Just Like Paradise

“Here baby girl, just for you.” TJ pulled out Abby’s chair at breakfast the next morning, it was not quite ten but Brianna was still exhausted, yawning as she brought a forkful of eggs up to her mouth.

“Tired, Ma?” Tyler asked, slinging his arm around Brianna’s shoulder as she nodded, placing her hand on her son’s knee affectionately. Ever since Tyler was little, he had always been a secret Mama’s boy, he wouldn’t show it like Nate sometimes did, but he cared about his mother immensely. When they were young and TJ wasn’t around as much, he felt like that’s when his Mom needed him more than ever, and even though his father was always around now, he never lost that aspect of his personality.

“Daddy what are we doing today?” Abby asked, her long brunette tresses cascading over her shoulders softly, covering the straps of her pink bikini under her white cover up, ready for another day in the sun.

“Just exploring, maybe get some shopping done.” He added with a grin as she wiggled in her seat excitedly as Tyler and Nate exchanged unamused looks. “Then I was thinking we could go surfing.” He added to please his two sons.

“Score.” Nate grinned cutely before taking a bite of his Belgian waffle. Even by the end of breakfast, Brianna’s eyes were drooping dangerously low, not even her coffee keeping her eyes open or her yawns at bay.

“Bri, why don’t you head up and take a nap? You can meet us for surfing later, huh?” TJ suggested. Brianna nodded as Tyler placed his arm around his mother’s shoulder.

“We won’t do anything too fun without you.” He teased softly. “Abby will be shopping and we’ll be carrying bags.” He reassured, earning a soft laugh from his mother. The waitress returned with a drink in hand, sliding it in front of Tyler with a broad, bashful smile.

“This is from the woman across the bar.” She smiled subtly as Tyler’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he looked down at the Mimosa. “Enjoy.” The young waitress giggled before leaving. Tyler carefully let his eyes trail over to the bar to see two blonde cougars in less than flattering dresses that both smiled predatorily at Tyler, one sending a seductive wink that made TJ snort in a laugh.

“Knucks.” Nate stated, bumping fists with his brother before his father could reach across the table for the same reason.

“Ew.” Brianna scrunched up her nose. “That’s disgusting, Tyler, those women are older than me.” She added as Abby giggled hysterically, burying her face into her Dad’s shoulder. Brianna snatched the mimosa before Tyler could take a sip, lifting the glass in the women’s direction before taking a drink herself. “Yes, I’ll definitely need a nap after this.” She commented.

Soon, Brianna had headed up to the room, ready to snuggle into her bed while her family took off to explore what the city had to offer. Abby held Nate’s hand tightly as they followed Tyler and TJ, walking through the outdoor mall full of touristy shops with neon tees and pookah shell necklaces. The clan passed a tattoo and piercing shop, it wasn’t as run down as the other parlors nearby and looked exceptionally upscale.

“Oh!” Abby squealed, “I want to get my belly button piercing!” She tugged on Nate’s hand, immediately catching TJ’s attention as he stopped walking to face him.

“No.” He replied as she tried to make her eyes big, something that usually worked, but she wasn’t so sure about today.

“But Dad, it will be so cool to go back to school and say that I got my belly button pierced over spring break! Plus I really really want one.” She insisted with a pout. “Please?” She begged.

“No, not happening.” He shook his head. “Come on, I’ll let you go pick out some outfits.” He said finally, pulling her into a store aimed at teenage girls according to the way the mannequins were dressed in the windows.

Nate and Tyler sat in the store obediently as Abby tried on several outfits, asking for their opinion on each before she settled. She picked a flowy knee-length, white skirt and two different tops as well as two identical bracelets that she and her Daddy could wear. They were thin and fairly gender neutral, both of them grinning as Abby tied one around TJ’s wrist.

“We’re hungry.” Nate announced as they finally left the shop forty-five minutes later.

“We just ate…” TJ gaped, “an hour and a half ago!” He laughed, dropping his jaw at his two boys. They both continued to stare at their father, waiting for some sort of affirmation before he finally sighed and nodded. “Just don’t tell your Mom.” He said, leading them down the boardwalk into a local cantina. “We can split some apps.” He said as they were seated. It was a very small, authentic restaurant with dim lighting and a loud bar for just after noon, but then again, the whole city was swarming with college students.

“I have to pee.” Abby announced. “Get me a Sprite.” She kissed TJ’s cheek before taking off to find the bathroom.

TJ did just that as the waiter who spoke very little English came around taking drink orders, TJ also ordered a quesadilla platter, stuffed jalapenos and a plate of grande nachos. The Oshie men could eat a lot of food.

TJ was mid-bite into his chips with salsa ten minutes later when he looked around to see that Abby was still in the bathroom.

“Ty, go check on Ab.” TJ instructed, watching as his son got up from the table and crossing the restaurant to the restrooms. Tyler frowned as he knocked several times on the one-person women’s bathroom, receiving no response. He cautiously pushed the door open and quickly pulled it shut at the sight of a strange woman using the toilet.

“Uh! Sorry lady!” He quickly apologized, walking around the restaurant in search of Abby, wondering what kind of trouble she could get herself into. He finally heard that familiar giggle that both she and his mother possessed, but something was off about it. It was forced, and he finally found her as he looked over to see her cornered by a few men at the bar. One of them had his arm draped over her shoulders and Tyler could feel a terrible sinking sensation in his chest as he made his way over, his blood boiling at how uncomfortable she looked.

“Ab, come on.” He said, nodding his head in the direction of their table. “Lunch time.” He insisted.

“Hey buddy, give it a rest, we’re just getting to know one another.” One of the men grins, obviously some sort of frat boy here on break with a few of his buddies. “Oh I’m sorry, is this your main tug or something?” He asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“She’s my sister you creep, and she’s coming with me.” Tyler all but growled, reaching out to grab Abby’s arm as she tried to wiggle away from the frat boy who was enjoying his feel on her too much.

“Calm down little guy.” One of his buddies laughed, taking a drink of his beer.

“Relax.” The guy with his arm around Abby insisted, pulling her a little closer into his body. Her eyes were screaming with her brother to help her. Tyler grabbed Abby’s hand firmly and yanked his sister from the stranger’s grasp, causing him to swallow his drink hard and narrow his eyes at the oldest Oshie son.

“Listen, little fucker –”

“No, you listen, shit head.” TJ growled as he stepped in, positioning himself in front of his kids as Tyler held his baby sister in his arms behind his father.

“Holy shit!” The kid laughed excitedly. “It’s TJ fuckin’ Oshie!” He exclaimed.

“I know you’re not bothering my thirteen year-old daughter,” He paused to get right up in the stranger’s face, his eyebrows set in a menacing expression. “And I definitely know you’re not touching her.” He growled.

“Dude, that is your daughter? Holy shit!” The kid exclaimed, his drunk mind making his mouth run in all sorts of directions that it needed to stay out of. “That is one nice piece –“

He seemed to pause his sentence when TJ’s right fist came in full flying contact with the kid’s nose that would not doubt end up giving him a double black eye. As he fell to the floor, his friends stepped away, leaving the cantina as fast as possible. TJ leaned down to his level to whisper in his ear as he clutched his face in agony.

“If you don’t stay away from my family, I’ll make sure you end up on Dateline as just another kid who goes missing on spring break, got it?” He hissed venomously, shoving him back down to the ground before turning his back to follow Abby and Nate back to the table.

“Nay.” She whimpered, shuddering into Nate as he hugged her tightly, leading her back to the table. Tyler lightly paused his father, grabbing his bicep to gain his attention.

“You know I would have done something, right? I could have taken care of that.” He spoke, wanting to his father to know he would have done anything to protect his sister.

“I know, Ty.” TJ said, patting his son on the back, knowing he had the best sons a father could ask for. “I know you would have.” He repeated softly as they joined the rest of the table. And as TJ sat through their lunch, the deeper he thought about his sons and how he knew he could trust them with anything. The more he thought about that, the more he wanted to show his appreciation.

---

“You did what?! Brianna nearly had a coronary as her husband and three children greeted her back at the hotel hours after their lunch. “They are fifteen and sixteen, Timothy! I can’t believe this, come here.” She had a hard time breathing as she reached for Nate who tugged his shirt over his head.

Nate hissed softly as his mother ran her fingers over the tattoo he had just gotten, his brother and father getting identical ones in the same place on their chest. Each Oshie man had a pair of crossed hockey sticks on their right pec with their last name written neatly under the sticks.

“Timothy Junior they are not old enough to be making decisions like this!” Brianna spat at her husband who, if possible, would have his head hanging low and his tail between his legs.

“Ma, if we didn’t want them, we wouldn’t have gotten them.” Nate insisted. “Dad never said this was something we had to do. I didn’t feel like I had to do it.” He explained, fighting to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“Baby, you’re fifteen, you don’t know what you want.” Brianna frowned to see that her baby’s skin was already altered for life. “Your Dad is much more persuasive than any one person should be.” She huffed as Nate pulled his shirt back on carefully over his sensitive skin.

“Mom, really, it’s okay, Nate and I were happy to get them.” Tyler tried. “Don’t be mad at Dad, this was just as much our decision as it was his.” He attempted to comfort his mother.

“I am not happy with any of you right now, except Abby, she’s still an angel.” Brianna huffed, making all three of the men either scoff or huff in some way or another. And even if this wasn’t something Brianna would get over easily, it was also something she couldn’t do a single thing about, what was done was done and that couldn’t be changed. “Me and Abby are going out to dinner, you three can do whatever you please as long as it’s legal.” Brianna insisted, putting her arm around Abby’s shoulder.

“Actually, Ma, I’m not feeling so well, I’m going to go take a nap, maybe see if anyone’s online.” Abby bit her lip, looking up at her mother but avoiding eye contact. TJ frowned at this, Abby had been especially quiet since their little lunch, all through the two hours they were at the tattoo parlor and the walk back ot the hotel after that. She kept to herself, holding Nate’s hand through his ink session up until they reached the room.

“Okay sweetheart, you go lay down, I’ll have room service bring you up something to eat.” Brianna said, kissing Abby’s forehead gently before scooting her along into her portion of the suite. TJ waited a few moments for the boys to head back down to their room, probably to just relax before he could try to make amends with his wife.

“I’m sorry baby, I know you’re mad, but, I didn’t force them into it and I didn’t try to talk them into it either.” TJ sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to make much headway with her at this time.

“I don’t want to talk about it, TJ. I just want to be mad right now.” Brianna said, kissing his cheek softly. TJ nodded before heading over to the door that lead to Abby’s room. “Baby girl?” He asked, poking his head into the room to see his daughter on his laptop, probably playing Bookworm or talking to her best friend on iChat.

“Hi Daddy.” She sighed, eyes flickering to him only momentarily, looking rather stiff.

“Baby girl are you okay?” He asked, cautiously stepping into the room, not wanting to enter her space if he was not wanted there.

“I’m fine.” She said quietly, closing the laptop and leaning back against the headboard. TJ walked closer, knowing that his daughter well enough to understand that everything was definitely not fine with her.

“Can I?” He asked, motioning to the bed, to which she nodded and watched as he crawled up beside her. “Tell me what’s wrong, Ab, you never keep secrets from me.” He said quietly, feeling his heartbreak as she affirmed that.

“I don’t know…” She shrugged sadly. “Just… I watched you hit that boy today.” She bit her lip, her big blue eyes, a mirror of her mother’s looking up at TJ with an absolutely heartbreaking expression. “It was scary to see you like that.” Her voice cracked, which she tried to cover by clearing her throat.

“Oh God, Abby.” TJ felt a lump forming in the back of his throat. “Baby… I’m so sorry I scared you.” His heart dropped into his stomach as he wrapped his arms around his daughter’s shoulders, holding her tenderly as tears trailed down her precious cheeks. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Abby.” He exhaled, “I just needed to protect you from that man, and when you’re a parent, especially to such a perfect child like you, you don’t want any harm to come to one of your kids, ever.” He explained. “What can I do to make it up to you, huh? What will make it okay?” He asked, rocking her softly.

“Just don’t do it again. Please?” She asked softly.

“Never.” TJ insisted, and while he’d hate to think he was lying to his baby, if the situation arose again, he’d do the exact same thing. “Never again.” The two sat together for about a good hour or so until all the tears and sniffles had gone away and were replaced with animated chatting and giggles.

“When are we going to dinner?” Abby asked, looking to her new cell phone (which she got for her thirteenth birthday) to see that it was just shy of six.

“I don’t know if Mommy is really feeling like going out with any of us boys.” He bit his lip, “but we can all congregate in here and order in some pizza and watch a movie, how does that sound?” He asked, brushing her bangs back from her face.

“I like that.” Abby nodded, “and we can go surfing tomorrow, right? You said we could go surfing, Daddy.” She pointed out.

“Yeah, we can go surfing, babe.” He laughed, hugging her tightly. “Come on, I think I hear the boys.” He said, referring to the other door opening and closing. The Oshie family settled around the king sized bed in TJ and Brianna’s room, deciding what to order for dinner. “Is Kelsey coming tonight?” TJ grinned at Tyler who immediately frowned at him.

“Oh! Invite Kelsey!” Brianna piped up, “I want to meet her, Ty.” She insisted.

“Oh my God.” Tyler sighed, catching a mean eye from his father who taught him better than to talk to his mother that way. “We’re not dating!” He huffed. “Jeeze, just because I call a girl on the phone means we’re together?!” He threw up his hand before flopping back into his chair.

“You’re right, she must be tired.” TJ added under his breath.

“What’s that?” Brianna asked, eyes narrowing at her husband.

“Nothing.” TJ immediately silenced up to which his wife began to shake her head right away.

“Explain. Now.” She said firmly.

“It’s nothing, Ma. I had Kelsey over in our room last night, she ended up staying late and she ran into Dad when he came to visit.” Tyler explained, knowing he was digging his own grave, and probably his Dad’s as well, but Brianna found out about everything and it was useless to try and hide anything from her.

“Your father caught a girl leaving your room last night? And what time was this?” She asked, caught by serious surprise.

“Two-ish.” Tyler mumbled, making Brianna’s eyes pop open.

“You had a girl in your room at two in the morning? And you knew about it?!” Brianna asked, screeching at her husband who seemed to be keeping a lot of secrets lately. “It’s like I don’t even know you boys anymore! I can’t believe you would have a girl in your room at two in the morning! What were you doing in there?!” She asked, her voice breaking into obscene decibels.

“Jesus!” Tyler huffed, standing up, knowing he was going to be in shit later for raising his voice in front of Abby and his mother. “I get all this crap for having Kelsey in my room to watch TV and no one says shit when Nate has sex with Ana!” He spat, making Nate’s eyes pop from his skull and the rest of the family gasp.

“You had sex with Ana?!” TJ and Brianna asked at the same time, watching as Abby exploded into giggles, her cheeks bright red as the spoke of Kara and Bergie’s only daughter who was just about six months younger than Nate.

“Tyler?! What the hell?!” Nate squeaked at his older brother.

“You had sex?” Brianna asked, absolutely heartbroken. “With Ana? Poor, cute, innocent little Ana?” She whimpered, sulking and hunching over. “Oh my God, my baby.” She covered her face as Nate looked all around the room, pissed at his brother and refusing to look at his father who had a horribly goofy grin on his face.

“Ma, I-“

“No, I don’t want to hear it.” Brianna shook her head. “You and Tyler head back to your room, your father will bring you your dinner later.” She said, pointing to the door. Nate punched Tyler hard in the shoulder, Abby still attempting to dissolve her giggles as they got up to leave the room. “My baby is having sex.” She shook her head, covering her face as she tried to keep the tears from falling. “My Nate is having sex.” She whimpered.

“Bri, he is fifteen.” TJ attempted.

“And so is Ana!” She glared sharply. “So when Abby turns fifteen she can go find Kent and have sex with him?!” She screeched, making TJ’s cheeks turn bright red. “That is Kara and Bergie’s daughter! They are family, Timothy! How are you going to face Patrik knowing that your son had sex with his daughter!” She unleashed on her husband.

“So… I’m just gonna go to my room and watch TV.” Abby said, slipping through her door.

“Baby, I know that Ana is fifteen and that they’re family but, you can’t stop them from doing that.” He started. “I lost my virginity when I was fifteen.” He tried to reason, knowing he as digging himself a hole. “And no, Abby is not going to run out and have sex with Kent, first of all, no dating till she’s sixteen, and second of all, Kent is two and a half years older than Abby.”

“I’m not even going to justify that with a response.” Brianna shook her head as she got up form the bed and walked into the family room before slamming the glass French doors behind her. “And for the record, “ she stuck her head back into the bedroom, “Kara and Bergie have the ‘no dating till sixteen’ rule, too!” She hissed, slamming the door again.

TJ shook his head as he leaned back against the headrest. He’d never let Abby have sex at fifteen, clearly Bergie wasn’t keeping a close enough eye on Ana. Not like he was on Abby.

Right?