"Jackson!" Skye greeted him excitedly with a big grin, which immediately changed to a grimace when he heard his name being called. Waiving Jackson in, he went off to find his father.
"Where did you get all this candy?" Raymond looked from the bag of sweets he'd discovered under the bed to Skye who stood with his eyes wide. "Skye, where do these come from?"
"Em, some kids at school gave them to me." He said, keeping his expression as still as possible, taking a deep breath to calm himself down and relaxing his shoulders. He knew that hiding the candy under the bed wasn't his best idea ever, so to get out of being grounded, he needed to stay calm and not show any signs of panic.
"So kids at school hand you candy for no reason?"
"We're friends, so we share sometimes." He took another deep breath, to calm his racing heart. He'd never outright lied to his dad before and if he got caught then he would be grounded for life.
"And you share what with them, fresh air? Look at these! You don't even get half this much over Halloween." Raymond searched for any sign on his face that would give him away or catch him lying, but he had to admit, his fathers taught Skye really well. He knew something was off, but didn't want to accuse Skye of anything without some proof.
"What are you not telling me?" He frowned at Skye who still had his sweet poker face on.
"Jackson's here!" His face lit up and he pointed to the living room, turning around to make a quick exit.
Classic distraction, he thought, shaking his head, smiling. Skye was going to be more of a handful if they kept training him.
"Hi, we're almost ready." He smiled at Jackson who jumped up from the couch.
"Hey, sorry I'm a bit early. Need any help?" He suddenly didn't know what to do. Is kissing in front of Skye allowed? Do they hug? At the moment he was standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.
"Relax Jackson. You've hung out with us before." He could see the half-panicked look on Jackson's face who seemed unsure of himself.
"Sorry." He relaxed a bit, then felt Skye tugging at his hand. Within an instant, he jumped up so that he was hugging Jackson, before quickly scrambling over onto his back and finally seated himself atop Jackson's shoulders.
"Skye! What did I say about using him as a climbing frame?" He asked in exasperation.
Before Jackson knew what was happening Skye was off his shoulders and moved off in a huff.
"He's quick," Jackson observed, still not sure how Skye got up or down at high speed without him really being aware of what was happening.
"Something he learnt from his grandfathers, I'm sure." He sighed. "Come on, let's get going."
"Maybe we can stop at the carnival?" He asked hopefully. "It's a really nice day and there's still lots of time to get to your parents' place." He smiled as Raymond nodded and moved off to get Skye.
When they got there, Skye immediately pulled them toward the bumper cars, squealing in joy as they hit others on the track. He dragged them to as many booths and rides, with only Raymond slowing him down.
"Papa, Papa!" He ran up to Raymond, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward a shooting booth. He quickly spotted what had caught Skye's eye. A model train set.
"Can I play, Papa, please?" He jumped up and down in excitement.
"Here, let me do it." Jackson handed over some tickets and lifted the rifle to his shoulder and started shooting but without any luck. He couldn't seem to his any of his targets and the ones he did hit only wobbled.
"My turn!" Skye insisted, holding out his hand.
"You're a little too short for this one Squirt, let me." Taking the rifle he hit every can without taking a break. Skye jumped up and down in glee when he was handed his toy.
After a while, they moved to one of the stalls to get some food and sat next to the lake to eat.
"It's nice to see you've relaxed some." Raymond chuckled as he speared an onion ring.
"It was a bit awkward at the start, wasn't it?" He blushed. "Sometimes it's hard to know what I can do in front of the little one, you know?" He wasn't sure if Raymond got his point, but dating a dad was new territory for him and things seemed to be more tricky with a kid tagging along.
"Nothing has changed. We're dating, that's all. But just to be clear, we'll keep things PG thirteen."
"Papa, can we go look at the boats?" Sky interrupted him as he was about to answer Raymond.
"We can have a quick look, but then we have to hit the road, okay?"
"Yay!" He ran around the bench they were sitting in excitement. "Come on Papa, let's go!" He urged them on, running ahead toward the jetty where brightly coloured boats were moored.
"Where does he get all this energy? He's like a chipmunk on acid."
Raymond laughed at the comparison. Skye was certainly very excitable and at the moment everything around him was exciting or interesting. Calling him back, they waited as he ran back at high speed, his face red and sweaty, but covered in a wide grin.
"Did you see Papa?" He jumped into Raymond's arms. "I got to climb on one of the boats!"
"Did you have fun?" He brushed the hair out of Skye's face, as he nodded contentedly. "Okay, off to grandma we go!" He set Skye down and tanking his hand they walked back to the car. They hadn't walked far when Jackson felt Skye tug on his hand.
"Can I get a ride, please?"
"Sure!" Jackson agreed and bent down so that Skye could climb on his back and get settled. He soon heard Skye's rhythmic breathing as he fell asleep with his head on Jackson's shoulder. He gently hitched Skye higher to make him more comfortable as they kept going.
"He trusts you," Raymond observed with a smile, looking at the two next to him.
"He does?"
"Yeah, he wouldn't have fallen asleep like that if he didn't like or trust you. He's much better at reading people than I was at his age." He reached over to gently take Skye and put him in the backseat.
By the time they reached Damon's, Skye had started to stir and was sleepily looking out of the window. Taking Skye's hand, the three climbed the stairs into the house.
The house seemed oddly quiet to Jackson and he wondered what happened to the usual cacophony that seemed to fill the place.
"Mom!" Raymond called down one of the passages, moving toward the kitchen. "It smells like Cook is baking again. Let's go." He pulled Skye along to the kitchen where there was a gentle hum of activity.
"Hi, Cook! It smells like heaven in here." He took another deep breath, walking to the Island where a pie was cooling down. "Do you think I could have some?"
"No! Nothing for you!" He proclaimed severely taking a stance in front of the pie as if Raymond was about to lunge for it. "But, I have something for my favourite boy." He smiled and reached behind the pie to show Skye a smaller one made for him.
"Ugh Cook, you're the worst! At least Nanny gives me a biscuit when I come." He quickly ducked as Cook grabbed a spatula and swung it at him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He called out, ducking to avoid another swing.
"Get out you ungrateful child!" He shouted pushing Raymond out of the kitchen, with a string of words in Italian that wasn't too hard to figure out that none of them was none too flattering.
"You set Cook off again." Eric entered the living area, opening his arms when he saw Skye, who needed no invitation to run and hug him. "Did you have anything to do with it?" He smiled as Skye shook his headed and pointed to Raymond.
"Snitch!" He laughed, motioning for Jackson to sit.
"Why, if it isn't the CEO!" He pretended to jump back in surprise. "Jackson, is it?"
"Stop being a smart ass! Where are the others?"
"You said a bad word, Papa!" Skye exclaimed sitting straight up on Eric's lap.
"Who's using bad words?" Gillie asked as she entered the room.
"Papa said ass, grandma."
"Raymond!" She threw a pillow at him, which was the nearest thing she could throw. "What did I tell the two of you about swearing in front of Skye?" She glared from one to the other.
"But Ray said it mum, I just..."
"Just what?" She interrupted him. "If I catch the two of you swearing again, you're both going to be grounded!"
They both ducked their heads in defeat and mumbled their agreement before she turned around mumbling to herself.
"Are you guys scared of being grounded?" Jackson laughed. "What's she going to do, stop you from playing after work?"
"Keep laughing, it's not so funny when she does it to you." Eric silenced him.
"Yeah, Mom can do some real damaged if she wants to," Raymond warned him. "Where's the rest of the gang?"
"Oh, they're hanging about doing something around here." He gave a leisurely wave. "But I think this little man is going to be out for the count soon." He looked down as Skye's eyes started drooping.
"Nanny!" He called. The same young woman entered the room with a pleasant smile and wide grin at Raymond.
"Hi, Mr Ray. It's nice to see you again." She waved in Jackson's direction before picking Skye up.
"Why do you call her Nanny?" Jackson asked, wondering if all the staff were addressed by their job titles.
"Her name is Nancy. Skye couldn't say it when he was younger, so from there, Nanny was born. He kept calling her that even after he could pronounce her name. She's been babysitting for me for a while years now. Although, I think she likes it better here than at the apartment." He laughed.
"Your family is odd," Jackson observed as they were driving back. Having spent the afternoon with all of them, he still couldn't get used to the way they interacted with each other. This family was alien to him, but he could see how they all thrived around each other.
"That we are." He chuckled. "I hope it's not the bad kind of odd."
"Not really odd, simply very different from mine. It seems much easier for you to be around each other."
"Well, we do get in each other's hair a lot, so we're all over-involved. And of course, you have to be loud enough to be heard, because if you're going to wait for your turn to speak, then you might as well give up talking." He chuckled, glancing at Jackson.