The Better Life

Shaun and Leah!

Shaun and Lea were more than excited to see Chicago. Leah couldn't wait to see all the sights. She wanted to see a baseball game and eat deep dish pizza. Lea was so excited.

Shaun was excited to see his cousin, Felicity. He was happy she had a good life now. He approved of Mickey and Ian. Ian was smart and Mickey was good at listening. He quite enjoyed venting to Mickey because Mickey would let him talk and comment afterwards. Ian was fun to talk to because he understood the medical terminology and he was straightforward. He respected that.

Shaun liked trips like this. He liked staring out the window. The world just looked so small from high up. 

Leah liked watching Shaun. It made her love him even more.

When they landed in Chicago, the first thing they noticed was there was a lot of people. It took a while to find Felicity, but they found her and Mickey because she was holding a sign over her head covered in glitter. It had "Shaun and Lea" in big bubble letters on it with several drawings. There was a puppy and two stick figures. One stick figure had a stethoscope and the other was holding a video game control.

When Felicity saw them, she dropped her sign and ran to Shaun. She threw herself into the hug she engulfed him in. He returned the hug and kissed her on the head.

Leah hugged Mickey.

"I will kick your ass later at Call of Duty," she whispered.

"Bring it, nerd."

When Leah let go of Mickey, she hugged Felicity.

"I missed you!" Leah said.

"I missed you, too, Leah!"

They rocked together as they hugged. Mickey and Shaun stared at each other for a second before Shaun hugged Mickey. Mickey let Shaun make the first move. He knew it took Shaun a while to get used to people and even longer to hug them, so he didn't want to make Shaun uncomfortable.

He immediately hugged back when Shaun hugged him, though. For someone who didn't look like much, he was strong.

Ian and Shaun went to place the stuff in the car while Mickey and Leah got into a conversation on the latest game on the Nintendo Switch. Shaun, Ian, and Felicity were ranting about their lives.

"There is nothing I hate more in the world than idiotic people and spiders," Felicity began her story. "Some dude the other day at school had the fucking audacity to ask me which of my dads was the mom. I said that I didn't have a mom, that I had two dads. And he then tried to clear himself up by asking who was more feminine. I told them both. Mickey dressed up as a woman to cross the border to Mexico and Ian lost a bet one time and had to be dressed as a woman for a day."

"I remember that, Firecrotch. Damn, you look good in lace."

Ian was busy blushing bright red.

"Why can't people accept that I have two dads? It's not that hard to believe."

"Because then people would actually have to think for themselves, Felicity," Shaun said. "They'd have to accept it and people find it very hard to accept things."

"Well said."

"Thank you."

Ian eventually drove them home and gave Shaun and Leah a grand tour. Leah really liked Felicity's bedspread. She found it pretty. Leah and Shaun both equally liked the dinosaurs in Yev's and Olli's room.

"You'll meet our foster son later," Ian said. "His name is Oliver. You'll like him."

"And Yev, too?"

"Of course. It's our night to keep him."

Shaun had grown to like Yev. One vacation, the Milkovich-Gallaghers couldn't leave Yevgeny with Svetlana because that family was taking a vacation, too. So, Yev came along. Shaun didn't know what to think of him at first. Yev was loud and was full of energy. He's still loud, but he has more self control as a kindergartner than as a three-year-old. Shaun thought Yev was very smart for his age.

Leah liked Yev, too. She thought he was witty and she liked the loudness of the boy. She was so used to the quiet that a little loudness didn't hurt. 

Shaun liked the room he was staying in. The colors weren't too loud and didn't clash with the rest of the room. The bed was also soft, but not too soft. It was firm and he liked it. He hoped Lea would, too.

Leah didn't mind it. The room was a little small, but it had it's own bathroom nearby. Lea was glad for it because it gave her and Shaun the privacy to take a shower together.

They overall both liked the house. The one thing Shaun can say he didn't like was the noise. Chicago was very noisy. There were car horns, trains, and gunshots always being heard. 

Felicity prepared for this and gave him earplugs.

Yev and Oliver came home soon after. Svetlana dropped them off. She didn't leave before complimenting Leah first.

"You have pretty eyes."

"Oh, thank you."

Mickey shoved Svetlana out the door before Svetlana had the chance to flirt with Leah. Leah was a pretty woman and Svetlana has always had a knack for noticing beauty in people. It was both a blessing and a curse.

"Li-Li!" Yev yelled.

"Yevvy!"

Yev ran straight into Leah's welcoming arms. He gave Lea a hug before giving Shaun a hug. Oliver sat there awkwardly.

"This is Oliver," Mickey introduced. "He's our foster son."

Oliver stuck his arm out to Shaun. "Hi. I go by Olli. I like soccer."

Shaun shook Oliver's hand. "I'm Shaun Murphy and I'm a surgeon at St. Bonaparte Hospital. I like watching the weather channel. And the news."

"And I'm Leah," Leah introduced as she picked up Yev. "You're getting heavy, Yev. Anyways, I'm Leah and I like video games. I work with computers."

"That's cool!" Oliver's eyes lit up. "Is it hard?"

"Sometimes. If it's a killer virus, then yeah. But a lot of the time, it's fixing the computers and putting in information for the hospital."

Oliver was satisfied with that answer. "What about you, Shaun? Is being a surgeon hard?"

"Yes. But it gets easier the longer you work. You also make a lot of friends along the way."

Oliver also was satisfied with that answer. Yev and Oliver went upstairs to play with the dinosaurs. Felicity also went to play with them to give the adults room to talk adult business-y stuff.

Yev ended up passing out about an hour into them playing. Oliver and Felicity then watched funny cat videos on Felicity's phone. They laid on his top bunk.

"Hey, Fliss."

"Yes, Olli."

"You have a nice family."

"Thanks, but it's yours, too, Olli."

"Not for long. They'll probably stick me somewhere else in a few months. That's how it always goes," Oliver argued.

"Or maybe you'll get to stay longer."

"You don't even know if Mickey and Ian will want to keep me."

"I do, actually. I've talked to them. They're really proud of you, Olli, and even though you haven't been here long, they love you as if you were their own. Yeah, they're young, barely hitting their 30s. Those two love so deeply that it makes you feel like the only person in the room. They would do anything to give kids a life better than theirs."

"But what if...what if they don't want to adopt me?"

"Oliver, I can't speak to them because I'm not them, but you know, I never expected them to adopt me. I was a random kid that just so happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That turned into the right place at the right time, though, because here we are. They'll adopt you. I know it."

Felicity fell asleep before Oliver. Oliver covered them both up with a blanket and went to sleep.