Sleeping In Cars

They say a sleeping child is one of the most precious sights to behold. Gabe never understood why that was so. Is it just because children are so tiny that makes it "fantastic?" If that was the case, then seeing midgets sleep could be just as adorable.

He knew that he understood it at one point in his life. He used to love watching his son sleep when he was a baby, but he thought that was just because he couldn't get over the fact that he was a father. However, then he became depressed after a series of unfortunate events and looking at his son or Lisa made him feel terribly guilty. Over the years when he was away from his family, he lost the feeling of awe and blithe most parents got whenever they saw their precious child.

With Joshua back in his life, he got that feeling a lot even when his child hadn't been sleeping. Just picking him up from school or swim team practice made his day all the better. Finally, Gabe had something to live for and almost everybody said he spoiled his son to the point where it could be a serious problem.

But, like any child, they grew up. Gabe helped him through it all: going to his first dance in middle school then entering high school as a freshman. Getting his first girlfriend and then breaking up, leaving Gabe to help clean up the mess and lead him through it. Joshua taking SATs and AP exams, looking at Ivy League colleges, and high school graduation. Yet, throughout his ever-changing life, Gabe always found comfort whenever he saw Joshua's sleeping, peaceful face no matter how old he was.

It first happened when Joshua was eleven, a little bit after Gabe and Lisa were spending more time together like they used to when they first started dating. They had gone out and saw a late movie that finished around midnight. When they were leaving the theater and walking through the parking lot, Lisa twirling the car keys around her finger and making pleasant conversation with Gabe, Joshua suddenly broke the peaceful silence by yelling out, "Shot gun!"

Gabe then watched his son bolt towards their small car, Joshua looking over his shoulder and sending his dad a playful grin. Lisa didn't mind this, considering the fact that she was driving, but Gabe wasn't going to end up in back.

"Hey, get back here!" He yelled after him but he was smiling nevertheless. It was clear that Joshua wasn't slowing down so Gabe took off at a run after his son, his long legs catching up to him quickly.

However, Joshua had already reached the car and swung the passenger door open. He had barely got into the seat when his dad attacked him with an army of tickling fingers.

Joshua was laughing so hard that tears began to fall from his eyes and Gabe couldn't help but join in as he lifted his son, still tickling him, and tossed him into the backseat. Joshua managed to grip onto his father's arm so that Gabe wasn't free of him yet.

"If you're taking me down then I'm bringing you with me," the boy grinned up at his father, quoting a line from their movie, and Gabe feigned a fearful expression as his son clawed onto his arms.

Gabe tried prying Joshua off of him, laughing all the while, but the boy had a surprisingly strong grip. The man then started tickling his son some more until the boy was hooting so hard with laughter that he could barely breathe.

They played around for another minute or so, Gabe trying his hardest to pull his son off of him and became impressed by the boy's determination. Lisa, now in the driver's seat, turned around and said with a wry grin, "I don't care where you guys sit, just know that I'm driving in five…four…three…two…"

Gabe, knowing his wife well, jumped into the car just before Lisa began driving away, the door slamming shut with the movement.

"Ha!" Joshua cried out triumphantly, releasing his father and beaming at him. "Now nobody has the passenger seat."

Gabe just chuckled to himself and ruffled his son's hair. "Oh, you are going to pay for that."

The man gripped the boy in a headlock and started ruffling his hair so much that Joshua could hardly see with his bangs swishing in front of him. Even though, the boy kept letting out cries of joy between his breathless laughter as he tried to squirm out of his father's strong grip. Lisa merely smiled to herself, their happiness the best noise she ever heard.

It was late and the ride was a good twenty minutes till they got home, so it didn't take long for Joshua to become sleepy. From that point on Gabe could never erase the image of a kitten whenever his son started to sleep. Like the baby animal, Joshua would be bouncing with energy and looked like he could go for days, but then he'd suddenly freeze and release a loud yawn as his eyes would droop closed. Seconds later, he'd be fast asleep.

That is what happened then. Joshua was trying to tickle his father when he felt that surge of sleepiness overcome him. His yawn filled the car and his ochre eyes started to close. He blinked a few times, a last futile attempt to stay awake, but ended up leaning against his father's shoulder and letting out a deep breath. It took less than five seconds for the boy to be lulled asleep by the cars rhythmic swaying and the man's warmth.

Joshua falling asleep happened so fast and suddenly that Gabe was still tickling him when his son's head nestled against his shoulder. He stopped then, wondering if something was wrong, but a quick check with his keen eyes confirmed that his son had simply drifted to sleep.

For as long as Gabe has lived he has always hated people falling asleep on him, no matter who they were. It was always uncomfortable; their cheekbone would dig into his shoulder and their mouth would hang open in an unattractive fashion, as if they were hoping it might snow and they'd manage to catch a few flakes in their sleep.

Yet, looking down at his son, he thought none of that now, even though Joshua's large mass of green hair was tickling his neck and face and the weight of his son's head made his shoulder slump uncomfortably. All he could think about was how healthy his face looked, how even when his eyes were closed they were wide like his mother's, and how peaceful he appeared. It was as if nothing could hurt him when he was like this. Diseases, weapons, abandonment were hovering outside of the car, waiting to pounce at any moment, but his beautiful child's sleeping form held them back.

With these thoughts, Gabe tried desperately hard to remain as still as possible. As Lisa turned a corner, Joshua's body leaned forward and the man instinctively wrapped an arm around the boy, holding him up. Thankfully, his son remained asleep and Gabe couldn't help but feel that it was his embrace that was protecting his son from the world's horrors.

"Thanks again for taking us out for dinner, Mr. Cunningham!" A fourteen-year-old kid cried happily from the backseat of the car. Gabe glanced up into the rearview mirror, sending all the kids in his car a grin and a wink.

"I couldn't just let your victory be short lived. You guys beat those bastards even though they tried to get you disqualified by sticking drugs in your bags. I still can't believe nobody got in trouble for that, dumb policemen."

All the teenagers grinned at this, especially his son who sat in the passenger seat beside him. Gabe couldn't tell if the other children were laughing because he said the word "bastards" or because they were still high from winning states for swimming. Lisa always rebuked him for saying words like that, claiming that she didn't want Joshua ever repeating those words, but they quickly realized their son was smarter than that. The boy found it amusing whenever his father used such language, but (as all the doctors at Resurgam liked to put it) he was a nicer version of Gabe and never said such things.

Joshua and the six kids squished in the back seat were all part of the small, elite swim team that had won first place only a few hours before. Afterward, Gabe insisted on taking them all out to a diner for a victorious feast. Being young teenage boys and working out so much, they all cheered and shoved as much food down as possible.

"I see now why you have such little respect for the police," Joshua commented from beside him, grinning at his father and his ochre eyes sparkling underneath his bangs. Like the rest of the kids, he wore black sweat pants and a red sweatshirt that each had their school logo. He had grown a lot in only a few years. He was already five feet, ten inches tall and was starting his awkward teenage years. His body was lanky and Lisa couldn't help but mention constantly how he was bound to get Gabe's skinny body, which wasn't a bad thing. His voice had grown a bit deeper but wasn't quite there yet. His face, however, remained the adorable heart shape that all women (and now girls) fawned over. The chlorine of the pool made his hair dry even puffier than before and his friends had spent a good thirty minutes at the diner taking turns playing with it. They wanted to compare it with Gabe's but he managed to sneak his way out of it.

"I am telling Little Guy about it first thing tomorrow morning. He's bound to attack these idiotic cops and, if we are lucky, maybe even Naomi will get in on the action. Those two could throw anybody in jail if they wanted to," Gabe sent his son a wry grin and Joshua had let out a small chuckle, both of them reflecting on an old memory. A few kids in the back laughed along too, pretending they knew what they were talking about.

It took a while to drop each kid at their houses but Gabe didn't mind, he enjoyed listening to them rave about how close the match was and congratulating each other on their individual wins. He had an overwhelming surge of pride in his heart whenever somebody mentioned how fast Joshua managed to catch back up in the relay and win first place for the team. He also laughed along when they joked about how tough it was to get the swim cap on Joshua's head. All of them had to pull the extra, extra large cap and shove his mass of hair into it but still strands of dark green poked out. Some kids were trying to give him the nickname The Tree but it didn't stick very well.

Once the last kid was gone, Joshua sunk into the car seat and sighed deeply, closing his eyes and smiling to himself. Gabe started pulling out of the driveway slowly, the night's shadows draping over them like a soft blanket.

"You did great, Joshua," Gabe couldn't help but say in a tone that he only used with his son. It was soft and sincere, very rarely showed, and the boy noticed this multiple times.

"Thanks, Dad," his son said softly with a grin, his eyes still closed but went on to say, "Maria and Hank are always asking me if your nice to me. Should I keep telling them that you are training me to be a ninja assassin and defend you from Maria's punches?"

Gabe chuckled at this, marveling at his son's witty demeanor, and responded, "They've been falling for it for a while -,"

"Oh, Dad, your phone's ringing," Joshua had cut in, opening his sleepy eyes and searching for it on the car floor. He found it quickly due to its vibrating, then looked at the caller I.D. and said, "It's Tomoe" before handing it over.

Flipping the cell phone open, Gabe yawned and grumbled, "What?"

"Dr. Cunningham, sorry to disturb you so late at night," the other doctor apologized sweetly. "It is just that I've recently been informed that you are teaching your son to be a ninja. I'm very surprised, I didn't know you had the knowledge that I, too, posses to be a mentor."

At first Gabe was silent, stunned that this woman called right when they were talking about it. For a second he thought that maybe she was outside stalking them…but wasn't that against the path of honor or what not? He personally thought that dumb code was just a way of getting out of things, so if Gabe ever asked her to kill a spider she could say, "That's against the path of honor" when really she just might have found spiders to be disgusting. It was a theory he had built up a long time ago but was worried to voice his concern. Maybe the path of honor said to kill anybody who criticized it.

"Yes, what about it?" He replied cautiously, Joshua leaning in a bit closer in an attempt to hear.

"I'm simply surprised you managed to be trained yourself," Tomoe answered in an excited tone, one that seemed so sincere it had Gabe thinking that maybe she actually did believe them. "We must spare some time soon, it will be great for Joshua to see two masters fighting."

At this time Gabe had been swerving past a car on the highway, concentrating on making it a smooth turn, and mumbled absent mindedly, "Yep, that sounds great. When are we fighting – wait, WHAT!"

"Maria insists that we must duel so we can learn techniques from each other," Tomoe explained without hesitation, oblivious that Gabe had swerved around in the road at his realization and his eyes were almost as wide as Joshua's. The car behind him honked as he moved dangerously between lanes and he almost dropped the phone as he tried straightening himself out. "I would love to see what you can do!" Tomoe cried happily as he fumbled around.

"Um…err," Gabe grumbled, tucking the cell phone between his shoulder and head as his sweating hands gripped the wheel to control the car. "Um…I got to go. Oh, and tell Maria to go screw herself."

With that he flipped the phone shut, ending the call, and chucked the object behind him into the back seat.

"What was that about?" Joshua asked curiously as his dad somehow managed to regain control of the car even though he was fuming with irritation towards Maria. That loud mouth girl couldn't handle a joke and had to get her revenge on him, didn't she? It almost got him in a serious car accident, it was even worse that Joshua was in the car and could have gotten hurt. How typical of her, he should have seen that coming.

Noticing how tight his hands were gripping the steering wheel and his mouth was tugged into a scowl, Joshua sunk into the seat a bit more and questioned again, "Dad…what's wrong?"

At the sound of his voice, Gabe glanced over at his son and saw hints of fear in the boys' eyes. Joshua had seen Gabe angry before, lots of times actually, but never towards him. It would always be at RONI, Maria, and Esha, somebody else but never EVER at him.

This being said, Joshua wasn't fearful of Gabe being mad at him because, by the way Gabe's eyes softened when he looked at his son, he knew that his father's anger was directed at something else. The reason he was fearful was worry for how dangerous this cause might be.

"Nothing, just Maria being annoying," Gabe reassured his son, instantly relaxing and forced himself to take his mind off of the possibility that Tomoe might be beating him up in the near future. They continued driving in a comfortable silence, Joshua relieved at the news and both just tired from a long and exciting night.

After a good ten minutes of driving, Gabe turned the car around a corner and slowed down. It was a short street lined with small, quaint two-story wooden houses of various colors. Streetlights showed like starts against the darkness of the night and the only windows that were still alit were the ones that belonged to a pale yellow house on the right.

Parallel parking by the curb, Gabe stared at the windows in hopes that he'd see his wife's form moving past it. The two were – for lack of a better word – together again but it wasn't really official. They were happy, yes, but things moved slowly for the pair. Neither could deny that they had feelings for each other and, as of late, Gabe had stopped beating around the bush and progress things a bit more. They managed to buy a new house and move back in together only a year and a half ago, for Joshua's sake, but Gabe was determined to make his wife love him again openly.

He took out the car key, the engine dying in an instant, and turned to his son to congratulate him one last time before heading in. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped short, seeing that Joshua's eyes were closed and his mouth opened slightly, his breathing soft and steady.

Gabe chuckled and smiled, finding it cute how fast the boy could fall asleep. Perhaps he got it from his father, considering that the man took every opportunity for a nap.

"Come on, Joshua, wake up," Gabe tried rising the boy, shaking his arm a little, but Joshua remained fast asleep. It didn't take long for him to remember how the teenager slept like a rock.

"Aww, don't make me do this…" Gabe groaned, about to reach for his son's water bottle stuffed in his bag, but froze when he heard Joshua softly muttering to himself.

He listened for a moment but the words were incoherent. He noticed how peaceful his son looked now, how sweet and innocent…and then he groaned at himself for sounding so cliché.

"Lisa's right, I'm becoming a softy," he grumbled, leaning back in his seat and forgetting about the water bottle. He sat there for a moment, staring at his son's adorable sleeping face for a moment in contemplation, before letting out a reluctant sigh and getting out of the car. Still a bit irritated with himself, Gabe carefully opened the passenger car door, holding Joshua's head up with his hand.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…you are way too old and…" the man paused for a moment as he tucked one hand under Joshua's back and the other behind his knee. He grunted when he tried lifting him up, staggering under the weight. "Dear lord…you weighed a lot less when you were two!"

After a few minutes of awkward struggling, Gabe managed to pick Joshua out of the car and start heading for the front door, barely able to sustain the weight.

"I need to work out more…" he muttered and, when he got to the door, pondered on how he'd open it. Thankfully, Lisa saw him coming in and she opened it for him. With a knowing smile, she commented slyly, "You softy."

"Shut it," he retorted but she just chuckled at him and he couldn't help but let the edges of him mouth tug upwards.

Lisa followed him up the stairs and into Joshua's room. They had a quick, polite and quiet conversation about how the "after party" went. Lisa had attended the game indeed but wasn't going to dine out with the rest of them. According to her, it seemed that having a mother there would ruin the "wild" feel of it for the boys.

Gabe always liked how she seemed to understand things so well; the boys probably enjoyed it better being a "guys night out" sort of thing. While he thought this, Lisa pulled Joshua's bed covers back and Gabe gently slipped his son onto it. He removed the rubbery sandals Joshua wore and Lisa brought the sheets up over his body. She hesitated when her fingers reached his neck, admiring her boy for a moment, before bending over and placing a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Now who's the softy," Gabe teased from behind and she sent him a mocking glare.

"I'm a mother and female, it's natural that I should be," she replied with a wink, straightening up and grinning at her husband. "You, on the other hand, are a sissy."

Gabe chuckled to himself and shrugged his shoulders. "Excuse me for being a good dad."

Just then Lisa leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his lips before gliding past him and towards the door. The kiss left Gabe stunned yet extremely pleased, as they always did, and he turned around to watch her go.

She paused by the doorway, looking behind her and sending him a sweet smile. The joking manner faded from her eyes and was replaced by one of tenderness. "Thank you," she whispered before walking out and down the hall, the darkness swallowing her up in seconds.

Gabe stood there for a moment, feeling triumphant, when his thoughts were broken by somebody's smug voice from behind him.

"And you said Mom wasn't that into you."

The man instantly spun around, looking at his smirking son with shock. Joshua was sitting up in bed, sending his father a knowing yet mischievous smile and his eyes were alit with joy. It was a mix between happiness that his mother and father were still going strong and the boyish troublemaker side that he showed every so often.

"You were awake the entire time, weren't you?" Gabe clarified and Joshua shook his head.

"Nope, I woke up when you hit my head on the car door but, since you were already carrying me, I decided to go along with it."

"You clever kid…" Gabe snickered before face palming his forehead for being tricked by his own child. He never got mad at him though, just awed by his son's cunningness sometimes. "Sorry about that by the way, you know, banging your head."

"It's fine -,"

"Good, now go to sleep before I get pissed at being fooled," Gabe cut him off in a jokingly stern tone and Joshua instantly fell to his side and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. Even while faking it he still looked completely at ease as he always did. Gabe wouldn't be surprised if he actually did already fall asleep.

Dr. Cunningham went to bed that night with blithe soaring through him…only to be crushed the next day when Tomoe attacked him with her ninja skills. The other doctors laughed from the sidelines, Maria cracking up the loudest.

"You aren't going to tell Mom, are you?" Seventeen-year-old Joshua asked nervously from next to his father, glancing between his feet and his father's enraged face. It was late, probably around one in the morning, and Dr. Cunningham was doing something he rarely did: he was scolding his son.

"Of course I'm telling her!" He snapped, his voice hushed but venomous nonetheless. Joshua flinched underneath his bitter tone, trying to inch his chair away from his father a bit. Both were sitting side by side in uncomfortable plastic chairs in the police station's lobby. "You stole a car for Christ's shake! You expect me not to?"

"I didn't steal a car," Joshua tried to explain for the hundredth time that night but to no avail. It was as if all reasoning had flown away from his father the moment he got the call that his son and his friend, Dillon, were in jail. Gabe had come right away and got his son out after a long two hours of yelling at the police and explaining what really happened. Dillon had picked Joshua up in his "brand new car" and, without the green haired teenager knowing it, was driving around town with his friend in a stolen car. Even though Gabe was fully aware of the situation, he still went on saying how Joshua stole it. "Like I said before, I had no idea it was stolen," the son tried to reason with his father in a calm, levelheaded tone, but Gabe would have none of it.

"Well you might've as welled if I'm being forced to stay up this late waiting for one of Dillon's parents to leave poker night and come here to pick him up!"

In the small room that they were waiting in, the receptionist glanced up at them, glaring at the pair with her beady eyes for a second before focusing back on the computer.

"I called you for a reason, Dad. I thought you'd be cooler with this," Joshua grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Cooler with this?" Gabe repeated in utter shock, staring at the young man with wide and enraged eyes. Even now he thought that he was looking into a mirror and that he was rebuking himself. Joshua grew up well and, even to him, more handsome. His son's hair remained that giant mass of green but everybody he met loved it, especially Alyssa who currently had a thing for him. His pale face was heart shaped like his mother's and his wide ochre eyes filled it out nicely. He wasn't as awkwardly lanky as he used to be in his early teen years, he was much more comfortable in his body now. Even though Gabe felt like he was talking to himself, it didn't stop him from scolding his son and raising his voice. "You think I'm cool with you being thrown in jail! Do you know what happens in jail? Gay rape. You could have been gay raped!"

"That's only in the movies –"

"Gay rape," Gabe repeated, as if saying it again would enforce the threat.

"I was in there for thirty minutes –"

"Gay rape."

"Nobody else was in the cell with us –"

"Gay rape."

"Quit saying that!" Joshua snapped, glaring at his father who slouched back in his plastic chair, crossing his arms and stretching his long legs out before him. He made a pouting face and his son rolled his eyes. Sometimes Joshua thought he was the adult rather than Gabe.

His son opened his mouth to speak some more but his words fell short when the door swung open, a woman with long dyed blonde hair rushing into the station.

"Where is he!" She cried, tears streaming down her face and her makeup pooling out of her eyes. She was what Gabe called a casino mom, the forty-year-old woman who still wore mini skirts and halter-tops, normally got drunk or high and worked at Hooters. "Where is my baby Dillon!"

A policeman quickly came over and tried calming her down, explaining the situation to her as she continued to sob. Without a word, Gabe got up and started heading for the door. With Dillon's mother finally here, he was free to go.

Joshua quickly followed him and they walked in a tense silence to the car. They wouldn't look at each other, the night hiding their fuming faces in shadows. Nobody spoke until they had reached the highway, the air practically popping with their fury.

Joshua was the first to break it. Leaning against the window and staring out into the night, watching the rain slam against the road, he grumbled, "You are being completely unreasonable."

A bitter, sarcastic laughter followed from Gabe and he retorted hotly, "Unreasonable because I'm pissed at you for going to jail? Hardly –"

"You know it wasn't my fault!" Joshua snapped, focusing his stare on his father whose eyes remained glued to the road.

"I know, it's just –" Gabe started to say, a bit more calmly, but his son was fully enraged now and wasn't going down that easily.

"Just what? Huh? Why are you being so unfair?"

"Because I was worried about you!" Gabe shouted over him, braking abruptly at a stop sign and causing both of them to lurch forward, their seatbelts the only thing holding them back from smashing their heads.

Silence fell on the two and they gazed at each other for a few moments. Joshua's eyes were wide with surprise while Gabe sighed deeply, looking out towards the road and slouching back in his seat.

They said nothing for a second but the stillness was broken by Gabe's sarcastic laughter again. Chuckling, he said mostly to himself, "I can't wait till you have a kid of your own and you'll see just how painful it can be."

Joshua remained silent, simply staring at his father in bewilderment as Dr. Cunningham continued on. The man turned his head towards his son, sending him a tiny, crooked smile. "You'll see how having a kid makes you so vulnerable," Gabe explained, his eyes softening with every word he said and the rage completely gone. "I swear, I thought nobody could ever hurt me when I was alone. Don't get me wrong, having you was the best thing that ever happened to me, it's just…"

Gabe trailed off there, his gaze focusing back on the road and he stared out at the rain with a dazed expression. He continued in a much graver voice, his son hanging on his every word.

"I love you, kid, don't ever forget that. That's why I'm being so…unreasonable right now. You don't understand how scared I was when I heard you were in jail. I ran out of our house so fast I didn't even grab coffee. Coffee! It didn't cross my mind once, and you know how much I need coffee to function."

His voice had quickened at the last part and he paused then, taking a deep breath before turning his eyes back on his son and letting out another deep sigh. "I'm sorry for yelling at you…it was just how I decided to vent my worry and frustration at myself for not being there to help you sooner."

Nobody moved for about five seconds, the words sinking into both of them, until Joshua leaned across the space between them and embraced his father in a hug, smiling to himself and replying sincerely, "I'm sorry too, for yelling at you and making you worry so much."

Gabe nodded, holding his son in his arms and trying to remain as nonchalant as he could. After a few seconds they broke apart and the man somehow kept his composure after a very rough night.

Just then somebody started blaring on the horn from behind them and the Cunninghams looked in the rearview mirror at a black truck. The burly man in the car gave them the finger but his formidable size didn't stop Gabe from returning the gesture. They instantly sped away after that, going a bit faster than the legal limit for them to get away.

The drive back home was a long one, the police department being thirty minutes away from their home that was on the outskirts of town. No more words were shared between them, both too tired to speak and having comfort in the silence.

At one point Gabe glanced over and saw his son curled up in the passenger seat sound asleep. His knees were tucked up against his chest and his head nestled between the back of the seat and the window. With his innocent expression and suddenly small appearance, he truly reminded Gabe of a kitten.

Dr. Cunningham smiled to himself, finally letting his eyes tear up a bit at the relief that his son was okay. He couldn't help but reflect on the years they had together. He always heard stories of how fast children grew up but he never thought it would be like this, such strong feelings of pride, love, frustration, and fear. The years had been good to both of them and they got along great but it hurt Gabe to know that soon his boy would leave him for college and fully become a man. Ever since they reunited Joshua wanted to be a diagnostician like his dad and he still had that dream. Everybody who knew the teenager agreed he would be one of the most skilled and caring doctors.

Yet, looking at his peaceful sleeping face then, future worries seemed to have left Gabe. All he cared about was the now, having his son safe and healthy by his side. Joshua grew up to be a great young man and Gabe was going to have to accept the fact that soon he could only help him grow from afar but, at the moment, he just enjoyed his presence. No matter what they have been through, Joshua's sleeping face always seemed to have brought joy to him in any situation.

Author's Note

It got a bit deeper at the end there, the middle one was more of a humorous thing and showing the progress of Gabe's relationship with his family. The first story was a good starting point. I guess this story shows the overall "plotline" that I would do if I owned Trauma Team and if I were to focus on Gabe getting back with his family.

Would you call this fluffy? I feel like this thing is just dripping with fluff…or is fluff used for a more romantic story? Is there another word for family cuteness? I tried to keep Gabe in character as much as possible by adding hints of his usual bashful manner, but it's tough when I'm trying to make him a sensitive dad. He's supposed to act a lot differently towards his son, nicer and all, but the same he's always been with everybody else.

God, I hate past tense. So many times I accidentally switched to present tense and then had to go back over it and fix it all. I just thought past tense would be more appropriate for this kind of thing. I'm not sure if I'll do it again, I guess we'll just have to see.

I'm going to probably jump around a lot in this collection of drabbles. I might do one-shots that are like this which cover a large span of time or ones like the first story that is focused on a single event. Just a heads up for you on what to expect.

Before I shut up from my rambling, I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed last time, so thank you very much Giant Ninja Panda, Indochine Ramera, ChocoaltexCheese, and Kirbanlove23. Your reviews were all very encouraging and helpful, I loved them! I hope you liked this one too and please review!

~~Wave~~