even if he falls.

obvious.

TMZ is actually right about something for once @tomdelonge ♥

Notifications came flooding in. Many congratulating, others saying they knew it all along or suspected something was up. I smiled at the replies, most all of them were so positve and that made me really happy.

Mark sat on the counter with a goofy grin on his face. I set my phone face down on the table. I walked over to Mark, standing between his legs as I wrapped my arms around his torso. He rested his forehead on mine. He pressed a quick kiss to the tip of my nose before hopping off the counter and heading downstairs. I followed him down and we went into the storage closet. 

"Figured we might wanna get ahead and start wrapping the kids' gifts tonight," he said as he pulled out a few bags from various shops. He handed me two of the bags, "This is the stuff we picked up for Ava, the rest is for Jack, and then there's another bag for the both of them with the Wii. Ava's stuff is harder to wrap so I'll take that," he said with a smile. 

I picked a CD and put it in the stereo as Mark sat on the floor with the tape and scissors. The Cure played lightly over the speakers and I sat down next to Mark. He handed me a tube of wrapping paper and we started wrapping the toys and games. Jack got a few new games for his DS and GameBoy, he's gonna be so pumped. Ava got a new telescope a few books. They got other little things, clothes, candy, we gave each of them some money, too. We were hosting Christmas dinner so they were probably gonna get some stuff from family too. 

Mark and I wrapped sloppily, messing around and listening to the music. We put everything back into the bags and into the storage closet. I turned the music down and we sat on the couch like we did upstairs. 

"Hey Mark."

"Yeah?"

"I wanna get the band back together."

"That's good," he smiled, "because Travis and I just bought a studio."

"You bought a studio," I asked a bit shocked. 

"Well we found this warehouse that's really nice. A lot of the walls have soundproof already. We're gonna redo it and make it like our headquarters. We don't need much more equipment, we have almost everything we need. And Travis knows a few guys that'll help us out. "

"We're gonna have a headquarters," I almost yelled.

"You betcha." 

"I love you, and Travis. I miss him. You guys are so amazing," I smiled. 

"Good, I'm glad you're happy. We've got guys starting within the next couple of days to redo that place and make it spectacular."

"Amazing."

--------------------------------

Jack had finished school and was playing in his room and Mark had to get Ava in about an hour. We sat at the kitchen table, sipping our drinks and enjoying the comfortable silence. 

"Hey Tom, you remember the conversation we had at the restaurant  during the honeymoon," he asked out of the blue

I dug back into my memory, I remember that day pretty vividly and suddenly the conversation came back.

"Yeah, what about it," I said back.

"I think I wanna fill out an application if you'd want to. "

A big smile came onto my face and wouldn't go away. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a long time and I'd like to have another kid. The process is expensive but I don't think that'll be too big of an issue, we got the mortgage and everything paid off. Trav is covering most of the warehouse and it'll probably be another year or so before we get accepted. If we do."

I took in everything that he was saying and he was right. Everything we had was paid off and as long as people bought our music we still had a solid income, not that money was ever really an issue. It would take a long time for everything to process. 

"Yeah. Let's do it, let's apply."

He smiled and kissed me on the cheek. 

"When do you wanna tell the kids?"

"Not for a while, not until we get put into the system really. I think that would be for the best."

"Understandable. You wanna come with me to get Ava?"

"Sure, I'll go get Jack ready to go," I said and hopped off the stool, "We should stop and get ice cream after, we haven't done that in a while."

"Agreed," he smiled. 

I went up the stairs and headed to Jack's room. I knocked on the door and he yelled to come in. I opened the door and he sat criss-cross on his bed. He placed a torn strip of notebook paper in the little book on his lap and pushed it aside. I smiled as he looked up at me.

We've gotta go pick up Ava. You need help getting clothes and such?"

He nodded and got off the bed, I followed him over to his closet. I grabbed one of his favorite shirts from the hanger and handed it down to him as he grabbed a pair of shorts from the drawer set. He grabbed socks and stuff and I left the room briefly to let him change out of his pajamas. He opened the door back up before sitting on his bed to put his shoes on. I sat next to him. 

"How are you doing, little buddy," I asked him.

"I'm okay," he said as he finished with the velcro. "I missed you when you were gone a lot. Dad did too and Ava did a lot, but she had a lot of fun with Alabama and Landon. They all talk a lot and stuff but I don't really. I like things slow and quiet."

"I understand that bud, and for an almost 7 year old, you're extremely self aware," I smiled as we got off the bed. 

"Me and Dad have a surprise planned for you guys after we pick up Ava, okay," I said as he grabbed my hand.

"Yay!"

We headed downstairs and Mark stood with his keys in his hand. I slipped my shoes on quickly and we headed out to the black SUV. Jack hopped into his booster and buckled his seat belt. Mark opened my door as I helped Jack before scurrying over to his side. 

We sat in traffic as we made it to Ava's elementary school. We went to the back for the pick up line and luckily were one of the first one's there. The school bell rang loudly and a few minutes later, kids were piling out of the building with the teachers and guards to help them get where they're supposed to go. Ava ran out to our car and Mark helped her in. 

"Alright kiddos," Mark exclaimed, "The DeLonges are off to the ice cream shop!"

"Yay," the kids yelled in unison. 

I smiled back at them as Mark made his way out of the parking lot and we headed to the local ice cream place. It was more of a malt shop, 50's diner style but they mainly served ice cream and a few hot dogs. 

We sat in traffic for a bit but made it there relatively quickly. We unloaded the kids and headed into the building. Not many people were here. A few sat in tables but most of the place was empty. We got our orders taken at the bar in the front and got our ice cream quickly. We sat in the corner and the kids goofed off, Mark and I mostly watching as the two of them made strange jokes and Ava talked about her school day. The created an ad-lib story of a dinosaur that got lost in a forest full of bananas-- a wonderful tale I must admit-- and other little games. The kids were very imaginative, and since we really had no policy on language, the mouths of drunken Scotsmen. They were learning to use the work fuck really well, and I could tell both Mark and I were proud when it came to that.

Short little filler because this will help out with a lot in the future. At least it's not a sad chapter. Much love and all that stuff.