Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(37) Punkin' It - Logan

"Look at that one!" Odion screamed and leaped off the bench slightly forward, pointing up at one of the fluffiest white clouds passing over the hospital building. He looked so amazed at the simple world, an amazement that would fade with age most likely and possibly become the endless pessimism and internal anger at the world Logan dealt with.

"That's a cumulonimbus, followed by a stratus." Logan eventually coughed out, trying to avoid blowing the smoke into Odion's face or in his general direction. Instead he blew the smoke to the side even though the smoke would end up hitting the side of his own head - he didn't mind. 

Odion looked confused at the new terminology, and dragged his amazement to Logan and changed his expression to extreme confusion. 

"No that's a cloud." Odion squeaked to immense comedic effect, making Logan chuckle. Instead of teaching the child about types of clouds Logan just looked up too, back at the many clouds and named each of them in his head. Odion said aloud the shape each of the clouds made, but after around 20 minutes Logan looked at his watch, and realised Odion's mother still hadn't returned to the hospital.

Logan was unsure what to do, he did have to return back to his mother at some point to drive her home. And he had to face the impending 'you should get a girlfriend' talk. "Hey Odion... When did your Mom say she was coming back?"

Odion shrugged and continued looking at the sky. "She didn't."

The child didn't seem to care he was without his mother; Logan would have thought any elementary schooler would be a crying mess by now. Maybe he just didn't know how kids acted even though he was an uncle of three. "What shops did she say she was going to?"

Odion shrugged again, but didn't answer verbally instead started sucking the tip of his thumb. Eventually he sat on the bench again and stopped looking up, instead looking forward at the car park. "I think she doesn't love me anymore."

Well, that was blunt - especially for a six year old. Logan was tempted to say how he felt the same about his mother, but another voice inside of him told Logan to try and give him hope. Logan would have loved that hope throughout his life, so he should give it. "Why do you think that kid?"

"Her boyfriend hates me, and she loves her boyfriend." Odion said again simply, his unicorn hood covering his head but Logan could still see a very sad expression. The sad expression Logan had worn throughout his life several times before. "He hits me when I've been bad and tells me I'm useless and a waste of space. I think my Mommy believes him."

The cigarette Logan was smoking dimmed again, maybe out of use or maybe the tears Logan was trying to hide had magically reached it. Instead of getting up to throw the stick in the trash he sighed, threw it down on the floor, and stomped on it. He wanted to stay with this younger version of himself for as long as possible.

"Don't believe him kid." Logan growled as he stomped, his eyes focused on his shoe rather than the upset child next to him. "You're young, you can get past that. Get a therapist, avoid stupid addictions, just... He's speaking utter bullshit." Odion's sniffles moved closer to Logan's ear, and soon he felt the soft material of the onesie moving between Logan's grey tank top and his tattooed arm.

After a few tears fell for them both Odion smiled. "Thank you Mr Logan." Logan sniffled and smiled back at the kid, looking at the car park again expecting an angry mother to appear and drag the small boy away shouting at Logan for being a spawn of Satan. Odion looked at Logan's tattoos and traced the ink of the designs curiously, then spoke again. "What does this tattoo mean?" 

The particular tattoo Odion was pointing at was one of Logan's first tattoos: a simple semi-colon. He remembered when he got it, his 16th birthday and it was given by a friend rather than a professional. His family freaked out at the small ink mark, but they were used to all the symbols on Logan's body by now. "It's a semi-colon. An author uses it when they could have ended a sentence but decide not to. I... think it's a pretty shape."

Odion seemed satisfied with that answer but continued to look at it. The look of curiosity and innocence made Logan smile, and he felt soft. He just felt really protective over this small child. Logan looked up at the sky again where clouds were beginning to grey and cover the blue, and it had been over half an hour since Odion was left at the hospital. "Right, I think I should give you to a doctor or something - they can contact your mother and get you home." Even though Odion had a bad life, a bad life Logan understood, he couldn't babysit for the rest of his life and this whole predicament might have been an honest mistake. He stood and called Odion to his side. "Coming?"

Odion followed Logan happily inside the glass building, and Logan walked straight to the front desk and explained the situation and all he knew. Odion also didn't mind chatting happily to the receptionist, and was soon taken to a separate secure room while the staff did all they could do to locate his mother.

"Do you need anything else Sir?" The receptionist said as Logan watched Odion go, smiling as he waved goodbye. He shook his head but didn't speak, stepping to the side in case anyone was behind him. But his eyes were attracted to the fliers that always stood by the front desk, they never changed. One of them was for an anti-smoking campaign, giving addresses and names of programmes to get rid of the addiction. Logan took it and read it in silence before hearing his mother chirp that she wanted to go home.

Logan sighed and stuffed the leaflet in his pocket, definitely going to call one of the numbers later. For a few months he worked on getting his life together: renting an apartment, going through recovery, getting a job as he'd been unemployed since high school. His mother got sicker, but he got better and saw how proud his family was - even though in the end that didn't matter and didn't effect him. And after 10 months Logan got a phone call that made his life turn around even more.

"Will you consider being an adoptive parent of Odion Novak?"