The Good, the Bad, and the Weird Uncles

{I love u v much too and am posting it here for all to see <3<3<3<3}

Dhurke takes the letter and, like all of those which Nahyuta sends him, tucks it away into a folder for safekeeping.  He always needs to be ready to run, and so things of importance need to be all in one place. 

Then he sits down, and begins to pen a reply.

Ray shrugs again; he seems to constantly be shrugging sometimes.

“…Thanks, Kay.”

“The circumstances of how I came to be a single parent are complicated and not something I feel comfortable discussing right now, but I was certainly not at all prepared to be raising a child when I was twenty six.  The first few months of Miles’ life were tiring and stressful in more ways than I knew were possible at the time.  Do not take this to mean that I ever did not love my son, because I did from the moment he was born.  But being a parent isn’t something I believe you can ever truly be prepared for.

“Miles was often sick as a baby; he was very susceptible to ear infections and at one point had five within the span of a month.  I… will admit that I was in over my head.  I was constantly worrying about him, and if I slept at all during these times it was in the chair next to his crib.  I needed to be there the moment he woke up, to make sure nothing was wrong.

“He was four months old, going on five months, when he had all of those ear infections in a row.  Despite having just gotten a clean bill of health from the doctor, I was worried and again chose to sleep next to his crib.  I was exhausted from endless worry and lack of sleep, but in the morning when I picked him up out of his crib, he smiled and laughed.  He had never laughed before, and I nearly dropped him in surprise.  The look on my face must have amused him, because he kept laughing, and then I was laughing, too.

“I definitely consider… Kay to be… like a daughter…”

“Don’t me modest, Tyrell; she is your daughter.”

“Not… legally…”

“You helped raise her.  You were listed as an emergency contact at her school.  She made us both presents for Fathers Day when she was little.  Don’t sell yourself short, Tyrell, she loves you.”

Ray watches with a little smile, patient and understanding.  This was never a good day of the year for Miles; not as bad as Christmas could be, but still not great.  He watches Miles push up his glasses, which impossibly make him look even more like his father, and shrugs when he speaks.

“Hah, would you believe Uncle Ray if he said he had a bit of stage fright?” he jokes.  It’s not very funny.

“Hm.  Well, hey there, Gregory.  Been a while since we’ve talked, but things have been pretty busy.  Still, I made sure to bring Miles; couldn’t have him missing on today of all days, right?”

Ether and Orion, quite used to their daughter’s very tight and very loving hugs, squished her between the two of them to make a Summer Sandwich like they had when she and Winter were little.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Orion was the first to say.

“That was very kind of Miss Lovell, wasn’t it, Anubis?”  He scratched the dog’s cheek, then giving him one of the delivered treats.