Chapter 11

Alick

Daddy looked guilty.

It took me a few seconds to realize I was lying on the swing with my head in his lap and several more to remember that I'd fallen asleep.

Daddies were sneaky…why hadn't I realized that?

Hmm.

"Were you naughty, Daddy?" Being little felt like it would be funner, so I didn't even try to be big. "You look like Stefan when he's been naughty. Kenzie pretends not to know he's naughty and Lorne always thinks he's right."

Daddy pressed his lips together and tried not to smile but he laughed. "Lorne seems kind of scary."

Giggling, I nodded. "Don't forget, Daddy. He looks cute but he's very naughty."

His Daddy said he was a handful and I thought there had to be a bigger word for him.

"I won't forget." Daddy leaned over and kissed my head. "But I'm very glad you're my mate because you're cute and happy and you make me smile."

Daddy thought I was cute.

I wanted to just wiggle and smile but then Daddy sighed. "But I might've overstepped, so you just tell me if I have."

Oh.

"You're my mate, Daddy." That fixed a lot and would even make it so he never got too frustrated with me even if I was Lorne-level naughty.

Magic was amazing.

"Mates still have to apologize sometimes." Daddy gave me another head kiss and ran his hand down my back as I rolled over to snuggle closer. "When you were taking your nap, my brother texted me and I invited him to come visit in about a month. I should've asked you first if that was okay, but I didn't think about that until after I'd asked him."

Daddy shrugged and looked like he wanted to say sorry again. "I was excited for you to meet him and excited to show off how cute my mate is."

He was so silly.

"I'm excited for you to meet my friends and family, Daddy." Daddy had been lots and lots patient. "But…but my family only sees me big. That's…that's why I don't get little at the diner like Kenzie does. Everybody knows 'cause everybody's nosy, but your family…I don't…"

Would they see me little?

That was…

"Does family do that?" My family never did that. "I'm big Alick with mine. I talk about work and stuff like that with them."

They knew but they pretended they didn't…just like I pretended not to know that they were naughty too sometimes.

"We ignore naughties, Daddy." We were really good at that. "Kenzie said it's weird."

Daddy scrunched up his face and looked very thinky. "Well, first of all, no one is weird for wanting privacy or for not wanting to discuss interesting things with their family."

That was good…Kenzie seemed really sure it was weird.

"I think it's perfectly reasonable for you to be big Alick who talks about work when we're with your family." Daddy didn't even scrunch up his face, so I knew he was being honest. "You'll call me Grady and we'll talk about work and plans and where we had our grown-up dates."

Oh, those were good ideas.

"They'd like that, Daddy." And we could make lots of plans to go places.

"I'm glad." Daddy smiled as he tickled me just a tiny bit and made me laugh. "And my family wants to meet my mate. Even if everyone is big and utterly boring the whole time they're here, it will be fine because I just want to show them how wonderful you are."

I got another kiss and he grinned. "And how cute you are."

Giggling, I nodded and wiggled closer so I was snuggled against his tummy. "But if we're not big and boring?"

I could be little around his family?

"Then we'll be Daddy and boy and really funny and have lots of playtime." Daddy shrugged and looked like we were talking about flowers and stuff, not little stuff. "Remember, my brother is a Daddy too and Erin is little like you. She's going to be shy around someone new but she's really excited to make new friends."

Oh.

"I got friends, Daddy. I can share them." They liked making new friends too. "We can play and Lorne has lots of stuff and Stefan likes tea parties."

Daddy gave me a big smile. "That would be wonderful."

Before I could start worrying, Daddy rubbed my nose with his. "And if you don't want to be little around them, that's fine. You can be a big friend who helps Erin play or you can sit around with the Daddies and talk boring stuff."

"I'm good at being boring too, Daddy." But that might not be as much fun as playing. "But I might want to be kind of little. Like tea party little."

Daddy's smile got bigger and bigger. "That sounds like a lot of fun and I'd be very proud of you for trying."

"'Cause…" Daddy was a good Daddy and a good mate and he'd even made Kenzie say sorry. "'Cause I don't have to be little-little to have fun."

Daddy nodded and kept up his big smile. "I know. There are all kinds of ways to have fun being little."

Whew.

Daddy looked around and got thinky again. "How about you show me around inside and tell me about all the things you like playing? That way I'll know what toys Erin might want to bring and you can tell me what you think she might like even if you're not little."

Hmm.

"She can play with my toys even if I'm big and boring, Daddy." Yes, I could share toys and friends. "And…and you can tell her that even if I'm nervous, she can play and be brave."

Daddy made a frowny face. "It's brave just to tell her about your little side and share toys. Is that clear? I won't have you talking bad about my mate."

I was his mate.

He was so silly.

But I played the naughty game and nodded, pretending to be serious. "Yes, Daddy. I'll be nice to him. He's brave."

Kind of.

But I wouldn't tell Daddy that part. It was like crossing my fingers so I didn't have to be all honest. I could just be a tiny bit honest that way. Lorne said so and Kenzie had agreed with him, so it had to be true.

"Good." Daddy rubbed my nose and when I sat up and gave him a hug, he was back to being smiley again. "I'm glad we understand that."

He was silly.

"Yes, Daddy." He was so cute I kissed his cheek. "Let's show you where my snacks are first."

My tummy agreed with that idea and rumbled, making Daddy laugh. "Yes, snack time and then we'll have the rest of our tour."

Snack.

Tour.

Toys.

Trailer.

Ha, those words were funny together.

"Then we'll put your little house where it belongs and we'll pick out places for my toys." As I carefully climbed off the big swingy bench so I didn't fall, Daddy made a thinky sound.

"Where do you think my little house belongs?" Daddy sat up and stretched like a big sleepy bear. "You have a big driveway."

Yep, 'cause the magic said so.

"This way, Daddy." Pulling his hand, I hurried him faster around the side of the house. "See? The electrician man said this is helpful."

I pointed to the big special plug the man had put in by the tiny first driveway. "My house is old, old, old and I got it fixed. The mage man electrician man was frowny and magey but he said a big plug was important and he even had his special friend give me a big water thingy."

Even big me couldn't remember what their real names were because they weren't plants or flowers or trees or toys.

Daddy frowned before his mouth dropped open like I'd given him a special present. "Baby boy, these are the right things for me to plug the trailer into the house. This way it can have all the power it needs and water. This is perfect."

Magic.

Mate magic.

Daddy chuckled and shook his head. "Let me guess, a few months ago you just had to get the wiring fixed?"

Nodding, I swung his hand. "It went pop and poof and the box on the house got sad. So I got it fixed. But Kenzie's real dad…his regular one, not his Daddy…he'd said a while ago that it was going to go poof and so I saved up poof money. He was right. He's right about stuff like that all the time."

"Does Kenzie's father build things?" Daddy looked around at the house like it would talk. "Is he a handyman?"

"He builds things." Swinging Daddy's hand, I took him around to the porch again 'cause I was hungry and starving and my tummy was talking again. "He made me flower shelves in my playroom. Kenzie said it was okay if he saw my playroom because he's not my regular dad. He didn't even giggle at my toys. He knew they were special."

Daddy squeezed my hand. "I'm glad. My parents were killed in a small plane crash before me and Jeff were ready to talk about being Daddies, so they never knew, but I think they'd have been accepting of it."

"Oh, Daddy. I'm sorry." I didn't want my family around all the time like Kenzie's were but I didn't want them all gone.

"It's okay, baby boy." Daddy kissed my forehead and smiled. "It was a long time ago and the big sad part is all gone. They'd have liked you, though. My mother would've said you were a stud. She liked that word."

Giggling, I hid against Daddy's chest. "She sounds silly."

"She was." Daddy chuckled and kissed the top of my head. "And my father would've liked that you work with your hands. He thought those were the best kinds of jobs."

"They are." He was smart. "I'd have liked them too, Daddy."

Daddy wrapped me up in a big hug. "I'm glad…but now I need to feed my boy before his tummy turns into a monster."

I shook my head and giggled. "No, Daddy. Tummies don't do that."

He was frowning as I stood straight and tall and took his hand again. "I don't know. Yours sounds like a monster."

"He's just empty. He likes snacks because he says we work hard." I shrugged. I couldn't help it. "And I like snacks. They're yummy."

Daddy laughed and nodded. "They are. Alright, show me your yummies."

Yay.

"I've got little yummy snacks and big yummy snacks and healthy ones so I can tell Kenzie's Daddy I ate fruit and I have ice cream so I can tell Kenzie that I had a treat." I giggled, making Daddy laugh and give me a funny look.

"Let's define fruit."

Daddy was so smart.

"I like ice cream, Daddy, do you?" I didn't think I wanted to play word games. "Kenzie said some people don't like ice cream even if it doesn't make their tummy hurt. He said some people like hard desserts and some like soft desserts and some like cakey desserts and some like cookie desserts."

Daddy sighed. "Fine. I won't ask about fruit."

Yay.

"Applesauce is a fruit and the gummy snacks I like best have juice and they added fiber and Kenzie said that's very important." Or there was no poop.

That was bad, so littles had to eat fiber even if there was no grown-up around to make them.

"Yes." Daddy nodded very seriously as we went into my kitchen. "Fiber is very important."

"I eat fiber." Because tummy aches were bad but telling about it was worse. "I eat carrots and beans and lots of potatoes—even the purples ones because that's a really healthy color—and celery. That looks like it has lots of fiber, Daddy."

It was weird and stringy, so it had to be fibery.

"It sounds like you eat lots of fiber and veggies." Daddy kissed my head before he smiled at my kitchen. "This is a beautiful kitchen, baby boy."

"Kenzie's regular dad did it. He's good with stuff." He liked fixing things too. "He helped me make the house pretty."

That was very important because Kenzie said the universe wouldn't send me a mate if it looked like I didn't want one. So we had to have real furniture and real food in the house and a bed big enough for our Daddies to sleep in too.

His mom said so and she knew lots about mates.

"He did a wonderful job." Daddy smiled at my pretty cabinets and ran his hand over the wood. "They're beautiful."

Daddy liked pretty cabinets as much as Kenzie's dad did.

Kenzie's mom was really smart.

"When did he help you? How long have you owned the house?" Daddy didn't wait for an answer as he let go of my hand and started to wander around, petting the cabinets and making humming sounds.

Cabinets were very interesting to Canadians.

I was going to have to tell Kenzie.

I didn't think he knew that.

"Um, forever kinda?" I wasn't sure that was a good answer, so I tried to fix it. "I own it now but my aunt owned it before and her…her husband owned it before but not the husband who's my uncle, that was the other one, and then his mom had it? I think?"

That sounded right.

"It was teeny tiny and then they made it bigger and then it mostly burned down. That was on accident, though, and no one was mad. Sometimes things just explode. It's hard being a dragon." Oops. Poof. Boom. "Then it got fixed up and then it got old and then I got it and then we made it pretty."

Yep, it was fancy pretty…Lorne said so and he knew everything about pretty stuff.

Daddy turned to me and looked kind of confused until he started nodding. "So it's been in the family for a long time but there's been several renovations over the years. Yes. Sometimes things just explode but with the right spells we can make sure that doesn't happen again."

Daddy was so smart.

"The fix-it mage who made it so the swing won't fall said he made it so my house won't explode." Sometimes mages were really nice…especially when Kenzie's dad made them be nice. "It won't go boom."

Or burn up.

Or explode.

Or turn into a bubble…or something about air.

"That's wonderful." Daddy scrunched his face up and made his thinky magic face. "Yes, now I see it. Hmm, there's something I don't recognize but I'll figure it out."

"Airs and bubbles, Daddy." Nodding, I walked over and took his hand so he'd stop petting my cabinets.

I had other things he could pet.

"Airs and bubbles?" Daddy looked thinky again but he forgot to be confused when we walked into the living room. "Oh, baby boy, the floors."

"They didn't burn." Someone had magicked the floors but not the walls.

Oops.

"I can't imagine…that would've been…oh wow." Daddy knelt down and started petting the floors too.

Daddy liked petting my house.

It was weird, but if he stayed forever just to keep petting things, that was fine with me, and I knew Kenzie would approve too.

"They've got to be at least a hundred years old." Daddy was special presents on his birthday excited and just kept petting my floor. "The wood."

Was pretty?

Hmm.

I should've gotten my snack before he stopped petting the cabinets.

How long did Daddies usually pet things for?