When Tyler woke up the next morning, everything felt different. It was colder than it normally was. Maybe the power was cut again. But when he blinked his eyes open to see Skylight, he found only white instead. It was a white ceiling with so many lights up above him, like Lamp, only brighter.
Looking around, Tyler found a window at every side of him. They all looked sideways. But there was no grass outside. They were up in the air.
At first, the boy had thought they were flying, that they'd crashed through Skylight and were with the aliens now. They had machines like the evil aliens in TV. But Daddy said no one was going to hurt them here. Daddy promised.
Race rolled over to his other side to see his daddy. Daddy was sleeping. Something about him looked different, just like everything else did. Tyler didn't know what it was, but he didn't wake his daddy up. Not yet.
The bed beneath him was wet. Tyler frowned. Daddy never liked it when he wet Bed. He never meant to. But Daddy would always get up and take the sheets and put them in Bathtub to wash them. Tyler couldn't see a tub in here.
The child sat up slowly, making sure not to wake his daddy as he turned to slip off of the bed only to find that there was another smaller one pushed up right next to it. He twisted around so that his legs were in front of him. He let his little feet feel the soft surface as he pushed himself forward and crawled to the edge of the bed, curiosity taking him over.
Slipping down onto the cool floor with bare feet, Race padded slowly over to the window. His hair tickled his back. He only wore his underwear now, like he always wore to bed. Daddy said that they could get him real pajamas to sleep in. Tyler didn't understand why.
The child brushed his hair out of his face as he quietly stepped over to the windows. There were so many of them.
The sky looked like it always did. Race could always see the sky through Skylight. But everything else looked so different. There were tall buildings outside and trees way down below him. Everything looked so far away. And way, way down below him, people were making loud noises, like beeps but louder. They were coming from all the cars.
None of it woke Daddy.
Tyler stepped even closer to the window, shakily placing his feet up onto the bottom of it. He pressed his hands to the glass and looked down before he gasped.
It was a long way down.
Scrambling back, the child immediately jumped up onto the bed that his daddy was still laying on. "Daddy! Daddy!" he cried, wanting to curl into his daddy's chest. He didn't understand where they were or what was happening. They were very high off of the ground. They must've been on a new planet with aliens and things he didn't know yet and his daddy wasn't awake. At least, he hadn't been. Not until Tyler jumped on top of him.
With a sharp breath, Jack nearly shot up before he remembered where he was. So many things shot through his head before he ran a hand over his face. He laid his head down on the clean pillow and rolled onto his back so he could properly hug his baby to his chest. "Good mornin', Tyler James…" he moaned, brushing back the child's hair as the kid burrowed into his chest. "Shhhhhh… everything's okay… we're okay…"
"I wet the bed," Tyler admitted in something that was almost a sob. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
Jack's small smile never faded. "That's okay, kid," he whispered, letting the boy lay down right on top of him. "It's alright…"
The phone rang beside him, making his son flinch and gasp at the unfamiliar sound. Jack just shushed him and reached over for the thing, picking it up easily and bringing it to his ear without even lifting his head up. "Hello?" he answered.
Tyler looked up at him, having never seen his daddy this way before. He looked calm, not like he was in Room. It was a different kind of calm. He wasn't gone. He was still here.
"Yeah, just now… that sounds great. Can you bring it in like twenty minutes? Thank you so much." Jack nodded and hung the phone up, sitting up with his baby on his lap. He pulled him close so that the boy was looking up at him. "Hey, Racer…"
The boy looked up at him, clearly scared. His big blue eyes were wide and so unknowing and innocent. "Daddy… are we on another planet?"
With a shake of his head, Jack smiled. "Nope. Same planet, just a different spot," he explained, brushing Tyler's hair out of his face so that he could keep his gaze steady on those perfect eyes. "This spot is a… bedroom in a hospital. They're keeping us here to make sure we're okay."
Tyler sniffled, wiping at his tiny nose. Jack couldn't take his eyes off of the kid. "What about Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Specs?" he asked. The boy thought they were supposed to be at the house with the swing now, like that was all that was out there.
All Jack could do was smile. "Well, Grandma is downstairs right now, waitin' ta see us, n' Grandpa was away for work. He's on a plane right now, flyin' back home," he informed gently. "Uncle Specs is drivin' over right now…" The thrill that shot through Jack's chest was indescribable. "They're all gonna be here soon ta meet you. How's that sound?"
The child only shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Jack knew the kid must be overwhelmed. A fleeting moment of fear crossed his mind as he realized how difficult this was going to be for the boy, adjusting to suddenly being out in the open, surrounded by people all the time. But right now, Jack could hardly think about that. All he could think about was how he was here, how he was here with his baby sitting in a hospital in Manhattan alive and healthy and real and free.
They were free.
His son leaned into him, resting his head on the young man's shoulder as he melted against him. Jack held him for a long moment, simply drinking in this feeling and reminding himself that this was all really happening. When that moment was over, he slipped out of the bed and headed over to the bathroom, pulling the door open and slipping inside with his son still safe in his arms. He set Race down by the door and walked over to the mirror.
He froze at what he saw.
That was him. That was his reflection that he hadn't seen in six years. His vision might be a little bit fuzzy even still, but there was no doubt in his mind that he looked different now. The hospital scrubs hung on him. He was so much skinnier than he'd been six years ago. He could remember back then, how he'd eaten every time he'd got the chance. He'd always been hungry.
He looked slightly taller. There were bags under his eyes. His lips were chapped and cracked and there was a scar on his chin from the fateful night that had changed everything but he didn't care. That was him.
He ran a shaky hand through his hair, letting himself take in his own reflection, still feeling odd about this whole situation. He could only barely see his little boy peeking around the corner to see what he was doing just standing there, tugging at his own hair. "Da', where's the tub?"
Jack turned around, shaking his head a little in confusion before he remembered that Tyler had never known anything other than the bath to wash up. So Jack nodded over to the corner. "There's a shower. It's… splash-ier," he said before a smile came over his face again. "Come here." He extended his hand out to the little boy. "I wanna show you somethin'..." Hesitantly, the child grasped at his fingers and let himself be pulled forward. Jack squatted down so he was at the boy's level and he nodded towards the mirror. "Do you know who that is?" Racer only looked up at him with a shrug. "That's us…"
Those big blue eyes looked back at the mirror at those words. Jack pressed a kiss to the side of his son's head without taking his eyes off of the both of them together. "That's me?"
"That's you, baby," Jack confirmed before standing back to his feet and reaching down for the boy's hand. "You're so beautiful, do you know that?"
Tyler looked up at him again and bit his lip, sniffling and leaning onto his leg for a moment before Jack ruffled his hair. "Alright, c'mon… let's get cleaned up," Jack smiled, leading his son back over to the shower, helping him step out of his underwear before tossing the things in the trash.
His little boy frowned at that. "Daddy, that's wasteful!"
Rubbing a bit as his eyes, Jack just looked down at the child. "We'll get you new ones," he promised.
"For Sunday Treat?"
Sunday Treat. Never again would there have to be a god awful Sunday Treat. So he took the boy's face in his hand and shook his head. "There will be so many treats and not just on Sundays," he swore, his voice quiet and sincere. Then he pulled his shirt off over his head and stepped out of his pants. "Let's get cleaned up, okay?" he coaxed, trying to take Race's hand and lead him into the shower.
But the boy shook his head, stepping away from the thing, not knowing what it was. So Jack opened the thing up and cranked the thing on, letting the water warm until he saw steam. He stepped into the thing easily and let the water hit his chest. Tyler followed him in, standing behind him, not letting the water touch him. "It's a bath before bed!" he cried. "That's the rules, Da'!"
Jack shook his head. "No more rules, Race," he said. "This is the way things are now. We can do whatever the hell we want." He meant it. He didn't give a damn about anything right now but being free, being away from Spider and Room. He moaned as the warm water trickled down his skin.
Tyler squinted, knowing that Daddy made sounds like that when Spider left colors on his skin. "Are you hurtin'?"
The young man only smiled as he shook his head. "No… I'm alright, kid." Turning to look at the boy, he found that the child was still dry. He almost moved aside. "You wanna come in?" he tried. But his son only shook his head. So Jack stepped fully aside and let the water splash him, making Tyler laugh. "How about now?" He didn't give the giggling boy much of a choice as he scooped him up in his arms and held him in front of the shower head, letting the water soak him from head to toe.
He tried not to think about what came next, about how Tyler would fit into this crazy world. The little boy deserved to be happy, to belong. He just didn't know how his family would take all of this.
After washing up, Jack made sure to get Race dressed in an extra pair of small scrubs and a little robe before he redressed himself and led Race back out to the bedroom. He lifted Tyler up by the armpits and settled him down on the edge of the bed before sitting next to him and hugging the child tightly to his side.
For a moment, things were quiet. Jack had always hated the quiet. It was something he'd used to be known for; breaking the silence. But he supposed he could handle it for just a little bit longer.
That was until his son looked up at him with those blue eyes that would forever make Jack go weak in the knees. "Is Spider gonna find us?" Race asked innocently, only knowing enough by now to know that that old man was as bad as they came.
But Jack set his jaw and shook his head. "No," he swore. "He is never gonna find us."
His boy leaned into him, feeling safe enough to nod into his side right as a knock came at the door. The child gasped again at the noise, and shrunk down behind him.
"Shhhhhh… it's okay, Racer," Jack hushed. The kid was gripping at him as tightly as he could, as he hid his face in the young man's side, believing that he would go invisible if he tried enough. Jack just helped him sit back next to him, though his son refused to lift his head from under his arm. "It's okay…"
"Good morning," a new voice greeted as he walked in. "I hear we're all awake now…"
Looking up, Jack nodded. "Yeah…"
The man that walked into the room wore a white lab coat and a small smile as he strode towards them, two different baggies in his hand. "Hi there, Tyler James," he greeted, trying to look down at the child that Jack could see barely peeking out from behind him. "My name is Doctor Denton. I talked with your dad last night all about you." Though he had hoped for a different voice and a different face, he couldn't help but be grateful that it was the doctor he'd spoken to the night before. The stress has gotten to Tyler quickly and he'd passed out completely before anyone could actually ask him if he was okay.
Focusing his gaze back down on his little boy, Jack pet back his hair. "Can ya say 'hello', Tyler?" he asked.
The child didn't make any move to speak, only hiding himself in his daddy's side and staring up at this new man. The person didn't look like an alien. His smile was different from Spider's and Daddy seemed to like him just fine. Still, Tyler was too frightened to say anything. So he didn't.
Jack pressed another reassuring kiss to Race's head before looking back up at the doctor. "I'm sorry," he breathed.
"That's okay," Denton insisted. He held up the bags before setting them down on a small table the nurse had rolled in. It sat in between the two patients and him. "I come bearing gifts." Reaching into the first one, he pulled out two different bottles of pills. "My colleague prescribed this for your wrist," he explained for the first one as he handed it over to Jack. "It'll help with the pain until we can get you set up for surgery. And these," he said, handing the young man the other pills, "are to help you sleep. Just take them when you need them."
Not thinking much of any of it and not wanting to have to explain what those little orange bottles were to his son, he stuffed them into the pocket of his bathrobe and immediately went back to holding the little boy beside him. "Thanks," he managed to smile quickly.
"I also have sunglasses, which should make you more comfortable when you have to go outside," the doctor smiled, pulling two pairs of glasses out of the second bag along with two other items. "And then we have sunscreen which is gonna be mostly for Tyler, and the most important thing…" Denton held out a small mask. "He needs to wear this for a while whenever he goes outside."
Taking the small thing, Jack squinted a bit. "I-is all this really necessary?"
"Well, there's just a lot of germs that Tyler's never been exposed to. It's just to help him get used to all of it." The door opened again. Denton smiled. "Anyone hungry?"
Jack let the smile grow back on his face as he looked down at his little boy. "You want some breakfast?" he asked, trying to get Tyler to smile or look up or say something. The kid was never this quiet. Denton had told him that this transition would be hard, that Tyler might turn out to be a bit shy at first, but it was important to try and coax him into getting used to other people constantly being around him. "The doctor's gonna bring ya some breakfast." He whispered everything right into his son's ear.
A nurse brought in two trays of food and Jack fought to keep his own emotions at bay. He hadn't had a pancake in six years. And while these were bland, hospital pancakes, his heart still swelled at the thought of the sweetness. "We've got the chef's special: pancakes with fruit," Denton smiled, watching Jack's eyes lighten a bit.
Leaning over to Tyler's plate, Jack gasped a bit, trying to get the boy excited about this new food that he'd never tried before. He looked down at him. "Oh, they got you grapes n' strawberries n' bananas," he said, beginning to cut the child's breakfast up for him. "You have syrup, too. Ya wanna try it? It's very sweet," he tried to encourage. Tyler only shook his head and hid behind him more. Still, Jack continued on, preparing small bites for his child to eat.
"Have you given any thought to what we talked about?" Denton asked.
Jack's smile vanished again at that, only for a moment before he forced it back on and nodded. "Yeah… I… I thought about it but… I just really wanna go home," he said.
The doctor nodded. "I understand, Jack. I just want you to continue thinking about it. It would only be for a little while. Just so that we could assess you and Tyler a little bit better—"
"Nothin' happened ta Tyler," Jack insisted, looking up at the man. "You said he was gonna be okay." It was clear in his voice only for a single moment how terrified Jack was, how overwhelmed he truly felt. All of this was so much, so new and yet familiar all at once.
"Jack, the best thing that you did was get him out while he's still plastic," Denton assured, not wanting to cause Jack any further distress at the moment.
Tyler cocked his head a bit at that as he pulled on his daddy's sleeve, never once taking his eyes off of the stranger in front of him. "Daddy, I ain't plastic," he whispered when the young man leaned down close enough for the child's lips to nearly touch his ear.
Petting the child's head again, Jack shook his head as Denton smiled, squatting down below the boy. "What's that, Tyler?"
Jack hugged the boy close and waited for a moment to see if he'd answer. When he didn't, Jack just answered for him with a small smile. "He says he ain't plastic. He's real…"
Denton let out a small chuckle. "You got me there, kiddo. You're very real," he agreed. "Very real and very brave…"
The child leaned further into his daddy's side at the words and Jack let him, his arms still around the child and he continued to cut up his breakfast for him, not wanting to think about what the doctor had suggested. A facility. A place where he'd be separated from Tyler while they tried to figure out if they were of sound mind.
Of course they weren't, Jack thought bitterly. But he didn't care.
Especially not when he heard someone screaming right outside his door.
"No! No, I'm not waitin' anymore!" Jack's breath caught in his throat at the voice. He froze, pausing for a moment to try and decipher whether or not it was real. "You can't keep me from seeing him!"
"Spence…" Jack breathed, the knife and fork falling from his hands as he tried desperately to calm himself. His brain short circuited and he forgot for a moment that his son was beside him, scared and unprepared for the chaos of the world.
He could only grasp onto that fact for one second before he heard another voice, nurturing and welcoming as ever. "Honey, calm down…"
"Mama," he called quietly, his strained and rough words breaking as he stood to his feet shakily, knowing that he had to get to them, knowing he couldn't wait any longer.
"Ma', I ain't gonna calm down! I can't wait anymore—" The door was pushed open and the whole world stopped. Jack couldn't hear a single thing that was said. He could see the doctor moving beside him and some part of him was vaguely aware of his little boy rolling up into a protective ball on the bed behind him, not liking the loud noises that met his little ears.
There, just having burst through the door, was a young man, only slightly taller than Jack, himself. He had blond hair, just as blond as Racer's and green eyes that matched his own, mirroring his tears as he too stopped dead in his tracks the second he crashed through that door.
For a long while, both boys just stood there, letting their eyes adjust to a sight they never thought they'd see again. It seemed to take centuries for Jack to pathetically stumble forward. The other man put out a hand to catch him and Jack grasped onto his wrist tightly, his breaths stopping for a moment when he made solid contact with the person before him. Real, shaken sobs left him as he shook him as he let his trembling hands reach up to grasp onto a very real denim jacket and a strong, solid shoulder. "Spence—... Spencer…" he said finally, the name nearly getting caught in his throat.
This was real. All of it. He still couldn't believe it. It wasn't like all of those times in Room where he'd woken up to see a ghost of this boy sitting at the table or heard his voice just outside the door. This was Spencer. He was here and he was real.
Before he could even begin sobbing in relief and horror at what he'd put his family through, he was pulled forward only to collapse in his brother's arms. Suddenly, the world felt a little lighter, even though Spencer was sobbing all the same. Jack all but screamed when he was able to wrap the older boy up just as tightly, gripping onto him for dear life as someone else rushed through that door. He reached for her. "Mama!"
"Oh my baby!" the shorter, plump, chocolate skinned woman cried as she rushed to her boy, wrapping them both up. "My baby…" She reached up, running a hand over the back of Jack's hair, gripping at it to ground herself. "I'm sorry," she sobbed over to the doctor. "We couldn't wait anymore…"
Doctor Denton just offered her a sad smile. "That's okay," he assured.
Jack didn't move from the embrace. He didn't want to ever again. He gripped onto Spencer tighter than he ever had before and he let his mama grip at his hair, just to make sure he was real.
Tyler curled up real tight on the bed. It's what Daddy told him to do if Spider tried to come into Wardrobe at night. Curl up in a ball and pretend to sleep. But Tyler couldn't take his eyes off of those real-life people. He'd seen them before, in those pictures on the wall. Daddy said they were real.
As the boy continued to stare, the one that had come into this new spot on the same planet first looked up at him over Daddy's shoulder. Race tried to close his eyes then and pretend he was sleeping. He didn't know what to do.
It took an eternity for Jack to feel brave enough to pull away, though he still had a grip on Spencer's sleeve. He looked up at his brother, having not heard a single word spoken from his lips since he'd entered the room. But when Jack looked up to see why, he tracked the young man's gaze back to the source of the speechlessness.
Heart clenching in his chest, Jack turned slowly back to his trembling little boy. He reluctantly let go of his big brother, tremors rushing through his hand as he did so, terrified it would never be able to feel this person so real ever again. "R-Racer… c'mere," he called, opening up his arms for the child who immediately sat up and jumped down from the bed to rush to him. Jack hugged him tightly for a moment before lifting him up in his arms. He looked between his brother and his ma as he came to them with the most valuable and vulnerable thing he had. His little boy pressed his face into his shoulder and Jack brushed down through his hair.
Spencer let out a small breath. "Jackie…" he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.
"This is my son," Jack said, his voice riddled with terror. "He's five year old… his name's Tyler James Kelly…" He knew his mama had known about his baby, at least the doctor had told him so, but his brother looked too shocked to have known how Jack had gotten out. Jack couldn't take his eyes off of him, trying to decipher whether or not Spencer was angry or upset.
He saw the man's eyes widen at what he'd just called the little boy. "H-his name's Tyler?"
With a sniffle, Jack nodded, pressing a teary kiss to his son's head. "Tyler… baby, hey," he coaxed, managing to get the child to lift up his head and look at him. "Hey…" he whispered, looking into those big blue eyes. "There's some people here I want you ta meet…" He thought he'd never get to have this moment, see his son meet his family like this. While still laying his little head on his shoulder, Tyler peeked up at these people who shouldn't be strangers to him. "Tyler, this is your grandma… n' your uncle Specs," he whispered.
Tyler looked at them both shyly, not saying a word as the woman stepped closer to him, close enough to touch him. She took in a trembling breath as she shook her head in amazement. "Hi, Tyler James… thank you for saving my little boy… thank you…" she sobbed quietly, taking Jack back into her arms and Tyler for that matter. The embrace was warm and safe and Jack melted into it as his son melted into him.
Eventually, when his mama let him go, Jack looked back to his brother. His son was trying to hide against him, but Jack didn't take him back to the bed. He needed his brother to talk to him. "Specs—"
"Tyler James… he's beautiful, Jack…" Spencer managed to get out, falling a couple steps forward as he leaned towards the little boy. "Hey, kiddo… don't worry about a thing… everything's gonna be just fine," he promised.
Jack nodded down at the little boy before tears sprung back into his eyes. He fell forward again, right into Specs's chest, letting arms wrap around him and his little boy. Tyler didn't say a word as Jack cried.
When the door opened again, the sobs only came in stronger as Jack watched an old man rush through the door. "Pop!" Pulling away from Specs, he let his son slide to the floor, not turning around to see Tyler sit on the floor and curl up in a ball with his hands covering his ears.
Racer hated it when Jack cried.
"Oh my son! My boy!" the old man sobbed, gripping onto Jack and pulling him into his chest.
Tyler peeked up to see his daddy, shaking and crying. Grandma was rubbing his back but Uncle Specs was looking down at him, so he hid again, not knowing what was going on.
But he could see from right above his knees that Uncle Specs was sitting down next to him, like Daddy did in Room whenever they were sitting on the floor to watch TV. There was so much noise in this new room and so many new people.
When Tyler glanced up to look at the doctor, he saw that Doctor Denton was crying too and he didn't know why. He just sat in the middle of all of it, confused and scared.
Jack took in a deep breath as he held onto his pop for a long while before letting go. He turned around to take in the sight of his family. They were here. He was with them and he was safe.
For a moment, things felt alright. He should've known that moment wouldn't last forever.
As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you would change or what you would improve by leaving me a review! Love ya, kiddos!