Daddy and the Nanny

Today had been the kids’ last day of school before summer break and Alex was pretty excited but not really looking forward to a whole summer stuck with all three kids at home. Maybe four if Shane would be constantly over.

“Babe, I have a surprise for you!” Jack called as he entered their bedroom. “Well, it’s for all of us, but still.”

“What is it?” Alex questioned as he finished putting the clean laundry away in their drawers.

“In exactly one week from today, we’ll be flying to California.” Jack grinned as he waved the plan tickets around.

“Vacation or work?” Alex asked his boyfriend with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed against his chest.

“Vacation, love. Remember I promised we’d spend some time away from everything and just enjoy ourselves as a family.” Jack assured.

“Alright, you better keep that promise though. I won’t hesitate to punch if you work.”

Jack held his hands up in surrender and then pulled his boyfriend into his arms and kissed him softly. Alex smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck.

“Dad!” The kids yelled and Alex groaned before pulling away from the older male.

“Will we get alone time on vacation?” Alex asked seriously and Jack laughed.

“Of course we will, babe.”

Dylan and Taylor both ran in talking at the same time and Alex kissed Jack’s cheek before leaving him with the trouble and going over to find his still injured child.

“Hey bud. How’s the arm?” Alex asked as he sat down next to the child who was out in the yard sitting on a bench.

“It’s itchy and I just want this thing off now.” Tyler whined, leaning into Alex’s side.

“Just two more days, kiddo. How was your last day of school?”

“Pretty boring. I mean, I like recess and stuff but not when my arms in a cast and I can’t do much but watch my friends play.”

“Aww baby. Are you at least happy to be home for three months with me? And your siblings.”

“Yes. I’m more happy to be with you than with the boogers, but I’ll deal with it.”

Alex chuckled and enjoyed the silence for a bit until a screaming Dylan ran out of the house at full speed with Taylor and Jack right after which made Alex sighed and Tyler laugh.

~~~

The day of their trip arrived and everything was total chaos. They’d gotten up at three in the morning because Jack had had the bright idea to book a flight at five thirty in the morning which would probably turn into six since all of Alex’s experience with flying had had delayed flights due to one thing or another. Dylan was a grumpy mess on the drive to the airport, Taylor kept complaining about being hungry and Tyler kept snapping at his siblings for being annoying brats. Both Alex and Jack were about ready to yank their hair out by the time they were in the airport and headed towards security.

“Ali, I gotta potty.” Dylan whined as he tugged on Alex’s arm desperately.

“Making a field trip to the bathroom. Anyone want to go now? Going once. Going twice… alright let’s go Dyl.” Alex said as he grabbed the child’s hand and led him towards the restroom while Jack stayed behind with the other two moody kids.

“Can’t wait until you guys are teenagers.” Jack mumbled sarcastically as he pulled his phone out from his pocket.

Meanwhile Alex was panicking in the bathroom. Somehow Dylan had managed to break free from his hold and hide from the ex-nanny.

“Dylan, please baby, I’m tired and your dad will execute me if I don’t find you.” Alex pleaded as he checked every bathroom stall before hearing a giggle. “Dylan, I’m not playing games so get out here right now.”

Dylan pouted and walked out of the last stall Alex hadn’t checked and he sighed.

“Did you pee?”

“Nope.”

“Well are you going to pee?”

“Nope.” Dylan giggled and Alex sighed in irritation.

“Then let’s go.”

“No!” Dylan shouted, screaming as Alex grabbed his hand to drag him out of the bathroom when a guy walks in and gives Alex a sympathetic look.

“Dylan! Now’s not the time for your tantrums, now let’s go before our plane gets called and we miss it.” Alex spoke through gritted teeth, already pulling Dylan out into the sea of people.

“No! I no want to go!”

Alex picked up the child, trapping his arms and legs as he walked over to the boarding area where his family was sitting patiently. Dylan was now full on subbing in Alex’s arms and thrashing around, managing to free an arm and punch Alex right in the jaw.

“Dylan!” Jack hissed angrily as he saw his youngest child and Alex’s pained expression before walking over to help his boyfriend and taking the still crying child.

“Daddy!” Dylan cried, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck.

“Just stop Dylan, it’s way too early for this.” Jack scolded as he helped Alex sit down. “You okay, baby?”

“He punches pretty good.” Alex mumbled as he rubbed his sore jaw.

The plane ride wasn’t much better either. Dylan was still being a brat, Taylor and Tyler had already gotten into a fight and Alex had a good sized bruise on the left side of his jaw.

“We’re never traveling again.” Jack concluded after they were settled into the Barakat’s beach house.

“Agreed.” Alex mumbled as he laid down on the bed in their bedroom.

“Alright, let me go check on the kids and make sure they’re not fighting over their rooms.” Jack groaned as he walked out of the room.

“I should get ice for this bruise.”

Walking out of the room, Alex walked past three arguing children and downstairs towards the kitchen, grabbing some ice and placing them in a rag before pressing it to his aching jaw.

“Fuck, that feels so good.”

“No swearing, love.” Jack teased as he walked over to his boyfriend and took the makeshift ice pack and pulling it away from his face. “That’s nasty. Who knew Dylan was so strong?”

Alex simply chuckled and pressed the ice back to his face.

“Are they settled in now?”

“Yep and grounded for the rest of the day. I’m gonna go get some groceries for our stay and then we can go out for dinner.”

“I thought the kids were grounded?” Alex asked with an amused voice.

“Not grounded from food though.” Jack pointed out and Alex chuckled.

“I guess I’ll watch over the troublemakers while you’re gone. But if I have more bruises than I’m punching you in return.”

“Don’t be so dramatic love. Kids, I’m leaving!”

Alex walked Jack to the door and pecked his lips before watching the man he loves get into their rental car and drive off. Suddenly the three troublemakers ran down the stairs and Alex sighed as he shut the front door and stopped the kids from going into the backyard.

“No no, you three are grounded and I will tell your father if you guys disobey his orders.” Alex threatened them, blocking their way.

“But Ali!” They all whined and stomped their feet.

“No.”

Dylan’s bottom lip trembled while the other two glared at their old nanny-turned-step-dad.

“Nu uh, kiddies. Why don’t we unpack your stuff while we wait for your father to return?”

“Not like we have a choice.” Tyler mumbled.

Alex rolled his eyes and looked upward, mumbling under his breath, “Please give me patience. Don’t make me drown them in the beach. Or throw them out the second floor window.”

Eventually when Jack came home he found his four loves passed out on Tyler’s bed. Alex was in the center of the bed with Dylan on top of him, Tyler to his right with his head resting on Alex’s shoulder and Tay to Alex’s left her feet thrown over Alex’s. With a smile, Jack took a quick picture before posting it on Facebook with the caption, ’The most important people in my life.’

“Guys, time to get up. I brought food.” Jack spoke as he shook them all awake.

“Hmm? What are you doing here?” Alex mumbled still in a daze as Dylan whined and cuddled impossibly closer to him.

“We’re on this trip together, Lex.”

“Oh yeah. Get this tiny human off me though, I’m starting to find it hard to breath.”

Jack chuckled and picked up Dylan who whined and made grabby hands towards Alex who sat up on the bed, making the other kids’ limbs fall off of him.

“Alex.” Tyler grumbled.

“Oops.” Alex laughed.

Dylan yawned and cuddled into his dad who rubbed his back as he set him on his hip.

Dylan was being clingy. Jack had tried setting him down on the floor but the child would not budge so he ended up putting away the groceries with Dylan on his hip while Alex helped him out, eventually chasing the kids out of the kitchen when they had tried sneaking a bag of chips out of one of the bags still on the table.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah kiddo?”

“Can we go to beach?” Dylan mumbled tiredly.

“Wouldn’t you rather stay here and sleep? You seem very tired to me,” Jack said with a smirk.

“Please daddy?”

“Fine, kid.”

For dinner they went to a small restaurant near the beach and Jack decided to not ground the children while on vacation, but they would be grounded once they got back and if they kept misbehaving then he would add more time to their punishment.

“Are we gonna go down to the beach?” Taylor asked excitedly as she set her milkshake down.

“Course we are, kids.” Jack smiled.

Alex smiled and moved a bit closer to Jack’s side as they continued to eat, enjoying their time together as a family. Once they had finished with dinner, they all walked down to the shoreline after taking off their shoes to feel the soft sand slip between their toes as they walked.

Alex and Jack held hands as they walked on the shoreline while the kids walked a bit ahead of them and played with the water, laughing loudly and just plain enjoying their time.

“I’m glad we made this trip. We definitely needed time to ourselves and away from the stress of back home.” Jack spoke as he swung their hands a bit.

“Yeah.” Alex hummed. “Jack, can I tell you something?”

“You know you can, love. You can trust me with anything.”

“I love you so much and I’m so damn happy with how our relationship as a couple and how my relationship with the kids is going, but I really don’t want to rush things between us. I want to be able to fully enjoy our relationship. I’ve never been in a relationship as beautiful as this one. I really just want to be able to take it all in.”

“No worries baby. You know I don’t want to rush or pressure you into anything. We can get married in one, five or ten years from now. I’ll wait for you because I love you so much that words can’t describe how much I actually do.”

Alex and Jack both stopped walking as the younger male looked at his lover with teary eyes and a large smile on his face.

“You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.”

Jack simply cupped his boyfriend’s face in his hands and pulled him in for a soft passionate kiss. Suddenly the kids started yelling and splashing water at their parents who pulled away laughing and chasing the kids.