Alexandria VA
06:00
It was 6:00am, that much Clay knew.
He could set his watch by his son... it was incredible.
That it was 6:00am, the morning after he got off a 16 hour flight across 3 continents did not phase the child.
It was Saturday, he was awake and according to him, so should the rest of the world be.
With what could only be described as an Olympic diving manouver, Cody leapt from the chair beside Clay's bed right onto his chest, at once knocking the stufffing out of him and in the process waking him up completely.
Once having assertained that his target was indeed fully awake, Cody proceeded to bounce ever so slightly up and down, creating a reasonable earthbound simulation of air turbulance.
"Wake up Dad, it's morning time."
Cody said pushing his face into Clay's.
One of the first things Clayton Webb noticed about his 4 year old son, was the awful smell on his breath. The second thing he noticed was that Casey was already gone, her side of the bed was empty, a note saying she'd gone to get breakfast from the cafe down the street.
"Cody, what have you been eating?"
"Breakfast." Cody said smiling, looking way too pleased with himself.
"And what did you have for breakfast Cody?"
Clay asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Me and 007 had breakfast together." Cody said
That explained it, he'd known he knew that smell from somewhere.
007 was the Golden Retriever puppy that Casey and Cody had suckered him into buying for Cody's birthday 2 months ago.
The mutt was more like a four legged demolition team than a dog.
In the first two days alone 007 had chewed through the antique Persian rug in the living room, devoured a pair of $400 italian leather gloves and peed in Clay's closet. But he was kinda cute and he had really brought Cody out of his shell so Clay was willing to live and let live... for the moment.
Clay sat up and looked at his son.
"Uh Cody, what did you and 007 eat for breakfast?"
Cody looked at Clay with a grin.
"That stuff in the packet in the cupboard."
With a groan Clay got out of bed, picking his son up with one arm he grabbed his robe with the other and headed downstairs clad in his boxers to assess the damage.
To his surprise the kitchen was reasonably tidy considering that Cody had obviously been awake for more than 20 minutes, Clay could only surmise that Casey had not been gone long enough for any real damage to occur.
But there in the middle of the kicthen floor was what Clay had hoped not to find.
3 foil packets of ready-mixed, soft puppy-chow lay on the floor, opened and eaten.
"That's disgusting Cody, how could you eat that?"
Clay said trying not to laugh as he picked up the packets from the floor.
Cody just gave him a lilttle boy grin.
The front door opened and slammed shut again.
"Hello?" Casey yelled out from the front door.
"In the kitchen Case." Clay yelled back.
Casey walked into the kicthen to find her recently domesticated partner holding a grinning four year old and a packet of dog food.
"What is that, or shouldn't I ask?" She said with a grin.
"My son's breakfast." Clay said failing to hold back the laughter at the look on Casey's face.
"Well I see you're following Spock's toddler nutrition program to the letter!!" Casey said dryly.
Clay groaned as Cody breathed on him again.
"Don't suppose you wanna keep him busy while I take a shower?" He asked hopefully.
"Well, I did go out and get breakfast, but I don't suppose either of you want Belgian waffles for breakfast...oh well I'll just have share them with 007."
She said with a grin.
Clay looked at his son and laughed.
"Lets get her."
He said as he put a squealing Cody down and watched him race after Casey as she escaped into the living room with the waffles.
He stood and watched from the doorway as Casey let Cody catch her and rewarded him with the bag containing the waffles.
Cody grabbed Casey's hand and pulled her towards the kitchen.
Soon after they arrived back in the states, Casey had moved in with Clay, it was the natural next step in their relationship and although Clay had thought that having Cody around would put a strain on his and Casey's relationship, in fact it had brought them closer that he had ever dared hope.
He remembered the first two weeks that Cody had been here, Casey had stayed up every night keeping watch over him, making sure that nothing happened to him and that he felt safe. She thought he didn't know about those nighttime vigils she had kept, but he did, and although he had said nothing, it had meant the world to him.
Cody and Casey had taken to each other like ducks to water, even going so far as to gang up on him when they both wanted something. The proof of that was sitting on the stairs wagging it's tail and growling at the carpet like a lunatic.
Casey looked up and caught him staring, a small smile on his lips.
"What?" She asked smiling back as she came to stand beside him.
"Nothing." He said smiling as he put his arms around her waist and looked down over her shoulder at the waffles she was preparing. 'Just thinking about waffles and dogfood."
Casey laughed at him.
"Wait til your Mom and AJ hear about this."
Clay let out a small groan Aj finding out about this was the last thing he needed.
They had just sat down to eat when a startled yelp and then a loud howl came from the upstairs bathroom.
"What's that mutt up to now?" Clay said wearily.
Casey flashed him a smile and watched him as he ran up the stairs to the master bathroom.
Clay's shout of laughter brought Casey running, Clay rarely truly laughed out loud like that so, whatever had happened, it must be good.
When Casey got there,Clay was sitting beside the toilet laughing as he pulled a wet, bedraggled looking 007 out of the toilet bowl.
"What happened?" Casey said laughing at the miserable looking puppy Clay was holding.
"He...He was....He went...head first into the toilet."
Clay said between laughs.
007 looked at his saviour with grateful, if not slightly dopey, brown eyes and proceeded to show his affection with a very slobbery wet tongue.
Casey shook her head.
"Your son eats dog food, your dog falls down the toilet and you have cold waffles for breakfast. You're a model parent darling!!"
Clay could do little more than laugh as he grabbed a towel walked down the stairs to dry off the wriggling bundle of appreciative puppy.
Casey walked down the stairs, to find Cody still sitting at the table eating his waffles.
"007 fell in the toilet!" She said with a smile.
Cody didn't even look up.
"Cody? You OK?"
The little boy looked at her across the table, with eyes that seemed years older than the four year old face they sat in and nodded.
Walking around the table to Casey's seat, he crawled onto her lap sitting silently for almost a full minute before he spoke.
"Casey" He said softly.
"Yes."
"You're not my real Mummy."
His voice soft as he played with a tendril of Casey's hair that had fallen over her shoulder.
"I know ." Casey said softly,cautiously as she wondered where this was all going.
"My real Mummy had to go to heaven."
He said with a sigh.
"That's right."
He suddenly turned his head and looked at her, a hopeful look on his face.
"I was thinking that maybe... if you like, you could be my other Mummy...if you wanted to?"
Casey smiled at the little boy.
"I would like that very much."
She said around the lump that had developed in her throat.
Cody simply nodded, the matter solved in his four year old mind, and scooted off her lap to go back to his waffles.
"Did 007 really fall down the toilet?" He asked with a grin, looking more like his father than ever.
"He really did, he got all wet and your dad had to get him out cause he was stuck in the toilet bowl!!"
She said with a smile as she collected the dishes from breakfast and carried them to the kitchen sink.
"Dumb mutt."
She heard him say, imitating his father, before he took off, to find his happless four legged friend.
Clay had been standing in the doorway to the kitchen,watching the little scene unfold.
"Wish I'd had a video camera for that one."
He said to Casey, as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Me too." Casey said, her voice thick with emotion.
"He loves you y'know." Clay said with a smile. "We both do."
"Loving two Webb's...the very definition of insanity." She said with a grin before he kissed her.