How To Play The Game.

epilogue - part two

TWO YEARS LATER

Michael lifted up his son and threw him over his shoulder, listening to him giggle. Jackson was two years old now, and everything Michael did made him laugh.

"Please be careful." Lily begged, rolling her eyes. She sat down on the couch next to Michael, looking more annoyed with him than usual.

"I am being careful!" Michael laughed. He sat Jackson up on his lap, tickling his sides. "He likes it, babe."

"I just don't want him to get hurt." Lily said, folding her arms across her chest.

"He won get hurt." Michael assured her, leaning over and kissing Jack on one of his chubby cheeks. "I'd never let him get hurt."

Michael was absolutely in love with his son. When he found out that Lily was pregnant he was excited, of course, but he never thought that he was going to feel like this. Just the fact that he had a son, a tiny little person that was half of him and half of Lily, was amazing.

Jackson Clifford had curly blonde hair and big blue eyes just like Lily, but surprisingly he had Michael's nose and smile. Jack was the perfect mix of both of his parents, and Michael had never been happier.

"I'm bored." Michael whined, resting his head on Lily's shoulder.

He really was bored, not just saying that to annoy Lily, and that didn't happen very often. In the last two years, between helping Lily take care of Jackson and working on opening his own publishing company, Michael was almost always busy. He hardly ever had time to just sit home and be bored.

"I'm bored." Jack smiled. He wasn't really bored, he was only saying that because Michael had.

"Yeah, Lily, we're bored." Michael nodded and Jackson leaned up against Michael's chest, staring up at his mom. Lily glanced over at them, rolling her eyes again.

"Go do something then." Lily shrugged. She took out her phone and started scrolling through it, not paying attention to Michael or Jack.

"You're no fun." Michael pouted. He was used to Lily acting like this and he didn't really mind. She had her ups and downs, and most of the time Michael purposely tried to annoy Lily just to get a laugh out of his son.

"Mommy's no fun." Jackson giggled, looking up at Michael for approval.

"You're right, Mommy's no fun." Michael nodded, poking Jack in his stomach. "Mommy's no fun! Mommy's no fun!"

"Don't be annoying." Lily said, keeping a straight face as she continued to stare down at her phone.

"I'm not being annoying, you're being annoying." Michael argued, sticking his tongue out at her. "Mommy's annoying! Mommy's annoying!"

"Annoying!" Jackson yelled.

"Look, babe, he learned a new word!" Michael said excitedly. He was enjoying Jack being a toddler way too much, he loved seeing his son learn and do new things every day.

"He said that last week." Lily mumbled.

"Wow, you're in a really bad mood today." Michael frowned. He hadn't really done anything to make Lily upset today, she had no reason to act like this. "You're even worse than usual."