It's Quiet Uptown

Bonus Chapter Three: Daddy?

A/N: Yay, a bonus chapter! I wanted to thank you guys for making this book reach 9.1 THOUSAND reads. You guys are just the best! I love your comments, as they make writing even more fun. I don't know where I'm going with this, but just know I feel incredibly grateful.

Love, Sloan

Groff's POV

    After an hour spent waiting anxiously, the Hamilcast realized that Lin wasn't coming out anytime soon, and so relaxed from their tense silence enough to prod me into conversation.

    So worried I had been for Lin I hadn't even fully comprehended my old friends' presence, as well as that of my son.

    Looking like a modern-day David and Goliath, Oak held a sleeping Sebastian in his arms.

    Elation and guilt punched me so hard in the stomach I couldn't breathe as soon as I laid eyes on him. The kid was a carbon-copy of Lin and reminded me of all the horrors Lin was now suffering because of me.

    No. I couldn't think that way. Lin loved me. We'd both sacrifice everything for each other, as he had just demonstrated. I couldn't throw it all away.

    So I talked to the Hamilcast to combat my rising anxiety. I shared some of the details of what imprisonment had been like, what I'd felt, what I'd done.

    It was strangely... helpful. Like therapy. I knew none of my friends would judge me, so I was able to open up and get even some of the worst memories off my chest.

    After a half-hour of talking, Daveed got a little too animated and laughed a little too loudly, waking up Sebastian.

    The group fell silent as the black-haired kid yawned and groggily rubbed at his caramel eyes. My heart beat a little faster, and I longed to throw my arms around him, but I waited until he woke up.

    Sebastian blinked a couple of times, looking up at Oak and around at the group, obviously trying to place where he was. Then he saw me.

    "Daddy?" he gasped.

    I nodded, fighting back tears.

    "Daddy!" he cheered, starting to thrash about in Oak's arms like a fish out of water. His little chubby arms strained towards me.

    I swooped forwards and snatched my son out of Oak's arms. Sebastian squealed with delight and snuggled into my chest.

    "I founded Daddy! Yay! I missed you, Daddy!" he said happily. He struggled up my chest to plant a wet kiss on my lips before his eyes widened at nearly forgetting something incredibly important. "Daddy, I gots drawing for you!"

    I nuzzled his cheek with my nose, elation at being reunited rising like a balloon in my chest. "Really, wombat? I'd love to see it!"

    Sebastian patted himself down, frowning comically when he couldn't find it. "Oh. Not here, Daddy. You wait?"

    I nodded, smiling. "Of course, wombat."

    "I make new drawing for Papa and Daddy," he declared, wiggling in my arms until I let him down. Sebastian waddled over to the nearest table, which he slapped demandingly until Renee gave him his coloring book and crayons. He got to work, scribbling away madly.

    "God, I love that kid," I muttered.

    "Good!" Sebastian replied, not even looking up.

    Chris burst into laughter. "He's just like Lin!"

    Pippa shook her head mock-sorrowfully. "I pity you for having to manage two children, Groff."

    I groaned dramatically. "You don't know the half of it."

    The Hamilcast broke into laughter, and for a while, I forgot everything that was happening, and just enjoyed my time with some of my closest friends and my son.