Picking Up The Pieces (Working Title)

Pride

It was a bit of a scramble to get a crib and all the baby stuff I’d need for watching Lottie that I couldn’t borrow from Sarah, but I managed it in the end, with some help from John who still had some of Beau’s baby stuff in the attic. As for looking after Lottie... It was tiring, but it was worth it. I didn’t care that she was an eating, sleeping, pooping machine, she was my eat, sleep and poop machine. I almost didn’t want to give her back when Sarah came to pick her up, but I wasn’t heartless enough to take two children away from Sarah. I’d taken the opportunity to check Lottie over for any bruises or anything, but she was completely mark free.

As for things in the rest of the world, Alex had built quite a name for himself. I mean, he was already a little bit famous from his fighting, but he’d become California’s leading gay rights activist. I’d seen him on TV once, but I’d been in a rush to get the kids ready for one thing or another, and hadn’t really been able to pay attention to what he was saying. From what I’d been told, he was only on air for about five minutes anyway, so it couldn’t have been much.

Apparently he was talking about the pride march coming up soon, as I found out from Caleb on the day when he called me at five am to tell me I was going or he’d never speak to me again. I woke the kids up a couple hours later, getting them ready and fed before going to pick up Lewis. I’d called Karen while the kids were getting dressed and asked her to have him up and ready when we got there. We met Caleb and Alex there, and I resisted the urge to turn around and go home when I saw the state the two of them were in. Alex was topless, with rainbows, smiley faces, and multicolour cocks drawn on him. Caleb had simply settled for a smiley face on his cheek, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d gone to town on himself with his paints where the casual observer couldn’t see.

"I see unpainted people" he giggled when he spotted me and the kids.

"Keep away from me" I warned him and Alex laughed.

"If I have to walk around like this all day, you do too"

Caleb pounced on all of us, being kind enough to ask the kids what they wanted instead of forcing it on them. Lily had asked for a rainbow on her cheek, and Danny had settled for nothing. Lewis, on the other hand, made the mistake of telling him he didn’t mind what he had, so he ended up looking like the child of a rainbow. Alex giggled when he saw them, and Caleb informed them they all looked fabulously gay, and Lewis started worrying that people wouldn’t like him for looking gay. He’d come a long way in the time that he’d been with us, and it didn’t take half as long to calm him down again. I smiled down at him, watching as he held Danny’s hand. Lily had made friends with some nearby lesbians, who I’d found out were happily married and called Tali and Emma, and the three of them were happily chattering away. I made sure we were near them, just in case anything happened. It’s not that I didn’t trust them, I just… You worry about these things, y’know?

"You whore" I called, laughing, when Alex announced we were all going to a club later. I could tell he was enjoying all the half-naked men around him as much as Caleb was.

Alex grinned at me and I shook my head in disbelief. Danny was busy making sure Lewis was enjoying himself, and Alex and Caleb started competing over who could get the most attention. Did they seriously not get enough sex already? Caleb, as per usual, insisted that he would because Alex was “old and fat”, and I rolled my eyes.  Unfortunately for Alex, most of the attention he was getting was because people recognised him. Caleb got his fair share of attention because he was being his usual slutty self, and I got some attention from some good looking guys, purely because I wasn’t single and therefore couldn’t enjoy the attention I was getting without feeling guilty.

Alex dragged us into the march, picking Danny up and putting him on his shoulders. I held Lewis’ hand instead, asking him if he was having fun, the both of us watching Alex and Caleb dancing around with Danny. He nodded, flashing me a smile.