Chapter 5

Wyatt was pulled out of a potentially pleasant dream (which may or may not have featured a certain dark-haired teacher) by his son's small hand carefully patting his cheek. "Pssst, Daddy...Daddy, are you asleep?" Jamie whispered. Before he could respond, two chubby little fingers carefully peeled open his right eye. "Hey, Daddy, it's me, Jamie, are you awake?" "I am now. What's the matter, buddy? Bad dream?" Wyatt asked in a drowsy voice. Opening the other eye, he saw a worried expression on the little boy's face. Pulling back the covers, he wordlessly invited Jamie to get in bed with him. After his son was snugged up against Wyatt's bare chest, he pulled the covers back over them and waited patiently.

He was starting to doze off when Jamie whispered, "Daddy, do little boys ever get more than one Mommy?" Wyatt opened his eyes in surprise at the question. "Why do you want to know, son?" Jamie didn't answer right away, and Wyatt murmured, "Hey, it's okay, buddy, you know you can ask me anything, right?" The boy nodded slowly, and in a voice so soft Wyatt leaned closer to hear, said, "Daddy, you always say that Mommy got hurted real bad and went to heaven, and she didn't ever want to leave me 'cause she loved her baby boy so much, but what if little boys only get one Mommy, then there's no more Mommy for me ever, and Annie and Sadie have a Mommy, and my friend Jordan has a Mommy, and I love my Mommy, but Daddy, maybe sometimes little boys get two Mommies if they are really, really good. And Aunt Julie says I'm her good little man, and Miss Preston says 'you are such a good boy, Jamie', so Daddy, if I can be a good boy every day forever, can there be two Mommies for me, please?" And then Jamie fell silent.

Wyatt felt his heart ache at the earnest question. After they had lost Jess, he had known he'd be having this conversation with Jamie some day, and that day (well, middle of the night actually) had finally arrived. Ever since Jamie's first birthday, Wyatt had done his level best to be both father and mother to his child, and had told himself over the years that Jamie was doing just fine. He had a sinking feeling, though, that his son's growing attachment to Lucy Preston and the fact that as far as he knew, most, if not all, of Jamie's kindergarten classmates had mothers, had jump started the discussion a bit sooner than he had expected. Caught unawares, Wyatt had to scramble to work out an answer that would satisfy the child without making any promises he couldn't keep.

"Okay, here's the deal, buddy," he began. "Yeah, Jamie, sometimes little boys, and girls, too, get more than one Mommy, and it doesn't have anything to do with being good or bad. And I think you are old enough now to know that we can't just go to ToysRUs and buy a new Mommy, right?" Jamie giggled at that. "The only way for you to get a new Mommy is if I get married again. Then my wife will be your new Mommy. Does that make sense to you?" he asked. Wyatt watched his son's face carefully, and the boy's dark blue eyes grew round as he thought it over, and finally nodded and gave his dad a happy grin, "Yes, thank you, Daddy!" He snuggled back against Wyatt's chest and almost immediately fell asleep. Wyatt was slightly taken aback at how quickly his son had accepted his admittedly spur-of-the-moment explanation, but it was the middle of the night, and he really needed some rest. As he drifted off, his last thought was, "That was a little too easy. Maybe I need to clarify the subject in the morning."

However, Wyatt knew as soon as he opened his eyes the next morning that he had overslept-there was way too much sunlight streaming through the bedroom window. By the time he quickly showered and got himself and Jamie fed, dressed, and hustled out the door, there was no opportunity to revisit their middle-of-the-night discussion. In spite of his sleep being interrupted, Jamie was in a surprisingly good mood when he was dropped off at school, and after giving his dad a hug and kiss, ran into the building. Smiling and shaking his head, Wyatt expertly maneuvered his Jeep out of the drop-off area and headed to Pendleton.

About fifteen minutes before school started for the day, Lucy was at her desk going over her lesson plans. She looked up at a knock on her classroom door, and smiled at the tall, dark-eyed man standing there. She had met Rufus Carlin in the teachers' lounge on her first day, and they had become fast friends. Rufus was Palm Grove's technology instructor, and his gentle smile and dry sense of humor made Lucy feel at ease right away. They ate lunch together most days, and occasionally shared playground duties, and Lucy had even gone out for dinner a couple of times with Rufus and his girlfriend, Jiya, who worked as a computer programmer for a branch office of Mason Industries here in San Diego. Jiya was very smart and funny, and always made Lucy laugh. Although Amy frequently invited her sister along when she went out with her classmates, Lucy was usually at least five or six years older than Amy's friends, and nice as they all were, she actually had little in common with any of them. She had been happy to find companions of her own that she enjoyed spending time with.

"Yes, Mr. Carlin?" she teased. He grinned at her faux formality, and responded, "Well, Miss Preston, I'm here about the misbehaving I-Pads you reported." She laughed, "Thank goodness! I had about 20 cranky kindergarten students yesterday afternoon who were very upset to lose their computer time because of faulty technology." "Well, since the thought of a bunch of unhappy five-year-olds makes a shiver go straight up my spine, I will get right on this," he smirked, and went to the back of the room where Lucy had set up a small "technology" area for the children, and began working on the tablets.

A few seconds later, she heard the sound of a child running down the hallway, and Jamie Logan burst through the doorway, exclaiming, "Miss Preston! Miss Preston! I need to ask you something" Lucy was faintly alarmed by the urgency in his voice, asking, "Jamie, are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?" "No, I'm okay," he panted, his little cheeks flushed. Lucy took the boy by the hand and got him a small bottle of water from the mini fridge. "Here, have a drink of water, and breathe slowly," she suggested. After his breathing evened out, and some of the redness faded from his face, she asked him what was so important. She was in no way prepared for his answer, although after spending all day with five-year-olds for the past six weeks, she felt like she had seen and heard quite a bit. However, "Miss Preston, can you marry my Daddy?" was absolutely the last thing she expected. Lucy's mouth dropped open, and stunned, she looked up to see that Rufus, too, had heard Jamie's question and was standing there frozen with an I-Pad in his hand. He recovered first, saying, "I will just take all this back to the technology lab and give you some privacy." And gathering up the tablets, he quickly left, shutting the door behind him.

Jamie sat there clutching the bottle of water to his chest, staring at her expectantly, clearly waiting for an answer. Lucy felt herself start to stutter, "Um, Jamie, I don't, um, what did you say?" "Will you marry my Daddy," he repeated. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Jamie, sweetie, why do you want me to marry your Daddy?" (Very firmly suppressing the tiny thrill at just saying the words.) "Because Daddy said the only way I can have two Mommies is if he has a wife, so you have to marry him so you can be my other Mommy," he said matter-of-factly. When Lucy continued to just stare at him, Jamie's big blue eyes started to well with tears and his lower lip began to tremble. "Don't you want to be my other Mommy?" he whispered. Putting a hand on his cheek, she responded, "Oh, Jamie, it's not that." He rubbed his small fists across his eyes. Before she could say anything more, the first bell rang, and the other children started walking into the room. Jamie ducked his head in embarrassment at the thought of his classmates seeing him cry.

Lucy quickly made a decision. Directing Jamie to sit at her desk, she walked over to the intercom on the wall and pressed the button for the office. The secretary, Becky Jones, a kindly woman in her late '50's, answered, "Yes, Miss Preston?" Lucy asked her if someone could come and watch her class for a few minutes while she dealt with a minor situation. Mrs. Jones assured her she would send someone right away. Lucy turned her attention to welcoming the students, and by the time she had finished taking attendance and started the other children on an art project, a teachers' aide had arrived to watch the class.

After thanking her, Lucy and Jamie left the room, and she asked, "Will you come with me for a few minutes?" He nodded once, his lower lip still a little shaky. "It's all right," she reassured him, holding out her hand, "I'm not mad, and you're not in trouble. I just want to talk some more, just you and me. Would that be okay?" He nodded again and took her hand. They made a quick stop at the office where Lucy requested that Mrs. Jones call Jamie's dad and have him come to the school as soon as he could, asking her to please stress to Mr. Logan that this was not an emergency and that his son was not hurt or in any kind of trouble. She told the secretary that she and Jamie would be in the small room just off the school library, and taking the little boy's hand, they left the office.

When they got to the empty room, Lucy sat on a small sofa, and was surprised when Jamie climbed on her lap and laid his face against her neck. She put her arms around him and gently rubbed his back. He sniffed once and cuddled closer. The little boy was warm against her and smelled just the way she imagined little guys should: like a combination of dryer sheets, crayons, and maybe Pop Tarts? Carefully choosing her words, she softly asked Jamie if he could please explain a little more about why he wanted her to marry his Daddy.

He sighed, and said quietly, "My only Mommy is in heaven cause she got hurted real bad, and I love her, but I was afraid that little boys only get one Mommy, but maybe really good little boys can have two Mommies, so I waked Daddy up and asked him if I was a really good boy forever, if I can have two Mommies. And Daddy said boys and girls can have more than one Mommy, but we can't just buy a new Mommy at ToysRUs, and that made me laugh 'cause Daddy is funny." Lucy smiled at that, asking him, "What did he say after that?" Jamie continued, "Daddy said the only way I can have two Mommies is if he gets married again, and then his wife would be my new Mommy. So I asked you to marry my Daddy so you can be my other Mommy." Lucy was getting emotional at the sweet sincerity in Jamie's voice, and letting out a shaky breath, she asked, "When your Daddy told you it was possible to have another Mommy, why did you ask me?" Jamie looked up at her, dark blue eyes shining, and said, "Cause you are pretty and smell nice and never yell and have soft hands and you smile at me a lot and I think that's what Mommies are." A single tear slowly made its way down Lucy's cheek as she whispered, "Thank you, Jamie. That's the nicest thing anybody has ever told me." She hugged him closer to her, neither of them aware of Wyatt standing just outside the door.

When the call from Palm Grove came in, Wyatt had just gotten on base. Although the school secretary firmly stressed that his son was neither hurt or in trouble, Miss Preston had requested that he come to the school as soon as possible. Trying not to panic in spite of the woman's reassurances, Wyatt immediately went looking for Bam Bam, and asked him to cover for him for the next hour or so while he took care of a personal matter. He agreed right away, and Wyatt practically ran to his Jeep to make the drive back to the school. Thank goodness for his military identification because he knew he was driving well above the speed limit, and there may have been more than one yellow light he tore through. Finally, he pulled into the school's visitors parking lot. Slamming the Jeep into "Park" and tearing his keys from the ignition, he practically ran into the main office at the front of the building.

The secretary looked up in surprise when he suddenly appeared in the office doorway. "Mr. Logan, that was quick," she said. "Is Jamie all right, Mrs. Jones? Can I see him, please?" Wyatt asked in a rather clipped tone of voice. She directed him down the hallway to the room just past the library. He walked rapidly down the hall, trying to remain calm until he knew what the hell was going on. He stopped just outside the doorway at the sound of his son's voice, startled to hear Jamie tell Lucy Preston that he had asked her to marry his Daddy so she could be his other Mommy. (Good Lord, no wonder she wanted him to come back to the school.) Wyatt was surprised, though, to hear Lucy Preston ask his son why he asked her to marry his Daddy, and then got downright choked up at Jamie's response. His chest felt tight with feelings right now. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders, tried to clear the emotion from his face, and walked through the door. Woman and child both looked up at him, and damn, if his son didn't look completely at home on Lucy Preston's lap, his head nesting against her neck and her arms around him. He should have anticipated something like this happening. He knew that Jamie was getting really attached to his teacher, but he never dreamed that his on-the-spot explanation about "two Mommies" in the middle of the night could lead to this. Wyatt cleared his throat, and quietly said, "Hey there, buddy, everything okay?" If possible, Jamie curled even closer into Lucy. "Jamie, your Daddy asked you a question," She gently prompted. "I'm okay, Daddy," he whispered.

Looking at Lucy now, Wyatt suggested, "Maybe I should take Jamie home for the rest of the day. We have some talking to do. If that's all right with you?" She looked up at Wyatt and smiled. "That would be fine. I will sign him out at the office for you." And then Lucy set Jamie on his feet and told him to go with his Daddy, and that she would see him tomorrow. Wyatt took Jamie's hand and they started for the door when impulsively, he turned back around and asked her if she would care to come over to their place for supper that evening, maybe bring Jamie's schoolwork for today with her, but only if she wasn't busy or anything. Lucy's eyes widened and her cheeks grew warm. "I'd love to, what time?" "Is around 5:30 all right? Jamie is usually in bed by 9:00," Wyatt responded. Lucy smiled, and said, "Sounds good. I guess I will see both of you at 5:30." She watched the Logans leave and told herself sternly that this was not a date, and she would not be counting the hours until 5:30. Except deep down, she knew that's exactly what it was and how the rest of her day would go.

A/N - I just want to express my stunned delight at the response to "First Steps"! Really glad readers are enjoying my first fic. Thank you so much to everyone for the Favorites, Follows, and especially the reviews. What an amazing fandom! Working on Ch. 6 now, 'cause Wyatt and Lucy have taken over my brain, and all of you are so inspiring :)