Spilt Milk

The boys met at a daycare schooling facility for people like them. The condition didn't exactly have a name, but surprisingly, more people had the condition than people thought. In Alex Gaskarth's case, a simple head injury was at fault for his condition. His older brother didn't watch to watch him while he was swinging, at age three. His brother had pushed too hard and he flipped off the swing. Alex had suffered serious brain damage from the fall, and he had been like this ever since. His mother was confused, worried and broken to learn that her youngest son would never grow up. He would, instead, be like a toddler for his entire life.

Jack Barakat was a different story. His father's physical and sexual abuse had led him to hold onto the childhood he never really had. While his mother's friends had children who were learning to drink out of "big boy" cups, Jack still had a bottle. While they played kickball in the street's cultasack, Jack sat on a picnic blanket and played with his stuffed animals. It wasn't Jack's fault, and his mother understood this. She let Jack be the baby he wanted to be, she played along. She thought he would grow out of this phase, but he never did.

--

Thirteen year old Alex was sitting on the large sofa, watching the television. The colorful pictures were spread across the screen and Alex couldn't take his eyes off of them. He was still in his pajamas as well, since his mother found no use in changing him if he was going to be inside all day.

"Lex, guess what?" Isobel coos as she takes the seat next to her son. "Jack is staying the night tonight, since his mother is going out on a business trip. Big people stuff." She says, watching the way her son's eyes lit up in excitement. Jack was his best friend.

When the sound of knocking echoed off the door, Alex got down and ran to it. He stood on his tip-toes and twisted the doorknob reveal his best friend. "Jacko!" he says excitedly when he sees the dark haired boy. He tries to reach up and grasp Jack to pull him down, but he was just too small.

"Alex, honey, relax." Isobel scolds, waggling her finger at her son before she smiles at Jack. "Why, hello pretty baby." she coos, earning a shy grin and blush from Jack before he hid in his mother's neck and hair. Joyce chuckled and bounced Jack slightly before she carried Jack up to Alex's room, where she put him down.

"I'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart. Behave for Isobel and don't fight with Alex." Joyce says softly as she rubs Jack's cheek. Jack nods his head in understanding, his dark eyes innocent as he agreed to behave. "Alright, good boy." She praises as she stands up. Alex comes running past her to play with Jack, and Joyce walks down the steps. "Here's his bag, there's pajamas and some of his favorites in here."

"I'll take care of him, Joyce, just worry about your sales pitch in the morning, alright?" Isobel says calmly as she takes the bag and sets it on the counter. "Good luck!" she calls as Joyce makes her exit from the house. Isobel opens the bag and pulls out one of Jack's empty bottles, along with his pacifier. She got out the gallon of milk from the refrigerator and poured it into Jack's bottle before she poured some into a bottle for Alex. She capped the milk and put it away before she carried the bottles to her son's room. Isobel sets the bottles in each boy's hand before she leaves them to play.

"Hey, Jacky," Alex says between a couple sucks on his bottle. "I gots this new toy. It's like a puppy dog that walks all by itself!" he says excitedly. Jack's eyes widen and he sets his full bottle down on the carpet. He then crawls to Alex, bouncing on the carpet. "You wanna play wif it, huh?" Alex grins. "I'll get it out!" he says happily. He sets his bottle down and gets up, walking to his toy chest. He pulls out the dog with the leash attached to it and sets it down. "You gotta be careful, don't break him!"

Alex presses the button on the toy leash and the dog starts to hobble along Alex's carpet quickly. Jack gasps and starts to crawl after it, but the toy seemed too fast for him. Jack makes a whining noise and grunts as he quickens his crawling pace. He tackles the toy puppy with a giggle, but ended up knocking over his bottle. The milk started to spread across the dark blue carpet and Jack's pajama bottoms. Jack sat up and looked at his empty bottle. His lower lip trembled and he started to cry quietly. He didn't even get to drink his bottle, and now it was all gone.

Alex ran across his room and bent down over Jack, trying to hush him before their mother would come back upstairs. "Jacky, Jacky no cry, Jack hush." Alex whispers in panic. "There's no reason to cry over spilt milk, Jacky." He says quietly. It was something his mother always told him, though Alex literally meant the phrase. Then, an idea clicked. He stood straight and ran to his bottle that was still half full. He went back to Jack and sat down in front of him. "Here," Alex says gently, holding it out. "You can have mine."

Jack's tears started to come to a stop as he reached out for his best friend's bottle. He started to drink out of it slowly, sniffling and gurgling from the crying. Alex scooted closer to Jack and started to pet his hair lightly. "My mommy always does this when I'm sad." he says softly.

"Is everything okay in here?" Isobel asks from the doorway, and Alex's head turns. "Jack's bottle spilled, but 's okay! I fixed its." Alex says quickly. Isobel smiles a bit, because her son had taken the responsibility to calm Jack down and comfort him. She went and got a towel, and came back to soak up the milk with the towel. "I think you guys would like to go to the park, huh?" she asks as she stands back up.

Alex nods and runs to his dresser, picking out clothes that didn't match. Isobel came over and switched Alex's outfit so it would match before she dressed her son and got his shoes on. "Alex, will you go wait downstairs?" she asks. Alex leaves the room with a pout and Isobel changes Jack's pants. Jack didn't like people seeing him be changed, or naked. The abuse was to blame. Isobel hummed as she put Jack's pacifier into his mouth and carried him downstairs.

"Mommy, I ready!" Alex sings from the doorway. "Alright." Isobel murmurs as she opens the door. She opens her trunk and gets out the stroller, opening it and clicking it into place. "I think we'll walk, it's nice outside, huh?" Isobel asks Alex as she puts Jack in the stroller.

"I push!" Alex shouts as he grasps the handles of the stroller before his mother could. "Alexander, you be careful with Jack." She says, but walks next to Alex and the stroller as her son pushes the stroller down the sidewalk; his movements were slightly crooked, so Isobel helped steer without Alex noticing.

When they arrived at the park, Alex ran straight to the jungle gym to play with the other kids. Isobel unstrapped Jack from the stroller and set him in the sandbox, under the shade. She gave Jack a shovel and a bucket before she sat down at one of the benches. Jack started digging and putting the sand into his bucket, though more got on him then in the bucket. All was well until Alex started crying from the jungle gym. "I stuck!" he wails, his face was red from how hard he was crying.

Isobel got Alex down and set him in the sandbox instead, that way she could watch them both. Alex helped Jack fill the bucket before he flipped it over onto the sand. "You gotta taps it." he says, smacking the bucket lightly with his shovel. "There!" he says proudly as he slowly lifts the green bucket up to reveal an almost perfect castle. "It's your castle, Jack, you a princess!" he grins. Jack giggles and claps, his eyes bright as watched Alex make a few more. "What a show off." Isobel mutters.

"Alex, Jack, time to go!" Isobel calls after a few hours. Alex gets up and brushes the sand off of his clothes as Isobel comes to do the same for Jack. She gets him in the stroller and takes them back home. "Alright, dinner, bath, bed." She says sternly, more to Alex because he was a spitfire sometimes. Isobel put them both in the dining room at the small table so they could sit on the carpet and watch television. Two plates of chicken nuggets were brought out with bottles of juice, and set on the table. Jack struggled, so Alex scooted against him and helped him eat his nuggets. He even dipped them for him because that's what best friends do.

Jack's bath was first, because he would be easier to clean and put to bed. As the water drained, Isobel put Jack in his pajamas and combed his hair the way the teenager liked it. She gave him his pacifier again before she took him to Alex's room. She put Jack in the makeshift crib, which was just the top bunk of a set of bunk beds that had the bars. When Alex was also finished and put in the crib, Isobel tucked them in, and gave them each a gentle kiss on the temple of their heads. "Goodnight, boys." she whispers before she leaves, leaving the door cracked.

What Isobel didn't know, was that Alex swung his arm around Jack and pulled him close. He started to sing a nursery rhyme to the boy, and Jack started to grin at his voice. When Alex was done singing to Jack, he pressed a peck of a kiss to Jack's lips. Some people would be frightened by Alex and Jack's relationship, but there was no reason to cry over spilt milk.