Lost and Found Pieces 2

the direct physical danger was beyond them, but he could be wrong.
He was going to be a father. For a moment his stomach hollowed out and he thought he would be sick.
“Sit down, buddy,” John said, strong hand on his arm.
Aiden hadn’t even realized he’d been on his feet. What the fuck? Angela was staring at him, worried, and he tried to shake off the panic. “We’ll be okay,” he told her. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
She nodded, looking like she was fighting tears. Shannon, kind soul that she was, crossed the room to take Angela into her arms. Even the boys slowed down long enough to go to ‘Angel’ and give her sloppy kisses, making Aiden feel even worse. The panic in his gut was growing rather than easing back and he knew he needed to calm himself before something happened. “I have to step outside for a minute.”
Without looking at anyone he let himself out into the cold Denver air on the front porch. Someone, he assumed Shannon, had cleared the ramp down to the driveway. Oh, yeah, he’d asked her to do that. Duh…
The door opened behind him and he felt John slip out.
“I felt the same way, you know.”
Aiden turned and leaned back against the porch bannister. “What if my blood hurts this kid?” he hissed, conscious not to speak loud enough for them to hear inside. “What if all the drugs they pumped into me over the years has some affect on its growth or mental abilities or something? What if the government, and the assholes we haven’t caught yet, comes after my kid just because he’s mine and they want to see the affects on reproduction?”
John thought about that for a moment, pulling the tan Carhart coat around himself. “These are all sound worries. They’re the same things that I myself would think about. We don’t have any idea what the drugs of the Spartan program will do, long-term. I assume you were taking measures to prevent…”
Aiden glared at him. “We were,” he growled.
John chuckled and shrugged. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter. If it’s meant to be it’s going to happen. I never expected to be a father and believe me, I had a fuckload of worries. I mean, I’m in a fucking wheelchair. Just keeping up with one kid is bad enough, let alone two. But Shannon and I make it work. You and Angela will too. And you deal with problems as they occur. It’s not worth worrying yourself sick over before it happens. It may never happen.”
Aiden sighed, looking out over the snowy yard. It was a beautiful scene. Dusk had fallen but the sky was a heavy gray, promising more snow. The houses across the street glittered with Christmas lights, and balloon characters swayed in the breeze. Though his life was unorthodox it wasn’t necessarily bad anymore. He needed to remember that things were looking up in his life. There was a very good possibility that the ayahuasca would have zero effect on his child.
His phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out. “Hey, Zeke.”
“D-dude, I’ve been t-texting you. We’re p-parked down the street waiting for the go-ahead.”
He slid a glance to John and walked down the ramp to the driveway. “I’m sorry, buddy. Give me five minutes.”
“Okay.”
Aiden hung up from Zeke and called Angela. He thought for a moment she wouldn’t answer him because she thought he was pissed, but eventually she did. “I love you, babe,” he told her first thing. “And we’ll work through everything. Can you bring Shannon and the kids out? Zeke will be here in four minutes.”
“I love you, too,” she said softly, gravely. “We’ll be out in a minute.”
John was looking at him a little oddly. Aiden had tried to talk softly, but maybe it hadn’t been softly enough. “The girls are bringing the kids out. I’ve got something coming for them.”
John rolled down the ramp and stopped beside him on the concrete driveway. “What the hell did you get them? You spoil these kids worse than we ever will.”
Aiden chuckled. “I just…” his throat closed up a little and he was caught unprepared by the emotion. “You and I didn’t have the greatest start in life. I look at my nephews as a chance to start over again and build a family, you know? This is the first Christmas I get to be with them, without breaking into your house.”
John was looking up at him, frowning, then he grinned fiercely. Reaching out he took Aiden’s forearm in his own and pulled him down into a long hug. “I feel the same way. And Angela having a baby will only make us stronger. Don’t worry about being a father. You know what it’s like to be without one. You will learn as you go, like I have, and your kids will love you like you are their hero. You create your own rule book.” When he pulled back, tears glittered in John’s eyes as well, and Aiden was shocked at the emotion he could read from his brother’s heart. It swelled like an ocean, warm and welcoming. Determined. Staunch in a way he could never have imagined. Though John was his older brother by a few years, Aiden looked up to him almost like a father figure.
There was a commotion at the door and the women came out, bundled against the cold and holding the hands of the twins. The boys looked a little ridiculous in their little snowsuits, like those blow-up sumo dolls. Aiden had a feeling that if they fell on their backs they would be stuck. He chuckled at the image and John must have understood what he was thinking about, because he laughed as well. The emotion they’d shared was tucked away protectively.
Just as the women met them, Zeke pulled up in his big, lifted black truck. He did a partial K turn and backed into the driveway.
“What the hell is that?” John muttered, looking at