CH 20

Phillip piled the kids in Gareth's van. He'd borrowed it again to take the Lewis children out while their father attended a follow-up meeting at the lawyer's office. This time they were all going to the mall to get Gareth a Father's Day present. The mall certainly wasn't his favourite place, especially what happened last time he was here, but this had to be done. Phillip felt Gareth deserved a decent present from the kids and he wanted to help.

"Okay. We have thirty dollars to spend. You can each have ten or you can put it all together to get your dad one thing," Phillip explained once they were parked and walking towards the entrance. He'd decided on a reasonable budget before they left the house, but perhaps giving them an option that all three had to agree on was not the best plan. After ten minutes of heated negotiations, he just decided for them. "Right. One thing."

Hopefully getting them to agree on one present would be easier than having them pick out three different presents.

Or maybe not.

Phillip was soundly defeated from this trip. It wasn't as loud or quite as disgusting as the play structures at McDonald's, but the constant arguments and refereeing was exhausting. At least the end result was a fairly decent tie. After herding the children through four or five stores with displays of Father's Day gifts, the children actually settled on a tie for their dad. Sure it was rather cliche to get a tie for Father's Day, but the pattern was pens, papers, and books, like Gareth's grading, so it seemed like a good choice. After the gift was purchased, the kids insisted on going to the card shop and getting a card, too.

"I think we can handle this part ourselves, Phillip," Daisy informed him. "You wait on the bench. I have the rest of the money and we'll be quick, I promise." Franny and Gabe ran right into the store and up to the display of cards, and Phillip realized he could see them well enough from where he was ordered to sit. They certainly couldn't leave without him noticing, anyway. Rather than disagree, he allowed her to have her way and took his spot on the bench while holding the shopping bag. Kind of like a lot of men accompanying people to the mall, just like he used to do for his mother years earlier.

"You have five minutes," he told her wearily. Daisy nodded and turned enthusiastically, her hair a flying whirl of braids, and followed after her younger siblings.

Fortunately they were able to finish in the store before Phillip had to wander into the fray, and the three Lewis children sprung from the shop giggly and happy. It was a quick trip back to the van, and they seemed quite pleased with themselves. Phillip was happy, too. He really wanted Gareth to have a good Father's Day in light of everything. On the way home they stopped to get a pizza, and they all had the treat of eating in front of the television watching an animated movie while Phillip lazed about on the sofa.

After most of the pizza had been consumed, but before bedtime, Gareth arrived home and Phillip was glad. As much as he cared for the children, he preferred their father to be the one to tuck them into bed. It wasn't really an issue, but more of a comfort thing. He knew the children liked him well enough, but he still wasn't quite sure where he stood in their lives. He just knew he enjoyed being a part of it.

..............................

"So, how did it go?" Phillip inquired as he handed Gareth his tea. The tv was now on the Food Network with the volume turned down low; someone gleefully mixing a complex cake batter using ridiculously expensive ingredients on the screen.

Blowing across the surface of the cup, Gareth reflected before answering. "Not great, actually."

"Oh?"

"Leeann is suing for support and full custody of Daisy. She's also seeking at least partial custody of Franny and Gabe, and is using my sinful lifestyle as grounds. It's in the documents she's filed."

"What?" Phillip tried not to spit tea across the table, managing to swallow hard and cough soundly.

"She morally objects to the children being exposed to an 'inappropriate relationship' and is claiming it goes against her 'religious beliefs'." Gareth used finger quotes and eye rolls.

"But I thought Andrea said that sexuality isn't grounds for obtaining custody?"

"It's not, but Leeann's betting on the fact that I won't want my sexual preference on record in court in case it affects my job. She's already tried the F and C S route, this is just another way of getting back at me."

"Us being together can't do anything to your job, can it?" Phillip was confused, how could who an adult chose to sleep with affect his ability to educate children?

"No. Not at all. There are discrimination laws, and besides, it's not like I'm the only gay teacher. As long as we aren't making out in front of students, it's not an issue. And that would be the same for any couple, hetero or not, that's just common decency." This was one area where Gareth felt confident. There were very strong laws and the backing of his union protecting his job even if some people could be bigots.

Phillip digested that fact, then continued, "Does she even go to church?"

"Not in my lifetime. Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous and Andrea is fairly confident of her claims being denied."

"I sincerely hope so, I mean wasn't she the one who was fooling around with some guy when Franny was in the house?"

"Yes, but that was a woman and a man, and Leeann seems to have a free lawyer who works for one of those super conservative churches or something. Either way, the case will go before a family court judge the first week of August. Until then Leeann is free to seek supervised visits at the Children's Visitation Centre with a monitor, but I don't think she will," Gareth explained.

"Why not?"

"Because she won't get any money from me if the visit is supervised. It will just be at the facility the family court provides at a prescribed time." Gareth paused to have another sip of his tea and Phillip watched the man's Adam's Apple bob as he swallowed. As much as this was a serious conversation, Phillip couldn't help but want to trail kisses along the path of his boyfriend's neck. Instead he cleared his throat, trying to chase away his inappropriate thoughts during this more serious conversation. "Either way, Andrea thinks we have nothing to worry about."

Gareth caught the way Phillip had been eyeing him and decided it was time for conversations to end. They were being far too serious and there were far more interesting things they could be doing. Putting his mug back down on the table, he turned and captured Phillip's lips with his own, his tongue darting out to get a little taste. Phillip pulled his mouth away, and Gareth went to protest until Phillip dove back down and started to nip and lick along that very alluring neck that he'd been admiring. 

"I think you've had a rough day, Gare. Maybe it's time to go to bed?" he whispered huskily into his boyfriend's ear.

Gareth groaned softly as the soft breath tickled him down to his core. "I don't know, I'm kind of tense. Maybe you could help me work the kinks out?"

Phillip stood up, his cheeks flushed and arousal growing, and offered Gareth a hand up from the couch, "I think that could be arranged."

.......................................

Somewhat early Sunday morning Phillip extricated himself carefully from Gareth's slumbering body, slipping the embrace to help the Lewis children with their request. They wanted to make Gareth breakfast in bed and required Phillip's assistance with the cheese and vegetable omelette and bacon they wanted to prepare. He had agreed to help them before he had to leave for his shift at Bentman's. He could hear them in the kitchen and could tell they'd already started the coffee.

As he brought his foot to the floor, Gareth rolled over and opened an eye. "Where are you sneaking off to?" His tousled hair was getting a little long, and a piece fell in front of his face. Gareth blew it to the side and Phillip couldn't help leaning over and kissing the man's scruffy cheek.

"The kids are making you breakfast in bed, so go back to sleep and pretend to be surprised," Phillip whispered. "They recruited me to help yesterday."

Gareth smiled, stifling a yawn, "You don't have to."

"I know. I want to." Phillip kissed Gareth's forehead and stood up.

Gareth laid back against the pillows while Phillip left the room. He couldn't believe he'd gotten so lucky as to not only have the opportunity to sleep in, but to also have such an amazing boyfriend. Someone who willingly spent time with his children without complaint, and actually wanted to. It was a far cry from last year's Father's Day where Leeann had been nursing a hangover, yelling at the kids to fuck off when they came to bring Gareth the presents they made at school.

He could hear all sorts of commotion coming from the kitchen, the kids' high voices and Phillip's lower one in hushed tones, and after a few minutes the smell of bacon and coffee wafted down the hall. It was getting really difficult to pretend to be asleep, but it was important to the kids, so no matter how much his bladder was calling, and calling it was, he was going to hold out as long as he could.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait much longer, Gareth shut his eyes and rolled onto his side, illusion complete, when Franny swung the door open wildly, smacking it against the door stop with a clunk.

"Wake up, Daddy! Breakfast!" she exclaimed buoyantly as she bounded on top of her prone father.

"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up," Gareth yawned, pulling Franny in for a hug.

Daisy, Gabe, and Phillip entered the room; Daisy holding a tray laden with food, and Gabe and Phillip each with a cup of coffee. Franny clambered off, urging her daddy to sit up against the headboard.

"Phillip, you sit, too. You helped us, but you need to stay here," Daisy ordered, carefully placing the tray on Gareth's lap while Gabe passed him his coffee.

"Uhh, I'm not sure..." Phillip wasn't certain that seeing two men in bed together would be appropriate, and heaven forbid if Leeann found out. Before he could do anything, Daisy took his coffee cup from him and Franny pushed him to sit. Once he was where they wanted, Daisy relinquished her grip on his beverage.

"Stay here!" The three kids ran off back out to the kitchen and Gareth surveyed his food. There was a fluffy looking spinach and cheese omelette with four pieces of bacon beside it, apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon, a slice of buttered toast, and a glass of orange juice. Definitely not the doing of his children, no matter how good they were at making toast.

"Thank you so much, Phillip."

Phillip blushed and shrugged. It really was nothing but a few minutes worth of effort, but it was worth it to see the emotion in Gareth's eyes.

A minute later, the kids came prancing back into the room, very pleased with themselves. This time there was another plate which Gabe passed to Phillip, while the two girls stood with their hands behind their backs. It was some of the extra bacon he'd made for the kids and two slices of buttered toast just the way he liked it. He was speechless and a little upset. This was Gareth's day, not his.

Apparently the kids disagreed.

"Presents!"

Daisy pulled her hands out from behind her with the box for Gareth with a few other items, and Franny pulled her hands out and passed some things to Phillip. A look of shock crossed his face as he took the proffered envelopes.

"Open them Daddy! Open them Phillip."

Phillip's hands shook as he put his coffee down on the night table. He really wasn't sure what to expect, the realm of his experience had been left far behind. Since his father had passed away over half a lifetime ago, Phillip hadn't seen Father's Day as anything but something other people celebrate. And certainly he had never expected to be on the receiving end of gifts on this day.

Watching Gareth open his cards, Phillip could see that each child had made a card at school along with the usual bric-a-brac. There was a lumpy paperweight of a smiley face peppered with Franny's fingerprints and painted a garish orange, a tin can pencil cup wrapped with patterned paper and covered in splodges of paint from Gabe, and a framed poem from Daisy about what Daddy means to her. Gareth gave each child a one armed hug and a kiss as he held the breakfast tray still with his other hand.

"Okay, Daddy, open the big one," Daisy said, after stepping back.

He opened the purchased card, a jokey one from the three of them, then the box. Gareth exclaimed his love of the tie, pulling it from the tissue paper and held it up to himself to model. Then Phillip felt the attention turn to him, and he really wasn't sure what to do. But then each child gave him a hopeful look, so he took a deep, bracing breath and opened the first envelope. In it was a paper where Gabe had written (obviously at great pains because it was quite neat) a coupon for five free hours of gardening help, and he'd drawn a shovel, watering can, and some flowers. The second contained a picture of what Franny explained was her and Phillip playing together in the park, and the third envelope was another poem Daisy had written about her favourite things about Phillip, like the fact they could read together and how happy he made their family.

It was far more than Phillip had ever expected, and the reticent man was totally overwhelmed. He could feel the tears hanging in the corners of his eyes just waiting to spring forth. When Franny passed him a square box in royal blue paper with a gold bow, he lost it completely. His head was down as he tried to focus on his hands, the box resting there, fat tears falling on the paper leaving splotches. Every time he tried to open his mouth to say something, he just couldn't. Finally, he just eased off the bow and paper and opened his gift to find a small box of four chocolates. Fancy chocolates.

"Each one is made with a different herb or spice. There's a chilli pepper one, lavender, anise, and saffron," Daisy explained, pointing at the label. "We got them at the card store when you were on the bench. We know you love chocolate and these ones have plants, too, so we just thought you'd like it. Sorry we couldn't afford to get you a card, too."

Phillip nodded slowly and sniffled slightly as he tried to regain his control, recover his decorum. He was scared to have this many emotions running through him, his chest felt tight and he was having trouble breathing properly. What he really wanted to do was run. He wanted to go to his potting shed and putter in the dirt with his plants. He was touched, for sure, but needed time to sort through his emotions, and he needed quiet to recover from the shock.

"I'm going to be late for work," he finally managed to choke out, biting his lip nervously. "Thanks, all of you."

He carefully placed everything neatly on the table next to his forgotten coffee and fled the room.

Gareth and the kids knew that Phillip wasn't angry and he didn't dislike the gifts; he just wasn't used to something like that.  But they all still wished they could hug him.

A/N: Poor Phillip, all those overwhelming emotions! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week, and thank you all for reading, commenting, and voting. As I've been told, apparently if I don't write the whole scene, the guys didn't do anything.... :)  More will be coming, I promise.

Next update is Friday :)

<3 JJ