Viridia

Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Description: Will has a tumultuous first morning as a five-year-old.

In the early morning twilight haze, Will’s tiny form was stretched out like a starfish on the big queen size bed. A tangled mess of golden hair cradled his head securely amidst a jumble of blankets and the tangled-up comforter, a thumb planted safely in his mouth and a few barely perceptible high-pitched kitten-like snores squeaking out occasionally from between his soft pink lips. As the sun rose higher into the sky, a shimmering ray of light angled precisely through the blinds – tickling playfully against the boy’s button nose and prompting a single satisfied sigh as he rolled over instinctively onto his side. Grasping for a hug, he found the place beside him empty. Instead, he latched onto a pillow – clutching it possessively between his stubby fingers and surrendering his mind once again into the murky unreality between waking and sleep.

In his memories, Will was sitting morosely on the steps outside the huge looming apartment complex where he and his mom had stayed before she’d lost her job and they’d had to move across town into the duplex. He was staring jealously at a group of much older boys kicking around a soccer ball in the street, hooting and hollering at each other in their deep, intimidating tenors. He longed to join in, but they were middle school kids, loath to include a mere Kindergartener in their boisterous games. Instead, Will simply sat on the stairs, snuggling for comfort with Rufus his stuffed felt puppy. The toy was matted, old and dirty, but Will didn’t care. The feel of the ragged worn material against his ruddy blushing cheeks was the only thing stopping him from breaking down into snotty hysterical tears.

Hearing the scrape of purposeful sneakered feet behind him, he turned his head – forcing a weak smile as his mother strode over to his side, her comforting green eyes meeting his own.

“Hey, sweetie.” She greeted, sitting down lithely on the step beside him and pulling him into a tight hug, enveloping his shaggy mop of blond hair against her slender torso.

“Hi Mommy.” Will mumbled lamentingly, peeping up shyly at his mother.

“How did show and tell go?” She inquired “Did the other boys and girls like Rufus?”

Will shook his head regretfully. “No…” he admitted in a quiet quivering voice. “Bobby called me a baby. He said only little kids still play with plushies…and he threw Rufus in the dirt.”

His mother’s eyes narrowed, the soft forest green of her irises hardening into cutting emerald gems. Letting out a measured huff of ursine ferocity, she reassuringly rubbed  her son’s back, nodding her head with resolute determination. “Don’t worry, sweetie.” She declared. “I’ll talk to your teacher.”

“No!” Will piped, pawing fearfully at his mother’s chest. He hadn’t forgotten what happened the last time she meddled, hadn’t forgotten how his teacher lecturing the class for their cruelty merely made Will a more attractive target for their jeers and jokes.  “No, please don’t…”

“You don’t have to worry about a thing. Mommy will make sure that boy leaves you alone.”

“No…” Will stubbornly repeated even as he shook like a leaf.

“Oh, sweetie….” His mother cooed, holding the boy’s cherubic face in her hands and examining his flushed chubby cheeks with a curious calloused thumb. “Have you been crying?”

“No...” the boy lied, but his mother only shook her head with righteous outrage.

“Stay right there, honey.” She declared decisively, letting him go and rising to her feet. Will blubbered as he begged her to stay, trying and failing to tell her that all he really needed was for his mommy to hold him for a while in one of her world-famous hugs. “I’m going to have a talk with Bobby’s mother…”

The last thing Will remembered before he blinked awake was the sight of his mother marching furiously across the street, her arms crossed with unbending purpose while he languished fretfully alone on the steps.

***

It was a moment before the boy realized he had rejoined the waking world, confused in part because he still shivered the same way he had at the end of his dream. As Will's mental fog cleared – the murmuring boy plucking his thumb free so he could sleepily rub his eyes with his balled fists – he realized that he shook not out of fear but because he was oddly chilly. Bewildered as to how he could be cold under such a cozy bedspread, the boy struggled out from under the heavy blanket and comforter only to freeze when he discovered the reason for his discomfort.

“Noooo...” Will whined as he sadly studied the soaked fabric of his bear cub onesie, the tears he'd barely held back in his dream threatening to burst through now in reality. Not knowing what else to do, the sniffling boy stared at the huge wet spot spread across his groin and thighs before he grew too clammy to wallow in his misery any longer. Though he was reminded of the infantile act with every uncomfortable, chafing movement, Will pushed forward just the same – gingerly hopping down from the bed, waddling awkwardly to the ajar door and slipping out into the hall. Reluctantly he followed the voices coming from the kitchen, his desperate need for comfort struggling against the shame of his mommy and big brother discovering what he'd done. Indeed, both were seated at the table as Will approached – Liam's feet swaying absently above the ground as he and Abby went over the homework he'd been too busy to work on yesterday.

“So, an adjective is any word that describes a thing, like a good boy or a happy baby. You already know a bunch of adjectives, sweetie, this worksheet just wants you to put down all the ones you can think of.” It wasn't until the woman looked up from her explanation that she noticed a sullen, silent Will standing in the doorway. “Good morning, darling! Did you have sweet dreams...?”

Abby trailed off when her eyes fell to the darkened circle, Liam following her gaze and going pale when he realized what she was looking at.

“Mommy...” Will peeped in a voice almost too small to be heard. “...I hadda accident...”

“Oh, honey bear...” Abby was in her chair one instant and by Will's side the next, pulling the mewling boy into a cuddle so loving and warm that for a moment he forgot all about the chafe and the chill. “It's okay, Will, I know you didn't mean to. C'mon, let's make sure you're all squeaky clean before Jane gets here.”

Will robotically took the hand his mommy offered and let her lead him away from the table, hoping that his super-cool big sister wouldn't find about him wetting the bed like a baby. It was bad enough for Liam to know, though Will was unsettled by the way his older brother stared at him as he and mommy left the kitchen. The second-grader hadn't seemed amused or even disgusted – if anything, he only looked scared.

“I'm sorry, sweetheart, this is my fault. I should've insisted that you try and pee before going to sleep.” Abby assured her son as they entered the bathroom. “From now on you have to use the potty before bedtime no matter what, okay? Not for forever, just until you're big enough to go by yourself.”

Disheartened as he was by the demotion, Will still managed a forlorn nod as mommy turned on the water and squeezed into the tub a healthy dollop of pink glop into the tub. Much as the boy wanted to watch the mountains of foam rise up from the steamy surface, he was anchored to his spot on the fluffy bathmat when mommy kneeled before her son and started helping him out of his jammies.

“Are you excited to spend the morning with Jane?” Abby gushed, trying to distract Will from his misery as she pulled back the hood of the onesie and drew down its zipper. “I bet you guys are gonna do all sorts of fun stuff together, and when you get back I've got a surprise for you!”

“A surprise?” Will perked up as Abby gently pulled his arms from the sleeves, tugging the pajamas down to the five-year-old's shins so he could step out of them and stand before his mommy in nothing but his soaked undies – not that he cared much now that he had a surprise to look forward to. “What is it?”

“Do you remember how we’re having your bedroom redone?” Abby prompted, pulling the soiled soccer undies down to his ankles.

Will bit his lip in concentration, gaping and staring up at the ceiling as he tried to recall his bedroom. Try as he might, however, he couldn’t seem to picture the space – his mind drawing an empty blank. “Uhh…”

“Of course you do, honey.” Abby insisted, guiding him over to the bathtub and helping him step over the lip into the warm soapy water. “There’s lots of horrible nasty paint fumes in your room right now. That’s why you had to sleep with your brother on Wednesday and with mommy last night, remember?”

“Err…uh-huh!” Will agreed enthusiastically, his neurons lit up by the sensory recollection of cuddling up as snug as a bug with Liam in his bed. He broke into a broad smile, his mother’s reassuring expression making him feel very proud both to have remembered such an important detail and to have been associated so closely with his super-cool big brother.

“Well,” Abby continued, “by the time you get back, everything in your bedroom is going to be finished! You’ll have a space all to yourself, just like Liam.”

Will let out an overjoyed hoot, throwing up his hands in celebration. He was so excited that he even attempted to scramble to his feet on the slippery porcelain surface of the tub – having half a mind to hop out of Abby’s reach and skip down the hall to try and take a peep at his new big boy room. His mommy soon put a stop to such silly machinations however, putting a firm hand on his shoulder and gesturing for him to settle down in the water once more.

“Calm down, sweet pea. It’s not quite ready yet.”

“Will there be toys?” The boy ranted breathlessly, sloshing about restlessly in the tub as if he had downed an entire gallon of coffee. “And games?”

“Of course!” Abby chuckled, beginning to brush at the boy’s shoulders with a soft flannel. “It’s got all of your favorites. I found you some soccer-ball bedsheets, and some Legos, and I picked out an adorable plush puppy dog…” “

“Are there cowboys?” Will interrupted impatiently, his attention suddenly caught by the sight of Hank the Cowboy still propped up where he’d left him on the shelf in the medicine cabinet. “There have to be cowboys, ‘cause they’re my favorite, and Liam has tons, and I wanna have as many as Liam!”

“Oh, there’s going to be a whole army of cowboys.” Abby said solemnly, unable to contain a levitous chortle as the boy all -but swooned at the revelation – completely overwhelmed with breathless delight.

“I’m gonna build a massive fort with my LEGOegos, and then we’re gonna have this whole cowboy war! And we’re gonna bring the Nerf guns from Jane’s house, and Liam’s gonna be the bad cowboys and Imma be the good ones, and…”

Abby nodded along, getting to work wiping down every square inch of the gleeful boy as he continued to run through his mental shopping list of every conceivable thing he would be doing in his new big boy bedroom. Will was perfectly compliant, much too distracted to complain as Abby prodded and pried all around his lower half with the ticklish flannel. He wasn’t even perturbed as Abby began to massage a large dollop of creamy strawberry smelling shampoo into his hair, only letting out a little yelp of displeasure as some of the lather trickled down towards his eye – an ailment that was soon cured as his mommy poured a refreshing cup of soapy water over his head, washing the offending chemical away.

Eventually, the boy was scrubbed as clean as could be – all the icky aftermath of his night-time accident washed down the drain. Moreover, Will seemed to have entirely forgotten the traumatizing affair, still regaling Abby with disjointed facts, observations, and questions as she dried his hair vigorously with a snuggly warm white towel before draping the massive square of terry cloth loosely around his slight form. The boy hopped and skipped at mommy's side as she led him into her bedroom, still babbling away as the towel fluttered behind him like a cape. It wasn't until she reached into a drawer and pulled out Will's outfit for the day that he finally fell silent, leaving his tale of the forthcoming Lego Nerf Cowboy War without an ending as he pouted disdainfully at her selections.

“What's the matter, darling?” Abby asked, knowing that something must be wrong for her little blabbermouth to suddenly go quiet.

“That stuff's for babies.” Will declared, jamming as much venom into the B-word as he could. Though there wasn't much wrong with the simple striped t-shirt mommy offered, the same couldn't be said for the corduroy shortalls romper he was meant to wear over it. The boy's frown mirrored that of the solemn teddy bear face sown into the chest, a frown that only deepened as he pointed a stubby, accusatory finger at the smiling cartoon animals that covered the accompanying undies. “'Specially those. Can't I wear my soccer ones again?”

“No, sweetie, those need to be washed and dried first.” Abby patiently explained as she relieved her son of his towel, not so subtly reminding the boy that he'd ruined them. She set it aside and then knelt before Will, stretching the offending briefs open for him to hop into. “C'mon now, two big steps!”

“I said I don't WANNA!” The tyke declared as he stomped a tiny foot and balled his little fists. Though Will quivered at the unimpressed look mommy gave him in response, he refused to back down. After all, it was her fault that he'd had an accident in the first place – she'd even said so herself! Yet he was the one being punished, the one forced to submit to potty checks before bed, the one forced to wear undies without soccer balls on them! “Let me pick!”

“If you ask nicely, maybe I'll let you help me choose your outfit.” Abby began in a voice as hard and even as steel. “But I'm not going to reward rudeness or outbursts. Please say that you're sorry and then we'll talk about picking out your clothing together.”

Will reddened as his throat tightened into a hot knot of anger, beside himself with indignation at the idea that he had anything to apologize for. Seeing that mommy wasn't going to let him past to look in the drawer for himself, the boy decided on the next best thing – running in the other direction entirely.

“Will!” Abby cried as her son made a break for the door. She almost caught up with him when he fumbled for a moment with the knob, nearly getting a hand on his slight forearm before the boy burst out into the hall. “Get back here THIS INSTANT!”

“NO!” Will shouted over his shoulder as he made a beeline for the kitchen, praying that Liam was still there and that his big brother would help him change mommy's mind. It was no small relief when he burst into the room to find the older boy in the same seat – and no small shock when he saw Jane seated beside him. His older siblings – who seemed to have been talking about something before Will's arrival – stared like Liam had earlier at the naked five-year-old, the boy having not even thought about his nudity until that moment. He yipped and went beet-red as he covered his privates, doing so just as a huffing Abby caught up to Will and clamped a securing arm around his skinny shoulders.

“Oh, now you're modest.” Abby chuckled before looking up to address Jane, clearly in no hurry to get her son dressed and alleviate his embarrassment. “Good morning, dear, I'm sorry I couldn't let you in myself – as you can see, I've got my hands full this morning.”

“It sure seems that way!” Jane declared, the worry vanishing from her expression when Abby appeared. “Hopefully you'll be able to relax while me and the boys hit the town.”

“I'll be just fine, all I hope is that this silly little sourpuss doesn't spoil your day.” Abby mused as she gave Will's shoulder a squeeze. “He's a bit upset because of a tiny accident he had this morning.”

Seeing Jane’s lips purse with belittling sympathy, Will let out a pained moan of betrayed anguish.  He couldn’t believe that his mommy was talking so casually about his accident, as if he were some big dumb toddler who couldn’t go five minutes without soaking his underpants. Worse, she’d told Jane of all people, his cool, fun, grown-up big sister who doubtless now saw him as nothing more than some stupid overgrown bedwetting baby! All he wanted to do was run away and hide, to sprint back to the bedroom, dive under the sheets, and never come out! With his bare feet slapping futilely on the floor tiles however, he found that he was completely immobilized, stuck standing in the middle of the kitchen with every inch of him on display.  He grunted with effort as he tried desperately to unhook Abby’s arm from around his slight chest but found her grip as firm as ever. Instead, he began to thrash and claw at her arm like a wild animal caught in a trap – the corners of his eyes once again beginning to brim with hysterical hopeless tears.

“Will!” Abby scolded firmly, admonishing eyes locking on his own as she crouched down by his side and clamped down even tighter around his tummy. “That’s quite enough, young man.” She looked up apologetically at Jane, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m so sorry about this, I just don’t know what’s got into him today.”

“Y…you told her!” Will screeched;, his words barely intelligible through hiccupping, tormented blubs. “You didn’t hafta tell her!”

“Don’t shout, baby.” Abby instructed, lightly placing a meaty hand over his wailing mouth to mute his howling. “Inside voice.”

The boy didn’t listen, instead releasing a guttural animalistic growl before baring his teeth and nipping furiously at Abby’s fingers with a frenzied bite of his pointed baby canines. The woman let out a sharp cry of surprise, flinching and giving Will the perfect opportunity to shoot out of her grasp and hobble back clumsily towards the bedroom. Fueled by adrenaline and with terrified tears still streaming down his face, the little boy slammed the door behind him as forcefully as he could and dove under the covers, wrapping the comforter tightly around his body like a cocoon and pressing his snotty tear-wrecked face fearfully into the bedsheets.

Inevitably, just a few haggard bawling breaths later, the stomping rhythm of menacing disciplinarian footsteps followed him into the room, the feeling of something heavy flopping down on the mattress before Abby plucked him out from the covers – holding him firmly in her lap as she stared into his eyes with stern unyielding ferocity.

“You’re in big trouble, mister.” Abby began. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Despite the stinging primal fear growing in his chest, Will couldn’t quite bring himself to fain contrition. “You told Jane!” He accused. “You told her that I had an accident, and now she’s gonna think that I’m just a stupid baby!”

Abby let out an unimpressed harumph of disdain. “So you thought you’d throw a toddler tantrum?” She charged, making the boy shrink away in fear as she sanctioned him with a grave disapproving shake of her head. “You’re behaving like a two-year-old.” She lectured. “Maybe you don’t deserve your new big boy room, hmm? Maybe you’d be better off sleeping in a crib like a baby?”

Will shuddered, shaking his head in desperate denial. “Noooo.” He mewled pathetically, sounding much younger than his five years. “I’m notta baby!”

Abby kept her silence for a few unbearable seconds, leaving Will to squirm in agonizing anticipation. “I know you’re not.” She finally agreed. “But if you want to be treated like a big boy, you have to act like one.” She held out her finger, making sure that the boy got a good look at the small red dot of blood where his vicious bite had broken her skin. “Look, you hurt mommy.”

Will shuddered, stomach turning at the sight of the wound (miniscule as it may have been). He'd never seen mommy hurt before, shocked not only by the realization that she could bleed but that he'd been the one to make her do so. Now that he'd cried out every bit of his anger – with mommy scaring away the rest – Will could barely believe how easily he'd been overcome by his fury. Confronted with the evidence of his inability to control himself, all the boy felt now was shame and sadness and a deep fear of his own capacity to hurt.

“I...I didn't mean to...” Will murmured, unable to bring his voice above a whisper lest the tears pooling in his shimmering, fir-green eyes burst through once more. “I was just...just so mad, and, and when you didn't listen I got even madder, and I know that doesn't make it okay and I'm really, REALLY sorry for biting you mommy, but – ”“

“Shhhhhhh. Slow down, sweetheart. It's okay. You don't have to say anything more.” Abby reassured the boy before he could work himself up into a hyperventilating panic. It was only because she comforted him that Will managed to sniffle away a second breakdown, the heaving of his bare skinny chest gradually slowly to a steady rise and fall as mommy loosened her grip and softened her expression. “Those were some biiiiiiiig feelings you were feeling back there, weren't they? It was like the mad was in control of what you were doing instead of you, wasn't it?”

Will nodded sagely as mommy rubbed slow, gentle circles on her lower back, amazed even in his anguish at her ability to know just what he was thinking. Still, he whimpered and tried to turn away when she gently took hold of his quivering chin to raise his eyes back to hers, certain his respite was over and that he was in for another scolding. When he saw mommy's smile it was like seeing the sun after a whole day of rain, Will so stunned by the sight that he could do nothing but stare agape at the beaming woman as she stroked his soft flushed cheeks with her calloused thumbs.

“Let me ask you something, darling...” Abby began, getting Will's attention by sitting him up straight in her lap. “What does it mean to be a grown-up? And there's no wrong answer, so don't worry about saying something silly.”

“Umm...” Will wiped at his runny nose with the back of his arm as he considered the question, not sure why mommy was asking it but grateful for the distraction from his discipline. “It means that you're older, um, and that you have a job and a house and a car, and, um, if you have kids it means you're 'sponsible for them and hafta take care of them, and...”

“Yes, honey bear, that's all true.” Abby chuckled, butting in. “But not all of it is true for everybody. There's plenty of grown-ups out there who don't have kids, and, unfortunately, some that don't have a home or a job or any way to get around.”

“Oh.” Will's frown deepened as he absorbed this. “That's sad.”

“You're right, Will, it's very sad. Sometimes thinking about stuff like that makes me want to cry, or sometimes I'm so happy I want to go skipping down the street, or sometimes a customer at the café makes me so mad that I want to punch them right in the nose.” Abby grinned at the first giggle her son offered since throwing his tantrum. “But have you ever seen me do any of those things?”

The boy thought deeply for a long moment before definitively shaking his head.

“That's because taking care of your feelings is the most important part of being a grown-up.” Abby explained. “It's all right for kids – even big kids – to cry and shout because it takes a long time to learn how to have feelings without taking them out on others. So don't get frustrated if it's hard for you to control yourself at first – all I ask is that you try. Okay?”

“Okay, mommy.” Will piped as he finally managed a tiny smile. “Sorry 'gain for biting and, um, for not asking nicely for my clothes.”

“Apology accepted, sweetheart. Would you like to try asking me nicely now?”

“Please may I pick out my clothes, mommy?” Will said sweetly, lowering his little eyes in an adorable heart-melting display of proper grown-up manners.

“Of course, honey bear.” Abby agreed, hooking the boy under his armpits to stand him up on his feet before leading him steadily over towards the dresser and pulling open the top drawer. She put a hand to her face, tapping a hefty finger thoughtfully against her chin in mock confusion. “I wonder…” she mused playfully. “What does my little bear cub need first?”

Will let out a giggle at his mother’s silliness, pointing excitedly to the stack of briefs just under his eye level. “Undie-pants!” He chirped, shouting out proudly as if were answering a question posed on a preschool TV show.

“Of course, silly mommy!” Abby humored him, scooping up a bundle of the skimpy cotton briefs and fanning them out like a deck of cards. “What do you think, sweetie? You can have dinosaurs, or superheroes, or – ah, I know!”

The boy cocked his head curiously as his mother picked out a particular pair from the bunch, replacing the other briefs in the drawer and unfurling the chosen garment for Will’s inspection.  Featuring a splotchy black and white pattern printed on the body clearly meant to imitate cowhide, the underwear were also designed with a thick brown waistband mimicking a leather belt, as well as a matching tasseled holster angled across the front. As Abby flipped the garment around however, the boy gasped with rapt elation to see a flashy golden six-pointed star splashed across the seat, the word “SHERIFF” displayed upon its center in black bold letters.

“What do you think?” Abby prompted, jiggling the cotton cladding enticingly from side to side. “Wanna wear your cool cowboy undies?”

“Uh-huh!” Will agreed at once, humming excitedly to himself as he obediently stepped one leg and then the other through the holes, his mommy pulling the elastic waistband high up to his belly button. Immediately losing interest in the rest of his clothes, the little tyke bounded over towards the full-length mirror displayed on a wall in the corner, spreading his legs wide in a gunslinger’s stance and securing his finger-gun safely in the pretended holster printed on the front of his stylish new underwear.

“Pew, pew, pew!” He announced in a syrupy high soprano, drawing his fingers up to his hip and firing off three precise shots against the formidable opponent standing opposite. He laughed hysterically to himself, clutching his bare belly theatrically and falling down backwards on the carpet with a melodramatic squawk of pain. Endlessly amused by his own made-up game, he swiftly flipped prone onto his belly, giggling up at his adoring mommy with fresh peals of frenzied sniggering.

“You the law ‘round here partner?” Abby played along, putting on a suitably funny, if inaccurate, southern drawl.

“Yep!” Will piped, still wiggling around contentedly on the floor and proudly displaying the  badge printed on the back of his briefs. “I’m the sheriff!”

“Come on, you.” Abby tutted, helping the giddy boy back to his feet and leading him back over to the dresser. “What comes next?” She asked, opening up another drawer packed to the brim with t-shirts, polos, and adorable little kid sized button-ups shirts.

“Ummmm...” Will chewed thoughtfully on his cocktail weenie of an index finger as he studied the options spread out before him, searching for the one that would best suit an upstanding, grown-up force for law and order such as himself. It wasn't until he laid eyes on the crisp white polo tucked away in the corner that the boy squeaked in inspiration, pointing at it as he turned to mommy in open-mouthed delight. “That one, please!”

“My goodness, what a grown-up choice.” Abby cooed, the five-year-old wriggling in delight at her praise as she plucked the shirt from the drawer and pulled it over his flaxen bedheaded curls. “Why this one, sweetheart?”

“'Cause it's the same kind Julio wears!” Will declared as mommy guided his outstretched arms through the sleeves.

“I see!” It didn't seem at all strange to the boy that mommy would know who her son meant just from his first name. If she could tell what he was thinking, surely she'd know something as simple as who Julio was. “And where did you meet him?”

Will was all set to launch into the story of how they met – it was right on the tip of his tongue – when the boy was struck silent, realizing in an instant that he had no idea when or why he and Julio had first crossed paths. Though a little voice deep within his thoughts insisted that they'd met at school, the five-year-old knew that couldn't be right. Much as he wished he was there already and playing soccer with all the other big kids, mommy had made it clear that school wouldn't be starting again until the fall, that it would be only then that Will could experience his long-awaited first day of Kindergarten.

“Um, I think it was at the park...” The boy evasively offered after a moment, trailing off in hopes that mommy wouldn't press him for any further details. He'd been too busy coming up with a reasonable explanation to notice that she'd opened up another dresser, from which she plucked a tiny pair of blue jeans and a set of socks designed to look like smiling cartoon ponies. Though Will pouted reflexively at mommy making those choices for him, he had to admit that the pants were classic cowboy apparel – that he could imagine his feet galloping along whenever he wiggled his itty bitty toes.

“Well, it was very nice of him to play with you! I'll have to tell Julio's parents that he's been a very good boy.”

Will puffed with pride upon hearing this, delighted that the good word he'd put in for Julio would get back to his mommy and daddy and hopeful that the two of them would get to play again soon. Just the same, there was a funny feeling in the five-year-old's tummy when his mommy grinned at him from ear to ear, the way she showed her teeth for some reason reminding Will of how he'd chomped her with a canine of his own just a few minutes prior. The boy wasn't given much time to consider this, however, all his focus channeled into helping mommy guide his tootsies into a pair of Velcro-laced sneakers that the woman snugly strapped his feet into. When he looked up again her smile was much nicer, big blue eyes alight with affection as she looked her son over from head to toe.

“What a handsome little man.” Abby sighed as she gently laid her hands on Will's slight shoulders, the boy bubbling over with love for his mommy when she leaned in to peck his blushing cheeks. “Don't go getting big on me too quick, darling, I think you're perfect the way you are.”

“Okay, mommy.” Will declared with a cheeky giggle. “I promise that I'll just grow up the usual way.”

“Well, we'll see about that.” The woman chuckled as she rose to her feet and held out her hand for Will to take. “C'mon now, we've made your sister and brother wait long enough.”

Will immediately brightened upon the mention of his siblings, having forgotten in all the excitement that the three of them were set to have a super fun and awesome morning together. Plus, now that he was in his grown-up outfit he might be able to make Jane forget about his accident – all he had to do was act like the big boy he knew he was and everything would be okay.