CHAPTER FOUR
Mike groaned when he heard his alarm going off at five in the morning, but he forced himself up out of bed. He got coffee going and made himself a quick breakfast then had a cup once the coffee was ready. He was ready when the knock came on his door at six. He opened it up and smiled at the bleary-eyed Ty who stumbled into his apartment and crashed onto the couch. Ginny gave Mike a bleak smile and handed over a sleeping Wyatt, and a bag.
"Everything, okay?" Mike asked gently. It looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep last night.
"It was a rough night, that's all. Wyatt has them sometimes."
"You don't look like you got much sleep."
"We didn't," Ty groaned from the couch. Mike felt bad for them. He rocked back and forth with Wyatt on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Mike said quietly. Ginny just nodded.
"It's…not new. Come here, Ty," Ginny said as she walked towards the couch. Ty pushed himself up and let his mother give him a hug and a kiss on his head. "Behave today, I'm working a double, so I'll be late tonight."
"What time should I expect you back?"
"It will be late. Between eleven and midnight. Sorry."
"No, it's fine," Mike said. "I just want to be prepared. Do you want me to put them to bed at your place or keep them here until you get done?"
She thought a long moment then sighed. She pulled her keyring from her pocket and removed a key from it. She looked at it for a long moment then held it out for Mike.
"Here you keep this for today. Go ahead and put them to bed tonight in their beds."
"Okay," Mike said taking the key. "Do you have another copy of the key?"
"No. Jeremy took it when he left," Ginny said then pursed her lips. Mike could tell that it bothered her that he had the key. He nodded.
"Okay," he said softly. Ginny looked at the time.
"I have to go," she said quietly then stepped forward and gently kissed Wyatt on the cheek. She nodded at Mike and stared at him a moment, still not quiet trusting him. "Thanks," she mumbled then turned and left.
Mike walked into his bedroom and gently laid Wyatt down on the bed to sleep. He then walked out and found Ty sprawled out on the couch sound asleep. Mike debated if he should let him stay home and sleep today or if he should make him go to school. He decided to wake him up closer to the time to leave.
He busied himself in the kitchen then when it was time, he woke Ty up and let the boy grumble. Mike smiled at him, and Ty came over to the table yawning. Mike gave him some scrambled eggs and Ty wolfed them down quickly. After breakfast Ty got his backpack around and left the apartment, making the decision for Mike that he should go to school. It was another hour before he heard Wyatt stirring in his bedroom and he went in to check on the little boy.
Wyatt was laying on the bed staring at the wall looking quite groggy. Mike laid down next to him and cuddled him into his chest. The boy snuggled in, and Mike enjoyed the moment with him. Soon Wyatt was whining, and Mike figured he needed his diaper changed. After he got him cleaned up and changed, Mike found some clothes for him in the bag Ginny had brought and got him dressed. Wyatt was crying again, and Mike found his cup and held it out.
Wyatt grabbed the cup and started to drink. Wyatt then got up and off the bed, heading into the living room. The boy did his strange half run half skip routine across Mike's living room for a while as Mike looked on. He eventually flipped on the television and found something suitable for the boy to watch. They sat on the couch for a while as Wyatt made noises at the television. Soon he seemed to be growing bored, so Mike grabbed the blocks he had gotten yesterday and showed them to Wyatt.
Wyatt was intrigued by the blocks but what he did next surprised Mike. Instead of building with the blocks, Wyatt was putting them in separate stacks, sorted first by shape and size, then by color. When he was finished, he seemed quite proud of himself. Mike tried to build a house for him, and Wyatt cried and pushed Mike away, putting the blocks back where they were. Mike was a little dumbfounded but decided not to touch the blocks again. He did snap a quick picture on his phone of the sorted piles.
He was beginning to wonder if there was something going on with Wyatt. He made a note to talk to Ginny about it when she had a spare moment. As the day went on Wyatt grew cranky and Mike knew he was worn out. After another bout of the half run, half skip routine, Mike stretched out on the couch and pulled Wyatt on his chest. The boy seemed to take the hint and laid down on Mike's chest. It didn't take long, and Wyatt was asleep. Mike felt himself drift off.
Mike woke and found Wyatt still on his chest fast asleep. He checked the clock and saw he still had two hours before Ty would be home. Wyatt slept for a while longer then woke up in a better mode. Mike gave him the building blocks to play with and again Wyatt sorted them then made straight lines on the carpet with them. Mike again snapped some pictures as he was a little intrigued by how the boy played.
It was time for Ty to get home, so Mike got some grapes and pealed a couple clementines for the boys. Wyatt fingered a grape suspiciously then tentatively touched his tongue to it. Mike heard a knock and hollered.
"It's open, come on in."
The door pushed open, and Ty stepped in looking exhausted. He dropped his backpack on the floor and slumped into a kitchen chair. He grabbed a clementine and started to push pieces into his mouth. Mike smiled at him as Wyatt ate another grape.
"How'd you get him to eat a grape?" Ty asked with his face screwed up. Mike shrugged.
"He just ate it," Mike replied. "How was school?"
"It was…interesting," Ty replied cryptically as he eyed Mike. Mike felt like he was being studied and he looked at Ty with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. We learned about some things today," Ty said before shoving more clementine into his mouth. His eyes were still on Mike.
"What did you learn about?" Mike asked suspiciously. Ty ate another clementine as he stared at Mike. He finally said something.
"We learned about a ship today. And some amazing people who were on it. They showed us pictures and everything," Ty said as he grabbed some grapes and popped them in his mouth. Mike knew then that Ty had figured out who he was. Mike licked his lips and looked over at Wyatt.
"I see," Mike finally replied.
"Yeah. Funny thing happened. There was this guy. He was in the Navy."
"That's generally where you find ships," Mike said dryly. Ty ignored the quip.
"Yeah, and he was second in command when the plague started. His first name was Mike just like you."
"What a coincidence," Mike mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.
"That's what I thought to. But you know it's a fairly common first name," Ty said with a shrug. "But then…then…they showed us pictures first of Admiral Thomas Chandler. Now he was the captain of this ship during the pandemic. Next, they showed us pictures of the pretty doctor. But then, they showed this picture of a guy named Admiral Michael Slattery. And want to guess who's picture they put up on the board?"
"Nope," Mike said quickly. He got Wyatt's cup and refilled it for the little boy.
"Yeah, funny thing, Mike, it looked just like this guy I know."
"Oh yeah? You know the infamous Admiral Slattery?"
"I just met him. Imagine my shock when that picture came up and there you were."
"Busted," Mike breathed out. Wyatt was fussing again, and Mike figured he needed another change. "I need to change your brother," Mike replied before getting up and picking Wyatt up.
When he was done changing Wyatt, the boy went to the couch and started watching television. Mike sat back down at the table and Ty was staring at him. Mike sighed and tried to think of what to tell the kid.
"How come you don't want anyone to know who you are? You're like a freaking hero and shit."
"Hey, watch your mouth, Buddy," Mike said. Ty nodded and looked embarrassed. "It's not that I don't want people to know who I am," Mike continued. He thought about how he wanted to say what he wanted to say. "But I didn't like the attention. I was just a career Navy guy who happened to be assigned to a ship that had a secret mission to the artic. And when we came back Dr. Scott had miraculously made the cure."
"So, you were on the Nathan James."
"Yes. I'm Admiral Michael Slattery."
"Can I ask something of you?"
"Anything, Ty. I already told you that."
"Well, it's just that you seem to want to forget about the time of your life with what we are talking about."
"It all came at a cost to me," Mike said but he didn't want to talk about that right now. He didn't want to tell Ty about his own kids that didn't make it through the Red Flu, or all the sailors and friends he lost during those years.
"We have this assignment at school since they told us about all of you and the ship. We have to do this research report about one person or event that happened during the time period."
"There's a lot to unpack," Mike mumbled. "I can put you in touch with Admiral Chandler if you want to do an interview."
"I was thinking about doing my report on you," Ty said. Mike smiled a little. "See the way I figure it a lot of the guys are going to pick Chandler because well, he's the face of the cure and saving the world. The girls will pick the doctor lady because, well the same thing. I want to do one on someone not many people are going to pick."
"I wish no one would pick me," Mike grumbled. He knew Ty meant well but he really didn't want to rehash those events. Ty smiled at him with a hint of sadness in his eyes and Mike sighed.
"I want to though," Ty replied.
"You should do your report on a guy named Tex Nolan," Mike replied with a sigh. "He was real hero too. Or Andrea Garnett. Maybe Frankie Benz or Maya Gibson, Cossetti. Michael O'Conner. Or Danny Green. Kara Foster Green. Russ Jeter."
"But none of them are sitting here with me. I'm going to do my report on you. You can either help me get it right, or I can use the internet to figure out what you did," Ty said with a shrug. Mike chuckled. He knew there were a lot of untrue over embellished stories about him and the rest of the crew of the Nathan James out there.
"Fine," Mike said with a sigh. He rubbed his face and looked at Ty. "How long do we have to do this research project."
"Two weeks," Ty said.
"Okay, but we aren't starting tonight. I need time to face this," Mike mumbled. Ty nodded slowly. "And can we hold off on telling your mom all of this?"
"Why?" Ty asked.
"Just…trust me on this one," Mike said with a sigh. Ty nodded slowly and shrugged at Mike.
"Okay, I guess I can keep a lid on it for now," Ty replied. He looked over at the floor in the living room and laughed. "I see Wyatt was playing."
Mike looked over at the lined-up building blocks. "Uh, yeah, he did that."
About that time Wyatt let out a shriek of excitement, or at least that's how Mike interpreted the noise, then leaped from the couch and resumed his weird half run half skip routine. Ty shook his head.
"That always drove Jeremy nuts," Ty said looking at Mike. "You don't seem to mind it."
"No. He seems to really enjoy doing that and he isn't hurting anything," Mike said with a shrug.
They talked a little more about his day at school and eventually Mike made the boys dinner. After they had eaten, he got Wyatt into the tub. Ty had warned him not to get Wyatt's hair wet and Mike wondered how bad it really could be. He decided tonight was not the night to find out and just got the pizza sauce off the boy, that was bad enough. Ty asked if he could take a shower and Mike told him absolutely. He then took the boys down to their own apartment and Mike got Wyatt changed into pajamas.
"Just a heads up he will probably take those off before he goes to bed. He doesn't really like to wear pajamas."
"Okay," Mike said. "It's getting late. Did you get your homework done?"
"Yeah, I finished it while you were giving Wy a bath."
"Okay," Mike replied. "Time for bed then. Your mom will be back pretty late tonight."
"Okay," Ty said and then hesitated. Mike was a little surprised when he abruptly walked up to him and wrapped his arms around him. Mike squeezed him back, pulling him tightly into his chest. He felt the wash of grief that rolled over him mixed with the happiness of getting a hug. "Good night, Admiral," Ty said with a grin.
"Good night, Ty," Mike said back and watched the boy walk to his bedroom and close the door. Mike then gathered Wyatt up and took him to his own bedroom and laid the little guy down in the bed. Mike went to get up and Wyatt whined and pulled on his shirt, so Mike laid down next to the boy. Wyatt turned his back to Mike but reached over and wove his fingers through Mike's shirt and then quickly fell asleep.
Mike laid with him for a little bit then slowly extracted himself from the boy. He went out to the living room and turned the television on with the sound way down. He found an old movie and settled in to wait for Ginny to come home. An hour later Mike was startled awake by pressure on his chest. He woke up to find Wyatt climbing on him and settling against him. He chuckled softly as he realized Ty was right and Wyatt had striped out of his pajamas. The little boy wove his fingers into Mike's shirt again and settled down.
Mike stroked his back and fought the wave of grief that washed through him again as he thought about the times, he laid like this with his own kids. He sighed and watched as Wyatt slipped into sleep again.
"That's right, little buddy, get some sleep," Mike whispered. Mike felt his own eyes growing heavy and it wasn't long before he fell asleep himself. The door opening jolted Mike awake. Luckily his arm was securely over Wyatt, and he sat up a little then eased himself back down when he realized the situation. He looked over to see Ginny come in. She looked at Mike and smiled.
"He likes you," she whispered. Mike nodded. "How come he's not in his bed?"
"He was," Mike said through a yawn. He maneuvered Wyatt into a better position and stood up slowly, trying not to wake the boy. He stirred a little, shifted his head, and then went back to sleep. "I'll put him in his bed," Mike replied quietly as he walked to Wyatt's bedroom. After he put Wyatt down Mike walked back out into the living room to find Ginny making herself something to eat. He leaned against the back of the couch and watched her a moment.
"Were they good," she asked without looking up at him.
"Yeah, they were great," Mike said. "Same time tomorrow?"
"I don't go into until eight tomorrow so I can put Ty on the bus then I'll drop Wyatt off."
"Okay," Mike said. "You've got some great boys."
"Thanks," she replied finally looking up at him. "Wyatt was okay for you?" Mike nodded. When she didn't say anything more, he pushed from the couch and walked towards her door.
"Okay, well, good night, Ginny," he said as he walked into the hallway.
"Good night, Mike." He heard her say as he closed the door. He went back to his own apartment and collapsed into bed.
To Be Continued…
