Law chuckled, pushing Nicky toward the toilet as he headed to the sink. “Not sure that is far enough away.”
A huff was the only response.
Law turned on the water to wash his face and brush his teeth. When Nicky joined him at the sink, they switched places.
It took every bit of the ten minutes they’d been given to make it downstairs. Nicky barely had his eyes open as Law directed him into the living room with a hand on his shoulder.
The boy spotted the Santa Josh had bought him and ran over. He hopped in front of the Santa and nothing happened.
Jude handed Law a mug of coffee with a smirk.
“Daddy!” Nicky called. “Santa broke?”
Jude hid his smile as he took a drink. Ah, so it had been Jude’s doing. Law could see the plug for the Santa lying on the floor, no longer connected to the outlet.
“He’s not broke,” Law told his boy as he took his own sip of freshly brewed coffee. ‘It’s just too early for it.”
Nicky was walking around the Santa and picked up the cord that had been unplugged. “Cheating!”
“Says the biggest cheater in the room,” Liam accused. He strode over to pull Nicky away from the Santa. “Prezzies.”
“Prezzies!” Nicky repeated, clapping.
Law took a long drink of his coffee. He was going to need it.
* * * * *
Nicky
“Play!” he demanded, picking up the red motorized car.
“I play too!” Liam said, grabbing his own blue car.
“The batteries need to be put in,” Law told them. “Bring them over.”
Nicky stood and had to kick wrapping paper out of the way. The living room was a mess and normally that would drive him crazy but those were big boy thoughts and Nicky was just a little guy.
He passed Jude, who walked over the garbage bags to hand his Daddy Nicky’s new car.
Liam followed, even if he tripped over the stack of presents on the floor and nearly went down.
“Careful,” Jude told Liam as he grabbed a wad of paper, stuffing it in the sack.
“K!” Liam said before running over to Nicky’s side.
Nicky took Liam’s car and dropped it in his Daddy’s lap while Law was trying to get the back off his car.
Across the room, Josh was still trying to get some of the plastic covering off other toys. It was super helpful having an Unc to do the yucky part of opening presents. Nicky eyed the new bottle set that hadn’t made it out of the packaging yet. The bottles were super pretty with purple fishes. One of the many little gifts he’d gotten from his Daddy. Nicky squirmed as his Daddy took way too long.
“Patience, boy,” Law murmured as he finally got the back off Nicky’s car.
“Play!” Nicky demanded.
Slowly, Law lifted his head. “Excuse me?”
Oops! Nicky grinned at his Daddy. “Play please, Daddy.”
Law grunted but didn’t say anything else.
