Chapter 46
Grounded
"My Never"- Blue October
Kyle (POV)
It had only been a week since Amanda, Brice, Lori and Declan came home from New York and Brice was starting his first day of kindergarten this morning. It was also Nathan's first day of high school, after he took his placement tests the school felt it was best to place him in his junior year of high school.
When I awoke, my arm was protectively slung around Amanda's petite waist. I laid there for a moment allowing myself to really wake up, gently stretching out my legs. It wasn't long before Amanda began to stir as well.
"Good morning," I chuckled softly.
"Hmmm do we have to get up?" she moaned.
"I'm afraid so; we have to get Brice to school," I reminded her, and she rolled over to face me.
"We can home school him," she mumbled, cuddling closer to me. "I don't want to get out of bed."
"I know, but we have too. Besides, who would teach him if we home schooled him?" I pointed out.
"My mom is retired now," she suggested jokingly.
"I don't think that's the best idea…" I said carefully.
"Yeah, probably not," she giggled, finally enabling herself to get out of bed.
I managed to pull myself from the warmth of the bed as well. Brice was already awake when I went into his room to wake him and get him ready for the day.
"Morning buddy," I spoke softly. "Time to get up for school."
He practically leaped out of his bed: the first day of school was something he had been talking about since the day he got home. He started getting ready and I found my way to the kitchen where Amanda was.
"I still can't believe he's starting kindergarten," Amanda sighed, handing me a mug of coffee.
"I still remember the first week he was living with me and my family. Time flies," I added.
"Aww, are you feeling old," she playfully teased, sitting down at the table with a bowl of fruit and her coffee.
I grabbed Brice's cereal box down from the top shelf of the pantry and placed it on the counter. After a few moments he was making his way to the kitchen dressed in the clothes Amanda had laid out for him the night before—His jeans and a white polo.
"Are you excited for the first day of school?" Amanda asked as I placed the bowl in front of him and sat down at the table.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Uncle Josh told me that in kindergarten you get to take naps all day and drink juice."
"Well you have to remember it's been a while since Uncle Josh was in kindergarten, he may be a little off," I explained.
Once we finished eating, I took a quick shower and got dressed myself, a pair of jeans and my black button down shirt. I snatched a clean pair of scrubs and threw them into my work bag.
"Ready to go?" Amanda asked from the door way.
"Just have to brush my teeth," I smiled.
"Brice and I are going to head down to the car," she nodded and disappeared from the doorway.
There was something odd about the way she had been acting since she got home from New York. It was as if she wasn't telling me something. I didn't know if it was something I had done, or if something happened in New York, but there was definitely something bothering her.
I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and quickly brushed my teeth before meeting them down at the car. The whole car ride, Brice asked about what kindergarten would be like.
We pulled up to the school and we all walked in. There were small children running around everywhere, there was also the occasional child who would be clinging to their parent's pant leg trying to hide themselves. I made sure to grab the camera before leaving the apartment so I would be able to take a few pictures of Brice at the school.
"Hello, welcome to the first day of school. I'm Ms. Mayer, and who are you?" A lady in her late twenties greeted us as we walk through the classroom door.
"Brice Kyle Trager," Brice said, gazing up at the woman.
"Well, Brice, we're very happy to have you here. Why don't you go hang your backpack up on one of those hooks over there," she suggested, pointing to the hooks the held four other small backpacks like Brice's.
"You two must be…?" she trailed off, not wanting to assume.
"I'm Amanda, and this is my husband Kyle. We're Brice's parents." I could already tell Ms. Mayer was taken back a little by our age.
"Well like I said I'm very happy to have Brice in my class this year," she smiled. "Please don't forget to write down your names and phone numbers on that sheet over there. Just so I have record of how to contact either of you if I have to."
She pointed to a sheet that another couple was hovering over. We took a few pictures of Brice interacting with a few of the other kids, then filled out the sheet before we had to say goodbye to Brice.
"Alright buddy, your mom and I have to get going," I said, crouching down in front of him.
"You're leaving?" he asked.
"It's almost time for class to start, sweetie," Amanda explained. "But don't worry Nana Nicole is going to pick you up after school, then you'll go to her house until we're done at work."
"You'll be okay buddy, can I get a hug before we go?" I asked, holding out my arms.
He hugged us both and went back to playing with his friends. I wrapped my arm around Amanda as we walked out of the school and back to the car.
"That went better than I thought it would," I commented. "I honestly thought he'd be upset with us leaving."
"He didn't even seem fazed by it," she added.
"I guess that's better though, it's not as hard to leave him. I remember when I dropped him off at day care for the first time and he cried and cried when I left."
"Aww," she said sympathetically. "I thought I was having a hard time with him turning five, but now that we just dropped him off for his first day…"
"Now who feels old?" I chuckled and she gently slapped me on my chest.
When we got back into the car I asked her if she wanted to come with me to take Nathan to school or if she needed to get home to get her work done.
"Do you think Nathan would want both of us and Nicole to take him to his first day of highschool?" Amanda pointed out.
"You're probably right," I acknowledged. "Not that I minded having Nicole with me on my first day."
"I've noticed that Nathan is picking up on social cues a lot faster than you did," she said carefully. "Why is that?"
"Jessi, Foss and I started noticing that too when we were at the cabin. He was speaking in full sentences by the second day we were there."
"But why is that?" she asked.
"When I was in the pod, they ran data input retention tests. They basically would input questions that ranged from mathematical formulas to war strategies. What I think they were doing with Nathan was not only what they did with me but also inputting social ques. Right now, that is one of the many things Foss and Jessi are looking into," I explained as I parallel parked in front of the apartment building.
"Sometimes I wonder if the Latnok board members have any humanity left in them," she replied.
"You're not the only one," I sighed. "After I take Nathan to school I have to head straight to work. I'm done around six tonight, unless I get pulled into surgery. Do you want me to pick up Brice?"
"Sure, just call me if you can't and I'll go get him," she said, leaning forward to give me a kiss goodbye. "I love you."
"Love you too," I said as she climbed out of the car, and I drove off.
Within a few minutes I was pulling into the drive way of the Trager house.
"Ready for your first day?" I smiled at Nathan through the rearview mirror as he climbed into the back and Nicole got into the front with me.
"Oh yeah," he mumbled. He seemed to be adjusting really fast to social cues. He had defiantly picked up on sarcasm. "Did you already take Brice to school?"
"Amanda and I dropped him off this morning," I explained, backing out of the driveway.
"How did that go?" Nicole asked, knowing what it was like to leave your child on the first day of school.
"Surprisingly well, he didn't cry or beg us not to leave. It was an easy process," I explained.
"That's always better than tears and shouting," she laughed gently.
It wasn't long before we arrived at the high school. Nathan got out of the car and peered at the school and all the students interacting in the court yard.
"You'll be fine," I assured as we walked into the school.
"Ah, Mr. Trager, I'm glad to see you came in with Nathan here. I wanted to talk to you," Mr. Baker the new principal greeted as he stepped out of his office when we were preoccupied with one of the assistance printing Nathan's schedule.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No, no, just a few things to clear up, but before we discus that. Nate, I would like to introduce you to Hailey," he said, gesturing to the brown haired girl standing quietly behind us. "She is a student ambassador, she'll be showing you around today, and make sure you don't get lost."
They said an awkward hello.
"Well, why don't you two head off to class, you don't want to be late," Mr. Baker urged.
Nathan said goodbye to me and the two of them slipped out of the office.
"Why don't you two step into my office," he said, heading back into his office.
"What is all this about?" I asked as Nicole and I took our seats.
"Well you are Nate's brother, but according to our records he's only been in your custody for a few months now. And before that, our recodes are very…limited," he noted, folding his hands on his desk.
I glanced at Nicole quickly before saying. "Before Nathan was placed in my care, he bounced around from foster home to foster home." The lie just rolled off my tongue. "As far as his education goes, I don't know much, but as you have already seen he's very intelligent."
"Right, but, the family history is what seems to be concerning me more than his education," he clarified. "There doesn't seem to be much of one."
"I understand that, Mr. Baker, we're actually trying to figure out most of it ourselves. I'm working with his social worker now to get most of that straightened out. I can have him call you if you would like," I suggested.
"I would like that very much, if I could hear from him by the end of the week that would be great," he said, making a few notes in what I assumed to be Nathan's file.
Nicole and I excused ourselves and left the school.
"So who is Nathan's social worker?" Nicole asked once back in the car.
I rested my head back on the head rest and sighed closing my eyes. "I'll just have Foss take care of that. He can pretend to be his social worker or something."
"Sometimes I feel like history is repeating itself," she commented.
"In some ways it is," I added. "I have to go meet with my contractor before I go to work, do you want to come with and see the progress on the house?"
"I'd love to," she smiled. "Amanda still has no idea, does she?"
"She's seen the blue prints but she just thinks that it's my 'dream home' to live in one day. She has no idea that I'm actually in the process of building it," I explained as I drove.
"What does she think about the blue prints?" Nicole asked.
"She loves them," I grinned.
"How has it been to work with that contractor? I know you were having a hard time getting in contact with him," Nicole questioned.
"Well once I was able to get a hold of him everything was fine, also mentioning Foss's name didn't hurt," I smirked.
I parked the car in the parking lot by the pier and Nicole and I took the fairy over to Adam's land, well my land now. Once we got off the boat we saw the contractor, Mike, overseeing his crew.
"Mr. Trager! I'm glad you could make it," he greeted after seeing Nicole and I advance his way.
"How's everything coming here?" I asked. Since he and I started this project it's been almost three weeks, and I've been out here on a weekly bases checking the progress.
"Things have been going smoothly. Since you were here last week we've started on building the frame work to the house, as you can see. We hope to be able to get the plumber and electrician out here by the end of the week, so that the guys can start putting up the dry wall early next week," he explained as we walked around the site.
"You guys are moving very fast," Nicole commented.
"That's how we work, ma'am," he smiled kindly.
"So we're still on course with finishing by mid-to-end of October?" I reminded.
"Yes, the house should be done by then," he confirmed.
"Foss was right, you guys work fast," I added, looking at the site.
"I've built a few places for Foss in my years; he always wants his places done fast and well," he explained. "And that's just what we do."
"That's what I like to hear, it looks like everything is under control. I'll be back next week," I said before Nicole and I left. I dropped her back off at the house before heading to work.
Most of my day was spent monitoring a premature baby girl, who we had just operated on the night before. She was born with her heart growing on the outside of her body, rather than on the inside. Cases like hers were very rare, but they did happen. Her name was Elizabeth, but her dad had already begun to call her Lizzy.
I swept my hand into the incubator and stroked her hand. She wasn't breathing on her own yet given that her lungs hadn't been able to develop. She had bright green eyes though, and was extremely tiny given that she was a premature baby.
"How's she doing?" Dr. Robins asked enter the NICU, a mask covering her face and a sterile gown along with gloves.
"She's strong," I commented through my own mask. "Her vitals are good, and she seems more alert today."
Dr. Robins nodded as she ran a check on Elizabeth.
"I have a C-section to do this afternoon, would you like to scrub in?" she asked, making a few notes in her chart.
"Who will watch Elizabeth?" I asked.
"Dr. Collins will," She assumed.
"I'd love to. When's the surgery?"
"Half an hour," she explained, motioning for Dr. Collins to come in from the hall and take over for me and for me to follow her.
As we walked down the hall to the elevator, that would take us to the O.R. Floor, she briefed me on the case. It was just a simple C- section; we would go in and take the baby out, than sew the mom back up.
As we scrubbed in for the surgery, Dr. Robins quizzed me on various aspects of the surgery and asked about certain complications that could arise. I tied the strings of my light blue scrub cap and tied on a surgical mask, before entering the operating room.
The surgery didn't take long, but by the time Dr. Robins was closing up it was time for my shift to be over. I scrubbed out and headed to the locker room to get changed into my street clothes. On my way out of the hospital, Dr. Robins stopped me again.
"Dr. Trager, tomorrow Dr. Thomas and I are repairing a heart valve on a baby in womb. Would you like to scrub in?" she asked, glancing up from her chart at the nurses' station.
"What time is your surgery? Dr. Fords also requested that I scrub in on a craniotomy with him tomorrow. I might be able to do both, though," I explained.
"My surgery begins at eight in the morning," she said, playing with her pen.
"It's about a four hours surgery… Dr. Ford's surgery isn't until three in the afternoon… Yeah, I'd love to help," I confirmed, thinking out loud slightly.
"Great! I'll see you in the morning Dr. Trager, have a good night," she beamed.
"You too, Dr. Robins," I returned, before leaving to head out to my car.
It wasn't long before I was at the Trager house; I spent some time there talking to Nathan about his day and to Nicole and Stephen as well. I wasn't able to stay too long though because I knew Amanda had dinner ready back at the apartment.
On the drive home, Brice fell asleep in the back seat. Once I parked the car, I gently got Brice out of the car and quietly carried him up to the apartment without waking him. His head slumped on my shoulder and my jacket draped around him. I managed to open the apartment door while still holding him.
Amanda came to check who it was and smiled seeing Brice asleep in my arms. I just took him straight to his room and tucked him into bed.
"The first day wore him out?" Amanda chuckled, reheating our dinner.
"I guess so," I smiled, leaning against the counter. "Dinner smells great, by the way."
"Thank you, I hope that it tastes good. I made steak and potatoes," she beamed, taking one of the plates out of the microwave and putting the other one in.
"I'm sure it will," I said, gently pulling her over to me by her waist. "How was your day?"
"Long, I made a lot of conference calls, and booked a lot of gigs and recording times," she said, slipping her hands around my neck. "How was your day?"
"It was good; I spent most of my day monitoring a premature baby who was born with her heart growing on the outside of the chest cavity," I explained, resting my hands on her lower back. "Then before I left I scrubbed in on a c-section."
"Didn't you have a case like that before, with a baby having a heart problem like that?" she questioned. She always loved hearing about my work.
"Yeah, when I was in my first year of my internship I observed a surgery like that," I recalled.
The microwave beeped and she slipped away to grab the plate and we sat down at the table to eat. We continued talking for a while, it had been a long time since we had done this, just the two of us sitting down to dinner.
"This is nice," she commented, both of our plates had been empty for a while; we were just engrossed in our conversation.
"I was just thinking the same thing actually," I smiled slightly, playing with her hand in mine, on the table. "We haven't been able to just sit and talk in a long time."
"I know, before we know it we'll turn into one of those married couples who only talk about their work and family problems," she joked.
"We both promised each other a long time ago that that would never be us," I reminded her, motioning for her to come and sit on my lap, which she accepted.
"I remember that; it was when we were still living in New Hampshire," she recalled, "We had just had a fight about not making time for each other and getting too wrapped up in our school work."
"I remember," I laughed slightly. "That was after we got back from spending the holidays here, Brice had ended up staying here to spend some time with my parents. I also remember that after that argument we ended up having sex."
"Well, with us, that's usually how it goes," she blushed slightly.
After a while, we moved our conversation into the bedroom and continued to talk until we fell asleep. That was one of the many things I loved about our relationship, no matter how crazy things in our lives got, we were still able to keep one another grounded.
AN: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I felt it was more of a transition chapter, though. I want to get back to a more scifi element soon but I also want to explore Kyle and Amanda's relationship a little. So I guess you guys can look forward to that. Other than that just let me know what you think, what you would like to see, it's always appreciated! Thanks for reading!