9:30 AM - Isaac and Bishop
“You know life is a hell of a lot more peaceful when I ain’t having to look over my shoulder either, so I’d say you ain’t the only one benefitting from our new agenda,” Bishop remarked with honesty laced through his tone. They had had their reasons for their actions, reasons that at the time had made sense to them, so Bishop had stopped trying to apology for the sins of the past. But he could say without a hint of doubt that he preferred things this way. He preferred living a life that wouldn’t lead to his children being fatherless. Or to more of his friends dying.
And now Isaac had him wondering about what the rest of the United States was like. “New laws, huh?” Bishop supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, after all they were living in a new America and in conditions unlike anything that had come before.
As Bishop thought on all the things that had happened to culminate in this very moment and just how the world had changed, Lincoln reached out one pudgy little baby hand and got a hold of the fabric of Isaac’s shirt. Which a laugh Bishop reached out to remove his son’s hand, but then remembering the way Isaac had been looking at his son earlier he paused and instead said, “Seems like Lincoln here is curious about Austin’s Commissioner, would you like to hold him?”
The way that Isaac saw it, there were two kinds of parents: those that didn’t want anyone they didn’t know that well holding their kids or the kind that couldn’t wait to shove their kid into anyone’s arms. Of course that was an over simplification of the situation, but it did surprise Isaac that a man he’d previously interrogated for criminal charges was offering to let him hold his kid.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, casually, and with a nod, Isaac outstretched his arms and took the baby boy into his arms. “He’s denser than he looks,” he joked, giving a slight shrug, though after adjusting his hold and getting comfortable, his eyes landed back on the boy, his gaze going more serious. Rose would have been five by now, much bigger than the child he was holding, but still he felt a deep longing to hold his baby. Things were better for Isaac. As tough as this was right now and as sad as the memories were that came flooding into his mind, he knew that he still had the opportunity to have this again with Demi.
Breaking himself out of his thoughts, he looked back to Bishop and asked, “What’s his name?”
Despite their differences and the fact that not long ago they had stood on very opposites sides of the goings on in Austin, Bishop felt not a single ounce of hesitation at handing Lincoln over to Isaac. After all, what was the guy going to be able to do with him standing right here? Plus, he had always felt it's as a good idea to expose his sons to anyone who was willing to interact with them in some form or another. Maybe it's as unconventional parenting, but nobody had yet to accuse Bishop of sticking to social norms in any aspects of his life.
Still that didn’t keep him from watching closely as the other man took his son from his arms, and with what Bishop could only assume was practiced ease and not some kind of lucky fluke, Isaac settled Lincoln in his arms and the MC’s president wondered for the first time if Isaac had once been a family man, back before the world had gone to shit. He thought he remembered Demi saying something along those lines, but he could admit he hadn’t paid much attention to that information at the time.
“Lincoln,” Bishop finally supplied, realizing he had allowed himself to be lost in his thoughts. “And his brother’s Jackson.” He added as he motioned to where Jackson was happily nestled in Hazel’s arms. “Gotta admit you don’t look panicked like some folks do when I pass one of ‘em off to them,” That was the closest that Bishop would come to outright asking about Isaac’s past and if the Commissioner had once had kids of his own.