Okay, so you get two chapters tonight. There are only two more chapters left in this fanfic. And I'll probably post those two chapters tomorrow. So the first chapter of the sequel will be posted either tomorrow or the day after that. Keep a lookout for it. I'm thinking of titling it "Magic and Choices"
SEPTEMBER 12
I filled Stryker's backpack – in the shape of Pikachu, of course – with school supplies. Today was his first day of school, and I was having a hard time with it. I couldn't believe my baby boy was already old enough to be in school.
But I wasn't the only one struggling.
Stryker had suddenly decided, just two nights ago, that he didn't want to go to school. He wanted to go to the daycare that he normally went to while Alex and I were at work. Well, he went to the daycare on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays he spent with Mom. But since Alex and I both worked until five, and school got out at three-thirty, Mom was going to pick him up from school every day and watch him until we could pick him up.
"Hey, buddy," Alex said. "Finish your cereal. We've gotta get going soon."
"Daddy," Stryker grumbled.
"Don't do the whining, Stryker. Eat your breakfast. Quickly."
Still pouting, my son did as he was told. I shook my head. "I'm surprised at him. He was really excited about school, until Saturday night. Now, all of sudden, he doesn't want to go?" Strangely enough, Stryker had decided this only a few hours after I'd made my...discovery. But he didn't know about my discovery. So what had brought this change?
Alex shrugged, pressing a kiss to my cheek. He began preparing Stryker's lunch, putting it into the matching lunch bag. "He's probably just nervous. I'm sure he'll love it once he gets there."
"I hope so." I finished and zipped up the backpack. Once Alex was done, he latched the lunch bag onto the zipper. "I'm going to put Stryk's stuff and our lunches out in the car. Will you help him brush his teeth and get his jacket on, please?"
"I can do it myself, Mama!" Stryker objected, putting his bowl in the sink.
"Okay, okay. Do it yourself, then. Jeez," I muttered to myself, taking out stuff out to the car. We didn't take my truck very often. Alex's car got way better gas mileage, so that was our usual mode of transportation, especially since Alex and I worked in the same building. It made sense to only take one vehicle. Unless, of course, one of us had an early morning meeting, which didn't happen very often, fortunately.
When I went back inside the house, Stryker was pulling on a hoodie. He was struggling a bit, but he wouldn't let Alex help him. "Ready, little man?"
He finished pulling the sweatshirt over his head and then jutted out his lower lip. He was still trying to get me to let him not go to school. "I don't wanna go, Mama."
"I know. I was the same way when I had to go to school. But it's important. And you never know, you might get there and find that you really like it. You won't know until you try it."
He shook his head. "I don't like it. I know I don't like it." Just in the last few months, Stryker's pronunciation of words had gotten a lot better. He really only had trouble with the r sound. And that was kind of advanced for his age. It didn't surprise me, though. My little man was super smart.
Alex knelt down in front of our son. "Hey, buddy. Do you remember when Ash first got Pikachu?"
Stryker nodded.
"Well, Pikachu didn't like Ash very much, did he? When he first started traveling with him."
"No. Pikachu didn't wanna go with Ash."
"Right. He didn't want to go with Ash, just like you don't want to go to school." Oh, my husband was brilliant. He really was. I could see where he was going with this, and I was certain it was going to work. "But even though Pikachu didn't want to go, because he thought that he wouldn't like it, he did go. And he ended up liking it. He was a good friend to Ash, and he liked traveling with Ash. Didn't he?"
"Yes."
"So you might end up liking school, even though you don't think you will. Do you think you can give school a chance, like Pikachu gave Ash a chance?"
"Okay, Daddy." And with that, Stryker left the house, going out to the car.
I shook my head, following after my son. Alex locked up after us. "That was genius," I told him. "Absolutely brilliant."
"I know."
Once everyone was buckled in, Alex drove down to the elementary school. Stryker didn't whine or complain the entire way. Alex's little pep talk seemed to have worked.
He started to actually get a little excited when we got to his classroom, and met his teacher, Miss Mithian. And then he met a boy with dark brown skin and a dark afro, playing with a couple of Pokémon toys – the kids were allowed to bring toys with them the first week of school, to kind of help with the transition, I guess, especially for those kids that didn't go to preschool. Such as my son.
Alex chuckled. "Those two will be best friends in no time."
I smiled. "I'm glad. I know he has friends from the daycare, but I don't think many of those kids will be in his class, if any. It's good for him to have a friend in his own class."
Alex and I went over and talked to the teacher for a few minutes. She explained to us some of the routines in the classroom, and what sort of homework to expect and that kind of thing. She was very nice. I was certain that Stryker was going to love her as a teacher.
Then we waved goodbye to our son – who was too busy playing with his new friend to even notice us – and left.
"Alex," I said, as we neared Camelot Corporation. "I've got some news for you." It had been killing me, the past couple of days, to not say anything to him. But I'd wanted to wait until we'd gotten Stryker off to his first day of school.
"Yeah?"
He pulled into the parking lot and found a space. He turned off the engine.
"I'm pregnant."
He turned to look at me, his eyes wide. "You're…How far along?"
I smiled widely. "Three weeks. I realized it about two days ago."
"It's probably too early to tell if it's a boy or girl, isn't it?"
My smile widened even further. "It's never too early for magic. I was able to sense the gender. We're having a girl. She doesn't have any magic of her own."
"A girl?"
"Yeah. Not another boy."
He smiled. "You know what? I don't even care. I know that we wanted boys, but...We're having a baby. We're having a baby!"
I chuckled. "We're having a baby."
