Dad was a pretty cool Dad. Not many other Dads would actually go on all the rides at Disneyworld and Universal Studios. Not many Dads would spend hours playing at the water park and again today in the pool by their room at the resort. Dad was pretty impressive, Lewis thought, because he always seemed to have lots of energy. Owen tired out easily and sometimes Mum went to have a nap. Well Owen was still only little and sometimes Mum got distracted with things. But Dad always played with Lewis and he always talked to him, even if he was busy. That was nice. Not many Dads did that. Lewis knew because his friend Hector's Dad had died when he was fighting in a war, so he didn't even have a Dad, and his other friend Kesia's Dad yelled at them lots to be quiet when he was working if Lewis was over at her house.
Dad hardly never yelled.
Dad was also really cool because he showed Lewis lots of things, cool things, and told him about things that Lewis would then learn about at school after but he would already know cos his Dad had told him. It made him look cool to the other kids and that was pretty all right in Lewis's book. Dad told him it was because he was smart but Lewis reckoned it was because Dad was smart. He was really smart, Mum told him too. Dad had his own business with heaps of cool computers and the big glass cube with all the cameras and he had written books.
Owen jumped from the side of the pool and Lewis turned his head away so the splash wouldn't get in his eyes. Owen was small so his splash wasn't very impressive. Owen tried real hard at stuff, even when he wasn't very good at something. When Owen surfaced he wiped the water from his eyes. Dad swam closer to him cos Dad could touch the bottom of the pool and neither Lewis or Owen could. Lewis swam closer too so he could hear in case they started talking. It was harder to hear without his aids on and he couldn't wear them in the water. The pool was extra tricky because there were lots of other kids in the background yelling and laughing and also the water made noises as it lapped against the edge of the pool or when someone splashed.
Owen started laughing. "Look!" He pointed to his swimming shorts. There was a big air pocket trapped, making them float in a bubble by his belly button.
Dad grabbed Owen under his arms so he didn't have to tread water. Lewis could tread water really well because he was bigger. Sometimes being bigger was really cool, like when he was allowed on rides that Owen wasn't allowed on. But sometimes it wasn't very cool because Dad could throw Owen across the pool really far but not Lewis as far because he was heavier. And Lewis didn't get as many piggy back rides anymore because Dad said he was getting too big.
Dad started to slowly walk them backwards to the shallower end of the pool. "And what makes your shorts float like that?" He asked, moving his hands in the signs so Lewis would understand in case he missed a word.
Owen looked like he didn't know the answer so Lewis waited for him to give up. Cal turned to him. "Do you know?"
"Air," Lewis answered, finger spelling the word rapidly. There was no sign for air.
"Yeah," Dad gave him a pleased smile. "Very good."
"It's a fart!" Owen announced, giggling again, moving his right hand beneath his left like he was releasing a valve to let out air. "Farts smell extra worse in the bath!" He used the 'stink' version of smell. Lewis laughed to that too and Dad chuckled. The arrived at a shallower section of the pool and Lewis could reach the bottom. Owen stood on Dad's thigh though while Dad crouched in the water so it still came up to his neck. "Dad are you allowed to fart in the pool?" He made flat hands and put them in front of his body with the palms facing each other and his fingers pointing towards his father. He moved them from flat to slightly angled up.
Dad laughed again, making the lines around his eyes all fold in on themselves. Mum told Lewis he had his Dad's eyes but Lewis had looked in the mirror once and he couldn't see the same kinds of lines. Lewis waited to see what Dad would say to his little brother's question. Lewis figured farting in the pool didn't really do much, like when they farted in the bath. Nothing really happened then. He knew he wasn't supposed to pee in the pool. That was yucky cos people could drink it in. But it wasn't possible to drink a fart was it?
"I don't think there's a rule that says you're not," Dad answered. "But it'd be pretty yuck to swim in otha people's farts don't you think?" He shook his head as he signed 'rule'. Then used 'disgusted', 'fart', 'swim', pointed to Owen and added 'think'.
Owen laughed again and Lewis watched his Dad's hands while he talked.
"Can you swim in farts Dad?"
Dad looked at him. "Well. Technically you can't, because a fart is gas right? Not liquid." He didn't know what the sign for the scientific version of gas was. He knew how to sign gas as in fart, or gas as in petrol... "But they can linga around on top of the wart-a and some poor sorry sod could swim right into that couldn't they?" He made a grab for Owen who squealed and fell from his perch. Owen splashed around trying to right himself again.
"Can farts become liquid?" Lewis asked next.
"That's a good question," Dad noted. "Liquid farts."
Lewis laughed. "You could have a fart water gun!" He cocked his finger in mimic of a gun.
Dad chuckled again. Owen grabbed his arm to stand on his thigh again. Dad told him off for pinching his skin. Owen quickly apologised and tried to balance without holding on. Lewis saw Mum walking towards the pool. She gave him a smile and a wave and he raised his arm to wave back. Dad turned to look up at Mum too. Owen fell backwards and dunked himself under the water.
Mum signed 'eat' and 'midday' and Lewis figured she had said something about lunch. Then she said something else while signing 'hungry' and pointed to them in the water.
"All right lunchtime," Dad decided. Lewis realised he was hungry. Starving in fact! He started swimming towards the edge of the pool, kicking out with his feet and pulling forward with his arms. Dad caught up to him easily by wading. He swung Owen up to the side of the pool, onto his feet, where Mum wrapped him in a towel.
"Lift me Dad?" Lewis asked him, raising both his hands, palms up.
"Sure buddy," Dad agreed, turning towards him. Dad had tattoos; there was one right in the middle of his chest over his heart. That also made him really cool and it was fascinating how the water ran off the ink on Dad's skin. Or under his skin. Dad said the ink was under his skin so it would stay there forever. Dad reached for Lewis under the arms and told him to jump on three. Then he counted to three, right by Lewis's ear and he heard really well. Lewis pushed off from the bottom of the pool and Dad lifted him. Lewis didn't quite make it like Owen had, so had to bend his knees and guide himself but his Dad never let him go until he was ready.
Mum threw Lewis a towel and he wiped his face, suddenly noticing he was also cold and tired as well as being really hungry. He wondered what was for lunch. Something yummy. The resort restaurant had lots of yummy food. He and Owen were going to try everything on the menu. But they didn't have very long left to do it. They were leaving soon.
When Mum started to walk away with Owen, she called something over her shoulder that sounded a bit like 'come on' which was logical to Lewis. But she said something else that he didn't catch and couldn't work out because she didn't sign; her hands were on Owen's shoulders. Lewis turned to Dad to see if she was talking to him but he wasn't listening. Lewis quickly wiped his arms. Then he felt someone pulling his towel. It was Dad. He had his own towel wrapped around his waist. He took Lewis's towel and wrapped it around his body, under his arms, like Dad's, but starting higher up because he was smaller than Dad. Then Dad put his hand on Lewis's shoulder so Lewis would look up at him. He signed 'home' which Lewis actually knew really meant their room and Lewis started to walk off in the right direction.
PJ
Mum went to the cafe over at the main building and brought back sandwiches and hot chips and sodas. Lewis was sitting next to Owen at one end of the table and Mum was sitting on Dad's knees at the other end, feeding him chips while they talked, because for some reason there were only three chairs and there were four of them. Lewis ate his lunch, trying to remember to chew properly so it didn't hurt going down his throat, even though he was starving! Owen opened up his sandwich to see what was inside. Lewis had chicken and Owen had beef.
"I don't like this," Owen said, shaking his head. Lewis could see in his brother's sandwich. There was lettuce and tomato and cheese and some sort of red sauce stuff. Owen pointed to the red stuff. "This stuff. I don't like it," he repeated.
Lewis leaned over to tear away a section of the white bread with the red stuff on it. "I'll try it," he offered, making an 'S' hand and pushing it out away from him while turning it as well. The sauce was sweet but was all right. Owen watched him carefully and Lewis gave a shrug to say he didn't mind. Owen put the sandwich back together and Lewis put his chicken sandwiches on his brother's plate while Owen leaned over to put his beef ones on Lewis's plate. Lewis looked over at his parents to see if they were going to object to the swap but Mum had her forehead pressed against Dads and was talking to him, Lewis could see her mouth moving but he couldn't hear the words. She must be whispering.
"Is it better?" Lewis asked his brother, scooping air away from his mouth.
Owen nodded enthusiastically, his mouth full and his blonde hair starting to dry, sticking up in the back. He moved flat fingers from his chin out wards towards Lewis and Lewis gave a nod of acknowledgement. Mum laughed and Lewis looked over again at them. Dad was grinning and Mum gave him a kiss. Lewis watched Dad's hand drift lower down her spine. She kissed him again and Lewis focussed back on his lunch. They were always like that. And it was not interesting.
After a while Lewis noticed Owen wasn't really eating much anymore. He was kind of just sitting there chewing absently. "Have you finished?" He asked, waving 'five' hands back and forth from his wrist. He was eyeing up the left over sandwich, hoping to get it back.
Owen nodded. If Owen got quiet it meant he was tired. He sat back slumped in his chair. Lewis finished his lunch. Mum got up and came over. "Are you tired wee man?" She brushed her hand through the hair at Owen's forehead.
Owen nodded.
"How about having a nap?"
"No," Owen protested. "No sleeping."
"If you have a sleep you can come back out with us," Dad noted.
"No," Owen said again.
"Come on," Mum encouraged. She pushed Owen by the shoulder to get him to sit forward. "Just a little one. While your lunch settles. Dad and Lewis won't go back out."
"Yeah," Lewis spoke up, he moved his hands to the side, palms up and apart, and wiggled his fingers. "We'll wait for you." He wouldn't be allowed to swim right after eating anyway.
"That's kind of you Lewis," Mum noted and Lewis felt his chest swirl with pleasure.
"I'm not sleepy though," Owen protested.
Mum got him to stand. "Come and lie with me for a bit on the bed then. Just until your lunch settles and then you can go back swimming."
But Lewis knew that if Owen lay down then he was going to fall asleep. For at least a few hours. And that meant he might get Dad to himself for a while. Or Mum. Or both. That would be cool.
PJ
They all piled on the bed in the end. Owen feared he would be left out so Cal volunteered to read to them. Even Gillian liked to cuddle up and hear his voice. Of course he wasn't reading soft porn aloud but Harry Potter. The boys loved it. Well Lewis loved it a lot and Owen probably slept through more of it even though he denied drifting off most of the time. The next day he'd ask Lewis what happened so he was all caught up. Which is what happened on this occasion as well, and once he was out, Cal read on until the end of the chapter and Gillian was envious of the fact that he had one boy on either side of him; she wanted to cuddle up herself.
She was not getting enough time with her husband.
They'd done Disneyworld one day, Epcot and a water park the next, as well as Universal Studios and she was pretty much exhausted at this point. Hence the day off. But so was Cal, because he often picked himself up to play with their kids even when he was running on empty. Which meant when they got into bed at night he was practically unconscious until she woke him up in the morning again. At least today they got to relax a bit. After lunch she planned on lying by the pool and reading; or probably falling asleep herself.
Tomorrow they were renting a car and driving across the peninsula to the east coast, to Cocoa Beach, where Gillian had organised for them to also rent a condo for two nights. Lewis wanted to go up to Cape Canaveral and see where the NASA space rockets had taken off from and Gillian wanted to spend at least one day on the beach with the sand in her toes.
"Harry said, and is anyone still awake?"
Gillian lifted her head from the pillow. That was not a line from the book. Cal was looking over at her. He gave her a smile. "Oh hi."
"Hi," Gillian whispered back.
"You're still awake then?"
"Yes."
"And the munchkin is also out?"
Gillian looked over at Lewis. His eyes were closed and his mouth slightly open. His wet hair was drying in curls that reminded her of when he was just a baby. He was such a beautiful wee man. He took after his father. So much. And he looked up to him so much too. It was so amazing to see. "Looks like it," she murmured.
Cal sat up slowly and carefully, nudging Lewis away while Gillian shifted Owen from his father's shoulder and to the pillow. When he was clear Cal scooted to the end of the bed and stood. Gillian watched both her boys for a second. She felt her husband suddenly behind her, then his arms around her. He pressed a kiss into the curve of her bare shoulder. She brought a hand to his cheek; it was rough with several days of growth. "Beautiful," Cal murmured.
"They are," Gillian agreed. She turned to put her arms around him, pressing a kiss of her own against his temple. "You still smell like chlorine."
"Looks like part two of pool day is gonna have to take a brief hiatus," Cal noted. He swayed them back and forth for a few times, then stepped back abruptly. "Come and have a showa with me. You smell like sun block." He turned up his nose at her as if it were truly disgusting and took her hand, tugging her behind him.
"Wait," Gillian stalled. "You get in, I'm going to close this door." She meant the door to their room. And lock it. If her kids were asleep and she wasn't in the room then she didn't feel overly comfortable with leaving the external door open. As she reached the other side of the room Gillian could hear the water come on in the bathroom.
PJ
With the boys napping there really weren't a lot of options for the adults. TV would be noisy. They couldn't leave the room. Gillian had forgotten to pack books for themselves (so there were only trashy magazines floating around the resort or perhaps a newspaper). Laptops had been forbidden. So that left cuddling in bed. Which really wasn't such a difficult conclusion to come to. Especially when they had been on duty for four days straight now. Nor was it such a chore.
Gillian waited for Cal to get situated on the mattress, then snuggled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder rather than the pillow; a familiar and favourite place to be. She traced a finger over the tattoo of the promise on his chest, thinking that he had more than lived up to it. Her beautiful husband.
"Kisses," Cal murmured suddenly. Gillian eagerly levered herself up so she could reach. Kisses. That's exactly what she wanted right now. How did he know?
"But," Cal stopped her with a hand. "You have to be quiet."
"Me?" Gillian responded sharply, but softly. "You," she warned.
Cal gave a slight grin and lifted his chin towards her a little, encouraging. Gillian lowered her mouth to his. His skin was cool from the shower but his mouth was hot and it felt like a relief, to be able to kiss him, which was strange, because she kissed him all the time.
"Gill," Cal pushed her back a little.
"What?" She asked, noting she was a little breathless even then.
"You have to be quiet," he just about whispered.
"I am," she countered.
"You just moaned," Cal told her gently.
"I didn't," Gillian started to protest but she could see in his eyes that she must have. He wasn't teasing. "Sorry," she murmured and kissed him again. She felt the warmth of him shiver along her skin, as if her body had been asleep until now. How is it that she missed him so much? Even when they spent every night together. Every night.
"Gill," Cal pulled her away again. His blue eyes were a soft grey in the light as he looked up at her. "Seriously."
Gillian didn't even argue this time. "Sorry," she told him again, sincerely. She hadn't noticed she was doing it! She patted his collar bone and met his mouth, delving deeper this time, feeling bolder. Cal's warm hand pressed into the small of her back and this time when the moan escaped Gillian's throat she was absolutely aware she had done it. It was still involuntary but she did notice. She pulled away from her husband with a little disgruntled groan and rolled to her back, lying on her own pillow this time, her breath accentuated in the quiet room. So was her husband's.
"Mh well that was fun while it lasted," he noted.
Gillian sat up again. She looked over at her sons. They hadn't even moved. She hoped that sleeping during the day wasn't going to keep them awake that night. They had another busy day planned for tomorrow. "Come with me," Gillian took Cal's larger hand and pulled. He followed her bemused and then protested when they got back to the bathroom.
"We just had a showa."
"Not a shower," Gillian told him, pushing the door closed as softly as she could. She locked it and turned back to see Cal's surprised expression. He gave a half smile and asked her what she was doing and when she pulled him closer, dropped to her knees and pushed down his shorts he certainly got the picture.
PJ
Cal woke the next morning and found a small body against him. He went to turn over but found another one behind him. He opened his eyes, confused, trying to ascertain exactly what the hell... he found Owen curled up against his stomach and Lewis at his back. And Gillian... she was over there, in the boys' bed. She must have snuck out sometime after it had got crowded. Smart. Because now Cal was sandwiched and he realised it was the six year old that had woken him, by jamming a heel backwards into his thigh. It was still mostly dark though. Cal scooted to the end of the bed like he had done during nap time and stood. He was a little unsteady and had to hang on to the mattress to keep his balance until his brain woke up more to get his motor functions firing. He staggered over to the bed his wife was in, the bed his boys were supposed to be sharing.
Little blighters.
Gillian was curled up on one side so it was easy for Cal to crawl across the mattress to her back and settle nice and close. She startled a little as he wrapped an arm around her but she must have quickly deduced it was him because she swiftly relaxed against him. "Didn't think you could commandeer this nice child free bed for long did you?" Cal murmured, closing his eyes again. The room had that light grey tinge to it that denoted the sun coming up early in the morning.
"Hm," Gillian responded quietly.
Cal shifted so his nose was in the back of her hair. She'd had it cut short again for the summer and he liked it that way. "What time did the giblets come ova?"
"Was dark," Gillian muttered.
As much as Cal loved them, sharing a room was starting to wear thin. He needed his own space. And he needed some space with his wife. Thank god the condo they were heading to had separate bedrooms. "Sex," Cal announced, feeling the tug of sleep quickly again. Good. He needed more sleep too. And he might get in a few more hours before the sun was really up and Gillian decided it was time to get moving. "Tonight."
"Deal," Gillian muttered and turned over within his arm to hug him.