By afternoond, Edward appeared, with Jack in tow. "Jacob, Jack wants to tell you something.", he said.
Jack however stared at the ground and generally looked like a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry."
"I found him in the park.", Edward explained.
"Thank you. I already saw myself combing through all of London.", Jacob gave a relieved sigh. "Jack, please don't run again. We've been worried for you."
As Jack didn't really react, Edward changed the subject. "Well, .. how did it go?", he was curious if Jacob would have a girl or a boy. Surely, in the end it was most important that it was a healthy kid, but Edward was still curious.
Jacob smiled softly. "It went well. Lilian even could get up but she's just resting for now. ...It's an incredible feeling, to know that you'd just become a father. Lilian has slept for quite a while. I was almost scared. I mean .. she screamed to loudly."
Edward smiled. He had been a bit sad that Jacob had started to live his own life and they no longer did things together, but he kind of accepted it now. He was happy for Jacob, that he could do these kinds of things. Edward still remembered when Haytham had been born. He had been so excited.
"Want to see him?", Jacob asked.
"Eh .. yea, sure.", Edward was a bit flustered. "...Congratulations, by the way."
Jacob went upstairs to Lilian and the Baby. "Lilian, you're awake. Are you feeling better? We got a visitor."
Lilian looked up and smiled. She was so beautiful with her newborn child in arm. She saw Edward who didn't seem to be quite sure if he should enter the room or not. "Hey Edward."
The man had been a visitor to the house every now and then, so Lilian knew him by now.
"Hey.", Edward smiled softly. "So .. how does it feel, being a mother and father now?"
Jacob put on a crooked grin. "I'm pretty sure the rough nights are going to come now."
Jacob picked up the little boy and showed him to Edward. Not much to see except for a small rosy face.
"You will survive those, I am sure.", Edward said. Alright, so .. Jacob had a son now. Well, yes, there was Jack, but .. this one was of Jacobs blood. Ed wondered if he was going to be an Assassin someday as well. The years passed by so quickly. "Does the child have a name yet?"
Jacob put on a serious look. "...Ethan. After my father.", he looked at Lilian. "If that's okay for you?"
Lilian nodded. "It's a nice name. Ethan Frye"
"I'm pretty sure, your sister would agree.", Edward said. "You should write her ... and maybe you can add one of those .. photographs you spoke about. Do take one of those. Of the three of you."
"That's a wonderful idea.", Jacob was going to write to his sister real soon.
She was living in India now and he hoped she was alright over there.
Ethan started to get cranky and made some noises. "Aww, what's up?", Jacob cooed and took Ethan back from Edward.
"Well .. I just fed him, he can't be hungry.", Lilian said. "Could you check the diapers?"
"Hm... No, diapers are alright. Maybe he's just tired?", when Jacob removed the blanket a bit, Ethan calmed down. Oh .. so he was just too warm. "Oh fun ... it's going to be a guessing game, every time he does that."
"Don't worry, after a while you will tell by the way he is crying what he wants.", Edward said. Maybe both parents and children learnt to communicate that way.
As the months passed by, Ethan became a healthy and strong baby. He rather slept in Jacobs arms than anywhere else. Jack had somehow accepted Ethans presence... and ignored the baby at most times.
Jack soon would be old enough to start his Assassin training as it was custom. But was he ready for it?
Right now, Jacob took upon the challenge of feeding Ethan.
"Here comes the train. Tchuu tchuu ~", and another spoon landed safely in Ethans mouth. It was a bit messy, so Jacob had to wipe Ethans mouth a bit afterwards. "You little bugger..."
Ethan made small sounds of disapproval. He didn't like that pulp all that much that his dad was feeding him.
"Da...daddy.", Ethan suddenly said.
Jacob gasped and nearly dropped the bowl with babyfood as well as the spoon. Lilian had been upstairs, doing something else. Jacob rushed to get her. "Lilian, Ethan just said his first word! Isn't that great? Come."
Together they went back down.
"My little man.", Jacob frolicked and took Ethan out of his baby chair. "Can you say that again? Daddy?"
"Diddy. Doodoo.", Ethan wasn't really interested right now.
Lilian chuckled. "He really loves you, Jacob. ..Why don't we take a walk in the park? The weather is so lovely today."
"Why not? Ethan does not really enjoy eating his food right now. But maybe afterwards?"
Lilian nodded. "I'll go say Jack we're going. I have seen him stuck in his room all day. ...I don't want him to become like that. So isolated like that. Boys his age should be out and about more often."
"I'm sure he just needs time to grow a bit more self confident.", Jacob said. Then he smiled and pulled Lilian into a kiss.
"I'm telling Jack to get ready. Can you take care of Ethan in the meantime?", Lilian asked.
"Sure thing.", Jacob cleaned up the mess from feeding Ethan. At least he had managed to get half of the pulp down. Then he got the baby ready that they could take a walk.
"You were right with the weather. It really is lovely out here.", Jacob said as they were out towards the park a little later.
In the park itself, other families were also taking a walk and enjoying the nice weather. Children were playing. It seemed so harmonious.
"Yes, it's quite sunny today. Not that common for London.", Lilian replied.
Jack however found it pretty boring. He just walked beside his foster parents and looked around, hoping that he soon could return to reading his book. A girl about Jack's age noticed him and stuck out her tongue.
Jack gave her a cold glare and made a cut-throat gesture.
"Jack!", Jacob pulled Jack by the arm. "Do you even know the meaning of this gesture? You can't do that to others. It's a threat. I don't want to see you doing that again. Do you hear me?"
Jack had been shocked that Jacob had caught him. But then he snorted and made an unhappy face. "She stuck out her tongue at me."
"That's no reason to do that.", Jacob sighed.
Lilian watched the two. To not push the situation further, she said nothing about that.
After their small tour through the park they ended up in a Café. They had some tea, cocoa and delicious cake.
Ethan also got a little from that. Lilian dipped some of her cake into milk and fed that to her child. Ethan could feed on that. You could also give him some bread, he would get that down by dissolving it with his saliva.
"Soon, it will be winter. We could build snowmen. Or even an Igloo.", Jacob said. He looked forward to the cold season.
"Our garden is small, but we surely can build an Igloo.", Lilian said. "This will be Ethans first Snow. I want to try and knit him a scarf at least. The rest we can hopefully buy. My knitting skills aren't that great."
But she presumably would try to make scarfs, also for Jacob and Jack.
"Sound good. .. Jack, what about you? Are you looking forward to it?", Jacob asked the boy.
Jack however gave him a dull glare. "Winter is cold. I rather spend it by the oven."
"...Of course. Everyone enjoys winter differently.", Jacob frowned. "Oven is a good spot. Nice and comfy."
Jacob still had a bad feeling about Jack. He appeared so unmotivated. Almost a bit sad.
After a while, Jack looked up to the trees. "Wouldn't it be nice if humans could fly as well?"
"It would indeed.", Jacob smiled. Okay, maybe not all was lost on the boy. ".. Hey. If there was a bird you could choose to be. What would it be?"
Jack pondered this question. "A crow, perhaps? Or something similar. They're smarter than they appear."
Lilian smiled. It seemed that Jack was finally opening up to Jacob. With Jack it had been always a bit difficult, but they were patient with him. And while Jack was always obedient and nice with Lilian, Jack was giving Jacob a hard time.
"Oh yes, they're very smart.", Jacob replied. "If I'd get to choose a bird, it would be the Rook, probably. Or a bird of prey."
"Ah.", and the nice moment had already passed. The dull expression reappeared on Jacks face and he excused himself to the toilet.
"Maybe not all is lost.", Lilian said when Jack was gone. "You just had such a nice conversation.
Jacob nodded. "We have to keep trying. Give it time. The talk just now.. it wasn't much, but a step into the right direction. And .. maybe we can really help him. So he feels better."
"I admit, it's sometimes a bit much.", Lilian sighed.
Jack returned from the restroom.
"Did you wash your hands, young man?", Lilian asked.
Jack showed her his clean hands. "Of course I did."
"Jack, would you like some more cocoa?", Jacob asked.
The weather outside changed. Dark clouds had pulled up and the street lamps turned on. A fine rain started to come down.
"No.", Jack made an unhappy face. He just wanted to go home now. For his taste they had been outside long enough. He didn't like being outside like that.
Even little Ethan started to whimper. He didn't start to cry out loud though. But he noticed that something was wrong.
Lilian wondered if something had happened for Jacks mood to turn like that. "Jack, is everything alright?"
"Of course it is.", Jack more or less ignored her and looked outside.
"We should probably go home if we don't want to get too wet.", Jacob said and called for the waitress to pay.
Lilian agreed. "We should go."
She did like the clean air after a good rainfall, but she also did not like to get soaking wet. Luckily their home was not too far away.