Chapter Text
“I just don’t see the point in getting candy from strangers. It gives children the wrong idea” Adam grumbled, when they finally sat down on the couch after putting their three-year-old son to bed. “We’ve been teaching him not to take sweets from strangers and now you want him to go door to door and ask for it?” he reasoned and wrapped his arms around Olive.
She couldn’t contain her smile looking at her spoil sport husband. She loved Adam to bits, but he could be exhausting sometimes.
“Come on, Adam, he’s finally old enough to actually enjoy Halloween, don’t spoil it. He’s so excited to wear his costume.”
“Because you and Holden have been hyping him up!” Adam argued.
“Because it is fun! Come on, doesn’t he look adorable in his Bluey costume?” she asked, knowing damn well that their little boy had his dad wrapped around his finger and Adam would never question his son’s adorableness.
“I never said he didn't! All I’m saying is that trick or treating is stupid. Plus he doesn’t need all that sugar.”
“Well, you can always try to trade his tomorrow’s haul for a bucket of broccoli, if you want. Let me know how that turns out” she said impatiently.
“Why do you want me to look like the bad guy?”
“I’m not! I just don’t understand why you’re so desperate to criticise everything about Halloween. Kai's excited. I’m excited. Even Holden’s excited. And I know it’s not exactly your idea of fun, I get it, okay? But sometimes we need to suck it up and do things we don’t want to do, because the kids want it” she said, and as if on cue, her growing belly got misshapen by a tiny foot of their kicking soon to be born daughter.
Olive exhaled loudly, when she felt the movement, and Adam smiled fondly and put his big palm against Olive’s skin, right over the bump. “I’m sorry. You’re right” he said quietly and kissed his wife. He quickly lowered his head to talk to his youngest child “Be good to mommy, Sweetheart. Daddy’s already in trouble, trust me, you don’t want to join me” he said and kissed Olive’s stomach. “I love you, little one” he added quietly.
“You’re not in trouble, Adam. I just don’t want to spoil Kai’s first real Halloween. He finally understands what it’s about. And it’s his last Halloween as an only child too.”
“I know” Adam nodded solemnly, completely understanding Olive’s concerns.
He still remember the feeling of overwhelming terror when he’d first found out about Olive’s first pregnancy. He’d been sure he’d mess his child badly given his lack of experience in being a loving parent... or a loved child for that matter. But the moment he’d met Malachi, he’d instantly fell in love with the boy and had spent the last three years doing his damn best to provide for him and make him happy. Each of his son’s cheeky smiles and cuddle requests made Adam’s quest worth it. It also helped that Olive seemed to have a gift for handling little kids. Observing her being an amazing mother had been the most beautiful thing Adam had ever witnessed.
Now that he had over three years of experience raising the best little guy he’d ever met, he was terrified that adding another baby to the mix would mess things up, that struggling to keep up with each of his children would somehow end up in disappointing them both.
Olive was right, Kai deserved a great Halloween before the arrival of his little sister.
“If you really don’t want to go trick or treating with Kai, you can stay home with me. Malcolm and Holden would be happy to take him. They’ve got their costumes ready. They’re dressing as Uncle Rad and Uncle Stripe tomorrow. Holden’s been all buzzing about having matching costumes with his favorite Mal duo-“
“He really needs to stop calling him Mal” Adam complained with a scowl for the thousandth time.
“Well, we did kind of name him after Malcolm-“
“We did not” Adam interrupted his wife again, making her laugh.
“We did” she argued. “Holden tried to find out this-“ she said pointing at her tummy “- little one’s name again today. I’m worried I’ll crack and tell him any day now” she stage whispered, trying to wind her husband up.
“Don’t you dare” he said seriously.
They’d picked Holly's name nearly instantly. As soon as they’d discovered the gender, they made a short list of potential names and the moment they’d said ‘Holly’, they just knew. It was a perfect name since it matched both Holden, due to the first syllable, and Olive, being a plant name.
They owed Holden so much, they struggled to put it into words. As much as they knew that Adam’s life-long friend was going to lose his mind over their name choice, they also appreciated that their little girl was lucky to have such an amazing godfather in her life. They couldn’t wait to meet her, and they couldn’t wait for Holden to officially find out her name too.
“If you tell him, we will have to divorce” he warned, though he knew it was a terrible threat. Nothing would ever make him want to leave his perfect little family, and everyone around them knew it.
“I don’t think it matters though. Holden mentioned today, that he was ready to legally change his name to match ‘his perfect little goddaughter’” she announced with a laugh.
“I love Holly, I really do, but now I’m tempted to pretend her name is Perpetua just until that idiot gets his new driver’s licence” Adam said seriously, making Olive giggle again.
“That’s cruel” she said when she calmed down.
“It’s reasonable. And they are not taking my son trick or treating. They’ve already witnessed his first steps, they’re not taking treat or treating away from me too” Adam said with clear annoyance in his voice.
Any time he thought of the phone call from excited Holden, his blood boiled.
They’d tried to juggle their responsibilities around childcare, trying to limit the need for babysitters as much as possible. That god forsaken day they’d both needed to slave away in the lab, working on their grant. Olive had felt guilty about failing her husband and collaborator due to her post-partum mental and physical struggles and refused to leave him alone in the lab. They’d asked Malcolm and Holden to babysit for a few hours, just to get hit with a chirpy phone call and a recorded video of their ten-month-old son taking his first steps in the presence of his very excited uncles. Adam had been ready to call Elsie and Jack and make them hurry the fuck up and put their physics degrees to good use and make time travel possible. He’d been so upset he didn’t even care that his though process was unreasonable. His other thought had included strangling his son’s godfathers to eliminate any witnesses of Kai’s milestone, to make the first attempt null and void. Olive had unfortunately told him not to kill them.
“It’s been years, Adam, are you really still upset about it?” Olive asked.
He looked at his wife and immediately felt bad for bringing that up. He knew Olive still felt guilty for making that call, for making them miss Kai’s milestone.
“No, I just don’t want them to hijack any new memories if I can help it. I’m trick or treating with Kai. And I promise not to complain too much. But I am not letting him take any candy from the Bakers” he announced with a shiver, making his wife giggle once more.
Their neighbor was a single mother of two, who, for some reason really liked Adam. He was cold, sometimes straight up rude, just to get rid of the infuriating woman who just couldn’t get the hint, and kept trying to chat the happily married man up.
“Will you wear your costume?” she asked with a smirk, allowing him to move the subject away from Kate Barker.
“I will” he promised, though without any enthusiasm.
He was too old to be dressing as a cartoon dog, he thought. He knew Olive would dress up too which was the only saving grace. He rolled his eyes at the though of his peaceful house turning into a dog house with four grown ups and a three year old dressed as Bluey characters.