The Prince

Part 51

"Noah?" Raymond gently knocked on his door, letting himself in.

"Hey, Mr. Cook, what's up?" He smiled more confidently, watching Raymond take a seat next to him.

"Well, I've come to talk a bit more about your living arrangements." He smiled gently to put Noah at ease. "You still haven't decided what it is you want to do, and I've been getting calls from my mother asking about what you like and don't like."

"Does she really want me to stay with her?" He asked, eyes wide. He thought that it was a joke and never even considered it as an option. Staying with Skye and his dads was great. It felt like he had an older brother around in the house and real parents who cared. But those were on the good days.

On the other hand, he didn't want to feel like he was a charity case that they had to take in. He didn't want to be in their way and misplace the balance of their home. Maybe moving in with his gran wasn't such a bad idea. He'd not be underfoot the whole time, and she did seem really nice. But could he move in with a complete stranger?

"I'm really not sure, Mr. Cook. It's been a bit of a crazy week, what with me moving up in class and everything. Do you mind if I take some more time to think about it? So much has happened I still can't quite wrap my head around it." He looked at the smile on Raymond's face, as if he understood exactly what he was feeling.

"You can take as much time as you need. Jackson would love to have you here all the time, but I think it's more the chaos you two cause that he enjoys as much!" He laughed. "Noah, we can't change or make your past disappear, but we want you to be part of our family. We want you to know that you deserve to be loved, and if you give us a chance, we will try our damndest not to let you down."

"Thanks, Mr. Cook. I appreciate you saying that." Noah briefly looked down at his hands. "Staying with you has been something that I thought I could never be a part of or have, but you've welcomed me in and treated me like I belong here. There's no way to repay you, and thank you will never be enough, but you have made me feel like I didn't have to be afraid of my own shadow."

Raymond placed his hand on Noa's shoulder. "No thank you is needed, and we don't do repayments." He grinned, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Don't forget we're going to my parents tomorrow." 

--

"Are we going to get shouted at?" Jackson asked as they got out of the car.

"Of course not. Unless you did something to piss Mom off." Raymond cast him a quick glance before running up the steps into the house.

Gillie, in her usual style, pushed everybody out of the way to hug Skye as they entered the house. Once they had all bundled into the sitting room, Gillie walked off to the kitchen, calling for her husband at the same time. 

Once Damon arrived, they spent most of the morning in chaotic conversation, with everybody having a story to tell or extra detail to share. To Skye, it felt like a weight had lifted from his shoulders listening to their normal conversation that had always been part of his life, part of his safety net. Looking around, he knew that Noah was right; what he had was pure magic.

"Hey, Kelley!" Raymond called, catching a glimpse of her. "Have you been at the office the whole time?"

Dropping her bag, she moved to the armchair to sit down, smiling at everyone.

"Congratulations, Aunt Kelley!" Skye smiled widely at her, getting up to give her a hug.

"Congratulations for what?" She looked at him in confusion.

The babies, of course! You're about seven or eight weeks, I think..." he drifted off, making mental calculations.

"I'm pregnant? I can't be pregnant! And how would you know anyway? Her head was spinning; did she miss her period? 

"Oh, Kelley, that is fantastic news!" Gillie immediately jumped up to hug her tightly.

"Babe, you're pregnant? But how?" Eric looked in confusion at her. They hadn't even talked about starting a family.

"Of course I'm not pregnant!" She tried to convince herself. How would he know anyway? It's not like he's a doctor or anything."

"There's a slight shift in how you move, and you unconsciously keep adjusting your posture to get more comfortable. You're also more careful in how you move or sit down." Skye ticked off his observations on his hand. It was strange that his dad didn't pick it up.

"He's right," Raymond confirmed with a glowing smile. Impressed with Skye's faultless observations.

"I'm pregnant?" Kelley asked again, her hand automatically moving to her belly while looking at Eric, who seemed to be glued to the spot. "Babe, are you okay?"

"We're pregnant!" He rushed forward to throw his arms around her, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. "Can you believe it? We're going to have a baby!" He still looked incredulous and starstruck but also excited by the idea.

"Two."

"Two what?" Eric asked, still gently swaying while holding Kelley. 

"Two babies." Skye calmly informed him

"Wait, how do you know all this? How can you be so sure?" Kelley asked, finally having gotten over the shock that she was pregnant. She did the math, and it all squared up.

"Statistics." He stated it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're going to have to dumb it down for your uncle Eric here, buddy."

"Kelley already has twins in her family; the current generation has three sets, and the one before had six. She is of African heritage, which increases the chances of twins, and also height sometimes has an effect. Taller women are more likely to carry twins."

"Enough!" Gillie came pushing through again. "Kelley must rest. All this is not good for the babies." She strong-armed them all away, leading Kelley to the couch as if she were the most fragile and precious thing in the world.

"No, really, it's okay, Gillie, I'm feeling fine."

"You're going to have to take better care of yourself. I'll get Cook to prepare something that is good for pregnancy." She wafted away as if on a cloud.

"If you're wrong about this, I'm going to make your life hell!" Eric warned him under his breath, his heart still beating fast.

"I found them!" Gillie had returned carrying three pregnancy test kits with her. She gently pulled Kelley up. "Grandma knows how clever you are, but sometimes a little more proof is needed." She smiled at Skye, who nodded his head, not surprised his grandmother wanted her own proof.

"Where does she get three pregnancy kits?" Jackson whispered loudly to Raymond, who shook his head to silence him.