Missing in Action

Chapter 024

It had been an amazing week, in Ryan's opinion. He and Isaac had made three whole, cute, little live CDs, even including some songs where Ryan had simply played out some chords or melodies and Isaac had sung nonsense off the top of his head. Those, really, were most definitely the most adorable. And they'd gone into the mountains, heard bedtime stories, practiced instruments and gone swimming enough that the small boy wasn't anywhere near afraid of the water anymore. Sure, he'd missed Lucía more than he could even explain, having never been away from her for even a whole day since he'd gotten her, but her daily phone calls and artsy letter had convinced him that his daughter was more than all right, which reassured him that he was right in being unwilling to trade the past week for anything. Having spent time with his mother, too, had been great. He missed the woman often and being able to be around her and simply talk to her without having her voice come out of a phone had been amazing. And it was made even better by the fact that she and Isaac had taken to each other immediately, although he was a bit unsure of how Isaac's sudden habit of calling her 'Gramma' was going to go down with Brendon. Well, they'd weather that storm when it hit. Right now he was in the car, Isaac strapped securely into the seat next to him, on their way to the airport to pick up Brendon and Lucía, and Isaac was jittery and excited and an absolute joy. "Looking forward to seeing your Dad again?" Ryan asked with a laugh, half sarcastically, since the boy could hardly have been more obvious about it. Besides, he kind of had the feeling that Isaac was one of those incredibly rare kids who actually understood sarcasm and found it funny, so he didn't hold it back around the boy as much as he would around Lucía.

Isaac giggled, looking up at Ryan and jumping around in his seat. "Uncle Spencer showed Keely his work and all the kids there and the playroom with the big red door, and Papa said it was fun," he said in one breath, nodding, eyebrows raised. "They have a swing inside!" he exclaimed, not for the first time since his father had called and told them about their day at the Children's Center. Isaac didn't much like talking on phones, but he did like listening to his Papa. He sat back and kicked his feet back and forth, excited to be seeing his Papa, because he had missed him so, even if he had had a lot of fun with Ryan and he had sung quite a bit.

"Papa will like our cds!" he announced, sounding quite sure of himself.

"Of course he will," Ryan agreed with a chuckle. Reaching out with one hand to muss up the boy's hair. "I don't see how anyone could not like our CDs. You sound great on them." He made to still keep an eye on the road, even as he continued speaking with Isaac. "And it sounds as though they've had nearly as much fun as we did, huh?" He took a turn and there was the parking lot. With habitual ease, he maneuvered the car into a free spot as close to the building as possible before getting out and shutting his door. He rounded the car to the other side and opened the passenger side door where he unbuckled Isaac and helped him off Lucía's old kiddie seat. "There are a lot of people here, okay? So don't let go of my hand," he instructed before starting to walk with short, slow steps towards the airport, doing his best to make it easy, or at least manageable, for the boy to keep up.

"I want up," Isaac said childishly. Yes, he could walk, but he loved being carried. "Papa said Uncle Spe'cer and Jon got into a fight," he said conversationally, giggling into his hand. "Spencer and Jon fight all the time 'bout nothing," he mimicked his father's words perfectly before laughing again. He looked over at Ryan curiously, tilting his head to the side. "Did they fight lots when you knew them, too?" he asked.

Ryan leaned down and easily scooped Isaac up, chuckling slightly as he helped the small boy get situated on his own diminutive hip. "Did he say what they were fighting about?" he asked curiously. "And they did. It was never anything serious. Sometimes I think they did it for fun. It was very fun to watch at least." He looked up at the computers, now that they'd entered the main building, and gouged which terminal they needed to be at before setting off in that direction. "One time they had a fight about who had forgotten to take an old note off the notice board on the wall in their dorm room."