Noah it is.

  "My name is Noah Cox. I am six years old. My father's name is Aiden Bishop. My mother is Abigale Natalie. I live in... Washington. Not Chicago. Maple Valley, Washington."           "Did I get that right?"

[srslylacey-deactivated20160721]

“It’s required,” she chirped as she dropped her dingy well-worn duffle bag to the floor boards just by her feet “An attempt to regulate activity into your schedule as the days of recess fall to the wayside. Basically kid, you shall be obliged to for the rest of your public school days as a feeble socialistic attempt to keep you from being fat.” 

[charliewho-blog]

     He smiled up at the woman. Though she was still very much a stranger, he felt it safe to assume she was part of his new family. He could understand the ‘required’ part, but every large word after that fell flat on such young ears. Socialistic? Regulate? Recess? As far as he was concerned, he didn’t seem fat, but he looked down at his tummy to make sure before returning his attention to her.

     “Um... what?” he says in his most polite tone. 

[melodyriley-blog]

“Your daddy is good at a lot of stuff. And he loves you more than anything, and that’s what’s most important.” Abigale hoped for her family’s sake that this new ‘family’ was better than the rest. Aiden and Charlie deserved to have the entire world at their fingertips. She squeezed his hand and looked around their new home. It was beautiful. She was thankful that finally they were in a home where she felt that her son and husband could be safe.

“Race me upstairs? You can pick whatever room you want, baby.”

[charliewho-blog]

     Charlie wiggled out of his mother’s grip and ran up the stairs, popping into the first room he came across. “If there are bags inside, it’s not okay to take it, right?”

[melodyriley-blog]

“Dad’s older than me. Plus, do you really want to see your dad playing sports? He’s not very good at them, baby.” The memory of shared high school PE classes with Aiden caused a smile to tug at the corners of her lips. She wished that Charlie could have seen Aiden trying to climb a rope or run a mile. 

She lifted him up to carry him in her arms, smothering him with kisses as she stepped inside. “Well, sometimes we’ll have to pick with the whole family, but we can still have spaghetti a lot, too. I’m sure the new family will love you just as much as dad and I do, so they’ll probably spoil you, sweetheart!” She set him down and took his hand in hers. “Want to go see your new room?” 

[charliewho-blog]

    He giggled as her kisses peppered his little face. “No. He’s not good at that kinda stuff. But other stuff, he’s good at other stuff.” Charlie didn’t have much to say about the rest of their so called “family” because he had not met them yet, but if history repeated itself, the experience of living with them would be lackluster at best. 

    To the question of seeing his new room, Charlie simply shook his head and replied, “mhm, mama.”

[remywolff-deactivated20160209]

“Maybe homeschool PE would be better. I’ll teach you when I get the time. We’ll be spending a lot of time together anyway, might as well make the most out of it.”

“I suppose so. The gangly one is your father, isn’t he?” He shook the young boy’s hand. “Call me Christian. I like that name better.”

[charliewho-blog]

      “Really? You’d want to do that? Some of the, um, other people I’ve lived with, like you, never did that stuff.” They were always too busy with their own lives, trying to keep what little they had left of them, while actively avoiding starting new ones when they absolutely didn’t have to. Charlie doesn’t know whether to be delighted by his new father’s proposal, or suspicious. 

      “Gangly?” That’s a word he’s never heard used to describe his father before. It doesn’t sound very good. “Um, he’s tall. With the dark eyes, like me.”

[madison-jacksonx-deactivated201]

Hearing that child talking about school classes, was bringing her nothing but frustration, not only she had to pretend to be seventeen again, but she was forced to go back to high school, which she never finished in the first place. This could be her chance to finish it but it could also not, however that shouldn’t mean she shouldn’t try and encourage the child to try PE once again. “Or maybe they are trying to teach you the opposite of that.”

[charliewho-blog]

     “They’re trying to teach me how to... beat up... other people?” The boy was thoroughly confused by the young woman’s response. If that was the case, then his disinterest in the course was doubly justified. “That’s not how it works here, is it?”

[melodyriley-blog]

“Well, sweetheart, does it help that I’ll be taking PE, too? We’ll be in different grades, of course, but I promise, no one will ever beat you up.” She smiled, ruffling her son’s hair. A pang of guilt hit her right in the chest. Every single part of her wished that he could have a normal life, with his normal name, in a normal family. But, she knew that he was a wonderful, special child, and they rarely live normal lives. “Plus, I can call you in sick to school sometimes and we can stay home with dad and eat spaghetti.” 

[charliewho-blog]

      “Yeah but we won’t be in the saaame PE,” he sighed and lazily folded up the information. “How come dad doesn’t have to take it if you take it?” 

     Charlie took comfort in burying his face into his mother’s side as she ruffled his hair. He could smell the faint, yet distinct, smell of her perfume in the fabric of her blouse. It was the little, oftentimes intangible things such as that, that were his stability. “Can we have spaghetti for dinner, or does the new family have to pick all together?”

[remywolff-deactivated20160209]

“Something like that. PE builds character. It teaches you how to stand up for yourself.”

The corners of his lips lifted at the accusation. Maybe in another lifetime. “The opposite. Bishop Cox. Nice to meet you, son.”

[charliewho-blog]

      “No offense, but I’ve taken it four times already and I still haven’t learned how to do that.”

      At the reveal of his name, Charlie looked down at the sheet of information again. “Bishop? So... you’re my dad now?” He extended a hand to shake the man’s own. “I’m Noah. It’s nice to meet you too, sir.”

[remywolff-deactivated20160209]

The kid came as a packaged deal and oddly enough, the kid was the one Christian could stand the most. “You can’t get beat up if you don’t let them beat you up. PE is a good opportunity to hone in on your self-defence skills. Build some muscle.” He prodded the boy’s shoulder. 

[charliewho-blog]

      “Self-defense?” he asked, unsure of which part of the man’s sentence to respond to first. Little brows bend toward the bridge of his nose in thought. “Like karate?”

      “Um, you’re not--- You’re not one of them, are you? The FBI guys?”

[charliewho-blog]

    Charlie Noah looked at the slip of paper in his hand, marking just some of the information regarding his new life. He was used to these things. What he refused to get used to, however, was the unholy regime of public school Physical Education courses. “They have me in PE again. It’s like they’re TRYING to get me beat up.”

[ohyeahgreysonchanceyeah]