[hockeypreg2]

Zach furrowed his brow, not quite sure what Noah was doing that was so awful. He was a little bit wild but that wasn't that bad. Zach texted him back, 'what is he doing that is upsetting you?'

"Hey bud, Daddy is feeling a little not great right now so let's try and be a little calmer," Zach asked. "Can you do that for me?"

Zach sent Caleb another text, 'I asked him to be calmer. Is that good?'

[Sam260]

Caleb rolled his eyes and huffed loudly at the return text messages. He couldn't even articulate the fact that clearly Noah was being a bit bratty to his husband - Sometimes Zach was so blind to other's behaviors, it was a miracle. He washed his hands and face and waddled his way back out to the dining area, slowly easing into his seat.

Noah didn't even look up, not when Zach was speaking to him nor when Caleb returned. Caleb opened his mouth to say something, but yet another bubbly and perky waitress showed up, "I'm Allison and I'll be taking your orders for this evening - does everyone know what they'd like to start with for drinks?"

Noah piped up immediately "Cherry Milkshake, Cheeseburger and French Fries. It's my special dinner because I was such an amazing actor tonight - I was in a play at school!" Noah stated proudly, a bit arrogantly even as he grinned up at the waitress.

Caleb sighed tiredly "Sprite for me. Cook his burger medium, please." Caleb said, nodding toward his son "I'll have a regular burger - no cheese or additives; well-done and fries with an extra serving. Ranch dressing on the side."

[hockeypreg2]

Zach rubbed Caleb's back gently, giving him a supportive smile. "I'll hacmve the salted caramel milkshake and the spinach salad with grilled chicken and the dressing on the side. And a water for both myself and the famous actor please."

Allison grinned at all of them. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Okay bud, was there something you wanted to say to Daddy?" Zach prompted Noah, hoping he would apologize for being wild.

[Sam260]

Caleb laid his head against Zach's shoulder, twisting the fabric of his loose jeans between his fingertips. He looked at Noah and hoped that their five-year-old would say something - anything - to rectify his behavior.

Noah glanced up and shook his head "No. Why would I?" he asked, then tucked his chin back to his chest, returning to his coloring on the table paper.

Caleb sniffled and shook his head "Leave it, Zach... He clearly doesn't care." Caleb whispered and wrapped his arms around his stomach. He was feeling really shitty right now, and it had nothing to do with his pregnancy. Immediately his thoughts went to him being a bad parent to Noah, despite trying to provide everything for their little boy "Just leave it..."

[hockeypreg2]

Zach sighed heavily and pressed a kiss to Caleb's forehead. "I'll talk to him later. It's been a crazy afternoon for him." He felt Caleb tense up against him and he immediately felt bad. "He's not being a jerk because of us, you know that right? Sometimes kids are just jerks even when they have the best daddy in the world."

[Sam260]

Caleb nodded, he wasn't convinced but he'd let it slide - for now. If it kept up though, he wasn't sure what he'd do... He couldn't handle Noah being bratty on top of everything else that seemed to be going wrong in his life at the moment - not that it was much; his life was actually a lot more calm now than when he'd been pregnant with Noah, but his quick-fuse towards any annoyances was really bringing everything down.

Soon enough the waitress was returning, drinks on a tray; she set milkshakes down in front of everyone except for Caleb, then set two waters and a sprite down "There are your drinks, and your burgers and salad should be coming up very shortly!" the waitress said before once again bouncing off, moving to another family who had come in after them.

[hockeypreg2]

Zach took a sip of his milkshake, sighing happily before offering it to Caleb. Over Noah's shoulder, he saw a woman kind of staring and hesitating, like she wanted to come over. Zach pasted on his media smile and looked over at Caleb.

"So hey, I've been spotted. Woman behind Noah in the blue sweater." He kept his voice low. "If she comes over, I'll keep you and Noah out of anything. Sorry. It's been awhile since this has happened."

[Sam260]

Caleb shook his head on the offer on Zach's milkshake - Dairy products had not been a big friend of his during this pregnancy and he avoided them, just in case things went south for him. "Maybe she's not even looking at you... You're not the only famous one at the table you know." Caleb retorted and turned to look down into his bubbled sprite, stirring the cubes with his straw.

The lady in the blue sweater did finally come over, smiling warmly at the trio "Hi there. My name is Debbie, and that's my family - Mark, and our two kids, Helen and Avery." Debbie said warmly "We were at the play tonight as well, and we just wanted to comment on how well your son did. We also wanted to, hopefully, invite you over for a Halloween party - Kids and Adults of all ages are welcome and I'm very sure Noah would enjoy coming; he and my son have become good friends over the past few weeks."

Noah beamed proudly at the praises he was getting "I was pretty good, wasn't I?" Noah boasted, his own 'media smile' taking shape - the boy certainly had stars in his eyes, but they were the wrong kind; he was clearly getting very egotistical over all of the praises he was receiving.

[hockeypreg2]

Zach held out his hand to shake Debbie's. "I'm Zach and this is my husband Caleb. It's very nice to meet you. Noah's told us about Avery. It would be great to get the boys together for a Halloween party. Do you mind if I text you for more information?"

Zach took out his phone to get Debbie's information, chatting with her warmly and thanking her for the invitation. When she left, Zach looked a little embarrassed. "Okay, you were right. She wasn't looking at me."

He turned his attention to Noah. "Now, the correct answer when someone compliments you is 'thank you' not to brag about how good you were. It makes you look spoiled and bratty when you do that and you are neither of those things, correct?"

[Sam260]

Noah shrugged his shoulders "I guess..." he said quietly, maybe feeling a bit ashamed over his behavior "Sorry." he mumbled around his straw as he sucked at the cherry milkshake before him.

Caleb sighed and rubbed his forehead "We won't be able to attend that party... You'll probably be filming and I'll probably just be too pissed off or irritated or *something*." Caleb said and tried curling up, but he only managed to topple even harder into Zach's side - he clearly forgot that they weren't in a place where he could curl his body up like he normally did when he was feeling overwhelmed with emotion.

Noah looked up when Caleb let out an undignified squeak of surprise; he even had a look of disgust on his face but said nothing. He just shook his head of black hair and looked back down at his drawing - he was clearly not very impressed with his daddy right now "I'm hungry, when is the food going to be here?"

[hockeypreg2]

Zach helped Caleb settle himself and then slid his chair a little closer so Caleb could lean on him for support. "The food will be here soon, Noah. Please be patient."

Zach rubbed his own forehead. "Brigit could take the kids. And maybe I'll be available. It doesn't hurt to ask about it. We need to let Noah make friends while we are here."

[Sam260]

Caleb sighed and nodded his head tiredly "You're right, but I honestly don't think I'll feel up to going. It's a Halloween party, Zach... Which means costumes. I haven't worn a Halloween costume since I was twelve? Maybe even younger than that?" Caleb shook his head and sighed, rubbing his stomach "And what the heck would I even dress up as?"

The waitress smiled and settled plates in front of everyone "And here we are! Salad for the movie star, a burger with everything on it for the little one and just a burger patty and bread for the pregnant one."

Caleb nodded and smiled at the waitress "Thanks..." he said for the three of them, then turned to look down at his plate, plucking at a few of the fries "Halloween is a bad idea for anyone over the age of twenty..."

[hockeypreg2]

"They can be fun," Zach said as he tucked a napkin into.Noah's shirt. "Eat the burger first, bud. Then the fries. And if you go to a cool party they're fun. I used to go to Heidi Klum's every year and they were fun. You had to have good costumes though because she meant business."

Zach took a bite of his salad, looking longingly at Noah's burger as he took a giant bite. He missed being able to eat crap and still look good. Getting old sucked.

[Sam260]

Caleb pulled the burger bun off of his patty and sighed as he cut it up into bite-sized pieces - it wouldn't be enough to fill him up, just the patty alone, but the bread was too much for him these days and he just never liked lettuce or tomato on a burger anyway. "I've never been to a Halloween party, Zach. Well, no... I take that back. I got invited to one once, said that it wasn't a costume party... So I showed up in jeans and a shirt, come to find out everyone else was in costume..." Caleb sighed and munched slowly on a french fry.

"It was the last party I went too... I was sixteen at the time, and everyone made fun of me for not being dressed properly." Caleb shook his head and looked down, sniffling slightly "I would rather just avoid it all together... What can I go as, other than a pumpkin or some other large object?"

Caleb giggled and popped a fry into his mouth, looking up with a bit of an evil glint in his eyes - he was definitely taking that 'Hollywood born' personality to heart these days "That's about all you've got, daddy. You're too big to be anything else."

[hockeypreg2]

Zach sighed. "Noah..." He put his fork down on the table. "Can we just finish dinner please? No more being mean to your father, Noah. Caleb, please stop badmouthing yourself. You're pregnant. You are supposed to be gaining weight."

Zach looked at both of them. "Okay? Are we good now? Can we finish eating dinner and then go home?"

[Sam260]

Caleb nodded and started eating his burger in silence. He hated being treated like a child, and now he *really* just wanted to curl up and cry himself to sleep; which wasn't uncommon these days. He nibbled at the french fries, foot kicking back and forth slowly and one arm wrapped around his stomach loosely.

Noah sighed loudly but nodded "Yeah, we can finish dinner." Noah glanced at Zach and then at Caleb, brows furrowed slightly - he wanted to say more, but he was certain if he opened his mouth again, he would be getting a spanking for misbehavior, and he really didn't like getting spankings "Are we still going to get ice cream?" he asked hopefully, looking at Zach again - never mind the fact that he had a milkshake sitting in front of his face.

[hockeypreg2]

"You have a milkshake," Zach pointed out. "I'll take you and Savannah out a little later. I want to get daddy home so he can rest. It's been a long day for him and you know the baby makes him extra tired."

The three of them ate in silence, just wanting to get the dinner over with at this point. So much for a fun celebration of Noah's play. Zach waved down the waitress to pay the bill when everyone was done, tipping her very well. "Do you need to go to the bathroom before we go?" he asked Caleb softly, helping him out of the chair.

[Sam260]

Caleb shook his head, stifling a pained noise as he was helped up "No. I just want to go home and go to bed..." Caleb said quietly, rubbing his lower back with a closed fist. He really was feeling out of sorts right now, with Noah being so... He had no idea what was going on with their son, and why he was being so disrespectful.

Noah ran ahead of them as the duo started slowly walking out of the restaurant, Caleb leaning heavily on Zach, more so than usual "I really think you need to have a chat with Noah about his behavior, Zach. Sometimes you are so blind to other's treatment, but you cannot ignore the fact that he was being... Not his normal self tonight."

[hockeypreg2]

Zach sighed and rubbed the small of Caleb's back as they walked. "I'll talk to him. I think some of it comes from the performance today but I do see that he was acting up. We'll get home and I'll get you comfortable and then I'll talk to him."

They caught up with Noah and Zach opened the door. "Noah, can you hold your father's hand as we walk to the car?"

[Sam260]

Noah turned and looked up at Zach, nose and forehead wrinkling "I don't wanna hold daddy's hand. I'm a big boy, papa! And the car is only just right there!" Noah said, turning to point at the SUV that was literally almost front row parking, just on the other side of the sub-dividing road in front of the storefront.

Caleb sighed loudly, pressing his forehead against Zach's arm "Noah please... If you won't take my hand, can you *at least* hold onto your papa's pant leg? We don't want you getting hurt!"

Noah scowled but nodded, begrudgingly stepping over to Zach and wrapping his hand in the fabric of his pants "Okay... Can we go now? I want to get home and tell Brigit about the play!"