As soon as we reach the receiving room where everyone is waiting I see a few more people has joined.
Megan and Amy, who has a little boy on her hip that's looking at us curiously, approach us and they smile at me. I give them a big smile back.
"Hi Shay. I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Amy. I'm Ryan's mate."
She holds her hand out to me and I shake it while nodding.
"Hallo. Yes, I remember you. It's nice to see you again."
She smiles at me again.
"Yeah, you too. I'm glad you're here."
She looks at the little boy on her hip.
"Jason, can you say hi to aunt Shay for me?"
The little boy gives me a wave and a smile.
"Hallo."
I smile back at him.
"Hallo Jason. It's nice to meet you."
Then she turns to Zayde, who's still perched on his father's hip, and gives him a smile.
"And you must be Zayde. I have someone that is very excited to meet you. He's been asking about you all morning. Zayde this is Jason."
The two boys give each other big smiles.
"Hi!"
"You wanna play with my truck?"
They both say at the same time and Zayde looks at me.
"Can I mommy?"
I smile and nod.
"Sure, but didn't you want cookies?"
He frowns at me.
"Oh yeah.. Cookies.. Do you want cookies?"
Jason nods vigorously and Zayde turns back to me.
"Can we have cookies and then play with his truck?"
"You can, if it's okay with his mom?"
Zayde looks at Amy questioningly and she nods at him smiling.
"Sure, you kids can have some cookies while playing with the truck okay?"
Both boys squeal excitedly and we just laugh at them. Zane and Amy put both boys down and Jason pulls Zayde over to where his truck is.
I smile watching them.
"Well it seems their fast friends already."
Amy says, smiling at them as well and I nod.
"Well, that's good right. Let the future of our pack bond over cookies and toy trucks."
Ryan says as he comes over and wraps his arm around Amy's waist before giving me a smile.
"Hallo Shay. Nice to see you again."
I smile back at him.
"It's good to see you too."
I say as I head over to where the boys are, putting down a plat with cookies. Both look up at me and smile.
"Thank you!"
They say in unison ane I smile back at them.
"Your welcome."
I head over to where the other women are seated.
Zane and Ryan smile at me as I pass them but Jackson and Jake just nod at me before continuing their conversation.
I look at Megan questioningly as I sit down and she gives me a little smile while shaking her head.
"Don't worry about it. He's just still hurt that we didn't tell him about Zayde. And he can't really be mad at me so most of it is projected onto you."
"Great, so both Jackson and Jake hate me."
I grumble and sigh. Diana pats my knee.
"They don't hate you. And they'll get over it."
The other women nod in agreement.
"So, how is your father doing dear?"
Diana asks and I shrug.
"I don't really know how to answer that. The doctor says he's improving but they still don't know when he'll wake up."
"You poor mother, I can't imagine what she's feeling. I don't know what I'd do if Alex was in that condition."
Annabeth says, and the others nod, all looking over at their respective mates.
I look over at Zane as well and I sigh.
"Yes.. Somedays are better than others.. But she's taking it pretty hard. Everyone tries to take turns to keep her occupied."
"Now I just feel terrible for not trying to reach out to her more."
Diana says with a sigh.
"Maybe I should go over there, or invite her for a spa day out or something."
I give her a small smile.
"It won't hurt to try I guess."
Diana nods.
"Then I'll give her a call a little later."
"So how long are you staying here for?"
Annabeth asks and I shrug.
"We haven't really discussed how long we'll be here. But I want to give you all and Zane as much time as possible with Zayde. But I also want to help my mother as much as I can. I know Ashley and Dan are there to help.. But still."
Annabeth nods.
"It's understandable, but I hope you won't leave to soon."
She says with a small smile and I shake my head.
"I'm not planning on leaving to soon. But I will let you know if anything changes."
We sit in silence forna while before I speak again.
"While we're here.. I just want to apologize.. For not telling any of you about Zayde and taking five years from you."
I say, nervously wringing my hands while looking at Annabeth and Diana.
They share a quick glanze before both give me small smiles.
"It hurts knowing we missed five years of his life. But both of us can understand why you did what you did. It's natural to want to protect yourself and your child. We don't hold it against you. We were pretty mad at Zane though.. I thought I raised him better. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
I give her a surprised smile.
"I didn't expect that. Thank you though."
They both nod at me and smile.
"So AB, where is Alex?"
Annabeth turns to Amy and sighs.
"He had to stay back home, they have a meeting with one of our allies and he didn't want to seem rude by missing it. But he'll be over a little after the meeting."
Out the corner of my eye, I see the two boys whispering , slowly approaching us.
"What are you doing?"
I ask them and arch my brow they both blush and Zayde slowly makes his way over to us.
"Yes, baby?"
I ask, waiting for him to tell me what's going on.
He leans a little closer, and whisper loudly.
"Can we have some more cookies?"
Everyone around us try to stiffle their laugh, just shaking their heads.
I look up at Amy and she nods, so I look back down at my son and nod at him.
"You can both have two more okay?"
I look at Zayde and Jason, that comes over quickly, both nodding vigorously. I shake my head and head over to the counter getting them some cookies.
I see them eyeing the men whispering again.
"Boys, what is it?"
Zayde looks at me.
"We want them to play with us."
"Then just go ask one of your daddy's?"
Both boys immediately shake their heads and I sigh.
"Fine, I'll go ask them?"
"Yeah!"
"I told you."
Both boys yell out excitedly and I just smile shaking my head, making my way over to the men.
Zane's eyes immediately shifts to me as I approach and he smiles at me and I smile back. As soon as I'm in arms reach, Zane reaches out and pulls me to his side, kissing the side of my head. And I blush, with him smirking at me.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Well.." I gesture to the boys. "These two gentlemen wants to know if you men would like to plsy with them? But they were a little shy asking?"
"Mom!"
Zayde yells, looking embarrassed and everyone laughs at the two boys before Zane nods.
"Sure, how about we all head outside and play touch or soccer or something?"
I see the boys hesitate and Zane arches a brow.
"What? Didn't you want to play?"
Jason and Zayde nods.
"Yes.. We did.. But.."
Zayde trails off looking at Jason and Jason looks at the plate in my hands.
"But our cookies.."
He finishes Zayde's sentences with a frown.
We all smile and shake our heads.
"You two really are two little hungry wolves.. You can eat your cookies on our way out, okay?"
Both boys nod, with big smiles. Stuffing both their cookies into their mouths.
"Jason!"
"Zayde!"
Me and Amy scolds at the same time, both boys looking at us, with big innocent eyes.
"What?"
Zayde asks with a mouth full of cookie, but I just sigh and shake my head.
"Nothing, let's go play outside."
I watch the boys rush out excitedly, with everyone following after them.
Zane smiles at me and holds out his hand.
"You coming?"
I nod and smile taking his hand, allowing him to lead me outside.