3 n 1 (Tracob)

🎵22🎵

"Daddy?" Bailey says quietly. 

"What, baby?" 

Troye watches Bailey struggle trying to climb up on the bed.

She grabs a fistful of the man's hoodie and pulls herself up.

Troye chuckles, "You did it!" 

She giggles, lying down on his stomach facing him, "I stwong, huh, daddy?" 

"Yeah, baby, you're so so strong," he answers the little girl quietly.

"Nearly stronger than daddy is." 

"No! Daddy's the stwongest!"  Troye smiles slightly, "Well, thank you, darling. I'm happy you think so." 

Lying her head on my chest, the little girl sighs, "Daddy?" 

"Hm?" 

"Awe you sad I don't call you uncle?" 

Taking me by surprise, Troye don't reply which makes Bailey look at him. 

"How...honey, how did you-" 

"I's heard you talking to Hari about how I wasn't yous daughter and that you were my uncle." 

Troye feels tears fill his eyes, looking at the little girl, "Bailey, baby, I'm not sad about that at all. I love being your daddy, I wouldn't trade it for the uncle title in a billion years." 

"Who's Sage?" 

Tears spill down his cheeks at the mention of his late sister's name.

He lets out a breath, "Sage is...was...your mom." 

"Can I meet her?" 

"Someday you will. But not right now." 

"M'tay." 

Hugging the brown haired girl close to his chest, Troye sobs silently, kissing the top of her head. 

"Daddy?" she says quietly. 

He clears his throat of stickiness, "Yes?" 

"I wove you." 

"I love you, too, Bailey. So, so, so, very, much." 

Taking a quick shower while Bailey was asleep, Troye hears a knock at the door and quickly rinse the conditioner out of his hair before getting out and wrapping a towel around his waist. 

Stepping out of the bathroom, he hears a deep voice in the living room.

Panicking slightly, he runs out, "Bailey, what have I told you about opening the door without-" 

Alex looks up at me along with Bailey, "Hey, Tro." 

"Hi," the blond mutters. "What are you doing here?" 

"I wanted to talk to you about Jacob." 

He sighs, knowing I'd have to sooner or later, "Let me get dressed first." 

🎵

"So, he was telling the truth," Troye mumbles more to himself than Alex. 

Alex nods, "Yeah, he was. He feels awful. He's a complete mess right now, I'm surprised he even made it out of bed this morning, let alone work." 

"What do you mean?" 

"He's sort of been drinking a lot since the incident and asking for his baby boy." 

"I feel terrible," Troye whispers. "If I would have just forgave him the night he explained everything he wouldn't have drank." 

"Don't blame yourself for him drinking. I don't know if I should tell you, but I'm going to anyways. He does that a lot. If something makes him upset, he drinks away the problem. He knows he shouldn't, but that doesn't stop him from doing it." 

"He's not... never mind." 

"What?" 

"He told me that drugs used to be a good escape. I've been scared that he's going to go back to that." 

Alex looks down at the floor for a minute, "Yeah. He... Jacob used to be addicted to drugs. Along with his mom. I met Jacob in high school and he had been doing so many different drugs and experimenting with a bunch of them at parties and other friends' houses and stuff like that. Eventually, we graduated and he had gotten denied to a couple of different colleges due to his record of drug use. So he went to rehab and me and another friend of ours helped him sober up and eventually he was accepted to a community college where he graduated from." 

"How long has he been sober?" 

"Since he was 21. So about six years now." 

"I should talk to him," Troye mutters. 

"Just when you're ready. I didn't come over to lecture you or make you feel guilty for any of this, I hope you know that. I came over to hopefully explain it more and take some tension off between the two of you." 

"Thanks, Alex." 

"No problem." 

"Will you watch Bailey? I'm gonna go talk to Jacob." 

"Yeah, of course."