Mr. Mom

“That’s more how it was for me, when I was real young.” He didn’t have many memories of his mother, but they were scattered here and there. She had been beautiful of course, she would have to be to catch Percival’s attention. “I’m sure that one has been told more times than it should have. And most of us do.  It really depends on the werewolf.” 

“Let’s hope you don’t have to be.” Kel said, though he wasn’t entirely hopeful. He had a bad feeling about this one for some reason. “I’m going to have to get that sample to the hospital in town to run some tests. I should have some results by tomorrow.” 

“If you’ve been so concerned about this, why haven’t you gotten it checked out sooner?” Annoyance was sneaking into his tone. People who refused to get checked out when symptoms started made Kel’s life more difficult. 

“You’re a great dad, Kel.” Jack meant that whole-heartedly. He’d seen the way Kelton was around his daughters. Even if he did work himself too hard Jack could respect it. Being raised the way he had he knew the importance of a parent. He knew how involved they were in your life mattered. Jack also knew what it was like to grow up without a parent, but he never missed not having a father. That was largely thanks to the work his mother’s put into raising him. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you different.”

Kel nodded slightly in acknowledgement. “I make intelligent comments on the rare occasion.” Of course they were talking about about children’s cartoons, so he wasn’t sure just how intelligent any remarks about them could be considered. He would take the wins where he could get them. 

“Well, at least someone thinks so.” He offered, along with a lighthearted laugh. It was probably the best compliment anyone could give him, but yet another Halder trait he hated to share was inability to accept a compliment graciously. “I can not try to, but people don’t really like it if you start shouting over them just because they’re trying to give you constructive criticism.” 

A sad smile took over Brooke’s face. Nothing was happy or humorous over what she was thinking, but she wasn’t sure how else to deal with the emotions inside of her. “Left is an understatement, but yeah.” She wasn’t really inclined to share, but they were commiserating and Brooke felt in that moment of anyone might be able to understand how she felt it was the dude having a pity party for one. “My fiancé was declared dead after he went missing. Only to turn up two years later, and when I went to go pick him up he was gone again. So yeah I was left.” Brooke gave a humorless laugh at the word ‘left’ and how that hardly summed up what happened.

“No, that being a single dad means you have no life at all.” Of course, saying as much was going to result in a lecture about how he had to ask for help and take time for himself. Those speeches usually came from people who weren’t single parents. As far as he saw, he could either be a good dad, or he could have a good social life. “Life is full of them.” Unfortunately, he had always taken a long time to learn a lesson. He was hardheaded that way, one of the few traits he shared with Ella. 

Kel felt he had to be missing some important details to the story. “Damn, did he disappear on purpose? Because that’s a whole new level of ghosting.” He supposed he had at least gotten the lipstick note on the bathroom mirror. It wasn’t much of a goodbye, but he hadn’t been left to wonder if she had intentionally left him or not. He would have driven himself insane looking for her if she hadn’t made it clear that she had left because she didn’t want him anymore. 

“It really be like that sometimes?” Kel knew there were people at the ranch much older than him. He didn’t mind it usually, because he had acted like an old man since he was a child. Then, some creatures were less out of touch with current times than he was, be them older or younger, and he was left attempting to decipher the newest popular saying. “Good to know.” 

“That must be nice, what’s that like?” Kel replied, with just as much cheer. “Hey, I’m trying to be positive for you over here.” 

Seeing Aleda’s reaction reminded Kel that she had been at the ranch for as much time as he had. To him, who had grown up on the ranch, she felt like a newcomer. He had to remind himself that he probably appeared the same to her, to most of the people currently living there. They were protective of this place, and that brought a little warmth to him. In the time he had been gone, the ranch had become more than a place to live, it had become a community of people that watched out for each other. Kel threw a hand over his heart. “God, next thing you’re going to be telling me that Abigail’s ready to date. Are you trying to run me into an early grave?” His voice was pained, though not necessarily serious. He knew the girls would grow up and he would have to find his identity all over again, and he just kept pushing that thought further off. He started shaking his head, readying another oreo. “You know what, I didn’t ask to have your logic in this situation. I am quite aware and comfortable in my dysfunction.” 

“If you’re going to keep dating Ella, yes.” He was trying to bring some levity back into the situation. “There’s definitely something wrong, sorry to tell you. We can just hope it’s something as simple as diet or low blood sugar.” 

Kel shook a shaggy head, curls falling into his eyes with the movement. “He’s not bad, at least. Abigail is already calling him Uncle. I also think he’s got a healthy fear of Ella, which is reassuring.” It had surprised him on multiple occasions how much he liked Xavier. The man was awkward and stilted as Ella, but older and more comfortable in it. He was also about as interested in fighting as Kel was, which made him more comfortable with the man’s presence. Kel smiled wryly, taking the spot on the bench next to her and pulling a foot underneath him. He set the package of oreos between them. “I never feel like I have enough time to sleep. I know I have help here and I don’t have to do it on my own anymore, but it’s a habit. An unhealthy way of coping with stressful situations, the more I move and do, the less time I have to think about what’s going wrong.” He shrugged. He knew his flaws very well, but that didn’t mean he was equipped to fight them yet. “It’s just a matter of adapting to my new surroundings. And actually trusting other people with my girls.” That was really the hard part. He wanted to do it all himself. He wanted to be there for every moment. He never wanted the girls to think they only got half of him. He wanted to make up for the absence of the other parent. He also knew that was insane and people wouldn’t understand him if he said as much. 

Kel could see why Ella liked this guy. Hell, if she didn’t, he might have considered his own ban against dating. “Hey, let’s not joke about possible things.” He didn’t think Kit was dying, but that was always a possibility. “I’ll think about it.” 

“I guess I know how that goes.” Technically Kel’s biological father had the money and Kel had done the work. It had just been a less voluntary exchange. But that would be a bit much to dump on a complete stranger, even for Kel. He waved a hand off. “Bad joke. I make a lot of those, feel free to ignore me.”

“We can always use more people working outside.” Kel started to sweep, careful not to miss any of the shards. “Have a ranch? That takes some money.” He was privy to plenty of the bookkeeping here, and while he knew that their operation ran a little bigger than most, he still knew that even a small ranch wasn’t a cheap endeavor. “I mean, I think most of us have that phase in college, but it’s nice to hear someone so open about their preferences.” 

“Not a problem, I can let him know if you like. He’s kind of a grumpy shit and I hate to subject too many people to his disposition.” Kel had only had a few interactions with the handyman and none of them had been pleasant. “Doctor and vet. I can help multiple forms, wings, whatever you might have hidden away.” 

Kel shoved another oreo in its entirety into his mouth. Everyone had their own way of eating them, and he preferred to nearly asphyxiate every time he had one. “My uncle.” Kel repeated, shaking his head slightly. “That’s still a strange thing to hear.” Hell, he was still getting used to calling Ella his sister out loud, where other people could hear. He had never been the one with family, and now he had more of it than he knew what to do with. It was nice, but it was going to take a little getting used to. He nodded, picking up the spare mug and doing his best to ignore the way that she was studying him. He’d gotten used to ignoring pointed looks. He was fine. He would survive this hurtle and he would keep going, because that was what he did. He kept going and he was fine. “I’ve been doing this since before Holly left. I’m just tired, I’ll be better after I get a few hours of sleep.” Fine might be an overstatement. Less dramatic, hopefully. He wanted to say that he didn’t always feel like this, didn’t always look like this, but that seemed a pointless endeavor. People would think of him what they thought of him and he’d resolved a long time ago to not care. “But I appreciate the offer.”