He watched her walk away with a smile before picking up the tools he had been using and making his way to the barn. Once putting them away, he whistled softly as he walked the short distance to the town. Sure enough, his truck was still parked in the same spot he had left it. Climbing in behind the wheel, he started the engine. Before he backed out, he noticed several pairs of curious eyes on him. Smiling and giving both young and old women a brief wave, he pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the farmhouse.

Parking the truck, Marcus grabbed his duffle bag from the back of the truck and walked inside the farmhouse. Marcus smiled at Cecilia and Max. “I’ll be just a few minutes.” He told them, making his way into the guest bedroom. Peeling off his dirty clothes, he left them in a pile on the chair in the room. Taking a cool shower to cool his heated skin from the sun, he quickly changed into a clean pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and chuckled softly. It appeared as if his skin had darkened somewhat in the sun. He hardly ever got sun burnt anymore. He blamed it on the hours he spent in the sun during his time in the military.

Shaking his head to clear away his thoughts, he stepped into the living room and gave them both a smile. “Ready when you are.” Following them to the truck, he couldn’t help but laugh at Max’s enthusiasm over the “big truck” as he had put it. “When you get older, it won’t seem so big.” He told the boy with a laugh. Opening the passenger door, he helped Cecilia into the car before walking around the truck and getting in through the other side. Max had already sat down and buckled himself in without any assistance.

Marcus glanced at Cecilia when she spoke, taking in the bare legs resting on his dashboard. “You certainly look comfortable.” He told her with a smile. He didn’t protest when Cecilia turned on the radio either. He was happy that she was with him and he was content to let her do as she wished. Marcus wanted to kiss her again, but figured it probably won’t be good to give Max a show. Pulling out of the drive, he turned onto the main road, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel in time to the music.

Cecilia smiled brightly at him, and stood on her toes to kiss his nose. "Works with me. I'm gonna go take a shower, and so is Max. See you when you get back. I'll miss you." she winked with a laugh, before turning and going into the house."

Once inside, Cecilia picked out her clothes, and Max's, while Max occupied the shower. Once he was out, she jumped in quickly, and took extra time to wash her hair.

Once done, she wrapped a towel around herself, and headed into the guest room where her clothes lay. Smiling to herself, she dressed herself into a colorful stripped sundress, and beaded sandals. This outfit was probably the nicest thing she owned for clothing, as they could not afford anything better...and usually had no where to go.

Brushing her hair, she was glad to see Max was already with a nice pair of jeans and a good shirt on. Satisfied how they looked- and that they would make Marcus smile, they settled into the couch and waited.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<Gonna time skip a bit>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally later they were in the car, smiles around. Max sat in the backseat, intent on staring out the window. Cecilia sat in the front seat, with her feat on the dashboard, visibly smiling.

Turning on the radio, she smiled briefly at Marcus, as if daring him to change the station. Luckily, Max enjoyed her musical tastes as well. "Ready to go?"

<That's ok- no worries! I'm at work on my phone- so I'll post in a few hours! :)>

<Sorry I didn’t get a post up yesterday. Chaotic day. : ( >

Despite the hard work, the day went by quickly. The son was hot on his back and Marcus stopped several times throughout the day to grab a drink of water. He wasn't far from the house and could easily make out Max and Cecilia going about their own chores and activities. He smiled as he watched Max quickly finish his chores before running about the house with the large dog. He also spent time watching Cecilia. She kept busy selling the flowers to all kinds of people. He also felt their eyes on him. He was sure that Cecilia was telling them something along the lines of him just passing through or something similar.

He found himself wondering about that particular piece of information. She had mentioned him sleeping the guest bedroom, but did she intend for him to simply stay there for awhile? He hoped not. It was obvious that Kyle wasn't around and he was safe for the time being, but he didn't think this Kyle would take too kindly to him sleeping under the same roof as Cecilia. She also hadn't mentioned divorcing Kyle or getting away from him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he had continued to work on the fence, finishing almost four miles of fencing. He would have gotten further if the fence itself wasn't in horrible shape. Marcus wondered if Kyle had ever fixed or tended to the fences.

At Cecilia's call, Marcus quickly finished adjusting the wire before taking a step back and taking a deep breath. Pulling off his hat, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Glancing at the baseball cap, he put it back on with a smile. Max had run out to him several hours earlier and handed it to him, stating that he could use it to keep from getting burnt. The hat itself didn't fit the boy's head yet.

Looking up at Cecilia's approach, he gave her a warm smile, letting her bring her hands up to rest around his neck. "Careful now hon, I'm all sweaty." He told her with a smile, his eyes bright with laughter. His eyes softened as she called him by his high school nickname. "And you're mighty pretty too, Lois. However, I think you should be the one to wear the super hero cape.” Giving her a quick kiss on her cheek he laughed. “Sure I don’t mind driving everyone, though I’ll have to run down to town and pick up my truck from where I left it last night. Also I’ll have to grab a clean pair of clothes.” He smiled as he looked down at Cecilia, his eyes warm. This is where he wanted to be, simply having fun with Cecilia at his side.

Cecilia spent the day selling all of her flowers to elderly women and husbands who forgot their anniversaries. Curiously, everyone seemed to be nosy about the man who was working on the fence. Shrugging, she told them all that he was their new renter.

Near the end of the day, it was obvious that all of them were rather tired. Cecilia smiled, picking up Max who seemed to be drooping. Turning to call for Marcus, Cecilia stopped, and she smiled in awe.

The sight of Marcus working on the fence was an amazing one. More than ever, he appeared to be a god like form. Intent on watching him...and his muscles...work, she hadn't even noticed that Max had begun to watch the two of them oddly.

I look like him. Max said out loud to his mother. Cecilia's head turned to him, fastly trying to cover her surprise. "Yes...I um...suppose you do..." she murmured. Sighing gently, she set Max down.

"Marcus! You're free from the day! Why don't we all shower and change...and we can drive into the city. Go see a movie, and dinner?" she suggested, knowing that Marcus had a car.

Max seemed delighted, and ran into the house without waiting. Cecilia grinned at Marcus shyly. "There's a new movie out he's been dying to see...It's a twenty minute drive...I hope you don't mind. And it'll be fun. He'll make us go to his favorite restaurant, too. There's a play area and everything." she giggled, pushing her hair back with her hat. "He likes you. He told me so. Thinks your funny, and super strong. We might have to buy you a super hero cape..."

All shyness leaving, she strode over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Do you know, that you are the most handsome guy alive, Superman?" she asked with a sly smile.

<I'm getting off too. I'll be on an off tomorrow as well. Goodnight>

Marcus couldn't help but laugh at Max's words. He didn't even get a chance to say anything since Cecilia stood up and ushered the boy into the kitchen for breakfast. Marcus laughed and shook his head at Cecilia's question. "Yes, you were right about the attitude. Sounds like he keeps you on your toes."He turned to look at her. "Snuggly?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I had forgotten you enjoyed using that word.""I suppose we should just wait for the right time to tell him. I would think sooner rather than later would be best." Giving Cecilia a teasing grin, he kissed her lightly on the cheek before following Max and a dog into the kitchen.

Sitting down at the table, Marcus's eyes widened in surprise. Cecilia had outdone herself with the cooking. Helping himself to a large portion of eggs, bacon and toast, Marcus sat down at the table beside Max. "Bet I could eat more pieces of toast than you could." He taunted the boy with a grin. The competition ended in rounds of giggles as Marcus was accused of feeding pieces of his toast to Molby. Marcus raised his hands in surrender, laughing with Max. After they had finished eating, and with Cecilia pushing them outside, Marcus drained his second cup of coffee and stood up.

Glancing down at the paper in his hands, Marcus wrinkled his nose. "You gave me all the hard tasks to do." He made a face, and stuck his tongue out at her. Max found this hysterical and Marcus grinned. He waited until the boy had run outside before he reached out and pulled Cecilia to him. Kissing her sweetly he smiled against her lips. "Just teasing." Pulling away, he made his way outside and towards the barn. Horses cried out in greeting and Marcus smiled. Feed the horses and then fix a part of the fence before letting the horses out for a few hours. That was his tasks for the day.

Locating several feed buckets, he filled them and fed the horses before locating a pair of gloves. He had always been good with his hands and he figured that this task would be simple enough to learn. Grabbing the needed supplies, he walked the short distance towards an area of fence and began working.

<Gotta run for the night, I'll be back tomorrow! :)>

Much to everyone's delight, Max took his hand and shook it roughly, beaming a smile. She just told me a little about you too. Said you knew her when she was a little kid. Was she awful? She's perfect now, but I bet she was terrible as a kid. he decided.

Cecilia snorted, and ruffled Max's hair. "That's rude. And I was a perfectly well behaved child. Plus...if I did get into trouble, all I would have to do was hide behind Marcus here, and he'd take care of it." she smiled.

Standing suddenly, and resting her hands on her legs, Cecilia smiled and gave Marcus a knowing look. "Alright! Breakfast is on the table, men. Afterwards you are both expected outside, doing work. And I mean it!" she pretended to be harsh, but her eyes began to sparkle in enjoyment.

Max willingly ran to the kitchen with Molby who just appeared. Once he was out of earshot, Cecilia turned and took Marcus's hand. "What do you think? Told you he had my attitude. But he is entirely you.... Marcus...He doesn't know that you are his father, yet. He knows Kyle isn't either. He's just never asked. I don't know when would be the right time to tell him....Especially since he'll notice us all...snuggly." she smiled.

Taking his hand again, she led him down to the kitchen and made sure that everyone had everything they needed to eat, before taking a tiny portion for herself. Once the eating was done, she gave each of them a slip of paper.

"Chores. Get to work! Maybe if you're good Max, we'll all go out tonight." she ordered, unable to contain her smile.

He had told himself that if he was allowed to spend the night, he would sleep on the couch, or even the floor if needed. However, Cecilia had offered to let him sleep in the guest bedroom. He would have put a fight, but she had insisted. So he had simply given in, taking off his shoes and sliding underneath the blanket with her. It only taken him a few minutes to fall asleep, comforted that Cecilia was sleeping beside him. “This is what you could have every night…” He thought with a smile before closing his eyes and letting himself fall asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marcus awoke slowly, a large yawn escaping his mouth as he opened his eyes. And paused for a moment. Blinking the sleep from his eyes the events of the evening before came to mind and he smiled. Another interesting fact was that he hadn’t awoken during the night, or awoken in a cold sweat. For once, he had slept through the night without any nightmares. He sighed in complete happiness before sitting up and stretching. A quick glance to the other side of the bed told him that Cecilia was already awake. That didn’t surprise him. She had always been an early riser.

With that thought, he smiled and pulled the covers off his body, releasing that he had slept fully clothed and with a laugh, he bent down and slowly massaged his leg, feeling the large ugly scar underneath the jeans he wore. His eyes spied an adjoining bathroom and knowing that she wouldn’t mind, he stood up and took a quick shower, enjoying the warm water as it his body, relaxing the muscles. Once he was finished, he changed back into the clothes he had worn. He realized that he had left his truck and bag of clothes marked down in the middle of town. He would have to walk down and get his things.

He was happy to find that he wasn’t limping this morning, the result of a good night’s rest. Opening the door, he stopped briefly as he saw both Cecilia and Max sitting in the living room. A bit unsure of how to act, he gave them both a smile. “Good morning.” He stated happily. He could smell the aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen, but wanted to meet Max first. He studied the young boy. Despite her telling him last night, he could see some of Cecilia’s features within the boy as well. For one thing, he had her clear blue eyes.

Walking into the room, he sat down on a chair across from Max and gave him a smile. “So you must be Max, your mother here told me a lot about you. It’s good to meet you.” Marcus gave the boy a warm smile and remembering himself at that age and wanting to be grown up, he offered his hand to the boy, waiting to see if he would shake his hand like older men did in greeting.

Cecilia had just begun to drift off when she heard Marcus's voice. Smiling, and opening her eyes lazily, she smiled fondly at his expression. "That's because he is you. You were the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. Now he is tied with you." she grinned.

Sitting up on the bed, she gently rested her hands on his shoulders, and gently massaged him. "You must be tired. We should sleep now. It's hard work keeping up a farm. And don't think that because you're the injured guest that you won't be helping." she teased, lightly kissing his cheek.

Moving the covers for them to lay down, Cecilia smiled, expecting some reluctance. "The sooner you sleep, the sooner you meet Max." she reminded him, gently coaxing him into bed.

Carefully she turned the lamp off, and crawled under the covers in the dark. It was pitch black, and rather cold. She would have to get the heater in here, and maybe a night light...

Feeling Marcus's pressance beside her, she easily leaned into him, and fell asleep almost immediately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cecilia made sure she was the first one up the next morning. She had gotten out of bed, showered, and dressed without disturbing either of them. She was just setting breakfast on the table when Max sleepily wandered down the stairs.

"Morning hun. We have a guest who is going to rent the room for awhile. And, he's...well...an old friend of mine." she said gently, hugging her son.

Too tired to speak, Max simply nodded and smiled, and the two of them wandered into the living room, waiting for Marcus to wake.