A Sense of Symmetry Pt. 04

"I wanted 'em," Sean argued. "Anna said I did."

* * *

Dinner at Phyllis's lasted longer than they had expected. Sean fell asleep on the sofa shortly after the meal, and Melanie was dozing in her carrier before the others had finished eating. Only Anna didn't seem tired. "I didn't mean to keep you so late," Phyllis said when she realized what time it was. "I just miss Sean so much."

"I wish we could get together more often," Dani said. "You got to see him a lot more with Ben?"

"I lived with them the first few months that Ben had custody," Phyllis said. "Ben didn't really know how to take care of a baby by himself, plus he had to work full-time and didn't know what to do about daycare. So he asked me to help out. I wasn't working then, I had some time off for an operation, so I moved in with them. That's when he and I did most of the talking I told you about."

"What talking?" Jason asked suspiciously.

"About his past," Phyllis said smoothly. "Things nobody else knew."

Dani mentally blessed Phyllis. "But you weren't staying with them when-" she began.

"No, I wasn't," Phyllis said. "I had to go back to work about the time Sean turned two. I helped Ben find a good sitter, a friend of mine who had just retired from a daycare center. She brought Sean to me the night of the accident. She was mentioning to me the other day how much she'd like to see him."

"I have an idea," Jason said. "What if Sean stayed with you tonight, and tomorrow you could take him to see your friend before we picked him up."

"That would be terrific!" Phyllis said. "Dani?"

Dani, irrationally, was sure that if Sean were away from her for even one night, she would never see him again. She shook off the feeling and said, "If you don't mind having him, sure. We don't have his pajamas or anything, though."

"Ben kept some things here for him," Phyllis said. "I hate to do it, he's sleeping so good, but let's wake him up and tell him what's going on so he doesn't get confused when he finds you gone."

"Can I stay here too?" Anna asked Phyllis.

Dani saw that Phyllis wasn't sure what to say. "Not tonight, Anna," she told the girl.

Anna stomped over to the door and stood there with her arms folded and her head down. "Anna, are you sulking?" Jason asked.

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because Sean gets to have a sleepover and I don't!"

"Anna, maybe another night we can have Denise or Allie over," Dani said. "Or you can go to their house. But not tonight."

Anna started to cry, with huge sobs that were obviously mostly fake. "Somebody's overtired," Jason said.

Dani gently shook Sean's shoulder. The little boy opened her eyes. "Sean, do you want to stay with Grammy tonight?" she asked.

"No!"

Phyllis sat down beside him. "Sean, do you remember when you stayed here before? You wore your new jammies that your Daddy got you, with the puppies on them, and I made pancakes for breakfast. Remember?"

"Yeah."

"And then, after breakfast, we watched cartoons. And then Daddy came and got you. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Dani and Jason will come and take you home tomorrow. But I don't get to see you much, and so I thought you could stay with me tonight, and tomorrow after breakfast, we can go see Sheila."

Sean considered this. "You make pancakes again?"

Phyllis smiled. "Of course I will."

Sean looked at Dani. "You come back 'morrow? Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay," Sean said.

Since Anna was now kicking the door in frustration, Jason and Dani decided it was time to leave. When they got home, they were surprised to see Steve's car in their driveway. "What are you doing here?" Jason asked.

"We were at Mom and Dad's, and Deeny started begging to have Anna spend the night," Steve replied. "So we came by to see if Anna wanted to sleep over."

"We can take Melanie, too, if it's okay," Robin added.

"Melanie's already asleep," Jason said. He knew that Dani felt the baby was too young to spend the night away from her parents. "But Anna's welcome to go if you want her."

"Looks like you got your wish, Kiddo," Dani said to Anna. "Denise wants you to sleep at her house."

"Oh, boy!" Anna shouted. "Sean has a sleepover, and I have a sleepover! This is great!"

Jason settled Melanie in her crib while Dani packed Anna's backpack. Steve, Robin, and Denise visited for a few minutes, then left, with the girls cheerfully debating what video they would watch the next morning. Jason put his arms around Dani. "Alone at last," he sighed.

"Not quite," Dani reminded him.

"Close enough," Jason said. "Melanie almost never wakes up at night anymore. And even if she does, she can't get up and run into our room." He kissed her neck. "So what do you want to do now?"

"Watch a video."

"Only if it's X-rated."

Dani pretended to punch him. "You're a sick, twisted being." She pulled away from him and sat down. "This feels weird."

"What does?"

"Not having the kids here."

"You're right," Jason said. "Both of them.

Dani looked at him, surprised. "Does that mean you've gotten used to having Sean around?"

"Dani, I might never get used to the idea of who Sean's real father was. I still think you and Ben were more than just friends, and it feels weird seeing Sean all the time because he looks so much like Ben."

"Ben and I-" Dani began.

Jason held up his hand to stop her. "I don't want to know," he said. "Anyway, even though I'm still jealous of Ben, which seems stupid under the circumstances, I really love Sean. It wouldn't feel right if he wasn't here with us. Which is why I've been thinking."

"Thinking what?"

"Those papers we signed. Do they mean Sean's legally our son, or just that he's legally living here?"

"Just that he's legally living here, basically."

"Then let's adopt him."

"Are you trying to see how much you can shock me tonight?"

"I mean it, Dani."

"I know you do. But what about Julie? She'd have to sign over her rights, and I don't think she'd do it."

"Why not? She abandoned him, and she hasn't tried to get in touch with us the last few days. If she really wanted to see him, I think she would have tried harder. Just think about it. I'm surprised you didn't suggest it already."

"I didn't think you'd go along with it," Dani admitted.

"Well, I would. So think about it. And here's something else to think about." Dani giggled as he nibbled on her neck.