The World Has It's Shine (something to hold onto) 19
Title: The World Has It's Shine (something to hold onto) - 19
Author: minus_four
Rating: R (language)
Pairing: Gabilliam
POV: 3rd
Summary: Around 21 months. Gabe had that same kind of manner to him as when they were at the baby store and one of the moms around was about to go for the same little shirt as Gabe was which just happened to be the last one; playing nice but at the same time with an air that said ‘cross me, and I will cut you’.
Disclaimer: This only happened in my brain (as far as I know). Title belongs to Cobra Starship.
Author Notes: Dudes if you read this and don't comment you're gonna make Riley cry, you mean mean people! Took a while. Sorry! Love to all.
One.Two. Three.Four.Five.Six.Seven.Eight.Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.Thirteen.Fourteen.
Fifteen.Sixteen.Seventeen.Eighteen.
“Who’s Meghan, Bill?” Gabe frowned at William as the woman kept walking towards them, though the younger man’s eyes just stayed fixed on her instead of looking at Gabe for a while longer until Bill swallowed again and finally met Gabe’s eyes.
“She’s -” William faltered. The shock of seeing her had made his mind go completely blank for a few seconds but now he suddenly realised how Gabe might react to his next words. “She’s Riley’s mom, Gabe.” There wasn’t time to say anything else before Meghan reached them.
Gabe looked her up and down straight away, automatically just... wary of her for some reason. Feeling threatened, maybe? he mocked himself, but Gabe couldn’t help it, couldn’t help the way something inside him bristled as the girl immediate pulled William into a hug. He knew he was being stupid, that he didn’t know a thing about thing woman with which he could or should judge her... Except the whole abandoning Bill and Riley thing, Gabe reminded himself. Plus the fact that she’d just... shown up didn’t really sit right with him.
“Well if it isn’t little Billy Beckett,” Meghan said as she stepped back from William upon releasing him. She was dressed casually; nothing special really, jeans and t shirt, a jacket. But her clothes were like Gabe’s (which he’d been buying a lot less of in the past year or so for obvious reasons), clearly not exactly... cheap. Her sandy blonde hair - the exact shade of Riley’s, Gabe noticed - was pulled back in a loose knot at the base of her neck, and she wasn’t wearing much make up that Gabe could see. Physically speaking, Gabe observed, she looked... nice. Not that it meant his slight feelings of animosity went anywhere, but still.
“Hey, less of the ‘little’,” Bill’s tone was indignant but the smile on his face was unmistakable. Gabe knew William well enough to know when he was being genuine and along with the initial shock, Gabe could tell the boy was not exactly unhappy to see Meghan. But then again, although Gabe knew relatively little about this girl, he did know that she had been good friends with William in the two years of college before that night of experimentation for Bill which resulted in Riley being born nine months later. Even if he hadn’t known this, though, Gabe would have been able to tell from the way the two of them interacted; friendly and clearly comfortable with each other - though Gabe was definitely surprised that William was being just as friendly in return.
“Still nothing to you,” Meghan added, smiling at William as she poked him in the ribs with her index finger, “and I tried so hard to fatten you up in college.”
“And ruin these hips?” William laughed, gesturing to his waist with a sweeping motion of one hand, the other still holding a number of foil trays balanced on top of one another. “Please.”
They both laughed a little before William kind of jerked, snapping his head sideways to look from Gabe to Meghan as if he’d forgotten his boyfriend was even there.
“Uh, sorry,” William said quickly. “Meghan, this is Gabe, my boyfriend,” he introduced them with a smile, not taking his eyes off Gabe though, and frowning a little when Gabe didn’t return the expression and mouthing at him, ‘you okay?’
Gabe just gave William a quick nod and a sorry attempt at a smile before stepping forward and offering his hand to Meghan.
“Hi,” he said, shaking her hand with that same not-quite smile on his face which probably only William noticed, and once she’d returned the greeting he spoke again. “So what brings you to the city?” he asked, and it wasn’t as though there was any trace of antagonism in his voice but William suddenly found himself wanting to step in between the two of them for some reason, which was strange really, but he couldn’t help it. Gabe had that same kind of manner to him as when they were at the baby store and one of the moms around was about to go for the same little shirt as Gabe was which just happened to be the last one; playing nice but at the same time with an air that said ‘cross me, and I will cut you’.
“Just, you know, visiting,” she answered him before hesitating. “And - and I wanted to see, um,” she trailed off, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as if she didn’t know what else to do, almost as if she was embarrassed. Which she should be, Gabe thought to himself, after two fucking years.
“Riley?” William offered helpfully, which annoyed Gabe a little to tell the truth. Really, he’d wanted to see if Meghan actually remembered the name, even if it was a little immature and vindictive of him.
“Yeah,” Meghan nodded. “You know, if... if it’s okay with you,” she added, looking at William. Gabe was watching him too, observing the way he only thought about it for a second or two before answering.
“Of course. I mean he’s your -” William hesitated, eyes flicking to Gabe’s for a moment. “I mean, yeah,” he finished, wondering if the situation could possibly get any more awkward and realising that unfortunately the answer to that was probably ‘yes’. “It's fine, you can come back to our place.”
The first thing Gabe found strange was that whereas William had been so adamant that his parents, who had been out of his life for the exact same almost two years that Meghan had, would not be allowed anywhere near their apartment, Meghan on the other hand he invited over without a second thought.
The second thing Gabe found strange was how William suggested that Gabe should go and collect Riley from Sheila’s place and meet Meghan and him there. Now, Gabe didn’t mind at all, and it wasn’t as though he thought William was going to be necking with her on the couch for that whole extra five minutes he wouldn’t be there, but if William for some reason didn’t want Sheila to meet Meghan then that set off a warning bell in Gabe’s head. Thinking about it as he walked the few minutes back, Riley in his arms as he absentmindedly answered the toddler’s babbling and random words and kissed the top of Riley’s head every now and then, Gabe decided it was probably because Sheila wouldn’t hesitate to ask why Meghan was around, how long for and what her intentions were. In fact, Gabe smiled to himself as he let himself and Riley into the building, the older woman was so maternal and fiercely protective of their little family that she would probably have come right out and asked Meghan what the hell she was doing giving up Riley in the first place. It was something Gabe wouldn’t have minded asking himself, but he knew that he was going to have to control himself and let William take the lead in dealing with his old friend.
Dealing with, Gabe winced inwardly at his choice of words as he approached their apartment door. He was thinking as though there was a problem, as if Meghan was a problem, when she hadn’t done anything, barely even said anything. He just... couldn’t help it though, he sighed as the same thought rose in his consciousness. Maybe he should try and make more of an effort with this girl, he reasoned with himself as he paused before going into his home, more of an effort to get along with her, but it wasn’t as though he owed her anything. Apart from the fact that he might not have met William if she hadn’t persuaded him to partake in a drunken fuck two and a half years ago that is, Gabe reminded himself somewhat randomly as he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
“Hey,” William called out with a smile from where he was sat on the couch, Meghan next to him. They both had mugs of coffee in their hands and Gabe noticed another for him sitting on the little living room table.
“Hey yourself,” Gabe smiled back as Riley started squirming in his arms the second he saw William sitting there. “Tranquilo relu,” Gabe laughed, crouching down so he could set the toddler gently down on the floor. “I don’t think daddy’s going anywhere.”
Riley just ignored Gabe and straight away made a beeline for William, toddling across the room fairly slowly but pretty steadily. Gabe was constantly amazed by the way Riley was growing up more and more all the time, becoming less like a baby and more like a real little person. William always laughed at Gabe when he described it that way, but it was true in Gabe’s eyes. Every day the toddler was getting steadier on his feet, talking a little more, just learning little things that meant he was gradually growing up. William might have laughed at Gabe but they both agreed that as amazing as watching Riley grow up was, it was simply happening far too fast for either of their likings.
“Dada!” Riley said excitedly as soon as he reached William, tugging on a crease at the knee of his daddy’s pants almost urgently, as if he hadn’t seen Bill in days.
“Hi baby,” William reached over Riley to put his mug down before leaning down to give his son a couple of kisses. “How are ya, Ry? How are ya?” William asked him as he undid the buttons of Riley’s duffle coat and gently manoeuvred the toddler’s arms out of the garment before taking off his little stripey scarf and laying them both over the arm of the sofa.
As Gabe crossed the room to take the remaining seat next to William, he frowned a little as he noticed that Riley had suddenly gone quiet, the child just staring at Meghan from where he was stood at Bill’s knee, his tiny hands moving back to clutch at the material of William’s pants. Usually, even though Riley couldn’t really make himself understood properly, he would still be babbling to William and probably trying to crawl all over his daddy at this point in time. Although, Gabe thought to himself as he sat down, eyes staying on Riley, it was only natural really seeing as Riley hardly ever met anyone other than himself and William - and of course Sheila and her husband. The toddler just didn’t know how to deal with a stranger, and he’d never seen this woman before despite the fact she was technically his mother.
Even though Gabe wanted to pick Riley up and let the toddler snuggle into his lap like he usually did, Gabe held back, picking up his coffee cup instead just so he’d have something else to do with his hands, something to prevent him from reaching forward to take Riley into his arms. Gabe wasn’t even sure why he was feeling like this, really; why he felt like he had to hold back. After all, Riley was all but his son too now, officially, and even if that wasn’t the case Gabe had still earned the right after all this time to be able to do what he wanted, to not have to wait for William’s permission.
He still waited though, still just watched as William gently uncurled Riley’s fingers from the material of his pants and picked his son up, sitting him sideways across his lap facing Meghan. The girl hadn’t spoken since Gabe came back; the older man guessing that she was slightly in shock at seeing how much Riley had grown since she’d given birth to him and how he was growing into a tiny little person already in those almost two years she’d missed.
Deciding that it might be best to give Riley a little more time to get used to Meghan before any introductions were made between the two, William turned his head from Gabe to Meghan before starting up something which might possibly resemble a conversation as Riley crawled a little closer to him across his lap, leaning against his daddy’s chest and gripping William’s shirt with one hand.
“Meg’s going to be in town for a few days,” William told Gabe. “Well, a little way away from here. Visiting friends... you know,” Bill continued, wondering in the back of his mind why it was so awkward talking to Gabe just then. Gabe, for fuck’s sake.
“So you were just... in town,” Gabe addressed Meghan, the words coming out a lot less friendly than he’d intended. So much for making an effort...
“I’m staying with friends, yeah,” she replied, eyes only shifting to meet Gabe’s for a moment or two before they returned to looking at Riley. “But that’s not why I’m here.”
“She wants to get to know Riley, Gabe,” William said almost carefully before his voice took on a tone of slight warning to match the look he was giving his boyfriend. “Which is... nice,” he added, turning to give his old friend a reassuring smile. Meghan was clearly a little uncomfortable then, and William couldn’t really blame her with the way Gabe was acting towards her.
Yeah, Gabe thought silently as he tried to rearrange his features into an expression at least resembling friendly, maybe even welcoming at a stretch, if by ‘nice’ you mean ‘completely out of the blue and just plain weird’, sure.
“Do you want to hold him?” William asked Meghan, the girl immediately shifting in her seat as if she thought if she wasn’t sat securely enough she might just fall off randomly and hurt the toddler, but she nodded.
“Yeah,” she spoke almost hesitantly, as if she wasn’t even sure, Gabe thought. “Please.”
In a way it seemed strange to Gabe how Meghan seemed to need permission to hold her own son, and even William offering Riley to her didn’t seem to change anything. But then again, in Gabe’s opinion, she really did need to earn the right to be close to someone as awesome as Riley, even if he was only a baby still. Two years was a lot to make up for.
“Ry baby,” William leaned forward so he could look at his son’s face which Riley was partially hiding in Bill’s shirt still. “This is Meg, okay?” he said, knowing that even though Riley didn’t really understand the words, the toddler had a grasp of what ‘okay’ meant and definitely understood tones in his and Gabe’s voices. “She wants to say ‘hi’ to you,” William continued as lifted Riley into his arms and shifted across so he could turn his son around to sit on Meghan’s lap instead.
Almost holding his breath, Gabe just watched Riley sitting on Meghan’s lap as she tentatively put an arm around the toddler’s waist to keep him secure. Riley was sat still - something which was extremely rare when the twenty-one month old wasn’t actually asleep or something close to it, one hand closed tightly around a couple of William’s fingers which Riley had grabbed onto and refused to let go, as if he thought his daddy was going to abandon him in this stranger’s lap.
Looking at Riley, Gabe could easily see that the child wasn’t comfortable. He hadn’t even turned his head to look at Meghan, let alone snuggle into her like Riley would do to himself, William or Sheila. Despite being anxious - almost desperate to remove Riley from the situation if it was distressing him in any way, Gabe still held himself back, let William remain in control of the interaction. Except, of course, it was Riley who was really in control, and it was then that he decided to remind them all of it. At the first sign of Riley squirming and trying to get out of Meghan’s lap Gabe braced himself for what he knew would soon follow the toddler’s whimpers.
“No!” Riley yelled his very favorite word as he attempted to turn over in Meghan’s lap so he could slide down to the floor. Unsure of what to do, she looked to William for guidance as the skinny male bent forward and planted a few kisses on Riley’s cheeks, trying to get his son to calm down. Clearly not pleased at all, Riley pushed William’s face away and decided to step up the volume a little. “No no no!” Riley practically screamed the last word and it snapped Gabe out of him self imposed restraint.
“Put him down for God’s sake!” the words came out of Gabe’s mouth before he could stop himself and despite how harsh they might have sounded they at least had the desired effect. Once Meghan had helped Riley down from her lap the toddler ran to Gabe and tugged on his papi’s pant leg, straight away snuggling into Gabe’s hoodie the second he had helped Riley climb up onto his lap. “Tomar las cosas con calma, bebe,” he murmured, stroking his hand over Riley’s soft curls and pressing his lips to the top of his head.
“He’s probably tired,” William said almost apologetically to Meghan as soon as he was sure Riley was okay and had calmed down a little. “He gets upset easily when he needs a little nap,” he explained.
“And when he doesn’t know people,” Gabe added without thinking, wincing slightly when William turned to give him a look that clearly said very helpful, Gabriel. “But, uh, so it’s not just you,” Gabe gave Meghan a smile that he hoped was somewhat encouraging and might help William just, like, not look at him like that anymore.
“He really doesn’t know me,” Meghan shrugged slightly, her voice tinged with something Gabe might have labelled as regret if he wasn’t so ready not to. “But... I want him to,” she continued, leaning forward and reaching across William’s lap to stroke one finger down Riley’s leg, jiggling his foot a little and actually making the toddler smile before he buried his face completely in Gabe’s hoodie; going all shy again.
“Meg...” William started hesitantly. “It’ll take more than a few days for that to happen,” he told her. “A lot more,” Bill said firmly, wanting Meghan to understand that it wasn’t just going to happen overnight. To have any kind of relationship with a child meant being around them a lot and gaining their trust, as well as their love, if you were lucky... a wave of happiness rose for a moment inside William as he remembered how effortlessly Gabe had fitted into his and Riley’s lives; how they’d both fallen in love with him so quickly.
“I know,” Meghan replied quickly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she looked from Gabe to William, her gaze remaining on the younger of the two, her old friend. “But that’s why -” she paused as if she wasn’t sure how to say her next words, or as if she wasn’t sure how they’d be taken. “I want to be his mom. I want to be a real mom to Riley.”
***A/N: Yes, lots of you knew who it was lol :)
Author: minus_four
Rating: R (language)
Pairing: Gabilliam
POV: 3rd
Summary: Around 21 months. Gabe had that same kind of manner to him as when they were at the baby store and one of the moms around was about to go for the same little shirt as Gabe was which just happened to be the last one; playing nice but at the same time with an air that said ‘cross me, and I will cut you’.
Disclaimer: This only happened in my brain (as far as I know). Title belongs to Cobra Starship.
Author Notes: Dudes if you read this and don't comment you're gonna make Riley cry, you mean mean people! Took a while. Sorry! Love to all.
One.Two. Three.Four.Five.Six.Seven.Eight.Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.Thirteen.Fourteen.
Fifteen.Sixteen.Seventeen.Eighteen.
“Who’s Meghan, Bill?” Gabe frowned at William as the woman kept walking towards them, though the younger man’s eyes just stayed fixed on her instead of looking at Gabe for a while longer until Bill swallowed again and finally met Gabe’s eyes.
“She’s -” William faltered. The shock of seeing her had made his mind go completely blank for a few seconds but now he suddenly realised how Gabe might react to his next words. “She’s Riley’s mom, Gabe.” There wasn’t time to say anything else before Meghan reached them.
Gabe looked her up and down straight away, automatically just... wary of her for some reason. Feeling threatened, maybe? he mocked himself, but Gabe couldn’t help it, couldn’t help the way something inside him bristled as the girl immediate pulled William into a hug. He knew he was being stupid, that he didn’t know a thing about thing woman with which he could or should judge her... Except the whole abandoning Bill and Riley thing, Gabe reminded himself. Plus the fact that she’d just... shown up didn’t really sit right with him.
“Well if it isn’t little Billy Beckett,” Meghan said as she stepped back from William upon releasing him. She was dressed casually; nothing special really, jeans and t shirt, a jacket. But her clothes were like Gabe’s (which he’d been buying a lot less of in the past year or so for obvious reasons), clearly not exactly... cheap. Her sandy blonde hair - the exact shade of Riley’s, Gabe noticed - was pulled back in a loose knot at the base of her neck, and she wasn’t wearing much make up that Gabe could see. Physically speaking, Gabe observed, she looked... nice. Not that it meant his slight feelings of animosity went anywhere, but still.
“Hey, less of the ‘little’,” Bill’s tone was indignant but the smile on his face was unmistakable. Gabe knew William well enough to know when he was being genuine and along with the initial shock, Gabe could tell the boy was not exactly unhappy to see Meghan. But then again, although Gabe knew relatively little about this girl, he did know that she had been good friends with William in the two years of college before that night of experimentation for Bill which resulted in Riley being born nine months later. Even if he hadn’t known this, though, Gabe would have been able to tell from the way the two of them interacted; friendly and clearly comfortable with each other - though Gabe was definitely surprised that William was being just as friendly in return.
“Still nothing to you,” Meghan added, smiling at William as she poked him in the ribs with her index finger, “and I tried so hard to fatten you up in college.”
“And ruin these hips?” William laughed, gesturing to his waist with a sweeping motion of one hand, the other still holding a number of foil trays balanced on top of one another. “Please.”
They both laughed a little before William kind of jerked, snapping his head sideways to look from Gabe to Meghan as if he’d forgotten his boyfriend was even there.
“Uh, sorry,” William said quickly. “Meghan, this is Gabe, my boyfriend,” he introduced them with a smile, not taking his eyes off Gabe though, and frowning a little when Gabe didn’t return the expression and mouthing at him, ‘you okay?’
Gabe just gave William a quick nod and a sorry attempt at a smile before stepping forward and offering his hand to Meghan.
“Hi,” he said, shaking her hand with that same not-quite smile on his face which probably only William noticed, and once she’d returned the greeting he spoke again. “So what brings you to the city?” he asked, and it wasn’t as though there was any trace of antagonism in his voice but William suddenly found himself wanting to step in between the two of them for some reason, which was strange really, but he couldn’t help it. Gabe had that same kind of manner to him as when they were at the baby store and one of the moms around was about to go for the same little shirt as Gabe was which just happened to be the last one; playing nice but at the same time with an air that said ‘cross me, and I will cut you’.
“Just, you know, visiting,” she answered him before hesitating. “And - and I wanted to see, um,” she trailed off, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as if she didn’t know what else to do, almost as if she was embarrassed. Which she should be, Gabe thought to himself, after two fucking years.
“Riley?” William offered helpfully, which annoyed Gabe a little to tell the truth. Really, he’d wanted to see if Meghan actually remembered the name, even if it was a little immature and vindictive of him.
“Yeah,” Meghan nodded. “You know, if... if it’s okay with you,” she added, looking at William. Gabe was watching him too, observing the way he only thought about it for a second or two before answering.
“Of course. I mean he’s your -” William hesitated, eyes flicking to Gabe’s for a moment. “I mean, yeah,” he finished, wondering if the situation could possibly get any more awkward and realising that unfortunately the answer to that was probably ‘yes’. “It's fine, you can come back to our place.”
The first thing Gabe found strange was that whereas William had been so adamant that his parents, who had been out of his life for the exact same almost two years that Meghan had, would not be allowed anywhere near their apartment, Meghan on the other hand he invited over without a second thought.
The second thing Gabe found strange was how William suggested that Gabe should go and collect Riley from Sheila’s place and meet Meghan and him there. Now, Gabe didn’t mind at all, and it wasn’t as though he thought William was going to be necking with her on the couch for that whole extra five minutes he wouldn’t be there, but if William for some reason didn’t want Sheila to meet Meghan then that set off a warning bell in Gabe’s head. Thinking about it as he walked the few minutes back, Riley in his arms as he absentmindedly answered the toddler’s babbling and random words and kissed the top of Riley’s head every now and then, Gabe decided it was probably because Sheila wouldn’t hesitate to ask why Meghan was around, how long for and what her intentions were. In fact, Gabe smiled to himself as he let himself and Riley into the building, the older woman was so maternal and fiercely protective of their little family that she would probably have come right out and asked Meghan what the hell she was doing giving up Riley in the first place. It was something Gabe wouldn’t have minded asking himself, but he knew that he was going to have to control himself and let William take the lead in dealing with his old friend.
Dealing with, Gabe winced inwardly at his choice of words as he approached their apartment door. He was thinking as though there was a problem, as if Meghan was a problem, when she hadn’t done anything, barely even said anything. He just... couldn’t help it though, he sighed as the same thought rose in his consciousness. Maybe he should try and make more of an effort with this girl, he reasoned with himself as he paused before going into his home, more of an effort to get along with her, but it wasn’t as though he owed her anything. Apart from the fact that he might not have met William if she hadn’t persuaded him to partake in a drunken fuck two and a half years ago that is, Gabe reminded himself somewhat randomly as he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
“Hey,” William called out with a smile from where he was sat on the couch, Meghan next to him. They both had mugs of coffee in their hands and Gabe noticed another for him sitting on the little living room table.
“Hey yourself,” Gabe smiled back as Riley started squirming in his arms the second he saw William sitting there. “Tranquilo relu,” Gabe laughed, crouching down so he could set the toddler gently down on the floor. “I don’t think daddy’s going anywhere.”
Riley just ignored Gabe and straight away made a beeline for William, toddling across the room fairly slowly but pretty steadily. Gabe was constantly amazed by the way Riley was growing up more and more all the time, becoming less like a baby and more like a real little person. William always laughed at Gabe when he described it that way, but it was true in Gabe’s eyes. Every day the toddler was getting steadier on his feet, talking a little more, just learning little things that meant he was gradually growing up. William might have laughed at Gabe but they both agreed that as amazing as watching Riley grow up was, it was simply happening far too fast for either of their likings.
“Dada!” Riley said excitedly as soon as he reached William, tugging on a crease at the knee of his daddy’s pants almost urgently, as if he hadn’t seen Bill in days.
“Hi baby,” William reached over Riley to put his mug down before leaning down to give his son a couple of kisses. “How are ya, Ry? How are ya?” William asked him as he undid the buttons of Riley’s duffle coat and gently manoeuvred the toddler’s arms out of the garment before taking off his little stripey scarf and laying them both over the arm of the sofa.
As Gabe crossed the room to take the remaining seat next to William, he frowned a little as he noticed that Riley had suddenly gone quiet, the child just staring at Meghan from where he was stood at Bill’s knee, his tiny hands moving back to clutch at the material of William’s pants. Usually, even though Riley couldn’t really make himself understood properly, he would still be babbling to William and probably trying to crawl all over his daddy at this point in time. Although, Gabe thought to himself as he sat down, eyes staying on Riley, it was only natural really seeing as Riley hardly ever met anyone other than himself and William - and of course Sheila and her husband. The toddler just didn’t know how to deal with a stranger, and he’d never seen this woman before despite the fact she was technically his mother.
Even though Gabe wanted to pick Riley up and let the toddler snuggle into his lap like he usually did, Gabe held back, picking up his coffee cup instead just so he’d have something else to do with his hands, something to prevent him from reaching forward to take Riley into his arms. Gabe wasn’t even sure why he was feeling like this, really; why he felt like he had to hold back. After all, Riley was all but his son too now, officially, and even if that wasn’t the case Gabe had still earned the right after all this time to be able to do what he wanted, to not have to wait for William’s permission.
He still waited though, still just watched as William gently uncurled Riley’s fingers from the material of his pants and picked his son up, sitting him sideways across his lap facing Meghan. The girl hadn’t spoken since Gabe came back; the older man guessing that she was slightly in shock at seeing how much Riley had grown since she’d given birth to him and how he was growing into a tiny little person already in those almost two years she’d missed.
Deciding that it might be best to give Riley a little more time to get used to Meghan before any introductions were made between the two, William turned his head from Gabe to Meghan before starting up something which might possibly resemble a conversation as Riley crawled a little closer to him across his lap, leaning against his daddy’s chest and gripping William’s shirt with one hand.
“Meg’s going to be in town for a few days,” William told Gabe. “Well, a little way away from here. Visiting friends... you know,” Bill continued, wondering in the back of his mind why it was so awkward talking to Gabe just then. Gabe, for fuck’s sake.
“So you were just... in town,” Gabe addressed Meghan, the words coming out a lot less friendly than he’d intended. So much for making an effort...
“I’m staying with friends, yeah,” she replied, eyes only shifting to meet Gabe’s for a moment or two before they returned to looking at Riley. “But that’s not why I’m here.”
“She wants to get to know Riley, Gabe,” William said almost carefully before his voice took on a tone of slight warning to match the look he was giving his boyfriend. “Which is... nice,” he added, turning to give his old friend a reassuring smile. Meghan was clearly a little uncomfortable then, and William couldn’t really blame her with the way Gabe was acting towards her.
Yeah, Gabe thought silently as he tried to rearrange his features into an expression at least resembling friendly, maybe even welcoming at a stretch, if by ‘nice’ you mean ‘completely out of the blue and just plain weird’, sure.
“Do you want to hold him?” William asked Meghan, the girl immediately shifting in her seat as if she thought if she wasn’t sat securely enough she might just fall off randomly and hurt the toddler, but she nodded.
“Yeah,” she spoke almost hesitantly, as if she wasn’t even sure, Gabe thought. “Please.”
In a way it seemed strange to Gabe how Meghan seemed to need permission to hold her own son, and even William offering Riley to her didn’t seem to change anything. But then again, in Gabe’s opinion, she really did need to earn the right to be close to someone as awesome as Riley, even if he was only a baby still. Two years was a lot to make up for.
“Ry baby,” William leaned forward so he could look at his son’s face which Riley was partially hiding in Bill’s shirt still. “This is Meg, okay?” he said, knowing that even though Riley didn’t really understand the words, the toddler had a grasp of what ‘okay’ meant and definitely understood tones in his and Gabe’s voices. “She wants to say ‘hi’ to you,” William continued as lifted Riley into his arms and shifted across so he could turn his son around to sit on Meghan’s lap instead.
Almost holding his breath, Gabe just watched Riley sitting on Meghan’s lap as she tentatively put an arm around the toddler’s waist to keep him secure. Riley was sat still - something which was extremely rare when the twenty-one month old wasn’t actually asleep or something close to it, one hand closed tightly around a couple of William’s fingers which Riley had grabbed onto and refused to let go, as if he thought his daddy was going to abandon him in this stranger’s lap.
Looking at Riley, Gabe could easily see that the child wasn’t comfortable. He hadn’t even turned his head to look at Meghan, let alone snuggle into her like Riley would do to himself, William or Sheila. Despite being anxious - almost desperate to remove Riley from the situation if it was distressing him in any way, Gabe still held himself back, let William remain in control of the interaction. Except, of course, it was Riley who was really in control, and it was then that he decided to remind them all of it. At the first sign of Riley squirming and trying to get out of Meghan’s lap Gabe braced himself for what he knew would soon follow the toddler’s whimpers.
“No!” Riley yelled his very favorite word as he attempted to turn over in Meghan’s lap so he could slide down to the floor. Unsure of what to do, she looked to William for guidance as the skinny male bent forward and planted a few kisses on Riley’s cheeks, trying to get his son to calm down. Clearly not pleased at all, Riley pushed William’s face away and decided to step up the volume a little. “No no no!” Riley practically screamed the last word and it snapped Gabe out of him self imposed restraint.
“Put him down for God’s sake!” the words came out of Gabe’s mouth before he could stop himself and despite how harsh they might have sounded they at least had the desired effect. Once Meghan had helped Riley down from her lap the toddler ran to Gabe and tugged on his papi’s pant leg, straight away snuggling into Gabe’s hoodie the second he had helped Riley climb up onto his lap. “Tomar las cosas con calma, bebe,” he murmured, stroking his hand over Riley’s soft curls and pressing his lips to the top of his head.
“He’s probably tired,” William said almost apologetically to Meghan as soon as he was sure Riley was okay and had calmed down a little. “He gets upset easily when he needs a little nap,” he explained.
“And when he doesn’t know people,” Gabe added without thinking, wincing slightly when William turned to give him a look that clearly said very helpful, Gabriel. “But, uh, so it’s not just you,” Gabe gave Meghan a smile that he hoped was somewhat encouraging and might help William just, like, not look at him like that anymore.
“He really doesn’t know me,” Meghan shrugged slightly, her voice tinged with something Gabe might have labelled as regret if he wasn’t so ready not to. “But... I want him to,” she continued, leaning forward and reaching across William’s lap to stroke one finger down Riley’s leg, jiggling his foot a little and actually making the toddler smile before he buried his face completely in Gabe’s hoodie; going all shy again.
“Meg...” William started hesitantly. “It’ll take more than a few days for that to happen,” he told her. “A lot more,” Bill said firmly, wanting Meghan to understand that it wasn’t just going to happen overnight. To have any kind of relationship with a child meant being around them a lot and gaining their trust, as well as their love, if you were lucky... a wave of happiness rose for a moment inside William as he remembered how effortlessly Gabe had fitted into his and Riley’s lives; how they’d both fallen in love with him so quickly.
“I know,” Meghan replied quickly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she looked from Gabe to William, her gaze remaining on the younger of the two, her old friend. “But that’s why -” she paused as if she wasn’t sure how to say her next words, or as if she wasn’t sure how they’d be taken. “I want to be his mom. I want to be a real mom to Riley.”
***A/N: Yes, lots of you knew who it was lol :)