S o birthday boy, what do you want to do tonight?"
Aiden asked as he traced circles on Liam's bare
skin. Had it really been more than a year since their
first night together?
"Recover from my birthday morning?" Liam
laughed. He loved it when Aiden touched him.
"No, I was thinking of something else." He
looked over Liam's shoulder. "Ty, why don't you go
find Killer and stare at him for a change instead of the
bird. You can watch him grow."
"He's not going to grow anymore."
"Promise?" Aiden asked with a laugh. "Because
he can reach things off of the counters in the kitchen
without even straining."
"I kind of like how he rests his head on the table
when's he's sitting on the floor." Liam giggled.
"I don't." Aiden glared. "Now back to tonight.
Vanessa and Rosalie have some kind of idea that they
want to take you to a concert being held at UBC. I was
338 Magical Moonlight
thinking that maybe you and I could go with the
girls."
"You mean like on a date?" Liam's eyes were
wide. "A double date?"
"I'm not into classifying things by stereotypical
words." Aiden looked away, much like Killer did
when he didn't want to admit he was wrong.
"So we're just going to be going to a concert,
something you aren't remotely interested in, nor am I,
with Rosalie and Vanessa. And coincidently, it's my
birthday."
"That's right and maybe, because it's late, we'll
all have dinner at a restaurant a tad classier than
Hamburger Mary's." Aiden huffed. "I mean I should
feed all of you since we'll be out late."
"Of course, I'd expect to be fed." Liam bit the
inside of his lip to keep from laughing.
"I thought maybe mom could watch Shay, that
way we don't have to worry about him." Aiden looked
up at the ceiling.
"A concert really isn't a good place for a child."
Liam agreed. "Especially a child who tends to pop
things in and out of the air just for fun."
"So you'll go with me?" Aiden asked.
"How could I resist?" Liam giggled.
"We could go shopping this afternoon and find
something hot to wear tonight."
"Whose birthday is this?" Liam laughed. "Yours
or mine? Cause shopping is kind of your thing."
"But I'd be shopping for you." Aiden laughed.
"And since it's your birthday, you can't refuse."
ER Bryant 339
"I was hoping for a rent boy with a bow around
his dick." Liam joked.
"I considered that, but thought I'd save that for an
alternate universe Aiden and Liam."
"Good plan, big boy." Liam nuzzled Aiden's chin
before he began to work his way lower down the older
man's body.
Later that day:
"How did we end up with Shay again?" Aiden
asked as Liam pushed the heavy stroller into the
men's store. "Not that I'm complaining." He peered
under the stroller's hood to reassure Shay with his
smile that he didn't mind having him.
"The girls wanted some quiet time and since
we're all going out tonight, they didn't want Shay to
be left with a sitter, even your mom, most of the day."
Shay sat in his plush designer stroller, Doug
tucked safely at his side. He chatted and giggled with
his feline companion, explaining the amazing things
they were seeing.
"Oh, I like that." Blue cashmere, the color of
Liam's eyes when passion overtook him, was
displayed on a manikin.
"We'll take it." Aiden signaled to the hovering
sales clerk. "And one just like it in black. He looks hot
in black."
"Two?" Liam's left eyebrow raised.
"It's your birthday." Aiden justified as he held up
a pair of fine woolen trousers, a perfect compliment to
either sweater. "Silk boxers under these and you're all
set."
340 Magical Moonlight
"You mean you're all set." Liam laughed. "Wool
makes me itch if it's next to my skin."
Aiden sighed with drama. "I'm not buying
polyester."
"We have something very similar in a wonderful
linen." The sales clerk volunteered. "And there are
some rather nice fine cottons."
It took them almost an hour before Aiden was
satisfied with Liam's birthday clothing. Liam vetoed
almost everything he was shown and only the
stubborn set of Aiden's jaw and the flash of anger in
his eyes, made the red head agree on a few of the
man's choices.
Shay and Doug watched the proceedings with
interest, only commenting to each other in a rather
secretive way that made Liam slightly suspicious
though he said nothing.
Aiden paid for their purchases ignoring his son
and Doug. He'd been listening to the two of them
though he hadn't wanted to alarm Liam. Apparently
they were planning on visiting Ty and Killer at the loft
and were plotting how to get them all there. It didn't
sound good. Shay was barely a year old and his
judgment wasn't the best, working as he did more on
impulse and less on good sense. "That's it for
shopping." Aiden began, immediately sorry he'd
spoken, as they were all popped back to the sidewalk
in front of the apartment. He hoped the sales clerk
hadn't noticed their disappearance.
"Shay." Aiden began from his position directly in
front of the stroller. "If you want to go to the loft, you
ER Bryant 341
only have to ask. I've explained that we can't use our
powers just for any old thing. They are too important
to waste on unnecessary things. There might come a
day when you'll need all the strength and force you've
ever possessed. You don't want to find yourself
running on empty."
"Da, Doug and I want to go to the apartment."
Shay grinned up at him. His Wah cat had a similar
grin on its furry face.
"Did you hear what I said?" Aiden tried to make
his voice gruff not to mention ignore the fact that his
son spoke without his usual baby lisp.
"Yes Da, Doug and me heared you." Shay smiled,
indulging his father. "We luv you, grouchy Da. No
more popping." He made his eyes go sad, but the
twinkle in the corners gave him away.
Liam snickered, leaned over and kissed the top of
Aiden's head. "I'll go back and pick up the Lexus."
He offered. "You two can have a daddy, son bonding
moment."
"Bye Liam." Shay waved. "Bring ice cream."
"No, don't bring ice cream." Aiden said. He
looked at his son. "No popping ice cream into the
apartment."
Liam waved as he jogged down the block. The
Lexus wasn't that far away. He'd stop and get some
frozen yogurt. It wasn't defying Aiden, it wasn't ice
cream.
Upstairs in Aiden's apartment, he settled, cats,
dog and child at the kitchen table. Shay had his own
specially designed chair that was a combination high
342 Magical Moonlight
chair and dining room chair made to match the rest of
the adult sized chairs. Doug took up the chair next to
Shay and Ty preferred to settle on a bar stool, it made
the birdcage easier to see inside of. Killer was content
to lie on the floor under the table, his head next to
Shay's chair.
Aiden sat down opposite his son. "Seamus, I want
to have a serious talk with you." He began.
"Da?" Shay said and stuck his hand in his mouth.
"Don't give me any of that baby crap, I know you
understand more than you want me to know. You
can't keep using your powers indiscriminately.
Popping the cats and Killer here and there whenever
you want them is not allowed."
"But Da, Li needs help. Bad things in the air,
black things, teeth things. Dawg and Ty can see them,
even Killer can see them. I know they're there, but I
can't see them. Nothing comes close when Dawg and
Ty and Killer are with us." He sighed. "Regis has to
watch Li now 'cause he's all by himself."
"Who in hell is Regis?" Aiden asked. This was a
new one as far as he was concerned.
"Regis isn't real, he's a figment of myth and
magic. He's supposed to be the High King of all Wah
cats and immortal. He only appears every seven
centuries and then only to guard a Wahjee meant for
greater things." Frances was leaning out of the
birdcage fascinated by the fact that Shay at little more
than one year had such a vocabulary. Something
wasn't right with this kid.
ER Bryant 343
"Shut up bird." Aiden barely glanced up. "Is what
he says true Shay?"
"Kind of." Shay admitted. "But not the part where
he isn't real. Ask Ty, he knows he's real."
Ty wasn't about to admit to anything with the
small man within hearing distance. He leapt up on the
cage, setting it swinging wildly, throwing Frances out
so that the man was holding on for dear life to one of
the struts.
Aiden stood up, grabbed the screaming Frances
and shoved him unceremoniously back into the cage.
He reached for Ty, but his cat for once refused to
perch on his shoulder, preferring to continue his climb
to the sit on the rafter over the cage, one arm dangling
as a threat of things to come.
Aiden was about to say something when Liam
bounced in through the door, a brown bag in his hand.
"Hey guys, the weirdest thing just happened."
Liam placed the bag on the counter. "One of those big
old maple trees by the Sylvia Hotel, decided to fall
right where I was standing, except just as it was
falling some asshole bumped into me and knocked me
backwards into the hotel doorway. I could have sworn
it was Betty, but she's in the same place she was when
we left. Not to mention that this thing was damn big."
"Two things, why were you walking by the Sylvia
Hotel, and who the fuck is Betty?"
"I like the frozen yogurt they make in their
restaurant and Betty is right there." Liam pointed to
the rafters where his stuffed turquoise cat sat.
344 Magical Moonlight
"Though I'm not sure why she's there, but she's been
there for days."
