15. Marshall

Chapter 15

Marshall

Marshall's head was still feeling confused from what had happened with Zane, but luckily for him he soon had some company in the shape of Dale, Nick, and Arlo.

‘I think this is my cue to leave,' Max said, a knowing look on his face as the four Littles gathered together over by the play area of Marshall's apartment. ‘The last thing you need is a Daddy getting in your way right now.'

‘Thanks Max,' Marshall replied, a warm smile on his face. ‘Thanks for being a great friend.'

‘Hey, don't mention it,' Max said, waving goodbye as he stood by the apartment door. ‘Rest up today and I'll see you back in work tomorrow.'

With that Max shut the door behind him and the apartment was suddenly a Littles-only zone. Marshall knew that he still had to work things out with Zane, but quite what that would look like wasn't entirely clear. The reality was that Zane had massively overreacted and jumped to conclusions. Marshall could handle a little bit of the green eyed monster, but Zane's response was altogether too much.

And taking Zane out of the equation still left the issue of Tag Rackvill hanging over Marshall. All in all, Marshall was very glad to have his friends around him.

‘Hey, let's get changed into our rompers,' Arlo said, excitedly unpacking his bag and taking his stuffie Sass the strawberry out and placing him next to Beachie. ‘We've got one injured Little who needs juice, candy, and lots of fun to cheer him up.'

‘Yeah, and we don't need to even mention the D-word once,' Nick added. ‘Whatever's going on with you and Zane, I'm sure you two will figure it out.'

‘But let me guess, Max's reappearance in town is part of the problem?' Dale said. ‘Daddies can kind of be pretty intense if they think their boy is being hit on. And I think Zane probably got caught out by surprise with how strongly he felt. I'm not making any excuses for him, but still it's worth remembering.'

‘Hey, I thought we said no Daddy talk?' Arlo giggled.

‘ Naaaw , it's fine,' Marshall said, nursing his sore wrist. ‘But it's fine. I don't mind if we talk about Daddies. Me and Zane will work things out. And anyway, I've always got my friends. Thanks for coming over. I know you're all so busy with your lives. But I do appreciate it.'

With that, the four Little friends all changed into their rompers and began to play with their stuffies. Of course, Marshall had to take care of his sprained wrist but fortunately he had his caring friends by his side to make sure that his enthusiasm for fun times didn't go too far .

‘Come on, let's watch a movie,' Arlo said, yawning.

‘Guess who was up all night with his Daddy!' Nick giggled, rolling onto his back and kicking his feet in delight. ‘Did your Daddy make you go all funny down there?'

‘Not telling!' Arlo protested, his bright red cheeks giving the game away.

Marshall laughed along with his friends as they continued to talk all about the fun and naughty happenings they got up to with their Daddies. And with the addition of some giant choc-chip cookies that Nick brought over with him, the friends began to settle down and relax into Little Space soon enough.

‘Let's sing,' Arlo said, snuggling up next to Marshall as they lay on the play mat with a large, heavy rainbow patterned blanket covering them.

‘Sing-song-sing-song,' Nick gurgled, picking his sippy cup of milk and glugging it down.

‘I… want… to s-s-s-sing too,' Dale said, his eyes half-shut and his words tumbling out of his mouth as he curled up into a ball. ‘But I too tired. I sleepy.'

Marshall couldn't deny that he was close to falling asleep too.

It had been a heavy day. The disastrous morning shift at the diner, followed by Tag's unwanted appearance, then his fall, and finally the drama with Zane all added up to a real energy drain.

‘I think…' Marshall said, his words trailing off as his eyes shut and he drifted off to sleep with Beachie under one arm and a half a giant cookie in his other hand. ‘Sweet dreams… '

A nice long nap with his best Little friends wouldn't solve all of Marshall's problems, but the rest would help him recharge his batteries and put him in a better place to go about making things right.

But just as Marshall fell asleep, he saw two very clearly defined faces in his mind – both were handsome, gruff, and caring, but only one could be his Forever Daddy…

Marshall woke from his nap to the sight of his friends changing back into their day to day clothes. Marshall rubbed his eyes and looked around. Despite feeling like he'd been asleep all night, it was still light outside.

‘ Huh ? How long were we asleep?' Marshall asked, standing up from the makeshift bed of cushions, pillows, and his spongy playmat.

‘One and a half hours,' Nick said, stretching his hands above his head and looking as cute as ever in his matching dinosaur patterned brief and vest. ‘I thought you were going to sleep through us getting changed too. You were snoring like a baby!'

‘ Hehe , I do that when I'm really fast asleep,' Marshall giggled as he walked over to the nearby table and picked up a water bottle to drink from. ‘I'm thirsty now. And hungry too.'

‘Call Max and ask him to bring you up a snack,' Dale said. ‘I know he'd probably do anything for you.'

‘ Hmmmm ,' Marshall replied, his mind suddenly throwing back to the image he saw just as he drifted off to asleep. ‘Max's great but we're just friends. He knows that, and so do I. But maybe I need to tell him just how much Zane means to me. Just in case.'

Marshall's friends nodded in agreement.

And a few moments after the Littles left, Marshall called down to the diner and asked Max to come up when he had a chance.

Half an hour later and Marshall heard a courtesy knock on his apartment door. Max being the landlord meant he had a key, but Marshall knew that he would always respect his privacy and not just barge in unless there was an emergency.

‘ Oooh , thank you,' Marshall said as he opened the door to the most welcome sight of Max carrying a plate full of scrambled eggs, toast, a large side of potato wedges, and some condiments too. ‘This looks yummy.'

‘Well I wasn't going to let my friend and best employee go hungry,' Max smiled, walking into the apartment and setting the tray of food down on Marshall's small breakfast table.

Marshall could see that Max was a great guy and a real friend too. The fact that they had had some sexy times together was one thing, but from the bottom of his heart Marshall knew that him and Max weren't a truly romantic connection and never would be.

‘Can I say something, and I don't want things to get weird,' Marshall said, sitting down and fiddling with his knife and fork as the scrambled eggs stared back at him.

‘Sure, of course,' Max replied, sitting down next to Marshall .

‘I like Zane,' Marshall said, a little nervous and hoping that he wasn't about to hurt Max's feelings. ‘I know you and him didn't get off to a great start. And that definitely wasn't Zane's best side that you saw. But honestly, I think he's everything . I think he might be… my Forever Daddy.'

Marshall waited nervously for Max to respond.

For a moment it looked like Max might be about to stand up and leave the apartment. However Marshall's fears were totally unfounded and couldn't have been further from the truth.

‘That's awesome,' Max said, placing his hand on Marshall's shoulder. ‘I'd heard from Kipp that he was a good guy. And if you say he's the best, that's good enough for me. Truthfully, I'm so happy for you. We had fun for a minute, but our friendship is what connects us. Oh, and the fact that you make the best flat white in all of Eagle Ridge.'

‘Ha!' Marshall laughed. ‘It's true, I really do make the best coffee in town.'

And with that, Marshall felt a huge weigh lift off his shoulders. It wasn't that he needed Max's blessing to move forward with Zane, but it sure did mean a lot to Marshall to know that Max was genuinely happy for him.

Of course, there was still one dark cloud in the sky, and it came in the shape of a certain aggressive and bullying property developer. As Marshall began to explain everything that had happened since Max was away on business, he could tell that Max was getting more and more angry.

‘This won't stand,' Max said, the look in his eyes telling Marshall that he could count on his help. ‘I think what I need to do right now is find your Daddy and work with him to make sure that Rackvill turns his attentions away from Eagle Ridge for good.'

‘But you and Zane aren't exactly pals,' Marshall said. ‘I mean, not yet.'

‘Trust me, when a Little needs help, us Daddies can put our egos aside and work together,' Max said, his voice now full of authority. ‘And if Zane is half the man that you think he is, then I've got no doubt in my mind that he will be onboard with my plan to remove Tag Rackvill from our lives forever.'

Marshall smiled but inside he was full of trepidation.

Knowing that Max was on his side was great, but based on what Marshall had seen from Zane only a few hours ago, he truly didn't know how he would react to Max getting involved…