Mateless and Home Bound

Chapter 31: Apples and Knives

"I'm so glad you finally talked to him about it, at least," Charlie said. It was morning and they were just about to start the day. The kids were all going to be sleeping in, since it was a Sunday, but that didn't mean that him and Max got anymore rest. They were both too used to waking up so early. That, and their duties really didn't give them much time to rest. There was always something to do and to be done.

"I figured it would be better than how I told my parents about you," Max wrapped his arms around him. "That was too much drama."

"I can't believe they bet on that," he laughed. It all seemed like such a short time ago when he was just a random stranger that had been brought in to this amazing house. Sometimes he would wake up and still not believe that he was here. He could still remember all the times when he was just a kid trying to survive. It was such a long time ago now, but it didn't seem that way when he looked back on it.

So much had happened since then. All of the children they adopted, for instance. It felt nice being able to give them something that he deprived himself of when he was a kid. And watching them all start to shine was the greatest feeling he would ever have.

"It's a shame that we have so much to do today," Max buried his face into his neck. "It would be so much nicer to just stay in bed until they all woke up."

"With our luck, they'd wake up at the worst possible moment," he pet his head. "And then we'd be scrambling to get up and make sure that they didn't see anything."

"I hate how many times that's happened," the red head groaned and held him tighter. "We need another vacation."

"Soon," he smiled. The best thing about working where they all lived was that him and Max were never far apart for too long. He was still as possessive as ever.

They both got ready for their day. Max still had some paperwork to take care of for an hour or two, but Charlie mainly had some errands. It was Ryan's busiest day for his little bakery, and he wanted to make sure his old friend had enough supplies.

"I swear, I didn't do it!" Ed put up his hands as he walked to the pantry. The hallways had gotten so much longer since he had first walked through them, but they still traveled fast this early in the morning. Ed just so happened to be in one of them as he was walking by.

"Why are you up this early?" he chuckled as the gamma quickly kept the pace with him.

"Just finished a patrol shift," he smiled. "You aren't going to believe what I found."

"Was it something to do with those hunters?" he asked, opening the door to the kitchen. Nick was already starting up the ovens. Sunday mornings were for the early birds. But breakfast was always big during the weekends when all the kids were away from school.

"Nope," he grinned. "Even better."

"What are you going on about, now?" Nick looked over his shoulder.

"Nothing," the gamma lied. Then he ushered Charlie into the pantry.

"Do you have to make everything obvious?" Charlie shook his head.

"Reggie fell asleep in Sage's room," Ed whispered to him.

"And you just had to tell someone, I take it?" he gave his friend a playful look. Ed liked playing cupid too much, no matter how old he got. He wasn't as bad of a gossip as Alan, but he loved talking about the newest mated pair.

"Hey," he put his hands up again. "You gave the order not to tell Max this. I'm just following the rules here."

"Oh, he already knows," Charlie rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that hard to see with the two of them talking like they were."