[Samuel x Roman]

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"Like it?" Samuel said, honestly baffled, "He's married. The only reason he haven't concretely told you to stop is because he's nice and doesn't want to hurt your feelings. But he has told you repeatedly that he is married in an attempt to get you to stop." It sounded a little harsh, and he kind of felt bad for her because she looked seriously ashamed. But he was done with this, he couldn't allow her to hurt himself just to spare her feelings.

"I don't know why you keep on doing it, because I know you know Roman is marred. And I feel like you are smart enough to know that flirting with someone who is married continuously would and up having consequences. And not only for you, but for me and Roman," Samuel took a small pause both to let it sink in with Oksana and to keep himself calm. He took a deep breath before he continued, "At the end of the day you don't know him, you have met him a handful of times. I do know him and I know that he wouldn't ever cheat on someone no matter how much they flirted with him. But the thing is that you don't know that. You don't know what your flirting might lead to for us. For all you know you might be breaking up a happy relationship and you might cause four children to see their parents fight and split up. Luckily not only for you, but for us that hasn't happened, but it could have and I think that if you stop and think about it you know that as well,"

Samuel wasn't sure id it was entirely fair to bring up things that wasn't even happening. In fact the way they had dealt with this had probably been the healthiest way they had both ever dealt with someone flirting with Roman. And Samuel didn't actually think Oksana was capable of breaking them up. But there was still the possibility. Had it started happening right after that whole thing with Bronte for example, things might have turned out completely differently.

"And also, do you understand how disrespectful it is toward me to blatantly flirt with my husband? We're co-workers, Oksana, we see each other every day and I don't want to be angry every day because I have to see someone who continuously disrespects me. And I don't want to have to worry about my husband coming by my workplace because you just can't stop flirting with him. Because I do worry, I have things I'm dealing with personally that makes it really hard for me to see things like this happen, and one of the worse things you could ever do to me is threaten my marriage and my family in the way you're doing,"

It truly was. His family was the most important thing in Samuel's life. He and Roman had worked so hard to get to where they were now, suffered through discrimination, violence, difficulty in getting children and so on. And they finally had it, but because Samuel hadn't grown up knowing it he was terribly afraid of loosing it. His family was everything to him. And flirting with Roman was one thing, but flirting with him while knowing he had a family Samuel just couldn't tolerate.

"So I'm now asking you to please stop flirting with my husband, before things get out of hand,"
 
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Somewhere in the midst of Samuel's rant, Oksana began to cry. She didn't do it loudly or obnoxiously, but she was trembling and biting her lip to stop herself from letting the sobs out. Roman was surprised when she didn't look away from Samuel, though. He expected her to cower away and hide from what she had done, but she didn't flinch, nor did she waver in her eye contact.

When Samuel finished, Oksana opened her mouth just a little to let her breath out and took off her glasses, since they were fogging off. Her thick, dark lashes looked even thicker and darker when they were covered in tears, like a spiderweb coated in morning dew.

She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a small sob. And then a few more. She cried for a few seconds before she managed to regain enough control to be able ro talk coherently enough for them to understand.

"I'm so sorry," she said, and her voice meek and nervous, but completely sincere. "I ... I never thought it was going to get anywhere, I really didn't. I knew that, I always did. But ... I don't know, Roman was just nice, he didn't have any ulterior motives and he just seemed like he genuinely wanted to be nice to me and ..."

She looked up at Roman. "And I clung to that, because my ex-fiancé broke up with me a few months ago, and all our friends sided with him and I felt like I lost everything. And then I met you and you didn't know anything about what I'd been through and you were just a genuinely good person and of course I fell hard for that because in all my relationships they've abused me in some way. Mentally, emotionally, physically, but you were just nice."

Oksana sniffled and looked back at Samuel. "I never thought Roman would reciprocate anything. It was just like a little girl's crush. But I know that doesn't make a difference and that doesn't excuse anything I did, so I understand if you don't want to f-forgive me. But I really am sorry."
 
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Samuel couldn't help but feel bad when he Oksana finally told them why she was behaving like this, and seeing her cry like this because he had pushed it out of her wasn't all that nice either. He could finally kind of see where she was coming from. It was kind of a terrible thought but Samuel could kind of see how Oksana would be easy to take advantage off. Had Roman not been as nice as he was he could have easily done it.

But he wasn't that guy, he was his kind and loving husband, and no matter if Oksana had a reason for it and in no way deserved being treated that way in the past, Samuel wasn't just going to stop being mad about it in the matter of minutes. He understood it now, but he still needed some time.

"You're right," Samuel said, he no longer sounded firm and slightly angry actually he sounded a little shaky, "I don't want to forgive you, at least not until you have proven that you will stop. But until then I accept your apology, because I understand that you weren't actually trying to do anything bad and I understand where you are coming from," Really if he thought on it at least his and Roman's friendship had all those years ago started because Samuel was hanging on to someone who was treating him decently and accepted him for who he was. Roman was a nice guy, so it was easy to get attached to him.

"I just... I dunno, maybe you should try to focus on making friends with the people here instead," Samuel suggested, she was clearly filling up some void her fiance and friends had left her by getting feelings for Roman, but Samuel doubted that just dating someone nice would resolve her problems, "The people we work with doesn't have to just be co workers and I feel like you're actively avoiding all of us, but I can guarantee you that me and a majority of the other faculty here at the school would prefer building a friendship with you. And maybe that's what you need? Because I don't think clinging to the idea of someone being nice to you like this is good."
 
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"Yeah, I don't think it's that good, either," Oksana agreed, "I just have trouble making friends? I'm constantly afraid of everyone judging me or taking advantage of me. It makes it hard to open up to new people."

"I feel like that's a problem a lot of people have," said Roman. "But you just need to learn to trust people. And I know you've had bad experiences with other people but I get the impression you sort of let people take advantage of you, and that's why you've had those bad relationships with your exes. You're a beautiful girl, if you opened up a bit more to other people and gained a little more confidence and you'd be able to find someone who loves you and who treats you right."

Oksana let out a little dry laugh and wiped her glasses. "Yeah, right. I'm the most awkward person in the world. How could I approach some random guy if I can't even talk to my coworkers?"

"...How about a blind date?"

Oksana looked up at him in surprise. "Wh-what?"

"Well, there's a guy I work with, he's super nice and caring and he loves psychology as well, like he never took classes for it but it's always been a big interest for him. And he's the sweetest guy on the planet. I think you guys would get along well. So, I could set you up, if you like?"

"You ... you would do that?" Oksana asked in disbelief, her voice trembling. "After everything I've done?"

"Look, I really don't think you're a bad person, I just think you made a mistake," Roman said. "But that doesn't mean you're evil and that you don't deserve a second chance. And I think you'd be really good with this guy. So, would you like me to set it up?"

Oksana sniffled. But she was smiling and nodding. She was still looking at Roman adoringly but it was obvious to see that her expression had changed from one of romantic interest to one ofvpure appreciation and gratitude. "I would love that, thank you so much."

Oksana glanced down at the book in Roman's hands, then put her hand on its hard cover for a moment. "I'd still like you to keep this, and I'd still like to talk about it ... but as friends," she said. Then she looked up st Samuel. "If ... if that's okay with you, of course."
 
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"Look as long as the flirting stops I have no problem with you being friends with Roman, I would never stop that," Samuel said with a small smile. He didn't expect Oksana to just get over it within a day, but as long as she stopped what she had been doing he'd be fine with it. After all, about half of his friends had at some point at least slept with Roman, and even Elissa had flirted with him when they first met.

The next couple of days Samuel actually felt a lot more comfortable with Oksana, not only did she stop approaching Roman in that way but she also felt more approachable for other people, so, Samuel made sure to chat a little with her when he had the chance and invited her along to the lunch room to eat with the rest of their co-workers when he has the chance. He found that Oksana actually was a lot like himself, other than in appearance, she was just a shy and awkward nerd who had been treated badly in the past and now had some trust issues to work through. Samuel was glad he noticed this after she had stopped her flirting though, otherwise he would have probably compared himself to her even more.

And so as summer break came around they decided to get around to set up that blind date Roman had mentioned. Samuel knew the guy since he frequently visited Roman at work. It was a really nice guy by the name of Adam, he was a little scary looking and as most tattoo artists were basically covered in tattoos but Samuel knew him as this really sweet guy who'd always take a moment to chat when Samuel dropped by.

Samuel and Roman had decided to wait for Oksana outside of the parlour and requested Adam to stay in the lunch room for now, he had done so with a bit of an amused look on his face but they had filled him in on the fact that Oksana had been through some stuff in the past, though no specifics as that was for her to tell, and he had understood that they needed to make sure she was okay first.

Samuel spotted Oksana come walking on the street and he gave her a wave and a big smile, "Hey," he greeted her pleasantly, "How's it feeling to finally be free from work for a while? We should tease Roman cus he doesn't got time off yet," he gave Roman a small nudge.
 
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"Oh my God, it's such a weight off my shoulders — figuratively and literally, my bag was getting so heavy with all the papers I was lugging around," Oksana said as she reached the point where Roman and Samuel were standing. Since they had confronted her about what she was doing, they had noticed a significant change in her behaviour. Not only was she not flirting with Roman anymore, but she was also trying to develop friendships with her other coworkers and every time Roman went in, he saw her speaking to other teachers. She and Roman also communicated a little over social media, mostly talking about psychological theories, but also occasionally talking about their personal lives — the kids, their other hobbies, how Oksana was doing.

In short, they were friends, and Roman was very happy about that, because she was a very good person and he was glad he had gotten the chance to actually develop that friendship with her.

Today was the day of Oksana's blind date with Adam. She had dressed for the occasion — she was wearing a pale purple sundress with a white brocade pattern and an off-the-shoulder design that accentuated her lovely collarbones. She wore white heeled pumps and a white pearl necklace, and clutched a white handbag nervously to her chest. Her hair had been scooped into a casual but beautiful side bun, tied above her right shoulder and kept in place with a pretty pearl butterfly clip. Her makeup was relatively simple but pretty. She of course wore her hipster glasses as well.

"I'm nervous," Oksana said. It was evident by the way she was tapping her purple nails on her handbag and shifting her weight from foot to foot. "What if he doesn't like me?"

"Hey, you can't let yourself start thinking like that. You're beautiful and smart and delightful and I'm the manager so I'll fire him if he doesn't like you." Oksana giggled. "See? Everything will be fine. Samuel, can you go and fetch him please?"
 
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"sure thing," Samuel said with a smile and quickly and a little more seriously added, "And even if it doesn't work out that's fine and this might be an opportunity for a new friend, kay?"

And then he ventured inside to go fetch Adam who seemed very adorably excited about the upcoming date. He was dressed in what he'd normally wear at work of course, a pair of black ripped jeans, a sleeveless black T-shirt that showed off his arms and a pair of way to warm for summer navy Dr Martens.

They arrived outside and the first words that came out of Adam's mouth were, "Oh wow, hello," which clearly was in reference to Oksana's appearance but Samuel didn't think it was inappropriate since Oksana not only looked gorgeous that they but clearly had made an effort to look good. The tall man, Adam was taller than Samuel but not even close to Roman, reached out his hand for Oksana to shake in a proper greeting, "I'm Adam, It's very nice to meet you, I hope you don't mind me saying that you look very gorgeous today," he sounded happy but also very polite, which was the last thing people tended to expect from the large tattooed man.
 
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When Adam came outside, Oksana turned to face him and her eyes widened a little as she took in his appearance — both his gorgeousness and his obvious slight intimidating nature. Because even if he was a total sweetheart, which he was, they couldn't deny he looked a little scary.

But straight away he proved his sweetness by complimenting Oksana's appearance in a pleasant and respectful way. And of course, Oksana melted. She smiled and giggled cutely, bringing one hand up to sweetly play with one of the tendrils of her hair that was framing her face. She used the other hand to reach over and shake Adam's hand.

"I don't mind at all. You look quite good yourself." Her voice contained some of the same nervousness as before, but this came out as much more adorable and sweet due to the beautiful smile she wore on her face. She shook Adam's hand, then clasped both hands sweetly in front of her. She gave Adam a delighted look, then moved her eyes down to the tattoos that decorated his arms. "I really love your tattoos, they look so cool."
 
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Adam let out a small chuckle and held his arm out to let Oksana inspect the tattoos, "Thank you, my sleeves are several year in the making now, they have scared off an odd grandma or two, but it's all for the art," Adam shrugged a little. His arms truly were impressive, and he didn't just have his arms tattoos but the crept up on his neck, face and arms as well, and surely other places of his body. But they all worked together, all clearly carefully chosen and planned out, which truly did make his body look like a work of art even if most tattoos were made by different artists and had different themes.

"I'm glad you appreciate them though not everyone does," he said, and finally retracted his hand, Adam would probably guide Oksana through some of the tattoos if she was interested in them later, Samuel had heard a story or two about them and they were always pretty interesting, "Maybe Samuel and Roman gave you a warning though,"

"Nah, she's into this completely blind," Samuel laughed, "I think I know too many people with tattoos so i forget that complete sleeves isn't the most common thing,"

"Well I hope you can live with them anyways," Adam joked, "I have purposefully decided not to bring you somewhere super fancy, cus those places tend to not want me there but, I have something planned out for us, unless you had something you wanted to do of course,"
 
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"Oh, I had no plans at all so I'm more than happy to do what you have in mind," Oksana assured Adam with an affirmative nod. She seemed so genuinely excited about this date that Roman couldn't help but smile. It was so great to see, especially after all the drama with Roman a few months ago.

"Well, I think we'll let you kids go have fun, and we'll see you later," Roman said to the two of them with a smile.

"Okay. Thank you so much for this, Roman, I'll call you later," Oksana said happily. Then, she hesitated for a moment before carefully taking Adam's hand, and soon they were off on their way. Roman couldn't wipe the smile off this face.

He turned to Samuel and gave him a kiss to the top of the head. "Seeing them being so sweet makes me want to take you out on a cute date too," he said with a chuckle. Of course he had to go back to work in a few moments, but as soon as he got off, he would be abducting his husband and doing something nice with him, simply because he wanted too and he couldn't let Adam show him up in the date department.
 
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They got an update from Oksana after that first date telling them that it went really well. Apparently Adam had taken her to a nice cafe and then perused a cozy old book store, since Samuel and Roman had told him that she was into reading, and psychology, which clearly had been a selling point for him. And it seemed like it hadn't only gone well from Oksana's perspective but Adam's as well as they made sure to ask him what he thought of Oksama.

Clearly Roman was a fantastic match maker because they seemed to hit it of and they had all summer to get to know each other before Oksana started work again. Samuel was also happy to spend time with his significant other and the kids during his time off, it was a great lot of fun to just play with the kids and tend to the garden all day, and before he knew it december had almost passed and it was new years eve.

For the occasion the Hemlock-Ortegas had invited over both friends and family to their place to celebrate a kid friendly new years, there was no point in trying to get everyone to get a hold of baby sitters so they had just gotten some quiet places set up in the kids' rooms on the second floor in case one of the little ones got sleepy.

It was now later in the evening, not that far off from midnight and all adults and some of the children were gathered in the living room. Harper and Allison were keeping awake until twelve, though they both looked pretty sleepy.

"Hey Harper, do you want some coke?" Samuel asked the little boy sweetly, normally he had a very strict no sweets after eight rule, seven on weekdays, but today was a special occasion because Harper was clearly determined to stay up until twelve nad it would be sad if he missed out on the chance.
 
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Roman looked at Samuel with a deeply offended expression on his face as Harper took the coke. "I cannot believe what I am seeing. This is the single most upsetting thing I have ever witnessed. I have never been more offended in my entire life."

"Oh my God shut up Roman."

"He just gave Harper coke after years of me having to sneak it to him!"

London laughed, but then quieted down as the TV announced it was almost time. Roman let Harper have his Coke and then sat up, sitting across from his husband and cupping his face delicately.

When the clock on the wall chimed, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to that of his husband, and god it felt amazing. There would never be a kiss from Samuel that Roman didn't savour, a moment he didn't cherish. Every second he lived on this planet with this gorgeous and perfect man was like a million years in heaven. Roman couldn't believe he had ever gotten so lucky.

After a few passionate moments, Roman pulled back, but kept his face close to Samuel's. "I love you. I love you so much."
 
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Samuel laughed alongside London, he was too happy at that moment to question if Roman was joking about sneaking Harper coke or not. And besides, it was almost midnight so everyone's attention turned to the countdown. The clock struck twelve and Samuel was pulled into a kiss by his husband. Samuel of course responded to it. He moved his hands into Roman's hair and closed his eyes. Just enjoying the moment. His favourite part of new years was always starting off the new year by kissing Roman it made him feel confident the upcoming year would be a good one and for the past years now that had been the case. Sure they had moments that were worse and moments that were better but all in all life was so incredibly nice at this point.

"I love you too," Samuel murmured and pressed his forehead to Roman's for a couple of moments, then he leaned in for another kiss, just a sweet little peck this time.

Soon they would all start listing new year resolutions, Samuel was excited to hear everyone's but he honestly couldn't think of one himself. Sure he could promise to try to not forget to put his dirt soccer socks in the was or something but life seriously felt so perfect right now there was nothing he really wanted to strive for to change. He had everything he could ask for, he had Roman, he had the kids and he had all of their lovely friends, and while he was sure there were things he could better himself with, like his trust issues for example he felt like it came naturally with the help of his husband and everyone else. He didn't need any promises to make life better, it was being good by itself and he had a feeling it would continue to be good for a while.
 
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"...Daddy?"

Four years had passed and Harper Hemlock-Ortega was now nine years of age. When school started again this year he would be in grade four. All of his teachers loved him; he was called a 'delight' and a 'pleasure' to have in the classroom. Harper was really called a lot of nice things. He was referred to as 'handsome' by his Grandma, 'buddy' by his Uncle Elliot and Uncle Cameron, and 'sweetie' by his parents. Sometimes his Daddy, his taller father who sometimes wore bright makeup and cool clothes and always let them have fun when Papa was being strict, would smother him with kisses and call him a 'cutie cuddly sweetie pie'. Though he did that with all of the kids so Harper wasn't sure what that meant.

Though, his dad couldn't do anything of the sort right know. Harper was standing in the doorway of the downstairs bathroom while watching in horror as his daddy coughed up huge amounts of blood that stained the sink red and dripped on the floor. The blood was coming out of his nose as well. Harper couldn't move, he was completely paralysed as he watched Daddy pick up one of those things they called epi-pens and shove a sharp needle into his leg.

"D-D-Daddy? What's going on, I —"

"C — Call 000," his daddy coughed into the sink. Harper's eyes widened because that was the number you called of something was very, very wrong. "Then call Papa."

Daddy was overcome by another coughing fit. Harper's eyes widened but he did as he was told, running to the kitchen to take the house phone off the bench and dial the emergency number. He told the nice lady on the other end that his daddy was sick and needed help and she promised someone would be there soon. Harper thanked her, then went to the fridge and copied out Papa's number that had been written there, in case of emergencies such as this, into the phone.

"P-P-Papa? D-Daddy's sick, he's bleeding really bad, I called the hospital and they're coming but I d-don't know what to do."
 
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Samuel's blood felt like ice in his veins the moment he heard his son's frightened words. Roman was having a bleeding. A bad one at that. Samuel immediately turned and started to run out from the school building, as he had been between classes when Harper called.

"You're doing great Harper, just stay on the phone with me, yeah? I'll talk to you don't worry, it'll be okay" Samuel said he was panicked but he didn't wan to scare Harper so he tried to sound as calm as possible, "I'll be home in just a bit, if the ambulance people come you just have to tell them where Daddy is okay? And then you stay with your siblings until I get there, don't go with them, your siblings will need someone big at home until I get there,"

Samuel rushed through the hallways and got seated in his car, his heart and mind racing. Every time Roman bled and Samuel wasn't there to help felt like the most horrible and hopeless moments of his adult lives. Roman hadn't bled much the past couple of years, well, he hadn't had a major bleeding. There was the occasional bad nosebleed or bad bruise, and minor things as well, but all in all the past four years had been quite good in terms of Roman's haemophilia. It had been good in general, the kids were growing up to sweet and caring individuals all with their own interests and personalities. Samuel also felt like he had been getting his PTSD more in control, though that always went in waves. They were happy but this could turn all of that upside down.

"I need you to tell me if you saw Daddy take his Epi-Pen, do you know if he did that, sweetie?" His tears were starting to show through in his voice now. He hoped Harper didn't hear it and he hoped Harper wouldn't have to try to administer Roman's clotting agent by himself.
 
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"Th-the epi-pen? The plastic thingy with the needle? Y-Yeah, he took it before he told me to call the hospital."

As Harper spoke, he went through the house to gather his siblings. He found little Letha standing at the door of the bathroom, crying loudly at the sight of Daddy in such a state of pain and distress. Harper took her hand and dared a peek into the bathroom; Daddy was still coughing, but he was holding onto the sink with all of his might. That sent a pang of fear into Harper's stomach but he powered through. He needed to be a big boy for his siblings.

"D-Daddy?" Letha whimpered. She was looking up at Harper with her blue eyes wet and sparkly, and her bottom lip was trembling. Harper sniffled as well.

"Daddy's going to be fine." Harper said it, but he didn't know it was true.

He found the twins next, who were sitting in the living room, and sat Letha between them. Only a few seconds later, the front door opened and Harper ran out to the hall to see a group of paramedics in green uniforms rush through the house. A nice lady saw Harper and crouched down to speak to him.

"Hello, my name is Lucy. Did you call 000?"

"Y-Yes."

"Good job. Where's your daddy? He's the one who needs some help, right?"

"H-He's in the bathroom."

Harper lead the paramedics to the bathroom. Daddy was still visibly breathing but it was taking him a lot of effort to do so and he didn't even respond when the paramedics began to tend to him. Lucy shepherded Harper back into the living room and sat with the four of them as Daddy was wheeled out.

"Who's on the phone? Is that your mummy?"

"No, our other dad. Papa. He's coming."
 
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Samuel listened carefully to what was happening through the phone as he drove, he was hurrying, going just a little above the speed limit, something he never ever did normally, but he felt a little better knowing the paramedics had shown up. Still, though, tears were pouring down his cheek as he imagined the worst case scenario.

Things seemed to be going as well as they could at home, Harper gathered his siblings, talked to the paramedics and helped them find Roman. When the conversation shifted to who was on the phone Samuel requested Harper give the phone to the paramedic for just a little while and when he did he explained the basics, Roman had the worst type of haemophilia, he had gotten his clotting agent into his system according to Harper and the name of his regular blood doctor at the hospital. He also told the woman that it'd be fine leaving the kids because he'd be home in just a few short minutes.

The phone was handed back to Harper and Samuel spent the rest of his drive assuring the boy things would be okay. When he pulled up into the driveway there was no ambulance there, meaning they had already taken Roman away. He wasn't in a hurry anymore, but he still needed to get to the kids.

He practically ran inside and found the four little children in the living room. Letha between the twins who were holding her protectively despite crying themselves. And Harper sat next to them. He pulled the oldest boy in for a hug first, "Thank you, Harper you did so well, you're a real hero," his voice was thick with tears but he had willed himself to cry less now that he was with the children.

"Papa, what's gonna happen to Daddy?" Came Stellas worried and sniffling voice, Samuel pulled away a little from Harper and motioned for the other children to get all huddled together with them so they could all be close.

"Daddy's going to be okay, he's going to the hospital and they know how to help him," Samuel said, of course, he couldn't be sure of this and he was terrified he unknowingly was telling a lie, but that would be the least horrible thing to happen that day if it turned out to actually be a lie so, Samuel didn't really care, "And we'll all drive to join him at the hospital now if you guys feel ready?" Samuel desperately wanted to go right now, but the kids were the most important, and Samuel didn't know how much they had seen, so they might actually be scared half to death and in need of comfort before they left. the twins nodded in unison though, and Samuel turned to Harper mainly, since he had had to do all of the important things, "What about you Harper? Are you feeling alright? And Letha too, do you wanna go to the hospital so we can see how Daddy is?"
 
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Harper stayed at his siblings' side until Papa came home, and when he did, Harper threw his arms around his papa and held him as tightly as he could. Because even if he wanted to be a big boy for his parents and his siblings, even if he wanted to be strong and brave, he was terrified. He was absolutely terrified of something happening to Daddy. Of Daddy not being okay.

"I wanna go now," Harper mumbled. He didn't want to stay in this house when he felt like he needed to be at his father's side. Letha was crying too hard to say anything but she nodded to show her affirmation.

So, they piled into the car and drove to the hospital as fast as they could without breaking any speed limits. When they arrived and spoke to the receptionist she told them that their Daddy had been there for about fifteen minutes and the doctors were in the process of stabilising him. So, they had to wait.

While they waited, Harper sat with Letha in his lap and his head leaning against Stella's shoulder. He was worried sick. What if Daddy didn't wake up? What would happen then? Who would make him nice sweets and let him drink Coke, who would kiss him goodnight and read him stories in funny voices? Harper couldn't comprehend a world where his daddy didn't exist and he didn't ever want to have to live that world.

After a while a nurse came and told them that Daddy was awake and that they could go in and see him. When they went into the room, Daddy was laying on the bed that was far too small for his body and he was attached to a series of tubes and pipes which led to several machines. He was almost as white as the sheets he lay on. He let out a little moaning sound and weakly held an arm out them all.

"Harper — thank you, you were amazing," he said weakly. "All of you, come sit with me please, I missed you."
 
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"we missed you too," Samuel pulled up a couple of chairs since they couldn't all sit on Roman's bed while Roman was so weak. At home when everything was good they would sometimes all pile up in his and Roman's bed and lay all sprawled out over each other and watch movies, even if the kids were maybe starting to get a little old for things like that, at least from their perspectives.

But today Roman was weak and fragile and they had to treat him with care, so they got settled in the chairs around him, close to him. Samuel reached out and brushed some hair out of his husband's pale face, it was nice to touch him because it made him feel like he was actually alive and there, which he was. They hadn't lost him and they wouldn't lose him.

"Harper was so good, I was on the phone with him when the paramedics came and he helped them get to you and he gathered the others and we should all be very proud of him," while it was true and Samuel kind of wanted to praise Harper for practically saving his dad Samuel refrained from doing so. That just felt like to much of a weight to put on a nine-year-old's shoulders even if it was a good thing.

"Mm Harper took us all to the living room so we could be together, that was nice cus I was really scared," Eden said in his normal soft tone, "... How are you feeling now Daddy? Are you going to be okay?"
 
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Harper smiled as he received praise from his family, but it felt different to when he was praised for answering a question right at school or cleaning his room at home. Those compliments came when he did the right thing just because he wanted to. This compliment came from when he did the right thing because he had to.

Harper wasn't stupid, he knew something really bad might have happened if he hadn't called the paramedics and helped his daddy as much as he could. But he didn't want to think about that so he banished those thoughts from his mind and turned to Daddy as he answered Eden's question.

"I'm a little sore and tired at the moment, Edie, but I'll get better soon," their dad promised, reaching over and running a hand through Eden's nice curls. Then he turned to Harper and cradled his face in one of his hands.

"You were absolutely incredible, buddy, and I'm really glad that I can trust you to take care of your siblings if something bad ever happens again."

That brought a little smile to Harper's face, because he also wanted to be trusted by his parents and be able to handle a crisis if one ever occurred. But hopefully it wouldn't, because all Harper wanted, really, was for their entire family to be happy, and that couldn't happen if they were cooped up in this small little hospital room.
 
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