3 - The First Step

"Okay, you guys have a nice day." Cailen heard as he led Ezekiel- their son, their officially adopted son- out of the adoption agency, Asher following behind and mumbling out a 'you too'.

When they emerged from the darkness of the building and into the bright morning sunlight, Cailen squinted up into the sky, a beaming smile on his face because it was official.

They had a son. Cailen and Asher were fathers.

It was exciting, frightening and wonderful all at the same time.

"Okay." Came Asher's voice from behind Cailen, an arm snaking its way around Cailen's waist.

Cailen grinned over his shoulder at the man, meeting his eyes and seeing everything he felt reflected in the brown of his eyes; happiness, excitement, and a little bit of uncertainty but Cailen leaned in to place a quick kiss on his cheek, chasing it away.

After sharing a smile with his husband, Cailen glanced down at the little boy beside him, the eight year old coming to just above Cailen's waist.

Ezekiel smiled slightly up at Cailen then behind him to Asher, both parents returning it.

"Back to school, I guess?" Asher suggested, making the smile fade from Ezekiel's lips.

Cailen scoffed at him.

"You're sending my boy back to school? Today?" Cailen asked incredulously, running his fingers through Ezekiel's shaggy hair. "Ash, we all have the day off, let's do something. As a family." Cailen said, looking from Ezekiel to Asher.

"Yeah, Asher, let's do something!" Ezekiel agreed, turning to look up at Asher who smiled down at him.

"You just don't want to go to school." Asher replied to which Ezekiel grinned back at him innocently.

"What kid does?" Cailen asked as he started to make his way down the steps and over to the car.

Ezekiel followed behind, running right past Cailen and up to the car where he pulled on the handle repeatedly, as if that would unlock it somehow.

Cailen chuckled as he dug into his pocket in search for his keys, having to stop in the middle of the parking lot because he apparently cannot multitask. When he finally got them out, he clicked the 'unlock' button, the lights on the car flashing and the door Ezekiel was tugging on flying open.

Ezekiel stumbled a bit at the door suddenly opening but quickly recovered before climbing into the backseat of the vehicle.

Before Cailen could make his way over again, he felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist and a soft kiss being placed on his cheek. Cailen sank back into the embrace, turning his head to give Asher a proper kiss.

"I love you," Asher said after pulling away, a smile on his lips. "And I'm so happy I get to take this next step of my life with you."

Cailen's smile grew at his words, the same intensely fond feeling that could only be described as love that he always felt when he looked at Asher washed over him, a warmth spreading through him that had him turning in Asher's arms to give him a proper hug.

Cailen nuzzled his head in the crook of Asher's neck, inhaling that smell that was just so Asher- cologne and that citrus shampoo that he loves. He felt Asher kiss near his ear, probably the only place he could reach, and instinctively pressed his lips to the first part of Asher he could which happened to be his neck.

"Ditto." Cailen mumbled, chuckling as Asher pulled away to look at him, an amused and incredulous expression on his face.

"That's it?" Asher asked, a smile breaking through his attempt at looking hurt. "I say 'I love you' and talk about our life together and you say 'Ditto'?"

"Yup." Cailen agreed, grinning at him before pecking his lips again and slipping out of his embrace.

Cailen headed over to the car, sending Asher a wink before dropping himself into the driver's seat and seeing Asher chuckle and shake his head fondly at his husband.

*****

Cailen had been surprised and overwhelmed when Ezekiel had said that yes, he did want to be a part of their family.

He wasn't expecting it even though Asher had assured him that he was worrying over nothing, as usual, so when the words left the little boy's mouth, Cailen couldn't help but get a little- okay, a lot- emotional.

Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged and the whole debacle was a bit silly if you asked Cailen but he couldn't help it.

Ezekiel had been pretty quiet the whole time but Cailen remembered what it was like to be in his position- the uncertainty and fear that it was all just too good to be true- so he didn't think too much about it.

It just made him promise himself that he would do everything he could to make Ezekiel believe that Cailen and Asher loved him and that he wasn't going anywhere until he was heading off to University- something Cailen didn't even want to think about yet.

Cailen didn't want Ezekiel to go through any of the things he had to go through when he was a young boy.

He didn't want Ezekiel to live in fear of not being good enough, he didn't want Ezekiel to think he had to hide any part of himself from them. He wanted Ezekiel to know that he could come to them about anything, that they would be here for him no matter what.

Cailen had been rather foolish as a child to think that his adoptive Mother and Father, Eden and Dean, wouldn't love him even though they personally hadn't done anything to deserve such an assumption about them.

He knew now he could have gone to them about anything, and that he still could. He just wished he had known that at the time.

It would have saved everyone a lot of hurt and worry.

It was just that his whole life- before Eden and Dean- he had felt like he had been nothing but a reject, and he had been, with every family he had been sent to.

He just couldn't get past all that. He had feared that if he had come out as gay, if he showed them he wasn't the person they thought he was, his family would have kicked him out and would have wanted nothing to do with him.

He knew he couldn't have handled that, he knew that without Eden, Dean, William and Stella, he would've been lost.

He didn't want Ezekiel to have to go through that.

That's not to say that Cailen thought Ezekiel was gay. It may be too soon to tell but Cailen was fairly certain that he wasn't with how he always seemed to find the prettiest girl in the grocery store and played the 'I'm lost, help me find my daddy!' game, but Cailen didn't want him feeling like he had to hide any part of himself, whether that be him being gay or wanting to go to Uni in another country.

He wanted Ezekiel to trust them. He wanted Ezekiel to be able to ask them the hard questions, to tell them if he's having problems at school or anything like that.

Cailen knew what the 'orphanage life' could do to a kid and he would do everything in his power to make sure Ezekiel didn't turn out like he did.

"Cailen, can we get ice cream?" Ezekiel asked from the backseat of the car, his brown eyes wide with excitement in Cailen's rearview mirror.

Cailen wanted to say yes, he wanted to give Ezekiel whatever he wanted but he knew he couldn't.

"Zeke, love, you had ice cream yesterday. It's not good for you." Cailen explained as gently as possible, watching as a pout formed on the little boy's face.

"Please?" Ezekiel begged, sitting as far forward in his seat as he could to look at Asher.

"Please, Asher? Can we?" He asked because he wasn't getting the answer he wanted from Cailen.

Cailen saw Asher look back at the boy, his bottom lip pulled in between his teeth and Cailen knew from that alone that they would be going for ice cream.

Asher had issues telling Ezekiel 'no' and Cailen thought that Ezekiel was beginning to pick up on that.

The clever little bugger.

"Pretty please?" Ezekiel begged again, making Asher turn to Cailen.

"It's a special day, right?" Asher asked, making Cailen roll his eyes at the road as he heard Ezekiel cheer from the backseat, knowing he had just won.

He would have to talk to Asher later.

*****

"Did you see that bird, Asher?" Ezekiel asked, his voice excited as Cailen unlocked the door to the flat.

They had just come from the park after getting that ice cream Asher promised. Cailen figured that the park would be a good place to burn off all that sugar, and it was, because Ezekiel spent most of the time chasing after birds and trying to catch them, but Cailen hadn't thought about the fact that it was spring and everything was wet now, including his son.

"Yeah, you almost had it, buddy." Asher praised, ruffling up Ezekiel's shaggy hair.

Ezekiel beamed up at him as they walked through the door.

The first thing Cailen noticed was the lack of barking and clacking of claws, the second was the pile of foreign shoes to the right of the door, a pair of them being ridiculously long ones that looked familiar and he only knew one person who would actually fit those.

"Zeke, love, would you go change quickly?" Cailen asked as he tried to wiggle his key out of the hole. "You're all wet." Cailen finished, finally managing his key.

For once, Ezekiel did as he was told and scurried off down the hall, turning into his room with a skid and nearly running into the doorframe.

"Maybe he should go for a bath..." Cailen added as an afterthought.

"No time. We've got company." Asher replied, pointing to the pile of shoes.