when there was me & you ? ricky bowen imagines {ON HIATUS}

five years later (i)

you sigh, turning off the car and stepping out. being back in salt lake hits different. you love mapleton and your aunt cindy and tia rosa, but salt lake would always be your home.

maybe you and finn could move back here someday, move into an apartment. it helps that finn loves it here too.

you go to open the trunk, pulling out the duffels. you'll get the backpacks tomorrow. you set the duffels on the driveway to close the trunk, before picking them up and lugging them into the house.

"ugh!" you groan, dropping them by the doorway.

"sweetie?"

"mom!" you run into the kitchen, where your mom is cutting cucumbers in preparation for dinner. you throw your arms around her, squeezing tightly. "i've missed you, mama!"

"awe!" she coos, setting down her cutting knife. she wraps her arms around your waist, squeezing tight. "where's the little guy?"

"with marta," you tell her.

"ah."

"yeah."

"no, more!" you hear finn tell marta. "i've already seen this part too! voldemort is back!"

you and your mom laugh at finn's pronunciation of voldemort. he doesn't say the "r", which he's got correct, but he over-enunciates the "e" so the name comes out "voldeemort."

"i love that kid," your mom says. "you did good."

"he's great, huh?" you pull your bottom lip between your teeth, taking a seat on one of the island chairs. "so where will finn and i be sleeping these next two weeks?"

your mom rolls her eyes at you.

"y/n, i swear. you ask this every time and you know damn well your room is always the same as you left it, and my old scrapbooking room is finn's."

your lips turn up in a small smile.

"oh, and tomorrow we're going to salt lake center for some last minute christmas shopping," she wipes her hands on her valentine's apron you swear she's had since you were maybe ten. she scowls. "i forgot to get finn's big present, so hopefully they still have it in stock."

—♫♪♬—

"hey finn, let's go to build-a-bear!" you say to your son, whose eyes light up like the fourth of july.

"really?"

"yeah! i'll get you one of your christmas presents early."

you'd only gotten finn two small presents this year. it was always your mom who got finn his big presents for christmas, though you would always try to get him something big for his birthday.

you work at a gas station in mapleton. it's not the best, but it's enough to pay the bills you got to pay (you're in charge of the energy bill and half of the water bill at your aunt cindy and tia rosa's place) and occasionally get finn a few new toys. but thankfully, your son wasn't much worried about having a lot of toys. he'd rather curl into your side with his favorite stuffed animal of the month and listen to you read to him.

"yes! let's go!"

yeah, you want to get finn something he'll for sure love for a while. but you also need to break off from your mom and marta so they can go hunt down his big gift.

the two of you say goodbye and head off to find the build-a-bear.

it seems right away, finn knows what he wants. he grabs two fawn and skips to the stuffing machine, handing them over to the young girl waiting.

"both soft please?" finn asks her, folding his hands behind his back.

"of course!"

when she's finished, she hands the fawn back to finn and he hugs them both to his chest tightly before smiling his brightest smile.

"they're perfect!" he tells her. "thank you!"

you get them sewn up, then he runs off to get clothes and accessories for the fawn. he grabs a dress for one of the fawn, ballet shoes, and a flower crown; then a suit for the other fawn along with two pairs of red and white shoes.

they remind you of east high's colors.

"come on, mommy. let's go name them!"

when finn's excited, you compare him to a ping pong ball— all over the place. he gets on a computer then remember he needs help spelling.

"mommy!" finn calls to you, even though you're right behind him. "help!"

"i'm right here. what's up?"

"i want to name this one," he lifts up one of the fawn, pulling the suit outfit with it. "franklin."

"okay. let's try sounding it out, okay?"

finn nods, his tiny fingers hovering over the keys.

"fff—"

"f!" finn shouts out.

"yeah! rrr—"

"r."

"aaa—"

"a."

he types up franklin, with your assistance, and who he belongs to.

"okay mommy, you need to look away for this one." finn says, and you laugh. he frowns at you. "no, for real!"

"okay!" you turn around, quickly checking your phone to see if your mom or sister had texted you yet. "you done?"

"nope!" finn pops the p. "how do you print?"

"do you see the little printer icon?"

"no."

"can i look?"

"no!" finn snaps. "excuse me! i need help but my mom can't look!"

a worker approaches and finn politely tells them what he needs help with. the worker helps finn print out the birth certificate and you go to purchase the animals, curious as to why your son picked two.

nearly seventy dollars later, you can say this is your big present to make it up to him for being unable to do so for his birthday.

finn bounces up to you, grabbing one of the fawns and the dress, slippers, and crown from the bag. he sits down on the floor, ripping the dress from the cardboard hanger and putting it on the fawn. then he ties the slippers on her and finally sets the crown on her head.

he jumps up, handing the fawn to you and pulling the birth certificate from behind his back.

"i know you paid for it, but i wanted to get you something. so you have franklin's mama because franklin's her baby, like i'm your baby."

you can't help the couple of tears that fall down your cheeks as you lean down to give your son a big hug. he wraps his arms around your neck and you stand up, one arm under his bum to support him, and grab the bags.

"can i have franklin?" finn asks.

with some struggle, after all there's a preschooler clinging to you, you pull the fawn out of the bag and hand him to finn, who holds him to his chest.

"mom, i love you." finn says as the two of you walk out of build-a-bear. he puckers his lips for a kiss, and you quickly give him one.

"y/n?" you stop in your tracks at the voice, your hold on finn tightening ...

                                                     ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧