Shadow Men – 38 – Anders and Grant

"Daddy, Daddy."

Grant woke to Nicky's pulling on his arm as he stood by the edge of the bed.

"Daddy, come with me."

It was very early morning Grant thought from the small amount of light the came around the edges of the curtains. He looked at Nicky and asked, "Bathroom? You can go by yourself."

"I can't find the light."

"Ahh, yes, light would be good." He got up slowly, feeling like he could use another five hours sleep, or barring that, a good hot shower. Then he realized Anders wasn't in the other bed.

"He left," Nicky informed him. "But he said he'd be back."

Grant frowned, nodded, and took Nicky into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later they'd showered and he'd gotten Nicky dried off and back into his clothes. He pulled on his boxers, reached for his jeans and realized his hair was still wet. As he dried it he started to open the bathroom door. He heard a quiet sound, quickly pulled it closed again and with a finger to his lips pointed to the space between the toilet and the sink. Nicky didn't say a word as he scurried to hide. Then, very cautiously, Grant inched the door open again. While he figured it was only Anders, he had no intention of taking any chances. Not that there's much I could do if it wasn't him.

"It's safe," Anders told him from the other side of the door.

Grant opened it the rest of the way with a sigh of relief.

"Were you going to whack an intruder with the towel," Anders asked with a trace of amusement.

Grant looked down, saw he was holding it like it was a baseball bat and chuckled. "I actually forgot I had it."

Anders nodded as he studied Grant momentarily before turning away. Grant reddened when he realized he was wearing nothing but his underwear and hurried back into the bathroom.

Nicky was out of his hiding place by then and dashed to jump onto the bed. He watched while Anders disarmed the window alarm and put it back in the saddlebag. "You got a gun too?"

"I do."

"Can I see it?"

Anders hesitated before taking it out. "Look only, no touching."

"It's kinda not too big," Nicky proclaimed. He sounded disappointed.

"Big enough to do the job, small enough not to be noticed when I'm wearing it under my jacket," Anders told him.

"Okay. Are we going to eat breakfast?"

"Sure are, as soon as your dad's ready to go."

"Daddy, hurry up," Nicky shouted as if Grant was across the street not just a few feet away.

"Nicholas," Grant cautioned, "inside voice, please."

"Sorry."

Grant ruffled his hair as he sat down beside him. "Put these on, please," he said, handing his son his shoes.

When they both were ready with their jackets on, Anders hefted the saddlebag over one shoulder and cautiously opened the door before he stepped out. "We're going that way," he told them, pointing to the line of trees across the narrow parking lot from where they stood.

With a nod, Grant picked Nicky up and followed Anders.