One Day

Brian rolled up his driveway, slowing his Harley and walking it into his garage. Throwing his helmet over the handlebars, he toed down the kickstand and shrugged out of his jacket. Glad to be out of the studio for the day, he climbed the stairs and entered his home. He couldn’t stop the grin that came to his thin lips when he heard giggling from the living room. Creeping up quietly so he could see what was going on, he rested a tattooed shoulder against the doorframe and slid his aviators onto the top of his head.

Shelby was leaning over Brian’s nearly two year old nephew, tickling the bottoms of his feet, and the back of his knees, knowing he was the most ticklish there. Noah was letting out wails of laughter, struggling to get away from her, and she let him for a moment before catching his ankle in her hand and tugging, playfully, to bring him back to her.

“Where do you think you’re going, little man!?” She asked him, wrapping her arms about him and burying her face into his little neck, making a growling noise before attacking him with kisses all over his face. He squealed with laughter, trying to halfheartedly push her away. “Oh, no, I’ve got you now!” Pushing herself so that she landed on her back, she brought her knees up and balanced the boy on them, looking over her shoulder when Noah let out a sound that reminded her of “Uncle!” and then went tearing for the doorway.

“Hey little dude!” Brian greeted, crouching down to be at Noah’s level. He wrapped the boy up in his tattooed arms and stood to his full height to squeeze the little boy. Listening to his Nephew babble, his soft, brown eyes landed on his wife. “Hey baby,” shuffling over to the couch, he plopped down and bent further to press a kiss to her lips. “How are you?”

“Great!” Shelby chirped, stealing another kiss before running her knuckle over Noah’s cheek, “Now that Boog and I get to spend a whole weekend together.”

“What time did Brent drop him off?”

“About two hours ago.” Shelby murmured, looking to the clock, “He’s due for dinner and a bath. Are you hungry Boog?” Brian looked over to where Noah was tucked against his side, and saw that Noah was nodding excitedly. He caught the way Shelby practically radiated happiness and felt his gut clench a little bit. Pushing that aside, Brian caught Noah under the arms and hefted him off of the couch,

“Why don’t we get dinner started then?” He looked to Noah, who reached for Shelby’s hand and started to lead her towards their kitchen.

“I’ll take that as a yes, babe.” Shelby giggled, letting Noah lead her by her pointer finger into the kitchen, scooping him up, she placed him in his booster and swiped his juice from the fridge to hand it to him. Brian sat down next to the boy and pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. “How was the studio today?”

“It was good, got most of the solo’s laid out.” Brian spun his wedding band around his finger out of
habit and linked his fingers behind his head. Falling quiet, he listened to his nephew chatter nonsense for the most part. Shelby answering him like she could understand as she cooked dinner before she turned to click on her iPod dock. Brian sucked in a breath when his nephew stood in his booster seat, the older man plucking him up and out so that he couldn’t fall trying to get out.

Little man went to Shelby, pressing himself up against her legs and ‘eh’-ing at her so that she would look down. He had his arms stretched out, trying to get her to pick him up. Brian couldn’t help but chuckle when Shelby gave in and picked Noah up, resting him against her left hip, she began to spin about the kitchen, swaying and dipping the boy as she kept an eye on the grilled cheese.

“Babe, be careful! I don’t want you to drop him.” Brian muttered when Shelby began to get plates and things for their dinner, using both of her hands and balancing Noah on her leg.

“Drop him?” Shelby laughed, “Oh, dear, I’m not going to drop him. I can do dishes with a baby on my hip. Vacuum too. I’m pretty talented. It was awesome growing up with so many nieces and nephews. He needs to be changed though; do you think you can handle that?”

Brian scoffed, “Yes, I can handle that, dear.” Standing, Brian took Noah from Shelby’s hip, ignoring the small fight that Noah put up.

“Make sure you don’t put the diaper on backwards this time!” Shelbs called once Brian was out of the kitchen, and if his nephew wouldn’t have been in his arms, Brian would have shot a few obscenities her way, but instead chose to act like he hadn’t heard her comment.

Noah began to fuss as soon as Brian laid him down to change him, “Come on, little dude work with me here!” Brian muttered, trying to get Noah to stay lying down. Noah began to cry, and it sounded like a banshee in Brian’s ears. Finally, Brian pulled his iPhone from his pocket and shoved it into Noah’s hands, “Here, play with this. Distract yourself.”

Noah’s cry’s quieted immediately, and Brian was able to pull his shorts off and get his nephews diaper undone before he was scuttling back shouting, “Babe!” with a gag. “There’s a fuc—there’s a bomb in there!”

“Hold your breath!” Shelby called in a sickly sweet voice, “I’m a little busy.”

Brian groaned, mouthing “bitch!” before looking back to his nephew, who happened to be giggling at his Uncle. “Oh, I’m glad you find this so funny.” Brian grumbled, narrowing his coffee colored eyes and sucking in a lungful of clean air, Brian turned back to his nephew and began to clean him up as quickly as possible. Having to stop a few extra times to cough, Brian finally got the boy’s butt clean.

Grabbing the clean diaper, Brian stopped to make sure that he had it facing the right way, and then lifted Noah’s legs so that he could scoot the diaper under the boys butt. Talking quietly to Noah as he got the diaper done up and started to slid the shorts back onto the boys legs.

Shelby stood in the doorway, smiling softly at the sight in front of her. Brian spoke softly to Noah, his long body curling around the little boys. Brian’s long tattooed digits easily replacing the boys shorts and softly grasping little hands in their own so he could pull the little boy to his feet. Noah leaned forward and puckered his lips, giving Brian a kiss before taking off towards the kitchen once more.

“Good work there, Gates.” She mumbled, laughing when she got the stink eye from her husband.

“There’s an extra garbage in the garage that I figured we could use as the diaper garbage this week. Food’s ready, boys.”

Noah babbled at his Uncle, holding out his hand so that Brian would take it and follow him into the kitchen. The little boy climbed up into his booster before Brian could help him up, and reached for his juice. Giving Shelby a toothy smile from across the table, Noah bit into his grilled cheese and ‘mmm-ed’ happily. The couple dug into their food as well, chatting and making goofy faces at Noah every once in a while.

“You good to bathe him, babe?” Brian asked, pushing away from the table and seeing Shelby nod,

“Alright, well, I’m going to go and have a smoke then.” Rinsing his plate and then putting it into the dishwasher, Brian swiped his smokes off of the top of the fridge and kissed Shelby’s temple as he passed. Stepping out onto the patio, he whirled around when Noah let out a wail.

“It’s okay, big boy, he’s just going outside for a few minutes.” Brian heard Shelby reassure Noah, taking his bib off of him and lifting him from his seat, she took him to the sink to rinse his hands and face. “Let’s go take a bath! Uncle will be back inside by the time we’re finished and ready for bed. Noah protested for a moment, pushing against Shelby, but she didn’t react and continued towards the bathroom.

Shelby grinned as she set the bath, putting some bubbles in the water for good measure she then turned to Noah and started to lift his shirt, helping him get his arms out and then pushed down his shorts. Removing his diaper, she set him into the water and turned to grab the soap that Brent had packed for Noah. Grabbing a washcloth as well, she kneeled next to the tub. Noah was playing in the bubbles, and Shelby was surprised that he didn’t protest when she trickled water over the top of his head.

Washing him up quickly, she sat on the side of the tub and let him play for a bit. When nearly all of the bubbles had popped, she let the water out and plucked the toddler from the tub. He started to whine while she was drying him, and let out hearty cries when she lay him down to put his nighttime diaper on him.

“Oh, Boog, I’m sorry. But, until you’re potty trained, you have to wear ‘em!” Grabbing his Cars pj’s, she slipped them on him and then brushed his dark hair quickly. “All finished!” She clapped happily, and giggled when Noah copied her. “Let’s go find Uncle Brian, shall we?” Noah nodded, trying to open the door, even though he wasn’t quite tall enough to turn the handle just yet. Once the door was open, he was flying down the hall. Gathering the laundry, Shelbs threw it into the laundry room and then went to the living room.

Brian had already put on a kids movie for Noah and had his blanket ready for him. Noah had climbed into the recliner next to Brian, and was curled up against his side. Brian smiled at Shelby, beckoning her over so that he could peck her on the lips.

“I’m going to grab a shower while he’s content, alright?”

“Sounds good, babe.” Brian murmured, running his tattooed digits through his nephew’s hair. He turned his gaze back to the television, where Bolt, one of Noah’s favorites, rolled across the screen. He settled back into the recliner, using the foot that wasn’t tucked under him to rock gently, feeling Noah grab his pointer finger and rub his thumb over it, Brian smiled. The dark haired man felt content with the toddler tucked into his side. Reaching over, he grabbed the water that he had gotten for

Noah and handed it to him, happy when the toddler took a long pull from the sippy.
Eyes roaming to the clock a little while later, Brian saw that it was nearing Noah’s bed time. He decided he’d let his nephew watch a few more minutes of the movie, and then put him to bed if Shelby wasn’t out of her shower by then. Shelby padded back into the living room then, and Noah made a happy sound and reached for her. She plucked him up, and Noah rested his head against her
shoulder wrapping his arms around the tops of her shoulders.

“Do you want to put him to bed?”

“You can, babe.” Brian smiled, “We’ve got a whole weekend with him, including naps. I’ll get my time in.”

“Alright,” Shelby kissed Noah’s forehead and tucked his blanket under her arm as she headed for the guest bedroom, which they had set up for Noah’s stay. Dropping herself into the rocker tucked into the corner of the room, she let Noah adjust so he was comfortable and then began to rock slowly.

She felt him start to relax, and then once he was finally asleep, the way he seemed to sink into her. She loved that feeling, and the soft sighs that would slip passed Noah’s lips. Rocking him for a bit longer even though she knew that he was asleep, she then tucked him into the toddler bed. Standing there for a moment longer, she bent down to brush her fingers through his hair. Blinking back tears that burned the back of her eyes, she took a moment to compose herself.

Turning on the fan after a few moments, she left the door open and made sure that monitor was plugged in before stepping out. Entering the living room again, she saw that Brian had sprawled out on the couch and tucked herself in beside him. He let out a happy hum when she ran her nails over his chest and tummy. He pressed his thin lips against her temple,

“I think I’ll take Noah down to the beach tomorrow afternoon,” He murmured, “I don’t have to be to the studio until later, so I figured we could do that.”

“That sounds good, I have some grocery shopping I have to do, and it would be a little bit easier to do so without little hands trying to nab everything in sight.”
Brian chuckled at the thought and nodded his head, “I’d believe so.” Letting out a yawn, he pulled Shelby so that she was draped over his chest. Letting his large paws slid down to her hips, Brian nuzzled her cheek so she would lift her head and give him a kiss.

“I’m going to sound so unbelievably old, but I’m ready for bed.” She murmured against his neck, giggling softly. “Plus, Noah’s an early riser, so we should probably get some sleep anyway.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” Brian replied, squeezing her hips as she started to climb off of him. “I’m just going to have a smoke and lock up.”