you can be the captain and i can be your first mate...
This isn't quite done yet, but I thought I'd post it as a little bit of a teaser. Enjoy
candy_belle ;)
still written in the scars on my heart
Jamie/Segs, pg-13
Lots of hand-waving for things like reality and how children's protective services work.
*
"I'm coming," Tyler called out as the loud knocking on his front door continued; Jamie groaned and buried his head under the pillows.
Tyler yawned and ran his hand through his hair; he was going to kill whoever was banging on his door this early in the morning.
When he opened the front door and saw his mom instead of Jordie or one of the other guys, he stared at her for a minute.
"Tyler, let me in, please," she told him, her voice lower than it usually was.
He stepped back automatically and his eyes widened when he realized that she was carrying a sleeping kid.
"Not that I mind if you want to visit, Mom, but what are you doing here? With a kid," Tyler added as Jackie placed the kid on the couch carefully and straightened up once she was sure he was still sleeping.
"That's what we need to talk about, Ty."
*
"Mine," Tyler repeated loudly. "There's no way, Mom. I haven't been with anyone but Jamie for almost a year and a half."
"I know that, sweetie, but he's yours, the tests were all -"
"I don't care what the fucken tests said, there's no way in hell I have a fucken toddler!" He hissed angrily; there was a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, though, and he frantically tried to do the math in his head.
They were standing in the hallway just outside the living room and Tyler started when he heard Jamie moving around the bedroom before he padded out towards them.
"Hey, Mrs. Seguin," Jamie said, his voice still sleepy.
"Would you like some coffee? It'll only take me a couple minutes to start it," he added politely.
Jamie's Polite Canadian Boyfriend routine usually made Tyler grin and roll his eyes, but right now he could only stare at his mother.
"No, thank you, Jamie," Jackie told him with a smile; Jamie was by far her favorite of any of her son's exes and she hoped this wouldn't drive them apart.
"You should probably be here for this discussion, too," she went on after a long second.
"Mom, is he -is it true?" Tyler finally asked helplessly, his shoulders slumped.
"Yes," Jackie answered firmly; she walked back over to where her purse was and fished a large envelope out of it. She held it out to Tyler and nodded approvingly when he took it from her.
Jamie let out a startled noise when he finally saw the small toddler curled up on the couch. He turned to Tyler and raised an eyebrow.
Tyler swallowed nervously and motioned for Jamie to follow him back into their room. "We'll be back in a few minutes, Mom, ok?"
"Go ahead, guys; we'll be fine out here by ourselves," she assured him.
Jackie sighed and went to go make some coffee. Whatever happened next, they were going to need it.
*
"I didn't know," Tyler said; he kept his eyes on the unopened envelope in his hands, afraid of what he would see on his boyfriend's face if he looked up. "I wouldn't keep something like this a secret, not from you."
"No, you wouldn't," Jamie agreed easily. He squeezed the back of Tyler's neck briefly and then settled onto the bed next to him. "It does change things, though, and if -"
"Not for me," Tyler interrupted quickly, he finally looked up and met Jamie's eyes. "Not the important things. Or, well, it changes a lot of other important stuff, but not me and you. I still want us, even with this. I want what we have now -with a kid in the mix.
"You know, if you do, too."
Jamie was silent while he searched Tyler's face; after a long minute he exhaled and nodded. "Yeah, I do, Ty. I'm just not sure how this would work, adding a kid to our schedules, our lives."
"We'll figure it out together," Tyler told him, almost dizzy with relief. "I don't know shit about kids or anything like that, so it's not like you'll be worse than I am. Hell, you wrangle a bunch of idiots on the regular during the season, a toddler's probably easier than that, eh?"
Jamie grinned and shook his head ruefully. "Somehow I doubt that. What do you think is in the envelope?"
"I have no idea," Tyler said as he moved around a little until he was facing Jamie; he leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, smiling again when Jamie returned it. "Let's find out."
He ripped it open and spilled the contents onto the bed between them. A piece of heavy paper folded in half laid on top of photos.
Tyler picked it up while Jamie started looking through the pictures. He opened it and glanced down at the social security card that fell out.
"It's his birth certificate," Tyler murmured as he read it. "Gabriel Scott Seguin; he was born April 15, 2012. That means..."
"During your Cup win," Jamie finished, his voice even. "Or while you were celebrating winning, anyway. No wonder you don't remember it."
"Jamie, you know if we won, I wouldn't have -"
"Stop it, Tyler," Jamie told him; his voice sounded as fond and exasperated as it always did when Tyler got worried about something Jamie saw as a non-issue. "I know you're not the same person now. Everyone fucks up when they're teenagers, dude.
"So, yeah, I know when we win the Cup, you're not going to start fucking around, no matter how drunk you are."
Tyler took a deep breath and nodded. "Are those pictures of the -of Gabriel?"
"From when he was a baby until recently, yeah," Jamie answered as he sorted through them. He held up one of a pretty brunette holding a newborn in what was obviously a hospital room. "I'm pretty sure that's his mom, she's in a lot of them. Do you recognize her maybe?"
There was no censure in his boyfriend's voice, just plain curiosity, so Tyler made himself take the picture and study it closely. "I don't know, maybe? She kind of looks a little familiar, but I don't -most of that June is a blur, I can't really remember much until after the fourth of July."
Jamie squeezed his thigh reassuringly as they went through the rest of the pictures.
"The birth certificate says her name was Leah Cambell," Tyler said after a few minutes of silence. "She looks like she really loved him, babe. What happened to make C.A.S. show up at my parent's with him?"
"Your mom would know," Jamie pointed out.
"Yeah, but I. It's kind of freaking me out that I have a toddler," Tyler admitted, feeling a little ashamed about it.
Jamie chuckled warmly as he stood up and held out a hand to help Tyler off the bed. "I'm pretty sure that's completely normal. I'd be more worried if you weren't scared.
"But, you're not alone -I'm in this with you and you know the rest of the guys will help, too."
"Yeah. Yeah, I know," Tyler rolled his shoulders to try and relax them; he briefly leaned into the hand Jamie placed on his upper back but then he straightened up. "Alright, let's go find out about my kid."
*
"There was some kind of accident," Jackie told them quietly as they sat around the small kitchen table drinking coffee. "She was in Manhattan visiting friends when it happened, so it took them a few days before the cops realized they had to call C.A.S."
Jackie paused to sip her coffee and take a long look at her son; he was hunched over his cup, but he was listening to her and he seemed to be dealing with the sudden upheaval in his life about as well as could be expected.
"C.A.S. had Gabriel for almost two weeks before they came to our house last week," she went on after making sure her grandson was still asleep -the word alone was enough to kick her heart against her chest. "His maternal grandparents didn't want him, they were pretty adamant about it from what the caseworker told me.
"They found your name on his birth certificate and the address to the house tucked into the envelope that it was inside. Once they figured out who you were and that you had the money to take care of him, they gave Gabriel to us while they ran the D.N.A. tests.
"Your father and I decided to wait until the test was done to tell you, but as soon as I saw him, I knew he was yours, Ty. He looks just like you and your sisters did at that age."
Before Tyler could say anything else, there was a rustling noise and then a small voice called out, "Grandma?"
Jackie gave Tyler an encouraging smile then went over to the couch and sat down next to the toddler. "I'm right here, sweetie. Remember when I told you that we were going to see your Daddy?
"Well, you were alseep when we got here," she went on at the small boy's nod. "So I carried you upstairs. I was just explaining to Daddy and his boyfriend Jamie why you came to live with him.
"Do you want to meet him now?"
Tyler took a deep breath and went over to the couch where he crouched down so he was at eye level with his son.
"Hey, Gabriel, I'm Tyler," he swallowed and then said, in a rush, "I'm your dad."
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