Chapter 35

"Richie, where are you?" Sarah talked into her phone, sounding worried.
Richie sighed before answering but Sarah cut in again.
"I got home and there's nobody here, not even a note. What happened?"
"We're at the hospital."
"The hospital?!" Sarah exclaimed. Her worriedness changed into panic in an instant.
"Noah broke his arm or something." Richie said quickly, informing her as fast as possible. "He wanted to go skating and I went to get coffee and he fell. We've got x-rays, getting a cast now."
"I should come over."
"We're almost done here. We will be home soon." Richie promised although it took him a few minutes to reassure Sarah about Noah's condition.

After Noah had picked out a color for the cast they were ready to go, just as Richie had promised to his wife.

Only half an hour later they walked into the front door at home.

Sarah got up immediately and rushed to the front door, worrying about her son. She fussed and made sure he was feeling better before she let him go to his room.

"How did this happen?!" Sarah exclaimed once Noah left the room.
"I don't know." Richie said defensively. "He wanted to go to the skatepark so I took him there, he was doing fine til I turned my back for five seconds."
Sarah sighed.
"I'm sorry." Richie said, not knowing what else to say. "How did your exam go?"
Sarah looked up at him. "It went well, very well."
"Yeah?"
"I think I did great. I'll know next week and then I should get my certificate a few weeks later?"
"Already?" Richie asked surprised.
"I took on the extra course, remember, so I could finish the course faster because I was doing so well."
"I'm so proud of you." He felt very proud of Sarah for finishing the course she has set out to finish.
"I was thinking to continue with another course."
"Yeah?"
"Why not?" Sarah shrugged.
"Sounds good. You can never learn too much."

Just then Danny made himself heard to them, wanting attention and something to eat.

Summer was ending and soon both Noah and Ava would be back in school. Important birthdays were right around the corner and Richie's obligations to the next leg of the tour weren't very far away either.

Feeling happy with his family, Richie still felt indicisive about going back on the road. 

Chapter 34

He stared out the window a few more seconds before realizing what had happened across the street at the skatepark.

He grabbed Daniel's stroller, forgot about the cups, both coffee and juice and rushed out the door. Only briefly stopped at the edge of the sidewalk to make sure there were no cars before crossing and rushing over.

When he reached the crowding group of skateboarders, they moved to make space for him.

He found Noah.

Noah was laying flat on the concrete ground, his arm at a very odd angle.

Forgetting about Daniel but knowing he was safe in his stroller, he bent down next to Noah.

"Is anybody calling 911?" He called out before turning back to Noah, who was staring off into space. "You okay buddy?" He asked even though he knew he wasn't, he wanted Noah's attention to keep him from fainting. "Paramedics will be here in a minute. Hang in there."
Noah nodded weakly, not able to do much else.

A few minutes later he could hear the sirens of an approaching ambulance. A lot of the crowd has already moved away and now the rest moved to make space for the paramedics.

As a good and responsible father, he stayed with Noah the entire time the paramedics were helping him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. He didn't want to leave Noah alone but he had to.

"Which hospital are you taking him to?" He asked the paramedics after Noah had been taken care of inside.
"Ceder Sinai is closest from here. You can follow us." The paramedic answered him as they got back into the ambulance to take Noah to the hospital.
"Thanks." Richie said as he hurried back over to Daniel to take him back to the car.

Getting Daniel into the car was a breeze but of course when he needed to hurry, the stroller had to be a pain.

Finally getting it into the trunk a few minutes later, he got in the car and started driving. The ambulance had already gone but he knew where the hospital was.

Praying for green lights, he headed off to the hospital to be with Noah. He knew it would only be a broken arm but that didnt make him any less worried about his son.

Maybe he still hadn't found a way to connect with him but that didn't make him love Noah any less.

Chapter 33

Noticing a shadow walking into the doorway, Richie looked up from where he was playing with Daniel on the floor of his bedroom.

He smiled up at Noah. "Everything okay?" He asked.
Noah nodded. "I was wondering..." He didn't end his sentence.
"What's up?" Richie got up from the floor, making sure Daniel was okay sitting on his own.
Noah hestitated but continued. "I was wondering if you could drive me somewhere."
"Sure, where do you want to go?"
"The skatepark."
"Skatepark?" Richie frowned, he had never seen Noah skateboard. Even surfing only happened once in a while. Not wanting to discourage Noah from something new, he agreed. "Just give me a few minutes to get Daniel ready and we can go."

Sarah had gone to write her final exam and Richie had stayed home with Daniel and Noah but going out was never a bad choice.

He quickly dressed Daniel in a nicer outfit, jeans and a cute tshirt. Even though he was a small boy, his closet was filled with tshirts. More than he would ever wear.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the car, on their way to the skatepark. He hadn't exactly been to the skatepark before but knowing where it was was good enough for him.

"How come you want to go skateboarding?" Richie asked carefully.
Noah shrugged.
"Just something you want to try out?"
"Sort of."
Richie frowned and looked over at Noah, seeing a light blush on his cheeks, then he smiled. "A girl?"
Noah's head turned in less than a split second, disbelieving that Richie had figured him out that quickly. He sighed. "Yeah."
"A skatergirl." Richie said. "Very cool."

Arriving at the park, Richie was glad to spot a Starbucks restaurant across the street. At least he could get a cup of coffee while he was there.

Before getting out of the car, Noah turned to him again. "Could you wait around here?" He asked nervously. "In case I really suck at skateboarding."
Richie smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'll be here." He answered, feeling like he said give girl advise.
"Thanks." Noah said and made to get out of the car.
"Wait," Richie said, "You don't need to impress her with skateboarding you know, just be you."
Noah looked away, then shook his head. "I'm not good enough."

Before he could say anything else, Noah had gotten out of the car and was walking to the skatepark. Richie couldn't believe it. Of course he was good enough, for any girl or any person. Not being able to do anything about it right now, he looked back at Daniel. "Lets get some coffee buddy."

Starbucks offered a not too bad view of the skatepark and the park behind it. Sadly no playpark for small children, Daniel would be too small anyway. Instead, Daniel sat next to the table in his stroller as Richie enjoyed his coffee, Daniel had a cup of juice.

From his point of view, he had made out which skater was Noah. While watching the others, he realized Noah didn't nearly have enough protection gear. A helmet was all he had but all the other skaters were wearing more protection.

Sudden crying from Daniel had him distracted but the smell easily made him realize what had disrupted his son's peace. Leaving his coffee on the table, he got Daniel out of the chair and took him to the washrooms to change him into a clean diaper.

As he returned and got Daniel back into the stroller, he sat down to take a sip from his coffee again. A little colder but still full of flavour.

Enjoying his drink, he looked out of the window. He frowned as he saw most of the skaters group up in a circle around somebody, skateboard disregarded everywhere. He leaned on the table to see closer but couldn't make out where Noah was.

Chapter 32

Only a week after their vacation at the lake had ended, the family was getting ready to say goodbye. Caleb had decided on going to school before classes started to have time to settle in and look for a job all before school started. Besides that the school also offered a few classes just before real classes started and he was ready to grab those chances.

Sarah had spend most of the week with Caleb, driving around and buying everything he would need at university.

Richie was sad to see his oldest son go, they wouldn't spend every Saturday studying guitar and music anymore. Caleb was finally getting the education he wanted, although he had learned a lot from Richie, school would teach him different things.

The four of them had travelled to the school to help Caleb with getting settled in the dormitory.

For both parents it was hard to say goodbye but Caleb was eager to start a new page in his life, which both of his parents understood. They wished him good luck, another goodbye and were ready to go home again with their youngest son, letting go of the oldest.


Arriving home, it was quiet as it always was when they got home. Sarah took that opportunity to study for her upcoming exam while Richie took care of Daniel.

The small boy had been awake the entire way home and must be exhausted by now. Richie carried him upstairs and to their bed. There wasn't anything better than having a peaceful nap with his small son.

Taking his jeans off to be more comfortable in bed, Daniel wouldn't care, he got in bed with Daniel next to him. He only pulled the sheets up to his waist, not wanting them too high for Daniel.

As he looked down at his son, he considered how much had changed in the last few months and how much would hopefully change in the coming months. Daniel was already approaching his first birthday, hopefully they would be expecting a sibling for him by then.

One of these times, it just had to work, it was bound to happen but being patient wasn't an easy thing when so many things were involved that were working against them. Their ages definitely didn't help it at all but they had gotten Daniel and they knew there had to be a chance for a next baby.


After their nap, they went back downstairs where Sarah was still studying.

"How's it going?" Richie asked as he sat down on the couch, letting Daniel sit next to him, still proud of him to learn how to sit.
"Good, actually, really good." Sarah answered. "Went through the entire text book, took notes of what I need to know. I'm ready for next week."
"You make me so proud." Richie said.

Sarah smiled over at him, glad to hear it because it wasn't always as easily to be studying instead of being a mother.

"So you won't mind if I take another course?" Sarah asked.
"Of course not." Richie answered, he knew it was unlikely Sarah was going to use her diplomas and find a job but if she wanted to study and learn, he couldn't stop her.

He knew she wanted to be a stay at home mom as she had done for her older children and he was glad he could give it to her so easily.

He couldn't blame her for wanting to do so, right now he was more than fine with being a stay at home dad. Work and tours were far from his mind.

Chapter 31

The next morning, Richie sat in the captain's seat, steering the house boat to a different location while he enjoyed the beautiful sight of the large lake.

The wooden door creaking as it opened, had him look up to see who was entering.

Noah took a step back. "Sorry, didn't know you'd be here. I'll find some other place."
"No." Richie said quickly. "Sit down, it's a nice view from here."

Noah concidered it for a sceond before walking over and sitting down in the other large comfortable seat.

Richie watched him sit and lean back in the chair, then saw how Noah picked up a book and open it. He knew how much Noah loved his books and didn't like interrupting him but he wanted to opportunity to talk and decided to interrupt before Noah could even start reading.

"Don't you like the view here?" Richie asked, unsure of how else to start a conversation with his son.
Noah closed the book and looked up. "Yeah, it's beautiful here."
"Thought that's why you came here?" Richie asked.
Noah shrugged. "It's a quiet place to read. Usually there's nobody here. It's a nice view, quiet and perfect to read."
"Don't you want to enjoy our vacation instead of reading all the time?"
The teenage boy frowned, picking up his book and ready to leave.
"No, I didn't mean it like that." Richie said quickly. "Don't you want to look around, see the scenes around here?"
"I do that, just not all day long."
"Okay, what about going out with Ava and Caleb and their friends? You could have brought one of your friends too, there's space enough on this book."
Noah gave him a wondering look. "I wouldn't know who'd to bring."
"Even two friends." Richie suggested.
Noah's look didn't change, if anything, it got more confused.

Richie left the conversation for what it was and turned to look out of the windows again, trying to find a perfect spot to stay for the rest of the day. There were so many beautiful places to see and still enough days to see all of them. He heard the rustling of pages being turned as he did so.

When he finally found a spot, he turned off the engine and decided to let the boat drift for a while, then he turned to Noah again.

"So what are you reading?" He asked, feeling sorry for interrupting.
Noah closed the book and looked at the purple printed cover. "Inkdeath."
"New book?" Richie asked.
"I have the series."
"What's it about?"

Just like last time, Richie was amazed at how Noah talked about his books. He was a quiet kid but when the subject was books, he was unstoppable. He could tell every little detail about the store with as much interest as if he was reading the book right then.

He wished he could see Noah's excitement like that in every day life. He had grown up very differently from Noah. Friends were always around him, it was the same for Ava, she always had friends over and was very social. Now he had a son that was completely different, and even after a year, he still had a difficult time relating to Noah. It was hard to find common interests when he wasn't open to sharing his interests.

It didn't make him love Noah any less, he was his son and he loved him. Although it did make him realize even more that every person was different. Ava and Caleb were socialble people while Noah was an introvert who preferred his own little world. What would Daniel be like? Or the child they were trying to conceive?

A knock on the door interrupted Noah's detailed explanation of the book he was reading.

Sarah walked in, carrying Daniel in her arms. "We found daddy." She told Daniel, then added. "And Noah." She looked up at Richie. "I didn't know you two were hiding in here. Talking about books?"
"Yes, we are." Richie answered, then looked interested at Daniel, back to Noah. "Why don't you read stories to Daniel? He'd love it if you would. Any book, you can read that one to him and he'd just love hearing your voice."
Noah frowned. "He would? He doesn't get it."
"That doesn't matter." Richie said encouraging. "He'd hear your voice, know it's you and that's what babies like, he doesn't need to understand what's being read to him."
"Oh." Noah said, his face filling with understanding. "Maybe." He got up from his chair and quickly walked passed Sarah and Daniel and left the room.
Sarah frown at Richie. "Everything okay?" She asked as she went to sit down in the space Noah had just vacated.
"I don't know. It's still so hard to connect with him."
Sarah sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I do love him, we just don't really have any of the same interests."
"He really got being an introvert from me. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe how I lived my life while he grew up influenced him?"
"Don't be crazy. There's nothing wrong with being an introvert, it just makes it harder to talk to him and keep a conversation going. All he likes are books."
Sarah shook her head. "He likes more than books. History is a big thing for him too. He knows so much about history and not just American history. The presidents, that's something you could talk about. You'll get there, keep trying to get his interest."
Richie nodded. "I wasn't planning on giving up."

Sarah smiled, glad he wasn't, she knew her son was hard to connect to for other people. For her he had always been like that and that was how he was, she wouldn't change a bit about him. She was glad Richie still loved her son, even if it wasn't so difficult.

"How about spending some time with Daniel?" Sarah suggested. "He's easily to please, play him a song and he's completely lost in it." She reminded him.

She was right, something Richie loved so much about their child, how he could be captured by music so easily and lose himself in it at such a young age. There was no doubt in his mind that Daniel would share his musical talent. He couldn't wait to try and prove that.

Chapter 30

The hot sun was shining down on them. Richie had navigated the boat to the middle of the lake where they were now floating on the gentle waves, enjoying the movements of the water and the heat of the sun.

"This is what we needed."

He looked over at Sarah, she was right. Finally they could relax, the last few months were filled with stress. Now all they had to do was relax.

"Definitely, although I hope they don't wake Daniel up."

He gestured towards the back of the boat where a slide was attached and ended up in the water. The teenagers were very loving it, not minding if made them seem like little children. They were having fun and that was all that mattered to them.

"You know, we could sneak away." Richie suggested. "Nobody would notice us."
Sarah looked up at his suggestion. "Right now?"
"Yeah, they don't need us. We can go do something else, practice babymaking."

She considered it, he was right, nobody would notice them and to get pregnant, they really needed to try every shot they got to succeed.

She got up from her lounge chair and grabbed Richie's hand. "Come on then, we better hurry."


A few minutes later they were in the bedroom, kissing while clothes were dropping everywhere.

Once all her clother were off, Richie pulled Sarah onto the bed, making sure she was comfortable enough as he got on top of her. He kissed her deeply and lowered himself on his elbows to stay close to her. For him it was easy to get excited and release but even if it was a quicky, he still wanted Sarah to enjoy every bit of it too.

Gently he moved into her warm walls as he kissed her soft lips, but as soon as he was inside her warmth where he loved to be, his gentleness changed to urgency as he thrusts became fast and irregular.

Sarah tried to keep up with his movements, enjoying all the frictions he was creating for her.

His release came as a surprise to her but it trigerred her own.

As Richie stopped moving, he layed down on top of her, giving her one last kiss before cuddling close to her.

Sarah cuddled her husband back, loving him in the moment he was close to her. "I love you." She said, reaching over to kiss him again.
"I love you too." He cuddled closer, happy to be where he was.

So far he had loved every moment he had been home with his family, each moment had been worth it. The tour was far behind him.

They close in bed, touching each other gently as they cuddled. Gentle kisses and touches were shared until the baby monitor alerted them of Daniel.

"Can always count on him." Richie sighed. He didn't want to let go of Sarah but they couldn't let Daniel cry on his own either.
"Don't worry." Sarah comforted him. "I'll get him and we can go back to enjoying family time."
"Sounds good, we can sit in the hot tub."
Quickly Sarah turned to look at him. "We can't. Hot tubs aren't exactly good when you're trying to have children."
"Really?"
"It's bad for sperm, too hot."
He looked down at himself. "My poor sperm."
Sarah chuckled. "Don't think Daniel would like it anyway, he's got his kiddie pool."
"We'll share that." Richie agreed, finally letting Sarah go to get their son.

Out on the deck, it was still hot but even though the hot tub was off the list now, Daniel's kiddie pool was indeed refreshing. Although Richie was considering to try the slide in a little while. He couldn't wait until Daniel was old enough to enjoy it too. Right now he was having hard enough a time to stay sitting up in the water as he played.

Sarah watched him, knowing what he was thinking right now. She chuckled. "Go try the slide already honey." She urged him, knowing he wanted to do it.
Richie looked up at her. "Really?"
"Yeah, go, quick."

Richie got up and looked down at Daniel, sure he was fine with just Sarah paying attention to him.

Sarah watched as the kids moved away and let Richie have his try on the slide. She thought it was cute as he got on it and pushed off. Seconds later he was in the water. When he came back up, he had the biggest smile on his face. Childish, but she didn't care, as long as he was happy.

Chapter 29

"Ready for a week without internet, cell phone reception and no tv?" Richie asked once everybody was in the car, ready to go.

Nobody really answered him but he didn't care, they were going to the lake for a week and it was going to be great as it always was. It being Daniel's first time at the lake, made it even more fun. So many "first times" that they could enjoy with him.

"I hope it's safe." Sarah sighed. After all they were spending the entire week on a boat on a lake. Of course it should be child proof but it still made her worry for Daniel. He wasn't quite crawling or even walking yet but that didn't make a difference in it.
"It's safe for children. Gates everywhere, he'll be fine."

It would only take 9 hours to drive to the lake but why drive if you can half that time by flying. It had been an easy choice and plane tickets were ordered.



A few hours later Richie and Caleb were busy carrying bags onto the boat as Ava and her friend went exploring and pick out a bedroom. Noah had found a comfy seat on one of the couches and continued reading the book he had started on the plane.

Sarah carried Daniel around, following Ava exploring the entire house boat. Again she was surprised by how large a house boat could be. Last year there had been two people less on their trip but the boat seemed much bigger than just two extra people.

At the back of the boat she found the master bedroom and was glad to see a travel cot folded up in the corner. If there was a bedroom close enough to theirs, Daniel could have his own, otherwise they'd have to share for a week. She wasn't too sure if Richie would like that. Sharing meant no sex.

She sat down on the bed, feeling how soft but still supportive it was. She laid down Daniel and looked up when the door opened up.

Richie hauled two large travel bags into the room and moved them to the wall.

Smiling at Sarah he plumped down on the bed. "Way too many bags."
Sarah looked over to the bags. "Did you manage to get mine and Daniel's on board too?" She teased.
Richie turned his head and gave Sarah a look.
"I'm kidding sweetheart." She said. "Did you see Daniel's sharing a room with us?"
"What? Why?" He sat up to look for a baby bed.
"It's foldable. Isn't that easy, we can fold it up and put it away during the day." Sarah continued teasing her husband with it.
"There's gotta be a bedroom around here." Richie said, he got up from the bed and walked out the door.

The first door on the left in the hallway revealed their bathroom, a full bathroom with bath and shower. He liked the idea of that a lot. The next door he found a small closet, definitely not big enough for all his stuff. Almost losing hope, he opened the third door.

"Found a room!" He called back to Sarah.

The bedroom only had one bed but had space enough to put up the travel bed for Daniel.

He walked back to the bedroom, meeting Sarah half way, at which point he turned around to show her the room that would serve as Daniel's bedroom.

"Isn't that great?" He asked. "It's close to us so he'll be fine and we can practice on making a sibling for him.
"Practice? We need to do that for real, not practice."
"We'll do for real." Richie confirmed, he'd make sure they would. If it were up to him, Sarah would leave this boat pregnant.