Garrett had settled into school quite quickly, though there was one thing that bothered him. He knew that his mother hadn't really said much about his father, apart from the odd "Not now Garrett," and "Ask me when you're older,", so why did everyone stop and look at him in the hallways? and the whispers behind books and hands. Garrett was no dumb child, he knew they were talking about his lack of father, and knew they had also heard about his half brother. Garrett could not wait to get home from school to see if he could find anything out about his father. Finally the school bell rang, and Garrett rushed home to grab the laptop before his mother hogged it all night.
Success, Laura was out with Ed to even know about Garrett's mission and he was able to find out that his birth father had been registered on the internet, however, he couldn't get into the file without having to pay a fee to see it. Garrett sighed, shutting down the computer he went to play dress up before it was time to complete his homework.
----
"No, I'm sure he didn't know a thing, Mum," Laura said to the phone, standing near the corner of the room in hope that her children wouldn't overhear her.
"He hasn't asked who his father is much. No mum. will you listen to me, we don't need your help financially, we're getting on fine," Laura rolled her eyes, looking at the wall paper and thinking it needed a change at some point, "Mother! There are no more men on the horizon, I learnt my lesson with the two that have just upped and left me."
Laura turned her back to the door, not even noticing that Garrett had snuck out of his bedroom and had been listening to her conversation.
"Mother, you don't need to come round and find Isaac yourself. He made his choice clear, he doesn't want anything to do with me or Garrett," Laura said, hearing footsteps and the door opening and closing. "Mum, I need to go, I think Garrett overheard us. I'll call you later. Okay. Bye!"
---
"My father is called Isaac... And left my mum when I was a baby... But why?" Garrett asked himself, walking around the garden. "Why didn't he want us? Didn't want to know me? Do I look like him? Mum says I do, but I want to see if I do myself."
----
The next morning, Garrett was up and out the door before everyone else in the house was awake. He didn't want to see Laura, or Ed, knowing that Ed would only have the same questions about his fathers identity when Ed was older. Garrett had a lot of thinking to do, and when he was outside was the only time he did have the peace and quiet to manage to think for longer than a few minutes before a baby scream happened. He loved his brother, but Ed had such a piercing scream that went through you that just made Garrett annoyed. Stretching out the kinks that came from sitting on the floor, Garrett finally went to school.
----
Laura hadn't had a good nights sleep, she hadn't seen Garrett since he had come home from school the night before, and even then it was just when she had put Ed down for the night. Laura couldn't stand looking at the house for any longer, grabbing Ed and placing him into the pram and walking to the park. It was a nice if not breezy that day, with the weather threatening to turn colder that night.
Laura hoped they would be okay just going for the afternoon and early evening, but getting back before the cold set in.
"I hope you and your brother have a good relationship when you're older you know Ed," Laura said to him, smiling down as he clapped his hands and snuggled into his blanket. "I'm sure you will do. Just promise that you'll love each other conditionally."
Laura kept talking to Ed all the way to the park, before spotting pumpkins in the corner and placing Ed onto the ground.
"Stay there, mumma will only be over there for a short while," she told him, pointing to the pumpkins. It wasn't long before Laura lost track of time, finally looking up and seeing it was getting darker and frost was starting to settle onto the grass. She moved back to where Ed still was, attempting to pick him up to get them back home when he started to wriggle in her arms. Laura placed him back onto the floor and watched in awe when Ed grew into a toddler before her eyes.
"How much of a bad mother am I when I can't even remember when my own kids birthdays are?" she asked Ed as she picked him up, succeeding this time and smiling when Ed snuggled into her arms.
"Come on, lets get home, shall we? It's getting colder as we stand here," Laura murmured into Ed's hair before placing him into the pram and making their way back home.
----
I had no idea where this was going originally. But them my mind took over and we have one very smart child on our hands, two kids that seem to have their birthdays forgotten and a mother trying to keep her life in order!
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