loved.

beach.

i decided to start out this book really far in the future. REALLY far. just go with it.

-

It's not easy being a dad. Scott says that to himself every single day. He knew it would never be easy, but he always wanted kids, so that's exactly what he got. Scott's husband, Shawn, wasn't too fond of the children idea at first. He was very timid about becoming a father only in his late twenties. The thought of it gave him chills in both a good way and a bad way, but he loved Scott. He would do anything for Scott. Regardless, Shawn loved his kids just as much as he loved Scott.

Skylar was the first bundle of joy to make it into the Adeli-Hoying family. She was born pre-mature with little to no chance of survival after their surrogate mother fell down a flight of stairs. It was completely an accident, just loss of footing, the woman only suffering minor bruising, but Skylar was holding on by a thread. That thread was hope. Scott and Shawn knew that she would make it. She was their little warrior who could conquer and defeat anything. After all of the praying and the late nights at the hospital sitting next to her and singing her lullabies, 4 weeks later she was up to 6 pounds and ready to go home. They named her Skylar Emlyn Adeli-Hoying, meaning eternal strength and warrior. Nothing short of perfect for their little girl.

Their son, Seth, came 4 years after Skylar. He was everything Scott and Shawn could have imagined and more. He was flawless and easy on the eyes. Seth could get all the ladies swooning over him in a heartbeat. He was a true womanizer at just 3 months old. Skylar loved him. Shawn was worried that Skylar would start to feel left out after a while since Seth was a newborn and needed attention constantly, but even as a 4 year old, she understood that Seth is new and love should be shared.

Their life together was faultless. Scott and Shawn loved their kids more than they loved themselves and it showed.

--

It was a beautiful day outside, enticing even. Scott had been caught up with paperwork at his job for the past few weeks leaving Shawn to take care of the kids for a while. He didn't mind, though. Shawn loved it. Any time he got to spend time with Skylar and Seth was a good time. However, it's not like Scott was never home. He got to come home at night to tuck the kids into bed and he was there every morning for breakfast, but when Skylar got home from school, Scott was never there. Shawn had to explain to her why he was working all the time. It took a while for her to understand, but when she got the hang of it, she wasn't so sad anymore. This particular day, though, Scott had the day off. He was at home with his kids on a delightful Saturday afternoon.

"I think we should go out and do something today," Scott said to Shawn as they were washing their breakfast dishes from earlier. Shawn was quiet for a moment. Not because he was ignoring Scott, but because he was thinking. There wasn't much to do in their small town in northern California. Just a few restaurants and a shopping center. Nothing to really get excited over.

"Like what?" Shawn responded back since he couldn't think of anything. He dried off the plate he had in his hand and stuck it in the cabinet above him, then shifting his body to face Scott. Scott was still cleaning, but he was thinking. He scrunched up his face and closed his eyes to think maybe even a little bit harder. Shawn loved it when he did that. He loved everything about Scott.

After no luck of any ideas, Scott was at a loss. He's at work the majority of his time, so it wasn't really like he got to do anything outside of that.

"Let's ask the kids," Shawn suggested with a small grin on his face, "maybe they can come up with something that we can all do." Scott smiled and finished drying his last dish. He placed it in the correct cabinet and drained the water from the sink, then turned his body to Shawn just like Shawn was to Scott. They always seemed to be perfectly in sync with each other at most times. A coincidence mostly, but they always thought it was strange that they had the same way of moving and doing their daily life activities.