A New Enemy (Enemies 1)

I smiled wryly. She knew the answer to this one.

“I wanna go on the bike, Momma!” Teddy complained.

She sighed heavily, her forehead wrinkling in concern. Despite that she knew it was safe. We’d eliminated every damn risk. It was only illegal in our case because Teddy couldn’t handle sitting behind me. He’d grown out of the booster seat, he couldn’t be trusted to keep his feet on the footholds, and he forgot that he had to have his arms around me at all times. But we’d found a nice compromise, in my opinion. He sat in front of me now, feeling like a little king, while I drove about the same pace as a jogger.

“You will stick to the smaller roads,” she told me firmly. “I swear to God.”

“I wouldn’t even consider anything else.” We’d done this hundreds of times. Teddy fucking loved it. So did I. He got so excited every time. Besides, it was something he’d grow out of sooner rather than later. Let him have some fun before then. He had enough limitations in life.

“Do you have his helmet?” she asked.

“Always.” Always one here in my locker, one at home, and one at Pops’s house.

“Okay, fine.” She surrendered, much to Teddy’s shout of joy. “Listen to me carefully, Teddy.” She cupped his cheeks and adopted her Momma’s Gonna Be Serious voice. It was funny to me that she didn’t need to bend down as much anymore. Granted, she was what, two shits high…? But Teddy was growing, for sure. “As soon as you get on the bike, you know the drill. You listen to every word Bastian says, and you obey him. Okay? Promise me.”

“I promise, Momma,” he replied with a goofy grin. He was already struggling to remain still. The boy had ants in his pants whenever he was excited.

“All right.” She melted a little and kissed his forehead. “You have fun tonight. I’ll come get you after breakfast. We have speech therapy before we pick up Uncle Blake.”

“Okay!” Teddy rocked back and forth on his feet and patted Sophia’s belly. “You can go now. Bye, little sister.”

I grinned. “Yeah, you can go now, Momma. Take care of the princess and get some rest.”

“I might fall asleep in the bathtub,” she joked. “I’ll see you boys tomorrow.”

Two

It was dark by the time we closed the Quad for the night, and Teddy grabbed my hand as we walked out with Dominic and Maggie.

Teddy was beat, though I had a feeling he’d squeeze out some more energy for our ride home.

The Quad was a good place for him to get exercise, which was a daily struggle. Exercise for the sake of it was a complete no-go. It had to be for a reason other than his health, a concept he didn’t grasp yet. Soph, Dylan, and I regularly tried to explain to him that he felt better after exercising and stretching. His joints got stiff and sore otherwise, and he often had aches similar to growing pains. The odds were stacked against him—and all people with Down syndrome. What he didn’t do today, he paid for tomorrow. It was why I kept pushing myself to push him. I loved making him happy; I wanted nothing more than to just say fuck it sometimes and ignore our routines to veg out in front of the TV. Like today. It’d been a long day. But I had to go through every step.

It was sheer luck that Teddy was competitive. I didn’t know if there was anything we couldn’t turn into a contest. At the Quad, he got to chase me up and down the length of the place when I did rounds to check in on the kids. Whenever the day was winding down, we competed to see who could wipe down the tables the fastest and put back the board games without dropping any pieces.

It was working for now—and it was an investment toward a future where he’d face graver problems with his metabolism and physical discomfort.

After saying goodbye to Dominic and Maggie, Teddy dragged me toward my bike and grinned sleepily as he put on his helmet. I threw his overnight duffel on my back like a backpack before mounting the bike.

This part was a little tricky, but we got it done as a team. He held on to my hand and lifted his leg as much as possible until I took over and pulled him into position in front of me.

“You’re growing up so fast, buddy. You’re not a little guy anymore.” I helped him get his feet into place where they wouldn’t get in the way. “Remember to keep them still, yeah?”

“Yeah, I promise!” Despite his growing anticipation, he couldn’t conceal that he was drained for the day. His speech came out thicker, some letters were lost, and he stopped trying to enunciate.