuckle, before he picked up his little girl and walked off, ignoring Lilly's protests and leaving Mercedes to make nice with Oliver.
"Code Red. Operation Hell to the No is in effect! I repeat Operation HTTN is in effect! Everyone must report to headquarters immediately!" Sam said into his cell phone, talking to Mike, as he headed into the house.
Mercedes rolled her eyes, helping Lilliana out of the car, as she watched him go. This had been a touchy subject for Sam since the day he'd found out they were having a girl. He'd expected their second child would be a girl all along, but something had flipped for him as he looked at her ultrasound image, which the doctor had labeled 'Baby Girl Evans'. It was as if the idea of his little girl had suddenly become real.
He'd started out really emotional as he shared his thoughts with Mercedes, much like he'd done with Cameron—getting to hold her, to sing to her, to help her take her first steps, to fail miserably at combing her hair, to take her to her first day of school. Then his mind had started to wander—her first friend, her first dance, her first date—and Mercedes had watched Sam's color change into a dismal shade of green.
He'd gotten quiet after that, and Mercedes thought now that Operation Hell to the No—what even?—had been borne in that silence.
"Is Daddy mad at me?" Lilliana asked quietly as they walked into the house. She'd definitely noticed the change in her dad's demeanor. "He didn't call me Lilly Bean, and he didn't talk to me about school, and he didn't like Oliver."
"No, sweetheart," Mercedes assured her. "He just has a lot on his mind today." Lilliana mustered a small smile and nodded, but Mercedes could tell she was still troubled. She usually enjoyed close relationship with her father, and the way he'd just shut down hurt her.
"Come on," Mercedes encouraged. "Let's get inside. You can get changed and play with your toys while I get your snack ready." Lilly perked up a bit at that and ran upstairs.
Mercedes smiled at her daughter. She'd known how Sam would get about the boys in Lilliana's life, but she never figured it'd be this drastic, or that Mike, Tyler, and Cameron would be involved. Ten minutes after Sam's call, Mike and Tyler had showed up dressed all in black, and joined Sam and Cameron—who also donned black attire—in Sam's office.
Tina walked in behind her family, shooting her best friend a questioning look, as they met up in the kitchen. "Lilly says she has a boyfriend," Mercedes said and a look of understanding dawned on Tina's face.
"And the black clothes?" Tina asked.
Mercedes shrugged. "Sam's losing it. I mean, he just shut down at the mention of the word boyfriend. I'm pretty sure he's been dreading this moment since before he even had a daughter. I'm just like, she's four. I don't even think she knows what a boyfriend is."
"Did you guys talk to her about it?" Tina asked and Mercedes laughed.
"He picked her up, carted her away, then spent the car ride mumbling to himself. Sort of left limited time for conversation," Mercedes said, thinking back to earlier. She hadn't known Sam could turn such a nice shade of maroon.
"Well, why don't we talk to her about it—while they're in there doing whatever. See what's what," Tina suggested and Mercedes agreed. The two headed to Lilly's room.
"So your mommy tells me you made a new friend at school," Tina asked Lilly. She and Mercedes were seated with the little girl on the rug in her room. Tina held Lilly in her lap and talked to her as Lilly brushed one of her Barbies' hair.
Lilly smiled a little—she was still upset about Sam's silence with her—and nodded at her godmother's question, not looking up from her doll. "Yup! His name's Oliver! He's my boyfriend," she said in a matter of fact tone. Mercedes smirked and shook her head.
"Oh, really?" Tina asked with a giggle. "What's he like?"
"He's nice. He shared his toys with me. And we played dolls and he doesn't say it's too girly. And he let me play cars and tag," Lilly said nonchalantly as she continued brushing her Barbie's hair.
"Oh?" Tina said. "Do you hold hands? Do you like him?" she asked, getting down to what she really wanted to know. Lilly lifted her head at that and looked at Tina like she had six eyes.
"No!" Lilly denied, her mouth stretched into a disgusted grimace. "That's for the husbands, like daddy and Uncle Mike!" she said loudly. "He's only my boyfriend!"
"Why do you call him your boyfriend, sweetie?" Mercedes asked, laughing.
Lilly looked at her, confused, as if she should already know the answer. "He's a boy and he's my friend, momma," she said in explanation and returned to her doll.
Mercedes giggled silently and turned to Tina who laughed and said, "Well, there you have it."
"I say I dress up like Darth Vader," Sam said, and the boys stared at him blankly. "Then, when I go pick up Lilly tomorrow, I warn him to stay away or face his doom."
"Probably, not the best idea," Tyler piped up. "I'm pretty sure that'll get you arrested, or at least banned from school grounds."
"I say we break into his house and steal all his toys," Cameron said. "Then, we can hold them for ransom until he backs off."
"Mm," Mike intoned in agreement. "Evil. I like it."
"Also an offense punishable with jail time," Tyler said.
"Dude, whose side are you on?" Cameron demanded, not liking his friend's unhelpfulness one bit.
"Whichever side keeps me out of jail. I'm 17. They'll try me as an adult," Tyler informed them. "I have a lot on my life's bucket list, and jail isn't a dream of mine. I don't think it's any of yours either. I'm just looking out for you."
Cameron rolled his eyes. "What's your big idea, then?"
"We could just bribe her with ice cream and dolls or something," Tyler said.
All the men looked around at each other, considering, when a knock sounded at the door. They all turned as Tina and Mercedes entered the inner sanctum and looked around at them.
"What're you boys doin'?" Mercedes asked in a singsong. In fact, she already knew. She and Tina had been standing outside the door eavesdropping long enough to know that this was the most ridiculous meeting in history.
"Nothing," Sam said quickly.
"Oh? The demise of a four year old boy wasn't on the agenda today?" Tina asked.
"Demise is a strong word," Cameron said. "We were thinking more like 'foil'," he finished and Mike kicked him. "Ow!"
"What happens during the meetings of the brotherhood stays in the meetings," Mike hissed.
Mercedes and Tina rolled their eyes.
"The brotherhood? Really?" Tina asked.
"We just thought we should inform you that this little meeting of the minds is entirely unnecessary," Mercedes said.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"Meaning, if you had taken the time to talk to your daughter instead of freaking out, you'd find out she has no idea what a boyfriend even is. She's four, Sam. She thinks that a boyfriend is just a boy who is your friend. All the other stuff, the stuff you're thinking, 'is for the husbands'," Mercedes said, quoting her daughter.
Sam blushed, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't relieved to hear it.
"And you should probably talk to her," Mercedes added before she and Tina left the inner sanctum. "She thinks you're mad at her. Since you happen to be the most important boy in her life, she's pretty hurt about it right now."
Mercedes smiled as Lilly came running into the kitchen for her snack, her usual bouncy personality restored. She'd just finished her talk with her father and he walked in right behind her smiling sheepishly at his wife as he walked further into the room.
"She looks happy," Mercedes observed. "The talk went well?"
Sam nodded and Mercedes waited for him to elaborate. "I told her I wasn't mad, just silly, which she seemed to accept pretty quickly," he said with a laugh. Mercedes smiled. "We have a date with Princess Tiana and some ice cream tonight."
Mercedes nodded, about to head over to the dining room table, where everyone was waiting, with the food when Sam spoke again, "I was thinking we could call Oliver's parents."
"Why would we do that?" Mercedes asked, already not wanting to know where this was going.
"I thought we could maybe set up a play date with him and Lilly. We could get to know him and his parents if they're going to be spending a lot of time together at school," Sam said and Mercedes knew he was thinking back to Cameron and Tyler and everything that had happened with their friend Andrew.
"Keep your enemies closer," Mercedes teased and Sam blushed.
He couldn't deny it. Oliver may have been four, but he wasn't going to get any slack from Sam.
A/N: Sam has issues. Did you like it? Please review.