Eighteen Years Later

Chapter 2 - Nelson house

Nick's pov

**Trigger warning talk of ocd, anxiety, depression and anorexia***

Why, oh ,why did I ever think I was straight? How did anyone think I was straight? I look at Charlie and simply fall in love every time. He has been the best father to my children than I could have ever imagined. He is aware of their feelings and how to deal with them. It makes me so happy. It's sad to think of the times before when he hated himself, couldn't eat and was always stressed. I know he's better now because he worked hard to be better. He always tells me I'm what saved him from his dark place but he put in all the effort to get better, I just held his hand and supported as he got better. I can't say his thoughts don't catch up to him from time to time. He hides it but after all the years together I can tell when he's about to stop eating. I can tell that his sparkly blue eyes dim a bit when he's more depressed. I know that his dimples are less prominent when he isn't the best. Whenever these signs happen I try very hard to get him to relax in bed and let me take care of the kids and give him the rest he deserves. But he is better at moving past his OCD, anxiety, depression and anorexia. They don't really go away fully but he is much better at managing it.

Right now I'm watching him play with our daughter Millie in the kids play room. I'm usually the last to come home and I walk inside to a quiet house but a small muffled whisper comes from the play room. Millie is holding her favorite princess doll of Ariel and walking around babbling incoherent toddler talk with her pacifier in her mouth while Charlie is nodding along from the armchair in the corner, pretending like he knows what she's saying. I crack open the door and he whips around to look at me, he then gets a happy grin across his face showing his dimples. He gets up, walks to me and wraps his arms around my neck and I twist my hands around his small waist. We hug until Charlie pulls away and pecks my lips quickly. We've never worried about our kids seeing us kiss, small kisses we do, but we definitely would never do any heated make outs or anything else in front of our kids. When we pull apart fully Mille is jumping at my legs with her arms up, wanting to be held. I lean down and pick her up and rest her on my hip. "Hello princess. Did you have a good day?" I ask and she nods her head and plays with her fingers. I turn to Charlie.

"Where is Alec?" I question

"In his room I think."

"Okay I'm going to go see him." I say passing him Millie so my hands are free.

"I'm going to start dinner soon." Charlie tells me

"I'll be down in a bit to help you." I responded walking up to the second floor of our house and approaching Alec's door.

I knock and hear a faint 'come in' from the other side. Opening the door I find Alec doing his homework at his desk. His room had light blue walls, football posters on the walls, a dresser with his clothes and a twin bed in the corner. He spins around at his desk chair and smiles at me, showing me his dimples that remind me of Charlie every time.

"Hi daddy." He says

"Hey hun. How was your day?" I ask. I always ask the kid how their day went. Ever since I became a father I vowed to know about my kids' lives and to be involved. I wouldn't become like my father.

"It was good I guess. Mrs Roberts had us do a writing test today. I didn't like it." Alec says angrily. I laughed at his response.

"I'm sorry baby, it's mid-year testing, you know that." I dismissed his whines. As the deputy principal and Alec's school I knew about his tests ages ago.

"Not a baby daddy." Alec grumbles looking down

"You're not a baby, yes, but you are my baby." I answer and lean down to kiss the top of his head.