CHAPTER ONE

March 25

A/N: This is the sequel to 'Sempre', so make sure you check that out! Here's the first chapter, I hope y'all enjoy it!

"Oh my god!" Cat sobbed.

"Come on honey, baby's almost here," Grace said.

At exactly 4:37 am March 23, Cat started having contractions. Was she excited at first? Absolutely. Her baby was finally going to be in her arms. She wouldn't have to deal with the kicking and having to pee every fifteen minutes. She'd planned on a home birth - which is why she was giving birth in her's and Robbie's room of hers, Robbie's, Sam's and April's apartment. While Robbie, April and Jade were in the room with her for support, Sam was in the living room to keep Ashley occupied.

At exactly 6:03 pm March 25, she was finally giving birth to the baby she'd been waiting to meet. Unfortunately, home birth wasn't much better than giving birth at school on a stage.

"You can do it Catey, come on," April said. "You're a trooper, let's meet that baby."

"It hurts!" Cat said.

"I know it does sweetheart, but you have to push, come on. We already have a head, we just need shoulders," Grace said.

"If you don't push, I'm gonna yank that kid out myself," Jade said. "Come on, let's get it done and over with."

"Come on, Cat. Gimme a push."

Cat let out a frustrated sob before she took a deep breath and pushed. "Ow!"

"Keep going sweetheart, you're doing really good."

Cat pushed again, letting out a guttural grunt.

"Shoulder's out, gimme one more big push"

With one more deep breath and one more push as hard as she could muster, after just a few seconds she finally let out a large sigh of relief when the pressure was gone and she laughed a little as the screaming baby was placed on her belly.

"Oh my gosh," she said breathlessly.

"It's a boy," Grace said.

"Hi, little man, it's about time. I've been waiting on you for two days."

"He's so cute," April said.

"He's perfect," Cat said as she carefully pulled him up closer to her. "Hi, buddy, how you doin'?"

"I already love him, I want him, can I have him?"

"After Robbie holds his own son, then yes you can have him."

"You wanna do delayed cord clamping, momma?" Grace asked.

"If it's possible."

"We can. We'll let it run dry and then cut it. We need to see about delivering the placenta soon."

"Ugh, no... that hurts more than having the baby..."

"How?" April asked. "It's soft and mushy."

"Yeah, but she has to mush my belly up to get it to detach and I don't like it, it hurts."

"We'll wait a little bit to give you a break, but we still gotta do it, honey," Grace said. "How about we get him wiped off so he's not all icky and while Robbie holds him we can work on the placenta."

"Fine..."

"Aren't you gonna give him a bath?" April asked.

"Not yet," Grace said. "It's actually better for babies not to be bathed right away. The vernix is really good for them."

"What's vernix?"

"Vagina mayonnaise," Jade said.

March 30th

"Look, Ash," Sam said as she walked into Cat and Robbie's bedroom with the ten-month-old on her hip. "That's your brother."

"C'mere, kiddo," Robbie said, taking Ashley from Sam and walking over to the bed, kneeling down and letting Ashley look at the baby. "This is Owen."

Ashley babbled and pointed to Owen, who was currently suckling at her mother's breast. Then she looked between Cat and the thing they were calling her brother, extremely confused as to why a smaller version of herself was eating from her mommy instead of her. That's when her bottom lip pouted out and she started crying, reaching for her mother.

"Aww," Cat laughed. "It's okay baby girl, I'll hold you in a little bit."

"Mama!" Ashley sobbed.

"Hey, it's okay," Robbie said, running his hand over his daughter's back. "Mommy has to feed your brother."

"Someone's jealous," April said, taking Ashley from Robbie. "Hey, monkey butt. Don't be a cry baby, Owen needs the titties too. They aren't just yours."

"April, if her first word is 'titties' I'm gonna kick your ass," Cat said.

"It won't be... it'll be a cuss word, I've been working on it with her."

"Stop teaching her sign language for bad stuff."

"It's funny!"

"It's not funny for babies to curse," Grace said. "It's just a bad habit that's hard to break them of."

"Yeah, she would know - Amber cusses all the time," Jade said.

"Because of you."

"I'm proud."

"You shouldn't be. Wait until you have kids and they start cursing."

"It'll be the funniest day of my life."

"It's not funny," Cat said. "She called me a bitch the other day."

"Were you being a bitch?"

"Kinda."

"Then she used it in the right context. It's even better when they use the words right at the right time."

"It's not funny, Jadelyn," Grace said.

Ashley whined, reaching out for Cat. "Mama!"

"You're fine, just chill out," April said.

"Give her here," Cat said. "I can feed 'em both. He's slowing down anyways."

April sat Ashley down on the bed and the second her aunt's hands were off of her, Ashley crawled to Cat, laying down and immediately latching on to her mother, a tiny chubby finger twirling the brown curls on her head.

"What a piglet," Sam said. "I fed her twenty minutes ago."

"She's just jealous," Cat said, running her fingers through Ashley's hair. "Aren't you, booger butt?"

"She'll get over it," Robbie said.

"Alright, he's done. Who wants him?"

"Me!" April said. "I want him, I wanna hold him."

"Take him. Burp him."

April giggled and took Owen from Cat, kissing his cheek before holding him to her chest and patting his back. "I can't wait to have babies. I'm so excited."

"You can wait. You can steal mine anytime you want, but you can and you will wait," Cat said, sitting up a little and getting Ashley into a more comfortable position.

"We're eighteen now. It's socially acceptable to have kids now."

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the people from school. Tell that to the adults that see me with a baby on my hip and a stomach out to Nebraska. Tell that to the people that constantly ask 'so were they both accidents?'"

"You were seventeen when you got pregnant the second time though."

"It doesn't matter. Teen pregnancy is teen pregnancy and no one looks at a teenager with a baby with admiration. They think we're stupid."

"You're not stupid," Jade said. "You did a stupid thing, but you're not stupid."

"You're the one that told me I was stupid when I told you I was pregnant with Ashley."

"And I should have chosen my words better. I didn't mean you were stupid, I just thought it was stupid that you were putting yourself in the situation. You know I love you and Ashley more than anything."

"I know that. But you still said it. And that just proves my point. Even those closest to me think I'm stupid for having kids so young."

"Well, it wasn't a smart choice," Grace said. "But I know you didn't plan it. Planning it would have been stupid. You just didn't take the proper precautions. But that doesn't mean we love you or these babies any less."

"I know."

"You need to let your mom know you had him. I'm gonna get everything cleaned up and head to the hospital, I have someone coming in for a c-section in a few hours. If you feel like anything is wrong or weird, you call me, okay? Jade, do not be late for class."

"I won't be," Jade said. "And you know she's not gonna call Tara."

"I'm not," Cat said. "She should have thought about that before she kicked me out."

"Think about it," Grace said.

"I have. And I think I'm not calling her."

"Ashley April Shapiro," Cat scolded as she watched her daughter crawl up to Owen's bouncer seat and take his binky from his mouth. "Give that back to him right now, young lady."

"Mine," Ashley said, putting the binky in her mouth.

"No, yours is green. That's Owen's, give it back."

"Mine!"

Cat sighed and ran her hands over her face. "Whatever. He's not crying, I don't give a shit."

"What's she doing?" April asked as she walked into the living room.

"She took Owen's binky from him because she wants to be a brat."

"Hey, monkey butt. Stop being a butt face to him, he's a baby."

Ashley grinned and crawled to her aunt, holding her arms up to be picked up.

April picked her up and kissed her cheek, tipping her over her shoulder and patting her diaper. "Can I take her out with me later?"

"Why?" Cat asked.

"Cause I'm gonna meet a friend at the park and she has a kid around her age, so I figured a play date would be fun for them."

"I guess. But if you're meeting this friend because you're getting weed from her, then absolutely not because my kids aren't gonna be around that shit."

"It's not one of those meetings, Jesus Christ."

"I'm just saying, April. I don't want my kids around it. You can do whatever you want, but I don't want you smoking it and then coming around the babies. It stinks and I don't want them smelling like it."

"I'm careful about it. I always change my clothes when I get home, if I don't take a shower."

"And you're usually really good about it, but I smelled it the other day. You can't be coming home smelling like weed like that April, we can lose our daycare license. Other than the flower shop, that's the only income I have and I won't even be back to work there until I get Owen on a regular eating schedule, and after that happens I also start dispatching at the police station. I need all three jobs otherwise my kids are homeless and hungry, and I won't let that happen."

"That's not gonna happen. I'll be smarter about it. And I hardly ever smoke when we've got kids here."

"The problem is that you smoke it at all. I'm begging you, please don't do it here at the house. The manager can and will throw us out for possession, and it can get my kids taken away from me by the state."

"I'm not going to let that happen, Catey. You know I love those kids more than I love you - and that's a lot of love."

"Then please stop smoking weed at the house. What you do when you're out with your friends is your business, but it becomes everybody's business when you come home with it on your clothes."

"Okay. Fine, I won't do it here anymore. But you're not taking away my cigarettes, I need those."

"As long as you smoke them outside or in your bedroom with the door closed and the window open, I don't care about the cigarettes. Ashley!" Cat snapped as her daughter started bouncing Owen's bouncer. "Leave him the fuck alone."

"Mine!" Ashley said, bouncing the chair again as Owen started crying.

Cat sighed and walked over to Ashley, patting her on the butt and placing her in a playpen. "Sit down and behave!" she said sharply. "You made Bubba cry, that's mean."

"Mama!"

"No. You're in trouble," she said, walking back over to Owen and unbuckling him before picking him up and kissing his cheek. "You're okay. She was just trying to play with you," she said, resting him against her chest and patting his diaper.

"If she was just trying to play then why is she in time out?" April asked.

"Because I told her to stop and she didn't. If I discipline now, she'll learn faster. Ashley April, calm your butt down," she said as she swayed back and forth.

"How long are you gonna leave her in there?"

"Just until she calms down."

"I thought you were supposed to do the one minute per year of age thing with time outs."

"Well yeah, but she's not even one yet. And kids need more time than just their age. She can get out and play when she calms down. She knows how to self soothe, she'll be alright."

"I thought you couldn't put an infant in time out."

"This momma can."