They Get That From You

“Daddy?” John said from where he was sitting on top of the dryer. Steve was folding the laundry, John ‘helping’ in his own very special way. Steve didn’t mind that he would have to refold all those clothes because it made John so happy to help.

“Yeah Bud?” Steve responded, handing John another one of Emma’s rompers as Steve expertly took care of one of his own polo shirts.

“Why don’t me and Emma have a mommy?” John asked.

“Emma and I,” Steve corrected automatically, and in reality, stalling for time. The question, he knew, was inevitable. He and Danny had even discussed what they would say when it finally surfaced. Now that John had asked it, Steve found himself out of breath and out of answers.

“Why, Daddy?” John asked in all his five year earnestness as he folded another romper. “Everybody at school has a mommy. Aiu has two mommies. He said me and Emma musta been hatched in a tube.”

Steve shook his head at that, putting his hands on the dryer on either side of John’s body. “What did you say to Aiu?”

John shrugged, looking up at his father, his blue eyes innocent and curious. “Nothin’. We weren’t hatched, were we?”

“No, of course not, Bud,” Steve assured him.

“Who’s my mommy?” John asked.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Danny enter the house, Emma in tow. They had run out to the grocery store to get some extra vegetables for the stew they were making.

“Babe?” Danny called out from the kitchen.

“We’re in the laundry room,” Steve called back.

“Daddy,” John cheered, watching the door until Danny and Emma appeared. “Whad’ya bring me?”

“We went to the grocery store, Bud. Why would we bring you anything?” Danny teased.

“Always do,” John reminded him with a bright smile. John turned his smile down at Emma who was holding up a giant lollipop for John.

“Seriously, Danno?” Steve said, shaking his head.

Danny just shrugged, helping John unwrap it. “They’ll get tired of it after a few licks. No problem. What are the two of you doing?”

“Laundry,” John announced happily, his tongue already turning colors from the swirls of the lollipop.

“And talking,” Steve said, Danny studying his face at his words.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Ask Daddy what you asked me,” Steve requested of John.

“You mean about why Emma and me don’t have a mommy?” John asked.

“Oh,” Danny said in realization.

“We have daddies,” Emma chirped, lifting her arms to Steve so he would pick her up. He settled her on his hip, careful to stay out of range of the sticky sucker she was licking.

“Aiu says everybody’s got a mommy except us,” John told Danny like he had Steve.

“He said that they must have been hatched,” Steve repeated to Danny with a frown.

“Well that’s just silly,” Danny said. “You both have mommies.”

“Why don’t they live with us?” John asked, looking from Danny to Steve. “You aren’t our mommy.”

“Clearly we aren’t,” Danny agreed. “When we decided we wanted to have you and Emma, we asked very nicely if your aunt Mary and your aunt Maggie would have you for us. They said they would because we can’t.”

John considered his father’s words, looking at Emma in Steve’s arms. Emma was more interested in her lollipop than whatever it was her men were discussing. They were all there. That’s all she really cared about. Because if they ever disappeared from her view for longer than two minutes, she’d track them down to find out where they were. “We were inside their tummies?”

“Uh huh,” Danny confirmed.

“They didn’t want us?” John asked.

“It wasn’t that they didn’t want you, Bud,” Danny said. “They were like the oven that we used to bake our bread.”

“We’re not bread,” Emma piped up, surprising the guys. They were sure she hadn’t been listening to them. At all.

“We know that, Princess,” Steve assured her. “Danno’s using the oven and the bread to make a point. Which he will probably never get to since he talks so much.”

“Thanks,” Danny said with a huff. “As I was saying, you two are like our cinnamon buns. Mary and Maggie are like the oven you were baked in. When the buns were done, Daddy and I got to bring them home.”

“I like cimmomom rolls,” Emma announced.

“We all do,” Danny agreed.

“Daddy never eats them,” John reminded them.

“Danno eats enough for all of us,” Steve teased, Danny scowling at him.

“Do you understand, Bud?” Danny asked, studying John carefully.

“Uh huh,” John said, much more of his focus on his lollipop than the question.

“Come on, Em. Let’s go make stew,” Danny said, accepting Emma from Steve. The men exchanged a knowing look as they transferred their daughter. The kids had lost interest in the topic of mommies but they both knew it would come up again.

~o0o~

John was almost eight the next time the question came up. He was sitting on Danny’s lap in one of the beach chairs as Steve and Emma continued their swim. The kids had started swimming with Steve as soon as they were old enough to follow him down the steps by themselves. Steve had never intended to take them swimming each morning – they had decided they needed to go. Danny had mixed emotions about them trying to keep up with their father in the water and had reluctantly started getting up with them as soon as the sun was over the horizon. It made him feel much more secure to sit on the beach and wait for the kids to emerge from the water then it did to leave the children alone on the beach while Steve remained in his swimming Zen.

Emma was a natural in the water, able to swim almost endlessly from the beginning. She couldn’t swim as long as Steve but could swim much further than John. Danny always said John had enough sense to get out of the water before he turned into a fish. Steve claimed John took after his land-lubber father and only swam because he wasn’t going to let Emma do something he couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. Danny reminded Steve that John had started swimming with him even before Emma could walk but mostly Steve just ignored him.

John had been swimming for 20 minutes when he came ashore and settled in Danny’s lap. Danny wrapped the towel and his arms around his son, sipping his coffee as they watched Super SEAL and baby seal continue their epic swim.

“Why didn’t our mommies want us?” John asked Danny out of the blue.

“It wasn’t that they didn’t want you, Bud. They had you because Steve and I can’t,” Danny told him before kissing the back of his head. If his arms tightened a little more around his son’s body, it was a natural reaction.

“They gave us up.”

“I suppose in some ways they did,” Danny said, needing to honor his son’s honest concern. “But when they offered to have you, they knew you would live with me and Steve. They had decided that before you were a twinkle in their eye.”

“Like a cinnamon bun,” John said, shifting so he could look at Danny, his blue eyes meeting Danny’s.

“Exactly. They were the ovens. When you and Emma were done, they gave you to us.”

“And you are our daddies?” John asked.

“Of course we are.”

John nodded, thinking that over, a tiny line appearing between his eyebrows. “Aiu said you both can’t be my daddy. Only one.”

“You need to put the closed sign on your ears when Aiu starts talking about mommies and daddies,” Danny told him, not for the first time.

“But he said I can only have one real daddy.”

Danny sighed, wishing he could have a talk with Aiu about what is and is not appropriate schoolyard conversation. “Aiu has two mommies. Why can’t you have two daddies?”

“He said his real mommy is Judie. Sylvia is his other mommy.”

“They are both his mommy,” Danny reminded John.

“Are you my real daddy? Or is Steve?” John asked, clearly not ready to let this go, as much as Danny wished he would.

“What does it matter, Bud? Steve and I love you and Emma with all our hearts. We are both your daddies. Do you really care what Aiu thinks about us?”

“But I can only have one real father,” John said stubbornly. Danny thought he got that from Steve although he was pretty sure Steve would blame it on Danny.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Danny asked, kissing John’s forehead to show there was no anger behind the words.

“You wouldn’t,” John pointed out with a silly smile, realizing one of his father’s greatest fears. He was turning into his fathers and it was too late to stop it.

“I was the sperm donor for you,” Danny finally conceded. “Steve was the donor for Emma.”

“Mary’s my mother,” John said with a nod.

“She had you. Giving birth doesn’t make you a mom,” Danny reminded him.

“I know that, Danno,” John said, studying Danny with a familiar intensity. “I’m glad I have two daddies. The two daddies I have.”

“Thank you, Bud. We’re glad we are your daddies,” Danny said, kissing John’s forehead again and hugging him tight against his body.

“I can’t breathe, Danno,” John claimed, laughing when Danny tickled him. “Are you telling Emma?”

“Not until she asks. Does she ask you?”

“She’s too busy trying to keep up with Steve to think about anything else,” John said, settling back against Danny, warm and content in his father’s arms.

“What should we make our seals for breakfast?”

“We could throw raw fish at them,” John said, making Danny laugh.

“It’s what they deserve,” Danny agreed, watching Emma emerge from the water and come up to them, a tired, happy expression on her face. “Hi Princess,” he said, handing her the towel.

“Hey Daddy,” Emma returned, leaning against the arm of his chair. “I’m hungry.”

“I can understand that,” Danny said. “We were just talking about what we should make for breakfast. You have any preference?”

“Pancakes,” Emma and John said at the same moment.

Danny laughed and shook his head. “What will Super SEAL eat?”

“We’ll throw fish at him,” John declared, leaving Danny’s lap to race up the house, Emma staying with Danny.

“What, baby?” Danny asked his daughter as he helped her dry off, squeezing some of the water out of her blonde curls.

“What?” she asked him, looking up at him with grey eyes just like her father’s.

“You seem to have something on your mind,” he said, watching her.

She shrugged, turning for the house.

Danny stood to follow her, wondering if she was going to try and keep everything inside like his goof-ball husband did. Not that Steve generally succeeded but Emma looked far more serious than a typical six-year old. Danny ran up behind her and scooped her up, making her giggle in delight.

“Put me down, Danno,” she laughed, wiggling against him.

“Nope. I have you and I’m not letting you go.”

“Good,” she said, wrapping arms around his neck and holding tight as he carried her inside.

~o0o~

“Hey Danno,” Emma said as she was coming down the steps. It was a lazy Sunday, all of them home for a change. Danny was on the couch watching a game. At least, the game was on. Whether or not Danny was actually watching it was a matter of some debate. Steve was in the garage, tinkering with the Marquis. Why he bothered when he still hadn’t gotten it to run properly after all these years was an eternal mystery to them all. John and Emma were upstairs, being quiet which Danny hoped meant they were doing homework and not plotting the overthrow of the free world. He was pretty sure they would one day be head of the Imperial Forces but on this particular Sunday, they were almost 12 and 14. Still too young to have full control over the universe, thankfully.

“Yeah Princess,” Danny responded automatically, looking over at her and recognizing the expression on her face. It was not good news. It was, in fact, an expression she inherited from Steve. His stubborn, determined, take-no-prisoners face. This was bad. This was very bad. “What’s up?” he asked, hoping he sounded casual, calm. Show no fear. He’d learned that from dealing with Steve all these years.

“Where are your baby pictures?” she asked. Demanded. Hands on her hips. Grey eyes focused on him. Mouth set.

“My baby pictures?” Danny repeated. This was unexpected. A strategic op? Throw him off his game?

“Yeah. From when you were little. They had cameras back then, right?”

“Yes, little miss. They did. Why do you want to see my baby pictures?” he asked, his eyes narrowed. What was her end game? Did she have weapons in the pockets of her carpenter jeans?

“Why aren’t you telling me where they are?” she countered. Put Danny on the defensive.

Danny stared at her, fatherly disapproval in every line of his body. He counted it a win when she softened at the edges.

“Can I see them, please?” she tried. Make huge doe eyes at him. Flutter those ridiculous eyelashes he blamed on Steve.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he reminded her, proving he was not distracted by her adorable self.

She sighed, sounding put-upon and defeated. But he knew better. It was a tactical move on her part. He was not fooled. “John and I are just curious. We want to see what you and Daddy looked like as babies.”

He studied her again, seeing the lies in her shoulders, the way she shoved her hands deep in her pockets. “Why?”

“Can’t we be curious, Daddy? We’ve never seen them. I bet you were a really cute baby.”

Flattery. More fluttering eyelashes. Calling him Daddy. He felt his resistance weakening. Did he surrender or call in reinforcements? “Did you ask Steve?” he asked, stalling. He needed to regroup. Get his bearings.

“Not yet. We figured you’d know where his are too. He’s the family control freak but you’re the neat freak. Always rearranging closets and the attic.”

“I see,” Danny said, narrowing his eyes at her again. Good, she took a tiny step backwards. Score one for Daddy. “Ask Steve.”

“Why?” she responded in an act of bravado.

“Maybe he’s naked in his. Do you want to see Super SEAL in all his infant, naked glory?” Danny asked. Make her think. Throw in a few unnecessary details to see if it distracts her.

“If he’s a baby, he’s not going to be showing the goods, Danno,” she said. Her exasperation was beginning to show. Advantage Danny.

“He might.”

“Danno,” she said. He could see her restraining herself from stomping her foot at him. She knew that would win her nothing. It would ensure she never saw the pictures.

“Go and ask Steve. If he says yes, I’ll get them for you,” he said. Yes, reinforcements were required at this stage. He was weakening. He could feel it. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the tears he might have detected shimmering in the depths of her eyes. No. He was stronger than that.

“Fine,” she sighed, turning to retreat from the living room. “Hey Daddy,” she said brightly when she was inside the garage with Steve. He lifted his head from his study of the engine to focus on her, seeing her overly bright, overly enthusiastic smile. He was going to kill Danny the first chance he had. Danny had sicced their daughter on him - he could see the signs.

“Yeah Princess?” Steve said with well practiced nonchalance. Danny was so totally dead.

“Can John and I see your baby pictures, please?” she requested, leaning against the grill of the Marquis in order to pretend to be interested in what Steve was doing. But he knew better.

“My baby pictures,” he repeated, looking over at her.

“Uh huh.”

“I’m not sure where they are,” he told her honestly.

“Danno knows,” she said, her eyes widening slightly at her confession.

“Danno knows,” he repeated, straightening from beneath the hood of the car.

“What’s the big deal, Daddy? We just want to see your baby pictures. We aren’t asking for the records of your classified missions. They are just baby pictures. Jeez,” she said. Okay, maybe shouted. Which was a huge mistake. She knew it was but that didn’t seem to have any meaning to her brain. She was not even a little surprised when Steve scooped her up and carried her inside, holding her under one arm like a bag of potatoes.

“Danny,” Steve said when he was in the living room, Emma still dangling from his hip.

“Steve,” Danny replied, looking from Emma to Steve.  “John!”

“Yeah?” John yelled back from upstairs.

“Living room. Now,” Steve answered. That got John’s attention and his appearance in short order.

“What’s up?” John asked. His I have no idea what’s happening down here expression needed work. They could see the lie way too clearly.

“Daddy,” Emma said. “Could you put me down please?”

Steve sat her on her feet, pointing at the couch. “Sit. You too, John.”

They both did it, Danny retreating to stand next to Steve.

“All right. The truth,” Steve said, staring at their two children.

Predictably it was John who broke first. That’s what they had been counting on. Not that he couldn’t be as stubborn as any mule in Christendom but he broke much more quickly when faced with the combined disapproval of his fathers. A peace-maker by nature. “We were talking about, you know,” he said, waving one hand in an oh-so-familiar manner. Okay, so they didn’t inherit all of their annoying habits from Steve.

“We don’t know,” Steve said, eyes narrowing dangerously.

“We wanted to see if we look like you did when you were babies,” John said. “I wanted to see if I look like Steve and Emma wants to know if she looks like Danno.”

Steve and Danny traded a glance, volumes spoken in their silent exchange. “That’s it?” Steve finally asked.

“Yeah,” Emma responded for them both. “Most kids look at their mom and dad’s pictures. To see who they take after. I want to see if I look like you,” Emma said, looking up at Danny.

“What if you don’t, Em? What if you don’t see yourself at all in my pictures? Will you feel like you aren’t really mine?” Danny asked, sounding more worried than he wanted to admit to even himself. He didn’t want anything to come between him and any of his children. All three of them were too precious to him.

“No, Danno. Jeez. Please keep the freaking out to a minimum,” Emma said. But the fact that she had come up and wrapped her arms around his waist helped minimize the amount of freaking out he was planning to do.

“That’s no way to talk to your father,” Steve scolded mildly, his hand on the back of her head.

“Only when he’s about to have a meltdown,” she said to Steve, smiling up at him.

“Yeah,” Steve had to agree. “All right. Danno, will you go find our pictures for them?”

“Of course. What do you say we all look at them?” Danny suggested.

“Good plan,” John agreed. “I’ll pop the popcorn. Em, you get the sodas.”

Danny and Steve laughed, certain there was no need for any insecurity on either of their parts. Their kids loved them unconditionally. Like they loved the kids. And there would never be any doubts in any of their minds that Emma and John were truly blessed to have two such devoted fathers.