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~*~Chapter Nine~*~


“So, what are we supposed to do with her?” Nick asked the second AJ and Jaime had walked out of their home.

Kevin rolled his eyes at Nick’s naivety, shaking his head in somewhat of a disbelief. Then again, he should have known that Nick would ask such questions. The only reason the young boy was there in the first place was to do the things that he, himself couldn’t as well as be there for somebody on the same thinking level. Somebody who could easily communicate with Lauren. That, however, wouldn’t be as necessary as they’d originally thought, as the young infant had a slight fever. It wasn’t anything that sent up red flags, however she was in her crib at the moment sleeping soundly.

“Nick, she’s sick. Aje said she’s been sick for two days now. All we have to do is check on her every now and then, listen for her to cry in the monitor and in about an hour, wake her up and feed her. It really isn’t that difficult. It shouldn’t be even for you.”

Nick cocked his head to the side, his mouth hanging ajar slightly as he tried to figure out if that were an insult towards him or not. He didn’t have the chance to say anything though, because as if on cue, a soft whimpering sounded through the baby monitor and only seconds later, it turned in to a full out wailing. Nick’s eye widened in panic, it obvious that he didn’t know what to do while Kevin knew that he couldn’t exactly make it upstairs on his own to take care of things himself. Lord knew that if he could, he’d be up there in a heart beat.

“Why don’t you go get her and we’ll feed her now,” Kevin suggested, “Maybe sing to her or put on one of those baby movies that Aje got for her.”

‘Why don’t you?” Nick shot immaturely, but stopped right where he was in the speaking process when he saw the warning look that Kevin was shooting him. The blonde grinned impishly as he stood, walking backwards with a look that said he should have known better than to mouth off to Kevin, “Or um...or I could. Ill um...I’ll be right back.” he spun around and bolted towards the stairs before Kevin could yell at him.

“Damn kid,” Kevin muttered with an amused shake of his head as he watched Nick disappear, hoping to God that he didn’t drop the child.

The crying continued to sound through the baby monitor and suddenly, Nick’s voice sounded too. He cooed at Lauren, talking in baby talk at her, which just upset the temperamental girl more. Kevin chuckled to himself, wishing he could actually see what was going on. He could almost picture Nick bending over the crip, puckering his lips out as he was making the baby noises at her. The crying became louder and Nick pleaded with her to stop, bribing her with food as if she actually understood. And then slowly, the sound became more faint through the monitor and louder up close and in person as Nick made his way down the stairs again, Lauren tucked safely within his arms.

“She won’t stop fussing!” Nick complained, bringing her to Kevin, “I tried talking to her, but she just got louder.”

“Maybe if you’d stop getting up in her face scaring the hell out of her, she’ll calm down.” Kevin suggested, seeing the look of petrification pasted on to Nick’s features. He honestly was beginning to think that maybe it was a good thing that he wouldn’t have much to do with his own babies life if Stephanie had anything to do with it, “For Gods sake, Nick...just give her here.” Kevin reached out for Lauren and Nick quickly and graciously handed her over without hesitation, “You’re handling her like she’s a fucking chia-pet.”

“She kinda is. You feed her and she grows stuff out of other ends...”

“That’s just sick, Nick.” Kevin raised an eyebrow, “Where do you come up with these things?”

Nick shrugged as he watched Kevin rock Lauren as if he were a professional. He smiled, but it was somewhat forced because he was jealous. Here he was with a baby due in just a few short months and he would have almost nothing to do with it. Kevin, on the other hand, wasn’t even close to getting children and he knew exactly what to do, his voice coming out softly as he sung to her. Sure enough, Laruen’s cries were calming down and soon she was completely silent. Wetness soaked her face still, her eyes glowing up at Kevin.

“Uncle Kevvy wont let Nick near you again,” he joked, looking up at Nick with a wink, “Nicky scares you, doesn’t he?” he took his shirt sleeve to wipe Lauren’s face gently, drying the tears away as well as wiping her tiny button nose slightly, “Everything’s okay Laur.”

Nick sighed, plopping down on to a couch as silence took over. He watched Kevin rocking Lauren still, his voice soothingly speaking to her as if she could actually understand what he was saying despite her being just under a year old. Lauren let out a small huffed sigh, her face showing signs if discomfort. Kevin scrunched up his face as he took a hand to her forehead. It was cool to touch but clammy, her tiny cheeks flushed.

“Hey, Nick...could you go get a thermometer, a cool, dampened rag and Lauren’s pre-made bottle for me from the fridge?”

“Why is the thermometer and rag in the fridge?”

Kevin took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes, “The bottle is in the fridge, Nick. The thermometer is in the medicine cabinet and the rag is in the dish towel drawer. Run it under cold water in the sink...which is not in the fridge either.” Nick smirked at Kevin’s sarcasm, “Just go get it. I think she’s running a fever. And don’t get lost.”

“Funny,” Nick rolled his eyes as he headed towards the kitchen to retrieve the items Kevin had asked for. He returned five minutes later with all three things Kevin had wanted, handing them over, or rather dumping them in to the mans lap in a heap. Kevin looked up at the blonde with the raise of an eyebrow, “There’s your things.”

“Thank you, Nick.” Kevin rolled his eyes as he picked up the thermometer with his free hand. He gently turned Lauren over with his arm as he unbuttoned the legs to her pajamas, “This isn’t going to feel too good, Lauren...I’m sorry.” he cringed as he slid the thermometer up her butt, remembering all too well when he was a child and had to have it stuck in the same place when he was ill. Sure enough, the small girl tensed as she let out a shriek. Kevin forced himself to keep the thermometer in place though as it registered her temperature. The second the stick slid out, the cries turned in to a whimpering and finally subsided as Kevin looked down at how far up the red line was, “Hmm...” he clicked his tongue, “It’s a little high...only by half of a degree.” he uncapped the bottle that Nick had warmed slightly, testing it out on his hand to make sure it wasn’t too hot for Lauren as he turned her back over, giving her the bottle to which she sucked on graciously.

“Ain’t that a cute picture,” Nick cooed, “Mr Mom.”

‘Shut up, Carter and go stick a movie in,” Kevin laughed lightly as he pointed to the DVD player, “And something appropriate for the naive eyes.”

“Oh yes, because a nine month old will absorb it all and remember.” Nick stated sarcastically.

“Something that you would pick might scare her. Besides that, I mean for you anyways.” Kevin teased as he was flipped off.

“What is this, pick on Nick day?”

‘When is it not?”

Nick scowled as he turned away, muttering choice things under his breath as he ventured off to the movie selection. The first thing that caught his eye was Bambi. He pulled it off of the shelf, popping it in to the player as he waited for he main menu to pop up, then pressed ‘play’ as the movie started.

“Good choice,” Kevin stated half heartedly, disheartened and concerned that Lauren was already refusing to drink any more of her milk after only a few seconds. He tried to give her the nipple to the bottle back, but she refused as she turned her head away. After a few failed attempts, Kevin sighed, setting the bottle down on a small table next to him, “Let’s see if we can get her to watch it.”

Nick shrugged as he turned his attention to the beginning of the animated movie. He reached over and turned a light off to give it the full theater effect. This just caused a yawn to escape his lips as his eyes grew heavy. He leaned his head back only to rest, however it had a more powerful effect than he thought for he was asleep within minutes.

“Goofy kid.” Kevin chuckled as a soft snore came from Nick’s direction. He shook his head and turned back to the movie. Lauren watched it with somewhat of an interest, but not enough to keep her awake for long because she too fell in to a dreamland. Kevin smiled at her sweet face as he repositioned her, “Guess I’m alone with this one.”

Kevin watched the movie, somewhat bored with it but knew that he couldn’t exactly turn it on his own with Lauren in his lap. He didn’t want to disturb her, so he just watched it, but soon he too followed the other two’s paths leaving the movie running to practically no audience.

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“Can I open my eyes yet?” Jaime asked eagerly as she bounced up and down slightly in excitement.

AJ laughed at his fiancé as he kept his hands placed firmly over her eyes to ensure that there would be no peeking on her part. He somewhat struggled with the door to the cabin, attempting to push it open by turning the knob with his knee. After several failed tries, AJ finally got it, leading Jaime inside of a dimmed room. He smiled, unable to wait and see her reaction when he unveiled his blindfold. There was more to the weekend than what the clueless girl thought. AJ had a surprise for her.

“What about now?” Jaime asked after only a short pause, then tried her luck with whining, “AJ...please. I hate surprises and you are making me nervous.”

“Not much longer now, baby,” he promised, dipping down slightly to kiss her neck. Jaime squirmed, the gesture turning her on greatly and she moaned softly in sheer delight. AJ led her a few more steps and then his hand slid from her eyes, “You can open now.”

Jaime hesitated only a micro-second before slowly opening her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw, turning in a small circle to take it all in. Every last bit of it. It was hard to believe that this was a little secluded cabin, as it had the look of the inside of a mansion or at least a very fancy, exquisite hotel suite. The place was lit by only the flickering glow of candles lining the dressers. Then there were the rose pedals scattered everywhere around the room. Thousands of rose pedals in red, pink, peach, yellow, white, their sweet scent still fresh to her nostrils. On the night stand was a vase full of red roses, at least two dozen of them, along with two glasses of pink wine, the rest of the bottle sitting in a bucket of ice next to them. It was romantic, to say the least. AJ the romantic. It brought back memories of the night he’d proposed to her. He’d always had a knack for making every little thing special, including this. The question was, when had he done it? They were hours from home. Her only guess was that he’d snuck out to the rented place before that night to set everything up, or hired somebody to do it for him for just before their arrival. Either way, she was speechless.

“What do you think? Was it worth it to come out here?” AJ asked her as his arms encircled her waist.

“I...I...” Jaime breathed out, no words able to describe her shock, “Wow...thank you. It’s...perfect.” she turned around in his arms to kiss him tenderly on the lips, getting up on her tip toes to do so, “You’re too good to me.”

“Nah,” AJ laughed, “Treating you how you deserve.”

Jaime sighed and looked around, deciding not to argue. Everything was perfectly in place. Even the bed, that was turned down already, the cream colored silk sheets beneath the bedspread, was perfectly smoothed out. This was definitely something she’d needed. Some time for just her and AJ. She missed Lauren, but it was only for a night. Just one night away to be with AJ in ways that weren’t possible for some months now. Not with an infant in the house who was at the age that required almost constant attention.

“I love you so much.” Jaime told the man before her, “This is just...incredible. Dinner was plenty and then...this.”

AJ wiggled his eyebrows seductively at her and Jaime knew immediately that he was thinking something dirty. Likely something she would like to partake in, “How would you like to start on dessert now?”

Jaime giggled, “What did you have in mind?”

“A bubble bath in the jumbo sized jacuzzi tub as I massage your shoulders with message oils followed by retreating to the bed as we make out as it turns in to making love and then cuddling for hours on end kissing you and holding you close.”

Jaime felt a tingle of excitement radiate through her body at AJ’s suggestion. It was all so romantic and blissful. And to think in just four months, she would be married to this man, sharing the same name as him. She couldn’t wait because that meant that they were connected together even more.

“I’ll race you to the tub.” Jaime stated before bolting to the bathroom with AJ trailing behind her closely. She stopped short of the tub though when she noticed that it was already filled to the top, millions of bubbles already in place atop the hot liquid, “You had everything prepared, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.” he breathed as he pulled Jaime in to his arms, kissing her and nibbling on her bottom lip in heated lust as he slowly stripped her of her clothes. Jaime fumbled with the button to AJ’s dress pants, undoing them and sliding them down his legs. As AJ unhooked her bra, Jaime loosened his tie before unbuttoning his dress shirt, “You’re amazing.” he murmured as he bent down to suck on one of her hardened nipples.

Jaime moaned in pleasure as she took his manhood in to her hands, gently massaging. As they kissed, AJ slowly backed Jaime up to the tub as they took a few steps up to it and he gently picked her up and set her inside as he too got in, the two of them kissing wildly as they sunk beneath the masses of white foam.

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Kevin jerked awake suddenly, blinking his eyes a few times so that they could adjust to the darkness. He looked around somewhat confused, but his memory came back to him when he saw a near blank TV screen with a little dolphin periodically jumping around the screen. He looked over at the clock, seeing that it was almost midnight. The movie had ended nearly two hours ago. He couldn’t believe that he’d fallen asleep. That he’d let any of them. The second Lauren had fallen asleep, Kevin felt he should have awakened Nick to put her in her crib and then they both could have gone to somewhere comfortable.

Looking at Nick though, Kevin assumed that the blonde Boy had already accomplished that on his own. He was now in a laying position on the full length couch, a pillow tucked under his head. Kevin sighed, deciding that disrupting Nick would only cause problems. He himself let out a yawn as he looked down at Lauren. He smiled at her sleeping form, repositioning her in his arms in a way that was more comfortable for him since his left arm had officially fallen asleep and was tingling.

Looking around, Kevin decided to just stick it out for the night where he was. One night wouldn’t kill him, and Lauren seemed to be doing okay. Closing his eyes again, Kevin tried to go back to sleep. He realized after ten minutes though that it wasn’t going to happen. He simply wasn’t tired enough to. He had a gut feeling that something just wasn’t right. He wracked his brain, the feeling growing stronger for some reason. He felt sick to his stomach as he tried to figure out if he’d forgotten to do something. After several minutes of trying to figure it out, the thought dawned on him without warning. Had something happened to Anna? Was she okay?

In near a panic, Kevin grabbed his cell phone off of the table next to him, dialing home. He let it ring ten times before the recording picked up. He hung up, the fear coming to him stronger that she was hurt. He tried her cell phone then. It rang six times and he was about to hang up when she answered breathlessly.

“Hello?”

“Anna...honey, is that you?”

“Yes...” her voice trailed off as she sounded confused, “Kevin?”

“Yeah...it’s me. I’m just seeing how you’re doing. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, not at all,” Anna laughed, “Me and Gloria are at the theatre about to watch a movie...Rumor Has It or something like that. We’re catching the late showing. Not as crowded and no little kids screaming in the middle of it.”

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, not really hearing anything past that she was out with Gloria. She was just out with a girlfriend for ladies night out. There was nothing to worry about. His protective, boyfriend instincts had just kicked in to overdrive because he cared about the woman so much. He loved her with every single fiber within him and didn’t know what he would do if anything had happened to her. At least he knew that she was safe. His accelerated heart rate was slowly returning to normal as the feeling he’d had subsided.

“Where’s Steph tonight?”

“With Brad, I think,” Anna replied, “Or working on an article that’s due later this week for the paper.” Kevin laughed at this, enjoying hearing Anna’s voice, “I hate to do this...but I have to go. The movie is starting in five minutes and I don’t want to leave Glor for too long alone in the theater.”

“Alright,” Kevin sighed, “Have fun and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait either.”

“I love you, darlin.” Kevin blew a kiss in to the phone.

“I love you too, Kev.”

Both paused for a moment, but Kevin waited for Anna to hang up before he did too. Placing the phone back, Kevin leaned back happy to know that she was okay. He hoped that now, maybe he could get some sleep with his mind at ease. It wasn’t long though before another voice sounded, this one groggy and somewhat stuttered.

“Who you talkin to?”

“Anna,” Kevin replied to Nick simply.

“Oh...whaz the time?”

“Just past midnight.”

There was a pause and Kevin thought for a moment that Nick had fallen back asleep, if he’d even awakened in the first place. Nick had been known to talk in his sleep from time to time. It was something they all liked to pick on him for and on occasion had videotaped the funnier of the episodes.

“Is Lauren asleep?”

Kevin looked over at Nick, whom was now sitting up. It was obvious that Nick too was going to have the same problem as himself. They’d fallen asleep too early and now were going to be awake until God knew when.

“She has been since right after you.” he replied.

“Want me to take her up to her room? Might be more comfortable for both of you.”

Kevin shrugged as Nick turned on the light next to him, standing up. He reached Kevin, who gently handed the baby girl over to Nick. Nick got a good grasp on her as he gently held her in his arms. He started towards the stairs, but stopped and turned around with fear in his eyes. A fear that caused a knot to form in Kevin’s stomach, for Nick never had that look.

‘Is...is it normal for her lips to be blue?”

Kevin’s own breath caught in his throat, the seconds ticking by at an impossibly slow rate as Nick walked back towards him, handing Lauren down for him to see for himself. Kevin took the infant back, looking down at her. Sure enough, her lips were blue, her body motionless. With a shaking hand, Kevin looked up at Nick who was frozen in place staring, taking that hand and holding it up to Lauren’s mouth to feel for a breath. After several long seconds of Kevin not feeling anything, he let out the breath he’d been holding in a horrified scream.


And the drama begins...if you want to see more, leave a review. Otherwise, I probably will only email the chapters to the 2 people who are reviewing. Thanks Ana and dancinpacer!