Cody's POV

     I'm rushing around the house with my heart in my throat with nerves, and though to most I know this isn't a big deal, I've been dreaming of this day for two years. Today is Jonah's first basketball game and the whole family is going to be there.

      He's at school, probably getting ready for the game and I'm going crazy trying to make sure all the posters and signs that I made are packed and ready to go. I scramble in front of the living room again and squeal when an arm shoots out to wrap around my waist and stop my movement. I'm pulled into a strong muscular chest and turn my head to see James' amused expression peering down at me.

      "Calm down, bean." He tells me and I huff, slapping his chest with my hand in slight exasperation.

      "This is our sons first game. If anything you need to be more excited." I sass at him with a frown but he doesn't take offense as he chuckles and places a kiss on my head.

    "Hey doesn't need all the signs and everything, he'll just be happy for someone to be there for once." He tells me and my heart feels a sharp pang as I remember the story that Jonah told us. About how his mom ran away from him and his father when he was little and his dad blamed him. His dad never showed up to his games, or parent night or even remembered to pick him up from school sometimes making a seven year old walk home by himself.

     I remember the way I cried that night as I held him and told him that no matter what happens or how mad we get at him, we'll always be around for him.

     And this is our first chance to show him that I meant every word of that promise.

      "It doesn't matter if he needs it he's going to get it." I tell James before I'm pulling out of his grasp to go towards the kitchen area, the open floor plan perfect for our little family.

      'He might be embarrassed by all of the attention.' Jessie tells me, but I can tell he's just as excited as I am about seeing our kid play.

     'If so, he'll hate the shirts Chloe got.' I say absentmindedly and he begins laughing, though I'm actually starting to second guess if maybe I really did go over board. I pause with my hand on the fridge and begin to think about what to put back, even if I put a lot of work into today. I jump for a second time when arms snake around my waist from behind.

     "Cody, I was just kidding. He'll love everything." James tells me and I turn in his arms to look up at him through my lashes, biting my lip in hesitation.

      "Really?" I ask him and he gives me a soft loving smile.

     "Promise." He tells me and I grin up at him before turning to finish preparing for the game, with much more confidence than before.

✨✨✨

The game starts in twenty minutes and James and I are standing outside as we wait for the rest of our family to get here. I'm standing on the tips of my toes, hoping and praying they don't disappoint Jonah by being late or forgetting entirely.

My anxious thoughts evaporate when I recognize three cars that follow each other into the parking lot and make their way to where we're standing. They all rush out the car with panicked expressions on their faces and I walk over towards Chloe who's trying to get out of the car with his swollen belly.

I offer my hand, palm up, and he grabs it before we both get him out of the car.

"What took you so long? The games about to start!" I ask him as my hands behind fluttering nervously and Chloe sighs before turning to glare at Graves.

"Someone claimed they knew which school to go to and we ended up at a girls high school volleyball game." He says before turning to waddle over towards his Mate and I giggle a bit, relieved that they're here to begin with.

Chan is walking over with his hand in his pocket and he gives me a ghost of a smile that I return.

"Okay people, do you have on your shirts?" I ask them all and there's a chorus of "yes" that bounces
around the space between us before Chloe places mine in my hand. "Okay then let's go." I tell them when I see we only have ten minutes left. We grab everything from our cars and scramble through the entrance and towards the gym that the signs all point to.

I lead my family inside and am relieved when I find a spot thats big enough in the middle of the stands that can fit all of us. Cora comes up with her pigtails to help me get Chloe up the stairs and we all chatter excitedly about the game.

I settle on the seat with James behind me, my back leaning on his legs and Cora and Chloe on either side of me. Our large family settles down quick before we try to find my kid in the sea of little children below us. I scan the team wearing blue and white and it doesn't take long for me to spot my precious son. When I find his curly head I'm excited to see that he's already looking at us with a big smile on his face.

"Guys, look! There he is!" I say excitedly to my friends and they all follow my gaze and finger as I point until they find Jonah sitting amongst his team mates. There's a series of whistles and waves that get us some attention from the other families in the stands but we pay them no mind as we give the support Jonah was never able to have growing up.

     He begins tapping the person beside him and pointing at all of us individually and I can feel the pride radiating off of him as he tells his teammate about us, even if the snot machine doesn't look impressed.

      "That kid looks like a mean little shit." Chloe says voicing my thoughts and I giggle as I nod.

       "He's making mean faces at Jonah." Cora tells us with a frown of her own, though it doesn't stay there long with the way Graves is playing with her hair while talking to James and Ares about some thing or other.

      I turn my head and see Chan sitting on the other side of Chloe with a neutral expression and a far away gaze but I don't say anything, knowing that sometimes it's best to leave the Incubus to his own thoughts. I turn my attention back to the court and squeal my excitement when I see that the game is finally about to start. I don't know a lot about sports but I did my best to do some research before we came today, even if James chuckled at me rudely when I asked questions.

     I notice that Thomas is sitting with Ares behind all of us but I don't say anything, knowing how big crowds make him nervous ever since what happened a few months ago.

      As the teams get set up on the court, I feel a wave of pride in my chest when I see that Jonah gets to play first, knowing that starting in sports is a good, important thing.

      As he gets into position, one of the boys in the other team trips and stumble and Jonah stops to steady him and asks if he's okay. The boy nods and they walk separate ways but my heart fills up with pride and joy. I feel James' hand come down on my shoulder before he comes down to speak in my ear. "He gets that from you." He tells me and I miss the first few second of the game as I clear my misty eyes at how much Jonah has grown over these past few months.

       "Looks like our little village is doing good after all." Chloe tells me, reaching down to grab my hand, making my sensitive stupid lip wobble, referring to the breakdown I had about not being a good parent when Jonah first came around.

       I give him a grateful smile before I blink away my tears and tune into the game.

     The first half of it goes by smoothly with Jonah's team, the Thunders, staying ahead by at least five pint the whole game, out side of the stands going crazy especially by our wild and supportive family.

    The girl in front of me keeps turning to glare making me want to hide in red faced embarrassment, but one glare form Cora and a nasty comment from Chloe has her turning back around and minding her business.

    But the real problems starts a few minutes in the third quarter when a nasty little kid form the other side fouls our little kid, and while those of us on the lower level don't catch it, our men above us do.

      "That's a foul!" James calls above me making me jump a bit at the sudden loud noise and I turn my head to see Jonah lifting himself off the ground making the four of us straighten up immediately. Chan is the first to speak, his smooth soft voice sounding anything other than pleasant.

      "How did our kid end up in the floor?" He asks and I begin to get nervous for the ref as well as the little kid that sticks his tongue out at my sweet baby. And much to my satisfaction, he ignores him just like I taught him.

      "The kid shoved him after tripping him! That's a fucking foul!" Ares shouts the last part to the court below us as he explains what happened to Chan and Cora is the first to speak, her adorable lisp gone as she realizes her favorite playmate might be hurt.

     "Calm down, babe." I hear Thomas tell his lover behind us but it does little to nothing to our riled up group.

     "He did what?" She asks but from the other side of the gym, another family that's not nearly as big as ours, but definitely gross looking, answer our screams of outrage.

       "That wasn't a foul. The kid is just clumsy." He calls back and I frown deeply, uncrossing my legs at the insult. I am clumsy. Cora is clumsy. My son is not. And if our men say that the little snot nosed kid tripped him, then he did.

       "Get your eyes checked, ref!" Graves calls as his hands fall form Cora's hair and I watch as the man in the other side of the court straightens up and suddenly, I think maybe bringing them wasn't such a good idea. The rude woman in front of me seems to have the right idea as she scoots down so that she's no longer in between us and the court.

    The game has halted as the officials begin talking about the possible foul and my usually fluttering hands bundle into fists that three haven't immediately called it.

      "He's limping." Chan says and he stands up making the rest of us move our gaze from the dim adults over to Jonah who is indeed favoring his left side.

      'That kid has to die.' Jessie tells me, watching all of this play out with narrows eyes and bristling all the while. The fact that he sounds as cool and calm as ever scares me more than the anger mutters coming form behind me.

      "Cody lets go talk to the officials before this gets out of hand." Chloe tells me and I nod before the four of us stand to do just that. The rest of our group try to follow but we stop them.

     "We got it." Chan says cooly, even as I see him cringe from what looks like pain, and they all settle down though with hesitation. We make our way down the steps and towards the table, Chloe waddling beside me, clearly in momma bear mode. As soon as we get to the table, I tap on one of the officials shoulder making him turn around with an unamused expression.

      "Yes?" He says in a disinterested tone and though it makes me gulp nervously, I won't let myself back down from protecting Jonah.

     "That was a clear foul, and my son is limping. Just call it so he can make the shots and rest his ankle." I tell him a bit timidly but I make sure he's able to hear my words, thankful that I took the time to learn the simple things this morning.

     "I'm sorry, sir but-"

       "There are no buts, Jonah got hurt and fouled and he gets his free throws end of story." Cora says, her arms coming to cross over her chest, her pigtails adding a nice touch to her sass.

     "Y'all leave this man alone and let him do his job." We hear behind us and we turn to see the man and some of his family coming over to meet the four of us. Chan tilts his head and as calm as ever, addresses the others.

     "You mean cheat and lie? We saw what the kid did, and all we're asking for us the correct call." He tries to negotiate as always but the man scoffs and shoves Chan to the side making him knock into a very pregnant Chloe. Within seconds the three people are surrounded by our men who look very very angry.

     "Don't put your disgusting hands anywhere near my family." Ares says and I see his empty hands twitch, Thomas right beside him with his own eyes flashing, which surprises me before it warms my heart. He's been avoiding any type of conflict or anything out of fear and anxiety and here he is pushing all that aside for Jonah. My eyes begin tearing at just the thought of it before my ears are dragged back into the drama around me.

      "Fuck off." The man says, his yellow teeth ready to fall out of his mouth at a moments notice.

     "If my princess falls and my babies get hurt, I'll ripe your fucking spine out." Comes a growl form Alex's chest and I can't tell if it's him or his wolf taking and I begin to shake with everything that's going on.

       "He looks like a bitch not a princess." A lady, that looks like the wife, says and Cora marches up to her before slapping her across her face making the dirty old man push her away.

     "Don't touch her slut, your kid is just trash." He drawls and before he can make another noise a punch is thrown straight to his jaw making the crowd scream and us gasp before stepping back. Thomas caught Cora and is holding her angered form in his arms tightly even as she struggles to get to the bitter woman.

        Graves  grabs the man from Alex's hold and hits him again and I shake a bit in anxiety as the man and what looks like his brother beside him try to fight back, but it's a loosing battle.

       I watch ruth a cringe as the police officers that were standing outside the door are let in by an official and brought over towards my family. With a put out sigh and I make my way to Jonah that's standing on his right foot, his left ankle hovering above the ground. "Come on Jonah." I tell him sadly, with tears in my eyes as I lead him to the bench and everyone stares at us along the way. I pick up his bag for him before I help him limp out way back to our family that's being escorted out of the building.

      We're thrown outside and the principal is there giving us a threat and a warning before it's just us outside and I kneel in front of my son with a wobbly lip. "I'm so sorry Jonah. I wanted this is be a special night for you." I tell him sadly and he brings up his hand to wipe my cheek.

     "It was awesome!" He says suddenly and I look up in shook as everyone around us stills. "That boy is mean and so is his family. I hate basketball now anyway." He tells us and though I know it's only true for now, I still laugh and I pull him into a hug.

     "You're not mad at us?" James asks as he comes down to crouch beside the two of us.

     Jonah shakes his head with a wide grin. "No. You stood up for me just like when we met." He tells us and my heart grows twice it's size at the words. I feel my eyes prick again and I lift him up and carry him to the car. I help him into the backseat before we get in.

    I wipe my cheeks before turning around to face him with a smile. "We're going to get that ankle checked out. Ice cream after?" I ask him and he counted in his seat excitedly.

     "Yeah!" He says and I grin back at him before turning back towards James as he pulls out of the parking lot.

      Our family might not be perfect, but at least we're never boring.

~~~~~~~~
Did you guys notice how I've been trying to give you guys more Chan content, J won't share any details, but his book will be starting soon, promise.

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