Secrets - A Lams Fanfiction

1

~John Laurens~

I got home late, kicking my shoes off at the front door and hanging up my coat in the closet. I heard the faint sound of the Marvel theme coming from the basement. I assumed Philip, my 16 year old son, was still up at this ungodly hour.

I walked into the kitchen and saw the time on the oven. 02:37. I sighed and grabbed a slice of cold pizza from the fridge. I would have grabbed a plate and sat at the table but I was exhausted. I decided to just go back to bed and lay with my husband. I hoped he was asleep... but knowing Alex, he wasn't.

I jogged up the stairs and knocked on Alex's office doors. The lights were on but I couldn't hear anything inside. When I opened the door, I found my husband asleep in his chair, his head resting on some paperwork on his desk.

I shook my head and leaned against the doorway, eating my pizza slice as I just admitted him for a few minutes. I tried to eat quickly so I could use both hands to carry him to bed. It took a little longer than I hoped so I just stood there, staring at my sleeping husband, eating a slice of pizza, for 8 minutes.

Once I finished, I gently picked up Alex and carried him to our room. He was still in his work clothes but I wasn't in a position to change him. I laid him in bed and tucked him in, kissing his head goodnight before grabbing my toothbrush and pajamas and going to the guestroom.

I quickly changed my clothes and threw them on the floor. I would wash them the next morning. I couldn't let Alex know what I had done.

4 Years Later

"Dad! Mom was wondering if Ava-Grace could stay over tonight? She has a date night with Herc!" I heard Philip yell as he walked through the front door.

I heard a faint "sure" from Alex who was also downstairs. I sighed a bit and made my way downstairs to join my family. "How old is she now? I need to know what to prepare for." I asked Pip.

"She's 3. I'll probably spend time with her though. I haven't seen her in a while." Pip said. He really loved his half sister.

After Eliza and Alex divorced when Pip was 8, she moved on a lot slower than Alex did. She didn't get married again until 30 and then had another kid, a daughter, at 34 with her new husband.

"I'm going off to work again. My lunch break is only so long." Alex said and got up from the kitchen table, taking his briefcase with him as he put on his shoes and left.

I grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat on the couch across from Pip with his Dr Pepper. "So, you've been home for 2 weeks already," I started and took a sip, "when are you going to get a job?"

"Pops, I promise you, I have been applying for stuff. It's hard when everybody and their brother are also trying to get jobs." He rolled his eyes. He had been home from college 2 weeks and, as much as I love him, he needs to get out of the house.

"Alright alright... how was your moms this morning?" I asked just to keep the conversation going before he could escape back to the basement.

"It was great. Herc wasn't there so I got some 1 on 1 time with mom... plus Ava but I never really mind if she's there. She's so quiet." He explained. I nodded silently and took another sip.

"That's great. Tell her to stick around a bit when she drops off Ava-Grace. Your dad and I haven't seen her since you left and I think, god forbid, he misses her." I joked. Pip laughed as well and I could tell he was trying to get downstairs. I don't even know what he does down there all the time. Must be important.

"Well I should get back to work." I said, referring to my painting that I've been working on upstairs all week. He nodded and got up from the couch, going back to his lair- I meant room.

I made my way upstairs to my art room. It was right in between Alex's office and our room. The guestroom was just across the hall.

I put on my apron and grabbed my brushes and paints, sitting on the stool in front of my eisele to complete my painting. My painting of a family. But not as humans. As turtles. It could be my family. Two dads, and a son... but it could also be another family. Maybe Eliza's... I could give it to her as a gift. Or maybe it was our family...