A New Life To Live

Aiden woke up early the next morning. There was loud banging outside the bedroom and it had woken Natasha up, who was currently settling down from a crying fit.

“Now, listen here, young man, I demand to see Aiden!”

Aiden gently shook his head, trying to clear it from the sleepy fog. He stumbled out of bed, reaching for his clothes and putting them on.

“Don’t you think I heard what was going on yesterday, Patrick.”

Aiden identified the voice, as the one belonging to their neighbour, Christine, whom had helped them when Natasha first arrived. He picked up Natasha and went to meet their early visitor. Gently rocking Natasha, Aiden stepped out of the bedroom and smiled bravely to their neighbour.

“Aiden, come here,” she said, holding out her hand.

As Aiden was within reach, she coaxed him behind her and out of the flat. Patrick looked like he had been slapped, Aiden was biting his lip at Patrick’s expression, but nonetheless left the apartment.

He soon found himself situated on the couch at Christine’s holding a cup of tea and keeping an eye on Natasha. Christine was in the kitchen making herself a cup of coffee. She hadn’t said anything yet, but Aiden knew what was on her mind.

Christine came out and sat down next to him. “I must say I don’t understand what happened yesterday. Patrick doesn’t strike me as the abusive type.”

“He’s not, it’s just that things has changed since Natasha came. Patrick used to be the sweetest guy, but now he’s drinking almost every night. I guess we haven’t had sex since Natasha got here, but she sleeps in our room.” He noted Christine’s embarrassed face and blushed. “Sorry.”

Christine laughed, albeit still a bit embarrassed. “It’s okay. Living next to you, I’ve heard what you two can get up to. You aren’t exactly quiet.”

Aiden gaped at her. “Oh my god.”

“I know how you feel, Aiden. I couldn’t be intimate with my husband for quite some time after Charlie was born. It seemed unnatural to think about stuff like that while my baby was awake or sleeping in our bedroom.” Christine smiled. “Things changed after awhile, Thomas was very supportive and we talked about what was happening.”

“I wish that would work with Patrick, but I can’t get him to say anything to me at the moment.” He lowered his head. “As much as I love Natasha, I wonder if it was a good idea to take her in. Maybe we should give her up for adoption, even though I said it wasn’t an option.”

Christine took his hand in hers. “Do you want to tell me what happened yesterday?”

Aiden gave a brief nod and placed his cup on the table. “We had been to school earlier with Natasha, we had been to the doctor’s earlier to get DNA tests. At school I talked to my teacher and he said that our best option, besides adoption, was that one of us took a leave of absence for a year. I said I was willing to do it, since Patrick is older and almost done with school now, whilst I still have a year and a half left. When we got home, I told Patrick and he got angry. Really angry. I barricaded myself in the bedroom and cried. I knew when I got together with Patrick that he had a temper, but he was so gentle with me. We’ve been dating for almost two years now and never has he been cruel to me!”

They both heard the door open and Christine looked over her shoulder to see who it was. Her face broke into a smile when she saw Thomas and Charlie walk in.

“Mommy!”

Christine got up from the couch and crunched to pick up Charlie. “Hey, there big fellow.”

Thomas smiled to Aiden and gave his wife a kiss on the lips. “Hi, darling. What’s going on here?”

Christine gave Aiden a sad smile. “Aiden is having some trouble with Patrick at the moment. We were just having a good talk that’s all.”

Thomas nodded. “I’ll go make something to eat, you two get one with your women’s talk.”

Aiden frowned at Christine. “Why does everyone assume I’m the woman in our relationship? Is it because I like taking it up the arse?”

Christine laughed loudly at that. “Don’t mind Thomas, he’s just jealous cause he can’t do it to me. And we all know that the women are the ones with the powers in a relationship, so you should take it as a compliment.”

Aiden laughed, something he hadn’t done in awhile. It felt good. Charlie was seated next to Natasha, playing with her little toes. Natasha was giggling, making both Christine and Aiden laugh even more. Thomas came out and put four chicken sandwiches on the table, along with four fruit spears.

Aiden bit his bottom lip and looked bashfully at Christine. “You don’t happen to have anything to eat for Natasha do you? She hasn’t eaten anything yet and she should be hungry.”

Christine nodded and rose. “I’ll warm up some formula for you.”

“Thank you, Christine.”

Thomas smiled and handed him one of the sandwiches. “Are things okay with you and Patrick?”

Aiden shrugged. “They could be better I guess. He’s a bit short tempered at the moment.”

“You know you can always come here, Christine gets lonely at times since she doesn’t have a job.”

“Thanks, Thomas.” Aiden said and bit into the sandwich. “This is really good.”

Christine came back out and handed him a bottle. Aiden smiled gratefully at her and walked to pick up Natasha. She fussed a little, but soon settled for the bottle, sucking it with abandonment. Christine picked up a pouting Charlie, placing him on her lap.

“Man, I’m the only one not getting a lap!” Thomas pouted.

Aiden laughed, while Christine looked at him sharply. “You should be careful of what you say, mister.”

Thomas held his hands up in peace offering, while Aiden lifted Natasha to burp her. Charlie was happily eating his sandwich while looking intently at Aiden and Natasha.

“Where’s her mommy?” Charlie asked in slightly broken English.

“She didn’t want her anymore and gave her to me and Patrick.”

“Are you her daddy?”

Aiden bit his lip. “I’m not sure.”

Charlie frowned slightly at that, but he wasn’t going to question anything an adult said.

---

The clock was almost eight at night, when Aiden decided to see how Patrick was doing. He couldn’t stay with Christine and Thomas anymore, having already stayed there most of the day. He thanked Christine for everything she had done for him that day and left, after promising to get back if Patrick wasn’t behaving.

Stopping briefly outside the door to his own apartment, Aiden took a deep breath and opened it. The entire flat was dark, but he could hear someone in the bedroom. Carefully he walked over and opened the door, only to see Patrick there sobbing on the bed.

Aiden bit his lip and laid the sleeping Natasha in her crib. He then walked to the bed and sat down next to Patrick. It didn’t seem like he noticed the added weight on the bed, so Aiden attentively placed a hand on his back, stroking back and forth in a soothing manner.

Patrick moved his head to look at Aiden. His eyes were red, he had obviously been crying for some time. When he saw Aiden, his eyes widen and he sat up abruptly. Aiden found himself in a bone crushing hug and fought to catch his breath.

“Patrick…” Aiden said. “I can’t breath.”

Patrick released him like he had gotten burnt. He just sat there staring at Aiden for a long time. Aiden took Patrick’s hands in his and placed them on his chest right above his heart. Patrick stared transfixed on their joined hands, feeling the heart beat beneath them.

“I’m here, Patrick.” Aiden whispered.

Patrick finally lifted his head and looked him in the eyes, seeing love and a bit of hurt. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Aiden smiled to him and brought their hands up to his lips, kissing Patrick’s hands softly. “It’s okay, just promise never to do it again.”

“I promise.”

Aiden nodded. “Have you eaten anything today?”

Patrick shook his head and rose from the bed. “I’ll go make us something.”

“Thank you Patrick,” Aiden said and smiled. “We’ll turn out alright in the end.”

---

It had gone a week and things had settled down quite nicely. Aiden stayed at home with Natasha during the week while Patrick was at school and working. During the weekend they had decided that they should rotate on who was working.

Aiden was sitting on the couch and feeding Natasha, while watching the television. Christine had been in earlier, asking how everything was going for them. Aiden had been delighted to tell her that things were going good. She had left after Aiden had once again promised to tell her if things weren’t working out.

The time was nearly noon and Aiden was just itching to check the mail. It had been a little over a week since they had done the DNA test and their doctor had said that the result would be sent home to them after about a week.

Natasha made a gurgling sound and pushed the bottle away, making Aiden laugh slightly. “Guess you’re full, huh.”

Aiden lifted her and rubbed his hand over her back in a circular motion to make her burp. Hearing her belch out loudly. Aiden rose from the couch and hummed softly to her, while placing her in her chair on the floor.

“Daddy will be right back, he just has to check the mail. Be a good girl for me?” Natasha cooed back. “I knew you would.”

Aiden quickly left the apartment, closing the door behind him, and ran down the stair to get the mail. On his way up he thumbed through the mail; Patrick, bill, junk mail, bill, Aiden, junkmail and finally Mr. Thompson with the hospital logo on it. Aiden stopped in his track and just stared at it.

“Oh my god, it came.”

---

Patrick was running up the stairs two at the time. He had been anxious to get back home ever since he got a text from Aiden with only two words; “It came.”

He opened the door and stopped just inside when he saw Aiden sitting at the kitchen table, staring intently at the letter lying on it.

“I’ve been waiting for it to come since we took the test, but now that it’s here I can’t seem to want to open it.” Aiden raised his head, revealing tear stained cheeks. “Does it really matter who the father is? She’s ours, Yasmine didn’t want her and we did. I don’t care who the father is, I don’t want to know.”

Patrick squatted down next to him and tenderly cupped his cheek. “We don’t have to see the results, like you said she’s ours and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

Aiden nodded and rose from the table. “I’ll make us some dinner, you must be starving.”

Patrick smiled and followed Aiden to the kitchen. “Have I told you I love you recently?”

Aiden froze and shook his head. Patrick gently turned him around, again cupping his cheek and closed his lips over Aiden’s in a soft kiss.

“I love you.”

Aiden blushed. “I love you too.”

Patrick smiled and turned away, sweeping the letter off the table. He walked into their bedroom and sat down on the bed. Looking at the letter he took what was a pretty tough decision and opened it.

He read through the letter and just sat there for a moment. He read the last line once more; “The father of Natasha Thompson is Aiden Thompson.”

Patrick sighed and put the letter back in it’s envelope and placed it in his school bag. He would get rid of it tomorrow, letting Aiden sleep on his decision so that he was sure that this was what he wanted.

“Patrick? Dinner’s ready.”

Patrick took a deep breath. “I’m coming.”

The End.

---

Thanks to Lisa for reviewing. A stipend is something you get in Norway when you go to high school or university. You get a certain amount of money, which has to cover things related to school, though some people use it for paying rent and basically live off it. As for Natasha spending time with their neighbour, while it would be a good idea, they would still have to pay her and then again Natasha would be alienated from Aiden and Patrick and that wouldn't be good.

This is the last chapter of this story, but I've found that I rather like these two boys and Natasha and there might be more from them in the future when Natasha is a bit older. Thank you so much for reading and please drop a few words if you have the time.