𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 [MONTGOMERY DE LA CRUZ AU]

THIRTY THREE ૐ THE MEMORY BOX

『 5 YEARS LATER 』

"GRAYSON, IT'S BATH TIME!" Olivia Connelly yelled from the kitchen, hastily washing her hands with the strawberry soap and wiping her damp hands to the kitchen towel. She had just finished cleaning the kitchen and although they won't be using it for the next a month and a half, she couldn't be bothered having to clean it the moment they come back from Crestmont.

She takes Grayson's newly-washed blue bear-hooded towel before walking up to the living room where her little boy was perched on the couch, giggling to a rerun episode of Adventure Time.

"Honey, you have to take a bath now." Olivia reminded sweetly, plopping down next to her son and peppering his face with kisses. "You wouldn't want us being caught in traffic when we come home to Grandpops, would you?"

"Would Uncle Noah and Aunt Lizzie be there?" the little boy inquired earnestly and when his mother nodded with a smile, he lets out an excited shriek, jumping off of the couch and racing upstairs and to the bathroom. Olivia lets out a laugh and ran after the boy, scooping him up from the ground despite the fact that her son was old enough to be carried.

The boy didn't protest, loving his mother's touch. He was growing up to be a big mama's boy, as Alex always said.

When Olivia was done giving him a bubbly bath, she carried him to her room where she had readied his clothes for their homecoming. Olivia had to run around the room to chase him down for he had raced around with his towel on his back like a cape, naked, and shrieking how he was a spartan. Olivia and Grayson were panting by the moment she caught him and it had resolved to a tickling match. Sucks for both of them, they were both a very ticklish person with just the slightest touch.

By the moment they were done, they were worn out and had no energy to move. It had always been like this. Mother and son. Olivia and Grayson against everyone else, alone and happy in they own world. Like how it was from the start, when she first had him inside her womb.

Grayson had refused to his mother's initiation to dress him, being the stubborn and troublemaker kid he is, demanded he could do it himself.

While Grayson started dresing up, Olivia went back to packing their suitcases while he watched and out of nowhere, he asked her a question that caught her off guard.

"Is daddy coming home anytime soon?"

Olivia halted momentarily, her heart jumping up to her throat for fleeting moment at the mention of the young man. It had always been like this for her whenever the boy brings him up and each time, she always freezes. She smoothly transitioned back to normal and assorting Grayson's clothes absentmindedly. "I'm not sure yet, honey, he hasn't called me again since Tuesday."

Grayson visibly deflated at the news and Olivia scrambled to cheer him up. "But don't worry, I'll call him later to see if he's coming home."

"Would he be back just in time for my 7th birthday?"

"Of course, he would, baby." She reassured. "Your Daddy doesn't miss any of your birthdays."

"Except for last year." Grayson noted. "He didn't come home in my 6th birthday."

Olivia sat down and held her child's small hand, placing a kiss on it. "But that was only because he was busy with his graduation and Daddy had to take care of his contract, remember? He came home a week after your birthday and brought you to the amusement park."