Daddy's Miracle

Brian sighed and quickly opened the apartment door after Zacky.

"Zacky can we please talk about this?" Brian called. Zacky emerged from the kitchen, eating out of the bucket of ice cream with a spoon now rather than his finger.

"Brian, I know I kinda overreacted, and I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I really don't want to talk about it anymore." Zacky said sadly.

"We haven't even talked about it!" Brian said a little too loudly. "Not really! Zacky, we can't just ignore something like this!"

"Sure we can!" Zacky scooped up a large spoonful of ice cream and put the whole thing in his mouth as he walked up the stairs to their bedroom. Brian signed again and quickly followed.

"Zacky you can't just push down your feelings and not talk about something. It's not healthy." Brian said as he barged into their bedroom after Zacky. He was sprawled out across their bed, flipping through channels on the TV and eating spoonful’s of ice cream.

"Okay, fine Brian. If you really want to talk about it, let's talk. C'mon. You start." Brian sat down at the foot of the bed as Zacky took up both his and Brian's side.

"Oh, okay, um...how are you feeling?" Brian asked awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"Fine." Zacky answered quickly.

"Really? Because you were just out there yelling at me because you were devastated. What happened, Zacky? You don't seem devastated now." Brian said with growing frustration with Zacky's stubbornness.

"I still am, Brian! Why wouldn't I be? I just...I want to get my mind off it." Zacky looked down into the already-half empty bucket of ice cream in self-pity. Brian moved up next to Zacky and wrapped his arms around him.

"Okay, um...what name did you think of for our daughter?" Brian asked hopefully. "You haven't told me yet." Zacky looked up at Brian, blushed, and bit his lip nervously. "What is it?" Brian asked again.

"It's just...what if you hate it?" Zacky asked quietly.

"Zacky don't worry about that. I'm sure if you came up with it, it'll be perfect." Brian tightened his grip around Zacky's shoulders.

"Okay..." Zacky hesitated. "I think we should name her Callie." Zacky's hand moved up and down his swollen belly slowly. Brian pursed his lips, pondering over the name for a few moments. "Oh God you do hate it!" Zacky said and buried his face in his hands.

"No, no, no Zacky! I don't hate it! I was just thinking about it for a minute. I think it's perfect!" He lowered Zacky's hands from his face so he was looking at Brian. "Zacky. It's perfect."

"Really?" Zacky sniffled.

"Of course." Zacky smiled and wrapped his arms around Brian, burying his face in his chest.

"Zacky. I love you and Callie so much." Brian said as he returned Zacky's hug. Brian rocked them both back and forth until they eventually fell asleep.

--

Brian woke up the next morning on the opposite side of the bed he fell asleep on. He had always moved in his sleep. He yawned sleepily and rolled over to greet Zacky. But his side of the bed was empty. Brian quickly sat up and looked around the room.

"Zacky?" He called. Receiving no answer, he jumped out of bed and hurriedly ran downstairs.
"Zacky!" He called again. No answer. He desperately searched every inch of their apartment, until he finally spotted him sitting on their porch. Brian tapped on the sliding glass door he was leaning against, causing him to stir. He turned, recognized Brian, and opened the door.

"Zacky what are you doing out here?" Brian asked, walking onto the porch. They never go out on the porch, and it showed. The floor was dusty and the flowers were dead. At least, most of them were. Brian noticed a patch of blooming pink flowers growing in one of the pots.

Zacky saw Brian staring at the flowers and said, "I planted those. This morning, when I couldn't sleep, I snuck out and bought them." His voice broke at the end of his sentence and he sadly looked down at the floor. "I also bought that rock in the center of the flowers." Upon closer inspection, Brian could see the rock surrounded by the new flowers. It seemed to have words engraved on it.

"Zacky...what's this?" Brian asked, regarding the rock.

"It's a memorial. For our son. Kind of like a grave, but since I didn't have a body to bury, I went downtown and got the rock." Brian slowly walked over to the flower pot and picked it up. Engraved in its surface were the words: "In Memory of Greyson Baker-Haner." Brian looked back at Zacky, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about his name first. I was gonna bring it up when I told you about Callie, but you fell asleep before I could." Brian knelt down to eye-level with Zacky. He could see tracks where tears have already fallen down his face.

"Don't be sorry, Zacky. Greyson is perfect....would have been perfect." Zacky smiled sadly up at Brian before leaning up and kissing him passionately on the lips. "Thank you for doing this, babe. I love you so much. I would have loved the crap out of Greyson." Brian said when their lips parted. "Let's go back inside." Brian stood up and turned to go back into their apartment but Zacky stopped him. He reached both of his arms up to Brian, indicating that he needed help out of the chair with his big belly. Brian smirked and helped Zacky up. The couple walked hand-in-hand back into their apartment, stopping only once to look back at the memorial Zacky had made