Chaos Celebration Part One

“So, what are you doing this weekend?” Colin asked as he watched Lincoln begin to gather his scattered belongings. The two men had been hanging out in Brewing Books all morning while Colin waited for his shift and Lincoln worked on plotting his book.

“This weekend?” Lincoln replied. “This weekend I’ll be hosting ten- to eleven-year-olds. I think there'll be ten of them in addition to Brook.”

“Why?” Colin wanted to know as Lincoln began to put things in his satchel. He was the only person Colin knew who carried a satchel. A leather one at that and one that had clearly been handcrafted.

As Lincoln put his laptop, tablet, and notebooks into the pocket, he answered, “It’s Brook’s birthday on Saturday. So. Birthday party. At least I convinced her not to have a slumber party.”

Colin shuddered. “I can’t even imagine hosting a slumber party with that age group.”

Lincoln laid out the front of his satchel, carefully inserting all his smaller items into their specified pockets and loops. “Me either. Which is why when Brook said she wanted to invite boys, I vetoed a slumber party.”

Laughing, Colin handed over the little notebook Lincoln hadn’t picked up yet. Lincoln nodded his thanks before tucking it into the correct pocket. “Boys? She’s having boys at her party? Make sure it doesn’t turn into a kissing party.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I have a couple more years before I have to worry about that. But I am not looking forward to her dating.” He grinned. “Although maybe I can convince my friend who’s a cop to act menacing when her first boyfriend comes to pick her up.”

“I’ll make sure to ask Candance the next time I see her.”

“Ha. Ha,” Lincoln deadpanned. “Aren’t you going to be late for work?”

Colin glanced at his watch and swore. “I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.” Lincoln laughed as Colin darted out of the store and jogged towards where he’d left his motorcycle.

After he finished closing up his bag, Lincoln slung it across his body before gathering up their dishes and dropping them off in the basin. He had some errands to run before picking Brooklyn up at school.

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Colin could feel Candance’s eyes on him as he slid into their patrol car. “What?” he asked as she pulled out of the parking space.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “You’ve clearly got something on your mind.”

Sometimes Colin cursed the fact that Candance knew him so well. “Just something Lincoln said to me.”

“Lincoln, huh? How’s that going?”

Colin rolled his eyes. “It’s fine.” He made a turn, heading downtown. “It’s nothing.”

He glanced over to see her raising her eyebrows before putting his eyes back on the road. “It’s clearly not nothing if it’s bothering you and making you think,” Candance said when he focused on the road. “What did he say?”

“I asked what he was doing this weekend,” Colin admitted. “And he said hosting Brooklyn’s birthday party.”

“Oh. Yeah. Honestly, I assumed you knew about that. Brooklyn invited Joel.”

“Of course she did,” Colin said. “I thought Lincoln and I were friends. Well, better than we used to be. But he didn’t say anything until I asked what his plans were.”

“Remember that Lincoln is still learning how to be a parent,” Candance pointed out. “Plus, he has to balance being an older brother and a father to someone he hadn’t seen in a while. He probably didn’t cut you out on purpose, but just wasn’t thinking of it.”

“So should I…?” Colin started.

“Should you what?” Candance asked.

“I don’t know. Do something? Drop in with a birthday gift?”

“That’s up to you, but think before you do anything elaborate.”

Colin nodded and their conversation turned towards what they were going to do for dinner.

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On Saturday, Colin made his way up the walk to Lincoln’s door. He had a card in one hand with a small bouquet of daisies. He’d considered getting Brooklyn a candy basket, but he knew that Lincoln tended to limit her candy consumption and he didn’t want to cause an issue. He knocked on the door, trying not to bang on it like he would if he was rousting a suspect.

A moment later, Lincoln threw the door open, looking harried. “You’re not pizza,” he commented.

“Not pizza,” Colin confirmed. “I thought I’d drop off a present for Brooklyn.”

“Ah. Great. I…” Lincoln looked back into the house as a screech sounded. He sighed. “She’s in the backyard. With the rest of the demons.”

“I’m sure they aren’t that bad,” Colin said as he stepped inside the house.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “You would think, but apparently put them all together and… chaos. My backyard is in chaos.” Colin chuckled as he headed towards that backyard.

He stopped laughing when he stepped onto the back deck. Lincoln hadn’t been joking. Eleven pre-teens were running amuck in the backyard. They had water guns and balloons and the ground was a quagmire that didn’t seem to be slowing them down at all.

Brooklyn spied Colin just as he reached the middle of the deck. Water gun still in hand, she ran towards him, cheering, “Colin!”

Involuntarily, he took a step back, then resigned himself to being wet when Joel also caught sight of him, yelling, “Uncle Colin!”

The two kids slammed into him, having pelted across the yard and onto the deck. Colin had had just enough time to brace himself so they didn’t tumble onto the deck, but he raised his hands above his head to keep the envelope he held from getting wet and to preserve the flowers. “Hi,” he said. “Happy birthday, Brook.” He lowered his hands, offering her the flowers. “These are for you.”

She tipped her head up so she was looking at him as she released her hold and stepped back. “Thank you,” she said politely, accepting the flowers. She looked at them for a minute before putting them up to her nose. “They’re pretty.”

Lincoln held out his hand. “Why don’t I put them in water for you, Brook?”

After another sniff, she handed the flowers over to Lincoln. “Thank you, Colin,” she said again. Taking Joel’s hand, she pulled him away towards her friends.

Ineffectually, Colin brushed at the water that now saturated his jeans and shirt. Lincoln was smirking at him when Colin turned his head to see what the author was doing. “Want a towel?” Lincoln offered.

“I’m not sure a towel will do it,” Colin answered as he followed Lincoln into the house. “Is it safe to leave them alone?”

“They don’t have any shovels and the fence is too high to climb. Also, the gate only latches from the outside. My dogs are too smart and they learned how to unlatch the gate.” Lincoln shrugged. “They might kill each other, but they can’t get out.”

“As an officer of the law, I feel I should be more worried than I am about you casually discussing them killing each other.”

Lincoln laughed in response as he opened the door.

As the two men entered the house, the dogs burst past them into the backyard. Lincoln watched them for a moment, but when all they did was race around the yard, he shut the door. Opening one of the cabinets, he pulled down a large glass and put the flowers in. While he was filling it with water, he said, “I can probably find you some clothes, but whatever I find won’t fit as well as yours.”

Colin shrugged. “I mean dry would be appreciated. I didn’t know they were that wet.”

Lincoln smiled. “I can throw your clothes in the dryer. If you can stay for a bit. And give you sweatpants and a shirt for now.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Colin pulled his saturated shirt away from his skin. “I appreciate it.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll grab you something.” Lincoln looked around the kitchen before setting the glass on the window sill. “I’ll be right back.”

Colin plucked at his shirt again as Lincoln left the kitchen. He could almost imagine that he hadn’t noticed one of the kids smashing a balloon on him, he was that wet.

When Lincoln returned a few minutes later, he held a bundle of clothes in his hands. “Here. Use my master bath. But I’d lock the door, the kids haven’t all learned to knock yet.”

Colin grimaced, but headed for the bathroom that Lincoln had suggested. He hadn’t spent much time in the other man’s space at the house, but he’d ducked in to pick things up that Lincoln had requested when he was busy with Brooklyn so Colin was at least familiar with the room. Now he shut and locked the bathroom door, quickly stripping off his wet clothes. He pulled on the dry ones that Lincoln had brought him, discovering that Lincoln had found a pair of basketball shorts. They were still a little long, but fit well enough, while the shirt was a bit loose in the shoulders. He was just gathering up the wet clothes to take out to Lincoln when a scream came from the backyard.

Dropping the clothes again, he shoved his feet into his sneakers and ran.

Reaching the backyard, he discovered the kids all huddled together in one corner. Lincoln was kneeling next to Brooklyn while Phoebe and Joel were clutching themselves and crying. Colin was glad he’d taken the time to shove his phone in his pocket when he’d changed his clothes. “What happened?” he asked the group as he dug his phone out and dialed 9-1-1.

Joel wiped his face with the back of his hand and sniffed. “I didn’t mean to, Uncle Colin.”

“Didn’t mean to what?” Colin asked before identifying himself and giving Lincoln’s address to the dispatcher. When Joel only started crying again, he asked, “Could you send a bus? I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I think we’re gonna need it.” While he waited for confirmation, he reassured the two kids. “No one is mad. We just need to know what happened.”

Phoebe used her shirt sleeve to clean her face. “We were running around. And the dogs just… pushed in front of Brook. She fell down and started screaming.”

Colin rested a hand on Lincoln’s back. “Hey, there’s an ambulance on its way. Is she okay?”

“She’s hurt, but I don’t… I’m not sure how bad.” Lincoln glanced up before looking back down at Brooklyn. “I can’t help her.”

“Help is on the way,” Colin said. “You keep her still. I’m gonna call Candace to come stay with the kids and make sure that they get home.” When he turned and saw the disappointed looks on the faces of the group, he added, “We’ll see if there’s a time when you can come back over,” he said. “Or arrange something.”

The next few minutes were a flurry of phone calls and gathering up the other kids’ belongings. Colin also spent a bit of time reassuring Phoebe and Joel that no one blamed them. Or the dogs.

By the time the paramedics arrived, Candace was already there. She’d begun a phone tree, calling one or two parents and asking them to call another. While the paramedics loaded Brooklyn onto the stretcher, she assured Lincoln that she had the kids handled.

Colin stopped Lincoln just before he was about to follow Brooklyn into the ambulance. “Where are your keys?”

“Why?” Lincoln asked.

“I’ll meet you at the hospital so you two have a way home,” Colin answered.

“Yeah. Okay. They’re hanging on a hook by the back door,” Lincoln told him.

“Okay. I’ll see you at the hospital.” Colin shut the door once they were settled, banging on the back door so they’d know it was shut.

Onward to Part Two