We Are Family 2 J3T x CS
Basically this is set when the older boys are around 17 and 18 and Danny would be around 11 or 12. This is going to focus on the boys as well as their dads and there will be some high school in it but I will focus more on the relationship and maybe a little more on Danny. I'll see how it goes.
G.p.o.v
It is nearly time for all the boys to get home from school. Our daughter Jessica who we adopted when Danny turned 4 had the day off because her class didn't have any cover teachers for the day. Danny is now 11, Jorel is just about to turn 18 and is happily dating Vanessa, Dylan is 16 like Jessica and they basically act like twins, Matt is now 17 and he just came out to us and will always have our full support and so far he hasn't been bullied by anyone but I don't think he has come out to his classmates yet. As far as I am concerned I have not got many worries about any of my children and how they are getting on with school work.
I do however have one concern over Daniel; he is not the bright bubbly boy I am used to seeing. He seems to treat school as somewhere he doesn't want to go at all. He is doing well in his classes and his teachers have noticed that he doesn't really show much confidence to them. I think I need to get to the bottom of this before I lose my youngest forever. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jordon, my loving husband asks me as I stand in the kitchen. I turn to face him. "If it's about Danny then probably," I tell him and he nods. "We need to figure out what is going on with our little bear, he maybe a couple of years from being a teen but he's never acted like this before," Jordon tells me and I nod.
"I will go and speak to him when he gets back; I do not like this at all. This isn't teen behaviour, this seems to be more like he's being bullied or something," I tell Jordon. Our youngest son has always been smaller than average and I see him being in the football team when he eventually goes to Victor Valley High school. (A.n. check out Danny's Instagram to understand why I mention this) He is short but he will be muscular when he starts doing the training and workouts with his brothers. "Yeah, he needs to remember that we will help him through whatever and if we need to then we will change the middle school he currently goes to, he is only in sixth grade and he can easily catch up if he needs to," Jordon says.
Then I hear the door open and I know my youngest is home. You could hear him try and kick off his shoes as quickly as possible and then you hear him run up the stairs and close his bedroom door. I am going to wait ten minutes and chat with the other boys and see how they are doing to give him some time to try and calm himself down. A moment later my eldest tackles me in a hug. "Hello Jorel, did you have a good day at school?" I ask him and he nods. "I asked Vanessa to the homecoming dance and she said yes," he said and I smiled at him. He treats her like a queen and I was so proud of him and how he has taken on board everything that I have been teaching him. I then hugged Matt and Dylan and asked them how their school day went. They all had a good day and it seemed like Danny had the bad day out of my children.
I decide to go up to my youngest son's bedroom and see what seems to be bothering him so much while everyone else does their homework. "Hey Dan, can I come in?" I ask after I softly knock on his door as to not startle him too much. I hear an okay in reply and my heart breaks at the sight I see once I open the door. He was lying on his bed and I could see he was crying even though he wasn't facing me. I close his door and sit right next to him on the bed. "My sweet bear, what's wrong?" I ask him and I rub his back a couple of times. He's always been attached to me ever since he was seven months old. He sits up and then crawls onto my lap and holds onto my shirt tightly as he cries.
"They all hate me," he says in between cries. I rub his back and give him a kiss. "What do you mean they all hate you?" I ask him. He tries to stop crying and I could see some marks under his shirt on his back. "My class and the school, they bully me and the teachers don't do a thing to help me," he tells me and I calm him down. "I am taking you out of there okay buddy, this has gone on for too long. How have they been bullying you?" I ask him and he takes off his shirt. There were loads of scratches on his skin and dark bruising around his chest, abdomen and back. "They call me names, they hit me and the girls use their long nails to scratch me," he tells me. Jordon knocks as I look at the marks covering my son's small skinny frame.
"Hey, do you need anything?" he asks, he too saw the marks on our youngest and I nod, "The first aid kit and a few ice packs please babe," I reply and he dashes off to get them. I was hoping that the ice packs can help with the bruises he got today and maybe some of the ones he has had for a few days and the first aid kit will sort out the scratches. Kids can be vicious when they have no discipline involved in their upbringing and they think hurting innocent kids is okay. A minute or two later Jordon came back with the things and he looked at me and Daniel. "Want me to call the school and pull him out?" he asks. I give an icepack to Danny who holds it to his abdomen. "Yeah, and call the school the boys went to and see if they'll take him but try and get his starting date to be Monday so we can help him through this," I reply and Jordon leaves again, leaving me with our son.
I quickly cleaned him up and got a fresh clean shirt on him. "I'm sorry dad, I didn't mean to shut you out," he tells me and I pull him close and kiss the top of his head. "You don't need to be sorry, bullying is a new thing to you and you wouldn't know that you can come to us at any time to tell us. We love you Danny, we always have and always will so there is no need to worry about asking for help," I tell him. He gave me a smile and I knew with our love he will be back to his usual self in no time. "Wanna have a dad movie night tonight? Just you, me and Papa?" I ask him. He looked at me and his eyes lit up. "Yes please," he replies with a big smile and I smile back.
"Do you want to come down and spend time with your brothers and sister?" I ask him, they are so protective of their little brother and his hiding worried them a lot. They just wanted him to be okay and mess around with them at the skate park again. "Yeah," he replies and I help him to his feet and wrap my arm around his shoulder protectively, no one will hurt my baby boy again while I still breathe the same oxygen. He follows me down the stairs and is immediately hugged by Jorel and I could tell my eldest was happy to see his baby bro again.
I let them have their cuddles and let Danny have some fun with them while I go and talk to my husband, he knows he is safe in this house and I'm only in the kitchen if he needs me. "How did we let this happen?" I ask Jordon who was doodling on some paper. "Danny didn't want to upset us or worry us, you know how he is. He thought he could handle it on his own," Jordon replies and hugs me gently. I know Danny could potentially hear me and come and hug us. I sighed and leaned against the counter. "We have done the best thing we can, we are supporting him and we pulled him out of the school and placed him in the other one," Jordon tells me.
"I know but I felt like I should have done this sooner, the marks on his body were just devastating and this is going to have a lasting impact. I feel like this is my fault because we are gay and people still can't accept that," I explain, finally getting it off my chest. One of my children being bullied, regardless of the reason has always been my worst nightmare and then it came true when my youngest was being bullied. Jordon hugged me again, tighter than before. "George, baby we can't think like that. We don't know for sure why Danny's been bullied, it could have been because he's smaller than everyone else and they see him to be weaker. The nightmares and stuff he may have, we can deal with, a bit of snuggling in bed at night never did him any harm," Jordon explains, once again bringing me back to my senses.
I kiss him and he smiles and kisses back. "What did I ever do to deserve a man like you?" I ask him. I saw Danny out of the corner of my eye and I knew he wanted to talk to us. "You show me love and care and you are the best father to the kids," he tells me and I smile. I then hold my arm out for Danny to come and hug me. He runs over to me and I hold him tight. He was getting upset again and I wanted to calm him down. Jordon hugged us and I felt my youngest son's tears on my shirt. I ruffle his hair and let Jordon tell Danny things that could calm him down. I think he might have told his brothers about the bullying and possibly told him more than he has told us so far.
"What's got up upset little dude?" Jordon asks Danny once he stopped crying for the moment. "Jorel asked about the bullying and I told him everything and he got mad at the people that did it," Danny says and I picked him up and put him on the counter. I hope that he feels as confident to tell us what happened as he did with his brother. He took a couple of deep breaths and then he told us the whole story of all the bullying that has been going on and how long it has been going on. He told me and Jordon even more then he told Jorel and I could tell `cause he got more upset the further into the story he got. We both listened to him and kept reassuring him that he is okay now. The bullying was because he is smaller, not because he has two dads.
He knows that he will be moving schools and people are going to hopefully be a whole lot friendlier to him now. I want to let him know that we are here and he shouldn't be afraid to come to us with his problems. I lift him up again and calm him down. I know one thing he does like is to help me out with little tasks and he was always daddy's little helper. It was approaching the time that I would start making dinner and I was going to let Danny help me make it. Danny was so excited to help me make the spaghetti bolognaise and he cooked the mince and made the sauce himself. I made the spaghetti because Danny wasn't so sure on it. Then we put it onto plates and called the rest of the family to dinner.
Dinner went great, Jorel and the other boys were making Danny laugh and smile a bit while they were being a bit silly and Jess was helping him feel better too. After they have done their chores, they went outside and chased each other around until Danny fell over but he quickly got back up and joined back in again. They kept an eye on him so he won't fall over again and he did okay after that until we called them back inside so they could make sure they did their homework and I could have the time with Danny I promised him that me and Jordon would have. We decided that Danny didn't need to do his homework since he was not going to that middle school anymore. He got changed into his pjs and came back to snuggle up to me on the couch.
"When papa comes back from the shops we'll start the movie night," I inform my youngest. He nodded and stayed next to me. Jorel came in after he finished his homework and sat next to Danny. "Hey buddy, Papa and I are going to have a movie night with Danny later if that's okay?" I tell Jorel and he smiles. "That's fine, I know Danny loves movie nights with you," he tells me. Danny didn't want to leave my side at all and I didn't mind that. Jorel was the closest to him out of all his siblings but tomorrow is another day and they could have the brother time that they might want or need. Jorel decided to stay for a few minutes to play with Danny's hair before he decided to go upstairs to his room.
Jordon came back about twenty minutes later with some popcorn and some new films that would interest our eleven year old and we would be able to watch with him and not get completely bored out of our minds. It was likely that after a little while he would doze off and fall asleep between the two of us. Danny saw Jordon and climbed onto his lap for a hug which Jordon happily returned. He loved the fact that we had gotten Danny out of the little shell that he had gone into and it would only improve as the next few days go by. It is currently Wednesday night so Danny would have the next 4 days to see if he will feel better and ready to go to school. If not I was sure that the school would let us give Danny another week or for him to slowly get into school.
We could let him start with half days and as he improves then he could go to school full time. I know the middle school that he would now go to would allow us to do this as they were more supportive then the school he used to go to. "Don't worry my sweet boy, you will be okay now. We are here now and we will support you no matter what happens," Jordon says and plays with his hair. A few minutes later the first film was on and Danny returned to sit in the middle of us and we had one arm wrapped around him. We gave him his favourite throw blanket and covered him with it. He was comfortable and if he needed any medication for the pain then he would get it. This movie night was going to be all about Danny and if he wanted to watch a different movie then we would change it to one he would like.
He seemed to love this film we were watching because he couldn't take his eyes off the screen and we fed him some popcorn. We did have bottles of Pepsi and coke on the table which he could drink whenever he wanted. He didn't really take his eyes of the screen often to get his cup and drink from it but he did. Danny was comfortable between us and he loved it when we ruffled his hair every now and then. He watched the film and stayed awake the entire time which was good but I wasn't sure he would manage to stay awake through the second and third film we had lined up for him to watch. He managed to get through half of the second film and then he was out of the count and he had his head on my shoulder.
"This feels so good," I tell Jordon quietly so we didn't disturb our youngest son. "It does, I am glad we have finally found out what was wrong with our little man and he will be on the way to get better soon and he might not have too many nightmares from this," Jordon replies. I had missed having any kind of contact with Danny because for the last four months he has be going to middle school he only came down to eat and that was it, we hardly ever saw him and I did feel a little guilty I didn't talk to him about it sooner. Jordon looked at me like he knew what I was thinking. "We can't blame ourselves for this; we are still new at some aspects of parenting like if our child gets bullied. Danny is still here and we know that he doesn't want us to worry about him," Jordon says and I smile.
We didn't even start the next film because it was approaching eleven pm and it was time that our little guy was in his own bed. He was still out for the count and I was treasuring this moment where he was in between us like he used to do before this happened. I carried him into his room and Matt came out of his room to see his little brother sleeping in my arms and he was worried about something. I put Danny under his covers and kissed his head before making sure the room was dark and going out to talk to Matt. "What's up Matt? You should be in bed buddy," I ask my son who hugged me tightly. "Is Danny going to be okay dad?" Matt asks me, I knew they were going to be worried about him.
"I am sure he will be perfectly fine Matt, he just needs some hugs but he'll bounce back, we know he will," I tell him, I know by saying he needs hugs then his older siblings will protect him and cuddle him until he complains it's too much. "We'll look after him dad," Matt says and then he hugs me again and heads back to his own room. I walk to mine and Jordon's to see Jordon in bed already. "Matt wanted to know if Danny is going to be okay," I explain as I crawl into bed next to him. I was hoping Danny sleeps through tonight okay but we can only be sure once he wakes us up or something.
"I love you George," Jordon sleepily tells me after we got settled and he told me of course our youngest will be fine with the loving family he has. "I love you too Jordon," I tell him and I hold him close to me as he falls asleep and I fall asleep not long after with his breath tickling my neck.
Next morning….
I walked downstairs to make everyone breakfast like I normally do and I see Danny sitting at the breakfast bar. He looked really tired and he wasn't really focusing on his doodles. "Hey, why didn't you wake me last night buddy?" I ask, knowing he was only down here because he had a nightmare last night and he didn't want to disturb us. He looked scared and really sleepy at the same time which I didn't want. "You and Papa were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb the cuddle you had," he tells me. I hug him and then start making his breakfast since he is up first and I wanted to ask Jordon to make the others breakfast so I could get the kid sleeping.
"Danny you know we wouldn't mind if you came to us for a cuddle. It's better when you cuddle us anyway," I tell him which makes him smile. Jordon came down next and made his own breakfast as I gave Danny his and ate mine which I made at the same time. "Babe, I'll make the other four breakfast, Danny looks like he needs more sleep to be honest," he tells me and I nod. "Yeah, maybe if he gets some cuddles he won't have another nightmare," I reply and Danny was nearly falling asleep in his eggs. I chuckled and shook his shoulder before he could get egg all over his face. "I know you're tired but try and finish your breakfast instead of wear it," I tell him and he starts eating again.
Jess was the second child that got up and hugged Danny first before she hugged us. I picked Danny up with ease while Jordon was making our only daughter breakfast and I carried him to the living room where I would hopefully get him to sleep again. It doesn't seem like it is going to be hard since he was already falling asleep in my arms. "Don't worry Danny, I'll chase those nightmares away," I tell him as we sit on the recliner chair in the living room. He had a tight grip on my shirt as he was lying on top of me and it slightly loosened when he fell asleep about ten minutes later. I smiled knowing this must be comforting him in some way but I couldn't move to get the throw blanket we left last night to keep him warm.
Dylan got it for me when he came to find me. He was being super quiet and covered Danny in the blanket. "I don't like the bullying he went through," Dylan whispers as he sees Danny move a little in his peaceful sleep. "No one does dude, he'll be okay now it's stopped," I tell him. I have one issue with the age gap between the children, no one will be able to help him through high school which is the next challenge he'll have when he turns 14 and there will be a high chance of bullying there too. I suppose I could suggest to Jorel to be Danny's teaching assistant or something but we'd have to see. I hope that the boys leave a good reputation at Victor Valley so they would leave Danny alone when he goes there.
Dylan kissed me and Danny before he had to rush out of the door and get the bus for school. Now only Danny, Jordon and I are left in the house until the other kiddos come back from school at three. Jordon walked into the room with the phone in his hand. "They want to have a meeting at Danny's new middle school. They want to know how bad the bullying was and what would be the best way to settle him in," Jordon tells me when I tilt my head to one side. I was thankful that Danny seemed to be out for the count at this point. "When is it and do they want all three of us there?" I ask him, he saw Danny sleeping on top of me and came over to ruffle his hair. Then he asked my questions to the person on the other side of the phone.
"The meeting is at eleven thirty and yes they do want all three of us there. I guess it will be easier for them to know how Danny feels about going to school so they can help him," Jordon says and I nod. It is currently quarter to nine in the morning and Danny could have two hours of sleep before we need to wake him up and go to this meeting. "Yeah, we can make that. If it was any earlier then we'd have to deal with Danny falling asleep again while we are there," I tell Jordon who briefly walks out and then he comes back without the phone and he sits on the edge of the chair so he could put his hand on our son's back. "I think Danny will like it at the new school. I was surprised that the other school haven't called to ask for names but it just shows they don't really care about the welfare of their students," he says and kisses Danny's head.
I watched as Jordon started doing some light chores while Danny peacefully slept the early morning away. He's probably been awake since 3 maybe 5 am so I am sure he'll be fine once he wakes up in ten minutes. I played with our son's hair as he started waking up just in case he felt a bit upset and nervous. He doesn't know about the meeting yet and he was about to very shortly. "Did you sleep okay little man?" I ask him. He smiled at me as he sat up. "Yeah, I slept a lot better thanks dad," he tells me and Jordon plays with his hair too. "We have a meeting with your new school soon buddy, they just want to see how you feel about going to school so that they can tell us how they want to get you settled in," Jordon explains and Danny got a little nervous but he seemed to accept the news.
He disappeared up the stairs and came down fully dressed a few minutes later. I did the same while Jordon was doing Danny's hair. Danny was capable of doing his own hair but he was still struggling to master the art of having his hair quiffed. He asks us to do it and we happily oblige, all though we have not had the chance to do it in a little while. "I'll be ready in a few minutes and then we can get going," Jordon says and he leaves me and Danny alone for a little while. I know Danny is nervous but it's for the best that we go to the new middle school. "Don't worry too much buddy, this new middle school will help you and you won't get bullied anymore," I tell him and I snuggle him gently.
"I know dad, the bullying was so bad though I am scared they'll do it again," Danny replies and I kiss the top of his head. "They won't do it again on my watch I promise," I tell him and we head out to the car just as Jordon appears. Danny hopped into the back of our minivan type car. This is what happens when you have five children and you can't really fit everyone in a standard car. We'd have to take two cars if we wanted to go anywhere with all five. We could have taken my truck since it was the three of us but the minivan was easier. It was just because we are too used to having more than one child with us.
It didn't take us long to get to the new school and Danny stayed close to me the entire walk that we had from the parking lot to the reception desk. He is still nervous and that was understandable. I let him stay close because I wanted him to try and stay as calm as possible. We waited ten minutes before we were taken to the principal's office and during that time Danny wandered around and looked at some of the frames on the wall. He saw some awards that his older siblings had won and were proudly displayed in a case. I hopped this helped him realise that he was not likely to get bullied. Teachers would know who his siblings are and protect him.
The meeting itself was a little boring for Danny as it was mainly for me and Jordon to know how they plan to integrate Danny into their class since it was the second semester and they needed to know how Danny would do academically. They would probably make him to a few tests when he first starts. The principal noted that Danny was nervous and said that it would be best for him to start with half days for at least the first week to see how he does and if he copes fine then he could start full days after. The tour went well even though Danny was starting to show signs of getting separation anxiety. This could hopefully be solved in a few days or it could ease slightly with the half days and me going to pick him up.
We decided to treat our youngest by taking him out for lunch and we decided to replace his skateboard which snapped a few weeks ago. Danny was happy just to spend time with us and he was so happy when I went into the store, picked out the skateboard he'd been looking at for a long time and he was saving up to buy it himself. Then we took him to a skate park so he could try it out and then he could show us the tricks he had learned off his brothers. He did show off a little bit with the kick flips he did and some other tricks. We got home before the other children did and Danny seemed happier about the new school.
They said that his bullying was the worst case of bullying that the principal had ever seen in his career. That's why they are going to take every measure to help Danny settle into the new class and prevent any bullying that could happen. He wasn't introduced to his new class today but that will happen Monday. From what the principal told me about Danny's new class they should be welcoming and help him out more then we could. He could only go on Monday if I was confident that the pain isn't too bad and he's been sleeping well. I think he'll be okay in a bit if we make sure he keeps calm and relaxes for the next few days.
They gave us a few of the tests that they wanted him to do when he starts so we could do them with him at home and it would be less stress on him once he starts so he doesn't worry about having too much work when he has only just started the new school. I was helping him work through one when the older children came home. Jess smiled when she saw Danny kneeling on the stool to reach the table with full concentration face as he was working through his test. They allowed us to help him as much as we could with it and explain anything he wasn't sure on so he could complete the test. We didn't give him the answers to it because it was for him to show his abilities and what the school might need to work on with him.
"Well done dude, I think most if not all of those answers are right," I praise when he completes the test an hour later and he looked at me with a big grin on his face. The other children have done their homework so they played with Danny in the living room to see who could not crash in Mario Kart and it was pretty clear it was going to be between Danny and Jorel. Maybe they would make him win even if they had the chance to make him feel better and help him get his confidence back or maybe Jorel would win since Danny isn't a sore loser like some of the boys. Jess would cheer on whoever was winning at the time she was watching them while she was texting her boyfriend. Yes, we let our sixteen year old get a boyfriend but we met the guy first and he was pretty respectable around us and we hoped this wasn't just a façade to get us on his side.
She would tell us if he was being a total douchebag anyway. Thursday nights are usually take out nights in this household so we ordered from the local Chinese takeaway and ordered all the favourites for all the kiddos and ourselves. Danny was struggling a bit with pain after a while so I gave him some Tylenol while we waited for the food to be delivered which wouldn't take too long. They were playing in the front yard with their skateboards. Jess was learning from them and getting there slowly. They are having fun so I don't have any concerns about them playing out in the front. They shouldn't have any issues apart from tricks failing and them falling over. It could be a lot worse so I was counting my blessing.
Well, it was good until I heard my eldest son shouting at the top of his lungs. I couldn't hear what he was saying exactly so I had to run outside and sort the situation out. Danny was on the floor and shaking a little bit and his brothers were protecting him while Jorel was having a stand-off with one of the boys that must have pushed Danny over. Then a woman came running out as well, probably hearing the two boys shouting and looked at me with disgust. I went over to Danny and pulled him up to his feet, checking him for any new injuries he might have gotten but I'd have check in the house with better lighting.
I made Jess take him to the front door so he was out of the line of fire and Matt went to protect them just in case but I am pretty sure Jordon will come out and check on them. No one will get them if there is an adult there; they get too scared and act like pussies. Now to figure out what went on and see if I need to discipline the boys which at this moment in time doesn't seem likely. "What's going on Jorel?" I ask, knowing I can get the best and honest answers from him. "This kid and his friends are some of the kids that bullied Danny and they tried to do it again," Jorel said as I put my hands between them to stop any punches being thrown. The kid's mother that looked at me in disgust quickly changed her tune.
"Wait a second, so this kid that all his siblings are protecting is the one that you mention you kick the shit out of when you come home from school?" his mother asks. Danny did mention he was kicked a few times but he would never give names. Danny really wanted my comfort but he was too scared to come near that kid. "Hey Dan, it's okay. Come here," I tell my youngest who comes running over and I hold him tightly. The woman felt sorry for Danny and I walked back from the kid that bullied him so Danny could calm down. I don't think it will work until the kid leaves and we get Danny inside but it was better than nothing.
"Yeah, that's the idiot," the kid replies and the mother drags him back. Jorel was fuming and I couldn't hold him back if he decided to strike at the kid. "Well, that kid seems to have more intelligence that you so I don't think you could say that," the mother replies and I smiled. She seemed to be horrified that Danny was being bullied by her own son. "We only found out that Danny was being bullied yesterday but he hasn't told us much about who has being bulling him," I explain to the kids mother so she knew I wasn't delaying in trying to get the kids that had been hurting Danny disciplined. I don't think I could really get all the kids disciplined but if one was told off and they all stopped then that would be good.
Then again the only time Danny would see them when he was playing out in the front yard and the boys and Jess would protect him no matter what. "Fair enough, he seems like a good kid and I promise that you won't see these kids again," she said and gestured to the bully kids which were standing behind her son. She was definitely a respectable person and we might be friends but we knew the kids would never spend any more time with each other. I watched as the mother dragged the bully kid away and then the other bullies soon followed as the mother shouted that their parents would find out.
I could now take Danny into the house and figure out if the bullies managed to land any hits on the poor kid. Danny was still shaking but he was getting better once the bullies had gone and he was inside and they knew he was safe. I took Danny into the kitchen and put him on the counter so I could look at our smallest child. He had a couple of grazes on his back but that could have been from anything. "Did he hurt you at all this time?" I ask, just to be on the safe side. Danny just shook his head and didn't say anything. I sorted the grazes out and then hugged him close to me. The boys went to get their skateboards from outside while Jordon was getting the food.
Jordon took Danny from me when he walked in and put the food on the table which I was going to put onto plates for everyone. The youngest was still shaking and nothing really seemed to calm him down for a while. Even Jorel tried his hardest to get a smile out of Danny but it didn't work. He was really upset by the confrontation he had with the bullies. It probably brought back some memories that he wanted to forget even if it is not going to be straight away. I smiled as I saw Jordon finally bring a small smile onto our sons face. Dinner went down quite well and we managed to get a few smiles from Danny. Sure it isn't anything like we used to see but baby steps are being made here.
Danny had a good night until three am where he had a nightmare and I heard him scream but before I could go and comfort him, he came running into our bedroom and right into my arms as I sat up and he started crying. Jordon was still sleeping but he rolled over and we could let Danny be snuggled in the middle of us if we needed to. "Hey, shh shh shh Danny, it's okay now," I tell him. I rub his back and let him snuggle into me and try to stop his tears. He calmed down after a little while and I just started telling him stories that I did when any of my children had a nightmare at any age to try and settle them back to sleep.
I let him snuggle in between me and Jordon and he seemed to be happy snuggling with his papa. Jordon wrapped his arm around our son naturally in his sleep and with my help we got him back to sleep in no time at all. I didn't find it as easy to get back to sleep and I just felt horrible about letting Danny being bullied for so long and not being able to do anything about it. Even though I admit that we didn't know about this until just yesterday afternoon I still feel like something should have been done sooner. For now though I was glad that I had found out and we were able to do something even if it's just helping him with his recovery and getting him into a new school. I felt like I was repeating myself a little but it's hard to get over information like this especially since it's been going on so long.
Eventually I manage to fall back to sleep even it was a lighter sleep than it was before. I wanted to make sure my baby boy was okay and if that meant I was going to have a couple of sleepless nights again then I was more than happy to do that. Sure this is different than our teething scenario when he was seven months old but as a father you would do anything for your children and age makes no difference to it in my mind. I even stayed up late with my eighteen year old when he had a bad case of the stomach flu which kept him up all night. Our children are complete daddies children and that was perfectly fine with us. Jess was our little daddy's girl, feisty and beautiful. Our boys are our daddy's boys, respectful and handsome.
When we woke up in the morning Danny was still peacefully sleeping peacefully in between us with a red tint to his cheek from having it pressed against my chest. Jordon was awake and staring at Danny, I think he did stare at me at one point. As he looked up he smiled when he saw that I was awake. "Morning babe," he tells me and we tried to kiss but the small preteen in between us made difficult and we didn't want to wake him. "Morning darling," I reply and we both looked down to our son. "Had another nightmare?" Jordon asks me and I nod. "Yeah it was about three am when he had it but he came running in here before I could get out of bed," I answer. I decided that the kiddos were capable of making their own breakfast this morning and they seemed fine with that. Jorel came in and saw Danny sleeping and then left.
Well, he did say good morning to us and hugged us. It's Friday now so Jorel didn't have long to wait before it was the weekend and he could spend as much time with his brother as Danny would let him. I am still not sure that Danny will be ready for school on Monday but one day at a time. He could make a drastic change between now and then and I would be more confident in letting him go. I don't want to leave this bed while we have our little man so peacefully sleeping in between us and any movement seemed to make him stir a little bit. He woke up at lunch time and even I took a nap while he slept snuggled to me. It made me feel a bit more awake when I saw my son's eyes open and the smile appear on his face.
"Good morning Danny," I tell him and he hugs me and then Jordon tightly. "Morning dad," he replies and I saw a hint of him feeling better. That smile never left his face. Jordon disappeared and came back with Danny's breakfast and mine on trays. "Thanks babe," I tell him and Danny was too busy eating to say thanks at this moment in time but he would do once he finished. Jordon had made pancakes and Danny's were covered in golden syrup which didn't faze him. He has a really sweet tooth which we discovered when he started eating those types of foods. "Thanks papa," Danny says once he finished his breakfast. "You're welcome Danny," Jordon replies and takes the plates away to clean them. I got dressed and we decided to let Danny stay in his pjs if he wanted to.
This afternoon was spent helping Danny completing more of the tests that he was sent home with when we went to his new middle school yesterday. If he doesn't go in on Monday I will still drop of the tests and explain why Danny was not there. These are all what ifs at the moment because only Danny knows how he really feels and it would be better for us to ask him on the morning than the night before. Danny seemed to be feeling happier today like I thought so when he woke up. He was working through the tests today with a lot more confidence and he didn't need much help from me and Jordon which made me feel proud of him. He was working so hard to make sure that he wasn't going to fall behind in class when he starts.
"Danny, take a little break buddy you've been working so hard with the tests and everything so far," I tell him and he hops off the bar stool and went to watch some cartoons in the living room before his brothers and sister come home from school. I put away the tests and I would let Danny finish them tomorrow. He had finished two tests today which was good and he didn't really need to do anymore. Jordon sat with him while he was watching TV and Danny had snuggled up to him. Jordon had his arm around Danny and I let them have the one on one time together. He needs the comfort and the fun which Jordon could bring with jokes and tickling our youngest. Soon I could hear Danny's sweet laughter as Jordon had started tickling him.
Jorel was smiling when he walked in and heard the sweet sounds of Danny's laughter. Jorel and Danny are definitely the closest out of all the brothers and even Jess was close to them. They've been practically inseparable since Danny was born and the pride in my heart when Jorel was defending Danny last night was amazing. It made me confident in my parental abilities because I have always taught them to fight with words instead of fists. To see that pay off was amazing and I saw the other siblings defending Danny too and that made me think that they would fight with words first and then with their fists after the other person does it first. Jorel did his homework and then joined Danny on the sofa with Jordon and helped Jordon tickle him.
"Dad, make them stop please," Danny cries out after a while when he wanted the tickling to end. I smiled and wondered if the two would stop because Danny was starting to not enjoy himself. They didn't and I had to step in. "Come on guys, he doesn't need tickling anymore," I tell them and they stopped a minute later. This allowed Danny to breathe better cause he couldn't really breathe when he was laughing so hard. They continued to watch the TV after and Jordon came over to me. "It was good to hear Danny laugh again," Jordon says after he gave me a kiss. "Yeah, I love his laugh but he was starting to get upset and he wanted it to end," I reply.
I went to tell the boy's dinner was ready in a little while and when I walked into the living room I saw the cutest sight. Danny was snuggled up to Jorel on the sofa and both boys were passed out holding each other. I decided that they should be left alone and I couldn't bring myself to wake them up when they looked so cute and peaceful. "The boys are out for the count," I tell the others when I walk back into the dining room. I went and put the boy's dinner into the oven which was off but still warm so they could eat it when they wake up. I could always reheat it for them. I had to get pictures of them both as well because they were just too cute to not have a few pictures.
They did wake up an hour later and have their dinner and played together for a while before bed time came. I went to check on the kiddo's bedroom when it was unusually silent in my house and I had a big smile on my face. All the kiddos were in one bedroom on the double bed and all snuggled up to another sibling. I got a lot of pictures that time because even if most of my children are now teens they still love each other. A song quote came into my head We are, we are, not your ordinary fami-mily but we can all agree that, we are, we are close as close can be. It is from an Ice age film but it summed up my family perfectly, we are not the average family but we are close as anything.
And that is the end of another one shot. Yeah I guess it's not like it was asked for but it's focusing more on the pairing then the kiddos, maybe I will do a separate one shot with Jorel x Vanessa in high school but I am not sure yet.
As always any constructive feedback is always appreciated. I work incredibly hard on these stories and I don't always have the time to write them at the moment.
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