I let the tears slip out of my eyes and run down my cheeks as I smiled at our son, happily checking out all of his new toys. I heard a throat clear behind me and I whipped around to see Carter standing there sheepishly with his hands in his pockets.
"So, um, how much trouble am I in? I didn't plan on getting this much but once I got to the store, I couldn't help myself. They make Hotwheels that change color in the water, Claire! And a garbage truck named Stinky that moves on its own and picks up toys and then burps. Did you know there was something called Moon Sand? Oh, oh and Aqua Sand that strangely looks like siding insulation when you put it in the water but when you pull it out..."
I launched myself into his arms and cut off his words with my lips. He was obviously surprised but caught me easily in his arms and returned my kiss. I poured everything I had into that kiss, all of my happiness, all of my trust and all of my love. I let him know with my lips just how thankful I was to have been blessed with a man like him in my life. I could have kissed him for days and never come up for air. The only thing that made me stop was the sound of absolute silence in the room behind us.
I broke from the kiss and Carter let out a groan of complaint which made my girly parts tingle knowing that he didn't want to stop. Keeping my arms around him, I turned my head around.
"Where's Gavin?"
"Ooooh this is warm. And it makes my hands tingle," we heard Gavin say from another room.
I sighed. "Shit, what did he get into now?" I muttered as I reluctantly pulled out of Carter’s arms.
Carter started to smile but immediately got a horrified look on his face. He turned and raced out of the room before I could ask him what was wrong. I followed after him and was right on his heels when he rounded the corner to his bedroom. It was like something out of a movie. Carter jumped up and dove through the air, arms stretched out in front of him like Superman. He sailed across the room and landed on his stomach on the bed right next to Gavin, but not before smacking something out of his hand. I just stood there with my mouth open, trying to understand what the hell was going on.
"Heeeeey," Gavin complained with a frown.
Carter was face down on the bed, his shoulders shaking so hard that Gavin's body was bouncing. Was he crying? Oh my God, was he having a nervous breakdown?
"Carter, what the hell?" I asked.
"What the hell, Carter?" Gavin repeated.
"Gavin!" I scolded while Carter continued to have a seizure or whatever the hell he was doing.
"But Mooooom, he took my lotion," Gavin pouted.
I walked up to the bed to see what Gavin was pointing at. A small tube of something was by Carter’s hand on the bed. As soon as I got close enough to see it, Carter grabbed it and flipped over on his back. And now I could see that he wasn't dying from an epileptic seizure, he was laughing his ass off.
"It's not funny, Carter. You took my lotion," Gavin complained.
This only made Carter laugh harder until he was gasping for breath. I looked at him in confusion. He just lifted his arm and handed me the tube of...
KY Warming Liquid?
Oh Jesus fucking hell. Lube? He put lube on his hands. It only took seconds for me to notice that Gavin was surrounded by condoms. A couple of them open and out of their wrappers.
"Your balloons suck, Carter," Gavin complained.
I collapsed on the bed next to Carter and laughed right along with him.
***
Twenty minutes into Toy Story 2, Gavin fell fast asleep with his head on Carter’s lap. I got up to go to the bathroom and grabbed my cell phone off of the kitchen table so I could sneak a picture. It was just too cute not to document.
I tapped Carter on the shoulder once I stowed my phone away and pointed to Gavin and then motioned back to his room. He awkwardly tried to finagle his arms around Gavin and you could tell he was freaked out about waking him up.
"It's okay," I whispered to him. "He won’t wake up."
Carter shook his head and muttered something that sounded like “Yeah right, until suddenly he disappears and you realize he’s been eaten by a clown.”
He moved quickly, scooping Gavin into his arms like he’d done it a thousand times before and Gavin never batted an eyelash at the disruption. I followed behind Carter down the hall and smiled at the sight of Gavin with his head nestled into the crook of Carter’s neck and his arms hanging limply at his sides. We walked into the bedroom, stepping over all of the toys so we wouldn't trip, and I stood back while Carter gently put Gavin down on the bottom bunk and covered him up. It took everything in me not to sob when he brushed Gavin's hair off of his forehead like I usually did every night.
"My lunch box makes cow nipples," Gavin mumbled in his sleep before rolling over to face the wall.
Carter looked back at me.
"What the hell was that?" he whispered with a laugh.
I stepped around him, bent over and kissed Gavin's head.