Astronaut

Chapter Six: Sibling Squabbles and Apologies

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" is the first thing that Jack hears the following morning. His eyes dart open and they follow where the outburst of profanity came from, his eyes lock onto the pained expression of Lee who is balancing on his left leg whilst clutching his bare right foot in both hands – Jack also notices the broken glass from Harvey's antics last night and makes a deduction that that's what Lee has stood on or almost stood on. He gets out of bed and makes his way out of the room and into the hallway where his idiot of a husband is, he takes a glance down at the glass on the carpet and then back up at Lee.

"Have you stood on any of it?" comes the obvious question

"Almost. But I barely put any weight onto it, so I don't think it's that bad, it's not that sore,"

"Oh, alright. I think we should start waking up the kids, don't you?"

"Yeah. Do you want to do it three at a time?" Lee suggests

"So, like we always do?" Jack points out

"Oh, yeah. Right, I'll take Caroline, John and June,"

"And I'll get Harvey, Rachel and LJ."

The pair go off in opposite directions down the hall, Jack's first port of call is Harvey's room which is directly in front of him, he opens the door and enters the darkened room (due to the still closed blinds) and goes over to the small bed, noticing the dishevelled auburn hair peeking out from under the covers and the soft snores emitting from its occupant. Jack sits himself down on the edge of the bed and starts to wake up the sleeping six-year-old.

"Harv." He softly says whilst gently shaking the boy from his slumber. He gets no response.

"Harv." He tries again just a tad louder. He sees the boy start to stir and slowly lift his head from the pillow and open his sky-blue eyes. Jack takes into account that Harvey's eyes are still slightly bloodshot from crying himself to sleep and there is also a small clump of 'sleep' in the eyelids. With Harvey now awake, Jack then says to him:

"Come on, buddy, it's time to get up," he gets the small and tired reply of:

"OK." Amid a yawn

"I'm sorry for shouting at you last night, Harv. But you have to understand that what your daddy and I were talking about was only meant to be between us and you shouldn't have been listening in on a private conversation. That's what I was annoyed at. If you want to ask either of us anything about what happened to me or my injuries then you can, but just don't be listening in when you're not supposed to," Jack apologetically explains

"I'm sorry, dad," Harvey apologises now understanding the reason why he got told off last night.

"That's alright, Harv, apology accepted. Come on, we need to get Rachel and LJ up now,"

"Okay. Wait! What about Caroline, John and June?"

"Daddy's getting them up,"

"Oh, is he? Okay." Harvey follows alongside his dad as the two of them start to make their way towards his younger brother and sister's bedrooms to wake them up. Once all six children are awake, they follow their parents into the family dining room and are greeted by one of the Secret Servicemen, Agent O'Donnell who is a close friend of Jack's and is a part of the so-called "Irish Mafia". Harvey is the first one out of the six to notice the agent and happily shouts out:

"Kenny!"

"Hey, Harvey! How's it going?"

"Fine. I went to Cape Canaveral on Merritts Island in Florida for my birthday!"

"Still interested in NASA, I see? I know! Clint was telling me and some of the other guys. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, it was great until I ended up on the wrong plane and was taken to Dallas where dad and daddy met," Harvey recalls

"Oh, dear. How did that happen?"

"I dunno. Some guy at the airport told me that the plane that took me to Dallas was going the same way as Air Force One, so I believed him and got on the wrong plane,"

"Well, let's hope that doesn't happen again,"

"I hope not."

"I'm going to have to speak with your dads now, buddy, but I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"Alright." Harvey watches with intrigue as Kenny goes over to his dads and starts speaking to them, sort of whispering a little so that the children in the room don't hear what's being discussed between the three of them. He goes over to the large dining table where his siblings are seated in various chairs, he sits himself down next to John and Rachel – Caroline, June and LJ are seated beside each other also, facing their brothers and sister on the opposite side.

"I can't wait to see the Beatles on Monday with Uncle Bobby!" Harvey tells his siblings with excitement

"Is it only Uncle Bobby you're going with?" wonders John

"No, I was wanting to bring you or LJ with me," at this LJ looks at his older brother with a pleased smile and his hazel eyes brighten in delight and John grins at his big brother too. On the opposite side of the table, Caroline looks at her younger brother with a slightly annoyed expression and asks:

"Why are you not taking one of us?" she gestures between herself and her two stepsisters

"I dunno. I didn't think you three would want to go," Harvey replies nonchalantly

"And why are you taking Uncle Bobby instead of Uncle Ted? He's the one that got you the tickets, it only seems fair that you take him," continues Caroline condescendingly

"Yeah, I can see your point, but I thought I could take whoever I wanted."