'Unconditional

Unconditionally

I will love you unconditionally'

"Alexander, don't go too far," I yell at my five year old son.

It was a nice day outside so I thought I would bring him to the park to let off his infinite amount of energy.

"Daddy, look," he comes running into my lap and points at a dog. "He looks like DanDan."

"How about we go visit uncle Blake and DanDan soon?" I suggest, seeing how he suddenly remembered Blake's dog.

"Yes please!" His blue eyes sparkle in excitement.

After letting him play for an hour, I drag him back home in caution of the increasing heat. After his birth, I decided on replacing the mansion we lived at before with a three story house for more security on Alexander.

"Let's go straight to the shower now," I say once we step foot into our home.

"Mommy, we're back!" He ignores my orders and yells his usual greeting instead.

"Mommy's busy right now buddy, we can go say hi to her once you're all clean," I pick him up, allowing dirt to get on my shirt, and walk up the stairs to go grab a change of clothes.

While filling up the tub with warm water, we hear a light knock on the door. Not much after that, my beautiful wife pops into frame resulting in Alex creating a splashy mess.

"I was wondering where my boys were hiding," she smiled softly and walked slowly towards the tub to give our son a kiss. "How was the park?"

Alex spares no details in telling her everything that happened from the moment we stepped outside the house until arriving to the bathtub. While he was distracted, I shampooed his hair and scrubbed his arms before his attention is back on me.

"Next time, you should come with us!" He ends his tangent with this suggestion.

"Oh boy, I would love to," she says kindly and my heart soars for her simple existence.

After Alex's birth, Ray lost a lot of blood and had to have an emergent surgery that resulted in loss of motor function on her legs for a little more than a year. Everyday, I take our son outside so she can attend her physical therapy sessions without the pressure of having us there.

Although the doctors warned us about permanent loss of nerve tissue, Ray did her best to beat the odds and she did. She still can't run around freely, but she can walk around holding our son up at the same time which is incredible.

"How about we get you dried up so your dad can also shower and join us for lunch?" Ray asks as she takes him out of the tub, and Alex simply agrees like he always does. He insists of putting on his clothes by himself so I take the moment of distraction to peck Ray on the lips.

"How was your day?" I ask in a low tone, not wanting Alex's attention to be anywhere else.

"It got a whole lot better when my favorite boys came back from outside," she bites her lips and wraps her arms around my neck. "Did he cause you any trouble?"

"He was just enjoying himself," I shake my head.

"Knowing him, I would say that's plenty of trouble," she laughs and her attention is pulled away by the excited five year old. I feel a bit of disappointment that our conversation couldn't last longer, but I knew better than to hope for anything else while raising a toddler.

They leave the bathroom to prepare the table for our family meal that Ray insists happen everyday. I step inside of the shower and let my thoughts take over.

"Daddy said I could visit Blakey soon!" Alex says one more time, but I act as I did the first time he told me.

"Wow, you don't say," I smile at him and distribute the plates around the table.

"Is grandpa still coming over for dinner, Mommy?" He switches the subject.

"Yes, he is. Do you have your outfit picked out for when you do see him?" I remind him of their silly tradition of wearing weird suits every time they see each other. He nods eagerly and soon after, Ace comes down wearing his pajamas given it is Sunday.

We finish our meal as usual and Alex runs to the living room, after washing his hands, to watch Cartoon Network, leaving Ace and I in one of the rare moments of silence.

"He definitely got his talking from you," Ace chuckles when I sigh in bliss over the silence.

"He definitely got his energy from you," I shift the blame jokingly.

Ace drops his plate in the sink and wraps his arms around me, engulfing me in a back hug.

"I love you so much," he tightens his hold saying it, as if afraid of losing me again. "I can't imagine a better life."

"I love you too," I turn around to kiss his lips, not needing to continue the conversation.

He pulls away before things get too heated and suggests we join Alex before he gets himself in trouble all alone.

I let him go ahead as I finish up the dishes, and walk into the living room to see both of them so concentrated on watching Spongebob that nothing would stir their attention.

I look at the image before me fondly, and can't help but feel so extremely luck to have the best two boys in my newly normal life. I laugh to myself and join the cuddle, soon getting into the show myself in the arms of the love of my life while holding my our perfect child.

The end.

*

This has been such a rollercoaster of a story. I want to thank everyone for keeping up with my weird uploading schedule. As most of you know, I stopped relating to this story as much as when I started it, but I did want to give Ray and Ace the ending they deserved.

This may seem rushed without much detail, but I am planning on posting extra chapters that stand alone talking about after the birth, their wedding and what happens after Alex grows up. I didn't see how to fit everything into one last chapter, but I really wanted there to be an ending before I move onto write different things. I don't know when I will upload those extra chapters, but I do plan on writing them soon.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during everything that's going on. Thank you so much for reading this!!

This has been your author Bob, signing off