Noah hadn't actually brought up mommies again since the afternoon before so Jack had suggested that they wait until he asked again and then explained it but Boone knew that Noah was guaranteed to ask Boone when he was on his own and they were going to start right back at the beginning again. Besides it was best to be proactive and get it over with while they were all together and sat down. Jack had agreed, though rather begrudgingly Boone thought.
As Boone continued to stare meaningfully at him, Jack finally rolled his eyes and turned to Noah.
"So, Noah, did you have something you were asking Boone about yesterday?" Jack asked.
"Can I have a dog?" Noah asked, looking up.
Boone looked at him. "Not that question."
"Can I?" Noah repeated.
"No," Boone replied. "And we're not talking about that again."
"You still on the dog thing?" Jack asked. "I thought we moved on from that."
Boone shook his head.
"I want a dog," Noah said.
"You remember what else we were talking about?" Boone asked him.
Noah looked thoughtful. "The tooth fairy?"
"No," Boone said. "Well, yeah, but, what else?"
Noah thought hard again, biting absently on his bottom lip.
Jack leaned into Boone. "You know, if he doesn't remember, maybe we should just leave it," he suggested.
"We're not leaving it," Boone said. "He'll remember the second you go out the door, I guarantee it. We're doing this together, remember?"
"Fine," Jack said, turning back to Noah. "You got anything over there, champ?"
Noah looked up at him again. "I have two daddies but people at my school have a mommy and a daddy. Do I have a mommy too? Do I have two mommies?"
"Okay, I'm gonna try and explain this to you, all right?" Jack began. Noah nodded. "Okay. So, when a boy gets older, sometimes he decides that he like blonde girls and sometimes he decides that he like brunettes. But sometimes the boy decides that he likes other boys. Do you understand that?"
Noah nodded. "I don't like girls."
Boone and Jack exchanged a smile.
"Well, you might do when you're older," Jack told him. "But different types of people like different types of people, okay? Now the boy that grows up and likes the blonde girl, when they get married they can have a baby and the woman carries the baby inside her for nine months and that's what makes her a mommy."
"How does she carry it?" Noah asked. "Richie Lawson's mommy's having a baby and he says that it's in her tummy."
Jack seemed to consider whether to go into the technical details or not. "Well, yeah, that's pretty much the idea," he agreed, looking a little unsure of himself.
"How does the baby get inside her tummy?" Noah asked.
Jack looked to Boone for help but Boone just found himself shrugging and looking helpless back.
"Well, girls and boys have different body parts," Jack said, his brow furrowed. He looked to Noah. "Do you know what I'm talking about when I say that?" Noah nodded. "Okay, so, boy parts and girls parts, they, erm..." Jack started making awkward movements with his hands, trying to express something that not even Boone was sure about at this stage. He sighed and sat back in his chair, looking at Boone. "I can't say this to a five-year-old."
"You can, you're doing great," Boone told him.
Jack gave him an unimpressed look. "Anytime you wanna step in is fine by me."
"No, I'm good."
"No really, you take a shot at it," Jack insisted.
Boone turned to Noah who was looking at the two of them, a slightly confused look on his face. "Okay, here's the thing," Boone began. "Girl parts and boy parts interlock and when they do you get a baby."
"How?" Noah asked.
Boone patted Jack on the arm. "Tag, you're it."
Jack gave him a weary look. "You can't tag me."
"Just did," Boone responded.
"Can I play?" Noah asked.
Jack turned back to Noah. "Okay, babies, let's see," he mused. "Gardening," he said suddenly. "You helped Boone plant the borders in the yard, right?"
"Yeah," Noah agreed.
"Now, you planted little seeds in the soil, didn't you?" Jack asked. Noah nodded. "Then what happened?"
"Flowers grew," Noah replied.
"Right," Jack said. "A woman has a little seed inside her and when she's in love with a man and they interlock body parts then the seed starts to grow but instead of getting a flower, you get a baby. You understand all that?"
"A mommy is someone who has a seed that grows into a baby," Noah ventured.
"Right," Jack agreed. "That's how you get babies."
"So do I have a mommy that I came from?" Noah asked.
"Well, what I told you there, that's what happens when the boy grows up and he likes girls. But sometimes boys grow up and they like other boys, like Boone and me, okay?" Noah nodded again. "So when you have two men that love each other, they can't make a baby on their own because the seed is in the woman. So, when that happens, they need a nice kind woman that will let them borrow her seed and who'll grow it for them and then they can get a baby. Do you understand that?" Noah nodded. "Are you sure?" Jack asked him. Noah nodded again. "Do you have any more questions?"
"Is my mommy borrowed?" Noah asked.
"Okay, see, it's a little more complicated for you," Jack told him. "A mommy is a person who has a baby grow inside of her and gives birth to them, and you do have a woman that did that. But she did it so that me and Boone could have you because we couldn't have you without her help."
"Where is she?" Noah asked.
"Well, she has her own family and she's with them," Jack explained.
"But why isn't she with me if she's my mommy?" Noah asked.
Jack looked as if he was about to say something and then stopped and tapped Boone on the arm instead. "Tag."
Boone gave him a look. He turned to Noah. "Okay, different families work in different ways but the best kind of family is one where everyone loves each other, right?"
"Yeah," Noah agreed.
"Well, Jack and I love each other and we both love you," Boone told him. "So we don't need anyone else, right? She has her family and we have our family and she just helped us out with that."
"Okay," Noah said, seeming to accept this.
"You have any more questions?" Jack asked him.
"No," Noah said, shaking his head.
"You sure? Nothing else you wanna ask? You can ask us about anything, you know that, right?" Jack continued. Noah nodded. "Okay, why don't you go brush your teeth?"
"Okay," Noah said, leaving the table.
"That went okay," Boone said once Noah was out of the room.
Jack put his head in his hands. "We suck."
Boone looked at him. "We do?"
"I suck," Jack corrected.
"What are you talking about?"
Jack looked at him. "I did not use one bit of proper terminology there."
"I think he got the gist," Boone said.
"That's not the point, Boone," Jack stated. "By not using the proper terminology I'm talking around the subject, I'm making it sound like it's something that shouldn't be talked about. He's gonna think it's all dirty, dirty wrong."
Boone smiled at him. "Only when you do it right," he said, putting his hand on Jack's thigh.
Jack batted him away. "Knock it off," he said. "I'm being serious. I'm a doctor, I could use the real words."
"Well, yeah, that is why I asked you to do it," Boone pointed out. Jack gave him a seriously unamused look. "But I think you did great all the same."
Jack sighed. "You don't think we're irrevocably screwing him up, do you?"
Boone shook his head. "I don't think that."
Jack nodded. "Good. You're probably right."
"He's okay, Jack," Boone told him. "He's a good kid. He's slightly scatterbrained on occasion but that doesn't mean he's not smart. And, true, he wrecks stuff constantly."
"Aren't you supposed to be talking him up?" Jack pointed out.
Boone gave him a conceding look. Then he turned to Jack and smiled. "Don't you just love him more than anything else in the world though?"
Jack smiled back at him. "Yeah, I really do."
Boone nodded. "Then he's gonna be fine."
"I love you too," Jack told him.
"Yeah, I am kind of adorable," Boone agreed.
Jack gave him a playful shove. "Shut up."
Boone smiled at him. "I love you too, you know I do."
Jack nodded and leaned in for a kiss. He pulled away and looked at the clock. "And now I gotta go."
"Okay," Boone said.
Boone followed Jack as he went out to the hall. "Noah, I'm leaving," he yelled up the stairs. There was some kind of muffled reply that indicated Noah was still brushing his teeth. "Hey, finish up first, I'll wait," Jack called.
"I'm finished," Noah called back, clearer this time.
He came running down the stairs and straight over to Jack who leaned down and pulled him into a hug.
"You be good," he told Noah.
"I am good," Noah replied.
"I know you are," Jack said, kissing him on the head. "I'll see you tonight."
"Will you read me a story?" Noah asked.
"If I'm back in time I will," Jack replied.
"Will you be back in time?" Noah asked.
"I will try my best," Jack told him. He gave him another kiss and then pulled away. He grabbed his stuff and then turned to Boone. "I'm making every effort to get back for supper," he said.
"Every effort?" Boone asked sarcastically. "That just fills me with confidence."
"Look, I swear, I'm gonna get away as soon as I can," Jack told him.
Boone smiled. "Just go be a doctor."
Jack nodded. "Right." He leaned in and gave Boone another kiss. "Bye, guys."
Once they'd successfully got Jack out the door, Boone turned his attention to Noah. "Did you really finish brushing your teeth?"
"Yeah," Noah nodded.
"Okay, let me see," Boone instructed. He lent down to Noah as he bared his teeth for him. "Blinding white, good boy. You got your school bag?"
"Oh, I left it upstairs."
"You wanna go get it?"
"Okay," Noah replied as he turned around and bounded back up the stairs with an energy that made Boone tired just watching him. They really weren't doing a bad job with him, Boone thought. He found that none his worries about parenting that he suffered from early on had really amounted to anything. He and Noah bonded instantly and everything just kind of came naturally. Not that Noah couldn't be a huge pain in the ass when he wanted to be, along with the times that he managed to do it quite unwittingly. But Boone found that, at the end of the day, the pros far outweighed the cons. He never regretted any of it.
Noah came bounding back down the stairs towards Boone.
"Okay, kid, you ready to go?"