Dave and Leroy Ch. 14

"I have two daddies and no mommy?"

"Yes Jason, you have Leroy and me. We are your Daddies."

When Leroy pulled back into the driveway, Jason noticed the house. "Home?"

"Yes Jason, we are home," Leroy responded with a smile.

Jason was trying to get out of his seat, and he was getting frustrated. Leroy had gotten out and opened his door and could tell that Jason really wanted out of the car seat. "Just hold on there. I'll get you out." When Leroy unbelted Jason and lowered him to the ground, he took off running. At first, Leroy thought he was going to run past the sidewalk, and he ran after him, but then Jason turned and was running around the yard. Leroy laughed, grabbed him up, and tickled him.

Dave had the door opened and was watching Jason and Leroy. He was happy that they finally looked into adoption, and he couldn't wait until they could make it official. Leroy carried Jason into the house, sat him down, and he took off for his bedroom. "I think Allison did something," Dave told Leroy.

"What?"

"What did you do to Mikey a few times before you handed him back to Allison?"

It dawned on Leroy. "Sugar. Oh, God." Dave and Leroy watched Jason run back through the house with toys to the family room, dump them, and run back to his room. "Yeah, I think so." Leroy hugged and kissed Dave. "Go kiss our son and take a nap, I will try to keep him quiet for you."

Dave caught Jason on the third trip back to his bedroom for toys. Dave picked Jason up, hugged and kissed him, and told him he loved him. When Dave sat him back on his feet, Jason was gone again. Dave laughed and turned to Leroy, "I love you, Babe."

"Love you, too. Go take a nap. I will wake you at one and have your lunch for you."

Dave did just that, he walked into the bedroom, shut the door, undressed to his boxers and t-shirt and climbed under the covers and was out in a few minutes.

"Jason?" Leroy had plopped down on the couch.

"What, Daddy?"

Leroy smiled. He loved that Jason just started calling him Daddy. He felt overjoyed by it. "We need to be quiet these next few hours. Your other Daddy needs to sleep for a bit before he goes to work today. So do you think we can play quietly and watch cartoons?"

"Yeah," Jason almost screamed.

"A little quieter, Jason." Leroy turned on cartoons for Jason, and Jason was content for a little while watching and playing with his toys. Leroy laid back on the couch and fell asleep. He was woken by Jason crawling up on top of Leroy and sitting on his stomach. "Jason, what are you doing?"

"Sitting on you." He was smiling and laughing.

Once Jason had been sitting on him for a bit, Leroy noticed that Jason was holding himself. "Do you need to go to the bathroom? It has been a while."

"Yeah." Jason climbed down and ran for the bathroom. Leroy followed. Jason was getting good at pulling down his own pants and the pull-up, so by time Leroy made it to the bathroom, Jason was already sitting on his little potty.

"You are doing so well, Jason. We are going to have to get you some big boy underwear."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. You are turning four next month, so I think it's time," Leroy smiled down at him.

When Jason finished going to the bathroom, Leroy cleaned him up, and Jason went to their bedroom door. "See, Daddy?"

"Daddy's sleeping," Leroy smiled. He also liked being able to refer to Dave as daddy to Jason.

"Can I see?"

"You have to be very quiet." Jason nodded his head, and Leroy opened the door, and Jason walked up and started to climb in the bed. "No Jason, Daddy needs to sleep."

"I want to sleep." He climbed up and snuggled next to Dave. Dave never woke up. Leroy just stood there for a few seconds and smiled. He went around the other side and snuggled up to Dave's backside, thinking why not take a nap. Leroy woke at twelve-thirty, checked his watch, and got up. He needed to make Dave some lunch, and he was sure when Jason woke, he would be hungry as well.

Dave came out a little after Leroy got up carrying a very awake Jason. "I think you forgot something in the bed."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what that thing you are carrying is." Leroy laughed and grabbed Jason, holding him upside down, causing Jason to giggle uncontrollably. "Sorry if he woke you, I was going to let you sleep for another thirty minutes."

"He didn't wake me. Actually losing your heat woke me. I love when we can snuggle and sleep for a while in the mornings, I kind of miss it."

"Me too, but to be honest, I would never give up this little guy." Leroy had put him back on his feet, and he ran to his toys and started playing.

"Me either." Dave hugged and kissed Leroy.

*

March flew by, and in April, Dave and Leroy were planning a birthday party for Jason. He was turning four on the twentieth. All the sisters wanted to help. Dave was for it until Leroy reminded him about the wedding. "Leroy, it can't be as bad as the wedding."

"I know, it can't be, but do you want them to plan his first birthday without us, or did you want to help?"

Dave smiled, "I want to help. What do you think?"

"Well since his birthday is actually on a Monday, we can celebrate it on that Saturday before. Hopefully, the weather will be great. We will have all the family over, except for Sue. I'm not going to let her see Jason yet. I don't know why, but there is something that says no, it's not time yet. We can order pizza."

"Pizza?" Jason perked up.

"Not today, Jason. Daddy and I were talking about something else."

"Pizza, Daddy, please?" Jason came over and looked up at Dave and Leroy with the saddest of sad eyes.

Leroy laughed. "Don't you give in," Dave stated and smiled, knowing Leroy would.

"But look at those eyes," Leroy smiled at Dave.

"You are sad, Leroy, truly, sad. But I love you. We will talk about this when I get home since there are sensitive ears."

"Yeah, probably best that we did plan it at night."

"Pizza?" Jason repeated.

"How about for dinner? I have lunch almost ready."

"Okay," Jason smiled and ran back into the family room to play, Dave just shook his head, he knew Leroy would give in to their son.

Dave and Leroy planned Jason's party at night, depending on how long they could stay up after Dave came home. During the day Leroy took Jason with him shopping for the party supplies, never for his gifts. He and Dave waited until date night to buy his gifts. Usually, Allison, Aaron, or Jeff kept Jason. They didn't always make it out weekly, but they tried to at least have one night alone every two weeks.

"When did you want to give him his biggest gift?" Leroy asked.

"Maybe the weekend beforehand, so if it's nice on the eighteenth, all the younger kids can play on it."

"That makes sense."

Dave asked for the two weekends off so Leroy, and he could put the playscape together on the first weekend, and he could be home for the birthday party the next. They had bought it and had it in the garage the weekend before. When Jason came and woke them up that Saturday, they took him to the garage and showed him. His eyes were wide. "That for me?"

"Yup, and you get to help put it together," Dave stated.

After breakfast, they started dragging the pieces around to the backyard. Dave and Leroy didn't have a huge yard, but it was big enough to hold the playscape. Dave and Leroy went all out on the playscape. It had three swings, a tree house, slide, climbing rope, ramp, ladder, and sandbox.

The directions said it would take six to eight hours to put together. Aaron had stopped by to see what they were doing and laughed most of the time he was there because Jason was more of a hindrance than a helper. Finally, he said he would be back after a bit and went to pick up Jeff. They brought back beer and pizza when they came.

After lunch, both Dave and Leroy pulled off their t-shirts because they were both roastings. They had never been without a shirt in Jason's presence before, and Jason's eyes widened again. "What's that?" Jason asked.

"What's what?" Dave asked.

"That?" Jason pointed to Leroy's tattoos and then to Dave's.

Aaron laughed along with everyone else. "He has never seen your tats?"

"We don't undress in front of him," Leroy responded.

"Daddy, what are the colors?"

Leroy crouched down and pointed to one of the tattoos that were on his upper bicep. "These are tattoos, Jason. Daddy got them a long time ago." Leroy had the Marine symbol of the world, eagle, and anchor on one bicep. On his right bicep which matched Dave's was a relatively wide tribal band.

After Leroy was done explaining the tattoos to Jason, Aaron and Jeff helped with the playscape, and it started to get done quicker. The last thing that had to be done was to pour the sand in the sandbox area. Jason was happy and started climbing on everything. The guys were sitting around the table of the deck watching him play.

"Bro, how much did you spend on that?" Jeff asked.

"Too much, so don't ask," Leroy responded. "But to see him smiling and happy makes it worth every penny."

"Agreed," Dave responded. "Anyways, it's big. He'll have years before he outgrows it."

"Well, at least when you have all of our kids over, they'll have something other than watching Disney movies," Aaron commented.

*

The week went by pretty quickly. Dave came home a little late every night. Leroy didn't know what was up, but he never questioned. He knows that Dave would sometimes go out for a beer after work. When Saturday arrived, Leroy was a basket case. He was running around to make sure everything was going great. He had the pizza ordered and will be delivered. Of course, he had snacks for all the kids and beer and things for the adults.

The day itself turned out to be one of the warmest for April, in the low eighties. So it made Leroy happy that the kids all could play outside. Everyone was due to arrive by two that afternoon. Dave's parents showed up before anyone else.

When they came toting a bag of gifts for Jason, Jason looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head he was so excited. "Can I open them, please, Grammy?"

"No Jason, you have to wait for your party, so everyone can see what you got," Sarah responded.

Dave came out of the bedroom to the living room. "Hey Mom, Dad, you didn't have to buy him so much." He came up and hugged both his parents.

"Yes we did. We've missed three of Jason's birthdays," Sarah responded.

"Well, I hope everyone doesn't think like you did," Dave laughed.

As everyone started showing up for the party, the kids were sent outside. The sliding glass door was left opened for them to run in and out of the house. Sadie was asked to watch all the kids.

The adults were walking in and out of the backyard. The pile of presents for Jason was growing, and everyone was having a good time. Jason was having a ball, running around playing on the playscape with all of his cousins. When it came time to eat, Jason didn't want to stop playing, but all Leroy had to say was once he was done he could open his presents. He was in the house and ready to eat. Everyone had to laugh at how quickly Jason came in and sat down.

Leroy brought over a slice of cut up pizza for Jason. He was sitting with some of his cousins. "Jason, eat slowly, or you will have to come sit with me, okay?"

"I know, Daddy."

Leroy would watch and make sure that Jason didn't choke on the pizza, which Jason was too excited to eat much. When everyone was finished, they brought the cake out and sang happy birthday. There were trucks and cars all over the cake. Jason was screaming in glee. Everyone just smiled at how excited he was.

When it came to opening the gifts, he was ripping through all the paper and would scream when he would open a toy that he really liked or wanted. When he opened a few outfits, he just threw them aside. Dave and Leroy chuckled. Leroy was sitting on the ground near Jason when he began opening presents but moved away when the paper started flying. Dave went to get a garbage bag for the paper and handed it to Leroy to pick up as Jason was ripping it off. When the last present was ripped open Jason looked for more.

"That was the last one, Jason," Dave told him with a smile. He and Leroy had a couple more for him, but they wanted to give them to him on his real birthday.

"Okay," Jason said and got up. "Can I take them to my room?"

"Yes, you can," Leroy responded.

Everyone just laughed. Jason was smart about it. He took the biggest bag that someone brought their gift to him in. He pulled out the tissue paper and then started loading his presents in it. No one could hold back their laughter when Jason began dragging the bag towards the bedrooms. Since he wasn't getting far, Dave stepped in and helped him. "I can do it, Daddy."

"Okay, I will just be here if you need me to pick it up." Jason pulled and pulled and finally got it to his room, Dave walking behind him as he went. When Jason came back out, he had the bag again and filled it up and did the same thing.

"That is so cute. Dave did the same thing when he was little," Sarah said out loud to no one in particular.

"He is living with Dave and Leroy. Of course, he is going to act like them. Leroy did the same too," Lee chuckled.

Once Jason put all his toys in his room, he asked if he could go back outside. Leroy nodded and laughed. All the kids ran out to play. "He made sure he put away his toys, but he could care less about his clothes." Leroy picked up the clothes and took them to Jason's bedroom.

When everyone was leaving, Jason got sad, but Leroy reminded him, he would see his cousins another day. Then he was better. Dave and Leroy hugged everyone before they left. The last to leave was Dave's parents, Sarah and Dan, and Lee.

"You got a good boy there, Sons," Lee spoke up. "He completes you two well."

"Thanks Dad," both Dave and Leroy responded.

"Papa's leaving too?" Jason asked.

Lee picked up Jason and hugged him. "Yeah Sport, I have to go home. I'll be back in a few days and see you."

"Okay, Papa," Jason smiled and Lee put him back down.

After they put their very tired four-year-old to bed at eight and locked up the house, Dave pulled Leroy off to the bedroom. There was a wrapped gift sitting in the middle of the bed. "Honey, I love you, and you have been doing such a great job with Jason."

"Dave, what did you do?"

"Nothing much, I promise," Dave smiled and pushed Leroy towards the bed.

Leroy opened the box, and there were two boxes inside. Leroy laughed, "you got us a new dildo."

"Okay, that was more for me than you, but you love using them," Dave chuckled. "It vibrates. Don't know what a vibrating dildo up the ass will feel like, but if it's anything like when you put the vibe behind my balls, I think I'm going to like it."

Leroy laughed, "So I don't get to try it out?"

"Yeah, I'll try it out on you," Dave laughed. "Honey, open the other box."

Leroy reached in and took the other box out and opened it.

"I know you miss it," Dave said as Leroy had opened the ring box to reveal a Marine Corp gold ring. "I'm sorry that the tumor happened, Leroy. But Honey, I'll be honest, it was the best thing in the world. You're here, you're alive, and we have Jason." Leroy looked up at Dave when he said it was the best thing. "Leroy, if you were still in the Marines there is no telling where we would be now. If we would even have Jason, and if you were deployed, or God forbid..." Dave couldn't even finish that statement.

Leroy put his arms around Dave. "Babe, you're right. I do miss it, but it was the best thing to happen. I would still be a Marine. Hell, I'm a Marine until the day I die. But you're correct, I would probably be deployed right now, and we wouldn't have Jason because I wouldn't have even thought about a family. You were enough for me, Dave, at least I thought until we received Jason," Leroy smiled.

Dave took the ring box from Leroy and pulled out the ring. He held Leroy's right hand and slid the ring onto his right ring finger. "It fits perfectly. I had ordered it and was hoping that it would be delivered in time. All week I had been stopping at Terry's to see if it had."

"Is that why you have been late this week?" Leroy asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I was hoping that you didn't notice," Dave smiled.

*

In late May, everyone was invited over to Allison's for a cookout and pool party. The whole family showed up. Allison even asked Dave's family. Leroy was a little nervous about being in the presence of his mother for the first time with Jason. He had kept her away from his house, and he had just refused to come to other family events. But Allison begged Leroy, wanting the entire family together. She told him that Lee said Sue would be on her best behavior for the day. Everyone was supposed to show up around two and stay long into the evening.

Dave and Leroy showed up with Jason a little after two that afternoon. They sat in the car in the driveway for a bit. Leroy was practicing in his head all the tricks that Dr. Watts has been teaching him to try to stay calm and not let Sue get to him. He was still seeing Dr. Watts once a month, and he just had a visit with him the day before, so they were working on calming techniques.

"Are we going to go inside?" Dave asked. They both could see everyone was already there. They parked out near the end of the driveway so they could get out at any point in the evening.

"Yeah, I'll get Jason out," Leroy smiled and squeezed Dave's hand.

Jason wanted to ride on Leroy's shoulders, so Leroy put him up there and instead of walking through the house, they walked around. When they came around, they could see a good number of the kids playing in the pool, with a few adults. Sue was sitting with Sarah, Dave's mom. Lee was talking with Dan, Dave's dad, over near the grill. Everyone looked happy and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

When Allison saw Dave, Leroy, and Jason, she smiled and walked over to them. "Did you bring swim trunks?" Allison asked.

"Of course. Can't come to a pool party without them," Leroy laughed. "Besides, Jason loves your pool. He is turning into a fish, for just being a four year old."

"Well, it's good he likes the water and picked up swimming so well," Allison responded.

"Down, please," Jason asked. Dave and Leroy were teaching him that he needed to say please and thank you. As soon as Jason's feet hit the ground, Jason was off and running. He ran over to the pool to see his cousins and then ran back and pulled Leroy to the pool. "Can we go in?"

"Yeah Jason, let's go get changed."

Leroy took Jason into the pool house to change. Dave followed them a few minutes later. "Your Dad would like to talk to you. I'll get Jason finished, change, and take him in the pool."

Leroy walked back out of the pool house and over to his dad. "Hey dad, what's up?"

Lee pulled Leroy aside, "Leroy, I love you. I'm just warning you. Your mother's in a mood today."

"Thanks, I'll try to stay clear of her."

"She's upset everyone has seen Jason, and you haven't brought him by to see her."

Leroy just looked at Lee and shook his head. He wasn't going to comment on that one. "Thanks dad. I love you. I'm going to change and get into the pool with Jason."

Leroy walked back into the pool house and changed, then walked around to the deep end of the pool and dove in. He swam under the water until he was right under Jason and picked him up. Jason screamed and giggled. Leroy hugged Dave and kissed him on the neck before getting down on his knees so he would be in the water up to his chest. Jason had floaties on his upper arms, and he was in a little blow-up ring.

Sue had been watching all of this, and when she saw Leroy hug and kiss Dave, she shook her head and turned away, "Why does he have to do that?"

"Do what Sue?" Sarah asked. Allison, Lee, and Dan were all sitting at the table.