The Darling Boys (Rose Award Winner) (#Wattys2017)

Epilogue

"Mommy?"

Robbie and I both looked away from the TV and at our seven year old in the hallway, his stuffed elephant clenched to his chest.

"Did you have another bad dream?" I asked him, pushing myself up with a groan from the couch. Mikey shook his head, holding his arms out to me so I could pick him up.

"You're getting to big for Mommy to pick you up." I whispered in his ear.

"No." he denied, nuzzling his face under my hair. I nodded at Robbie, watching as he paused the movie we had been watching and followed me down the hall and back toward our son's room.

Micheal had been having bad dreams for a while now. His doctor had said they'd pass, but I'd had to sleep with him until he fell asleep for almost a month.

"Mama!" Logan squirmed in his crib across the room, his hazel eyes following me around the room.

"Daddy?" Mikey tugged at Robbie's arm, giving him a look, "Can you tell me a story?" I walked over to Logan's crib and picked him up, checking him to make sure his diaper was clean before sitting at the edge of Mikey's bed.

"A story?" Robbie laid back on the bed beside our son, ruffling his hair, "About what, kiddo?"

"Nevermind." Mikey slapped his hand against his forehead and turned to me, "Can you tell me one, Mommy?" I could see a hurt look cross Robbie's face as our son stared up at me with pleading eyes.

"How about both Mommy and Daddy both tell you a story?" I questioned. He nodded, looking back and forth between us.

"Okay, so you've got to promise to never tell anyone but Logan this, all right?" I held out my pinky, moving it away from Logan before he could grab a hold of it. Mikey wrapped his finger around mine and laughed.

"I promise, Mommy. It's a secret." I laid down a little, letting my year and a half old roam freely across the bed.

"Sometimes kids don't like to get older." I started, seeing Robbie's eyes widen a fraction as he let what I was about to tell our son sink in.

"I don't wanna get big, Mommy." He responded, "I want to stay your baby forever." I smiled sadly.

"I know, baby boy." I went on after a moment, "And for one boy, a really strange boy that never wanted to grow up, he understood how he feel too. He was smart, wise beyond his years. He had these really big green eyes that could see into you soul and beyond. He had a kind heart, but it had become corrupted over the years he had been alive. He was really really old, but had decided he wanted to look young forever." Mikey's mouth had started to drop open, totally oblivious to the fact that his little brother had sat himself on his lap.

"This boy was in love with a really beautiful girl that lived long ago, in the olden days." I smiled, "But when bad times came around, he agreed to help her and took care of her three baby boys." My son's eyes were huge, his hand gripping Robbie's tightly.

"He made those three baby boys promise that they never wanted to get bigger either, so they stayed young for a long long time. But they soon realized they needed to grow up, and they started to get older and older. And soon they were big kids." I made gestures with my hands, hoping that it would be more effective.

"But those boys weren't allowed to be with girls or have any fun, so they got mad at the immortal boy and rebelled against him. And one of those boys started to fall in love with the quiet girl next door, which made that guy mad." Mikey shook his head.

"Did the immortal guy start to age too?" He questioned.

"Well, sort of. You see, the immortal guy was different than the boys. He relied on the fact of someone believing in him, that he was real. And when those boys grew up, the guy started to age and bad stuff started to happen to him." Mikey bowed his head for a moment, as if he were thinking about what I said.

"I believe in him, Mommy! What was his name?" He stared down at his little brother with a toothy grin.

"His name was Alexander Pr-"

"Wow, my middle name is Alex!" Mikey gasped, giggling, "Did you hear that, Logan? I'm named after a really cool immortal guy!" Logan started giggling too, staring up at his brother.

"Actually," Robbie ran his hand through our son's dark hair, "you, my little man, are named after a Ninja Turtle." Mikey's face fell.

"What's a Ninja Turtle?" He questioned. Robbie and I exchanged a look before laughing.

"What about Logan, who's he named after?"

"An X-Men character." I knew Mikey would understand that. Robbie had taken him to almost every movie and had made sure that our son loved it as much as he did.

"Which one?" Mikey said.

"Wolverine." I answered before Robbie could and stood up, taking Logan from Mikey. Robbie tucked him in as I carried our baby back toward his crib.

"Mommy?" Mikey called after me.

"Yeah, bud?"

"Did the immortal guy ever get better?" I felt my body stiffen at the question, staring down at Logan.

"That's a story for another day, kiddo. You need to get some sleep." Robbie spoke up before I could, kissing Mikey's forehead.

"I believe in him, Mommy." Mikey whispered as Robbie headed out of the room, probably to go fix up our bed.

"That's great, sweetie. I'm sure he'd appreciate that." I shut the light off and paused in the door frame. I swear, just as I was starting to close the door, that I saw a shadow dart across the wall.

But it was probably nothing more than a trick of light.

Right?

***AN***

Hope you guys enjoyed! 

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~ChasingMadness24