darker_london | Life goes on (Julian, Joe, Aislinn) (Reply)

Julian arrived home from his classes with a huge grin on his face. "I'm baaaaccckkk!" he announced, and he dropped his bag by the door before prancing into the living room. Joe was sitting there with Aislinn on his lap. The lack of further babies must have meant Ethan had already retrieved them. "My baby girl!" Julian scooped her into his arms and he kissed her all over her face before hugging her tight. "Was she good today?"

"Perfect angel, as usual," Joe replied with a small smile. "Jules-"

"She is my perfect angel," Julian cooed, and he kissed her belly while she laughed. "Where's Mum?"

"She's gone, Julian. I'm sorry."

Julian turned to look at his father then, all joviality and baby cooing melting away with those few words. "Oh. She left while I was in class?"

Joe nodded. "I'm sorry, Kiddo. She really wanted to see you again."

Julian frowned cutely, but he found he wasn't overly upset. Being around Thomas had basically taught him that he would see her again, even if he missed having her in his every day life so much. And if she was gone, it meant she wasn't hurting. That was important. "Sucks. How are you?" Julian gave his father a scrutinising look. He hardly wanted to be abandoned to taking care of his father and his daughter all by himself again.

"I'm alright." Joe stood and he wrapped his arms around Julian and Aislinn. "Sort of melancholy, but nothing I won't work through. I miss her. But this time, I got to say goodbye and she left smiling, not..." Joe shuddered and did not finish the sentence, for which Julian was grateful. "Where's Damon?"

"He's at home with Renee and Kristina. Why don't we order out, Dad? Just us. We can watch a movie, or talk or...anything."

Joe smiled and he ruffled Julian's hair. "Sure thing, Kiddo. I think that's a great idea. What were you in the mood for?"

Moving on, Julian mused, had to be taken in steps. Showing they could still enjoy each other's company without Jordan and Jaida's...that was an important step. They both missed what they had been to them, but they appreciated what they were to each other too. The best thing to do then, was not to avoid the topic, and to act like themselves. So Julian's comment was very in character. "Something cosmopolitan, I think..." he answered, looking incredibly thoughtful.

Joe guffawed and he raised his eyebrows. "Beyond the drink, I don't even know what the hell that means!"

"Daaaaaad, no Hecky-boo in front of the tiny tot!" Julian jiggled Aislinn around and, thankfully, she did not repeat Joe's words at full volume as she occasionally did when people slipped. "It means new and...fresh..and..wanky."

"How is wanky not banished, but ...'hecky-boo'..is?!"

"Dad, one is an imaginary place, and the other is quite important! Now focus!" Julian deftly ignored the amused look on his father's face. "What about something Italian? It'd say French, but I don't think I could do with all the cream sauce. I'm watching my curves."

"Kid, you don't have any curves and they're a long way off. I'm still with you on the cream sauce. Italian then?"

"Or maybe I could make a fondue!" Julian was just teasing now, especially since cheese was just as fattening as cream sauce. His eyes glinted with devious intent as Joe shook his head firmly.

"Hey, you know I love you gay people and your clothes and your parades, but I am not eating gay food!" Joe shook his head at Aislinn. "Your daddy wants to make a fountain of cheese and dip skewered bread in it because he's very silly."

"Yay!" Aislinn clapped and Julian beamed.

"See? She thinks I'm brilliant." And he stuck his tongue out. "Where are the take out menus. That will make this easier. We can play eenie meanie or something."

"Junk drawer." Joe pulled open the drawer and extricated the menus. He spread them out on the kitchen bench and gave them a look. "Er...so it looks like it's pizza or pizza. Or that curry place that made your Uncle Adam sick."

"Ooh, no thanks, I'm not into experimental food." Julian shook his hand around in horror. "Pizza it is! That's Italian! Maybe the delivery boy will be cute! I want the Athena!"

"Of course you do." Joe grinned and he searched the menu for something himself and then he placed the order. When he finished, he rejoined Julian, who had drifted into the living room so he could let Aislinn play. The tiny girl was now busy trying to fit blocks into the wrong-shaped holes and giggling when her efforts came to nothing. Joe had a momentary pang, thinking about his own daughter, and how the loss of her had ripped him up inside. Then Julian looked up at him and grinned, and Joe smiled back, snapped out of his pain by his surviving child. His greatest achievement.

"Before long, she'll be building houses, just you wait."

Julian scoffed. "My baby isn't going to build houses! She's going to be a fashion designer and I'm going to be her number one client. Isn't that right Aislinn?"

"Bebe!" Aislinn shook around the star-shaped block she held in her hand. "Bebebebebe! Da!" And then she made a rather undainty noise, producing with it a great deal of spit, followed by a whoop of laughter.

Julian glared daggers at his father who tried to look innocent. "That's your fault, you know! Teaching her rude noises because you lumberjacks don't know better."

"To be fair, she looks like she enjoyed it!" Joe reached out and he turned the container over so the star-shaped hole was facing up. Immediately Ailsinn tried to shove the block in the hole sideways. It still didn't work. "Ah, a work in progress."

Julian brushed her red hair off of her face and then he kissed her cheek as she started to pound the container with the block. It was simpler entertainment and it made noise. "Oh, looks like we have a drummer!" Julian commented.

"You used to drum all the time."

Julian looked over at his father, confused. He had never had aspirations to be a drummer. "Really?"

"Absolutely. It was pretty constant. Spoons, your hands, your mother's hairbrush...anything you could bang against anything else and make a noise. We were resigned to having an unruly rock star from an early age. And then you decided you liked guitar more."

"I just like to be changeable." Julian chuckled, and he gave his father a loving smile. "Tell me more about me!"

"Well. When you were in kindergarten, you threw a fit because we were still dressing you and you wanted to pick your own outfits. We humoured you and you chose this pink and black ensemble which was strange because you didn't own anything pink at that point. I think you stole it from your Aunt Ellie. And when your mother tried to put your shoes on, you threw a hissy because they were brown and didn't match."

"Ah, exhibiting signs of good taste from an early age. So you knew I was gay then, hmm?"

Joe looked thoughtful and he handed Aislinn a tiny stuffed bear to play with as she tired of the block pounding. "I think we knew you were gay from the age of three when you insisted that Bertie the Bear and Melvin Penguin were boyfriends and you wanted them to sleep with you in your bed."

"OOoh, naughty threesomes!" Julian giggled. "Wow. Yep, that sounds like me. I loved those guys! They were," Julian whispered, "lovers."

"And I'm sure they loved you too," he winked. "I can remember your first word. Dada of course. Your first day of school when you refused to let go of my hand when I dropped you off. The first time you came home and told us you liked a boy. Which was two days after your first day of school..."

Julian laughed loudly at that. "That sounds like me too! Dad...I'm really sorry you don't get to have that all again. With Jaida. It sucks because you should have had it and it was taken from you."

Joe nodded quietly. "It does suck." He said the word as if he would rather have said another choice few, but Aislinn was in front of him, happily playing away, and he didn't want to infringe on the 'no swearsies' rule. "But I get to watch you have it. And I get to do that when I'm young enough to help out in a more active way. And that's pretty damn special too."

"I was just...so looking forward to having Aislinn and Jaida go through everything together. Like twins, but...different. I always had you guys, but I never had a sibling until Jaida. And there was a seventeen-year gap there. I loved her, but we didn't go to school together, and I wanted Aislinn to have that so bad. Like...you know...you and your brothers and sisters."

Joe leaned over to kiss Julian's forehead and he nodded. "I know. But Jaida will have Deirdre's twins and Kat's twins and Langford and James and Marie. Not to mention Peter's kids. We were sort of isolated when we had you because we had you young. We got married before most of our friends had really started being serious. We had you when they started getting engaged. By the time they had kids, I could give them advice and your old clothes, but you were already four or five and not interested in wasting your time with tinier people than you."

"It wasn't bad, Dad." Julian bumped his shoulder lightly against Joe's arm. "I just wanted that for Aislinn. But you're right, she can still have it. And she can grow up to be like Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls without that stupid part in the middle where she vomits on Jonathan Bennett. Who is so hot by the way!"

Joe laughed and he patted Julian's shoulder. "I have no idea what you just said, but I'm sure whoever he is, he's hot. So. Speaking of hot," Joe grinned wickedly. "Damon's birthday tomorrow. You want me to watch the little lady?"

Julian's eyes widened and he stared at his father. "Really?!"

"Of course, really. He's turning nineteen, you two should have a blast."

Julian squealed and Aislinn squealed too and they both clapped their hands. "Thank you, Daddy!" Julian kissed Joe's cheek and then he jumped up and ran for the DVD shelf so he could choose a movie. Joe watched him with a small smile on his face.

His missed his wife. It hurt. But they were going to be just fine.