PTSD | Sequel to Little Clifford

32

Michael's POV

Parker had been with us for about a week now and he was still extremely upset about his mom but he was slowly getting better.

We waited a few days before telling him that we would be living with us from then on and it took him a while to process and be ok with it, but he was extremely happy that we were there.

Since Sandra's meltdown, things had been looking up. Grace got the job and she was supposed to start next week. The boys had also moved into their house two doors down and almost completely finished decorating it.

Today though, Grace and I were doing something big. We had sat down and talked with the kids before deciding and they agreed. Together, we were going to take custody over Parker and Grace was also going to take partial custody over Arden. All of us had had a long talk about it, and ultimately we thought it was the best decision.

Grace and I were worried about how Parker would take it, but he seemed to be excited that Arden was becoming his sister and Arden was also extremely excited. The reasoning behind Grace taking partial custody over Arden was in case I wasn't around and something happened to Arden. Grace would need to be able to make decisions on behalf of Arden as her legal guardian. Also, if anything ever happened to me, she would get to stay with Grace.

"Are you guys ready to go?" I asked, grabbing my keys.

Grace and the kids agreed before we headed out to the car. It was weird having BOTH of the kids be quiet. Usually it was just Arden being quiet and Parker trying to rile her up, but Parker had been quiet lately which was understandable.

My parents and the boys were all shocked about what had happened and about mine and Grace's big decision, but they had all agreed that it was the right thing to do. The boys had been really good with Parker too. They came over and played video games with him and sports, whatever he wanted.

We had also promised to take him out to get decorations and paint for his room today, in hopes it would cheer him up.

We had already had a court date set, so we didn't have to do much waiting when we got there. Luckily, we also didn't have to do a full case like last time either. We just got to meet with an official and he reviewed the papers, verifying that Sandra had signed the custody of Parker over to us and since I was the only legal guardian of Arden, there wasn't any trouble in Grace taking over half. Of course, the official did ask the kids if they were ok with the changes being made.

When the paperwork was all filled out and finished, we shook hands with the official before heading out. I held hands with Grace as the two kids walked in front of us.

"We've got ourselves a little family now," Grace says quietly and I smile.

"Yeah, we do."

"Do you think that maybe we are moving too fast?"

"Maybe, but I do know that I am absolutely in love with you. The events that have occurred in our life recently have made it so we are moving a bit faster, but I wouldn't trade it for the world," I smiled down at her.

"I wouldn't either," she stood on her tippy toes to give me a small peck as we kept walking to the car.

I opened the passenger door for Grace and the back one for Arden and Parker. They all thanked me before I hopped into the driver's seat, "To IKEA! Again!' I laughed.

Grace turned on the radio so that the ride wouldn't be completely silent, "Have you heard from my mom?" Parker asks quietly.

"No, I'm sorry bud. We haven't," Grace tells him, turning around in her seat.

He just nods quietly and remains silent for the rest of the drive. We got to IKEA and I opened the back door to let Arden and Parker out. It was pretty cold out and I had forgotten Arden's jacket so I picked her up and placed her on my hip. Parker was still looking really down though so I picked him up with my other arm so that I now held both of them.

"I love when you do that," Grace chuckles, "It looks so cute."

She fell a little bit behind as we were walking up to the building and I turned my head to see that she was taking a picture of us, "Grace!" I laughed.

"Aww that was the perfect picture! I got you laughing!" She excitedly before catching up again.

We walked into the store and headed straight for the comforters because we already had a bed in Parker's room. I set him down so that he could actually look through them and he was immediately attracted to the sports themed one.

"Can I get this one?" He asked shyly.

"Of course, bud. You can get whichever one you want."

I chose the one that was the right size for his bed before placing it in the cart, "That's a cute one!" Grace compliments, "Why don't you guys go pick out paint that matches and I'll find some other cool things to put around the room," she suggests.

We agree and I lead Parker over to the paint section, "Ok, so we want to pick one that will match one of the colors on the comforter."

It didn't take long for him to pick a shade of blue that he liked and that went well with his comforter. Grace returned with a few sports decals and a couple of other things before we were off.

-

I smiled as I looked at the final product of Parker's room. We had sent the kids over to the boys' house to play with Luke while Ash and Calum came over to help Grace and I with the room.

"Ok, ready for him to come in?" Luke asked as he brought the little ones back over.

"Yep!"

We stepped out of the way as Parker walked in. His eyes went wide as we looked around at the completely changed room. It was all sports themed and we had moved the gaming systems into his room.

His eyes welled up with tears and he let out a sob, "Aww bubba!" I said softly as I pulled him in for a tight hug.

"Thank you so much," he sniffled.

"You're welcome. Welcome to our crazy family Parker."

A/N

GUYS! Theres only one more chapter after this before the epilogue!

Ahhh!

But it's ok because I caved and started planning a third book. Hopefully you are ok with that :)

Love you guys!

Red