I wrote this story as a Part 2, so part of it will seem like a recap of Chapters 1-7. But I am continuing the story as if I did not write the epilogue at the end of the last chapter. Chapters 8-11 are written like a stand along story. I pretty much got their whole lives mapped out in my head so there is no prediction of when this series will end. In case you are new to Ethan and Jack, please note that this is a love story first with erotic scenes in between. Please continue to comment, I love feedback!
-KK
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Jack typically wakes up before Ethan, and today was no different. But today he slept right through his normal wake up time at 4am, and instead woke up in his bedroom with the sun streaming on his face.
He opened his eyes and saw Ethan's sleeping face first, laying sideways, one hand under the pillow, the other resting between his legs, hair falling over his right eye a bit, mouth slightly open. Then Jack looked down at EJ between them, laying on his stomach, Spiderman PJ's, little hands curled up into tiny fists, mouth slightly open and drooling. Jack smiled, they have the same shape mouth.
EJ was starting to lose some of his chub and legs were getting really long. He will be four years old in less than two weeks, a big boy. And his vocabulary is getting really big. Last week he used the word frightened. Jack thought, how did he know how to use that word in a sentence?
"It's just a thunderstorm EJ. No need to be scared," he told him.
And EJ said, "I'm frightened!" It almost took his breath away.
Jack held him and said, "No need to be frightened, I got you bud." He rocked him like he used to do when he was two years old and EJ let him. That's going to start to change soon, but for now, holding and comforting his son is what he will continue to do for as long as he will let him. He missed Ethan terribly in those weeks he wasn't around, but he missed EJ just as much.
Watching EJ reminded him of why he slept through his normal wake up time. He dreamed a memory again, one he didn't want to end. This time it was Christmas, he was five years old and his parents bought him a tricycle. At first his mother said no to going outside, "It's too cold!" But he rode it all over the house until he got on her nerves bumping into everything, so his dad took him outside to ride up and down the street. His first big boy bike.
He remembered everything about it: cobalt blue color, with blue and white tassels and a bell. He rode up and down the street all morning, his father chasing him at first, then just watching him. He would only stop to pick up rocks and sticks to pile them in the metal basket in the back between the wheels. His face was red, his mouth was blue but all that mattered was he got his big boy bike. He held onto that memory as long as he could, until the sunlight forced him to open his eyes.
He looked back up and saw that Ethan was awake, watching him watch EJ. Jack smiled. Ethan smiled back. He reached over and put his hand gently on EJ's back. Jack reached over and put his hand on top of Ethan's.
Jack mouthed, love you. Ethan shrugged playfully, and grinned, making Jack grin. Ethan moved his hands around to lace his fingers with Jack. They laid this way staring at each other until EJ began stirring beneath them.
~~~~~
Jack and Ethan were staying a couple of days at the farm to open presents there, then heading down to Greenwich to spend Christmas day with his family. His brother AJ and family were already there. They came downstairs together from Jack's room into the open area with EJ leading the way yelling "It's Christmas!"
Mina picked him up and swung him around. "Not yet little E, tomorrow is Christmas."
But he insisted as toddlers do, "Noooooo it's Christmas!"
She laughed and said, "What do you want for breakfast?"
She led him towards the kitchen and Ethan followed for some coffee. Jack went towards the living room where his Uncle Henry was there pilling papers in his briefcase getting ready for work.
"Hey, Dad," said Jack. He started calling his Uncle Henry dad after he came back from Ireland last September.
Henry glanced up, then glanced back down. "Hey, Jack. Not working today?" He busied himself with his papers.
Jack said, "No, I took the day off, actually I don't go back until Thursday."
Henry said, still not looking at Jack, "I'm surprised they let you, considering your stunt last August. Do you even have vacation time left to take?" Then he brushed past Jack and headed for the door.
Jack sighed. Ever since he came back in early September his uncle has been distant with him. Jack missed the initial yelling he did to Mina, Henrietta and June, as he went to the Inn to see Ethan first rather than see his aunt and uncle like the rest of them did. But he heard about it; his uncle was furious at them. Furious that they left without a word to anyone of where they were going. Furious that they didn't call the whole time they were away.
Furious that they just walked back onto the farm together like it was a regular day and their parents weren't sick with worry for three and a half weeks. Henrietta had left one cryptic message on her mother's phone, "Mom, Dad, we're going on a road trip and will be back soon. Me, Mina, Jack and June. We won't have any cell service to call. We love you. Thank you for being our parents."
After a week, they called the local police and filed a missing person's report for all four of them. They went to June's dorm and found Jack's envelope with his car keys and ticket, and they found Jack's car in a parking garage in Queens. The trail went cold from there and their parents were really scared. So when Henrietta and Mina showed up at their doorstep, Marie literally screamed. They had to reassure her they were fine, that everything was fine and she wasn't seeing ghosts of them. She called her husband who came home immediately.
Then June showed up with EJ and Liam, and said EJ was spending the night at the house with them so Jack and Ethan could "talk." Henry sat them down in the living room, yelled, lectured and berated them for how they worried everyone with their road trip. "Where did you go?" he asked.
They refused to tell him, with Henrietta reminding her father that they were all adults and did not have to report their daily comings and goings with their parents. That's when he really flipped out, screaming at them at how irresponsible, inconsiderate, complete dumb asses they all were, and since they were all adults and didn't feel they needed to report to anyone, they were all to move the fuck out.
Jack had stayed in the Inn with Ethan for two full days before he came out of the basement apartment and headed home. Things had calmed down considerably, but Henrietta did announce she was moving out officially to live with Brayden. Henrietta asked Brayden to marry her in September and Brayden, who had been asking Henrietta to marry him for the last four years, readily accepted. They were to be married next May.
While his sister and cousins' relationships with their parents had not faltered, Jack found himself walking on eggshells with his uncle anytime they were around each other. Like there was something unspoken between them. The day he came home for dinner, Marie hugged tight and kissed him, and Henry glared at him.
"Nice to see you remembered where you live," was all he said to him.
Jack responded, "Of course Dad, it's good to be home with the people who love you the most." Then turned to Marie and said, "I missed your cooking, Mom," and hugged her again. No one spoke, as Jack had never called his uncle, dad or his aunt, mom before. But as Marie sat down, she bursted into tears. Then June, then Henrietta, then Mina.
Jack smiled and said, "You're all so sensitive. Women!" And he piled up his plate with food, making the ladies laugh and cry. Only Henry continued to watch him with a sour face. That same sour face he's had for Jack for the last three months, and today was no different.
