Fandom The Day The World Changed { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“It’s right here.” Soren held up the paper and then placed it on a central location. He also started moving furniture around. “If we see what we need, we can place those things maybe… somewhere over there? That’s a relatively nice and empty space. Though it might get cramped until we can move things around.” This was going to take so much time and effort to clean this out and make it usable. He called over the people there to tell them the plan as well so that they didn’t keep throwing things around just wherever.

A couple of the people were nodding and saying that they would join them. They appreciated the efforts. Rachel mostly looked like she was annoyed at having to exist. Teenagers. “You can take Theo any time you like,” she said with the baby in her arms. He was quiet and still at the moment, but he was probably going to be a whole lot more wiggly soon. Hayden nodded to Kai. “More knock knock,” he confirmed and popped them both back up. “Let’s go downstairs.” He put his hand out for Kai and pointed to the door to the stairwell. “Can you do stairs? I guess we’ll find out.”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked over at the list and nodded. “Got it, that makes a lot of sense. And we just need to be careful to keep things together.” He said as he started moving more furniture. Josh had moved a dresser, some chairs and a table. But the next piece of furniture was a bookcase with boxes of books on its shelves. He knew that books were on that list and so he grabbed the first one and glanced through it. It was all kids books. His eyes widened as he moved that box to the space to bring it back with them. The next box had a mixed of kids and young adult books, and the final box had more adult books of different genres. He set all three boxes over there and then moved the bookcase over to the wall and carried on moving furniture.

Jacob walked over to Rachel when he heard her. “How about I give you a break and take him with us? He might like it.” Jacob suggested, holding his arms out. In truth, Jacob might not have been a pediatric nurse, but he did love kids. Kai looked up at Hayden when he stood, and Kaiden stood too. Kai took his hand and looked at the stairs. “Never did stairs before. Got carried up.” Kai said. His mom and dad had lived on a first floor apartment so he’d never been on stairs and his mom had carried him up the last time. “I wanna try stairs.” Kai added.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren was so focused on moving things around that he was not paying much attention to what was on the list. His thought process was that if they could get like things together, it would be easier to see what they needed specifically with the bigger furniture items. He was thinking that once this was nice and organized, and when everything settled down, they could start bringing everyone here to pick out things that they wanted or needed. He looked over at Josh and paused when he was looking at the books. “Oh that’s perfect! They’re going to love those.”

Rachel happily handed Jacob the baby who was staring at everyone with wide eyes. She shoved her hands by her side and then disappeared back into the room that didn’t have anything for her. “Just don’t do anything the Sharpes will blame me for.” Hayden walked with Kai to the stairs. He pushed open the door and walked to the edge. “It’s hard to step down. It’s a long way for a little guy like you.” He guided the little boy to the edge and towards the wall. Hayden took a few steps down so that he was lower and could more easily help him move. He faced Kai at the edge, both of his hands on the boy. “Alright, little man. You ready to try?”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked over at Soren, a smile on his face. “I’m sure they are. Apparently there is this little kid, Kaiden, that Hayden has fallen in love with. He won’t admit it, but I sense it. Anyway, he mentioned that we didn’t have a lot of kids books, so I said I’d look.” He said as he turned to start moving more furniture. He hadn’t intended to look for the books but he found them on accident.

Jacob smiled as he took Theo into his arms. “Hey buddy.” He said, looking at the kid with his wide eyes. “I’ll take good care of him. Promise.” Jacob had said before he turned to follow Hayden towards the stairs. Kai walked with Hayden, looking at the stairs. Kaiden put a hand on the wall and watched as Hayden faced him a few steps down. He nodded as he felt hands on him. “Yeah!” He said, then moved one leg forward and down, the motion was odd and he wavered a bit on his balance. Determination was written on his face as he brought his other leg down. One step of several hundred it felt like to him to go. He took another step down, but didn’t waver this time. Hayden was right, Kai thought as he realized how far down the steps were for him. He certainly wasn’t going to make all these flights up and down just yet.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren let out a little laugh. “Of course he has. The man has just been waiting for a purpose. Like being a dad.” He shook his head as he continued moving things around. “It’s a shame you two didn’t get the chance to have kids before this happened.” He tossed a couple of items that he remembered from being on the list into the boxes of books. He moved back to the furniture. It still looked like an ungodly mess, but he could see how it was going to be better.

Thankfully, Theo was still of the age of children who did not move too much. He could not move on his own or talk. His fingers moved a bit as he was carried by this new person. Many babies would be upset to be with someone new, but Theo was used to that. He missed his mom. He missed his dad. Now he had this new person who he didn’t understand. It was a lot, but there was enough that was a lot to make him more curious than anything else. Hayden kept both hands there to keep Kai stable as he moved down the steps. “You are so good at this! You’re a stair-traveling fool. A professional. So strong.” As they moved down, Hayden also moved down to keep them going. As they moved, he checked in. “How is it going, buddy? That’s really hard, isn’t it? And tiring? You want to keep going to do you want me to carry you?”
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

As Josh moved things and separated other things, he looked at Soren. “He has, and I think he’d be a great dad. We never really talked about kids before but I think that little one will be good for him. As for me? I’ve thought about having kids but I wasn’t sure if it was something I was ready to consider.” Josh admitted as he moved a table. As they moved the furniture to the wall, it was starting to slowly look better.

Jacob watched Hayden and Kai traverse the steps, a smile on his face as he looked down at Theo. “So much stuff going on huh buddy? All this excitement.” He said. Meanwhile Kai had managed a few more steps, the encouraging words from Hayden was helpful. When he heard Hayden ask him how he was doing, Kai let out a small sigh. He didn’t realize how hard these stairs were. “Carry me..” Kaiden said, lifting his arms up for Hayden.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“That’s okay too. Everyone is different. Some people were born to be parents.” Soren shrugged as he hefted a table to the back with the other tables. “I don’t think I want to have kids. I didn’t have a great childhood. That shouldn’t happen to any kid.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to be the reason someone goes through that. But also, I don’t feel like I have the time. Plus that would be so much to worry about.” He laughed, because he could in that moment when they were removed from the rest of the world.

Really, Kaiden was doing amazing for this being his first time on steps. It was incredible how much progress a little kid could make in such a short amount of time. They were so much better at this than adults. “I got you.” He hefted Kai into his arms and rested him on his hip. “Maybe we’ll try some more when we get done down there.” He moved down the stairs and entered the next floor. He looked over at Jacob. “You have your hands full. We’ve got this, right?” He put Kai down at the end of the hall. “Knock knock on all the doors!”
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[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh nodded as he heard that. “I get that not everyone is born to be a parent. But I agree, I never thought I’d have the time for a kid and Hayden would’ve been going to college so it just wasn’t something in the cards I feel. But now? I don’t know.” He admitted. Of course, Josh would support Hayden in anything, even if it was wanting a kid. “Looking a little better. We’ve got that spot cleared out, maybe we can start going through some of the little stuff now that the furniture is out of the way?”

Kaiden wrapped as much of his little arms around Hayden as he could. He rested his head on his shoulder as they went down to the next floor. Jacob heard Hayden and chuckled a little. “Yeah. I do but we got this. Plus, isn’t he adorable? I might just have to keep him more often.” Jacob said with a chuckle. Kai looked at Hayden when he set him down and immediately laughed and ran to the first door. He banged on it. “Knock knock!”​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Unless Jacob was wanting to have children, Soren didn’t see himself having any of his own. Not that it would be easy with how everything was going right about now. There were so many kids in the foster system. So many kids in homes without parental support. But where were they now? Surely FEDRA would take them in. He pulled his attention back to Josh. “Good plan. We can start with this huge pile.”

Hayden grinned at Jacob and the little baby in his arms. He lifted his hand and moved those tiny fingers like he was balling and Unballing a fist. Hayden did not have time to see what Theo was trying to do, because Kai was already running off to the first door, which meant he was falling behind. He ran to the next. “Knock knock!” The words came out as almost a giggle.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh had thought about the kids in foster homes and ones that were in group homes because of bad conditions at home, and hoped they’d be taken in by FEDRA. “Sounds good to me.” He agreed, grabbing one box and moving it in front of him. He looked through it, and found all kinds of coloring books and several packs of crayons. Good for little kids. He set that entire box aside and pushed it towards the books they were taking home. The next one had little trinkets and decorations so he shifted that to make a home decor pile.

Hayden may not have seen it but Jacob did. He copied Theo with a smile as he looked up to see Kai running past Hayden to the next door. “Knock knock!” He giggled as he banged on the door. This was so much fun. ​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Stuffed in a bunch of things were clothes. They were going to need to be washed of course, but more clothes was always good. He started a large pile of clothes that they could sort through later. Maybe he could pull some other soldiers to start that project at some point. He also found a handful of games that he was beginning to put together in one area. Plenty of things required electricity, and he was not sure if that was going to be an option yet. Things like lamps and microwaves. “Josh. You ever feel like you signed up for daring heroics and then wonder how you became a warehouse worker?”

Hayden ran up and down the hall with Kai banging on door and calling out to everyone until they had a whole heap of people in the halls again. He knelt down again so that he was on Kaiden’s level as he addressed everyone who came out into the halls. He gave them the same invitation as the last floor.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh was searching through a few boxes that contained things like pictures, mirrors, and other items. Another box had kitchen utensils and place mats. So far nothing on the list, so he just set them in two different piles. He looked up and over at Soren, laughing a little. “Hmm. Now that you say that, yes. I do have to wonder.” He said, shifting through a box of CD’s but the CD player that was with it ran on batteries that were dead. That was useful.

After they’d banged on all the doors and everyone was out in the hall, Kaiden tucked himself to Hayden’s side when he knelt down. Jacob too had given the same invitation for those with little ones who’d like help with them. “Ready for the next floor buddy?” Jacob asked Theo, putting a hand on his stomach and tried to tickle him like he saw his mom do with Josh when he was a baby.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

“It is amusing like that, isn’t it?” Soren asked with a chuckle. “I guess we could be out there risking our lives to ‘eradicate the enemy’ or whatever they were saying before, but who else was going to do this?” He opened a tackle box and grinned. “Now look at that. Someone had a whole box of batteries. That will come in handy.” He set that in the pile of things they were taking back with them. “Actually, I think this must have been from the same place, because there are a bunch of these tackle boxes full of useful things like tools and nails and such.”

Theo’s tiny body wriggled as he started to laugh. He blew little bubbles out of his mouth as he giggled. His smile was large as he looked at Jacob. He lifted his hand and wriggled his fingers slowly like he was trying to imitate what Jacob did. Hayden took Kai’s hand. “Let’s go to the next floor. We have stairs to conquer!” When they got there, he was ready to either try to step down some more or carry him if he wasn’t ready yet.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh nodded as he chuckled a little. “It absolutely is. And who else would be willing to do this? Besides, we do have a list so who better to get that stuff then us anyway.” He said with a smile as he looked at the tackle boxes. “Now those will absolutely will be helpful. And I have a CD player that uses batteries, so we have music too now.” Josh said, showing off the player.

Jacob laughed softly as he looked at Theo. That smile and laugh made his own smile grow. He had to admit, perhaps he could grow used to watching him and the others. Jacob had considered having kids but with his schedule, it wouldn’t have been fair for them. He chuckled a little at the imitation tickling fingers from Theo. Kai giggled as Hayden took his hand. He saw the stairs and shook his head. Kaiden out his arms up to be carried to the next floor.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Hayden Gaines and Soren Truelson
FEDRA Civilian, FEDRA Officer | 24, 35 | Current location ;; Washington State

Soren looked over at Josh’s finds and nodded. “Now that is great! We could practically have a party.” He laughed as he sifted through some more boxes. “I don’t party, by the way. In case you were a partyer in your past life, I have never been one. Went to some as a soldier back, I dunno, maybe in my early twenties. Got worse than wasted, said some things I really shouldn’t have, and have decided that was not for me after all.” As he tossed a couple of hair brushes into a boxes he felt the need to clarify something. “I stand by what I said. That guy really was a jerk, and he deserved every words that came out of my mouth. But that doesn’t mean I should have done it.”

The moment he saw those outstretched arms, Hayden picked Kai up, placing his on his hip again, and made their way down the stairs. He almost forgot about Jacob as they moved. He grinned at his brother, barely concealing the absolute joy that was being with Kaiden, and set down the little boy on the next floor. He squeezed his hand and yelled, “knock knock!” before running to the first floor. Meanwhile, Theo was still staring at Jacob like he was some sort of impossible being as babies did. He went from imitating the tickle motion with his fingers to rolling his head to one side and then the other. The world kept moving as it so often did. He grabbed at Jacob’s shirt, because it was a nice malleable material that his hands could actually grasp.
​

 

[EquineGurl23]

Joshua and Jacob Smith
FEDRA Officer, FEDRA Civilian | 24, 30 | Current location ;; Washington State

Josh looked at Soren and laughed, hearing him. Then he heard the rest of his words and laughed harder. "Is that so? And you have a partner who loves parties." Josh said, which was a half-lie. Jacob did like parties but he only had a few friends he went with. "You? Really? I can't imagine you saying things that shouldn't have been said." Josh said, quirking an eyebrow. "What did he do that made him a jerk?"

Kaiden giggled as he was picked up and held onto Hayden as they made their down to the next floor. He might not have liked all the people at once, but he was enjoying spending time with Hayden. Once he was set down, he felt the squeeze and giggled running after Hayden and ran past him banging on the next door. "Knock Knock!" He laughed. Jacob looked at Theo who was rolling his head to one side and then the other. He felt the hand grasp his shirt as they joined the other two on the next floor.​