Hey, buddy

Leo felt like he could relax now that his son had nuzzled into him and assured him that he had just needed to hear that. He worried so much about his children and making sure they were still as happy as they could be through all of this. Sometimes he wondered if he had been taking Svetlana's disappearance harder than his children. They had been so young when she left that he almost wondered how much they would really remember of her once they got older... That thought saddened him, but at the same time it was almost a relief. It was a hard blow to lose a parent, but he couldn't imagine how they might have been if she left out of nowhere when they were older and had gotten to spend more of their life with her.

He blinked with surprise when Alfred tapped him with his paw and broke him out of his own thoughts. He barely heard his son yell tag before he took off and his russet and white form disappeared into the mangroves. Leo grinned and hopped up, calling after him, "Oh no you don't! I'm gonna get you!" He took off at a run, hopping over the roots that stuck out of the ground from the twisted trees that dotted the mangroves, dodging the many pools of water around him. He followed Alfred's scent until he came back into view and Leo grinned, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he chased after his son. He had forgotten what it was like to really goof around and have fun. He had to be so serious all the time when he was an alpha and a father, but there was another side to it. His children needed to play too and sometimes he forgot to do that.

"DOTHETALK"