Chapter 6 - Fun-Filled

As promised, Eden woke Cailen up the next morning and told him to get dressed to go shopping.

Cailen was tempted to argue that she shouldn't waste the money on him. But figured it was futile, so instead, he crawled out of bed and sleepily shuffled his way into the bathroom, quickly doing his business and washing up, then meeting Eden downstairs by the door.

Cailen had enough time last night before bed to look around. William had taken him on a tour of the house, showing him where the kitchen was and all six bathrooms. He showed him the basement which had a recreational room in it that had a pool table and also had another room with a couch and a television along with the laundry and one of the six bathrooms.

Cailen had a pretty good memory so he pretty much remembered where everything was.

Eden smiled at him as he put on his shoes, waiting patiently.

Cailen was a little hungry since he just woke up and hadn't eaten yet but he didn't want to be a bother and ask for some breakfast. He supposed he could wait till Eden offered or maybe even till they got back.

Cailen had no idea what time it was, he did however know William and Stella had left for school already because they were nowhere to be seen.

"We'll get something to eat at the mall, okay? There isn't much here to eat right now. I haven't had time to go grocery shopping," Eden explained.

Eating out two meals in a row? That was fine by Cailen.

At the mall, they grabbed a quick breakfast sandwich each from a restaurant Cailen didn't catch the name of. They then proceeded to multiple stores, each one Eden would pick something out that she thought would look 'just adorable' on Cailen.

Some of them weren't exactly Cailen's style but he wasn't one to argue when someone was being so nice. By the end of it, Cailen had more clothes than he could possibly hope to wear and Eden had told him they weren't done yet.

Next up was shoes. Eden insisted Cailen to get two different types of shoes and a pair of sandals. He thought they were unnecessary. He could after all, only wear one at a time. But again, he didn't argue with it.

After that was school supplies where he got a new backpack, a bunch of pencils, new markers and pencil crayons, a new zip-up binder and a lot of other stuff that Cailen didn't think he'd need but again, Eden insisted.

He liked Eden. She was nice and kind and always made sure he wasn't uncomfortable. She offered to buy him all this stuff even though she has no clue if he was staying for good or not.

Cailen was certain he wasn't and he was also certain he would have to leave all of his new stuff behind. William could use them when he grew a bit more.

"Okay, I think that's it, unless there is something you want?" Eden asked looking down to Cailen.

Cailen shook his head. There was no way he was asking for more stuff.

"Okay, then I guess we have time to go to the grocery store. Is that okay with you?" Eden asked.

Cailen nodded. He was still a little shy around Eden. With William and Stella, it was different because they were his age but with Eden, he felt a little intimidated.

He knew she was nice but there was still that authority figure part about her that made him shy.

*****

When they got back to the house, Eden helped Cailen with his bags and brought them up to his room.

Cailen then helped Eden with the groceries and brought them into the kitchen for her even though she insisted that she could handle it. Cailen wanted to thank her in some way for buying him those clothes, even if he wasn't going to be able to keep them.

Eden then told him to go remove the price tags from his clothes and put them away in the closet. So that's just what he did. He didn't want to upset Eden in anyway.

He had to use the desk chair for a boost to hang up all his new clothes. The closet was pretty tall and he was fairly short for a thirteen year old.

It didn't take him long to put everything away. He even set up all his new school stuff. He put everything in his binder and placed that in his new backpack along with his pencil case with all his new writing utensils. He placed some extra pencils at the desk in his room for homework and placed some extra paper in the drawers.

Cailen never had the chance to set up a room before that was entirely his and with stuff that was his, how ever briefly they were his for. He placed his new shoes, the ones he didn't plan on wearing for a while at the back of the closet then closed it up.

He wasn't sure what else he could do so he just climbed onto the bed and waited for Eden to come and tell him what he could do.

Cailen was sitting there for quite some time before he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and more than one pair.

He thought for a fleeting moment that William and Stella had returned from school. He then he realized the footsteps were much too heavy to be either of them.

Cailen forced himself to stay seated. He did not need to snoop around and get in trouble. But he didn't need to snoop to find out who it was coming up the stairs because soon enough, Eden was standing in the doorway with a man that had his arm wrapped around her waist.

The man had nearly gray hair though he could tell it had been brown once, it was cut short and neat and accompanied with a mustache to match.

The man wore a business suit that fit his rather plump body pretty snugly, his tie was undone though, hanging around his neck loosely as if he had loosened it in a hurry to breath better.

"So you're the famous Cailen I've been hearing so much about," the man smiled at him.

It was a kind, trusting smile that had Cailen smiling as well.

"I'm Dean. It's nice to finally meet you," Dean introduced. "Can I come in?" he asked when Cailen said nothing.

Cailen looked around. Why was he asking him?

"It's your house," Cailen said with a small smile.

"Well, it's your house too, and more importantly, it's your room," Dean said stepping into the room with Eden behind him.

Dean took a seat at the computer chair. Eden stood behind him with her hand on his shoulder. He smiled at Dean's words.

Your house. Your room. Maybe this would last?

Cailen didn't want to get his hopes up though.

"So I hear you've been shopping. Did you get anything cool?" Dean asked.

Cailen nodded.

"Eden bought me a bunch of clothes and school supplies and shoes!" he said excitedly.

"Wow, and you put it all away already. You're fast," Dean commented.

Cailen smiled at him and was about to comment when he heard a door slam shut.

"Mom?!" he heard William call from down the stairs and soon heard two sets of footsteps climbing the stairs.

Eden called out to them, saying they were in Cailen's room.

Cailen's room.

"Dean!" William cried when he saw the man sitting in the chair.

William ran towards him, wrapping his tiny arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"Dean, you're back!" Stella shouted as well, running over to hug her father.

Cailen wondered why they were calling their father Dean but thought it might be rude to ask.

"Hey, guys. How was school?" Dean asked, doing his best to hug them both at the same time.

"It was boring!" William declared causing Eden and Dean to chuckle.

"It was alright," Stella shrugged.

"Hey, Cailen, do you want to play with me?" William asked shuffling over to the bed he was sat on.

"No! I want to show him the boy band I was telling him about!" Stella whined. "You stole him last night so I get him today."

William and Stella began to fight over Cailen and who got to spend time with him. It was a bit overwhelmingly. He looked to Eden and Dean for help.

"Okay guys, he's not a toy. William, why don't you play with Cailen after dinner and Stella can show Cailen her boy band before dinner?" Eden compromised.

Cailen nodded along. He didn't want people fighting over him.

"Fine," William grumbled.

"Yay!" Stella squeaked, grabbing Cailen’s hand and pulling him off the bed, literally.

His feet almost didn't make it under him before he was being hauled off to Stella's room.

*****

As it turns out, Cailen doesn't like boy bands.

He suppose their music is alright but it just isn't his thing, it's too dance-y. And the videos Stella showed him were weird as hell. A bunch of guys dancing around and spending way too much time starring into the camera was weird.

Stella liked it though. She couldn't tear her eyes away long enough to see his distaste, and he supposed if it made her happy, he would humor her for a little while longer.

After dinner, which Eden actually cooked and they all sat down together to eat and shared stories from their day, William had dragged him into his room to play some video games.

Cailen had never played before but picked it up pretty quickly and found himself enjoying it. It was then that he decided he could ask William about Dean. He felt a weird sort of connection with William, he felt he could ask him anything.

"William, why do you call your dad ‘Dean’?" Cailen asked after he had just won a round.

"He's not my dad, he's my step-dad," William shrugged. "Just feels weird calling him dad," William finished.

Cailen didn't understand. If he had someone as nice as Dean to call a father, he would. However, he nodded along anyway and dropped the subject.

That night, Cailen went to sleep with another smile on his face.

He could get used to this.