You Drain The Life From Me.

"Daddy's coming home today, Luke!" I cooed to him, picking him up and out of the crib.

He gurgled, sticking his hand in his mouth.

"No, no, baby. Don't do that!"

I gave him his binky and lay him down on the bed to change his diaper.

Luke was around one and a half years old. Since he had been born, the boys signed with Fearless Records, released a CD called Can't Stop Won't Stop, and toured in over 25 states.

They were now on Warped tour and were coming home after a long summer made up of phone calls and Skyping.

I blew raspberries in Luke's stomach and he squirmed and giggled.

"Who's a good baby? Luke's a good baby! Luke's my good little baby!"

I picked him up and headed downstairs to greet my parents and brothers.

"Good morning!"

Shane rushed over to me and took Luke from my arms. For some odd reason, Shane loved holding Luke, and Luke loved being held by Shane. Luke grabbed the ends of Shane's hair and tugged. Shane just laughed.

I sat down at the table and took my phone out of the pocket of my sweatpants.

I had two texts from John and a few more from Garrett. I decided to call him, to see how he was doing.

He picked up on the second ring.

"Good morning, beautiful. How are you today?"

I chuckled. "I'm great. So is Luke. How far away are you?"

"About an hour and a half."

I wanted to jump out of my chair with excitement. I hadn't realized how close he was.

It was odd, having Garrett go on tour. Not being able to see him every day was hard, especially with Luke being antsy. Luke wanted his daddy and I wanted my boyfriend.

But then I would remember that this was Garrett's dream. And I would rather have him happy, doing what he wanted than in an office or behind a counter or cash register.

"Luke missed you."

"Can you put him on the phone?" Luke couldn't talk quite yet - for now, it was only gurgles and giggles. But Garrett still loved to hear it nonetheless.

I walked towards Luke's high chair and cooed, "Daddy wants to talk to you!"

He squealed in delight and reached for the phone. I put it on speaker and held it between us.

"Say hi, baby."

He gurgled and squealed some more. Garrett laughed. "Hi, Luke! I'm gonna be home soon! Daddy's gonna be home!"

Luke opened his mouth, but no sound came out. At first, I thought he had to burp or he was hungry.

But sound did come out a few seconds later.

"Da-ddy."

My mouth dropped open and the line went silent.

Luke repeated his first word, but the syllables were more put together.

"Daddy!"

I heard screaming in the background of Garrett's end.

"Did Luke just say his first word?!" I recognized John's voice.

"Luke just said his first word," Garrett mumbled.

"Luke just said his first word!" screamed Pat.

Then there was a whole mess of yelling and cheering and high fives.

"Mom! Dad! Shane! Ross! Luke just said his first word!" I yelled.

Feet came pounding down the stairs and my mother came into the kitchen. The television was turned off and Shane ran into the kitchen.

Everyone was talking at once, then they crowded around my baby and went silent.

"Have him say it again, Leigh," said Garrett.

"Say it again, baby. Come on, Luke."

"Da-ddy!" Luke bounced around in his chair and grinned. He waved his tiny hands around and squealed.

"I'll see you when we get home. Love you, Leigh!"

"Love you, Garrett."

The line went dead and I kissed Luke on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart!" I clapped and he tried to imitate me as I got his food out.

"That was awesome, Luke!" said Shane.

"Have you eaten yet, Leigh?" asked my mom. I shook my head. "I'll make you some oatmeal."

I grinned in thanks. My dad came up to me and placed a kiss on the top of my head. "You're doing a great job with Luke so far, Leigh. I'm proud of you."

I turned to see Ross holding up his hand for Luke to give him a high five. "I've only learned from the best, dad."

He smiled wide and headed to the living room to watch baseball with Shane and Ross.

"Okay, what will it be today, Luke Ryan?"

I grabbed two different jars of baby food. "Peas?"

Once Luke saw the mushy, green food inside the jar, he made the best face I had ever seen. He scrunched up his nose and frowned. It was almost like the baby version of Garrett's metal scowl.

I clutched my stomach and pretty much cracked up.

"Mom, did you see that face?"

"I didn't!"

I showed Luke the baby food again and he made the same face.

"Oh dear, just like Garrett's."

I showed Luke the carrots and his baby scowl faded. I twisted the jar open and took a small rubber spoon out of the drawer.

"You are the cutest thing to have ever lived, my darling."

With the spoon in his mouth, he giggled. I chuckled at him.


Luke and I were on the floor watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

He was sitting in-between my legs and his eyes were practically glued to the television. His mouth was open and he was completely still; something unusual for him. It only happened when he was in front of the TV.

I felt something wet on the hand that was holding him up with so he wouldn't fall over.

I looked at him and there was drool dripping from his mouth. I laughed out loud.

"Luke, you're adorable."

I lifted his bib up and wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

The door slammed and I heard, "Honey, I'm home!"

My eyes widened and I twisted around to see my brother and my boyfriend in the doorway, grinning wide.

"Luke, daddy's home!" He clapped his hands and gurgled.

I picked him up and almost ran to Garrett and John. Garrett held out his arms for Luke and I handed him over.

"Hi, Luke!"

"Dad-dy!"

From the look on Garrett's face, he was swelling up with joy and pride.

Garrett placed a kiss on his cheek and gave him to John, who looked like he would start whining if he didn't get to hold his nephew.

Gare pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me. "It feels good to hold you again, Leigh."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, you have no idea. I can't wait until Luke is old enough to tour with us."

I pulled back and examined him.

"Your hair is different."

"Do you like it?"

I nodded. And I did. It was a dark, brownish red. And I spotted a new tattoo.

I took his arm and saw that it was a tattoo of the year 1990, Garrett's birth year.

"Love it."

He grinned and kissed me once on the lips.

"Oh God, how I've missed that."

I smiled at him.

When I turned around, I found that my mom had trapped John in a hug and didn't seem to want to let go. Shane was carrying Luke and Ross was laughing at John.

"Mom, you can let go now."

"I missed you so much John! I should never have let you go on tour. I can't handle it. You're still my baby!" She blubbered on and on.

John's cheeks were growing red.

"Mom-"

She finally let go.

"Do you boys want something to eat?"

They looked at each other, then back at my mom, and nodded.

They all headed for the kitchen and we followed.

Shane handed Luke to me, but Luke started to kick and squirm. I tried bouncing him up and down, but it didn't work. It wasn't his diaper, because I had just changed it.

He was looking down at the floor.

So I set him down, and he got on his hands and knees and crawled.

He crawled.

"He's crawling!" I shrieked.

Garrett spun around and his mouth dropped open and he got on the floor a foot or so in front of Luke.

Luke crawled right to him and Garrett scooped him up. "I'm so proud of you, Luke! You're such a good baby!"

I looked down at Garrett. I loved him and Luke so much. More than anything. I would do anything to make either of them happy.


"God, I missed you so fucking much, Leigh."

I pressed my lips to his and smiled. Luke was at my house and we were at Garrett's.

I didn't have to explain to my mother that Garrett and I needed time alone after a whole summer of being apart, so she took Luke without question and shooed me off.

His kisses got deeper and deeper and then his lips were at my neck.

"Can you believe a year and a half ago we were fresh out of high school and sneaking around? We were so young and dumb. And we still are. I mean, if it weren't for Luke, where the hell would we be? Would I still be with Stephen?"

He shuddered at the name.

"Yeah, I know. I don't like hearing his name either. I'm sorry."

"I don't think you'd still be with Stephen. If you hadn't gotten pregnant, you would have broken up with him and come back to me eventually."

"It's always been that way, hasn't it?"

"Like what?"

"You and me. Everyone knew it. We would always end up like this."

"You know, when I met you on the first day of kindergarten, and we left your house, at Pat's house later, I remember telling him something."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Well, I can't tell you."

My lower lip jutted out and he shielded his eyes. "No! Not the pout!"

"Tell me, then!"

"No!"

"Garrett!"

"I'm not telling you!"

I pressed my lips to his and bit his lower lip, just the way he loved it. I tugged on the ends of his hair and grinded my hips into his.

"Tell me," I whispered in his ear.

"N-no."

I got up and walked towards his door. "Tell me or I'm leaving."

He didn't say anything so I unlocked and twisted open his door knob, my foot halfway out the door.

I was almost out when he grabbed my hand, closed the door, and locked it. He pulled me back to the bed and I plopped down onto it. He put his legs on either sides of mine and held himself up with his hands resting on either sides of my shoulders.

"Tell me, Garrett Daniel."

"I told him," he kissed me on the forehead.

"That," nose.

"I," cheek.

"Wanted," other cheek.

"To," eyelids.

"Marry you," lips.

I opened my mouth to respond, but he pressed his lips to mine once more to keep me quiet.

"At five years old, I told my best friend Pat that I wanted to marry you, Leigh. I told him that one day, we would get married and have children. We would watch Star Wars every day. We would listen to music together. We would play video games together. We would be happy together.

"I want to stay young and go dancing with you. I want to grow up with you. I want to grow old with you. I want you by my side through every single thing that goes on in my life.

"So, that being said," his hand went to the pocket of his jeans and he retrieved something. A small box.

"Leigh Michelle O'Callaghan, will you marry me?"

He opened the box and revealed a diamond ring. Stunningly simple.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his.

"I'd be crazy not to."