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[kieksterbanjo.livejournal.com]

Title: Still
Author: kieksterbanjo
Rating: Chapter 1: PG
Summary: There's no end to fatherhood...

A/N: Told you, you were going to get sick of me! lol. So this? Is a sequel to my story Fathers First. I debated posting it now as opposed to later, but I figured I wouldn’t be any less nervous later then I am now to bring it out and today’s my birthday so it seemed like a good time.

 

Do you have to have read Fathers First to read this one? Yes and no. The circumstances in this story are completely separate from the first but since I know these characters so well I MAY not have explained their back-story to their full extent so to get the back-story you may want to read Fathers First. I tried as much as I could to make this a stand-alone. Maybe I did. You be the judge, I guess.

 

Okay and to cap off the longest A/N EVER (lol) Still differs from Fathers First in one main respect…I’ve almost finished writing it before I even posted it! I’ve got 5 chapters as we speak so no 4-month droughts like last time (which I’m still sorry about lol)! So I was thinking…weekly updates? That work for everyone? lol. Well I guess there’s nothing else to say but…ON TO THE STORY!

 

Still

 

Chapter 1

 

            Nick groaned and let his head fall back onto the back of the couch, rubbing the bridge of his nose and letting the book in his lap fall closed. He pulled his glasses from his head and set them on top of his book on the coffee table before getting up.

 

            He’d tried to ignore the pounding music coming from the second floor of the house but just when he thought it might have ended, another throbbing beat rang out throughout the house. He made his way up to the second floor and made a left, moving to the door he was almost certain the music was coming from.

 

            “Charlie!” He said loudly, banging once on the closed wood door before opening it. Upon entering the room, he soon discovered he’d been wrong.

 

            “It’s not me!” Charlie said annoyed as he sat at his desk with his feet up and a textbook in his lap. Charlie, for several months, had been caught up in a growth spurt his body couldn’t quite handle. He was growing faster then he was putting on weight and therefore his long arms and legs looked gangly without the appropriate balance. According to Greg, however, he himself had been the exact same way when he was 14.

 

            “Oh.” Nick said surprised, furrowing his brow, “Did you cut your hair?” He asked randomly noticing the long brown locks that had been there for quite some time were no longer…long.

 

Charlie nodded and ran his hand through the short spikes, “Yeah yesterday.” He answered.

 

“Looks good.” Nick said with a nod and a smile before closing the door and moving across the hall. He paused outside the door across the hall and listened, making sure he wasn’t just about to make another wrong guess.

 

            Sure of himself this time he banged a fist against the door before proceeding to open it, “Aidan!” He said loudly in order to make his voice heard over the music. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him and he quickly turned around, bringing the door closed behind him. He leaned against the door, shocked and unaware about how to proceed. The music had been turned off and Nick could hear shuffling from inside the room; a curse word or two thrown into the mix, “Aidan, uh,” Nick called behind him to the closed door, coughing to clear his strained voice, “Can I, uh, talk to you for a second?”

 

            “Yeah I’ll be out in a second.” Was called from inside the room and a moment later Aidan opened the door to his bedroom a crack in order to slide out, while simultaneously pulling on a t-shirt; confirming to Nick that what he had just seen was not an hallucination. It was then that Nick saw his son in a whole new light. His eldest had turned eighteen almost 5 months prior and, thanks to a gene obviously contracted from Nick’s older brother, Aidan was almost a head taller then Nick; but Nick still saw him as the 10-year-old little boy complaining that his bedtime was too early.

 

            “I just wanted you to turn the music down.” Nick said as way of conversation started, gesturing to the now closed bedroom door.

 

            Aidan looked at the door with a nod, “Uh yeah.” He said simply.

 

            Nick didn’t know where to go from there. Should he acknowledge that he’d seen his eighteen year old half naked with a girl in his bed, or should he just let it slide as if nothing had happened? The safest action would be to ignore it, not to mention the least embarrassing. But something told Nick it was something that had to be brought up, “So…” He started, pointing yet again to the door.

 

            “Yeah.” Aidan nodded, “Sorry about that.”

 

            Nick shook his head, “No! Just…not with your little brothers and sisters at home, okay?”

 

            “Sure.” Aidan said shortly.

 

            Nick nodded and looked around nervously, “You know if you ever need to talk to someone about, you know, that…”

 

            “Thanks.” Aidan interrupted quickly, but sincerity laced the sentiment.

 

            Nick nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets, “Will she be staying for dinner?”

 

            “No.”

 

            “Can I say ‘hi’?” Nick asked making as if to move towards the door.

 

            “No.”

 

            “Fair enough.” Nick said quickly backing away with his hands held in surrender, “Will you be around for dinner?”

 

            “Yeah.” Aidan answered with a nod.

 

            “Good chat.” Nick said jokingly at the lack of response he was getting from his son.

 

            Aidan sighed with a breathy chuckle, “Sorry. It’s just…a weird position for your Dad to find you in.” He shrugged also shoving his hands into his pockets.

 

            “Try it from the other side. I used to change your diapers.” Nick chuckled scratching the back on his head, “Well Greg should be home any minute and then dinner won’t be far off after that.” He commented, starting to back up towards the stairs.

 

            Aidan nodded, “Sounds good.”

 

            “Good.” Nick repeated and the two quietly stared at each other for a moment before Aidan gestured to his closed bedroom door. Nick nodded and turned to walk down the stairs with a disbelieving shake of his head and Aidan once again disappeared into the confines of his bedroom.

 

            On his way down the stairs Nick smiled at the stereotypical family photos that lined the stairwell. School pictures of the kids at different ages, portrait shots of the whole family and certain candid photos Nick and Greg adored. The bottom step brought Nick eye level to his favourite photo they had put up. It had been taken a month or so after they had moved into their current house (a bigger place to allow more room for the ever growing family) and Nick had been attempting to set up a swing set in the backyard for which Greg was no help. Instead he had arranged for the kids to use Nick as a bench and so the picture consisted of an11-year-old Aidan, a 7-year-old Charlie, a 4-year-old Angelica and 2-year-olds Austin and Isabelle sitting on Nick’s chest laughing hysterically as Nick attempted to keep the half built swing set from falling apart.

 

            Nick sighed happily at the picture as he descended the last step of the stairs. His foot did not connect with linoleum floor however but instead with something furry and he gasped and jumped past the obstruction. He turned around to see what he had almost stepped on to find a white and black bunny crouched near the stair, twitching its nose like Nick had not almost squished it to death. Nick sighed again and bent to pick up the bunny. As he did so the front door opened behind him and he turned to find Greg taking off his shoes and sunglasses. Greg went to speak but Nick held up a finger, “Angelica!” Nick yelled into the house and the two could hear running footsteps from Angelica’s bedroom in the basement.

 

            “Almost step on him again?” Greg asked with a chuckle.

 

            Nick just gave him a look as Angelica came into view from around the corner, “Yeah Dad?” She asked, running her hands along her hairline to tuck a few loose strands of blonde hair behind her ear. Angelica, unlike Aidan who’d always been taller then his classmates, was shorter then the other 11 year olds she knew but Nick and Greg had always chalked it up to the fact that Leighanne had never been tall herself and that Angelica had been heavy into gymnastic from the age of 5. She was extremely athletic and loved animals, hence why Nick found himself holding a bunny; one of the 6 pets Angelica owned.

 

            “I almost stepped on Crayon again. Could we try a little harder to keep him in his cage?” He asked handing the rabbit over to its owner who smiled sheepishly and again tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

 

            “Sorry Dad.” She mumbled embarrassed, petting the soft fur on Baxter’s back.

 

            “I’ll forgive you this time.” Nick smirked and Angelica smiled, “Dinner’s almost ready so can you go wash up?” He asked and Angelica nodded, turning to leave the front hallway.

 

            “Hey, don’t I get a hug hello?” Greg asked with fake hurt, holding his hands out to his sides. Angelica giggled, turned on her heel and walked over to give Greg a one armed hug.

 

            “Hi Daddy.” She said as Greg kissed the top of her head.

 

            “It’s good to be home.” Greg said letting go of his daughter, “Now go wash your hands.” He instructed and Angelica once again turned to leave the room.

 

            Greg turned to Nick who was no longer at the bottom of the stairs but was moving down the hall picking up scattered t-shirts, socks, notebooks and what looked to Greg like Cheetos; it was hard to keep a house of 7 clean, “Austin’s grounded from video games for the night because apparently ‘Stay on the street’ meant ‘Go wherever you want’.” Nick was saying as he continued to tidy, “Isabelle has a sleepover later but Nikki’s parents are coming to pick her up. Charlie can’t go out until he’s finished his homework and ummmm,” Nick paused both his words and his cleaning and looked thoughtful.

 

            “Hey Nick?” Greg asked and Nick looked at him questioningly, “Don’t I get a hug hello?” He asked like he had only moments before and watched Nick chuckle and shake his head as if he was amazed he hadn’t even welcomed Greg home.

 

            Nick crossed the hallway, still with a myriad of items under his arms and in his hands, to awkwardly wrap his arms around his husband, “Hi baby.” Nick whispered kissing Greg’s hair with a sigh.

 

            “Hey Nicky.” Greg whispered rubbing Nick’s lower back.

 

Suddenly a ding rang out from the kitchen and Nick pulled away slightly in order to call, “Dinner!” to the rest of the house and within seconds movement could be heard from areas of the house that had previously been quiet.

 

“How was work?” Nick asked pulling away completely and handing Greg a red sneaker to put into the front closet.

 

Greg shrugged, “Work was work. Though Catherine almost showed her boobs to half the day shift when she forgot she wasn’t wearing a shirt under her coveralls.” He recounted as Nick laughed. Nick and Greg had both moved to the day shift when the twins had been 4; the graveyard shift no longer conducive to their life style. With Catherine as their supervisor the day shift allowed the boys to be home with their kids when they got home from school. For the past several weeks however they were on different shifts for the first time in years. Nick had undertaken the role of acting supervisor of graveyard, until a permanent one could be found, after Warrick had unexpectedly left the post. On yet another whim he had married a woman from his gym and run off to Hawaii with her. For some reason Nick couldn’t find fault in the action. Sure it was irresponsible but his best friend was happy where he was and who could argue with that?

 

“And I’m sure you wouldn’t have liked that at ALL.” Nick said with fake sympathy and Greg gave him a cheeky smile.

 

“Daddy!” The pair heard from the second floor landing and looked up to find Isabelle running down the stairs to leap into Greg’s arms for a hug. Nick smiled as Greg spun his daughter around in a giant hug, her long dirty blonde hair coming out of its ponytail slightly. Isabelle was tall for her age and had almost surpassed Angelica in height. She was also Nick and Greg’s ‘girly’ girl; always dressing up and begging to wear makeup long before Nick and Greg even considered letting her.  “Can we play Monopoly tonight?” She asked when Greg set her down.

 

“Only if I get to be the doggie.” Greg bargained.

 

“Daaaaaaaaaaaddy!” The eight year old whined with a pout.

 

Greg gave a dramatic sigh, “Oh all right you can be the doggie.” He relented as the rest of the family congregated in the front hallway.

 

“I thought it was dinner.” Charlie asked confused as he hit the last step of the stairs.

 

“It is.” Nick commented throwing a t-shirt in the teenager’s direction that Charlie caught and looked at confused until he realized it was his.

 

“Then why are we having a family meeting in the hallway?” Austin asked jumping from three stairs up to the bottom floor. Austin and Isabelle may have been born on the same day but unless you looked really closely that was all the twins shared in common. Austin still hadn’t hit a growth spurt, making him the shortest family member, and while Isabelle was lanky Austin was more meaty and muscled.

 

“We weren’t, but we can. We can discuss the state of your bedroom.” Nick commented as Austin’s eyes went wide.

 

“Dinner’s waiting!” Austin said loudly to change the subject, sliding on socked feet down the hall towards the kitchen, followed closely by his siblings. 

 

-- -- --

 

            As the five children of the Sanders-Stokes clan grew, it seemed to become less and less obvious that they did not all share the same father. Angelica, Austin and Isabelle looked enough like their birth mother to make them passable as full blood siblings.

 

It was their two eldest sons however that broke the mold. Forever the epitome of their biological fathers, Aidan and Charlie couldn’t have looked less alike and it shocked people on more then one occasion to learn that they were, in fact, half brothers.

 

“Mmmm lasagna!” Austin cheered rubbing his hands together as he sat waiting for his share of dinner.

 

“I’m going to miss homemade meals.” Aidan said sadly.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Nick said as he set a plate in front of the last person at the table without one; himself, “You’re going to live with your grandparents. My mother will be making you so many homemade meals you’ll be sick of them by November.” He laughed.

 

Aidan sighed and picked at his dinner, “It’s still going to be different.” He shrugged. Aidan began school at Texas A&M that September and because campus was only an hour drive from the Stokes family residence, he would be spending his first year living with Nick’s parents.

 

“You know you could always stay home.” Greg said with raised eyebrows.

 

“Now I didn’t say I didn’t want to go.” Aidan said quickly with a chuckle, “I’m just…going to miss it here.” He said with a sigh, looking around the kitchen. Nick and Greg looked across the table at each other with the same look of knowing and sadness that they shared every time someone would bring up their son’s imminent departure from the house. Aidan was a real homebody in comparison to his siblings. He had plenty of friends and liked to go out, but it could be seen just how much he loved staying home and spending time with his family. Nick and Greg figured Aidan’s hesitation about leaving was born out of being the eldest; he was leaving and would no longer be around to look out for his little brothers and sisters.

 

“You have to go! It’s because you’re going that we get to go visit Grandma and Grandpa.” Isabelle protested.

 

“Dropping Aidan off isn’t the only reason we’re going to the ranch.” Nick explained, “It’s your grandparents wedding anniversary and they’ve invited everyone out to celebrate. It just so happens it coincides with dropping Aidan off.”

 

“So this is going to be a long drawn out event?” Came Charlie’s crumbled reply.

 

“Well I’m sorry that visiting your family that you don’t see very often is such a chore Charlie.” Nick said with a heavy sigh. Charlie had been overly moody ever since he found out he’d have to go to summer school in order to complete the ninth grade.

 

“I’m going to miss school.” He said simply with a shrug at his lasagna.

 

“We’ve already talked to your teachers. They’ve given you some homework for the classes you’ll be missing. You can do it in Texas.” Greg supplied.

 

“Great.” Charlie mumbled sarcastically. The atmosphere in the room had darkened considerably. Austin, Isabelle, Angelica and Aidan remained silent, almost afraid to move their utensils lest they create noise.

 

“Charlie.” Greg said with a warning tone to his voice, “It is no one’s fault in this room, or any other room, that you’re in summer school. We don’t deserve to be on the receiving end of your bad mood.”

 

“No. You’d all just rather the dumb member of the family shut up and be quiet.” Charlie mumbled rebelliously.

 

“Charles Gregory you are not. Dumb.” Nick said slowly eyeing Greg, who was eyeing him back.

 

Charlie cackled humourless, “I didn’t think I was either. But you would both rather I be more like Aidan, wouldn’t you? Honour’s List and off to a big time university instead of a summer school student in remedial English?” He shook his head and pushed back roughly from the table, turning to leave from the room.

 

“Charlie, get back here.” Nick said sternly, all of his muscles tense to keep himself from physically grabbing the teenager to keep him in the room; to explain his sudden outburst.

 

“I’ve got homework.” Was Charlie’s reply without even turning around and he was around the corner a second later.

 

It wasn’t the first time they’d lost the 14 year old to anger and it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was becoming more and more of a regular occurrence but that didn’t mean the aftermath was any less awkward. The four remaining children at the table were staring at their plates and both Nick and Greg were looking at the kitchen doorway that Charlie had just walked through. No one spoke for a long time and the only sound in the room was the scrape of Isabelle’s fork as she pushed it back and forth across her plate.

 

Suddenly the sound of the front door opening and closing filled the kitchen and in an instant both Nick and Greg were on their feet, worried it had been Charlie who had left the house, “That…was Michelle.” Aidan whispered and promptly received confused looks from both his parents.

 

“You asked your girlfriend to sneak out of the house while we were all at dinner?” Angelica asked incredulously.

 

Aidan looked embarrassed at being caught; his cheeks turning pink, “She was a little…embarrassed about before.” He said looking at Nick quickly, “Didn’t want to make a scene.”

 

The tension seemed to break in the room and even though only Aidan and Nick were in on the joke they began to crack up and soon were laughing so hard tears were rolling down their cheeks, “What’s so funny? What happened before?” Austin asked excitedly, wanting to be in on the joke.

 

“Yeah. What gives?” Greg asked chuckling at the sight of the normally reserved father and son letting go.

 

“I’ll tell you later.” Nick said between large gulps of air that just made him and Aidan laugh harder.

 

“Definitely sounds like a good story.” Greg said to Austin, Isabelle and Angelica who laughed.

 

Nick and Aidan were finally starting to calm down when Greg felt a presence behind him and turned to find Charlie leaning against the kitchen door jam, looking just the littlest bit angry but also apologetic and guilty. Greg watched his son for a long moment, contemplating the source of all the anger he’d been displaying, but soon recognized Charlie’s gesture of apology. There would be time later to delve into reasons but a long talk wasn’t what Charlie was looking for.

 

Greg made eye contact with the teenager and nodded his head silently, pushing Charlie’s chair back from the table with his foot. He saw a faint smile appear on Charlie’s lips before he slid into the offered chair and quietly looked down at his meal.

 

Nick had noticed the gesture but also noticed it wasn’t the time to bring up such matters in conversation. So instead he pulled his chair closer to the table and said, “So what should we bring on the plane to entertain us on the way to Texas?”

 

The question spurred answers in the millions and the entire family fell into easy conversation as they finished their dinner.

 

TBC

 

A/N: Feed back would be much much much muchly appreciated (can you tell I’m nervous for you guys to read this? Hahahaha)

Comments

[musicluvr325.livejournal.com]

Aww, yay. the kids are all grown up. I missed this.

I found something though you might want to fix. Isabelle was tall for her age and had almost surpassed Isabelle in height.

[kieksterbanjo.livejournal.com]

Thank you! All fixed. I've read and reread this chapter sooo many times I can't believe I missed that! lol Thanks again =)

[peezyluv.livejournal.com]

yeah !! all the kids are back... Thanks for the story, and now begins the weekly wait :-)

[katydid713.livejournal.com]

Good job! Nick and Greg are way cooler than my parents. I wasn't even allowed to have boys in my room at Aidan's age and my parent's would have had a real problem with the half naked part.

I wonder how Aidan will adjust to life with his grandparents? I would guess they might be a little more conservative about stuff like that.

Does Charlie have some kind of learning disability or does he just not apply himself? That could be interesting to explore.

[boonesfarmgirl.livejournal.com]

Loved Father's First.....now they are all grown up. My oldest daughter just went away to university this fall so that part of the story hit home. Love the little interactions between all the characters.

Oh and by the way....Happy Birthday!!

Chelle

[lspen.livejournal.com]

I am loving this. The teenage angst years are here. i am looking forward to every new chapter you give us.

lori

[phantom-labrat.livejournal.com]

Happy to see another story from you. Keep up the good work.

[ic789.livejournal.com]

I so love this family-thanks for continuing to write them! It's cool to see everyone "grown up" a bit more! I can't picture Aidan ready for college already, but that's how it happens. A really great first chapter, I can't wait for more.