single dad: v.h

chapter twenty-one

"Daddy come on hurry up. We wanna leave." Bear whined loudly.

"Let daddy eat honey. He's hungry." Aaliyah said, brushing Bear's hair with a brush.

"Sorry." Bear said, turning to face Aaliyah so she could hug her.

Vinnie smiled at the two. Surprisingly he didn't cry at the sight of the two of them like he thought he would.

"Go play Bear. I need to talk to daddy." Aaliyah said, patting her back as she ran off to where Kaiser was.

Aaliyah turned back to Vinnie who was still eating pancakes and drinking his orange juice. She'd never been happier than she was right now seeing him eat.

"Are you sure you're up for today? You can stay here and rest and I'll take the kids." Aaliyah said.

"No I wanna go with you guys. It'll help me feel better." Vinnie answered. He took the last bite of his food and put his plate in the sink.

Aaliyah smiled, running her hands through his hair. She leaned forward and kissed his nose softly. Vinnie smiled at the feeling of her embrace.

"Go get ready babygirl. I'll be with the kids." Vinnie said, smiling as Aaliyah kissed him one last time and then went up stairs to get herself ready.

——

"Dada." Kaiser babbled as Vinnie put him in his car seat.

"What bubba?" Vinnie asked.

"Juice." Kaiser said, softly placing his hand on Vinnie's cheek.

"Dada will get you juice." Vinnie kissed his hand. He closed the door and ran around the side of the car to the drivers side.

"Okay. Daddy is getting Kaiser juice. We will be in the car for a long time okay? Do you want a drink too?" Vinnie asked Bear as he buckled up.

"Yes please daddy." Bear said.

——

"Are we there yet?" Bear asked for the millionth time.

"I regret smashing her tablet." Vinnie mumbled making Aaliyah laugh.

"Daddy that's mean. Don't be mean." Bear said, looking down as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Honey don't cry. Daddy was joking okay? We'll be there in like 5 minutes." Vinnie said, reaching his hand back to hold hers once they were at a red light.

But Bear didn't grab his hand. She only stared at it and kept wiping tears from her face.

"Baby please hold my hand." Vinnie pouted, smiling when she took ahold of his hand.

"Love you daddy. I'm just excited." Bear said, smiled at him.

"I'm excited to baby." Vinnie said, squeezing her hand and pulling away to drive the car.

——

It had been an hour since they got to the hotel they would be staying at and Bear was begging to go to the pool.

"Daddy please take me swimming." Bear said, flipping on Vinnie's chest who was lying on the bed on his phone.

"Animals!" Kaiser screamed in protest, he too laying on Vinnie.

"Swimming. Animals. Which shall I choose?" Vinnie asked, putting his phone down and turning his attention to his babies on his chest.

"Animals!" Kaiser said again, cuddling further into Vinnie.

"I don't know Kai, swimming sounds fun too." Vinnie said, receiving a dirty look from his son.

Vinnie chuckled, beginning to "wrestle" gently of course with his boy. By "wrestle" it was meant that Vinnie attacked him with tickles and kisses making him giggle.

"Mama!" Kaiser yelled through a giggle when Aaliyah walked in.

"Oh no! My baby!" Aaliyah said, beginning to tickle Vinnie in return.

"Bear help me!" Vinnie yelled which resulted in Bear only helping aid Aaliyah and Kaiser in tickling him.

"I said help me." Vinnie laughed, finally escaping.

——

"You promise when we get back we can go swimming?" Bear asked as they arrived at the zoo.

"Yes honey, I promise." Vinnie said as he unbuckled her from her car seat and helped her out and walked to the ticket booth with his family.

"I wanna go see bears daddy." Bear said, pulling on his arm as he bought them tickets.

"To the bears we go." Vinnie said, picking the girl up and putting her on his hip.

"Baby I'm gonna go with Kaiser to get a lemonade. Do you guys want one?" Aaliyah asked.

"Yeah, here let me get my wall-"

"No baby I'll get it." Aaliyah said, walking with Kaiser who was focused on playing with Aaliyah's hair.

Vinnie stood there dumbfounded that she didn't even let him finish his sentence.

"Daddy bears." Bear said.

"Right okay. Bears." Vinnie said, shaking his head and walking away towards the bears.