Life Is Anything But Easy

Raylan shook Tim's shoulder gently as the marshal slept on the couch. "Hey, I'm home," Raylan whispered.

Tim pried his eyes open and blinked several times. "Hey there papa, how is everybody?"

"Great, Winona did a great job. Little Meghan Grace Givens was born at 1:15, weighing seven pounds four ounces."

"That's great," Tim said sitting up.

"Why don't you just stay here, it's nearly 3:00. How was Nate?"

Tim stretched and yawned. "I think I'll head home, you're kid gets up too early, besides then I'd have to make a mad dash home in order to get to work on time."

"Okay, suit yourself, but you didn't answer my question," Raylan said suspecting the answer wasn't going to please him.

Tim filled his friend in while the other man's face contorted from disappointment to anger. "Don't be too harsh on him Raylan, he's going through a lot, his hormones are starting rear their ugly heads, he's afraid he's going to lose more time with you and now he has a baby sister. It's a lot for any kid, plus he has to deal with his health issues."

Raylan had noticed that look of discomfort on Nate's face earlier, the one he often wore, but seemed to get a break from recently. "I hear you, but if I don't clamp down now, who knows what might happen."

"I hear you and it makes me very happy I'm not a father. Goodnight and I'll see you when I see you," Tim said as he got his shoes on.

"I'll be in for a little while tomorrow, I have to finish up the Simpson case."

"Okay then," Tim said as he headed out the door.

Raylan laid in bed, but couldn't sleep. Meeting his new daughter and thinking of his errant son was taking up all of this thought process.

The next morning brought an exhausted Raylan and a quiet Nate. Raylan let his son bang around the kitchen and then sit down and sling cereal into his mouth. "Don't you want to know about your new sibling?" Raylan finally asked.

Nate paused what he was doing and looked over at Raylan. "I'll take that as a yes. She was born at 1:15 and was seven pounds, four ounces. We named her Meghan Grace."

"Great, congratulations," Nate said unconvincingly.

Raylan grabbed a chair from the table, brought it over to where Nate was, spun it around and sat down so he had the back of the chair at his chest. "Listen kid, I know I'm no candidate for father of the year, but I have tried my best and I plan to try again."

"Yeah, maybe you'll get it right this time," Nate answered.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mom always said you were married to your job and it was hard enough to compete with that, but then you find Winona again and your time is divided even further, now there's a new kid and what chance do I have!?"

"So this is about jealously then?"

"No, it's about frustration about coming in second all the time, now I'm fourth. You rarely have time for me now, how are you ever going to be around for me now?"

"I know time will be a little tight, but with some patience—''

"Patience, I've been patient, I'm out of patience," Nate yelled.

"And I am about there myself," Raylan said standing up. "Now listen to me son, you are going to go to school and then I will pick you up and we are going to go to the hospital to visit Winona and the baby, then I will take you out to eat. After that we are going to come home and have a nice long talk. Am I understood?"

Nate glared back at his father, his mouth firmly shut, knowing what Raylan was waiting for. The two Givens, both stubborn continued to stare at each other neither wanting to give in. Nate finally pushed away from the table. "I have to go to school."

But Raylan wasn't going to give up. He stood up and towered over his first born and asked again if he was understood. Nate turned to leave but Raylan reached out and grabbed his arm. Nate was already getting tired of being snatched up and forced to yield to someone else's will. "Am I understood," Raylan repeated for a third time. "We can stay here all day, but you can explain to the office why you were late to school."

"I was late because I wouldn't say yes sir," Nate said biting each word.

"You are more stubborn than I am."

"I said it, let me go."

"Try again, and say it right this time."

"I said it right."

"Then say it in the right frame of mind."

Nate pursed his lips as if he was tasting his words first. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Good, I'll see you after school."

"Sure, unless something else comes up," Nate said as he left the room.

The days after Meghan's birth were fast and furious. Raylan had is hands full working part of the day and spending the afternoons and evenings with Winona and the baby. He knew Nate was beginning to get aggravated with the schedule but he wasn't going to leave the boy alone in the house or wherever he wandered off to.

The daily grind was beginning to get to them both and when Raylan announced they were heading that on Saturday Nate blew his top. "We've been there every night, I need to spend some time in my own house. Leave me here!"

"I know this hasn't been easy for you, but Winona is still healing and needs my help."

"What about her sister?"

"She is involved in her own life right now."

"Well so am I," Nate snapped. "Why can't I stay here?"

"Honestly, because I don't trust you. You were grounded and told to stay at home two weeks ago and when I got here to pick you up, you were nowhere to be found and on top of that you didn't even bother to answer your phone. With the baby coming and all the incident kind of got lost in the chaos, but I haven't forgotten about it."

"Then let me stay grounded and home for God's sake. I have a project I have to work on, it's due Monday and I don't want to have to haul everything back and forth."

Raylan seemed to think about for a minute but then shook his head no. "Sorry kid, pack up."

"You suck!" Nate said as he stomped off to his room.

Raylan hung his head and slowly blew out a breath of air. He knew none of this had been easy on his son, so he had been going kind of easy on him, but Nate was beginning to push the limits.

By Sunday morning Raylan was glad that Winona's sister had decided to come over and help out. They had left late Saturday night and Nate had been right, hauling the Great Pyramids of Egypt around had been a giant pain in the ass. So as he lay in bed he could hear Nate rummaging around in the kitchen finding some breakfast and settling down in front of the television. His head told to get up and spend some time with his son but every fiber of his exhausted body screamed out in opposition. It was two hours later as the clock flashed nine o'clock that Raylan knew who had won the battle.

After visiting the bathroom he stumbled out into the dining area to find Nate gluing down the sphinx next to the pyramid he had labeled Khufu. He wrote something down next to it and then moved over to a shoe box that held something inside. Nate pulled whatever it was out and began to manipulate it a bit, working it with his hands. Raylan stood watching his son, who was oblivious to his presence thanks to the ear buds that were pushing their sound waves into his brain, his head bobbing to the music. Finally Nate set down the gray blob in his hand and finally looked up and saw his father standing there.

"Morning kiddo," Raylan said smiling. "What ya got there?"

"A mummy, I just have to make it look more like a person instead of a glob of clay. Do we have to go to Winona's again?"

"Not today, her sister is spending the day with her and the baby."

"Good, cause this thing is getting heavy. You will have to drive me to school tomorrow, I can't take this on the bus."

"Oh, okay," Raylan said obviously being caught by surprise.

"You can't right? Cause you have to go to Winona's or go to work early because you have to get to Winona's. You know I thought she was a single mother, but you have spent more time with her in the last few weeks than you've ever spent with me. Now my mom was a single mother, did it all while you were on the road, no concerns for her or me."

"Nate, that's not true, I spent your first month at home."

"Whatever," Nate sighed.

"Who are you listening to?" Raylan asked trying to change the subject.

"Here Come the Mummies," he responded.

"Appropriate," Raylan answered having never heard of the group.

"Whatever," Nate repeated his new favorite word.

"Look, can we declare a truce and please don't say whatever."

"A truce, a truce from what? A truce from you spending every waking moment focusing on anything but me?"

"I know it's been hard, but the baby needs my attention too."

"Whatever!" Nate said once again. He grabbed his mummy and headed for his bedroom making sure to slam his door as loud as he could.

Raylan shook his head and said 'whatever.'

The following week had gone much like the one before, and it ended with Nate being grounded. He had gotten in trouble at school and had continued to have an attitude at home that Raylan could no longer ignore.

That Friday night Nate sat with his head down on the table giving his project a sideways glance. He had gotten an A for his efforts plus ten extra points for his mummy. Now he was thinking about stomping on it in a fit of destructive rage. Taylor had stopped by earlier even though he wasn't allowed any visitors they decided to risk it. She had even brought a book with her as part of the ruse in case Raylan happened to show up. She would simply smile and state she had brought by the book that Nate had forgotten earlier that day. But the two hadn't needed to worry as they were able to enjoy each other's company without any interruption. They watched a little TV and then listened to some music before Taylor was summoned home for dinner. That left Nate lonely, bored and a little sad as he stared at his project. He was debating about finding something to eat when his phone went off. He picked it up and looked at the screen, surprised that is said Tommy was calling.

The two boys had been spending some time together at school but were still hands off at home as to not raise any suspicions as the no contact rule between the two still reigned supreme. So it did surprise Nate that Tom was calling him during the evening. He swiped his thumb across the screen and said hello and then listened attentively as the excited the voice greeted him. After Tom was finished Nate knew he had no choice but to go help his friend.

Raylan was having a hard time getting the door open while he balanced the car seat, the diaper bag and the extra bag that Winona insisted he take. He finally gave up on Nate hearing the racket and coming to his aid and set down the seat containing his daughter and stuck the key and turned the lock. He hauled everything in setting Meghan down next to the couch as she dozed in her seat and set down the bags on the couch. He didn't dare call out to Nate in fear of waking the slumbering baby, but it only took a quick tour to realize that his son was nowhere in the house. He peeked in the garage and saw Nate wasn't there but his bike was, so he stepped out into the backyard and saw it was devoid of any preteen presence. He sighed as he shook his head, the anger quickly rising up, coloring his face a rosy shade of pissed off father.

Raylan stomped back into the house and forgetting the baby slammed the door causing her little body to jerk awake. Raylan dropped his head and whispered "shit," as Meghan's little face puckered up and her cries began to jet towards his ears. He fumbled with the lifesaving straps and pulled her from her seat and began to pat her back as he walked the living room with her trying to decide what to do about his AWOL son.

As he tried to soothe the baby he managed to free his phone from his pocket, but before he could even bring up his contact list the front door swung open and Nate walked in. Raylan was primed to yell but he had gotten Meghan's discontent down to a dull roar and didn't want to have to start over, so instead he told Nate in quiet but biting words to not move.

He left Nate whose face had shown nothing but defeat and took the baby into the extra bedroom where he had a crib set up along with a small dresser and changing table. He laid the baby down in the crib and carefully checked her diaper, satisfied she was dry he put a light blanket over her and alternately patted her back and rubbed small circles. As she began to doze he turned her over on her back and adjusted the blanket gently rubbing her stomach. He had found this routine to work the best with her and was excited he had discovered something on his own without Winona's input.

After she was totally relaxed Raylan tiptoed out of the room and gently closed the door behind him. He blew out a mouthful of air and swung his body around and made his way into his bedroom. He took off his hat and laid it on the bed he then took off his belt and took his gun and badge off of it. He then slid it back through its loops and put the gun away in a lock box in his closet. He then sat down on his bed and held his head in his hands trying to sift through his emotions.

In the living room Nate hadn't dared to move, he remained rooted to the spot where his father had indicated despite his feet beginning to ache. It had been over ten minutes, but he was sure that as soon as he made a move Raylan would pop out and nail him and Nate was certain the man was in no mood to be pushed. So Nate decided it wouldn't be so bad if he just sat down on the floor. He sat down and folded his legs and sat Indian style, placing his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands.

Raylan finally stood up and walked to his closet and pulled out a wider version of the belt he was wearing. He folded it over and slapped it into his hand. It was quite clear that his son was making a grand attempt at getting his attention and he was most certainly going to receive it tonight. He held no grand illusion, he knew he wasn't father of the year, but he had made attempts at bonding with Nate, only to be rebuffed with the favorite 'whatever' each time. It was growing old and it was time for it to stop. He looked at himself in the mirror and inhaled what he hoped was some resolve and headed to the living room.

Nate heard his father's heavy footsteps and quickly stood up. "I didn't move," he announced in a shaky voice.

Raylan tromped right over to his son and bent down, getting right in his face. "I'm going to ask you three questions and you damn well better answer them honestly. First, are you grounded?"

Nate swallowed hard and looked up, his tentative eyes meeting his father's angry ones. "Yes sir."

"Second, are you allowed out when you are grounded?"

"No sir," Nate answered hoping that by answering with a sir would help his cause a little bit.

"Were you out?"

Nate knew he was out of time and hope and there was no answer that would help him. "Yes sir."

Raylan took a firm hold of Nate's arm and led him over towards the couch. He desperately wanted to sit down and place the boy over his lap adding to the degradation but he knew being on his stomach was painful for Nate. So he tucked his foot under the cushion of the couch and leaned his son against his leg. He then made quick work of the punishment laying down eight well placed blows, covering the entire target in no time. A big part of him wanted to continue but there was no need to get carried away. He felt as though he had gotten his point across. He took Nate by the arm again as he placed his foot back on the ground.

"Sit down," Raylan barked.

Nate did as he was told, wiping away his silent tears as he did.

"I am at a loss kid, please explain to me why you would show such blatant disregard for the rules."

But before Nate could answer his phone which had been on the coffee table rang. They both looked at the offending item as it jangled out its tune. It finally went silent only to kick right back up again.

"It's Tommy," Nate said, recognizing the ringtone.

"Put it on speaker," Raylan ordered.

Nate did as he was told and Tommy's panicked voice came bursting forth. "Nate, can you come over, my dad still isn't back and my mom won't come out of the bathroom."

"Tommy, it's Raylan, what is going on?"

"There was a fight and my mom got hurt and my dad left," he began.

Raylan grabbed the phone and took it off of speaker. "Are you home? Stay there then," he said hanging up and setting the phone back down before he looked over at his son.

"Stay here with your sister. She's asleep and shouldn't wake up, but don't you dare leave this house, do you understand me?"

"Yes, I've got it, go, we'll be fine," Nate said getting up.