*two months later*
Thomas looks down at a cooing Bradley.
"Hey, Bradley. How ya doing? Hey, Bradley. Hey."
From where you stand in the kitchen, you can see Bradley smile.
Thomas grins at him, "Hey, Bradley. Yeah. Hey, Iris, Bradley is smiling at me."
You chuckle, "He's smiled tons of times before."
You hear a cry and look back over. Bradley lays on the couch crying. Thomas furrows his eyebrows, "He was smiling two seconds ago. I dont get it."
"He's a baby." You shrug.
Thomas has already scooped Bradley up and carries him around, "Our child is bipolar."
"He is not." You roll your eyes.
"Is too." Thomas holds Bradley and uses his baby voice, "Isn't that right, Bipolar? Yeah. That's your new nickname. You're Bipolar. It's a good fit, huh?"
"Dont call him Bipolar." You say.
"He's Bipolar." Thomas grins, walking out of the room.
"WE'RE NOT GOING TO CALL OUR CHILD BIPOLAR FOR A NICKNAME!" You yell after him.
"SHHHH, YOU'LL WAKE SHAD!" Thomas calls back.
You hear a cry from Shads bedroom.
You sigh.
Too late.
- - - -
Thomas holds Shad over the water.
She's about to get her first bath!
You sit on the bathroom counter, camera in hand.
"Go ahead." You say.
"Okay," Thomas says, making Shad smile, "We're going to put you in the water! It's going to be so fun!"
He sets her in the baby bath.
Shad let's loose a surprised face.
Then she shivers and her face contorts into cries.
Thomas laughs, "She doesn't like it!"
You laugh too and take a picture, "Well, hurry up and quick wash her off."
"She's like a gremlin." Thomas mutters.
"What? How?" You frown.
"Because when you put them in water they turn evil and they're all like ARGHHHH!" He says, shouting over Shads cries.
You give him a confused look and shake your head.
Thomas keeps his eyes on Shad, "That's a good nickname for you too, huh? Bradley already has a nickname. You need one too! So we have Bipolar and Gremlin!"
"Dont call our daughter Gremlin! She doesn't look like a Gremlin." You say.
"I didn't say she looked like one. I just said I'd call her one." Thomas nods.
"Oh, my gosh." You shake your head as Thomas rinses off the wailing Shad. Or Gremlin.
He pulls her out of the tub, "Come on, Gremlin. Let's get some clothes on you."
*A Year and Half Later*
You sit in the passengers seat, Tom at the drivers wheel. He stops at the red light.
"And with Shad being in The Tender Box soon, we'll have to travel to Seattle. But Bradley has to be in Florida by September, so I don't know how we're going to balence that out." You say.
"Well, maybe you can stay with Shad. I can stay with Bipolar." Thomas still uses their nicknames on and off. Sometimes he'll just throw one into the conversation. Anyhow, the nicknames had stuck. Even you called them by the nicknames Thomas had given occasionally.
"We'll actually, I was thinking I'd be with Bradley, because I have to be in Florida after, for The Princess and the Pea. That movie that I'm filming, you know?" You say.
"Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. I can go with Shad, I guess. I'm actually very glad The Maze Runner series is over. I had to be somewhere all the time. But now I'm getting more movie offers. I'm going to have to take some of them." Thomas sighs.
Your mouth twitches up. He's going to be a family guy. Over the summer you went and visited Ava and her new boyfriend. When the four of you left, he didn't know you saw, but there was a tear on his cheek. He wants to spend more time with family. He's told you so. And it's been more difficult with Sidney, since she's married to Will now. She's an Engineer with a husband who travels all the time. God bless her when they decide to have children. It's just a very vexing situation. Plus your Mom wants you to visit.
You're snapped out of your thoughts when you hear Shadow in the backseat. It's surpring at all to hear Shad. She's so quiet and shy. All the while, Bradley babbles all the time. He's the know-it-all of the two. But when she does talk her sentences are much more mature sounding than more children her age.
"Mummy! Mummy!" She says, excitedly.
"Yes, sweetheart?" You glance back.
Shad points out the window, "Mummy, that car is blue!"
You look at the shiny blue car driving next to you. You smile. That's the first time either her or Bradley have pointed out any color.
You grin back at her, "That is! Good job!"
Thomas looks in the rear view mirror, "Has Mummy been teaching you colors?"
"Yes. Mummy and Daddy." Shad nods, looking out the window.
You look at Thomas, "You've been teaching her colors?"
He shrugs, "A little. But I know you've been working with them a lot more on that then I have."
You smile, "Awwww, my husband is so cute. He teaches his children colors!"
Thomas glances over at you, "You're pretty cute too, you know?"
You smile.
Bradley speaks, "Daddy, are you 'bout to kiss Mummy?"
Thomas grins at you as he stops at another red light, "Wasn't planning on it, but it's not a bad idea."
"Well, if you do, tell me 'cause, I dont wanna watchit." Bradley slurs his words together.
You laugh, "Okay, Bradley."
Thomas looks back at him, "Hey, Bradley. You might want to cover your eyes."
Bradleys eyebrows shoot up and he covers his eyes, " EWWWW!"
Thomas leans over and kisses you quickly. You smile into the kiss as your lips slide together.
He quickly pulls away as the light turns green.
As he drives away he says to Bradley, "You should make suggestions more often."
Bradley mutters, his big brown eyes wide, "Gross."
You laugh with Thomas.
What a good life it is.
- - - -
*A year and a half later (So Shad and Bradley are about four)*
"Mummy."
"Mummy."
"Mummy."
"Mummy."
"And if that doesn't work take him to the doctors. He'll be fine, I'm sure. And - hang on. Yes, Shad?" You sigh.
"Mummy, when does Daddy get home?" She asks. Her reddish blonde hair is a mess. Her big blue green eyes full of worry.
You look at the clock, "In about an hour. Why, honey? What's wrong?"
Shad looks at the floor, "I need't ask him a question."
"What question?" You ask her, kneeling down.
She looks at you with innocence. You wish you could keep that innocence in her forever.
"Bradley says I shouldn't ask you." She whispers.
Uh oh.
Bradley again.
You would be able to keep her innocence if Bradley would stop filling her head with little boy things.
You click your tounge, "What did Bradley say?"
She looks at you with uncertainty, "He told me about my little sister."
You frown, "Your little sister?".
"Yeah." She nods.
"What little sister? I dont recall there being a little sister?"
"The little sister I ate when I was in your tummy." She frowns, "He said that there was another little sister and that I ate her when I was in your tummy. But I dont remember because I was too little. And that you were really sad about it. And now you love Bradley more because he didn't eat her."
"The little sister...." You look horrified, "Honey, you and Bradley were it. Okay? It was just you two and.... Oh, forget this. BRADLEY, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Author:
So, next chapter is the last chapter!
Sadness. :-(
Be sure to keep reading my other stuff.
Anyway, I'm going to tell you the back story for Bradley and Shadow.
So when I was first writing this story, my friend, Bethany, told me to write her in the book. So I was like, "Okay, I'll figure something out." And then I had the idea. Her parents had planned for her older sister to be a boy, and they were going to name her Walker. But then she was a girl. And then they had Bethany, and they were going to name her China, but they changed their minds, and named her Bethany. So I was like "OMG I CAN MAKE THEM TWINS AND STUFF." So I had that planned since like the very beginning. But a couple weeks later she came up and she was like, "Make me someone everyone is going to hate."
And I was like, "Yeah, good luck with that, sweetheart."
So feel free to hate Shadow, because that's what Bethany wanted. :-)
Love you Bethany. ;-)
Anyway, she figured it out and stuff. So.
So how was you guys Christmas.
Oh, my gosh.
I'M GOING TO MISS YOU GUYS.
I'VE GOTTEN LIKE REALLY ATTATCHED TO YA'LL.
THIS ISN'T FAIR.
Sigh.
Life.
Anyway, Merry Chrismas for the second time today. :-)
LOVE YOU GUYS!
-Sunny