TOBIAS

We barely got all the way inside when my dad was coming down the hall holding his hands out to scoop me up into his embrace. Wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist I closed my eyes as his lips touched my forehead. Pulling me close he said, "Look at you. Did you get taller? Your mom been feeding you?"

Smiling I nodded my head. "I went to the doctor and they said I grew half an inch."

"Oh really?" He beamed at me as he held me. My mother stood off to the side as we spoke and I couldn't distract myself from her watchful gaze. I was little but not stupid. They were never gonna get back together and she would probably never trust him with anything. She was just watching, waiting.

"Well Tobias how about you carry your things upstairs, okay? Your father and I need to talk," my mother said, keeping her eyes on my dad as he put me down.

"That's fine. How about you just head outside and I'll call Valerie down to take your things upstairs for you?" Dad said, crouching down beside me to ruffle my hair. He took my suitcase from my hands and stepped back to turn to my mother. "Olivia I promise if you're about to talk my head off about how to-"

"I wasn't- least not this time, Gale. I just... I need to talk to you about your father," my mother said, she shook away the thought though as she remembered I was still in the room. She sighed before my dad spoke up.

"Livi, I tried talking to him but he's not gonna stop sending you gifts. Especially not with where you guys are right now. And it isn't really fair to Toby either," my dad said, gesturing towards me.

"Fair to him? It's embarrassing me. I told you already that I don't want anything to do with you. I don't need you or your father to send me any school clothes or supplies. I can get that in my own-"

"Really now? Cause the last time Toby and I spoke on the phone he told me that your lights had been out for almost a week," dad countered.

My mother's jaw worked. Her red curls trembled as she took a step back. "I got behind on a few bills... We were doing fine, Josiah was willing to help us out."

"I can't send my son a new pair of shoes for school but you can take him ar- Livi he's my son. I'm trying my best to be there for him. You think I'm trying to take him away from you but I'm just trying to help."

"But I don't want your help."

"Yet you don't admit not needing it either," dad said in a tone that I'd hardly ever heard him use. It was something stern, but... almost saddening somehow.

"What do you even care-"

"Livi you're the one who left me-"

"Stop fuc- stop calling me that!"

I jumped. My mother turned her head to finally look at me. She looked ready to reach out to me, poised to crouch and open her arms to me but I shied away. I didn't go to my father either. It would crush her if I did.

Frowning my mother smoothed out the front of her coat. "You don't know what goes on in my house. And I keep it that way for good reason. I'm not stupid Gale. You don't think I don't know you make your boys question him about what goes on with us? You forget I may have left you but I was left with nothing, you're the one who gets to move on like nothing happened."

My dad stood there a moment, quiet, thinking. With a blank expression he crouched down in front of me. His blue eyes peered back into my own as he reached forward to pat my shoulders. Holding onto me he leaned forward to kiss my nose.

"Toby's afraid of the dark," he said, pulling back to look at me again. I frowned at him but he didn't waver. My mother looked ready to jump to my rescue. From what I don't know but all I saw in my father's eyes was a deep sadness that had me wanting to comfort him. "I tried to get him a night light but it didn't work. He slept in my room with me last time he visited. I don't need to have Callum and Pete ask him anything cause he tells me himself. You were going on about how quiet he is in school but you never stopped to sit down and ask him why. He sat up with me for nearly two hours the first night, Liv- Olivia... our son doesn't feel like he belongs there. Not with your people or in the school you enrolled him in. You're so angry at me that you forget you're not just raising a normal human boy. You asked me why I care- cause he's still my son. I have to watch you try to smother an important part of him and follow all of your human laws and sit back while you pretend that the lights won't be turned off next week or Toby hasn't been calling me saying there isn't any food in the fridge."

My mother stilled again. "You're not going to talk to me like that in front of my son. He doesn't need to hear this."

"No, he does, cause here we don't keep our kids in the dark and lie to them about everything going on around them. He's not stupid, Olivia, he can tell when somethings clearly wrong. Now if you wanna get angry remember you walked into my house and started this with me. At the end of the day I'm doing my best just like everyone else. If you wanna get angry at my father why don't you make the effort to take your complaints to him cause I damn sure can't do a thing about it."

My father looked to me again. Giving a soft smile he zipped the last bit of my coat up, covering my mouth and buttoning it up, and pulled my hood over my unruly curls. Smoothing out my coat again he patted my shoulder. "Alright champ, go on out back where the rest of the boys are. If they start acting up you know what to do."

"Okay," I nodded my head, glaning back at my mother. She looked... I don't think I'd ever seen her so angry. Turning away from her I wrapped my arms around my dad's neck. "I'll be careful."

When I pulled back it took me a moment to start making my way towards the back. They started up again the moment they assumed I was out of earshot.

"You're not getting me like you got Marcy or Elise, Gale. My son is staying with me, and when things cool down at home and my parents... I don't need you trying to contact me or my son. I don't need them knowing anything more about us beyond Tobias' being born," my mother said quietly.

A long pause. "So the engagement really is off... You called it all off because you care that much what they think of us. Olivia... There's no way that they could really care that much about you if they're willing to put you out over something so stupid."

"Gale they're my parents, I've disappointed them enough already."

"Yet you don't wanna admit that you wanted nothing to do with them. Are you still taking time off from school? Listen you don't have to tell them anything but as your... as your friend I just want to help."

"Why? Cause I'm your son's mother."

"Because I asked you to marry me for a reason."

I left after that. I'm sure my father knew I was still in the house. Super hearing and all, he probably heard that I hadn't left the room yet. Sometimes when my mother's upset she'll lock herself in her room. Those are usually her bad days. Sometimes if I peer hard enough through the crack where the door meets the floor I can see her rifling through her jewelry box. She keeps the ring in there. Sometimes she slips it onto her finger for a minute and just stares at it before slipping off and back into the box. Then she'll go to the phone and stare at it for a few before mumbling, "What am I doing."

That's the one thing I'll probably never tell my dad. I know he still loves her because when I asked he told me so. Frowning I opened the back door and headed out into the white.

Another snowball hit me, only this time square in the chest. A familiar face came barreling at me from underneath a picnic table. Dark curly hair windswept and tassled in all directions caught my eye.

"Got you," Eric said, giving a triumphant smile.

Raising a brow at him I got down to scoop up some snow. "How long were you waiting for me?"

"A really, really long time," Eric said, cheeks flush just the slightest. "I think I got frostbite on my face."

Snorting I packed the snow into a hard ball. Smirking I hefted it up in my left hand. "Well you dropped something."

"You wouldn't." Eric took a step back, a mishevious smile matching my own claiming his features. "You know all of the other boys are getting tired and we're talking about heading back inside."

"So? Who says we can't play by ourselves?" I said, tossing the snowball to my other hand. "I'll give you a ten second head start. If I were you I'd take it. I'm the fastest in my class."

I don't why but just being in his presence had me smiling so hard my cheeks were hurting. I don't know. The whole thing was just a nice change of pace from the kids in my class asking "What's it like?" or "When do your changes start?". Saying things like"wow that's so cool" and thinking it's a compliment, thinking I want to be cool when really I just want for their parents to stop watching me like I'll explode at any moment. Because he was just like me and I him and there wasn't a need for questions or weary eyes watching to keep us in line. We just existed and breathed in the same space and were fine with it.

I wish everyday could be like this.