Work Text:
A loud echoing crack awoke Tom with a start. He jerks, eyes flying open at the sound. It takes a moment to realize the noise had been thunder and not someone breaking into their home. He hears the howl of the wind outside and the rain hitting the window. Turning his head, he sees Pete fast asleep next to him, mouth slightly parted as he snores loudly. He shakes his head with a small smile. Pete can sleep through anything. He closes his eyes, fully prepared to fall back asleep when he hears something else.
It was so soft he couldn't tell what it was. He listens carefully for the sound again.
Then another boisterous boom of thunder rattles the windows.
A loud cry follows it.
Bradley, he thinks, throwing off the covers and getting to his feet. He hurries across the hall and pushes the boy's bedroom door open. They always leave it cracked in case Bradley needs them. Although, Bradley insisted on leaving it cracked in case they need him.
The room has a soft yellow glow to it from Bradley's little Ninja Turtle nightlight. There's a shaking lump underneath his Spiderman bedspread.
"Baby Goose?" He ventures further into the room and sits on the edge of the bed.
Bradley bursts out from under the covers, his eyes full of tears and cheeks pink. It startles Tom. He doesn't know what to do, not really. This is all so new to him. Bradley has only been with them for a few short weeks. He wonders what Carole would do. The thought of her makes his heart clench painfully. He wishes she was here. She would know how to comfort the 5-year-old.
"Come here, kiddo." He pats the spot on the bed next to him and it only takes a second for Bradley to throw himself at Tom. Tom made a little "oof" sound at the impact. He sits in Tom's lap, burying his wet face into Tom's chest. He wasn't expecting this. What does he do? What does he say? Tom has never been around children. Maybe he should go wake Pete. No, his darling boyfriend can sleep through an atomic bomb.
He hesitantly wraps his arms around the boy. "Hey," he says, "it's okay. It's just a storm. It'll pass."
"I don't like it. It's loud and scary," cries Bradley. He feels Bradley's tears soak through his shirt.
"Yeah, it is, but it will stop soon and-"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Yeah, of course-"
"Promise?" Bradley holds out his pinky.
Tom laces his much larger pinky with his. "I promise."
"Mommy used to stay me when I got scared."
Tom's heart breaks at that. It's only been a few weeks since Carole passed. Tom can't imagine all what Bradley has been feeling. His mom got sick and it was all downhill from there. Her doctor had given her just months to live. The cancer had eaten her from the inside out faster than any jet could fly it seemed. Bradley moved in with them the last few weeks Carole was in the hospital. She passed in the middle of the night. Pete broke down when he got the call. Bradley soon followed because he just knew his mommy was gone.
Bradley had been inconsolable at the funeral. He lost both parents within a year of each other. He had to leave his home and live in a different house, a different room, with different people. Tom still thinks, why ,sometimes. Why was Goose taken from his family in such a horrible way? Why was Carole taken from them?
Swallowing down the lump that's growing in his throat, he says, "You miss her, huh?"
Bradley nods his head against Tom's chest.
"She's watching over you, you know?" He doesn't know why he says that. He needs to comfort Bradley, not upset him.
Bradley looks up at him with wide, curious eyes. "Really?"
Tom nods. "Yeah. She's up in Heaven."
He just keeps messing up.
"Mommy said daddy was in Heaven."
"He is. They both are. They're watching over you from up there."
"And you and Uncle Mav are watching over me down here?" Bradley smiles softly as he points to the ground.
"That's right," Tom grins bopping Bradley on the nose. Bradley giggles, making Tom smile wider.
Okay, so maybe he didn't mess up.
Thunder rumbles through the house, making Bradley whimper and cower closer to Tom. Tom tightens his arm around him. "It's okay, it's okay."
He strokes over Bradley's blond curls.
"Did I ever tell you about the time Uncle Pete turned his hands blue?"
Bradley looks up at him again. "What?! Blue?!" He giggles. "How did he do that?"
Tom begins the long, silly story, distracting Bradley from rolling thunder and howling wind.
He doesn't know how much time passes. He tells one silly story after the next. He talks about the time Slider got a snapping turtle stuck on his toe. And the time Sundown got sprayed by a skunk. And the time that Chipper screamed like a 5-year-old girl when they watched Friday the 13th.
At some point they settled back in the bed, Tom doing his best to squeeze into the tiny bed. Bradley cuddled up next to him and Tom faltered in the middle of his story. It dawns on him then, that Bradley feels safe with him. He doesn't know what to think of it. All he knows is that it makes him want to smile. He continues on, telling all of the most embarrassing Squad stories he can think of.
The storm has reduced to a light drizzle. No more wind, no more thunder.
"And then Wolfman tried to help Hollywood get his hand out of the jar by getting-" Tom laughs, but before he can continue, Bradley speaks.
"Love you Uncle Ice," Bradley mumbles sleepily.
Tom's heart pounds in his chest.
When he looks down, he sees the boy is asleep. "Love you too, Baby Goose," he whispers before pressing a kiss to Bradley's curls. He looks so much like Carole. From his blonde hair to the shape of his nose and lips. He's going to break some hearts when he's older.
He's known this kid for a year. After Goose died, he and Pete were with Carole and Bradley all the time. They went out to the park for picnics, the aquarium, they had them over for dinner, and they would have lunch at the Bradshaw's' house. Tom thinks of a time several months ago before they found out Carole was sick.
The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze and birds were chirping. He and Pete went over for sandwiches and homemade lemonade. They sat out on the patio and ate together. After, Pete and Bradley went to play in the yard. They tossed a baseball back and forth for a while before Pete started chasing a giggling Bradley around the yard.
"He's always been so good with Bradley," Carole commented. Tom looks at her. She smiled so softly, so lovingly it made his chest ache.
He looked back into the yard. Pete had caught Bradley and turned him upside down. Bradley's high-pitched squeals of laughter made Tom smile. "Yeah, he's great with Brad. I don't know how he does it. It comes so naturally to him."
"What, you don't love my kid?" She sounded so angry.
Tom jerks his head back around to look at her. "That's not what I meant! I love that kid! It's just-"
"Tom," She rested a hand on his arm, laughing, "I'm just pulling your leg, sweetie."
Tom relaxed under her touch. Carole was the kindest person Tom had ever met with a good sense of humor, who could also be the fiercest person Tom had ever met.
He looked down at his half-empty glass of lemonade and plays with the condensation running down the side. It had been his third glass. Carole made the best lemonade.
"Sometimes, I think he doesn't like me all that much."
"Oh, please," Carole rolled her eyes. "He loves you more than Pete I think."
"I doubt that!"
"He talks about his Uncle Ice all the time."
"Really?" Tom perks up at that. He had no idea.
Carole nods. "Oh yeah!"
"I just feel like I don't know how to act around him. I've never been around kids, ever."
"It will come to you when you least expect it."
He looks back at Pete and Bradley. Bradley is now running away from Pete gain, but this time he's wearing Pete's Aviators. His giggles are probably Tom's favorite sound in the world.
"Now, come on," Carole said, grabbing his attention, "we need to show those two how to have some real fun!" She took his hand and tugged him out of his seat and out into the yard.
The memory, like every time spent with Bradley and Carole is engrained into his brain and always will be. He will always cherish them. He blinks away tears and swallows down the lump in his throat.
And Carole had been right.
He holds Bradley tighter to him. He loves this kid so much and he prays Bradley knows it. And if he doesn't, then Tom will show it and tell him every day.
When he awakes again, it's to someone shaking his shoulder. He must have rolled over onto his side in his sleep. His arm is draped over Bradley's tiny body. He moans softly at being disturbed.
"Ice," Pete whispers, close to his ear. "Come back to bed, baby. You don't fit in this bed." He chuckles softly.
Tom buries his face further into Bradley's curls.
"No, promised Baby Goose I'd stay."
It's quiet for a moment before Pete speaks again. "I love you, Ice." And it sounds so soft, even to Tom's half-asleep brain. He feels his boyfriend press a kiss to his head and then Tom drifts back to sleep, content to lay with his son even if it meant stiff limbs and an aching back in the morning.