CH 6: Spending the Day with Grandpops

[Picking Up Ace]

Wrapped up in the warmest, heaviest blanket they own, a runny nosed Thatch follows his father-in-law out into the cold to his car in shuffling steps. A steady stream of snot drips from his nose, which Thatch hurriedly wipes away as he asks, "Are you sure you don't mind watchin' him, Pops?"

Thatch sneezes into his blanket.

"Of course, I don't mind watching my grandson, Thatch!" Newgate tells the chef, bouncing Ace against his chest. Ace makes an "uhuhuhuhuh" sound as his grandpops bounces him. "Having fun there, kiddo? Gurarara! Don't worry about us, Thatch, we're going to have so much fun today. Aren't we, Ace?"

"Wahwahwahwah!" Ace throws himself back into his grandpop's arms.

"Ace seems excited about spending the day with me," Newgate remarks, grinning. He bends over to blow raspberries against Ace's neck, causing the infant to wiggle and laugh uncontrollably in his arms. Seeing Thatch's anxious expression, Newgate is quick to reassure his son's husband. "We'll be fine, Thatch. I promise. Besides, you're sick and you need to get some rest."

"It's just a little cold…" Thatch hesitates, but a coughing fit forces him to give in to his father-in-law's offer to take Ace off his hands for the day. "You're right. I'm just being an enormous—" sneeze "—worry wort, I guess. If you're sure then—" cough, hack, cough "—have your camera ready at all times, because Ace looks close to taking his first solo steps and it'd kill us, not literally, if we didn't get to see them. Oh, also—" another sneeze "—we're waiting on him to say his first word other than 'yoi,' so keep that in mind too. And—" a second, harsher coughing fit.

Newgate raises a hand, cutting Thatch off. "Thanks for the heads up, Thatch, I think I got it. Now you listen to me, don't worry about the two of us, we'll be fine, you just get back in bed and focus on getting better. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good lad," Newgate turns to buckle Ace into his car seat. "Tell your daddy 'bye-bye,' Ace."

"Yoi-yoi! Gaga!" Is Ace's enthusiastic farewell.

"I love you, Ace. Have a great time with your grandpops!" Thatch calls out, waving as Pops backs out of the driveway. A meaningful honk sends him shuffling back inside to his bed where he feebly collapses into a plump pile of blankets and pillows.

As sick and miserable as he is, Thatch misses his son already.

[Pumpkin Playtime]

For the next ten minutes or so, Ace's grandpops aimlessly drives them around town looking around for something fun they can do together. Thinking on it, Newgate muses to himself there really isn't all that much to do with a child who's not even a year old yet. There's always the park or a baby friendly playground, he supposes. Because Ace liked being swung in a swing and going on walks where he's able to see all sorts of new things, Newgate goes with that idea. However, just then, he passes a pumpkin patch where he's suddenly struck by a memory and inspiration.

During Marco's first autumn, Newgate bought him his very first pumpkin and let him root around in its guts. He remembers a baby Marco having a blast back then. Perhaps, too, Ace will have just as much fun. "Ace, want to pick out a pumpkin with Grandpops?"

"Ma-bu!" Ace trills from his car seat.

"To the pumpkin patch we go then!"

"Yoi!"

They end up having a great time choosing a pumpkin. Ace, with his grandpops holding his hands, toddles from pumpkin to pumpkin—giving each one of them a hug. Eventually, they go with a pumpkin that Newgate suspiciously believes Ace liked or was drawn to because it's somewhat shaped like Marco's head. Naturally, he snaps a quick picture of Ace and his pumpkin to send to Marco and Thatch.

No doubt Marco will gripe while Thatch gets a kick out of it.

With their pumpkin in tow, they head to Newgate's home where an excited Stefan greets them at the door, tail wagging a million miles a minute as they enter the house. Ace is only too happy to see his favorite dog. "Alright, how about you sit tight in your playpen while I get things set up in the kitchen," Newgate sets his grandson down into playpen amongst his collection of toys. He addresses Stefan. "Keep an eye on him."

It's several minutes later, as he's in the kitchen, Newgate hears Ace giggling uncontrollably and Stefan barking. Curious, but mostly concerned, Ace's grandfather sets down the knife he'd been using to cut open the pumpkin to check out what's happening in the living room. Ace is standing, dressed in an adorable pair of overalls with a lion on the front with an equally adorable grin on his face, chucking his toys out of his playpen where Stefan snatches them up and drops them back in with Ace. They were having the time of their lives, apparently.

"Gurarara, having fun, you two?" Newgate saunters over, lifting Ace out of his playpen. Stefan drops the last toy back into Ace's playpen before sauntering up to his master's side. The large dog rubs his head against Newgate's leg and Ace's grandfather obligies by giving his head a pat. "Good boy. Now, let's go make a huge mess."

Just as Newgate expected, Ace enjoys grabbing and pulling at pumpkin guts. And tasting it all. Rind included. Ace gives it a lick and scrunches up his face adorably. "Guarara, didn't much care for that did you?" Newgate laughs. His chuckles deepen as he watches Ace give the pumpkin a good whack only to still, head to one side, at the sound it makes. Ace repeats the motion and the pumpkin makes a hollow sounding thud. It amuses the infant to no end.

After amusing himself this way over the course of several minutes, Ace goes back to sticking his hand through the pumpkin's carved opening to pull out globs of gooey pumpkin guts. A fistful of it—plus seeds—almost makes it into his mouth, but his grandpops is quick to keep him from stuffing it all into his mouth. Ace glares at his grandpops. "Your glares don't scare me, kiddo. Let's take out those seeds and make this a little smaller before you stuff it all in your mouth." Newgate picks out the seeds of the now much smaller portion of pumpkin goo, allowing Ace to bring it to his mouth. Ace spits it out immediately afterward.

"It tastes much better in a pie," Newgate admittedly tells Ace.

An hour passes them by. Ace has grown bored and rolls to his knees, intending to crawl off in search of something new to do. His grandpops, however, scoops him up, chiding him gently. "Bath first, little man. Look at yourself, you're covered in pumpkin goop. After I get you cleaned up, I'll clean up the kitchen and then we'll have dinner. I bet you're hungry."

Ace starts to pull at his lip, much to his grandpop's amusement.

"I figured as much."

[Saying Goodnight]

Marco calls while he and Ace are enjoying dinner.

"Hello? Marco?" Newgate presses his phone to his ear with one hand and feeding Ace a spoonful of baby food with his other.

"Pops?"

Newgate's brows furrow at the sound of his son's hoarse voice. "Marco, you alright?"

There's a sneeze and a following sneeze from somewhere in the distance. Most likely Thatch. "I've caught Thatch's cold. I hate to ask, Pops, but would you mind keeping Ace tonight? Hopefully tomorrow one, or both of us, will be f-f-f-ACHOO!" Marco sniffles. He sounds awful and Newgate's heart aches for his son and Thatch. No matter how old his son gets, Newgate will always worry. "Hopefully, we'll be feeling better yoi."

"I don't mind at all, Marco. Thatch packed him an extra pair of clothes anyway and there's plenty of formula and baby food here for him. Don't you guys worry, Ace is in good hands with me. He can stay here as long as long as it takes for his daddies to get better."

"That's great. But, I don't think he'll have to stay longer than a night yoi."

"The offers there if it turns out that's the case."

"Thanks Pops," there's a pause and Newgate can hear Thatch's hoarsely mutter in the distance. "Thatch wants to say goodnight to Ace, as do I yoi."

"Of course," Newgate puts the phone on speaker and holds it up, screen facing Ace. "Go ahead you two."

"Goodnight Ace! We love you so much! Hope you had a great time with your grandpops today," Thatch croaks, breaking off into several coughs.

Next up is Marco, sounding just as bad off as his partner. "Night, night, Ace. I love you and hope to see you tomorrow. Be good for your grandpops for us."

Recognizing the sound of his fathers' voices, Ace reaches out towards the phone. For them. Then, "Ni-ni, dadas!"

There's a celebratory whoop from Marco and Thatch's end. Newgate beams proudly down at his grandson.

"He did it!" He hears Marco and Thatch both shout, no doubt making their sore throats even worse. "Ace has officially said his first words! Ace, your daddies are so proud of you and, oh man, I think I'm going to cry. I can't believe we aren't there to see this."

Thatch sounds so broken-hearted, but his father-in-law completely understands. "I know it's not the same thing, but at least you guys got to hear it in person over the phone."

"That's true. I guess, Pops. Man, I hope he doesn't start walking between tonight and tomorrow. I'll really be bummed out then." There's a definite pout in the chef's voice.

"Yoi-yoi!" Ace slaps his hands down onto his highchair. Done with the conversation and demanding to be spooned the rest of his food, Ace scrunches up his face in displeasure. Or taking another crap. It might just be a combination of both.

On the note of, "We'll see you guys tomorrow, goodnight," Newgate hangs up to finish feeding Ace the last couple of spoonfuls before giving him his bedtime bottle. After they both finish eating, Newgate gets Ace ready for bed, dressing his grandson in a pair of spare pajamas that are almost too small on Ace. "Looks like someone is getting to be a big boy, huh? We'll get you a brand-new set tomorrow since these are getting too small for you."

Once Ace is in his pjs and with a fresh diaper, Newgate gently rocks and hums Ace to sleep before easing his grandson down into the crib. Stefan trots into his bedroom, sated from his own dinner, to curl up at the foot of Ace's crib where the dog lets out a sigh of contentment and is soon drifting off to sleep.

"Good night, Ace. I love you and sweet dreams."

An hour later, Ace's weary grandpops climbs into his bed after cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. Namely, Ace's messy highchair. Within minutes of rolling over onto his side, facing Ace's crib, Edward Newgate falls asleep and dreams of his day spent with his grandson.

Woot! Look at how quickly I updated! I'm happy how this chapter turned out as I've been wanting to include a scene with just Ace and his grandpops. Ah! And Stefan too, of course. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thank you for your reviews! They make me so happy reading them.

Until chapter seven,

Runa