Kingdom Come Undone

Ocean Wave Blues

A/N: Hello! This is a full chapter (12,000+ words) this week. It's my Spring Break, and so I'm taking full advantage! Enjoy!

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Saying goodbye to Jacob was harder than I had expected. Over a week away from his mom proved to be a few days too many and the mention of being separated for over 12 hours again sent him into a tailspin.

"MOMMY! DON'T WEAVE ME!" His eyes welled up with tears as he clung to Alison's shirt while walking him to his room in the house.

"I know, Bug. Being separated from each other is hard on me too. But it's just for tonight; I will be with you all day tomorrow."

"NOT AMORROW! NOW!" With his legs cinched around her waist, Carter's attempts at peeling him off of her were futile.

"Can you help?" Alison mouthed my way as I stood dumbstruck in the doorway.

I teetered back and forth hesitantly before scratching the back of Jacob's neck, "Hey, J? Can your mom and I come read you a bedtime story?"

Wiping his nose on Alison's shoulder, Jacob turned to face me, "You stay duh night, E?"

"Sweetheart, Emily's coming with me tonight. We'll both see you in the morning."

"I know Daddy grabbed some of your favorite books for us to read. Let's go look at those. Wanna get off Mommy and come hold my hand? We can check them out together." He shook his head, bundling Alison's sweater further into his hands.

"Jake, I'm not leaving until you fall asleep. You won't even know I'm gone. Come on, sweetheart." She began stomping down the hall, as picking up her legs with Jacob wrapped around her proved to be more difficult than it first looked. "Emmy, can you go grab his pj's for me?"

"Yeah, Jake. I made sure to wash your favorites last night so you'd have them for the trip." Carter added from behind us. I looked behind Alison to give him an encouraging nod as Carter wiped his hand through his hair, obviously as frustrated as the rest of us.

Pulling his pajamas from his bag on the floor, I started replying as Alison struggled to get into the room, "Oh wow! Look at these great pajamas with so many fancy animals on them! No wonder you like them so much!" I looked at Alison confused as I had no idea what the animals on his pajamas even represented.

"Octonauts..." she whispered.

"Your Octonauts! Can you come tell me about all the characters, J?" My question prompted him to look over his shoulder for the first time.

"I don't wanna story!" He mumbled before kicking his feet to get down.

Alison sighed, as he slunk from her arms, shaking them out gratefully, "We don't have to read a story then, baby. What's going on? This isn't like you." I tossed his pj's Alison's way before moving back toward his bag for alternative options, while overhearing parts of their conversation as Alison got him dressed for bed. "What do you mean Emily knows?"

"We said in duh caw. Member E? Afore lunch?"

I lifted my head, suddenly understanding the outburst. "Right. You want to talk to your mom about that together, bud?"

He nodded, "You tell her fo me?"

Pulling his top over his head before patting his bed, she stood staring at me confused. "I was going to tell you tonight, babe. I didn't think he'd hold onto it."

"Yeah, alright." She agreed, "Lay down for us, and we can stay and talk with you."

I sat on the other side of the bed, reaching for Alison's hand as I stared down at Jacob, "So you want to talk about the eye doctor today and our conversation in the car, right?"