"I have a son." Cailen answered with a patient smile, still finding it odd but equally exciting when he told people that, no matter how many times he has told her this.
Mrs. Cruz smiled at this, the wrinkles by her eyes becoming more prominent.
"How old?"
"He's eight." Cailen replied, watching as her eyes lit up with joy from his answer.
"Oh, they're such darlings at that age." She commented but Cailen could tell now that she was lying in her bed, she was getting tired.
"Yeah, he's pretty amazing." Cailen replied, double checking that everything on the monitor was correct. "I'll be back in a couple hours with your dinner before I leave, okay?" Cailen said, heading towards the door.
"Okay, dear." She smiled sleepily at Cailen, her eyes falling shut as she fell asleep.
Cailen shut the door behind him, smiling to himself because he really did enjoy talking to Mrs. Cruz, even if she didn't remember their conversations very often.
Mrs. Cruz suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, which meant she didn't have a very good memory, often forgetting her own family members, so Cailen never held hope that she would actually remember who he was when he came to check on her.
She was always polite when he came, though she never remembered his name, and always tried to talk with him as long as she could. Cailen figured it must get pretty lonely in there but he couldn't stay and chat all day, he had other patients to tend to.
*****
"Mrs. Cruz is already asleep, I'm heading for my lunch." Cailen told Madeline as he approached the front counter, handing over his clipboard to the old lady so she could record his notes.
"When you get back, Mr. Nelson needs a sponge bath." Madeline said, a small smirk on her lips though of course, she had remain professional about this and unfortunately, so did he.
"Of course." Cailen said, plastering a polite smile to his lips though he could see Madeline's façade cracking as he backed away from the counter.
Cailen sent her a small glare that would go unnoticed by anyone else but her and that brought a snort out of her as she ducked her head and tried to look like she was doing work.
Cailen spun around then with a roll of his eyes and headed for cafeteria, stopping to grab his phone on the way.
Cailen really did love his job. He got to help people and take care of them. He got to meet interesting people on a daily basis, all with a story to tell.
Whether that story be how they managed to chop their thumb off or a story from twenty years ago about some trip they took to Las Vegas, he enjoyed hearing them because they were usually quite entertaining, even if the outcome wasn't.
The best memory Cailen had was from a couple years ago when a teenaged girl came in from a car accident. They had thought she had been paralyzed from the waist down but Cailen had walked in one morning to the girl climbing out of bed and nearly burst into tears right there infront of her, not that her eyes were exactly dry.
So he did love his job, he got to tell some pretty amazing stories himself, but like everything else, it had it's ups and downs.
A major down in Cailen's line of work were giving sponge baths to elderly men who had too much pride to admit they actually needed help cleaning themselves.
Cailen would try to explain that there really wasn't anything to be ashamed of, lots of people needed help when they got older and Cailen was happy to help, it's just when they bit your head off for doing your job, it became difficult to perform said job with a smile on your face.
But Cailen could think about his upcoming sponge bath later, when he wasn't about to try and stomach cafeteria food because he hadn't had time to make his own lunch this morning with the extra preparations Ezekiel needed to get ready for school since he was still a little sick.
Once Cailen had his lunch; a sandwich that was supposed to be some kind of BLT but the lettuce looked limp, the tomato was making the bread soggy, and there was only two strips of bacon on it, he sat at an empty table in the cafeteria, unwrapping his apparent sandwich and observing the people around him.
He didn't really like to eat in the cafeteria since it was open to the public and that meant rather depressed looking relatives crying into their hands over their untouched food.
It's not like the whole room was filled with people crying quietly to themselves, because right now, there was only one in the corner, but one was enough to have Cailen frowning down at his sandwich.
Another down to his line of work, a down that was definitely worse than sponge baths was having to tell relatives of an incredibly sick patient, or even a patient that's passed away, the bad news.
Cailen hated it, not that anyone really enjoyed it, and tried not to think too much about what the woman in the corner was crying about as he pulled out his phone.
When his screen lit up, he saw he had a couple messages from Asher, a wave of relief washing over him as it always did when he found out Asher had time to text him all day instead of having to be out fighting fires.
A certain loud sniffle coming from infront of him brought his attention away from his phone and over to the woman in the corner.
She was wiping at her face, her make-up smudging but Cailen didn't think that she cared.
He kind of wanted to go over there and comfort her but he had no idea what he would say and had learned from past experience that it was usually better to let them be by themselves.
Cailen redirected his attention to his phone, not wanting to make the woman feel uncomfortable, and read the messages.
Asher : Soo Wil wants 2 steal Zeke tonight
: Have him sleepover there 4 the night
: What do you think?
Cailen thought on it for a moment, not really seeing a problem with it as long as Ezekiel was comfortable with it, though he had been asking to see William and Noah tonight so he didn't think he would, even if it was just for a few hours.
Cailen typed out a reply to which there was a quick answer, only reassuring his earlier relief of Asher not being busy at work.
Cailen : Sure, if he wants. I think Wil is capable of keeping him alive for a night :P
Asher : We better tell Eden just in case.
Cailen : Are you calling my brother incompetent?
Asher : Yes. He once made a kid cry when he babysat before.
Cailen : I'm not even going to open that can of worms right now.
: See you when I get home :) <3
Asher : lol ok see ya <3
*****
"Okay, are you sure about this?" Cailen asked for the fifth time that night, kneeling down infront of Ezekiel and reaching out to fix his hair.
They were at his old home at the moment, dropping Ezekiel off to spend the night with William and Noah, and it was harder than Cailen thought it would be.
It's not that he didn't trust William and Noah, because he did. But for the past several months, his life has revolved around Ezekiel and it was going to be strange to not have him around for a night.
He knows it was also a chance for some alone time with Asher, but he's never thought about what that meant. He didn't really think about Ezekiel needing to not be there in order for that to happen and now that it was happening... He wasn't sure he was okay with that.
"Yes, Cailen." Ezekiel answered for the fifth time now too. "I'll be fine." He added on as if to comfort Cailen, as if he knew Cailen was worrying about him.
Maybe he did?
"Okay. Alright," Cailen sighed. "Just call if you need anything, okay? Anything at all, no matter what time it is." Cailen told him, standing up straight and looking to William and Noah. "Don't stay up too late, and no sugar right before bed. Oh, and no scary movies. If I even hear about you two-"
"Cai, come on, I think we can handle it." William interrupted. "We have babysat before."
"I'm not a baby." Ezekiel interjected with a pout but he was basically ignored.
"Yeah, I know. I was there and we scared the poor thing into climbing into his closet and had to call his parents to get him to come out." Cailen said, glaring slightly at William and listening as Noah threw his head back in laughter.
"That was also like, ten years ago." William scoffed, picking up Ezekiel's backpack that Cailen had packed for him with everything he would need, and maybe a bit more.
"William, I mean it. No scary movies." Cailen said sternly, looking to Noah to make sure he understood as well.
Noah nodded as William just rolled his eyes. Cailen knew he was being one of those parents right now, but he figured he was allowed to since Ezekiel got enough nightmares without the help of Chucky and Annabelle creeping into his dreams.
"I won't let him put on anything that looks scary, Cailen." Ezekiel said, beaming up at him like he was a good little boy and not a mischievous Cailen clone.
Cailen smiled down at him anyway, even if he didn't really believe the little boy, and bent down to kiss him on the head.
"Okay, I'm going. Call me if you need anything." Cailen said as Ezekiel gave him a quick hug around his waist and then he was gone, following William up the stairs.
Noah was about to follow as well, giving Cailen a nervous smile because he knew they weren't on the best of terms right now. There was still that possibility of Noah moving hanging in the air that Cailen actually wanted to clear up.
"Look, Noah, I've been doing some thinking..." Cailen began, making Noah stop in his tracks.
He was telling the truth. He had thought about what Asher said and knew he was right, he just hated that he was.
"And if you think this is what's right, then I'm going to support you. I know I was kind of being a twat when I really should have just been a friend." Cailen apologized, making Noah smile and shrug his shoulder.
"You weren't so twatty." Noah admitted, taking a few steps towards Cailen. "I know it kind of sucks... but I don't think I'm going forever. I just need some time, you know?" Noah asked, Cailen nodding in understanding.
"Well, we'll always be here when you need us, if you come back." Cailen said, maybe a little bitterly.
He was trying to be good about this. It's just, Noah was like family and Cailen was really big on family.
It's all he's ever wanted and it kind of felt like he was losing a part of his family and he didn't know how to cope with that.