Chapter 11: The Switch

"So you're sure you're okay with this?" Brett asked, looking at the pile of things he'd set out on his dining room table.

It was almost six, and the two men were standing with their backs facing the large picture window filtering in the early morning sunlight. The Hanley house was a modestly sized but comfortable colonial style with a large front room with stairs leading to the bedrooms on the second floor. The first floor had a kitchen and dining room in the back, as well as Brett's office. It was a slightly older construction, one that Brett had built along with some assistance from his father shortly after he'd graduated university and had joined the family construction business, but it was still a well kept home.

"I'm positive. Remember, I am raising two girls." Bandit said, jokingly rolling his eyes.

Brett chuckled, "Yeah, but mate, boys are a whole other league…"

"I can handle it. Remember, we agreed that if we're together our kids need to be comfortable with each of us. You've got the girls today, I can handle the boys."

"Okay." Brett paused, "But remember: Bradley's feedings are at 7 and 12:30. Bottles at 9, 2, and 4. The schedule's on the fridge and on the formula can."

"Got it."

"Bentley's got field hockey practice today at 1, so it'll just be you and Baxter and Bradley from then until 3."

Bandit nodded, quickly opening the notes app on his phone as he tapped in the information.

"Baxter doesn't have scouts this week, so he's off for the whole day unless he decides that he wants to go to one of his friends' houses."

Bandit looked up; an equally bemused and playfully irritated look on his face. "Anything else?"

"No." Brett replied, mentally going over a checklist before repeating, "No, that's everything."

"Alright. You need reminders about the girls?"

Brett grinned sheepishly as he adjusted his glasses, "It might be a good idea."

Bandit smiled, "Bingo has celiac's, so no gluten. Basically all the snacks we have are gluten free, but Bluey and I can't stand gluten free bread so she has her own loaf for that in the fridge. Right now Wendy's watching the girls-she's our neighbor on the left-she's nice, but she's a bit standoffish at times."

"Okay."

"Chances are the girls are going to at some point play 'magic xylophone' with you. If you hear a xylophone noise, freeze." Bandit paused, "They get really into their games, so if you don't understand something, ask, they'll explain it."

"Okay, I can handle that; I play ball in the yard with the boys all the time."

Bandit raised an eyebrow, "You've seen them in the park, remember?"

Brett thought back to some of the crazier actions the kids had done while he and Bandit had been talking, "Yes…"

"You're going to be part of that."

Brett inhaled slightly before nodding. "Alright, I'll try my best."

"I know you will, mate." Bandit pecked him on the cheek. "Now go on, I've got to get breakfast ready here and Wendy's only watching them until 7, so get a move on." He patted Brett's rear as the red heeler left the dining room.

Brett looked back at Bandit, a slight glimmer in his eye for a moment before he shook his head. No time for any of that now, I've got to take care of the girls today.

***BCH***

"Good morning girls!" Brett greeted the sisters as he opened the door that was to Bluey's side of their connected room. Normally the two kept the partition open, with the space being one big room.

"Morning Mr. Brett…" Bluey yawned, "Dad said you were watching us today."

"That's right. What do you girls want for breakfast?"

"Ice cream!" Bingo declared, hoping that there was a chance she'd get it for once.

"Maybe not for breakfast, we can see about later in the day for that."

"Okay…" Bingo nodded, figuring as much.

"Oh! Can we have eggs and bacon and toast?" Bluey asked.

"That sounds doable." Brett replied. "Do you girls want to help me in the kitchen?"

"You mean help you with making food?" Bingo asked.

Brett nodded.

"Yeah! It'll be like when we made Dad an omelette for his birthday!" Bingo cheered.

"Didn't he almost choke because you forgot to take the shells out?" Bluey asked, remembering her father chugging his coffee to try and dislodge a large chunk of something from his throat.

"Yeah, but I was only 5 then. Now I'm 6. I've got to be way better at cooking now."

***BCH***

Bandit looked through the cabinets to try and find something to make for breakfast. Noodles, canned anchovies, pickled beets… he closed the pantry and walked over to the fridge, looking at its contents. How does he not even have eggs or milk?! Bandit wracked his brain as he tried to think of something he could make. Desperate, he opened the freezer. Okay. I see some sausages, I can work with that…

Half an hour later Baxter woke up to the smell of something delicious cooking. He got out of bed and walked to his bedroom door, opening it to see his older brother similarly poking his head out to investigate the smell.

"Wait, Mr. Bandit's watching us today, right?" Baxter asked.

"Yeah." Bentley replied. "Do you think he's the one making that smell?"

"I hope so. Dad never cooks any real food. Whatever it is smells great!"

The two boys charged down the stairs and into the dining room. Bradley was already sucking away at a bottle as Bandit rocked him back and forth while half singing a song as he watched something on the stove. "Sparks ignite and trade them for thought about no one and nothing in particular…" he mumbled as he poured some batter into a sizzling frying pan while carefully holding Bradley with the other.

"Morning Mr. Bandit!" Baxter yelled. "What's that? It smells really good!"

"Yeah, most of the time when dad cooks it just ends up smoking up the downstairs." Bentley added.

Bandit turned to the boys, "Morning boys, just getting some pancakes and sausages made." He walked over to the table and placed Bradley in his high-chair.

"Pancakes?"

"They're an American version of pikelets. Because you didn't have milk or eggs I had to look up a recipe online."

"You can look up recipes online?" Bentley asked, surprised.

"Of course, I figured you kids knew you could find anything online."

Both boys exchanged a look, "Mr. Bandit, you're awesome."

***BCH***

After breakfast Brett tidied the dishes, then the girls decided they wanted to play a game.

"Okay, what do you want to play?"

"Oh! What about doctor?" Bluey grinned, her tail wagging excitedly.

"Yeah! Dad never plays doctor. He says we use too many needles." Bingo rolled her eyes.

"Needles?"

"Don't worry; you'll only need them if we see it on your tests." Bluey remarked, running off to start setting up their doctor's office. Bingo followed shortly afterward. Brett suddenly had a slight sinking feeling in his chest which only got worse when a few minutes later he was given a dress shirt to wear backwards.

"It's your hospital gown." Bingo explained. "And this is your wristband." She slapped a slap-bracelet onto his wrist. She adjusted her nurses' hat and began speaking in a fancy voice, "Hello patient. I'm Nurse Bingo. What's your name?"

Brett paused, "Um, Brett?"

"No, your name in the game…" Bingo whispered.

"Oh, um, Reginald Barblesnoot?" Brett shrugged, trying to make up a plausibly silly name.

"Ah yes, Mr. Barblesnoot…" Bingo flipped a piece of paper over that she'd written a handful of random words on. "It looks like you're coming in today because you got cooties?"

"I have cooties?" He asked, surprised.

"Yes, of course you have cooties. My dad, I mean, Telemacus-one of our other patients-has terrible cooties, on account of being a boy."

"But I'm already a boy."

"Yes, but because you kissed Telemacus you now have double cooties!" Bingo declared, giggling.

"Oh no!" Brett gasped in horror.

"Don't worry love; we have the best doctor for cooties in all of Australia. Bluey!" Bingo shouted into the next room.

There was no response.

"I said, 'Bluey'!" Bingo yelled slightly louder.

"Bluey! We have a patient!"

"I'm Dr. Bluey, Nurse Bingo!" Bluey shouted back, poking her head through the doorway.

"Oh, of course. My mistake." Bingo nodded. "Dr. Bluey!"

"What is it nurse?" Bluey asked, entering with a doctor's bag and a much too big lab coat.

"Mr. Barblesnoot has double cooties." Bingo pointed at Brett.

"Oh dear! We haven't had that in years." Bluey said, quickly opening her doctor's bag. "Here, let's start with this."

Bluey placed a Band-Aid on Brett's stomach.

"Nurse, what do the test say?"

Bingo wrote a few random words on the paper in red crayon. "He still has it."

"Drat!" Bluey ripped off the Band-Aid, taking a chunk of Brett's fur with it.

"Yow!" Brett howled. "Bluey!"

"Dr. Bluey, patient."

Brett resisted the urge to say something sarcastic, "Dr. Bluey, perhaps you could not do that again."

"Of course, why would we do it again if it failed?" Bluey remarked, as if it was obvious.

"Okay, thank you." Brett said, relaxing a moment before something jabbed his side.

"Hey! Ow!" He looked down to see Bluey jabbing him with a cone shaped block.

"Ding! Needle!" Both girls laughed.

"Alright, so I got the shot, I must be cured." Brett tried to sit up.

"That was just the first one. You still need the booster shots…" Bluey and Bingo grinned as they both pulled out cone shaped blocks. Brett's eyes widened as he backed off the cushion and edged toward the door. A moment later he was running through the house, two small girls cackling as they both tried to poke him as many times as they could. After a few minutes they were all out of breath and Brett had gotten a shot and 6 boosters.

"Okay… I think I'm good…" He panted.

"Yeah, you're alright now." Bluey said before jabbing him one final time. "Ding!"

"Hey!"

"Never hurts to be safe. Ding!" Bingo quipped before getting in one final jab herself.

***BCH***

After the boys had finished their pancakes and sausage, and Bradley had gotten a change, Bandit decided to take them out into the yard.

"So what do you boys want to play?" He asked, not sure what to expect, as usually the girls were the ones to suggest the games that the group played.

Baxter and Bentley thought a moment before Bentley replied. "Do you know how to play cricket?"

Bandit was surprised. Neither of his daughters were fans of organized sports, despite his efforts to convince them otherwise. He'd never played cricket, but he'd watched plenty of it, so he figured he could probably manage a passable game. "I've never played, but I've watched enough of it."

"Better than most of the kids on this block." Bentley shrugged. "Dad keeps the stuff in the garage. Bax, c'mon, let's get it." Ten minutes later the equipment had been hauled from the garage and the yard set up. Bandit was bowling, Baxter was batting, and Bentley was fielding.

"So you boys both know how to play, I take it?" Bandit confirmed as he made sure the second wicket was in the ground properly.

"Yeah, we play with dad all the time." Baxter confirmed. "He used to play it in school."

Bandit bowled the first ball and Baxter connected, launching it across the lawn toward the fence. He quickly darted toward the wicket, then back across toward the other side. He managed three runs before Bentley knocked over the wicket.

"Did you play any sports when you were in school?" Bentley asked as he and Baxter switched positions.

"I played touch football for most of my secondary school years. My brothers all played too, so it was fun having Rad as captain my first year, then Stripe joined when I was almost finished."

"That's cool. I wonder if Bax and I 'll end up on the same cricket team in secondary?" Bentley commented as he hit the ball far enough that it nearly cleared the fence, only stopped by a hedge on the edge of the yard. He got four runs before Baxter knocked over the wicket.

"You might. But that's a few years from now; a lot can change by then."

"Yeah, if you and dad end up married we might end up on the same team with our sisters too!" Baxter shouted, "Well, provided its co-ed."

***BCH***

"Alright girls, whaddya say to getting lunch out?" Brett asked.

"Awesome! We never go out to eat!" Bingo smiled, "Well, at least not since we got stuck waiting forever at that takeaway place."

Brett raised an eyebrow, Wonder what the story is behind that…

"Ooh! Can we go to Maccas? The new one has a HUGE play center!" Bluey grinned.

Brett frowned, "I was thinking somewhere a little bit healthier."

Within a moment both Bluey and Bingo had dropped to their knees, eyes wide and lower lips trembling. It was the please face.

"Girls, I have two sons, I know how to resist a please face…" Brett scoffed. Although yours is a lot more effective than Baxter or Bentley's…

"Please Mr. Brett. We just want to get some Maccas with our dad's awesome new boyfriend…" Bluey said, her lip quivering.

Brett growled, "Uh, okay, sure, we can go to Maccas…"

"Yeah!" Both girls cheered as they ran out to Brett's station wagon.

Twenty-three minutes later they'd gotten their food and were sitting in a booth beside the play place. Both girls had devoured most of their food, while Brett had just started on his French fries.

"Okay, I'm done." Bingo declared, pushing her bowl forward. She'd already finished picking the chicken, tomatoes, and other good bits out of her salad.

"What about your greens?" Brett motioned to the still mostly full bowl of lettuce.

"I don't like lettuce."

"Well, at least eat some of it. That's half the salad!"

Bingo sighed as she picked up a fork and reluctantly started eating the lettuce.

Bluey smirked as she took the last bite of her chicken nuggets. "Done! Can I go play now?"

"No, not until Bingo's done." Brett replied, taking a bit out of his burger.

"Ugh! Bingo, hurry up!"

"I am hurrying. I have a little mouth!" Bingo replied, shoveling more lettuce in.

After a few moments the bowl was empty. "Alright, can we play now?" Bluey asked.

"Sure, have fun girls. I'll be finishing my food." Brett said, waving them toward the plastic tubes.

"You aren't coming with us?"

Brett raised an eyebrow, "Girls, I'm a bit tall, and a bit heavy, for something designed for children."

"Dad always goes in the play place with us."

"He does?"

"Yeah!" Bingo nodded.

"And he would confirm this?" Brett asked, fairly certain that the girls were pulling his leg.

"Absolutely." Bluey replied.

"Well, let me just check." Brett pulled out his phone and called Bandit.

After two rings Bandit picked up, setting down the sandwich he was eating on the Hanley's back deck along with the boys. "Hey mate, how's it going?"

"Good so far. How are the boys?"

"No issues here. You've two feckin amazing cricket players here." He looked at the brothers, who both grinned.

"I know it." Brett smiled, "Quick question, at Maccas the girls mentioned something about the play place…"

"What about it?"

"You go in it?"

"Yeah, most of the time." Bandit shrugged.

"Really?" Brett asked, taken aback.

"Yeah, I asked this one guy at the one they just put in and he said it was designed for families. Tubes are bigger, apparently. They've got a sign up on the wall and everything."

Brett looked over by the entrance, and lo and behold, there was in fact a sign declaring that the center had been made for families.

"Well, guess that means I'm going in."

"Have fun." Bandit snarked.

"I will." Brett said, rolling his eyes.

"Love ya. See you tonight at the cookout."

"See you then. Love you too." Brett said, hanging up the phone.

"See, told you." Bluey said. "Now come on, we need to get to the top of the mountain before anyone else claims it!"

***BCH***

Bandit dropped Bentley off at his field hockey practice, waving goodbye as he joined the other boys on his team as they got ready for warm-ups. Bandit looked longingly out at the field, steadying his breathing as he pulled away and started back toward the Hanley's.

"Why are you crying?"

"What?" Bandit asked, realizing he was crying and quickly wiping away the tears before glancing back in the rearview mirror.

"Why are you crying, did I do something to make you sad?" Baxter asked, looking up from the stuffed dinosaur he'd been playing with.

Bandit sighed, "No, it's just that my wife used to play field hockey, so I have a lot of memories of her playing it and it made me sad for a minute when I dropped off Bentley because sometimes I still miss her."

After a moment of silence Baxter spoke, "Mr. Bandit, what was your wife like?"

Bandit smiled melancholically, "Well, she looked a lot like your dad, to start with."

"For real life?"

"For real life. Believe it or not, that was actually the first thing I said to your dad when I met him."

Baxter laughed, "I bet he loved that!"

"He took it as a compliment." Bandit smiled. "Honestly, your dad is a lot like Chilli-my wife. He's smart and funny, and he loves you boys just like Chilli loved Bingo and Bluey."

"Do you think she would've liked me?"

"I'm sure, mate. Chilli loved everyone."

"What did she do, y'know, for a job?"

"She worked as an airport security officer."

"Wow! Did she ever have to tackle a bad guy?"

"A couple times, believe it or not."

Baxter grinned, "I wish I could've met her, she sounds really cool."

"She was." Bandit smiled.

Baxter scrunched his muzzle up in thought a moment, "What do you do?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Every time I see you you're just with Bingo and Bluey. Do you have a job?"

Bandit rolled his eyes, "Yes I have a job. I'm an archeologist."

"Wait, you're an archaeologist?"

"Yup."

"That means you get to work with dinosaur fossils!" He nearly leapt out of his car seat.

"I do. In fact, last week at the museum I was helping assemble a new specimen for our hall of fossils." Bandit paused, grinning at the rearview mirror a moment, "Maybe sometime you and your brothers could visit the museum where I work. I could show you all around."

The shout of joy emitted from the back of Bandit's 4x4 was loud enough to be heard half a block away. Needless to say, Baxter was on board with the idea.

***BCH***

Bluey looked intently at Brett as they sat across from each other at the Heeler's dining room table. The girls were drawing and Brett was catching up on a few emails.

"Everything okay Bluey?"

"You look a lot like mum."

"So your father's told me." Brett chuckled.

"Did your wife look a lot like my dad?"Bluey paused, "I mean, you look like our mum did, so that means that your wife used to look like our dad, right?"

Bingo looked up from her drawing before looking at her sister. "Wouldn't that just mean she looked like you?"

"Huh?"

"You look like dad, but you're a girl."

"I don't look like dad." Bluey replied.

"You do look a bit like him." Brett interjected.

Bluey rolled her eyes, "Either way, did your wife look like my dad?"

"No, it's just a coincidence that I look kinda like your mum. My wife looked more like your Aunt Trixie." Brett replied.

"Oh." Bluey paused. "What was she like?"

Brett paused, he hadn't talked much about Sara to either of the girls, Not that I don't want to share about my life before I was with Bandit… I guess because I didn't think that they would be interested in her. "Sara was brilliant, and I mean that in every sense of the word. She was an engineer; she worked designing all sorts of products and gadgets."

"Like toys?" Bingo asked, her ears perking up slightly.

"Yeah, she did make a few toys for the boys with her 3D printer, but mostly she made stuff for prosthetics companies."

"What's a prosthetics?" Bluey asked.

"A prosthetic is something that people can wear when they're missing part of their body." Brett pulled up his phone and flipped through a few pictures. "Here, see the boy in this picture?"

"Yeah…" Bluey and Bingo said, looking at a chocolate lab pup around Bingo's age.

"Believe it or not, his left leg is a prosthetic. He was born without one, so Sara helped design one for him. The coolest part was that some of her designs could grow with the person, meaning that families wouldn't have to buy their kids new prosthetics every few months or years."

"Wow, she sounds like she helped a lot of people." Bingo commented.

"She did. She was always trying to help everyone."

"She sounds like a really nice lady." Bluey said smiling as she placed her hand on Brett's arm.

"She was."

***BCH***

It was a little after six when everyone reconvened at the Heeler house. While there'd been a family cookout not too long ago, it was proper time for Bandit to introduce Brett and the boys to the rest of the neighborhood.

"…and this is Bradley." Bandit finished introducing the Hanleys to the six others sitting on the Heeler's back patio.

"Pleasure to meet you mate." Pat shook his hand, "I'm Pat, this stunner of a gal is my wife Shanelle, and these two are our pups Lucky and Chucky."

"Nice to meet you all." Brett smiled.

"Wendy Spitz." Wendy shook Brett's hand, "Though we did meet this morning, I believe a proper introduction is in order."

"Indeed, lovely to meet you Ms. Spitz."

"And this is my daughter, Judo." The young girl curtseyed.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Hanley."

"Please, call me Brett, no one calls me Mr. Hanley except my lawyer."

"Kids why don't you all go and play, give you all a chance to meet Baxter and Bentley." Pat said as he looked at his sons.

"Okay dad." Lucky said as he and Chucky turned to go off the patio.

"You too Judo, go make some new friends." Wendy encouraged as her daughter reluctantly left, knowing that there would be some good information shared while she was gone.

As soon as the children were out of earshot Pat began. "So, wait, how long have you been gay?"

"Pat! You can't just ask that." Shanelle slapped him.

"I've known him since primary school and never had any inkling of anything since then. I just want to know, how broken is my gaydar?" He justified.

Bandit huffed, "Neither of us is gay, we're both bi."

"But you're dating a guy."

"Yes. But I also married and was happily involved with a woman for over a decade." Bandit replied, pointing out the obvious.

"Same here, just in case you were wondering." Brett added.

"So, have you always been bi, then?"

Bandit and Brett exchanged a glance. "Can we please stop beating around the bush? No, I was never interested in you."

Pat reddened as Shanelle and Wendy both stifled a chuckle.

"If it's any consolation you might've been my type back in college, I dated a few blondes." Brett shrugged.

Pat's blush somehow turned an even deeper shade of scarlet.

In the ensuing three hours the adults had a chance to discuss something other than Bandit and Brett's sexualities, and Pat, after apologizing, had been happy to discuss the results of a recent rugby game with both of the other men. In the end it turned out to be a nice cookout, neighbors reconnected, relationships established, and none of the kids did detrimental damage to any of the landscaping-even if the garden hose somehow managed to create a massive mud-puddle that swallowed up some of the petunias.

***Author's Note***

Sorry this one is so long! I thought about splitting it up, but couldn't figure out where to do so. Next one should be coming soon, with a focus more on Brett and Bandit's relationship and some slightly more adult content.