When it's Not Right

After

Cory waited on the front steps for Leonard to park the SUV on the street. Rocks was sitting patiently, leaning on Cory's leg, and panting in the heat in spite of being in the shade. Penny hadn't bothered to leave the air conditioning inside. The realtor came out and set a bowl of cold water nearby, which Rocks drank a bit from and then spilled the rest so he could lie with his belly stretched out into the puddle. Lucas was laughing at the antics of Cory's new dog – still in training – as he cascaded out of the back seat of the SUV in an avalanche of seven-year-old energy.

        "Hi, Missing Carlington!" Lucas mispronounced the realtor's title and name badly enough in his excitement that everyone laughed before trying to correct him, and then didn't have a chance to because he was already babbling about the house and which room was his if his folks bought it and how Leonard was going to finish the basement with a playroom and a movie room...

        Cory grinned and engaged completely with his son for a hug and some intense listening, only greeting Jayler and Leonard with quick hugs once everyone had piled inside the house's front entryway and Lucas switched his attention from the adults to being in the middle of a dog pile with Penny and Rocks. This visit south, Cory had spent a couple weeks with Jay, Leonard and Lucas, then gone over to stay with Jenny and Austin and the kids for a week, and now was back here for a week before flying home. His flight this morning had lined up perfectly to pick up a rental car and meet here for their third viewing of the house they'd fallen in love with.

        At least, he'd told them that this was how his flights had lined up. They'd admitted before he went to stay with Jenny and Austin that the mortgage for this place would mean both of them working and still giving up owning vehicles and buying groceries, but they kept coming back while it was on the market because it was – for them – a dream home.

        "I know exactly what living room set you need for this space," Louise called out from just around the corner.

        "Granny Lou!" Lucas leapt up from the dogs and dove around the corner for the hug and expected spoiling Louise showered on him. In three seconds he had her phone and was looking through her gallery for photos of her granddaughter so that he could see if she was pretty yet or still looked like – in his words – a raisin-baby. By the time Cory and the rest of the adults came into the living room, Lucas had gotten bored with the photos and was scrolling through the few screens to see if there were any new game apps.

        "The sofa goes here, and the loveseat over there, with a table and reading chair in the corner by that skinny window," Louise stated, pointing to each place as she spoke and working her arm around the bundle of kid in her lap on the floor.

        "Except we only have a sofa," Jay rolled her eyes.

        "It's called a house warming, Jay-bird. I even knew where to go to pick it up," Louise winked up at the younger woman. Leonard and Jay both chuckled at the seemingly impossible prospect, and both sighed as they pictured exactly what this room would look like with that exact furniture in place.

        "You have to come and see my room first, Dad," Lucas stated, handing Lou her phone back after confirming one more time that her granddaughter was still a raisin-baby.

        Cory followed his boy up the wide stairs to the second floor and obligingly tailed after him on a tour of the whole upstairs. Louise and Missus Teal Carinson, the realtor, did a perfect job of keeping Jay and Leonard in the living room while Cory was otherwise busy, and they all went around into the kitchen together... where the paperwork was laid out to be signed.

        "What is this?" Leonard asked, his tone way more worried than excited.

        "We may have actually been on the flight that landed yesterday," Louise admitted with a small grin.

        "And I might have been making a few calls with Teal and then visited a bank or two while I was out at Jenny and Austin's," Cory smiled at Leonard, waiting for the implications of the two sentences he and Lou had said to sink in.

        "You...?" Jay's voice failed as her shocked gaze jumped from Cory to Lou and back again.

        "Don't look at me," Lou held up her hands when Leonard kept staring at her.

        "You didn't," Leonard caved first, as Cory expected, and his hand darted out to scoop up the paperwork off the counter. He read quickly and then flipped a page. "Holy shit, you did! Cory, I can't... we can't..." he was shaking his head and looking gut-punched as Jay snatched the sale contract out of his hand and skimmed the same two pages.

        "It's just a down payment to get the mortgage into the range you two can afford," Lou explained.

        "Afford?" Jayler nearly yelled. "Cory! I can pay for everything just on my salary after this down payment!"

        "Which helps out since you guys relocated a few months ago and the transition has been easier for Luc with Leonard looking for work and home most of the time," Cory shrugged. "You got that new promotion and you'll be staying in this city for a while, and now Leonard can stay home. Makes sense to have a more permanent place to live that's close to work and the school Luc goes to now, don't you think?"

        "Jayler, Leonard," Louise got between them and pulled their attention to her before they could argue more. "If I couldn't talk him out of it, do you really think you two can?" she asked.

        Jay burst out laughing through a deluge of sudden tears, slammed the contract back onto the kitchen counter, and started signing and initialing in all the places where Teal had put the little sticky-note arrows.

        "Pop? What happened? Why is mom crying?" Lucas asked, tucking under Leonard's arm. Leonard tried to reply but his voiced hitched too hard as a few tears escaped.

        "How about we do move again, but into this house?" he asked, shoving the wetness off his cheeks.

        "For real?" Lucas stared up at him, needing confirmation.

        "For really real," Leonard verified, nodding as he said it and blinking against more tears. "I'll even stay home a bit longer so I can keep taking you to and from school," he added, a smile breaking out on his face. Lucas whooped and danced around the kitchen, the dogs barking and jumping around with him as they caught on to the excitement. He hugged everyone – multiple times – and then ran through the whole house yelling that he was home as Rocks bounded along behind him.

        "That's a really amazing thing you just did," Teal said quietly as she packed up the completed paperwork she needed to take. Jay and Louise were already going through the house room by room and planning furniture and decorations.

        "Beyond amazing, actually," Leonard admitted. He opened his arms and Cory stepped into the hug and returned it just as tightly.

        "You're my family," Cory stated the obvious, which was the same thing he'd said three years ago when Leonard had married Jayler. Just like then, Leonard squeezed harder to make sure that Cory knew he was family. It had just been Leonard and his mom for most of his life and he loved the changes – and extended family – the past five years had gifted to him. He kept a warm hand on Cory's arm after stepping out of the embrace.

        "Pop! Dad! Come and imagine with us! Granny Lou is going to get me a model plane to hang up in my room! I'm going to be a pilot!" Lucas yelled down the stairs.

        "I'll see myself out. Sounds like you have a lot of planning to do," Teal smiled at the two dads still in the kitchen, congratulated Leonard on his new home, and left quietly as laughter fell from upstairs to fill the whole house.