CHAPTER FOUR

"Look Daddy! I made new fwiend!"

Diego got up from the floor, the half-eaten banana on one hand while the other hand is entwined with his new friend's hand as he pulled him along with him. They walked up to Damian and the older got a closer good look on the second child. He matched the announcer's description 100% chubby cheeks and all.

Chuckling to himself, Damian pulls out one of his kids' handkerchief from his coat pocket and judging by the puppy design he figures it's Maverick's, and used it to wipes his son's cheeks and hands before doing the same to the second child who surprisingly did not pull way nor complained. He just stared at Damian while the latter wipes his cheeks clean. Damian had to resist pinching those chubby cheeks.

"His Name is Sebbie daddy and he's my new best friend." Diego had a proud smile on his face that made his father silently coo but visibly grinned and ruffled the child's hair. Diego may be a silent kid but he loves making new friends.

"Well hello there Sebbie, my name's Damian. I'm Diego's father" Damian kneeled to the child's level and shook hands with him. The child's hand was about three times smaller than Damian’s and the latter tried not to coo out loud.

"Didi's Papa? Damie?" Then a cute frown appears on Sebastian's face as he tries to say the name properly but Damian didn't really mind the nickname. His sons have given him a lot of nicknames in the past.

"It's okay Sebbie, you can call me Damie. I like it. It's cute like you." Damian said and couldn't help but smile at the quite dramatic gasp the child did after what he said.

"I no cute! I good-looking!" Sebastian pouted, stomping his little foot and gave Damian a look that the older finds adorable.

"Okay if you so. Now, does your daddy know you're here?" Damian asked and the child softly gasps, his little eyes popping out in realization then his lips began to tremble.

Suddenly he lets go of Diego's hand and throws himself into Damian's arms and began sobbing. Despite his shock, Damian gently wraps his arms around the crying child and softly hushed him.

"Hey what's wrong?" Damian placed a gentle finger on the child's chin to make him look at him and the child's teary eyes made the older man's heart squeeze itself. He wiped the tear tracks away as he continued to hush the child.

"I left daddy," Sebastian quietly sobbed making Damian frown in confusion. "I want my daddy."

A few more tears fell and Damian brought the child back into his arms. He carefully stood and set the child onto his hips before reaching his hand out to his son, Diego, who had been pouting because he didn't want to see his new friend sad, takes his father's free hand as they made their way back to where Damian left the shopping cart.

When Damian found the cart, he carefully sat a now calm Sebastian inside the cart, making sure first that the items were not going to be harmed, then lifts Diego onto his hips. The child instantly wrapping his tiny arms around his father's neck and rests his head on his father's shoulder. Damien kept one arm wrap securely around his son and while the other began pushing the cart to the nearest cashier counter.

When he approached the cashier counter, the lady behind the counter immediately took notice of him and left her seat. She was kind enough to take the items out of the cart herself as she could see that Damian is going to have a hard time doing it himself with only one arm available.

Damian thanked the lady who just smiled in return and began checking the items on her scanner. Soon the items are paid for and bagged. Again, the lady placed all bagged items in the cart, even adding a melon fruit as a giveaway before bidding the family a goodnight. Damian discreetly read her name tag, her name was Shane, so that he could remind himself to thank her the next time he comes to the store.

Still pushing the cart with one arm, Damian then made his way to the security office. Both kids have already fallen asleep halfway through the whole exchange at the counter. The half-eaten banana that Diego was holding had already been paid for and already disposed. The child now softly snoring in his father's arms.

While Sebastian lays comfortably inside the cart, the pushing motion of the car must've lulled the child to sleep and he now snores adorably with a thumb on his mouth while hugging the melon fruit to his chest.

Damian couldn't help but coo and he had to stop himself from taking a picture, not in the creepy way, but because the child was just so adorable that Damian wants to cuddle him and never let go. He may not admit it outloud but Damian is already feeling a bond with chubby cheeked child. He’s starting to see him as his own, for some unexplainable reason.

A couple more minutes of pushing the cart around, Damian finally found the security office and just as he was approaching, the door to the security office opens and a pharmacist walks out looking sad but then the pharmacist caught sight of Damian. Then the pharmacist's eyes travels down to the cart and he visibly gasped, his eyes widening in shock.

But before Damian could open his mouth to speak, the pharmacist ran back inside the security office leaving a confused Damian. Not even a minute later the pharmacist comes out again but this time with someone following behind him. When Damian caught sight of the second person who ran out after the pharmacist, he felt himself froze and his jaw almost dropped.

The second person was the beautiful angel he saw from his kitchen window earlier in the night. The one with the beautiful smile as he gently tends to the baby's needs. The person who made Damian feel the one thing he didn't expect to feel again. Though that person looked distraught, his long blonde hair that framed his face perfectly and those hazel brown eyes, cute button nose and the lips, so pink and plump, captivated Damian.

Damian was so focused into staring (read: admiring) the beautiful angel that he didn't notice the pharmacist who points at his cart nor the beautiful angel rushing to his cart and carefully lifting the still sleeping child out into his arms, leaving the melon behind.

Relief washed over the beautiful angel's being as he hugs the sleeping child closer to him. Placing a soft kiss on the child's head. He and the pharmacist then turns around and left back to the security office, leaving Damian still in a trance of some sort.

Diego suddenly squirming in his arms had snapped Damian out of his trance and he frowns, noticing that he was the only one left standing there, the beautiful angel was no longer in sight. He looks down at the cart and he felt his heart clench as he began to missed Sebbie's presence. For that short amount of time he spent with the child, a kind of bond formed and now that the child has gone back to his parent. He took a piece of Damian's heart with him.

Diego squirms again and started whining, that was Damian's cue that it's time to head home. He lets out a sigh and began pushing the cart to the direction of the exit.

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

Softly closing the door behind him, Owen sighed and didn't even remove his shoes as he went to Samuel's room where he found the child already fallen asleep and Ezra nowhere in sight.

Owen walks into the room, being careful not to make a sound and placed the paper bag containing his son's paracetamol on the nightstand then carefully laid Sebastian on the couch on the corner of the room before going sit at Samuel's bedside. He place a gentle hand on the child's forehead and releases a breath of relief when the child didn't feel warm anymore.

He leans forward and pressed a kiss on the child's head. The child whined softly and shifted slightly but remained asleep. Owen smiled at that just as he hears footsteps entering the room.

He turns around and saw Ezra standing at the doorway, cradling the baby in his arms while holding a bottle to the baby's mouth. "He didn't want to be set down."

The small male walks to the bed, momentarily taking the bottle from the baby as he carefully transfer him into Owen's waiting arms. Owen silently coo as the baby began to whine but stops when the bottle was brought back to his cute small lips that began sucking the milk like the hungry baby he was.

"How are they?" Owen asked when he looks up from the baby. Ezra softly groans as he plops down on the ottoman.

"I checked Sammy's temperature twice for the past couple of hours and both showed that the fever is almost gone. He just needs more rest that's all." Ezra's gaze averted from the Sammy's sleeping form to the now wide awake baby in Owen's arms, "and that little brat of yours started crying half an hour ago. I changed his nappy twice then I tried putting him back to sleep but he just started crying even more so I decided to try and feed him."

Ezra then cutely scrunched his nose. "That's his second bottle already. I think he has a black hole in his tummy or something because he won't stop drinking milk. Ugh, he's going to be so fat when he grows up. He eats too much."

Owen just shakes his head at that, chuckling to himself as he began cooing at the baby who stared at him with wide eyes, his chubby hands gripping his almost empty bottle and smiled a toothless smile at his father.

"Don’t listen to your uncle Ezzie, my sweet Caiden, he's just being his grumpy little self. You'll get used to it like I did." Owen cooed in his baby voice, ignoring Ezra grumbling in the background as he takes the now empty bottle away and repositioned the baby, after he was burped, so that he was now standing on Owen's lap on cute stubby legs.

"Awwww look at my little Caiden, you're getting bigger already. Whose baby are you? That's right. You're daddy's baby. Oh Yes you are." Owen blew raspberry kisses on baby's tummy making the baby burst into fits of cute giggles.

"Daddy?"

Owen froze for a second, feeling stupid that he forgot about his sleeping sick child. He turns his head to look at Samuel and found him still fast asleep. He then checked the couch where he left his other son to sleep and there he was, now sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes with his chubby hands. The child then climbs down the couch and waddled to where Owen is sat.

Ezra takes little Caiden from Owen as the latter lifts his other son from the floor onto his lap who immediately cuddled into his arms and yawned quietly.

"Daddy where Damie?" Sebastian whined softly making Owen frown a little.

"Who's Damie my peach? Is he your new friend?" Owen asked with a soft voice as he gently threads his fingers through his son's hair. The child leaning into his father's touch.

"You silly daddy. Damie is not friend" Sebastian cutely giggled as he looked up at Owen with tired eyes. "He Didi's Papa, daddy. Didi is my new friend,"

"Really? When did you meet Didi?" Owen hummed as he hugs the yawning child closer to his chest.

"Met Didi at the store Daddy," another yawn escaped little Sebastian, his eyes starting to droop.

Owen slightly frowned as he remembers what happened at the store earlier. Losing his son like that scared the life out of him and he swore to kill himself if he lets that happen again. When Justine came running back to the office and told him that he found Sebastian, the relief that Owen felt was second to none as he practically rush out of the security office. Everything that happened next was a blur to Owen because the next thing he knows is hugging the child to his chest with tears blurring his vision then he and Justine left back to the office.

Now that Owen thinks about it, he does remember seeing a man with a child, probably at the same age as Sebastian, in his arms while his free hand held the cart hand where Sebastian was peacefully asleep. They must the Damie and Didi that he's son was referring to.

A small realization came to Owen. The man, Damie, was the one who found his Sebastian and was on his way to bring the child to the security office. In his haste and worry filled state, Owen missed that gesture of kindness and he left the store without even thanking the man. Now Owen feels guilty about it.

"Uncle?" Ezra softly calling out to him caused the blonde male to snap out of his thoughts.

The first thing that Owen noticed are that both Sebastian and Caiden have already fallen asleep. Snoring quietly with a thumb in their mouth. He gently removes Sebastian's thumb away from his mouth causing the child to whine and snuggle closer.

Then he met Ezra's eyes on him. "Are you okay? Sebbie has stop talking a few minutes ago and began yawning. It didn't take long for him to fall back to sleep. Then this little fellow here began snoring midway Sebbie's stories,"

Ezra only frowned when Owen didn't respond, "What were you thinking about?"

"The man who found Sebbie in the store" Owen answered without thinking.

"You lost Sebbie in the store!?" Ezra's eyes grew so wide in pure disbelief with his jaw dropped meanwhile the blonde male couldn’t help but snort.

"You've done worst so don't even start with me," Owen chuckled, though he's tone was just teasing, the guilt flashing on the younger male's face made him drop the subject.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean t-"

"No, it’s okay. Uhm I should bring Caiden back to his crib. Goodnight." And Ezra quietly left the room, not giving Owen a chance to speak and now the older feels bad for saying what he said.

Some things are better left unspoken.