Here's an early update! Enjoy it! Thanks for reading/commenting/voting.
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A week later.
“Yes, what will I need to do to learn more about who my mother is?”
“---”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll be there this Saturday.”
***
“Hey Elena! How was your day today?”
“Hey Seth, it’s been good. Yours?”
“Good, you know kids ask the most random questions at times, but they do make you laugh.”
“Oh, yes do”
“I do want to ask you for a favor. This weekend I have an appointment, so I want to know if you can take Danny for the day and possibly for the night.”
“Sure, you know that I can. You’ve helped us a lot with Caleb too. Let’s just plan for the night too, they’ll both love to have a sleepover.”
“Yes, they would. Thank you.”
“Are you going to hang out with Nate?” Elena winks.
“Not you too! No, I’m going out of town to the orphanage I was dropped off.”
“Oh, so you decided to take the step. Who’s going with you?”
“Right now, no one. I just made the appointment today. I’m going to ask Nate and see if he can come although I don’t know if he can, since there’s a game Saturday.”
“You know he’ll go with you. In case you haven’t noticed, he’ll be there for you, so he’ll make arrangements to be able to go with you.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I hope everything goes as well as things can go and we’ll take care of Danny.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s take the boys to dinner, Brian is meeting us at home.” Elena adds after seeing Danny and Caleb walking towards them.
“Hi, daddy.” Danny says running the rest of the way and giving him a hug.
“Hi, Danny, you’re full of energy today. How was school today?”
“It was great although Caleb fell during recess, but it was funny.”
“Yeah, he laughs instead of quickly helping me up.” Caleb responds pretending to be angry.
“Are you alright Caleb?” Elena asks worry seeping into her voice.
“Yes, mom.”
“Caleb, I already said sorry and I did help you.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, okay kids, we’re going to the Greene’s house for dinner today.” Seth intervenes before they continue with their banter.
“Is Nate coming too, dad?”
“Hmm, I didn’t invite him.”
“Can you call him right now?”
“He’s probably busy and already has other plans.”
“He doesn’t. I just asked where he is going to dinner. He said, home.”
“Danny, don’t ask him those kinds of questions!”
“Why dad?” Danny smirks.
Ugh, he’s spent too much time with Karla and Robert. “Ugh, let’s just go.” Seth responds.
“Dad, please call him.”
“Yes, Mr. Mendoza, please call him?” Caleb adds.
“Yes, Mr. Mendoza, how can you resist not calling him when these two cute little boys are asking you to do so?” Eleana grins.
“Why am I stuck with manipulative people?” Seth mumbles under his breath. “All right, see I’m calling him?”
Danny and Caleb high five as Seth leads the way to the car. After dinner at the Greene’s, Seth and Nate head out. Danny like always doesn’t want to leave, but on the way home he falls asleep. Nate helps by carrying Danny up to his bedroom. While Nate puts Danny to bed, Seth prepares each of them a bowl of ice cream, and waits for him in the living room. Seth can’t help the nervousness he feels. He had asked Nate if he could stay for a bit at his house. Nate had taken in the serious tone and had agreed. Stepping into the living room, Nate wonders if it has to do with Seth contacting the orphanage after all, he had promised him he would do it soon.
“Hey, so I put Danny to bed, he didn’t even move. Practice and all the playing he did must have worn him out.”
“Thanks and yes, even though he didn’t want to leave Caleb. They’ve become inseparable those two. Here I made you a bowl too.”
“Thanks, so tell me what’s bothering you.” Nate says while sitting next to Seth.
“Hmm, I’m just nervous...I called the orphanage and they said I would have to go in person to get the information.”
“That’s good. I’m proud of you for taking this step.” Nate responds giving Seth a kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks, it’s in the next city over, so I am wondering if you would come with me this Saturday, only if you can.”
“You know I will.” Nate responds with a smile.
“But you have the game on Saturday.”
“Yes, but I will have someone cover for me. Stop worrying about it. I will go with you.”
“Thanks.”
“Now, are you going to need distractions from it until Saturday.” Nate asks with a mischievous glint.
“No, I’ll be fine and I do have a job that keeps me plenty distracted.” Seth answers moving a bit away from Nate already knowing what he has in mind.
“Seth, I’m not going to do anything. I meant do you want to hang out tomorrow and are you bringing Danny with us?”
“Sure, but no, he’s staying with the Greene’s. I don’t want to tell him until I know for sure.”
“Okay, but what about my other suggestion.”
“No, I can’t. We have an open house for the incoming students, but Friday, we can.”
“Okay, Friday it is and dress in comfy clothes.”
“Where are we going?”
“Nope, you’ll find out Friday.” Nate stands up putting a hand out for Seth to take. “Here, please walk me to the door.” Walking towards the door Nate asks, “do you think, it’s time to tell Danny about us? I think he already suspects?”
“Maybe…” Seth
“If you want to wait that’s fine.” Nate quickly adds.
Seth sees that Nate wants others to know, but he’s still hesitant to make it even more official, especially to his son. His friends suspect, but he hasn’t confirmed it. He still has the doubt that Nate will leave at any moment, but he resolves not to let it stop him.
“How about we tell him after we get back this Saturday?”
Smiling, Nate leans in for a kiss giving Seth his answer.
****
“Let’s go Danny. I can’t be late and Caleb and his parents are waiting for you. They’re visiting family.”
“I have my bag.”
Dropping off Danny, Seth heads to Nate’s house. By the time he gets there, Nate is already outside waiting by his car. They had decided that Nate is driving. Parking his car, Nate opens Seth’s door greeting him with a kiss.
“Good morning, love.”
“Good morning, Nate.”
“Ready to head out?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Everything will turn out for the best. Do you want to stop somewhere here to eat or once we get there?”
“I’m too nervous to eat, so there.”
“Okay, but we will eat before we go to the orphanage.”
“Yeah.”
They choose a location not far from the orphanage to have breakfast. Seth’s breakfast is filled with sugar showing how nervous he is. If he is like this at just finding information about his parents, Nate doesn’t know how he’ll be when it comes time to actually meet his parents. Nate wonders how Seth’s life was before he attended college. Yes, he’s shared childhood memories, but they always involve friends there has been no mention of parents or if he was in the system. He hasn’t asked afraid that Seth won’t share it. He’s been waiting until Seth trusts him with that information. He understands how hard it is to trust others. Taking Seth’s hands in his own, he tries to convey that everything will be fine and he has him at his side no matter what happens. Seth returns his gesture and their eyes lock letting Nate know how much his small gesture is appreciated.
Once at the orphanage, they are greeted by an older woman, she is the same director who received Seth when his mom gave him up for adoption. She knows who his mother is, but she isn’t positive how well she is doing. Seth’s mother has checked in every two years to make sure her contact information is kept accurate, but the date had passed two weeks ago; she wonders if something had happened to her. She had never been late before. She looks at Seth and wonders what changed his mind about meeting his mother. He had contacted her previously seeking information about his birth parents, she had told him she has his mother’s contact information, but he didn’t want it then. She had seen the fear back then, but now it seems he has resolved to go through with learning who his mother is. She hopes it all goes well.
“Hello, Seth. How are you?” She asks giving him a hug.
“I’m good, Ms. Brown, but I am nervous.”
“It is to be expected,” she says giving him a motherly smile, “and who is this?” Ms. Brown asks extending her hand to shake Nate’s.
“He is Nate, he came for moral support.”
“Nice to meet you. Let’s take a seat in my office.”
“So how has life treated you, since the last time I saw you?”
“It’s been challenging, but good. Danny is growing up and I am teaching.”
Seth isn’t sure if he should or if she needed to learn that Nate is his boyfriend. He isn’t sure about her beliefs. Yes, she is an important person in his life, but there is the fear of rejection. He decides to leave that information out.
“That’s great to hear. Now to why you came, are you sure you want your biological mother’s information?”
“Yes, I would like to meet her if she is willing.”
“Okay, I do feel I should tell you that she contacted us every two years to make sure we had the correct contact information. I don’t want to add to your nervousness, but she hasn’t contacted us this year and she’s never been late to make a call. The date was two weeks ago.”
“Oh, okay…” Seth doesn’t know how to respond to this new piece of information.
Nate keeps a watchful eye on Seth. He can see Seth trying to rein in all the emotions, so he squeezes his shoulder reminding him he’s not alone. After receiving the information, they leave, and since they are near enough to the beach, Nate decides to drive them there. Seth is quiet during the short drive. He’s not paying attention to where they’re going. He wonders how he should proceed, his mind is racing with different scenarios of his biological mother’s reaction. He wonders if she expects him to call her mother.
“Seth we’re here. Let’s take a walk and enjoy the weather.”
Looking around he finally notices where they are, “oh, you brought us to the beach.”
“Yes, it’ll help.” Nate says getting out of the car and going to open Seth’s door.
He offers his hand and pulls him out, closing the car’s door, Nate pushes Seth into the door and kisses him. It’s a kiss filled with the love he feels for Seth.
Breaking from the kiss, but caressing Seth’s cheek, Nate whispers, “stop overthinking it. You should just call her. Think about what you can gain.”
Learning towards Nate’s touch with his eyes close Seth smiles.
He just knows what I need to hear. “Thank you and you’re right.”
“Do you want to call her right now or later?”
“I’ll call her right now. It’s better to make it now than later.”
“Okay, I’m right here.”
“Thank you.”
After the first failed attempt, they decide to spend some time at the beach and try again later. They start walking along the shore hand in hand until Nate suggests they go for a swim, which Seth declines. He hasn’t told Nate he doesn’t know how to swim, it makes him feel embarrassed that he doesn’t know.
“Okay, so how about we build a sandcastle. It is an expectation to do so when at the beach.” Nate suggests.
“Yes, we can do that.” Seth smiles.
“Okay, lets find our little piece of sand that we can call Seth’s land.”
Laughing, Seth responds, “then you will have to follow Seth’s every command.”
“Yes, I’m bound to follow Seth’s command. My king what land would you like to claim as your land?” Nate continues with the role-play glad to see Seth distracted for now.
“How about up ahead? There, it should be far enough away from the water.”
“It shall be there, my king.” Nate replies bowing bringing Seth’s hand to his lips kissing it.
“Okay.” Seth replies feeling a blush spreading.
It’s the little things that make him blush, especially unexpected ones from Nate. They set to work, Nate leaving Seth for a bit to go buy a sand bucket and a shovel to make their task easier. While Seth waits, he starts building the perimeter for the castle. He loves the feel of sand, but he just realizes that he isn’t dressed for the beach.
Oh well, we can always buy clothes before getting into the car.
Nate ends up buying more than he intended; towels, swimming trunks, clothes, food (it seems it has become a tradition for them to have picnics, which he loves), and a cooler for the food. Seeing Nate returning, Seth smiles, he should have known Nate would be returning with the whole store. He is just the type to always be prepare or think of something. They set to work on building the castle with four towers. There is a friendly competition of who can build two towers faster, the prize according to Nate should be a very heated kiss making Seth blush thinking about it, since their first heated kiss left him with a mark something he doesn’t want a repeat of. He doesn’t want to put up with the teasing by their friends. He agrees because he can’t back down. He too is competitive. Huffing and puffing, they’re neck to neck, but at the last second Seth is the winner, Nate right behind him. Seth grins triumphantly, there will be no heated kiss, but he groans internally. Part of him was looking forward to it even though he wouldn’t admit it to Nate at least now right now.
“I suppose I don’t even get a kiss for very good effort?”
“Nope, just a good job.”
Nate tries his puppy eyes on Seth, but he stands his ground.
If he doesn’t stop soon, I’ll be the one yielding.Seth thinks.
“Okay, you win, but I will have my kiss.” Nate promises.
After building the castle, Nate proclaims it’s time for an early dinner because after all the hard work they need a reward. Seth can’t help, but laugh. He hears the click of the photo Nate takes.
“Hey, you can’t just take photos without being in them!” Seth enthusiastically exclaims launching himself for Nate’s phone.
After a few photos they eat dinner, sitting next to eat other behind their castle. Seth realizes that building the castle helped distract him, but soon it will be a good idea to try again and hopefully, this time someone will answer the phone.
“Our castle came out the best.” Nate states.
The castle turned out to be spectacular with four towers and walls with intricate designs. Seth can’t help himself. He just didn’t want the same old walls for their castle.
“Yes, it did.”
“It’s time to try again, Seth.” Nate pulls him to sit between his legs and embraces him placing his chin on Seth’s shoulder.
“Yes...Do you think I should ask her to meet up for our first contact or do you think we should get to know each other before we even meet?”
“What do you think you can handle? This is about you--what you feel comfortable doing.”
“I like talking to people face-to-face, but I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You can, you are strong, and I’ll be there for you as well as our friends.”
“Thank you.”
“So are you going to call her now or do you want to take some more time?”
“No, it’ll call her now.” Seth responds turning his cell phone in his hand.
Ring
Ring
Ring
I should hang up there is not going to be response like earlier.
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Sorry for how it ended, but ya'll won't have to wait long for the next update :). Thanks again for reading.