It Takes Someone Special to Be a Dad

Evgeni’s POV
You know how they say you never really feel something until the day after? Yeah they were right. My neck was stiff and my arm was killing me.

My head fell to the side and I noticed that Kate was still there with Asher wrapped up in his blanket. That made me happy, that she had stayed all night with me.

My eyes strained to see the clock on the wall, 6am. Why was I even awake?

I shut my eyes again willing myself to go back to sleep but it wasn’t going to happen; I was awake, at least for now.

“Mummy,” I heard Asher stir and Kate’s head shot up. She looked around the room before her eyes landed on me.
“You’re awake?” she rubbed her eyes.
“Mmm,” I couldn’t be bothered talking.
“Do you feel any better?”
My throat hurt too much to talk so I just shook my head slowly.

“Bed,” Asher began to whine.
She looked at me with sorry eyes, “I guess I should go home for a couple of hours so he can sleep.”
“You sleep too,” I scrunched my face up feeling the pain wither in my neck.
“Ok,” she stood up and Asher desperately held onto her as she lent down to give me a kiss on the forehead.

“You want to say goodbye to Evgeni?” she looked at Asher who had his eyes shut tightly.
But he let up at the sound of my name, “bye,” he said quietly.
“Give him a kiss,” she hung him over me not giving him any other choice but to show me some affection.
“He’s just scared of the hospital,” she offered.

I watched as they walked out of the room. I wanted them in my life; I wanted them to be my family. I wanted it to be us three forever.

Kate’s POV
I didn’t want to leave Evgeni’s side but Asher was in need of some sleep and so was I.

After putting Asher down for a nap I went back to the comfort of my own bed. I shut my eyes, sleep about to overcome me when my message tone went off.
I groaned and rolled over snatching it from my bedside table.
“Hey, how is he?” it was Sid.
“He looked a little worse for wear when I woke up but I am going back in a couple of hours, need some sleep.”
“Oh ok, I will go in and keep him company. See you later.”

I rolled over and let the sleep take over as I succumbed to its wrath. I really didn’t want to sleep but I did.

When I woke up I had lost count of how many times the accident had played over and over in my head as I dreamt. But it only made me more desperate to get back to Evgeni.

“Tell Sid go, he talk,” Evgeni looked desperate as he tried to sit up in bed.
I laughed at how helpless he looked and how offended Sid looked, “I came to keep you company,” he frowned.
“Yeah but he can’t answer you back so it’s a one way conversation,” I picked Asher up and sat him on the end of Evgeni’s bed so I could unpack the stash of things I bought to keep Evgeni entertained for the next week or so.

“Asher no,” I went to reach for my son who had began crawling up the bed.
Evgeni put his hand out to stop me, “it ok,” he helped Asher into his side where he sat with his toy car.

I took a deep breath and relaxed as Asher smiled proudly from his spot on the bed with Evgeni who smiled down adoring him.

“Geno Ouch,” his little finger pointed to Evgeni’s neck.
“Yeah little buddy, Geno’s hurt. But don’t touch,” I warned as he began to lean closer growing more curious.

“He is a cute kid,” Sid smiled watching my son interact with Evgeni.
“I know, he is my little gem,” I ran my hand through his thin blonde hair.

**************************************

Under the circumstances it was nice to just sit down and relax for a while. If not we would be running back and forth from practice and a game for the day.

“Alright Mr Malkin, we have some blood for you,” the doctor smiled as he walked in.
“Huh?” his confused face was almost as adorable as Asher lying by his side staring at the ceiling.
“You lost a lot of blood that’s why you feel so ill and look like a ghost, so we are replacing it.”

Evgeni rolled his eyes and looked away as the doctor inserted yet another needle into his arm. He winced and it made Asher jump and climb for me.

“It’s ok buddy, you didn’t hurt him,” he nuzzled his face into my shoulder.
He began sobbing in my arms and it was too cute I couldn’t help but laugh a little, “Asher sweetie it’s ok, you didn’t hurt him,” I made him look up at me, he little eyes stained red.

“Asher,” Evgeni spoke up, “it ok,” he put his hand out.
“Go on,” I nudged him forward.
He climbed back up onto the bed and Evgeni pulled him into his side.
“It ok,” Evgeni put his hand on top of Asher’s head and placed kiss to his forehead as he settled next to him.

Evgeni was definitely father material he was already a better father figure to Asher than Jack ever could dream of and taking the risk of letting him into our life was something I was beginning to think would be worth it no matter what the outcome.