Practice Makes Perfect

Chapter 8

Dylan sat up hearing Max yell for him. "Dylan! Help!" He heard Max say as he ran out of his room. "Daddy where are you?" He yelled. All he could hear was Max yelling for help. He ran around the house checking all the rooms but couldn't find him. That's when he looked outside and saw Max being dragged away. "No no no. Don't take him away. Please." Then Dylan's head shot up from his pillow. He was shaking and crying so he decided to go into Max's room. Thankfully both him and Jade were there. Jade must've heard him crying because she sat up in her bed. "Oh baby. What's wrong?" Dylan couldn't stop shaking. "I-I had a dream that daddy w-was gone and bad people took him away. It was so scary." He sobbed. Jade brought Dylan into her arms. "Shh shh don't cry honey. It was just a dream. Your daddy is still here and I won't let anything happen to him okay?" She stroked his hair and wiped his eyes. "Do you wanna sleep with me and daddy?" Dylan nodded crawling in bed beside her. She held Dylan close to her as they both fell asleep. Dylan awoke that morning and Max and Jade were right beside him. He let out a sigh of relief and got out of bed. Of course he was wet so he changed himself not wanting to wake up Max. He went into the kitchen and made a bowl of cereal. Shortly after Max and Jade came into the kitchen. "Well good morning love bug. How'd you sleep?" Max asked. "Not very good Max." Max frowned. "Why? What happened?" Dylan sighed. "I had a nightmare that you were gone." Fresh tears began to well up in his eyes. He wiped them away and groaned. "I shouldn't be getting this emotional. It was just a dream. I shouldn't be this stupid."
Max bent down beside him. "Dylan you shouldn't feel stupid for having feelings okay? I can understand that a scenario like that would be scary. Just know you can talk to me about it no matter what." Dylan lifted his head. "Thanks for being there for me. Both of you." Jade smiled. "Of course. I know I'm kinda new to your life but I'm glad you can come to me for things. Anyway I have a surprise for you." Dylan instantly perked up at this. "A surprise? What is it?" Jade laughed. She could here by the sound of Dylan's voice just the mention of a surprise already had him slipping into his headspace. "Yes honey a surprise but I can't tell you yet. That'll ruin the fun. Now go get dressed." Dylan giggled running to his room. Max turned to her. "And what's this surprise you have for him?"
"Well I have a friend named Mark who's a little just like Dylan and I think they would get along. Plus Dylan could use a friend."
"I agree. Thanks Jade." Jade nodded as Dylan ran out smiling excitedly. "Where's the surprise Jade." As soon as he asked this they heard a knock at the door. Jade opened it and let Mark in. "Dylan I'd like you to meet Mark he's a little just like you." Dylan waved to Mark smiling. "Hi." Mark blushed hiding his face behind his stuffed bear. He waved to Dylan still not saying a word. Jade turned to him. "Come on Mark. It's okay. Dylan's really friendly." She gave him a little nudge forward. Dylan smiled. "You wanna go play? I got a bunch of cool cars." Mark nodded vigorously. "Yeah. I love cars." He followed Dylan to his room. Max and Jade both looked at each other and smiled as they sat down on the couch. After awhile though Mark and Dylan started getting bored. That's when Jade had an idea. "I know how about we go to the zoo. Doesn't that sound fun?" Mark and Dylan jumped up and down excitedly. "Yeah I love the zoo. I wanna feed the giraffes." Dylan said. "And I wanna see the monkeys." Mark said. Jade smiled at the two boys. "Well then let's go. We wanna get there before traffic gets too bad." They all got in the car and drove to the zoo. They stepped through the gate and Dylan and Mark pointed at every animal. "Look daddy it's a lion." Max chuckled. "Yep. I see it bud. It's pretty cool huh?" Dylan nodded. "Yeah lions are one of my favorite animals." They walked around some more and Dylan decided he wanted to go feed the giraffes. He thought that since the giraffes were pretty close he could go see them and come back to the group. He walked up and got some food from a dispenser putting it on the giraffe's tongue. He giggled watching the giraffe's tongue curl. Once he finished he turned around and couldn't see Max, Jade or Mark anywhere. He started to panic and try to find them but he couldn't. "I lost my daddy. It's all my fault." He thought as tears welled up in his eyes. He fell to his knees and started sobbing.

As Max, Jade and Mark walked around Max was the first to notice Dylan missing. "Hey where's Dylan?" Max asked. Jade turned around. "I don't know. He was just behind me."  Max's heart pounded. He'd lost his baby boy. Mark looked up at Max. "Can I help?" Max shook his head. "No bud. You stay here with Jade. I'll go look for Dylan." Max ran around the zoo. "Dylan!" He shouted. "Dylan baby where are you?" He nearly walked around the entire zoo until he saw Dylan sitting on the ground crying. Dylan looked up. "Daddy!" He yelled running up to him. Max wrapped him in a hug. "Oh sweetheart. You can not wander off like that okay? I was so worried something happened to you." By now Max was in tears as well. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to feed the giraffes. I got too excited. Then I looked back and you were gone." Max kissed Dylan on the forehead. "I know love bug but you should've at least told me where you were going. It's okay though now daddy's got you." They walked back to Jade and Mark and Jade ran up to Dylan. "Dylan I'm so glad you're okay. I thought we lost you." Jade hugged Dylan tightly. Now that Dylan was found they decided to head home and shortly after Mark had to leave. They all waved goodbye to him and sat down on the couch. "Well that was an eventful day." Jade said. "I gotta get home though." Dylan whined. "Aww why can't you stay another night?"
"Because honey I've got animals that miss me at home. It's okay though I can come back next week okay? Dylan sighed. "Okay." She kissed Max and gave Dylan a kiss on the forehead before walking out the door. Shortly after Max took Dylan to get ready for bed. He grabbed Dylan's dragon onesie from the closet and as Dylan undressed Max noticed Dylan was wet. He chalked it up to stress and changed him quickly. Then he put Dylan's onesie on him before tucking him in. "Goodnight love bug. Sweet dreams."
"Goodnight daddy."