The Good Life

Months Later

Jack

"Are you going to be a big boy today?" I asked Bass. He had a doctor appointment and he had to get a few shots. Bringing him to the doctor reminded me of when Izzy was a baby and we would bring her to the doctor. Bass was like starting all over again for Alex and me. I loved it and I'm pretty sure Alex did too he just wouldn't admit it. He knew I would argue that this is what it would have been like for us to have another baby after Izzy.

It was a Friday morning so I volunteered to bring Bass to the doctor so Izzy wouldn't have to miss school. Alex took today off for a dentist appointment he had later on today so he came with us to the doctor. It was nearing the end of the school year so he had vacation days to get rid of.

"I feel so bad for him. He doesn't even know it's coming." Alex said and I chuckled.

"I'm going to try to distract him so he won't focus on the shot."

"Hi Mister and Mister Gaskarth nice seeing you two again." Dr. Jones greeted us, he was Bass's normal pediatrician.

"Nice seeing you too, Doctor." I said and Alex agreed.

"How's the little guy doing today?" He asked making small talk as he prepared everything for the shot.

"He's doing okay. I fed him before coming so he has a lot of energy." I said and Bass cooed at his doctor.

"I feel like that's his way of begging you not to give him a shot." Alex joked and I playfully rolled my eyes.

"Ah yes you're the one with the fear of needles." Dr. Jones chuckled.

"It's gotten a little bit better." Alex said and I nodded. He fear had gone down from when we started dating, now he could get his flu shot if he gripped my hand tightly and looked away.

"Which shot is Bass getting today?" I asked.

"It's the diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine or Dtap for short. It protects him from those three viruses." He told me.

"Oh okay."

"Alright this will be really quick." Dr. Jones said as he opened an alcohol wipe to clean Bass's arm off with. Bass looked down at the spot trying to see what was happening.

"Look Bass! I brought your crocodile!" I exclaimed and he looked up at the toy. He smiled as I pretended to make it kiss him.

Dr. Jones pulled out the plastic container that was holding the needle and opened it up.

"Well I'm going to go stand over there." Alex said while tapping his foot. He attempted to get up put a grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"No stay here with Bass. You can hold him kinda like I hold your hand when you're getting a shot." I said and he sighed. He looked at the needle in Dr. Jones hand and slowly nodded. I handed Bass over to him and he took a deep breath. I was still able to distract Bass with the crocodile while Alex held him.

"Okay three...two...one." Dr. Jones counted down before sticking Bass with the needle. It was a short shot but Bass still noticed he had been stuck with something. He looked down at his arm and stuck out his bottom lip. He started to cry loudly as the needle was removed from his arm. Alex waited for the doctor to put the band aid on before holding Bass to his chest.

"Shhh you're okay. We're all done now." He told Bass and kissed him on the top of his head. I smiled at him as he cradled Bass trying to calm him down.

"He did a good job." Dr. Jones said and rubbed Bass's back. "And so did you." He opened his draw and pulled out a happy face sticker, then he stuck it on Alex's shirt, making me laugh. "You faced your fear today."

"Yeah I actually did." Alex said looking down at Bass.

We thanked Dr. Jones and went to sign out of the office. Then Alex drove us back to our house. His doctor appointment wasn't until two so he had three hours before he had to go.

When we pulled into our driveway we saw moving trucks in front of Vicki and Emilio's house. Alex and I looked at each other before getting out. They never said anything about moving again. We got out of Alex's car with Bass and walked over to see if they were actually leaving.

"Hey!" Vicki said when she saw us.

"Hey, what's all this?" I asked.

"Mike and Vic are getting ready to move to L.A in a few days. These guys are going to drive their stuff down there for them." She said pointing to a few movers.

"They're leaving? What about Bass?" Alex asked.

"Vic said he and Izzy have a plan already, but he didn't tell me what it was." She told us.

Vic and Mike came out a few seconds later each carrying boxes. They sat their stuff down and came over to speak to us. I handed Bass to Vic since Bass squealed when he saw him.

"Hey congrats on the big move." I told them and they both thanked me.

"Well it's only two hours away so it's not that big of a move." Mike joked.

"Well it's still something. Is it closer to you guys’ record label or something?" I asked.

"Yeah, plus our band mates live there now and it'll be easier to write and record with them." Vic answered.

"So what about Bass? Are you going to come back to visit him every weekend or . . . ?" Alex asked.
"I'm going to try to visit as much as I can over the summer. We're playing warped tour so it might be a little hard. But Izzy and I talked and after the tour and after she graduates she's going to go to UCLA and she and Bass are going to stay with me." He said and Alex and I frowned. Izzy never told us anything like that, but she hardly ever talked about her future with us either.

"Okay well obviously you two were in Lala land when you made those plans because there's no way in hell she's moving in with you straight out of high school." Alex said and Vic sighed. I kind of felt bad we shot down their "perfect" plan but there was no way we were allowing Izzy to move in with him so soon.

"Yeah maybe we can get her an apartment in L.A so she can go to UCLA but we're not just going to let her move in with a guy. We're also not going to let her take Bass with her while she's in college." I added.

"Wait we're going to keep him?" Alex asked.

"Well yeah what did you think was going to happen?"

"I don't know I just never thought about us having to keep him. I figured Izzy would stay home and do it."

"Not if she wants to go off to school. I don't think we should force her to stay home to raise him. We should probably talk to her about it." I suggested.

"Yeah we'll sit down when she gets out of school."

"Okay we should let you guys get back to work." I said. Mike was holding Bass now so he handed him back to me.

We told the Fuentes family bye for now and went back home.

***

Alex had come home from his dentist appointment a few minutes after Izzy got home from school. I told her that Alex and I wanted to talk to her so we were sitting in the living room when Alex got home.

"So what are we talking about?" Izzy asked.

"Well we were wondering what your plans were for after high school. Do you know what you want to do yet?" I asked.

"Yeah like maybe move in with your ex-boyfriend?" Alex asked and she chuckled.

"You both must have talked to Vic today?" She asked.

"Yeah and he told us all about your plans to move in with him while you went to UCLA." Alex said.

"I don't know I'm confused. I really like Vic but I'm also scared to date him again. So I just told him I would love to move in with him to make him happy and so he wouldn't move on before I could decide. I'm not crazy, I know you two wouldn't let me move in with him that soon. Plus I don't think I can take care of Bass and go to school while Vic is on tour."

"Do you know what you want to do at all?" I asked.

"Well I've actually had this idea for a while." She said and I nodded to let her continue. "What do you think about making a magazine for your clothing line?" She asked.

"Well my clothing line is kind of a branch off of Glamour Kills so I don't think having a magazine just for Jagk would really do much." I said.

"That's even better! We can talk to Glamour Kills about making their own company magazine. They can feature all of the people that have clothing lines through them. It's a good way to sell their clothing and give their fans some insight into what their favorite people are doing!" She exclaimed. This was the first time she actually talked to us about something she wanted to do in the future. Seeing her light up while talking about this made me happy.

"You want to write for the magazine? You hate writing." Alex said and I chuckled.

"Nooo I want to be the person who puts it all together." She said.

"Like the editor and chief?" He asked and she nodded.

"Okay Sweetie, I'll email the CEO in the morning and see if we can book an appointment so you can pitch him your idea." I told her. Getting the appointment wouldn't be hard and creating a magazine was a great idea, I just hoped it was something she really wanted to do. She tends to lose interest in things quickly.

"Really?!?" She asked happily.

"Yep! You might be on to something." I told her. She got up and ran to her room excitedly calling Lynn.

"You don't think she's going up too fast do you?" I asked Alex.

"Nah we still got two more years with her and apparently eighteen more with that little guy." Alex said while pointing to Bass in his play pin. We both silently watched him try to play with his toys by himself. I was kind of scared to ask Alex my next question, but the worse he could do was say no.

"So would you really mind if we kept him and raised him while Izzy went to school and maybe started her career?"

"You mean do I want to start all over with you?" He answered with a question.

"Yeah I guess that's one way of putting it."

"No, I wouldn't mind."

Notes

Next chapter is the epilogue so I guess this is like the last official chapter of this story. I can't say thank you enough to all of you for reading this story! I like the idea of Alex and Jack maybe having to start over with raising Bass cause it feels like their story will never end. But I will have the epilogue up in a few days so it won't be as long as a wait.