A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!


June 17th 2022

Chapter 168
Our Steps Toward Tradition

It was not a green group day today, so while Maya had already left the ranch with four of their girls to go pick up the fifth from her preschool and get her to the auction, he had his own pick-up to do. He went off and collected his birthday buddy for their yearly ice cream break. When he got there though, the Nicky Orlando he found was not nearly as chipper as he would have expected him. The boy sat playing with a few of the other kids, but he was barely into it. He looked bummed out.

"Hey, Nicky..." he crouched before him when he approached. "Happy birthday, bud," he opened his arms to him, and the five-year-old came forward and hugged him with a mumbled return of the wish. "What's going on? Did you have a bad day?" Lucas asked as he pulled back to look at him. Nicky shrugged, didn't feel like talking. "I'm sorry to hear that. Are we still on for ice cream?" Nicky looked up at him.

"I can?" he asked, surprised.

"Are you kidding? Of course, you can, it's your birthday, it's our birthday, yeah?" he held up his hand, and Nicky returned the high five, just a bit more light-hearted now. "Why wouldn't you?"

"Teacher didn't give me my cake," Nicky told him, bowing his head again.

"She didn't? How come?" Lucas asked, absently looking up to spot the woman in question.

"She said because... because I was bad this morning, because... because Mommy said what I did," he sniffled, on the verge of a breakdown.

"What did you do?" Lucas asked. He didn't want to say. "It's okay, you can tell me. Turtle promise, that means it stays between us." That helped.

So, Nicky told his uncle about how he'd gone and eaten from his birthday cake back home and been caught. Now he could see Riley innocently, maybe even laughingly sharing the story with the teacher, who had turned around and decided that Nicky did not deserve that small slice he would have gotten, same as the kids - and lucky fathers - would get at Marianne's school on their birthdays.

"Did you guys celebrate at all?" Lucas asked, but Nicky shook his head.

"I couldn't go outside for outside time," he added.

"Right," Lucas kept his frown to a minimum for his sake. "Stay here, okay? I'll be right back."

Ten minutes and a strongly worded conversation later, Lucas left with a decidedly more cheerful Nicky, holding a small paper bag. After sending a text on to Riley and Dylan to let them know that he had him - and to warn them they would likely get a call - Lucas drove them off to the ice cream shop. Never to be said that Uncle Luke did things halfway, he worked things out so the reclaimed cake would be split in half - Nicky's idea - and set at the bottom of the bowl before they put the ice cream and the toppings over it.

To watch how the boy consumed it, feet dangling merrily and the rest of him shimmying in his seat at every bite, it was easy to believe his claim that this was his favorite birthday ice cream ever.

"So, you remember all the other ones?" Lucas smirked. Nicky shook his head and laughed. "Last year's?" Yes, he remembered that one. "The one before that?" He was less sure about that one, but when he was reminded of it, he had a look like he almost did remember. "It'll be easier from now on, more and more as you get older," Lucas told him, and Nicky went digging to the bottom of his bowl to get some cake with his ice cream.

"Because I'm grown up now," he declared with a near growl of a strain before a squeak of success.

"Well, I don't know about that. You have a while to go before 'grown up,' but you're definitely coming along," Lucas told him. The shimmy was back. No matter how much he'd grow up, he hoped for his sake that Nicky got to keep some of that spirit when he really was 'grown up.'

They went on talking as they ate. Nicky loved to hear about the horses, always. He giggled as Lucas recounted the pile up of his girls that morning, making it sound like some fairy tale where he was a giant, besieged by a league of tiny witches who'd put a spell on him. As much as his day had been brought down by his teacher's extending the reach of what she could or couldn't punish her class for, Nicky had stories of his own.

He talked about how, over the weekend, even though it wasn't his birthday yet, he'd gotten an early birthday present. His grandparents back in Philadelphia had bought and shipped him a new hoop to replace the old one that was broken a few weeks back after a thunderstorm, along with a new ball. The box had arrived on Friday, he'd seen it, so they'd decided to give it to him a few days early.

He'd helped his father assemble it and played for hours, tossing the ball at the hoop, or tossing it around, with his sisters. At three and a half and nearly two, Emily and Megan Orlando were right in line with their big brother as far as basketball went. This was no surprise to most people once they knew that their father was a coach and former player. That didn't take away from the Orlando kids looking good for keeping up the family name on that court in the future if they wanted it.

"So, what do you think we should do now?" Lucas asked as he and Nicky got up from their table to leave the shop. "We've still got a little time, anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Anywhere?" the boy asked.

"If it's not a long drive," Lucas amended with a laugh.

"We don't have to drive, it's right over there!" Nicky pointed across the street, and when Lucas looked over, he nodded to himself. Of course.

They crossed the street together. Nicky showed how well he had been taught about crossing safety. For as long as either of his sisters had been allowed to walk across, holding hands with a parent, uncle, aunt, grandparent, anyone, Nicky had been there, making sure that neither of them did something that could be considered dangerous. Marianne was the same with her little sisters… so was Mia Babineaux with her brother and sister… Giulia Choi with her brothers… All their firstborns were showing themselves to be excellent oldest siblings, looking after the little ones.

The Orlandos were old regulars at the comic bookstore where Lucas and Nicky now walked in, so much so that the man behind the counter recognized the boy and came around to say hello. He was received in such a way that it was clear they both were excellent friends.

"Now, hold on, didn't I hear it was your birthday coming up?" the man asked. His name was Peter. Lucas had previously heard of him, especially the time when Nicky had seen him and for the first time been old enough to really connect and express the sentiment that he had gasped 'Pider-Man!' And Peter had immediately liked the little guy, confirming that his name was like the famous webslinger, although he had been named for his grandfather, and not for young Mr. Parker.

"It's today!" Nicky nodded. "It's his birthday, too," he pointed up to his uncle, who introduced himself and shook Peter's hand.

"The vet from the ranch," Peter replied as he recalled hearing about him from Dylan and Riley both. "Happy birthday to you both then. Same policy, have one issue on me. I don't know where your preferences might lie, but you," he pointed to Nicky, who was already bouncing with anticipation. "I've got just the thing, been saving it for when you came in." He returned behind the counter and went digging through a box before finding what he was looking for and peeling off a small sticky note from the plastic. When he placed it on the counter, Lucas reached down and pulled up the boy so he could see. He gasped and reached out for the comic.

"Wow! Thank you, Peter!"

"You're welcome, little man."

Nicky may not have been able to read much yet, but comic books had been in his life since he was a baby. There were videos, several of them across the years and going all the way back to when he was little more than weeks old, of Dylan either holding his son or having him lying or sitting nearby, while he would read him comics out loud. The story went that he'd done all the usual bedtime stories, several books that either he and Riley had bought or been gifted, but they never seemed to gel with their infant son. Then, one sleepless night, Dylan had declared that he was going to go for the one thing he knew could never fail. He'd gone to his shelves and returned with one of his favorite runs of one of his favorite heroes: Green Lantern. He'd sat there, and he'd started to read it, putting on voices for the characters, the narration, all of it with the required emotion. Back when Nicky had been too little to really look at the images and understand them, Dylan had also tried to describe the scene.

And it had worked. Nicky never calmed down so well as when his father – and eventually his mother, too, sometimes – read him his stories. As he'd grown up, it had become more and more a part of him, which was as appropriate as how into basketball he was. He'd heard the story by now of how his father had grown up reading comics, but then back when they were in college, living together, falling for each other, Dylan had introduced Riley to comic books, and she'd started getting really into them, too, so much so that by the time they shared a room, they had quite an impressive, shared collection. Once Nicky had started to grow, and show his leanings toward his parents' shared interest, Dylan had gone and added a few boxes for him, where he stored those issues that his son had seemed to like. The more he'd grown and started to show even more direct interest, especially when he got to accompany one or both of his parents to the store, he'd been able to put his books into his own collection. The one he'd been gifted today would definitely go in there.

"How about you, Uncle?" Peter asked him, gesturing around. He meant what he'd said: it was his birthday, too.

"Well…" Lucas considered this. He used to read comic books, years back, but it had definitely been a long time since he'd picked up any, and aside from the fact that he wouldn't have known where to start, it wasn't actually something he thought he could get into at the moment. But then he would see Nicky as he went around the store, holding his gifted comic pressed to his chest with both hands the whole time, and it made him think. "What if I'd want to get something for my daughter, get her started, if she's interested?" he asked Peter. The man smiled.

"Introducing new readers is my specialty," he declared, and Lucas chuckled.

"She's not much of a reader yet either. She's five, like him, turning six in the fall," he explained, and he must have had an expression to match the thought going through his mind with how Peter gave him that sympathetic nod.

"Been there, man. So, what's she like?"

"Well… We called her Sheriff Annie for a while. Had a star and everything, and she'd go around helping people," Lucas explained, and Peter nodded with a smile. "She's like this perfect mix of my wife and I. Loves and looks after animals like I do, loves music and art like her mother. Loves all colors, but green is her favorite. Great big sister to our younger girls…"

"Alright, I think I have a good enough idea, let me look around for a minute," Peter tapped his shoulder and moved off.

He was a man of his word. When he came back, he had a good stack to show Lucas, first issues of this character and that team… He told him all about them, and Lucas could see exactly why they might be something Marianne would be interested in. Eventually, he picked one out, though he asked if Peter could hold on to the others for a few days. He'd show Marianne the one from today and, if she was interested – which he had a feeling she could be – then he would bring her around to have a look at the rest. Peter was happy to assist, and he looked forward to meeting 'the Sheriff.'

When he got to the gym, Lucas saw Nicky off to rejoin his parents, as Riley had come along with Emily and Megan to join Dylan at the auction. The boy talked on and on about his afternoon, from the rescue of his cake to the wonder of ice cream over cake, and then the trip to the store. He showed his new comic to his parents, and they looked at it with the appreciation of fellow readers.

"I got something for you," Lucas told Marianne after she saw him and came running into his arms. He balanced her on one side and handed her the bag he had dangling from his wrist. She took it from him and reached inside.

"What is it?" Marianne gasped. She knew it was a comic book, of course, but she'd never seen this one, and from the look on her face, Lucas would say she was already intrigued.

"Guy named Peter helped me find it for you. He's very nice, we can go and see him sometime, if you want?" She hadn't yet torn her eyes from the cover, but she nodded. Yes, she would want that. When she finally looked up, it was like she was being made to remember where she was and what they were doing here.

"Let me down, Daddy, I want to show you what everyone did. Mommy's painting is over there, let's go see it!"

Just like the day's other birthday boy, she would go around for the rest of the evening holding her gift like she wanted to make sure she would never lose it, but at the same time she'd hold to her father's hand in just the same way. They got a look at everything, and they decided between the two of them which ones they might put a bid on. They weren't going to bid on Maya's piece, at her request. She felt it only fair that it end up somewhere else. That was fine, of course; there were a lot of others to choose from, and they would find something, the two of them together.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners