"Finding Him"

Chapter VI

*I slowly led Landon out of the living room and into the kitchen and recognized Rebecca had tied her hair tied back into a ponytail. She was standing at the counter, next to the sink, cutting fresh apples into slices for the little ones while little Kyle was sitting at the kitchen table, sucking on his paci, and happily coloring away. There was stacks of coloring books laying on the table with pieces of plain notebook paper and crayons sprawled out everywhere. Landon bursting with excitement started to run over to his friend and stopped to pull out the chair next to Kyle*

"I sit next to you Kylie?" Landon asks through his paci while climbing up onto the chair he just pulled out and carefully placing his stuffy upright on the table.

"Mhmm." Kyle mumbled through his paci.

*Landon sat there for a few moments watching as Kyle continued coloring and he didn't say a word. I walked over to where Landon was sitting and started talking to him as I pulled out a chair next to him.*

"Hey buddy, do you want one of these coloring books?" I ask as I picked up each one a sorted through them.

*Landon looked through them with me and I watched as he showed no expression towards any of them what so ever. Eventually, we came across a zoo animal booklet and suddenly his expression immediately changed.*

"Ummm. Tan I have that one?" Landon asked shyly through his paci.

"How do you ask?" I asked back.

"Pease?" he mumbles through his paci and looking up at me with his blue eyes.

"Of course. Here you go!" I exclaimed as I handed him the zoo animal booklet. "Which one would you want to do?" I asked. As I helped him flip through the pages.

*There were many zoo animals in the book ranging from a lion to a monkey. As I flipped through the pages I watched his cute little face trying to look at the pages and decide very carefully.*

"Wait!!" he yelled through his paci and stopped me from turning the next page. "I wan that one!"

*I looked down and saw that the picture was a giraffe.*

"Do you know what the animal is Landon?" I asked.

"Yeah! It a giraffe." Landon said.

"Good job baby!" I cooed as I slid the book over to Landon and pushed some crayons towards him.

*Landon took a brown crayon from the pile, looked down at his paper, quickly glanced at me, and looked back down at the coloring page of the giraffe. He continually kept sucking on his paci as he started to concentrate on his coloring. Just then Rebecca came over with two Disney plates filled with apple slices and peanut butter and set them in front of Kylie and Landon.*

Rebecca: Here you go boys! Here's your snack, make sure you eat it all up because soon Landon is going to have to leave soon.

*Rebecca pulls out a chair on the other side of Kyle, ruffles her hand through his hair, and kisses him on the forehead. Kyle stopped dead in his tracks and took his paci out of his mouth. *

Kyle: But... Mommy! Why does Landon have to leave? he pouted.

Rebecca: Because as I recall, before you boys had your playdate you both agreed you would take some time to be little and then you had to meet with a few members at the training facility to check-in. You both asked me to remind you an hour before you had to leave. And here's your reminder. Do you remember?

*Kyle and Landon looked at each other all sad because of the fact that they quickly remembered the adult stresses they would soon have to face.*

Rebecca: Boys! It's okay. You both had a great time today? Right?