parks & restoration

02. are we okay . . . knope

T W O
are we okay . . . knope

" i'm suing god! satan too . . . no, he probably has really good lawyers "

J A C K    L U D G A T E - D W Y E R , was a happy, rarely grumpy, two-year-old to both of his parent's relief.

Leslie had taken the new mother "hostage" [April's exact words as she complained to her husband that night] a month or two after April had her son to tell her all about her experiences raising triplets.

The horror stories Leslie had were even enough to scare the ever-loving shit out of the otherwise fearless and deadpanned April Ludgate to the point she almost questioned why she agreed to have kids in the first place.

The hundreds of diapers, hours of crying, teething and all the spit-up, but above everything, the thing that scared April the most about her son growing up was the dreaded "terrible twos".

The foggy, slightly rainy Halloween morning Jack turned two, April half expected the world to shake as whatever demon was going to possess her toddler made its appearance into the new parents lives.

But to both Andy and especially April [who seemed to be less tolerable to sudden meltdowns] the terrible twos never seemed to come to cross their little Jack.

However, instead of temper tantrums about almost anything imaginable, came a new side to Jack that, while not nearly as detrimental as the terrible twos, seemed to bring a whole new set of challenges.

Jack had become almost strangely and unexplainably needy, especially towards April.

At first, Jack started to hold onto hugs a little longer, that slowly became wanting to always sit in between his two parents, then making April stay in his bed till he fell asleep at night, to eventually, clinging onto April at every chance he could get.

The fact that her son seemed to love her so much that he literally wouldn't let go made April feel like all her insecurities about being a bad mom had washed away when she held him in her arms and he clanged back.

She also knew how genuinely happy Andy was knowing that she was so content with her life as a mother, but the fact that she was nine months pregnant and constantly having to entertain a two-year-old was straining and so tiring to the fact that April thought she was going to lose her mind.

Leslie expedited into city hall, a stack of folders all with pressing matters pinned under her arms and a million and one thoughts running through her ever-busy mind.

If it wasn't for the lightest pull of a tiny hand against the hem of her slacks, followed by the sweet voice that called out "Auntie Laslie!", the blonde probably would have never stopped, power walking all the way to Indianapolis in her determination.

"Jack!" She exclaimed, honestly surprised to see the toddler at the office.

She placed the stack of papers on the nearest desk as she kneeled down, reaching the young boy's height, hand going on his shoulder "What are you doing here, Buddy?"

"Mommy!" He excitedly smiled in return, his tiny fist-waved somewhere in the background in all of his two-year-old-excitement.

Leslie nodded, returning to her normal height before grabbing Jack's hand and dragging him in the general direction of where he pointed.

"Hey, Harry." Leslie approached the older man, taking a few steps back once she realised that he was pouring a cup of coffee, she had been spilt on by the klutz to many times to not be prepared.