Wherever The River May Run.

River Norden Taylor.

Sang's POV:

Four years later...

"Mama, mama. Wake up! Wake up!" Yelled an excited little voice.

"I'm up baby. I'm up. What is it?" I asked innocently- even though I knew very well what was going on this beautiful Saturday morning- and bit back a grin as I stared at my son.

"Guess what today is Mama. Guess! Guess!" He squealed excitedly. I tapped my chin with a finger as I pretended to be feel in thought.

"Hmm, is it Thanksgiving already?" I pondered as I held back my laughter by a single thread as my son looked at me with wide brown excited eyes and shook his head violently.

"No mama! It's November 17th. It's my birthday!" He practically shouted with a terrifying amount of energy and if I hadn't known my son hated sweets I would've assumed he'd swallowed a full bag of sugar to fuel his excitement.

"Oh is it now. Well then, we need to get up don't we?" I pondered before reaching out and pulling him back onto my bed with me and started tickling him. He squeaked and then burst into a fit of laughter.

"Happy Birthday my little love!" I laughed out as I continued my tickle attack. He twisted and wriggled around trying to break free from my clutched.

"S-stop M-mama. S-stop." He demanded between giggles and our laughter rang throughout the apartment as we both lay there staring at he ceiling.

"Well, birthday boy. What would you like to do today. It's your special day, So how about breakfast and then we go out." I offered and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes Mama. Ooh, Can we go to the Zoo after breakfast? Can we? Can we please Mama?" He begged looking up at me with his big brown puppy dog eyes, he pouted his little lips when I pretended to ponder over it and I nodded sending him a big smile.

"I suppose so." I said. "But you need to go get dressed for the day brush your teeth and comb your hair please. Oh, and don't forget to wash your hands before we eat breakfast okay, River?"

He nodded and beamed at me before he threw a fist into the air in triumph, jumping off my bed and rushing to his room to get ready.. I smiled and shook my head. Four years old. My has the time flown by. I felt a little guilty that four years went by and River had still never met his dad, and as far as I knew North didn't even know he had a son. Not that he wanted one. He made that clear when he had asked Dr. Sean if I had to keep it all those years ago.

I sighed, shaking my head. I wouldn't think about that today. Today was a special day. It was my baby's birthday and if his father didn't want him them he was the one missing out. Today, I would make sure everything was perfect for my little man. He didn't need a dad to be happy and I'd always told him that.

He had asked me last year why all the other kids had a mommy and a daddy and he only had a mommy. I had wanted to tell him everything, but I would never break his heart like that.
I didn't want him to know what his father said about me not keeping him and even though he broke my heart along with the other 8 boys that day. I didn't want my son to hate him or any of them.

I had told him that his daddy lived far away and that I had moved before I could tell him that he was a father. It was close enough to the truth and being the strong little boy my son was he accepted that and never brought it up again.

I could still see it though whenever we passed by a father and son on the street. The flicker of sadness and longing for that connection in his eyes and it tore my soul to bits but I always reminded him that he didn't need a daddy to be happy and just like that he would smile bright again.