Moving On - 37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Feels Like the First Time

As I finished the song, Noah whipped around and kissed me passionately. I was too engrossed in him to notice the audience go into a frenzy. I had been aware of constant catcalls and cheers during the song, but at the moment, I was lost in my boyfriend's embrace.

When our kiss finally ended, Noah's breath was ragged and his khaki shorts barely able to contain his massive erection, which bulged obscenely for the entire crowd to see.

"I see you liked my performance," I whispered in his ear.

"Less talking, more leaving. I need you. Now!" Noah exclaimed huskily, practically dragging me to the door. I quickly waved goodbye to our group of friends. I felt a pang of guilt; I hadn't planned on my song choice working so well that we'd leave without having the chance to at least say goodbye. The remorse passed quickly, though, and soon I was driving us home as fast as I could while Noah kept running his hands over my any body part he could find. He was especially adamant about gaining access to my cock, but between my tight pants, jockstrap, and the steering wheel, it proved impossible.

Inside the house, I hadn't even had a chance to deactivate the security system before Noah pushed me back against the wall, kissing me aggressively.

While one arm was wrapped around my neck, locking me into our messy kiss, his other hand deftly undid the buttons on my shorts. I stepped out of them when they fell to my ankles. In a quick move I didn't see coming, Noah grabbed my shirt by the collar with both hands and violently ripped it down my chest. It hurt a little, but I was so turned on by his aggressiveness that all I could do was moan into his mouth as I dropped my arms from his neck and allowed the ruined tatters the fall to the floor.

Noah grabbed my legs by the calves, and I clutched my arms tighter around his neck, allowing him to left my legs and wrap them around his waist, my upper-back still firmly supported by the wall as he thrust his still-covered cock against my bare ass. The pressure was too much, and I freed my cock from the restrictive pouch, and it instantly grew to his full length. Suddenly, the security system went off, shrieking its alarm throughout the house.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed unhappily, breaking our kiss for the first time since we got home.

"Ignore it, babe. I can work around it," Noah groaned, thrusting into me again.

"No can do," I replied. "We're about to get visitors."

Sure enough, my phone rang from my discarded shorts. Noah set me down and I answered the phone.

"Mr. Hudgins, sorry to bother you, but we have a notification of unauthorized entrance to your house."

While the voice on the other end spoke, Noah gave me an evil look and dropped to his knees, taking the length of my cock in his mouth.

"Nooo aaaah! Everythi–ooh's fine," I responded, unable to maintain my composure as Noah bobbed up and down on my throbbing member.

"Sir, it doesn't sound fine on my end. If you are under duress, say 'everything's fine' again, and I'll dispatch police immediately."

"No, that's not necces– oh God, babe."

"Umm, ok sir, sorry to bother you. Next time, please remember to deactivate the alarm when you get home to prevent future… distractions."

I quickly disconnected the call and threw the phone across the living room, gripping the back of Noah's head as he plunged all the way down to my base. As he slowly pulled back, I grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled tried to pull it off his head, but he wouldn't release my glans from his lips to allow me to do so.

I thrust my ass out behind me, causing pain to shoot through my cock as it accidently scraped across his teeth, but I succeeded in removing it from his mouth. I quickly yanked his shirt off of Noah, exposing his phenomenal pecs and abs, before pulling him back up and shoving my tongue down his throat.

Once again, Noah lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs back around his waist. He wasted no time thrusting against my ass. This time, he carried me, our lips still locked, to the bedroom. I broke the kiss long enough to reset the alarm, which was still blaring.

Back in the bedroom, he laid me down on the bed, broke the kiss and stepped back, taking in the sight of me.

"Damn, you are so fucking sexy," he said as I lay there, clad only in a blue jockstrap, the pouch only serving to cover my trimmed pubes with my cock jutting proudly at attention from beside it.

I also took the opportunity to ogle my boyfriend, who had never looked hotter. His chest glistened from a light coat of sweat and his chest heaved slightly as he tried to regain his breath from our kisses. The front of his shorts was smeared with a bit of my pre-cum, and a large wet spot indicated exactly where the head of his enormous cock was, if it wasn't already obvious from the massive tent.

I beckoned him over to me, and I pulled him down on top of me, reaching between us to undo his pants. I slid them off as far as I could, and he did the rest. Feeling the heat from his hard cock pressing against my own, I let out a moan of pleasure.

"Just think, we have the whole place to ourselves; we can be as loud as we want tonight," Noah whispered in my ear before nibbling on my neck, causing me to moan again, louder than before. I wrapped my legs around his waist, causing his erection to press against my ass, and ran my hands up and down his back.

Noah slowly kissed his way down my body, paying special attention to my nipples. When he reached my cock, he licked up and down the length before quickly impaling his throat three times in quick succession. I grabbed at the sheets as pleasure washed over my body. He was getting me so close that I was about to shoot. Had he not pulled off my cock at that moment, I would've gone over the edge. Instead, my slick rod twitched in the air as I thrust my hips into the air.

Once I had come back from the edge a bit, Noah began to lick and suck on my balls. Wanting him to go lower, I raised my legs in the air to give him better access. Excruciatingly slowly, Noah's tongue and lips made the journey from my balls across my perineum and continued on to my hole. When his tongue first made contact with my sensitive orifice, I began to writhe on the bed and moan animalistically.

As much as I wanted him to continue to pleasure me, I also realized that I had yet to provide any reciprocation. Unable to form words between moans, I grabbed his hair and lightly tugged at it until he got the message and kissed his way back up my body. When our lips engaged, I wasted no time, flipping us over so I was on top and able to explore my boyfriend's sexy body.

I kissed and licked my way down his chest, allowing myself ample detours as I explored his nipples and abs, tracing every contour of his body with my tongue. When I finally reached his shaft, I slowly ran my tongue from the base to head, which seemed to take me forever thanks to his impressive endowment. I'm sure it seemed to take even longer to Noah, who was writhing on the bed in ecstasy, continuously alternating between running his hands through my hair and clutching the sheets.

Finally reaching the glans, I swirled my tongue around the tip and savored his sweet pre-cum before impaling myself on his cock, my lips wrapped around the base in a single smooth movement.

"Oh fuck!" Noah practically shouted, instinctively grabbing my head with both hands, holding me in place.

I stayed in that position as long as I could, licking around his shaft and moaning, sending vibrations along his cock embedded deep in my throat. After several seconds, however, my eyes began to water and my lungs ached from lack of oxygen. At first, Noah held me in place as I tried to come back up, but he eventually realized what I was trying to do, and released his grip. Noah's cock popped out of my mouth as I gasped for air.

"Shit, I didn't mean to do that," Noah said apologetically. I just shook my head dismissively as I wiped my eyes.

"It's all good, tiger; we'll work up to that. Damn that's a huge cock!" I responded, crawling back up his body and straddling his waist as I bent down to kiss my boyfriend.

Between my spit and his pre-cum, Noah's cock easily slid back and forth between my crack, rubbing against my hole as I rode him while our tongues dueled.

Noah was humping hard up against my ass, but it wasn't long before he wasn't satisfied with that. He aggressively flipped us back over, grinding his cock against my hole as I moaned in ecstasy. He tried to insert it, but our spit had dried, and my ass wasn't cooperating with his monster. With a sigh, he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the lube.

"What's the verdict on condoms, babe?" he asked while stroking my cock gently

"I want to be able to feel you throbbing inside me," I moaned, before quickly adding, "I know we're both clean, but if you'd feel better using them, I won't take it personally."

Noah didn't say a word; he simply flipped open the lube, poured some on his hand, and gently slid two fingers inside me. I felt him add a third, and I was on heaven every time he brushed my prostate. Each time he came into contact, I gripped the sheets tightly and my cock pulsed as another bead of pre-cum leaked out.

I was moaning deliriously, my head thrashing back and forth with pleasure and my eyes clamped shut, when he slowly withdrew his fingers, added more lube to his hand and slowly rubbed it all over massive cock.

"You ready for the real thing, babe?"

"Fuck yeah," I moaned, before remembering just how large he was. "Just go slow this time. I don't mind a little pain, but you're a lot larger than Steve, and it's been a long time, and –"

I was cut off as he leaned over me and kissed me gently on the lips.

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle. I'll let the tiger off the leash some other time."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, kissing Noah again as I wrapped my legs around his waist, his slick cockhead pressing gently against my eager hole.

Noah reached down, and slowly guided his member into me. I gasped at the intrusion, but the pain I expected didn't come. Noah moved his hand to my cheek and caressed it as he slid further inside. After the first few inches were in, he established a slow and steady back-and-forth rhythm, slowly sinking deeper and deeper inside me. The entire time, our eyes were locked in a loving gaze, and except for quiet grunts and moans, the only sound came from the sheets rustling beneath us.

After several minutes of slowly increasing the depth of his thrusts, I felt his smooth balls press gently up against my ass, and his trimmed pubes come to rest against my perineum. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss as he slowly withdrew until just the head of his cock remained inside me and he began to thrust the entire length of his cock back inside faster than before, picking up speed as he began to fuck me in earnest, and I began to rock my hips in time with his thrusts. Within minutes, I could feel my orgasm building, even though my hands were still wrapped around Noah's neck. As much as I didn't want to cum yet, I couldn't bring myself to break our kiss.

Almost without warning, I crossed the point of no return. I moaned loudly into Noah's mouth as my cock spewed what seemed like gallons of cum, covering both our chests and stomachs. It was one of the few hands-free orgasms I'd ever had, and I was so delirious in my own state of bliss that I nearly missed Noah picking up the pace for a few rapid thrusts before burying himself to hilt and unloading his cum inside me. I could feel his cock swell as it stretched my ass with each spurt of semen flooding my bowels.

Our tongues continued to battle for several more minutes, his cock still embedded deep inside me. Finally, Noah withdrew and laid his head down on my shoulder, his arm wrapped around my still-cummy chest.

"I take back what I said the other day. That was the best sex I've ever had," Noah said.

"Mmm," was all I could respond with; I wasn't entirely sure I disagreed with him, but part of me felt like it would be disingenuous to concur.

"But it looks like someone is ready for round two," he added, wrapping his hand around my cock. I glanced down and was surprised to see it was still at full mast.

"I want to feel you inside me this time," he said before kissing me and pulling me on top of him.

I gently lubed up his hole before slicking my cock down as well. As I slowly slid inside his warm hole, Noah's face was the familiar combination of pleasure and pain, and I paused frequently to give him time to adjust. Having just cum, it took me a long time to reach orgasm again. Noah was reloaded well before I climaxed my second time, and when I finally filled him with my seed, it was his turn again.

In a bout of marathon sex I hadn't had in nearly a decade, we kept at it for hours until neither of us could sustain an erection. While we started gentle, we had moments of aggression as we wrestled each other into different positions in an effort to maximize each other's pleasure. I lost track of the number of time I came, but was it was up there with the record I set as a horny teenager. When we finally collapsed on the bed in each other's arms, we were drenched in sweat and other bodily fluids. I tried to motivate us to take a quick shower to rinse off, but Noah pointed out that the bed was just as disgusting as we were, and a glance at the revealed that it was after five. Exhausted, we held each other and whispered 'I love you's back and forth until sleep overtook us.

–  –  –  *  *  *  –  –  –

I awoke to a loud rapping on our door.

"Hornballs, it's after nine, and you have to pick up your son at ten. After the noises you two made last night, I'm not going in there, but it's time to get up," Tom called through the door.

I nudged Noah awake, and we climbed in a shower. I was still surprisingly horny for my man still, but even if we'd had time, I doubted I'd have been able to get hard enough to take him after the workout we'd given each other just hours before.

We rushed the shower and quickly dressed. We joined Tom in the kitchen for some coffee and a bowl of cereal.

"You two must be exhausted, considering you left an hour before me and were still going at it when I went to bed."

"Sorry for leaving so suddenly. I figured we'd at least say goodbyes, but I guess someone had other plans," I told Tom while shooting a teasing glance at Noah.

"No worries about that. After the show you guys gave us, none of us expected you to stick around."

"Did we miss anything?" Noah asked.

"Well, Will and Jason left to go back to Will's place shortly after you guys left, supposedly to talk, but I'm not sure about that. There was definitely a connection between the two of them. Maria, Carlos, and I stuck around for a little, and just talked. When they were ready to go, I got a ride home with them."

"And you told me not to play matchmaker," I said pointedly at Noah.

"Actually, I'm proud of you; I half expected you to plan some elaborate method of basically forcibly pairing them off, but it just happened naturally. I hope something works out for Will. He definitely deserves to be happy, and Jason seems like a good guy."

"Who me? I would never do something like that," I responded, batting my eyelashes.

"Like hell you wouldn't," Noah said back, punching my arm playfully. I tried to act like it was the most painful thing I'd ever experienced so he'd nurse me back to health, or at least feel guilty for abusing me, but neither happened.

After we finished, Tom offered to take care of the dishes while we picked up Zach. I was worried that Nana downplayed how Zach was acting when we called, and she experienced what Tom and Sarah had gone through the week before.

"Zach, come say hi to your dads," Nana called into the house after answering the door.

"Just a minute," the boy hollered back.

"I bet you were worried he was a little brat while he was here. Don't worry. Julio and Cesar kept him busy. He had a blast and is much better behaved than I expected, considering his mother. I insist you call me whenever you need someone to watch him. This old house feels so empty when Maria and Carlos aren't here."

The sound of three elephants stampeding to the front of the house indicated the children were on their way.

"¡Hola Papi, hola… uh… Papa!" Zach said excitedly.

"Buenos dias, mijo. ¿Cómo estás?" Noah rattled off. Zach's brow furrowed with confusion, and I bit back a smile.

"What does that mean, Daddy? Julio and Cesar only taught me how to say hello."

"He said 'Good morning, son. How are you?'," I replied before Noah got the chance. "See, I know some Spanish," I added to my boyfriend.

Noah bent down and gave his son a hug. "How was your night Zachy? Did you have fun?"

"Uh-huh we had a blast! Nana even let us make a fort in the living room and then we slept in it all night. Come see it," he responded grabbing his father by the hand and half-dragged him into the house.

"You'll want to see this too," Nana said to me with a chuckle. At a more leisurely pace, the two of us joined the kids.

Sure enough, an impressive blanket fort occupied the space that had once been her living room. Couch cushions, blankets, sheets, mops, and brooms had been requisitioned for its construction. Considering it had been made by three young boys, it was quite impressive. Then again, it looked more structurally sound than anything I could've come up with.

"Just how much did you help, Nana?" Carlos asked from the kitchen.

"All I did was gather what they said they needed. Remember your promise boys?"

"Yes, Nana," Cesar and Julio chorused, a tinge of sadness in their voices.

"Can we leave it up until after Zach leaves, Nana? Pleeease?" Julio asked.

"No. We agreed that the fort comes down and you put everything away once Zach's dads saw it. I want to be able to use my couch again."

"Can I help, Nana?" Zach asked, surprising Noah and I. While he wasn't a particularly messy kid, he was four. Since he had come to live with us, I'd been amazed by how often we had to clean up after him – an aspect of having a young child in my house that hadn't occurred to me prior. Yet without any effort, Nana had gotten him to volunteer on his own to pull his weight in the clean up.

Dutifully, the three boys began disassembling the fort, folding up sheets and returning the couch cushions to their rightful places. Nana offered Noah and I coffee while the boys cleaned up, which we accepted. We joined Carlos and Maria in the kitchen.

"That was for our benefit, wasn't it?" Noah asked Nana.

"You both are new to being parents, and it can take a while to learn tricks to make children do what you want. I figured a little lesson would be helpful." Nana responded.

"Thank you. I've been trying to come up with ways to get him to clean up after himself a little."

"The key is setting clear expectations and consequences. Julio and Cesar know if they don't put everything away as best they can, I won't let them build a fort next time they come over. Zach won't be perfect; he may forget a few times. Just remind him if the expectations and it will go a long way."

"Where's Jason?" I asked, suddenly realizing that he wasn't in the room.

"I assume he's still with Will," Maria responded. "They left together to talk. I haven't seen him this at ease since Joey died. I just hope Will doesn't hurt him."

"Me too," I responded, immediately second-guessing my attempt to hook them up.

"I don't think he will, at least intentionally. Jason's in a very different place emotionally than you were when you two met. I hope he didn't move too fast, and did something he might regret, though," Noah chimed in.

As if on cue, the front door opened, and in walked Jason. He grinned sheepishly as he greeted everyone.

"Good morning, everyone. I had a great time last night, and before anyone decides to pry," he said, glaring at Maria, "all we did was talk. I told him about Joey, and working as a detective, and he told me a lot about his life. We just sat on his couch talking for hours. When we realized how late it was, he offered to let me crash on the couch. Fortunately, his first appointment isn't until noon today, so he dropped me off on the way to the office."

"I'm glad you had a good time," I said.

"I'm so glad you invited Will along, too. I have a feeling that I'll be visiting Atlanta a lot more often now."

Fortunately, the kids announced they were done at that time. I'm pretty sure that if they hadn't, Jason would have started gushing about Will. I was definitely glad a connection had formed between the two, and I could sense that something serious might develop.

The three boys had done a very passable job of putting everything away. The sheets and blankets weren't quite as perfectly folded as I'd like, and one cushion was backwards on the couch, but I kept my compulsiveness in check; they were just kids, after all, and it wasn't even my house. Nana fawned over the boys and the pride of a job well done was evident all three little faces.

Nana invited us to stay for lunch, but we declined. We gathered up Zach's things and headed back to the house. I saw a stack of packages by the door.

"Your free weights came while you were out," Tom informed us when we walked inside.

"Why didn't you bring them in if you knew they were out there?" I asked pointedly.

"Well to start with, they're weights; they're heavy. I figured I'd wait until you got home. The three of us will move them faster than just me."

Sure enough, the three of us made short work of the heavy packages. Noah set up the weight bench while I sorted out lunch, and after eating I helped him arrange everything how he wanted it.

I was slightly out of breath from exertion, but Noah looked at me, his eyes glimmering, and asked, "Wanna work out?"

I agreed, so long as I wasn't forced to push myself, so we went back upstairs to change. Zach saw us and insisted he wanted to work out, too.

Noah and I took turns spotting each other, although I used significantly less weight on my reps. We let Zach try a few bench presses with the empty bar; Noah and I each held an end up and moved the bar in time with his arms, but he had fun. Zach's excitement lasted longer than I expected and he stayed with us for about thirty minutes before declaring he was bored. He wandered back upstairs to play while we continued our exercises.

Noah was a patient teacher as he showed me one routine after another that would help build and define various muscle groups. I had no intentions on getting as ripped as he was, but I was glad I could start getting back in shape after a few weeks off.

Noah was showing me 'one last exercise' – the third 'last' of the routine – when Tom called downstairs that the elliptical had arrived. The two of us were able to finagle the box downstairs, and I was pleasantly surprised that set-up only involved unfolding the unit and attaching a few pieces. Like with the free weights, Zach immediately wanted to try it out, but he was a little too small to be able to make it do much.

After a twenty-minute routine, I was exhausted, and my clothes were soaked in sweat. Over Noah's objections, I went ahead and showered before collapsing on the bed. I had been planning on waiting for Noah to finish up before suggesting a second round of cardio in the shower, but my body had other ideas. I quickly fell asleep, naked on the bed.

–  –  –  *  *  *  –  –  –

I came to my senses as something warm and wet engulf my cock. Opening my eyes, I took in the sight of my boyfriend, beads of water still on his body from his shower, as he pleasured me.

"You can't get enough can you?" I asked with a moan.

"Nope, and neither can you," he said, momentarily pulling off my cock to speak before returning to the task at hand.

Despite the night before, it wasn't long before I shot my load in his mouth, which he swallowed greedily. I pulled him up to share a passionate kiss and felt his erection press against me.

"I know exactly where I want that," I said, wrapping my legs around his waist as he reached for the lube.

The pleasure was as intense as it had been the previous night, but try as I might, I was unable to cum a second time while he thrust into me. When he finished, he collapsed on top of me, and we lay there for several minutes, our bodies intertwined.

"We need to get up and pack," I said unhappily.

"Can we make Zach do it for us?" Noah mumbled into my neck.

"If he did, we'd only have two weeks of toys. I hate to say it, but we need to get up."

Noah rolled off of me, and we threw some clothes on.

"When will I find out where we are going?" he asked, slipping a shirt over his head.

"I'm going to wait until the last possible moment. I will say that it's probably the ideal place for someone to spend their fifth birthday."

"We're going to McDonald's?"

I just stared at him blankly.

"What? That's where I always wanted to have my parties when I was a kid."

After I got my laughter under control, I said, "Actually, so did I, but this will be so much better than a party in a fast food restaurant, trust me."

"I guess I'll go ahead and start packing for me. Anything special I need to pack?"

"Well, two weeks' worth of clothes, although I'm pretty sure we're going to need to laundry at some point regardless, and your bathing suit. Other than a couple of outfits for romantic evenings, plan nothing but casual and comfortable."

"Sounds great. You have no idea how excited I am about this," he said wrapping hid arms around me and kissing me gently. "I can't remember the last time I went on a vacation."

"Think of this as the first of many," I said kissing him.

"I am a little nervous about meeting your parents, though. Actually a lot nervous. With Richard, I didn't care of he liked me or not, as long as he helped is with Zach, but I really want your parents to like me."

"They will love you, babe; I'm sure of it. Mom was a little turned off when she heard you had a son, but Zach will quickly bring her around."

"He does have that effect on people, doesn't he," Noah replied with a chuckle. "You want some 'daddy time' today?" he added with a mischievous tone.

"I'd love some one-on-one time with Zach. I don't think either of us get enough of that. What did you have in mind?" I answered suspiciously. I knew he was setting me up for something, but wasn't quite sure what.

"You can help Zach pack for the trip."

"Oh you're evil. That was slick." I said with a grin.

"If you have any problems, I'll be glad to help. He may think we're sending him away or something. You're the one who knows what's going on and what to expect, though, so I think you'd be the best to explain it to him."

"Yeah, I can pack him. It shouldn't be too hard, just all the clothes he owns and all his toys."

I have Noah one last kiss before tracking Zach down in the living room where he was playing with his blocks. I sat down next to him.

"How would you like to go on a vacation with your daddy and me, little buddy?"

"What's that?"

"A vacation is when you go to a special place you don't live for a short time."

For some reason, my explanation puzzled him further, and I waited patiently while he tapped his chin, deep in concentration.

"Am I on vacation now? I haven't been here very long, Papa, and this place is special."

"It's very special, Zachy, but you're not on vacation. We live here. After we're done with the vacation, we'll come back here."

"Oh, ok. Where are we going?"

"We're going several places actually. First we're going to get on a big plane, and fly high in the sky. When we land, we're going to visit my parents. They're very excited to meet you."

"They are?!" He asked excitedly.

"Most definitely, little buddy," I told him. Despite my mom's misgivings about me getting involved with a father, I had a strong feeling that I'd quickly become the third favorite among us upon our arrival.

"Then where are we going?"

"First we're going to go visit my friends from college. I bet if you ask Dustin really nicely, he'll take you to the zoo. His zoo has pandas, too."

"I like pandas, they're my favorite!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Can we watch the panda sneezing video again?" I could feel my getting a bit frustrated with his short attention span. I bit back my irritation, though, since I wanted to get through the explanation and the packing while I could.

"Not right now, but I promise we'll watch it in a little bit. I haven't even gotten to the best part of the trip yet, though."

"You haven't? Where else are we going?"

"I have a brother, and he and his wife really want to meet you, so we're going to visit them, and then all of us are going to get on another plane, and fly someplace special, since someone's going to be turning five before too long."

"That's me!"

"Yes it is, little buddy," I said, wrapping an arm around him and kissing his forehead before continuing. "There's something very important that you and I need to do before we can go, though. Do you think you can help me?"

"What's that?"

"I need you to help me pick out what clothes you want to take with us."

"Ok!" he exclaimed, and jumped up and ran to his room. As frustrating as explaining the trip was to him, his excitement more than made up for it. I was really worried that the suggestion of packing his clothes would fill him with concerns about being sent away. Of course, when I entered the room, I discovered he was haphazardly dumping all of his clothes out of his dresser, but I figured I couldn't win every battle.

"Whoa, slow down there! First, let's get your suitcases out and then we'll go through and make sure you have everything you need."

I started by having him choose what he wanted to wear on the plane in the morning. To my shock, he chose his suit. I got him to pick something else, but he insisted that he wanted to take his suit in case he 'went someplace fancy or wanted to look like penguin', so I set it aside to pack in the suitcase. I had him pick out several shirts and shorts more than I thought he would need, plus all the underwear and socks he owned, minus a couple pairs so I didn't feel rushed to do the laundry when we returned. In reality, it wasn't that many clothes, since he didn't have very many, but it did fill his suitcase to capacity. I had him choose his favorite t-shirt and shorts for me to hold on to for 'safe-keeping'. With his ability to get messy sitting still, I knew a change of clothes for the plane might be necessary.

Zach wanted to bring his stuffed animals along, but they were too big to carry on the plane, and I didn't want to have pay an extra fee, so I insisted that they had to stay at the house to protect it. I was surprised that it worked, but allowed him to bring his doll and fire truck along. I put those, along with his electronics in his backpack. With Zach already to go, I set him loose on YouTube, only after ensuring that the parental locks were on. I knew he could easily stumble upon something not age-appropriate, but also knew he'd just keep clicking from one funny animal video to another.

Walking into our bedroom, I found Noah digging through my dresser.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, sorry. I finished packing for me, so I figured I'd work on finding you some clothes. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't, but I guess the newness and sense of boundaries in our relationship are quickly fading," I said with a smirk.

"I didn't put anything in a suitcase yet, because I wanted you to approve it all. Also, I was thinking about running to the store for those tiny soaps and toothbrushes and all that."

"Not a bad idea, babe. How about you do that, while I finish up packing my stuff?"

With a kiss, he took Zach with him to the store, allowing himself a little 'daddy time'. I looked through the clothes that Noah had picked out for me. He had done a good job, but I made a few adjustments before loading up my suitcase.

I went ahead and packed my laptop and a book in my attaché. I also grabbed a deck of cards, a couple DVDs and my iPod, which I hadn't used in forever. I hoped that between all the various crap we were bringing, I'd be able to keep Zach occupied during the flight. The last thing I wanted was to be 'that guy' with the obnoxious brat on the plane. Once finished, I joined Tom on the couch.

"All packed?"

"I think so. I'm sure we're forgetting something, but we'll survive if we are. What are you going to do while we're gone?"

"I haven't decided yet. I'm thinking about maybe going to visit my parents for part of the time. It's weird; I've only been here for like a month, but their house no longer feels like home. It'd be nice to see them and spend some time with them, though. Hopefully, we can repair our relationship some."

"It seems like everyone is willing to work with. Who knows, though; maybe it's time for you to look for a place of your own. Other than the first year of college, you've always lived there," I told him.

Noah and Zach walked in at that moment, and Tom didn't get a chance to respond. Of course Zach had to show us all the little travel-sized toiletries, which he adorably referred to as 'me-sized'.

None of us felt like cooking, so we ordered pizza. After double checking that all was packed, we watched a movie together before putting Zach to bed. Sleep deprived from the night before, Noah and I followed suit not long after.