Title:Bedtime Story
Author: Foxy Finn ([email protected])
Rating: G
Archive: @ my site http://www.geocities.com/foxy_finn44/
Category: Sports, RPS, NHL, Comrie/York
Feedback: I'd be crushed if you didn't.
Summary: It's bedtime
Disclaimer: If this ever happens, I'll eat my hat.
Author's Note: I was on a wake-a-thon at my cousin's. When I was watching Sports Centre at five in the morning, my cousin's four-year-old son had a nightmare and sat on the couch with me until he felt better. That was my inspiration.

I watched him play as I walked down the stairs. He played with his trains in the living room, unaware of the time. I could stand at the top of the stairs and watch him for hours. I smiled as he quietly made up little stories in his head. He�s hand them spread around the carpet downstairs for two weeks, and neither of us has had the heart to clean it up. It�s cluttered, but I�m so glad we bought him those trains.

"Jacob," I called, moving to stand near him. "It�s time for bed."

He sat up, not looking at me as he connected two more pieces of track. "Few more minutes, daddy, please."

"Nope," I smiled, leaning against the banister. "You�re staying with Uncle Paul tomorrow, so you�ll have to get up early."

Jacob finally turned to look at me. "Uncle Paul doesn�t have nice toys."

I grinned, kneeling next to him. "We could bring your trains if you wanted to."

Jacob fiercely shook his head. "No. They�re all nice here."

"Come on, Jake. Time for bed." I picked him up. He went willingly, resting his head against my shoulder as I started up the stairs to his room. He�d dressed for bed a half an hour ago, but managed to get some more playing time. We missed being around him on road trips, so we tried to get as many hours in as we could.

He climbed under his covers, yawning as he put his head on his pillow. "Tell me a story."

"Okay," I moved to pick a book off of the shelf, but he interrupted me during my search.

"Not a book story," he frowned. "Tell me one."

I sighed, kneeling next to his small bed. "Jakey, I don�t know many stories."

"Please, daddy." He asked, pouting. His eyes were his father�s and made me compelled to listen. I�d have to force myself to tell the worst story ever fabricated at bed time. At least I�m not like my father, and reading business magazines. Those just bored me and Paul to sleep.

I cleared my throat, trying to figure out what to say. "Okay, um, a long time ago there was a young prince."

"Was he just a prince, or did he have a different job too?" He asked.

There�s my Jake, always asking questions.

I smiled. "No, he was just a prince. But the prince was lonely. He lived in a castle all by himself, with no one else."

"Didn�t his parents visit?" Jake asked.

"They did, but that wasn�t enough." I rested my chin on my folded arms. "He needed friends his own age, like you have Steven and Justin."

He nodded.

"But," I continued, "an evil Ice Queen found out about the prince. She moved into the castle not to keep him company, but because she wanted his kingdom. She wanted to take everything he had. He was under her spell for a long, long time."

His eyes widened a little bit. "Then what happened?"

I heard some one clear his throat behind me, and glanced up. Mike smiled at the both of us, his hair still wet from his shower. Jake sat up with a big grin.

"Dad," Jake asked as Mike sat on the edge of his bed. "Do you know what happened with the Prince?"

Mike looked from Jake to me. I blushed a little as he raised his eyebrows and gave me a small grin. "Well, Jake, I think I do."

Jake nodded, anxious to hear more.

"The prince met a young knight one day." Mike smiled. "The young knight rode into the kingdom and saw the prince and how lonely he was. The knight broke the Ice Queen�s spell, and the prince was free."

"Were they friends?" Jake asked.

"Yes. They were best friends." I said, looking from Jake to Mike.

Mike smiled brightly, but his look quickly turned serious. "But the Ice Queen found out about their friendship, and threatened to take away the prince�s kingdom if the knight didn�t leave. The prince had to choose whether or not he wanted his kingdom, or his friend."

Jake cocked his head. "Why would the Ice Queen do that?"

"She didn�t have any love in her heart, sunshine." I said. "She didn�t like the knight at all."

"What did the prince do?" Jake asked.

"Well, the prince decided he�d rather be happy with the knight than live with some one like the Queen, who only wanted to hurt him. He left the Queen with everything she could ever want, and went with the knight." Mike slipped his hand into mine as he spoke, his eyes still on Jake. "And they lived happily ever after."

"Did they fight dragons? Did they rescue princesses?" Jake asked.

I laughed. "Of course they did. That�s what knights and princes do."

Jake folded his tiny arms behind his head with a satisfied look on his face. "That was a good story. Uncle Paul usually tells me stories about monkeys or karate guys."

"That�s because Uncle Paul is a dork, Jake." Mike kissed Jacob on the forehead, then took a step away from the bed.

I got off my knees, putting a light kiss on Jake�s forehead, then stood with Mike near the door. "Night Jakey-boy."

"Good night daddy. Good night dad." Jake said, his eyes fluttering shut as he put his head against the pillow. Mike shut off the light and closed the door behind us.

I smiled at the look on his face as his hand found mind as we started towards our bedroom.

"I never understood why you�re daddy, and I�m just dad." He asked.

I grinned. "That�s because I�m the cute one."

"Hmm, or because you let him stay up passed his bedtime and let him have an extra dessert." Mike stopped walking, putting his hands on my waist. I smiled as our eyes met, and he grinned back. "The Ice Queen was never that evil."

I sighed, my smile fading a little. "She did leave us her one redeemable quality."

Mike�s eyes held mine for a second. I don�t like it when we argue about his ex, but we still do. The only reason we have Jacob is because she never wanted a kid and didn�t have the first clue how to raise him. She dumped him on us when she got tired of him. We didn�t have a clue either, but we learnt. Jake only sees her when he has to, and even then that�s more time than I think is good for him. He doesn�t look like her at all, which is a good thing. Jake resembles Mike so much at that age it�s eerie.

Mike lightly kissed me. "I don�t know what Jake and I would do without you."

"You won�t have to worry about that because I�m not going anywhere." I smiled, leading him down the hall to our room. "I want Jake to grow up here, spend his summers in Michigan, and get into the NHL."

"His mother would love that." He smirked, sitting on the edge of our bed.

I shrugged, slipping out of my jeans. "She doesn�t care about him now, why would she when he�s old enough to be what he wants?"

Mike watched me slip into an old t-shirt before he said anything. "Mike, we can�t pretend that we�ll always be playing for the same team. Kevin and Craig can only do so much to keep us together."

He turned on the lamp and I switched off the main light. I sighed, crawling into bed next to him. "We�ll deal with that when we get there, okay?"

He smiled at me, brushing his hand down my cheek. "Okay."

He dipped his head to kiss me. My hands settled on his shoulders as I kissed him in return. He tasted like minty toothpaste. The kiss deepened as his tongue entered my mouth. I sighed as his hands traveled down my body. He gripped the t-shirt I wore and was about to pull it off, when we heard a small knock on our door. His lips broke away from mine with a small grin.

Mike untangled his hands from my shirt and we both sat up just as Jake opened the door. He peaked inside with sleepy eyes.

"What�s wrong, sunshine?" Mike asked.

Jake lingered in our doorway. "I was thinking that what if when I�m sleeping, the Ice Queen tries to come and take me."

"Any excuse to be with us." I whispered to Mike, who smiled. I looked over at Jake, then motioned him to the bed. "It�s okay Jake, that was only a story."

He climbed onto our bed, quickly settling in between us. "Can I still sleep with you guys?"

Mike smiled. "Of course."

He yawned. "I miss you when I�m at Uncle Paul�s."

"We miss you too Jake." Mike fixed the covers over Jake�s chest.

Jake folded his hands outside of the blankets. "Why can�t kids come on road trips?"

Mike switched over to his dad voice. "No more questions Jake. We all have a very early morning tomorrow."

"Okay." Jake frowned, closing his eyes. He rolled onto his side a few seconds later and was quickly asleep.

Mike shifted and turned off the bedside lamp, then turned to face me. Our eyes met in the near darkness. The blinds were opened, casting a pale-blue shade over everything in our room. I rested my hand on Jake�s chest, and Mike�s hand found mine. I know in the morning, Jake will be asleep on either my chest or Mike�s. He�s still small enough to get away with that.

My eyes were starting to get heavy. Mike smirked, giving my hand a quick squeeze.

"I love you, Michael William Comrie." He whispered.

I smiled. "I love you, Michael Allen York."

Then we kissed over our sleeping son�s head and fell asleep, forgetting what life used to be like before him.

~END