Dotty Family Moments.

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"when I had said 'we'd spend the day together' cleaning the attic was not what I had in mind" Brian strained as he cleared another two boxes to the side neatly.

Abby laughed. "Cheer up, Brian. At least we ARE together. Anything we do together is always the best, besides, at least now there's a challenge of getting into your bed at night".

This, admittedly, brought a smile to Brian's face. The true reason they were cleaning the attic was for Abby to have her own space in the house, after the events leading up to her departure from her own house, this was definitely a nice change.

Abby went to lift another box over to the small pile of boxes that Brian had started when a, previously unnoticed, book fell on the floor. Normally Abby wouldn't have been startled by loud noises, but she was still shaky after her argument with her parents. She let out a small yelp and stumbled into a box behind her.

Brian caught her before she fell. Normally he'd have had a funny line prepared, but he knew this wasn't a time for that. "Sorry about that" Abby said as she re-garthered herself.  "No problem, why don't we take a small break" Brian suggested.

He showed Abby some open space. "I'll just see what fell" he said. What he found was rather surprising. His old baby book. Brian wanted to hide it in the deepest corner of the room, but decided against it and instead brought it to show Abby. Maybe she'd find it funny.

"Well, good news is that what you knocked wasn't damaged. the bad news is that you found a deep dive into my past" he held up the book. Abby read the title and immediately went to grab it from him. "Come on Brian, I have to see everything in it" she said with clear excitement.

Brian handed her the book and slumped beside her. She flicked through a couple pages awwing and oohing at every picture of a younger Brian. "Brian, your little overalls!! Adorable" she sighed. She was clearly enjoying herself. Thankfully, the photos didn't seem as bad as he had thought. No huge stories behind each one.

She flicked to another page titled "me and daddy" and saw a photo of Dom holding Brian up to the heavens at sunset. "You are the image of your dad in this one" she said as she stated at the photo. The next one was titled "me and my mommies" Abby saw two photos on this one. One of Letty holding a  Little Brian. And some blonde also holding a much younger little Brian.

"Brian, who's that?" Abby asked pointing to the blonde. Brian looked closer. "Well....I never really bring that up because it's complicated. But that's my birth mom" Abby's jaw dropped. "Oh, I had no idea you were adopted, Brian...that's kinda cool"

Brian cringed. "Well, not exactly" he hoped he'd never had to explain this to someone else. "Years ago, my mom, that we know today, Went missing and was presumed dead. My dad had tried his best to move on, and met this woman in Rio. They had a thing for a year and a half, but around that time, dad heard that Mom was alive. So his other lover told him to go back to her. Deep down she knew they would never have worked, but what they didn't know was that she was pregnant with me. So a few years later, she was kidnapped and killed and I was transferred to my dad" he explained, leaving out the crazy details that would definitely lead to more questions than it was worth.

Once again, Abby's mouth had hung low. "Wow....that's a lot. I can see why you don't bring it up......do you ever think about her" Brian looked at her. "Honestly, not really. As bad as that sounds. Because I had my mom. She has been what I've always known. She was the one who threw me up in the air when I first said her name, she was the one who told me that I was safe when I was scared....she was the one who I talked to about you about before I asked you out. I honestly can't think of any other woman who could have been half the mother she is to me".

Abby looked at her boyfriend. She always knew he was a mommy's boy, but hearing how much he admired his mother and how public he was able to speak it. She loved him even more for it.

"Letty is pretty incredible. To take someone else's child and raise them as her own is an incredible task. I didn't think I could respect her any more than I already did, but somehow I do". Abby said after processing the news.

"Anyway, shall we get back to work?" Brian asked as he offered her his hand. Abby accepted it asn hoisted herself to her feet. The two worked until Abby found some more baby books belonging to Brian. She put them in a pile beside the stairs, she was going to look at more adorable photos of her boyfriend when they were finished.

Not long after, they had finished. Abby went back to Brian's room. She was looking through the other photo albums she had found during their clean. She wasn't sure when it happened, but she felt tears rise to her eyes. Her boyfriend was the most innocent looking baby. They may have met when they were four, and she may have always found him cute, but somehow he was even cuter before that.

Brian knocked on his frame. "More photos?" He asked with a wry sigh. Abby sniffed. "Yeah, you were just so adorable". Brian got on the bed beside her. "oh, and what am I now?" He asked cheekily. "A very attractive young man, who knows how to sweep a girl off her feet at a moments notice". She kissed him. "I hope our kids are just like you" she said in a state of bliss. Brian froze. Abby also hitched her breath. "I said that out loud, didn't I?". Brian nodded slowly.

"Sorry, just these photos of baby you have made me begin about our future.....and I don't even know if you'd even...." Brian cut her off with a kiss. "I hope they'd have your smile" he looked deeply into her dark, warm, Brown eyes. Abby's face broke into a smile. "I hope they have your eyes" she retorted. "I hope that they are as perfect as you" he said back.

Just before things got too heated, the front door opened. Dom and Letty were back. "Brian, we're back" Letty called up the stairs. "down in a second!" Brian called back.

The two made their way back down. "We got most of the attic cleared out, mom" he said as they got down the final steps. "Great, we should be able to move some furniture up by this weekend" Letty said as she noticed the book in Abby's hand. "whatcha got there, hun?" She asked as she looked at the book. "I found some of Brian's baby photos. He was just the cutest little thing" Abby said as she leaned on Brian's shoulder clutching the book dreamily. "Those are the cute ones, but I gotta show you the funny ones". Brian gree stiff. "Funny ones?" He asked. "what funny ones?" Letty smirked. "Me and your father had too many photos of you so we sorted them by category. Those are your cutsey ones, and somewhere, I have one of you looking funny and doing hilarious things. You always knew how to make me smile". Letty said as he embraced her son.

Abby watched the mother and son. She loved seeing how little that Brian cared that she was watching, nothing would ever stop him from hugging his mom. Her mind drifted off once again to seeing him with their own kids, she could only ever hope that they too would get to raise someone like Brian.

The end.

(Credit to Beau_Tyler for a mix of good ideas that came together in this overly long one shot. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you lads and ladies in the next one.)